Post by valleylight on Oct 24, 2023 16:42:47 GMT -5
Eterna Haunts!
A Halloween Pokémon Tale
Prompt: A strange sound is heard ... from ... right ... behind ...
***
How much worse can it be at night?
That’s what Hana had thought. Now she wished she’d just paid the sky-high bus fare to Eterna City.
The trail ahead was barely visible. White trickles of moonlight lit up next to nothing, aside from an eerie ether inside the fog. Creaks and shrieks seemed the chorus of the forest. And if that weren’t enough, a cold autumn breeze blustered all the time, tossing Hana's hair into her face and sending shivers up her arms.
Sure, there were dozens of Pokémon to spot as she crunched through the leaf-littered void. But the woods seemed full of dread. A murder of Murkrow glowered down with blood-red eyes. Mothim crackled past on paper wings. Dustox flapped overhead, scattering trails of poisonous scales. And from every direction, Kricketune cried out their mournful melodies, accompanied by Kricketot’s antenna marimba.
Hana kept looking over her shoulder, anxious that someone was watching her. That’s it, she decided, I’m done with the dark! “Lu, I choose you!”
Green and yellow lights burst through the night; they dimmed to reveal a small Shinx. The Electric-type shook her head and yawned, baring tiny fangs that flickered with sparks. She blinked sleepily up at her trainer.
The Friend Ball shrank back down in Hana’s hand as she pocketed it. “Sorry to wake you, but could you light the way for me?” Lu flicked her tail, and the star at its tip gleamed to life. The lynx-like Pokémon’s fur shone brightly, illuminating the path ahead. Hana grinned, crouching down to scratch her starter behind the ear. “Thanks, bud!”
Lu padded ahead of her trainer, gazing about at the forest with interest. Hana wondered what the Shinx could see. This pitch dark must be bright as day to her.
Suddenly, Lu froze, her fur bristling and claws coursing with electricity. She gave a warning growl.
“What is it, Lu?” Then Hana heard it: a distant, lilting wail, like that of a lost child. It seemed to come from deep inside the forest. The trainer felt her heart quail at the sound. “It… It’s probably just a Pokémon,” she managed. “A Bonsly, maybe. We'll steer clear of it.” She took a step forward.
Lu bit into her jean cuff, trying to tug her back. “What are you doing?" the girl demanded. "Cut it out!” Lu shook her head, digging her claws into the dirt. Hana stooped down to pick up her Shinx. “We have to get through the forest tonight, or we won’t make it to registration in time. This is gonna be our big Contest debut, remember?”
Lu blinked, and her eyes sparkled for a moment as if dazzled by the lights of an appeals round. Then she dropped her gaze and shivered. “Mrrr…”
Hana sighed before setting her Pokémon down, squaring her shoulders, and hiking onward. “We can do this. No need to worry!”
***
They hadn’t gone far before Hana started to feel like someone was watching her again. Out of the corner of her eye, she kept glimpsing strange sights— shadowy black blobs, or wisps of purple smoke. The air temperature kept dropping, and her breath billowed out in puffs of frost. The fog rolled in thicker than ever. Worst of all… with every step, the distant wails grew louder, and harsher. More haunting.Hana picked Lu up again. “No worries,” she whispered, swallowing back the tremor in her voice.
They came to a fork in the trail, and Hana felt faint with relief. “All we have to do is take the path away from all that crying,” she suggested brightly.
Yet even as their route twisted and turned away from the main road, the wailing drew closer, split up now by screechy sobs. Hana’s skin crawled. Lu’s light kept flickering on and off as she trembled in her trainer’s arms. Murkrow shot out of the canopy, flying away at full tilt, while Noctowl hooted warnings from the branches above.
They reached a skeletal grove of Kasib berry trees. A Buneary popped its head out of a nearby burrow, using its fluffy ears to signal Hana frantically back the way she’d come.
The girl hesitated, her stomach lurching at the sight. She tried to look around for signs of danger, but the fog was so dense, even Lu's light couldn't penetrate it. The sobbing wails were almost deafening now. “Maybe we should turn back,” Hana conceded, hugging Shinx closer.
Suddenly, the wails stopped short. The woods went perfectly silent.
Lu gave a fearful growl.
The back of Hana’s neck felt terribly cold. She heard a strange sound, almost like… labored breathing… from… right… behind…
AUUUUGGGGHHHH!
***
A violent, agonized scream!
Unseen hands snatched at Hana’s hair; she whirled about, shrieking and falling backwards into the mud. Freezing cold air knocked the breath from her lungs. For a moment, terror squeezed her eyes shut.
She opened them to see a writhing, sputtering wraith of silver smoke floating inches from her face. Amber eyes blazed, burning into her like a brand of horror. Shining red orbs hung below the specter, glowing fiercer and fiercer, until the light engulfed Hana in a crackling crimson veil.
“Lu, help me!” she wailed, shielding her face with her arms.
Lu was backing away from the smoke, wide-eyed and letting off terrified sparks. But at Hana’s cry for help, the Shinx froze. Her trainer was in danger. Lu's fear frothed into broiling fury. Her lips curled back in a defiant snarl, and electricity surged through her fur. Letting loose a blood-curdling yowl, she hurled herself at the wraith with an all-out Tackle.
The Shinx yelped in shock; her attack went right through the specter, leaving her skidding across the leaves behind it. Understanding flared into her gaze, and she spun to fall back into a crouch. Dark energy gathered around her jaws, rippling jet black and scarlet between her teeth. She rocketed once more into the smoke, clamping down with a fierce Bite.
The wraith gave a quavering cry, and its appearance suddenly changed. Its red light fell away from Hana, and the girl rose shakily to her feet.
“Wha… What?”
She was staring at a Misdreavus— a powerful-looking Pokémon, but a Pokémon all the same. The necklace of orbs at its throat rang faintly with trapped screams. “So that’s what you are,” she mumbled, wiping tears from her face, trying in vain to pull herself together. “Why would you do that? How did you do that?”
Misdreavus floated in front of her, wincing from the damage Shinx had dealt. Hana took several steps back, but Lu held her ground, glaring up at the Ghost-type as she stood between it and her trainer. Hana’s hands were trembling, but she managed to hold up her Pokédex.
— — —
Misdreavus, the Screech Pokémon. It loves to sneak up on people late at night, then startle them with its shriek-like cry. It gets nourishment from fear that it absorbs into its red orbs. Like many Ghost Pokémon, Misdreavus is capable of conjuring illusions to make itself appear larger and more frightening than it truly is.
— — —
Hana managed a hollow, dread-filled laugh. “S-So I’m a midnight snack, is that it?”Misdreavus scowled dangerously, and its blue-green body seemed to swell.
“Uh, right, time to go then!” Hana pulled out Lu’s Pokeball to recall her. But as she did, a purple light reflected off the Electric-type’s body. She couldn’t be returned. “What the…”
Misdreavus’ eyes were glowing a shadowy purple hue.
It... It used Mean Look to trap Lu! Hana’s jaw dropped. Does that mean we have to battle our way out of this? She staggered backwards. “Can you… Can you handle this, Lu?”
The Shinx turned. Any trace of her old timidity had vanished; her face was set in steel. Determination glinted in her golden gaze. “Mrrrrrrrzzzt.”
No worries.
Hana blinked at her partner Pokemon. A weak smile spread across her face, and she nodded gratefully. “Okay then." She met Misdreavus' glare and took a deep breath. "Lu, use Spark!"
Lu's claws and teeth sizzled. Her body exploded with electricity, and she shot forward like a bolt of blue lightning— leaves fizzing to cinders in her wake.