☆24POKEFFECTS☆

Minato looked around, his eyes eventually resting on the small bag nestled near a fancy bike, probably one bought in this region. it had that distinct Unova look to it. Minato pointed to the bag, not waiting for her to respond. Which was unlikely anyway seeing as how the girl was far into the sky. Within seconds Minato had the bag in front of him and was holding it open. Minato contemplated glancing inside the bag, but decided against it, knowing it would do nothing but create trouble for him. 

          Formalities out of the way, Madotsuki reached over her head, and picked an apple that seemed particularly ripe and red. She judged its weight a moment, tossing it from one hand to the next, before finally deciding on its good quality, and tossed it carefully onto the bag the boy held open.

          Unfortunately for both of them, the apple curved in its flight, and ended up hitting the boy in the face. She winced.

Being a paitent (and also sleepy) butler, he didn’t mind the long silence from the person who was here, waiting until she spoke again.

“…Oh…if it’s not too much trouble. Rushing around is really tiring. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone…”

          Madotsuki blinked. It was pretty hard to ignore a yawn like that, what with it being such a relatable feeling and all, and a thoughtful frown tugged at her lips as she pulled her lab coat on. “It’s no trouble... I don’t think the professor would want to turn anyone away.” And if there was trouble, she had no problem taking the blame for it. It wouldn’t be the first time Madotsuki had done something without asking.

          Her lab coat reached down to her ankles, and the sleeves were cuffed almost comically at her wrists, but she tried to keep an air of professionalism about her while she led their guest into the lab’s interior. Would it be rude, she wondered, if she offered him a place to nap for a little bit? It wasn’t as though they had a shortage of beds around here... and she fell asleep in here all the time. Though perhaps she wasn’t the best point in the argument here.

“How in the world did she get up there…” Minato mumbled to himself, staring high into the sky of the tree above him. Near what he could assume was the middle of the tree, a rather small girl was shimming her way up, searching for Messiah knows what. He watched her in silence, curious as ever about what she was doing. Perhaps she was a very avid Pokemon trainer trying to catch her next haul, or was avoiding a nasty Pokemon that had chased her, anything was possible.

          “What?” Odd. Madotsuki hadn’t seen anybody else along this path for who knew how long, that she’d just assumed this was a older forest trail that no one took anymore. It wouldn’t have been the first time that happened, and certainly not the last. But once she’d reached the heavier branch she’d been aiming for and seated herself, she was able to properly look at the boy who’d called to her. Madotsuki blinked.

          “Oh.” He thought she was stuck. Well, at least he was nice enough to ask if she needed help. It was a little surprising that he’d even seen Madotsuki at all. Normally she didn’t make much of a statement out and around. Made avoiding battle eager trainers pretty easy. “No, that’s okay. I can get down. Thank you, though.”

Phoebe should have been at the Pokemon League with the rest of Hoenn’s Elite Four, but a week earlier she’d announced that she was going on vacation. They usually knew in advance if a trainer was getting ready to challenge them and there had been no such news, allowing her time to simply explore other regions. The first region she’d stopped at was Unova. And, of course, being a ghost-type trainer and being able to talk to ghosts, she ended up at the strange house.

She’d heard a story about how it was haunted. The ghost of a girl, the daughter of the house’s last owner, still lived here, trying to find someone to stay with her so she wouldn’t be lonely. Phoebe wasn’t sure if it was true or not, having heard many ghost stories that ended up being false, but something about it felt true. And if it was true, then she had to talk to the ghost girl. There was a certain responsibility that came with talking to ghosts. She couldn’t just let the girl stick around here, trapped between worlds.

Phoebe put a hand on her hip, looking up at the house. If not for the broken windows, it wouldn’t have seemed that odd. It was a weird color, at least in her opinion, but it wasn’t like a typical “haunted house”. She raised an eyebrow and looked over at Banette as he cried out, looking behind her. She turned around, a smile quickly spreading across her face as she saw another girl. “Hi! What are you doing here?”

          Of course, now that she was traveling, and the house was within her reach, there was no reason for her not to go snooping around, Maotsuki supposed. It was there, she was there, and if the rumor turned out bunk, well. At least she’d have a bed to sleep in tonight and not just be stuck with her sleeping bag. Not like that mattered much anyway, but her team would probably appreciate a roof over their heads every so often on this trip.

          The steps leading up to Reversal Mountain were hot--made sense, it was a volcano, and if nothing else, Madotsuki could at least understand why the house became haunted in the first place. Morbid line of thinking, and Nasu trilled quietly for her napping spot on Madotsui’s head, the mist from her head turning a dark shade of violet to showcase that. Madotsuki made move to pat her gently, but no sooner had she raised a hand did she see the young lady up ahead at the house’s door.

          The girl greeted her, and Madotsuki waved her one raised hand dumbly in the air. Weird. From what she’d heard, most people tended to avoid this house? It certainly wasn’t a very happy place, after all.