Chapter Nine – The Ghost Forces

"We've got them Commander." One of the Golbats flew around the now infuriated Rampardos, who had clearly snapped out of confusion, "They've been immobilised." Rampardos made a grunting noise but couldn't free himself from his bonds. As the light from the entrance to the cave caught his tail, the red stripes on it glittered again in an unfamiliar way.

"Excellent work." Commander Crobat nodded, looking over the prisoners and his Golbaten team, "We really should move out now. We're taking them back to HQ with us." The Golbats immediately set about binding up Gliscor and Parasect before ushering them along with Rampardos to their feet and forcing them towards the exit.

"Com…Comm…Commander Crobat!" Squeak chirruped excitedly as the bat turned back to them and he bowed clumsily, "It's an honour…" Crobat smiled down at him in a distinctly friendly manner then turned towards Snivy.

"I'm frightfully sorry about that." He told them after regarding Snivy for a few curious seconds then decided not to question him, "They won't be bothering you again. Do you want me to see you on your way?"

"Actually…" Squeak recovered himself enough to speak up, "We were…well…we needed to…"

"Let's at least get out of this cave." Crobat told them, glancing around at the cabin. Now that the team had been escorted from it by the Golbats, the Zubats which hung around the walls were slowly starting to fly back around again in curiosity, others were still watching the cave exit apprehensively as though worried the team might return. Squeak and Snivy wasted no time in gathering up the bag, finding the money which Rampardos had dropped all over the floor when he'd been hit by the supersonic attack and putting it all away. All the time, Crobat hovered overhead, also glancing back in the direction of the doorway.

"Okay sir." Squeak said enthusiastically as the two of them lined up beside him

"We're going to fly if that's alright." Crobat told them, "I think it will probably be quicker than walking the rest of this cave." And with no further discussion they began to move down the cave. Crobat had used the two wings lowest on his body to pick up Snivy and Squeak and was still perfectly capable of flying with only the top two. The cave began to largen out as they flew further down it, the ceiling became higher and the walls wider. The Zubat seemed to have agreed that the Bandits were not going to return anytime soon and were instead applauding Commander Crobat with their wings as they hung upside down from the cave ceiling. Eventually there was daylight flooding the cave and they emerged onto a patch of grass on a ledge, looking back down at Jubilife city below them. Crobat lowered Squeak and Snivy to the ground and though Snivy hastened to look down at the sight, all too aware that Commander Crobat was still watching him curiously, Squeak shuffled nervously up to him and asked him to sign his sticker book. The sun was high in the sky now. Jubilife city was packed with throngs of Pokémon. What appeared to be small blue lion cubs were chasing around the streets and there were red crickets on the road as well. After a fair amount of time, Snivy looked back around. Squeak was leafing through the pages on his sticker book enthusiastically as a flattered looking Commander Crobat hovered beside him, holding a pen in one of his claws. It was only now Snivy fully recognised Commander Crobat from the wanted posters. He remembered the menacing looking face glaring out at him, with slightly glowing eyes, his four wings stretched slightly out of shot. That Crobat and this Crobat looked so unalike, that Snivy hadn't recognised him at first. This Crobat was placid and gentle and smiling, not only that, he had just rescued him from being sold on to scientists by Rampardos and the other bandits.

"Thank you!" Squeak erupted hysterically, holding his sticker book up to examine Crobat's signature on the Crobat sticker and beaming to himself. Crobat stole that moment to ask the question Snivy had expected ever since Crobat had offered to help them from the cave.

"Forgive my impertinence…" he said in a distinctly formal manner, "But please, what kind of Pokémon are you."

"I'm Snivy. I'm from Unova. I don't know what Sinnoh is. I'm a grass type." Snivy summarised, already getting tired of doing so. Crobat opened his mouth to ask another question but closed it again, looking up and down Snivy in a bemused fashion.

"Do you mind?" he turned to Squeak and held out one wing for the sticker book. Eager to obey, Squeak passed it to him. Crobat wasted no time in flicking through the sticker book his eyes dancing over every page but he wasn't able to find what he was looking for. Snivy now glanced past Crobat and jumped slightly. The Golbats along with Rampardos, Gliscor and Parasect were still there. Rampardos was eying Commander Crobat in a murderous fashion but he was still bound and surrounded by five Golbats so there was very little he could have done, "Very nice." Crobat's mouth broke into a large smile as he turned to the back cover of Squeak's sticker book and Squeak blushed a furious shade of scarlet. Snivy crossed to Crobat and peered over his wing. There, drawn very roughly in pencil was a sketch of him. It wasn't excellent, and covered half the page with wiggly lines but written underneath it was 'Snivy, from Unova'. Snivy felt a sudden rush of emotion towards his best friend as he looked at the drawing then stepped back and grinned at him.

"Forgot that was in there." He blushed again, determinedly looking away from Commander Crobat but Snivy did nothing more than grin appreciatively

"Forgive me for doubting you." An impressed Commander Crobat closed the sticker book and passed it back to Squeak, who stowed it into his bag at once looking proud of himself, though still notably pink, "Clearly you are a thus undiscovered Pokémon from a thus undiscovered region. This is big news indeed Snivy. Now where were you on your way to before you were intercepted by this bunch of crooks?" He launched a disapproving look at the three Pokémon bound behind them before turning back to Snivy.

"Actually, we wanted to go to the ghost forces." Snivy said timidly, he could sense that Commander Crobat was important and aside from that, the wanted posters covering Unova of the fearsome bat kept floating back to him, "There's been big trouble." Crobat frowned for a second

"You mean actually go back to the ghost forces' HQ?" he asked in a slightly firm voice. Snivy backed off a few steps, tripped over his own feet and fell to the floor. Crobat's expression lightened instantly and he lifted Snivy back to his feet, "I'm sorry." He said in a far more gentle voice, "But Mistress Haunter simply doesn't see anyone, she only goes out on top secret missions, there are no 'visitors' to the ghost forces HQ."

"But this is important!" Squeak said urgently, seeming to overcome his stage fright, "My mum's been kidnapped! There was an attack last night on the lake and they took my mum, and we ran into two Metagross talking in the forest this morning and we think they're after Snivy…"

"Slow down there!" Crobat struggled to take all this in, "I heard about the attack on the lake, that's all over Sinnoh now, what do you mean they took your mum, do you know who they were and why they're here?"

"We think so Commander." Snivy risked speaking again, "I think I heard their leader speaking." At these words Commander Crobat stiffened looking both horror-struck and slightly pitiful.

"I'm very sorry." He told Squeak, placing one of his lower wings on the Piplup's shoulder as he had hung his head, so he was looking at the floor, then he addressed the two Pokémon as a whole again, "Very well, you may return with me to the ghost forces HQ. I'm sure that this is something that Haunter would want to hear about." Though he said the final point more to himself than to them, "The nearest base is Nova in the Valley Wind works, though I think if we get there we can easily contact the main HQ." Squeak's head had flown up at his tear stained face now looked enlightened

"We actually get to meet Haunter?"

"I'm sure your evidence will concern her." Crobat nodded firmly, "If you want I'll give you an escort. And…yes I think…Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Omega! We're going to bring those three back with us." He gestured towards the three bandits, all of whom began protesting furiously, but there was nothing they could do as the Golbaten team began to escort them roughly down the path towards a route lined with flower beds, "Come on then, this way." Crobat began to fly down the route, weaving between the flowerbeds to reach the town at the other side. Snivy fell behind slightly so that he could speak to Squeak.

"Can you believe this Snivy?" Squeak chirruped enthusiastically, "We actually get to go inside the ghost forces' HQ and meet Haunter! This is so exciting!" Snivy nodded though in a slightly forced manner. He knew very little about Haunter, only that she was worth more than all the other members of the ghost forces put together, except maybe Darkrai. The only pictures he'd ever seen of her had been of a terrifying Pokémon with two clawed hands glowing read reaching out in front of her as though reaching for something. Snivy remembered with some embarrassment avoiding routes which had this particular wanted poster pinned to them, as it had always given him nightmares when he was younger. Though meeting Commander Crobat had been a shock when he was so friendly, he couldn't imagine Haunter being unintimidating.

"I still don't really know the ghost forces." Snivy told his friend as they walked, "All I've ever seen are the posters." Squeak frowned for a second as though thinking hard but he didn't need to reply as Crobat had swept over their heads again to talk.

"You don't know the ghost forces? Here let me explain…" Crobat said hastily before grinning, "Keep walking, I'll talk as we go along, we're not far from Floaroma town now, it's nearby." Staying to Commander Crobat's left and glancing at an envious looking group of blue squirrels watching them from the side of the route, he watched Commander Crobat as he began.

"The Leader of the Ghost Forces, that is to say our Mistress, is Haunter. She organises us, invents things and plans out all out missions. Mind you that doesn't mean she isn't a good fighter, I don't know anyone who's managed to beat her in a battle yet. If there is a really powerful or dangerous mission she will occasionally go out with the team to try and put it right. She can have a bit of a short temper though, so don't press her is she disagrees with something. You're very lucky to be able to see her; she doesn't see outsiders very often for her own security."

"Second in command from Haunter is Darkrai. Darkrai's been working alongside Haunter for years now, ever since she first formed the forces. Okay, I know that Darkrai isn't a ghost type, but it's close enough and besides, he's a really valuable fighter in many ways. He's a mythical Pokémon and everything too, so Haunter rarely sends him out either, only on exceptionally dangerous missions. Darkrai may appear threatening but in reality he's a bit of a joker, you know, annoys the life out of Haunter sometimes I think. We rarely see him; he stays alone a lot or helps Haunter when she's making plans."

"I'm pretty sure that Haunter's star warrior is Mismagius. Mismagius does whatever Haunter says unflinchingly and without complaining, she has a lot of very powerful moves, perish song for one and Haunter keeps her with her on all times. Haunter is very friendly towards Mismagius but that doesn't mean she goes lax on her and Mismagius behaves like a warrior would to her mistress. I think Mismagius gets to lead missions very often, Haunter trusts her with control and leadership see?"

"Drifblim is Haunter's messenger; he's actually rather fast as Drifblims go and transports Pokémon and data all over the region. Most of the time he stays high up in the clouds so no one can see him to intercept him. He likes to hang around the Wind works, so we might see him there if we're lucky. Haunter recognises how valuable he is in preventing flying types from stealing into the HQ from above and Haunter sends him out a lot. He doesn't speak much but is one of those Pokémon who can just…put two and two together if you know what I mean."

"Me and the Golbaten team, we're the scouts mainly, we go out of our way to break up trouble, collect information or generally report back to Haunter if there's anything interesting or out of the norm going on that we think she should know about. We also try and apprehend bandits like your friends from the cave. Haunter sends us out very frequently. There are another ten Golbats in the Golbaten team but they're off doing something else at the moment, patrolling Sunnyshore city if I remember rightly."

"Then of course there's Nova, Comet and Star, they're the three Gastly Commanders in charge of the various bases and some missions…Oh yes and of course Banette, god she's a nightmare I'm amazed Haunter hasn't kicked her out yet…Ah and finally there's Fly Trap and Starly. Now they're interesting. Fly Trap is a Carnivine you see, one of the only ones in Sinnoh. He fell from the sky over a year ago now with practically no memory whatsoever but he found and befriended a Starly. They have a very long and complicated story that I can't possibly explain now but they're on the ghost forces now along with the wise Onix. There are also hundreds of other Gastly, Zubats, many other Pokémon who aren't ghost types working on the forces."

Squeak was nodding enthusiastically, his eyes wide as Crobat read out each name and summarised who they were. Crobat looked skywards for a few moments then nodded and looked back down at Snivy.

"So there you are, that's who the ghost forces are." He told him. Trying to take it all in Snivy thought for a moment then realised from the wanted posters that there was one name Crobat had not yet mentioned.

"What about Giratina?" he asked. The reaction this had was tremendous. Crobat stopped flapping in shock and almost fell out of the air as a result, flapping faster to keep himself up as he looked around in an almost conspiratorial manner

"How did you know?" he asked suddenly very suspicious, lowering his voice so that only his two companions could hear him, "How did you know that the legendary Giratina was on the forces?" Squeak's mouth had dropped open, though whether it was because Snivy had known this or he was potentially about to meet the legendary Giratina Snivy was unsure.

"There are posters of her up where I come from." Snivy said praying that Crobat wouldn't push the subject. He didn't fancy bringing up the whole wanted poster business just yet. Crobat continued to look suspicious but to Snivy's relief let it pass.

"Giratina is our jewel of the crown." He explained, glancing around again, "She's one of the most powerful dragons there is, no one except the force members I named just now know that she's on the forces, it's one of the best kept secrets of all time. Haunter very rarely sends her out, the last time she sent her out was when they were on a mission to track down mutant Banette but that was around the same time as the Fly Trap incident, almost a year ago." Snivy nodded, feeling frightened at the reaction he had received, "I'm definitely taking you back to HQ." he addressed them both, "I have a feeling that Haunter's going to be very interested in the fact that you knew Giratina was on the forces. Keep up now."

"So you were right!" Squeak said with a small gasp, "Giratina is on the forces. It's amazing." Snivy wasn't so sure.

"So you know anything about Fly Trap? It would be quite nice to speak to him I think…" Snivy was thinking back to what Commander Crobat had said about Snivy falling from the sky with no memory and decided it would be interesting to talk to him and Starly about what had happened as it was a little similar to his own predicament just he had remembered what had happened.

"Not really, I've always been more interested in the actual ghosts on the forces rather than them. Come on! We'll be left behind!" The two of them sped up so they were level with Commander Crobat as he reached a large archway covered in flowers which lead forth into a sweet smelling area full of flowers and some small archways. In the distance, sticking out over the tops of the trees, Snivy could see some large wind turbines which were prominent on the skyline where the valley Wind works must be. They had arrived in Floaroma town.