That's the Spirit! - Chapter 8

This story already had seven chapters up, and can be read here: SB | Ao3

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

[The Black Keep]

Giratina flew, slightly unsteadily, back down to the Keep, and set six feet down on the floor.

The skull-faced Outsider had been an order of magnitude stronger than the others they’d faced thus far. Still not strong enough to actually damage the Wyrm, but enough for his attacks to hurt. And as tired as they were, Giratina wasn’t able to muster up enough Energy to use a proper move. They’d had to resort to wrestling; Giratina had even shifted to their terrestrial form to have more limbs to grapple with.

They’d won eventually, though it wasn’t a terribly satisfying victory. The one called Walker abandoned the fight when Giratina destroyed his hat. He had covered his head immediately, apparently unwilling to let his bald head be seen by anyone. Walker flew away, swearing to return, but the Wyrm didn’t… care. It had been a frankly embarrassing fight, one that their siblings would have mocked them for and rightly so. 

Giratina would have liked them fight three thousand foes for three days straight and then be made to fight an opponent on par with… Zapdos, maybe. Maybe.

But now the army was broken, and so Giratina was prepared to take a deserved rest.

They settled down, letting their typical form reassert itself.

“My Lord.”

They growled in frustration.  WHAT

Undaunted, the blue Dusknoir bowed. “I apologize, my Lord, but we have managed to capture one of the Outsiders.”

He gestured, and a pair of Cofagrigus approached, holding the diver between them. The Outsider struggled, but was unable to break their grip.

“You cannot hold me! Only the sea itself can hold me prisoner! And I escaped that too!” The Outsider wrenched his arm free and his arm-stump sprouted a harpoon. “I will destroy the ocean for its crimes!”

He fired the harpoon out, trailing a rope from his stump, and hit Giratina’s stomach. It bounced off, leaving a scuff in their scales, and clattered to the floor with a loud ringing sound.

“...Oh, poopdeck.”

Runerigus came up behind him and smacked his helmet, which made a sound like a gong. “This one and one… sorry, three others got to the Keep. The first two got to the Portal before me, and the one that arrived with this idiot used him as a distraction.”

The Wyrm rumbled in discontent.  SLOPPY

The stone slab winced, retreating to its compacted form. “I know, and I apologize. They play dirtier than I expected.”

Giratina nodded acknowledgement. They slithered to loom over the diver, who stared up at them through the porthole on his helmet.

NAME?

“I am Rebreather! Scourge of the deep! I will not rest until I save the seas from mankind!”

There was a smattering of confused noises.

The blue Dusknoir raised his hand. “Did you not say moments ago that you want to destroy the ocean?”

Rebreather scoffed, a hollow metallic sound. “Don’t be ridiculous! How can I hate the ocean when I dedicated my life to studying it?”

Dusknoir and Giratina exchanged a look. Runerigus just looked tired.

I HAVE FURTHER QUESTIONS

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

[Melemele Island]

Danny was doing something he never thought he’d do. Something that Dash could never find out about, or he’d get swirlies until the end of days. Tucker would never let him hear the end of it. Jazz would get all proud in that backhanded way of hers, and the worst part was that she would be totally sincere. And his parents would be insufferable.

He was researching.

The island challenge was something that eleven-year-olds did, so it would be extremely embarrassing if he went into it not knowing what he was doing and failed horribly. Danny hadn’t battled well with Zorua because he didn’t know any of its moves--sorry, his moves, Zorua was apparently male--and Gastly was barely better. Now he had Rowlet, too. He needed to figure things out before he got any farther.

Kukui’s lab had a small library, but more important for Danny were the computers. He had a kind-of shaky Internet connection, but also a bunch of different studies and research papers saved to it.

(According to the profile Kukui signed him in with, this was actually Burnet’s PC. That made sense to Danny, since he didn’t see Kukui being this organized.)

Zorua knew the moves Sucker Punch, Faint Attack, Taunt, and Leer. Gastly knew Lick, of course, but also Hypnosis, Spite, Curse, and something called Clear Smog, which did something with ‘stats’ that Danny understood practically but had difficulty reconciling with living creatures.

Curse was another interesting one. For most Pokémon, it makes them stronger and tougher and slower. But for Ghost-types, they damaged themselves to place a curse on their opponent that slowly sapped their strength.

Rowlet, apparently, eventually became a Ghost when it ‘evolved,’ a concept Kukui had mentioned but glossed over. That led Danny on a wiki walk regarding ghosts. According to what he’d read, there was a Ghost/Dragon-type Pokémon.

It was the one that looked back at him from the mirror.

Having a name to put to the face did nothing for the uneasy feeling he got when he thought about Giratina. He had no idea why it kept watching him, and based on the legends he was digging up, he didn’t want to know. Legends were almost all there were regarding Giratina, because it lived in a different dimension and only came to this one when someone screwed up royally.

In fact, Ghosts in general had barely any research about them, which was weird. The only Type less understood was Fairy, and that was only because it was a recent discovery. Like, ‘within the past two years,’ recent.

It kind of baffled him, honestly. Pokémon were so interesting, but Ghosts were especially so.

Danny sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Mom and Dad can never know about this.”

“Zor!”

Danny turned the swivel chair around to watch Zorua face off with Rowlet. The little round owl was fluttering above the rug they were using as the battle area, just out of Zorua’s reach, and Growling, which in this case took the form of ominous hooting.

Zorua wasn’t terribly phased, just snickering. He Taunted, pulling one eyelid down and sticking his tongue out.

Rowlet puffed up angrily, and fired a Razor Leaf, only for Zorua to suddenly shoot forward, surrounded by Dark energy, and slam the owl back to earth.

“Gahaha! Gast… ly!”

Gastly declared Zorua the winner, having taken the role of referee for this little spar.

“You guys are excited to battle, huh?” Danny mused, getting a chorus of agreement back. “Maybe I can find someone else to battle in the city. If battling’s as popular as it looks like, I’m sure a tourist or someone wouldn’t mind…”

“Luv.”

“Luv luv.”

Danny looked over at the tank in the corner. The fishtank on the ground floor had a secret compartment, apparently, that led down here, and the two heart-shaped fish had ventured down to stare at him.

“Hey, you two. Hungry?” He looked back at his own Pokémon. “What about you guys?”

“Zor!/Gas!/Rowl…”

Danny chuckled, standing up and stretching his arms. “Well, they asked first.”

Zorua gasped in faux-offense as Danny went up the stairs, before they followed him up.

He was going to have to get used to cooking, too. You could buy PokéChow ready-made like any other pet food, but it was pet food. The Professor and Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center had recommended a more personalized diet for all of them.

He wasn’t worried? How hard could cooking be? He had to be better than his dad at least.

As Danny inserted the fish food into a slot on the tank, the two Luvdisc and one Corsola went to grab what came out, and he turned to them. “Gastly, what do you even eat?”

Gastly looked shifty. “Lygas.”

“Well, you’ll have to settle for berries for now.” He took some from storage and laid them out for his partners. “Note to self, get a field cookbook or something.”

The front door slammed open, making everyone present jump.

“Danny!” Kukui came on, his usual smile a little dimmer than normal. “I’ve got that thing I wanted you to test for me.”

“...Okay?”

“There’s just one little problem.” Kukui handed him what appeared to be red PDA, with a big spike on top and two little nubs on the bottom. It was kind of awkward to hold.

Danny tapped it, and it powered on by itself. “It looks fine to me? This is a… PokéDex, right?”

“Zzzt! PokéDex, Pokéball, PokéMart! You humans sure ain’t creative, are you? Zzzt-zzt!”

Danny dropped the Dex in surprise, but it never hit the ground. The nubs popped out into feet, a pair of arms unfolded from the back, and the oval-shaped sections near the top lit up into eyes as a smug smirk appeared on the screen. “What the--?!”

“Introducing, the RotomDex,” Kukui said, trying to muster enthusiasm. “Rotom is an Electric/Ghost-type known for being able to possess technology, giving them expanded functionality and often altering their appearances! Me and a young inventor from Kalos had the idea of creating a PokéDex with Rotom integration in mind, to give trainers a helper and guide on their journeys. Clemont even thinks it could rival the Poryphone in Orre.”

“Zzzt! Porygon! They say the sincerest form of flattery is imitation! I’m not all that flattered though!” RotomDex declared, spinning through the air.

“...There’s some kinks to work out,” Kukui admitted. “The Dex works fine, but the Rotom we found…”

The electric ghost cackled, zipping over to Gastly, who backed up in surprise, and dazzling him with a camera flash. “Rotom used Flash! Super effective, roto!” The picture appeared on its screen, and it opened up an art program to start drawing dorky glasses over it.

Kukui rubbed the back of his neck. “...Yeah.”

“You want me to take this thing out there with me?” Danny asked, incredulous.

“I did, but now I’m not so--look out!”

Rotom suddenly tried to use an attack, an aura of electricity appearing around it. The attack failed to launch, and smoke puffed out its speakers. “Aww, that’s no fun, zzt!”

“Don’t do that!” Kukui shouted. “That’s delicate equipment!”

“I’m built to last, zzzahaha!” Rotom zipped around the room, laughing.

“This was a bad idea,” Kukui admitted. “Sorry about this--Rotom, alright, you’ve had your fun.”

“Zzzt!” Rotom ignored him. It pressed its screen against the fishtank, scaring the Luvdisc. “Luvdisc, the Rendezvous Pokémon! The only Pokémon so codependent that it’ll let itself get attacked if its mate isn’t around!”

One of the Luvdisc gained an insulted expression. It swam up to the top of the tank and splashed water over the side and all over the Dex.

“No!”

Rotom freaked out, as sparks flew out of the device. It zoomed around erratically, knocking things over and nearly clipping Rowlet on the wing. Finally it fell into the kitchen nook and bumped against the fridge, and Rotom zipped out of the Dex, letting it fall to the floor, and entered the fridge instead.

Danny and Kukui exchanged a startled look.

The fridge turned Rotom-red and gained a purple aura, then threw itself out through the wall behind it before flying away.

They stood there, shocked by events, until the Professor shouted. “My fridge!”

Danny walked over, wary of wood fragments from the wall, and picked up the battered Dex. “Well. At least it left this?”

The device sparked morosely.

“Aw man, Clemont is going to be so upset,” Kukui moaned. Then he groaned louder. “Forget Clemont, what am I gonna tell Burnet? There’s a hole in the wall and the fridge is gone!”

Danny patted his back awkwardly. “I mean. There’s not a lot of places a fridge can hide, right? We’ll find it.”

“You would?” Kukui asked, turning to him with slightly unfocused eyes. “Thank you, Danny, you’re a lifesaver!”

“Wait, hold on, that’s not what I said--”

“You track down the fridge, and I’ll get started on fixing the wall!” Kukui ran a hand through his hair, knocking his hat off without noticing. “I punch holes in the wall with my research all the time, I can fix this! Sure, it’s never been this big before--”

The house groaned alarmingly

“--and I think that wall might have been load-bearing, but it’ll be fine, I can do this!”

Suddenly being elsewhere sound like a good idea. “Good luck with that, Professor!” Danny said, stepping through the hole. “We’re just going to… find your refrigerator. Uh, what do we do with the Rotom, after?”

“I don’t care what happens to that menace, just get my fridge back. Incineroar! I need you to hold the wall up!”

Danny and his team exchanged worried looks and ran away.

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

[Casper High]

“Wow, Manson, you look like crap!”

“Foley, man, you reek more than usual! Ever heard of soap?”

“Hey, Loser 2 and Loser 3! Where’s Loser 1, huh?”

Dash poked Tucker in the chest, trying to provoke a reaction. Tuck just turned away and continued retrieving things from his locker. Dash scowled and slapped the books out of his hands.

“Look at me when I’m insulting you, dweeb!”

“Lay off, Dash,” Sam muttered, giving him a half-hearted glare. She moved to stand between them.

Dash, for all his anger issues, wasn't willing to hit a girl, so he backed off. “Where’s Fenton? His beating is accruing interest!”

“Wow, I didn’t know he knew that word,” Tucker said under his breath.

“What was that?!”

“I said your hair looks nice,” Tucker said, not even looking at him.

Dash looked up, trying to see if something was wrong with his hair. It must be, if Foley liked it.

“C’mon, Dash, we’re going to be late for class,” Kwan urged, pulling him away.

Dash shook his friend’s hand off. “Whatever.” He waited long enough to slap Tucker’s books away again, then stalked off.

“Jerk.” Sam sighed. “You okay, Tucker?”

“What do you think?” he snapped. “...Sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Me either.” Sam shut her own locker and turned to make her way down the hall. 

After only a few steps, though, she stopped dead, leading Tucker to almost run into her back.

“Hey, what’s the big--”

“It’s my fault, isn’t it?” Sam whispered.

Tucker, reflexively, opened his mouth to agree, but he smothered the words before they could escape. Instead, he said, “It’s not like I did anything to stop you.”

Sam punched the locker nearest her. “And we almost lost Jazz, too! Those ghosts came through and we just stood there!”

Tucker gave her an incredulous look. “They were on a motorcycle, Sam. Even if we had weapons on us, they were too fast.”

“Now Danny’s parents are busy chasing them down instead of finding a way to save him!”

“At least we know he’s… okay,” Tucker said, uncertainly. They knew he was alive, but Tucker wasn’t really trusting that he was doing well. “And maybe those ghosts can help them find him!”

“How?!”

“I don’t know, I’m not the expert!” Tucker shouted. The few other students still in the halls gave them weird looks, so he lowered his voice. “Sam, I’m scared too, but feeling sorry for ourselves isn’t gonna do anything.”

“I know that, but I just--I feel like I’m doing nothing.”

“Well, what can we do?” he asked. He wondered for a moment why he said we instead of you, but brushed it off. “It’s not like we can track the biker ghost down ourselves and interrogate them.”

Sam didn’t respond.

“...Sam, no.”

“Tucker, hear me out--”

“Sam, no--”

“If we can get them to tell us about the ghost dragon, maybe we can--well, the Fentons can do something, and we can get Danny out of the mirror!”

Tucker groaned loudly, letting his face fall onto the books in his arms. “Sam, that’s not a plan. That’s, like, fifteen percent of a plan at most.”

“Well, what’s your big idea, smart guy?” Sam demanded.

There were a dozen things he could say to refute that. He wanted to say that they weren’t equipped for this, but the Fentons would gladly give them equipment. He wanted to point out that the Fentons were the experts and they were still searching, but this was their first ghostbusting too. He would really really like to say that they need to get to class and can they please talk about this later, but Sam would accuse him of not caring and like hell was he going to allow that.

Instead, he said, “And how are we supposed to find them?”

Sam pursed her lips, thinking.

Outside, they heard an engine roar.

Sam’s eyes lit up in excitement.

Tucker sighed. “Can I possibly convince you to believe that it was a normal bike?”

“Not a chance.”

“Didn’t think so.” Tucker looked down at his textbooks, and for the first time in his life, wished he was in class. “Can I at least put these back in my locker?”

“Alright, but make it quick!”