A New World, An Old Haunt

by Professor Frogenshtein

Ch 11: Who Let the Dogs Out?

Corporal bared his fangs as he skidded to a halt near the horrid ghouls, his new trusted companion catching up soon after.

"Corporal," panted Biscuits, the 'diamond dog' out of breath from running, "did you find them?"

The stoutland gave his teammate a determined look as he raised a paw to point at the gathering of ghastly ghosts.

Biscuits went pale as he looked over, giving a "yipe!" as he hid behind Corporal. Corporal didn't blame the pup; Biscuits was a resident of this new non-pokémon world, and couldn't possibly have been prepared to face such insidious odds. Were it not for the inexplicable language barrier, Corporal would have barked some words of encouragement at the lad.

As it happened, there was no language barrier between the stoutland and the fiends in front of him.

"I have you now, villains," he shouted, "you will not be taking any more souls today!"

A yamask, who Corporal assumed was the mastermind of the evil operation, seemed utterly unpreturbed as it replied.

"Ah, I'm terribly sorry," the yamask called, speaking in a way that denoted male gender, "but I think there's been a misunderstanding; we are but simple scientists."

"Ha," Corporal barked back, "your ghost lies won't work on me, you cretins!"

A green rapidash-like creature, most likely a native of the planet, popped up next to the yamask suddenly.

"Ohh, some croutons would be nice right now; a lovely salad, maybe some garlic vinegrette dressing..."

"Stein," said the yamask, turning towards the local, "three things; first, he said cretin, it was an insult. Second, when did you get here? Third, how can you understand that stoutland?"

'Stein' looked at the yamask and tapped his horn, which was glowing a faint purple. "I only got here just now, and I've been projecting a translation aura so I could ask for directions from whoever or whatever I encountered."

So the ghosts had overpowered and enslaved a local psychic, had they? Those monsters!

"You monsters," Corporal growled, "overpowering a local psychic-type and forcing him to do your bidding!" The stoutland indicated the golurk off behind the group holding a young winged native. "No doubt you've brainwashed that poor golurk to think it's one of you while you tried to consume that youngling's soul!"

Corporal had seen it dozens of times; golurk, protectors of the innocent, who had been warped into thinking they were ghost-types! The mere thought was simply absurd!

"Actually I'm a unicorn," the psychic interjected.

"What's this about soul consuming?!" Another rapidash-like local, black in color with dark metal armor, forced her way to the front if the group to glare at the yamask. "What did you do to my daughter?!"

The yamask put up its hands as it turned towards the armored unicorn. "Iron Bar!" He said, cringing, "I assure you there's a perfectly good explaination--" the yamask's hands started moving in circles as his shadow began to undulate. "You are getting sleepy... Very sleepy..."

Multicolored rings moved from the shadow to the unicorn, whose eyes drooped before closing completely as she fell asleep standing up.

"Quick thinking, boss," said the shadow, before a gengar rose from the darkness, "that was about to get a whole lot worse."

"Enough!" Corporal howled, "I am Corporal, a warrior of all that is good in this or any world; I'm here to see that you spectral scoundrels pay for driving young Biscuits from his home and for terrorizing this peaceful town!"

The green unicorn blinked and turned to the yamask. "Do you have any idea what he's talking about?"

"I think I do," the gengar interjected, before affixing Corporal with a harsh look, "You're a ghost hunter, aren't you?"

---

Scenes flashed through Lucius' mind as he recalled his 'life' back on Earth.

A young gastly fleeing from a graveyard, frightened and confused as grey-robed humans chased him.
"Out, foul demon! Begone with thee!"

A young girl, screaming at the gastly as a mightyena snapped its jaws.
"Daddy, make the scary thing go away!"

An abandoned house, rotten and broken down, where a banette held a hand out to the gastly.
"It's alright, friend; I, too, have been wronged by humans."

A banette standing tall over a trembling little girl, ignoring the pleas of the gastly that floated between them.
"Please, there's got to be another way!"
"There is no other way! Now stand aside, this girl will get what she deserves for casting me aside like worthless garbage!"

A path, flat and worn, where a gastly stared at a distant town as it burned.
"This isn't right– this isn't how ghosts are meant to exist..."

A boy, scruffy-haired and oddly dressed, smiling up at the gastly.
"I'm Dante, and I'm your new trainer!"

A haunter, quaking in fear behind his trainer as a grey-robed man shouted at them.
"I'm trying to help you, boy; that THING is a soul-eating abomination! Now step aside!"
"SHUT UP!"

A young man, panting as he stares down at a battered, beaten man wearing a grey robe specked with his own blood.
"You tell your freaky cult to stay away from my family!"

A haunter, shaking with tears as his trainer tries to hug his gaseous body.
"I'll never let them hurt you. Never. And that's because...

You're my best friend, Lucius."

---

"You know of my righteous mission, then," the stoutland, Corporal, replied, bearing his fangs in a grin, "that means you should know there's no escape; I am here to see you and your cadaverous cohorts are banished back into the ether for your heinous existence!"

I grit my teeth, glaring at the canine as I restrained myself from lunging at him.

"I thought we took down your freaky purist cult back on Earth," I said.

The stoutland gives a derisive HMPH! "Indeed, the Brotherhood of Nature's Order was disbanded years ago, but I heard tell of their virtuous ways when I was but a lillipup, and I took their holy quest upon myself!"

I clenched a fist at my side. "Virtuous?!" I shouted, "they practically declared war on all ghost-types! They were a bunch of lunatics who thought the voices in their heads was the word of Arceus!"

"Stop your lies and be silent, fiend!" Corporal shouts back, "I am here to carry out my duty as a protector of all life! This world will surely thank me. You should not be here; you ghosts no doubt slipped through to this world with Giratina, that wretched, traitorous son of Arceus!"

He was seriously getting on my nerves.

"Or," I shouted, "maybe Arceus brought us all here on his own because a ghost-type is just as much of a pokémon as any other type and your 'mission' is just frigging crazy!"

"How DARE you!" The stoutland rushed at me, his fangs growing longer as they radiated a dark aura. "CRUNCH!"

Just before the attack could reach me, the a pair of clawed purple hands reached out and grabbed the canine by his jaws.

"Master does not like you," said Ravid, as his opponent struggled to escape his grasp, "Ravid does not like you either."

"Thank you, Ravid," I said, floating up and looking the stoutland straight in the eyes. "You don't want to be my enemy, Corporal. I am Professor Dante Amaranth, and I've had enough of dealing with typist lunatics like you to last me an eternity." I backed away, glaring, as the stoutland glared back. "Ravid, use seismic toss."

The sableye began to spin rapidly in place, effortlessly swinging the large weight around, before throwing the stoutland off into the sky.

"Corporal!" The young diamond dog ran into the forest, chasing after the trajectory of his comerade.

"Welp," I clapped my hands together, turning back toward the others, "back to business; we have a soul to implant!"

Author's Note:

I finally got the chapter done! And just in time for Halloween!

It's November.

Just in time for Day of the Dead!

That was almost 3 weeks ago.

HOW ABOUT JUST IN TIME FOR STEIN TO SHUT UP THEN.

(and I know I promised a fight scene, but I never promised that it would be a long one.)