[attr="class","rubyw"]

Ghosts on the sub... What a stupid rumor! Ghosts weren't real! People were probably just hearing the sounds of the ocean—everyone knew the ocean was weird as hell—or, at worst, a Ghost-type Pokémon playing pranks. Yet Ruby had gotten stuck on night-patrol duty to figure out what the noise was. What, was the rest of Team Rocket too scared to do it themselves? Actually, now that she thought about it, wasn't someone else supposed to be doing this with her? She hadn't seen anyone else around, though. They'd probably chickened out.

[break][break]At least Ruby had Cerberus at her side. Not because she was scared or anything, but because Dark-types were naturally strong against Ghost-types. Ruby may not have had the best education, but she at least knew her matchups when it came to her favorite types. And if having someone else by her side made the weirdly empty labs less quiet and empty, that was just a bonus.

[break][break]Cerberus suddenly raised his head and sniffed the air. Ruby, too, straightened up, already ready for a brawl. "What is it?" she whispered.

[break][break]Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!

[break][break]Her gaze snapped toward the source of the sound of cupboards being opened and shut rapidly. Cerberus growled. "Who's there?!" Ruby shouted into the darkness. She fished for her flashlight and clicked it on, only for the beam of light to flicker out in an instant, casting a brief shadow on the wall. "The hell—?!" She smacked it a few times, trying to get it to work, but all it did was cough out a few pathetic attempts at light before dying completely, illuminating the morphing shadows a few times with its last breaths.

[break][break]"Fuck," she whispered. Great, she didn't have a light. But that didn't matter! She had Cerberus, and he'd have the advantage against this little prankster. Everything was totally fine—

[break][break]"Do you believe in ghosts?"

[break][break]What was that? What the hell was that? Did Ghost-types talk? Ruby looked up toward where it sounded like the voice had come from, but she didn't see anything. Goosebumps raced across her skin. Why'd the scientists have to keep the labs so damn cold?

[break][break]"Gh—! Whoever you are, I'm not falling for it! Get out here so I can kick your ass!" Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and she chose to weaponize it, preparing every inch of her body for battle. Ghosts weren't real. Whatever it was, it was something she could fight. It was fine.

[break][break]She didn't even let the creepy voice below her finish its sentence before she spun around and snapped her foot out in a panicked low kick with a "Fuck off!" Shortly after, Cerberus spun around and let out a Roar, aiming to knock whatever was behind them back.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Ruby's panting was ragged as she turned fully around to watch the figure go flying back. Ha! She knew it! Whatever it was, she could hit it! Emboldened, she stomped forward to deliver a full beat-down on this "ghost," but when she got closer...

[break][break]"Oh, great. It's you." What was this guy's name, again? Ivan? No, Isaac, that was it. All the fight drained out of her system, and her panting turned into gradually steadier breathing. Of course it would be the overly dramatic goofball who'd pull a stunt like this.

[break][break]She saw the pot coming down half a second before it landed on Isaac's head with a satisfying CLONK, and she let herself laugh at the spectacle. Even Cerberus joined in with a few deliberate pants, his form of chuckling. "That's what you get for messing with me, dumbass!" she exclaimed. Combined with the unexpected compliment on her fighting skills, that little taunt was already making Ruby feel better. "'We'? What are you gonna do, hide under that pot?"

[break][break]She crossed her arms and gave Isaac an unimpressed look. "I wasn't scared. You just got the drop on me, and look how that turned out for you. 'Sides, there's no such thing as ghosts. Now tell your buddy over there to knock it off." She jabbed her thumb toward the still-slamming cabinets.

[break][break]Yet Isaac's buddy, a Totodile apparently named Watson, was right there at his side. But if it wasn't him making all that noise...

[break][break][break]BANG!

[break][break]Ruby tried not to jump at the sudden noise, but she still flinched as she spun around. "Okay, it's not funny, Isaac!" she said. "Call off your other little friend out there!" That had to be what it was, right? Just Isaac continuing to mess with her?

[break][break]Cerberus, meanwhile, began barking and hopping in place, hackles raised. Ruby tried to pretend that he was just excited for a fight and not trying to signal that something was wrong.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","rubyw"]

"Hey, gravity was just a bonus," she said, completely disregarding Isaac's first point.

[break][break]At least Isaac was arming himself in some way for this. Not like a little frying pan was going to do much to a ghost—a Ghost-type Pokémon, that is. But she could appreciate the hustle... if he hadn't immediately ruined it with his horrible attempt at a joke. She didn't know Totodile could boo, either. "I'm with the little guy," she said.

[break][break]At least she wasn't the only one feeling nervous, though Isaac seemed more open about showing it. Ruby clenched her fist and glanced around for any sign of danger. When it came to fight or flight, Ruby always chose fight. Which was why the idea of something she couldn't fight... Nope, she wasn't gonna think about that. It was just a Ghost-type Pokémon, and Cerberus could take care of that.

[break][break]"Okay, fine, it's not your Pokémon," Ruby said. "But it's not a ghost, either! It's probably just some Pokémon messing with us." Whether it was a wild Pokémon, another Rocket playing a prank, or even a saboteur didn't matter to Ruby. All that mattered was pulling the sheet off this "ghost" and punching the real problem in the face before it could complain about its plan being ruined by some darn kids.

[break][break]"For once, you have a good idea. Cerb, stay close and keep your ears open."

[break][break]With an affirmative ruff, Cerberus joined his trainer in facing toward the cabinets that had been making all that noise a moment ago. Not that it was guaranteed to come from that way, now that Ruby thought about it. A Ghost-type could just fly through the walls and sneak up from behind them... but that's what Isaac was for. Adrenaline filled her veins, causing her whole body to feel twitchy with the anticipation.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","rubyw"]

Ruby would have been more surprised at the duo's cohesiveness if she weren't still on edge. Without even thinking about it, she clicked on her flashlight and—wait, hadn't this thing been dead a second ago? She stared at it for a few seconds, waiting for it to go out again, but it shone onward, lighting the path forward.

[break][break]The batteries just got loose or something, she thought. Definitely nothing freaky going on here.

[break][break]But of course it was too late for the light to show what was making all that noise with the cabinets. Little bastard must have gotten away when they saw the light coming.

[break][break]Ruby wasn't ashamed to tense up at the dripping noise that followed. It didn't take a brain surgeon to realize that a leak in a submarine was bad news; anyone would get a little freaked out over that. But before she could mentally curse whoever was supposed to be doing maintenance on this thing, she realized that the sound was getting farther away with each drip. Okay, that wasn't how leaks worked. So then what was that? Some wet person or Pokémon trying to get away from them? There were Water/Ghost Pokémon, right? Yeah, that had to be it.

[break][break]"Tch. More like it's running away from us." Whether she really believed that or not, saying it out loud helped bolster her courage, which was absolutely not fleeting, no matter what the sweat droplets on her forehead said. "Let's catch this thing already and kick its ass."

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","rubyw"]

At this point, the latching was mutual, a cycle of faking it 'til they made it... or at least convinced the other that they had. That was still faking it, though, wasn't it? Oh, who cared? As long as Ruby wasn't literally shaking in her boots, she was fine with it.

[break][break]Her muscles tensed when she realized they were, indeed, catching up to the noise. Out of a desire to fight, of course, not because she was afraid! "Right!" she said, probably too enthusiastically. Whatever this thing was that was messing with them was in for a world of hurt.

[break][break]Yet when Isaac paused by the door, so did Ruby. Normally, she would have just kicked the door down and started kicking ass alongside her Pokémon. So why wasn't she? She glanced at Isaac again. Right, maybe he was coming up with some kind of strategy. Ruby didn't usually care about strategies, but when facing an unknown threat, maybe having one would be a good idea for once. Yeah. That was it.

[break][break]She narrowed her eyes at Isaac's "strategy" of just sitting and waiting for it to jump out at them. "Hell no! If this thing's a Ghost-type, it can go through walls. I'm not gonna just sit here while it gets away." If she couldn't sustain the cycle of leeching off each other's courage, then she'd just have to feed off Isaac's poorly hidden fear to make herself feel better. That was totally the healthiest option right now!

[break][break]Without even waiting for an answer, she threw the door in front of her open. She took a half-step before she realized that she didn't fully trust Isaac not to just stay out there and leave her facing a gh—enemy alone. She reached back and grabbed him by the wrist, then stepped inside.

[break][break]"All right, you little shit!" she called into the room, flashlight darting around. Cerberus, fur still standing on end, barked in solidarity. The room looked like some kind of storage space for fancy science equipment, but that thought was a distant second to checking every nook and cranny for a sign of this "ghost." "Come out and fight m—!"

[break][break][break]SLAM!

[break][break]Her grip on Isaac's wrist tightened painfully as she turned her head to the door that had been slammed shut behind them. A cold sweat broke out over her body. Even Cerberus jumped away from the sound with a startled whine.

[break][break]Fuck.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","rubyw"]

"Shut up, that was the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Ruby's words tumbled in a panic out of her mouth, but dammit, complaining about Isaac's bullshit was the only way she was going to feel better about any of this.

[break][break]She let go of Isaac's wrist and focused back on the room itself. Ah, dammit, was her flashlight dying again? It seemed even darker than before. She growled in frustration and smacked it a couple of times to no avail. Great.

[break][break]"What the hell is that?" Ruby asked, mostly to distract herself from her own shudders. It was some kind of... whirring? Coming from deeper inside the room? How big was this storage room, anyway? "Did some dumbass scientist leave it on?"

[break][break]"Yeah, someone's ass is definitely getting kicked." Ruby made her way further in, passing shelf after shelf after shelf after—okay, seriously, there was no way one storage closet was this big. How much crap did the scientists need, anyway? Finally, the whirring was close enough to feel like it was drilling its way into Ruby's ears, which was just another annoyance to add to the list.

[break][break]"Again, what the hell is that?" Ruby had never seen a centrifuge in her life, apparently. She shuddered a bit at the sight of the shadows spilling around the light; she blamed the headache she was quickly developing. When it came to a stop, Ruby saw the single test tube with the strange liquid inside. She squinted her eyes, trying to figure out what it was. "Is that... blood?"

[break][break]Cerberus stiffened up and began to growl at the shelf. Ruby turned to follow his gaze to the still-moving shadows. "It's fine, Cerb, it's just the... shadows..." She trailed off. Hadn't the shadows been moving because of the centrifuge? But... the centrifuge had stopped. She glanced around frantically for anything else that might be moving.

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","rubyw"]

"I told you it was blood!" In any other situation, Ruby might have made fun of Isaac's choice of words, but she was still too tense for that kind of teasing. The blood itself wasn't enough to freak her out, even if seeing it all separated like this was weird as hell. If anything, it just confused her. Why did someone need to spin blood like that? Science was weird.

[break][break]Isaac's mention of this all being a prank made Ruby clench her free hand into a fist. She didn't care if it got her in trouble; someone was getting hurt for pulling all this crap.

[break][break]She looked around with increasing agitation at the sound of laughter. "Like that?" she asked. Was it getting closer? Yeah, it was definitely getting closer. She stepped away from one shaking shelf, only to bump right into another one. When had that gotten so close?! And whatever happened to this room being ridiculously big? Now it felt like the walls were about to snap shut on her!

[break][break]Without even waiting for an order, Cerberus leaped into the air with a snarl and lunged at something unseen. Yet he never connected with anything. Instead, he let out a confused whine at the apex of his jump and tumbled back down to the floor. Isaac, too, swung his pan at seemingly nothing and completely whiffed.

[break][break]"What are you two doing?! There's nothing there!" Right, yeah, there was nothing there. If there had been, then at least Cerberus would have hit it; Dark-types beat Ghost-types, right?

[break][break]"Missed me."

[break][break]Ruby spun around at the voice right in her ear and reeled her fist back. Luckily for her hand bones, she stopped when she realized she was still right up against a shelf. "What the—?!" She turned back around to see that the room was back to being way too big for just a storage closet in a submarine. Her breath caught in her throat, and she felt dizzy from the sudden change. She gripped the shelf behind her and took a deep breath that was a lot shakier than she wanted it to be.

[break][break]"All right, assholes, it's not funny anymore!" she shouted. "Now cut it out so I can punch your nerd asses in the face!"

[break][break]The laughter began to die down. For a moment, Ruby began to relax, thinking that the jig was finally up. But then, another noise began to drift up from the darkness. Was that... crying...?

[break][break]"Sis... how could you...?"

[break][break]Ruby's blood froze in her veins, draining the color from her skin. Slowly, she turned toward the source of the all-too-familiar voice. A pale, blonde girl floated in the air, arms and legs limp and head hanging down as if she were suspended by a string in her back. Slowly, she lifted her face until her clouded green eyes met Ruby's wide, shocked brown ones. Something squeezed the inside of Ruby's chest. She barely had the breath to whisper out a single word:

[break][break]"Jade...?"