The tower grew quieter as the evening deepened. One of the sages left, then another until the last visitors disappeared and the lanterns were turned down. Outside, Violet City became a scatter of lights beyond the windows.
Ravina checked the time. It was later than she thought as Owlbert hooted.
“Yeah.” she replied looking at the time on her pokegear and there another hoot.
“Ten past.”
Owlbert stared so Ravina checked again.
Nine past, She waited and the minute changed.
Ten.
Ravina looked at him. “Show-off.”
Owlbert ruffled his feathers
Ravina laughed softly. “Fine. You earned that one.”
Cinder had stretched out near one of the broad pillars. He was awake and still watching. His longer body fit the floor much better than it fit stairs.
Ravina crouched beside him. “You tired?”
A low chirp.
She ran her hand along his shoulder. “You've been good.”
Cinder leaned into her touch. “Sorry there hasn’t been any fun for you tonight, maybe later ?”
He looked away, and Ravina smiled. “My very brave Fireball.”
He immediately looked back. “That's what I thought.”
She kissed the side of his head. Then stood. “One more drill.”
Owlbert stepped forward and Ravina pointed toward the upper walkway.
“Find.”
Not attack, not chase. Find.
Owlbert launched and disappeared into the darker rafters and Ravina waited.
Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty, and Nothing.
Cinder stood as Ravina looked toward the ceiling.
“Owlbert?”
No response, that was wrong. Owlbert always answered.
A scrape came from somewhere above, then silence.
Cinder's posture changed, his head lifted, his nostrils flared.
Alerting Ravina in the process. “What?”
Cinder sniffed again, His flames flickered once but not fully igniting and Ravina smelled it then.
Faint, sweet, rose, maybe incense and something underneath it she couldn't name.
Not rot, not smoke exactly, something chemical, cold.
The tower creaked around them and Ravina looked up. “Owlbert?”
A single hoot. High. Farther away than expected.
Ravina exhaled. “Okay.” She replied and began to climb and Cinder followed. More carefully than yesterday, still wide around corners, but better. Much better.
They reached the next floor to find it empty.
Ravina scanned the rafters. “Owly?”
A shadow moved, but not Owlbert shaped. Ravina stopped as Cinder stepped in front of her.
“Easy, Fireball.”
His flames ignited, low and controlled.
The shadow vanished as Ravina searched. Then a voice drifted down from somewhere above them.
“You walk very loudly for a shrine maiden entering a haunted tower.”
Ravina and Cinder froze.
From the beam higher above, Ravina could see Owlbert staring downward, seeming to have backtracked back to his trainer.
Hoot?
Ravina slowly looked around. “Who's there?”
There was a pause. Then: “Also, your hair is magnificent.”
Ravina blinked. “…Thank you?”
A soft, theatrical sigh echoed through the room.
“At last. Manners.”
Purple vapor spilled from the darkness and two white eyes appeared inside it as a grin split the shadows. It took a moment for Ravina to realize that a Gastly had drifted into the lantern light.
Ravina stared as the Gastly stared back, his gaze moved over her and her fox ears, skirt and tail. He seemed to consider the whole thing.
“Curious.”
Ravina narrowed her eyes. “You're talking.”
“Yes.”
“You're a Gastly.”
“I had noticed.”
Cinder's flames rose, drawing the Gastly’s gaze to him.
“Oh.” He drifted backward. “A blazing guardian.”
Then up at Owlbert who had been hopping rafters like a silent predator “And the silent sentinel.”
Hoot.
The Gastly's eyes widened. “Devastating.”
Ravina gave the gas ball a puzzled look. “You understood that?”
“No.” he replied with a pause. “But I respect the delivery.”
Ravina was no less puzzled. “Right.”
The Gastly circled slowly, not close enough to touch but was just enough to be annoying.
“Now.” He faced her again. “Who are you?”
“Ravina.”
“Only Ravina?”
“Currently.”
The Gastly seemed delighted by that answer. “And why is Ravina wandering an ancient tower after dark dressed like a priestess from an especially optimistic stage production?”
Ravina looked down at herself. “Work.”
He stopped. “Work.”
“Yes.”
“You are employed as a shrine maiden.”
“Cabaret hostess.”
Silence… then the Gastly drifted closer. “Explain.”
“No.”
He drew back dramatically. “Cruel.”
“I'm here training.”
“With the owl?”
“Owlbert.”
The Gastly looked up as Owlbert continued to stare back. “A strong name.”
Hoot.
“Again. Devastating.”
Ravina smiled despite herself. “And you?”
The Gastly's grin softened slightly. “Victor.”
Ravina tilted her head. “You already have a name?”
“I have had one for a very long time.”
“How long?”
Victor looked thoughtful. “Longer than I possess reliable documentation for.”
Ravina blinked. “That's not ominous at all.”
“Thank you.”
“That wasn't praise.”
“I accept it anyway.”
Cinder growled, causing Victor to look at him and back to Ravina. “Your guardian dislikes me.”
“He dislikes most things that float around me unexpectedly in haunted buildings.”
“Sensible.”
Ravina raised an eyebrow. “You're taking that well.”
“I appreciate standards.”
- - - - -
Victor did not leave. that was the first problem, the second was that he kept moving.
Not attacking, not exactly, but appearing behind beams, drifting through railings. Vanishing into smoke and reappearing somewhere Ravina could have sworn he had not been.
Owlbert followed every movement, Cinder followed most of them, Ravina followed perhaps half.
Eventually she crossed her arms. “Are you trying to start a battle?”
Victor emerged upside-down from beneath the walkway. “Would that impress you?”
“No.”
“Then certainly not.”
He vanished again and appeared beside another lantern.
Ravina sighed. “Owlbert.”
The Hoothoot straightened.
Victor's grin widened. “Oh?”
Ravina pointed. “Find him.”
Victor disappeared and Owlbert waited and watched.untill Victor reappeared behind him.
Owlbert turned before Ravina could call out and Victor blinked. Then smiled. “Interesting.”
Owlbert struck and Victor dissolved around the blow. Gas scattered and reformed.
“Very interesting.”
Ravina smiled. “Again.”
That was apparently all Victor needed as he attacked.
- - - - -
The battle was strange. Not because Victor was overwhelmingly strong, he wasn't. Not compared with some of the Pokémon Ravina had seen. But he was difficult.
He refused to stay where battles were supposed to happen, he drifted through obstacles, used the darkness, and appeared from angles Ravina couldn't predict.
And he talked constantly. “O silent sentinel, your gaze pierces the veil!”
“Owlbert, left.”
Owlbert moved and Victor vanished. “Ah! Betrayal by geometry!”
“Hold.”
Owlbert stopped as Victor appeared behind him. Owlbert pivoted with a Peck and Victor recoiled. “Cruel bird!”
Hoot.
“Your indifference wounds me.”
Ravina laughed. “Focus.”
“I am focused!”
“I meant Owlbert.”
Victor looked offended.
Cinder stood beside Ravina, body tense, every few seconds his flames flared and every few seconds Ravina touched his shoulder.
“Stay, Fireball.”
He stayed, that mattered to her and Victor noticed.
His eyes moved from Cinder to Ravina then back to Owlbert. Something about his expression changed. No less theatrical, but more attentive.
Victor vanished again as Ravina watched Owlbert instead of searching, his reaction time was far better than hers. That was the trick.
Owlbert's head turned. Left. Pause. Right. Pause. Then stopped.
Ravina caught the look. “Don't chase.”
Owlbert stayed as Victor's voice came from somewhere behind them.
“Wise.”
Ravina didn't turn. “Owlbert.”
His eyes shifted.
‘There.’ Ravina pointed. “Now.”
Owlbert moved before Victor fully materialized, and the Peck landed cleanly. Victor's body rippled, his gas scattered and he drifted backward.
And for once, Silence.
Ravina reached for a Poké Ball.
Victor saw it coming as His eyes widened and Ravina threw.
The ball sailed through the lantern light and Victor turned toward it, his purple gas curled outward and caught it.
Ravina froze as the ball stopped in midair. As did Owlbert and Cinder as Victor slowly drew the Poké Ball toward himself. He cradled it in a coil of vapor beside his face and stared into the middle distance.
And sighed, deeply and tragically.
“So.”
Ravina blinked as Victor turned his gaze toward the ball.
“At last, thou comest for me.” Silence as Victor continued. “O cruel sphere of destiny.”
Cinder and Ravina exchanged glances.
“Do not look at me.” Victor floated slowly downward. “How swiftly does fortune turn her wheel. Once, I danced among moonlit rafters, master of shadow, terror of trembling hearts…”
Owlbert stared.
“...and now?” Victor drew the ball dramatically against his gaseous chest. “Now I am undone.”
He turned toward Owlbert. “Defeated by the silent sentinel.”
Owlbert: Hoot.
Victor shut his eyes. “Yes.” A long, suffering pause. “Your words wound deeper than your wings.”
Ravina's brain stopped as Victor turned toward Cinder. “And you, blazing guardian.”
Cinder's forehead flames flickered uncertainly.
“Remember me not as I am.” Another pause. “Remember me as I wished to be.”
Ravina finally found her voice. “What are you doing?”
Victor looked at her, deliberately slowly. “Dying.”
“You are not dying.”
“Artistically.”
“That's not…”
Victor threw his head back. “Farewell, cruel tower!” His gas swirled dramatically around him. “Farewell, pale moon!”
Ravina looked toward the nearest window. “You can't even see the moon from here.”
“Do not interrupt.”
“Sorry.”
Victor raised the Poké Ball. “Farewell…” His eyes settled on Ravina and once more roamed her outfit of the evening as he paused. “…mysterious priestess.”
Ravina frowned. “I'm not actually…”
“And so.” Victor lowered his voice to a whisper. “The curtain falls.”
His vapor curled around the button.
Click.
Red light swallowed him and the ball dropped. Bounced once. Twice. Three times.
Click.
And then Silence.
Ravina and her boys collectively stared at it and nobody moved.
Finally Ravina looked at Owlbert, then Cinder, then back at the ball.
“…What was all that?”
Owlbert:
Hoot.
Cinder gave a very slow, uncertain chirp
Ravina pointed at the ball. “No, seriously.” Another beat. “What was that!?”