The Demon

"Who goes there?!" Farfetch'd said, readying his stalk.
"Woah woah woah! Mr Farfetch'd! Mr Fafetch'd! It's us!" Ian called out, hoping to he wouldn't go stalk-happy on him.
It took Fafetch'd a few seconds to realize it was his students that were right in front of him.
"Ian...? Is that you?"
"Yes! So please don't wallop me with that stalk of yours!"
Farfetch'd lowered his stalk, feeling slightly more relaxed at seeing a friendly face. But was also confused at their presence.
"What the heck are you all doing here?!" He asked. "You know that the Ancient Barrow is forbidden right? And what happened to Patience?!"
"Well... We can explain." Deerling said. She began recounting the events that had transpired that led them here, the attack at school, Patience's injuries, Pancham and Shelmet being kidnapped, and Gadget, the Pokemon whom had rescued Farfetch'd, giving chase to the perpetrators.
"Normally, I would be angry at you all not only for sneaking out from your homes, going to the school at night and unsupervised, and entering a forbidden place. But given the circumstances, I'll let this slide."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that they are safe from the consequences that would have awaited them if they were caught.
"So, what's the plan now?" Ian asked.
"Allow me to join you." Farfetch'd said. "I want to get to the bottom of this mess as much as you do. And besides, I got a score to settle."
Ian turned to face the rest of the children, their faces all said the same thing.
Why stop him?
"Alright then." Ian said. "Lead the way teacher."
"It's my responsibility as teacher to care for your wellbeing after all." Fafetche'd said, he turned around and lead the group forward, deeper into the Ancient Barrow.
He wasn't the only one who has a score to settle. Ian thought.
----"Are you Ampharos? The leader of the Expedition Society?"
"Yes, that's me." Ampharos said to the rather short, long beaked Pokemon, with leaves as hands.
"Who's the other Pokemon with you?" He said, looking at the Pokemon that was next to Ampharos, a short, yellow Pokemon with a giant mouth attached to its head, a book in one hand.
"This is my second-in-command, Mawile."
"Greetings." Mawile said. "And you must be the one in charge here?"
"Yes. The name's Shiftry. It's been a real mess around here. We've been doing our best keeping the press away from the town."
Ampharos could understand why, it's yet another case of an entire town's inhabitants being turned into stone. But if word got out about this, the public is guaranteed to go into a full-scale panic. Which would be a problem he hoped wouldn't happen.
Man, I'd do anything right now for a good nap.
Judging by the position of the sun, it was around late morning, almost noon. With the Air Continent being east of the Water Continent, they were at least 6 hours ahead. While Lively Town is still the dead of night, it was shining brightly here in Pokemon Square.
"Follow me, I'll show you the Square." Shiftry said, as he led the two Expedition Society members. They approached a three-way junction. In front of them was a garden of sorts, at the center of it, a statue of two Pokemon, heads lifted high to the skies above.
"What's that for?" Ampharos asked, pointing at the statue.
"That's a statue dedicated for the rescue team that saved the world from an meteor many years ago." Shiftry explained.
Ampharos vaguely remembered it, it happened many years ago, probably when he was still nothing more than a Mareep. News about how an meteor was approaching the planet and how a rescue team of two Pokemon preventing it by climbing the heavens and seeking the help of a Legendary Pokemon to shoot it out of the sky. It seem too ridiculous to be true for Ampharos back then.
"Where are they now?" Mawile asked.
"Who knows? Probably traveling the world, seeking new adventures and dungeons to explore. This plot of land once stood the house of the leader of that rescue team. We got rid of it as per his request of not needing it anymore."
"I see."
"But enough with the history lessons. Let's get to why you came here."
Shiftry started walking to the right path, Ampharos and Mawile followed after him, leaving the historical site behind.
"My, that's quite the crowd." Ampharos said.
In front of them was the entrance to Pokemon Square, packed with what seemed like reporters trying to get in but was blocked by a group of Magnemites and Magnetons. Shiftry went ahead and talked with the police officers.
"Quite the crowd huh." Mawile said.
"Indeed." Ampharos said. "It's probably going to be a hassle just trying to-"
"Mr Ampharos, is that you?"
The lighthouse Pokemon heard that familiar voice coming from behind and turned around to see a crimson colored Pokemon wearing a fedora.
"Why, if it isn't Fletchinder. I'm not surprised to see you here."
"You know him sir?" Mawile asked.
"I met this reporter back when I was in Serene Village. He requested for an interview with me which I happily obliged."
"And boy was it a good one!" The ember Pokemon exclaimed. "It was a hit among the people! A closer look of the leader of the Expedition Society!"
"Why, thank you." Ampharos said.
"So what brings you here? Doing some investigating of your own?" Fletchinder asked.
"Something like that..." The lighthouse Pokemon trailed off, unsure as to tell him of their motives. "How about you?"
"Same. I've been investigating this case ever since it started happening a few months ago. My goal is to seek the truth and expose the culprit!" Fletchinder said, proudly holding his head high. Ampharos respected that, he wasn't the average news reporter Pokemon that only want to seek newsworthy stories and possibly over exaggerate it on paper. He could tell that Fletchinder was honest and really wanted to search for the truth.
This could very well help us.
"Fletchinder, would you care to help us aid in our investigation?"
Fletchinder's expression immediately changed at the mention of that.
"Really?! Are you serious?!"
"Sir, are you sure about this?" Mawile asked. "He might compromise our mission."
"Call it mutual gain." He said.
Mawile kept a straight face, and decided to not to further object.
"If you say so boss." She said.
Ampharos smiled. He admired Mawile's constant loyalty towards him. Being with him since the very beginning, ever since he founded the Expedition Society. Since then, it has grown exceptionally, and he couldn't have done without the support from his friend.
Someone he could truly call a friend.
"Well then, let's head in shall we?" Ampharos said, as he approached the entrance to Pokemon Square. Gently pushing past reporters and approaching Shiftry.
"Alright." He said. "You're free to- Hold on, who's that other Pokemon with you."
Ampharos assumed he meant Fletchinder.
"Oh, he's with me." The lighthouse Pokemon replied.
"If you say so."
The Magnemites and Magentons stepped aside to allow entrance for them. They quickly paced themselves before any nosy reporter gets any bright ideas.
As the three reached the center of the town, they were greeted with a horrific sight, Pokemon, by the dozens all turned to stone, some looked like as if they were running from something, from whoever had done this.
Ampharos felt sick in his stomach, like he had just ate a bad apple. In his years of adventuring, he had never encountered such a grotesque scene. He may have read the many reports of the other incidents of Pokemon being turned into stone.
But this was reality, he was seeing it for the first time with his very own eyes, and it scares him.
----"Gadget!" Ian called out.
They had stumbled into a big, empty circular room. Gadget standing in the center of the room, she looked agitated, like she knew something they didn't.
"Get back!" She howled. "We're being watched."
"B-by who?" Goomy nervously asked.
"BY ME!"
Everyone jumped in shock at the sudden unknown voice, Gadget kept still, readying herself at whatever was coming next.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU DARE ENTER MY DOMAIN?! YOU REALLY ARE IDIOTS!" The voice boomed.
"Who are you?! And what have you done to Pancham and Shelmet?!" Deerling yelled.
"YOUR FRIENDS ARE NOT IN ANY DANGER, FOR NOW! FOR I WILL HARVEST THEIR SOULS ONCE I'M DONE WITH THE REST OF YOU!"
"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" Farfetch'd said, twirling his stalk. Ian was surprised at how badass he was right now. Funny, never thought he would say teacher and badass in the same sentence.
"VERY WELL! I'LL GRANT YOU YOUR DEATH WISH!"
Just then, six Pokemon surrounded them, they were small, white and had a purple flame burning on their heads, like a candle. It wasn't long before a giant figure covered them in its shadow, everyone looked up to see the new threat, it immediately sent chills down everyone's spines. It had a grey body, black and red stripes coming down its body, yellow hooves and jet black wings. Gadget immediately recognized the beast.
"G-G-Giratina...?! The renegade Pokemon?!"
Everyone looked at her in shock.
"You mean, THE renegade Pokemon?! The one that came "from the other side"?" Patience asked, nervously shaking. She had heard the stories from her pops, that there was a Pokemon, one that lives in another world, that takes the naughty children and force them to do his bidding.
Was this it? Was this the demon that the villagers of Serene Village dared not to talk about?
Just then, Giratina launched a dark purple beam at Ian. Hitting him right in the face. Ian waited for the pain to arrive, but it didn't. He didn't know how to explain it, instead of a stabbing pain, it felt more like a very hard nudge, just to annoy him.
"Ian! Are you alright?!" Patience exclaimed.
"Surprisingly, no." He replied.
Patience breathed a sigh of relief. She turned around and launched an Ember attack on one of the candle Pokemon, it hit right in its face, launching it back and slamming against a wall, knocking it out.
1 down, six more to go.
Deerling and Goomy were fighting against two of the candle Pokemon. They started charging towards the two children. Deerling turned around and kicked her hind legs upwards as hard as she could just as one of the Pokemon was right next to her. It was a direct hit and the candle Pokemon immediately fell. Goomy, nervous and scared, felt something building up in his body, he didn't know what it was, but he felt the urge to open his mouth to cough. As soon as he opened his mouth, a large beam emerged from his mouth. The beam, in the shape of a dragon's head, approached the candle Pokemon and consumed it in a fiery blaze. Dropping him instantly.
"Holy-! Goomy, was that a Dragon Pulse?!" Deerling exclaimed
"I-I think it was..." He said, suddenly feeling really exhausted.
Two enemies, both 50 centimeters in height, both looked like ghost types, so Swift was out of the option. Gadget could quickly scan and determine the best course of action in the middle of a battle. "Know thy enemy" Ampharos had always said, "The best offense is a good defense". She launched a Thunderbolt at one of them, but the Pokemon sidestepped and avoided the attack.
Damn.
"Do you require assistance?"
Gadget turned and saw Espurr, who began using her psychic powers and lifted the two Pokemon, making them easy targets. Gadget launched another Thunderbolt, this time hitting. The two Pokemon fell to the ground and stayed down.
"You're pretty good." Gadget praised Espurr. She showed no reaction and just stared blankly at the gleam eyes Pokemon.
What's up with this kid? Gadget thought.
Ian wasn't the best at battling, he still wasn't. His Water Gun was inaccurate and his physical moves weren't strong enough. He still needed more time getting used to. That's why he had to rely on items instead. He reached into his bag and pulled out a Paralysis Wand and waved it at the unknown Pokemon, it struck the Pokemon and froze it in place.
Perfect, now to start attacking.
He launched a Water Gun at said Pokemon and hit. Injuring said Pokemon, but not enough to knock it out.
Ian reached into his bag and took out a Blast Seed, he vaguely remembered Farfetche'd mentioning in class that you can also throw a Blast Seed at a Pokemon to deal half the damage eating a Blast Seed will do. Now all he needed was a good throw and maybe some luck.
"May I?"
Ian turned and saw Farfetche'd, he was smiling and readying his stalk. The mudfish Pokemon knew exactly what he was planning.
"Time to test that theory?"
"Yup."
Farfetch'd readied his stalk and placing it over his shoulders while Ian got ready with the Blast Seed. He mentally counted down. 3, 2, 1! He threw the Blast Seed up into the air, right above Farfetch'd. Just at it reached to his level, he swung his stalk as hard as he could and hit the Blast Seed, launching it towards the paralyzed Pokemon, the added force from the stalk increased the velocity of the Blast Seed, making it hurt a lot more. The Pokemon fell to the ground.
"Oh yeah! I still got it!" Farfetch'd exclaimed, giving the mudfish Pokemon a thumbs up.
Seriously. Ian thought. Bad. Ass.
With the six Pokemon down for the count, that only leaves the big bad himself. Who was shocked at how quickly they had taken out his minions.
"I ADMIT YOUR IMPRESSIVE SKILLS AT TAKING OUT MY MINIONS." He said. "BUT YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE SAME TIME WITH-!"
Just then, he felt something hit him, and suddenly he couldn't move his body, no matter how much he tried.
"WHAT THE-?! WHY CAN'T I MOVE?!"
"I've change your ability." Ian said, holding a wand in his hands. "This right here is a Truant Wand, which if you know makes you unable to move after attacking, and since you've already attacked just now, you're not going anyway." He smirked confidently.
"NO! NO! NO! NO!" Giratina yelled.
Ian, Patience, Deerling, Goomy, Espurr, Gadget and Farfetch'd lined up together, preparing themselves for an Alliance attack, ready to finish this once and for all.
"Everyone ready?" Ian asked.
"READY!" The rest yelled.
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
Everyone launched their projectile attacks at Giratina, with their combined attacks, it would defeat him and end this. The projectiles slowly merged into one, multi colored beam and struck Giratina, causing a massive explosion. A cloud of smoke covered the room, despite everyone unable to see if it had taken him down, they doubts were clear when they heard a loud thud, shaking the ground. When the smoke had cleared, Giratina laid on the ground, the battle had been won, victory was theirs.
"W-we did it...!" Goomy whispered. "We actually did it!"
Everyone roared in excitement at their victory, Deerling was jumping for joy, Goomy was dancing and Patience was hugging everyone like a very clingy Ursaring, which Ian nearly suffocated when it was his turn.
"All right, "Giratina", show your true self." Gadget demanded.
"W-what are you talking about?" Ian asked.
"This cannot be the true Giratina, why would a Legendary Pokemon like itself require the help of other Pokemon?"
Everyone couldn't argue with that logic, it was rather odd.
"N-NO! I'M GIRATINA! MASTER OF DARKNESS! RULER OF THE DISTORTION WORLD. I'M-!"
"That's enough Solosis." A rather squeaky voice said.
Everyone turned in the direction of the voice and it turned out to be one of the candle Pokemon, who had got up and approached the Giratina.
"They don't seem to be fooled. Just stop this already."
"B-BUT LITWICK, I WAS-!"
"You did a good job, I'm proud of you."
Ian could have sworn he heard Giratina starting sniffing. Was it... crying? The giant beast disintegrated into thin air, and taken its place looked like a floating bubble with eyes, tears streaming down his face.
"I tried my best Litwick!" He said, still crying uncontrollably.
"Wha...? What is the meaning of this...?!" Patience asked.
The five other Litwicks gathered around their crying friend, and facing them.
"We... can explain." One of the Litwicks said.
"You damn well better." Ian said, confused and impatient.
"You see, we were a bunch of "scarers". Sometimes Pokemon want a good fright, some excitement in their lives, so they come to our place, a lone house by the outskirts of the village to be scared out of their wits. It was a family business our parents had been running for such a long time. Funny, is it not? That Pokemon are willing to be scared just for the fun of it."
"But something terrible happened." Another Litwick continued. "One day, the village caught fire and was burned to the ground, and our family had been accused, claiming our family had enough with the villagers requests and decided to burn the village down out of spite. Our parents, ashamed of such accusations, disappeared the next morning, never to be seen again."
"Oh my..." Patience said, Ian could hear the sympathy in her voice.
"In the end, we were exiled from the village, left to wonder on our own. On our travels, we met Solosis, who had no purpose in life and wanted to help us out, how could we say no?"
"We haven't told you this, but us Litwicks? We don't eat food, our source of energy comes from the fear of other people. The more we scare, the bigger our flames are above our heads, the healthier we are."
It was all starting to make sense now. Ian thought to himself.
"But then why resort to kidnapping? You DO realize that's illegal right?" Deerling asked.
"That wasn't very nice." Farfetch'd said.
"We're sorry... We just thought we tried something different rather than our usual scares, guess that didn't work out."
"I think I've heard enough." Gadget said. "I'm taking you all in. You're going to be in jail for a very, very long time."
"We understand." Litwick said, feeling guilty about the whole ordeal. "What we've done cannot be forgiven, we're prepared to face the-"
"No, let them go."
Everyone turned to see Patience, who had stepped up and stood next to Gadget.
"Are you out of your mind?! They've committed multiple crimes and should be treated like any ordinary criminal! There are no exceptions!" Gadget yelled. "And look at what they done to you! Don't you think it's only right if you get payback?!"
"They're just kids!" Patience yelled back. "And the fact that they're only source of life is by scaring other people. If we throw them in jail, and they start to get weaker and weaker until they..." Patience trailed off, she couldn't bring herself to say that word. She hoped Gadget knew what she meant. "Wouldn't that make us just as bad as criminals? We'll be KILLING them! Even the worst of criminals deserve mercy."
Everyone in the room remained quiet. Ian was surprised to see the fire fox Pokemon standing up to help them. It seemed so... sudden.
"I support that idea." He said. To everyone's surprise. "As a friend, I will stand by her no matter the outcome."
"Ian..." Patience said.
"Me too." Deerling said. "They have a good reason for doing what they did, they can continue to do what they want, just as long as it doesn't involve a stunt like this again."
"Same here." Goomy said. "I may have been scared before, but now I'm not after hearing that sad story!"
"Revenge must never be the way." Farfetch'd said. "It only corrupts a Pokemon into seeing things negatively. Despite everything that has happened, I will forgive them and allow them to stay."
"I guess I'll go with that as well." Espurr said. "Since the majority is winning."
Gadget remained silent before finally giving her answer.
"Bah! Have it your way..." She said.
The Litwicks and Solosis looked at them in surprise and cheered happily, to Gadget's disgust.
"I-I cannot thank you enough!" Litwick said to Patience, shaking her hand.
"We would like to give you something as a token of our appreciation!"
One of the other Litwicks approached her and took out something. It was small, circular object, almost like a marble. It was clear, and had a strange symbol inside of it.
A double helix.
"What is this thing?" Patience asked, inspecting her new gift. The ball faintly glowed when it came into contact with her hand.
"We're not sure." Solosis replied. "We found it here when we first arrived here. Who knows? Perhaps one day you might find out the secret behind it?"
Patience placed the object into her bag.
"Promise two things." She said. "You can scare the villagers, but only to a small degree, no kidnappings or any other reckless stunts like this.
The seven Pokemon nodded.
"And secondly, help out the villagers every now and then. At least do some good in life and help a Pokemon in need!"
"We promise!" Litwick and Solosis said.
"Then it is settled then. The case of the ghosts of Serene Village is closed!" Deerling said.
"Oh yeah, and also give us back our friends." Patience suddenly remembered.
"Oh right, your friends." Solosis laughed nervously. "Here you go."
Just then, in a blink of an eye. Pancham and Shelmet appeared before them, they laid on the ground, they looked like they were sleeping.
"I used hypnosis of them to stop them from fussing around so much." Solosis explained. "Don't worry, when they wake up, they would think it was all just a bad dream."
Everyone let out a breath of relief, everyone was safe now. The case has been solved, there will be no more haunting's, and Pokemon can finally sleep peacefully at night now.
It has been one hell of an adventure. Ian thought.