11.22.15 -- We are approaching the holiday season very rapidly. I understand that things get busy around this time of year, just try and make sure that you don't forget about us! And, because winter is coming, things in Rakuen are about to change! Our winter event will be starting on December first so keep your eyes peeled for it and be sure to participate. You won't want to miss out. Enjoy the last little bits of your fall!
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A massive fist collided with the stone rubble of the aged doorway, shattering some of the stone that had long since blocked the old passageway. The agile Blaziken had managed to duck the Machamp's Brick Break but it was up against a wall and with four arms it was only a matter of time before Caira's pokemon managed to grab it. She stood in the background, throwing her fist into the air and shouting as her pokemon lifted the challenger's Blaziken above its head and turned in a slow circle for all to see. The crowd cheered from the ledge above the pit and the Machamp looked to Caira. They smirked at each other and she held out her thumb, turning it down towards the ground. The Machamp nodded and hurled the squirming Blaziken into the rubble with a Vital Throw. More rubble collapsed around the fallen fire type as it's trainer ran out onto the battlefield waving his arms. This fight was over, one more win for the Gym Leader Caira.
Later that day Caira laid in the bottom bunk of the staging room's bed. She would head out on another of her adventures soon but today had been a good day. She recalled the battle fondly, her opponent had fought well but he tried to match the strength of her Machamp with another fighting type. Even if it was a hybrid you couldn't expect to beat a Machamp head on like that. He had learned his lesson and she had no doubt she'd see that trainer again eventually. Perhaps then she would give out a badge but for today they remained safe in her jacket's pocket. Caira reached down and scratched her Breloom's head and it let out a soft and content cry. It was asleep and Caira figured she should probably join it. After all Caira had a big day tomorrow.
She dreamt of the battle, everything was exactly how she remembered it until her Machamp smashed it's foe into the wall. Her vision blurred then, focusing on a dark hole in the wall where rubble had been broken away. The rest of the world vanished around her, her pokemon fading from existence and the cheering of the crowd growing softer and more distant until at last she was alone in the pit. Not even the familiar heat of the sun could be felt on her skin though everything remained well lit with the exception of the dark gap in the doorway. Caira found herself walking towards it, the world growing colder and more distant the closer she got until at last she arrived at the rubble of the doorway. Pressing her palms onto the ice cold stones and putting her eye up to the hole she peered inside. There was nothing, just darkness for a moment. Then suddenly two red eyes appeared inches away. A sense of dread overcame her as she stumbled back.
Caira awoke abruptly, sitting up swiftly and hitting her head on the bottom of the top bunk. Caira groaned and rolled out of bed, standing and rubbing her head. She was covered in sweat, yet the room felt cold. Caira rubbed her eyes and looked across the pitch black room. Through the darkness a pair of eyes looked back, the same ones from her dream. Caira took a step back for a moment before yelling at the intruder to leave. When they didn't she launched herself at the figure trying to tackle it but she went right through the figure and slammed into the door. The sound awoke her Breloom who arrived at Caira's side a second later. The eyes backed through the door and Caira threw the wooden door it open. She and Breloom chased the strange form up the stairs. In the moonlight she could see the dark figure running across the pit. It looked human, but had no definite shape or form to it. "Get him Bre!" Caira ordered. Her pokemon dashed ahead of her and launched itself at the intruder with a headbutt. The mysterious figure stepped backwards through the wall and her Breloom crashed into the rubble of the old doorway. It turned to look at her, confused and dazed as she jogged up next to it. The headbutt had knocked loose the last few stones forming the base of the blockage and the rocks blocking the door came crumbling down revealing a dark passageway.
Caira blinked a few times and reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone. She scrolled through the contacts and pressed one without taking her eyes off the dark void ahead of her. The phone rang a few times and Caira didn't bother waiting for someone to respond. She heard the click of it being answered and didn't hesitate, only one person would be answering their phone at this time of night. Luckily that person was exactly who she needed.
"Rip, It's Caira." She said calmly. "I've got a story for you."
OOC: If you want to have them chat it out over the phone we can do that, otherwise you can just assume they talked and post when Jodie arrives at the gym.
Jodie squinted at her pokedex. A letter had arrived from an aunt in Hoenn - something about inheritance and a bunch of pokemon eggs left over from her grandmother-once-removed’s breeding operations and to not call the PC people about a new pokemon showing up in her box. It was ten past midnight and Jodie had just arrived in the dimly-lit pokemon center. Only one other person was about to hear the door swish open for her a few minutes prior, and every seat was open for her to take while she looked over the few messages she’d accumulated during the day. The young lady manning the center counter was pretending she wasn’t watching Jodie out of boredom.
Realizing it was probably the first thing she should have done, Jodie brought Haunter’s pokeball over to the lady at the counter. She yawned and flipped open her PC on her pokedex and waited for Haunter to be restored to full health. As the letter had predicted, there was a new pokemon in her PC; a little blue rectangle the PC called “Beldum” and claimed: “It uses magnetic waves to converse with its kind. All the cells in its body are magnetic. The magnetic force generated by its body repels the ground’s natural magnetism, letting it float”. Using the handy-dandy transfer mechanic, Jodie summoned the pokemon’s pokeball and popped it open.
The little beldum looked as stunned as Jodie was tired. While the little blue pokemon oriented himself, Jodie fished in her bag for something metal. The lady at the counter watched in amazement as Jodie pulled out the key to her room. She touched it to the beldum’s head, and let go. The key dropped to the ground.
Jodie knew the pokedex was nothing but BS.
“But then, If beldums had enough magnetic force to levitate themselves from the magnetism in the ground, they should have one hell of a magnetic field.” Jodie murmured to herself. “Wait, then wouldn’t the key have gone flying off rather than sticking to him?” While Jodie was scratching her head over the levitation, her pokedex began to ring. It was Caira. She hadn’t seen that number in a while.
---
Jodie looked the lady at the counter in the eyes. “Are there any herbalist shops open at this hour?” She asked.
“You’ll have better luck in the morning.” The lady said, by which she meant, “Of course not it’s one in the morning. No one’s awake but us and the guy at the pokemart.”
In the end, Jodie had to spend the night at the center, no matter how much she wanted to rush over to the Pantano Gym. But four hours of sleep, two coffees (plus a thermos full in her bag), and a trip to the local herbalist later, she was out of town. Jodie was close enough to Pantano to make the trip there before the day was out and arrived as the sky was beginning to turn purple.
The excitement of the event had carried her to the edge of the pit which held the fighting gym with undistractible speed and had continued to carry over into into the large grin on her face as she greeted the woman who ran the place.
“So, tall black figure with glowing red eyes?” Jodie substituted for the standard “hello”. “Where did you say this, uh, dark passageway was?”
This was going to be a gym leader ghost hunt and it was going to be awesome.
It had been a long night and Caira didn't get a wink of sleep. She sat in the middle of the pit, having her pokemon take turns on watch with her as the waited for the sun to rise. She'd spent so much time staring at that dark passageway that she saw it when she blinked as if it had burned its way into her eyelids. Only once the sun came up and she could feel its warmth on her skin did she manage to doze off in her shaded hammock. Before she'd settled in for her nap she had placed a sign on the front stating that the gym was temporarily closed 'because I said so.' People had learned not to question her in the past few months, Caira would do what she wanted that that was that. For once though she had a good reason. Her dreams continued to be plagued by the vision of red eyes but these felt more distant then the one she had last night. That one had felt so vivid and real. Honestly she wasn't sure if she was frightened, confused or angry but when her Hitmonchan shook her awake upon Jodie's arrival she decided she was annoyed by the thing... and maybe a bit spooked. It was hard to encounter a problem that you couldn't just punch into submission. Returning the Pokemon to it's Pokeball she rolled from the hammock and strolled across the pit, through the staging room and to the heavy door which she opened for her fellow gym leader.
"Yeah, Nice to see you to. Thank's for coming." She said smoothly, sounding a bit sleep deprived as she motioned for Jodie to follow her up the stairs and into the pit. "You got here quick, i'm glad you beat the storm" Caira mused, referring to a sandstorm which was supposed to be heading their way. The rest of the town had already buttoned itself down indoors. The storm was supposed to last all night and dusk was fast approaching. "Up until yesterday the doorway was blocked like all the other ones." She gestured to the other doorways, the pit was ringed with them but they were all blocked by crumbling stone. She walked across the center of the pit, her tracks and Brelooms were still visible in the sand from last night but there weren't any others. "I. Well, my Machamp punched a hole in it yesterday during a battle, the rest fell down afterwards." Caira explained, stopping in front of the damaged doorway. The passage behind was still dark and shadowy. There was a hole just large enough to crawl through but it seemed to open up into a hallway on the other side. What little light that managed to filter through the breach didn't show anything terribly interesting, just sandy floors and stone walls. "What do you think?" She asked, sounding calm enough but keeping her distance from the hole in the wall. It was apparent it made her uneasy but then again ghosts and hauntings were a bit out of her league.
Jodie surveyed the hole. It would be hard to see very far in in good light, meaning the current status of the sun left all but the nearest walls and floors in a dusty darkness. Nothing ghost-like could be seen, no ghostly glows or the red eyes Caira had mentioned. The place smelled like you’d expect a place abandoned to all but dust to smell. It wasn’t any colder than the rest of the pit, as far as Jodie could tell; but then again, to her cold was just cold.
Jodie rummaged in her bag for a light. Clicking the bottom to light it up, she shone it down into the gap. A sweep revealed dirty and crumbly walls, and at the far end a wall marking a turn in the hall. “Well it looks like a place that would be haunted.” She said.
There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary to hear besides the slight echo of her voice. All that was left was to go in and see for themselves.
Jodie lifted her knee to the hole, testing to see if it would hold. When it did, she tentatively ducked her head in. And it was a squeeze. As she pulled herself out, trying not to land on her head, she found herself longing for her dusknoir. He’d just phase her though the wall, easy as that. Haunter was still a little too wispy to phase her with him.
Waiting for Caira to come through as well, Jodie began to go through her bag. “If it’s a ghost-type pokemon I’ve got some pokeballs and some ghost-type food.” She released Haunter from his pokeball and double-checked to make sure Beldum’s was securely attached to her bag strap. Wouldn’t want that to go flying off. “If it’s a ghost of the dead people sort, I picked up some fresh sage so hopefully that and telling it in a firm voice to back off will be enough. If not we may need to find the object or otherwise reason for their staying and destroy it.”
If a dust storm was coming, Jodie was glad she’d brought all the ghost-hunting stuff she thought she’d need. It was one thing to find an open store in the middle of the night. It was another thing entirely to find an open store during a dust storm.
“You said this was the first time you’ve seen it, right?” Jodie asked. “Have there been any hauntings in the past? Also, do you have a light? I’ve got extra.” Jodie offered up another metal flashlight in case Caira needed it. “Or does this place have any sort of dark history that may have led someone to want to stick around with glowing red eyes and no solid form?”
Yes of course, sage and a stern tone of voice. Why hadn't she thought of that before she threw herself into a door trying to fight the thing. Caira grimaced a bit as she followed Jodie into the opening. Contrary to popular belief she wasn't exactly fearless. Being a city girl she found darkness particularly unsettling, claustrophobia was also a factor - although to a lesser extent. "Right. Firm voice, sounds like a plan." She muttered. "And no. I've never encountered anything like this before." Caira accepted the light and shined it across the hallway, illuminating very little of interest. Stone walls and sandy floors, just like the rest of the pit. "Then again I've only been leader for about a month shy of a year now and i'm usually out and about." Caira shrugged. "I could reach out to my mentor but he's off the grid. On a mountain somewhere probably." She bent down to pick up an object on the floor, holding it up to her light. It was a bit of metal, twisted and broken but not terribly interesting. She tossed it aside and turned to look at Jodie. "Everyone knows the pit has been around a long time." She hesitated and stepped up next to Jodie. "It has a pretty storied history, one that started in less... civilized times, if you catch my drift." Caira paused to peek around the corner only to find another hallway with a few alcoves on either side and a ramp leading down underground at the end. "Pokemon have always fought here but there wasn't always a league to watch over the fights. The pit has always been a place of glory and struggles but in the early days I get a sense that these fights weren't always honorable battles from the way my mentor spoke. He was evasive about it, and he was never evasive about anything."
Caira stepped around the corner and ran the light over the walls again, here there were deep abrasions in the wall and more twisted bits of rusted metal on the floor. "When my mentor gave me the pit he told me that he had rewritten its history - turned it into a place of honor, and that when the time came I would do the same." She ran her fingers along the scrapes in the wall. They looked like claw marks, Caira cast a worried glance over at Jodie. She wasn't sure what she was more afraid of, finding the ghost or figuring out why it was here.
Though the passage was old, there were no cracks to let in the light. The only illumination came from the two flashlights and the dim glow of Haunter. The good news was glowing red eyes would be easy to spot. Haunter’s own pair hovered out in the corner of Jodie’s vision. The bad news was, every turn of the flashlight revealed something new, leaving little time for reaction. She hoped there weren't any wild pokemon down here.
Then she saw the scratches on the wall, and the twisted metal. Suddenly, wild pokemon seemed like a great solution; much preferable to a spirit who could bend metal. Those could do more than just insult from afar. It made Jodie a little nervous; Haunter was there to protect her, yes, but he was no dusknoir or aegislash. She couldn’t be reckless.
Caira’s mention of the gym’s past brought some relief and the even more desirable explanation of the wall’s scars being left by pokemon fights of past, though Jodie could not properly judge their age.
The scratches and the metal made Generally speaking, it's best to keep quiet when ghost hunting so as to hear any noises said ghosts may make. But Jodie figured if this particular ghost wanted to get their attention, it had better ways than whispering “hello” or knocking on something. Still, she kept her voice down when she spoke.
“Who is this mentor of yours?” Jodie asked. “I haven’t heard much about him.” That was a situation that needed to be fixed.
Caira pushed open the remains of a rotting wooden door to one of the alcoves. The last remnants of decaying straw covered the floor, the stone walls were crumbling here but more scratches were visible. Caira closed the door, which fell off its rusted hinges into a pile of splinters. She grimaced and wiped her hands on her pants, pointing her flashlight towards the ramp that led down. "Quimbly" She stated. "He hated the name, that's why I call him my mentor. When he was still around we never actually used names, there was no need for it." Caira took a few steps across the hall to another door which had collapsed into a pile of bone dry splinters long ago. It was similar to the other room, still no mysterious ghostly figure in sight. "Like I said, the pit has been around for as long as people have been in Rakuen. He never talked about the history of it, he only talked about his time here. Balance and harmony, dualities of nature. Reflecting on life and all that jazz, he was really into meditating to. I never really subscribed to most of his philosophies. The pit thrives on change, he just kept coming back to that. He changed it, I would change it, when i handed it over my mentee would do the same."
Caira arrived on the edge of the ramp and cast the light down, if there was anything down there she couldn't see it from this angle. "Honestly I didn't even know there were levels below the pit. These tunnels... This place was something else entirely back in the day." She lingered on the edge of the ramp, looking over and Jodie. "Less of a pit, more of a coliseum. I'm kind of getting the feeling that this part of my gym should have stayed forgotten."
“Well, it’s too late for that now.” Jodie said. The farther in they went, the less outside noises penetrated the stone walls. The silence that hung in the air seemed to hum, vibrate; it was interrupted only by the two gym leaders and their pokemon. It felt like they were tossing stones in still water, sending ripples through the undisturbed ruins. Jodie wondered how long it’d been since humans had last been down this far.
She blew a high whistle. “How far does this go?” She pondered, stepping past Ciara. Then, just a few feet downhill from the fighting gym leader, it was if she had activated a trip wire. Reacting, Haunter fired off a dark pulse. An unseen object was shot out of its projectile. It hit the nearby wall in place of Jodie’s head, and landed with a metallic clang. Jodie let out a surprised yelp and jumped back. It was a chunk of iron, rusted blue, surrounded by a dust cloud kicked up by the impact and illuminated by Jodie’s flashlight.
Jodie’s light across darted the walls, trying to find anything. The color dispersed only into darkness or stone walls. There had to be something there. Had the chase begun? “Here we go, here we go.” She said, glancing back at Caira. A wide grin covered her face.
She took off at a run. “Is that all you’ve got?!” Jodie shouted into the darkness. Her shoes provided enough grip for the tilted ground to keep up with her pace. The light of her torch jumped up and down among the dancing dust.
Caira leaned back as the projectile zipped in front of her. It wouldn't have hit her anyway but the sound of it whistling through the quiet air evoked a response. As it hit the wall and clattered to the ground she looked over at Jodie and was surprised to see her grinning. The girl was crazy but I suppose when you have a pokemon watching your back that was fine. Caira behaved much the same way, although she wasn't used to things that were beyond her control. Shaking her head she took off down the ramp after Jodie, barreling through dark halls she kept close on the younger girls heels until they arrived in a larger antichamber. The ceiling was higher here, supported by a series of crumbling pillars which lacked any sort of decoration. The entire room was rather utilitarian in fact. Caira shined the light around, the chamber was lined with doors but only the one caught her eye. It was larger than the rest, and sturdy by the looks of it. The fact that it was still standing was a testament to its strength. The other doors may have led places but the hallway seemed to dead end into this chamber and the door before he was obviously the center piece. They had to be close, what ever haunted this place had tried to scare them off at the top of the ramp and failed. Truth be told Caira was a bit afraid of what its next step would be.
She shined her flashlight at the door and it's light filtered through cracks in the old door. She noticed movement from behind the door, something dark blocking the beams of the light. She couldn't see what it was through the cracks, they weren't large enough to distinguish a form. Only a difference in perspective and luminosity as it passed in front of the light, almost as if the thing couldn't be illuminated. Caira pointed at the door."and behind door number one?" She asked as Breloom walked up next to her, putting its head under her arm until she was resting her hand atop her pokemon's head. She honestly wasn't sure who got more comfort out of this. Caira, or her Breloom. Upon closer inspection the door appeared to be locked. "I can... break it open." She offered tentatively, casting a look at Jodie. No matter what happened she better be on guard with that sage of hers. Caira had a bad feeling about this.
Walking into the antechamber was like walking from a hot summer noon into an airconditioned mall. It was as if Jodie has stepped through a wall of atmosphere. There, at the center of her back, was that chill feeling; her body telling her there was something unnatural lurking about. The hair on the back of her neck, under her hood and scarf, raised on end. They were getting close.
Jodie scanned the empty room. Nothing lined the walls - no old masks, creepy portraits that follow you with their eyes, or strange forms of taxidermy. It was Caira who found the path forward. The old wooden door, unlike its sadly splintered brethren, looked to have some strength behind it. Something else was behind it, too. The chill in her back climbed down her spine the closer she got to the door. Haunter drifted close.
“That’d be great.” Jodie replied. Caira, Jodie knew, was a couple years older than her. Her breloom was older and more experienced than either of the pokemon she had on her. It was a little startling to see the two of them afraid. She could feel it in her gut; her fight or flight response. She was supposed to be afraid. And she was. But the feeling was suppressed from years of not only haunting ghosts but of wandering alone in the wild, isolated with only her pokemon and the dangers just beyond the bush line. But for a moment, seeing someone stronger than her look scared made her falter. Should she be doing this? Jodie shook the feeling away. She’d done worse than this and come out fine. Remember the cave-in in those old ruins? Nah, she’d be fine.
She’d brought only sage with her, and that was for cleansing, not warding. Getting some salt had completely skipped her mind. Really, she should pick some up just to have on her. But they’d still be fine. The two trainers both had strong pokemon at their sides, and she doubted that together this thing would be more than they could handle.
If not, Jodie had a pretty good idea of the way back.
Caira nodded at Jodie and exhaled. It was time to go and confront this thing. Like she always said, if you hit a wall - hit it hard. She gave her Breloom a pat on it's head. "Bring it down." She said, pointing towards the door. The Pokemon dashed forward and struck the door with a force palm. A shock wave passed through the door and after a moment it broke open, the remnants of the metal lock flying inwards as the doors swung open. Caira rushed in, shining her light around but saw nothing. The mysterious shadowy figure was gone, perhaps she had scared it off she thought. As the adrenaline faded a bit Caira looked about the room. Deep claw marks scarred the walls, some looked recent whilst others looked to be as old as the pit itself. Rusted chains hung from the walls and even more twisted metal sat on the dusty floor. Against the far wall Caira's light illuminated something of interest. She crossed the empty room, kneeling before the pile. Dusting the object off she realized it was a large skull, around it were more bones. Quite a few in fact, and fairly large. Caira picked it up and held it for Jodie to see. Even the bones had scars on cracks in them. She shivered at the thought of what horrific injuries the pokemon must have endured to sustain these.
The skull was unmistakable, it boasted the the tell tail axe like bones of a Haxorus. A large, dangerous pokemon. The ground shook the, dust and dirt fell from the ceiling as the room shook. Caira set the skull down and turned to face the door. She remembered a few old tapestries which had been saved from the early days of the pit. One had featured a fearsome Haxorus standing atop a pile of defeated foes. Only then did she connect it. The chains, the scratches, the bones. "The Pit's first champion. Pokemon weren't exactly volunteers back then." She said softly as the room shook again. "We should go. Like, right now." Caira said, standing up and looking towards the door. Half expecting to see something emerge from the darkness beyond.
Jodie made a mental note to never get in the way of Breloom’s fists. The door landed with enough force to send up a sizeable cloud of dust. Pulling her scarf up over her nose in an attempt to shield it, Jodie stayed close behind the other gym leader as she rushed in.
If the walls on the way here were in poor shape, this room would be a stonemason’s worst nightmare. It was starting to look more and more like your standard fare nightmare as well, what with the skulls and the cracked bones and the emanating feeling of dread. While nothing had popped out at them when they knocked on the door, the place was now shaking. That was never a good sign. Jodie would bet her money on something being just further inside, but on what exactly? Jodie had a couple of guesses.
“We already know the thing can get up to the surface.” Jodie replied, matching Caira’s volume. “If we leave now, it’s only going to come back. We’ve got to strike our enemy before it can get its bearings.”
She stuck close to the other trainer. Haunter was tense, ready for action the moment it was needed. Anything that can shake the ground like that will be a tough fight. But the harder they fall, right?
The skull that Caira had been holding lifted off the ground on its own accord. In it's hollow sockets a familiar red light glowed. The rest of the bones began to rattle and creak as they to rose from the ground and poured into the shadowy form as if reassembling a skeleton. The creature had great power and the energy with which it filled the room was almost overpowering. A strong sense of anger, fear and dread spread outwards. The skeleton was not complete, some bones were missing but the large shadowed figure was still intimidating none the less. It let out a mighty roar and shook the room with each thunderous step as it lumbered towards the two. The shadow wrapped around the bones, taking the form of the long forgotten Haxorus. The first champion of the pit who had faced down countless challengers and won. Caira took a step back with her Breloom as they stared at the terrifying specter.
On second thought, sticking around to see what the ghost could throw at them may have been a really terrible idea. In the past, Jodie’d encountered plenty of ghosts. Ghost women who follow you? Children with no dresses that try to drown you? Dark shades with or without top hats that haunt you in the night? All were fine and dandy, the status quo even. But a fighting ring champion dead n’ dark ghost haxorus of doom? That was a first.
And it was kind of awesome.
Jodie felt her heart beat faster with each step the ghost took. The temperature dropped in the room, lower even than the chill Haunter was creating beside her. She’d dealt with plenty of ghosts before. Some she scared off, some she had a chat and tea with, and some she’d fought off with iron-
Damn, that’s what she’d forgotten! Of all the things… Sage but not iron? Really, if people didn’t frown upon it she would just carry an iron crowbar with her everywhere.
First, before she could go swinging around iron if she had it, she had to talk to the thing. Jodie thought of what to say.
“Hey!” She yelled, trying to get its attention. “Look, we’re not here to hurt you!”
That’s what she said if she couldn’t come up with anything clever.
"Obviously!" Caira yelled. "It's going to hurt us!" The phantom Haxorus let out an ear splitting roar, swinging it's boney tail with enough force to shatter a nearby pillar. Caira took a step back along with her Breloom as the ghostly pokemon lumbered towards them. "Look Jodie. This pokemon was a legend when it was alive. Undefeated. Why do you think they kept it down here? You never let a winner retire." The pink haired girl took another step back and found she was literally backed into a wall. She didn't believe they could beat it. Any pokemon that was flesh and blood sure, she never backed down from a fight but how did you beat something that was dead. Caira was afraid they would have to battle it, she was also afraid Jodie would just keep trying to talk the thing to death. Well, re-death. It continued to lumber towards them menacingly. Caira was ready to fight, unless her companion had a better idea.
Generally, if presented with the option of a peaceful option or a fight, Jodie would take the peaceful route. However, the ghost haxorus who just smashed a pillar with its tail really did not look up for a nice chat.
Jodie would love to say she knew how to fight the undead pokemon. But… there had to be some way to get rid of it, right? “I mean maybe we could burn the bones.” She muttered aloud. However, there was a lack of fire type pokemon, and the only fire starter she had on her was her flashlight battery and some iron wool. Jodie smiled at Caira. “I have absolutely no idea how to fight this thing.” Most ghosts couldn’t, you know, break through stone. “Um,” She paused, backing up with the other gym leader. “Sometimes there’s something keeping them here? An old object their soul is tied to, or some reason to keep them lingering.”
A thought occurred to Jodie. “Oh no.” She said, a chuckle to her voice and an ironic grin on her face. “Don’t tell me it’s lingering because it was never defeated.”
Jodie looked to Caira for reassurance. Chances were high that they did, indeed, have a battle on their hands. “Well, let’s try this! Haunter, use Confuse Ray!”
The haunter glanced at Jodie, unsure if this would actually do any good. Deciding he may as well try, Haunter brought a thin purple beam into focus at shot it at the undead pokemon.
The Haxorus roared as the Haunter attacked, as the confuse ray struck it the phantom pokemon stopped for a just a moment and looked past them at something else but there was nothing there. Caira was well of her surroundings and she knew there was just a wall where it was looking. She shifted ever so slightly and at the first sight of motion the Haxorus refocused its attention on her and continued its approach, it had almost reached the pair. Out of time Caira pointed at the pokemon "Bre, Mach punch." She ordered, Her pokemon braced itself for a moment before launching forward with incredible speed. It lashed out at the pokemon but went flying right through it, only knocking some of its bones out from the smoke like body. Losing it's balance the Breloom tumbled across the room and slid to a halt, as it stood up the bones it had displaced lifted from the ground and returned to the skeleton that was inside the Haxorus. Lesson learned, you can't punch a ghost.
Jodie’s back bumped against the wall. Barely abated by either of their pokemon, the haxorus stomped slowly closer to them. Each footstep shook the ground and Jodie’s stomach.
Normally when facing a foe as large and terrifying as this, the plan was to put them to sleep with a hypnosis, then drain health with dream eater and hex. They’d been working on Nightmare to top the whole thing off, but, would this thing even go to sleep?
The undead haxorus was way too close for comfort and she really wasn’t sure she wanted to risk having her face smashed in like that pillar. She’d skip the scientific process today, thank you, and go with an approach that seemed more likely to work.
“Haunter, use Shadow Ball and follow with Dark Pulse! We’re going to see what works!” Jodie called. The haunter snapped to attention. Focusing his ghostly aura, he formed a ball between his two floating hands. Once it was about the size of a baseball and spinning wildly in his grip, he shot it at the undead pokemon with a thrust of his hands. From his palms formed a new kind of energy. Gathering his dark thoughts, Haunter materialized a beam and focused it on the enemy.
