"That's strange... the lights were on outside, but the halls are pitch black."

Dawn wanders into the building with Shinx using Flash. There was nothing overhead, and though they've lit up a big portion of the main hall, there was little presence. Everything was clean– no dust– but things like boxes and lamp posts looked like they definitely hadn't been moved in a while.

"Woooah, look at all the tableware! The dining hall is so pretty..." Dawn marvels at the gorgeously lined tables– the chandelier overhead– it was like the table had been set to await a guest.

"Ah, a guest, are you?"

Dawn squeaks, and Shinx yelps, leaping behind her feet. Turning around she finds herself facing an older man, dressed cleanly in a butler's tailcoat, from the neatly folded collars to the prim gloves.

Dawn sputters. "I- I'm so sorry for intruding! I wasn't aware people lived here–"

"That is the assumption most come to," the butler nods. Then with a flick of his fingers, the lights turn on in the hall. "In this mansion, only the young lady and I remain. We tend to keep away from people and not accept guests, so it's been years since we've had a relationship with the city beside us. I suppose it's fair they've come to see us as a haunted mansion, since we're so far into the forest and all."

Speaking of which, for a haunted mansion, the building was clean, well-maintained– and the outside looks old but intact. Even the windows were clean and free of stains.

"Oh..." Dawn trails off, before bowing. "I'm really sorry for coming in so late. I'll take my leave now–"

"No, you're fine," the butler chuckles. "Milady is deterred by humans, but I am not quite the same. It's been years since we've had a guest over– please, allow me to serve you some tea."

(Goodness, now it'll be too impolite to insist on leaving.)

"Ah... if it wouldn't be imposing," Dawn decides, "then it would be my pleasure." For a house supposedly not welcoming to guests, they sure were insistent on serving her.

The old butler smiles. "Then, please wait there, I will bring something immediately."

Dawn nods.

The butler is exactly five steps away from Dawn before spins right out and runs, Shinx right behind her as she snatches Abra out of the air so he wouldn't get left behind.

-

The butler sighs when he turns around. There's a plate of Old Gateau in his hands, and a resigned smile on his face.

"...I suppose she'll be taking the sweets to go, huh?" he shrugs. "Alright, that's good enough for me."

Then, he realizes something.

"I forgot to tell the Haunter to keep the main door open."

-

The door was locked. Dawn curses.

"Can you get out, Kazza?" the Abra shakes his head.

For some reason, escaping was the one thing he couldn't do, even though he could still teleport visible distances around. Something must have used Mean Look while Dawn wasn't looking, then.

"Alright, let's go upstairs and find a window then," Dawn says with a huff. "This is looking more like a horror movie each minute!"

Shinx calls out worriedly.

"Hmm? What, this is actually pretty exciting, what's there to be afraid about?" she says, turning to Abra, who looked completely undeterred. "Right, Kazza? I wonder if we'll find some cool Ghost Pokemon here before we get kidnapped and underscored by heeby-jeeby butler oldie."

Shinx has no idea what that means, and it definitely doesn't sound good. Sobbing in regret, she claws at the front door, begging to be let outside.

"C'mon, Tempest! And shut off that Flash before we get found."

Shinx might have chosen the wrong trainer to follow.

-

Heading up the stairs into the rooms, Dawn opens the first one to unfortunately realize that there were no windows. What kind of room had no windows– actually, there was no furniture either, so this must be an unused storage.

Shinx whimpers from her spot at the doorway. Dawn ignores her and enters the next room brazenly. There was a window in this one, great– it looked like a bedroom. Even had closets and everything.

"It's not a very big window, but I guess I can try," she says, finding it and fiddling around for the locks. "Sure is nice being ten years old and petite..."

She trails off when her hair drifts away from her shoulder, wound back by a faint brush of wind.

"Tem, use Flash right now!" she commands, and Shinx, jumping at the loud call, sprints into the darkness and roars sharply, bursting into a beacon of light.

There's a whole horde of Gastly, Misdreavus, and Duskull in the room, and when the light shone, all those pairs of eyes synchronously turned toward Dawn.

Yeah.

Shinx screams, Abra crashes into a cabinet, and Dawn cheers, whipping her Pokedex right out.

"Archie has blessed me today!" she sings, lighting right up, "Oh I have to catch all of them. Oh I have to! Wait a – the shiny icon! The Shiny Data! One of you's Shiny! Tempest, hurry up, flash brighter!"

All of the Pokemon simultaneously deflate, a little taken aback by her response. Even Shinx has to slump down, a little embarrassed for her owner.

Then a Misdreavus turns to Shinx and Shinx squeaks in fright.

All eyes immediately turned to the Shinx, ghost-type eyes glinting with mischief.

Cue the chasing, screaming, crying, and Dawn abruptly yelping because, "what the– HEY, don't run away– TEM WHERE ARE YOU GOING, don't bully her! COME BACK HERE!"

And they scramble out of the room, Abra sighing in resignation as he continues to slowly float after them.

-

The hallways of the Old Chateau were narrow, unlit, and seemed to go on forever. Dawn turns twice and loses her way, but she can do nothing but keep pursuing the horde of ghost Pokemon ahead of her, because Shinx is running mindlessly now.

"Tempest! Calm down, it's just ghost Pokemon!"

Shinx was very pointedly not calming down. Argh– Dawn tries her best to catch up, but they're almost out of sight.

"What do I do... Kazza, can you– ah," she sighs. Kazza doesn't have any attacking moves. "Then, teleport me there?"

Abra shakes his head again, probably because he can't teleport to a place he can't see.

"Tempest, use Spark!" Dawn yells, as a last resort.

Tempest spins around and charges at one of them, but the jittery impact only serves to annoy the Misdreavus, who howls back twice as scary as before. But this time, Haunter and Ghastly join right in the Scary Face, terrifying the living daylights out of the poor Shinx.

Bursting into tears again, Shinx scrambles away, terrified.

"They're ganging up on her..." Dawn says, baffled. "Why are they only attacking her, though? I'm right over here."

Should she run out and get Turtwig? No, she can't get out, that was the main problem here. But Abra doesn't have an attacking move. They can't teleport, either... Shinx would hate her forever.

How is she supposed to defeat so many? Or at least deter them enough to slip in and grab Shinx?

("Don't be such a stickler for the details. Razor Leaf is a field move, so it's more efficient, ain't it?")

"Right! An Area of Effect Move!" she realizes, but, "I don't have one!"

Argh, think, think, think! They've cornered Shinx into a dark room and the Shinx is staring fearfully towards her death, looking like she's saying her last prayers, A way! Any way out of this, but the only Area of Effects Shinx has is a stat move–

("Luce signs fire for Water, but he's also signing it for Water Pulse?" Dawn had asked after the gym battle with Roark, miming the motions. "Wouldn't it be Spinning, Water?")

("Don't be such a stickler for the details," Barry had said. "Those take too long to sign, so Luce keeps it simple. And Doozy's the one deciding how much to use.")

("...ah, now that I think about it," Dawn hums, "he signed for Ember, but Spitfire used Flame Wheel instead.")

("I guess to him and his Pokemon, they only ever have one move of each type, huh?")

"Tempest! Give me a lot of lightning!" Dawn yells, making all the ghost Pokemon turn over curiously, "don't give up, just give me as much as you can! Fill the room, fill the house, blast everything away, I don't care if you knock yourself out like a Pichu!"

And Shinx yelps, surprised– but when she sees a Duskull again, she squeaks and braces herself– before exploding in a blast of electricity, bright yellow flashing across the world in a loud, piercing shriek.

Abra hurriedly grabs Dawn, and they Teleport down the stairs in time for the entire hallway to erupt in a plume of smoke.

-

When Dawn slowly makes her way up, she finds her Shinx covered in soot, sitting in the middle of a dozen collapsed ghost Pokemon, fearfully poking at one to make sure it stayed down.

"Uhh, Tem?" Dawn calls, and Shinx jumps in fright at the noise.

But once Shinx realized who it was, she ran, sobbing, right into Dawn's arms, crying like a child that thought she'd been abandoned.

"...I think you learned Discharge?" Dawn wonders. Either way, she whips out an armful of Poke Balls, eyes gleaming. "But great job, Tem!"

Shinx whimpers. She wants to go home.

Dawn chuckles, "at least you won! I'm proud of you!"

Shinx continues crying– but this time, her body gleams. It's a little different from the Flash light, so Dawn takes a moment before she notices it– and her face blooms into a smile. She lifts her into the air as her body grows and changes and darkens into a crest– and soon, a Luxio is in her arms, looking confused at itself.

"Tempest evolved!" she cheers. "Look at you, big and strong now buddy!"

Luxio considers herself for a moment, but she turns right back into pleading to leave, because she knows that this celebration can wait until they're out of here.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Dawn sighs, taking out her Pokedex for the data. Well, now was the time to really run out of here– she's going to break a window if she has–

She turns around, and a Gengar's eyes gleam, furious and hollow, red and dangerous. The door slams shut beyond them, and Dawn's danger instincts immediately spike.

"Kazza, get us out right NOW–!!"

Gengar uses Disable, and then, the room explodes.

-

Gardenia had been nervously wandering around outside– but an explosion on the second floor, followed by a roar and a girl's scream– made her snap right back to attention.

"Dawn?!" she yells, fear be damned. "What am I doing, I let her go in there alone!"

She rushes forward, Roserade bursting out of its Poke Ball immediately. Cherubi gleams right up in Flash, and Turtwig and Cleffa perk right up in alarm. Gardenia scoops them up before going so they wouldn't be left behind.

The wall had burst open from inside– it was hard to see from here, but from the sound of the destruction, it had been a force– an attack, a crash of sorts– and not an explosion.

Gardenia gets there just in time to see Dawn near the point of impact, Luxio in her hands, Abra desperately clutching her scarf, and she was cradling her side, dangerously cornered into the bare edge of whatever floor was left.

Before her was a large Gengar, eyes burning red, standing apprehensively– and roaring, accusingly.

"I said I was sorry!" Dawn pleads with it, "you guys attacked us first! I didn't– Aahh!" she cringes away, eyes closing instinctively when Gengar interrupts her excuse with a sharp snarl, a wave of orange energy spinning forth from its eyes.

Hypnosis? No... Dawn reaches for her head, in the wake of a headache.

"Oh no– Confuse Ray!" Gardenia yells, alarmed. Being hit by a Confuse Ray head on could cause brain injury!

But before Gardenia or her Roserade could react, something exploded in light– and burned to life before Dawn, its body orange and its sparks teal.

Gardenia's eyes widened.

"[Rotom,]" the Pokedex reads. "[The Plasma Pokemon.]"

Dawn lifts her head in surprise, but she falters, her head throbbing painfully with each movement. She clenched Luxio at her chest– the Pokemon was knocked out, and Abra was panicking, trying its hardest to Teleport, but it couldn't.

The Rotom screeches at Gengar, sharp and hostile, and the Gengar snarls back, feral.

"Tangrowth, get Dawn down here!" Gardenia orders, releasing the Pokemon and glancing at her Roserade, who nods.

Roserade leaps, leaping off a tree, a pillar, and then a portion of the broken wall to skid protectively before Dawn, standing beside Rotom. Immediately, its ivy protrusions swirled to life, wrapping right around the Gengar, leaping over its head to drag the Gengar's attention away from Dawn.

Rotom shrieks, a surge of electrical Discharge rapidly fills the area, the entire room– and Tangrwoth barely manages to get Dawn out of the way in time.

Gardenia sets herself right below Dawn as her Tangrowth puts the girl to sleep, cradling the girl between its holds before carefully taking her down, the terrified Abra clinging on carefully.

Gardenia hurries over, worriedly looking over– wincing at the sight of the wound at her abdomen, bleeding profusely down her leg. There was also a small trail of blood down her temple, from a scrape that had come too close to her brow.

Turtwig and Cleffa fearfully approach her, calling out with worry– and Gardenia's entire chest fills with dread.

The Old Chateau wasn't meant to be dangerous. Sure Gardenia was scared– but it was her forest. It was solace for ghost Pokemon, just as the forest was solace for bug and grass Pokemon. Sure the spectres within it scared people for its own amusement– but it wasn't meant to be physically detrimental to wander in.

This was Gardenia's fault. Because she was too scared to do her job so she was naive and stupid and a mindless idiot that– Furious, she spins back toward the second floor.

"Roserade!" she commands, "Shadow B–"

"Stop right there."

Too abruptly, Gardenia stops.

The Butler had clapped twice, and all movement had stopped. He emerges from the front door with a sigh, looking over the damage with a sort of disappointment.

Gardenia lifts her head, realizing the light of electricity was gone– and so was Rotom, vanished without a single trace.

"Please forgive the Gengar, he is an easily frightened one," he says. "It must have mistaken the Luxio as our current electric type resident– those two are currently engaged in a territorial feud, so I apologize that the little lady seems to have been caught up in an unfortunate series of mischief."

Gardenia knows this man.

She knows this man but for some reason– she doesn't know who he is. She just knows that he can be trusted– for some reason. She felt at ease around this man, strangely so– and when he apologized, something in her just felt calm, like she believed him.

"Now," the butler says, turning toward Roserade, who lets go of Gengar. Gengar also stands down, calmed in obedience. "The floor must be fixed. Return now."

Gengar seems to click its tongue, glaring at the humans for a moment– before rushing away into the shadows.

"You people as well," the butler says, and Gardenia jumps.

She couldn't say a thing. She didn't know what to say– she didn't know how to even respond. No... why was there a human here? This place has been unlivable for decades! Why is he commanding the ghost Pokemon with such confidence? Who is he?

"Here is something as an apology," the butler says, handing off a little parcel to Roserade as the Pokemon comes down from the second floor back to Gardenia's side. "Think of it as a souvenir, I hope you find some use for our little house gifts. My Lady is saddened that she may not meet you, but she sends her regards as well."

Gardenia looks at it warily. It was... a takeaway box?

She turns back to the butler, "hold on. I'm the Gym Leader of this town, so I need to know who–" she abruptly stops.

The butler was gone.

She looks up– and the second floor was fixed, completely intact– there weren't even any wood shards on the grass from how it had been broken open.

Gardenia turns back toward Dawn, who was still restlessly asleep in Tangrowth's vines– the wounds were still there, blood and all.

Her voice was stuck in her throat and the tears were burning in her eyes as it all just abruptly sinks in and she's overcome with what exactly she didn't understand just happened– but she lunges toward Dawn, and her Pokemon all at once.

"N- No time to be afraid!" she reminds herself, "Abra! Abra, here's an Ether, send us back to Eterna! Right now! The Pokemon Center is fine, let's go!"

-

-

-

"...So that's the long story," Dawn says, sitting on the wheelchair, talking through the Pokemon Center PC. Her head is wrapped in gauze, and she's dressed in a hospital gown because they had to stitch up her stomach (thank god she didn't lose kidney.)

Barry and Luce looked genuinely flabbergasted on the other end, sticking uncomfortably close to the screen, horrified at what they were seeing.

When they had first connected, the both of them had leaped toward the screen in alarm and loudly demanded what the hell was going on and yes, we know how to hide a body, just tell us who we have to kill, but Dawn had just laughed that off.

"Anyways! I'm going into the Underground as soon as Blissey thinks my stitches are healed enough," Dawn says, "you guys doing good over there in Hearthome?"

"Stop acting so nonchalant Dawn what the actual f–"

Luce appeared incredulous, frantically signing, "rest, health," and "recovery importance" at her, obviously ushering her to just take it easy instead.

"Miss Gardenia was crying and all that," she says, snacking on Old Gateau. "I wonder what I can do to make up for it... ah, she's actually checking on the Honey Trees for me right now! She said she'll catch something good."

"MISS DAWN DAWNES LISTEN TO ME!"

Luce buries his face into his hands in defeat. Barry looked like he was going to screech into hell in frustration. Dawn considers that a win.

It took a long time for all of them to calm down enough to get to catch up on Luce and Barry's side of the story– Monferno and Prinplup had said their greetings, and Cleffa cheered at the sight of them.

Then about the Buneary, who was so unsociable it was actually far in the corner, refusing to come to talk by the PC. But progress was being made, they were sure of it.

"I have to do everything around here," Barry groans. "I have to alter the costumes, I have to make the Poffins, I have to walk around Amity Square to find Accessories– aaarrgh!" he groans. "Why am I doing this?! What do I even get in return?!"

"You do it because you love me," Luce simply signs, sarcastic.

"Don't test your luck, PUNK!"

Dawn giggles. "Now we all match!" she beams, pointing at her head bandage.

"NOT FUNNY!" Barry shouts.

"Not funny," Luce agrees.

"By the way, the old butler creep gave me this Technical Machine, too," Dawn says, "Roy said it's probably a Dark-type move, judging by the colour, but we have no idea what it is. Think you guys can make use of it somehow?"

"Use it on Tempest," Luce suggests.

"Nah, Tem probably doesn't want anything to do with anything in that haunted house anymore. The poor thing," Barry mutters. "Show her to us once she's out of the Center, alright?"

"Alright, you nag," Dawn says, "I'll be trading this Technical Machine over, so find a way to use it later, alright? I hope it'll be useful for your contest or something. I'll be watching from the TV here!"

"We don't need it, geez!"

-

The next morning, Dawn sends over a Pokemon Gardenia had found in the Honey Tree the night before. Barry had already told her she could keep the Pokemon found there, but Dawn reckoned Barry would want this one.

[Thank me later, I expect enough Poffins to make a feast for all of my Pokemon! ;) ❤❤❤ Dawn.]

Barry groans at the message, picking up the Poke Ball, slightly annoyed and sleep-deprived– and then he immediately does a double take.

"How in the actual FUCK did they find a MUNCHLAX?!"