[ Lavender Tower ]

At the top of Lavender Tower, Scizor dodged past the White hand's punch as Pikachu on Scizor's back released a thunderbolt towards the manus of an amalgamated cadaver.

White Hand froze mind air as the smell of burnt flesh made Scizor and Pikachu hold their nostrils.

( ~ Whoosh ~ )

The shadows parted as a giant claw grabbed onto Scizor's metallic abdomen.

Pikachu glared at the eerie smile on the shiny Haunter's face.

White feathers shot out from somewhere in the sky catching the shiny alpha pokémon off guard as the feathers seemed to appear from all directions.

Just what is going on?

Haunter thought with a frown as Buried Alive's seal on his soul caused him to lash out violently.

Dark energy gathered around Haunter's claws but unlike before this energy was much more chaotic. This amplification was caused by the life orb dangling around Haunter's neck.

Haunter looked at the pokemon who were charging up their attacks toward him.

Escape.

Escape.

Escape.

Haunter was barely able to speak as he tried to warn these Pokemons.

Please escape or it will enslave you.

Haunter had a melancholic look in his eyes as he launched a gigantic claw-like wave of dark energy at Scizor and Pikachu while thinking.

Just what would you have done in my situation, Ethan?

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[ Roughly eight decades ago…]

"I do not understand, Ethan, what good would it do to leave the territory when you have the perfect haven to become a ghost master?" The elder man looked at his only son with apprehension. "You may think that you ran away, but in truth, we allowed you to travel all across Kanto to give you a taste of the life outside our haven so that you might realize the futility of your beliefs. We never anticipated that you would get lost in your delusions."

Ethan, now nineteen, simply looked away. He was tired of the rigid laws and traditions that his father, Artemis Ainsworth, upheld with great faith. Over the centuries, the House of Ainsworth had produced some of the most powerful and accomplished Ghost Masters in Kanto and the surrounding regions, so much that the name Ainsworth had come to be associated with mastery in ghost types. However, it was also true that the accomplishments dated over several generations, and there seemed to be an acute shortage of such accomplishments over the last three generations.

"I am only trying to stand up to the Ainsworth name, father." He replied, pride filling his voice. "We have stagnated, and we need to change in the coming times. We cannot just pretend that the world is all the same."

"Hah!" The sixty-ish man laughed. "If one also changes with the changing world, then how will one know that the times have changed?"

Ethan rolled his eyes. He had left Lavender Town back when he was fourteen, with his Gastly who was born with the monster gene - who had, through training, effort, and experience, evolved into a formidable Alpha Haunter. He and Haunter had faced the Draconids of the east, the Blackthorns, the Wataru people, the Caucasians, and the ice-people of the north. He and Haunter had grown in their self-imposed exile from home, learning, experiencing, and growing.

And now he was back for more of his family's residents to experience the larger world outside. He had… simply not estimated the true breadth of the situation.

"You ran away, dreamy-eyed like that, stayed out of communication for years, married that little skank from the Bavarian cliff-"

"Her name is Emily, and she's my wife. I'd request you not call her that." Ethan growled.

"Ha!" Artemis laughed. "As if some fisherwoman would ever become the lady of our elevated name. Admit it, Ethan… you have made many mistakes, but this is the end of it. I will not allow anyone to muddy the Ainsworth name to suit their foolish fantasies, not even my heir." The man's eyes shone crimson red. "I thought yourself capable of listening to proper advice, but it seems that won't be. I will have to show you the error of your ways, no matter if you want to accept the truth or not."

Almost instantly, something large and powerful gripped Ethan in behind, as two crimson eyes glowed in the darkness behind him—said creature's powerful claws gripping his shoulders, squeezing them to the point of hurting.

"Caesar." Ethan almost whimpered, as Caesar—his father's Haunter, began to slowly manipulate the ambient ghostly energies that Ethan's body had soaked over the entire time he had lived at the mansion, making the young man whimper in agony. "Father, tell him to stop."

"He will stop when you realize that I am the head of the Ainsworth name and that you are duty-bound to follow my orders." The man barked. "Caesar, bring him in."

But Ethan had other ideas, like managing to push his elbow into one of the Apricorn devices he had managed to acquire from a craft smith in the Canyon, in which pokémon could be stored for short intervals of time so that they could rest when injured. Sadly, the devices were quite fragile, despite being handy. So it was no surprise that the Apricorn ball fell from his robes to the ground, shattering into several pieces, as a dense cloud of dust and venomous gases shot out of them, condensing furiously into the form of a Haunter.

"Sylvi", Ethan yelled, letting out another whimper as Caesar's grip tightened, drawing blood. "Defend me."

The Alpha Haunter, let out a cackle, as her ominous eyes stared at Caesar, as the female ghost stared at her father after so many moons, before pushing herself with a gust of otherworldly energy, enough to push Caesar away from Ethan, slamming him through the walls, passing through them as if they were simply nothing… much to Artemis's apprehension.

"Sylvi…." The man muttered, "The one born from Caesar's fumes… wasn't it? That Gastly joined you on your foolish endeavor. How… serendipitous."

"And she has grown out of her father's dominion." Ethan returned, as he spotted Sylvi grabbing Caesar against the floor, trying to suffocate him through Miasma, a technique the Ainsworths were famous for. Ethan had only developed and refined the technique further to make it much more lethal and devastating. "As have I."

"The little dog has finally learned to growl, I see."

"No. You are simply hearing it for the first time."

Artemis stood in his place. "I suppose I am." His fists clenched. "I will, however, not accept any lowborn as part of my family. If you wish to continue with your woman and your foolish endeavors, then you are no longer my kin. Neither that woman nor your future offspring shall ever become an Ainsworth, not until I am alive."

Ethan however, was no longer listening, as he pulled out two more Apricorn balls out of his robes, the very same ones in which he had captured two Gastly he had found loitering inside his old room, wanting to take them with him in his journey.

"In that case, I declare that I captured two Gastly from the Mansion, Lord Ainsworth." He replied formally, raising the Apricorn balls, not noticing the surprised glance his father gave him. I need no further aid from my ancestry. I assure you, you will never hear from me… ever again."

He turned towards Sylvi. "Come on, Sylvi."

The Haunter in question, reformed back into her corporeal self, before positioning herself behind his shoulder. Without another word, Ethan and Sylvi walked down the steps of the mansion, much unaware of the look of complete shock in Artemis's eyes.

"…."

" Eth…." Artemis croaked... "Did my son just desert me, Caesar?"

Caesar just stared at the duo walking away from the Ainsworth mansion, his crimson eyes glowing ominously.

" Well, he will return. They all do, freedom isn't in the fate of the Ainsworth family. He is will return one day and fulfill his duty."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Sylvi, the alpha shiny haunter didn't understand the family head's words back then as she traveled the sea with her trainer.

But as the years would go by, her trainer would mature in such a way that it almost felt unnatural as if destiny had made it so that her trainer would go back to the place that made Ethan Ainsworth feel as if he was a caged bird.

Then he fulfilled his destiny as he died sealing away the evil.

This was his fate which could never be changed.

Sylvi who had unfortunately been enslaved by Buried Alive knew that it was fate for her trainer to die, it was fate for herself to be enslaved and it was fate for those pokemons to die at her hands.

For everything was in the hands of fate.

People boasted that fate can be changed.

Haunter snorted at that notion.

Fate could never be changed.

And that was an absolute fact.

Haunter's eyes closed as she didn't want to watch another pokemon die at her hands.

( ~ 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗠 ~ )