48: Possession

[] "I think I'll wait till my girls are done. I'd like to talk to them first."

---------------------------------

The pokewoman shrugs. "Suit yourself, then." 

She stays for a little longer to give you a quick checkup. After confirming that your body is fine and as healthy as expected, she gives a satisfied nod and leaves the room to fetch your girls. 

Alone once again, you slump back into the bed. While you're grateful for the help, you're honestly not sure what exactly happened in those woods. Your mind buzzed, head throbbing painfully as you tried to recall your memories. Everything seems so blurry now...

"Bl- Mistress! You're awake!" Isabella called as she entered the room, looking rather relieved to see you sitting up. 

"Bout time," Lamina grumbled, slinking in behind the Witch. "Thought you were gonna sleep for ages. I didn't hit you that hard."

"Mistress." Thana nodded as she stepped in, ducking slightly so that she wouldn't bang her head on the door frame. 

"It's good to see you all," you smiled. "But can someone please tell me what the hell happened in those woods?"

Isabella looked away, seemingly unable to meet your gaze as she shuffled awkwardly from one foot to another. 

Lamina scoffed, rolling her eyes as she leaned against the wall. "Well, everything kinda went to shit." she began. "I hadta knock you out, then we went chasing after the mouse. There was this crazy big fight, then somehow we managed to stuff two pokegirls into one pokeball. Then we wandered around for a bit before I led everyone to this place. Knocked on a door, got directions to the nearest healer, and here we are."

"Ok. Stop. Hold up a minute." you frowned, pinching the bridge of your nose as you felt your headache worsen. "Back up a bit. You did what with a pokeball? And where is Ana, anyway? Is she still hurt?"

"Status unknown." Thana said flatly, the Dragonqueen standing straight and rigid, hands at her sides as if she were on parade. "As for the pokeball, I am unsure how it actually managed to contain both Ana and the Ghost possessing her. By all rights, the ball should have broken, expelling both of them and allowing us to subdue the feral while it was stunned."

"So what happened to the feral?" you asked, already dreading the answer. 

Isabella flinched. "Well, they're... still kinda stuck together. We can't figure out how to get the Ghost out."

"The mouse is acting all feral-like now," the Armsmistress said, raising an arm to show you a line of pale, barely healed scars. "Nasty business. She kept trying to attack anyone who gets close, so the priest dude had to stick her back into her pokeball. He's drawing some kinda magic circle thingy in the basement."

"Wait, what?" you gasped, forcing yourself out of the bed. Isabella and Thana rushed to your side, looking concerned as you tried to walk forwards on too wobbly legs. Luckily, Thana was fast enough to grab your shoulder before you could fall flat on your face. "Thanks, Thana. But we need to get down there now!"

"Huh?" Lamina frowned, "What's with the rush?"

"I don't know who this priest guy is, but I'm not letting anyone do some weird magic on one of my girls when I'm not there." you said, glaring at the unimpressed looking Armsmistress.

"I suppose it's a good thing I decided to get your permission first then." a soft voice declared. Standing at the doorway was a tall, pale looking man wearing what seems to be an elaborate version of a priest's uniform. A pair of white, Bunnygirl like ears peeked out over his head, twitching slightly as he spoke. "You're Blue, right? It's good to see you're awake again, though I'm afraid that I have some bad news for you."

-----------------------

Ana sat in the middle of the room, hunched over in a circle of glowing runes. The normally quiet and meek Woodmouse you knew had changed drastically. She hissed and spitted menacingly as you approached, red eyes gleaming with violence as she lunged forwards, only to squeal in pain as the markings painted onto the floor flared and forced her back. 

"Yep. Pretty sure that's a Banshee." the bandaged pokegirl spoke up from her position at the doorway. If Ana managed to escape the circle, she would move to subdue to Woodmouse as quickly as possible. Until then, she stayed as far away from your possessed pokegirl as possible, glaring at her every time she tried to break out of the magical prison. "Not many Ghosts have their particular brand of nastiness."

"Most unfortunate," the priest sighed. He'd introduced himself earlier as Father Uriah, though he mentioned that you were free to call him David if you wanted. "Normally the Ghost would have fled by now, but this specimen seems particularly stubborn. Or perhaps the pokeball interfered with its morphic field somehow? Most unusual..."

"So can you... can you change her back?" you asked, unable to tear your eyes from the... the thing wearing Ana's body. It paced its prison restlessly, occasionally stopping to hiss and glare at one of the other people in the room. 

"I'm sure I can. But with a situation like this..." Father Uriah shook his head. "There are a number of options available. My reagents are limited, but I think we should have enough to give it a try. As the pokegirl's tamer, you of course have the final say."

[] Just... just get rid of her. That's not your Ana anymore.

[] Give her to Father Uriah. You can't afford to stay here for too long and he should be able to deal with the ghost problem by himself eventually, right?

[] Appeasement ritual. Try to calm down the Banshee and convince it to move on and leave Ana's body. Unfortunately, this Banshee seems particularly stubborn, so the chances of success aren't as high as you'd really like.

[] Exorcism ritual. Force the Ghost out of Ana's body immediately. It will place a lot of stress on your pokegirl's body, possibly even killing her. 

[] Mass Exorcism. Father Uriah calls in a few friends to help. While they'd definitely be able to solve the problem, he warns you that it will take a few days for them to arrive and that they'd be expecting payment of some kind before conducting the ritual.