To be honest, I'm not even that big of a Pokémon fan. But I've started a journey to go back and watch it all from the beginning—just so I can say I have, I guess. And I really took a liking to Morty from the very beginning. There was just something about his personality that set off his type-specialty perfectly in my mind. And then Eusine was introduced and this kind of just happened… I guess my pen name isn't SoulOfAFangirl for nothing. Prepare yourselves for fluff and ghost shenanigans.

Soul Mates

Word spread through the tower like the illusory fires its inhabitants were so fond of creating. The caped one had returned.

This news did not create quite the same stir it had just a few years ago. Eusine's visits to Ecruteak were not infrequent. There were not many who shared his obsession with legends, or had such a personal stake in them. Morty fit that bill, and he greatly enjoyed the talks they had. And so, no matter where his travels took him, Eusine found he always managed to loop back around to Ecruteak City for some official reason or other.

Gengar was not particularly fond of Eusine. The man was loud, aggressive, and prone to overreactions. So very unlike his own trainer. And Eusine's Alakazam was no better—a stuffy, infuriatingly responsible buzzkill. But Morty liked Eusine. And Gengar liked Morty. So that was that.

Well, it had become a little more than that lately. Very few humans had the respect for the nature of being a Ghost like Morty did. As a result, his Pokémon had grown to have a lot of respect for Morty. Communication had become quite easy, with few misinterpretations, and Gengar was very attuned to Morty's thoughts and emotions. Whenever something was out of the norm, he knew. And the balance of his friend's being was never more out of whack than when he was with Eusine.

This response to the other man's company had baffled Gengar at first. Morty was never anything other than his usual serene self when the two were together. In fact, Gengar would go so far as to say his trainer exhibited a tranquil sort of excitement when he and Eusine were locked in their fervent discussions of old legends and how those legends related to their lives. This was a reaction no one but Eusine had ever evoked in Morty. How very curious…

When the answer had finally come to him, Gengar was so pleased, he brought a lightbulb to life above his head to signify the achievement. It had been one of the few times he'd seen Morty truly confused by his actions, but this was soon to become something of a trend when it came to Eusine.

Of course. Gengar had not realized it at first, but he was witness to a different kind of legend. Soul mates. Morty and Eusine were soul mates in the purest, most spiritual sense of the term—two souls so compatible, the universe itself had brought them together. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean the romantic stuff wasn't there too. And Gengar was going to make them see it if it was the last thing he did.

Gengar had watched as Morty warmly invited Eusine inside. Eusine knew his way around by now. Without any guidance, he directed himself towards one of the upper rooms, where Morty had already set out tea for them both. And then Gengar silently called Gastly and Haunter—the other tame ones—over to him. He needn't have bothered, as it turned out. His fellow Pokemon had also been watching the exchange from the shadows, and they were apparently all of the mind that today was to be the day.

With a nod amongst the three of them, they scattered. Gengar floated translucently up to the room above, where Eusine and Morty now sat, a map splayed out before them so Morty could better envision Eusine's travels in the past few weeks. Gengar remained invisible, though he knew Morty was aware of his presence. Neither of them called attention to him, though, and Eusine did not appear to notice anything.

Gengar observed passively while the two traced Eusine's progress on the map. Eusine faltered slightly as the floor beneath him creaked menacingly. But he only stopped completely, with a jump that nearly brought him to his feet, when a piercing wail drifted up to them from the floor below. Morty's eyes shot up briefly to the place where Gengar remained concealed, but they both knew these sounds were some of Gastly's favorite tricks. They were hardly out of place in a ghost tower. And they could have been caused by any of the ghosts in the midst of play down below. There was no way to know the interruptions had come from the one Morty had trained personally.

It had not escaped Gengar's notice that when Eusine had settled back down, he'd unconsciously seated himself a little closer to Morty. The eerie noises also appeared to have settled down for the time being. So Morty did his best to make light of it.

He smiled at Eusine. "Don't tell me you're afraid of ghosts."

There was nothing truly mocking in Morty's tone—it wasn't in his nature—but Eusine never had been the type for jokes. Flustered, he bit back, "Frankly, I've never seen the appeal. I simply can't understand why you choose to spend so much time amongst them."

Morty continued to smile, not offended in the least. And he had apparently deemed Gengar's interest to be harmless, as he still did not alert Eusine to his presence. Perfect. "We all have our callings." And then they were back to their discussion of faraway places and potential Suicune sightings as if the interruption had never happened.

Well, they could hardly leave it at that. Haunter always had had a wonderful sense of timing. He waited until the previous interruption had slipped from their minds, so engrossed were they in their conversation. Morty had turned back to the map, searching avidly for something, when the second troublemaker floated up through the floor. Their trainer was too preoccupied to notice at first when Eusine failed to suppress a shudder brought on by Haunter blowing invisibly across the back of his neck. But Morty looked up, suddenly sensing Haunter's presence, a second later. Even so, Morty was not in the habit of being alarmed by his ghostly companions. His voice was much too calm when he spoke next to alert anyone to any sort of danger.

"Ah, Eusine—" he attempted to warn his friend, but it was too late for any sort of intervention. Already on edge, Eusine turned to look behind him, only for Haunter to materialize at precisely that moment, pulling a face.

Eusine's shriek was not at all dignified. He flung himself away from the Ghost Pokemon, nearly ending up in Morty's lap in the process. In fact, he did not even seem to notice at first, that Morty's hands had quickly shot out to steady him and remained in their places, one on his shoulder, one on his waist. "Can't you control these things?!"

Morty's smile this time was chagrined. It certainly was not helping Eusine's growing ire that Haunter—and Gengar, though still invisible—had nearly toppled over from the force of their laughter at his reaction.

"I'm sorry. I'm not sure what's got them so restless today." His tone changed then, slipping effortlessly into the voice of a gym leader. "Haunter, go occupy yourself downstairs with the others."

Haunter was almost suspiciously obedient, sliding back through the floor without another sound. But Morty didn't have time to linger on this, for they both seemed to realize just then the positions they were still in. There were throats to be cleared and blushes to be stifled as Eusine quickly righted himself and Morty took his hands back. To their credit, there was only a moment of awkward silence before the two attempted to turn back to the map and pick up where they'd left off.

Gengar smirked. It was time to make his move.

Their tea had long since grown cold by now. Morty was more alert now as his Pokemon swooped down towards them, but there wasn't the time for a single command to leave his mouth. The only warning Eusine got was his friend jumping to his feet beside him. But before he knew what hit him, Gengar had lifted the teapot and dumped what cold liquid remained over the Suicune tracker.

"Gengar!" Morty scolded loudly, looking truly annoyed—an uncommon sight on his face. No other words needed to be spoken in reprimand. But the damage was already done, either way. Gengar had faded into existence before them, snickering, setting the now-empty teapot down on the low table with the utmost care. Eusine had leaped to his feet, his cape and shirt underneath dripping. He did not seem capable of words at the moment.

Morty gave Gengar such a hard look that, like Haunter before him, he did not make an issue out of leaving the two be. It did not matter. He knew a moment later that his little misdeed had achieved the desired result when he heard, "Here, let me get you something dry to change into."

He lurked out of sight as Morty left the room, only to return a minute later with clothing of his own. Gengar crept back into the hallway as Morty reentered the sitting room… only to throw his hands into the air and gaze up towards the ceiling as his trainer joined him in the hallway a second later, closing the door behind him. For the sake of all that was holy… What was it going to take to get these two to realize? Some sort of divine intervention?! One would think that, being a ghost and all, Gengar would have some sort of pull when it came to otherworldly matters like this. But the Poke-gods remained spitefully silent today.

It was hard to tell who was more exasperated as Morty turned to his Pokemon. "What has gotten into all of you today?"

Gengar gestured sharply to the closed door and then to Morty himself. But the Ghost trainer did not appear to understand. "Since when do you have a problem with Eusine?"

Gengar rolled his eyes. He had quite a lot of respect for Morty. Morty could be exceptionally intuitive and wise. Morty could also be an idiot sometimes.

Needless to say, practically no progress had been made a week later when it came time for Eusine to head out again. Gengar was present at Morty's side as the two said their goodbyes that morning. Eusine eyed him suspiciously, but still promised to return soon, so he supposed not all was lost.

As they finally lost sight of the caped figure heading off into the sunrise, Morty turned back to Gengar. "Are you going to tell me now, what that was all about?"

Gengar did not answer. He simply gave his trainer a long-suffering look. Next time…

Review please!

I don't own Pokemon.

This ended up being even more fun to write than I'd anticipated. I may have to revisit this pairing in the future.