Im 'etiam hic

Note, this *LINEBREAK* means that it's a separate scene.


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Im 'etiam hic
Prologue:
CANNOT REST

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To (The receiver's name of this letter seems to be smudged a bit and thus unreadable.)
I'm sorry for the rushed letter. Everything is going down to hell right at the moment where I am. He and his partner-in-crime has pretty much screwed up the whole town and I had barely any time to write this.
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Anyway, as you requested, here is the story of his partner. It's attached to the letter. Make sure to read every line of it. It might help you stop him.

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Once upon a time, in a era long ago, there existed three Pokémon friends. These three friends were the best of friends, as they did everything together when they met up. They played together, ate together, talked with each other and told secrets to one another. They thought of each other when they were separate, and often dreamt of each other when they were asleep at night. These three friends cared for each other; they would defend each other with their lives. One of these three friends had a secret that only the other two knew and the rest of the world did not: the one with the secret had a very special power.

The power was that he could see the souls of others that have departed from the world of the living and communicate with them. He kept this secret from everybody until the day he told his friends, as he thought he would be rejected as a freak. Surprisingly, and much to the relief of the Pokémon, his friends accepted this secret as they thought it was cool to know about being able to see the souls of the dead. So; the three friends did everything together and even had a chance to talk to the spirits without anyone from their village seeing them. The village that they grew up in feared the dead and the Devil and it would cause mass panic if they knew.

The three Pokémon grew up with this secret. As long as none of the village members knew about this, their secret was safe. They evolved and grew older.

But then one day, everything changed. A tornado passed by the village, carving across it like steel through cloth and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. However; some of the town folk said that God had sent the tornado because there was a worshipper of the Devil living in the village and that God was angry that the injustice of persecuting the sinner hasn't happened.

To his and his friend's horrified shock, the Pokémon that could see the souls was accused of being a worshipper of the Devil by a member of the town folk.

The village went into a uproar, as members threw vile insults and rocks at the Pokémon, as he pleaded his innocence. Paranoia and mayhem ripped through the village as the town folk grew even more and more fearful of the Pokémon, who did nothing wrong. He was eventually put on trial, with only his two friends standing by his side, pledging that he was innocent. The Pokémon's family had abandoned him due to this accusation and their fear of demons. At the trial, many witness claimed that the Pokémon was seen speaking to nothing often and realised that he was speaking to the Devil. They further accused him of various other misdeeds and unfortunate events that have occur within the village. In return, he and his friends said that the Pokémon was able to see the souls of the dead, but never once came across a demon. He also said that he was a follower of faith and he would never take orders from a demon. He would never stray from his Lord's path.

The revelation of him able to see the spirits deepened their fear of him and they ignored what he had also said. The Pokémon was pronounced guilty of all charges and was sentenced to death. His friends battled as hard as they could to save their friend but when all else failed, the two came up with a plan. They were going to sneak into jail the night before the execution, break out their friend, and run away. The friends put the plan in motion as they snuck into jail, stole the keys to their friend's cell, and headed for the cell.

But, to the most cruellest of fates possible, the friends were caught as they were about to unlock the cell for the Pokémon. The friends weren't punished straight away, as the town mayor was busy thinking of a punishment so cruel, it would scar anyone emotionally for life. The next day, the friends were tied onto a chair in the middle of the furious crowd, as the Pokémon that they were friends with was lead up to the execution stand, where a single noose was strapped to the beam above and a chair was under it.

As the friends yelled in desperate anger to let their friend go, the Pokémon stood calmly as his charge was read out loud to the crowd.

Then, one of the town folk forced the Pokémon onto the chair and put the noose around his neck. As the shouts of the crowd grew louder and the desperate pleas of his friends grew even more frantic, the Pokémon was asked what was his final words were.

The Pokémon replied: "To my friends; I am truly and utterly sorry. I am sorry because you were associated with me... Someone who was thought to be a monster by even himself." And then, to the friend's total despair, the town folk kicked the chair away from under the Pokémon's feet, a few sickening noises escaping from his throat before his lifeless body cruelly hung from the gallows.

Their punishment for breaking into the jail was to watch their friend die by hanging.

After the hanging, the Pokémon's body was buried in a undisclosed location with no tombstone, and life in the village went back to normal. Every year since the Pokémon's death, a party would be thrown in celebration of getting rid of a demon worshipper and even the family of the Pokémon's would join in as well. All the village would attended, apart from the Pokémon's friends. They would sense something benevolent in the village, but they could never figure out what it was. Years passed, and the friends left the village only to return each year on the anniversary of their friend's death. Twenty years passed after the Pokémon's death, and the two friends returned to discover that mysterious deaths had be occurring in the village.

The jury of twelve that had sent their friend to death had been picked off one by one each year, starting from when the fourteenth anniversary had passed. The town folk thought it was just mysterious circumstances but the friends knew better. They knew that the spirit of their friend was angry, restless and must have started killing them off each year. To ease the anger of their friend, they located the burial place of the Pokémon and each year after that, they read something that would calm down their friend. Each year until their deaths, they would do this. And after their deaths, their children would do it as well. Passing down through each generation, they would tell a story to the spirit in order to keep the Pokémon placated, for when no more stories have to be told, his wrath will destroy.
And so: a story must be told at the burial site once a year, or the wrath of the Pokémon will be unleashed.

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That is a story that my father told me, as his father told him, and as his father before him. This story has been passed down through many generations as a warning.

Never judge a person on based on fear and wild accusations but on how they act, even if they seem fearful or intimidating in the first. It also serves as another warning.

Never disrespect the dead.

That's all that I can for now. I'll meet you at the base. May God's light be with you.
Yours sincerely,
I. Firesoul

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Five days ago...

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R XZMMLG IVHG. ULI GSZG, R IRHV

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"And Prince Bisharp and Princess Lilligant lived happily ever after... The End..." the Meowstic told at the grave, before closing the book that he had read from. He sighed as he stood up and began walking home. With the wind blowing past him, he shivered up a bit before continuing to walk home.

This is Amos the Meowstic. He's about fifty-one years old, has a habit of talking to himself and lives in Phantasm Town, just a mile away from where he is now. Phantasm Town is known as a beach city, with luxurious sand and a crystal clear ocean. It is also known for having a large shopping hotel, a theme park and plenty of restaurants. But Phantasm Town is also popular with Pokémon that are interested in all paranormal and supernatural. A few abandoned houses are located in Phantasm Town which are known to the town as the haunted houses. The town, along with the beach, mall, theme park and restaurants, uses the paranormal interest as a way to boost tourism with the town. Amos works at said theme park, and is in charge of the 'Horror' area, where horror-based rides and attractions are located. Some attractions ARE scary, but most of them are just based around horror and are not scary in reality.

But the Meowstic also has a job once a year he must do. He comes to this place, far away from the town, to read a story. He looks round nervously, and spares a glance back to where he read the story. It was a forest in the middle of nowhere, filled with vibrant greens and healthy trees, with plenty of foliage like bushes and berry plants, and an abundance in life.

However, somewhere in the forest, which Amos happened to be living from, there is a place where nothing grows. The trees in that are barren, with no leaves at all, the grass is barely there, with patches of dying grass scattered across the area while desolate dirt occupied the rest. In the middle of that area stands a barren tree. "Geez..." Amos muttered to himself as he walked through the dark forest. "...This place is feeling negative as ever... It's still under the influence of him..."

Amos doesn't choose to go there every day, but comes once a year to read a story at the base of the barren tree. He had been doing this for the past thirty years.

The thing is, Amos is a very religious Pokémon. He had been going to church as long as he remembered with his family. When he was sixteen, he had learnt about the tree's secret from his family and learned about spirits. What he learnt is that spirits can haunt different places and the one here is...particularly strong.

Amos glances around the dark forest as he walked back him, as the trees change from being barren to becoming full of life again. "His influence scares this place..." Amos murmured to himself. "The area is scared of him...My father always told me that the area must have died off in fright." Amos suddenly stops, and then face-palms. "I'm talking to myself again...Damn it! If I was back in Phantasm, the locals will think I've gone insane!"

The Meowstic then realises that the locals already think he's crazy and sighs. "I've really got to stop doing that..." Amos starts to walk again through the forest, thinking deeply.

"I'm slightly more than half a century old and I still don't know how to exorcise him..." Amos thought to himself bitterly, as he continued to walk through the forest. "It's been more than two hundred years since that spirit had died and even I don't know how to make him move on..."

As Amos walked to exit the forest, he heard a sudden snap. The Meowstic's ears perked up and looked around. No one should be out exploring a dark, foreboding forest in the middle of the night. Nobody but Amos, that is. The Psychic Type looked around once more. He could sense someone was nearby, despite the time of hour.

"Who's there?" Amos demanded, raising his voice to project as sense of bravery. Some noise from the shrubbery behind him was quietly made and Amos turned around to face the newcomer.

"Well, well, well... Amos..." said the Pokémon, chuckling. Amos frowned with confusion. He could not see who the Pokémon was due to how dark it was, nor did he recognize their voice. "So this is where you've been disappearing off to once a year."

Amos frowned, readying an Psychic attack as he grasped the book tightly. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

The Pokémon laughed heartily. "Something that I have been planning for years. Something that will make my life better..."

The Pokémon pulled something out from behind him, but due to the darkness, Amos could no see what was there.

"All I ask from you;" the Pokémon stated casually, a vileness starting to creep into his voice. "Is your eternal silence in this matter."

Amos is taken aback from this statement. "What are you ta-" He was cut off by a flash of light, one that barely managed to reveal the face of the assailant, before a deafening noise rang out.

Amos blinked as the ringing in his ears from the deafening shot faded , just as a pain roared through his body as savagely as possible to replace the ringing, like a Pyroar tearing its prey to shreds. Amos looked down at his chest and sees that a small hole had appeared there, with blood quickly seeping out from it. He had been shot. Amos looked up at his chuckling soon-to-be killer, who sounded like he was close to laughing his head off.

"W-what...W-why?" Amos asked, breathing horsely, blood coming from out his mouth before collapsing backwards. The Pokémon chuckled once more. "There's something in these woods that I wanted and thanks to you and your blood, it shall rise again."

Knowing that his final minutes are upon him, Amos asked one question through bloody coughs. "What... are you...a-after...?"

For once, the Pokémon didn't chuckle. "Oh, you know the name of what I want very much;" the Pokémon stated, with a teasing inflection in their voice. "'The Demon of Phantasm Town.'"

Amos's face widened in shock at the revelation, only for his eyes to gloss over. The Pokémon laughed again quietly to themselves, and then smirked.

"Oh, Amos, poor Amos. Looks like you've moved onto the next world." Suddenly a bright glow appeared behind the Pokémon, intense enough that the perpetrator felt his back heat up from it.

The Pokémon turned to the glow and smirked.
"Ah...There you are."

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End of Prologue

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Codes are plentiful in this story. To break them, reverse the letters. A = Z, B = Y and so on.

I hope you enjoyed this story so far. Make sure to check out the story on my FanFiction.Net account, which is named the same as my username here. See ya.