//------------------------------//
// Ch 7: Dante's Moving 'Castle' 
// Story: A New World, An Old Haunt 
// by Professor Frogenshtein 
//------------------------------//

It was late; everyone had gathered in the 'unliving room' and were sat down on the large wraparound sofa, discussing the situation over the coffee table. They were throwing around ideas on how the pokémon got there, and it was currently Frothing Stein's turn to present a theory.

"You know, it's entirely possible that none of you are real, and that I'm hallucinating terribly from years of inhaling and imbibing various unstable chemicals. And alcohol."

"I think you'd have died by then," said Lucius, "I'd know; I'm an expert on chemical safety."

"Oh I'm not too certain; I have lungs of steel and a cast-iron liver." Stein thumped a hoof against his chest as he said this, and there was actually a faint clanging noise. "Did the whole process myself."

"Even the transplant?"

"Yes, that was the difficult part. It's a funny story actually; I was prepping for surgery when a cantaloupe of all things--"

"Attention citizens of Equus, both old and new.”

"Oh, that sounds important."

The group then listened as a nigh-omnipotent god-creature spoke to the entire planet.





“Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.”

There was dead silence all around the room, all occupants stunned as they processed the information. Frothing Stein was the first to speak, trying to cut the tension.

"Well that was certainly informative. As I was saying, though; this cantaloupe--"

Stein's words were quickly drowned out as everyone started talking at once.

"Lord Arceus is free?!"

"Everfree forest? That's where we are, right?"

"Hippo-whatnow?"

"SILENCE!" A voice commanded, louder than all others, an the room was quiet once more as everyone faced the source of the voice; it was Queen Banafrit, hovering next to Dante in the middle of the sofa.

"Thanks, Bunny," said Dante, before addressing the room out loud. "Alright everyone; although the information came from an... Unexpected source, we have our answer on how we got here. The meeting, however, is still in session, so let's move on to the next question: How did our house get here?"

Tesla, back in default form, raised a glowing appendage.

"I submit the theory that the house was mistakenly thought as being a pokémon because there was a rotom (namely me) sleeping in the electrical system."

Dante blinked.

Tesla blinked back.

"Alright sure," said Dante, putting a ghostly hand to his temple, "let's go with that." He sighed. "I'm calling a ten minute recess; I need a drink. Goliath, you come with me."

Dante floated out of the room alone, the rest of the group sitting somewhat awkwardly.

Lucius took it upon himself to break the silence this time. "So Stein, you were saying about a cantaloupe?"

"Oh yes; now I personally never eat cantaloupe, so I had no idea where this one had come from..."





I came back 10 minutes later just in time to hear the tail end of a story.

"...and, suffice to say, when the mayor's council asked me why the fire station was encased in a cube of pineapple gelatin, I told them 'I was out of lime flavor!'"

"But why did that giraffe need an eggbeater?"

"Attention, everyone!" I called, "recess is now over; we're moving on to the next item on the agenda."

I took an object from behind my back and placed it on the table with a little more force than necessary.

"Gentleghosts (and Bunny)," I said as all eyes were fixed on the object, "this...is a bucket."

Gasps erupted from the room.

"Sweet Celestia..." murmured Frothing Stein.

"There's more."

"No..." Stein leaned back in disbelief.

"This bucket," I continued, "contains information on all of our missing comerades."

I motioned to Goliath, who wheeled a large whiteboard behind me. I placed various photographs from the bucket onto the board before continuing.

"We are going to search this planet until we find every last one of them. Stein informed me earlier of a town just outside this forest; Goliath and I went there to find and procure a map." I flipped the whiteboard over, revealing said map on the other side.

"Wait," Stein interrupted, "you went to ponyville, found a map, and brought it back here all in the space of ten minutes?"

"Yes, I did."

"That was awfully fast."

"Goliath can fly."

"He can--"

"NO FURTHER QUESTIONS!"

Stein sank back in his seat.

"While in town," I continued, turning to the map, "I was also able to determine that none of our missing friends were there. It is therefore my professional opinion that the closest area likely to have ghost-types in or around it is the secluded town of Hollow Shades. That's where we're going next." I faced the room at large. "Are there any questions?"

A clawed purple hand was raised. "Ravid has question!"

"No you cannot have the bucket."

Ravid lowered his hand, looking downcast.

"I have a question, my king."

"Yes, Bunny?"

Bunny looked at the bucket, confused. "What is the fixation with this bucket?"

Jack popped up next to her. "Inside joke, queenie; Dan buddy can probably tell you later."

Jack was quickly pulled away from Bunny by Durendal, who had started shaking again. The queen shot them a look before turning back to me.

"I also wish to know how we are to travel to this 'Hollow Shades', and the rest of this planet."

I grinned. "I was hoping you'd ask that." I pointed to Tesla. "Chief engineer Tesla, engage protocol W-9-tango-blue!"

Tesla grinned wide and gave a salute, then phased through the floor with a chipper "Jawohl, mein kapitän!"





Biscuits was on a mission; the diamond dogs had lost a whole pile of gems, and Rover had blamed it on him for finding those cursed shinies. The rest had responded by throwing Biscuits out of the pack and chasing him into the bad forest, leaving him to wander alone while he ran into freaky... things he'd never seen before. The only good thing that happened to him was when he found a weird new friend who said they could lead him to the shinies, and Biscuits wanted to make the stupid shinies pay for getting him thrown out of the pack.

"Do you still have the scent, Corporal?"

Biscuits' new friend nodded and trudged through the forest. Corporal was the weirdest diamond dog biscuits had ever seen; he had shaggy dark blue and grey fur over most of his body, and it was long enough to touch the ground. His head had brown fur, and his face had huge fluffy cream fur eyebrows that almost covered his eyes, but Corporal's biggest feature was his jowls, which sported the longest, poofiest moustache Biscuits could have imagined.

"Slow down, corporal!" Biscuits called as he struggled to keep up with the furry dog. Corporal stopped for a moment as Biscuits fought his way through some bushes before taking off again without a word. That was another thing about Corporal that confused Biscuits; he never talked, and Biscuits only called him Corporal because the dog had shrugged when Biscuits had guessed his name.

Before long, Corporal and Biscuits arrived at a clearing; in the middle of the clearing there was a large dingy-looking mansion. Corporal nudged Biscuits in the side, pointing at the mansion with his snout. "Shinies are in there?" Asked Biscuits, and Corporal nodded in reply.

Before either canine could make a move, however, the roof of the mansion opened up with a pneumatic hiss. Biscuits and Corporal watched, amazed, as a giant purple hot air balloon came out of the top, and the mansion began to float through the air.

The sight was so fantastic that it took Biscuits a full minute before he realized the house was floating away.

"AFTER THEM!" He shouted, and both dogs dashed off, rushing to keep up with their quarry.