Chapter 2: the Haunted Dorm

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I own nothing
Chapter 2: Ramshackle Dorm
Crowley led (Y/N) to a dark field. On a hill, surrounded by dead trees, a beat up gate, and several spiderwebs, was an old building that looked so dilapidated that one good sneeze would probably bring it down. Though, the champion supposed that the old mansion Cynthia took her to was just as bad. Still.
"Soooo tasteful...."
Crowley clearly did not understand sarcasm. "It is, isn't it? Well then, please come inside."
Two headed inside and needless to say the interior was just as bad: broken bits of furniture strewn about, peeling walls, rotten floors, dust and cobwebs in general, and a musty scent. It was a dumb, and that was a kind thing to say.
"See here you can at least shield yourself from the wind and rain."
"I think I'd prefer to take my chances." The trainer murmured, eyeing the place. "Wouldn't be the first time. At least dirt won't erode under my feet after one step."
Crowley either didn't hear her or ignored her. "I'm going to continue investigating some things, so please do as you like." He gave her a stern look. "Do not let me catch you or your beasts wandering around the school! Well then."
The headmaster went on his merry way, leaving (Y/N) to make the most out of her situation. Luckily, if there was one thing Pokémon trainers picked up quickly on their journeys, it was how to be adaptable. She rolled up her sleeves and dug into her bag, pulling out a few of her Pokeballs before also grabbing Swampert's.
"Alright gang, I need your help!"
In a flash, Crobat, Starraptor, Corviknight, Ampharos (who had the band for her Ampharite on her tail), Gardevoir, and Swampert appeared. They took one look at the condition of the place and stared at their trainer in mild annoyance. She held up her hands.
"Hey, don't get mad at me. Somehow, we're now trapped in another world and these were the only lodgings. We can't be choosers, gang. So let's make the most of it!"
They all let out a disgruntled cry of their names, but obliged their trainer. Crobat, Starraptor, and Corviknight swept the dust outside thanks to their wings, while Gardevoir and Swampert helped (Y/N) clean out one of the bedrooms for her to use, mostly removing broken bits of the house and making it at least hospitable. All the while Amapharos provided plenty of lighting with her tail. It was hard work, but it was made much easier by her team. They only gave the place a dusting and cleared out one room. The rest could happen another time. Besides, she didn't have the money to make real repairs anyways. She glanced out the window and looked out on the lawn.
"Gabite and Tyranitar could probably dig out a pit for a lake and I could have the grass types try to make some shelters for everyone, but that could cause problems..."
She didn't like having to keep her friends inside their pokeballs all day, but the dorm was just too unstable for her heavier Pokémon. That wasn't even counting what her fire types would do. She supposed the smaller Pokémon could stay in the dorm, but she'd need to figure out something for the others. As she plotted, Swampert came up to her and nudged her. She smiled at her oldest friend and scratched his head.
"Don't worry, buddy, we'll figure something out."
As she said this, droplets began to fall from the sky. Gradually, it got faster and harder until a proper rain storm was brewing.
"It's raining," she said with a smile before turning to Swampert. "You wanna go enjoy the rain?"
He shook his head, not wanting to cause more of a mess for his trainer. She had enough on her plate to deal with. The was a slam at the front door that got everyone's attention.
"Gyaa! Why'd it have to rain so hard all of a sudden?" A familiar voice whined. (Y/N) walked back to the main room to see the cat, Grim, was now there, soaked. He laughed at her.
"Gyahahaha! You look so stupid, just like a bat that got squirt with a water gun!" Swampert growled at him as the other Pokémon joined them and glared down at the little intruder.
Grim, who was already terrified of the water/ground, looked ready to have a heart attack at the sight of the other monsters. "Nya!? You have more of those monsters!?"
"Yes, a lot more actually," (Y/N) informed him as Crobat extended a wing to get the other Pokémon to calm down. He didn't like them hurting smaller, weaker creatures. "What are you doing back here?"
The cat looked smug. "For the Great Grim, it was a piece of cake getting back into the academy. They were so wrong if they thought I was gonna give up getting into the academy just by throwing me out!"
"Why do you even want to get into the academy so badly?" She asked.
"It's a simple story! I am a genius born to become a great magician! I've always waited for when the black carriage would come for me! Even so," he looked dejected. "Hmph! That Mirror of Darkness has no eyes anyway! That's why I came here myself. Those humans don't know what they're missing out on, not having me!" A drip from the ceiling wiped the smug look off his face as he jumped. "Nyah! Cold!"
"Guess looking for leaks is another thing to add to the to do list." The trainer muttered as the drips became faster.
"Fugya! The water's coming down again!" Grim cried as he took cover. "My flaming ears are gonna disappear!"
"Wow, and I thought my fire types were bad when they got a little wet." Starraptor, Swampert, and Ampharos all snickered at the thought as Gardevoir took the initiative and found a bucket for the leak. "Thanks, girl."
"We could just repair the leak with magic, you know?" Grim pointed out before smirking. "Wait, you can't use magic, useless human."
She gave him a side glance. "No, but I have an entourage of powerful creatures, all of which could beat you to a pulp and throw you back out into the rain. Plus, I'm confident with my abilities to chase you off with a broom." To emphasize her point, Swampert pounded his front fist together.
Grim squeaked as the trainer sighed.
"If you don't want that, you could help us."
"No way! I'm just taking shelter from the rain. Besides, you said you have plenty of monsters to help. There's not even canned tuna, there's no way I'd work for free."
"Firstly, let's get this out of the way, they're Pokémon, so call them that. Secondly, your payment is being allowed to sleep here after all the trouble you cause. So it's either help me, or go back out into the rain."
The cat grumbled angrily, but eventually followed her into the hallway as she recalled some of her Pokémon to give them more space. Only Swampert and Ampharos remained. The Light Pokémon lived up to her species name and drove away the dark. As they neared the staircase though, all three travelers turned aggressively, much to Grim's confusion.
"Who's there?" The trainer called out.
Three ethereal, white forms appeared to them. One of them cackled.
"Hihihi....hihihihi....it's been a while since we've had guests!"
"I'm itching to work out! Hihihihi!"
"Gya!" Grim screamed. "G-g-ghooosts!"
"Meh." the trainer said. Kinda hard for a standard ghost to spook you when you had several on your team, including a dragon/ghost.
"Everyone else who lived here got scared and left." The smallest of the ghosts explained.
"How about you guys join us?" The biggest threatened. "We are always looking for new ghost comrades!"
Grim clung to (Y/N) as Ampharos and Swampert got ready to fight. "Uh, the great magician Grim isn't scared of ghosts!" He launched a fire ball that the ghosts immediately dodged by disappearing.
(Y/N) had to avoid being singed as Swampert and Amapharos also began firing off attacks to hit the ghost, albeit weaker moves that wouldn't cause the building to collapse. "Do you always close your eyes when you make fire!?"
"Shut up!" Grim argued back. "Don't boss me around!"
"I'm a trainer, or beast tamer I guess, that's kinda what I do! Look, you follow my orders, and I'll give you some tuna"
Grim immediately changed his tune. "Wha...I-I'm a genius, you know. I can finish these guys myself." The ghost reappeared just to laugh at him. "There's so many of you guys, you cowards!"
"Just follow my lead." She said as she grabbed two more Pokémon from her bag. "Swampert, Ampharos, back to back and ready Waterfall and Signal Beam. Grim, you stand on Swampert and use your fire, he'll put it out!"
"Gah! Fine!" He said as the creatures all took their positions. "Just tell me where they are!"
"Don't worry, I'll get you guys clean shots. Gengar! Marshadow! You're on!" The two ghost types emerged from their pokeballs, rearing to go. "I'm counting on you two to give those three clean shots! Show these ghosts what ghost type Pokémon can do!"
The two eagerly followed orders and disappeared. In a second, the ghosts reappeared in a panic as Gengar and Marshadow began to lay into them with their attacks.
"Gah! What are these things!?"
"Are they also ghost!?"
"How can they find us!?"
As soon as they appeared, they were met by attacks from the other three. Grim let out several fire attacks, which landed.
"Ah, I hit them!" He said confidently as Swampert followed up with a Waterfall, both to do damage and prevent the fire from spreading. "Alright! We're gonna drive them outta here!"
With (Y/N) to command them, the four Pokémon and Grim made short work of the aggressors. Gengar even one up them by making even scarier faces to spook them.
"Hii hiiii! We're gonna disappear! Run!!" They all screamed, vanishing.
"Ah?" Grim said in shock. "I...won?"
Swampert grunt, knocking the cat off his back. (Y/N) gave a him an assuring pat on the head.
"It was a team effort. Great job, gang."
The Pokémon all gave cries of delight and enjoyed pets and praising from their favorite human. Grim was still a little scared.
"Tha-that was scar-." He quickly put up a facade. "No, it wasn't scary at all! For the Great Grim, it was a piece of cake! How's that ghost? Gave up?"
The Pokémon all gave him raised brow looks, but their trainer interceded.
"Hey, come on. He pulled his weight too."
The door opened yet again, and everyone prepared to fight, only to see Crowley jovially walk in.
"Good evening! The ever so kind me brought dinner." He then noticed Grim. "Wait, this is the monster who created a ruckus at the opening ceremony! I thought we drove him out! Why is he here!?"
"Helping us clear the ghosts you didn't tell us about." The trainer shot back with her arms crossed.
Grim looked surprised she defended him, but seemed quite confident with the beast tamer and her Pokémon to back him up.
"That's right! Be grateful!"
Crowley looked confused. "Hm? What happened? Come to think of it, there have been some ghosts that have settled in here and stopped students from coming which led to the dorm being abandoned."
"And you didn't think to warn me!?" (Y/N) inquired angrily as her Pokémon growled.
The headmaster didn't seem to hear her. "Hmm...you two managed to work together and get rid of the ghosts."
"Yeah, I'm pretty good at making Pokémon learn to work together." Marshadow jumped
Ampharos to prove her point, and received pets. Grim glared at her.
"We didn't work together, she only watched. I only did it because I wanted canned tuna. I still want my tuna!"
"I was directing my Pokémon, who not only made it possible for you to hit the ghost, but also fought back and kept your fire under control." She corrected.
Crowley looked at her, rather impressed. "You truly are a beast tamer. The two of you, would you please show me how you got rid of the ghosts?"
"But we've already gotten rid of the ghost!" The cat argued. "Anyway, MY CANNED TUNA!"
"I will take on the role of a ghost. If you win against me, I shall give you canned tuna." He smiled. "I am so kind, after all." He then pulled out a vial of something. "Well then, transformation potion! Gulp!"
The headmaster suddenly turned into a ghost as her Pokémon readied themselves again while Grim complained.
"Eh!? I don't wanna! It's too troublesome to work with them again!"
Swampert silenced his protests by grabbing him and putting him on his head.
"Gah! Fine! But this is the last time, okay!? This time, I better get that canned tuna! You hear!?"
Needless to say, Crowley didn't last very long. With the combination of the ghost Pokémon hackling him when he vanished, Swampert, Ampharos, and Grim's combined elemental attack, and (Y/N)'s orders, they were quick to take him down. Poor Grim was the only one tuckered out by the end though.
"Huff...huffff. How's that!?"
"There's no way for a monster to obey a human." The headmaster muttered, returning to his physical form.
"That's kinda my thing, headmaster." (Y/N) shot back as she returned Gengar and Marshadow to their pokeballs with a thanks. Crowley contemplated something a minute.
"I have had a tingle in my professor's intuition ever since that incident at the opening ceremony, that you, (Y/N), could be a beast master."
"What else would you call me in this world!?" She yelled, aggressively gesturing to her Pokémon. "Regardless, maybe you could let Grim live here with us?"
"What did you say! Let the monster live here?"
"You." Grim said, genuinely touched.
She shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time I handled a bad tempered fire type."
Crowley sighed. "It can't be helped. Okay then."
"For real?!" Grim yelled as Swampert and Ampharos looked unsure at their trainer. She gave them both reassuring scratches.
"However." The headmaster interrupted. "There is no way I can let someone who wasn't chosen by the Mirror of Darkness, especially a monster, enroll in this school. You as well, (Y/N). I cannot just let you freeload here until you go back to your world."
"Such a kill joy." Grim muttered.
"Well then let me finish speaking first. We, the academy, are also responsible for summoning your soul in the first place. In any case, for the time being, we will offer you free lodging. However, you will need to pay for your living necessities on your own, including food for your be-,"
"Pokémon." She corrected.
"Right. For someone with a number of companions with her, you could do odd jobs like maintenance around the school. Judging by the already improving state of this place, you seem to be very good at cleaning. How about you lot work together as the schools 'handymen'? If you do that, I will give you special permission to stay at the school. I will also give you permission to use the library to gather information on how to go back to your world, as well as to study. I am kind after all. However, it is only after you finish your work."
"I guess with my Pokémon, it wouldn't be too hard."
"Eeh!? I don't wanna!" Grim complained. "I also wanna be a student and get the cool uniform."
"If you aren't satisfied with this, that's fine. We can just throw you out again."
"Ok-ok I got it! I only have to do that? Right?"
"Relax Grim." (Y/N) said, leaning lovingly against Swampert. "Me and my Pokémon can handle the really tough stuff."
"Very well, starting tomorrow, you two will work as Night Raven College's handymen!"

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