Welcome to Gaia! ::

Beyond the room was another hallway, the wall hung painting, more doors and windows. "aww, man. So many doors," William sighed. He didn't want to go around checking door to door. Each time he would be on his guard for surprise. The prank did get less and less the more he proceeded, replaced by battle. He had to resign himself to inspect the room, rather than thorough check, it's more he opened the door, see how it looked and left for another room. " does it feels like we are being watched?" William commented in the hallway. The paintings gave the place eerie vibes and he thought they might move.

" I never thought I could wish for a ghost to appear . . . " William said as he opened another door. He was tired of this repetitive chore. This time, he was careless, he stepped into the room while leaving his pokemon behind, Mur and Amber. Jasper was sticking close to him fortunately. The door closed with a loud slam. Ominous laugh filled the room, signaling entrance of his next opponent. A creepy living doll. William felt chill that he tried to calm down by scanning the ghost. "Banette, marionate pokemon. Banette generates energy for laying strong curses by sticking pins into its own body. This Pokémon was originally a pitiful plush doll that was thrown away," the pokedex dutifully informed him, the mechanical voice unaffected by emotion.

" Jasper, vine whip!" William commanded, taking the initiative to attack. it only took two vine whips to knocked the pokemon out. Unlocking the door that let them exit the room. William thought the ghost must have been looking for chance to trap him. It's why it took quite long for him to encounter the banette.

There was nothing of importance happening in the corridor. Nothing at all, aside from triggering traps and creeper he couldn't see. The next area after he exited the corridor was a wide space. He could see pillar lined what appeared to be hall. It was so wide his flashlight was unable to show the end of the hall. William wasn't sure where he should walk or whether it was safe or not. rather, it should be safe to assume it won't be safe. Shadow danced when the group proceeded. it gave impression the shadow was alive.

A shiver ran down his spine. " don't you think it's colder here? " William remarked to get his mind away from thinking of anything fearful. His voice was hushed, it showed that he was wary. Even his pokemon were caught in mood of the haunted house. Silence and heavy atmosphere weren't helping William at all. When Snow broke the silence with her question, it made William went stiff, he stopped walking for a moment. "no no no, I am fine. Perfectly fine," he said repeatedly in a monotone, trying to convince himself more than answering. "anything can jump out from anywhere . . . " he muttered as he gazed into the darkness and resumed walking. " I wish there's a way to rat the ghost out," he said to himself as the suspense was getting on him. "maybe . . . maybe if they got attacked, it would work. Wide area attack," he kept on muttering to himself. Ghost was too intangible to get proper aim though, they could pass through wall or floor, so it won't do well, William re-thought his idea. "What do you think, Snow?" he asked.

" A dark type works wonder against ghost, I heard. I don't have any though. They are known to be aggressive, so for beginner trainer, it can get dangerous," William said, it's why he preferred the milder psychic type. They have obvious weakness to ghost though and his only psychic was untrained for this. William was deep in thought of how he could lure the ghost out aside from being a bait, since that didn't appeal to him. His mind was preoccupied, hence, he didn't notice the black figure.

William was started to answer, "what -?" yet it was cut off by immediate danger. "SNOW!!" he shouted as Snow was thrown back. What hit her was unseen, still, he ran to help her. William was horrified that a ghost would assault Snow whom was not part of the challenge. It was his fault that he asked her to come with him, wasn't it? His mind was in jumble as he thought of many things. Mid-way, he remembered there's ghost among them. "Amber, jasper! Distract it. Mur, help them out!" it was simple command. He had no choice but to trust his pokemon like he had depended on them since he started his journey. "Snow, are you okay?" he inquired as he approached her. When he saw blood running down, he was panicking while saying " Blood, you are bleeding," he pointed out obviously. His hand immediately rummaged his bag for first aid kit. He hadn't had chance to use it, so it got buried pretty deep in his backpack. He stopped rummaging to look where Snow was pointing and nodded his affirmative, before adding spoken word, "got it." There's a silhouette of a pokemon near the battle that was unfolding. Amber was chasing the ghost with thundershock, warding the ghost to dodge away, with Jasper's support and Mur concentrating on picking the ghost's presence with his psychic ability. Amber appeared to be find handling the ghost, so he called out to Jasper. "Jasper, can you you bring the pokemon here?" William said while pointing where it laid.

William was growing worried to not instruct his pokemon. Look at that fallen pokemon, it showed his opponent won't hesitate to deal real injury. He didn't want to fight ghost and he feared what the ghost would to to him and his pokemon. Still, if he didn't who would? He's the trainer, this is his challenge. he brought this fight and so, he would be the one to deal with it. "I am going to check up on Amber," William said as he handed Snow bandages and cotton. It was easy to find Amber when there's sparks of electricity where she was. He could see that Amber had managed to hit the ghost with a coupled of thundershock, but the gengar was dodging using the darkness. It seemed to like to toy with its opponent as he saw it tormenting Amber with words or snickers without attacking. Amber wasn't looking good, so he immediately used the oran berry. "Amber, eat it," William approached Amber as he dared to and throw the berry to the pikachu. It hurriedly ate the berry before the ghost can take it from her. The effect was immediate, but soon she was flung backward by psychic energy. "Amber!" William called her name as he witnessed the strength of the gengar. "Pika pika chuuu," Amber shakily stood back up, encouraged by William watching over her battle. She observed gengar waved through the darkness and shot her thundershock once she had pin-pointed its location.

Meanwhile, Jasper had used his vine to bring the fallen pokemon to Snow's side as William had told. "Bulba~" Jasper cried out to get Snow's attention. He then laid the zorua near her, before dashing off to help his trainer. It appeared that the battle hadn't ended with just gengar, more ghost lurked in the darkness.

William gazed found a bundle of blanket with an unknown pokemon. He didn't get a good look at it previously due to the chaos and his mind was preoccupied with dealing the situation. Now that he did saw the pokemon clearly, it appeared to be doing better than when they found it. He was itching to use his pokedex to check what pokemon it was and decided against. He wanted to speak with Snow more than scanning pokemon. "umm . . . Snow" he began, unsure how he should word his word. Saying that he was leaving sounded rude, he should explain why first. " I was informed I failed the challenge, so, uhh, the cre-, ah, Lady over there told me I am getting out of the place," that was much nicer way to say it. He nearly called the staff creepy too and quickly omitted it. " so . . . uh, I guess I will be leaving?" he was fidgeting as he said it. His gaze wandered about. He was really conscious to leave Snow behind after he was the one who asked her to tag along. It's not a nice thing to do so, he was aware.

Another person approached them. William didn't know when the old lady showed up, she was there when he noticed her. The old lady knew Snow apparently from the way she spoke to Snow. William was polite enough to observe from the sideline instead to not interrupt the two.

William was secretly relieved that Snow was okay for him to leave, it seemed that she would to. " you too," William replied. He was unsure whether he should take the jar that Snow offered him, inside, he could see what he thought to be berries if those were not fruit. His battle earlier told him that he was unprepared, mere potion won't be as effective. Healing item like oran berry that Snow had given him was the least he needed to bring. Even if he wanted to deny, he was unable to say so. That was why when it was shoved to him, he took it. "Thank you, Snow. This means a lot for me," William expressed his heartfelt gratitude. William shouted answer as Snow left " I will." He didn't manage to answer the last words Snow said half in jest though. Her parents actually scared him, there was also no reason for them to come looking for him to ask about her. His last visit was . . . less than hospitable. He only meet with Snow's father who threatened him to leave their family business alone when he wanted to inquire of where Snow had gone to. Hell, he didn't even say why he was there. It's as if they already knew. William suspected that they didn't care where Snow went. either. William sighed and thought that it's good that Snow left her home. He left the place with his the creepy lady.