Passing through the final gate, the gang beholds the full frame of the cream-colored mansion.
"Looks like my aunt Sally's house," Luca remarked.
Lenny quickly interjected, "Wait! Isn't your aunt Sally dead?! Don't compare this to a ghost house!" He said frightened.
"Will you guys stop yammering and help me open this door!" Said an angry Venam, she was trying to open the mansion doors but to no avail.
"Ray! Will you stop looking at that statue and give me a hand!"
Ray was looking at a strange Absol statue in the center of the garden in front of the mansion.
(This... Is the same Garufan text as the one I saw in the hidden library... But why is it here).
"Oh, Venam... Can't we just get in through that open window",
The brown-skinned boy pointed to the left side of the mansion.
Feeling stupid for not noticing before venam and the others silently entered the mansion through the open window.
Chrysalis mansion
The interior was beautiful the red carpet complimented the checkered floor and the furniture around looked incredibly clean.
The four then realized that a person was standing silently watching them from the dark side of the living room.
He was a tall pale-skinned man in a white suit with brown pants matching his brown hair.
"Denizens of the outer world, how did you get here?", Asked the man. His voice was very unwelcoming.
Venam steps in front of the group and addresses the man.
"So there was someone here after all! You've got a lot of nerve! Your mansion is messing up Gearan City, ghost trees, and other weird shit emerging everywhere!" Yelled the purple-haired girl.
"Gearan... City.." the man paused a bit after hearing this. "Not kugearan... As my world collided with your world allowing you lot to get here through a gate".
"Yep, it's like an Isekai anime!" Luca stated with Ray nodding in agreement. While Lenny and Venam sighed.
"But I haven't opened any portals as of late... Hmm... Interesting" The man's eyes peered up into the distance looking at the door on the right.
Venam finally snapped "Whatever! Just fix it!".
"How rude!" The man retorted. "You barge into my mansion uninvited, and ask of something of me? I care not for the fate of your world, leave this place now!" shouted the man angrily.
"Nuh-uh! We won't move an inch till you fix this shit!" Venam stomps her feet aggressively.
"Fine, do whatever you want, know that you'll regret it soon, my name is Indraid Theolis, remember that plebians" The man addressed himself finally as Indraid.
"Cool, I'm Venam, and these are my friends Ray, Luca and the one sweating is Lenny" Venam introduces her friends with both Ray and Luca taking weird poses while Lenny is just freaking out silently.
"Nani?!" Yelled Indraid, it seemed like he had heard those names before... However that couldn't be possible, this was his first meeting with the teenagers.
"Never mind, tell me, children, have you heard about the prophecy of light and darkness?" Asked Indraid.
The teens were confused by what he meant except for Ray.
"Yeah I know, something about four kids of light not born of man will save the world, or four kids of darkness born from man will destroy the world", Ray stated.
"Sounds like the plot of a final fantasy game honestly".
"Hmm unexpected, but true... Well, that's enough stalling, maids!" Said Indraid, and as soon as he did four women in maid outfits appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the teens.
"What?!", "Kyah!", "Wow!", "Maids?!". The gang all reacted in their way to the sudden occurrence, all the maids had the same face and hairstyle as if they were clones or something.
Indraid turned away as he walked back upstairs, "Maids, destroy their bodies and collect their souls, I'll be using them in the upcoming ritual,".
"Whaaaaaaaaa!" The teenagers lost control of their bodies as they were sucked into black and pink vortexes by the maids, the only thing left behind were heart-shaped glowing orbs which each maid took to a different part of the area.
Now it begins.
UNKNOWN ROOM
Ray wakes up, but he can't see, talk, or do anything at all. With darkness around him, the boy started to panic.
Then, he started to see weird moving lights around him. "Stay calm, I'm trying to save you," he heard a young girl's voice; she sounded familiar.
(This girl... I feel like I can trust her.)
"Alrighty, let's start... Um... How do you feel right now?" asked the voice.
Due to the strange feeling of nostalgia, Ray said, "safe."
"Safe with me? Umm, good," said the girl, her voice sounding somewhat flustered. "Next question, what makes you happy?"
Ray didn't need to think long and hard about this. The region he found himself in was far from relaxing, and the only thing that had kept him going toward his goals had been the friends he made along the way. "My friends."
"Your friends... I also had a friend once... Her name was... I can't remember... Anyway, that should do it!" The girl started to reform Ray's body from his green soul.
Ray could see, breathe, and talk again. "Wow!" He was in a huge room with red and black wallpaper and a big bed by the edge.
He looked at the girl, and she was just a kid. Her blonde hair and facial structure reminded him strangely of Melia (but that's impossible, right?). She wore a fancy black and white dress with black hair ties on both sides of her head.
"There, you're back... You should run away now, Dad gets angry easily, and he's scary when angry," said the girl timidly.
"Hehe, I don't care how scary he gets; I won't abandon my friends!" Ray yelled, and the girl ran toward her bed in fear.
"Don't hurt me!" she yelled.
(Shit! I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't yell at a kid. Also, this is the type of situation that gets one canceled on Twitter!) [A little girl getting yelled at by an older guy near a bed].
"I'm sorry for scaring you, but I'll need you to tell me where my friends are. I can't leave without them," said Ray.
The girl could see the determination in his eyes. "You're so brave... I wish I could be like that... I... I'll help you save your friends."
"Really?! Thanks!" The boy forgot again and shouted, frightening the girl again.
"Yes... Sorry for the late introduction; my name is Marinette."
"Nice to meet you, the name's Ray, and I'm going to be a Pokémon champion." He smiled at her.
"Ummm... I think the best course of action is to confront Dad and challenge him to a game. He loves games, and he won't refuse a challenge for your friends' souls," stated Marinette.
"Hmmm, if that's the best method, then so be it." (I was planning to just straight up beat him to a pulp). Shrugs Ray.
The two of them journeyed through the mansion looking for Marinette's dad. Ray got to know her better as he saw her room and all the books she read. He also felt sad when he found out she used to pretend to have friends and look out the window to see if anyone would really come to see her.
He also found a book called "Legend of Cyrelia's Altar," which was about cultists and them performing rituals to gain power.
Main Hall
With a gathering of maids on each side, Indraid asked, "So you wish to challenge me to a game for your friends' souls, eh?"
"That's right, you freaking psychopath! I'll beat you at your own game!" declared Ray.
"And you're helping him, Marinette?" asked Indraid.
"Um... Yes! If we win, you have to set all of us free, including me..." the girl said shyly.
"And if you all lose? What do I gain?"
"Our souls, even mine."
Indraid laughed, "Well, I accept. It will be sweet to show you your place, my wayward daughter. The rules are simple: retrieve your friends' souls from the three areas around my mansion. Once you've done that, well, if you can do that, you win."
"Hmph, simple enough. Let's go, Marinette!" Ray grabbed her hand and headed out of the room and into the hall.
"Wow! I can't believe I talked to Dad like that. It's all thanks to you, Ray... Hey, can I give you a nickname?"
"Sure thing."
"Hmmm, your clothes remind me of an Absol... So how about 'WORLD ENDER!!!' Cool, huh?" The girl smiled at him.
"Ehhhh?!!"
"Just kidding, I'll call you Silver! Let's win this game together." She stretched her right hand out.
"Hehe, that sounds good to me," Ray shook her hand, and they both smiled at each other.
Trial 1
Soul labyrinth
On the left side of the mansion, a large garden maze stood. Ray had talked to some maids and they challenged him to find three others, which he kept in mind.
Before entering the maze, Ray made a grim discovery: his Pokemon had magically switched with another one, and the newly caught Echo (Noibat) was now gone.
"What's going on... what the hell are you?" Ray pointed at his new Pokemon as Marinette looked on confused.
The new Pokemon looked like a Sewaddle but with brown autumn leaves and an angry frown.
Ray decided against using it until he could get back to Zumi and ask her what caused this.
After challenging and winning the first battle against a maid, the two entered the garden maze, thinking the trial was just to find the exit. However...
"Duskkkk!" A terrifying scream scared the two down to the bone.
Behind them, a crazy blue ghost came charging and grabbed them, forcing them all the way to the start of the maze.
"What the hell was that?!" Yelled Ray, who was still in utter shock from what had just happened.
"It's Dusknoir, a ghost type Pokemon. I think if we don't finish the maze quickly, he'll drag us back to the start," Marinette explained.
"Oh come on! It's a maze with multiple passageways! Tch... Fine, let's try to blitz through this," the two ran through the maze again, only to get lost and once again get caught by Dusknoir.
Again and again, until...
Marinette noticed red vines on some pathways and decided to follow them, and so did Ray.
Following this strategy, while also dodging the ghost, they finally reached the exit, where multiple rock formations could be seen.
"Wow, that was crazy! I've never run that fast before in my life, you were so cool when dodging those attacks, Silver!" Marinette said, jumping happily.
"Hehehe, thanks. Now then, we've passed the first trial, right?"
"Wrong!" A maid jumped out from behind huge rocks. She was different from the other maids, as she had blue hair. "You'll have to beat my Dusknoir to taste victory!" Behind her, the blue ghost appeared, a dark aura surrounding him as if it was a power-up.
"I knew that wasn't a normal Dusknoir, it looks almost like a totem. Guess I'll have to use two pokemon."
"No, Silver, I'll help, I can battle too!"
Marinette took out a PokeBall from her pocket and showed Ray.
"Fine, Pip, I choose you!"
"Stantler, I need you!"
Ray sent out the leader of his party, the proud penguin himself.
While Marinette sent out a brown reindeer with weird antlers.
The battle began and Dusknoir wasn't holding back any punches, literally.
The ghost punched the penguin with his glowing dark fist and sent him flying up into the air.
"Prinnnn!"
"Pip, counter with bubble beam!"
Pip shot out a fast beam of bubbles, but Dusknoir didn't even flinch.
Marinette knew that some maids didn't command their pokemon with words, and instead with their minds. This made it harder to counter some moves.
The ghost made another attempt at a shadow punch.
The little girl decided to make a move then.
"Stantler! Multipulse!"
The reindeer then shot out a beautiful blue beam of light from its horns, freezing the fist of the ghost.
"Wow!" Ray was surprised to see a new move.
"Yay! Way to go, Stantler!"
The celebrating girl was too distracted to notice the ghost going on to punch her deer in the face with the frozen fist.
"No!" She cried as her Stantler was knocked out instantly from a critical hit ice punch.
"Marinette!" Ray tensed up. "Pip, metal claw!"
The penguin slashed at the ghost and he punched back with an ice punch, but it didn't do much damage. But as soon as Pip touched the ground, it reacted.
The ghost punched the ground, causing a massive earthquake that damaged Pip and knocked him out.
"Pip, return!"
Ray and Marinette both lost a pokemon and sent out their next choices.
"Snuggles, go!"
"Cinder, burn up!"
The girl sent out a huge black and pink bear, while the boy sent out a cute little white rabbit.
"Brutal swing!"
"Flame charge!"
The two pokemon outsped the ghost and landed devastating amounts of damage (Scorbunny dodged brutal swing with her speed boost).
The Dusknoir was completely getting dominated by his opponents' overwhelming speed. However... that was part of his plan.
A dark cube appeared out of nowhere, engulfing the battlefield, then it returned back to normal.
"What was that?!"
"Trick room! This is bad, Silver, trick room reverses the speed stats," said Marinette. "Now our fast pokemon are slow and Dusknoir is..."
Before she could finish, Dusknoir released a flurry of punches at the two pokemon, sending them backwards.
"That speed, we have to defeat it now! Cinder, use flame charge again!"
Unfortunately, Ray's rabbit was not slow enough to attack on time, allowing Dusknoir to get another clean shadow punch on her.
"Silver, I've got a plan. Snuggles, use rock tomb on yourself."
The bear hit itself with some rocks, lowering its speed. However...
In the trick room, its speed had actually doubled, allowing it to match up to Dusknoir once again.
Seeing how Bewear also had a rock move, Ray came up with his own idea.
"Cinder, jump up into the air!" The rabbit leapt into the air seamlessly.
"Now, Bewear, throw a rock tomb at her!"
Marinette was confused by this, and so was the maid, but she didn't care as long as Ray was defeated. So she didn't even try to counter him and instead continued to punch Bewear with ice.
"Okay Silver! Snuggles, do it!" The little girl commanded, and the bear threw a stone ball at the rabbit in the air.
"Kick it at Dusknoir!"
"Scorrrrbunnn!" Igniting herself on fire, the rabbit kicked the rock at the ghost, shattering it into smaller flaming stones.
{Combo move: Meteor tomb!}
The stones did numerous damage and finally knocked out the behemoth of a pokemon.
"Well done, you've passed the first trial," said the maid as she disappeared, leaving behind a piece of paper that Ray picked up.
"You did it, Silver! You were amazing! That combo move was super duper cool!"
"No, Marinette, we did it! You were a great help out there, I couldn't have won without you."
Ray patted her head as she smiled and giggled. It made her happy that someone was actually appreciating her efforts for once.
Their pokemon also seemed to hit it off, as Bewear hugged Scorbunny and the rabbit hugged back (what a bizarre friendship).
The two then went into a small cave. Within said cave was a white pedestal with a red flame and a red heart in it on top of it.
"That's one of your friends' souls."
"Can you free it?"
"Yes, I can, Silver. I'll do so right away."
The girl went ahead and touched the flame, and two seconds later Luca popped out and immediately freaked out.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Ahhhhhhh!"
"Luca, calm down. This is Marinette, she helped me free you. We're going to free the others now and then leave this place."
"Ray?! Are you relying on this little girl? Is that a smart move? Not to mention, isn't she the daughter of that creep?!"
"Hey, I'm almost a teenager too,"
Marinette began to pout. "And just because my dad is evil doesn't make me evil."
"She's still growing. Just wait for us outside, we'll soon be done."
Luca looked at the two for a good two minutes before running off.
As the two headed to the right side of the mansion, Marinette's stomach growled loudly.
"Hey, here. I forgot I had an extra Oran berry on me."
"Wow, can I really have this, Silver? Thanks a bunch."
Seeing the girl biting the blue berry brought back a memory of Melia eating a lava cookie way back when, but Ray didn't let the girl see his sad expression.
Trial 2
Soul mirror
After defeating the second maid, the two made their way to the right area where huge pillars could be seen rising from a bottomless pit. A pedestal with pins on it, colors resembling the pillars, stood in the middle of the area.
On the other side of the pit, there was a mirror image of the pillars, but they were arranged differently. Ray moved one of the pins, and the pillar of the same color moved as well.
"What do you think? Should we match them perfectly?"
"No, Silver. I think we should match them the same way a mirror would."
Ray then moved the pin accordingly, while in the background, Cinder and Snuggles were playing around with each other again.
"Scor scoorbun bun!" (You're really strong, big sis).
"Bweeeeeeh, baaahheeew," "Of course, I'm the strongest because I have to protect my master."
"Bunn bunn bunnn!" (I wanna be the strongest too, stronger than Pip bro too, can you teach me a better way to fight?)
"Beeee, weeeearrr!" (I'm not too sure it will work for you, but I'll teach you a trick or two!)
The rabbit cheered, and so did the bear.
Ray cleared the second trial, and from the pedestal, a blue flame appeared. Marinette touched it, and Lenny was freed as well.
The boy was frightened and scared that the girl would act like her father.
"Stop it, Lenny. She isn't someone who wants to instill fear into people."
"Hmmm, Ray, I don't think I'll be much help to you then. I'll go wait with Luca outside."
After Lenny left, Marinette looked really sad. "I'm... I'm not bad... Am I?"
"Of course not. You've been helping me despite going against your dad. You're braver than any of them. Don't worry about it."
"Thanks, Silver."
"Don't mention it. Hey... One last trial. Let's free Venam and end this, then get some ice cream!"
"Yay!"
As the two head for the last area in the front yard, Ray sees another piece of paper with a strange code on it. (Who is leaving these here? What are they for?)