I heard that you're afraid of monsters

   Wintervale often had this off feeling about it. Was it truly home, or some mimicry that barely made the cut? The home Viggo had made years ago was long gone now, the fog and the blizzards that followed made sure of that. It meant that this “new” Wintervale invoked some off spouts of deja vu, maybe even nostalgia, for the city it used to be. Nobody was the same after the move either, but it had been a few years now. Viggo had done all he could to create doubles of all he’d owned before, but he’d always have lost something - and the hard work and memories he’d initially put into his business. The world was different now, it made maintaining his world, his kingdom so to speak, difficult. He’d had to make choices he maybe shouldn’t have.

   That being said, Wintervale was his home. The cold was the cold, and that never changed for sure - even if he didn’t feel it half as much now as he used to. Viggo had heard rumours circling - not only from Sparks, but from his other contacts lurking in the Wintervale underground. Something about bringing the city to its knees - and to the ground. It might have been some imitation, sure, but home it was nonetheless. It was also a base of operation that was considerably easy to maintain. It was dark and the fog seeped around the city - at least towards the city centre the beacons kept most of it at bay, and some form of night life could still resume in the meantime, even if it was quite sparse these days. Even the businesses didn’t want to be open late. Viggo leaned his head to look at the clock flashing idly on the dashboard as he was pulled up by the roadside. He tapped a finger on the wheel like he was impatient. Watt’s pathetic little voice almost whispered through the speakers of the car.
   “What’re you gonna’ do?”
   “Shh.” Viggo shushed the Rotom, eyes surveying the rather dark lit street. The ignition was off and the lights weren’t on. With a suppressor he was almost invisible. “ We’ll see what happens.” He reassured Watt, without much reassuring going on at all actually. Viggo’s phone vibrated, and from that alone he was expecting some good news. Only certain people would call his phone and not try to contact him through his system. He held it briefly and used his system to check the number before answering, and without a hello a voice chimed through.
   “How’s it going, Mr de Jager?”
   “I hope you didn’t call just to ask me how it’s going.”
   “No! No.. Of course not. I’d never do that.” Sparks chuckled nervously down the line. He was crumpled up infront of several monitors in his tech cave in the Wintervale underground, blanket around his shoulders, Grape in what was basically a dog bed to the side. “I’m getting some activity. Remote.”
   “Locate it.”
   “I’m on it, I’m on it...” The yamper fusion rolled his eyes, face scrunching up in concentration as he tried to bypass any signal jammers and scrambles. The police were likely struggling with the signals being thrown around. The city almost shuddered then, creaking and tipping.
   “Quickly!”
   “I am! I am!” Sparks panicked down the line, things beginning to roll around, Grape’s little bed nearly sliding away. He caught the sleeping Pokemon with a foot awkwardly as he worked.”Not far from your position, actually.”
   “How close?”
   “Uhhhh….” Sparks squinted and leaned in as he pulled up the signals. “Right… By you?”
Viggo frowned, looking around and holding the phone away from his ear before he was jump-scared by a loud thud. A person slid across the front of the car and started running. Sparks sent across the tracker, and Viggo’s TD projected to identify if it was the right person. With a handful of green flashes and beeps, Viggo pushed open the car door. Watt zipped quickly from one device into another. The culprit looked back at the sound of the car door closing, an “oh shit” moment definitely occurred whilst they looked at Viggo, and Viggo looked at them.
   “Caleb, locate the others. Send them a system Virus.”
   “Got it, Mr de Jager!... But it’s Sparks, remember?” Sparks mumbled off to the end, struggling to keep Grape on his desk as the city shook like a quake. “I’ll try and reset the propulsion systems!”
   “I’m going to bash this fucker’s head in.” And with that Viggo hung up the line and pressed his phone into his pocket. The suspect bolted, sure to try and lose Viggo as fast as possible. Viggo pursued, or at least as best as he could. Even with the cybernetics he’d had installed to help with his fog affliction, he wasn’t the best when it came to a chase. It didn’t take long for Viggo to lose them on foot, stopping down an alley to catch his breath. Watt zipped out then.
   “What’re you doing!!”
   “Oh, I’m sorry…. Did you.. Want me to run.. FastER?” Viggo panted, scowling up to the Rotom. The Pokemon shook its whole body in a no.
   “No!!! You’ll die of a heart attack, or something.”
   “No I won’t. I’m going to get these bastards for messing with my city.”
   “Maybe the police should get them!!!”
   “Useless.” He spat out a breath and stood up, letting his system reattach to the signal. “I have a better plan.” Viggo detached a pokeball from his belt, tossing out a large, round Gengar. It spun with delight, like he was pleased to be out in the dark. “ Ozul, I want you to try and corner someone for me. Through there - and should be inside.” The Gengar nodded in understanding, with an undeniably mischievous grin before he disappeared. Viggo walked further down the alley then, tapping the phone for Watt to return just to keep him safe if anything else.

   The suspect had taken the opportunity to seek cover when Viggo had very quickly run out of stamina, hiding inside a shop. Naturally, they’re broken in the back door to get inside in the first place. It made no difference to Ozul, who phased through the walls invisible to the eye as he hunted for his prey. Once he’d found the suspect attempting to connect to their contacts he appeared to them. A screech would do it, scaring the shit out of them. The scream alerted Viggo.. Of course, they struggled to get any signal through to the others thanks to Sparks on the underground side of things.
The city shook again, the shelves rattled and things fell off and smashed. The suspect scooted back, climbing up the wall behind them and turning - but before they could press much further away from Ozul, Viggo’s ghostly hands cast through the wall, glowing blue in the dark. Viggo gripped onto the suspect and pulled them back against the wall. Sylvie’s ghostly coils followed, pulling the legs of their victim back against the wall as well. They screamed and writhed, absolutely mortified. Ozul giggled like a naughty child. Slowly, a majority of Viggo phased through the wall, enough soon for his candle head to light up the space around them.
   “You’ve never tried to run from ghosts before have you?” Viggo sneered, phasing through around the side of the person in question and gripping at their clothes when they were frozen in place, shoving them back against the wall. Sylvie made sure to coil around them all the more.
   “Your friends aren’t coming. You’ve fucked with the wrong person by messing with my city.”
   “W-wintervale w–”
   “I don’t want to hear your rhetoric. Who hired you?”
The suspect spat at Viggo then, hands fumbling in Sylvie’s coils for a weapon. With a tap, the ghostly serpent tightened her grip to hurt. The criminal groaned, hands cramping out of reach of the weapon.
   “I’ll— Never tell.”
“Then what use are you to me?” Viggo snarled, the flame on his head bursting with rage. They practically sunk into Sylvie’s coils then. “Again. Who hired you?”
   “Kill me.”
   Viggo pulled them back, bashing them back against the wall again. In that rage, he placed his hand over their face and thwacked their head against the wall - plenty of times to take his anger out. Plenty of times to do some lasting damage. Viggo let go when he realised that the person was unconscious, trying to bring his breathing back down when he caught his blue light revealing the blood on the wall, and his hand now. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and by now the sirens were filling the streets in the distance as the city clunked and tried to bring itself back up to where it had been.
   “We need to gooooo!” Watt screeched. Sylvie and Ozul were returned to their pokeballs, and Viggo stepped back through the walls and out of the building. He clipped the suppressor back on the moment he was able, quickling tailing back to his car in the dark.

[Word Count: 1509]