That's the Spirit - Chapter 15

[The Black Keep]

Bad. Bad. Everything was bad.

Rotom immediately lost its way after fleeing the castle. It had no idea where it was, but it knew that it wasn’t anywhere good.

It knew it had been several days since it fled, but the sky had not changed. There was neither sun nor moon, just an endless expanse of thick, swirly clouds, in either green or purple flavor. And once, red. That had been the worst of all. Rotom never saw anything, but it could feel the angry stares from the shadows…

And when it wasn’t flying in an endless void, it only found horrors. Doors, floating in the air, leading to all kinds of awful places. Places where reality was even more out to lunch, landscapes that looked like they came from a Malamar’s nightmares, and deceptively normal buildings where things that weren’t humans lived. Rotom stopped opening doors after the third one.

The islands were much less confusing, but no less hostile. The birds that rose up from the trees outnumbered it twenty to one, and so it was extremely thankful that a few Discharges had scared them off.

Was it being punished? That was totally unfair. It didn’t even maim anyone! All it did was break a wall and steal food! The humans could just get more!

It decided days ago that it would rather deal with whatever Lord Giratina was going to do with it than all this nonsense. This wasn’t fun at all.

Finally, after a long time searching and trying to tell up from down, it finally found the castle again… It certainly hoped it was the same castle. It saw several while it flew. It didn’t remember those trees, but to be fair it hadn’t looked back much when it fled.

It was the right castle. It saw Pokémon in the windows! Drakloak, Golett, Duskull--it hadn’t seen any Pokémon since it left! Yes!

…Maybe it could still get out of this without getting in trouble. Heh.

It darted into the windows--and bounced off with a plink. That was some clear glass! But it wouldn’t stop it. It phased through the brickwork instead. “Nice security system, geniuses.”

Now that it was in the… throne room? Tower room? Hall of mirrors? There were certainly a lot of those nearby, what were those for?

Eh, whatever. There was a great big swirling green vortex in the center of the room, and that looked like a portal to Rotom! That was very obviously the way out of this nightmare dimension, so it didn’t even think twice.

It dove for the vortex, and a stone slab slammed down in front of it. Rotom ran face first into a snarling dragon face, and then the slab broke apart in a bunch of shadowy tendrils.

“I’m not letting anyone through again!” Runerigus shouted. Then it faltered, blinking its single eye at the smaller ghost. “Oh, it’s a Rotom. Are you one of the team putting up lights in the living quarters?”

Rotom blinked. Then it grinned. “Yes, zzt! I certainly am that, I know all about wires and light bulbs and… switches. Zzt.”

Runerigus pulled itself back together. “What are you doing up here?”

Rotom cast about for an answer, zeroing in on the metallic… that was a camera, yes, sticking out of the portal. A new idea slotted into place and it remembered who else had been there when it appeared here. “I’m here to investigate the camera spying on yo--us, roto! That blue Dusknoir wants to figure out who it is!”

Runerigus’s eye narrowed. “That doesn’t sound like him. We’re being real cautious about the portal. Lord Giratina doesn’t think it’s safe to go through.”

Rotom frowned. That was stupid, how else did Rotom get here? It wanted to get out of here now! How to--aha. “Maybe so, but that camera’s doing just fine sticking out through it, right-roto? I can zap inside of it and follow it out through the other side!”

Runerigus hummed. “...Hey, that makes sense. Are you sure it’s safe?”

“Let’s find out, zzt!”

Without any more delay, Rotom flashed to the camera and dove into the lens, riding the wires down through the shaft.

Runerigus turned, startled. “Hey, wa--and he’s gone.” Runerigus shifted, resettling its pieces. It felt someone else approach and turned further to see Dusknoir and a Dragapult entering through the main door. “Hey boss.”

“Greetings, guards-mon,” Dusknoir acknowledged. “Dragapult and her clan are newly arrived and I was showing her around.”

“Charmed,” the dragon said, nodding. The pair of Dreepy in her intakes chirped their own greetings.

Runerigus pointed back toward the portal. “That Rotom you sent up here just went through. Seems to have gone well.”

Dusknoir froze, staring at him. “What?”

Dread started bubbling in his core. “The… Rotom, you sent?” Runerigus asked. Dusknoir stared harder, Dragapult looking between them confusedly. Runerigus heaved a heavy sigh. “I’m really bad at this, aren’t I?”

--------------------------------------

[Fenton Works Lab]

“How are the modifications coming, dear?” Maddie asked, stepping back from the containment cell to observe.

Jack’s eyes flitted across the mess of wires in front of him. He noted one loose connection and got to fixing it. “You’re a genius, Maddie! With the energy converter’s new orientation, the ghost shield will let them inside, but won’t let them leave! And once we’ve got them, ohoho…” Jack rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “I can’t wait to see what makes a ghost tick, can you?”

Maddie hesitated. “Jack, our first priority is interrogating them, remember? Everything else is on hold until we have Danny back safe and sound.”

“I know, I know. I just thought, there’s two of them, right?” Jack set a backup battery into the machine and put the panel in place. “Hey Tucker, hand me a screwdriver.”

He held out his hand. Nothing happened.

Jack looked up. “Tucker?” He scanned the lab. “Where’re the kids?”

“They’re in school, Jack,” Maddie said, getting the tool herself.

“Right, I knew that.”

Panel secured, the couple looked over their trap. The containment unit was set into the wall, ectoplasmic membrane visible as a faint shimmer to create a green box. The black motorcycle stood proudly in the center of the cell, all set to lure its master back to it.

The motorcycle had a white aura about it even now, and Maddie had to repress the urge to take it apart to see how ghostly it really was. “Do you think they stole the bike from our world, or is it manifested from their own ectoplasm?”

“They could have built it from materials in the Ghost Zone,” Jack suggested. He frowned and shook his head. “Though there must be some manifested component; no way a ghost would be smart enough to build a machine that complex.”

Maddie hummed in mild agreement. “Maybe.” Her eyes widened under her goggles. “Wait, if there’s a chance it can just steal a new bike, why would it bother coming after this one?”

Jack looked at her, aghast. “Mads, you can’t just get a new bike. This one's vintage! They don’t make them like this anymore!” He put one hand across both her shoulders and pulled her close. “Besides, don’t worry. Ghosts are possessive, in more ways than one! That monster won’t even hesitate to step into our trap!”

They stared at the trap. It hummed quietly.

Jack looked at his watch. “Any minute now.”

Slowly, Maddie’s expression shifted to a thoughtful frown. “...Does…”

Her husband looked at her expectantly. “Yes?”

“...Does the ghost know we have its bike? Here, I mean?”

The two of them mulled this over in silence. Jack opened his mouth, then closed it without saying anything. “Hmm…” He turned to call up the stairs. “Sam, Jazz! We need you to--”

“They’re still in school, dear,” Maddie reminded him.

“Are you sure? I could have sworn they were here yesterday, and it’s not Monday.” He blinked. “Is it?”

“No, it’s Thursday. And they weren’t supposed to be here,” Maddie said vehemently. “They need to be at school, and as responsible adults we can’t pull teenagers out of class to act as lab assistants.”

Jack looked like he wanted to argue, but decided against it.

The trap was still empty.

“Welp,” Jack began, but thank god something interrupted him because he had no idea what he was going to say.

They both turned to the Ghost Portal, and were alarmed to see the camera arm jerking back and forth, joints spasming.

“An attack?!” Both of them pulled weapons from their hidden places and aimed at the camera arm.

“I knew they had to be biding their time!” Maddie declared. “The ghosts are finally moving against us! The biker must have been an advance agent!”

Jack kicked a table over to create cover, sending countless beakers and unfinished devices flying to shatter on the floor. He propped his cannon on top of it and took aim. Maddie crouched behind the tabletop, adjusting her goggles and peeking around the side. She glanced at the monitor the camera was broadcasting to and saw the blue genie and the stone slab, along with a… jet lizard, staring into the portal. Neither the slab or the genie had enough facial features to gauge their expressions, but the lizard looked confused.

She filed that away and focused, as the camera arm started sparking. Finally, it fell off its mounting entirely in a shower of sparks, and a red ball emerged from the wires, bouncing off the wall and zipping to the other side of the room where it bounced again.

“Rototo! Ro-TOM tototo, zzt!”

Maddie lowered her pistol, brows furrowed under her hood. The ghost was small enough to wrap a hand around it--hers, not Jack’s. It was red-orange and surrounded by a bluish glow. Its body was round and consisted entirely of a head, a knob on the bottom, and a spike on top. Two lightning bolt shapes flickered between positions, positioned like arms.

It didn’t look anything like any kind of ghost she’d heard of, even compared to what they saw through the camera.

The ghost looked around, dazed, then its eyes widened as it took in the lab. “Rooooo…”

It dove for a gadget on the ground that Jack hadn’t finished.

“BONZAI!” Jack yelled, and fired.

A blast of energy wider than the ghost itself buried itself in the floor next to the device, leaving a burnt circle behind and startling the creature.

“Roto?!”

It took notice of them and zipped right up, grinning in Maddie’s face. She pistol-whipped it. The ectoplasm they used to power all their devices, theoretically, could make the weapons themselves useful as bludgeons in a pinch, and she tested the theory presently. The results were promising, as the red ghost yelped in pain and was thrown into a monitor bank. It glared at her and sank into the console, which immediately started going haywire.

“Take this, you little gremlin!” Jack took aim at the computer.

“Jack, that equipment is expensive!” Maddie scolded. “Use something smaller.”

She tossed her pistol at him, and grabbed a gauntlet off the ground. “Is this finished yet?”

“Mostly,” Jack said, looking at the smaller gun in confusion. He didn’t seem able to squeeze his finger into the trigger slot. “It’s one of a pair, but I’ve only made the left one!”

She grimaced at having to use her off hand, but whatever. She ran up to the computer, where the ghost was playing havoc with all the different beeping lights and buttons. Levers rocked back and forth on their own.

Maddie concentrated, trying to find a pattern in the chaos. The gremlin appeared on one screen and blew a raspberry at her.

She smashed through the screen and pulled it out, eliciting a frightened buzz as it struggled to break her grip.

“Jack, go long!” She threw the ghost into the air.

“Take this!” Jack figured out how to shoot the too-small-in-his-giant-hands gun, holding it upside down with just his middle and ring fingers around the handle and his pinky pulling the trigger. He took the shot.

Then he took another shot, because the first one missed. The second clipped the ghost’s ‘arm’ and it was sent spinning. It slammed into the far wall and fell to the ground.

“Rotom-roto-toro ROM!”

One of the devices on the floor hissed to life. A placid female voice said, “You people are out of your minds. Fear me.”

“YOU AND WHAT ARMY, ectoplasmic scum?!” Jack bellowed. He held up the Fenton Thermos. “Catch that ghost!”

Jack threw the thermos. The gremlin looked worried as it should and cried out as the containment unit hit it, knocking it over. It braced itself for capture.

The Fenton Thermos did nothing.

The electrical ghost opened one eye, then the other. It poked the thermos curiously. “Tom? Roto-zzt? Toronto roto ro.”

The translator buzzed. “What? Nothing happened? Is this thing broken? Fear me.”

It looked up and scowled, rattling off a string of repetitive syllables. “That thing over there is definitely broken. I never said fear me. Fear me. Groan, {untranslatable}. Fear me.”

“I don’t get it, why didn’t it work?” Maddie asked. “Are you sure that one’s done?”

“I guess I haven’t really had a chance to field test it yet,” Jack said awkwardly. “No ghosts until recently, so…”

The gremlin rolled its eyes and slapped the thermos away. Suddenly the power lines going up its sides lit up and the cap popped off; the ghost shrieked a beam of light emerged from the thermos and sucked it in. Maddie ran over and re-secured the thermos’ lid, sealing the ghost inside.

Silence fell over the lab.

Slowly, the two of them looked at each other. Wide grins broke out across their faces.

“Jack…”

“Mads…”

They embraced, laughing joyously.

“We actually caught a ghost! A real one!”

“It works! Everything actually works!”

“Take that, Professor Membrane, we were right about everything!”

“Now,” Jack said, beaming, “Let’s keep the streak going. Tucker! I need you to lure a ghost!”

“Still not here, honey.”

-------------------------------

[Casper High School]

Tucker turned the lock too far and messed up the combination again. He grimaced, looked over his shoulder, and tried again. His hands were shaking.

He couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched. Ever since that encounter with the biker ghost, Tucker had not known peace. He laid awake at night, hyper-aware of every creak and bump in the house. He woke up in the morning in a cold sweat, convinced he could see a pair of angry green eyes. And he could smell exhaust, always.

That ghost was watching him. It was watching him, waiting for him to be alone. He knew it.

The lock finally clicked open and he hurriedly exchanged his books and slammed it closed before moving to go to class.

The locker didn’t close. It fell open again.

Tucker felt goosebumps in his skin. He pushed it closed, and again it refused, hitting the frame and not locking.

“No, no no no…”

Tucker dropped the books, pressing his back against the wall of lockers, eyes scanning the halls for an escape. There wasn’t anyone around, no teachers or students, no one. He was alone, and he was vulnerable, and oh god he was too young to d--

thunk

Tucker jumped, looking down. An eraser fell out of his locker onto the floor. He looked again, and saw a pen had fallen over in his locker and was poking out, blocking the door from closing.

Letting out an explosive sigh, Tucker shoved everything back inside. He made a note to himself to organize his locker later to keep that from happening again. He closed the door.

Behind it was Sam. “Hey Tuck--”

“GAHDON’TKILLME!!” Tucker screamed, reaching a pitch that could give dogs tinnitus. He flailed, chopping his arms ineffectually and curling in on himself.

“Whoa, Tucker, it’s just me!”

“Sam?! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” He took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

Sam tapped the toe of her boots against the ground. “I wasn’t sneaking. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m--” Tucker stopped, sighing. “No. I am not okay. I am being haunted, Sam.”

The goth girl winced, taking him in. He looked rough. “Haunted?”

Tucker looked over his shoulder, then leaned in to whisper. “The ghost is following me. It’s hunting me!”

“Tucker, it’s been days,” she reasoned. “If it was really after you, don’t you think he would have shown up by now?”

“It just wants me to suffer!” he insisted. “Maybe it’s like a cat, playing with its food, or, or, it’s feeding on my fear or something!” He pulled at his hat, letting some of his hair escape. “I don’t know, but I can feel it!”

Sam hesitated. With some reluctance, she put a hand on his shoulder and gave him something that might have been mistaken for a hug if you squinted.

“Tucker. It’s okay. Mrs. Fenton gave you the laser, didn’t she?” Sam asked, pulling her own weapon out of her pocket: a green lipstick.

Tucker pulled back one sleeve to show off the silver bracelet. “Yeah… But--”

“You’ve gotta be brave, Tuck,” Sam said. “We aren’t helpless, and we’re not doing this alone. Jazz is here in the school too, and,” she made a face, “the Fentons can be here in three minutes if we call them.”

Tuck breathed for a minute more. Gradually his shoulders started to relax. “Y-you’re right. You’re right. We’re fine. I’m fine.” He smiled softly. “Thanks, Sam.”

She smiled back, giving his shoulder one last squeeze. She opened her mouth to suggest they get to class.

“Aw, that’s real sweet…”

Both of them tensed. The lights overhead dimmed, and the wall of lockers started rattling.

They exchanged a look. Tucker looked terrified. Sam had only one thing to say.

“Run.”

They took off, turning the corner--and pivoted, because the green-haired ghost was there, snarling. They turned to run the other way, but the biker was standing at the far end of the hall.

“Where’s my bike?”

Sam shot him with the lipstick. The biker ghost took the laser with a look of surprise, getting thrown back by the impact.

“Johnny!”

“I’m okay, Kitty! Get’em!”

Sam and Tucker fled back the way they came, feeling a chill come over them from behind.

Tucker slapped at his wrist in a panic, trying to get the blaster to unfold. The device sparked and hissed, not appreciating the treatment. He swore.

“Tucker!” Sam gasped.

“Why does your laser work?!”

“Just keep run-NING!” 

They skidded to a stop as Johnny emerged from the floor in front of them. They turned to see Kitty stalking slowly after them. Almost unconsciously, they backed up against a locker. As the ghosts approached, looking angry, they slid down the wall, clutching each other in terror.

“You punks couldn’t leave well enough alone,” Kitty hissed.

“We were just joyriding,” Johnny said. “We weren’t hurting no one, much. All we wanted was to feel the wind on our faces again. But then you scratched my bike. And then you stole it.”

He punched the locker above them, eyes glowing brightly. The locker’s door click open, creaking slowly.

“Where’s. My. Bike?”

“It’s at the--” Sam started.

Johnny’s leg twitched. “I don’t hit girls, but I’ll start if you don’t shut up. I wasn’t talking to you.”

“It’s in--It’s in the, the, uh, the--” Tucker stammered.

“Spit it out!”

“The Fentons have it!” the nerd blurted. “They’re keeping it in their basement! They’re going to dump it back through the portal!”

It was a spontaneous lie. Tucker wasn’t sure why he decided to say that, but it had the result he wanted.

Johnny looked alarmed. “They’re what?”

“They--” Sam clapped a hand over her mouth.

“They think if they drop your motorcycle back in the Zone you’ll go after it,” Tucker finished instead.

“They can’t do that! Who knows what those freaks guarding the place will do to my baby!” He growled. “This is all your fault, dweeb!”

“Give it to him, Johnny!” Kitty cheered, sporting a sadistic smile.

The ghost pulled a fist back, and Tucker covered his face.

“…bullies…”

The locker door above them, already ajar, slammed open and crashed into the locker next to it. There was a flash bright enough that Tuck could see it through his fingers.

The punch never came.

He peeked. The ghosts were gone.

“What happened?” Sam asked, startled. “Where’d they go?”

“I don’t care,” Tucker said shakily. “I’m just glad they’re gone.”

They finally noticed that they were holding each other and pulled away swiftly, standing up and dusting off their clothes.

“Why would they just leave…?” Sam shook her head. “Man, I’m so sorry Tuck. I really didn’t think--”

“It’s… well, it’s not okay,” he said. He pulled out his PDA and sent a text off to Jazz letting her know what just happened. He felt… calm. Or maybe the word was ‘numb.’ “That wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.” No, wait, there it is. His legs were feeling wobbly.

Sam looked over his shoulder at his PDA, checking the time. “...Do you… wanna get to class? We’re late but not that late.”

“Yes, please.” If Tuck sounded slightly desperate, Sam wasn’t going to say anything. “I’d like to pretend things are normal for a bit.”

They walked off, a little unsteadily. Behind them, Locker 724 closed itself with a click.