Interlude I: Interlopers

“~Lee, I really think we should turn back...~”

The punk’s voice wavered as she spoke, eyes sweeping from side to side. Her concern was apparent on her pale face, framed by a couple of visible strands of pink-dyed hair. The cold today was milder than the last few days, but the weather was by far the smallest of worries this dumb trip of theirs would have them run headfirst into.

Especially if they ended up running into the actual target of their search.

As much as her boyfriend thought she was overly scaredy in general, he wanted to comfort her in the moment. Searching for that ghost was exciting, but a large part of the excitement was finally cracking this mystery they’d both been speculating about for months now. It was no fun if he was the only one into it.

And that’s on top of the more usual reason of: “I like this chick, and I want her to feel alright, thank you very much.”

“~C’mon Iz, we’re gonna be fine. We’ve got Chucky! Right Chucky?~”

caw!

The Murkrow occupying Lee’s shoulder was only very vaguely aware of what was happening. Still, as long as this human kept providing him with treats, he wasn’t complaining one bit. On cue, the human’s dark-skinned hand reached into a pocket of his jacket; a single piece of sugary cereal getting pulled out moments later. The sight immediately caught the bird’s attention, the treat’s alluring glittering only matched by its sweet flavor. And once it was thrown into the air, it was quickly snatched by the large, yellow beak. A couple of content caws left the bird afterward as they huddled closer to their human’s head. It was cold out there, much colder than in their town, but the human was friendly, and treats kept coming, so he might as well stick around.

“~Lee, I think you’re putting too much faith in them. They’re feral, after all...~”

“~Izzyyyy, I know mons spook you a bit, but we’re gonna be alright, promise. Chucky’s got no reason to go against either of us, not with all the treats. He really likes me.~”

“~He really likes the bag of cereal in your pocket.~”

“~Murkrow are smart. He could’ve totally yanked it all out and flew off by now if he wanted to.~”

Izzy didn’t know enough about mons to argue with that, grumbling for a moment before letting the topic rest. She didn’t feel any better about any of this, though, that’s for sure.

“~He stuck with us in that standoff earlier, spooked these chumps right outta our turf.~”

“~There’s a bit of a difference of scale between a couple of human losers and a Ghost Bride, y’know...~”

These woods were haunted, and everyone knew that. It was about as accepted in the Lillywood area as that of the sky being blue-ish most of the time. That awareness was enough to discourage most from venturing in too deep. Feral mons were already scary; feral Ghosts were something else entirely. To their knowledge, the Mismagius that hung out near the school grounds had harmed no one, but that didn’t make them any less creepy.

Or any less a magnet for many a local dumb kid.

Enough for them to become a local attraction, even for trainers. At least, if that chump that sat near them on the bus earlier today was any sign. Gonna catch the famous Lillywood Mismagius. Yeah, sure, pal.

Anyway.

As scary as feral Ghosts were on their own, what they were after was somehow even scarier. The kind of thing that only the most reckless of fools would ever dare to actively search for.

That, or your average hormone-addled teen with no self-preservation impulse.

“~Not a Gardevoir Izzy, again, just a ghost of one.~”

“~That makes it even worse, y’know!?~”

She’d tried to dissuade him from sating his curiosity, but it was about as effective as trying to put out a wildfire with a toy watering can. Not when they’ve seen that particular specter so many times over the past few months.

Lillywood has been in what felt like a perpetual decline, and there was no better self-contained sign of that than the ruins in the distance behind them. It used to be a fancy hotel slash resort ages ago. By now, it was just That One Ruined Building that attracted all the teens in the area. Proving ground for many street artists, too, Izzy among them. Of course, town officials tried to cordon it off or other half-hearted measures that were all much cheaper than properly demolishing the place.

If there’s anything that teens are good at, however, it’s deliberately circumventing arbitrary adult-made nonsense out of pure spite.

They’ve been hanging around it for a few months now, but it was only recently that they really noticed another entity besides themselves in there. Well, not quite in there, but nearby. Izzy only spotted them by accident while going over the landscape photos she took from the highest floor, and it was the kind of sight that many a creepypasta was based on. A Gardevoir in the frame's corner, just barely visible within the treeline, thankfully not looking right at her. She and Lee kept bickering about whether it was some spooky ghost nonsense, and of course, the only way to know for certain was to investigate further.

And sure enough, the next day Izzy aimed her camera right in that direction, there it was again; standing among the trees and staring at the hotel. It lingered for a minute or so before turning around and leaving. Gave the couple all the time and fuel in the world to chat amongst themselves and argue what the hell they’d just seen.

Was that just a wild Gardevoir, or maybe a ghost of one?

Both possibilities were the stuff that Izzy wanted precisely nothing to do with, but the same couldn’t be said for her boyfriend. There was a lot of charm in just how much of a daredevil he was at times, but... c’mon, there was a limit to these things. Taming a feral Murkrow was really cool and all, but anything to do with a Ghost Bride sounded like begging for one’s death in one gruesome way or another.

They didn’t even get to argue for all that long before it showed up again. And then again, and again. Each time it’d walk up to the same spot, stay there for around a minute, start walking straight back, and repeat it all, on average, a hundred and seven minutes later. It didn’t have a set schedule to the best of their ability to tell, just popping up among the trees a few times during the day. It almost felt like a patrol, but of what? Neither teen had any idea how to answer that, which left the other major possibility, one that Lee had first put forward.

It was haunting this place! In some weird, roundabout way.

It’d be far from the only spook to do so, though most others only stuck around for a short time. Thankfully, even Lee had enough grip on reality to know to avoid these Ghosts when they popped up. For the most part, they did a decent job of staying out of sight by themselves.

Outside of that one Misdreavus that almost made them have a heart attack, at least.

Half a can of spray paint to the face hopefully discouraged it from trying any of that ever again.

None of the more common Ghosts were anywhere near as unusual as that recurring specter of a Gardevoir. Maybe their human had died in this hotel many years ago, and that’s why it was closed now? Perhaps they had murdered someone and kept coming back to admire their handiwork? The teens didn’t know.

These were the kinds of mysteries that most didn’t want to know.

Lee was definitely not a part of the “most” category. He immediately wanted to investigate deeper; needing a good couple of months to finally convince his girlfriend to accompany him to take photos. And she was even beginning to warm up to that idea-

At least, until yesterday.

At any rational level, Izzy knew perfectly well that having that Ghost Bride be missing that day and a building in that backwater Mylock village deciding to explode on a whim were two completely unrelated events. But... it was still a disturbing coincidence. One she really, really didn’t want to investigate, and one that only added further kindling to the flames of Lee’s curiosity.

Enough so for him to bike all the way over to Mistralton to ask his uncle for a piece of particularly fancy equipment that would help in their little search.

Izzy didn’t knpw that there were academics who researched psychics specifically. Or, at least, any academics that haven’t been long wrapped up tight in a straitjacket. Somehow, there were, and just like any self-respecting egghead, they had their fancy pieces of kit. The narrowness of their functionality correlated linearly with their price. With how expensive this little gizmo was, The punk had no idea just how the hell did her boyfriend convinced his relative to let him borrow it, even if just for a day.

Maybe being a bit of a daredevil and making poor decisions ran in the family, ha.

As pricey as the device was, it wasn’t doing much at the moment. A large box stashed inside Lee’s backpack with a single long cord extending out of its side, capped off with what almost looked like a dowsing rod. A metal stick the size of a pencil, one end split into three short perpendicular sections around an inch long. All this junk could supposedly sense the aura magic bullshit nonsense that the psychics did their weird spells with and make noises once it did, kinda like a Geiger counter. Only instead, the stuff this specific version would detect was somehow even more dangerous than gamma radiation, against all odds.

And they were walking straight towards it, probably getting closer and closer by the moment...

“~That thing is still not detecting anything, Lee. Maybe it changed its path, and it’s gone?~”

“~Nah, I’m not buying that. Why would a ghost just up and change like that for no reason?~”

“~What if it blew up in that explosion in Mylock?~”

“~I haven’t heard a thing about a Gardevoir or anything that looked like one being involved in that mess.~”

“~Then why would it be gone yesterday?~”

“~I don’t know Iz. Hopefully we’re able to figure it out today, ha! We can crack this case, I’m sure of it, eh Chucky?~”

caw!

“What if something else ends up attacking us? Like- I-I don’t know, a wild Luxray? Doubt Chucky will be of much help there...~”

caw, caw!

“~You heard him~. But nah, I really doubt that’s gonna happen. I’d think most mons know better than to just harass people for no reason, not with League being all too eager to come down on them for that.~”

“~Something tells me feral mons aren’t too familiar with human para-governmental organizations...~”

“~Don’t have to be if the message is just ‘don’t eat the lanky things’-~”

RAAAHHHH!

CAW!

The loud cry sent dread deep through both teens, sounding like a mix of screams, whispers, and fabric being torn. Their eyes immediately shot up towards the source of the haunting noise, the being that stood in their way not one either teen was expecting.

The Banette’s pink eyes drilled right into their very souls, the line of the zipper-like grin constantly wavering between a crooked smile and a harsh scowl. It was terrifying and decidedly not the ghost they were looking for. Both the teens kept enough of their brains to start slowly shuffling backward, avoiding sudden moves. Finding a spirit of a Gardevoir was one thing. Silly myths aside, any attacks of humans on their hands were unheard of.

Something that absolutely couldn’t be said of the Banette in front of them-

And it was very, very eager to demonstrate that fact.

“~IZZY, WATCH OUT!~”

The punk’s attention, temporarily distracted by the briefest of glances at the nearby tree and a Phantump peeking out from behind it, was drawn right back by her boyfriend’s scream.

Just in time to see a sphere of dark, crackling energy fly straight at her.

Her brain short-circuited at the sight, and her feet felt rooted to the forest floor. The only movement her body could manage was her face twisting into utter horror before she shut her eyes, bracing for certain death-

Only for Lee to tackle her to the ground, only barely dodging the Shadow Ball.

A couple of skipped heartbeats later, they heard a loud bang in the distance behind them; the shatter of wood followed up shortly by the deafening croak of a collapsing tree.

The Banette wasn’t done, nowhere near. Its hateful eyes kept staring them both down as it began to form another projectile between its raggedy hands-

CAW, CAAAAW!

Only for Chucky to strike first.

The seething mass of pink and black energy hit the ghost without warning, the shriek that left it even louder than the one it had first startled the couple with. Once the smoke had cleared, they finally saw the many tears and cracks covering its writhing body. Pink light leaked out of them as the Banette thrashed on the ground, screaming in pain.

Neither of the two knew enough about battles to have any idea just what had happened.

It sure looked like Chucky had just laid it out in one hit. And judging by his expression, the Murkrow was only looking for an excuse to follow up with a finishing blow.

“~Holy shit, Chucky-~”

caw, caw!

“~C’mon Lee, let’s dip outta here...~”

“~But we still haven’t found-~”

“~LEE!~”

“~Fine, fine!~”

Izzy might not have wasted time getting up, but Lee most definitely did, the curiosity getting the better of him in the end. With Chucky returning to his proper place on his human’s shoulder, he felt confident enough to approach the wounded ghost.

Especially now that it got company.

Thankfully, it was far from a particularly intimidating sort. The tiny Phantump that had floated over to the downed Banette immediately backed off at seeing him, its whimpers shrill and pitiful. He almost felt bad for a moment-

crr-cr-crrr-crr-CRACK-CRACK!

The rattling, cracking noise from the box in Lee’s backpack froze Izzy’s blood. The punk looked over her shoulder, only to see her boyfriend getting closer to the ghost that had just tried to murder them. She wanted to shout for him to come and leave, but her voice stuck in her throat as the device rattled and screamed at them about the looming threat. It was right there! They were gonna fucking die!

They had to get out, get out NOW!

He’d saved her once, and now it was time for her to repay the favor. Izzy remained silent as she dashed over and grabbed her boyfriend by the shoulders, about to yank him straight back and pull him out of there-

Only for their destination to arrive first.

The Ghost Bride appeared in front of them in a blink, hovering a couple of inches off the ground; its eyes shrouded in a brilliant white flare. The single, drawn-out, ear-piercing whine replaced the previous clacking as the soul of a mighty psychic stared them down-

“^ BEGONE! ^”

Can do!

The teens took off in utter terror; the sight of a furious ghost burned into their retina. Their minds were overfilled with fear- Run, run now, your life’s on the line, run, RUN, RUN! Chucky might have been immune to whatever had just befallen his human and his human’s human, but he wouldn’t argue with their screams, following them out with a few more caws, only occasionally glancing over at the ghostly Gardevoir. It remained in its spot, unmoving, merely staring in their direction until the group finally made it back to the ruins. They sure as hell weren’t gonna stop there, not until they were safe and back at their place.

Possibly not even then, depending on just how much excess fear their minds got soaked with.