Arty Jackson's Story

The floorboards creaked beneath Alexis' feet with each step further into the Chateau. Shadows danced along the walls unnaturally, and faint whispers of childish laughter came and went with the wind that gusted in through gaps in the walls and broken windows. Faint glimpses of eyes watching the pair blinked into being on the walls, then as swiftly as they had appeared, they vanished. The entrance hall gave way through a cobwebbed door to an eerie dining hall, vast in size and clearly intended for grand banquets ... once upon a time, at least.

Now it was as empty and chilling as the rest of the building. An upper level of balconies looked down on the room, with doors leading off deeper into the mansion-like house. It was hard to make out what was up there, such was the way the shadows played.

Beneath Alexis' feet, a shadow abruptly seemed to detach itself from the door-frame through which he had just passed, and dart between his legs. It rippled across the floor until it reached one of the chairs around the banquet table, disappearing into the shadow of the chair with a fluttering of the table cloth.

A cackle echoed through the room without any clear source.

Every small movement set Alexis on edge and had him looking at every shadow that flickered. After a few attempts of staring too closely at something, he sighed and gave up, making sure to not pay attention to anything in particular as he explored the house.

The once-extravagant dining hall was his first stop, and the cackle as well as the sudden movement beneath him sent more shivers down his spine. The feminine trainer also let out a tiny, high-pitched squeal, but luckily no one was around to hear it. No one except the ghosts, and they didn't count.

Meanwhile, Alice floated nearby, occasionally approaching something. Unlike Alexis, she was completely at home, and undeterred. That was to be expected, of course.

Careful steps brought him closer to the large table, and he circled it slowly, while also keeping his distance. "Sheesh, this place is.." A quick glance was directed towards Alice. "And of course, you're fine."

"Miiiis!" came the affirmative reply.

When Alice approached one of the plates on the table, oddly dark-coloured and slightly faded around the edges, she was greeted by a pair of blinking red eyes appearing in its surface. The eyes were swiftly followed by a broad toothy grin, and a large tongue lolled out of the side of the plate's mouth. It cackled.

Then as abruptly as it had come to life, the plate suddenly returned to inanimateness. The eyes vanished and the tongue retracted, as though sinking into the table. The plate lightened slightly and its insubstantial edges returned to a more solid

A few moments passed, before a chill manifested behind Alexis, accompanied by a menacing.

"Geeeengaar~"

"..." Despite himself, Alexis could not help shivering again, while Alice, confused, stared at the plate for a brief moment. As she turned back to her trainer, it was clear what had been pestering them. Of course, the Mismagius found this hilarious and began giggling.

Meanwhile, Alexis, too afraid to turn around, stuck out his tongue at his companion. "Can you at least help me out here, Alice?" With great cheer and a continuing laugh, the ghost aimed a small static bolt right past Alexis towards where the Gengar was, presumably.

"I hate jump scares," he mumbled to himself.

Poof.

As the jolt of electricity hit the Gengar, a cloud of smoke burst around it, and a small doll-like object dropped to the ground behind Alexis. A substitute. At that moment, a black shape burst from the table beneath Alice, as the real Gengar darted across in front of her, laughing with extreme amusement before disappearing down into the cloth again.

If the Misdreavus turned to follow the other ghost's movements, however, she would be greeted with what at first seemed like a mirror. A picture-perfect reflection, another Misdreavus resting upon the table-top that was alike Alice in every minute, normally distinguishing detail.

"Miiis?"

Just because the source of the creepiness had been identified did not make things any less scary. But, at the sound of air compressing, Alexis quickly spun around to find himself confronted with a substitute doll. He looked it over, kicked it and turned back towards Alice.

The Mismagius in question had tracked the Gengar, but as she did, she found an exact copy of her. "Miiis?" Alice frowned in confusion, as did Alexis. It was worse for him, seeing as he wasn't exactly sure which pokemon was his. There was a clear answer to figure it out, but he wasn't thinking of that right now.

"Miiiiis!" Alice protested. "But I'm me!"

The floorboards in front of Alexis blinked, as familiar red eyes appeared in them for a moment before the Gengar floated through, grinning. "Gaaar!" it cackled.

In the meantime, the Mismagius on the table continued to mimic its counterpart. "Mismiiiiiis!" it cried, "No, I'm me!"

The sound of footsteps on creaking floorboards was briefly audible, before a distinctly human voice cut through the air. "Casper! Ru!"

Both the Gengar and the Mismagius abruptly turned upwards to stare at the balcony overlook, as a figure jumped from the railing. He landed in a crouch a few meters behind Alexis before rising to his feet, levelling a disapproving stare at the two pokemon. "I think that's quite enough of tormenting this poor trainer."

The man who apparently owned the Gengar and Mismagius was young-looking, he couldn't have been much older than Alexis was. His messy, long hair was a dirty blonde, and he wore a dark-red headband around his forehead. His hazel eyes held a slightly odd look to them, as though he were constantly looking past whatever held his attention. It would be easy for anyone who had been following the news over the last year to recognise him as Arty Jackson, the recently appointed Sinnoh Champion.

The Gengar sunk moodily back into the ground, before emerging again at Arty's side, whilst the Mismagius hopped down from the table onto one of the chairs, and then to the floor. As it moved, its form shimmered and faded to reveal that it was in fact a Zorua utilising its illusory powers. The little fox pokemon trotted over to Arty, who bent down to pick it up.

"I hope they weren't too much trouble." he directed to Alexis, "What brings you here? It's not exactly a pleasant tourist destination. My name's Arty, by the way."

Alexis' eyes widened and he covered his mouth to stop the scream that was erupting. Jump scares were most definitely not his thing.

Alice, at this point, was unhappy with the imitation and pouted, "Miiiis..." she replied, "But if you're you and I'm me..."

The voice that broke the atmosphere of the haunted house luckily only surprised Alexis. He blinked rapidly, trying to figure out what was happening. As someone landed in front of him, the young trainer took a few steps back out of instinct, still in fight-or-flight mode.

At first glance, Alexis failed to recognize the famous champion, instead flushing red in embarrassment and looking away. He scraped a few strands of hair away from his face, flustered that someone may had heard him acting like a wimp.

As the Gengar and other Mismagius returned to Arty, Alice similarly floated back over to Alexis, though not without a glare at the other two pokemon. As her trainer gathered himself, he looked back to Arty and extended his hand. "Er, hi. I'm Alexis, though you can call me Lexi if you want."

"N-no trouble at all," he replied uncertainly, eying the Gengar. "I got a tip that there was some rare pokemon in here or something and thought I'd check it out. But you're right, I don't exactly do well with places like this. Eheh..."

As Ru perched himself on Arty's shoulder, the young champion smiled, "Lexi, then. You must be talking about the Rotum. Every so often one will find its way here, or more. I haven't seen one while I've been here this time, but that doesn't mean there aren't any around." It took a slightly longer pause than normal for him to take Alexis' hand to shake, as though distracted from it by something. His gaze wandered the room seemingly randomly.

Casper floated upwards and drifted around Arty, who reached out a hand to pat it. "I met Casper here, too, a long time ago. I used to live in the nearby city and come here all the time. The ghost pokemon long since gave up on trying to scare me. Nowadays I come here every so often to relax. Usually nobody comes by."

"Right, Rotom," Alexis agreed, nodding. As his hand dropped back to his side, his brain began to piece things together. In all the excitement, it had stopped functioning. Now that it was working again, it noted that the man's name was Arty and that his Gengar was named Casper. The information tickled the back of his head somewhere and he gave the champion an odd look.

"Ahh, I see. Well..a haunted house isn't really a place people come to on a regular basis, so I guess that makes sense. Not sure how you'd relax here though," he said slowly, looking around and hugging his arms to himself. "But ye- wait a minute."

His forehead gave a thwack as his hand came up to meet it. "You're the champion of Sinnoh, aren't you? The new one? I remember the hubbub about it a while back."

"That's me," Arty remarked, raising an eyebrow, "And there I was thinking I'd found someone who didn't recognise me. It's been a while."

Drifting over to the dusty table, Arty perched on the back of one of the chairs. "Hubbub, yes... a lot of people weren't, aren't happy that I beat Cynthia. She was quite popular. Time, though. Time will see. I'm still getting my bearings." He lolled his head back to stare up at the ceiling. "As for how I relax... comfort in familiarity. Like I said, I spent a lot of time here in the past. I'm used to the atmosphere."

"And you? You are a trainer, obviously. Are you a league challenger?"

"Well, it did take me a second," Alexis replied, before giving a smirk, "Less people would recognize you if you scared the hell out of them before walking up to them."

Following him over to the table, the dust that was displaced from the chair floated to his face. Alexis sneezed, covering his mouth. He then scrutinized the chair suspiciously and decided to stay standing. "I'm not particular about any champion, though I'm sure once people get used to you, everything will be fine."

"Er.." Alexis trailed off, not sure how to respond. "Yeah, kinda. I've made my own rule so that I only challenge a gym once..which means I don't have all the badges for any region, really. Haven't really decided if I'm going to challenge the league, then."

"Interesting rule," Arty replied, "I lost to Cynthia the first time. It was close, but she beat me. I was too hard on my team, driven as I was. It took some softening... some flexibility."

He raised his head to look over at Alexis, "It's by making mistakes that we learn. If you will not allow yourself to apply those lessons you gain from a loss by trying a second time, how can you be sure that you've learned them?"

"Just so I wouldn't get fixated on a single place. Maybe a few extra tries would've been better, but I figure I can always come back if I really want to. It's the journey and all that, you know?"

"I enjoy seeing new places and new things more than enjoy winning," he said in partial explanation. "You have a point, though. I guess I just haven't thought about challenging the league that much either."

"Besides, if you want to see how well I've learned, I'll be happy to show you," Alexis quipped, grinning lightly.

"Ahh, yes. Travelling. I've done a lot of that." Arty smiled, nodding his head, "I spent five years travelling without so much as thinking about the league, or the gyms. Making friends, people and pokemon alike. That was what was important. I went everywhere, dangerous or not. That's what made me strong."

The blonde cast Alexis an amused glance, "Is that a challenge?" he queried, "As I recall, you're supposed to beat the league before taking on the champion... but, since it's not official, why not? You must be confident."

He looked around, "We should go outside, though, rather than trashing the manor."

"I can't say if it's made me stronger, but I've certainly done exactly that. Though I guess I can say I have some confidence in my ability. But, it's definitely my favorite part. Like I said, journey over the goal, the climb, not the to, y'know."

The male continued grinning, flicking his hair. "I'm not crazy enough to think that I'll win...but I'm certainly interested in trying. Besides, who could pass up on an opportunity when they meet a champ?"

"Outside is fine. This place still creeps me out," Alexis agreed, his smile subsiding as he glanced at the walls of the building.

Arty led the way outside into the gloomy clearing that surrounded the house. Casper continued to drift along with him, occasionally fading into the shadows and reappearing somewhere else entirely a short time later. "I'll let you pick the terms and the type of battle. Whatever you're most comfortable with."

He chuckled, "I maintain that it's a nice place once you get used to it. It's peaceful."

As they stepped into the clearing, Alexis thought briefly of the rules. "Ahh, it's been a long time since I've been the one to decide anything. Single, three on three. Switching is allowed, first to defeat the other side's pokemon is the victor."

"The forest is peaceful too, and I didn't see you hanging from a tree," Alexis shot back.

"Taleia, sleep powder!"

The yell of a young man was audible just outside the Ruulan bar mere moments before a spray of blueish powder rushed in through the entrance, filling the air with what was apparently some form of plant-like spore. Upon inhaling the powdery substance, most organic life-forms up to and including those the size of an average blue whale would find themselves rapidly drawn into a heavy sleep. The spore was practically invasive in forcing itself into the nose or mouth of those within, held breath or not.

As quickly as it had filled the room, though, after about ten seconds the powder dissipated rapidly into nothingness. At that moment, a figure appeared in the doorway. Several, in fact, but only one that was identifiably human.

Arty Jackson, a young man with dirty blonde hair and a red headband tied around his forehead, stepped into Cafe Sonata flanked by three companions. The first was a small humanoid figure that appeared composed entirely of flowers, colourful petals forming her small body. Her arms appeared to be bouquets of flowers, whilst her head held the shape of a rose. The faint remnants of blue around her 'hands' identified her as the likely source of the strange powder.

In the air to his left hovered a dark purplish creature with small stubby limbs bearing clawed extremities. Its back was spiky and almost hedgehog like in places, with two larger ear-like spikes protruding from the top of it. A pair of wide, angular red eyes glared out from its face along with a broad toothy grin. It appeared to have no neck or torso, instead formed entirely of one 'ball'.

To his right flapped a grey creature that looked like a cross between a bat and a scorpion, albeit far larger than either. Easily half the size of the man himself, the fanged and clawed thing glowered through the room with beady bright yellow eyes, stinger swaying at the end of its tail.

"Lancelot, cover us with protect. Casper, keep a shadow ball ready. Taleia, keep sleep powder on standby for if they're still awake."

The creatures fanned out slightly from Arty as he cast his eyes around at the two combatants, to assess whether or not they had been knocked unconscious.

"Who still uses guns, Ru?" Arty murmured to the small red-and-black fox-like creature perched calmly on his shoulder. "Something tells me these guys are lost."

Austin had little time to relish in his victory as he was suddenly assaulted by an unknown sleeping agent. Well shit. This was like Terra all over again... finish with one baddie and the next one is never far behind. Just before he hit the ground, he fiddled with something in his jacket...

And then he was on the floor, sleeping like a baby.