A Ghastly Rescue

[Saryuu Evan]

It was a time after the entire investigation around town that Saryuu had been silent, wondering what would happen now that he knows the information of this strange cult. However, in-between, his mind was stuck on the mysterious individual and his departure from Erde Nona, but something didn't feel right in the pit of his stomach, even while he would be outside of the inn, watching the sun traverse across the calm skies.

He needed a bit of time away from Beta's antics as Fei was busy with other things and the little Espurr was back at the inn resting.

For as much as the albino didn't understand, it liked being around him and he wondered for awhile, only to shake his head. The fact was that he needed somewhat of a break and that's that, just call it the calm before the storm or whatever, because it was all the same regardless.

As he would be walking down the streets, he kept to himself while passing the lighter crowds around various locations within the city, silent, observant and making sure of a few more things to tie up before he would head off. Now he thinks about it, the truth was that he never has been off planet before so whatever was in store for him, he better be ready for what's ahead especially when he isn't sure what Markov would have but the good news of its restoration would help him out immensely.

Unlike earlier, his goggles were now hanging around his lower neck as he would need a break from it being around his head for awhile as that has been causing a bit of a headache for him to handle with. Additionally, it was regardless messing around with his white spiked hair to which he especially didn't like that at all.

Before long, he would eventually reach a point in the town square before he would sit down and rest on a wooden bench underneath a tree, providing him shade from the sunlight, only to cross his arms and lay back against it for just a bit. Just something, anything, to help him clear his mind of anything bugging him for even the slightest of moments, just screaming for a moment of peace.

A shake of his head.

Though, then again, nothing is truly done because who knows? Someone or something could arrive at his location and beg him for help right and now of all things, however, he seemed to be adjusting to this routine especially when he wanted to keep busy.

Another sigh.

The truth was, he didn't ask to do hero stuff but it felt like that he has to do something especially now since Beta is watching both him and Fei on their reformation so he had little choice.

Though, he didn't want to let the Crossroads be destroyed or anything, he just wanted to be himself, powers and all, without being judged, though something like that possibly couldn't be that simple.

However, is that too much to ask? Maybe, maybe not, who knows and who cares.

Regardless of the circumstances, he had to be prepared even if it's from the likes of a normie, refugee or nor, as before long, he would lower his head for a bit, slightly tilting it before he focused on looking to the people around. Atleast he could somewhat tolerate the people around here, somewhat, being the key word but whatever, however, in the midst of him thinking, he would take the time to tune himself out from his surroundings.

He was more or so focused in his own world as he would eventually close his eyes and cross his legs after a bit, just blanking out. In fact, some would say that he was sleeping even!

As he rested, his expression softened just a bit from annoyance to calmness over time even when the breeze of the calm day would pass by him, swaying his hair and somewhat of his clothes just a bit.

The breeze was warm, soft even, and with the following of the light filtering down from the foliage above him, it was ideal. Though, just a few minutes wouldn't hurt and after all, this would help him out to pass the time especially though, there was a time limit. It was going on but he wasn't all too concerned about it especially when he has the information with him because it was clearly easy to get information by interrogating.

Well, in his own way, to interrogate that was. When he wants something, he takes it regardless.

Even so, a part of him now wondered about the other oddities the Crossroads has to toss at him and the others and he was more or so eager to know so doing something like helping people was a fair tradeoff for an adventure, right? Yeah, sounds like about it, however, just for now, he's taking his time.

Right now, he was going to let his worries fade and rest, everything is going to work out in the end so why even worry? After all, the sounds of the people, creatures and the likes of a nearby fountain or two, yes, surely this is the most ideal of places to be at.

However, while serene and calm, what could possibly go wrong with this? That was something that evaded the albino as he honestly didn't know as either it would come to him or he go to it and the truth was that so far, it was more or so, him going to find out on his own and that was the pattern that so far even since Beta appeared in the picture with them.

It was never ever the opposite.

He could question it all he liked but the fact was that he had to engage into doing the action, much like how he handled with all other choices he has dealt with in the past as a whole, regardless of it is a good or bad thing.

 

[Mewtwo]

With the warm breeze, the rustling of leaves of the tree Saryuu was sat under, it was no wonder that he would feel sleepy. Around him, minutes turned into hours and swiftly day turned into night as his sleep overtook him, and whisked him off to dreamland.

Or rather, nightmareland, because the dream that started as something seemingly normal, a standard morning in his family home - albeit tainted with the dark memories of his less-than-happy childhood - quickly turned into a nightmare. The visages of his supposed parents turned into monstrous grimaces, and they morphed and merged together into a monster of unfathomable size, that fixated its purple eyes on him and began attempting to eat him whole by slamming its face down. Each time he evaded its teeth, it tore a hole out of the dream world, nothing but black empty space, and its smoky black body grew larger the more it ate. Eventually, one misstep from him gave the monster an opening to grasp him in its enormous hand. It cackled with evil glee as it raised him off the ground, and brought him closer to its maw, ready to devour him and-

“No, Haunter! Bad Haunter! Stop it!”

A man’s angry voice tore apart the dream, and Saryuu found himself sitting beneath the tree where he’d fallen asleep. The sun was up high in the sky: in truth, only an hour or so had passed since he had sat down. Looming over him was a floating creature, deep purple and giving him a most mischievous smile, eerily similar to the monster he had just dreamt of, except it was much smaller.

It was then that the source of the shouting that had woken Saryuu up made itself known: “Bad Haunter! You can’t put people to sleep like that!” the man shouted as he covered the remaining distance between them and himself with a steady run, and smacked the floating creature upside the head. Or at least he tried, because his hand went straight through its body and all he got was a cackle for his troubles.

“Damnit, what am I gonna do with you… hey man, you okay?” the man then asked, squatting down to get a better look at Saryuu. “Looks like Haunter tried to eat your dreams… I’m sorry, I can’t get him to listen to me!” Now that he no longer had the sun behind him thanks to squatting down, Saryuu could see better who was talking to him: it was a middle-aged man in his fourties, a little heavy set perhaps, but with young eyes. The way he moved and talked also was not that of a man his age, but far younger. Still, the concern on his face was real.

As he talked, he fiddled with an orange-sized red and white ball in his hands, then tapped the purple creature - apparently named Haunter - with it. This time his hand did not pass through, but instead Haunter turned into a mass of red energy and the ball popped open just long enough to absorb that energy into itself. “You’re getting grounded for being mean”, the man declared to the ball in his hand, then put it away to extend that same hand to Saryuu in an offer to help him up.

“Hey, you wanna come with me?” he offered. “I’m not supposed to bring strangers home, but after Haunter’s munched on your dreams you might be feeling weird and stuff, and Momma’s got this special chocolate that’ll warm you back up, that I’m not allowed to bring with me cause she says I’ll just snack on it and ruin my appetite for dinner.”

 

[Saryuu Evan]

The fact that just happened definitely gave the albino a scare even though he denied that he was startled even though he fell off the bench with his heart pouncing alongside a wide eyed expression. It was more disturbing that his own dream or rather nightmare was being eaten and the after result has left a strange feeling, however the owner of the Haunter, he seemed reasonable though in his own terms, he was wary especially when his brow was knitted while he was looking to the other, attempting to calm down.

Deep sigh.

Eventually, the albino would reach over and grasped the other's hand as he got back up to his feet after what happened, briefly rubbing his head with his free hand, trying to make sense to what happened before he was offered something of an invitation. He's never gotten invited before so that was unexpected but at the same time, he was still in shock and still trying to get a grasp of things.

"I need a moment." he answered as he was trying to get his bearings and making sure nothing else was off before he looked back to the man, "Okay, before we get carried away, who are you and could you repeat the details of what was happening earlier? Sum it up in a sentence or something because I don't remember why I dozed off when I wasn't fully asleep. Just closed eyes, that's all."

He wasn't eager to rush into things without a second thought and is approaching this carefully, step by step.

 

[Mewtwo]

"Uhhhh, one sentence, that's hard dude", Claruce whined, but then hit his fist into his open palm. "Ohh, what about, hang on, I think I got this... right, Haunter? The purple ghost thingie? He ate your dreams, because that's what he does." He looked rather proud of himself for following Saryuu's request and 'summing it up in one sentence' as requested, even if it didn't help in the least. But, Claruce immediately broke the rule by beginning to ramble:

"I'm not sure how he does it, but Haunter can like, put people to sleep, right. Then he enters their mind with his weird magic power while they're asleep, like you, and he eats up their dreams. Like, chomp chomp munch, and they're gone. He can also eat other things but dreams are his favourite. I'm trying to train him to stop but he won't obey me. And in the meantime, my momma's found this chocolate recipe that really helps people who've had their dreams eaten, makes them feel better. So I'm taking you home, so she can give you some. Oh, and me, I'm Claruce! Claruce Kwaynte, that's me!"

Though the information he dumped on Saryuu was pretty much a one-to-one repeat of what he'd told him earlier, perhaps now the albino boy might be in a better mental state to process the explanation. Plus, Claruce was mindful of Saryuu's request to take a moment and gather his bearings, and didn't try to hurry him along to his mother's home.

 

[Saryuu Evan]

Taking into account of what Claruce told him, he wondered a bit however, now that Claruce introduced himself, he could rest assure and given Saryuu's circumstances, he still felt strange.

It wasn't the first time he felt weird because of the effects of these creatures. Though the fact that his mind was practically invaded like that, yeah, that doesn't paint a good picture of things especially when he was noted to keep outsiders out before. After all, he was once able to do that in case something like a telepath or something akin to that caused trouble for him as a whole and they would get shut out completely unless otherwise.

That was before he underwent something akin to- no, he didn't want to think about it as that would only bring up bad memories.

While he would keep to his friendly nature and holding back what was going on in the back of his mind, he nodded before he spoke,"Well, it's nice to meet you Claruce. My name is Saryuu and given my situation, by how it is, I'll join you on the way back to try this recipe."

Could he used his telepathy? He could but he wasn't feeling well as a result of his dream being eaten like that. It was almost if he was drained somewhat, it practically sapped off his psychic energy along with something else away and that wasn't good.

Maybe he could make an exception. Just hope Claruce wasn't lying as the albino was already skeptical enough of what's going on.

 

[Mewtwo]

"Saryuu? That's a really cool name! We all have boring names around here. So you're probably from further away, right? Ohh, maybe from Arcadia?" As skeptical as Saryuu might be, Claruce's joyous and energetic bearing was making it hard to think of him as malicious. Of course, he might just be a very good actor.

Given that the village hardly even qualified as that - it was a hamlet with perhaps twenty houses, plus the inn and a few commercial buildings - the walk to Claruce's home was a short one. The 'boy' called out to his mother with a loud yell as they came close, and an aged woman opened the door to meet them. "Oh, who's that now? A visitor?" she asked as she spotted Saryuu. "Pleased to meet you, young lady. I..." She hesitated, then adjusted her glasses and took a closer look. "Or is it a young man? You can't tell apart kids these days..."

"Ma, this is Saryuu, he's a visitor to the village. Saryuu, this is Martha, my mom. Uhm... right, ma, can you give Saryuu some chocolate?"

"Why on earth do you want our good brocade, boy? I've told you before, that only comes out when we have guests!"

"CHOCOLATE! Haunter attacked Saryuu this time."

"Oh, chocolate! If you'd stop whispering like that..." the older lady grumbled and turned around. "Well, come on in, you two. Lucky you, young man, I just finished baking."

"Sorry dude", Claruce said to Saryuu with an awkward smile. "Ma's a little deaf, but she refuses to admit it and get one of them hearing aids." He led Saryuu to a small but cozy living room, just in time to see Martha bringing out a freshly-baked chocolate cake. The smell filling the room was delicious, and it wasn't just the chocolate: there were yellow and purple pieces of fruit baked into the cake, whose scent felt revitalising, for lack of a better word. While the humans did not know their names, those were Sitrus and Chesto Berries which worked great together with the high-calorie chocolate to counter the effects of Haunter's powers.

 

[Saryuu Evan]

"Ah, some people say I'm from Cevanti and that so you know. Nothing big really." he casually replied to Claruce before he noticed the chocolate cake being brought out. It looked really good and given that it was fresh as well. "Though, your mom's pretty nice and I may want to tell her that I'm not a girl? Unless she catches on that I'm not or something but I'm not too bothered by it."

This was actually nice despite of the circumstances and the reason why but the smell of it was actually nice. In fact, he did say that if Saryuu was to eat some, it would help him out with recovery.

"So this is the legendary chocolate treat I heard about? Looks really good to the point that a certain someone would be jealous at the very whiff of it." he chuckled a bit in a teasing manner, subtly mentioning about Beta and how she would have a strong desire for sweets from time to time.

Well, it would be nice to try to be in good spirits despite of his situation.

"Though, what's in it? Is that a super special secret or something?" he asked with a tilt of his head. "I kinda smell some hint of berries being involved on it but the one I'm familiar with is the blue ones or what they call it as Oran Berries? Yeah. Though, I'm still trying to learn some things here."

He was really curious of what the cake has in it.

 

[Mewtwo]

"What's that? Canary wings and beer? No, no, not at all! The only things in there are the usual chocolate cake ingredients, and then the berries that Claruce brought back from the forest", Martha said and shook her head in apparent disbelief. It seemed like Saryuu too, was not immune to having his words misheard. Still, he got a more than generous cut plated and served, with Claruce getting a piece of his own.

"Mister Mewtwo said that it was Sitrus Berries and uhhh... Chesty Berries, I think?" Claruce answered the question in his mother's stead. "We've just not seen them before so we had no names for them. He told me to eat them if the ghosts of the Copy-cat woods attacked me, but that didn't happen, so I gave them to momma. We also have blue berries here, like big prune-sized ones, but we call them something else." Claruce briefly got up from his chair to run to the kitchen, and came back with what was indeed an Oran Berry that he put in front of Saryuu. "This one. It's pretty tasty but I like the chocolate cake better."

"I told you not to get up from the table when you haven't finished eating, boy", Martha scolded as Claruce took his seat. "I apologize for my son's bad behaviour, young man", she then addressed Saryuu. "I thought I'd raised him better... help yourself to more cake if you don't feel good yet. That ghost thing..." She glared at the Pokéball Claruce had placed on the table. "Been nothing but trouble since my boy brought it back."

 

[Saryuu Evan]

Mister Mewtwo? That's an odd name unless there was something more to it, however, he was going to let it sit in the background as the Haunter situation came up on him.

However, since Saryuu was here with the cake, he might as well get some of it for his own and so he did as he picked up a fork and started on eating the piece on his plate as he heard was going on from Martha, thinking on the details.

"Nothing but trouble?" he asked, knitting his brow. "Other than the scaring, hypnosis and dream snacking, what else is wrong? Unless.."

He remembered about Claruce being harsh on the Haunter from earlier and just him attempting to smack it as it just went through and failed.

"I don't know much on dealing with the ghost types unless that's just in their nature to be mischievous and cause trouble at the expense of their victims. If if there's any guess, sap away energy from others in other to keep thriving on and the likes so they wouldn't be weak because they need it to keep going."

Saryuu was wondering, looking at Claruce and Martha.

"Another thing, if all you say that the Haunter is trouble, did you really take the time to understand it or did you not? I might not know of these creatures for long but judging by things, I've usually seen them with someone, almost like something akin to a bond. A friendship or something."

It felt like Tenma's words did sort of influence him and while Saryuu wasn't the best at the whole friendship ordeal, he wanted to improve, especially in terms of what he said to Fei a time ago. He still has to gain back Fei's full trust after what he has put him through for all those years, including with attacking Tenma and other things.

However, as he ate the piece of cake, he did feel like his energy was returning to him steadily but the thing is that he was still trying to put things together, bit by bit, and before long, he would finish.

"Anyways, the cake was delicious, Martha. Thank you very much." he spoke with a nod and later with grateful tone.

 

[Mewtwo]

"That's the thing", Claruce explained, waving his fork around. "When Haunter eats people's dreams for too long, they become all sluggish and weak, like they're sick. And then my friend Bane, he got licked by Haunter, and he got all shuddery and sometimes froze up, just like that. He got better when he ate one of the berries, though."

"Damn right it's a heavy blow!" Martha interjected. "Chocolate ain't cheap and we're already living on shoestring finances."

"Uhm, that too. Momma says we can't just keep helping everyone who falls victim to Haunter with cake and berries or they'll end up eating us out of house and home. But Haunter's mine so he's our respot... uh... we're respin... well if he makes trouble we're the ones that have to deal with it." He rolled the ball around on the table. "I try to talk to it but I don't know. Momma says I lack disce... disk... the thing to train Haunter to be good. But you sound like you know your way around- wah!"

His rolling the Pokéball around inevitably led to it landing on its button, causing the ball to open and release the ghostly Pokémon into the Kwayntes' living room. Haunter blinked, looked around with interest, then floated closer to Saryuu with its tongue coming out. Claruce put a stop to that yelling "Haunter, no! Stop! No licking!", which made the Pokémon stop. Still, it made a grimace at Saryuu and popped its mouth open and close as if imitating Claruce's order. Clearly, the Pokémon held no respect for its owner, and Claruce by his own admission lacked the discipline to tame it. At least for now, it opted to perch itself over Claruce's head and pretend it was picking its nose.

"Momma says we should break the ball thing", Claruce finished, holding up the empty Pokéball, "to release Haunter, but I'm worried that it might die or something. It doesn't deserve that, it's just... wild, not actually evil. But yeah, you sound like you've seen these things before... think you know something?"

 

[Saryuu Evan]

"It's called discipline." Saryuu interjected before he looked at Haunter, only to briefly snicker at it copying Claruce's order and the likes. "I only know briefly but if you don't want to release it into the wild or anything, then perhaps you should pass ownership to someone who could handle it."

Not suggesting that he should do it but he did pity it. However, does he take the risk to bringing it around Fei or either Beta? Well, actually he could mess around with Beta, it's just Fei is someone he's protective over.

"If you know of nobody else, then I'll do it. I might not know much but I'm always eager to learn new things as I go."

It might sound crazy to the likes of the family but the albino wanted to try even if he is risking it. Since he's aware that Haunter would drain his energy, he honestly didn't want it to be hurt or anything, it was just trying to survive for all he knew.

Survive. That word was something Saryuu was all too familiar with..

"Anyways, that's my offer and whenever or not you want to take it, that's up to you."

 

[Mewtwo]

"Discipline! Thank you!" Claruce nodded. "The big words are hard to remember. But I'm not sure it's a good idea to just break the ball, and I don't know any other way to release Haunter, so..." He shrugged helplessly. "I don't even know where the ball came from. It was just one of those things I found when playing with my friends, in a junked spaceship someone had dropped." With the Hinterlands indeed being the dumping grounds of spacefarers from all across the crossroads, that scenario wasn't all that unlikely.

Upon Saryuu suggesting that he take care of Haunter however, Claruce perked up. "You would? That would be really helpful, if you're sure."

"What's that about a lure? You want to go fishing now? This late?" Martha asked with a skeptical look at Saryuu. However, Claruce happily shouted "If he's SURE, Ma! Saryuu is offering to take Haunter for us!"

"Oh, are you now, young man? That would be very kind of you indeed!" Martha repeated. "But, I can't let you just take Haunter away and... and nothing. At the very least, let me pack you those berries we have left, so that you can heal others if Haunter gets up to mischief again. And you can sleep in our home tonight, if you like, it is getting rather late... and Claruce might want to say goodbye to Haunter, right?"

Haunter looked back and forth, a bit perplexed, then fixated its eyes on Saryuu. There was something else in them now, not just remorseless mischief but... perhaps a twinkle of curiosity and gratefulness. Even its grin looked less devilish and more sincere. Then, as Claruce recalled it to its Pokéball it spoke out: "Haunteeeeer..." in what had to be the gentlest voice that such a ghost Pokémon could muster, before it was withdrawn into the mechanical container.

"Well... here you go, Saryuu. Haunter is yours now. Thank you for doing this for us." Claruce said as he held out the ball, readily passing it into Saryuu's hands.

 

[Saryuu Evan]

"Yeah." Saryuu nodded and eventually gripped the ball in his hands after receiving it from Claruce. "It's of no issue and I wanted to make sure Haunter is in good company."

Of course, the fact that he brought about a spaceship and the likes, that is actually pretty interesting in itself but the fact is that he'll look into that later, well after doing some things. He has several things to straighten out first before he heads out and does what is needed as a whole, especially the whole crazed cultist ordeal and put an end to them.

In fact, he was on a time limit so he can't stay, but regardless, he is grateful to have place to stay other than the inn for the night.

"Actually, Claruce." he spoke before he asked, "Who is this Mister Mewtwo individual exactly? You did said they helped you out before in the Copy-Cat Woods last but since then, have you seen them recently?"

Part of him wonders if they've seen anything remotely suspicious as of late and besides, they did help out Claruce with discovering the berry recipe in terms of handling the ghost types. He's curious about what he was given and besides, he should give his thanks to this individual when he has the opportunity.

 

[Mewtwo]

Claruce's face fell at the mention of Mewtwo, but he nodded. "It happened, uhm... over a month ago. I was in the woods with my friends, Bane and Jokex, when we got attacked by the Ghastlies and the Haunters. I think. Anyway, we tried to run, and I... I was caught by the evil man. He called himself a Pa... a Pa..."

Claruce shuddered. The memories that were being dredged up by this conversation were very unpleasant to him, and though it might be a month ago now, he had far from gotten over it. But when his mouth refused to form the words, he wrote the name on a napkin for Saryuu: 'PARADEMON'. "He... uhm, he wanted me to do something with Haunter. Because! I somehow caught Haunter when we were running from the woods, I think, maybe I dropped my stuff and then Haunter activated the ball when it rifled through my bag. He kept telling me to make a 'trade', and said he wanted a 'Gengar', and then he would eat us."

While talking, he doodled a human-like figure with four arms and insect wings under the name. "I didn't know what to do, so he put me in this tiny metal box and said he'd let me out when I was ready to do what he told me. I was in there for really long, like several days... but Momma, she got worried and she told Mister Mewtwo to find me. He was really cool and stuff, he came with our dog Brutus and fought the... the evil man while I ran away. That was the last time I saw him. Mom, can you... oh."

It seemed that Martha had fallen asleep in her seat, so Claruce lowered his voice a bit. "Uhm. Momma told me Mister Mewtwo's name, cause he didn't tell me. He was like, this tall purple monster with a huge tail and thick legs, but really bony arms. And he talked to me without opening his mouth. His voice was like... in my head. He sounded like an Action Hero'. And then! He had those glowing eyes and he made a big bubble shield around himself, and he threw glowing energy balls at the evil man. I think he was very strong because the evil man said that he was powerful. I bet that after I left they had a really cool fight and he put the evil man in jail, because he didn't come for Haunter and me. But Mister Mewtwo didn't come back either. He probably went away to his next adventure, though. I bet that's what he did. The Action Heroes always do that, they don't stick around in one place for long."

 

[Saryuu Evan]

It sounds very much like telepathy judging by things and if they are as strong as they are, he wondered a bit.

"Explains why Haunter was around and given the instance, they would be the cause of trouble if left in the wrong hands." he spoke before he crossed his arms, "Another thing, by the way you are telling me with this Mister Mewtwo individual, it sounds like he's capable of telepathy and other such associated powers."

He's all too familiar with the whole psychic powers sthick given his background.

"Let's just hope he's doing well but at the same time.." he replied before he paused as he would look outside the window from nearby as the sun was reaching towards the western horizon, reaching closer to night. In fact, there were some stars popping in the evening sky and before long, he continued, "Anyways, anything you want to ask or what?"

He should be returning to Fei and the others by now but he didn't want to leave Claruce hanging so he'll stay here for a bit longer.

 

[Mewtwo]

"Well, uh..." Claruce hesitated for a few moments, then nodded. "Actually, yes! How's it come you are so interested in Mister Mewtwo? I mean, you know a lot about his powers so have you like... met him before or something?"

Seeing Saryuu's eyes going to the window, he added: "Remember what mom said. You're welcome to stay the night if you like, we have an extra bed and everything. It gets really dark outside at night, here in the Hinterlands... or were you gonna booze it up at the tavern before bed?" he added with a grin, as though he'd figured out Saryuu's secret.

 

[Saryuu Evan]

"I haven't heard of him before until now and secondly, it's more or so that I had some personal experiences in terms of said powers."

He fell silent after that as he was still looking outside for a moment as he would briefly remember his childhood and sighed as he looked to the sun draw closer to the horizon over the likes of the Hinterlands.

"Another thing, if I had met him, it'd be a different story but you know." he sighed before he shrugged a bit. "However, then again, these sorts of things would be enough to have someone wondering for awhile, you know?"

 

[Mewtwo]

"Personal experience, right. So you've seen something similar before, I get it", Claruce replied and nodded. "It was quite something, seeing Mr. Mewtwo fight. I mean, I'm... I don't do fighting, I just see fighters on TV when Ma isn't around to scold me for looking at violent stuff, but I knew the... the Bad Man was really strong. And Mr. Mewtwo still held him back so I could escape. So I guess you're right, if you'd met him it'd be a real different story. It's been way long though so I don't think he's in the Copy-Cat woods anymore."

Claruce scratched his arm, visibly discomforted, before he added something else: "The Bad Man... he did mutter something though. About joining back up with the others, he said. So I think he wasn't alone. Maybe Mr. Mewtwo went to fight the other bad guys. If you want to meet him, you could try that. Just, it's probably real dangerous." That was about all that he was willing to divulge on the subject, though. His ill memories of the time he had spent locked in the pod, a prisoner of the Parademon, were still haunting him, and telling Saryuu was dredging things up. As such, Saryuu might get a bit more information out of him that evening, but if he wanted to look more into that 'Mr. Mewtwo' or the Parademon, he would need to set out again.

At least, he could do so with a good night's rest on a nice bed, and a new ally by his side in the form of Haunter.

 

[Saryuu Evan]

"Given that everything has been strange as of late, I can't ignore what is going on with the amount of people coming from different places, disappearing and strange sightings even." Saryuu nodded. "However, if there are others involved, that makes it more suspicious.."

He remembered about the robed figures but now with the Parademons, something tells him there is a connection but he isn't fully sure. Given Saryuu's stance, if he can get Mewtwo to trust him, it would help out greatly in the effort. However, Claruce, he's been through alot and has had his share of traumatic experiences, no need to look into it deeper but the information does help out.

Before long, Saryuu sighed as he spoke up, "As much as I would like to stay, I can't but perhaps, I could visit when there isn't alot going on if you understand what I mean."

 

[Mewtwo]

Ultimately, Claruce could not offer much information given that Saryuu already knew more than the people of this small backwater town did. Saryuu‘s sharing that other phenomenons were occurring all over the Crossroads startled them, but it did reinforce Claruce‘s belief that if Saryuu was one of the ‚heroes‘ he should find Mr. Mewtwo, and that maybe Haunter could help him.

It was all they could do for him though, to send him on his merry way with a crude map of the area if Saryuu wanted to visit the Copy-Cat woods, a basket of food and drink for the journey, well wishes and the promise to have an open door for him if he ever was in the area. From there, Saryuu would be on his own again… well, mostly. Now he had a ghostly ally by his side, after all.