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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac gave the kids a soft, reassuring hug as they clung onto him. Poor kids. They didn't ask to be taken along on Ash and Isaac's Wild Ride. Did their parents even know that, every time they left the house, they were terrorized by the ghost of a mass murderer and the possessed vessels of their own Pokemon? If they didn't, literally how? If they did, how could they be okay with leaving them in such dire straits?[break][break]

He'd have a lot of questions to ask. But that would be for later. For now, there was only one.[break][break]

The trapdoor held the answers that they sought. It was the moment this entire night had been leading up towards. It was the musty smell of death and the chilling presence of evil, barely contained beneath ancient, fragile wood. Looking at the trap door, Isaac reached towards it, as if preparing to unearth the final steps of their adventure.[break][break]

And then he slapped a Cleanse Tag atop it.[break][break]

Was he having second thoughts about advancing? Was he really content to end this adventure here? "Not now. Not with them," he said, voice quiet and heavy with contemplation. "Right now, these kids are in danger. They've already had to see things they should've never been put through. And that Cofagrigus was able to get a hand on them. If a ghost even stronger than them gets any ideas, or worse, that Butcher . . ."[break][break]

He couldn't. He wasn't taking a step further. Not with these kids in such danger. "C'mon, kids. We're getting you out of here." If only that was the end of the story. If only they could leave this mansion, close their eyes, and wake up like it was all some bad dream. But it wasn't. It was their reality, a never-ending nightmare nobody should ever be subjected to.[break][break]

"The second they're out? We're coming back to this place and setting it to rest." There would be no time to recharge. There would be no walking away from this. There would be no opportunity for The Butcher to continue his mad reign. Just as he did in his day to day life, Isaac saw a hard choice and demanded both consequences break themselves against his stubborn skull.[break][break]

For the safety of the Truesdale family, he would gladly put himself through such risk.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Ash had the son. Isaac had the daughter. Both of them had their eyes peeled on the shadows, which felt sparser and emptier by the second. Were the ghosts leaving the children alone for some reason? Had Ash and Isaac successfully fought them all off? Was the Cleanse Tag holding them back?[break][break]

Or did they just want Isaac and Ash to think they were safe?[break][break]

"Prepare for the worst. Hope for the best," Isaac reminded Ash, gently patting the other man's arm. "That way if you're wrong you're prepared, and if you're right you're vindicated." There's nothing to lose and everything to gain. All it takes is your mindset![break][break]

Part of preparing was setting a guard to make sure their best laid plans didn't go to waste. "Caesar, you go with Bongo and the kids, alright?" Isaac said, giving the loyal guard dog a gentle scratch behind the ears. Caesar yipped excitedly in affirmation, running to take the kids' side. Watching out for trouble was his specialty! They'd be in good hands thanks to him![break][break]

With that done, he met the kids at their eye level. "I need you all be be brave for me, y'hear?" he said, a gentle smile on his face. "We're gonna be gone for a little bit. But we're trusting you with our Pokemon because you know you'll keep them safe for us until we're back. So don't you go worrying about us. We'll be here before you even know it."[break][break]

On that reassurance, it was back into the increasingly empty manor. Isaac turned to Ash, holding out a fist and letting confidence slip into his smile. The kids weren't the only ones who needed to be brave. They needed to be brave, too. After all, it was easy to be brave if others were going to be brave, too. That meant it was Isaac to put on a good show. For the kids. For Ash. Even for himself.[break][break]

"C'mon, Ash. Let's rock."

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Of course. It was an ambush all along. The Butcher had been hot on their heels, and he'd waited for them to leave the manor so he could finally force a confrontation. There were no more hallways. There were no more side rooms. There were no more detours. He'd taken up residence square in the middle of the foyer, and if Isaac and Ash wanted to get past him, they'd have to work for it.[break][break]

Good. Isaac had been waiting to wipe the smile off that sick fuck's face all day.[break][break]

He was kicking himself for letting Kurze and Sanford fall. They were two of his heaviest hitters, team veterans who refused to fall by the wayside when the young cats showed up. They would have been essential for turning the tides during this fight. Instead, they were stuck licking their wounds, only Echo and a pair of reserves left for holding down the fort.[break][break]

Oh well. They were far from the only powerhouses Isaac could bring to bear.[break][break]

"Only got three myself. Arceus willing, that'll be all we need." He turned to the Butcher, trying to work up his best smirk as he tossed a Pokeball up and down in his hand. It wasn't very effective, but damnit, he had to try! "Hey! You think you're hot shit? Well, I'm about to prove you're not the only dead man walking around here!"[break][break]

He threw a Pokeball at his feet, and Grimace burst from his ball in an eruption of red light. The Dracovish let out a gargling war cry, standing still just long enough for Isaac to slap a cleanse tag on his forehead. Contact was on the table now, and if any of his Pokemon excelled at physical contact, it was Grimace.[break][break]

The Dracovish's head swung to and fro like a medieval flail as he charged forward, the unpredictable swaying of his upper body making the Brutal Swing's trajectory surprisingly difficult to track. Even if the Butcher could get around it, he'd have to deal with whatever supercharged plan Ash was dreaming up. All the while, Echo scanned the room, trying to spot anything large and particularly smashable in the darkness. So long as Isaac could slap a cleanse tag on it, his Psychic could make it an invaluable contribution to the battle.

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]They were swinging and swinging and swinging with all their might, unleashing a volley that would've left a lesser human . . . no, Pokemon . . . no, monstrosity reduced to rubble. Yet their best wasn't enough. No, it was more than not enough. It was completely ineffectual. The Butcher was knocked from side to side, lurching like a puppet on loosened strings, but didn't show a sign of slowing down. No blood. No vapors. Not even a grunt of pain.[break][break]

Isaac didn't have a frame of reference for fighting The Butchers. He had no idea if he was durable or if his resilience was something more supernatural. He had no idea if he was a masochist who enjoyed pain or if he was legitimately unaffected. He had no idea if anything they were doing, even with his strongest pure fighter, was working.[break][break]

He tried not to worry. But when Ash shot him that worried look, his own worries started flowing out.[break][break]

"I don't-" Isaac started, and then the Butcher smelled their fear. What else could he do but laugh? The sound wasn't just loud. It wasn't just horrible. It pierced not only the mind, but also the very soul. Isaac flinched, covering his ears and trying not to let his knees buckle. Echo dropped his cleanse tag, covering his ears and letting out a high pitched wail. Ash and his team were just as frozen up. The tide had turned completely, and from what? A laugh!? An Arceus-damned laugh!?[break][break]

No. This wasn't damned. This was downright forsaken.[break][break]

Taking advantage of the lull, the Butcher prepared to strike. Things looked desperate for poor Lucia. And then salvation came in the form of an ungodly number of PSI aimed right for the Butcher's wrist.[break][break]

Their attacks may not have done damage, but they had weight to them. Few on Isaac's team were as weighty as Grimace. The massive hybrid's jaws pushed back against the Butcher's wrist, their body slowly unfurling out to their full height. Even in their typical, bent-over shape, they towered over the majority of Pokemon. With the bend in their spine undone, their height nearly doubled. If the Butcher wanted to strike Lucia, he'd have to push down with enough force to re-compress Grimace's entire springlike body.[break][break]

Briefly, Isaac wondered how they managed to go unaffected. Maybe as an apex predator, fear just didn't hit him the same way. Maybe being hard of hearing was one of the many, many health problems that the poorly-reconstructed fossil had. Or maybe all of the people calling them some "soulless abomination" were actually onto something.[break][break]

Well, this was Isaac's soulless abomination. Who cared if Arceus saw them as a mistake? To Isaac, they were perfect.[break][break]

He tried to call out to Echo, but he couldn't find the words. Instead, he slowly staggered his way over to the Ralts, even as each footstep caused his gut to churn. The Cleanse Tag was right there on the floor. All he had to do was reach out, pick it up, and give it to Echo. Easy, right?[break][break]

Wrong. The second he tore his hand away from his ears, Isaac's heart started to beat like a drum at a thrash metal concert. Sweat gathered on his forehead. His skin grew pale and clammy. Breathing rapidly, he fumbled for the tag, quickly tucking it between Echo's horn and bowlcut. This wasn't going to work. They were going to fail. They were going to die here. All was lost. All he could do was sit back, and listen, and let that laugh penetrate his mind-[break][break]

No.[break][break]

He pointed to the chandelier, looked towards Ash, and made a guillotine motion with his neck. It was clear what he was aiming to do here. In the blink of an eye, Echo disappeared, taking deep breath after deep breath now that he was away from the situation. Once he steadied himself, he slapped the Cleanse Tag onto the base of the chandelier, then turned desperately to Ash. He could only hope that him and Isaac's impromptu plan would bear fruit . . .

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Ashley called out for Grimace, panic in his voice as the one hitch appeared in his perfect little plan. Yet, despite the urgency in both him and Isaac's voice, the apex hybrid remained unmoving. The intent was hard to read in their small, glassy eyes. Maybe they genuinely just didn't hear them. Maybe they thought it was praise, not panic.[break][break]

Or maybe, as they bent their body back in a perfect C shape to practically fling the Butcher into the chandelier, they were just sticking around to make sure the job was done.[break][break]

"No!" Isaac charged towards the cloud of dust and debris as the chandelier fell, not even waiting to see if the Butcher got back up. Grimace was more important. He threw an arm over his nose and mouth to avoid choking on dust as he squinted through the crowd, trying to see if Grimace had found a way out of the wreckage.[break][break]

Never before had Isaac been so relieved to hear those gurgles.[break][break]

They were shallow and tired in a way that Isaac had never heard before. The hybrid full of boundless energy had finally been tuckered out, knocked out by the weight of a massive chandelier breaking down on top of them. Had it been a squishier Pokemon, like Sunny or Echo, that could've been fatal. But Grimace had such vigor that even their existence being a mistake couldn't keep them out of commission.[break][break]

"You rest up, buddy," he said, patting the exhausted Dracovish's flank before returning them to their Pokeball. "I'm so proud of you." With that, he turned his attention to the wreckage. The Butcher's head, the Butcher's body, the massive chandelier that split the two up. Arceus. Had it been anyone else, Isaac would've hurled.[break][break]

Instead, he fished around in the wreckage of the chandelier, grabbing the piece of twisted metal frame that still bore the cleanse tag on it. He approached the Butcher's head, testing the metal bar's heft in his hand all the while. Once he approached, he wound yp and gave a swing for the fences.[break][break]

That wasn't enough. Once the head and body were separated further, he sprinted towards the wayward head. He lined the broken bar up with the Butcher's cheek, covered his eyes with his free hand, and pushed until he heard the sound of metal crashing through wood. He refused to look at the gruesome spectacle, but his intent was clear; he'd like to see the Butcher handle his own head being staked down far, far away from him.[break][break]

With shaky footsteps and a deathly pallor, he returned to Ash's side. "Basement," he said, trying to hide the disgusted quiver in his voice. "I bought us time."

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Grimace was out. Caesar was with the children. Kurze and Sanford were long fainted. Even Echo was starting to tire, the little Ralts perching on Isaac's shoulder and slumping against his head. Isaac was down to one mystery Pokemon and one Cleanse Tag left. This had been his longest, messiest mission yet, and it was taking its toll.[break][break]

Yet they had brought this adventure to its climax: a chapel buried deep beneath the house. Were the Truesdales religious? Opportunists, like Isaac had been? Or was something far more profane at work?[break][break]

Isaac wished he knew what he was getting himself into in the first place. If he knew, he would've brought the exorcism kit he'd picked up for his ghost adventures with Cillian Quinn. Come to think of it, when did he become such a ghost hunter, anyway? This was becoming a disturbingly common trend![break][break]

The room stenched of corpses, and its cold stone foundation left little to the imagination. Echo whimpered from the sheer bad vibes that this place gave off. Isaac looked at a fountain of what appeared to be blood, wondering how the hell it still flowed as freely as water. At least it was better than turning into a disgusting, congealed mess.[break][break]

As he approached the door to the right, sweat started to drip down his forehead. Once more, the sound of laughter sent uncontrollable shivers through his body. Not there. Not yet. Hey, there was another door! Isaac made a beeline towards it.[break][break]

It was locked. Good thing Isaac was a damn good lockpicker. "Bring that flashlight here? If this door's locked, something tells me there's a big deal behind it." Maybe it'd be a fruitless endeavor. Shaky hands in the dark on an old fashioned, heavy lock seemed like a recipe for disaster. But Isaac would rather pursue a fruitless endeavor than approach that damned laughter.

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