Gene smiled as he made his way through Ponyville, it was just past ten and he was on his way to Twilight’s. He and Belle had gotten up earlier today because Belle had convinced him that, since he was a Gallade now, he could use some training.
Likewise, Gene had convince Belle to invite Korrina, Misty, and the other former humans. He was currently on his way to Twilight’s to see if Juniper or Falkner wanted to come. He hoped Twilight would know where the latter was, as he had no idea where the Flying Gym Leader was staying.
Gene was smiling because he found it funny that his Pokémon were going to train him...though he was a little worried about what Mage had planned.
“If I know Juniper,” Gene said as he knocked on the door to the library. “Then she’s probably too engrossed in studying to even answer my questions.”
“Sorry but the- Oh, hi Gene.” Spike said as he opened the door.
Gene smiled. “Hi Spike, are Twilight or Juniper in?”
Spike looked at him in confusion for a second. “I think that translation spell wore off.”
Gene thought for a second. “That would explains some of the looks I got from some ponies.”
Spike sighed. “I’ll get Twilight.” He closed the door leaving Gene standing alone for a few seconds before Twilight opened it.
“Hi Gene,” Gene noticed that Twilight was holding a cup of coffee in her magic. “Spike said you needed a new translation spell?”
“Actually I...” He thought for a second, then tried something. Focusing his thoughts as he had done countless times before with Belle, he pushed his thoughts towards Twilight. “Actually, Belle and the others are going to start training me, Korrina, Misty, and May. I was coming to see if Juniper wanted to come,” After a second he added. “And if you knew where Falkner flew off to.”
A look of concern flashed across Twilight’s face. “Don’t worry, no one’s gonna get hurt.”
“It’s not that,” Twilight said. “It’s... well, see for yourself.”
Twilight stepped aside and Gene walked in, he stopped when he saw Juniper was passed out on the couch. “Late night studying?” Gene asked.
“It was more-”
“She was talking to us.” Gene turned to and saw Solana standing in the stairway.
“Solana?” Gene asked. “What are you doing here?”
“We-” The was a faint flash from Twilight as she recast the translation spell.
“Sorry, wanted to make sure I understood everyone.” She apologized. “Carry on.”
Solana turned back to Gene. “We came here yesterday after what your pony friend told us, about a Princess living here. We... we were,” Her voice quivered. “We came to see if there was any way that... that...”
Gene saw tears begin to run down the Medicham’s face. “Uhh,” Gene rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I don’t know what’s going on, should I go?”
At that point Solana jumped down the last few steps, then ran forward and wrapped her arms around Gene.
“Watch the spike, watch the spike!” He knew from experience that while the spike wouldn’t pierce anything, it could still leave one heck of a bruise.
“I... I’m sorry.” She choked. “We were going to try to arrest you and...” Solana couldn’t finish.
Gene turned to Twilight. “What did you do to her?” He asked.
Twilight laughed nervously. “I asked her, and Lunick, a few questions, then things kind of... escalated.”
“She pointed out that the laws banning Poké...” Lunick stopped himself as he reached the bottom of the stairs. “The laws banning relationships like yours weren’t for the sake of protecting Pokémon.”
Solana finally released her grasp on Gene and walked over to Lunick. Gene looked between them and Twilight a few times. “I’m... what?” Gene had tried to talk sense into people before, he usually ended running from the cops.
Solana wiped her eyes. “We’re sorry for what we said yesterday,” She apologized. “And for... everything else.”
Gene stared at the Rangers in shock. He was use to hearing “Freeze,” And having all matters of obscenities and insults thrown at him, not apologies.
Lunick grabbed Solana’s hand and smiled at her. “I know it can’t make up for everything you’ve been through but... on behalf of the Ranger Union,” He turned to Gene. “We’re sorry for everything you’ve had to endure since Unova.”
Gene’s eyes widened in surprise, but a second later he closed them and smiled. “Thank you.” He said, opening his eyes and smiling at the Rangers. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
Solana smiled and said. “Gene, if it’s all the same to you, could we forget about yesterday and... you know, start over?”
Gene chuckled and held out his hand. “Sure, I’m Gene. Pleased to meet you.”
“Solana, Top Ranger from Fiore.” She shook Gene’s hand.
“Lunick, same title, same Region.” He did the same.
Gene grinned. “Anyway, Belle and a few other Pokémon are going to be training me and some other former humans, you two wanna come?”
Lunick and Solana looked to each other. “Thanks for the offer.” Lunick said. “But we need some time alone right now.”
“Some other time maybe?” Solana added.
“Sounds good to me,” He turned to Twilight. “We’ll be just outside of town if you need anything.”
Twilight nodded and Gene made his way to the door. “Oh, and don’t let Juniper sleep too late. She freaks out if she sleeps past noon.”
Twilight nodded and Gene exited the library, smiling, but for an entirely different reason than when he entered.
“You have to focus.” Lucario said.
“I AM focusing!” Korrina replied.
Lucario sighed. “Perhaps a demonstration will help.”
Korrina grumbled and moved out of the way. For the past hour, Lucario had been training her. And while she was doing well in hand to hand combat, she hadn’t yet gotten the hang of using actual attacks.
“Watch me,” Lucario’s eyes glowed blue for a moment and a club of solid aura appeared in his paws. “Bone Rush.”
Lucario jumped forward and swung the weapon through his target. Literally. “You know, when I volunteered to help you two,” Mage glared at the Fighting-types. “I didn’t think I’d be the target.”
“You’re a Ghost-type. Fighting-type moves don’t work on you, and with your ability, neither do Ground-types.” Lucario said with a shrug.
Lucario walked back over to Korrina. “You understand the physical portion of a battle, but not so much the mental or spiritual portions.”
“Yeah, yeah, I have to unlearn what I think I know about battling,” Korrina sighed. So far she’d managed to use Quick Attack and had an Aura Sphere blow up in her face.
Lucario chuckled. “Don’t worry, remember when I had trouble controlling my power in Mega Form? This is like that. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.”
Korrina didn’t answer. “Why don’t we give some more physical moves a go,” Lucario suggested. “Metal Claw for example?”
Upon hearing that, Mage’s eyes widened. “Aaaand, that’s my cue to leave.” And she disappeared.
Lucario rolled his eyes and nodded for Korrina to proceed. The former Gym Leader stepped forward and tapped her chin, so far she had been good with using physical attacks, and Metal Claw was one of those.
“Metal Claw.” As Korrina called out the move, the spikes on her paws began to glow, and split into three glowing claws, one over each of her digits. “Coool,” she said as she examined them.
Korrina grinned and looked around for something to hit. Spotting a boulder, she rushed forward and raked her claws across its surface.
A moment after she passed it, two slices of rock near the top slid off the rock.
Korrina grinned as her claws reverted back to normal. “What should I try next?” She asked, turning to Lucario who just smiled in response to her enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, a fair distance away, May stood in the center of a small clearing, a look of uncertainty on her face. “Are you sure about this?”
Blaziken, leaning on a tree a few yards away, smiled. “Positive. We’re not near any buildings so don’t worry about burning anything down.”
May gulped, not exactly reassured by his answer. She had managed to use a few moves when she and Blaziken scared the Aggron out of Trottingham, but she hadn’t really known what she was doing at the time.
“Just focus on your inner fire,” Blaziken offered. “Try to control it. Tell it what you want it to do.”
“Alright,” May closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “F-Fire Spin.”
A moment later, May felt the air around her heating up. She opened her eyes to see that she was in the center of a vortex of flames, and that she wasn’t getting burned, thankfully.
“Well done May,” Blaziken said. “Now... do you think you can stop it?” The vortex was beginning to grow.
May dropped her arms but the vortex kept spinning. “H-help!”
Blaziken jumped into the vortex and landed next to May. “Just calm down,” He put a talon on her shoulder. “You have to relax.”
May took another deep breath and focused on the fire, the dangerous, burning fire that was spinning all around her. She shook her head. I’m a Fire-type, and it’s my fire. I can’t get burned, and it can’t hurt me.
As May fought her instincts that were screaming for her to scream and hide, Blaziken watched as the vortex began to slow down. She’s a natural. He thought as the attack came to a stop.
“May, you can open your eyes now.”
May did just that and smiled. “I did it!” She cried happily.
Blaziken smiled. “That you did... I wonder,” He scratched his chin and looked over May’s form. He had seen other Delphoxes before in a few contests they had competed in, and noticed that something was missing here. “Wait here.” Blaziken walked over to the tree he had been leaning on and examined it for a moment.
After a few seconds he leapt upward into the branches and snapped off a branch. Landing on the ground, he stripped the branch of the few leaves on it and seared off some of the points.
“Here,” He handed the stick to May. “Delphox use these to focus their powers, both Fire and Psychic.”
May passed the stick between her paws, and was surprised by how... right it felt. Like it had always belonged to her. A small flame flickered to life at the end of the stick as she examined it. “Why’d it do that?” She asked.
“Maybe it’s responding to you.” Blaziken had no idea how a Delphox’s powers worked, but he wasn’t going to let May know that. Not when she needed all the support she could get. “Why don’t you try a more powerful attack,” he suggested. “You used Flamethrower the other day.”
“And I nearly set the town on fire,” May reminded him dryly. Despite that, May turned away from the trees and towards the dirt path leading out of Ponyville and raised her new ‘wand’. “Flamethrower!” A torrent of fire shot from the end of the stick, much larger than it had been at Trottingham, and more importantly, with better (albeit still quite messy) control than when it shot out of her finger tips.
“Eeep!” May dropped the stick in shock, cutting off the attack. She stared at it for a second before saying, “I think it worked.”
Blaziken chuckled. “I think so. Now we just need to work on your control.”
A bit further down the path, Gene stood facing several logs that had been positioned upright on their side. “I don't know about this…” He said.
“What’re you worried about?” Belle asked. “We know that these,” She poked his blades. “Are sharp enough to cut wood. Now you’re just putting force behind them.”
Misty sat nearby, waiting for Gene to finish his training first. Since the only Pokémon from her team she’d encountered so far was Togepi, Gene had offered to give her some pointers, as apparently one of his Pokémon was some kind of Water-type. Now she just watched as Gene took his position in front of the first log.
“Just try to cut this one, ok?” Belle asked.
“Alright.” Gene looked at the log. It was thicker than anything he had accidently cut through so far. Suddenly his eyes fell on a portion about halfway up the center and he rushed forward, halfway to the log his blades extended and…
*SLICE*
Half of the log fell away and Gene couldn’t help but stare. The log was at least a foot thick, and he had cut through it like a hot knife through butter.
Belle walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Good job sweetie,” She smiled. “Now why don’t you try an attack this time.”
Gene nodded and stepped in front of the second log. “What kind of moves do Gallade know?” All Gene knew was that they had a different natural move set than Gardevoir.
“Psycho Cut, Slash, Fury Cutter, Close Combat, Double Team,” Belle listed a few more moves. “I looked them up in your Pokédex a while back, just in case.”
Gene smiled and prepared to attack. “Slash.” Gene’s blades glowed white as the Gallade ran forward and sliced through the second log. This one landed several feet away from the force of the attack.
Belle applauded her mate. “Alright, how about one more, then you can help Misty train.”
“Sounds good.” Gene moved in front of the final log and stared it down. Gene rushed forward once more and raised his blade, he meant to see if he could use Psycho Cut. But as he quickly approached his target another attack came to mind. “Leaf Blade.”
To the surprise of everyone present, his blades began to glow green and extended slightly as Gene approached the log he crossed his blades and sliced both through the log, cutting it into three parts.
Gene watched as the green glow faded and his blades returned to normal. “Is that... normal?”
Belle though for a moment, trying to remember what the Pokédex had said. “I... I’m not sure, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that... we’ll ask Juniper later.
Gene just nodded and stared at his blades for another second before turning to Misty. “Alright, you ready?”
Misty nodded and walked over to him. “You really have experience in training Water-types?”
“Well... not Water-types persay,” Gene admitted. “But River knows a lot of Water moves, so it should translate.”
Misty sighed.“What Pokémon is River?” Misty knew there was no substitute for a proper Water-type, she had trained all manner of Water-types at the Cerulean Gym, Gyarados, Dugong, Luvdisc. And no matter how many Water-type moves a Pokémon could learn they never made up for a real Water-type.
“River’s a Dragonair.” Gene said.
... That one might be an exception.
“Really?”
Gene smiled and nodded. “I found her in the Safari Zone when she was just a little Dratini.”
“Well...” Misty admitted. “It’s better than nothing.” She understood why some trainers mistook the Dratini family for a Water-type group. They could learn a large number of Water-type moves and their first two forms lived in lakes and rivers.
“Well then,” Gene clapped his hand together. “Let’s get started.”
Mage stifled a laugh as a water logged Gene tried to keep his balance. “It’s not funny Mage!” He shouted... at the opposite direction.
“Gene, I am SO sorry!” Misty apologized.
“It’s alright.” He sighed.
“I just got kind of excited and I missed the target.”
“I know, it’s alright Misty.”
“I probably should’ve waited to try out Water Pulse, huh? Maybe I should have started with Bubble, or Water Gun.”
Gene shook his head as Belle sat down next to him. “You alright sweetie?”
“Yeah, it’s not the first time I’ve been confused,” Gene smiled and chuckled. “Remember when you first learned Confusion when you were a Ralts?”
Belle blushed. “It wasn’t funny,” She mumbled. “I thought I hurt you.”
Gene laughed and pulled Belle into a hug. “I’m just teasing, I know it was an accident.”
Despite still being unsure about the whole Poképhilia thing, Misty had to admit. They did look cute together. “I think that’s enough training for now, huh?”
“Yeah.” Gene said. “I wonder how Korrina and May are doing.”
Before anyone could offer a response, a scream came from the edge of the Everfree. “What the heck was that?” Belle asked.
“I’ll check it out.” Mage said, floating towards the forest.
“Mage!” Gene called. “Get back here, it could be dangerous!”
Ignoring her trainer, Mage floated towards the forest where the sound had-
“HELLLPP!” A silver form burst from the brush just as Mage reached the forest, taking the Mismagius by surprise and knocking her to the ground.
“Ouch!” Mage phased through the squirming object and saw that it was an Aron, the young Steel-type now curled up in a ball on the ground.
“Uhh, it’s ok kid, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Mage always hated that for her meeting new people usually meant explained that she wasn’t going to curse them, though she tried not to get angry about it.
The Aron didn’t open its eyes. “S-s-shadows. C-castle. D-d-darkness.”
Now Mage was getting worried. “What’s wrong? What castle?”
The Aron mumbled what sounded like, “Accursed one.” Before passing out.
Mage’s eyes widened. “Belle! Get help! NOW!” Mage wrapped one of her ‘arms’ around the sleeping Aron to comfort him. “And, if it’s not too much trouble could you, I don’t know. Hurry?!”
Fluttershy hummed softly as she stroked the sleeping Aron. Trying to ignore what was quickly becoming a shouting match between Mage and Twilight.
“I’m telling you,” Mage whined. “He ran out of the forest, said something about an ‘accursed one’ then passed out.”
“Well what’s the accursed one? Some kind of Pokémon?” Twilight asked.
Mage scoffed, and the other Pokémon present sighed or rolled their eyes. “Twilight,” Gene began. “HALF of the Dark and Ghost-type Pokémon currently known could be called that depending on who you’re asking.”
“Really?” Twilight asked. She had not been expecting that answer, and it... wasn’t what she had hoped for.
“My dog, who is a Dark-type Pokémon, breathes fire that leaves an everlasting burn when he’s mad and Mage’s species, Mismagius, has a bad reputation and are often associated with witches, and in a bad way at that.” Gene explained dryly. He never did like how much a lot of people and Pokémon judged simply based on type... even if some of them DID deserve it.
“And we’re not even the worst.” Mage chuckled, finding the expression on Twilight’s face amusing.
“That’s just... Gahh!” Twilight face hooved. “So something in the Everfree, probably in the old castle from what Mage told us the Aron said, is scaring Pokémon?”
“Seems about right,” Korrina answered.
“And the best description you can give us is that it is likely, a Dark or Ghost-type?”
“I suppose a few could be taken out,” Belle said. “No one would call a Murkrow accursed, and it’s very unlikely a Frillish is in the forest... unless the forest is connected to an ocean.”
Twilight sighed and rubbed her temples. With all the issues dealing with the arrival of the Pokémon that still lingered, not to mention the upcoming meeting of the racial leaders, this was the last thing she wanted to have to deal with right now. “Alright, you know what? I’m not going to worry about this. Instead, I’m going to do this.” She looked to Belle. “Could you help me get whatever this thing is out of the castle? Or at least make sure it’s not going to eat my soul next time I go there?”
Belle giggled. “Of course Twilight, I know Shadow Ball which should clear out most Ghost-types, and Moon Blast in case it’s a Dark-type.”
Twilight nodded. “Anyone else want to come?” Besides Gene, who’s going to say something like-
“I’m coming. Where Belle goes, I go.”
Mage floated over to Twilight. “I’ll tag along, this old castle sounds interesting.”
“Me too!” Pinkie added. “If this Pokémon’s all alone in that dank old castle, then they probably didn’t come to my party.”
Twilight was going to protest, but decided not to. “Anyone else?”
Fluttershy just nuzzled the still sleeping Aron and Korrina and Lucario looked at each other before shrugging. “We’re resistant to both types.” Korrina said. “Though if it’s Ghost-type, Fighting moves’ll be worse than useless.”
“And I’ll tag along,” Rainbow said. “Just in case you need some air support.”
Twilight nodded. “With eight sets of eyes, we should be able to find this... thing, in no time.”
“It’s probably nothing.” Mage said. “I know from experience that most Ghost-types just get a bad rap for being... you know, ghostly.”
“But we should still be careful.” Twilight defended. “Juniper told me about some of the more dangerous Pokémon.” She shivered at the idea of meeting one of those.
“Fair point.” Mage had met a few Ghosts who were deserving of the hate they got.
Twilight turned to Fluttershy and the few others staying behind, consisting of May, Blaziken, Misty, and Spike. “If we’re not back before sundown...” She sighed. “Send a letter to the Princess and get Discord.”
“That... is a very old castle.” Mage said as the group crossed the rope bridge leading to it.
“I said it was over a thousand years old.” Twilight said. “What did you expect?”
“I thought it would be better maintained.” Mage answered.
Once the group reached one of the doors Twilight stepped in front of them. “Ok, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. So I’m thinking we’ll split up.”
Mage’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that what you’re not suppose to do in situations like this?” She had read a few horror novels back on Earth, and splitting up usually ended badly.
“Don’t worry, it’s the middle of the afternoon. That only applies at night, and when you don’t have super powered bodyguards.” Twilight said with a smile.
“Well, how are we splitting up?” Gene asked.
Twilight thought for a moment. “Gene, Belle, you guys go with Pinkie and check the lower levels. Lucario, Korrina, go with Rainbow Dash and look around the west wing. I’ll take Mage and scope out the other side of the castle.” She made to open the door, then stopped. “Meet back here by four whether you’ve found anything or not.”
Twilight pushed the door open and everyone split up, unaware of just what they were getting themselves into.
“-And I said oatmeal, are you crazy?”
Gene groaned as he, Belle, and Pinkie made their way through the bowels of the ancient castle. For the last half hour, they had been sharing stories to help pass the time. Unfortunately, Pinkie’s usually involved some kind of corny joke, or ended in a pun.
“What’s wrong Genie?” Pinkie asked innocently. “Not a fan of jokes?”
Ignoring the nickname, Gene answered. “It’s not that, it’s just... Mage once got her hands on a book containing one thousand and one groaners,” That had actually been the title. “And after a while they just got... annoying was the right word for the first hundred or so.”
Belle couldn’t help but giggle. “You know it’s not actually that bad down here,” She looked around. “A little dusty, but it does have a sort of old world charm.”
“Yeah, the girls and I have been fixing this place up in our spare time,” She looked down a dark hallway. “Thought we’ve mostly worked on the library.”
“This place has a library?” Gene asked. “I think I know where Mage and Twilight are.”
Pinkie laughed and for a while they continued on as they had. “You know, one thing does strike me as strange.” Belle said as they passed yet another suit of armor.
“What’s that?” Gene asked.
“We haven’t seen any Pokémon since we got here. No Spinaraks clinging to the ceiling, no Zubats in these old hallways, not even a single Gastly floating through the walls.”
“Is that... bad?” Pinkie asked.
“Well... it’s not so much bad as it is... unusual. At the very least we should have seen a Zubat by now,” She looked around to make sure nothing was sneaking up on them. “Those things love places like this, and they live in colonies of hundreds, so there should be quite a few in Equestria.”
“You think something scared them all away?” Pinkie was beginning to wonder just what they were looking for.
Gene and Belle shared a look. If whatever they were looking for could scare away a Zubat colony... those things didn’t usually care about anything like that. Most people thought it was because they lacked eyes.
“Maybe we should start heading back.” Gene said. “The Aron might’ve just seen a Gengar and got spooked.”
Before Belle could respond, something in the back of her mind told her they should hide. Now.
Without any warning she grabbed Pinkie and Gene and dragged them through one of the nearby rooms.
“Just stay down and stay quiet.” She said telepathically. “Something’s coming.”
“What?” Gene asked.
“I don’t know yet... do you hear that?” The trio waited in silence as the sound slowly got louder.
It sounded like someone was dragging a metal box across the floor, a constant grinding sound that just sounded this side of sinister.
“What is it?” Pinkie asked.
Gene and Belle didn’t answer. Instead they watched from the corner of the room as a shadow slowly overtook the doorway.
“Nom nom.” A raspy voice called, sending chills down everyone’s spin. “I smell yum yums.”
Gene put an arm around Belle and pulled her close, and Pinkie did her best to hide behind the Pokémon.
“Belle, If that thing comes in here,” Gene said. “Hit it with Shadow Ball and Teleport us out of here.”
Belle nodded.
“Where are you, yum yums?” The voice said again, louder this time. “I’m getting hungry.”
They watched in horror as a hand comprised completely of shadows grasped the door and, while they couldn’t see them. Three more hands, all made of shadows, grasped the walls, ceiling, and floor of the corridor to drag the creature they belonged to along.
“W-what is-” Pinkie stopped mid thought as a blue and gold body came into view. Pinkie couldn’t see it very well from her vantage point behind Gene and Belle but the creature had an almost rectangular golden body and a blue and gold headdress. It strongly resembled a sarcophagus, and its face had blood red eyes and a mouth full of pointed teeth.
Gene and Belle both tensed as the Coffin Pokémon paused outside the doorway for a second, then continued forward.
For a moment, no one spoke, no one even dared think, afraid that even that would somehow draw the creature towards them. “What was that?!” Pinkie thought frantically.
“Cofagrigus,” Gene answered, a chill in his voice. “A Ghost-type Pokémon, and one of the worst in my opinion.”
“They’re violent, nearly impossible to train, and just plain dangerous.” Belle added.
“Why’s that?” Pinkie asked. “It just sounded hungry to me.”
Gene sighed. “Pinkie, I don’t want to scare you, but Cofarigus eat two things: Gold, and tomb robbers.”
Pinkie nodded and began to think how hard it would be to make a cake out of-... “WHAT!??!” Gene and Belle winced at Pinkie’s mental scream. “They eat people!?”
“Yeah,” Gene said, slowly standing up. “They’re supposedly what remains of a humans spirit after Yamask evolves, usually the really bad, really evil part.”
Pinkie thought for a moment. “Then how is that thing here? Didn’t Arceus say he left bad people and Pokémon like that on Earth?”
Belle shook her head. “We said usually.” In their travels, they had encountered one Cofagrigus who belonged to a good friend of theirs, and he used to play chess with Mage on the weekends. “And these things are known to go inactive for long periods of time. Arceus might have picked it up thinking it was a Dusk Stone or something like that.”
Pinkie nodded. “Well how do we get rid of it?” Pinkie asked, wanting to know the most important bit of information at the moment. Too bad they didn’t have it.
“That’s the question Rangers and government officials have been asking for decades,” Gene said. “Those things are extremely durable, their shells are some kind of ethereal metal, and they’re pretty much immortal.”
“A few years ago when an experiment gone wrong by Team Rocket forced several Yamask to evolve in the Desert Resort, a Ranger whose Partner Pokémon was an Aegislash found that the Sword Pokémon could effectively take those things down.” Belle said, recalling the incident. “I think the Ranger even survived the whole incident.”
Pinkie’s eyes lit up. “Sooo, that swordy thing that pledged itself to Celestia...?” she asked, hoping that they actually did have something that could deal with this thing in reachable distance.
“That was an Aegislash,” Belle confirmed, to which Pinkie sighed in relief. “But... we’ll talk about it later, right now we need to-”
Belle’s eyes went wide and she spun around, raising a force field as a Shadow Ball came through the room.
“Hello nom noms!” The Cofagrigus cried, a grin that would have been at home on the face of a deranged maniac present on its face.
Pinkie screamed.
Several minutes before, in another part of the castle, a very different encounter was about to take place. Mage was floating after Twilight, holding a few books behind her.
“Ok, nothing in the library,” Twilight said.
“Except a few old spell books, which I will be keeping,” Mage said with a smile.
“Now we can move onto another part of the castle,” She looked up a flight of stairs. “Come on, this is where the bedrooms were.”
Mage rolled her eyes and looked over the spell books. She wasn’t sure if she could use magic as it was in Equestria, but she was definitely going to try.
As Mage and Twilight made there way up the staircase, Twilight began to wonder just what was going on here. Maybe the Aron had just gotten spooked by some trap door or suit or armor?
“Leave this place.” A voice suddenly cried.
“AHH!” Twilight shrieked and jumped into the air in a manner very much reminiscent of a certain cartoon dog... only to fall through Mage and land on the staircase. “Ow!”
Mage sighed and looked around. “Alright mister ‘I’m gonna scare everyone away and keep this castle for myself’, you get out here right now! You have no right to-”
“Ok, ok.” The voice answered. “I was just trying to help.” Mage watched as a Gengar materialized in front of her.
The Magical Pokémon scoffed. “Typical,” She snorted. “It’s alright Twilight, just some trickster wannabe messing around.”
Twilight got up and looked at the Pokémon floating in front of her. “This is it?” She asked in surprise. Of all the things she was expecting to see... this wasn’t one of them. “Sure, he looks... weird, kinda like a goblin... But he’s not that scary.”
Gengar crossed his arms. “What are you two going on about?”
“You scared a little Aron out of here earlier!” Mage snapped. “Now get out, this castle belongs to her high royal majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight looked at Mage in confusion.
“I don’t know who that is,” Gengar shrugged nonchalantly. “But you can tell her that her castle has a serious home wrecker.”
“I’m her, I mean, this isn’t my... I’m Twilight. What’s going on?” Twilight was having trouble keeping track of what these two were saying.
Gengar sighed and sat on the railing. “You’ve got a rather nasty spirit livin’ in your basement Princess.”
Mage raised an eyebrow. “You mean... not you?”
The Shadow Pokémon shook his head, which looked as if he was twisting his body. “There’s a Cofagrigus in the basement.”
Mage dropped the spell books she had been carrying. “A... you’re joking right?!” Mage asked in panic.
“I wish,” Gengar frowned. “Me and a few others are tryin’ to keep others out, but Lampent and Dusclops went to see if the reports of a Sigilyph flyin’ round here was true.”
Twilight was about to ask why they needed a Sigilyph when she noticed the look on Mage’s face. A terrifying mixture of rage and panic that made the Alicorn take a step back. “My family is down there...” Mage said.
Twilight felt the temperature drop.
Gengar frowned. “If they’re Ghosts they should be fine. If not...” He shrugged.
Mage’s eyes locked on him. “Don’t you even THINK that!” She screamed, an ethereal echo added to her voice. “He never gave up on me! And I swore I would never abandon him!”
Twilight was beginning to notice that Mage seemed to be drawing the shadows towards her. She took a few more steps back. Likewise, Gengar floated away from the Mismagius.
Her attention turned to Twilight. “You!” She snapped. “You sent them down there!” Twilight began estimating how much energy it would take to teleport back to the library and hide herself in a book fort. “If anything happens to them, you’ll know why people call us witches.”
Twilight gulped.
Ignoring both the pony and Pokémon, Mage vanished into thin air.
“Damn.” Gengar said. “She’s scary.”
Before Twilight could reply a scream tore through the castle. One that was very familiar to the Alicorn. “Pinkie!” Twilight cried before rushing down the stairs and towards her screaming friend.
Gengar floated at the top of the top of the stairs for a few second, considering what to do. “Aw hell,” He moaned as he floated after Twilight. “Why didn’t I go with Lampent instead?”
Pinkie ran around the small room, some kind of cellar, screaming as Belle held the force field against the attacking Ghost-type.
“Pinkie!” She snapped. “Could you be quiet, I’m trying to concentrate!”
“S-sorry.” Pinkie said.
“Gene, plan, can’t think right now.” The Ghost-type kept trying to force its way through. It took a lot of work to keep it out.
“Right, give me a second.”
If I have Belle use Shadow Ball that could give us a good start, He thought, followed by-
“Hey ugly!” The Cofagrigus turned to see a Mismagius floating behind him.
“Mage!” Gene shouted. “What are you doing?!”
Mage ignored the question and stared down the Coffin Pokémon. “You want a snack?” A circle of purple flames flickered to life around her. “Try this! Will-O-Wisp!”
The flames shot forward and hit the Cofagrigus, several of them clinging to the ghostly metal.
“GAHHHHHH!” The Cofagrigus hissed. “Puny youngling!” It shouted. “You side with flesh over your own kind?!”
Mage grit her teeth and used Mean Look, increasing her glare. “We are not the same!” Mage shouted. “And I’d chose them any day.” She broke into a terrifying grin. “Now get away from my family, or I’ll show you what I’m capable of.”
The Cofagrigus laughed, a terrible, hissing sound. “You cannot beat me, I have slept for a century. Awaiting the time when it would be safe for our kind to-”
“HEX!” Mage screamed. A purple cloud formed over Mage and shot toward Cofagrigus.
The Cofagrigus, still suffering from the Burns, wheeled back in pain and hit one of the walls.
At that point, Belle dropped the force field and she and Gene rushed forward, Pinkie right behind them.
“Mage,” Gene said. “How did you-?”
“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted as she rounded a corner and spotted her friend. “Are you alright? I heard you-AHHH!” Twilight spotted the Cofagrigus as it began to stand itself up.
“You will not stop me,” It hissed. “I will-”
“Shadow Ball!” Belle fired the attack at the struggling Ghost-type, embedding it partially in the floor.
“Time to go.” Gene said. “Belle, Twilight, Teleport?”
Twilight nodded and grabbed Pinkie while Belle grabbed Mage and Gene. “Gengar!” Twilight called. “We’re leaving!”
A few seconds and two flashes of light later everyone appeared in the front room of the castle. After another second, a perturbed Gengar rose from the floor.
“Is everyone alright?” Twilight asked.
“A little shaken up,” Gene said. “But ye-” Gene was interrupted as Mage threw herself into his arms. “Mage,” Gene began. “Are you-”
“I am not crying, so don’t even ask.” She warned
Gene smiled. “I was going to ask if you were ok,” He said as he wrapped his arms around her.
Twilight sighed, glad everyone was alright.
“Wait!” Pinkie shouted. “Where are Dashie and Korrina and Lucario!”
Everyone started looking around frantically, hoping to spot them. “What if they went into the basement when they heard me scream?” Pinkie asked. “What if that meany, monster got them? We have to-”
“I’m telling you Dash, I heard a scream from this way... oh, hi guys,” Korrina said as she walked into the room. Lucario and Rainbow Dash following her. “Did you find the Ghost?”
“It’s not that is it?” Dash asked, pointing to Gengar. “Cause I’ve seen scarier things just wandering around the past few days.”
Dash didn’t get an answer. Instead, she got a Pinkie Pie crushing her in a bear hug, repeatedly saying how happy she was that she was ok.
Korrina and Lucario turned looked at Gene, who was patting Mage on the back. Obviously trying to comfort her, and then to Belle. “What was it?” They asked together.
Belle sighed. “I prefer to talk about it once we’re no longer here, back at the library perhaps.”
“Alright,” Dash choked, trying to ply Pinkie off of her. “As long as it explains why Pinkie is being so huggy.”
Belle nodded. “All in due time.”
The Gardevoir lead the group out of the castle, but Twilight lingered behind. “Gengar?” She turned to the Shadow Pokémon. “Once you have... whatever it is your friends are doing taken care of. Come to Ponyville, all of you, I have some questions that I want you to answer. Just ask for directions to the Golden Oaks Library.”
“After this gig?” Gengar said. “Only if you’re offering food.”
“Fine,” Twilight said. “Just do it ok?”
“Whatever.” Gengar disappeared, and Twilight quickly left the castle, making sure she locked the door behind her. Ghost or not, she wasn’t going to take any chances of it getting out... or someone wandering in…