"So you guys want to hear a story?" Morty guessed, as his gengar laid a book onto his lap and sat next to him onto the sofa. They were all inside Morty's warm house, and even though they didn't mind the cold snow outside, they still preferred to stay indoors as there was just so much a ghost could do in the snow. 'They' indicate Morty's pokemon which now surrounded him eagerly. After all, it wasn't every time they could hear a story from their all-time favourite trainer.
"Ghastly Makes Friends," He read out aloud. Morty's own ghastly raised itself up proudly in the air as the title was read out aloud. Morty sighed inwardly at the title. People tend to think that ghost pokemon are terrifying and creepy creatures, and most trainers don't even want ghosts on their team. Making a quick decision, Morty put the book away on a nearby table. His pokemon drooped visibly, and misdreavus moaned sadly.
"Let's forget about that book. Instead, why don't I tell you a story I made myself?" At this, all his pokemon perked up, their interest caught. Misdreavus and some ghastlies settled themselves on the sofa with Gengar, while drifloon and drifblim hovered above in the air. Shuppet sat on Morty's head, waiting. Once everyone was in a comfortable position, Morty began his story. He didn't have a clue to the story plot, but he just started and decided to worry about that later.
"The story I'm going to tell you about is 'The Ghostly Friends'," Morty knew the title was cheesy as cheesy can be, but he wasn't really a born story-teller, so he did not relent. "Once, in a forest on a dark November night, there lived a haunter who was said to haunt the forest. Nobody liked passing through there and avoided it altogether, if they could, for the haunter was said to murder people if they so much as stepped foot into the forest," If this would normally creep out an innocent pokemon, it had no effect at all to Morty's pokemon. After all, they were ghosts and they never found anything creepier than that. Morty continued on.
"One day, a family consisting of two parents and a boy moved into a house which lay quite nearby the forest. They were warned by the neighbours about the forest, but chose to ignore the rumours. They were a wealthy family and the boy had everything he ever wanted, except for his parents' love. They did love him, it was true, but they were too absorbed in work too bother about him. What the little boy really wanted was a friend. He didn't care about his toys because they did nothing to cure the loneliness he felt," On top of his head, he felt Shuppet fidget slightly and one of Drifloon's heart-shaped ended limbs tickled his ear. He did have the makings of a good story-teller, after all.
"So one dark and rainy night, while the boy was asleep in his room, he heard something creak open. By the sounds of it, he guessed it must have been his toy chest which was filled to the brim with toys he didn't care about. He sat up on his bed and walked towards the chest, and what he saw next made him frightened but intrigued at the same time. His little blue ball which was a present from his grandmother was bouncing about on its own. The ball stopped when he came closer. The toy chest was now definitely open, and a teddy bear floated out of it into the air eerily. But he wasn't scared," Morty broke off for a few seconds, and felt all pairs of eyes in the room upon him. So he continued, to his pokemons' delight.
"The teddy bear then floated gently into his arms and there in front of him, was the haunter that was said to haunt the forest. The haunter looked sad and lonely, and the little boy knew how it felt. So he began to play with the haunter, and from that night onwards, the haunter always visited the boy and they would play together. The boy was usually tired in the mornings, but he didn't care because he wasn't lonely anymore. When the boy was older, he was given permission to go off on an adventure. The first thing he did was ask the haunter to become his very first team-mate, and the haunter agreed. And as both of them left the village together, all the villagers could do was watch them in shock. With his haunter alongside him, the boy won many battles and gained a fine pokemon team and ended up being the league champion. The little boy would never forget how a ghost pokemon shunned by others, extended its friendship to the boy and made him into what he is now. The end,"
Morty ended his story and found that most of his pokemon was dozing off by now. He lay Shuppet down beside Gengar and stood up, satisfied with what he saw. All his pokemon, tired out, were now dozing off peacefully together. Who ever said ghost pokemon weren't cute was wrong, he thought to himself. A sharp ringing pierced the air, and he saw Gengar shift slightly. Immediately, he ran towards the kitchen where the only phone in the house was located (Morty preferred the company of his ghosts compared to other organisms, and besides, a lot of electrical appliances in a house inhabited by ghosts would probably attract a rotom's attention. Not that he disliked the creature, it was just that he already had troubles with one long ago.)
"Morty, leader of Ecruteak gym speaking," He spoke once he picked up the phone. There was a buzzing at the other end of the line, but he could make out that it was Gardenia, Eterna's gym leader speaking.
"M-Morty, thank g-goodness! Sorry to disturb you during this time of d-day! Y-you're not busy are you?" Gardenia's voice crackled from the receiver and he could hear a slight tremor in her voice.
"Not at all. Calm down, Gardenia, I can barely hear you," He answered and covered his other ear which was not on the phone. "O-okay," He heard her take a deep breath and she went on, more calmly than before. "Remember that old château in Eterna Forest? Well, there's something creepy going on in there right now. A girl has gone inside and she hasn't gotten out since! Judging by the voices, I think there's something inside there besides her, you know?" Gardenia gabbled and he could tell she was rather afraid. Well, Gardenia wasn't one who messed around with paranormal stuff, which she found 'spooky' and 'creepy', as she said so last time.
"Something or someone?" Morty asked, and reaching for his scarf. If he was going to have to get out there he had better cover up well against the icy wind. "Definitely a something. Judging by its sound, it's something… unearthly. The director told me to call you up because you're the expert on this kind of stuff. You'll help, won't you?" Morty grabbed another scarf and a pair of mittens. He would need Gengar, and the pokemon was prone to get the flu easily in the cold, so hopefully the scarf and mittens would help. "Yeah, sure, I'll be right over," Gardenia breathed in relief.
"Thanks a lot, Morty! I'll be waiting for you," With those few last words, there was a click and the line went dead. Regretfully, Morty shook Gengar awake gently. The pokemon opened its eyes and looked reproachfully at Morty, but agreed to follow nonetheless. So once it was tucked in a warm scarf and a pair of striped mittens, both trainer and pokemon stepped out of the house and shut the door with a tiny click, leaving the other ghosts asleep in the living room.
Gengar carried Morty with both of his trainer's hands held tight, and swooped towards the Sinnoh region, where Eterna City was located. Morty had a feeling that the problem would turn out to be another certain electric-loving ghost pokemon, but he didn't mind. Ghost pokemon were cool – And he was an expert on them.