Status: Updating on Sundays and Mondays

Uncontained

A Ghost of a Chance

Erika gave me the gym badge with only one comment. "You are the strangest trainer I've ever seen."

I just grinned. "Well, I'm not a trainer, so that makes sense."

After that, I left and tried to figure out what to do next.

I knew there was a gym in Saffron, Fuchsia, Cinnabar, and Viridian. Saffron was blocked off still, Cinnabar and Viridian were too far away, and Fuchsia, according to the rumors, had a big Pokemon blocking the way to it. I was stumped. That was until I heard another rumor about a guy in Lavender who had a flute that could control Pokemon or something and could move the Pokemon blockade.

"It's worth a shot," I decided. "If anything, we can train on the way." So we traveled back to Lavender.

We took the shortcut in the underground path, but it was still a long way and we arrived by nightfall. I had Rose on my shoulder and she had my hat in her hands blowing bubbles into it. "I heard there's a man with a special flute around here," I told the Pokemon Center nurse. Florence was upset about her spot on my shoulder taken, but she resigned herself and said that Rose needed some time there too. "I thought we could move the Pokemon blocking the path to Fuchsia."

"Oh yes, I was going to talk to him about that if he ever came in." He nodded. "He's up at the top of Pokemon Tower. He's trying to calm the spirits."

That struck me. "That's ridiculous. Ghosts don't exist."

The nurse shrugged. "You'll be retracting that statement if you go looking up there."

I grumbled and debated on whether to take the night off or go, but I ended up going. I wasn't going to let some superstition get the best of me.

The tower rose at the far end of town; it was a grave site for Pokemon. The last time I'd been here I didn't give it another glance, but now I had a chance to look at it. It was big with glass windows all along the base and seemed to crest the very top of the sky. Fog rolled down from the mountain and over the spire so I couldn't see the top, so it gave that haunting illusion. I shivered, but brushed it off. It was socialization that made graves creepy, I thought, annoyed. It's just a building. The media gives it all this hype.

But Florence began to cry. I opened the heavy door and looked into the white-tiled room. There was no receptionist at the desk and the place was barren elsewhere as well. Rose squeezed my head like a cantaloupe until I couldn't ignore it anymore. "Do you want back in your ball?" I asked. She nodded weakly, I sent her in, and Florence resumed her perch on my shoulder. She sniffled in my ear.

"You all know ghosts don't exist, right?" I asked. As I said it, an unsettling feeling covered my shoulders like dust.

The Pokemon said nothing and Isaac's spines raised. Uriah broke the silence. A foolish thing to believe in, he growled.

"Hey Beau."

I flinched, but turned around to see who it was. I cursed myself for my jitters, it was only Malachi going through down the stairs to the upper floor. "What are you doing here?" he asked and grinned. "Did your Pokemon die?"

"As you can see, they're all here," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Probably the same thing you are. I'm looking for Mr. Fuji. He has a pokeflute.

"Great minds think alike, huh. Did you see him up there?"

Malachi looked at the ceiling and his grin vanished. "No, he's at the very top and I didn't go too far. I wouldn't go looking if I were you."

"Why not?" I frowned.

"People are going crazy. There are a bunch of ghost channelers flipping their shit. I thought one of them would attack me. I figured I should come down and wait it out until morning."

A chill ran up my spine, but I said, "You can't be serious. They're probably just on drugs or something. You know how shamans use hallucinogens."

"I'm not kidding." The way Malachi's face made me stop. It was the same serious look he'd given me when I started this journey. No jokes. No giggles. "I don't want you going up there."

Indignation flared in me. "I don't care about a bunch of druggies," I said. "Ghosts don't exist, and this probably means Mr. Fuji is in some kind of trouble. Has anyone even bothered to call the police?"

Malachi shook his head. "They all believe it's just something paranormal."

"Fuck. Well, I'm going up there. I've got my Pokemon with me, so we'll be fine." I pushed past him and to the stairs. They were made of clear glass. For a second, I wasn't sure if Czeslaw could even make it through. But something snagged my wrist and I sighed.

"Beau, I'm going with you," Malachi said in a low voice. His hand was tight around my arm.

I appreciated that he didn't even try to change my mind, but something in his tone scared me. I didn't show it. "Fine, all the better." I shook him off. "Come on."

---

Luckily my Pokemon could fit through the door.

There was something in the air that made my hair stand at an end. Florence was nearly having a panic attack so I cuddled her in my arms and stroked her fur. Malachi was grim. Gravestones littered the floor and some little Pokemon tombs had been thrown from their holes in the ground. I felt sick. I kept waiting for Malachi to say, "I told you so," but he didn't. I wished he'd told me it was this bad.

"Shit," Malachi hissed.

I turned and saw where he was looking. A man wearing long channeling robes was standing motionless behind one of the gravestones. He wasn't facing us and his hair was disarrayed. I tensed involuntarily. "Malachi," I started.

But then the man snapped his head around.

His eyes were rolled back in his head and blood was smeared all over his mouth. With a howling scream, he lunged at us.

Florence shrieked and I dropped the pikachu just as he slammed into me. My back crashed into the tiled floor, his weight crushed me, and I scrambled for my pocketknife. I couldn't see and then my face streaked pain. Malachi pulled him off me just as I sunk the knife into his stomach. I screeched. "Fuck!"

Then Czeslaw had him. The nidoking smashed his hand into the man's chest. He let out a gurgling yelp and I heard the cracking of his ribs underneath Czeslaw's talons. He writhed, seemingly oblivious to the injury. Malachi pulled me up and I practically staggered into him. "Are you okay?" he asked frantically.

"I'm fine." Something wet and hot ran down my face. Had he - had he tried to claw my eyes out?

Despicable, Uriah growled.

With a quick blow to the head, Czeslaw knocked the man out. He lifted his hand off the guy's chest. Blood was pooling through his robes from my knife. I was too sick to retrieve it and my whole body was shaking. I'd never wanted to hurt another person before.

Florence was crying and I was glad Rose was in her ball. Isaac held onto her hand with both of his to calm her. I picked her up and squeezed her and rubbed Isaac's head gently. "If anyone wants in their pokeball, please tell me," I said.

But no one said anything and all shook their heads.

Malachi wrapped his hand around my arm. "We're not going a step further. That guy wasn't here before and who knows who else is upstairs."

It's foolish to risk our lives for a man whom we can gain his assets elsewhere, Uriah growled. We can visit his family and get the flute ourselves.

Despite my trembling, I said, "We're going to find Mr. Fuji." I tried to make my voice firm. "We need to go upstairs."

"We're going to get ourselves killed," Malachi said.

"We?" I spluttered. "You can go back down and get the police. You're not roped into following me. It's not like I'll get killed with my Pokemon by my side."

"Fuck, Beau," Malachi hissed, and suddenly, he gripped me by the shoulders. His strength and ferocity startled me. At that moment his rich dark eyes met mine and I couldn't speak. "I don't want you hurt, you hear me?" His voice was raspy. "I care about you."

My heart pounded in my chest.

But I pulled away. "Then come with me and prove it," I said.

Malachi stared at me for a long time. I stared back and realized I was breathing hard, like I'd run a mile or more. I dared him to resist me. I dared him to leave. But at the same time I ached more than anything to have him by my side-

"Fine," he said. "I'll go with you."
♠ ♠ ♠
Sorry about not posting yesterday. My siblings graduated high school!

I decided to make the nurse in the Poke Center a dude because gender norms.

Stuff's going to go down really fast and it's going to get interesting. And rated R. Just warning you.