The Ghost in the Haunted House

Ring, ring, ring!

Suddenly, a rhythmic ringing sounded inside the house.

"Mis!"

Misdreavus immediately cried out in delight.

Dian stood up at once, an odd look on his face. "Customers at this hour? Probably more weirdos."

Instead of working during the week, they had come to a haunted house looking for thrills. What else could they be but weirdos?

Still, true to his professional philosophy of fleecing whoever he could, Dian immediately headed to the front desk to greet the customers.

As soon as he stepped out, he saw a pair of mohawks, one red and one white.

A man and a woman pursuing "fashion" stood at the entrance. The man's hair was white, as though he had just finished painting a wall.

The woman's red hair stood straight up, making quite a striking impression.

"Boss? One ticket."

The white-haired man rested one hand against his forehead and bent his right leg slightly, striking a cool pose.

"One?"

Dian pointed at the Red-Haired Woman beside him. "Isn't she going in?"

"Boss, Kuya is part of my life. We're one."

The white-haired man shook his head without changing his pose.

Dian silently pointed at the visitor guidelines beside them.

"This establishment charges anything that breathes. Even one person with two heads has to pay for both."

The manager of Dubayic had established this rule after learning the hard way. It was meant to stop Pokémon such as Exeggutor from blatantly dodging admission fees and squeeze an extra ticket out of them.

After reading it, Dian thought it was only natural that this place had gone out of business. Staying open would have been the strange part.

"Uh..."

The white-haired man was dumbfounded. He had never known a business could pull something like that. What an eye-opener.

"How about this, boss? This is a haunted house, right?"

Kuya walked over and blew him a kiss. "If you can scare me and Yage, we'll pay for four people. If you can't, we get in free. How does that sound?"

A gleam flashed in Dian's eyes.

Smack!

"OK!"

He slapped the desk and immediately agreed.

Making extra cash right out in the open—who could beat that?

Yage and Kuya exchanged smiles, certain of their victory. Haunted houses didn't have real ghosts. As long as they held firm to that belief, a few props would be useless.

Dian glanced at Misdreavus hiding nearby and held up two fingers.

Misdreavus took one look and hurried into the Haunted House.

Watching the two walk inside, Dian's lips curled slightly.

Those two were probably haunted house regulars—people who went around undermining businesses in the industry. They had likely come here with another purpose in mind.

But Dian had been waiting for people like them. Ordinary visitors really couldn't withstand Misdreavus's scares.

That was right: he had made a bet with Misdreavus. If the people he chose could withstand her attempts to scare them, and she could then frighten them under his guidance, Misdreavus would become his Pokémon.

Conversely, if the people he chose were frightened by Misdreavus, he would teach her everything he knew about scaring people. It was best of three; whoever won twice first would win the bet.

When Dian proposed it, he hadn't actually been sure Misdreavus would agree. From what he remembered, the most orthodox way to catch a Pokémon seemed to be defeating it in battle, then catching it.

Another way was for the older generation to raise one and pass it down to the next. Of course, Ash had also gained plenty of Pokémon by winning their hearts, but Dian certainly didn't think he possessed Ash's tremendous charisma.

Yet Misdreavus had agreed after only a moment's hesitation, which gave Dian a flash of understanding.

This was a real world. Catching a Pokémon meant earning its recognition, whether through strength, intelligence, or even character. As long as the Pokémon itself was willing, that counted as catching it.

Dian went to the changing room nearby, put on a costume, and followed them inside. He was very curious about how Misdreavus would try to scare those two this time.

He had won the last round. If he won this one too, he would truly have a Pokémon of his own—and an extremely rare Ghost-type at that.

Yage and Kuya walked through the entrance, snuggled up against each other.

The moment they entered, the light dimmed. A red lamp overhead began blinking on and off.

Old stone slabs lined the floor, cracks running through them. Beside the path, wisps of black smoke occasionally puffed out as the light flashed.

"Heh, heh, heh."

Strange laughter sounded incessantly.

Yage glanced at an evil ghost prop beside them and privately assessed it. "Decently made, but it lacks originality."

Beside him, Kuya yawned, looking thoroughly uninterested.

Hidden in the shadows, Dian quietly observed them. Yage looked like he had visited plenty of haunted houses and had ample experience. He examined every prop without showing the slightest fear.

Kuya, meanwhile, probably didn't believe in ghosts at all, which was why she wasn't afraid. Someone like her was harder to handle than Yage.

After making his assessment, Dian immediately set aside his worries. These two were clearly beyond the ability of a novice like Misdreavus to frighten.

"Whooo..."

Sure enough, Misdreavus poked out and blew a breath at each of them.

Yage looked around warily. Finding nothing unusual, he was a little surprised. That effect was quite well concealed.

He didn't connect it to a Ghost-type Pokémon right away. After all, why would anyone who owned a Pokémon work in a haunted house? Besides, what haunted house would spend a fortune hiring a Ghost-type Pokémon Trainer? The cost would outweigh the benefit.

Most people visited haunted houses just for fun, after all. Who would actually want to come face-to-face with a ghost?

Smack!

"Yage, if you try getting handsy with me again, you'd better watch out..."

Kuya clenched her fists, a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

"It wasn't me, Kuya!"

Yage dropped his posing and said with a wry smile, "It must be one of the haunted house's tricks."

"Really..."

Kuya eyed the pathetic white-haired man in front of her doubtfully.

"Mis!"

At that moment, Misdreavus saw an opening. She reached out, grabbed Kuya's red hair, and began tugging hard.

Watching this, Dian silently shook his head. Scaring people was about building an atmosphere of terror, drawing them in little by little, dismantling their psychological defenses, and then delivering the final, decisive blow.

Misdreavus was still too inexperienced. Coming on too strong at the start would only backfire. Sometimes, pain could drive the fear out of people's minds and reinforce their psychological defenses, making them harder to scare.

Sure enough, Kuya frowned and immediately flew into a rage. "You don't hit someone in the face, and you don't ruin their hair! You've gone too far, Yage!"

She swung her hand.

Smack.

The right side of Yage's face immediately swelled. Clutching his cheek, he grew angry too and started arguing with Kuya. "I already told you it wasn't me! You—!"

"Look around! Who else is here besides you?"

Kuya snorted coldly and assumed the third stance of women's self-defense. "Come on, then, if you've got the guts!"

Yage immediately swallowed his anger, not daring to protest. He huffed and said nothing more.