Mission #10

The leaves and sticks that littered the ground crunched beneath Jackson’s feet. His footfall was heavy due to his prosthetic leg and he walked with a noticeable limp. In front of him was his partner pokemon, Atlas, who was sniffing at the air. Following behind Jackson were two of his other pokemon, Marrow and Shadow.

The trainer was currently deep in a maze of tall, dark hedges on the property of an abandoned mansion. Jackson had come there to do some investigation after locals had offered up a reward to anyone who could solve the mysteries the mansion held. Supposedly it was haunted, but he didn’t really think it was much more than some possibly troublesome ghost pokemon.

Jackson continued to look over his shoulder as they walked, his heart rate quick as he felt the full nervousness of the situation. He had quickly discovered that this maze was far from normal. It was changing around them, the corridors constantly shifting and closing.

Atlas paused for a moment, his ears and tails perking up as the hair along his back bristled. Jackson immediately began to look around, knowing that his pokemon’s body language meant he had picked up on something. Marrow and Shadow were also more alert as they stared down the other end of the corridor. 

Even though Jackson was fully expecting something to happen, it still didn’t prevent him from jumping when a pokemon suddenly came out from the bushes and appeared in front of them. Marrow and Shadow also made surprised squeaks while Atlas started barking at the pokemon.

The group was now face to face with a gengar that was floating slightly above the ground. It stuck its tongue out at the group and Jackson could tell this pokemon wouldn’t be moving out of their way without a fight.

“Atlas, use dark pulse!” Jackson shouted to his noctyena. He knew the dark type move would be more effective against a ghost type pokemon. The pokemon also had a lot more training than Marrow and Shadow, who were currently hiding behind their trainer’s legs.

Atlas immediately began to execute the move as he took a battle stance. As he concentrated a glowing purple orb began to appear in front of him. It took a few seconds for the orb to become large enough but when it did Atlas sent it straight towards the attacking pokemon. The gengar let out a cry and was sent flying back a few feet as it bounced against the ground. However, the wild pokemon wasn’t done fighting yet.

The ghost type pokemon bounced back up and immediately began to launch into an attack. The gengar used shadow punch as it launched itself towards Atlas, its stubby arm extended. Atlas tried to move out of the way but wasn’t quite fast enough as the move collided with his flank. The pokemon shook out her fur as he waited for the next command.

“Okay, use dark pulse again!” Jackson called out. Atlas executed the move perfectly again, sending a large purple orb flying towards the gengar. It hit right on target as it collided with the gengar’s midsection. The gengar flew backwards onto the ground, but this time wasn’t getting up to launch another attack. Now knocked out, the gengar wouldn’t be back up for a while.

“Nicely done.” The trainer praised his pokemon. Marrow and Shadow stepped forward now that the coast was clear. The smaller pokemon inspected the gengar curiously with Shadow even reaching forward to poke the wild pokemon.

“We better keep moving.” Jackson said as he stepped on the gengar and began to continue onwards. The appearance of the gengar supported his theory that the “haunting” was caused by some ghost type pokemon. Still, this didn’t bring them any closer to actually getting out of the maze. There was also still the entire mansion that they had left to explore.

The group was still on high alert as they resumed walking through the maze. With each turn Jackson was only becoming more afraid that they were totally lost. With the constant shifting there was no way for him to make any kind of map or otherwise keep track of where they had walked. He knew that the only option was to keep going.

After walking another hour the group still hadn’t found anything, with each minute feeling increasingly long. Just when Jackson was beginning to wonder if they would ever be able to escape the maze he spotted something ahead that made him hopeful. “That’s gotta be the exit!” He called out and the trainer’s pace quickened as he jogged towards the now visible gap in the hedges. Beyond the gap he could see the rest of the garden and the mansion.

Jackson was filled with relief as he officially stepped foot outside of the maze, Atlas at his side while Marrow and Shadow raced over just a few seconds later. As the trainer was catching his breath and taking in the fact that they were actually free the gap in front of them vanished. The exit was now gone.

“Well we are not going back in there. Ever.” He grumbled with a sigh as he pulled out his holopad. Jackson then let out a long groan of frustration as he realized he currently couldn’t get  any signal to his holopad. “Great, this place somehow messes with the internet too.”

Jackson turned around to look at the mansion. Despite the time they had spent in the maze the sun seemed to be at the same place in the sky, making him wonder how much time had actually passed. “Time to keep going, I guess.” He said to his pokemon. Atlas was confident and ready for more action while the two ghost type pokemon seemed more apprehensive. Jackson thought they could probably pick up on some things about the mansion that he and Atlas couldn’t.

Still, their mission was clear as they began to head up the large marble stairs leading to the mansion’s entrance. The wooden doors began to creak open slowly as the entrance way became visible. This wasn’t at all comforting considering Jackson hadn’t even touched the door.