A large decrepit mansion stands at the border of two area, located in the cold plains of the Frozen Border. It is three stories tall and is currently surrounded by a mysterious storm that appeared out of nowhere with pelting rain and strong winds...
It appears abandoned, all the windows dark, and questionably sturdy. However, occasionally there are movements and flickers of light behind these darkened windows and a strange aura surrounds the mansion as if the building itself was alive... Despite, the foreboding nature of the villa it also attracts those that happen by it to take refuge within its cursed walls... Like a moth to a flame.
As the storm continues, strangely, only around the mansion, two people fight against the wind and rain as they approach the structure... Some mood music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-aAldo0T38
As the two people came into view, their blurry shapes started to become more clear. It was Maya hugging her body and Sofa the Vigoroth carrying Marcus on his back, his feet dragging in the snow.
Marcus had been knocked out miles earlier and they couldn't wake him up, so Sofa put him on his back and they traveled to the border, the green plains off in the distance finally showing an end to their frozen journey through Eirlys. Lex was sitting on Marcus' shoulder using Safeguard on him whenever it wore off so he wouldn't freeze to death in his sleep, but he didn't need it as much when it stopped snowing and started raining.
Sofa's feet were getting heavier as he saw the building in the distance, he couldn't go much further. Little more. Then rest. So......tired. No...energy. He kept dragging Marcus along on his shoulders...but he fell to his knees. Need...more...strength. "WY! Wynaut!" Lex called to Sofa to keep him moving, they were so close to shelter. No more. Need to be stronger...need...need.....I...I need to be stronger. He got back up off his knees only to fall forward onto his face, launching Lex into the mud.
"F*ck, Sofa don't fall over now," Maya called in worry, unraveling her arms from her body and trying to urge the Pokemon up. Bo, now an Ampharos, trudged forward and picked Lex up out the mud... Wait mud? Suddenly Maya realized that the snow had receded and instead they were standing in grassy mud. It was still cold, but not near as bad, and the flurries had turned into big fat rain drops that splattered them. She hadn't even noticed. The sky was dark and foreboding and Maya felt a chill slowly crawl up her spine. The kid that chilled every bone and her body and prickled in the back of her neck. The tags on her arms crackled under the layers of sleeves.
"Bo can you try giving him a start?" Maya coughed.
"Amphaaaaaaa..." Bo bleated, holding Lex in one stumpy arm, and hesitantly poking Sofa with a few strong sparks with the other hand.
Maya meanwhile tried to pick Marcus out of the mud, where he had fallen face down.
"Come on we've gotta make it to that building!" She said, holding his face out of the mud, despite him being unconscious. She fiddled with Dororo's Pokeball.
Out of the two people who were fighting the storm, the two shadows that approached the mansion was neither of them. One shadow dangled like a rag across the tall one, as if it was some kind of scarf. However, there was no drag or resistance met this one figure. The lone shadow had darted at a high-speed towards the three-story structure. From under the storm’s treacherous downpour and battering winds, this form was charging through with a power that questioned even the force of a Tsunami against it. With a bellowing roar, the form charged through the doors of the creepy building.
*CRASH!!!*
Traces of moonlight shown on the carpet the figure stopped upon, while the other figure hanging from the shadow touched down with wobbly legs. He collapsed to his knees, letting his violet moist hair stream down his shoulder, and taking deep breathes; Xenneth had tried to regain his composure as the faint white aura that covered the massive seven foot Pokemon had begun to fade like a faint flame. The young male had looked up to the Kangaskhan who let out a proud bellow while the Turtwig and the young Kangaskhan cub peeked its head from its pouch.
“Ya’ know,” the violet haired boy sighed as he staggered getting up, “You did not have to snatch me Ms. Konny. The weather was not that bad.” he stood up, patting his pants as he dusted himself off. The female Kangaskhan seemed so delighted in protecting him that she barely seem to register that Xenneth was not exactly happy to be tossed along like a rag dog. Thinking about it brought a smile to the young boy’s face as he looked to her bowing politely. With a sweet expression, a gentle smile upon his face, he let the blue orbs sat upon her form.
“But, thank you.”
There could not be much said other than that. Even as Xenneth reached for the young Turtwig in the pouch of the Kangaskhan mother, all he could think about was how loyal she was ever since they met in the Jungle Island’s shores. The Kangaskhan mother was a powerful and proud parent, and not to mention seemed to try to make herself be like a mother to Xenneth as well because of his gentle nature. A matter of fact, there were the times like this he wondered if she knew more about him than a name and him standing up to her for what was right that she would look at him the same way. This was one of many thoughts he tried to shake, especially since he was walking along new terrain.
Xenneth had left the Jungle Island for a while to explore Asemon’s main land. He wanted to truly know of what the natives were like and what they done on a daily basis. For the violet haired boy, it was like trying to gather intelligence and information for a mission. Xenneth had surfed from one edge of the peninsula to another that was the piece of the western plains, then to the Northwestern parts of the region, and now he was staring at the edge of the border where the most peculiar house with conflicting weather had stood.
He had not much of an option to go anywhere else, nor did he know the region enough to go tackle the native areas without a basic know-how. Without technology, Xenneth was left with few sources and options, and so he done the next best thing: try to see if anyone was here that could help him out of his dilemma of being stranded.
“Hello?” he called once, “Is anyone here?” he called once more.
He had been so busy clinging to dear life hanging to the Kangaskhan mother’s next to notice there were others besides him around the area. Either way, Xenneth felt he was alone, and the only thing an explorer could do was alone was try to find out about the layout of the land...on their own. As he stepped into the strange chateau, the violet haired bnoy felt his hands around in the darkness trying to see if perhaps there was something nearby to shed more light into the decaying building. The only light was the sprinkles of a lunar glow and the occasional flashes that pierced the night sky in bolts. As Xenneth turned his head back to the doorway, he could see something in the distance...someone...approaching this building?
"Konny, is someone out there...?"
Whether it was human or Pokemon, Xenneth did not notice then, nor did he identify now. He strained his bright blue eyes just to see what it was the storm was hiding in its veil of mist and water.
Sofa freaked out at the shocks and swung at the source with his claw. I'm not unconscious! I'm just exhausted...I can't go anymore. He dropped his face back into the mud as he didn't even have the strength to hold that up. Lex wriggled out of Bo's arm and hopped down onto the ground. He got right in Sofa's face and held it up with his two long, ear-like hands, squishing his cheeks together comically. "Wy. Wynaut? Wy wyna!" He then took a step back and saluted as if he was a Wobbuffet, "WYYYNAUT!"
The Vigoroth looked up with incredibly tired eyes and saw Lex's mother cheering him on through her son. Her and Marcus were the only ones that ever could get him off his lazy butt. Sofa's figure began to glow as he placed his palm on the wet ground, trying to stand up one more time. Slowly his claw turned into a hand and he rose to one knee, his shoulders broadening and his chest muscles growing. As Sofa stood tall, his belly bulged and his head changed shape. As his glow dissipated, his color scheme of his coat matched Marcus' perfectly, down to his white hair\bandana around his neck. He walked over to Marcus and Maya, grabbed his friend's arm and threw him over his shoulders in a fireman carry.
Bo hit the deck, or mud as it were, before Sofa could smack her into next week with a surprised bleat.
Maya watched in numb shock as Sofa evolved into this massive Slaking. Bo was equally stunned as they both watched. She just watched as he finished, walked over to Maya and Marcus, slung his trainer over his back and dragged Maya by her arm in giant beefy hands. Maya just let him walk and Bo followed after a little concerned, getting mud all over.
"Return for now, Bo," Maya said sounding dazed, pulling out the Pokeball and returning Bo in a red flash.
Her head was spinning, the prickling in her neck trickled up and into the base of her skull and suddenly she felt like she was floating rather than being dragged through mud.
Lex hurriedly followed behind, latching onto Bo's leg as they moved towards the looming mansion. He clung on not out of fear, but out of need for transportation; his little legs not able to keep up with Sofa's long gait. When they reached the gray, rickety-looking building, Sofa let go of Maya.
He then kicked in what appeared to be the back door to the mansion and walked in, placing Marcus on the nearest carpet. Once he checked Marcus' temperature and breathing; he splayed out on the ground next to him, arms outstretched and chest heaving as he finally took a much needed break.
Sofa's thoughts came to him much more articulately now than they ever had before. I've...never been...so tired...in my entire life. Arceus, did I miss being tired. Oh man...I forgot how nice it was to just lay down and not have energy. Not want to just go running full sprint all day, every day. As long as we have a few moments...I think I'll just rest my eyes for a bit.....just for a bit.
Sofa's eyes closed as he finally got his well deserved nap.
Nicole walked down the hall on the second floor of the house she had come across. Earlier, as she was traveling back to the desert wastes, she had reached a random point in her journey where rain had come out of nowhere driving her to seek shelter in the nearest place she could. To her luck there was a house nearby... though it looked a little... okay a lot... beat down. Entering it quickly she had tried to wring her clothes and hair out as best she could. Thankfully she had the thought of putting Nero away before the weather changed, and she had yet to let her new friend out yet. Poor Phaedra... She was hoping to show her the Desert Wastes... Not some old house.
"Why would there be a house here...? This doesn't seem like the place someone would settle." She muttered to herself as she slowly stopped by one of the windows. Outside she was sure she saw two shadows moving towards the house, but couldn't be sure. "What was...?" She started to ask herself before she heard something like a shout from downstairs. "Never mind outside, what was that down there?!" She shook her head and began to walk once more. "There is nothing here... This place seems abandoned. No one would be in here." She tried to reassure herself. Then something running into one of the rooms behind her in her peripheral caught her eye. Turning she moved towards the room wondering if maybe a Rattata was what she had seen.
Maya felt absolutely weightless now as she was dropped just outside the back door, on her back. Her chest heaved as she looked at a dirty broken top of a porch, her heart stunningly clear in her ears. There was also something else in her ears... or was it her head? A strange high pitched soft giggling.
Whats so funny? She thought. She reached for a Pokeball, and out popped Dororo, the Frogadier exceedingly concerned for his trainer. He pulled her inside and Maya heard the giggling get louder. She wanted to pitch and tell Dororo that this was not good. She had to get out of here... but the inside of her head had turned into smoke, and her thoughts seemed to drown in a mental sludge.
"Froooga?" Dororo questioned, his trainer in concern as he pulled her onto the rug.
Maya stood, swaying slightly. She slowly unbuttoned and unzipped her thick layers of jackets and let them drop, leaving on her normal sandy colored clothes and the hood. She even dropped her bag.
"Frooooga...?" Dororo questioned again.
"Hehe," Maya giggled, green eyes blank and empty except for a strange light in them. A few cleanse tags fell out of her sleeves, the ink run into a dark mess. She looked around for a moment before aimlessly wandering about. Front Entrance btw:
Xenneth startled easy, tis’ why he did not stay in the doorway the moment he seen something glow within the shroud of mist and rain water that made such a thick atmosphere outside.
“I’d think I’ll take my chances inside.”
It was a great idea at the time, and Xenneth really did not look forward to going outside in that storm once more. The violet haired boy was quick to spin on his heel and take to the house’s inner confines. Fearlessly, his eyes plowed through the darkness, but carefully he treaded around corners with ease. Each step was a creaking cry of the floorboards screaming that they would probably give away any moment now. This made Xenneth roll his eyes as he turned around with a Pokeball in hand as he looked up to the mother Kangaskhan that followed behind him.
“Forgive me Ms. Konny, I know you hate this but,” he breathed in a hesitant attempt to gain his composure, “I will call you when I need you. It’s just we don’t want to be disrespectful and crack the floor boards.”
“Skhan!” She seemed to obviously disapprove with a grunt while the young cheered out in excitement. Xenneth knew that with the little young female that was in the pouch, the mother probably would never be convinced. “Sor-ryyyy!” his voice hissed playfully as the red beam launched from the ball, striking Kangaskhan and then opening as its body collapsed into a red node of energy and compressed it into the ball with a snap. Of course, that only left the young boy with the Turtwig at his feet whom he reached down, wrapped into his arms, and pressed forth with one hand on his friend while the other probed in the darkness.
“Can’t go losing you now, can I?”
Xenneth watched the door corridors of the hallway. He had not any sources for light considering that he disposed of his cell phone and other electrical devices several weeks prior. This land had no use for such things, and so they were completely useless considering not an electrical outlet was in sight. It was the worst feeling ever! There were no international minutes on that thing whatsoever! His eyes rolled once again not knowing why he was thinking of such things right now.
Oh! Yeah, that’s right! This place was creepy!
There were the sounds of talk near silent, so much so that it was like something was calling him, but yet, there was not a sound afterwards. It was lunacy! He knew he saw something outside before he came in, and he swore he could hear something from the inside. However, to Xenneth, it all sounded as if they were the low murmurs of the darkness playing tricks with his near perfect hearing. He had heard silent whispers of plots, malevolent talk of the worst kind, not to mention he knew all too well of the sound of a ticking time bomb prior to the explosion. With the experience of both, the violet haired boy sat was not scared to respond to something as trivial as something that went bump in the night as he probed the halls?
“Hello? Is someone here?!”
Part one, get whatever out there’s attention! Part two? Hide from it! That way, he had the advantage.
Xenneth had done just that as he picked one of the dark corridors in the hall and quickly spun with the Turtwig in his arms. He was an expert at gathering intelligence using such recon tactics. Whether he was to learn if he was the only one here and what room he was in, he would learn both. With how his foot reached into the darkness, he could feel a coolness of the inner room, his hands felt eventually felt porcelain as he backed into the darkness of the doorway, and his hands touched a moistness on the wall that he prayed to Gods of time and space that was the rain water that escaped into the windows of this strange house.
His body kept to the edges of the moonlight, making him look like a shadow in the darkness of the bathroom while his big blue eyes stared into the darkness of the hall he exited to see if something crept by to answer his question if he was alone or not.
The only way his tactic could backfire? If whatever he was calling was not already in the room with him.
Marcus continued to lay comatose on the ground as his friend slept next to him, his heaving chest and heavy breathing a stark contrast to Marcus' soft inhalations. Marcus' face was calm and relaxed as he barely made a sound in his unconscious state; he gave no indication that he was going to come out of it any time soon.
Alexander rode in on his trusty...imaginary horse, noble and triumphant, the long bulb-like top to his balloon body flowing in the wind. He had been left behind when Bo was pulled back into her ball, so he had to get up the old-fashioned way. When it stopped, he dismounted his "steed" and patted it in thanks, and then turned to see his companions laying on the floor. His smile stayed ever present, but his tail beat the ground in frustration at his older friend sleeping while Marcus was in such a vulnerable state. He walked over to Sofa and then hopped on his belly. "WY! Wy, wy, wy, wy" With every hop, he called to his friend, trying to wake him up.
His feet started to glow a bright blue as he Splashed on Sofa's now very bouncy belly; forgetting what he was angry about. "WY!" His smile grew as he did flips and spins midair over the sleeping Slaking.
“Hello? Is someone here?!”
Lex's head swiveled at the call off in the recesses of the house and fell awkwardly onto Sofa's spongy belly, bouncing off trajectory and landing on Marcus' chest. He quickly stood up and patted his trainer's body in apology, "Wy...wynaut. Wynaut wy..."
He then turned to face where the call came from, but soon realized he was the only one able to protect Marcus, so he stood on his chest with determination and resolve not to move from this spot and protect his father figure, despite him showing no sign of waking.
Tsubame flipped his hood back down. He could hear the drip drops on the old floor boards and form puddles after standing still for so long. He wasn’t nervous, but he was cautious. He could smell old rotted wood, and the smell of rain made him wrinkle his nose. Using his buff coat sleeves he wiped his muzzle. He prepared himself to walk into the building, but first he released Kaname. The dark aura from his dusk ball dissipated from Kaname’s body. His claws were tucked into each other and he had a grumpy expression.
”Sorry buddy. It’s rain not hail.” He patted kaname’s head.
Tsubame began to walk across the creaky old boards very carefully. Wouldn’t want to fall through now would we boy? The duo moved almost silently through the side room, before Tsubame near silently opened the door. Kaname looked first, then Tsubame, and then the duo crept out into the hallway. The floors returned to tile so they felt like they could relax.
“Hello? Is someone here?!”
Tsubame and Kaname both returned to being on alert. They began to move as silent as possible up the nearest stairs. Kaname was quick and silent on his feet as he quickly made his way up the stairs. Tsubame was slower, but equally quiet until he tromped on a squeaky floorboard. They froze, before they looked up and saw a haunter. Kaname wasn’t bothered at all. A simple dark pulse made quick work of it, but the pulse hit an old, rotted potted plant back down to the first floor. Tsubame looked over the edge of the balcony and noticed the new hole in the floorboards from the plant.
”We really suck, don’t we?” Tsubame laughed pretty hard and it echoed through the hallways. The echo makes it creepier. He mused to himself.
"Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. Life's a game not meant to be won by people like me." -Tsubame
Nicole jolted slightly from her position in front of the door to the room she had seen something run into. "What was that?!" She muttered to herself. She was really starting to get freaked out about all the noises around her. Shaking her head, she reached up to her bag and grabbed the familiar Pokeball her hand always knew to go to. "Nero, can you come out please? I don't think I want to be alone right now...." She whispered before opening the ball and letting the Vulpix out. Nero exited the ball with a yawn and looked around not sure of what to think of about his surroundings.
"I know that you were expecting the Desert Wastes. I was too. But we're stuck here until the storm stops." She said quietly to the Vulpix before looking at the slightly cracked open door in front of her. "Also... I saw something go in here." She said softly pushing the door open fully and stepping in with Nero following in behind her.
There was nothing in the room.
"I could have sworn...!" Nicole started to say but stopped herself. Nero looked at her confused. Nicole merely looked down at him, matching his expression with her own slightly fearful covered confusion.
"I guess normal was never supposed to be a word for me." - Nicole
Maya's eyes flickered and she looked around. Where...? That giggling echoed in her head again and abruptly she realized she was giggling too. She clamped a hand over her mouth. Her head was pounding and it felt light like a balloon.
"Froooogaaa!" She turned to see Dororo, behind her holding onto her wrist a frantic panicked expression on his face. It was then that she realized she was standing two stories up on a banister looking down on the first floor.
"Holy sh*t!" Maya shrieked, the sound resounding around the room. She scrambled backward off the banister and fell safely onto the floor.
"Frogada?"
"I-I'm good Oro..." She said, heart thumping. Immediately she knew what had happened and checked her arms. Sure enough the cleanse tags were gone. Even her bag was gone.
"F*cking, f*ckity, f*ck, f*ck, sh*t," she swore. This place had her senses on overdrive, her skin prickling and keenly aware of each presence, ghostly and living. She felt like she was going to puke without her cleanse tags.
"Have I been walking around for awhile?" She asked Dororo. He nodded. Urgh. Maya could still feel something in her head. That giggling.
"Quickly, I need you to bring me back to where my bag is!"
Xenneth was not sure. The darkness and the shadows shifted with each movement of the creaking door and the stature of the shadow, but he swore he was looking at someone who was the height of someone around his size…which meant they were either short as him or they were someone around the age of what his height would be. Such a comparison made him frown for a moment, but his insecurities was nothing compared to his anxiousness. He had taken in a breath just by hearing the door creak; his trap sprung and he felt he was dominant at the moment. Xenneth knew by sound where this person was, and the location? It made all the difference.
“Stop right there!” the violet haired boy spoke. The sound of agile footsteps could be heard as he placed his pack to the nearby corridor as he felt his way around the wall. Showers made such perfect places for an echo, “Are you…a person?” a stupid question, but what else was he to say? This place was abandoned and run down and there was no telling what wild, savage Pokemon lurked nearby. For all the violet-haired boy knew, he could have been talking to some shape-shifting entity, or perhaps a ghost-type. He has encountered such Pokemon with a defense mechanism through his travels, and it usually did not end well.
His hands were slow with a movement as he ran them gently over Turtwig’s mouth and his embrace was tight still. The violet haired boy reached to his side, quick to tap the mother Kangaskhan’s Pokeball if the time would come. She was very protective of Xenneth and knew in a moment that the room would become a war-zone if the individual turned out to be some aggressive Pokemon. Xenneth breathed in, deeply, suppressing his breaths coming from his racing heart with a beat more thunderous than the raging bolts of the storm. He dreaded this moment of what he was feeling once again; the thought that his past-life, “Orchid” would surface rather than the civil instincts of a scared little boy he knew so long ago.
“Because sometimes, you gottta’ take your chances..”
::OOC Notes:: Now Playing:“Kansas” by Ashanti Chatty Ditz: Sowwy! Busy at work and weak posting right now! >.< Template Quote: From ”Kansas” by the Ashanti