xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Eterna Forest, 8:56 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I... Am... Sorry." Keats said with a bothered expression on his face and sporting a L.T.P.S. shirt under his button up towards Anik's Drifloon, Ambrose's Aipom and Tamara's Tangela as the three former squatter Pokémon were looking at him with their arms folded. "This suuuuuuuuucks!" He mentally whined as Tamara stood next to her Tangela while Anik and Ambrose looked on.
"Aiaiai." Aipom said towards Keats as Ambrose handed Anik a grey T-shirt with the acronym for the Lavender Town Paranormal Society on it.
"Loooon-loooon." Drifloon said as Anik took off her glasses and put the shirt over what she was currently wearing.
"Tangela..." Tangela said as Keats rubbed the back of his head.
"They want the apology to be specified." Tamara said after reading the Pokémon's individual thoughts.
"Seriously?! Ugh, fine! I am sorry for breaking your VCR combination TV!" Keats with annoyance in his tone.
"Driffffff?" Drifloon said as Aipom and Tangela stared at Keats.
"...And for causing the house to explode..." Keats said with a tone of shame.
"Aiaiaiai." Aipom said as the hard looks the Pokémon were giving the husky framed trainer finally softened.
"Tang-tang." Tangela said as she turned away and walked over to Tamara, the blind psychic girl placing a hand on her Grass type Pokémon's blue vines and petting her.
"I shouldn't be fully held accountable for all of that stuff back in Ecruteak City. You guys were the ones squatting in an abandoned house and probably stealing cable for that TV that I broke." Keats said with a glare towards the trio of Pokémon that started to look at him with agitation again.
"Aiai-" Aipom said until Ambrose stepping in front of it.
"If you want to fight anything, fight a Ghost type. Got it?" Ambrose said with a serious look in his face as the purple monkey-like Pokémon looked up at him.
"Aiai..." Aipom said with a nod before Ambrose took out the Pokéball for Aipom and recalled him back inside. "Tamara?" He said as Tamara reached into her pocket and pulled out Tangela's Pokéball.
"Tangela, return!" Tamara said with a polite voice as Tangela went back inside her ball. "I've always wanted to say that!" She thought, enjoying the prospect of recalling a Pokémon of her own.
"Drifloooon?" Drifloon said as Anik walked over, looking down at her trainer's shirt.
"Don't worry, I won't let the moody teenager attack you." Anik said with a reassuring voice as Drifloon made a face of happiness before Anik recalled her Ghost and Flying type Pokémon, Ambrose's eye twitching from the description of him.
"It's taking everything in me not to flip out that I have to go ghost hunting with a Ghost type..." Ambrose thought as Tamara heard his thoughts.
"Hey! Hey! Ambrose is complaining about your Ghost types!" Tamara said as she revealed what Ambrose was thinking while pointing at him.
"Not a good thing Tamara." Keats said while folding his arms, everyone looking at him with confusion. "You ever heard the term; "snitches get stitches?"' He said while Anik raised an eyebrow at him.
"...N-no?" Tamara replied.
"It's not a good thing to be a tattletale. People will learn to not trust you." Keats explained as Ambrose rolled his eyes and Anik shook her head. "Never trust a fart, a tattletale or a person who offers you food and describes it as "beautiful." That's always a red flag." He continued.
"That last one come from experience?" Anik said with an unimpressed voice.
"Where do I start?" Keats said as Ambrose clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"Okay, enough with the banter. Let's get down to business." Ambrose said as everyone turned towards him. "We're in Eterna Forest and that way leads us to the Old Chateau." He said as he pointed in a specific direction. "Is everyone absolutely prepared?" Ambrose asked.
"My Oricorio drank the purple nectar so she's now a Ghost type and I got Drifloon and Vigoroth, both of them with moves that can do super effective damage." Anik said as she pulled out two Pokéballs and her Premier Ball containing her respective Pokémon. "It's a nice night out and I would rather be looking at the sky, but I shouldn't complain, I'm doing this for Tamara." She thought.
"You?" Ambrose said towards Tamara.
"I got Tangela and you said you'd loan me your Furret like usual." Tamara said with a confident voice. "I have been preparing for this for so long! "Tamara: trainer extraordinaire begins her first big journey moment!"' She thought.
"And last but not least?" Ambrose said as he looked at Keats.
"I got Skuntank and Porygon." Keats replied as he pulled out the two balls for the Pokémon he mentioned. "I also swapped the team around a bit, got Petilil here and Pineco and Druddigon and Sizzlipede." He said as he pulled out the other balls from his pockets. "Yo Tamara, check this out, I can juggle." Keats said with a smile as he started to juggle the six Pokéballs in his hands.
"...Still?" Ambrose said with half-closed eyes.
"Keats..." Anik said with an embarrassed smile.
"Juggling sounds cool... If I could see you doing it..." Tamara said with an annoyed tone, causing Keats to stop juggling and dropping all of his balls containing his Pokémon on the ground.
"...Heh-hehh... Sorry..." Keats said, forgetting about Tamara's blindness once again.
"Alright. Big guy, you're in charge of keeping Tamara safe." Ambrose instructed as Keats picked up his Pokéballs. "You're a member of the L.T.P.S. now." He continued as Keats looked at him.
"Right, you can count on me." Keats said with a thumbs up. "Man, this is nuts. I haven't been involved with a group since I was in the fourth grade, and I was in charge of making the diorama and getting yelled at for putting firecrackers in them. Didn't see what the big deal was, the shoebox needed some pizzazz, so I thought pyrotechnics would help!" He thought, remembering another bizarre moment from his childhood.
"Pfff!" Tamara sputtered as she covered her mouth, attempting to stop herself from laughing.
"He thought something weird again, didn't he?" Anik questioned with her hands on her hips as Keats made an embarrassed expression.
"Ye-yes, hehehe." Tamara said with a chuckle.
"Alright... Let's roll out." Ambrose said as he motioned for everyone to get going.
Trekking through the dark woods, the Lavender Town Paranormal Society members made their way in the direction of the abandoned mansion in the middle of the forest, passing by sleeping Pokémon and roaming nocturnal Pokémon along the way. With Ambrose in the lead, followed by Anik and then Keats with Tamara holding onto Keats' wrist for support, the teenage ghost hunter made a surprised expression as he put his arm up, stopping the group from moving further.
"Whoa." Ambrose said with a cautious tone.
"What's- huh?" Anik said before moving her eyes ahead to see an unusual sight.
"Is something happening?" Tamara questioned as Keats shrugged, unsure of what was going on.
"Didn't you say this "Old Chateau" was abandoned?" Anik said towards Ambrose as he looked on.
Past a few trees was a large white two-story manor with cobblestone paths leading into the doors and brown tile roofing with every single window in the place glowing from the lights being on. Bewildered, Ambrose stepped forward as Anik, Keats and Tamara stood behind him, staring at the mansion as they originally assumed the place was long abandoned.
"What the heck?" Ambrose thought.
"Ambrose, you okay?" Tamara questioned upon hearing what he was thinking.
"Doesn't look that old." Keats commented as he looked at the massive home.
"I was here this morning, this place looked covered in dust and the roof was falling apart from disrepair. Why does it look so different?!" Ambrose thought, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"Ambrose says the place is different from what he remembered from this morning." Tamara said, catching Anik and Keats' attention.
'"Different" how?" Anik asked towards Tamara.
"The roof isn't falling apart and there's not a ton of dust that's visible from the outside." Tamara said. "Wait... I'm not sensing any Ghost type Pokémon inside now..." She thought as she tried to use her abilities to sense for Pokémon inside the Old Chateau, finding nothing.
"Well, it's got all its lights on. Which is definitely not smart. That's going to run you up an electricity bill like crazy." Keats said as he looked around. "You guys see a meter anywhere?" He said as Ambrose turned to look at him.
"Guys, this doesn't make any sense, I-" Ambrose said until suddenly stopping upon the group hearing what sounded like a door opening.
With Ambrose turning back around with the others looking in the direction of the door to the Old Chateau, a somewhat elderly man stepped out. Appearing tall and slightly muscular in build, a man with grey hair, a well-trimmed beard and sporting a simple black butler's uniform had walked outside of the manor, looking at the group.
"Oh heavens, hello." The butler said with a plain voice as everyone looked at him.
"Uh..." Ambrose muttered in surprise.
"Hi?" Anik said with a confused tone.
"Keats, what's going on?" Tamara said with confusion.
"Some old guy with a full moustache and beard combo just showed up." Keats said towards Tamara. "Lucky bastard has a nice-looking moustache too..." He mentally whined.
"I beg your pardon?" The butler said, hearing what Keats said.
"I-ignore him, he can be a bit weird." Anik said as she put her hand in front of Keats' face. "Don't be rude!" She said with a loud whisper as the husky framed trainer winced in response.
"Okay, I'll-" Keats said until glancing upward at the mansion.
In one of the windows on the upper floors, Keats had noticed someone was standing slightly behind one of the curtains, staring at him as he stared right back with his head tilting sideways. A small girl with straight black hair wearing a white dress and holding a Buneary doll in her arms with what appeared to be black marks around her large green eyes.
"I- uh..." Ambrose stammered, at a loss for words from the unexpected appearance of a stranger from within the Old Chateau.
"He-hello..." Anik said as the butler turned to look at her.
"You already gave me a greeting. Might I ask what you're doing on the premises?" The butler questioned.
"...Ambrose... Explain..." Anik whispered towards the teenage ghost hunter, snapping him out of his confusion.
"Oh- uh... Hi, we're the... Lavender Town Paranormal Society." Ambrose said while pointing at the letters on his shirt. "We heard there was a lot of Ghost Pokémon in this area and wanted to check it out." He explained. "Okay, act calmly..." Ambrose thought.
"Hmmmm, sorry to say but there's no Ghost type Pokémon around here." The butler replied with a plain tone as he looked at each of the group.
"That can't be true, I sensed Ghost types earlier." Tamara whispered towards Keats as he raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know much about Ghost type Pokémon, but it certainly isn't good to be out so late in this forest with all the other typing's out here. Might I suggest we all go inside?" The butler said with a polite tone as he turned to the side, motioning for the group to go into the mansion.
"That's uhhhh..." Anik said, unsure of what to do. "A stranger just offered to let us into his large house..." She thought.
"That's very nice but..." Ambrose said, also unsure. "...There's something wrong here." He thought as Tamara heard both his and Anik's minds.
"Uhhh... Excuse me?" Tamara said as she let go of Keats' wrist and stepped forward while tracing her cane along the ground. "How long have you been living in this place?" She asked towards the butler as he raised an eyebrow. "Maybe if I can read his mind, we can get some answers. Just start the conversation with a question..." Tamara thought.
"...What is she doing?" Ambrose said quietly.
"I have been caretaking for this place for a very long time and it tends to be a lot of work, young lady. But you just caught me at a very good time, I just finished setting up a meal in the dining room." The butler said as he glanced at the others, noticing Keats perk up at the mention of food.
"I'd like to go in and learn some things about this home, if you don't mind." Tamara said with a serious tone. "...Nothing..." She thought as Anik stepped forward, putting a hand on the blind psychic girl's shoulder.
"Sidebar..." Anik said as she moved Tamara back in the direction of the group. "What are you doing?" She whispered.
"I can't read his thoughts." Tamara stated with a bothered expression.
"What?" Ambrose replied.
"Is he thinking something strange like what would happen if you had a Fire type use "Sunny Day" in a small space?" Keats questioned as everyone glanced at him with annoyed looks, not particularly okay with him acting like a doofus in such a serious situation. "What, you haven't thought about that before?" He asked as everyone shook their head to signify a negative answer.
"I can't hear anything in that man's head." Tamara said, steering the conversation back on track. "That's concerning for me as a mind reader." She said while clutching her cane tightly.
"This is getting really unnerving. Maybe we should leave." Anik suggested as Ambrose looked at her.
"I don't know about that. The whole reason we're here is to investigate this place." Ambrose said towards the astronomy enthusiast.
"No, I want to know why I can't hear what he's thinking." Tamara said with a confrontational tone as the butler stared at the group from the open door to the chateau.
"Pardon me." The butler said as everyone turned their heads in his direction. "It's getting very late, and our home is rather far from the nearby town. If you like, you could stay the night." He said as he formed a welcomed expression on his face.
"That's..." Ambrose said in response after swallowing spit.
"...A kind offer but we're not so sure we should impose." Anik said.
"It's no trouble." The butler said as he motioned for the group to enter. "Please, come in. If you want, you can enjoy some of the food I've prepared and then go if you'd like." He continued.
"That would be nice." Tamara said with a calm voice as Ambrose, Keats and Anik looked at the blind psychic girl. "Ambrose, please help me up the stairs." She said as the teenage ghost hunter made a concerned expression.
"...You sure?" Ambrose mentally questioned as Tamara nodded upon hearing his thoughts. "Alright..." He said as he put his hand on Tamara's shoulder to help lead her.
Looking back, Ambrose looked at Keats and Anik, shifting his head in a gesture for them to follow after himself and Tamara. Making a serious expression, Anik joined the teenage ghost hunter and blind psychic girl in entering the mansion as Keats stayed behind, looking up towards the upper floors as he noticed the girl with the Buneary doll who was looking at him had disappeared.
"Huh?" Keats thought as he looked around for the girl.
"Are you coming in as well?" The butler asked towards Keats as the husky framed trainer shifted his attention towards the older gentleman.
"Uhhh... Yeah." Keats said as he quickly walked inside, the butler closing the door as the group stood in the brightly lit foyer.
With a pair of staircases leading to the upper floors, the inside of the chateau had bright yellow walls with wooden decorations and pathways leading in different directions. On the wall of the second floor was a massive self-portrait of an elderly grey bearded man in a suit but not the same elderly man that allowed them inside.
"This is a nice place." Anik said as she looked around.
"Thank you." The butler said in a grateful tone.
"I don't see a speck of dust anywhere..." Ambrose commented quietly towards Tamara.
"Hmmmm..." Tamara said with furrowed brows behind her sunglasses. "I don't know what's going on here... It's like I am sensing something and then nothing at all..." She thought.
"I take a lot of pride in keeping this place from getting dirty." The butler said, overhearing what Ambrose whispered.
"Can you explain to me what zones "B through K" are?" Keats said casually to the butler as he raised an eyebrow.
"Ummm... I don't know what you're referring to." The butler said with a confused tone.
"A cleaner once came to my home and said there was "unspecified soiling" in those areas. I am still not sure what he meant, and I was hoping you did." Keats said with a plain voice.
"Sounds like you have issues with hygiene." The butler said towards Keats.
"When I got home from my trip to Alola, I found out he alphabetized my dinner plates." Keats said, continuing to talk about unimportant nonsense.
"What?" The butler said with a twitch in his eye.
"He put them in order by manufacturers first letter." Keats said as the others looked at him.
'"Is now the time to be asking weird questions?"' Ambrose, Anik and Tamara all thought with frustration.
"Uh-huh... Well... I don't want the food I've prepared to get cold so why don't you all follow me upstairs to the dining room." The butler said after glaring at Keats with annoyance as he started to walk up one of the staircases to the upper floor.
"Anything?" Ambrose whispered towards Tamara.
"Maybe in the dining hall, I can concentrate while I sit down." Tamara replied quietly.
"Whatever you do, make it quick. I'm starting to get chills being in here." Anik thought, knowing Tamara could hear what she was thinking.
Following the butler up the stairs, Ambrose helped Tamara as Anik looked around for anything suspicious while Keats watched everyone's backs. As they reached the upper floor and headed down the hall, the large painting of an elderly man mysteriously begun to move, its now glowing red eyes turning in the direction of where the group went in a rather disturbing manner.
"Hold on." Keats muttered from the hallway as the eyes of the painting quickly darted back into their original position, the red glow disappearing.
Stepping back into the foyer, Keats walked over to the massive painting as it was no longer moving. Staring at it, Keats made a disgruntled face as he looked at the beard of the old man in the portrait before touching his upper lip, lacking facial hair.
"Whoever this guy was had a nice moustache too..." Keats said to himself as he looked at the photo. "Why do all the old people get all the cool loo- ah! Ah! Achoo!" He continued to complain until suddenly sneezing, mucus coming out of his nose and mouth and landing on the bottom of the painting where the man's clothes were. "Uh!" Keats muttered as he looked at the phlegm he left behind on the painting.
"Hey! Big guy! Get in here!" Ambrose exclaimed from around the corner as Keats looked at the painting and then at the hallway.
"Uhhh... Sorry, old-timer." Keats said with an embarrassed face as he walked away back in the direction of where the butler and his friends went.
With Keats gone, the painting suddenly came to life again and made an incredibly angry expression as it looked at the snot the husky framed trainer left behind on it. Back with the group, the butler showed everyone the dining area with a massive spread of food set up, ranging from soups and salads to deviled Chansay eggs and broiled Tauros meat in brisket and mutton form.
"Whoa, that smells great!" Tamara exclaimed as she could smell the food.
"Everything looks delicious... and if she could smell it; it has to be real." Ambrose thought, lowering his guard as he followed behind Tamara over to the table.
"Why thank you, it's not very often I get a compliment for my cooking." The butler said with a smile on his face as he walked over to the far end of the table, sitting down at the head of the table. "If you like, why don't you dig in?" He suggested.
"It does looks good..." Anik said as Keats shifted his eyes towards her.
"...You never say that about my food..." Keats said with an annoyed tone as Anik made an embarrassed expression.
"Do-don't take it that way!" Anik replied in a loud yet low voice towards Keats to try and calm him down.
"Please, have a seat." The butler said as Tamara and Ambrose sat down on one side and Keats and Anik sat down next to each other on the other side. "Might I recommend the Miltank casserole?" He said as Keats stood up, took a spoon and followed the man's suggestion, putting some of the food on everyone's plates.
"Do you want some?" Keats said towards the butler as he shook his head.
"No thanks, I'd rather you all eat first." The butler said in a polite tone.
'"Thanks for the food."' The group said in unison.
"I hope you all enjoy such a beautiful meal." The butler said as Anik, Tamara, Keats and Ambrose all grabbed forks, ready to eat.
"...Huh?" Keats mumbled as he stopped himself from eating before everyone else.
Turning his head towards the butler, Keats made a grim expression as he dropped his fork. Quickly standing up, Keats grabbed the forks out of Anik, Tamara and then Ambrose's hands.
"Whoa!" Anik exclaimed.
"Hey!" Tamara shouted.
"What the heck?!" Ambrose said with an agitated tone.
"Hmmm?" The butler said with squinted eyes.
"Ah- uh!" Keats grunted.
"Keats?!" Anik said with furrowed brows as Keats held everyone's forks in his hands.
"Is something the matter?" The butler said with a calm voice.
"Uh..." Keats said. "Bad vibes! Bad vibes!" He thought as he looked at the butler.
'"Bad vibes?" What does that-... Wait..." Tamara thought until she came to a realization. "Excuse me..." She said, catching everyone's attention. "Sir, how would you describe the food? I'm blind so I can't see it." Tamara said with a serious voice as Ambrose and Anik looked at her.
"Oh? I just said it was "beautiful."' The butler said with a confused voice.
"Ah! That!" Keats said as he stood up and started pointing at the butler.
"Something's wrong with the food!" Tamara said as she stood up and started to point her cane at the butler.
"What?" Anik said as she looked at her companions.
"I'm sorry but I'm a bit confused as to what's going on?" The butler said with a raised eyebrow.
"I haven't been able to read your mind since I came in here." Tamara said with a serious tone. "Either something is blocking me from hear your thoughts specifically or you're not trustworthy!" She continued.
"Yeah! What's up with this food-" Keats said as he put his hand in the casserole and something unusual happened.
With Ambrose and Anik making shocked expressions, Keats' eyes widened as his hand phased through the food as if it wasn't even there. Pulling his hand out and noticing there wasn't anything on it, the butler stood up from his chair with a smile on his face.
"...You're a rather obnoxious fellow with bad table manners, aren't you?" The butler said with a polite yet sinister tone of voice.
"I know you are but what am I?!" Keats replied in a childish manner as Anik and Ambrose reached into their pockets to try and grab their Pokéballs.
"A slow man." The butler said as his eyes started to glow with a bright orange light.
With his jaw unhinging, the bright orange light from the butler's eyes emerged from his mouth as his body started to fade, becoming see-through. Disappearing, the elderly man had transformed into a massive floating purple creature with a round head, three spiked protrusions on each side, triangular eyes and two small floating purple hands with three fingers on each.
"A Haunter?!" Anik exclaimed in surprise.
"It was a Ghost Pokémon this whole time?!" Ambrose exclaimed in shock.
"But I should have been able to hear its thoughts or sense that the food was fake!" Tamara exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Okay, I sneezed on the painting in the foyer! I'm sorry!" Keats shouted.
Suddenly, from within the glowing orange mouth of the large Haunter, a spinning vortex appeared as everything in the dining room was beginning to be sucked inside of the specter-like Pokémon, similar to being pulled into a jet turbine. Unable to tell what was specifically happening due to her blindness, the hard suction caused Tamara to be lifted into the air.
"Ahhh!" Tamara screamed in a panic as Ambrose rushed to grab her.
"Tam- ahhh!" Ambrose said as he put his arms around Tamara's waist to hold her but was soon pulled into the force of the vortex as well.
"Waaaah!" Anik screamed as she too was swept off her feet.
"Whoooaaa!" Keats shouted, also getting pulled in.
With the four Pokémon trainers being sucked into the vortex in its mouth, the Haunter with the glowing orange eyes slammed its mouth shut as Tamara, Ambrose, Anik and Keats all disappeared. Suddenly, phasing through the ceiling and joining the Haunter in floating in the middle of the room, was the little girl in the white dress with the Buneary doll in her hands.
"Good..." The little girl said. "More people to play with..." She said with a smile forming on her face.
...I... Think I need to change my pants. No, I didn't pee myself, I spilled casserole on them. After some apologies to a few squatters, the group has begun their ghost hunt of the Old Chateau, but some things don't really go so well in the world of Pokémon. After an encounter with a rather peculiar butler, the group realizes something isn't right. Transforming into a massive Haunter, our heroes have been pulled into a vortex and have disappeared. Are they gone forever?! Are they dead!? God hope not, that would be a shitter way to end this story than just getting cancelled after a few postings like what happened originally. Stay tuuuuuunnnnnneeedd *spooky music playing*
Keats' Pokémon:
1. Pineco.
2. Skuntank.
3. Porygon.
4. Druddigon.
5. Sizzlipede.
6. Petilil.
In rotation:
1. Raichu - Alolan Form.
2. Venonat.
3. Dragalge.
4. Gurdurr.
5. Swalot.
6. Cloyster.
Released/Traded away:
1. Diglett - Alolan Form.
2. Surskit.
Anik's Pokémon:
1. Kingler.
2. Cleffa.
3. Oricorio - Sensu Style.
4. Minior - Green Core.
5. Vigoroth.
6. Drifloon.
Ambrose's Pokémon:
1. Furret.
2. Crawdaunt.
3. Dodrio.
4. Helioptile.
5. Aipom.
Tamara's Pokémon:
1. Tangela.
Author's Note: (Got the chapter up before my birthday! Woo! Keep posting in the reviews, always makes me happy folks. Oh, and suggesting Pokémon ideas, nothing is super set-in stone TBH with Keats and the other main cast, no matter how hard I try :T)
