GOLD RESIDENCE

NEW BARK TOWN, JOHTO

Tuesday, September 2, 1989 PE

8:19 AM

Totodile emerged from the attack with one of Ninten's dress shirts covering him. He shook it off and saw that his attacker was now floating in the air. At the same time, it felt like the house was about to shake apart. The electricity was surging and some of the smaller objects in the house were levitating as well.

Ninten couldn't believe any of this was going on. Wild Pokémon and other trainers were one thing, but who ever heard of fighting lamps? Needless to say, it would probably just give chase if they tried to run.

In fact, the porcelain lamp was about to attack again! "Totodile, SCRATCH!" the boy cried.

This time, Totodile was ready. His Scratch reduced the lamp to porcelain shards.

No sooner was it defeated did Ninten hear a scream from Minnie's room.

Getting there, Ninten found that Minnie had a possessed lamp problem of her own. "Just like before, Totodile! SCRATCH!"

That was two lamps busted.

"Ninten," said a worried Minnie "what is going on?"

"I don't know," Ninten admitted. "But—!"

"EEEEE!"

That scream was Mimmy's.

Ninten and Totodile dashed away. "Don't tell me it's another lamp…"

It wasn't. A china doll was chasing Mimmy around her bedroom. The moment it "saw" a new victim, Ninten jumped at the chance. Totodile's Scratch would prove to be critical, reducing the toy to pieces.

With the doll's destruction, whatever was hovering around gently came to rest.

"That was so scary, Ninten," said Mimmy, latching onto him. "Thank you."

"No, it was Totodile who did it," he admitted "but…" Ninten saw something in the head of the doll. It was a box of some sort, but he couldn't tell for sure.

Taking it to the bathroom, he dropped the head on the hard floor. Upon shattering, Ninten saw the little grayish-brown object inside. It had a lid, which the boy promptly opened.

Plink, plink-plink, plink-plink.

A music box. It only played five notes and just stopped.

Perhaps it deteriorated?

Whatever the case, those notes would be burned into Ninten's mind.

The mess that the strange force caused wasn't that bad. Most of the bigger furniture didn't move by much, so cleaning up was relatively quick. Ninten got a little rest and Mimmy gave Totodile a little orange juice to help him recover.

Eventually, the phone in the kitchen began to ring. Ninten had to answer it.

"Hello, Ninten? It's you father," said the voice on the other end.

"Hey," said the boy, a little out of breath "we just finished cleaning up the house. For some reason a bunch of stuff was floating around and a lamp flew at me."

"Sounds like a poltergeist."

"Poltergeist?" said Ninten, confused.

"It's a ghost that possesses stuff for fun," the father explained. "We aren't talking Ghost-type Pokémon, here."

"But why would a ghost even come to New Bark Town?" Ninten asked.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure how to explain this," said the man "but your great-grandfather George studied PSI."

"PSI?" said Ninten, quizzically "Is that what Psychic-types use?"

"Yes. Very few humans have PSI as well. However, George was thought to have unlocked its secrets."

It was starting to make sense to Ninten: from that one fork he stared at and twisted when he was three to literally feeling Silver's bad aura the day before. Maybe Great-Grandpa George passed on these skills onto him?

"There might be something in the basement to help," said Dad "but I left the basement key someplace and I can't remember exactly where."

"I'll try to find it," said Ninten. "Maybe, when I leave New Bark later, it'll come in handy on the way to Indigo Plateau."

"What do you mean?"

"Prof. Elm gave me a Pokémon and I'm going to try to take on the League," Ninten explained.

"That's great to know, son. Perhaps on your journey you will not only build up your skills as a trainer; maybe you will be able to explore the potential of your powers, too. Your powers are not something you should take lightly."

"Thank you, Dad."

"Go for it, Ninten!" the man cheered. "But don't forget to check on your family while you're out. You can call me whenever you want. I love you, Bye."

He hung up.

The key to the basement, Ninten thought. Where is it?

Soon, his thoughts were interrupted by Mimmy's giggling. She was chasing Totodile around.

The sight of the Water-type instantly made Ninten think of the last place you'd think about hiding a key. Mick!

Mick, Ninten's pet Growlithe, was curled up next to his little igloo in the backyard, sleeping.

Ninten knelt down and whistled. Mick came dashing up to him and started licking him in the face; naturally, he laughed. "I'm sorry I can't take you with us," said Ninten "but you have to stay with Mom."

The boy soon caught sight of the Growlithe's collar. It had a silver pet tag… and a brass key. Ninten knew that Mick had that on for as long as he could remember, but thought it was just a decoration until just a few minutes ago.

He unlatched it and brought it inside.

The basement was dark and creepy. He wouldn't be surprised if a Rattata randomly scurried across his path or if a Zubat had made its nest in there.

It didn't take long before the boy found an old book on a dusty shelf. It was the only one there.

Ninten brought it out of the basement, so he could look at it. Its cover was stained and dusty, the spine torn and curled, and the pages had gone yellow. Most of the pages, he couldn't even read: a bunch of obscure symbols, equations, and random words.

Finally, he got to one last page with stuff on it before he reached blank ones near the very back. This page was one Ninten could actually read, but the words still made little sense:

WHERE IS GOD'S TAIL?

LOST ON […]

THE SHIP THAT […]

SAILS THE HEAVENS.

It gave Ninten the shivers. Age had taken its toll on the text. What it originally said, he couldn't know.

"Are you okay, son?" asked Mom.

Ninten looked down at Totodile. "I think it's time for us to go. C'mon Totodile."

As the boy walked toward the door, Minnie stopped him. "Before you go," she said "if your bag ever gets full, send the stuff you don't need to my PC. I'll hold onto them for you."

"Thank you," said Ninten. He handed Minnie the key to the basement. "If you would do me favor, can you give this key back to Mick?"

Minnie nodded.

With that, Ninten and Totodile were out of there.

What will await them in the rest of Johto?

Right now, their objective was Violet City.

NINTEN'S TEAM AS OF THIS POINT:

Totodile (M): L7