Sea Mauville was sinking. A monument of the modern age, abandoned by those who made it and left to rot. A key piece of contemporary history, maybe, but insignificant beyond it. It had no legends, no mythology, nothing that would allow it to transcend this age into the next one. So, why did Mitsuru care? With the spectre of bankruptcy ever-looming, she certainly had much more important things to worry about. So, why was she here, volunteering to do odd jobs on this ghost of an oil rig?

Because it was the right thing to do, and more than anything else, she wanted to be kind... And because if she did a good enough job, she might get to shake ollie morales's hand... And there might be some expensive old techy stuff in here that nobody would miss...

Still, she was no expert in rangering, and she'd been hoping to be paired with someone a little more knowledgable about this sort of thing. Instead?

"Um..."

She looked down at the spare key she held in her hand, and then up at Rex. Being polite, he seemed... A few Pokedollars short of making rent, so to speak. Still, what he lacked in critical thinking, he made up for in spunk. In that way, they were very similar!

Which was even more worrying.

Stepping through the door, she immediately scanned the room, keeping an eye out for any waylaid gadgets or misplaced gizmos. Okay, lots of white candles, probably Litwick in torpor. Big desk, but no computer or anything, so it was probably pulled out already, which was unlucky. Bookcases, vases, paintings, keystones, chairs, standard stuff, really--

--Keystone?

Uh oh.

"UM. UM! UM!!! REX! PLEASE DON'T GO INTO THAT ROOM!"

---

Althus Rex

He went into the room.

"Don't worry, Tsuru! It's just a bunch of Litwick! What's the worse they can do? Burn me?" Rex laughed and waved off her concerns as he poked around the room. Candles flickered in the wind, and an odd circle was scribbled on the floor with a hundred and seven markings made. "What sort of cult were these guys up to?"

Much to Tsuru's chagrin and in spite of her shouts and cries, Rex nudged the Odd Keystone with his foot. A foreboding presence emanated from the stone in waves as it began to rattle.


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Uh oh.

The crevice in the stone glowed with a malignant aura as violet energy erupted from the crack. Dozens of glowing orbs emerged in a flash, before coalescing together into an evil grin.

"WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!?!?" Rex stumbled back as the spirit cackled in delight. "TSURU? TSURU! WHAT DID I DO?"

---

Mitsuru Kagami
02. Locate and free any trapped individuals.

"UM!!!!!"

This was bad. This was VERY bad. Rushing forth, Mitsuru grabbed Rex by his collar and pulled him back through the doorway. Okay! They could still salvage this! They just had to close the door, lock it up again, aaaaaaaaaaaaaand they broke the door to get inside. Ah. Erm. That is... Okay! There was absolutely no way to salvage this.

"Rex, I don't want to alarm you, but I'm pretty sure you just did a REALLY BAD thing!" The mystic explained, her panic evident in her tone. At the same time, her hands desperately fumbled with her belt, searching through the Pokeballs hanging from her waist. "I don't think we can beat this thing... Ack! Come on, where are you, where are you? Not here, not here, not here, please be here please be here please be-- HERE!"

Ripping the Pokeball from her belt, she tossed it forth, and out came here Klefki.

"QUICK! KEIZO! FAIRY LOCK THAT DOORWAY!"

Sure enough, the jangling keys complied, the shimmering shape of a lock forming in the doorway. That quick thinking managed to stop the ghastly spirit for about a second. It might've stopped it for more, but frankly, Mitsuru didn't stay around to check. Instead, she grabbed Althus by the arm and immediately began to run.

"Heck, heck, heck...!"

---

Althus Rex

In other circumstances, having Tsuru drag Rex off would've been vastly preferable. In this case, it's more of a desperate death march to avoid being consumed by dozens of souls sealed away for crimes untold.

"Tsuru! TSURU!" The Fairy Lock on the door began to rattle as souls gnawed on the mystic's hastily built defense. Under better circumstances, the lock would be far more secure. Unfortunately, Rex and Tsuru were being underpaid, understaffed, and underprepared to fight a demon sealed away in a random rock.

Click.

"TSURU!"

The door exploded off its hinges. Its path was guided with malice and a devilish Psychic, sending precious Sea Mauville property flying towards Rex and Tsuru's heads. Seeing it in the corner of his eye, Rex tackled them both to the floor. As they fell, a Pokeball flew from Rex's belt.

Gallade appeared with a flash. He turned to face the Spiritomb, which slid across the walls with vindictive rage.

"How do we seal it? You're a mystic, right? Rex glanced at Tsuru as Gallade met the attacker with a Leaf Blade. "Tsuru. I am not dying to this thing. I don't care how much the rangers are paying!"

Despite that, he seemed perfectly willing to face the spirit down, his eyes burning with desire at the prospective battle before them.

---

Mitsuru Kagami

Mitsuru let out a high-pitched yelp as she hit the floor, a launched leaden pipe missing her head by mere inches. Ack! There was just no escaping this thing, was there? No, they could run through Sea Mauville and swim all the way back to Dewford, and it'd still be following them. It was just like Rex said - They would have to seal this thing back into its prison of a tomb.

And that? Was much easier said than done.

"Okay, um, sealing! Sealing it, weaknesses, how do we seal it... Spiritomb, the Forbidden Pokemon, a congregation of five score and eight evil spirits... There's not really much known about where it came from, but... The keystone! The little stone thing at the bottom of it! If you can force it back inside, then maybe we can reseal it!"

Again, easier said than done. But no matter how unlikely the odds, they had to try, because she REALLY didn't want to become the one hundredth and ninth spirit trapped inside that thing.

"Keizo! Fairy Wind!"

The keys oblige, and a perfumed gust filled the stale air and pushed against the spectre. Alas, her Klefki wasn't much of a fighter, and she wasn't much of a trainer, either. She'd provide as much support as she could, but ultimately, it would be up to Rex to take this thing down.

---

Althus Rex

The Fairy Wind buffeting the Spiritomb was like blowing on a wildfire, but it would have to suffice. As the expression emerging from the Odd Keystone grew wider as it attempted to incorporate Keizo into its whirlwind of souls, Gallade slashed at the incorporeal body, doing little but slashing at mist.

Loud laughing emerged from the stone, the sound of a vacuum cleaner being smashed with a sledgehammer ringing out.

"What the fuck..."

The spirit mocked the knight, and the Gallade raised an eyebrow. It regarded the keystone at the base of the body, before striking at it with a Low Kick, sending the spirit reeling back.

"IS A SCORE!?"

Gallade quickly got one, sending it flying down the hall towards a metaphorical goalpost.

"Why is it even here!? Rex shouted as Spiritomb sent out a barrage of Shadow Balls. "What does it want?"

---

Mitsuru Kagami
27. Handle encounters with hostile individuals or pokemon.

"It's like, twenty or something!"

But no amount of knowledge of archaic numerical terms would help them where it mattered. Heck, even having good Pokemon might not be enough! The keystone was sent flying back, and the Spiritomb was dragged back with it, but what now? If they got close to defeating the spirit, what was to stop it from retreating into its shelter and biding its time? Sure, they could keep attacking it by the base, but what happened when the base broke? What would all of those one-hundred and eight spirits do when they no longer had a prison to hold them?

No, even if it felt like the right thing to do in the short term, "defeating" this thing was wrong in the long term. There had to be a better way, but what? How could they possibly stop it...?

"Ah. Aha!" The metaphorical lightbulb went off, and Mitsuru immediately scurried away, ducking and dodging Shadow Balls before hiding away into a nearby cleaning closet. "Rex! Lead it past here! I've got a plan!"

Just lead it past her door. Surely, it wasn't that big of an ask, right?

---

Althus Rex
13. Set up ambushes or strategic defenses to neutralize threats.

It was that big of an ask.

The Spiritomb was wily, it was violent, and it also had enough souls to play a small pachinko tournament. Between them all, there was definitely a brain cell or three to rub together. The sealed evil was remarkably clever, and as a result, tricking it would be impossible.

"Over here! Idiot! Dipshit! Stupid ghost!" Rex taunted and sneered as he danced from side to side, his Gallade doing much of the work while the Forbidden Pokemon waged its war of attrition with Rex's loyal knight. "Hey! HEY!"

Spiritomb pointedly ignored him, and Gallade struck at the spirit in retaliation for that heinous crime. As Tsuru hid, Rex danced with the spirit for several more moments.

"HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO~"

Gallade, finally annoyed at Rex's incessant bleating, simply kicked the Odd Keystone past the door in question. That was one way to handle it. "Got it!"

---

Mitsuru Kagami
42. Use a pokemon to clear the air of smoke or other noxious gases.

The cleaning closet was not exactly the safest of sanctuaries. It was cramped, damp, and full of decades-old chemicals that were likely highly hazardous to her health. Yet, she'd already committed to her fairly stupid plan, so she had to see it through.

Not that she was seeing much, except for the dust and the rust and the aforementioned chemicals. Maybe it would be more accurate to say she was hearing it through? But again, she wasn't hearing much. A lot of yelling from Rex, blades slashing and clashing, the warble of ghostly energy, and all of it muffled by the thick door and the metal walls. It began to occur to her that she didn't really know when the Spiritomb would be in the proper position for her plan. But Rex would tell her, right? Sure, she didn't really disclose any details of her plan, and okay, he didn't exactly seem to have it all together, and alright, there was a chance that the Spiritomb might not fall for it in the first place, and yeah, there was an even greater chance that the plan might backfire and she'd be stuck in a closet with a vengeful ghost, and--

CLUNK!

Heck!Was that the signal? Heck, they didn't have a signal... But if they did, that'd probably be it, right? So, it'd be now? Yeah, it'd definitely be now, right? Okay, okay, okay okay okay, okay... OKAY!

"HUP!"

Pushing open the door, Mitsuru put her plan into action. As the Spiritomb was still reeling from the impact, she pulled a Pokeball from her belt and then tossed it towards the malicious fiend. Then, as the ball hit against the keystone and absorbed the ghost inside it, all she could do was cross her fingers and hold her breath.

Wobble, wobble, woooooobbleeeeeeeeee...?

Click!

...Whew! That was too close. With one source of her stress now "sealed", Mitsuru breathed a sigh so long and so relieved that she practically deflated in real time. Now, that just left her with the other source of her stress to handle.

"Hey, Rex? I'm heading back to shore now. PLEASE don't touch anything else, okay?"

---

Althus Rex