The Type Specialist Extra Chapter 3 - The Haunted House at the End of the Road

The environment of this place was significantly more humid than I expected, but I was basing my expectations on the fading memory of a video game that I’d played years and years before. The warm air was thick in a clogging sort of way, and it felt as though it was sticking to my skin even though all I was doing was standing at the edge of a road.

At my side, Ninetales fanned herself with her tails, as she was dealing with even more hostile conditions than me. On one hand, she was an Ice Type with great control over her immediate surroundings, capable of cooling down and drying the air as she pleased. However, on the other hand, she was an Ice Type with a great vulnerability to the heat. It took effort to maintain the more tolerable conditions around her, and even just the faint wisps of warm air that slipped through visibly dragged her down.

“And she said not to bring anyone with us,” I grumbled while staring out into the distance. “We won’t have an easy way out. And the only way back will be to walk.”

Ninetales let out a low whine.

Gardevoir wasn’t here to teleport us. Altaria wasn’t here to help us fly. Rapidash was all the way back home, incapable of providing us with a ride. Even the long-shot hope of a Pokémon like Azumarill helping out with travel would be impossible. At most, I had a phone on me in case of emergency, but it was truly just me and Ninetales standing there off to the side of a worn road.

Watching.

And waiting.

Suffering through this choking humidity while our “guide” continued to delay.

Eventually, a growing speck appeared on the horizon, and a voice echoed out from that rapidly approaching point.

“Hey!” the person shouted. “There you are, Alex! Sorry for taking so long—just making sure we had everything set up with the appropriate permissions!”

I knew I should have schooled my expression so as to not glare at Phoebe, but the choking humidity didn’t quite let me do that.

“Permission? About what?” I called out as she jogged closer and closer.

A shadowy mirage that had followed her from behind faded away into a small dark patch beneath her feet.

“Just making sure our tour won’t disturb this place unfairly,” Phoebe said, stretching her arm to the side as she stopped before me. “And when I said ‘getting permission,’ it’s more like I was checking in with Shauntal.”

“So that’s why you were late?” I asked. “Because you were chatting?”

“Hey! We’re both members of the Elite Four! We were doing important Elite Four things!”

“Yeah. Important Elite Four things that only coincidentally involved chatting about how much you two like the Ghost Type.”

Her smile told me everything. She didn’t even try to hide it. It didn’t help that she muttered, “Ghosts are pretty cool,” as if to try to defend herself immediately after.

“Anyway, that’s why we’re here—to fix exactly that!” Phoebe stepped closer. “You won’t get over your fear of the Ghost Type by doing nothing. You need to experience them in their natural habitat. So, shall we?”

With a wide grin crossing her face, Phoebe offered the crook of her arm and smiled at me until I took it. Reluctantly, I let her begin guiding me forward, and Ninetales let out a long sigh before following at our side.

“I just don’t get why this was your plan,” I said. “Why we needed to head to an entire other region just to have me visit a haunted house.”

“Because,” Phoebe started, her eyes searching the path that would bring us straight ahead, “all of the haunted houses that I’m familiar with are also familiar with me. Alex, I want you to get the full experience, and that means for this tour, we’ll both be tourists. Fun, right?”

As much as I wasn’t a fan of the idea, now that we were at least moving toward an escape from this heat, I was actually able to push down my grumbles.

Honestly, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with being in Unova, but that wasn’t due to any bias against the region; it was more due to a guilt that’d been clouding my thoughts for a while. I had made the best choices I could and had shared my information in the past. While Steven had worked to ensure only the best came of it, he could only do so much, and some regions... didn’t exactly end up as well off as the others.

Unova had been one of them, mostly due to Team Plasma. Their response to the changes had been far worse than anything anyone had expected.

But I wasn’t in a position to worry about that right now. I just didn’t want to think about the impending haunted house.

Or the horrible weather.

“How’s Steven, by the way?” I asked as we trekked forward.

“Hm?” Phoebe hummed. “We haven’t spoken in person in months, and the very first question you ask me is about Steven?”

I ignored her cheeky smile.

“He’s fine,” she eventually said, still smiling to herself as we walked. “As usual, he’s busy. There’s a reason he hasn’t been accepting any personal calls. He always takes on way too much work, and he’s still fighting to properly settle back into his role of Hoenn’s Champion. He’s also— Wait. Hold on, when did you last talk to him?”

“During my visit with the Devon Corporation.”

“Oh, yeah. I heard about that,” Phoebe said. “An entire city block went dark, huh?”

“At least we now know that it’s not Infinity Energy,” I mused.

Ahead of us, I could finally see the shadow of our destination: a great structure built into a wide swamp that had once been badlands. Framed by the slumbering mountain behind it, the clay that made up this building reminded me of adobe. However, where a home built with adobe tended to be on the smaller side, whoever had built this place had ensured it was an entire mansion.

It was wide, tall, and looked like an enormous, orange rectangle. Where the exterior had once been dry and dusty, a recent shift in the winds had seen a more coastal breeze blow in from the southeast. Something about that change meant rain had become more common here.

The result was the choking humidity, of course, but it had also created the thick mud and dead plants that surrounded this old manor. Though it was a completely motionless building, approaching it made it feel as though it was leaning closer, and it was as if its very presence mandated that it must expend effort to make itself loom.

“...You sure I shouldn’t have brought more Pokémon?” I asked, looking up at it.

For some reason, when I spoke here, my voice felt so very small.

“I’m sure. I want it to be just you and Ninetales,” Phoebe replied far too casually. “Too many Pokémon with us, and the ghosts would be scared off. You need to see that they’re manageable and mostly harmless. You might have had some bad experiences, but not every ghostly encounter is that bad.”

“The haunting in New Mauville,” I immediately countered. “And the Gengar attack in Eterna Forest. Then, that entire debacle in Alola’s abandoned Mega Mart. And now, you’re having me visit this... Strange House?”

“Yes,” Phoebe bluntly said.

It was only after a few seconds of silence had passed did something that Phoebe said stick out in my mind.

“Wait. Hold on—ghosts? Not Ghost Types?”

To make matters worse, she just smiled, and with her arm still hooked around mine, she continued forward to bring me straight inside.

Passing through the entrance’s decaying double doors, what hit me first was how the feeling in here was completely different from what I had felt outside. Where being in that recently-formed swamp had made it feel as though I were almost drowning, in here, it felt like an air-conditioned room: dry, still, and almost frosty. Even Ninetales looked rather pleased as the door creaked closed behind us.

“This place has an interesting story behind it,” Phoebe said. She kept her voice quiet, and the floor squeaked under her feet. “It was originally going to be a vacation home, but then the owners decided to move in and live here full-time. Except, that didn’t work out. Pretty quickly, the troubles began.”

“The troubles,” I repeated.

“Yes. The troubles.”

She went on to nod as if that vague phrase was the most important thing in the world.

“Long story short, everyone who slept here was plagued with nightmares. Its owners searched for a solution. They failed, and, in the end, they had no choice but to abandon the place. The rumors meant no one was willing to take over after them, so that’s when the Ghost Types came instead.” 

She nudged me, trying to inspire a reaction.

“Pretty cool, right?” Phoebe said.

Stepping forward, she finally released my arm, and this place was silent enough that I could hear every footstep she took to walk to the center of this room. Though there was no wind—not even the slightest breeze—a rusted chandelier above her rocked back and forth as if it had been recently disturbed.

“If you look up there...” Phoebe’s eyes locked onto a specific point just past this room’s second-level railing. A grand staircase connected to a balcony hallway, and Phoebe did not look away from the darkened entrance that sat open only a few doors down.

Following her gaze made my heart drop in my chest.

Already, I could see them—faint, purple wisps that flickered within the pure nothingness just past the open door.

Ninetales moved to my side and pressed against me, her own gaze not looking away. However, I could tell she was only pretending to comfort me—she moved closer to me for her sake, not mine.

“You can tell what Pokémon they are by the color of their flames and how they flicker,” Phoebe whispered, still staring at those tiny, purple wisps. “Those aren’t ghosts, but they are Ghost Types. Alex, we’re in Unova. Those are Litwick. The wisps you see are the lights of their candles. They’re a species that likes to guide people into spooky situations, and they’re probably trying to bait us into a prank. There’s no need to be scared.”

At the bottom of that upper door frame, I could see a small Pokémon made of wax peek out just to scurry back in. The floating, flickering flames above it almost seemed to intensify before suddenly dropping away one by one.

Though there was nothing left, there had been a playfulness to that disappearance. The act was meant to be spooky, but it was also meant to inspire curiosity and lure us further in.

“Come on, Alex! Don’t you want to see what they have planned?”

“Not really, no.”

Phoebe sent me a huff and then began walking up the stairs regardless of what I said.

Exchanging a look with Ninetales, I knew we needed to continue forward. Off the top of my head, I knew a Ghost Type’s scares were simply meant to be pranks, but I just couldn’t bring myself to be comfortable with them.

But Mimikyu is cool.

And then Whimsicott also liked pranks.

I didn’t have high expectations for this, but I doubted it would be that bad, and we had come here for a reason. Ninetales and I began to follow after Phoebe, and I really, really hoped that this wouldn’t be too horrible an experience.

Phoebe climbed the staircase in the center of the room, and I could hear how it creaked under the slightest pressure. The moment she reached its top, she practically spun on a heel to turn and head right toward the Litwick’s door. Ninetales was firmly locked against my side as we walked up the staircase as well, and I may or may not have had trouble looking up. I did note, however, that though decayed, this staircase had a rather nice pattern on the carpet that decorated its steps.

Unfortunately, by the time we reached the top, it was silent. Phoebe was already gone, having disappeared somewhere deeper inside.

Ahead of us, meanwhile, an enormous door yawned into a wall of pitch-black darkness. Our gazes could not pierce through the void that defined its inside.

However, Phoebe’s voice was somehow able to drift through.

“Come on!”

“Well,” I said, ignoring how I mirrored the slight tremble in the fox pressed against me, “I guess we’re heading in.”

I sent one last look to Ninetales just for reassurance, and though neither of us was pleased about this development, we did step through to follow after the sound of our friend.

“When Phoebe told us we needed to come here, I did some research,” I said quietly to Ninetales as the darkness gave way to a long hallway lit up by board-covered windows. “Places like these are left abandoned on purpose. They kind of serve as ‘containment.’ If there’s a dedicated location for Ghost Types to haunt, then those Pokémon are unlikely to haunt more important places in nearby towns and cities. This one building by itself is probably protecting all of Lacunosa.”

As we walked deeper and deeper into the building, Ninetales inspected the walls so furiously that it was like she was trying to pierce through them with her gaze. Phoebe had disappeared into this upper level, but I had yet to see any sign of her. I tried to look past the open doors that lined the right wall, but once again, I could not see through the darkness that lined each door’s inside.

“This way!”

Once again, Phoebe’s voice echoed out from even further in, and Ninetales almost jumped when the noise passed over us. Her fur was standing on its ends, but I knew Phoebe had come through here. Otherwise, why else would she call for us to follow?

“But it is a bit strange, though,” I said as we slowly crept down the hall. “I know she went to the second floor, but weren’t the Litwick in a different entrance? And, now that I’m thinking about it, there’s something else—the floor here is really loud, but I don’t think I remember hearing any footsteps from her entering this hall.”

Ninetales came to a halt. The suddenness of the motion meant I did, too. Something about what I had said had made her eyes go as wide as they could possibly go, and she snapped her head back over her shoulder to check on the entrance behind us.

She went totally and utterly still.

When I checked behind us as well, I realized the door we had passed through was gone. There was only more hall.

And hall.

And hall.

Nothing but hallway stretched out into the distance, and when I checked once more, I realized that it was infinity to both sides.

“This is the prank, right?” I asked to the empty air. “I’m not laughing. This was supposed to be simple. I’m meant to get over my fear, right?”

Nobody answered. Nothing moved.

This time around, I was the one to jump in reaction. Practically out of nowhere, Ninetales leaped to throw herself at where a boarded window hung on the left wall.

Without waiting, she furiously tore at the nailed wooden planks, swiping with her paws and biting with her teeth in an attempt to rip them off the walls. Though it was still just as cold as before, I started to feel as though I was struggling to breathe in here just as much as I had been outside.

I rushed to help.

One by one, the boards were splintered and torn away. One by one, we removed everything we could from this enormous wall.

At the end of it, we were panting, but everything before was gone. The boards and nails had all been removed.

However, we found no window. There was only a blank, stone wall.

“H-how do a bunch of Litwick fake that?” I hissed under my breath. “Ninetales, you’re skilled with these kinds of things. Are we in an illusion right now?”

Her only response was a shiver.

She started to run, and I didn’t hesitate to join her. We practically hurtled straight down the hall. Behind us, I swore I heard breathing.

And footsteps.

And a faint call—Phoebe’s voice—that shouted for us to run after her.

No, I realized practically immediately. That isn’t it. Her voice is whispering for us to keep going.

For us to get closer.

Snapping an arm out, I grabbed one of Ninetales’s tails—a feeling she absolutely hated—but even with that displeasure, she went along with the grab and let me change directions and yank us through one of those darkened doors.

Somehow, when we emerged, we were no longer on the second floor but back on the lower floor of the main entrance. This was the same, initial room, but furniture covered the place and restricted what path we could take.

The chandelier on the ceiling was gone.

Ninetales and I charged through the only viable route.

Passing through the single available door, we ended up right back in the same room as before.

Then, we ran again, following the predetermined path, but we changed our ultimate plan. Right before entering the sole provided entrance, I had us jump over a table to pass through a different door instead.

It didn’t work.

We emerged into the same place.

“Phoebe, if this is the prank, I don’t like it! Please, just let us go!”

Ninetales howled.

This time around, I didn’t bother to entertain the furniture-defined route. I turned us around to bring us back through the same entrance we had just left, but we merely entered the same room, just emerging from the other side.

“Okay. Okay!” I’d never looked around so quickly before. “They’re giving us only one way forward. They’re trying to herd us, but—”

Ninetales had already locked her eyes onto the same place that I had locked mine.

Between us and the main entrance, shoved against the wall of the room, was an absolute mountain of furniture. Ninetales could all but read my mind to tell what I wanted, and she leaped right toward that pile.

I did not hesitate to give the order.

“Blizzard!” I screamed. “Now!”

Ninetales practically flew through the air, and an impossibly strong hurricane of ice and wind blew out from all around her. Fueled by both panic and well-trained skill, this Blizzard hit with such force that the vast majority of the furniture was blasted into splinters.

But, protected by the rest of a pile, a few tables and chairs remained below. I ran to join Ninetales in destroying and tearing away everything that was left.

We threw and crashed through table after table, and we kicked away chair after chair.

The door was right in front of us.

I could see it for sure.

Tauntingly, it was right there.

“...Alex?”

But footsteps started to echo out from behind us—we were running out of time.

We kept going. We kept digging. However, no matter how hard we tore forward, there always seemed to be more hidden furniture placed under the others that blocked our way out.

“Alex,” the voice repeated.

We kept digging.

“Alex!” came its shout.

We continued to push through.

The footsteps from behind turned into a storm, and out of nowhere, hands were placed on both of our shoulders to turn us around with an overwhelming force.

Ninetales and I may or may not have screamed.

“What are you two doing? I’ve been waiting forever! You already missed the Litwick’s prank! They made the entire room dark and tried to bait us forward with fake candles! They were going to throw a pillow at us from the ceiling for their scare.”

“I... W-what?” I stuttered out.

Phoebe crossed her arms.

“Oh. I see,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “You’re up to something. A plot. Otherwise, why just stand there? You’re in the same spot I left you! It’s like you’ve done nothing but stare into that room for the entire time you’ve been gone.”

“That room?” I repeated.

Having not learned our lesson, Ninetales and I turned around. This time, however, no darkness blocked our vision. There was only a bedroom—a simple one. It was a room that actually made sense to fit into the given dimensions of this building.

“Yeah, this is where the daughter of the household became consumed with nightmares,” Phoebe said. “Her parents tried to save her, but...”

A chill drifted across the back of my neck.

In the distance, I swore I heard giggles.

“You know? Actually, thank you, Phoebe, but I think we’re good,” I said to her right there and then.

“Excuse me?”

Already, Ninetales eagerly agreed.

“I think we get it. There’s nothing wrong with Ghost Type Pokémon, only the effects of real ghosts. I would very much like to leave at this exact moment and never think about this place ever again. And, if you ever want me to meet a Ghost Type Pokémon, I accept. I’ll do it. I’ll agree to any of your plans as long as you promise that we’ll never have to step foot in this building again.”

“You...” Phoebe shook her head. “You know what? Fine. I’ll agree to that deal.”

“Great!”

We didn’t wait. Ninetales and I ran down the staircase to rush back to the front door.

And, it opened.

No furniture blocked it—it wasn’t even locked.

Never before in my life had I ever been so glad to breathe in such horribly humid air.

“Ninetales, I’m sorry for bringing you here.”

She whined to apologize for not being able to do more.

“But it’s fine. We’re fine. We’ve escaped. We’re out! That means... That means we can finally leave this horrible place!”

Then, in unison, we took our first step out.

From there, we practically charged forward, moving down the road to leave the Strange House behind.

It was only minutes later that the reality of our situation hit us.

As awful as that house had been, we were outside, and the swampy environment had not changed. We might have managed to escape, but we still needed to walk through the humid air all the way back if we wanted to return to town.

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Author Note:

Next chapter might not be out until next week—I spent all of yesterday pretty ill, and I'm still recovering. Thankfully, we should be done with the extra chapters by the end of next week, and the next fiction will be out very soon after that!

In the meantime, for everyone getting it, I hope you enjoy the new Pokémon game!