Chapter Text
It was a dark and stormy night. Cliche, but how else could one describe it? “Dreary” didn’t even begin to portray the mood. Neither “dismal” nor “depressing.” It was dark and stormy. That was the gist of it.
By the lamplight, a young man of about 20 years was reading a classic science fiction novel. This young man, Ronan, was at the crossroads of life, having just moved out on his own. The world was his oyster, but at the same time, he was apprehensive. A lot can go wrong when you’re on your own like this, and for now he was treading lightly.
Okay, Ronan had hardly left his house since he moved to the city. It was comfortable, safe, and provided everything he needed. Why go out and risk anything when he could stay here with his books? He could have his groceries delivered! You couldn’t do that out in the Middle Of Nowhere, Alabama! He was going to take as much advantage of that as he could.
To an outside observer it was a very depressing lifestyle, but to someone so comfortable in his routine, Ronan wouldn’t have noticed. Not like he had anyone to tell him that.
Still, Ronan thought about it as the storm raged outside. Perhaps he could have used with some change. It did get awfully lonely like this. But in his entire life he had never met someone who enjoyed the pursuit of knowledge like he did. So here he would remain, unless the opportunity arose.
Ronan’s thoughts were interrupted when there was a sudden power outage. Great, he had just been getting to the good part, he thought.
Maybe this was just a sign to go to bed. It had been getting late, after all. Ronan rose from his chair, and carefully began to walk towards his room. But something felt off, as if the very layout of his house was shifting. It seemed, with every opening of a door, he wouldn’t be in the room he expected, until he found himself back in the living room. Odd. That wasn’t in the Zillow description.
It was disorienting, however, and Ronan found himself falling to the floor. This wasn’t right. Maybe he was dying, or something. Or maybe it was that extremely suspicious Subway sandwich. As much as he loved and supported Subway, there was something off about that turkey sandwich. He could feel his very spirit being pulled from his body.
Maybe it was a combination of both.
Ronan passed out, thinking about sandwiches.
tunaturkeypeanutbuttergrilledcheesesalamihamjellychickensaladchoppedliverpastramieggsaladcucumberroastbeefavocadomeatballbolognatofutomato
When Ronan awoke, he was alone. That wasn’t new.
What was new was this hardwood flooring. Really nice wood flooring. His house had shitty carpet.
Also new was the ghostly purple claw in place of his hand.
Okay, there was definitely something up with that turkey sandwich.
Ronan got up, feeling much lighter. Almost like he was floating. In fact, when he looked down, he was, in fact, floating. Don’t do that, he told himself. His body obeyed, and his ghostly paws brought themselves down to the floor.
What the hell had become of him?
Ronan found his way to a full-body mirror, and if he wasn’t a ghost already, he likely would have died of a heart attack upon what he saw.
Ronan was a Gengar, now. He wasn’t sure how he knew that. He had never heard of such a creature. It was such a short, goblin-esque creature, to his dismay. He had lost a full foot of height, his entire body covered in purple fur. His teeth had sharpened into fangs, with a wide grin he just couldn’t seem to get rid of. His catlike ears picking up all sorts of sounds outside; passing cars, bird calls, the ice cream man…. Most notably, his eyes were a glowing red. That was actually kind of cool, Ronan thought.
Ronan already had a vague idea of what such a creature’s capabilities were, somehow. He could float, he had already tried that. He could phase through walls, which felt totally weird to do. He could even sink into shadows, making himself totally invisible. He truly had become some sort of ghost!
It felt all too real to be a dream, too realistic to be a hallucination. Ronan only wondered how he was going to explain this to his next DoorDash driver.
Where even was he? This was not his beautiful house. Well, this house was arguably more beautiful. It appeared to be some sort of townhouse on a busy street, judging from the sound outdoors. The furniture looked expensive and old, the whole house gave the vibe of some crazy old rich person.
...Ronan liked that.
But where was he, really? Ronan was going to do the unthinkable; venture outside and find out.
Ronan pulled on his glasses, a t-shirt, and jeans (Thank goodness his clothes were all here.), and stepped outside…
...And proceeded to fall down the three brick stairs leading up to his door.
“Oy, mate, you alright there?”
Ronan groaned, looking up to see a massive orange dragon leaning over him, wings flared against the blinding sunlight. The creature grinned down at him, his accent thick.
“You must be the new tenant in that old house. The last owner? Real nutter. Chased me down the street once just for passing by. Anyways, welcome to Viridian City! Quaintest little place in all of Kanto, if you ask me. Name’s Travis Dragonowitz.”
Ronan fainted.