DarkFoxKit: Sorry for the late update. With so little reviews to work with, we kinda felt like nobody's reading this and lost a lot of our motivation. Fanfiction is not making this easy either, we have to jump through hoops just to update everything properly. We're just going to upload what we have and probably stop there.
Traveler Master: Major thanks for those who did try and stick with us and this story. But we can only go so far. Plus, didn't help with other distractions and the hurricane too. That was fun to deal with.
DarkFoxKit: Maybe we might return to continue the story, since it would be a shame to leave things as is, but for now, that's our plan. We hope you'll enjoy what we do upload. Until next time.
Chapter 6: Angry Ghost
"Leblanc, w-what's happening!?" Sakura yelled. "Why is Duster moving towards us like that?"
"I don't know…but it has to do with that armor. This place is filled with all kinds of ghosts, so I wouldn't be surprised if that armor is the cause of all this," Leblanc answered while trying to think of a way to free Duster. She then addressed the armor directly, keeping a close watch for any openings. "You, let Duster out now!"
Duster's body stopped for a moment, when suddenly two blue-flame like blades appeared out of the edge of each arm. "SO THE TRESPASSER'S SQUIRE STILL REMAINS. THINE MASTER HAD DARED TO NOT ONLY DESECRATE THESE HALLS, BUT MY INNER SANCTUM AS WELL. HEED THIS WARNING, LEAVE NOW, AND THINE LIVES SHALL BE SPARED. ONLY THINE MASTER SHALL BE PUNISHED!"
"What?" Sakura blinked.
"He's saying that if we leave now, only Duster will be punished," Leblanc translated.
"Oh… that's good, right? … Wait, no! That's bad! You can't punish Duster just for coming into a room!" Sakura snapped. "Give him back! He's nice, and doesn't deserve this treatment!"
"SO THOU WISHES TO SAVE THE TRESPASSER?! THEN SO BE IT! THOU SEEMED JUST LIKE THINE MASTER, A ROUGE AND A THIEF, HARBORING A DANGEROUS WYRM CREATURE!" The Ghost Armor shouted while pointed a blade at Sakura. "THIS KNIGHT SHALL PERFORM HIS DUTY AND SLAY THE EVIL DRAGON AND IT'S COHORTS!"
Sakura didn't understand most of what this weird Ghost Armor was saying, but it seemed to want to attack them. Sakura yelped as she jumped back, barely dodging a sword slash. Then the Ghost Armor covered itself in flames and charged at Sakura. Sakura couldn't dodge that and was hit, she slammed into a wall.
"Ow…" Sakura groaned.
Sakura barely had a chance to get up as the ghost armor now stood before her, ready to thrust its blade at her. But before the ghost armor could make its attack, it caught a glimpse in the corner of its vision and blocked an attack from Leblanc, who's claws were giving off a metal glow. The armor jumped back, putting some space in between itself and Leblanc, who landed next to Sakura.
"Sakura, what moves do you know?" Leblanc asked, never taking her eyes off the armor.
Sakura was taken back by the sudden question and couldn't help but stutter a bit. "O-oh. W-well I know Wrap, would that help?!"
Leblanc shook her head before replying. "Normal type moves don't work on Ghost Pokemon or ghosts in general. All my other moves besides Metal Claw are useless against this ghost knight, so you'll have to use moves that can actually hit ghosts. So what other moves do you know?"
The ghost armor charged at Leblanc with its sword. Leblanc lifted up her claws trying to block the attack as much as she could. Leblanc's claws scraped against the sword before it slammed into her. Leblanc let out a hiss as she jumped back. The attack itself didn't do too much damage, but it still hurt.
"It's so fast too… we need to slow it down…" Leblanc frowned.
"If only I knew how to use Glare properly, I could paralyze it," Sakura said. "B-but… I… I might be able to do something to slow it down. I may not have Glare, but I have an alternative way."
"Whatever you have, just do it!" Leblanc quickly said.
The ghost armor charged at them again, cloaking itself in fire once more.
Sakura jumped in front of the ghost armor. "I'm sorry about this, Duster!"
Sakura unleashed a small jolt of blue electricity from her body at the ghost armor. The ghost armor was hit by it.
Duster noted that when the jolt of electricity hit him, it didn't hurt, but… he could feel his body going numb, making it harder to move.
"WHAT DID THINE WRYM DO!?" The ghost armor shouted.
"I'm not a worm!" Sakura huffed. "A-anyways, that Thunder Wave should keep you from moving too fast!"
"BLASTED CUR, I'LL SMITE THEE!" The ghost armor shouted as it raised its blade, only for its body to be stuck due to paralysis. "CURSES!"
"Good job Sakura, now we just need to figure out how to break Duster free," Leblanc stated, trying to see if there were any cracks or openings amongst the armor.
The ghost armor began to spin around. "I AM NOT OUT YET! THOU'S ATTACK WILL DO NOTHING TO ME!"
Glowing purple flames floated around the ghost armor. Sakura and Leblanc frowned as the flames launched at them. They moved to dodge. Sakura was too slow however, and the flames engulfed her. She blinked, she didn't feel any pain, but her back sustained a burn. She hissed as she felt the pain starting to flare up.
"FEEL MY MIGHTY SMITE, HEATHENS!" The ghost armor gloated, glad to see it was able to damage Sakura. "PREPARE TO FACE THY DOOM!"
The ghost armor leaped forward, hoping to push past its paralysis, but halfway through the jump, Duster felt his body numb up once more. At first Duster was glad, hoping that when the ghost armor failed its landing, he would be able to break free. But then he quickly noticed that the ghost armor had his left leg out front, having intended to land on his bad leg.
Oh no! Duster thought as he braced himself.
Just as the ghost armor landed on its left leg and fell due to paralysis, Duster immediately felt immense pain racing through his left leg. If he could, he would be screaming out loud, but he could only suffer in silence. Meanwhile, the ghost armor was taken back, feeling that same immense pain.
"WHAT MANNER OF WITCHCRAFT IS THIS?! The ghost armor grunted in pain.
"What happened?" Sakura asked when she saw the ghost armor had fallen down after landing on the left leg.
"You idiot! You made Duster land on his injured leg!" Leblanc shouted angrily at the ghost armor. "You better hope that leg isn't broken for your sake!"
"Oh no… poor Duster…" Sakura frowned before she hissed in pain from the burn she had.
"Sakura, we need to end this quickly," Leblanc said. "Do you have any non-Normal attacks?"
"I don't have any Poison attacks, but I think I have Gust," Sakura said.
"Gust?" Leblanc blinked. "Your… species can't learn Gust, can they?"
"I mean I don't know. Nobody else I knew could, but I seem to be able to," Sakura answered. "You think it might be enough?"
"Well, beats nothing. I'll try and go for the helmet, this all happened when Duster made contact with that thing, so maybe getting it off will free him," Leblanc suggested.
"Okay," Sakura nodded. "Just brace yourself, I haven't fully mastered using Gust, so it tends to get out of control."
"Out of control?" Leblanc asked.
"It's pretty strong, and sometimes it does more damage than I intend it to," Sakura explained.
The ghost armor was starting to stand up again. Leblanc could see they were running out of time. This was probably the best opportunity they were going to get.
"Just do it, Duster and I'll be fine," Leblanc stated as she braced herself.
Sakura nodded as she built up energy within. She saw the ghost armor was starting to make its way towards her, but she had to focus.
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THINE MEDDLING. I SHALL CAST JUDGMENT UPON THEE THIS INSTANCE!" The ghost blade shouted as it brought both its blades up, flames erupting to the very tip of each edge. "NOW PERISH!"
The ghost armor then swung its blade in an X-shape form, launching dark purple energy blades. Leblanc recognized that attack as Psycho Cut, except this attack seemed to be covered in flames, and they were heading straight for Sakura. Without hesitating, Leblanc jumped in front of Sakura and crossed her armed, coating her arms in steel energy in hopes of using Metal Claw to block the attack.
What am I doing?! I barely knew Sakura for only a few hours, so why am I standing here?! Leblanc thought as the attack had almost reached her. She smirked though, already having an idea of why she was doing this. Well, if I'm being honest, she reminds me a bit of myself when I was younger. And I'm sure Duster wouldn't be glad to see either of us hurt, but better me than her. I can take it, I know I can.
Leblanc's body was engulfed by the dark energy blades, as well as burnt by the flames. Duster and Sakura were both horrified when they saw this. Leblanc's Metal Claws took the brunt of the Psycho Cut attack, however, giving her a chance to soften the blow and survive an attack that would've been fatal to her. Despite being a Sneasel, Leblanc knew she wasn't a Dark type, in fact, she was very weak to Psychic type attacks.
"LEBLANC!" Sakura shouted before she glared at the ghost armor. "How dare you!? You took over my new owner, and hurt my friend! I'm going to make you pay for that!"
Sakura let out a shout as she swung her tail as the little horn on her forehead glowed. A huge purple twister formed around the ghost armor, quickly picking it up and spinning it around. Leblanc was on the floor, and was trying to push herself up to her feet when she saw the tornado that had formed around the ghost armor. That was no Gust attack.
That's freaking Twister! Should've known Sakura was talking about Twister when she mentioned Gust.! Leblanc thought as she tried to keep her balance. Lugia does this hurt! Can't stop now though…just…need to catch my breath.
Leblanc looked up at the Twister, it was pretty strong for a move that was an early Dragon type attack. From what Leblanc remembered Wess saying, Pokemon were able to tap into their hidden strength and potential when pushed far enough. Sakura was likely angry enough when she saw Leblanc getting hurt like that to create such a powerful Twister.
This was her best chance, Leblanc couldn't screw this up. Using her trained eyes, she looked into the Twister, waiting for the opportunity. She could see the ghost armor starting to loosen its grip on Duster. Her body felt sore, but thanks to all those training involving climbing alongside the mountain cliffs, especially during high winds, this Twister proved to be more helpful than a hindrance.
Timing her jump, Leblanc let the wind created by the Twister carry her, using it to propel herself. It was shaky and difficult, but as her body was carried along with the Twister, Leblanc angled her body, causing herself to get closer and closer to the ghost armor. The ghost itself was struggling to hold Duster, the Twister keeping it in place, while Duster himself was trying his best to break free. So focused on keeping its prisoner that the ghost armor failed to notice the Sneasel flying right towards it. Crashing into the armor, Leblanc used her claws to hold herself tightly to the ghost.
"RELEASE ME, FIEND!" The ghost armor demanded, trying to strike Leblanc off, but the Twister was holding him in place. "CEASE THIS INCURSION OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCE-"
"Oh will you shut it already?!" Leblanc shouted. "I've had it with your constant shouting and holding Duster captive. And it's high time he's freed from your annoying possession!"
Coating her claws with steel, Leblanc ripped open the armor. Duster was surprised, but relieved, to see Leblanc getting the armor off of him. Leblanc grabbed onto Duster's shirt and pulled him out of the armor, and out of the Twister.
Sakura, seeing that Leblanc and Duster were safe, calmed down from her attack. The Twister dissipated, and the ghost armor fell to the ground, now empty.
"Duster! Leblanc! I'm glad you two are safe! Ow…" Sakura still felt her burn on her back.
"Incredible…thank you…Leblanc…" Duster said as he patted Leblanc on the head. He then saw Sakura slither up to him and lay down on top of his lap. "And thank you…Sakura…you two…were incredible…"
"Yeah… just next time… don't touch what you don't know…" Leblanc grumbled.
Duster saw the burn on Sakura's back and frowned. "That looks painful, we need to take care of that burn."
"I'll be fine… just give me a minute…" Sakura reassured.
Duster blinked as he saw Sakura's body glowed for a moment, then she slithered out of her old skin. She flicked her shed skin away with the tip of her tail, and the burn on her back was completely gone.
"Ah… that's much better. Good thing we Ekans can shed our skin, huh?" Sakura smiled.
"Shed Skin…That is a useful ability. Good thing you have that ability," Duster chuckled a bit as he patted Sakura, causing her to beam happily. Duster then turned towards the armor pieces. "We best get going, we don't know how long that ghost will stay like that, and I don't think any of us wanna deal with it again."
"Couldn't agree more," Leblanc nodded before slightly wincing.
"How's your leg? And Leblanc, you don't look so good. You took that hit pretty badly." Sakura frowned.
Since Duster couldn't understand Sakura's words, the 'Ekans' slithered down to Duster's bad leg and nuzzled it, trying to show her concern.
"I'll be okay, don't worry… I've taken worse hits to my leg," Duster assured before he took out a few Beef Jerkys from his bag. "Eat this, it'll help us recover."
Sakura blinked at the dry looking meat, but she wasn't one to turn down a free meal. She picked up one of the Beef Jerkys with her mouth and swallowed it. The Beef Jerky seemed to work like an Oran or Situra Berry, because most of her wounds started healing after she ate it.
Leblanc quickly at her Beef Jerky, relieved that the worst of her wounds were healing. While the Beef Jerky had healing properties, it couldn't heal something like a scar or a cripple limb. But Duster still ate his, since he did take some damage during that fight.
When the 3 were feeling better, they decided to move. They wasted enough time in that battle, and they didn't want to have to fight that strange ghost armor again. Sakura hopped onto Duster's shoulders, not wanting to slow them down.
"I have to say though, Sakura, you definitely impressed me in that fight. I only just got you, so I don't know what you're capable of, but you have definitely proven yourself," Duster complimented as they were moving up the stairs.
"R-really?" Sakura blushed.
"Yeah, keep it and you might become a top notch thief like us~" Leblanc grinned.
"Ooh, I hope so! I wanna keep getting stronger then!" Sakura smiled.
As they were going up the stairs, they heard a sudden crash. They stopped, alert for any potential enemies. However, they saw someone jumping down from the broken window, and landing at the top of the stairs. They only caught a glimpse of the person, what stood out to them was the short but very bright, hot pink hair they had. They also wore a blue looking dress. The person then ran off out of sight rather quickly, likely not noticing them.
"Who was that? They looked human," Sakura questioned.
Duster blinked a few times, surprised to see someone other than themselves trying to sneak through this tower. Shaking his head, Duster regained focus. "Whoever that person is, we better keep moving. We don't know if they're here for personal reasons, or perhaps Father sent them to interfere with us, to prevent us from finding that special item."
Leblanc saw something sparkling on the floor where the person dropped in. Curious, she ran over to the sparkling item and picked it up. She held it out to Duster. Duster picked up the object Leblanc was holding.
"Is this… a pendant?" Duster questioned as he studied it. "It's sparkly, but I doubt Dad was talking about this, it didn't come from the tower after all. I'll keep it for now, just in case that person comes back."
"Aren't thieves supposed to steal things?" Sakura asked.
"Eh, we're not low class thieves who steal just for the heck of it. We have standards, and we only steal if we need to. And we don't need some silly little trinket, we need… whatever it is that we're supposed to be looking for," Leblanc explained.
"Oooh… so… uh… honorable thieves, I guess? Oooh, thieves of justice! I like the sound of that." Sakura smiled.
Leblanc was about to reply when she suddenly sensed a familiar presence, and already stepped in front of Duster to protect him.
"What's wrong Leblanc, what do you…sense?" Duster asked as he looked up on top of the stairway. There was a floating sword that was currently sheathed, with blue twine coming from the edge of the hilt. "Another ghost?"
"This Pokemon feels familiar," Sakura noted.
"Ah… I'm a Honedge," The Pokemon stated. "Well… I didn't want to be. If anything, I wished to be a real knight. Back when I was human, I used to serve royalty as a knight. But when I died in battle, I find myself as the sword I once wielded. What a shame though, I didn't want to literally be a sword, I wanted to relive my glory days as a night. I saw a Pokemon called Ceruledge and wished I could be one, so I tried to possess some of the armor here… but… I… couldn't move."
"What? … Wait, were you that ghost armor we had to fight?" Leblanc frowned.
"Uh… yeah, that was me… I was really excited when I found a human. I was able to finally move like a real Ceruledge," The Honedge explained. "I wanted to be a knight again after all these years, and slay dragons like I used to. But… I definitely went overboard, I do apologize for that."
"I don't get it, what does slaying dragons have to do with our fight? Neither of us were dragons." Sakura frowned. "And you overstepped it when you stole Duster's body, you meanie!"
"But you are a dra-…" Honedge started, only to see both Duster and Leblanc shake their heads. Correcting itself, the Ghost Pokemon continued. "...Right. I was a meanie, who brought shame due to my actions. Your Pokemon companions fought bravely to rescue you, and I wish to repay you."
Duster was still cautious, but seeing how most of the Ghost Pokemon here seemed somewhat friendly, he decided to give the Honedge a chance. "Repay us how?"
Honedge used the blue twine to reach behind itself, causing both Leblanc and Sakura to take a defensive stance. Thankfully the two didn't have to worry as Honedge revealed an item that appeared like a whistle of some kind.
"Here, this is a special item meant for calling for one's aid when someone needs it most," Honedge explained. "I never really got to use it…on account of having no mouth, but perhaps it will better serve you."
Duster took the whistle and looked at it. He would have to clean it, it looked pretty dusty. "Thanks, I suppose. I'm not really sure how it works, but if it works like you said it does, I'm sure it'll come in handy."
"Well, I wish you luck in your endeavors. Being a ghost for a long time can skew one's morals, keep that in mind," Honedge said. "I'm gonna head back to the Paldea region, maybe I can talk to the Ceruledge to help me be a proper knight despite being a sword."
"Just try not to steal anyone else's bodies to do so," Duster said.
The Honedge saluted with its blue twine, preparing to vanish and leave. "BEWARE THE MUSICAL TYRANT, FOR THEIR RAGE KNOWS NO BOUND. IF THOUST FINDS THYSELF IN THEIR PRESENCE, PREPARE FOR THINE EARS FOR ITS MAKING!"
The words echo as the Ghost Pokemon vanished, leaving the trio alone once more.
"...He…really likes being dramatic, that's for sure," Leblanc snarkily remarked.
"He sounds cool when he's not being a big stupid, meanie head. Maybe I should try that. Do you think there are snake knights too?" Sakura asked.
Leblanc was trying very hard not to laugh.
"Well, we should get going. We've been here long enough, and if we take any longer, the sun's going to rise, and Dad's really going to let us hear it," Duster cringed.
Deciding to put the strange person's presence to the back of his mind, Duster and Leblanc began moving ahead. They didn't see the strange person, they likely moved ahead quickly. Duster, Sakura, and Leblanc began seeing non-Ghost Pokemon running around in the hallways. There were more Spinarak, Rattata, and some Koffing moving around, though they seemed to not care about Duster's presence. Duster was fine with that, he didn't want more problems to deal with after the Honedge ghost armor incident.
Duster was hoping to find more doors or other paths as they continued down the hallway, but it looked like they were reaching a dead end. Fortunately for them, as they got closer to the end of the hall, the trio saw a single door. If they were lucky, perhaps the item they were tasked with searching for will be behind those doors.
"Let's hope we find what we're actually looking for," Duster remarked. "Not sure how much more of this ghost tower we can take."
"Feels like we've been in here for weeks now," Leblanc mumbled.
"Really?" Sakura asked. "I haven't really noticed."
"Have you ever left this place?" Leblanc asked.
"I mean I was taken here after my family exiled me a few days ago," Sakura replied.
This almost caused Leblanc to trip from that statement. "Woah, hold on, I thought you were with that ghost merchant for all your life?"
"No, of course not. It'd be a boring life, just sitting there, waiting for someone to buy me. Though the food was decent, and the shelter was nice," Sakura replied. "The ghostly Pikachu was nice enough too, as long as I acted like good merchandise of course. I finally succeeded when Duster bought me!"
"So then how the heck did you end up here in the first place? You mentioned having been taken from your family, was it that ghost Pokemon?" Leblanc inquired.
"Like I said, I was exiled from my family. The ghost Pokemon just happened to find me wandering around and took me in. Said that he'd take care of me as long as he can sell me," Sakura answered.
"Why were you exiled?" Leblanc asked.
"Because I'm a failure of an Ekans. I don't have a rattle on my tail to scare away predators or the enemy clan, I don't have any poison to be able to poison prey, nor do I have resistance to poison. I had some trouble keeping up with the hunting party too, lagging behind is a big no-no after all, you gotta keep up if you wanna survive in the wild," Sakura listed. "I wonder if whoever created me messed up or something. But that's okay, I'm here now and I'm useful!"
"So I take it your family were also Ekans and Arbok?" Leblanc asked, which Sakura nodded. She took a moment to look at her own claws, her light and dark purple colors across her body. "Still, must've been rough growing up. My mother wasn't exactly thrilled when she saw how different I looked compared to normal Sneasel, and I wonder sometimes if we were living in the wild, if she would've disowned me."
"Oh, that's so sad. Your mother shouldn't treat you like that just cause you look a little different. You seem to be pretty capable. I was exiled because I wasn't," Sakura said.
Leblanc simply shrugged. "Sometimes that's the way it is, like you said, because you were different, your family felt at odds. Nature requires them to think of a species as a whole, instead of the individual. Look at Duster here, even though his leg is handicapped, his father didn't kick him out or disowned him. Though can't say much about how he treats him, it's still better than how wild Pokemon treat their own when one of them is different."
"Oh definitely, it's why I've been wanting to live with humans for a while. I hear they treat their Pokemon as equals." Sakura smiled. "Seeing how you two have been in sync with each other since we met, I can see what they mean. I'm so happy!"
Leblanc sweatdropped, wondering how someone like this young Pokemon could be treated so poorly and yet still be so happy.
Duster noticed Sakura's happy squeal, and he chuckled, rubbing her head. Sakura seemed to keep him and Leblanc calm while they were traversing this tower.
After climbing through the tower, and checking each empty room, Duster finally found a room that had something of interest in it. Maybe a little too interesting. There were furniture and some poor Rattata being swung around in mid air by an invisible force. There was a door that led to another room at the back, but it was being blocked by all the swinging furniture. Not only that, but there was an ear splittingly awful sound. In the middle of it all, Duster, Sakura, and Leblanc saw a being.
The being appeared to be a simian Pokémon with a round body that is situated on two thick, black legs. It is covered in shaggy gray fur that streams upward and seems to evaporate. Its shaggy ear fur was hanging down. The Pokemon's skin is a dark gray. The metal shackle on its left arm is broken while it appears to have no shackle at all on the right arm. It is also able to greatly increase the size of its unshackled arm. The Pokemon has three fingered hands and two-toed feet. There are multiple throbbing veins on the left side of its face. Its eyes are red as if the creature were in an extreme rage.
But despite the appearance, the Pokemon didn't look to be enraged at anything. It was just moving its arms around while the furniture and Rattata were floating in the air. It appeared to be making this horrendous, loud noise too.
"Oh Lugia… make it stop, please!" Leblanc begged.
Everything floating in the air suddenly frozen as the being at the center slowly turned to look at the newcomers, specifically at Leblanc.
"What…did you say?" The being asked in a deep voice.
Recalling both the Skelidurg and Dreepy's warning about a certain musical ghost, Duster quickly stepped in front of Leblanc, hoping to deescalate the situation.
"Sorry, we were just passing through, no need to mind us," Duster apologized, hoping the ghost would let them pass.
"Pass through? Oh my, it's been at least a decade since my last audience. I had been practicing since then, and now my voice can rival that of that annoying fire croc and his little fireball chick," The Pokemon remarked. "You must simply stick around and hear my heavenly voice. You'll never get a chance like this again~ You can call me Mr. Passion. Oh, I know this form I have looks scary, I can't fathom why when I died, I look like a Primeape that died. It's just not me in the slightest."
"Uh… so are you a Primeape? You don't look like the ones I've seen," Sakura questioned curiously.
"Very good guess," The ghost congratulated. "But not exactly. I was once a Primape, bound by nothing but blind rage. It wasn't until I shed my mortal shell that I broke free from my shackles and learned of my true calling, my true passion. And that would be the classical arts!"
"So you were so angry that you died, and decided to take up singing instead?" Duster asked, trying to put together what this supposed dead Primeape meant.
"I wouldn't put it so crudely, but yes, in a manner of speaking. I existed long enough to even learn how to speak the human language, just so humans wouldn't feel left out from my songs~" Mr. Passion grinned. "Do you know how hard it is to live with nothing but anger and rage all the time? It gets exhausting."
"Can't exactly say I know what that's like, but if we listen to one of your songs, you'll let us pass?" Duster asked.
"Of course, unless you demand an encore, which I wouldn't blame you. There's hardly a living soul that could resist applauding my performance," Mr. Passion proudly stated.
"Probably because they end up dying from listening to him," Leblance whispered to Sakura.
"Oh come on, Leblanc, it can't be that bad," Sakura replied back.
Mr. Passion began moving his arms around, and the furniture and Rattata were being swung through the air again. Mr. Passion began singing, and as soon as he did, Duster felt like he was going to go deaf. The singing was not only ridiculously loud, it was horrendously bad.
"This isn't singing… it's screeching!" Leblanc shouted as she tried to cover her ears with her claws, but it wasn't helping much.
"M-maybe… we… could tell him… he needs a little more practice?" Sakura winced, unable to cover her own ears.
Even Duster couldn't last long, trying his best to at least appear like he enjoyed a little of it, but it was too much, and he was forced to cover his ears. He tried calling out to Mr. Passion to stop, but the Ghost Pokemon kept on playing. Duster started to wonder if even the Ghost Pokemon couldn't even hear the pleas of others. Leblanc and Sakura couldn't do much themselves either, the loud noise practically paralyzing them in place.
If we don't stop Mr. Passion soon, we'll end up going deaf, or worse. Duster thought as he tried thinking of a solution. If only we had something louder than him-
Duster then recalled the Honedge and the little gift it had left behind. Taking the whistle from his pocket, Duster was a bit skeptical that it could be louder than Mr. Passion, but Honedge did say it was special. He could only hope it would at least get Mr. Passion's attention. Taking a deep breath, Duster blew into the whistle, barely able to hear anything coming from it due to Mr. Passion's loud Screech, but he continued to blow regardless. It was only when he ran out of breath that Duster finally stopped, but to his dismay, Mr. Passion hardly seemed to notice him or the whistle.
Great, now what are we supposed to do- Duster wondered when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by heavy vibrations shaking the very floor he stood on. What the?
The wall next to Duster, Sakura, and Leblanc suddenly shattered, and a familiar giant red croc stood there with the fiery bird on his head. Pepper looked at Mr. Passion before taking a deep breath and letting out some kind of loud roar that actually got Mr. Passion's attention.
"What the? What are you doing here? Come to take away my audience again?" Mr. Passion growled.
"Actually, I was trying to stop you from strangling the very thing we're supposed to call music," Pepper replied. "I'll bet every ghost could hear you in this tower."
"Good! Let them hear, let them hear my passion! They all should bask in my musical talents!" Mr. Passion stated. "If they have a problem with it, they can simply tell me."
"That's the problem, everytime someone tries, you lose your cool and go Primeape on them, literally, or in this case you Annihilape them," Pepper retorted.
"Is this really the time to make puns?" Bertha sighed.
Duster was blinking. Apparently the whistle ended up calling Pepper, which surprised him. "Pepper? Did you hear the whistle?"
"Of course, you desperately needed my help to set this right. Besides, you and your Pokemon likely wouldn't stand a chance against Mr. Passion if a fight broke loose. No offense, but Mr. Passion had levelled buildings before in his rampage," Pepper explained.
"Hey! That was a long time ago!" Mr. Passion snapped.
"Uh-huh, that was last year," Pepper replied. "So what were you going to do if these people didn't like your loud screeching?"
"What are you talking about? They were enjoying my performance before you came in here and interrupted me!" Mr. Passion accused.
"Puh-lease, they were yelling at you to stop. You were about to make their brains explode," Pepper huffed. "That's why they had to call me here."
"You're just jealous! You and everyone else here!" Mr. Passion growled when a sudden idea came to mind. "But how about we settle this, once and for all!"
"Oh no, this tower is old and parts of it are already unstable, we are not going to battle and put everyone here at risk," Pepper refused.
"Oh, I'm not talking about regular battle, but I'm talking about a MUSIC BATTLE!" Mr. Passion shouted during that last part. "If you win, then I'll cease my singing and let those three continue on with whatever they are doing. But if I win, then not only must you admit I am truly a musical genius, but that everyone must listen to my performance!"
"Now, I would be all for that, but how would we know who's winning this music battle without a judge?" Pepper asked. "No, it can't just be one judge. That's too biased. We need something… more."
"I agree, we need an audience!" Mr. Passion stated. "And an audience we shall have!"
Mr. Passion lifted up his arms, and suddenly, all the ghosts that Duster, Sakura, and Leblanc met at the party room were forced into this room.
"Hey! What's going on? I was in the middle of cooking!"
"Come on, I don't wanna be here now!"
"What is this about?"
"Oh no, not him!"
A Dreepy floated up to Duster, hoping to fill in the gaps. "So I take it you had a run in with our musical ghost here, huh?"
Duster sheepishly smiled. "Yeah, unfortunately we still haven't found what we were looking for, and we ended up running into Mr. Passion. He started…uh…performing, and I ended up using a whistle a Honedge had given me. Didn't realize it was going to summon Pepper here."
Dreepy had an expressionless face for a second, but then it sighed before responding. "So you ended up running into both ghosts that I specifically warned you to avoid encountering…Well, can't deny this night sure has been eventful, and from the looks of it, it's only gonna get more crazy from here."
"It kinda just happened. I was looking for something important and I needed to look in every nook and cranny for it," Duster explained.
"I sure hope this item you're looking for is worth all of this," Dreepy sighed.
"If the man is going through all this trouble for this item, then it must be worth more than you can comprehend, little Dreepy," The Mimikyu merchant stated. "And I see you've been putting the little Ekans to good use~"
"Oh I've been very useful!" Sakura stated proudly.
"Now that we have an audience, we shall do our musical off," Pepper stated. "The audience will praise and decide who will win."
"Oh definitely. But how's your dancing, hmm?" Mr. Passion asked. "You may be able to sing well, but your movements lack any passion, you're slow, and your short legs can't do much at all. You can't just be good at singing, you must be good at dancing too, which I am~"
"Dancing? You said nothing about dancing!" Pepper huffed.
"A true maestro, such as myself, should have no difficulty performing both vocally and physically. But I am a fair mon, since you are terribly handicapped, I'll allow you to pick any one here to be your musical partner," The Annihilape offered.
"Uh… Bertha, can you dance?" Pepper asked.
"You're joking, right?" The little bird replied. "I barely have any feet!"
Pepper frowned before he looked at the other Ghost Pokemon. A lot of them didn't actually have feet. He didn't see any Ghost Pokemon that did have feet, other than maybe the Mimikyu.
The Mimikyu noticed Pepper looking at her. "Just saying it now, I am not a dancer."
Duster was watching the chaos unfold. What did I get myself into here?
"You could try asking the human," Dreepy suggested. "Mr. Passion did say you could pick anyone here."
The Skelidurge turned towards Duster, who shook his head. "I'm sorry, I would be willing to help, but I've been dealing with an injury to my left leg, and I'll only be hurting your chances at winning."
Pepper frowned, having sensed something was off with the human when he first saw him before. He found it odd that Duster was walking with a limp, but seeing how it was an old injury, Pepper would have to choose someone else.
"Ooh, oh! I can probably help!" Sakura volunteered, bouncing around. "I could do… uh… the bellyworm!"
"You'd need to do a lot more than that when it comes to dancing," Leblanc said. "You'd have to be able to move elegantly. Kind of like this."
Leblanc did a twirl, moved her feet around, and curtseyed perfectly.
"Ooh, those were some nice moves~" Sakura smiled. "Hey, maybe you should be the dancer."
"W-what?" Leblanc nervously responded. "No, I was only showing you how it should be done. I am no dancer!"
Unfortunately for her, Pepper had noticed Leblanc's little demonstration, and strode up to the Sneasel. "My dear, no need to be modest. Those movements were quite refined indeed!"
Having heard this, Duster turned to see Leblanc look away, trying to hide her embarrassed face. He recalled how after his injury to his leg, he was bedridden for some time. It was rough, and hardly anything cheered him up, that was until Leblanc decided to perform a little dance, which had brought a smile to his face. Though he noticed when trying to talk about Leblanc's dancing, he found out it was something she didn't really want others to know too much about. The only time she did dance was when it was only them two, and even then, it would be a rare moment to see.
"Come on, Leblanc, Mr. Pepper is right, you seem like a great dancer," Sakura happily stated. "I'm sure with your help, you'll bet Mr. Passion. Besides, didn't you want to complete this important mission with Duster? The Thieves of Justice shouldn't give in so easily."
Leblanc groaned. It was true though, they needed to complete their mission. Leblanc weighed which was the lesser of the two evils, dancing in front of an audience of ghosts, or going home empty handed and having to face Wess and her mother.
Why did it have to come to this?! Leblanc huffed before turning to face Pepper, her face slightly blushing before speaking. "Okay, you win. But this stays here, I don't want you or anyone going out and blabbing about this, got it?! Or else I'll personally send you all to the afterlife!"
This only made Pepper and some of the ghost laugh out loud, with Pepper finally responding. "Oh, no need to worry, we have a special saying at these parties of ours, especially here at the tower. Everyone!"
"WHAT HAPPENS AT THE PARTY, STAYS IN THE PARTY!" All the Ghost shouted in unison.
"Trust me, there have been many of us who have done much more embarrassing things that you can't even imagine," Pepper remarked.
"There's a reason why humans still don't know the existence of talking ghost Pokemon, even after all this time," A Gastly snickered.
Leblanc sighed before nodding."Alright, fine, I'll do this. Let's just get this over with…"
"Excellent, then let's start with the dancing!" Mr. Passion stated. "Whoever gets the crowd riled up the loudest will win this round."
"You got this Leblanc!" Duster cheered, which only caused Leblanc to glare at him. He knew she would rather do anything else, but knew she was our best chance.
"Yeah! You can do it!" Sakura cheered as well.
In a surprising loud voice, Bertha addressed the crowd. "Alright everyone, this will be a best of three match. First round will focus on dancing, with both participants providing the music. Second round will focus solely on singing. Should both participants be tied, the final round will involve both singing and dancing."
"This is gonna be interesting."
"It's probably also gonna be tormentous…"
Duster wasn't sure what to think, this wasn't what he expected when he and Leblanc went on their mission to an abandoned tower. But he may as well enjoy the show… if nothing else, it served as a good distraction from… a certain thing he had to keep quiet about.
Leblanc found herself standing next to the Annihilape, waiting for the dance off to start. But she had so many eyes on her, she wasn't sure if she was ready for something like this. Dancing for just Duster was one thing, but an entire audience was very different.
"Since I issued the challenge, I will go first," Mr. Passion stated. "Watch a real dance master in action~"
Some music started up in the background, Duster wondered if the ghost Pokemon were capable of just playing music somehow, or if there was an invisible ghost playing an invisible instrument. Mr. Passion began to move around with ease, despite his awful singing, he was surprisingly good at dancing. He was able to move his legs and feet gracefully despite the metal bracelets around his arms and ankles. He was able to twirl around and land on his hands like a handstand. Duster, as well as most of the ghosts, were quite shocked at seeing the big Ghost Pokemon dancing gracefully. In a final move, Mr. Passion leaped into the air in beat with the music, twirling several times before both feet and posing, both his arms stretched outwards.
There was a moment of silence before a good portion of the ghosts started clapping and cheering. Despite Mr. Passion's temper, they couldn't deny his talent when it came to dancing. Once the crowd had settled down, all eyes turned to Leblanc, who had gulped from all the watchful ghosts. She was hoping that the Annihilape would be clumsy and she could have an easy time, but after seeing his performance, she wasn't so sure if she could even compete with the ghost.
"Don't worry, my dear, just dance to your heart's content," Pepper said, trying to reassure the Sneasel.
Leblanc gave a little nod as she stepped up to the center. Pepper coughed a little as he prepared to provide music for the Sneasel. Just like before, music started playing in the background, having that same classical tune that Mr. Passion had played before.
Okay, you saw his dance moves, and you already heard this classical routine, I guess…just follow the beat? Leblanc thought to herself as she waited a few seconds.
Leblanc started out simple, moving her feet with the beat. At first, she was doing alright, trying to get into the music. But as the song started to ramp up a little, she became more unsure of herself. She could already hear her mother yelling at her for not keeping up right away, and how this stupid Primeape-wanna-be did so much better than she did.
Leblanc attempted to do a handstand of her own, but then she worried about messing it up. She could hear her mother screaming at her for not putting her claws in a certain way, so when she tried to do the handstand, she slipped a little and wobbled, but she managed to catch herself and land on her feet. She already messed up, but maybe she could still salvage this. She attempted another stylish move, she jumped and began to twirl in the air.
Leblanc could already hear her mother snapping at her for not twirling counterclockwise, and how she was going to lose if she kept this up. And the music might've been a little off with her timing. Leblanc tried to catch up to the music's rhythm, but this caused her to land too early, so she landed on one foot and nearly lost her balance, causing her to stumble forward.
After regaining her balance, Leblanc hastily tried to end with a pose, but she already knew the results. The silence was deafening, though it didn't last long as a few of the ghosts clapped. She heard loud clapping and thumping and turned to see it was Duster and Sakura, who was using her tail to clap against the ground, both still showing their support. But Leblanc knew it didn't matter, she messed up. She quickly returned to Pepper's side, wishing more than anything to be like the ghosts here and vanish from sight.
"It's okay dearie, there's still two more rounds," Bertha softly said before addressing the crowd. "Well folks, first round goes to Mr. Passion."
Some of the ghost actually cheered, while others, despite Mr. Passion's performance, were still worried about the condition should he win, and preferred not to be forced to listen to his singing. Though some of them hoped that perhaps the bad singing was pretend, and just like his dancing, Mr. Passion was in fact a great singer too.
"With round one over, we shall commence with the second round!" Bertha declared. "Pepper, having lost the first round, you shall start off this round. Are you ready?"
"You know it," Pepper confidently responded before lowering himself for a moment to speak with Leblanc. "Hey, it's okay. Everyone has their inner stage fright. You take this time to relax and calm your nerves, and if it still bothers you, I'll handle the third round."
"But what about your dancing?" Leblanc asked, concerned over the Skeledirge's difficulty to dance.
"It'll be okay, something important I forgot is that music is something that must come willingly. You can never force one to sing or dance," Pepper shared. "Music is all about freedom, expressing your emotions in ways that words alone can't express. Now go ahead and wait with your friends, I guarantee this is one performance you don't wanna miss."
Leblanc went over to Duster and Sakura, hanging her head.
"Hey, what's the matter? Sure you didn't win, but you still did pretty good out there." Sakura smiled.
"But if I don't win, we can't pass, and if we can't pass, we'll never complete the mission…" Leblanc groaned.
Duster looked at Leblanc, he could tell she was feeling down. He rubbed her head. "Hey, nobody's perfect… But was it the music, the embarrassment, or… our parents that made you mess up?"
Leblanc looked up at Duster when he mentioned their parents.
"I thought so…" Duster sighed. "I was the same way. During training, Dad was being… very critical towards me that day, it's what caused me to get into that accident that damaged my leg. Overcorrecting can lead to failing, as I learned the hard way…"
"It's also like Pepper said, you should dance with your heart rather than with your head, right?" Sakura added.
Leblanc didn't respond as she sat down and hugged her knees. She knew they were trying to comfort her, but she could only think of what her mother would think, reminding her of a failure she had been.
Duster was about to try and reassure Leblanc again, when a single singing voice echoed throughout the room, causing everyone to turn their attention towards the source. Even Leblanc's thoughts of her mother were interrupted by the powerful deep voice.
"When I was a young croc, I knew from the start~" Pepper took a brief moment, filling the room with silence.
"My heart gave a beat, which grew with each beat. I felt it within me, I couldn't be stop~"
"And so with a deep breath, with my heart~"
Once more, Pepper took a moment of silence, before taking a deep breath, and released a flurry of words that melted together, describing his desire to sing and share the rush it brought along. He also sang words of the hardships that came, that in a world of humans and Pokemon, not everyone was as accepting, yet he pressed onward.
As he continued, the pace of his song picked up, that Leblanc was now realizing her heart was beating in rhythm with the beat of Pepper's singing. She felt movement and looked down and saw she was subconsciously tapping along. She looked up at Duster and Sakura, who both were listening intently to the song.
Turning back to the Skeledirge, Pepper's voice was booming even louder as he begun his last verse.
"Now you know my story, I hope you felt within~"
"The power music has on you, for me, and all my friends~"
"And with these final words, I hope you will begin~"
"To let your heart~" Pepper took one moment to take in a deep breath. "BE FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~"
When Pepper hit that last note, Bertha was on top of a thin stick in front of him. Then as Pepper gave out his voice to her, Bertha transformed into a big looking phoenix and flew around the entire room before landing back onto Pepper's head as a finale.
The crowd went absolutely wild at that. The noise was so loud that Duster would be very shocked if nobody at the village heard all of this commotion.
"Thank you, thank you~" Pepper smiled as he and Bertha gave bows.
Pepper then looked over at Mr. Passion. "See if you can top that."
"Oh, I'll be able to top it! And I don't need a bird on my head to do so," Mr. Passion humphed.
When the crowd finally calmed down, Mr. Passion held up his hands. He began making the furniture float around, as well as the poor Rattata that hadn't been able to escape. Mr. Passion then began to shout loudly that sounded more like screeching than singing. Duster felt like using the whistle earlier didn't really save him, just delayed the inevitable.
The other ghosts didn't look all that happy either, having their hearing assaulted with this performance.
"ALRIGHT! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Pepper shouted so loud that his voice boomed over Mr. Passion's. "I think the audience endured enough of your singing for one night."
"Well! That's just rude! You don't hear my interrupting your singing!" Mr. Passion snapped. "But fine, let's hear what the audience thinks!"
Bertha raised her fiery wing, pointing towards Mr. Passion and waiting for the crowd to judge. At first there was only silence, with the occasional coughing from a few individuals, but after receiving a death glare from the Annihilape, a few of them started cheering. After a few seconds, Mr. Passion looked at Pepper smugly as he watched Bertha then point towards the Skeledirge, expecting to be the winner of this round. To his disappointment, a majority of the crowd started cheering for Pepper, signifying that he was the winner of the singing round.
"Bah! So what, we both know the final round will require both singing and dancing, and my performance will definitely win," Mr. Passion declared before looking at Leblanc. "Especially after seeing her performance, I have nothing to worry about."
"Don't forget, you have to dance and sing," Pepper reminded. "And I'm sure the Sneasel will perform better now that she has an idea of what to do."
"Hey, Leblanc, if you don't want to dance, I can take over," Sakura kindly offered. "I was watching you and Mr. Passion dance, maybe I could try pulling off some moves of my own."
Leblanc looked at Sakura. The little serpent Pokemon had no limbs, no legs, Leblanc couldn't imagine Sakura being able to dance at all, and even if she could, she had no experience. If Leblanc wanted to get past this insanity, she needed to bring her best.
Leblanc took a deep breath before giving Sakura a smile. "It's okay, I should be good now."
While she said that to try and convince Sakura, it was more to reassure herself. Despite having seen Pepper's performance and having been filled with new vigor and determination, deep down Leblanc was still nervous.
"Don't worry so much, you've got this," Pepper said, hoping to encourage Leblanc. "Now, I will begin singing. You'll have to try to dance along with it."
Leblanc gave a nod.
"Then here we go!" Mr. Passion said. "May the best maestro win, which of course will be me."
Pepper began the song, and Leblanc listened. The song started out slow, giving Leblanc time to try to get her body in sync with the music. Duster and Sakura were watching. Duster couldn't help but feel bad for Leblanc, because he could see Leblanc was tense.
"If only Leblanc could go back to when she was just dancing to cheer me up, or just for fun," Duster sighed.
Sakura looked back at Duster. "Is she not having fun?"
Duster looked at Sakura's questioning look. "Leblanc struggles with trying to do things right, because of our… teachers. They were always so strict on us. Because of this, when Leblanc feels like it's a part of the mission, it has to be done perfect. But that puts pressure on her."
Sakura frowned. "Oh, that's bad. Dancing should be fun, not work."
Sakura looked back at Leblanc, she was dancing, but her movements were stiff. The little pink and white serpent looked at Bertha before slithering over to Pepper. "Excuse me, Ms. Fire Bird? Is it against the rules for another dancer to join in?"
Bertha was surprised to see Sakura there before she responded. "Well, not exactly. Usually it's only one dancer, so as to make it easier for those competing. More dancers might throw the other off, or might cause an accident if neither are careful. Though if you two have had practice, I see no reason why you can't join."
"Nope, no practice!" Sakura smiled before she slithered over to Leblanc.
"Uh…" Bertha didn't know what to say, but Sakura seemed more than happy to jump in anyway.
"Leblanc!" Sakura called out.
"What are you doing?" Leblanc questioned, seeing Sakura coming over. "I'm supposed to be dancing!"
"You can keep dancing, but I'll join you!" Sakura smiled.
Leblanc blinked, surprised. "Wait, Sakura!"
Sakura tapped her tail for a moment before she began to move her body around. Sakura was surprisingly graceful, and she was able to move her body around flexibly. The audience watching were also surprised by this.
"Well, what do you know, guess you don't need legs to be able to dance," Dreep noted.
"Come on, Leblanc! Don't think about it, just let your body move on its own!" Sakura spoke up, looking at Leblanc, who had been watching her.
At first Leblanc didn't know how to react, she was already struggling before, and having Sakura suddenly here threw her off even more. But seeing the Dratini dance around without a single care, as well as Pepper's singing, was surprisingly helping calm Leblanc's nerves. She still could imagine some of the words her own mother would be saying, but with Sakura's dancing and Pepper's singing, she was able to push those doubtful thoughts down.
Taking a deep breath, Leblanc started dancing once more, taking it a bit slow, but as she let loose and let her body move, her movements became more and more fluid, to the point where without even realizing it, both she and Sakura were starting to dance in sync, despite neither of them sharing the same physiology. Seeing the two dancing and letting loose, Pepper picked up the pace of his song, the room being filled with the constant beat of clapping from the crowd. Duster himself was shocked to not only see Sakura being able to dance, but that she had helped Leblanc get more comfortable with dancing herself.
Leblanc couldn't even remember the last time she was able to feel so free, to just be herself and not care. She didn't have her mother's eyes on her, analyzing and criticizing every move she made. She could just enjoy herself, and those who were watching her were enjoying themselves as well.
All too soon, Pepper had stopped singing, and the dance had ended. Leblanc wished it could've gone on for longer. She looked at Sakura, who was moving a lot faster than usual.
"Whew! That was fun!" Sakura smiled. "I feel so full of energy!"
Leblanc was breathing hard, having worked a good sweat. "Didn't realize you could dance."
"Looks like both of you are full of surprises," Pepper added, congratulating the two before looking up at Mr. Passion. "Well, looks like it's your turn."
The Annihilape huffed, ignoring the crowd's recent cheering and decided to start singing and dancing himself. Mr. Passion's singing was still bad, but at least when he was dancing, it made him sing less and softer since he was concentrating. Mr. Passion was trying so hard to appear as stylish as possible to beat Sakura and Leblanc's dancing that he jumped a little too high and hit his head on the ceiling. This caught him to crash down on his face.
"And… I think that pretty much wraps up this dance off," Bertha remarked.
"Then let's see what the audience thinks," Pepper began.
Mr. Passion held up his hand before anyone could do anything and he picked himself up from the floor. "Alright, alright. I can see what I'm beaten, I'll concede. The victory is yours, and these two rookies. Though for a couple of rookies, they definitely have talent."
"Don't cut yourself short, you were surprising yourself," Pepper complimented. "While your singing still needs working on, no one can deny your dancing was both entertaining and spectacular. I may be a professional singer, but we both know my dancing skills are next to nothing. Perhaps we can work together?"
"Really?" Mr. Passion asked with skepticism. "You're willing to work together?"
"For the sake of music, I see a bright future for the both of us," Pepper stated. "That is if you can handle it."
"Handle it?!" Mr. Passion puffed himself up. "If anything, you'll have to practice more with your singing if you wish to keep up with my dancing."
"Sounds like a challenge," Pepper responded.
"I have a feeling you two will be a massive headache for me," Bertha sighed.
"Aw, come on, don't be like that Bertha," Pepper chuckled. "I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship of music."
"Well, this certainly turned out unexpected," Dreepy noted. "Hopefully now this means we won't have to hear that horrid singing anymore."
Duster also couldn't believe how this entire thing worked out.
"Well, it's almost morning, we should probably get going before the sun rises," Mimikyu stated. "It would be difficult to move around with the sunlight, and humans are more likely to see us."
"You're leaving now?" Duster asked.
"Of course, we were only here for a one night event actually," Mimikyu chuckled. "We don't actually live around these parts."
"So where will you go after this?" While it had been a weird night, Duster couldn't deny that he found some of the ghosts here rather interesting.
"Oh, we don't know yet, but there's rumors that Rotom is going to be hosting a party at this old abandoned Chateau over at Sinnoh," Mimikyu answered. "It's just a matter of when we all get notified."
Sinnoh? Dang, ghosts really do like to party if they are willing to travel such distances. Duster thought before felt something tugging his pants. Looking down he saw Leblanc trying to get his attention while pointing in a direction.
"Sne Sneasel!" Leblanc pointed, to which Duster saw a door towards the direction.
"Good eye, Leblanc," Duster praised before turning to Mimikyu one last time, already noticing that most of the ghosts have already vanished. "Well, it's been one eventful night, but we still have a mission to complete, and something tells me what we are looking for is going to be past those doors."
"Perhaps, who knows? I wish you the best of luck~" Mimikyu chuckled. "I wonder how this will turn out."
"Thanks for selling me to Duster! This is the best night I've ever had!" Sakura smiled.
"Well, let's hope you'll be able to keep having 'best nights' from now on~" Mimikyu replied. "Maybe I'll get to see you once you've moved on from your mortal coils, but until then, live your life to the fullest."
With those words said, Mimikyu disappeared into the shadows. Leaving Duster, Leblanc, and Sakura to themselves. Well, there was one more among them.
"Ohhhh… I hate ghost parties…" The poor Rattata that had been used during the concert groaned on the floor.
Sakura looked at the Rattata. "Should I eat him?"
"I think he's had enough torment for tonight, and I don't think he wants to be a part of the ghost society any time soon," Leblanc said. "If you're hungry, we can get you some Poke Chow when we get out of here."
Sakura was a little hungry, but if she left the Rattata alone for a much better and bigger meal, she was fine with that. "Okay!"
Duster looked at the Rattata, and felt a little sorry for the small Pokemon, seeing how he had been used by Mr. Passion earlier. He took out some nut breads and a beef jerky, and set it in front of the Rattata. "Just a little something for what you had to go through tonight."
Rattata blinked as he looked up at Duster and smiled. "Thank you so much! You're a kind human."
Sakura hopped onto Duster's shoulders. "Let's get going! The Thieves of Justice's mission isn't over yet!"
Sobbas: Traveling Master: Well, it's been a good minute. A lot of the characters are fun and interesting, but always interesting to see who ends up being your favorite.
Wess does seem to follow the common trope of 'father being hard on son to make him stronger.' Which, on the one hand, is a fair point, but we saw that being pushed too hard can have some serious consequences. It's probably more of Duster trying to convince himself, despite the harsh times he's been through, that it will all be good in the end.
DarkFoxKit: It's also common for the child to believe their parent's words, because that is how they were raised. It's sad, really, the child wouldn't know any better after all. By the time they grow up, it's very difficult to change that mindset.
Well, this may have Mother 3 characters and such in it, but it's still a Pokemon story. Of course the Pokemon are going to be playing a big role in all of this. And a lot of RPGs like making the people the player control to be silent, so of course we don't really get to see their thoughts on things. So it's left up to interpretation to what Duster could be thinking during this time, but that also gives us a lot to work with.
Traveling Master: Pokemon can tend to be more straightforward in contrast to how humans are. Similar to animals, they tend to focus more on instincts and such. Following that, Leblanc's mom senses that Leblanc isn't strong enough, and being a weak Sneasel/Weavile is basically asking to be hunted and killed. Despite Leblanc's best efforts, it's still not enough in her mother's eyes, and so you can definitely sense the resentment and hostility between the two from time to time.
DarkFoxKit: Yeah, Duster and Leblanc are very close, and we're hoping to show it well. Heh, well we could've used an Aipom, but considering Salsa was taken to Nowhere Island via flying machine, it was likely he was taken from somewhere far away. We also thought it'd be more fitting that Salsa would be a Chimchar instead of an Aipom. Also, Paul's Chimchar had an awesome character arc, so yeah, maybe a little bit of an inspiration from that.
We enjoy doing things people wouldn't expect, making it more fun and ironic. Pepper is actually the nickname I gave to my Fuecoco when I first played Pokemon Violet, so the name is a homage to that. We also liked giving Pepper a dynamic with the little firebird on his head, one being more responsible than the other.
Traveling Master: Well, in a place full of Ghost Pokemon, we had to make a reference to a certain punny Dragapult XD.
Concerning the whole human reincarnating topic, that's the fun thing about Pokemon stories, gives us liberty to decide how to approach the topic, if we plan on using it or simply make a reference to it. I recall mentioning before our ideas are constantly shifting, but some decide to stick with glue. Whether we plan to do anything with Hinawa despite her passing will have to wait until the story progresses and you'll see what we have got in store for you.
And yeah, despite the story taking place in Johto, we don't want to exclusively cut off every Pokemon. If we can find a way to include a Pokemon outside of the region while making sense, we'll try to go for it.
DarkFoxKit: Rope Snake did have a personality in Mother 3. At first we thought about it being a general Ekans, but then we thought why not something like a Dratini? And since Rope Snake was red, we decided to make the Dratini shiny since it's closer to Rope Snake's color. And lo and behold, we made Sakura. We also wanted to give Sakura more of a speaking role instead of just being a silent item that Duster uses. She's kind of based off of Berry, being a Dragon type raised by Pokemon that aren't her species and don't like her, but her personality is different from Berry's, she's a lot more optimistic and outgoing.
Magypsies, as far as we know, aren't aliens. The game never mentioned them being aliens, they seem to imply they're just long lived magical beings. We have plans for them in this story, assuming we keep going with it.
Traveling Master: Well, you have given us fun ideas in the past, and your theories were close to what we had planned before too. So it's always fun seeing your theories, and how close they are to what we got going on. Though Wess hypnotizing is a bit of a stretch.
Earthpartriot117: DarkFoxKit: Finally, someone who isn't Sobbas we can answer back to! The Land Before Time Sharptooth chase scene, I was wondering if anyone would get that reference. We thought it was perfect to use for the chase scene with the Tyranitar since the situation was very similar. I'm glad you decided to give this story a try, I feel like too many people are focusing on the fact we're using Mother 3 characters instead of trying to enjoy the story.
Unless you live in Japan, you likely would've never played or gotten Mother 3. It's not only a Gameboy Advanced game, but it was never released outside of Japan. I was only ever able to play it, recently, on an emulator with an English patch. But I fell in love with it.
Dust: Wait…I'm in this story?! Where's my part then? I've been waiting for who knows how- *Smacks*
Traveling Master: You're not even in the story! Sorry about that, but don't fret, we may or may not have plans for an Absol, though it most likely won't be Dust. For obvious reasons.