Archive of Our Own ^beta

Ever since he crossed the line of trees that separated Thrash Path and the Leafy Highlands, Bowtirage had felt like something was wrong.

The wrongness had built up over time. At first, it was as meager as a pebble - easily ignorable and barely enough to get in his way. But as the forest grew denser, so too did his unease. He couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes boring into him from his blind spots; he couldn’t ignore the way the cold, drab wind combed through his fur like bony fingers and nipped at the ends with the strength of frostbite; he couldn’t dismiss the echo of his footsteps as just that - an echo - because he swore there were more Pokemon around him than just his teammates.

He tried to play it off and keep cool - not for his sake, but because he was the only one capable of leading Team Renegade. If he showed weakness, the trio would fall into chaos. But his reassurances didn’t stop him from checking over his shoulder repeatedly.

Just in case.

The Liepard and the Absol following his lead didn’t look the slightest bit concerned - he wasn’t sure if they felt the oppressive atmosphere at all. Instead, they prattled about who-knows-what and paid no attention to their surroundings. While a part of him wanted to reprimand them for being so careless, deep down, he knew they let their guards down because they trusted him to remain vigilant. ‘That, and I’ve banned both of them from watch duty multiple times because they get distracted so easily,’ he thought with a roll of his eyes.

He shuddered to think about what would happen if either of them led the team even for a heartbeat. Chaos, he reminded himself. 

Bowtirage sighed and turned his attention back to the road ahead - a trail of dirt that wove through a field of pale green grass that almost looked sickly. Shadows peeled off of the orange-leafed trees as the moon shone down upon them, offering just enough light for Bowtirage to tell where he was going. The path was the only part that was even slightly illuminated - the rest of their surroundings were draped in a thick veil of darkness.

After he took a moment to survey the area, Bowtirage flicked his tail to signal for a quick break. He heard both of his teammates sigh in relief as he reached into the bag that clung to his flank by a strap; he pulled out a bundle of fruits and a canteen of water for them to share. Once he set them down, the Liepard immediately began to feast while the Absol stared ahead with wonder.

“… I’ve never been to this area before,” said the Absol. She shifted her gaze from side to side like a kid in a candy store.  “It’s a little spooky. Do you think there are any ghosts?”

The Liepard rolled onto her back and shanked a row of grapes with her claws. She then lifted them up to her mouth and ate them one at a time like a pampered princess. Once she was done, she licked her lips and scoffed with an amused grin. “Oh, don’t tell me Ghost Types scare you, Ling,” she teased.

Ling immediately shook her head. “Nope! I like them, actually! It’s fun to be scared sometimes. You should try it, Ruse.”

The sound of fluttering wings caught Bowtirage’s attention. A loud CAW rang through the forest as a Pokémon - a Murkrow, if Bowtirage saw correctly - hopped off of a nearby branch and took to the air. The sound drew a startled yelp from Ling while Ruse’s body went rigid, only for both of them to snap out of it with varying degrees of embarrassment.

“… I just did. I think I’ll pass,” Ruse said. She then shoveled an entire helping of grapes into her mouth and downed it with a violent swig from the canteen. After a moment, she waggled it with a frown before she tossed it over her shoulder; Ling caught it in her mouth with a proud look on her face. “I’m too pretty to die.”

Bowtirage let out a sigh and turned to face both of his teammates. “Seriously, Ruse? Never thought you’d be a scaredy cat.”

A predatory glint passed Ruse’s eyes. She stood up, pushed past Ling, and walked toward Bowtirage until her chest pressed against his own. He could feel her breaths tickle the fur along his muzzle as their gazes met - hers challenging, his uncaring. “Oh? And aren’t you the ‘big, brave Mightyena’?” She crooned mockingly.

“I have to make up for you being a ‘scaredy Skitty’. Now, mind getting out of my face?”

Ruse’s right eyelid twitched. Bowtirage knew he was getting on her nerves (good, she deserved it after all the shit she put him through) , though it took him an extra second to notice that her expression had taken on a twinge of mischief. She leaned forward until their noses squished together while the tip of her blade-shaped tail pressed against the bottom of his chin. “You want me to leave, you say? I’d like to see you do something about it, big guy,” she purred, her words as smooth as honey.

He realized too late that he’d given her leverage, a tool more dangerous than any move in his arsenal.

Bowtirage narrowed his eyes. After he and Ruse had a brief staredown, he grunted and backed off, opting to gather up the food that Ruse hadn’t touched. It absolutely wasn’t to save face. “Let’s just go,” he said gruffly, ignoring the triumphant curl of her lips that said not so tough now, are ya? “We’re wasting time.”

Ling, who seemed entirely unbothered by their exchange (and had already put the canteen away), cast her gaze up toward the sky. “The night’s still young, though. We could take a few moments longer and -”

“We’re wasting time,” Bowtirage repeated. He re-adjusted his bag and set off, letting the sounds of howling wind and Ruse’s chortles flow through his ears.

A mansion.

Out of everywhere he could’ve gone, he had to pick the mission that led him to a mansion. A derelict and old one, if the rotting wood, broken windows, and vine-infested walls were to be believed. It looked one shove away from toppling over.

Staring at it also invoked that same sense of wrongness that he’d felt earlier. He still wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Bowtirage glanced down at the mission request he’d laid out on the ground, his brows furrowed. The client had specified that they’d left a precious heirloom in an old house of theirs but failed to mention what kind of structure said house was. Bowtirage had thought that he, Ruse, and Ling would need to dig through some rubble or explore an abandoned house in some unknown village (the coordinates provided hadn’t matched up with any existing civilizations he knew of) . Instead, he’d have to comb through a building almost twenty times the size of his house to find something that - knowing his luck = would probably be the size of a thimble.

The Mightyena sighed. ‘Exploring an abandoned mansion in an isolated forest right before Halloween… it feels like the universe is playing some cosmic joke on me.’

Beside him, Ling and Ruse admired the building for vastly different reasons. He only had to glance once at Ruse to know all her thoughts revolved around dollar signs; Ling seemed more awestruck by the structure itself rather than any potential loot held within its walls. “Whooooaaaa… I’ve never seen something this big before!” She said. “This is cool…”

“AND PROBABLY LOADED WITH CASH!” Ruse cheered. Her tail wagged so violently that Bowtirage had to duck to not get whacked across the head. “Mansions are always a sign of wealth… and if someone left this thing alone, then there’s probably a fortune hidden somewhere in there! Oh, I can see it now…” She placed one paw against her forehead dramatically. “I’ll be swimming in all that gold…”

Bowtirage leveled her a flat look. “If you touch anything other than the heirloom we’re after, I’m kicking you out of the team for a week.”

Ruse turned her nose up to the air. “Spoilsport.”

“... you do know we’re getting a reward for this, right?”

“It’s not gonna be even a fraction of the stuff we can pillage from there!” She protested. “You’re no fun, grumpy pants.”

Ling tilted her head. “... he doesn’t wear pants.”

“It’s an expression, Ling.”

“Ooh… I get it!”

Bowtirage and Ruse shared a look. They both knew she didn’t get it.

“Did you hear? Did you hear? Someone took the bait and entered the house!”

“No way - seriously? What kind o’ suckers would actually fall for somethin’ like that? Oh, we’re gonna get ‘em good! What are they?”

“Yeah, what are they, big sis?”

“... dark types…”

“W-what…?!”

“O’ you’ve gotta be joshin’ me… that just ruins the fun! They’re the perfect ghostbusters!”

“Yeah… Do we have to?”

“Their energy… their fear… it’s what we need.”

“Ah, piss… guess we ain’t got a choice, eh? Time is runnin’ short…”

“We’ll have to scare them! We won’t fail!”

“... good.”

The foyer was just as unremarkable as the building’s exterior. It was old, rickety, and had nothing of value other than a few cupboards and some glass china on the walls. The only variety to spice up the room was a grandfather clock near a hallway, a few paintings clustered above a stairway, and a mirror that hung directly in front of them. Dust bunnies swam through the air while the scent of rotting wood grew stronger - enough to make Bowtirage wrinkle his muzzle in disgust.

“Awww… where are the spooky types?” Ling pouted.

Ruse immediately slapped her paw over her companionn’s mouth. “First of all, they’re called Ghost Types,” she said in a harsh whisper. “And second of all, don’t call them here!”

Bowtirage glanced over his shoulder. “I thought you weren’t scared,” he said. It took a lot of effort to keep himself from laughing, especially when Ruse shot him a downright murderous look in response.

“I’m not! I just would rather not get possessed or mugged! Especially mugged!”

“Because you wanna hoard all the money, right?”

“Exactly!”

Bowtirage groaned. He turned back around, intent on surverying the area for any clues on where the heirloom was -

- only to bump directly into a Shuppet who definitely hadn’t been there before. A quick look over her head revealed that half of her body was submerged in the mirror, which rippled like disturbed water.

“AAAACK!” Ruse screeched. Her eyes nearly blew out of their sockets while her hackles raised until her back looked like a porcupine’s. “GHOST IN THE MIRROR! HELL NO, I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS TODAY!”

While Ruse was panicking, Bowtirage caught sight of a strange aura unraveling from her chest like a ribbon. It didn’t seem threatening and looked nothing like any attack he’d ever seen before, but he knew better than to ignore it. However, before he could swipe at it or warn Ruse, it was quickly tugged away and flew toward the mirror. The culprit absorbed it with a proud smile.

“Hahahahahaha! Yes, that’s a good bit of fear! Now, prepare for the scare of your LI-!”

“No.”

“... what-?”

Before anyone could ask more questions than necessary, Bowtirage parted his jaws and breathed in. Tendrils of ghostly energy flew onto his tongue, weaving together into a sphere that rapidly grew to the size of a baseball. Once Bowtirage felt his attack was adequately charged, he swung his head in an arc and let the Shadow Ball fly; it ballooned to more than twice its size the moment it left his maw. With nothing to stop it, it careened toward the mirror -

BOOM!

The resulting explosion made the whole mansion shudder. A gale of wind spread from the impact site, buffeting Bowtirage’s front and knocking over nearby trinkets, while a cloud of smoke rapidly bloomed in front of him. Chunks of wood, glass, and wireframe rained down on the floorboards, some going as far as to reach Bowtirage’s paws. He batted the bigger pieces away without a second thought while the smaller ones that peppered his fur were rid with a quick shake.

He gave one last nod to himself and turned around. “Let’s go,” he said.

He shouldered past Ruse and Ling, both of whom looked at him with slack-jawed stares.

“... big deal! It was just a Shuppet! Oh, you’re soooo brave for defeating a little ghost!” Ruse called out.

“If it’s not such a big deal, why did you get scared?”

“Shut up! You - grrrr…!”

Ruse whirled around and stomped away, vanishing around a corner with a defiant swish of her tail. Bowtirage merely rolled his eyes at her petulant display and didn’t bother to go after her. If she got spirited away, it wasn’t his problem.

“... you two fight a lot,” Ling mused, her tone forlorn.

Bowtirage shrugged. “I wouldn’t if she stopped being such a brat. She brings it upon herself.”

“... would you two fight less if the spooky guy was back?”

“What?”

Ling’s eyes widened. “I know! I’ll go find the spooky guy again! Then we can all have some fun scares!” Then, before Bowtirage could get another word in, she dashed past him and raced up the stairs; her rapid footfalls masked his shout of ‘LING!’, leaving him ignored and on his own.

He stared at the staircase blankly. “... god damnit.”

“Ruse…? RUSE!”

Bowtirage growled and pawed at the ground anxiously. The room he very clearly saw Ruse walk into was empty. He could smell her scent and had heard her voice right before he rounded the corner, so he knew he wasn’t mistaken.

“Dammit… this mission is already off to a bad start. This has ghost types written all over it!”

He caught a flash of movement in the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around, hoping to find a clue to Ruse’s whereabouts, only to frown when he realized the ‘movement’ was the same strange tendrils from earlier. They leaked from his body now, strangely enough, but they didn’t seem to have any adverse effects. In fact, he felt entirely the same.

“… what is this stuff?” He muttered.

“I can’t believe he did that! The audacity! And he BROKE A MIRROR! That’s, like, a lot of property damage!”

“Did you say ‘boo’?”

“Down to the letter!”

“It’s a bad start… but we ‘an turn it around. Maybe if we-”

KER-THUNK!

“WAAGH!”

“Owie owie owie!”

“Owwww… that smarts…”

“You landed on top of me!”

“Well, YOU were in the way when I landed here! Uh… where is ‘here’ anyway…? It’s so dusty…”

“Hollup… ay! Isn’t that the lass you saw earlier, Shuppet!? She actually got caught in our elevator!”

“Wait… she is! Did she just walk in somehow?”

“Mmmehhggh… Caught…? An elevator? You’re telling me I got warped?”

“D’as what I said!”

“Calm down. We must… scare Mightyena. His fear… is great. But hidden.”

“Oh…? You want to scare Bow? Well… I may not know who you lot are, but count me in on that~ I have a few ideas in mind that’ll show him what for…”

Twenty minutes later, Bowtirage felt ready to go insane.

He couldn’t find them. No matter how hard he looked, he hit wall after wall. Their scent trails randomly cut off like snipped string only to start up again in a completely different location. Despite the large amounts of dust on the ground, he could barely trace their footsteps. The mansion was eerily quiet, not betraying a sound that would clue him in to where Ruse or Ling was.

He was a hair trigger away from smashing down walls with Shadow Ball.

He at least got to blow off some steam whenever the ghosts showed up. They tried to play multiple different tricks on him - from elaborate pranks to sudden spooks - but none of them phased Bowtirage. He merely destroyed whatever they used to stop him, knocked the ghost themself out, or walked past them without a second thought. He could tell that his repeated dismissals made them irritated but he couldn’t find it within himself to care.

Whenever he opened up a door and failed to locate either Ruse or Ling, more of those strange ghostly tendrils leaked from his body. He still had no idea what they meant and wasn’t keen on finding out. ‘The sooner we leave, the better,’ he thought as he kicked another door shut. ‘I’m getting sick of this place.’

He needed to find them.

He wouldn’t let anything happen to them.

“DAMMIT! Nothin’ is workin’! He’s unflappable!”

“And the white one thinks we’re toys! We’re not going to get enough fear energy at this point!”

“A shame… wait, fear energy? What are you talking about?”

“... focus.”

“Huh?”

“He feels fear… he oozes it. Can’t you tell?”

“I mean… now that I think about it… yeah, he has been outputting a lot of fear, huh? But not when we scare him.”

“... let me check something…”

He eventually managed to rendezvous with Ling after he made an impulsive search in a pantry. She seemed completely unbothered by the plethora of ghosts running around - she still thought it was all great fun - but her tune changed when she realized that Ruse was still missing. “Are you sure you haven’t found her yet?” She asked.

Bowtirage nodded. “Positive. She’s still out there…”

More tendrils oozed from Bowtirage’s fur and leaked into the air like toxic fumes. When Ling caught sight of them as well, she tilted her head and frowned curiously. “What are those?”

“Not sure,” he replied. He raised one paw to his face, inadvertently guiding a tendril into his nose. It did little more than make him sniff. “It’s been coming off of me since we arrived.” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. We need to find Ruse.”

Another wave of tendrils batted at his face. He stifled a growl of irritation and waved them away, only to pause when he saw Ling stare at him with an awestruck gaze. “... what?”

“Do they come off of you because you’re worrying about Ruse?” She asked. She spoke as if she’d unveiled the secrets of the universe through a childlike lens of wonder. “You DO care!”

“What? No. That’s impossible.”

“I thought you hated her because you fight all the time!”

“I do. She’s a brat.”

“But you’re worried about her! The tendrils prove it!”

“That is literally just speculation.”

“I don’t know what that means!”

“It means you’re wrong.”

“Nope! C’mon, admit it!”

“There’s nothing to admit.”

“Admit it or I’ll hug you!”

“ Ling- ”

“So you’re the ones causing such an uproar…”

Bowtirage and Ling both turned. At first, Bowtirage saw nothing out of the ordinary - the only thing of note was the mirror that hung on a nearby wall. But when he looked closer, he realized that in his reflection, his eyes were pale yellow rather than their usual maroon red. 

CRASH!

He flung a Shadow Ball toward the mirror and broke it without a second thought. Seconds later, another ghost - a Mismagius - hovered out from a different mirror with a disgruntled look on her face. “Stop doing that,” she mumbled. “Besides… don’t you want to know where your friend is? It’s rude to interrupt someone who is willing to part with information…”

Bowtirage’s heart stuttered. Despite not stating it outright, he could tell that Mismagius knew where Ruse was - and if he had to put his paw on it, he bet that she and her ghostly friends had something to do with her disappearance, just as he’d initially predicted.

He could feel his self-control slip away. An ugly feeling frothed in his chest and threatened to consume him whole; unlike the rage-fueled presence of Moxie (which he actively tried to check), he was more than eager to let his festering anger puppeteer him. He took one step forward and bared his teeth, his eye flashing with malice while tendrils swam around his forelegs. “Where is she?!”

Mismagius smirked. She looked like she’d just had her point proven right; the smugness on her face made Bowtirage’s fury boil over. “There it is… the fear energy we need…

“Your friend is with us. And she’s in great danger.”

A surplus of tendrils peeled from his body and raced through the air like snakes in the grass. It was too much to be just from him, he thought, so he checked over his shoulder. Sure enough, many of them came from Ling, who looked just as terrified as he felt deep down. If nothing else, he was glad that she was finally taking this seriously - she tended to be a bit lax whenever she looked danger in the eye. “What!?” She exclaimed. “What’s going on!?”

“Heh… you better hurry…”

Darkness coated Bowtirage’s jaws. With a ferocious snarl, he surged forward and pounced toward Mismagius, fully intent on making her pay - but before he could reach her, she vanished in a curl of purple aura, leaving him to sail past the space she once occupied and crash head-first into the ground. “Shit - damnit, c’mon Ling!” He shouted, pushing himself back to his paws. “Don’t let her get away!”

“Right behind you, leader!”

“I was right…”

“Eh? Right o’bout what?”

“His fear… he worries for her.”

“... wweeeeeeeell, I think you fellas have what you need by now! I’ll just be on my way-”

CRASH

“Yipe! What’s the big idea? Are you trying to crush me!?”

“Releasing you from this place… it will destroy our home. As long as the Mightyena gives us his fear… as long as you are missing… we will be safe. This building will stand.”

“What are you even talking about? You’re making no sense! If you want to scare him, I can tell you how!”

“Uh… sis? You have a weird look on your face… you’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do, are you?”

“Yeah, boss - I think you might be takin’ this too far -”

“Do you want to lose our home?”

“I… no, but-”

“Then do what I say.”

“Hey, losing your home stinks and all, but look at it from MY perspective! I’m not getting paid! You set us up for this, didn’t you?

“Wha - hey, HEY! Let me go! What are you-

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The bedroom was a scene of out Bowtirage’s worst nightmares.

The wardrobes opened and shut like snapping fingers. The record player babbled incomprehensibly. The ground rattled as if an earthquake had struck.. A discordant hum filled the air, growing louder and louder with each passing second.

The air had become stagnant. Syrupy, almost. It burned in Bowtirage’s throat.

And in the middle of it all was Ruse -

- trapped in the center of a glowing pentagram.

Bowtirage wasn’t a cult follower. Nor was he a conspiracy theorist. But he knew exactly what was going to be done to Ruse if he didn’t act now.

The Mismagius hovered nearby. Behind her was a row of ghost types; a Shuppet, a Haunter, a Ghorgheist, and a Spiritomb. The latter four seemed extremely disgruntled by what was taking place, their gazes nervously dancing between Bowtirage and their fellow ghost, while Mismagius looked frustrated by something. The ends of her ‘clothes’ flashed with a neon purple hue while flares of energy rippled from her glowing red eyes. “You’re just in time… to watch your friend vanish from this world.”

“GIVE HER BACK!” Bowtirage barked. He had to fight to maintain eye contact with her through all the tendrils that fled from him.

“What are you doing to her!?” Ruse added on frantically.

Mismagius tilted her head. “It’s still not enough…?” She muttered. “Why…? How much more…?” Then, she shook her head and spread her arms out wide. As if on cue, the building rumbled and shuddered as if it was wracked by intense winds. “Our home is old and turning to ruin. For years, it’s been kept together by the energy given off by fear. As the years have gone by, we’ve gotten less and less fear energy. So we had to strive for desperate measures.”

Bowtirage’s eyes widened. He reached into his bag and chomped down on a scroll of paper he’d kept near the top. He then tossed it onto the ground and kicked it toward Mismagius, who watched it with a knowing eye. “That was you, wasn’t it? This whole mission was a set-up!”

Mismagius flew closer. Her arms spasmed like an insect’s as she stared at him with pitch-black eyes. “You ruined it. You were supposed to be scared. But you weren’t. Instead, your fear came from worry over your friend. So… to get the energy we need…

“WATCH IN FEAR AS YOUR FRIEND SINKS INTO THE VOID!”

Ruse began to sink into the floor as if it was quicksand. Her eyes were winced shut, her mouth was open as if she were letting out a silent plea for help, and her entire body was tense - like she was bracing herself for her coming end.

And Bowtirage -

Refused.

He clawed for every scrap of power he could find and let it go in one large, powerful Dark Pulse. A ring of black energy tore through the room and tossed aside any Ghost Types that it touched - Mismagius included. She screeched - a sound akin to a hissing fuse - as she fell like a ragdoll and slammed into a glass cupboard.

With his path clear, Bowtirage surged forward and grabbed on to the end of Ruse’s tail. He didn’t care how hard he’d bitten down when all he needed to do was get her out. Yet even with his strength, he struggled to budge her an inch; his hind paws desperately scraped against the floor while he tensed every muscle in his front, trying his best to act as an anchor.

He could hear Mismagius get back up behind him. The air around him shifted as she gathered energy for some kind of attack, but her attempt was audibly halted with a pained wheeze. “You… I have to get my hands dirty if you all won’t! Don’t get in my way!”

“Sis, stop!” A squeaky voice called. It matched the Shuppet that had tried to scare them earlier. “This is going too far!”

A trio of pops - topped by another cry from Mismagius - rang throughout the room. “I just wanted to play piano,” said another voice, “not make a ritual sacrifice!”

“Ay, doggo!” Said a third. “We’ll hold ‘er back! Get your friend outta there!”

“White one,” shouted a fourth, “go help him! We’re sorry - we never wanted the energy at this cost!”

Right when he felt himself give out, a pair of claws - Ling’s claws - grabbed onto his backside.

Together, they heaved -

And Ruse came free.

The trio tumbled back as a mess of limbs before they sprawled out on the ground in various states of duress. Ruse’s entire face was pale, her breaths fleeting and frantic; Ling wasn’t as rattled as her peer but still looked afraid; Bowtirage stared at the ceiling blankly as he tried to process what the hell had just happened in the last five minutes.

They didn’t have time to process it, though. Mismagius broke free from the ghosts that held her down and snarled, glaring at Team Renegade with a look of pure hatred. “WHY?! Why must you resist!? This is our home! We cannot let it fall!”

“Does it look… like I care?” Bowtirage asked through ragged breaths. He wearily rolled back onto his stomach and pushed himself up on shaky legs. He had to readjust his stance a few times to ensure he wouldn’t lose his balance, but once he did, he met Mismagius’s gaze with a glare of his own. “You’ll never be forgiven… for hurting my friend. You’re going to have more than broken mirrors when we’re done with you. This ends now.”

Ling spared a glance at the still-downed Ruse. A look of conviction crossed her face before she stepped closer, positioning herself to Bowtirage’s right side. Crackling yellow sparks danced across her horn; Bowtirage’s fur was coaxed up by the lingering static.

“So be it… if you won’t give me the fear I want… THEN I’LL HAVE TO TAKE IT FROM YOU!”