Night and Day

Chapter 1: The Haunted Mansion

Present

Gengar appeared out of the shadows, a shadow ball prepared to blast Chance and Ninetales. Ninetales growled, opened her mouth, and fired a blast of ember at the gengar. The ghost pokemon siphoned back into the wall, its purple, ghostly body becoming one with the solid, hand-carved mahogany.

"Damn," Chance said. "C'mon, Ninetales, let's try the next room."

The haunted mansion creaked as Chance and Ninetales walked through the lavish sitting room into the next room. Instead of a local gym, Erteek Town had the haunted mansion, a house that sat on the top of a hill north of the village and was populated by ghost pokemon. To get the Gem, the prize of every gym or challenge in the Magenta League, the trainer had to fight their way to the center of the house—or at least, that's what the legends around town said. Chance looked out the window and saw lights twinkling on in the town. Per the rules, he had entered the house at dusk and had until dawn to find the Gem.

The room they entered was a library. Bookcases covered the walls, and spiderwebs crawled across the ancient tomes. Two wing-back chairs flanked a fireplace that had not been lit for a very long time, attested by the dust covering the mantel and base. Chance crossed the rug—of Kanto design, he thought—and started perusing the books, while Ninetales sniffed around the corners of the room. Flicking on the flashlight to his pokegear, Chance read the titles of the books. Hunting with Haunter, Ghosting a Ghastly, The Memoirs of Agatha, Mysterious Misdreavus. They fit well with the mansion's theme.

"Where do you think the Gem is, N—"

Ninetales's loud growl cut Chance short. He whipped around to watch as a haunter rose from the floor—the same Haunter with a long gash across its left eye that he and Ninetales had beaten at the entryway to the mansion. It looked like the ghost pokemon could heal between rooms, since he had soundly beaten Haunter earlier, which meant that Chance wouldn't know which he had beaten or which were left. Another obstacle for this gym.

"Use psychic," Chance yelled.

Ninetales's eyes began to glow, but Haunter moved faster. Darting in next to her face, Haunter licked, causing Ninetales to lose focus and her body to go rigid all over.

"Shake it off."

The paralyzation from the lick attack didn't take, and Ninetales opened her mouth, blasting flame at Haunter. Haunter disappeared before the flames hit him, but the flamethrower struck the fireplace, igniting it. As soon as the fire began and flickering light washed over the room, Chance heard a loud creaking noise at one of the back bookcases. Looking over, he saw the bookcase open up into a new room.

"Good job, Ninetales," Chance said, rubbing her white fur. Her tails wagged at the praise.

Next to the fireplace, Chance spotted unlit torches. He had his pokegear to light the way, but its battery could die before reaching the Ghost Gem at the end of the haunted gym. Better safe than sorry, he thought as he picked up a thick, wooden torch and lit the top in the fire. The torch instantly lit, the white rag on its top doused in oil.

"Let's go," Chance said to Ninetales, who was sniffing at the new passage.

The torch illuminated a tunnel that led into the hill beneath the haunted mansion. Shadows danced on wood and then dirt as the tunnel turned from stairs to a downward-sloped path. Chance's stomach tightened at each turn, expecting a duskull or misdreavus to jump out at any twist or turn. But nothing happened. The tunnel soon formed into stairs again that ended in a door.

Embossed on the door was a gigantic gengar surrounded by all types of ghost pokemon flying toward it. Chance's stomach dropped. None of his pokemon could dynamax—he hadn't visited the Galar region yet to learn about that certain phenomenon—and the gengar looked as though it could. Hopefully this was just an image of potentiality rather than actuality.

"You ready to face whatever is in there?" Chance asked Ninetales.

Ninetales responded by touching her nose to the door.

Instead of opening out toward Chance or into whatever lay ahead of them, the door rose from the ground into the ceiling, revealing a large, echoing darkness. Chance walked in and looked to the left and the right, his torchlight casting flitting shadows in a circle around him. A bracket on the wall was empty, so he hefted the torch into it. Suddenly, torches all around the cavern sparked to life, illuminating a giant, underground coliseum: the gym part of this gym, where Chance was supposed to defeat the gym leader and obtain the badge, a copy of the large Gem that it protected.

The only problem was there were no people in the seats or a person standing across the battlefield. It was completely empty. Dread spread through more of his stomach as he stepped up to the challenger's side of the battlefield. For the fifth time that day, Chance wished Tyler were still with him. Tyler had given him courage in the dark spots. A firm squeeze of the hand would've driven away the darkest dread creeping up inside him. But Tyler was gone, left, never—No. Chance shook the thought from his head. He wanted Tyler to return.

If this was a gym battlefield, it meant the leader was somewhere. So . . .

"Ninetales, go!" Chance pointed to the battlefield.

Ninetales cocked her head to the side, confused about what exactly to do. She was also used to there being more people in attendance. But, her unflinching loyalty to Chance won through, and she jumped onto the field. Dust flew into the air, disrupting the peace of the simple field that was just a stretch of dirt with no obstacles. A shadow covered the leader's side of the field, and purple ears poked out of the ground. Gengar—this one larger than normal, but not quite as large as the one on the door—rose from the shadow. Its big smile made Chance feel very uncomfortable. But he had made it this far in his journey, and he could handle this new obstacle.

The door on the other side of the field remained closed. Chance thought the leader might come out of that side, but instead Gengar's shadow began to grow. It crept up the side of the field into the surrounding seats. The audience's seats were built into the side of the hill and surrounded Chance on all sides. Soon, the shadow covered the entire audience area of the stadium, and ghost pokemon of all forms rose from it, populating the seat with an eerie silence. They all stared at the scene with wide eyes and glazed looks. Except, Chance noticed, the same haunter with the gash over one eye. Haunter smiled right at Chance.

A shiver ran down Chance's back. Gengar raised its small hand and beckoned, as if inviting Chance to begin the battle.

"Okay," Chance said, taking the hint. Apparently, for whatever reason, the gym leader must be hiding. "Ninetales, flamethrower."

Fire shot from Ninetales's mouth and flew toward Gengar. Gengar's smile widened as it drifted back into its shadow. The fire hit the rock on the other side of the field, melting part of the door. Gengar's shadow lengthened on the ground.

"Hit the shadow," Chance yelled, pointing to the drifting darkness.

Ninetales fired at the shadow as it started toward her. Growling, Ninetales leapt away from it—but not fast enough. Hands shot from it, grabbed her legs, and pulled her to the ground. Gengar rose out of the shadow and placed his foot on Ninetale's neck, crushing into it. Ninetales cried out.

"Psyshock," Chance commanded from the side. Gengar was right where he wanted him.

Ninetales's eyes glowed and a ray from them struck Gengar, making it fly back off of Ninetales. Gengar hit the wall, but before hitting the ground, it flipped over and fired a shadow ball at Ninetales. Before she or Chance could react, the fast-moving ball of dark energy struck Ninetales square in the face, throwing her against the wall.

For the sixth time that day—maybe seventh—Chance wished Tyler were there, for the support and the love he used to offer.

"Return," Chance said, bringing out Ninetales's pokeball.

Chance pulled out his last pokeball. All of his other pokemon—Espeon and Azumarill—had come close to feinting earlier as he made his way up to the haunted mansion, battling the guards to the gym.

"Go, Luxio!" Chance yelled, his final pokemonentering the depths of the mansion.

Thanks for reading Chapter One! There's a new chapter each week, published on Sunday. Follow me on Twitter or Instagram @knightley_jack for updates!