Prologue
The most distinct and vivid memory in my mind to this day is a memory of our human having to trade Gengar to invoke his evolution. It was a few months ago, and those months have dragged by, but that day is still clear. He was sad, I remember. Sad to place Gengar—then Haunter—into someone else's hands, if even for a moment. I think he knew that the rest of us would feel differently toward a Gengar than we had a Haunter, despite the fact that he was our friend (or, at the very least, mine). When Pokémon are traded, they take on the scent of their new owners, even if they're only traded for an instant. Scent is a very powerful thing. And when Gengar returned to us in his new form, I was cautious of him, even though I'd known him since he was a Gastly, and I was but a Zubat.
It's said that temperaments do not change as we get older and grow, but Gengar is an exception. He was a very quiet Gastly, and a level-headed and logically-thinking Haunter. We got along best in his middle stage. These past few months have been torture, for me. I miss my old friend, and he seems not to care. Gengars are generally tricksters, but he is particularly uncouth. His actions aren't made any more tolerable by the Typhlosion and Golduck we travel with, who, just after his evolution, tried to convince him that I was no longer a worthy member of the team, as my breed was somewhat rare, but in no way exceptional. Thankfully, he was not swayed. He dances to the beat of his own drum, now. All alone, but happily.
…These thoughts soak through me, suddenly and simultaneously, as I awaken, startled to find myself on the ground. Surely I had fallen asleep in a tree the night before? I blink, then, puzzled to realize that it is, in fact, still night. Or at the very least, night again. I glance around nervously. The clearing I'm in is empty, unfamiliar. The grass is dark blue-green, bathed in moonlight. I'm alone.
What in the world…?!
I appear to be missing my home. The Pokéballs typically stay on our human's hip, but often at night he'll set them out so that we're able to enter and exit them as we choose. I feel oddly vulnerable, for the first time in as long as I can remember. I can't remember what it's like to be wild. Shaken, I let out a high Supersonic, to see if anyone else is around, or even close enough to hear me. The moon seems to shudder at my shriek, but there's no familiar response, save a Hoothoot griping some distance away. I take flight and nervously gain altitude, glancing around in search of my companions.
That wicked thought that all Pokémon dread crosses my mind, then. Have I been…abandoned? It's particularly painful, knowing that the Golduck and Typhlosion wanted me gone. But I don't think that Gengar would have helped them, and a part of me even wants to think that he would have done something in an attempt to convince our human not to release me, no matter how solitary and insane he is, now. I Supersonic again some three hundred feet from my clearing, and this time I get a response, though not the one I had wanted in any way.
Pain shoots through my lower-left wing, and I Screech involuntarily, struggling instinctively to keep airborne, which only makes it hurt more. I fall and flail in terror, nearly a hundred pounds dragging me back down to earth. I and my load crash through the canopy of the forest, and we land heavily in darkness. I'm stunned for a moment before I can open my eyes again, and dark red eyes stare down at me, coupled with a grin I know very well.
"You're a riot," Gengar says, cackling. "What, did you forget how to Bite?"
"I didn't know what was going on," I snap back, shaking off the pain in my wing and hovering, again. "Don't do that. Ever."
"Ahh, whatever." No sense of urgency, no concern for the fact that we're on our own in the wild. He would have cared, before. Now, he shrugs and picks at his teeth. "I'm starved. Where's the boss?"
"I don't know," I reply. He looks at me. There is no doubt in my mind that he's our human's favorite and always has been. He is very powerful, despite his childish mannerisms. And the effort it took to trade him, just to get him to evolve, was intense. I sensed it, even with my minimal clairvoyance. His face scrunches in distaste.
"…What about the other two?" he asks lazily.
"I don't know." I'm a broken record. Gengar grunts and moves his arms around restlessly, looking through the dark around us. We can both see very well at night, but it's still an inconvenience. Oddishes are tripping over themselves to hide from us, smelling the human on our bodies.
"…Where are we, even?"
Of course.
"We were near Lake of Rage, before I fell asleep," I reply. At last, a question I can answer. "I saw it off in the distance just before you pulled me down."
"So let's head for the lake and see if we can find those knuckleheads," Gengar suggests: the first logical thing he's said to me in nearly three months. "Everybody moves toward water."
"Aren't you worried?" I push him. He doesn't sleep, so he's either been wide awake through the entire experience and he knows what's really going on, or he was trapped in his Pokéball until just recently. My bitter mind suddenly wonders if he's just playing a trick on me, moving my Pokéball with me in it while I was asleep. I scowl.
"No," he replies, still grinning ghoulishly. "The boss can take care of himself. And the other two'll watch each other's backs once they get together. In the meantime, everybody's strong enough to hold their own, here. Why? Are you worried?" he pressures me. I Glare at him, but it doesn't have any effect. He snickers.
"Let's find them," I snarl, flapping my wings at a comfortable pace and starting to move in the direction that I spotted the lake in. He treks behind me a ways. We're both very capable of flight, but I know that he won't bother to go up into the air unless there's a damn good reason. One thing he's kept since he was a Gastly is his fear of heights. I'm sure even jolting up there to grab me made him nervous, if even a little bit. It's somewhat comforting to know that he'd risk his composure to find me, though, even now, in his current state. Despite the fact that he enjoys annoying me, I think we're still friends, or at least as close to it as we can be. I think our human would be glad to know that.
I can still smell that other trainer on him, sometimes, though. And that keeps me wary of him.