A couple lit lanterns swing gently in the night breeze.

They illuminate a towering wooden door, proportionate to the giant house it leads into. You can hear it creak every so often... even though no one's touched it yet.

"Cool."

"Creepy."

The two say simultaneously, I'm sure you can guess who said what.

They approach the door slowly, stopping before the front porch.

"We could just camp out here," Dawn suggests while her eyes dart all over.

"No need to worry right?" Ash grabs her hand but she won't move any further.

"This is someone's house, we can't just show up in the middle of the night," She tries to reason.

Ash gestures to the house's features. The overgrown ivy, window frames falling part, general abandonment.

"But the light," Dawn points to the only thing allowing them to see each other.

"Ghosts maybe," Ash shrugs.

"Ghosts don't exist."

"Then there's nothing to be afraid of," Ash smiles and pulls her towards the house.

She holds on tight on the wooden boards bend and creak beneath them.

"Hello?!" Ash yells as he knocks on the door.

Dawn scowls at him but stops when the door opens.

Except no one opened the door.

They're hit with a wave of a dusty smell, like the house hasn't been opened up in years. Which could be true.

"The ghosts have welcomed us," Ash jokes.

"Shut up," Dawn frowns, still not letting go.

They step in and a 'click' goes off.

Then a light turns on.

And another.

And another.

Ash and Dawn's heads try to follow every one but stop themselves before they twist their necks. Instead they take in the mansion.

Lights flicker softly on the walls, bright enough to show the old paintings on the walls and maroon wallpaper. Still dim enough to cast a warm orange glow instead of more modern lighting.

Two giant staircases sit in the middle, leading to unknown above them. The red carpet leads to four rooms connected to the lobby, including the two staircases as well. A fancy yellow pattern separates the carpet and the dark wooden flooring.

Shinx and Piplup jump off of their trainers and in front like the protectors they are. The two Pokemon take the responsibility of leading the group through the lobby.

"What room should we explore first?" Ash asks the Pokemon.

"Explore? No Ash," The girl huffs and lets go of his hand. "We came here to rest and I am perfectly content in this fully lit up room."

...

Darkness.

"This is going to be awesome," Ash exclaims. "Us vs you ghosts!"

Dawn stands there a little freaked out but more confused by the boy's enthusiasm.

Eerie silence overcomes the lobby.

Suddenly another room's lights turn on, drawing Ash in like a moth.

"Let's go!" Ash yells and runs towards the next room with Shinx running after him.

Dawn watches him leave without her.

And now she's frozen in place.

"Ghosts don't exist," She mutters to herself. "Ghosts don't exist."

She grabs out a flashlight. "Maybe there's a bed somewhere Piplup, or a portal out of this place."

Dawn starts up the stairs groggily, the fatigue catching up to her.

Ash, however, was just shot out of a gun.

The room he ran into was the dining room.

A long table, formally set, fills the room with its expensive cloths and fine dishes. One thing Is different than your average mansion dining room though.

The dishes and utensils are floating.

And at the end of the room is a ghost.

A ghost Pokémon of course, and one Ash knows from his home region.

Gastly.

Purple gas surrounds its sharp two eyes, a denser sphere contains them, giving some resemblance of a body. But Gastly is 95% gas... basically a ghost.

"Ready Shinx?" Ash has a playful smile on his face. "You're on Gastly!"

The ghost Pokemom Floats around the dining room with a big mischievous grin on its face. It watches as the trainer-Pokémon pair runs towards it.

Except it knows they won't get far.

Suddenly the pearly white plates rise into the air. A whizzing sound fills the air as the first one shoots towards Ash.

"Spark!" Shinx sends a bolt of electricity that deflects the plate away.

Disappointed by the quick deflection, Gastly turns off the lights.

"Uh oh," Ash mutters as a glowing plate flies through the darkness at him.

Luckily he trips over a chair and the plate flies over his head as he falls.

Gastly's laugh echoes through the room.

Ash gets right back up and begins a cycle of dodging plates, tripping over chairs, and avoiding getting a knife in the eye. And it continues until Shinx runs out of electricity and a salad bowl slams him into the wall.

Shinx cries out and the lights fly on.

A concerned Gastly flies towards Shinx. It lifts the bowl off of the electric type in pain.

Ash runs and kneels beside his Pokémon, sweat dripping off his forehead.

Shinx shakes his head, ready to keep going.

"Thanks for stopping," Ash says to Gastly. "I think we went a bit overboard with the game."

"Gass," It frowns sadly.

"How about a different game?" Ash takes Gastly's grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You know, this place is kinda cool," Dawn admires the old oil paintings and expensive decor. "Don't tell Ash though."

"Pip lup," The water type crosses his heart with his tiny flipper.

The hallway lights flicker dimly.

"If only the electricity wasn't so messed up," Dawn keeps her flashlight waving around.

"Missssss."

"What?" Dawn spins around but her light reveals nothing but the hallway. "Piplup I'm not going crazy right?"

"Piii," The Pokémon doesn't give a straight answer.

"Thanks," She rolls her eyes.

Dawn continues carefully, reaching a bedroom.

She peeks in.

"voussssss."

She freezes.

"U-uh hello friendly ghost?" So much for not believing in ghosts.

A small desk lamp turns on revealing a beautiful canopy bed. The room almost looks royal with its maroon, burgundy and beige theme.

That's not what has Dawn's attention though.

Racks of clothes line one side of the room, mostly dresses. There's all sorts of patterns, colours, and styles. Dawn's fashion side is in heaven.

She goes to start looking through them but a big set of eyes appears right in front of her.

"AHH," Dawn shrieks and steps back.

The Pokemon's eyes sadden and it begins to turn around.

Dawn studies the Pokémon after her tiny freak out ends. It is dark bluish-green and ghost-like and its lower half has several small appendages and resembles a ruffled dress. A red gem necklace wraps around its neck and it also has long, flowing lilac-tipped "hair".

"Wait!" Dawn says before the Pokémon flies away. "I'm sorry for freaking out, I was too focused on the dresses."

"Misdreavous?" The Pokémon turns around, allowing Dawn to scan it.

"I like your necklace," She smiles. "It's really pretty."

Misdreavous twirls around happily before diving into the rack of dresses.It rummages through for a bit, giving Dawn time to read her Poketch.

"Misdreavous," Dawn reads. "Ghost type obviously, it loves to sneak up on people late at night, then startle them with its shriek-like cry."

The Pokémon brings out a light blue dress with white ribbons flowing down the front. "Misdreavous?"

"For me?" Dawn asks and it nods. "But isn't this someone's dress?"

Misdreavous shakes her head.

"Well thank you," Dawn smiles and takes the dress. "Maybe I'll wear it in my next contest... If we ever get out of this forest of course."

"Mis?!" The Pokémon gets right up to Dawn's face again.

"Uhh," Dawn steps back startled again. "You know what a contest is?"

Misdreavous nods while smiling and flying around the room.

"Maybe you should come with us then?" Dawn holds out a pokeball. "I have lots of dresses to show you."

And just like that, Dawn caught a ghost.

"I guess Ash was right," Dawn smiles at the pokeball. "This house isn't all that bad."

The lights go off again.

"Someone take me to whoever controls these damn lights!" Dawn yells.

A hallway light flickers.

Then the next one flickers.

And the next.

But not the one after.

Dawn travels as far as the light goes, leading her to a closed door.

Through the crack she can see a faint light, it brightens and dims randomly.

Like a television.

Dawn slowly opens the door, peeking around to see every inch of the room she uncovers.

But it's empty except for a single box tv.

The screen is a wave of grey and white, static filling Dawn's ears.

Dawn stares at the television, as if waiting for something to- "Ah!"

A bright orange face with plain blue eyes sends Dawn backward yet again.

The tv buzzes and Dawn blinks trying to regain her vision.

Her eyes focus and the image becomes more clear.

"Are you a Pokémon?" She asks staring at the orange blob jump around the screen with two lightening bolts like arms.

"Bzzzz Yes zzzzz I zzzz Am zzz Rotom zzz," The television, or I guess Rotom says.

"Are you playing with the lights?"

Rotom's image nods.

"Do you know where my friend Ash is?"

Rotom nods again.

"Wanna play a trick on him?"

Rotom gets the mischievous grin all ghost types seem to have.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Welcome to the team Duskull," Ash gives a thumbs up to another new ghost type Pokémon.

Duskull looks exactly how it sounds. It has a skull head with a red orb inside that glows, while a grey ghostly hood covers a majority of the skull. It also has a bone symbol on the back of its hood.

"Okay so the plan is--" Ash is stopped by the hallway's lights flickering like crazy.

Even the two ghost Pokémon are looking around frantically.

The lights stop.

Ash stands in the darkness confused.

And then something brushes his ankles.

"AHH!" He exclaims and the lights flash back on brighter than ever.

Ash, now blinded, flails around until he falls on his back with a hard thump.

He lays there dazed.

But then a familiar face stands above him with her pretty eyes.

"Pretty," Ash mumbles coming to reality.

"Man you must've fallen hard," Dawn laughs. "Was someone a scared Starly?"

"Dawn?" Ash sits up confused. "Wha-how?"

"While you were busy abandoning me, I made some friends," She huffs. "And we are the ultimate scarers."

"This is a different Dawn then the one a couple hours ago," Ash laughs.

"I am an honorary ghost now," She proclaims and Rotom buzzes around her head in agreement.

"I guess," Ash smiles. "This was a lot of fun."

"I agree," Dawn smiles at the ghost types around them. "But I really want to sleep."

"Me too," Ash yawns.

The mansion Pokémon lead them to the same bedroom Dawn met Misdreavous.

"There's only--" The door closes.

Ash and Dawn hear the Pokémon laughing as they run down the hallway, Shinx and Piplup included.

"Think they locked the door?" Dawn asks.

"Probably," Ash laughs. "But bed is bed so let's go to sleep."

"Did you just invite me to sleep with you? After abandoning me in a haunted mansion?" Dawn pretends to act hurt.

"No not like that... I'm sorry," Ash panics and begins to sit up in the bed.

"I'm joking," Dawn rolls her eyes and lays beside him. "I am going to bring it up the rest of our journey together though."

"Of course," Ash chuckles and takes off his hat.

Both of them lay under the covers now unable to sleep.

Both of them secretly wish the bed wasn't so big.

But baby steps.

"Ash?" Dawn breaks the silence, turning over in the bed to face him.

He turns over too. "What's up?"

"How are you feeling? Like you were unable to walk before your gym battle."

"I was able to walk you just wouldn't let me," He chuckles.

"Oh right."

"Dawn?"

"Yea?"

"Thank you."

"For?"

"Keeping me alive."

"It's tough but you're welcome."

The two laugh and stare into each other's eyes.

So much they want to say to each other.

And they fall asleep.

_______________________

Little less than four months this time lol

Some Pokémon, Some pearl.

I hope you enjoyed the lighthearted chapter....

Thanks for reading and cya next time!