A New Dream

Ghostly Encounters: Paul's POV

Several days after Dawn found the alolan vulpix I was making my way to the Tapu Village trial site. Nurse Joy had been more than happy to help us get in contact with the trial captain, Acerola, after Dawn took responsibility for Vulpix. It had bothered me a little when Acerola also insisted that only one person could be present during the trial, but Dawn said she needed time to practice for the upcoming showdown anyways. I followed Acerola down a path along a stretch of beach and I was surprised when she began walking up a set of decrepit stairs to what looked like an abandoned store of some kind.

"The totem pokemon will be found at the very back of this store. It loves to play hide and seek, so don't feel bad if you can't find it for a while," Acerola said with a broad grin and I frowned at her. She looked to be around my age, maybe a year or two younger, but she barely came up to my chest and she seemed to have a permanent, slightly creepy smile on.

Turning away from her I pushed open the door to the dark store and let it close behind me. The place smelled a little like mold and it felt dingy. Grimacing I released Incineroar, glad that his flaming belt actually illuminated the place pretty well. As we walked around the decent-sized store I found my mind wandering to Dawn. Glancing down at the shirt I was wearing, I wondered for the thousandth time if I made the right choice.

Thinking back to our argument when I had watched her race away on Mudsdale I didn't think I felt more like a monster in my life, and I'd barely even considered the consequences before I chased after her. Seeing the mirage memory of Dawn saying she wanted to be with me to repay me for helping her so much had made me feel guilty, but also... happy. Up until this last month and a half of traveling with Dawn I had been fine being alone, and it was a new experience to have someone say that they relied on me. The feeling of being needed and relied on... it was intoxicating in a way. I felt more alive and legitimately happy than I had since Mom died, but I also felt a looming dread for the day when I would have to say goodbye to Dawn for forever.

"Roarrr," Incineroar said in his growling voice and I turned to look where he was. I couldn't see anything, but there was a small scuttling sound that seemed to be heading for the back of the store.

"Let's go," I said quietly.

Incineroar nodded, walking beside me as we walked through the empty shelves and found a large door with a tilted sign declaring "Employees Only". Without pausing I pushed against the door and was only slightly surprised when it swung open without issues. As Incineroar and I walked in the scuttling sound came again from within the room. Something yellow raced past in my peripheral vision and I turned. The small thing froze as if I had trapped it with my gaze. Slowly it turned around and I frowned. It looked like a creepy Pikachu puppet, but on the body of the puppet, there were two holes cut into the stomach portion.

"Seeee meeeee?" A ragged, high-pitched voice cried out from the puppet thing and goosebumps immediately sprouted along my arms. The thing ran to the back of the room and turned to face Incineroar and me, giving out a weird whistle.

"Get ready, Incineroar," I said, ignoring my goosebumps and the niggling feeling of unease.

During my research for this trial, it had only said that this was a ghost type trial. I'd never seen this pokemon in my research though, and I didn't like going into a battle blind.

"Let's try to wrap this up quick. Incineroar, use Darkest Lariat." 

Incineroar snarled threateningly at the little puppet thing and then began spinning, forming dark waves of blackness in the palms of his hands. The creature sprinted to the side but Incineroar was able to intercept its flight and smacked his paw into the puppet's face. The creature went flying back but to my surprise, it flipped lithely in the air and landed back on the ground. As it landed its erect puppet head fell back as if the thing holding it up had been broken.