Chapter 197
Looking at the ghost girl smiling at him, Mike once again felt his scalp prickle.
Something wasn’t right.
In the game, hadn’t she simply appeared and disappeared without doing anything else?
Why did this version of her seem as though she actually possessed a mind of her own?
The girl didn’t speak.
She merely smiled at him for several seconds before raising one hand and pointing toward a nearby table.
Mike followed her finger and found two items resting there, though he had no idea why she wanted him to look at them.
When he glanced back, the girl still said nothing and simply watched him quietly, so Mike walked over and examined the items for himself.
{Old Gateau: A little-known specialty associated with Eterna City. It can cure a Pokémon of any status condition.}
{Spell Tag: A sinister and eerie tag. When held, it strengthens Ghost-type moves.}
"An Old Gateau and a Spell Tag?"
Mike looked toward the girl again.
She gave him a small nod, then quietly disappeared.
Where she had been standing, a sheet of paper slowly fluttered to the floor.
Snivy caught it with a Vine Whip and passed it to Mike, who unfolded it and found a recipe for Old Gateau written inside.
Plump Beans ×1
Dazzling Honey ×1
Sootfoot Root ×1
Cake-Lure Base ×1
Beneath the ingredients was a detailed preparation method.
"Thank you."
Mike carefully folded the recipe, slipped it into his pocket, and quietly thanked the girl even though she was already gone.
He left the room and continued exploring.
The next room contained an old sofa and a television displaying nothing but static, and the moment Mike’s gaze settled on the screen, information immediately appeared before him.
{Rotom}
{Type: Electric/Ghost}
{Sex: ???}
{Ability: Levitate}
{Known Moves: Double Team, Astonish, Thunder Shock, Confuse Ray, Charge, Electro Ball, Thunder Wave, Shock Wave, Hex, Substitute, Trick, Charge Beam, Dark Pulse, Eerie Impulse, Electric Terrain, Electroweb, Endure, Facade, Switcheroo}
{Mood: Excited, thrilled}
{Status: Ready and waiting to play a prank}
{Affinity: 20 — It seems to find you interesting.}
{Description: A Rotom that once lived here alongside Charon of Team Galactic. After Charon left, the building gradually fell into ruin. As more Ghost-type Pokémon moved into the chateau, Rotom also developed a love of pranks. It has spent day after day hiding inside the television, eagerly waiting for someone to enter so it can finally scare them.}
’So there’s a Rotom here.’
Mike only needed one glance at the information before an idea formed in his mind.
He had already been thinking that carrying a single generator while traveling wasn’t especially convenient, and now there happened to be a Rotom sitting right in front of him.
His lips twitched slightly.
Snivy saw the expression and immediately knew he was planning something bad again.
Mike glanced at her and subtly gestured toward the television.
Snivy blinked, understood at once, and gave a small nod.
Pretending he hadn’t noticed anything unusual, Mike walked around the room and examined the television.
"What a shame. The TV’s broken, and even the lights don’t work."
The lights instantly turned on.
Mike jolted backward and began trembling dramatically.
"W-Wait... is there a ghost in here?!"
Inside the television, Rotom shook with delight at the sight of him apparently scared out of his mind.
It desperately held back its laughter, and even the static on the screen began flickering faster from excitement.
After waiting for a while and seeing nothing else happen, Mike slowly relaxed and began inspecting the room under the newly restored lighting.
Apart from the old television, there was also a battered microwave and refrigerator in one corner.
Mike opened the refrigerator and found it completely empty, while behind him, Rotom began manipulating the electricity again and made the lights flicker wildly.
Mike looked up, visibly panicked, and hurried toward the door, only for it to slam shut just as he reached it.
He grabbed the handle and tried pushing it open, but the door refused to move.
"THERE’S A GHOST!!!"
Mike’s scream echoed through the room.
Rotom immediately shut off the lights, slipped out of the television, and slowly floated toward Mike from behind, practically vibrating with anticipation.
It could already imagine the expression he would make once the prank reached its climax, and the thought alone made it unable to suppress a low, gleeful snicker.
"Roto, roto, roto..."
Rotom reached him and gently tapped his shoulder.
Mike didn’t react.
Confused, Rotom tapped him again, but Mike remained completely still.
Rotom hesitated.
Had the human been frightened so badly that his brain had stopped working?
Curiosity eventually won.
Rotom cautiously floated around to Mike’s side, intending to inspect his face, only for Mike to suddenly snap his head around!
His eyes had rolled upward until almost nothing but white remained, his mouth twisted unnaturally, and his entire body went stiff as he lurched toward Rotom like a corpse rising from the grave!
"Rrrrgh~"
"ROTOOOOOOOOOOO?!"
Rotom screamed and began flying wildly around the room in panic before eventually diving into a corner and trembling there.
The room remained pitch-black, but Rotom could still make out the terrifying human slowly searching for it, so it kept completely silent and didn’t dare move.
Then something tapped its back.
Rotom stiffened and slowly turned around, only to find two Vine Whips behind it with smiling faces drawn on their tips, cheerfully waving hello.
Rotom stared.
A pair of crimson eyes suddenly lit up on the ceiling above.
Rotom nearly came apart.
"ROTO!!!"
[GHOST!!!]
𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
It shot toward the television, desperate to escape back inside, only to find a dark figure already standing in front of it.
Glameow’s crystal-blue eyes gleamed in the darkness as she lowered herself and released an eerie growl.
"Meowrrr..."
Rotom immediately changed direction and fled again.
"ROTO!!!"
[HELP!!!]
It raced toward the refrigerator, hoping to hide inside, but the door suddenly swung open and revealed a Pokémon crouching in the darkness with what looked like blood streaming down its face.
Hatenna tilted her head.
"Haten?"
[Why did you disturb my rest?]
Rotom stared at her for half a second before its eyes rolled backward and it fainted on the spot.
Glameow jumped down from the television, walked over, and poked the motionless Rotom with one paw.
"Meow?"
[Did it die?]
"Haten?"
Hatenna sounded almost disappointed.
[Huh? But I hadn’t even started yet...]
"It should be fine."
Mike immediately abandoned his zombie act and walked over to inspect Rotom.
"Doesn’t this thing love pranks? Why is it so easy to scare?"
He opened Rotom’s information again.
{Status: Unconscious — It attempted to prank you and was instead frightened unconscious by your group.}
"It’s fine. We just scared it unconscious."
Mike walked toward the door, grabbed the handle, and pulled it open without any difficulty.
Light spilled into the room, and under the faint illumination he finally got a clear look at Hatenna’s face.
There appeared to be blood running from several places around her mouth and cheeks.
Mike frowned immediately.
"What happened to your face? Are you hurt?"
Hatenna shook her head, then stuck out her tongue and licked the red liquid from the corner of her mouth.
"Haten~"
[It’s ketchup~]
"Oh, it’s ketchup. You scared me."
Mike relaxed, only to pause a second later.
"Wait... where did you even get ketchup?"
Before he could finish the question, cold air brushed across the back of his neck.
The chill made goosebumps rise all over his skin, and then something wet and sticky slowly dragged across the side of his neck.
This time, Mike’s trembling was real.
Without warning, two hands emerged from his shadow and grabbed his ankles, trying to drag him downward.
Mike looked at the floor and found a pair of crimson eyes staring up at him from inside the darkness.
His scalp exploded with terror and his eyes rolled back.
Mike fainted.
Gengar: Σ(°∀°ﾉ)ﾉ
Snivy: "???"
"SNI!"
[GENGAR!!!]
The instant Snivy saw Mike collapse, she erupted.
Her Vine Whip snapped toward Gengar’s backside, forcing him to burst out of the shadow with both hands covering his rear as he fled around the room in panic.
Meanwhile, Gardenia had heard Mike’s earlier fake scream from outside.
Despite being terrified of ghosts, she immediately forced herself into the Old Chateau because she thought something had happened to him.
Unfortunately, the moment she reached the room, she found Mike unconscious on the floor with a blood-covered Pokémon crouching beside him.
Her legs instantly gave out.
Then a crimson eyeball rolled across the floor and stopped beside her foot.
Before Gardenia could process what she was looking at, Gengar emerged through the wall while rubbing his freshly whipped backside.
He noticed the collapsed Gym Leader, grinned, and politely pointed toward the eyeball.
"Gar?"
[Could you give me my eye back?]
Gardenia watched Gengar pick up the eyeball and push it back into its socket.
Her own eyes rolled backward.
She fainted too!
Gengar: Σ(°∀°ﾉ)ﾉ
"GAR!"
[WHY DID YOU FAINT TOO?!]
Glameow stared at the chaos for a moment, rolled her eyes, and shook her head.
Forget it.
Let everything fall apart!
What had begun as a simple plan to frighten Rotom had somehow ended with two humans and one Pokémon unconscious.