Work Text:
They arrived at the town of Skelborg at approximately midmorning. The trek through the forest had been long, and filled with treacherous pokemon, and an exhausted Elisabeth was eager for a break. However, her companion Kasper had different ideas. He whipped out his rotomphone and began filming as if he had not spent the past few hours shooting footage for his video account.
“Whazzup homies it’s Kasper! And here we are right in the middle of—”
“Pick up the pace I’m tired!” Elisabeth snapped.
“Aw Lizzy, you gotta get with the picture here,” he snuck up and attempted to weave an arm around her shoulder. She dodged him and the camera and spun around with an irritated:
“How many times I told you to not call me Lizzy.”
“Anyways, welcome to Skelborg! Home of the ghost gym! If-it actually exists,” he added in a whisper before his voice boomed again. “First up—hey!”
Elisabeth grabbed Kasper and tugged with all the remaining strength she could muster. As he griped and whined about had to maintain his viewers’ interest and they had zero patience for going long stretches without updates, she reminded him that he posted his last video the night before. Surely, she pointed out, they had an ability to survive without his constant blabbering. And, after all the time he spent filming on their journey here, his phone’s charge had dropped down to ten percent.
Once they crossed the pokemon center’s threshold, Kasper immediately hurried over to the charging station while Elisabeth went to the reception desk. As she healed her pokemon and reserved a room for the night, she asked the attendant where she could find the gym.
“Well, we really don’t have an actual gym--” the attendant laced her fingers together with a contemplative hum.
“But there is one here. Right?” Elisabeth asked.
“Ri-ght. It’s not a building you can go to. To find it, you gotta find him.”
Elisabeth sighed. The rumors about having to chase down Skelborg’s elusive and mysterious gym leader were right. Another challenge, more time wasted, and it would certainly be impossible to complete.
Instead of thanking the attendant for the information, she pointed over at Kasper who was glued to his phone.
“When he checks in, give him the worst room in the house.”
Elisabeth thought a nap followed by lunch would improve her mood, but it only worsened her grogginess. She headed back to the lobby with her absol Angel in tow, muttering darkly underneath her breath about how Kasper better not screw things up this time.
Angel purred and nuzzled her head against her trainer’s side. Elisabeth’s dour mood briefly lightened. She gave Angel a weary smile and scratched the top of her head to let her know that she appreciated her attempt to comfort her.
Kasper and his loudred lounged on one of the sofas. A crumbled- up wrapper, bag of potato chips, and an empty can of an energy drink were scattered about on the table. The top of Kasper’s snapback bobbed as he howled at his pokemon’s antics that was accentuated by the tinny sound of mumble rap blaring from his phone.
Bracing herself to spend the rest of the day by Kasper’s side, Elisabeth reminded herself that their arrangement was temporary. It just so happened at the beginning of the summer when she returned from her first year at university back to her hometown, that Mr. and Mrs. Andersen found out that she was embark on her pokemon journey. They smoothed her over with sugary words and a promise of lavish payment to let their dear, darling fourteen- year old son tag along.
Oh Kasper’s a sweet boy. He just needs someone a little bit older to show him the way, like a mentor. You’ll be glad to have company. It will be so much fun!
Elisabeth had been away long enough to forget that Kasper was the most insufferable impidimp to ever exist. Summer’s end couldn’t come soon enough.
She announced her presence with an annoyed sound. He bounced up.
“Yo! Lizzy! Guess what the chick at the counter told me—” He started.
“Get up, we’re going to look for this gym leader,” she flatly said.
Kasper blinked. He pressed on his phone and the music stopped.
“Dude! How’d ya know that?”
“Because I find the time to take care of things and get them in order. Unlike you,” she gestured over at the trash on the table.
Either it went over his head that she was criticizing him or he was too excited about challenging the ghost gym to care. He turned towards his loudred and high fived it.
“Bro we’re gonna totally crush it!”
Out on the street, Elisabeth kept her distance from Kasper. Angel walked alongside her as she brainstormed everything out loud that she gleaned about the gym so far from various internet threads.
“Ok, so the gym leader has never revealed his identity and uses masks to hide his appearance. Like that Alister kid in Galar but based on what everyone says this guy’s not shy. And gym matches always take place at night—”
“What’s up gang? We’re on the gym hunt and Lizzy’s spitting out theories!” Kasper’s voice grated through.
“Can you cut that out?” Elisabeth snapped at him.
“We don’t even know who this gym leader guy is! Like dude’s always wearing a mask and shit! And he never ever goes to promo events. What if,” Kasper paused for dramatic effect and wiggled his fingers. “He’s a ghost!”
“Don’t be stupid,” she told him.
They approached the first person they saw: a middle- aged woman who had her blondish-gray hair pulled up, was dressed in a blue suit, and who clutched her purse by its handle and swung it right in front of her.
“Excuse me,” Elisabeth called out.
The woman stopped. Her lips turned upwards into a smile that puffed up her cheeks uncomfortably against the sharpness of her jawline. Before Elisabeth could get a word out, the woman said:
“Are you looking for the gym?”
Elisabeth wondered for a moment if the woman had been expecting that question, but then she remembered that the people in this town were probably used to being stopped for directions.
“Yes. Do you know where it is?”
The woman fiddled with the keychain attached to her purse. A curved outline studded with silver passed through her fingers.
“Have you tried the cemetery?”
Her answer was so straightforward and to the point, that Elisabeth could not believe she hadn’t thought of it herself. Ghosts dwelled in cemeteries, it made sense that a gym leader looking to command ghastly power would be there too.
A few blocks north, Elisabeth and Kasper stood at the cemetery gates. He jumped up onto the platform that secured the railing and shook the bars.
“Let me in! Let me in!” He made a grotesque face at the rows of graves behind the gates.
Angel’s eyes widened and her stance straightened. She raised her head up and yipped.
If she sensed that something was going to go horribly wrong, it was certainly that Kasper was going to get them in trouble, Elisabeth figured. And sure enough, a shout came from behind.
“Hey! What are you kids doing here?”
A man, as elegantly dressed as the woman they met before, eyed them suspiciously. He appeared to be older than she was with graying hair that circled the crown of his bald head and that lightly covered his cheeks.
Elisabeth shot Kasper a look before addressing the man.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” the man responded tersely. “You’re looking for the gym aren’t you. Well, it’s not here.”
Kasper hopped off the platform.
“But the gym—”
“This place has been closed for months. Go try the construction site.”
His words took Elizabeth and Kasper by surprise. They exchanged confused glances.
“The construction site?”
“Yeah. You might find something useful there. Get to it.”
With that, the man departed as quickly as he arrived. Elisabeth noticed that he went to adjust his blazer which had a curved, silver studded pin like the charm the woman had on her handbag.
“They’re working together,” she said in a low voice.
“Who?” Kasper asked.
“The man and the woman we ran into. They must be gym employees. Didn’t you notice they had a symbol on that keychain and pin? I bet that’s the leader’s symbol.”
“I heard about people in secret clubs and societies do that stuff. I saw this video--”
Elisabeth was astounded by the fact that Kasper had the ability to make an intelligent observation. Before he could continue and revert to his usual drivel about social media trends or sports, she quickly said:
“Yeah. Wouldn’t it be funny if it was a cult?”
“Ooh where they raise the dead by using ghost pokemon and have them attack people and eat them. Bodies! Blood! Zombies!” Kasper imitated one.
She stifled back a snort. This time, his joke was almost funny.
Elisabeth glanced over at the area in front of her in confusion. This place consisted of a sandy patch lined with wooden boxes. There were no workers, their helper pokemon, materials, hazard signs, or vehicles that she associated with a construction work site. The only thing that suggested that work of some kind was being done was the wooden plank in the middle of the boxes that was decorated with nails. A lone hammer lay next to it.
“This makes no sense,” Elisabeth remarked.
“Check this out!” Kasper moved his phone so it could record the whole site.
She could tell her absol was perplexed as well. Angel shook her head about then sniffed the ground.
“How is this supposed to be a ghost gym? There’s nothing here that’s even ghosty.”
Angel darted over to the wooden plank. Kasper followed her with his usual commentary.
“Looks like we got a clue!”
“Angel, Kasper get back here!” Elisabeth called after them.
They stopped by the wooden plank. Angel’s paw shot out to swipe at the hammer.
“Angel! Don’t touch that!”
“Ha!”
The three of them turned around to see an old man leading a gogoat on a rope. Elisabeth’s heart lifted for she was certain that he was the gym leader. He was dressed eccentrically: an outfit of golden colored robes with a miter bedazzled with a giant silver letter G that sat on the top of his head. He carried himself with the confidence and strength a gym leader possessed, and it was quite fitting that someone up in years and close to death’s door would be the head of the ghost gym.
“Whoa look at that drip!” Kasper exclaimed.
Angel rushed towards Elisabeth’s side as she began towards the elderly man.
“What’s this a challenger?” The man taunted her.
With each step forward, Elisabeth felt herself slip into the cocky persona she assumed in battle. She stopped right in front of him and shot him an intimidating look.
“You kept me waiting long enough! I’ve chased you all over this town!” She exclaimed.
“Well, you’re not the first girl to say that,” he remarked.
“Let’s end this game old man once and for all. Right here, right now! And when I win, you’ll grovel at my feet for mercy!”
“Oh a spicy one! But you’re not gonna top me! I’ve never been beat! I come from a long line of trainers. Like my father, and his father. And his father’s father. And his father’s father’s father’s father, all devotees of the gogoat!”
Elisabeth’s arms swung back. Her stance loosened and confusion washed over her.
“Gogoat?” She blurted out.
The old man burst out laughing. His gogoat let out sharp baa and bobbed its head as if to join in.
“That’s right sweetie, I’m the ultimate gogoat trainer. The only one in the whole region!”
“You’re not the gym leader?” Kasper piped up.
“Of course not kid! What, do I look like one?” The old man slapped his knee.
“Then, where can we find him?” Elisabeth’s tone seeped with a frantic irritation.
“That boy? He sometimes meets his fans up in the parking lot, but that’s always after the matches. Eh, you can still try,” The old man gestured at the parking lot across the way.
“Come on,” Elisabeth said with a turn towards Kasper.
“Hey! Don’t you kids want a battle first?”
The old man did not lie; he was the master of gogoats. He had made sure his gogoat had a rounded out move set. In between super effective blows of Brick Break, he weakened both her absol and his loudred with of combination of Trailblaze, Giga Drain, and an unexpected Throat Chop. They won, but barely. Still, the old man graciously acknowledged their strength as they parted, warning them that that boy was way tougher than he was.
Elisabeth’s shoe pounded against rock in front of her. She watched as it spun out of sight and rolled underneath a car. An out of breath Angel caught up to her along with Kasper.
Staring out at the empty lot, past the rows of cars neatly parked in their spaces, at the backs of shops of the street ahead, and listening to the sound of the wind that carried Kasper’s incessant commentary, Elisabeth felt that she was going to break down. It was hopeless. She and Kasper had been played for a pair of suckers. If this gym leader existed, he wanted to see them suffer. There was no way she was getting this badge. She was ready to haul herself back to the pokemon center and call it quits.
“Aw man guys it looks like we’ve been played for a buncha suckers! Ain’t that right Lizzy?”
She tensed up. The tip of her nails dug into her palms as the urge to turn knock off Kasper’s phone from his hand and the even stupider grin off his face intensified. She started to move towards him but found that Angel had placed herself between them. She butted her head against Elisabeth’s knees.
She snapped back instantly. What the hell was she thinking? She could not give up just yet, there had to be a clue here, somewhere.
The sound of a car door opening nearby, and the jingle of keys made Elisabeth and Kasper turn. Elisabeth backed up, expecting to be in someone’s way, but Kasper did not move.
“Get back!” She hissed at him.
Kasper beckoned at the camera.
“Yo, guys I think—"
“Kasper!” Elisabeth shouted.
“But Liz—”
“Look around, we are in someone’s way!” She pointed at the car.
“I—”
“Are you two lost?”
Kasper and Elisabeth became quiet as they looked over at the man who had gotten out of his car. There was nothing particularly striking about him compared to the others. He was dressed casually, in a well-worn leather jacket over a plain black t shirt, a pair of jeans, and dusty combat boots. He wasn’t tall nor short, neither old nor young. His beady blue eyes narrowed, and he repeated:
“You look lost.”
Angel barked. Kasper’s mouth gaped open like a magikarp’s. He began to say something, but Elisabeth cut him off.
“Where’s the gym leader?”
The ends of his long, light brown hair curled as he raised a hand to his chin.
“You really want to find him?”
“Yes!” Elisabeth nodded.
“You really, really want to find him?” The man asked again.
“Yeah?” Kasper interjected.
“You want to find him real bad?”
“Of course, we want to find him! We spent the entire day looking for him! What is this another test or something?” Elisabeth exclaimed.
He took in her answer. As he contemplated it, a hint of a smile crossed his face.
“Okie dokie. I’ll tell you.”
Elisabeth and Kasper exchanged astounded looks.
“You will? You’re a lifesaver!” Kasper exclaimed.
“But seriously, last chance. You two do know what you’re getting into. Some say that people who battle him don’t come back the same. Or even—alive.”
Angel lifted her head with a menacing growl that filled the whole parking lot. Kasper jumped back. The man’s eyes slightly widened, and Elisabeth quickly placed her hand on her absol’s back to calm her down.
“Angel! I’m so sorry she never acts like this,” Elisabeth apologized.
“It’s ok. I know she’s acting on her instincts,” the man lowered himself to be eye to eye on Angel’s level. “You think everyone’s gonna die don’t you, you little predictor of doom and gloom?” he playfully addressed the absol.
Angel made a sour face and stuck out her tongue at him. The man got up and faced Elisabeth and Kasper.
“Enough of that. You came here to find out where to find the guy. So, listen closely,” he held up a finger. “Everything that you have heard about this ghost guy is right. You can find him at the cemetery, the construction site, and the parking lot. But only at the place where they all meet. It has to be close to midnight or the Ritual cannot commence. Do you understand?”
Elisabeth and Kasper blankly nodded.
“Good. Hang in there,” he began to walk away.
“Wait!”
Elisabeth stepped forward.
“Thank you! Uh—” She faltered.
The man gave her a patient smile.
“It’s Toby,” he told her.
“Toby,” she repeated.
Kasper pushed forward with his phone out.
“Yo Toby you gotta say hi to my followers! Hang on, where’s my video? Dammit my phone’s dead!” Kasper exclaimed, frustrated.
While Kasper futilely pressed on his phone’s screen, Elisabeth noticed that Angel kept her gaze on Toby’s departing figure. She pawed the ground and made another disgruntled sound.
“Come on girl. Let’s go back,” Elisabeth said gently.
It was unusually chilly for a summer’s night, even in these parts and a thick mist had set in. Although Elisabeth had donned a jacket, she could not stop shivering. Gazing out at the passing streets before her, she wondered if it was the anticipation of the match that was getting to her. Or the sinking feeling that there might not be one.
She rubbed her hands together and went over Toby’s instructions. She traced the route they had taken earlier and tried to recall if she had noticed that there was a spot where the cemetery, construction site, and parking lot came together.
The streetlamps gave off a haze as eerie as a lampent’s flame. Elisabeth reached into her bag for her flashlight. Angel’s eyes glowed a shocking red, and behind them Kasper and his loudred were goofing off again.
“What’s up gang? We are live in Skelborg and we are gonna take on the ghost gym! Shoutout to my homeboy Toby for giving up the deets!”
Loudred let out an excited yelp that rumbled in the air. Elisabeth spun with a shushing sound.
“Be quiet dumbass! You’re gonna wake up the whole town!” She exclaimed.
“Aw come on Lizzy you’re killing my vibe—”
“And I need some peace and quiet to concentrate!”
There was a golden second of silence before Kasper turned back to his phone and held up a finger.
“To get y’all up to speed—”
Elisabeth lunged to grab Kasper’s phone. He moved back and held his phone close to his chest, then upwards to prevent her from grabbing it.
“I don’t need to get up to speed! I’m the one who did all the work unlike you who dicks around on your phone the whole time!”
Angel whined with a nervous glance upward.
“But—” Kasper started.
“I’ve had to put up with babysitting your ass all summer! That’s right babysitting!” Elisabeth’s voice filled with malice as she took in Kasper’s panicked expression. “Let all your followers hear that. And that he’s such a whiny dickhead that his parents have to pay people to be around him.”
“That’s not true!”
“Really? Then do something for once and prove that you’re not just a sack of dead weight that I have to drag around!”
Angel froze. She lifted her head back and howled.
“Angel?”
Angel’s fur stuck up into sharp triangular points on her back. Her body shook and as Elisabeth knelt down to get a closer look, she skittered back.
“Angel?”
“My phone’s dead! I just charged it!” Kasper whined.
“I don’t care about your phone! My pokemon is freaking out!”
Loudred decided to join in on the commotion. It started to spin about in time to its cries. Elisabeth gave up on trying to control the noise level. She shined her flashlight about as she rose up.
“Let’s just—”
Her flashlight’s beam passed over the cemetery gates.
Elisabeth drew in a sharp breath. She straightened her arm and moved her flashlight slowly. As she peered through the bars, at the outlines of the graves, to the set of gates at the cemetery’s opposite side, she spun around. The construction site’s edge touched the street corner, and the empty parking lot in front of them suddenly appeared to be much bigger than it had been during the day.
A puff of cold air escaped her lips.
“Kasper?”
His gaze was fixed at the wooden plank in the center. Fear washed over him, and a trembling hand shot out.
“The hammer’s glowing!”
Elisabeth looked over. There came a pulse of shadowy violet light. All fell silent as a rumble resonated and the hammer levitated into the air.
“Wha—”
She felt a brush and pressure against her leg. Her free hand not holding the flashlight reached down to reassure Angel that she was still here.
Something hard, smooth, and thin arched against her hand. She lowered her flashlight and the skeleton’s head tilted in her direction with a creak.
The skeletons surrounding the two humans and pokemon surged forward. Gangly limbs and heads popped out to grab or trip them to the ground. Elisabeth and Kasper screamed. Angel’s eyes bulged as the move she attempted to use dissipated into nothingness. And the bones engulfed Loudred who shrieked so hard that Elisabeth could feel her ears throb in pain.
Back to back against Kasper and with Angel immobilized in front of them, Elisabeth shut her eyes and prepared for the worst.
Ghoulish flames flickered. She could make out the heads of greavard bobbing back and forth, feel the echo of the rumble, and a nasally voice boomed:
“I feel your presence among us.”
Elisabeth’s eyes reopened. A humanoid figure floated past the watching greavard.
“You cannot hide in the darkness.”
One by one, the skeletons stiffened. Their form crumbled and they collapsed to the ground with a rattling sound.
“Can you hear the rumble that’s calling?”
The gym leader’s feet touched ground. Elisabeth caught a glimpse of loose purple clothing, a silver studded mask, and a black grin that curled upward upon seeing the two trainers.
“I warned you,” he said in a singsong tone. “I warned you that you would not get off so easily.”
Ominous laugh abounded. Kasper whimpered. Loudred squealed. Angel wheezed.
He stopped in front of Elisabeth and gestured at her.
“You want to beat me? Go ahead. Let’s see if you both survive—”
The light from the greavard’s flames brightened. There came a loud crack and around them, the bones reassembled into skeletal form. Risen anew, the skeletons swayed. A heavy beat played from somewhere and the gym leader struck a pose.
“The dance macabre!”
The skeletons formed a circle around the gym leader and challengers. They moved to the beat and the gym leader flashed a smile. A pokeball fell from above into his cupped hand.
“Ladies and gentlemen welcome to tonight’s Ritual. Before us, stand two formidable trainers. Will they be able to prevail and obtain the badge that they’ve been longing for? Or will they perish?”
A skeleton turned Kasper around to face the gym leader. Loudred was returned to his side, and Angel regained her strength to assume an offensive pose and growl.
Elisabeth knew that it did not matter if she hated Kasper’s guts. If they were to come out of this battle alive, they had to work together.
The two exchanged determined glances. Elisabeth’s foot slid forward. Her shoulders rolled back, and she held her hand out to give Angel the first command.
“We’ll still be alive,” she taunted.
The gym leader laughed.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll see about that.”
Loudred put up a Protect. The gym leader’s pokeball spun in the air and a shape began to materialize.
“Angel—Dark Pulse!” She yelled with all her might.