One day, a human came that acted different than the rest.

Their hair was a pretty lavender, and they moved with a purpose. The other humans had snuck about, or hung around leisurely. But this one was searching. From the moment they walked through the doorframe they were pushing aside the debris. Peeking into the holes in the structure's frame. At one point they even tried climbing up to the collapsed remains of the second floor, to look up there.

They had another ghost with them too. A round one, radiating a noxious air that made her curl her face in disgust. He was helping them look.

This one scared her. Hiding was usually so easy! But this one was making it hard. She kept having to stop herself from squeaking in alarm when the human would come close and peek closely into a nearby hiding spot, forcing her to fly quickly to somewhere new.

The human never seemed to find what they were looking for, though. It was hard for her to tell what was going on, as she kept squirming deeper and deeper into the heap of wreckage she had finally lodged herself comfortably into.

But in spite of their failures, they just wouldn't give up. They had to have been there for an hour already, searching. The sun would soon set, and Mom would soon come back. But the human seemed to have no intent of leaving with the sun.

And if Mom found them, then…

Despite her nervousness, she did as she always did.

Slipping from her hiding place, she took aim and fired a tiny Confusion up towards the peak of the decaying pillar. The impact made a dull thud itself, but more importantly it sent a terrible creak that echoed through the entire building.

The human's head shot up towards it, alert.

Good. While they were focusing on that, she hovered close to the floor and knocked a few of the shards of rotting wood about. They skidded across the floorboards, producing a shifting and skittering sound like something many-legged was running through the ruins.

Retreating into a crack in the wall, she smiled contentedly and turned to peek back out from her hiding space. Certain she'd see an uneasy human preparing to make a quick exit, as she always did.

But that wasn't what she saw.

The human looked excited. They had run straight to where she had been tossing debris across the floor and was inspecting that room all over again, digging through rubble.

For the first time, she considered that the human might be looking for her.

She failed to suppress a small squeak at the thought, eyes-widening as the human perked up again and she quickly regretted it. She turned and tried to worm her way deeper into the space between the walls, shedding stealth in the process. Splinters fell and pelted the floor beneath her as she tried to force her way through.

She'd definitely been spotted now, and the human called for the ghost to pursue her. She couldn't taste the slightest bit of fear from this human— they weren't afraid of no ghost.

Surrendering her futile effort to crawl deeper into the walls, she broke free and made a panicked dash for the hole in the floor that led down to their den. Where she could hide entirely beyond the human's reach— beyond, she hoped, this rival phantom's reach.

Her sudden shift made the other ghost go flying past her, ramming his face halfway into the crack she'd just been trying to crawl into before halting his momentum. She shot through the air, careening towards the hole.

Almost there… almost there!

Something large suddenly blocked her way, and she was forced to frantically swerve off course. Flying away from her shelter. Away from the human blocking her path with an eager smile and a red sphere in hand.

The human shouted another order to the ghost, instructing it to pursue and subdue her. But at this point Haedys feared the human more than the ghost. Its terrors were known to her— familiar, even. But the human was an unknown threat.

She reversed direction and shot for the tower's collapsed wall. If she escaped into the woods, they'd never find her again. She could sneak back home when they gave up. She just needed to get out of this place, out of their sight, and—

She abruptly froze, her momentum suddenly breaking. It was like her flight had locked up entirely, and she had simply lost all strength to fly further.

With dread, she turned her gaze backwards to see the rival ghost staring at her with an impossibly-deep glare. Meeting his eyes alone was enough to hold her in place, fixated. Unable to turn her back to him, to forget him…

She knew this power. Some of the black-feathered birds would use it, and that was why they had to avoid them entirely.

The ghost— or maybe it was the human— refused to let her flee.

Filled with fear, she let out the most threatening cry she could manage— a pitiful sound— before launching a Confusion at the other ghost. The sudden turnabout caught it off guard and the attack landed. Even her weak attack was enough to blast its feather-weight body backwards.

For a brief moment, her spirits soared at the small victory.

Until the sphere was flying towards her face.

There was no time to react. She cried out in dismay as it slammed into her cheek and something terrifying began to happen to her. She saw her body starting to turn a brilliant red and start to fizzle. Like her entire being was trying to dissolve.

She squirmed and cried and resisted the strange power. Fought it, fought it with every thread of her body to maintain composure, squirming her neck as she tried to pull away from the tug of her own collapsing torso.

Against all odds, she succeeded. After a moment the glow dulled, the fizzling stopped. She could feel her body's composure reforming.

The effect faded entirely, and the sphere struck the ground with a metallic dink.

She tried to breathe a sigh of relief. Wide-eyed and completely overwhelmed.

But she couldn't even have that much reprieve. A shadow loomed over her. The human had another sphere in their hand. The ghost with them again, ready to subdue her if needed. She was cornered. No matter how much she resisted, there would be nowhere to run. No exit but surrender.

Haedys gave a fearful cry and shut her eyes. Waiting for that strange force to come again.

An ear-splitting scream rattled her instead.

Her eyes flew open to see black and crimson energy flooding through the human as they reared back and collapsed to their knees. Their fingers curled, their neck twisted upwards to face the sky. Still screeching a blood-curdling scream, the attack didn't stop.

She hardly had to look past the human. She knew who was behind her.

Mom was utterly furious, eyes bleeding a blinding crimson as the beam of spited energy streamed from her mouth. Pouring more and more of its torment into the collapsing human. Even when they slumped to the floor, Mom didn't stop.

It was gratuitous. It was cruel.

"Mom, stop!" she finally demanded, her fear turning to pity as the human's screaming continued to haunt her.

The Mismagius didn't answer. They finally released the attack, and the human slumped forward unconscious. Mom turned just in time to catch the other ghost diving at her— far too brave for what he had just witnessed.

Mom let out a lyrical note as a series of purple flames formed in front of her and flew out to ignite the phantom. Swinging to the side, its attempt to bite the older ghost went wide as the flames seared it.

"Traitor," the Mismagius hissed with faint disgust, as the ghost tumbled to the ground as the flames burned away its toxic aura and it rolled across the ground, unconscious.

A tense moment held, with Mom watching both still figures with silent hatred. But after a minute where neither of them moved, the scowling ghost finally exhaled and let her power fade.

But Mom still wouldn't look at her.

"Darkpalm will need to drag them out of here. Maybe kill the hazy one…" the Mismagius muttered bitterly.

"Mom!"

She protested again, at this point more afraid for the intruders than herself. She pouted and hovered close enough to nuzzle against her mother's tendril. "They're already down."

Mom still didn't acknowledge her for a moment, neither pulling away nor leaning in to the affection. Her parent was trembling, slightly. Staring fixated at the ground.

"Go back into the den."

It was direct and commanding. Betraying no emotion.

"Mom…"

"Go."

She let out a meek whimper, and tried to look up at her mother one last time. Desperately wishing the older ghost would look back. Give her some reassurance.

But the Mismagius refused to meet her eyes. Her hair melted, dripping down around her head like goo in sadness. And silently, she turned away and returned to the hole.

Just as she wormed her way through it, she heard a sound she'd never heard before. The quiet sniffle of her mother's cry.

The next few days formed a consistent schedule. In the afternoons Persephone and Haedys would go down into the basement with Cayenne and Kona to explode random elements in their own faces for several hours. As far as either of them could tell, not much progress was being made there. Haedys got more consistent with producing obscure effects, but never with reproducing anything deliberately.

Then in the evenings, they'd return upstairs for more traditional tests by Coriander and the rest of the research staff. Persephone spent these evenings with a pit in her stomach, refusing to meet anyone's eyes or speak up beyond what was needed. They'd run her and Haedys through the aurascope or basic psychological exercises as quickly as possible, and she'd return straight to her room.

Every night she found the door locked behind her and the camera on. Locking her door wasn't even effective— if she'd really wanted to run, she could have done it at any time during the day. But it wasn't about being effective, was it? It was about the message it sent.

She'd taken to spending most of her free time in the bathroom, just to feel unwatched.

This was getting her nowhere.

That consistency was why it surprised her when one day, after a few mornings on repeat, Kona hit a different elevator button.

She blinked at the lit button, clearing her eyes to verify he had hit "1" and not "B".

"Are we going out somewhere?" Persephone asked, looking at him nervously. The schedule they'd kept was her one small assurance in this hell. Deviation only invited things to get worse.

Haedys, riding atop her head in a heap, peered over to question Kona as well. Perhaps she would have been a bit more naively curious, but it was hard for even her to be optimistic while emotionally tied to a powder keg of anxiety.

"Ah! I must have forgotten to mention—Cayenne has been drowning in data from the past few days. Said we needed to take a break." Kona tutted and shook his head disapprovingly. "Really, thought he was more enthusiastic about this sort of thing. But oh well- we're skipping that for today. So I thought we might do something else instead."

Ding! The elevator doors opened and revealed the lobby, glass panes in the front letting sunlight stream through and people moving hurriedly about. Just trying to step out of the elevator Persephone smashed face first into a man in a suit, bouncing off and muttering a hurried apology before spinning out of his way.

There was an almost tangible release of pressure as she stepped out into the natural light. This floor and the people flowing through didn't have that same oppressive atmosphere as upstairs. And Percy had the harrowing realization that this was the first time she'd seen natural light in several days.

Perhaps becoming half-nocturnal had left her more apathetic to that?

No. Haedys disagreed with that. Haedys still liked to see the moonlight. They'd just been so busy with everything.

Percy hummed in response to the mental conversation, earning a side-eye from Kona as they left the building. Reminded of his presence, she spoke up.

"So where are we going, exactly? Getting some real food finally?" she asked optimistically.

"Of course not! We're not going too far," he responded cheerfully and pointed his finger ahead to a large patch of bushes and brush that seemed to surround a rest area in the center of the parking lot. A handful of people in business attire hung around the area, resting on benches or out taking short walks beside their Pokémon. "There's a battlefield over there for people to stimulate their Pokémon during the day. It's been a while since two have had a battle, right?"

Both of their moods sank instantly at the implication. Albeit for entirely different reasons. Haedys had no chance against Don— she knew that much. And Persephone didn't feel like getting punched in the stomach several times today.

"Kind of hard to do that when it usually puts me on the ground," Percy muttered. After a moment she remembered to speak for Haedys as well. "And we both know Don will just beat us up."

Kona smacked her back affirmingly, causing her to stumble and nearly fall forward. Haedys let out a yelp and pounced off her head and into the air.

"Nonsense! You're the ones in sync, aren't you? Don might be a lot stronger, but they say the bond is everything for trainers!" Kona assured her with a beaming smile and ambiguous sincerity. "I want to see what that bond can do when you're working as a team, and not just on some silly lab tests."

"Our 'bond' making me want to cry every time we battle doesn't help crap!" Persephone protested.

"Fine, fine," Kona relented, throwing his hands up into the air in defeat. Yet he didn't stop walking ahead, or even look back at her. "A handicap, then. No verbal commands. My, I'll be practically useless! It's a two-on-one, really."

Percy stared at him, but he didn't care enough to turn back and receive it. His pace hadn't slowed in the slightest, and the field was visible around the bushes now. A few folks sat around on break, enjoying the sunlight with their Pokémon. But no one was currently using the field.

As much as Persephone wanted to assert her will onto Kona through angry glaring, he was clearly unaffected. She sighed and gave it up. As much as Percy didn't want to delve deeper into Haedys' head, their telepathy hadn't seemed harmful at all. And the past few days' worth of 'Icy Sneezes' had gotten her unwillingly accustomed to eating Pokémon attacks. The energy spent arguing with Kona would probably be a greater cost than the battle.

"Fine," she finally replied. She'd meant it to sound snippy, but even she was surprised by just how exhausted it sounded.

"How wonderful," Kona purred as he unsheathed a Pokéball from his belt. He lobbed it underhand as he walked across the field, the ball opening in a pulse of light to release Don into the world.

The Banette shook himself like he'd gotten wet, before stopping to take in his surroundings. He glossed over Persephone with a dry look, but his eyes lit up as he noticed the other bystanders in the picnic area. Several had sat up and turned their attention over at the sight of trainers approaching the field, anticipating a bit of entertainment, but they regretted that when Don caught their gaze. The Ghost-type widened his eyes and gave them all an eerie glare, zipper-mouth rattling as he giggled at their discomfort. Most quickly looked away, and at least one person stood up to leave.

Persephone watched the Banette with disdain, and Haedys slipped back to her hair again. The Misdreavus poked her face out again just a moment later, though, remembering that she had to fight the little menace. "Mis…" she muttered in a meek protest of the thought.

"I know," Persephone muttered. "But this is the only way we're gonna get him off our backs. And besides, if we get this over with quickly, maybe we can have some free time for once. We're already outside, and Coriander's goons aren't here, so if we want to go out somewhere we totally can."

Haedys considered that a moment, her gaze wavering back and forth between the trollish Banette and the city skyline above. Goldenrod was a strange and unsettling place, but she missed exploring. The building was worse.

And she wanted to go see that weird place again. The one had such a nice taste.

It took Percy a moment to realize what Haedys was referring to.

"That place was foreclosed," she muttered skeptically. "Also probably structurally unstable." As if that had ever stopped her before.

Haedys' eyes grew bigger and glistened as the mischievous ghost pouted and tried to make puppy-dog eyes. Foreclosed meant it would be quiet and lonely. Percy liked places like that. And she'd keep Percy safe from anything dangerous.

On some level, Persephone registered the face as endearing, but it struggled to influence her when she could sense the ghost's efforts to play-cute. And while she certainly believed the tiny, young, and under-trained Misdreavus would try and protect her, it was the capability she doubted.

Persephone just wasn't feeling particularly bold at the moment.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever. It's not important right now. Let's just take our beating so we can leave."

Turning back to the field, Persephone cast her arm out dramatically. "Go, Haedys! Uh… battle them."

Kona stifled a snicker at her awkward battle pose, but Haedys seemed impressed at least. She flitted forward with new confidence and let out a shrill battle cry.

"Alright, Don. Don't have too much fun now, dear," Kona ordered his own Pokémon forward in turn. "You may make the first move when you're ready, Percy."

Persephone and Haedys shared a final glance and nodded to each other. The young woman opened her mouth to issue a command before quickly remembering their rules and shutting it. She still had no idea how to battle properly, but fortunately Haedys' equally narrow skillset didn't leave her too many options to consider.

"Close the gap with Astonish and, uh… hit him from behind?"

Haedys lunged forward, squishing from the air pressure before vanishing into nothingness. Don's eyes narrowed, suddenly alert for the oncoming fight. Persephone watched him closely, sensing as Haedys rocketed closer and closer. But as she approached the Banette's arm blackened with Dark-type energy and twitched.

A sense of dread enveloped Percy, but she couldn't form a response fast enough to change course. Haedys popped into being again beside Don's ear and widened her mouth to let out a violent screech—

Only to get socked in the neck by a Sucker Punch before she could so much as squeak.

Two pained cries sounded at once as Haedys tumbled backwards in the air and Persephone braced to not collapse from the sudden punch to her throat.

"My apologies! Seems I was lying when I said you'd make the first move," Kona taunted, grinning widely. "Can't blame me— I'm not calling the shots here."

Persephone growled, stomping her foot on the ground as she rose up tall again. Somehow she'd been so naïve as to think Kona would be quiet for once.

Don cackled wildly as he watched Haedys cartwheel. He didn't bother to pursue, waiting politely as she flipped upright again and steadied her flight. The Misdreavus glared at him with more anger than Percy had thought her capable.

It only made Don smile though, and his arm cloaked for a Sucker Punch again.

"Alright, close is a bad idea. Go down the list I guess— try Growling at him!"

Haedys tightened her grimace and emitted the least threatening growl Percy had ever heard.

Don didn't seem intimidated by any stretch, but it still threw him off. His eyes widened and his readied-arm pulled back some, hesitant.

"Uh… good! I guess! Now, Confusion!"

Haedys turned her frustration into an attack, light pooling in her necklace as her eyes briefly flashed purple. A near-imperceivable pulse fired forward and smacked the Banette clean in the face while he was still trying to parse the Growl, knocking him over.

He let out an indignant "Baaaaaa!" and tumbled upright, his body surprisingly light. His gaze glanced back at his trainer for instructions before remembering he was alone. In lieu of strategy, the Banette reached up, yanked his own zipper shut, and lunged.

Haedys' momentary triumph turned to panic as she flitted backwards, a pouncing Shadow Claw nearly glimpsing her face. She swerved again, avoiding another furious swing. Don had toyed with her enough and was putting on relentless pressure now.

Haedys' tiny size allowed her to narrowly graze a third swing, but her panic flowed into Persephone. What did she do? What did she do?

The trainer shuffled on her feet, frantically trying to find an answer for her Pokémon. "Use… use Astonish to get away?" she suggested pleadingly.

Haedys let out a terrified squeak and abruptly vanished. Persephone was about ready to breathe a sigh of relief when a cold and sharp pain shot through her back.

"Augh!" she groaned like she'd been shot, nearly sinking to a knee as Don's claw connected with the invisible Haedys. The little ghost was ripped into visibility and thrown to the ground, the impact like Persephone had just been smacked hard in the face.

The Misdreavus immediately rolled upright, eyes widening in horror as the Banette loomed over her with his horrific grin. Still spiteful for her one clean blow, a fresh Shadow Claw was already forming.

Only one thing left on the list.

"Confuse Ray him in the face!" Persephone shouted mentally, as terrified as her Pokémon was. She could feel everything being thrown into that one last saving throw as Haedys' orbs glowed and the Misdreavus spewed out a stream of careening, yellow wisps.

It was point-blank, but the little menace was fast. Don stumbled backwards onto his butt to dodge, and the stream of waving, imprecise lights all went high, narrowly drifting into the air above him.

Both Pokémon scrambled upright again, desperate to take the advantage. But while Haedys hovered only a few feet upwards and eyed her opponent fearfully, Don hopped upright confidently and eyed her with an amused expression.

A muffled snicker escaped his sealed mouth. He reached up and grabbed the zipper. Persephone suddenly had a sense of dread about whatever he was planning.

"Watch out!"

Don yanked the zipper open and a familiar stream of wobbling wisps jet-streamed out. Haedys was already evading with Percy's warning, but the Banette's stream was thicker and the lights moved just as unpredictably. A single off-kilter light flew out at an odd angle and struck the Misdreavus head-on as she tried to dodge the thick of it.

For a brief instant, Persephone felt like a stake had just been driven through her head. Though that faded quickly, things had gotten weird.

It was as if the world had lost its outlines and now all the colors were freely blurring together. The battlefield Persephone watched out over became a swirling sea of browns and greens with gray dots shifting in the middle. She let out a heavy exhale, quickly breaking into a sweat.

When she looked up again Don was looming over her, his twisted smile an absolute in a hazy world.

She made out the purples of his claw, rearing back. And she felt all of the stinging pain when phantasmal energies tore into her face.

She cried out and lost her footing, falling backwards as she clutched her face. She pulled her hand away expecting to see red joining the mix of colors, but only saw the hues of her skin. Through her hand, she could see Don still looming, pleased with the pain.

She wasn't about to let that fly. She gritted her teeth and let out a snarl, her hair flaring outwards with a cursed power. She shrieked and flung her hand forward, sending another psionic pulse toward the hazy Banette in vengeance.

The grinning mass of gray swirled through the air to avoid it, but it left her time to rise again. Unsteady, but there was no time to clear her head. She vanished again, one gray blot drowning out of the ink that rapidly flowed in motion as she shot away. In spite of her hiding, the red of Don's eyes raced closer and closer. He could sense her somehow.

Purple flickered into the scene somewhere, but she couldn't make sense of where— his left arm? His right arm? The color surged towards her.

Her eyes narrowed as the frustration hit her all at once. Being bullied by this jerk of a ghost and his jerk of a trainer both. There was no world where she won this fight, but she would at least make him lose.

She felt her orbs shimmered and pooled with all her gathered energy. The Shadow Claw dug into her side with a searing pain, but she ignored it. It wasn't quite a Destiny Bond, but—

There was a burst of light. She was thrown backwards, hitting the ground and bouncing with a deflated squeak. Rolling over several times, she lost any remaining semblance of the world. Her head spun as she stared at a pastel mix of browns and greens and blues.

And oranges…

Why was it so hot, exactly?

She looked down at herself to see the expected mixture of gray and pink, slowly reforming into solid shapes. But the orange wisps dancing along her body were a new addition. She had been aiming for a so-dubbed "Icy Sneeze" to take them both out.

It seemed instead she'd set herself on fire.

After another moment her senses returned enough to remember that was bad.

She let out a squeak and flipped over, her lithe body flopping on the ground to try and smother it.

There was a dull thud as she hit the ground again, much more heavily this time and rolled on instinct despite not being on fire. Persephone was surprisingly experienced with "stop drop and roll".

By the time her panicked flailing had ceased and the embers had been replaced by sore scorch marks on her fabric, the battle had clearly concluded. It wasn't until she'd breathed her sighs of relief that she even remembered the others present.

She looked up to see red eyes and that zipper mouth looming over her, ever-locked into a smug grin. The battle was over. Now he was simply taunting his prey.

"Your human isss sssso entertaining," he snickered in a raspy tone, turning past to her to stare at—

Persephone's vision suddenly snapped, and she realized it was actually Kona she was staring up at. His hand was outreached to help her off the ground, and his eyes were shimmering with excitement. Begrudgingly, she took it and let him pull her back up into the air.

She huffed, pulling away from the Banette and focusing on her skirt instead, identifying all the fresh burns. Even with the embers extinguished, they were still sore. Not to mention everything else he'd done. She opened her mouth wide and gave a hefty lick of her wide tongue, providing only a faint relief to several of those scorches at once.

"Earth to Percy?" Kona called, tilting his head and frowning now. "Heavens above, that hit you hard, didn't it?"

Haedys blinked at him, confused. She shook her head vigorously, the shaking of her cheeks reminding her where she was. And who she was.

Percy's head hurt.

Her hand reached up to grasp her scalp and she leaned forward into it, scrunching her eyes to try and soothe that headache. Her thoughts were racing now— or rather, both of their thoughts were. And both were starting to spiral into a panic.

"What… just happened?" Persephone whispered.

Kona hummed thoughtfully. "Well, Haedys lit herself on fire, which was admittedly a rather bold strategic maneuver. But I imagine that's not what you were referring to, was it?"

Percy didn't have a response besides shaking her head in silent horror, still clutched in her hands. If she let go of it, she might lose it.

"How did it feel?" Kona asked with a bated breath, leaving her no opportunity to process. In stark contrast to her horror, he sounded excited.

In answer, Persephone turned around and walked away.

Not anywhere in particular—just away from him. Away from the battle. Just away.

Persephone wanted to be alone. Haedys even wanted to leave her alone. But they both knew that couldn't happen. The Misdreavus was tagging behind her. At a comfortable distance, in spite of her own confused feelings about what had just happened.

What had just happened… that was the endgame of this, wasn't it? A complete dissolution of self. Being absorbed. Both of them.

It was hardly a victory at this point, but for the first time Haedys truly understood why she was afraid. It was strange. It was unfamiliar. It was scary.

Haedys had wanted a friend. But that wasn't what friendship was supposed to be like, was it?

Percy was beyond laughing at that, only shaking her head with a bitter, humorless smile. She supposed she didn't know much about friends either. But she knew that wasn't it.

On some level it registered to her that she was walking back towards the Floatsam Building. They were supposed to go out somewhere— to take advantage of their brief freedom. But she didn't have it in her anymore.

What would they do? Hang out with Elle? Her friend of sheer convenience, when she had no one else? Break into some creepy foreclosed building? Hah. Maybe if she wanted to just give up, and lose herself entirely to the ghost. And it wasn't like she had the stomach to go for a meal, either.

At least if she crashed onto her bed and fell asleep, or drowned her mind in some mindless action flick, or did… something else that was nothing, she could try to forget for a bit. Maybe she wouldn't even notice when it was over with.

"I'm sorry…" Haedys whispered by her ear with a lamenting sniffle.

Persephone shut her eyes, sticking her hands in her hoodie pockets and staring down at the ground. She sighed. "I know."

Something had to give.