Josh had been working late hours at his Gym, the Second Battle at Dewford having caused him to fall behind on paperwork. He had a backlog of dozens of Badge acquisition reports to submit to the League; these were the reports that made the new Badge holders' Gym credentials official. Yawning, he slid in his office chair and opened the door to the large space with a yawn.

At the end of the hall, elevator doors opened to reveal NIKOLA CATELLUS , approaching the Gym Leader at an unusual time. Before he could react to their presence, a loud crackling noise from the north drew Josh's attention. Power to the entire building had been cut. Any second, backup generators would kick in to restore power.

Except it didn't come back on.

"N...no..." Josh trailed off. With no power fueling the electronic doors leading to the stairwell, the two of them were trapped inside the third floor of Mauville Gym's office building. "It is an unfortunate coincidence you came at such a late hour; everyone else has gone home. We are the only two people left in the building. The backup generators aren't working either... this reeks of foul play of some kind." Sweat raced down the Gym Leader's head; was this a third attack on his Gym in the span of a year? Just who within Rocket wanted his head so badly?

it might be a good idea to invest in some good old fashioned non-electric doors after this... nikola stands there in the dark, unable to see the expression on josh's face. he sounds unsettled, and it's enough for nikola to make a move so neither of them are just standing there waiting for something to happen. "not to worry!" they say, trying to comfort him. "i'm here with you, and i'm a lot stronger than i was before!" they put their hands on their hips, puffing their chest out.

then they release their umbreon, whose blue glow illuminates the room around them. luna sniffs the air and then freezes, as if hearing something. she lets out a bark, and heads for the door that doesn't open. "sounds like she noticed something," nikola says. "so let's just get that door open..." preferably without breaking it.

the next pokemon they release is a reuniculus that floats by their shoulder. "amoeba, use psychic to pry the door open," they tell him. the psychic type concentrates, and gradually, the door opens just enough to allow them to pass.

[ Josh Devlin ]

Josh never felt it was necessary to invest in mechanical doors; he had multiple backup systems in place. If his backup generators weren't working, he had emergency batteries, charged by his electric Pokémon, that could fuel essential electronics, including all the doors leading to the generator room in the basement. Why did all three power systems fail at the same time?

"I think priority number one is going to be getting outside so I can get to my Pokémon," Josh proposed, which if Nikola noticed his belt of Poké Balls was totally empty, might be more inclined to agree with. The presence of Amoeba, Nikola's Reuniclus, was welcome. While the psychic-type would encounter a lot of resistance moving the heavy doors, they would be able to do so through slow and painstaking work.

On the other side of the door was a type of twisted space the Gym Leader was more than familiar with: the top of a TRICK ROOM. "Someone's ghost Pokémon is here," Josh replied with a scowl, the defenseless Gym Leader vigilant for the threat behind it. "The fire exit on this floor is one of the few mechanical doors in the building; it's required to be so by fire code. This damned Trick Room is making it impossible to see the exit signs. I know the way there, but I'll need you to take point until we can get outside, where my Pokémon are at."

nikola salutes. "got it!" anybody else might be a little more frightened with the way the room is warping itself, but this situation still beats being dragged through swampy, muddy water and restrained by alien pokemon not from this world. with luna and amoeba at their side, nikola follows after josh. while they walk, they consider the possibility of what might be going on, rubbing their chin thoughtfully.

"if it's meant to be an ambush, it's strange," they comment. "though maybe they thought you'd be alone..." perhaps nikola being here threw a wrench in their plans? or maybe whoever it is didn't have a plan. it's strange that nothing intercepted them outside the door, and aside from trick room being deployed, they're being allowed free roam of the environment.

as they proceed, shadows start to dance along the wall just out of the corner of nikola's eye. every time they turn to look, the shadows disappear again. frowning, nikola just tries to ignore them. the further they get in the gym, the more it seems like they're being pranked by something...

[ Josh Devlin ]

Nikola had a point; as much as whatever was laying these traps was impeding them, it had caused no harm to either. "Whatever they are, they know me well," Josh said to them as they at last were able to see the fire exit. The moment he twisted the knob, the Gym Leader was sent flying through the air: the door had swung open violently. He screamed from being hurtled through the air, the POLTERGEIST of a door sending him on a collision course with his Racing Grounds three stories below.

He landed not on the ground, but on Aleph's back. The sleeping Ultra Beast killer had broken his fall, and didn't seem too happy about being ridden. Getting to his feet, the normal-type bucked and thrashed with great strength, quick to fling Josh off. Not wanting any more to do with him for the rest of the night, the Type: Null bounded northward, looking for another place to get some shut-eye.

The other Pokémon that answered his call was Hylda, the Glastrier's mist chilling even from a distance. The cold woke the stiff Gym Leader up, though he was still shaking from the impact of the three-story fall. He also whistled for Sidewinder, his Dragapult, who was quick to soar to his side. "Nikola, have you had a ghost Pokémon take you to the other side before? I think that would be the fastest way to figure out who our problem ghost-types are. Right, these two are Hylda and Sidewinder," he quickly introduced the ice-type and dragon-type.

the blast that causes josh to fall flings nikola into the wall, not hitting them as dead-on as it hit josh. they crumple for a moment, dazed and confused, wondering if their attacker is mostly targeting josh. then they look to the side and realize... oh shit. josh is gone! they scramble back to their feet and hurry over to where josh last was, trying to predict his trajectory. this could be really bad...

thankfully, before nikola can panic too much, josh reappears with two of his pokemon. nikola breathes a sigh of relief at first, and then josh's question captures their interest. "that's something we can do?" they ask. their umbreon and reuniculus hover at their side, nervous, wondering if this is such a good idea. "then absolutely! let's hit them where it hurts!" whatever is messing with them probably won't expect them to bring the fight to its turf. they should, hopefully, have the element of surprise at first...

[ Josh Devlin ]

"Indeed," Josh answered, Sidewinder floating toward Nikola's side and as low to the ground as he could. Josh swung his leg over the ghost-type's saddle and held his reins firmly, scooting forward in the saddle as far as possible to provide space for them to sit behind him. "Hop on behind me. If there's a way to find out what's causing us so much trouble, it's this. Make sure to hold on tight, though; his Phantom Force can get pretty fast."

Provided they agreed, Josh would make sure Nikola had a good hold on either him or the phantom's scales before directing his Dragapult into a low hover. "We go on three, okay? One... two..." Right as he would have said three, the duo vanished into thin air, appearing in a negative world that looked like a darkened version of the world they were used to. All of this world's colors were from the dark, bottom half of the rainbow.

When Josh warned Nikola to hold on tight, he wasn't kidding; the ghostly dragon zoomed forward toward a wavering version of his trainer's office building at sickening speeds, When it looked like they were going to splat right into the Gym's north wall, they phased right through it. Everything was flying by too quickly for Josh to make out details, but he saw what appeared to be several Polteageist in the second floor lounge.

Wheeling Sidewinder around, the Dragapult phased back through the building again, exiting his PHANTOM FORCE to the material world once more and flying at very high speed.

nikola clings tightly to the dragapult, eyes open and staring in wonder at the world that passes them by. they'd returned both their pokemon to their balls in preparation for this, so they're startled when one of the pokeballs on their belt waggles and breaks free, releasing their quilava into their arms. his eyes are wide as he looks around, as if having an epiphany of some sort.

and then they've phased through the wall, and nikola just barely catches a glimpse of the polteageist before they're leaving, heading back to the material plane. it took barely any time at all, yet it feels like they were in there forever.

when things have settled, nikola hops down with flammula. the quilava's fur is standing on end, and nikola tries to soothe him by stroking his head. "looks like we've got a few troublemakers on our hands," they say. "what's the move for flushing them out?"

[ Josh Devlin ]

As Josh slowed Sidewinder post-Pnantom Force, wheeling the floating dragon back toward the Gym's second floor, he withdrew Hylda back to her Poké Ball. "We're gonna have to capture them," he said with a frown. "I don't see another way out. I'm gonna fly back up to the lounge and have Hylda freeze the whole place with her Mist. If the Polteageist get away, they'll probably head your way; be ready with your Pokémon. Unless you think you can handle another trip through the other side, that is." That was no simple matter, either; not only were Dragapult extremely fast mid-Phantom Force, but the atmosphere of the ghostly world was oppressive for living creatures.

Whether Nikola joined Josh or not, the dragon and Gym Leader vanished once more. The only sign of their presence was a purple glow from the building's second floor, followed by a thick MIST that made seeing inside the windows impossible. The glass panes of many of those windows shattered in the extreme cold, solid blocks of ice falling alongside the sharp glass fragments.

Josh reappeared near Nikola and the ice blocks, shivering with clothes covered in frost. As he unsteadily dropped Poké Balls onto the frozen ghost-types, one had broken free from its icy prison, its POLTERGEIST animating some of the larger glass shards and threatening to cut down Nikola, Josh, and their Pokémon! Aleph was no help, either; a Luxray cry echoed from another direction as, unbeknownst to Josh, the Type: Null was having another violent outburst.

they follow josh's lead, their quilava at their heels, still wound up and agitated. at first, things seem to be going well... but then the ice over one polteageist shatters, freeing the pokemon within. immediately the room animates around them, shards of glass flying, threatening both the trainers and their pokemon. nikola shields themself with their arms, feeling a few smaller pieces slice their sleeves.

and then they hear the roar of flames, and they risk glancing up to see flammula using flamethrower, cornering the polteageist and preventing it from moving. it cries out in pain as the quilava advances on it. nikola doesn't think they've ever seen him so worked up before, the flames out of his mouth the strongest they've ever encountered. fumbling with their belt, nikola throws an empty pokeball at the final polteageist, sealing it away.

they breathe a sigh of relief and open their mouth. but before they can say anything else, flammula is awash in a white light. his form changes, growing larger and elongating, shifting to stand on two legs instead of four. the flames on his back turn purple and red, bulbs appearing around his neck. and then he's done, standing before them as not just any typhlosion, but as a type nikola has never seen before.

flammula looks at josh and nikola. nikola is staring, wide-eyed and tongue-tied.

[ Josh Devlin ]

Good thing they were in a wide open area rather than the second floor: Flammula's evolution would have torched the entire cafeteria and possibly his entire office building, what with the fire department's limited ability to respond due to limited access to the building. Everything had been handled, though; shortly after the last Polteageist was captured, the backup generators hummed, providing power to the Gym again.

Josh, too, was in awe at Flammula's new form. "I've... never seen a Typhlosion like that," he slowly broke the metaphorical ice, watching the wisp-like flames from the foreign Pokémon's neck. It also stood upright instead of on all fours like Flint did, though that was more a product of how the Gym Leader raised his Typhlosion.

With that, Josh slid off his Dragapult's back. "Thanks for your help. The generators will keep things running for the short term, but I'm going to have to give GMH a call if the main power doesn't come on tomorrow."

the power situation still isn't resolved, but at least there aren't any ghost types lurking around anymore. once nikola gets a distance away from the gym, they'll release the one polteageist they caught; however tempting it might be to keep it, they don't need such a troublemaker around. there's no way their landlord would be able to deal with a potential haunting, and if it started to affect the other residents then nikola wouldn't want to be evicted.

"guess i can't call you 'little flame' anymore," they say to flammula. the typhlosion's flames dance, wisp-like in the darkness. a ghost type, maybe? is that why he reacted like that? for now, they return him to his ball. they'll have to do plenty of research later. "glad everybody's okay! we ran into a little trouble, but nothing that couldn't be handled."

they'll spend another few minutes chatting with josh about much simpler things, until it's gotten late enough that they know it's time to go. they bid him goodbye and fly off on their togekiss, wondering rather happily about flammula's new form.

[ Josh Devlin ]
going to submit now!