When Luke walked in, his mother, Linda, was tending the cooking fire and turned around with an expression of pure disbelief.
"Mom, what's for dinner?"
Luke dropped into a seat without ceremony, grabbed a bayberry from the basin nearby, and handed one over to Haunter.
"Oh, just some side dishes." Linda brushed off her apron and sat beside him. "How's school been?"
"Fine. Where's Dad?"
"Up at your uncle's place on the back mountain, picking berries. Should be back soon."
She'd already clocked Haunter happily chewing on a bayberry but didn't press the point, just watching it with a warm, easy expression.
"That your Pokémon?"
"Yeah, caught it recently."
"Feed it more, it's way too skinny."
Mid-conversation, Luke's father, Leonard — temples going gray at the edges — walked in from outside hauling a full sack over one shoulder, eyes lighting up the second he spotted Luke.
"Well look who's home!"
"Dad, how much did you even pick—"
"Not much, just helping out at your uncle's," Leonard said, smiling.
Leonard had originally taught school in the city before the pace of it wore him down, eventually settling into a quieter role as a village official back home. The family kept a Zigzagoon around the house, and an Oddish tended the potted plants in the yard. Between the occasional standoff with the neighbor's Lillipup and lazy afternoons fishing Magikarp out of the river, it made for a life with its own kind of charm.
Zigzagoon caught sight of Haunter's grin and immediately went wide-eyed, retreating nervously behind Leonard's legs.
Leonard gave it a gentle nudge with his foot. "Don't be scared, go say hi."
Haunter struck a boxer's pose and threw a series of playful jabs at Zigzagoon, complete with exaggerated "hee-haw hee-haw" sound effects. Shadow Punch didn't affect Normal-types anyway, so Luke let the two of them run off and roughhouse.
"How long are you staying?"
"Two days, then back for exams."
"Your uncle mentioned you were on TV — some Piplup thing? What kind of competition is that?"
"Just a fan tournament, nothing to worry about."
After a long back-and-forth with his dad, Luke pieced together the situation: the forest on the back mountain had shifted mostly into berry cultivation. Profitable, sure, sold well — but it drew wild Pokémon in constantly, which had become a genuine headache for Leonard in his role overseeing village affairs.
"Good timing, actually — you and your uncle can head up the mountain together tonight." Leonard puffed on his pipe. "Check on the new saplings, make sure nothing's chewed them to bits."
"The Pokémon up there really that aggressive?" Luke asked, curious.
"Plenty of saplings have already been bitten clean through." Leonard winced at the memory. "I keep telling your uncle to skip the traps, but honestly, at this rate, we might not have a choice."
Luke nodded. "I'll go check tonight." With Haunter's strength, a handful of wild Pokémon wouldn't be much trouble — and this close to the county seat, anything genuinely dangerous would've already drawn official attention from the Association.
______________________________
The sun dipped low, smoke curling up from chimneys across the village. Luke's mother kept piling food onto Haunter's plate throughout dinner, to the point Luke started feeling a little neglected by comparison.
Afterward, he took Zigzagoon for a walk, dragging Haunter along to entertain the local kids — who, predictably, had zero fear and were soon happily playing alongside it.
"Brother Luke, quit hogging the swing!"
"I wanna go on the seesaw too, get off, Brother Luke!"
He made the rounds house to house with Zigzagoon in tow, collecting an embarrassing haul of fruit and snacks along the way. By evening, Luke sat cracking melon seeds, mouth never quite empty.
Life as the neighborhood's resident menace was simple. Unpretentious.
And thoroughly boring.
"Caw—"
A Murkrow perched on a utility pole let out a rough growl overhead.
As dusk settled in, his uncle came by to collect him for the trip up the mountain.
"Your dad told you the plan, right?" his uncle said, smiling. "Sorry to drag you into a night watch, you barely get to come home as it is."
"It's fine, I'm used to late nights anyway," Luke said easily.
A Poochyena trailed behind his uncle, growling warily at Haunter, who remained blissfully unbothered, using its own fingers to stretch its mouth into increasingly absurd faces.
The sky darkened fully, the forest ahead swallowed in total blackness. His uncle clicked on a flashlight and sent Poochyena ahead to scout.
"Stick close. I've got quite a few trap cages set up around here."
His uncle sighed. "Know it probably seems harsh to a college kid like you... but there's no getting around it. If we can't catch whatever's been raiding the crops, I go hungry too."
The orchard was a real livelihood for plenty of families in the village, constantly under threat from wildlife. Luke hadn't looked into the specifics closely enough to have an opinion, so he just followed quietly.
Somewhere in the dark, a partridge called, followed by a low, rumbling growl. The trees opened into a clearing — several saplings already visibly damaged.
"Dammit, again?!" His uncle stomped his foot, furious — then caught a dark shape flash through the underbrush.
"Poochyena, after it!"
"Woof!!"
[Clairvoyance check in progress — 61. Success!]
Too dark to make out anything useful — just a shapeless dark blur, impossible to identify. Poochyena plunged into the bushes after it, and Luke shouted, "Haunter, follow it — Confuse Ray!"
Risk of catching Poochyena in the crossfire, sure, but under the circumstances it was the safest call available. Haunter shot into the brush grinning, and a blinding flash lit the orchard up like daylight.
Luke squinted against the glare — then heard a sharp shriek from the underbrush.
His uncle pumped a fist. "Got it — stepped right into a trap!"
They pushed forward and found a trail of blood spreading from a shattered cage.
His uncle's face twisted, baffled. "It bit clean through that thing? What kind of teeth does this thing have?"
"Can't be too big, then," Luke said, frowning. "Uncle, stay back. Haunter and I will track it."
If they didn't catch this thing tonight, Luke wasn't sleeping easy out here regardless.
"Wait — Luke, be careful!"
The forest settled into a chorus of cicadas, a few plump Caterpie dropping from branches overhead, hissing and spitting thick strands of silk. Luke moved carefully along the path, dry branches snapping underfoot.
Under Clairvoyance's enhanced tracking, the trail of faint green blood slowly petered out — the last visible drop marking the base of a massive camphor tree. Luke looked up.
A sharp cry split the air, and a dark shape dropped straight down at him.
"Haunter, Protect!"
Thick mist wrapped around Luke instantly, a barrier flaring up with a clang and a spark of pale blue light.
"Confuse Ray!" Luke shouted, eyes narrowed. "Then Hex!"
Haze poured out from Haunter, blooming bright before extending toward the shadow almost like it had a mind of its own — but the creature tore straight through it and lunged, jaws snapping shut on Haunter.
"No effect? It's Normal-type?!"
Luke cursed under his breath. "Haunter, Protect, now!"
Bite was a Dark-type move — against Haunter's fragile frame, a clean hit could end this instantly.
"Spray it — gas, close range!"
Haunter, jaws just inches from the creature, let loose a thick cloud straight into its face, sending it into a violent coughing fit.
"Will-O-Wisp — carefully, don't torch the trees!"
The flame's temperature wasn't nearly hot enough to ignite the surrounding old-growth trunks, but it was more than enough to catch the dense toxic gas already hanging in the air.
"Vee—!"
A single wail cut through the dark as pale blue fire bloomed briefly and vanished.
Thud.
The creature collapsed, letting out a low, rasping growl. Luke picked up a fallen branch and approached carefully.
Crack—
He used it to part the creature's matted fur — and it snapped the branch clean in half a second later without even trying.
That was the moment the system's Pokédex finally locked in an identification. Luke stared at the readout, blank for a second, then looked back down at the scorched, thick-furred, blackened lump in front of him.
"...Eevee?!"