The Haunted Mansion

As Hu Yang debated whether to go to Fallarbor Town or Lavaridge Town, something major happened at the school.

Three students had gone missing in Petalburg Woods.

"What happened?" Erika asked gravely as she hurried over.

"Xiao Ye said there was a haunted Mansion in the forest, and he took us there to explore. Everything was fine on the way, but when we turned around, he, Xiao Liang, and Xiao Cheng were gone..." The boy speaking looked terrified.

He was so frightened that he failed to explain several details clearly. Nishida Gang, who had arrived earlier, explained:

"Six boys entered the forest after school this afternoon to prove they weren't scaredy-cats. Only three came back. The other three have vanished without a trace."

For a moment, Erika did not know what to say. She asked, "Did you hear anything strange when they disappeared?"

The boy shook his head, panic written all over his face. "They just suddenly disappeared. The three of them were walking behind us, and when we turned around, there was nothing there."

"What do we do?" Nishida Gang asked.

Students going missing was no small matter, and the forest was dangerous at night. Erika took a deep breath and said, "Inform Officer Jenny. We'll organize the teachers capable of fighting and search the forest first."

By the time Hu Yang heard about it, the teachers had already begun organizing a rescue operation on their own.

Hearing words like "Mansion" and "haunted," a strange expression appeared on his face.

Petalburg Woods, a haunted Mansion...

Wasn't this part of the plot from the Pokémon ROM hack, Dark Phantom?

There had been no such setting in the original work. More accurately, it was a plotline added by Dark Phantom's creator.

The Mansion was haunted because it housed a large number of Ghost-type Pokémon.

Thinking of this, Hu Yang found Officer Jenny, who was in charge of the matter, and said, "This may not be an ordinary missing-person case. There may be Ghost-type Pokémon causing trouble in the forest."

Officer Jenny was taken aback when she saw him. "Why are you here?"

Hu Yang: "..."

At those words, he immediately realized that she was the Officer Jenny who had registered his identity back then.

"I work here," Hu Yang explained.

This was obviously not the time for small talk. He reported the possibility to Officer Jenny, and her expression immediately turned much more serious.

"Thank you for the information," she said. "We'll keep it in mind!"

However, the information did not help their operation. Instead, several Officer Jennys and teachers accompanied by Growlithe were lost as well.

"What do we do? What do we do..." Officer Jenny paced back and forth anxiously nearby.

Each police station had only a limited number of Growlithe. The Officer Jennys who had entered the forest had lost contact along with their Growlithe.

Without Growlithe, the Jennys outside could not use scent detection to track their exact location.

If the Mansion truly existed, it could not have appeared only a day or two ago.

Hu Yang thought for a moment and asked, "Haven't you encountered similar missing-person cases before?"

"Of course we have," Officer Jenny replied. "Every year, some people go missing in the forest. Some are attacked by wild Pokémon, some get lost on their own... Wait, are you saying those cases are related to this one?"

Hu Yang: "...I never said that. Besides, those are two different things."

But thinking about it carefully, disappearances were quite normal in this world. If a weak Trainer angered a powerful Pokémon in the wilderness, the result awaiting them would be total annihilation.

Or they might run into some evil organization and get kidnapped to mine coal at Blackheart Coal Mine.

Just like Blue, Silver, and the others who had been abducted by the Masked Man in the manga special and raised from childhood.

He sighed and said, "I may be able to help."

"What?" Officer Jenny froze for a moment.

The anxious teachers nearby and the parents of the missing children all looked over as well.

A man dressed like an elite Trainer rushed over. A missing son was a severe blow to any parent. Forgetting all about his status, he grabbed Hu Yang's hand and pleaded:

"Please, save Xiao Cheng! As long as you can do it, I'll give you anything you want!"

Hu Yang pulled his hand away. "Calm down first. I'll do everything I can to help."

He remembered Xiao Cheng. He was a boy from another class, cheerful by nature, and his favorite Pokémon were strong, sturdy ones like Onix.

Only after hearing that did the father calm down a little.

Hu Yang considered it, then said to Officer Jenny, who was waiting for his answer, "But I'm not sure whether this method will work."

Officer Jenny furrowed her brow. "That's alright. We can only give it a try now."

Hu Yang nodded and returned to his dormitory to retrieve the jewel containing Gengar's sealed soul.

"This is..." Officer Jenny was taken aback as she watched Gengar suddenly float out.

"My companion," Hu Yang said. "Gengar."

Gengar swept a cold glance around the people present and muttered, "I'll help, but you owe me one more thing!"

Hu Yang: "...What do you want?"

Gengar said, "I'll tell you after I think of it."

"No murder or arson," Hu Yang said. "But I can buy you a gift."

Gengar muttered speechlessly, "It's not like I asked you to do that. Why do you think I'm such a bad person?"

Hu Yang: "...Because aside from you, every Ghost-type Pokémon I've seen does things like scaring humans and kidnapping them." Some even drained humans of their life energy.

"They are them, and I am me!" Gengar said unhappily.

"Alright, alright." Hu Yang said, "Little cutie Gengar, can you help us with this?"

At that form of address, Gengar's face turned red again. "I can. If it's like you said, just take me there. I can help you find the real path."

At those words, everyone present could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

As Gengar's current "master," Hu Yang naturally had to go along as well.

But he never did dangerous things alone. Thus, at his insistence, Officer Jenny assembled a squad of Jennys, each accompanied by well-trained Pokémon, and entered the forest together.

Protected in the middle by more than a dozen Officer Jennys, Hu Yang suddenly felt safer than ever before.

"This is where they disappeared," one of the teachers who had come along said.

Gengar looked around, then pointed toward a large tree. "There."

Officer Jenny was taken aback. "There's no path there."

Hu Yang explained, "Some Ghost-type Pokémon can confuse human vision. What you see may not necessarily be real."

What one saw with one's own eyes was not always the truth.

In horror movie terms, this was probably the Pokémon version of walking into a ghostly maze, wasn't it?

One Officer Jenny walked over after hearing that and reached out. Sure enough, her arm passed straight through the tree.

A delighted expression appeared on her face. "It really works!"

The leader of the Jenny squad, the senior Officer Jenny, waved her hand and ordered, "Move forward!"