The sun rose, much to the dismay of several parties.
Buizel groggily blinked at the bright sunbeams blazing through the window. He had apparently fallen asleep at some point, because he had no memory of it being so bright.
Belatedly, he remembered that he had school. He groaned and got out of bed to half-heartedly begin his morning preparations.
Ampharos was sitting at the kitchen table drinking something out of a mug when he went downstairs. “Morning, Buizel,” he greeted tiredly.
“Hi, dad,” Buizel replied, a little surprised. He walked over to their kitchen’s cold storage and pulled out a handful of Oran berries for a snack later. “Thought you’d’ve gone to bed by now.”
“Had to take care of a few things this morning,” Ampharos said, taking a sip of his drink. “May I talk to you for a second?”
His tone made Buizel look up in surprise. “Oh, uh, sure. What is it?”
“I don’t want you to go looking for Shaun.” Ampharos gazed at Buizel seriously.
“What? Why?” Buizel asked, bewildered. That had been his entire plan for the afternoon.
“It’s very dangerous.” Ampharos turned his gaze to the liquid inside his mug. “We don’t know where he’s gone, and I don’t want you possibly getting hurt.”
“But-“
“No ‘buts’.” Ampharos stared at Buizel sternly. “A ‘mon suddenly going missing is always cause for concern, and I’m especially worried about why.”
Buizel resisted the heavy urge to sigh. “Alright, dad. I won’t go looking for Shaun.” Yet.
“Good.” Ampharos stood up and finished the last of his drink. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to bed. I have a lot to do today, as well as more work tonight.”
Buizel watched Ampharos go, and then looked at the berries in his paws thoughtfully before heading back upstairs and grabbing his waterproof bag, stowing the berries inside. It was easier than holding everything in his hands.
Buizel squinted as he stepped outside into the sunlight. His eyes had adjusted to the rainy overcast weather of the past few days, so he was momentarily disoriented as he walked down the hill that the lighthouse was situated on.
The walk to school was uninteresting, but Buizel couldn’t shake the feeling that there was an air of uneasy anticipation in the village. Mons were acting skittish, and there was a general tone to the morning bustle of the town that was worrying.
He walked through the long forest path alone, vaguely wishing that Shaun was with him. Shaun had been the only ‘mon besides his parents to treat him with a grain of kindness, something that a lonely Buizel had utterly latched onto. He kicked a rock off the path with a mournful sigh.
He arrived at the schoolyard where the other 4 mons were already seated. Curiously, Haunter seemed to be absent again. Buizel worriedly glanced at the place Haunter usually “sat” with apprehension as he sat down.
Mr. Fearow meandered up onto the teaching platform and faced the class. “Mornin’, class.”
“Good morning, Mr. Fearow,” the class chorused.
“This may be a disappointmen’ to some of ya’s, but due to somethin’ that came up, school’s canceled for today.”
The younger ‘mons chorused in the predicted disappointment and unpredicted questions as Buizel sat up straight. School being canceled was rare.
“I recommen’ that youse all take the day off,” Fearow advised. “If all goes well, school should be back on as usual tomorrow. Class dismissed!” He wandered back into the administration building as the children all ran out of the schoolyard, chattering loudly.
“Wonder if this is about Shaun,” a voice mused. Buizel jumped and turned to see Sneasel standing there, considering him thoughtfully. “Your dad came by our office this morning and reported him as missing.”
“Oh. He did?” Buizel didn’t remember hearing anyone leave the house.
“He did,” Sneasel nodded. “Seemed pretty worried about him, as well.” She scrutinized him for a moment. “And you’re worried sick about him.”
“What makes you say tha-?” Buizel yawned, cutting himself off. “What makes you say that?” he finished.
Sneasel smirked. “You look awful. What’d you do, stay up all night looking for him?”
“No, I just couldn’t go to sleep,” Buizel admitted. He stood up and stretched. “Should probably leave before Mr. Fearow gets his eyebrows pointy.”
“He always looks like that,” Sneasel quipped. “But yeah, we should get going.”
“Yeah.” Buizel processed what she had just said. “We?” he asked, looking at her incredulously.
“It’s a day off,” she shrugged noncommittally. “Might as well hang out, right?”
Buizel knew that she had some sort of ulterior motive, but couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was. “Okay. Yeah. Sure.” He began to walk out of the schoolyard with Sneasel following him.
They arrived back in town, which seemed no less busy than when Buizel had last seen it. “Well, uh, what do you want to do?” Buizel asked Sneasel.
She stretched lazily before answering. “Let’s go for a walk in the forest,” she said casually.
Buizel glanced at her. “Okay, now I know you’re up to something.”
She smiled sweetly at him before starting off on the path that led into the woods, with Buizel following reluctantly.
The woods’ path was the same as ever, a straight path cutting through the trees until it stopped abruptly at the end. Buizel looked around in sudden recognition as they reached the dead end. “This is where I found Shaun,” he said, his voice cracking a little.
“Really?” Sneasel asked in surprise. “I thought he just appeared at the lighthouse or something.”
“No,” Buizel replied, “I found him here, sick out of his mind.”
“Hm,” she remarked. She walked to their right and investigated the trees. “Sloppy work,” she chided. “Even Wooper would be able to see through this.” She proceeded to walk through the trees and vanish.
Buizel stared at the place Sneasel had vanished before she poked her head out of what seemed to be an illusion of trees. “Come on, we don’t have all day.”
He cautiously stepped through the illusion, expecting to walk face-first into a tree, but it rippled and let him through. To his astonishment, the road continued, albeit less straight than the one prior. “What in the world?”
“You’d be amazed at what you find when you look at old maps,” Sneasel said, walking down the path. “I’m not even sure why this place is blocked off.”
They followed the path to its conclusion, which caused Buizel to stare in awe.
It was an old chateau, obviously falling apart with age. The vibrant colors had been bleached by the sun long ago, leaving the purple paint to take on more of a lavender hue. The red shingle roof had a very traditional flair, evoking an era of a time long since forgotten by the modern world. A set of double doors, framed by a porch spanning the entire width of the building, beckoned them inside, promising adventure.
Buizel stared and stared at the abandoned building before turning to Sneasel. “How…?”
“No clue,” she replied. “But we need something from inside there.”
“Oh. Joy.” Buizel turned to look at the chateau again. “Like that’s not ominous or anything.”
Sneasel walked forward in response. Buizel inwardly groaned and followed her inside the building.
The foyer was extremely spacious. Buizel ogled at the sheer size of it as they entered. A set of stairs led up to an overhanging balcony, and there were doors everywhere. Buizel walked up to one and experimentally tried the knob. “Locked,” he said disappointedly.
Something slammed, causing both of them to jump. Buizel spun around to see that the double doors had shut. He turned an accusing eye to Sneasel. “Was that you?”
She raised her hands in protest. “I haven’t touched anything!”
Buizel marched over to the double doors and tried to pull one back open. It didn’t budge.
He tried pushing, pulling, turning both knobs at once, but nothing he tried worked.
Buizel turned to look at Sneasel with a haunted expression.
“We’re locked in.”
Shaun roused from his sleep, blinking in the sudden morning sunlight. He was faintly appalled to realize that being kidnapped wasn’t some sort of nightmare and he was, in fact, in the middle of the woods with a leaf lizard who was taking him to an unknown destination.
The campfire had burnt out long ago, leaving nothing but charcoal and ashes. The Grovyle was still sitting across from him, presumably waiting for him to get up.
Shaun rolled over and stretched, feeling his spine pop in several different places. “Ow,” he remarked comfortably. “Good morning, Mr. Kidnapper. I presume we’re still on the quest to reach the center of the earth? I mean, the center of the dungeon?”
The Grovyle stood up. “Yes.”
Shaun eyed it carefully. “Did you even sleep?”
“No.” It carefully dug a hole underneath the campfire, burying it and hiding all traces that it existed. “I can rest when I’ve achieved my goal.”
“Which is?” Shaun prompted. He received no reply, with the Grovyle preferring to start walking down a hallway of trees. Shaun followed, exasperated. “You’re like talking to a brick wall.”
A wild bird suddenly appeared, screeching bloody murder at them. The Grovyle expertly aimed a Leaf Blade at it, knocking it out in a single blow. They both continued like nothing had happened. It had scared Shaun the first couple of times, but he had gotten used to it by now. “I get that you’re actively trying to be unapproachable, but yeesh.”
“I don’t belong here,” it replied simply.
Shaun let out a single, unfeeling laugh. “News flash, buddy! I don’t either!”
The Grovyle eyed him curiously. “Why’s that?”
“Can’t tell you that,” Shaun said. “Trade secret.”
It huffed and refocused on exploring, but Shaun could tell that it was still curious. “Now you know how it feels,” Shaun said slyly.
They continued in silence for a long time, Shaun getting more antsy the longer the silence went. His gaze turned skyward, vaguely wondering if he could climb a tree to escape. “So you said last night that if your ‘theory was unfounded’, you’d let me go.”
The Grovyle nodded as it blasted another attacking Pokemon with a Leaf Blade.
“What is this ‘theory’, exactly?” Shaun asked, sidestepping the unconscious body. “I feel like kidnapping someone is a bit extreme to just prove something.”
“Time Gears are 4th dimensional objects,” the Grovyle replied. “They phase in and out of reality depending on several circumstances.”
Shaun raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh. What does that have to do with me?”
Grovyle turned to look at Shaun. “So you really don’t know.”
“Yeah, I don’t, that’s why I’m asking you questions,” Shaun exasperatedly replied.
“We’ll see soon enough.”
The simple phrase sent shivers down Shaun’s spine for a reason he couldn’t comprehend. “Yeah. Sure. Alright then.”
They continued deeper and deeper into the forest until they were forced to stop by virtue of Shaun’s exhaustion.
“You know, I just remembered,” Shaun remarked as they both stared at a crackling fire that had just reared ablaze for warmth, “We first met in that alleyway where you had such an adverse reaction to staring at me.”
He and the Grovyle made eye contact over the fire, and the Grovyle shuddered and looked away. “…Yes. Well.”
“And you just had another one!” Shaun said accusingly, standing up. “What’s so wrong with me that you can’t look me in the eyes?”
“All Shinx’s eyes are yellow.” It left the implication hanging in the air.
“It’s always my eyes,” Shaun groaned. He flopped on his back and put his paws over his eyes, as if that would remove the blue glow somehow. “It’s always my goddamned eyes.”
“Wait.” Something in Grovyle’s voice was different. “What are you doing?”
Shaun lifted his paws from his eyes and looked to see the Grovyle studying him with an intensity that he hadn’t seen before. “Huh? Shaun asked, confused.
“That-“ Grovyle waved an arm around wildly in search of words. “That pose. Where did you learn that expression?”
“What, don’t know how to express grief?” Shaun asked dryly. But something about the sudden question made him curious.
Grovyle stared at him again before letting his gaze drop to the fire. “No. You’re not him.”
Shaun sat up and gave Grovyle his full attention. “Who?”
Grovyle was silent for a long time. “I’ve been watching you for the past week.”
Shaun’s face scrunched in disgust. “Oh that’s totally not off-putting at all.”
“You’ve been around that Buizel a lot,” he continued, watching Shaun out of the corner of his eye.
Shaun felt an emotion rush by too quickly for him to address it. “Yeah. What about him?”
Grovyle took a second to respond. “Odd things, bonds. You end up forming them with the most unlikely people.” He continued to watch Shaun, who looked as if he was made of stone. “What do you think of the grass?” he asked unexpectedly.
The sudden non-sequitur threw Shaun off-guard. “Uhh. It’s soft and green?” He looked down at the grass curling around his paws to verify that his claims were correct. “Yeah, soft and green. Not sure what else you want me to say.”
Grovyle picked a blade of grass and studied it, turning it in every direction. “You take such a small thing for granted.” He reached over and dropped the blade of grass into the fire, where it shriveled under the heat of the blaze and turned black.
Shaun watched this with bewilderment. “What?”
“Imagine a world where the sun never rises,” Grovyle said after a moment, staring at the sunbeams filtering through the leaves. “Where the wind never blows. Where all Pokemon who aren’t consumed by darkness go mad from despair.”
Shaun looked into the fire at the blackened blade of grass, which quickly turned to ash and sank among the other ashes. “Sounds unpleasant,” he understated.
Grovyle also watched the blade of grass disappear. “I was born in a future of darkness.”
“What do you mean, ‘locked in’?!”
Sneasel marched over to the door that Buizel was standing by and yanked on the handle. It didn’t budge. “Oh, this is not funny,” she muttered.
Buizel looked around nervously, suddenly aware that they were locked in an old mansion that just shut the doors on them. “This place is haunted.”
“I know,” Sneasel replied darkly. She looked around the foyer area, which had several doors, all presumably locked. “I think that’s our best bet,” she said, pointing to a darkened archway that was partially obscured by the balcony.
Buizel looked at her in horror. “You want to go deeper into this place?!”
Sneasel had already started towards the stairs, but she turned back to face Buizel. “Look, I’ve been here before. We just need to find, ah, something, and we’ll be able to leave.”
Buizel raised an eyebrow. “That seems oddly specific.”
“If you want, I can leave you here alone,” she offered. “Since you don’t seem too keen on going deeper.”
That seemed like an awful idea to Buizel, who rapidly shook his head. “I’ll go with you.”
She smirked. “That’s what I thought. Come on, the sooner we can get this over with, the sooner we can start looking for Shaun.”
“That’s- how is exploring this place in any way related to looking for Shaun?” Buizel asked, confused. A part of him wanted to rejoice about this, but Ampharos’ warning echoed in his mind.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Sneasel called from the bottom of the stairs. “Are you coming or not?”
Buizel hurried after her and they both climbed the stairs. Up close, the archway was a lot more imposing, with it looking into a very dark room. Buizel suddenly felt way more nervous than he had been at the bottom of the stairs, which at least were lit by large windows that overlooked the surrounding forest. Sneasel stepped into the darkness and Buizel hesitantly followed.
The archway disappeared behind them and they were in sudden and total darkness. Buizel let out an involuntary squeak of fright as he looked around wildly for any source of light.
“Oh come on, it’s not that bad,” Sneasel said unconcernedly.
Sounds of heavy breathing filled the room. “Geez, are you really that scared of the dark?” she huffed exasperatedly.
“That’s not me,” squeaked Buizel. “I’m hardly breathing!” The words came out in a bit of a gasp for air to indicate that he wasn’t lying.
“Oh. Then who-“ Sneasel groaned. “Oh my god.”
The breathing stopped. Buizel was entirely convinced that they were about to die.
“Oh, you’re no fun, Sneasel,” a familiar voice spoke out of the aether. The darkness dispelled to reveal a large room that was probably once a living room, but all the furniture had been removed. In the center of the room with his customary grin was Haunter, looking at both of them.
Buizel’s brain shut down. “What- I- the-“
“Ah, good to see you, Buizel!” The grin grew wider at his stuttering. “But I presume that this isn’t a regular visit?”
“As if I’d come here willingly,” Sneasel said, folding her arms. “Listen. A mon’s been kidnapped and as much as I hate to admit it, we need your help.”
Buizel’s brain suddenly went into overdrive. “Kidnapped?! He’s been kidnapped?!” The pent up suspense finally vented itself in the form of general confusion and anger. “And how is he supposed to help?!” He gestured angrily at Haunter, who was still floating there grinningly.
“You wound me,” Haunter replied. Sneasel cut him off, saying, “Yes, Shaun’s been kidnapped. I did some investigations as soon as we got the report. Signs of a scuffle indoors, heavy footprints leading into the woods, and somehow the thief dropped this.” She held up an exploration badge.
At least, that’s what Buizel thought it was. Instead of an egg with wings, as was customary for badges, it was a green gear with wings, with a red gem in the middle that Buizel knew was normal. “What in the world?” he muttered, peering closer.
“Hmm. That’s not like any exploration badge I’ve seen,” Haunter said, also peering at it from his place across the room. “That should make it fairly easy to narrow down which mon kidnapped the victim, no?”
“Here’s the thing,” Sneasel said. “I’ve shown it to several different Pokemon already and none of them have been able to ID it. They’ve all recognized it as an exploration badge, but they have no idea where it’s from.”
“Can I see?” chirped a voice from behind Haunter.
They all jumped as Haunter spun around, then slumped a little. “Oh. It’s you. Yes, you can take a look.”
To Buizel and Sneasel’s utter amazement, Minun walked out from behind Haunter and studied the badge with grave attention. “Oh, I’ve seen this thing before. We saw a Grovyle in town a few days ago and he had it pinned to his bag. We thought it was an odd toy, so we kept asking him about it, but he kept trying to get away.”
“Oh.” Buizel was completely nonplussed as the information sank in. “Where’s Plusle?” he asked out of curiosity.
“Sleeping,” Minun said in disgust. “He shouldn’t’ve stayed up all night watching Pokemon in town again.”
Sneasel absentmindedly handed Buizel the badge. “You have a bag, you hold it.” She fully turned her attention to Minun. “Can you show us where Plusle is? He might’ve seen something important last night.”
“I heard the kidnapping stuff,” Minun said unconcernedly. “You don’t have to hide it. Yeah, I can show you where Plusle is,” he continued as Sneasel looked slightly baffled. “He won’t be happy if you wake him up, though,” he warned. “He’s gonna be grouchy and hungry.”
They walked around Haunter, who seemed rather put-out from being forgotten, and entered a back room.
It looked like it had been a closet of some sort in an era long past, but it was completely decayed. Buizel was suddenly glad for his own house, which was brightly lit and clean.
Minun walked over to where Plusle was sleeping and shook him roughly. “Wake up, Sneasel and Buizel want to talk to you.” Minun giggled suddenly. “Sneasel and Buizel rhyme! That’s funny.”
Sneasel and Buizel shared confused looks as Plusle roused from their nap. “I don’t wanna talk right now, I want to sleep,” he whined.
“It’s about a kidnapped mon, though,” said Minun, as if this was a selling point.
“I don’t care,” Plusle groaned. “Just make them get un-kidnapped or something.”
“That’s what we’re trying to do!” Sneasel said in exasperation.
Her tone made Plusle finally look up in interest. “Oh, hi Sneasel. Do you have something to eat?”
Buizel rummaged through his bag and pulled out an Oran berry. “Will this work?”
Plusle’s eyes lit up greedily. “It’s not an apple, though,” he complained hopefully.
“Sorry, I didn’t bring any with me.” Buizel watched in amusement as Plusle took the proffered berry and proceeded to scarf it down.
“Okay, now that snack time is out of the way, did you see anymon last night who ran into the woods?” Sneasel questioned.
“Well, it was reeeeally dark, so it was hard to see anything,” Plusle began slowly. “But when it was really late, I saw the Grovyle from a few days ago run into the woods carrying something under its arm. Minun didn’t believe me when I told him,” he sniffed.
“Yeah, because we haven’t seen him for a long time,” Minun shot back in the beginning of an old argument. “He probably left after we bugged him so much.”
“Nuh uh! I saw him illumi-nated under a light,” Plusle replied. “Green and red, just like the one from a few days ago!”
“I see.” Sneasel cut off the argument before it got out of hand. “Have you seen this badge before?” Buizel belatedly realized that was his cue and pulled out the badge for Plusle to inspect.
“Oh yeah! I remember that the Grovyle had it on its bag,” Plusle said with confidence. “I pointed it out to Minun and we both thought it was weird so we tried to ask him about it, but he kept trying to wander away. He did get away though,” he said, disappointed.
“Huh,” Sneasel said. “I guess we got our culprit, then.”
“Why are you two here?” Buizel voiced a question that had been bothering him. “This place isn’t exactly the most inviting.”
Minun listed off the reasons on their paw. “No grownups, lots of play space, lots of secret rooms…”
“Yeah, we’re still finding stuff!” Plusle chipped in. “Like, we found this secret room behind an old painting! It was pretty cool.”
“But what about…” Buizel looked behind himself nervously. “What about Haunter?”
“Oh, him?” Minun sniffed disdainfully. “He doesn’t care about us. Ignores us, usually.”
“Oh.” That didn’t track with any of Buizel’s experience.
“Speaking of, we should probably go back and talk to him some more,” Sneasel said.
Buizel groaned. “Do we have to?”
Sneasel rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I’m not any more thrilled about it than you are.”
“What are you talking to Haunter about?” Plusle inquired.
“The kidnapping, dummy,” Minun replied before the other two Pokemon could answer. “Serious adult stuff.”
“Oh.” Plusle considered this for a moment. “Can I listen?”
“Uh.” Buizel looked to Sneasel for help, knowing that Plusle was asking for the both of them. “Should they?”
“Probably not, but they’ll listen in anyway,” Sneasel replied pragmatically. “Besides, we’re burning daylight and I need to get things in order before nightfall.”
“Alright.” Buizel turned to the twins. “I’m going to say ‘no’, but we can’t stop you if you do listen in because we’re in a hurry.” He rubbed the back of his neck with a paw. “Uh, just please don’t, I guess?”
“Okay,” they chorused. He was slightly surprised by how easily they agreed.
“Cool. Now that that’s over with…” Sneasel beckoned for Buizel to follow and they returned to the empty living room where Haunter still floated, looking grumpy.
“Oh, you’re back,” said Haunter in a faintly miffed tone. “Done talking to the twins?”
“Yes,” Sneasel replied. “Lots of interesting information. For instance, we now have good reason to suspect a Grovyle as the kidnapper.”
“Hm. An interesting culprit.” Haunter floated lazily around in a figure-eight, thinking. “Can’t say I’ve seen a Grovyle, but I haven’t been out and about recently.”
“Why?” Buizel asked.
That was a mistake. Haunter abruptly stopped in midair and slowly turned to look at Buizel, a scowl on his face. He floated right up to Buizel’s face, causing him to take a nervous step back. “You of all Pokemon would know.”
“Know what?” questioned Buizel, unnerved by Haunter’s sudden mood swing.
They stared at each other for a long moment. Haunter’s scowl deepened. “That little Shinx of yours humiliated me.”
“Oh.” To Buizel, this seemed relatively minor. “Is that it?”
Haunter didn’t say anything for a second. “‘Is that it?’ Oh, that’s rich.” He jabbed Buizel in the chest with a claw. “He humiliated me in front of you.”
The malice dripped from every word. “I wouldn’t usually care about being humiliated, but in front of you…” Haunter made a strangling motion that caused Buizel to flinch.
To the side, Sneasel groaned loudly. “Arceus, would you two just battle already?”
They both looked at her blankly. “What?” Buizel asked. Haunter was also confused, uttering an “Eh?”
“I know you both despise each other but oh my god, stop dragging it out.” Sneasel gestured to the room. “We have an entire room to work with. The sooner you two fight, the sooner I can actually get back to work.”
Buizel wasn’t inclined to believe it was that simple, but he wasn’t against the idea. He critically looked Haunter up and down, who was doing the same to him. “I mean, sure, I guess?”
Haunter began to grin again. “I suppose it’s not the worst idea.” He held out his clawed hand. “Battle?”
Buizel hesitantly took it. “Sure.”
He saw the grin widen a split second before Haunter swung him by his arm over his head into the floor with a resounding slam.
Buizel hadn’t been expecting this and was caught totally off-guard. He laid on the floor, stunned, while Haunter backed off and fired a Shadow Ball. Buizel instinctively dodged it before the rest of his brain caught up to what was happening again.
He faced Haunter across the room, where he was grinning widely. “Don’t expect me to play by the rules, pretty boy!” he jeered.
Buizel ignored the taunt and focused his energy. He summoned seven stars that orbited around him and flicked his head at Haunter.
To his consternation, the Swift passed straight through him and broke on the ground, shattering into shards of light that quickly faded. Haunter grinned even wider, somehow, and taunted, “And Normal-type attacks don’t work either!”
Buizel mentally facepalmed, causing Haunter to graze him with a Shadow Ball while he wasn’t paying attention. It was cold, and Buizel shivered as he just barely dodged it.
It was obvious that Haunter was having the time of his life. “Dear Arceus, you fight like you’ve never fought a mon in your life! What do you train against, a tree?”
Buizel felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance, but he didn’t allow himself to respond. Instead, he focused on coalescing water vapor from the air into a small point in front of him before channeling a Water Pulse through it.
Haunter tried to dodge, but it curved after him and hit him anyway with a satisfying smack, knocking Haunter to the ground. “What do you train against, a wall?” Buizel quipped.
Haunter pushed himself up from the ground and started floating again. “Very funny,” he responded through clenched teeth.
Buizel took a deep breath and focused on condensing another point of water in front of him. The air around him was dryer, so it took longer than he would’ve liked to have condensed the-
Buizel was Sucker Punched in the back of his head.
He flew across the room, slamming into a wall opposite. Stars flew around his vision like he was in deep space as he flopped to the floor.
Distantly, he heard Haunter laughing. A growing heat rose inside of him, and he triggered the Water Pulse from the ground. He heard Haunter yell in surprise as he took it to the face, making Buizel grin. He pushed himself up off the ground and faced Haunter again, who was battered and soaked, but still grinning. “My, you’re sure resilient.”
“You’re not so easy on the eyes either,” Buizel said casually. He straightened as he remembered what was at stake. Shaun needed him.
Haunter observed this, still grinning. “What’re you gonna do now? Use another Water Pulse and leave yourself wide open?”
Buizel rushed at Haunter in a Quick Attack, which predictably phased through the Ghost-type. Haunter turned to face Buizel. “Wow, you’re stupider than I thoug-”
He was cut off by another Water Pulse to the face, which blasted him back to the other side of the arena.
“Wow, you’re less attentive than I thought,” Buizel finished.
Haunter didn’t bother getting up, instead opting to shoot another Shadow Ball at Buizel’s legs. Buizel was too spent to properly dodge it, the attack slamming into his legs. They lost all feeling and strength, causing him to collapse on the floor.
On the other side of the room, he heard Plusle urging Sneasel to stop the fight. “They’re gonna kill each other! Can’t you tell them to stop?”
“Nah, they’ll live,” he heard her reply. “I need them to.”
Haunter had floated back to the middle of the arena. “Aw, what’s wrong, did someone forget how to walk?” Buizel looked up to see him grinning widely, clearly convinced he had won the battle. “Too bad you don’t have an elevator to push you back up.”
“An elevat-” Haunter’s Taunting had finally driven home. Anger made Buizel rise on shaky legs and face Haunter. “Why are you like this?” he asked in a restrained way.
“Why not?” Haunter replied. “I’ve never liked you.”
Buizel took an unsteady step towards Haunter. “And I don’t understand why.”
“Do I need a reason?” Haunter shrugged. “I’ve just never liked you. Simple as that.”
Buizel took another two steps towards Haunter. “You know what? I’m done.” Another step. “All you do is taunt me and make my life on this island miserable.” Another shaky step that threatened to drop him to his knees. “And for no reason, either.” Another step. “Do you find my suffering fun?” he asked in a dangerous voice. “Or is it something else?”
Haunter’s grin faded as Buizel took another step. “How are you still walking?”
“Is it jealousy? Or do you just despise who I am as a person?” Buizel took another step towards Haunter, almost bringing him within swinging distance. “Or is it some sort of insecurity?”
“How are you still walking?” Haunter repeated, sounding slightly worried.
Buizel took another step, squarely putting him in range to punch or be punched. “Why do you still hate me?” he asked in turn. “Arceus knows I’ve tried to ignore you. Be nice to you, even.” Something inside him crackled like fire. “But you always try and blackmail me, or bully me, or threaten me, or whatever.”
“Hey, let’s not do anything we might regret,” Haunter said, raising his hands placatingly.
Buizel cocked his head, looking Haunter in the eye. “I don’t think I’ll regret this.”
He then proceeded to punch Haunter in the face as hard as he could.
A crackle of electricity tingled over his fist a moment before his fist made contact with Haunter. Buizel didn’t see what happened next, his legs promptly giving out as he fell onto the wooden floor, unconscious.