Best DeviantArt Pokemon Transformation Stories

Masters of the Manor [Pokemon Ghost-type TF]

by Themjapes, 4 days ago (Today is 2-8-18)

Literature / Prose / Fiction / General Fiction / Short Stories

Ah, the Old Chateau of Sinnoh. Or, perhaps "New Chateau" would be more fitting now? Well, as you know, a couple years back, someone bought up the Old Chateau and tore the place down in order to rebuild it as their home. They figured the Ghost Pokémon wouldn't mind very much, given the only ones living there was a Rotom that had been captured previously and a few members of the Gastly line. The place was lovely, really, with a wrought iron fence surrounding it and a beautiful garden within surrounding the manor, the place looked great. And given it was set atop the hill overlooking Eterna Forest, it was hard not to see the new place as construction was completing.

Oh, and the place was abandoned and haunted about as fast the original Chateau! Yeah, turns out Ghost Pokémon don't like having their homes ruined to build a new one. Who would have seen that one coming? I didn't know any of them, but they sounded like they probably deserved it anyways. Nobody's seen the guy who ordered the new one built since then, either.

Well, that turned out to be a simply wonderful move for everyone involved. To specify, trainers loved going there to better themselves, and to catch a Ghost Pokémon or two. It certainly was a good place for that. Except, now it wasn't. As more and more people brought their Pokémon from other regions and people and Pokémon started dying in different sets of circumstances, a whole new multitude of Ghost Pokémon began to live in the Chateau. Well, the new one, of course. And, as it turns out, most of these Pokémon are a lot more dangerous than the Gastly line. The place got closed off to the general public, and people were disappointed as a result. There weren't even any specific details about what had happened that forced it to close, other than the ghost Pokémon in general there.

So, naturally, me and my group of bumbling id- friends decided to go and check the place out. Hey, maybe we would find something good there? Something controversial? The world needed to see, and so a group of four friends and I arranged ourselves something. We would bring a recording camera with us- the newer 'Dex models had one built into them, so it was efficient. Our goal was to explore the manor from seven P.M. to seven A.M. A full twelve-hour night.

We weren't totally stupid, though. We at least had brought our Pokémon with us. At least, that was what the agreement was. Going somewhere like this without any on us might as well have been suicide. Or at least faster relief, either or.

To keep a long story short, I ended up drawing short. This meant I was the lucky one who got to do recon- that, and being the one recording... We were only going to have one person record, we figured video editing afterwards would be easier that way than trying to splice together five different video clips.

Anyways, recon. What this meant was that I had to arrive at the place half an hour ahead of the rest of the gang and ensure that we could actually get into the dang building. I went along with the whole idea, but was... still a bit reluctant about the plan. Regardless, I made may way up the hill to the Chateau around six thirty, just as dusk was setting in and a burning orange was creeping across the sky overhead. Sometime between the forest and the walk up here, Pokémon had stopped roaming around, and a thin layer of fog settled in. Up ahead, the Manor loomed ahead forebodingly from behind the wrought-iron fence. While it was expectedly locked, the place was new enough that said lock hadn't really rusted away yet. Looking around, I had hatched a plan.

Well, it wasn't so much a plan so much as it was an obvious solution. I sent out my Pidgeot, and instructed it to fly me over the gate. It worked, though I really could have done without hitting the nearby tree. Still, I thanked her and recalled her promptly, unlocking the gate from the back side. I had kicked the gate open forcefully, and while it hurt, it did swing the gate open to confirm that it worked. So, I closed it to avoid suspicion and turned my attention back towards the manor proper.

Just from here, the place already looked great. It had to be a few floors tall looking up at it, and the outside was no slouch either. The whole place had the sort of creepy green wood paneling you would expect of a creepy place, but it wasn't all that bad yet. There was a paved stone pathway leading up to the main doors, with grass and flower beds of all sorts lining it. A pair of Primarina water fountains could be found on the sides as well. Again, the lack of any Pokémon life was surprising, but expected.

Walking ahead, I pressed against the door. Much to my shock, it actually opened! I guessed they hadn't bothered locking up the main building, thinking the gate would be enough to stop people. It was a little suspicious, but had bothered me none. I sat around for the remaining time, boredly wondering what I could do to pass the time. Somehow, I grinned. I, myself, had protested this trip, even though I went along with it anyways... Maybe I could find some harmless way to prank them while they were here since they were so gungho about finding the ghosts and all.

Being lost in thoughts and lazily tossing my Pokéball to myself, it wasn't long until the clock hit seven and they all arrived.

"Lucas!" A girl's voice cried. That would be Marilyn. I looked over, and saw their group approaching rapidly. her voice was sweet, charming, and admittedly I think I liked her a little. She wanted to be popular, to not much success, so she usually ended up travelling with Pokémon she saw as popular. Or at least, what she thought was popular. Today, it was a Pikachu, which trailed along gently beside her. Marilyn had clear blue eyes, brown hair that flowed behind her, and today she happened to be wearing jeans with a purple sweater. Cute as always...

Reaching the top of the hill, she pulled the gate open and looked behind her. Following along were the rest of the three friends.

First, there was Steven. He was always a bit stubborn and daring, and when he found out about this place, he was the one who suggested our group should go and check it out. His main Pokémon was a Luxray he had raised for a long time. He had short black hair, plus glasses. He was wearing a dark coat over his read shirt and sweats.

"Hey, looks like you actually got the place open." He said, smiling over at me. Maybe it was more of a grin than a smile. "I take it we're all set to go inside, right, camera boy?" He joked, keeping his Pokémon contained with him.

After him came Mike. Mike was carefree, easygoing, and generally optimistic. His hair was a tad more messy than the rest. Maybe even a little too much so, the rest of us thought. His main Pokémon was a small Swablu, and his hoodie hanging open and also sweats sort of gave a mood about him.

Then, that just left Chad. Chad mostly liked being outside, with his Snivy. He kept mostly to himself, wearing a short t-shirt and old, faded jeans. Even though the rest of us weren't exactly nature oriented nor did we really have Grass-types with us, he deemed us cool enough to hang with anyways. Chad mostly came so he could check out what he heard about the garden, among other things...

"Well, gotta say, this place is about as grand as I imagined it." Chad said to himself, resting his arms against his sides and surveying the mansion and garden as I had. The garden extended past where just we had been, as expected, and I could tell he was already getting excited.

"Uh, anyways, yeah." I confirmed, nodding back to the group as a whole. I walked ahead and gently pushed open the doors to the main foyer ahead. "It's open, and we're rolling." I said. Steven pushed ahead of me, followed by Marilyn, Chad, and finally Mike at the tail end. "I'm sure this is gonna be fun, whatever we find here." He said, mostly to himself as I followed him in and shut the door behind me.

The five of us stepped further inside to the main foyer. There were a few stairs dead ahead leading up to the second floor of the manor, a few lavish pieces of furniture about, and a big carpet of the sun in the middle where we were standing. There were rooms and halls leading left and right, both on each floor, and a grand door in the center up the stairs. There were a few candle stands beside the stairs, which were not presently lit, and there didn't seem to be any power for the lights overhead. This, though, didn't seem to bother us much right now, given that the main window flooded in dark orange sunlight that was darkening fast. The whole place seemed to have a thick layer of dust over it.

As we looked around, we were all sort of overcome with awe at the place, and... still surprised there were no Pokémon here. Not even ghosts. Facing me, Steven spoke, more for the camera than anything. "Alright, everyone, we're here at the abandoned Chateau by Eterna. As you know, a couple years back, someone bought up the Old Chateau and tore the place down in order to rebuild it as their home. Now it's been taken by other Ghost Pokémon and the owners are nowhere to be found. But today, we're going to expose it for the public to see!" He called out, doing a sort of sweeping motion around the place with his hands before landing himself and looking at me again.

"Since you've got the camera, and by extension, the light, it's going to get dark soon. You know your way around tech, why don't you go see if you can't find a breaker or something to get the power back?"

I was about to protest, but everyone seemed to agree that I would be the best choice for it. Mike just went with whatever, Chad knew nothing about that sort of thing, and Marilyn seemed to think I would just be good at it. And who would I be to argue with that? "Of course, we could always use Peeka for light, but I'm pretty sure she'd get worn out by the end of the night if we used her electricity..." She said, reasoning again why I had to go.

So, I went. I picked the left door on the first floor, activating my Dex's flashlight function as I went. The carpet quickly turned to a diagonal wooden paneling pretty quickly, with a few end tables and fancy vases scattered throughout the hallway. A number of doors broke off from the hallway and went to other rooms, a few office rooms, a study, a dining room... There was a lot here. But not what I was looking for. I figured that the breaker must be somewhere downstairs, or- or in a closet somewhere. I did eventually find it, a small staircase in the back of a closet leading downwards.

The room I ended up in was small, cold, and dark, with the Dexlight barely even illuminating it enough to see. The walls and floor were all stone, and there seemed to be a bunch of unused electrical appliances and boxes down there. A lawnmower, a washing machine, a standing fan, a pizza oven, and a... fridge. Yeah, it was a weird collection, but I found what I was looking for. On the back wall was the breaker switch, with everything turned off. I sent out my Pidgeot for protection in case anything tried to attack me.

Going up to the breaker, I took a closer look at it. All the switches were off and some of the wires seemed disconnected. A flip of the switches caused nothing, so instead I tried to connect the wires myself to see if that would accomplish anything.

...Obviously, I forgot to flip the switches off in my haste. So, I had received quite a nasty shock from that, and what felt like a killing headache. I looked around, dizzy, and realized I couldn't even find Pidgeot now. And it was completely dark out now, both in and outside the mansion. ...That was the point I realized this was a really bad move, and had to prove to everyone else that the time spent here wouldn't be worth it.

...Maybe. The point is, I was going to do something. Leaving the little breaker closet, I couldn't help but notice some of the candle stands around had been actually lit now, a few with red flames, and a few with gently flickering blue flames. I had also felt a strange other presence here with me, that I couldn't pinpoint no matter what I tried. But it felt like something had been whispering to me, a little voice in my ear, on the back of my shoulder, encouraging me to keep filming. It was compelling enough that I had to go along with it. Maybe the convincing them to leave thing could come later, I wondered, but that same voice ensured me it had everything covered.

So, I just... kept wandering.

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Reaching the main foyer once more, all of my friends had dispersed themselves, without any still being in said foyer. Which probably meant they were off exploring it themselves, I figured. I swear I had seen an actual Ghost Pokémon out of the corner of my eye, but now wasn't the time. They seemed to ignore me anyways. I heard some rustling come from outside, and remembered- Chad. He had to be out in the garden, and footage of that place must be wonderful to get.

I left the main door, and looked around. The night was almost beautiful, and now a pair of lamps that I was positive I didn't see before shone as they hung from the mansion walls. I contemplated just leaving the manor now, but... I really didn't want to just leave my friends there.

Heading around the side of the manor, the garden quickly expanded to have some beautiful pathways and such. There were a few shrubs around, some in the shape of Pokémon like Roselia, Flabébé, the obligatory couple of legendaries I hadn't recognized, the whole works. A few more fountains, a few rare berry trees, the place had it all. And there was Chad, amidst the flower garden, with his Snivy.

I approached carefully, waiting to see what would happen, or what he would do. Thankfully, he didn't see me. He was more preoccupied with calming himself, especially around the two or three other Pokémon he had attracted the attention of. They were mostly brown, and had a faint glow emanating from their bodies in Chad's direction. I shined my light towards him, but he still didn't seem to care. The Pokémon around him both had pink hairlike appendages, one of which had them caringly wrapped around him. It was singing gently, and I found it almost peaceful.

The other one soon helped him get up, and led him around to another part of the garden. Snivy looked about to follow, but had been decidedly more pale and slower than he usually was. It was a bit hard to make out, but I heard the two Pokémon saying something to Chad about trick or treat, or whatever. Which was weird, but I followed along from the shadows, being careful not to let my light shine too far.

That was something I hardly even needed to do, as I rounded the corner of the building after him, only to be met with a bright light emanating from their general direction. Once that had finally faded, I couldn't see Chad anymore, but merely a single, white, flickering flame. And his Snivy was gone, too.

The flame danced around a little, seemingly scared and confused. But they helped it out. There was a single dead tree stump in the middle of this part of the garden, likely once beautiful but now having perished from neglect since the place's abandonment. The flame circled the stump, before flying inside and seeming to lift the whole thing up right from the ground, before zooming back towards the top floor of the Manor, going through the wall the whole way.

...I was confused, wondering what exactly I had just witnessed. Thankfully, the voice from earlier had chimed back in with a little help explaining things.

"Yes, that's right. That will do." It said. Before I had the chance to protest to it in any way, it elaborated. "Their soul had been severed from their body. Once done, it will restlessly search for something it associated with to bond itself to. Do not worry, he will be happier this way." It had assured. I was... questioning things, but somehow even just hearing that little bit was enough to calm me. From there, I figured I might as well check out the rest of the place, at least, as the voice left again."

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Returning back to the Foyer, I had began to notice that one of the candles was missing from its stand. Someone must have taken it, I reasoned... Looking around, I decided it might as well be worth a shot to look around again. I felt my gaze settle over on the right door on the main floor.

Heading through that, I found a nearly identical hallway to the one I had been in previously, with yet another mass of doors awaiting. One led off to the oddly cleaned bathroom, another study with dusty tomes on the far bookshelf, the dining room with dozens of chairs set around one table, some more dim blue lighting... More of what I had seen on my side, really. I noticed that there was one door presently open, and it led to a staircase.

This wasn't the one I had taken to the breaker room, no, this one faded to stone walls almost immediately, and stepping inside left it so cold it was practically a chill down the spine. And besides, the stairs here spiraled downwards instead. And, I saw that there was a very faint pale blue glow coming from down the stairs, so I figured I didn't need the Dexlight on for this one. Then, I heard someone mumbling. It wasn't my old friend shouldervoice, no, it was Steven.

"Ugh... Of course, poor camera boy couldn't get the lights on. He probably ditched us, too." He said. I followed along quietly, trying not to make any sounds so that he wouldn't notice I was here.

Mostly, he seemed to be muttering to himself to keep himself calm. On closer inspection, he had grabbed one of the candles from the Foyer and was using it as a light in place of the Dexlight. I noticed it had faint yellow eyes on the front and started glowing brighter every second, but Steven didn't.

"...Still can't believe Marie talked me into going down after him. What if he's not even down here? He probably just ditched us..." He repeated, sounding ever slightly less sure of himself.

The more he walked down the stairs, the more nervous his rambling appeared to get. Eventually, I had reached the bottom, which lead into the basement. It was partly flooded, just as cold as the rest of the place, and a lot of the stuff down here seemed to still be in packing boxes. But Steven wasn't here. I turned around, having somehow gotten ahead of him, and found him walking back up the stairs. But he was walking as though he was still going downstairs...? It was weird. I hadn't even noticed getting ahead of him.

He turned around nervously, looking for something. "And what was that? I thought I saw something just now... Probably just me... If I can just find the power, we'll be fine..." He muttered. By now, he had began panting. He seemed somewhat tired.

"And then... Mar-" Was what he had gotten out. All of a sudden, he had slipped on something. The candle holder had dropped and fallen with him, and I watched as he tumbled down... the entire staircase. There was a blood-curdling crack as I heard him hit the basement floor, even with the water, and I went down to investigate.

I didn't see his body, but I did see the candle he was holding next to him. Well, one, at least. It had hit the water and had its flame doused, leaving just the floating wax left.

What I did see, though, was another floating white flame. It seemed to face me for a moment, as if it was glaring at me for whatever reason. It then flew itself into the wet candle bobbing nearby and raced back up the stairs.

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Next, I figured it was time I got good footage of the Chateau's upstairs. Carefully making my way up, I heard that voice on my shoulder again.

"You've been doing well. There's a reason you're not like them..." I didn't understand what it meant, so I proceeded on with my plan. I took the right door from the top floor, met with... yet more cross-wood hallways. A few windows looked out to various balconies and, really, the view was exquisite from up here. I found myself getting distracted a bit by said view, before pressing on.

This side and this floor seemed to mostly be for bedrooms, or guest bedrooms, or... places people would sleep, at any rate. I checked them one, by one, but didn't seem to find much. I did find a computer room and a writing study, though...

Then, I found what seemed to be a child's room. The whole room was painted a light, faded blue, and there were various Pokémon plushes and toys littered about the room. There was a bed on the far side of the wall, and-

"Hey, Lucas. Where ya been?" A voice asked. It was Mike. I realized he was sitting across the room, on the bed, and staring over at me. With the Dexlight on, it was likely shining him right in the eyes and making it hard to actually see me. Hesitantly, I approached.

There were a few party balloons and the such, held down next to the bed by weights. It seemed that whenever this place was abandoned, it must have been close to a party or something. I almost felt a little sad for the owners and their family, assuming they didn't make it to safety.

His Swablu listlessly floated nearby, evidently finding its own fun. "Why don't you come over here, and join me in relaxing?" Mike offered. He had been lying back on the bed, and had taken to holding one of the balloons in his hand for whatever reason. Reluctantly, I went over and went next to him on the bed. He took a look past the Dexlight and gave me a puzzled look, but ultimately didn't seem to care. Mike was always cool like that.

"Oh, so, I guess that's where you've been? After you didn't come back from finding the lights, we had all sort of split up. It was a mix between looking for you, looking for the lights ourselves, and just checking the place out. Steven went to go find the breaker, Marilyn was checking some of the other rooms on the top floor to see who lived here, and I'm pretty sure I saw Chad eying the garden." He said, reclining back again.

"Me, I've just sort of been chilling here. I really feel like my spirits could lift away from here... Wouldn't that be nice, just being able to drift along with life, not worrying about anything?"

Then he started floating, much to my surprise. I quickly realized it was actually the balloon seeming to lift him up, though with the roof here, he wouldn't be getting very far. Mike still almost seemed to not even care this was happening, and his Swablu cared... just about as much, really. There was another bright light, and once again he was just left as a white flame encircling the balloon he was holding. This one seemed slower than the others, and looked at me knowingly before floating off. Swablu quickly followed it out as I was left in confusion.

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Heading back into the hallway, I froze, and stopped to think about something. Only Marilyn was left now. Mike had said she went over to the other side of the top floor, and I suddenly grew nervous for her. Realizing things, I hurried myself as fast as I could back to the Foyer and off to the other side of the top floor.

Marilyn was wandering quietly through the floor. Peeka was following gently behind her, and they both seemed definitely nervous. "Hello?" She had called out. The moon had been shining in through a window nearby, and she was just walking the hallways, rather than being in one specific room. "Wh-where did everyone ago...?" She asked. Of course, we had split up awhile ago, but it was as if now she felt truly alone... Or not. It was then that I realized I wasn't alone here. There was another Pikachu in the ha- no, no it wasn't.

It's fur was faded, and the face looked more like scribbles. It wasn't a Pikachu at all, no, this was a Mimikyu. The Mimikyu shuffled along past me, and I only watched it and stared blankly, processing what was happening.

It had caught up with her Pikachu, and lightly tapped it on the shoulder with some black claw it had procured from beneath its clothy skin. At first, Peeka ignored it, but the imposter was not to be deterred.

It tried again, tapping harder, and harder until finally she had turned around. Peeka was then met with a brutal slash, the sight of which made me turn away instantly, if for no other reason than I didn't want it on the camera. There was a sickening scream from it for a moment, and something that sounded like a combination of meat noises and cutting. I felt myself wince, at that moment.

...

Marilyn had raised Peeka since she was but a child, and she didn't look back. She wanted to deny hearing that noise, hoping it was just her imagination playing dirty tricks on her mind. Still, I followed along after her, slightly behind. Now, Mimikyu had taken Peeka's place in following Marilyn closely. Eventually, Marilyn had dared to turn around. She was practically trembling in worry with what she would find.

She gasped when she found not her beloved partner, but rather some twisted imitator that just kept smiling up at her innocently as though nothing had happened. Frightened, and in denial, she leaned down towards the Mimikyu, and reached out for its cloth.

I felt a wave of terror rush through my own body as I decided to forgo any sort of trying to be unnoticed, as I rushed forwards towards her as fast as I could. "No!" I had cried out, but it was too late. I saw her gently lift up the cloth for a moment, out of denial, fear, whatever the reason was.

In an instant, she dropped dead, hitting the floor with a loud thud.

I felt my heart, if I even still had one, plummet to the ground instantly. There was complete silence in the house now, and it wasn't even an eerie silence anymore. the Mimikyu happily sauntered off, as a white flame one final time raised from Marilyn's body.

The flame flew right through the wall. That is, it went through the right wall. Where the middle door on the top floor would be, of course. I felt the voice on my shoulder trying to tell me I did something good now, but I didn't care. I didn't care about why I was "different", or even whether or not recording all of their fates was the right thing to do. Now I was upset.

Feeling a burst of, well, feeling swell within me, I hastily made my way back to the Foyer one more time.

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I should have just listened to myself, honestly. If I had convinced them all to leave the Manor as soon as I recovered from my own shock instead of standing back and recording, maybe I could have avoided this.

But it's not too late. You can still avoid this. You can avoid it, if you by any chance find this recording. Don't let yourself fall victim to the Manor. Stay away, and get out while you can if you're here. Otherwise, you'll perish like we had. To the masters of the manor...

With that, Lucas finally stopped the Dex's recording feature. By now, the thing was almost dead, but it was also almost morning, too, so he supposed it evened out just a bit.
He also finally made an effort to actually leave the Dex, something he hadn't done since he had actually gotten shocked back when. The now empty Pokédex hit the floor with a thud, the screen showing nothing but static on it. Lucas was, frankly, happy to finally be out of that thing. In the screen's reflection, he could see that his body was small, pointy, and orange, and was emanating electricity from either side of it.

But now was not the time for that. He had made his way to the master bedroom of the Chateau after Marilyn's death, as he had followed her spirit there, which is also where he found the spirits and objects of the rest of his group of friends as well.

Ahead of them, just in front of the bed, was a Marshadow. "Why?" Lucas cried out to it. "Why all of this...?"

And, it spoke.

"I am the owner of this Mansion. I had built it for my family in replacement of the old one in Eterna. However..." He said, turning away and walking. "The Ghost-Pokémon did not like this decision. You should all know this. They came, and they came and had cursed this building. I gave my life so that my family may continue theirs. They didn't need to pay for my mistake." He added. Its voice sounded old and forlorn.

"I was cursed for eternity to live here with the rest of the ghosts, as the master of this mansion for ordering it build in the first place. However, it wasn't all bad... I could slip into the shadows, I could watch anything from anywhere. I just couldn't leave the premises... Eventually, I began to come to terms with my fate and exist around the other ghosts here. It was there that I copied them, felt their feelings, felt their pain. To them, a ghost losing its haunting ground is losing their last hold in this world. I wanted to make sure that no other humans would make the mistake of coming here, and ruining their unlives again. I could sense you didn't want to be with this group, even if it was only a little, so I... guided you. I wanted you to keep a note, keep a recording of their err, as an example for what would happen to future humans."He added.

Lucas was stunned. And just then, all the souls of his friends began to... sink into the objects they had with him. Except for Marilyn, who had received a new cloth between the time he saw her and now.

"You already bonded with your Pokédex. You probably figured out what your unlife was destined as from that moment, but your friends have not yet. And now... they will.

First up was Marilyn. She had ended up becoming some barely-identifiable black mass that was barely visible in this kind of lighting, even with the coming dawn shining in behind them. The cloth she had been with wrapped up around her, leaving her dark form unseen. The cloth had a crudely drawn face meant to mimic Pikachu's on the front of it, and there were two tiny eyeholes on the front for her to see out of. She had picked up some wood from... somewhere or another, holding behind her to act as a "tail".

Next was Chad. He similarly became a black mass of spirit energy, except his body had curled up at the top and bottom. His eyes had become a pair of glowing red ovals as he bonded with the tree stump he had brought inside. With holes in the top and bottom, a few branches sticking out the sides, and holes for his face.

Marilyn mostly seemed shy, and a bit scared of the changes, wondering what the heck was actually going on here, but given she could hide in her cloth, she probably didn't mind as much as she should have, and was still silently mourning Peeka from within. Chad likewise seemed... calm, as the Gourgeist that had taken his life had done a pretty good job of calming him down to the prospect of being a spirit more attune with nature as he wanted to be in life.

Next up was Mike. Mike bonded with the balloon he was holding onto, turning it purple with cute yellow hearts at the end of its strings. A yellow X formed across the center of his face following a white tuft on his head. He blinked once, and headed over to Lucas, offering him a... high five with one of the heart strings. "Hey, there's my Rotom!" He said, trying to stay cheerful despite, um, death. Lucas could only stare blankly given he didn't have any arms, but the gesture was at least appreciated. "I mean, it had to happen some day, right? And besides, now life will just be as stress free as I wanted..." He said.

Which, just left Steven as the last one to gain a body. His soul bonded with the candle he was holding, which soon opened his eyes into glowing yellow ovals as a pale blue flame flicked to life above his head, illuminating the room and leaving it gently warm. Some of the wax melted down his head, concealing one of his eyes, but not much more than that. He was the smallest of them now, and arguably the cutest.

"Wh-what?!" He yelled out upon realizing what had happened to his body. He futilely reached around it, only to find out his stubby arms would barely reach himself. It took him a moment to process his death, and he was nearly mortified. Especially at everyone else's lack of a reaction once they explained it.

"Don't you guys realize anything?! We're all dead, and trapped here for eternity! Why aren't you panicking?!" He yelled, his mood faltering. "This can't be happening, this can't be happening..." He muttered to himself, wandering out of the room, to which Marshadow remarked smugly. "Denial. Always the first stage." He reasoned. Soon, morning entirely crept through the window, and the new manor's masters would have to find something to do with their new day, new lives, and new eternity. And, hey. If nobody else came to the mansion, then mission accomplished. Maybe they would be uncursed one day.