Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Chapter 272

Celebi was missing, because of course she was. Nina hadn’t seen that stinky flying onion since Cinnabar Island. But no matter, finding the Lavender Mansion was easy enough. Between the coordinates that Professor Oak gave her, Espy’s Miracle Eye and Azzy’s protection, they hadn’t even been waylaid by whatever mischievous spirits haunted the mountain’s forest.

Nina did transfer Aurora back to the Gym in exchange for Dhelmise though. She had no idea what to expect from Lavender Mansion but having a nuclear option available wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

Lavender Mansion was dreary, dilapidated and dark. Stepping up to its ornate metal gates felt like Nina had the air sucked right out of her lungs. There was just something foreboding about the structure; the way that the midday light seemed to almost fade away in its vicinity, and with how the gate itself, once ornate and gilded, now looked faded with rust. Not to mention the sinister looking Sableye statues that flanked its sides, teeth barred against all who approach and their formerly bejeweled eyes eerily hollow and barren.

The surrounding forest seemed, at a glance, normal enough. Albeit wild and overgrown, to the point where the branches and bushes had long since intruded into the mansion’s demesne. Least of all the thick, dark canopy obscuring them from light.

With a muted hum, Nina decided to just jump over the gate with her Dragonite. No point risking a commotion by breaking down the feeble gates. 

The inside was, naturally, an abandoned courtyard, the withered branches casting ominous shadows on the ground. No broken down fountain and disfigured statues to be seen, so that was one point against the girl’s prejudice. What was cliche though, was the graveyard surrounding the mansion. 

“That’s some Jack Skellington bullshit alright…” Nina shuddered and reluctantly approached one of the tombstones. Because of course a clan of Ghost Specialists would have their own private graveyard. She didn’t even want to imagine what sort of weird rituals they conducted with their deceased.

“Kuroyuri…” Nina muttered, reading off one of the tombstones. “Black lily, if my ancient Kantonian holds. And further in we also have Ajisai and Shion — hydrangea and aster.” The names she recited were surnames, presumably of the clan’s various branch families. Though which one was the main branch, she could not tell.

“Shion is desire, Ajisai is pride and Kuroyuri is love and/or curse depending on who you ask… how fitting.” Nina ventured further in, taking pictures for her records along the way. “Sayuri, orange lily, hatred… Higanbana, spider lily, death… I’m starting to see a pattern here. And man, they sure managed to fit quite a lot of graves in this tiny little area huh? But how the heck did lavender come about?” Lavender was ‘faith’ if she recalled correctly.

“You know, Azzy… With how obsessed these people were with flowers, you’d think they’d fill their garden with actual flowers instead of tombstones.”

“Gen. Gengar!” The flower loving Gengar nodded in her approval. Slabs of grey stone could hardly compare to the beauty of blooming wildflowers!

Eventually, following a long and winding path, they made their way to the main body of the mansion itself, a surprisingly intact wooden structure; three storeys and constructed of ebony. The front door itself, however, was a thick slab of oakwood, complete with a green patina’d brass knocker carved in the likeness of a Typhlosion — the Hisuian variety no doubt.

“Huh, that’s an interesting bit of history actually.” Nina mused as she snapped a picture. “Makes sense, Cyndaquils are native to Johto so it’s not too surprising that an ancient clan found a way to Evolve them differently. I wonder if there’ll still be records of their methods in the mansion.” Because if so, that would be quite the incredible find.

Nina took a step back down the steps and asked Espy to swing the knocker with her Psychic prowess. Because no way in heck was she touching it herself.

The Espeon rolled her eyes but did it anyway. Secretly glad that her careless human wasn’t being as reckless as she usually was.

The knocker fell with an underwhelmingly dull thud. So Espy tried again a few times only to be met with the same results.

Nina shrugged. “Oh well, the knock was mostly just for courtesy anyway. Do you think you’ll be able to push it open with your mind, Espy? Or will we need to brute force it.”

Espy frowned then shook her head. Brute force it was then. But as it turned out, the door wasn’t locked. And all Nitey had to do was just give it a good ol’ shove to force it open with a shudder.

The inside of the mansion was dark, necessitating a low-powered ball of Sunny Day from Espy to illuminate the space. At this point, she also exchanged Nitey with Brucey. One, to avoid her clumsy Dragonite from accidentally breaking anything, and two, to take advantage of her Crobat’s echolocation to prevent any nasty surprises in the dark.

“Keep close, Brucey. Don’t wander off just yet. At least not until we get a better sense of what we’re dealing with here.”

Lavender Mansion was eerily lifeless, not even a single Spinarak or a Ratata in sight. And as Nina had learned, ruin or not, such a level of abandonment was simply not typical — something supernatural was afoot.

The girl held back a cough as her feet strode through the dusty floorboards, the wood creaking precariously under her modest weight. Looking around, she could see antique wooden fixtures and empty portraits, the canvases they used to hold having long been vandalised, ripped out of the ornate frames and left dangling in the stagnant air.

Espy approached one and tried to piece the broken picture back together, but to no avail. Best they could tell, it was an enlarged photograph of an individual dressed in an elaborate kimono.

“This place is pretty well preserved. All things considered.” Nina mused as she explored the dilapidated foyer, its various furnishings still intact. “Makes sense. From what Professor Oak told us, Agatha was the one who single-handedly brought her clan to ruin.” And the former Elite Four wasn’t that old. The mansion would have been abandoned for less than a century at most.

That meant there was a good chance that some of the clan’s legacy might remain, provided Agatha had been less than thorough in her cleanse. Anticipation welled in Nina’s chest as her inner Tomb Raider awoke.

“Hmm… Doesn’t seem like there’s anything here worth investigating.” Nina murmured as she finished with her photography. “Let’s head further in. We’ll finish scouting the ground floor then head upstairs. No doubt there’s also a basement somewhere around here — we’ll do that last.” Because as per horror movie cliches, the monster was always lurking in the basement.

“Es.”

“Kukuku… Cro!”

Espy and Brucey cried out in agreement while Azzy quietly slinked back into Nina’s shadow.

But what none of them realised was, as they ventured further into the depths of the mansion, the shadows darkened ever more and the reach of Espy’s light became increasingly narrowed, until they were eventually swallowed whole.

***

“Gen, gengar. Gen!”

“Nghh…What time is it?”

Miles yawned and awoke to the searing glow of his monitor, a dizzying array of swirling numbers bearing down on him in a densely packed spreadsheet.

“Shoot!” He startled as he caught a glimpse of the time; 7.28 PM. “I’m late for mom’s birthday!”

“Gen!” His companion cried as Miles rushed to get up after saving his work.

“Right, the flowers — almost forgot. Thanks, Azzy.”

“Gengar, gen!” The Ghost girl shook her head in exasperation, eliciting a chuckle and a gentle caress from Miles.

“Hehe. Good thing I bought them in advance huh?” Miles reached across his cubicle to grab the bouquet in question, said his goodbyes to the few coworkers who still remained in the office and made his way to the elevator.

A week straight of overtime meant that Miles looked more than a little disheveled, and no doubt his mom would spare no commentary on the matter. But it couldn’t be helped, he had meant to leave work early today — even told his boss about it. Then, the emails came flooding in and he kind of dozed off a little.

“Welp, no time to make a stop at home. Just gotta deal with it.” The elevator dinged and Miles stepped into its metallic confines with a deeply frowning Gengar in tow.

***

“DRAGOOO!!! NIIIITE!!!” 

Nitey called out to his beloved family members in a panic. The last thing he remembered was being returned to his Pokeball and just chilling with a tub of ice cream as he watched Nina go around doing Nina things — with Celebi’s advice, he had figured out how he could hide a limited amount of items in his Pokeball, allowing him to further secret away a portion of his hidden stash from Brucey’s menace and Nina’s scrutiny.

Then, as they moved further into the hallway, things went wrong. The shadows came to life and a darkness stirred — one that none of the girls had noticed for some reason, even the usually alert Espy and the Ghostly Azzy.

However, before Nitey could get out and warn them, they were consumed and he suddenly found himself out of his Pokeball and surrounded by an infinite darkness, his companions nowhere to be seen.

“NIIIIITE!!! DRAGONIIIIITE!!!” He called out once more but received no response, not even an echo of his own voice.

“Dragooo…” He could feel it, the pull of his familial bonds, scattered in every direction. And the most distinctive of them all, the one he shared with Nina, was faint, barely perceptible.

The mighty Dragon felt a surge of panic. He had long since gotten over his attachment issues with Nina. Those days where a nervous Dratini cried out in tears for his partner’s presence during the Gym’s weekend practice sessions were long behind him. But that was only by virtue of how strong the pair’s bonds had become, to the point where Nitey could easily sense Nina’s presence anywhere in the world.

Now though, Nitey whimpered. He felt like that little blue noodle again — alone and vulnerable.

“Niiiiite!!!” So he did the only thing he could think of; the mighty Dragonite called out to his trainer, flapped his wings and blurred, jetting through the darkness in Extreme Speed in an attempt to pierce this cumbersome veil.

Nitey flew and flew, faster and further than he had ever flown before, yet found himself nowhere near recovering that elusive bond. 

Where was she? He couldn’t be without her. A suffocating sense of loneliness took hold in his chest — an empty void where a Nina-shaped flame used to be.

“Drago… DRAGONIIIIITE!!!” Give her back! GIVE HER BAAAAAACK!!!”

The Dragonite bellowed and, in a surge of Draconic flames, launched a Draco Meteor up into the pitch black nothingness.

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