"Pokémon Endless Journey - Volume 1: Red, Green, Blue and Yellow - The First Legend"

Chapter 28 – Mistress of Ghouls:

Repeating the previous process, Red and Yellow entered the following room, mainly colored in purple with interesting patterns on the floor, walls and ceiling.

On the other side of the field stood an old woman, supporting her weight with a cane. She wore an old dress, matching her figure, black cold eyes, grin devoid of fear, and pale blonde hair. Her appearance made shivers run down Yellow's spine.

"Lorelei and Bruno fell, uh? No matter. I am Agatha of the Elite Four. I hear Oak's taken a lot of interest in you, child."

Her statement surprised Red. "You know Professor Oak?"

"That old duff was once tough and handsome. But that was decades ago. He's a shadow of his former self. Now he just wants to fiddle with his Pokédex. He's wrong. Pokémon are for battling! I'll show you how a real Trainer battles!" After finishing her sentence and as Yellow sat down on to witness the battle, Agatha raised her cane and then hit its end against the floor. The screen turned on and the pattern of the Poké Balls suggested that the battle would be exactly like Bruno's: first two double battles and then a single battle as the end.

"Hey, don't mock Professor Oak like that!" Red clenched a fist and showed a look much appreciated by Agatha. She dropped two Poké Balls, letting out a pair of Pokémon of the same species as one of the Pokémon that had scared Red, Green and Blue once before.

"Haunter-Haunt!" While one of them looked like any other, the second possessed a blue tongue instead of red.

Yellow used her Pokédex, which earned her a glare from Agatha. "Eek!"

'Haunter, the Gas Pokémon, and the evolved form of Gastly. Haunter is a dangerous Pokémon. If one beckons you while floating in darkness, you must never approach it. This Pokémon will try to lick you with its tongue and steal your life away.'

"Creepy…" Yellow couldn't help but to comment.

"Aerodactyl, Vaporeon, let's do this!" Red sent in his first two choices into the field. Before Aerodactyl could chomp a certain head, Vaporeon stopped him and shot a glare, which put him in place.

'Ready? BEGIN!'

Aerodactyl swooped in while Vaporeon cathered dark energy in the form of an orb in front of her mouth, which she fired shortly after, following her teammate.

The Haunters copied the motions. The regular one placed his hands together, forming a Shadow Ball, launching it after the Shiny Haunter, who moved towards Aerodactyl. A dark aura surrounded her clawed fist, which floated around in a strange manner, uppercutting Aerodactyl's opened jaw before he could attack. A Sucker Punch, if you will. The Shadow Balls collided, but Haunter's overcame Vaporeon's due to being of the same type as the user. Vaporeon got hit by the weakened attack and Aerodactyl flew back, withdrawing himself from the struggle.

Vaporeon's tail began to glow light blue, releasing streams of water, while Aerodactyl's glowed deep blue, and the two dashed towards the opponents. The shiny Haunter took a stand and flashed white, multiplying into five copies of herself. Aerodactyl and Vaporeon slammed their tails against four of them, making them vanish, letting the one at the center remain. She grabbed both their tails with her disconnected hands and then slammed them against each other and the floor. Taking advantage of their flinching, the regular Haunter floated up and her eyes glowed light blue, sending a circular wave at both Vaporeon and Aerodactyl, making them fall asleep.

Unable to do anything, regular Haunter sent a see-through copy of herself towards both Aerodactyl and Vaporeon, waking them up and draining their strength. The two quickly jumped back in order to gain some distance. Vaporeon fired a powerful jet of water from her mouth, but the two Haunters dodged by parting into different irections. Looking at each other, Aerodactyl and Vaporeon nodded at each other and then parted their ways, each following a different Haunter.

Vaporeon followed the shiny Haunter, while Aerodactyl pursued the other. Aerodactyl attempted to bite down and Crunch, but Haunter kept invading each attack with ease until she delivered another Sucker Punch, hurling Aerodactyl up into the air. Upon recovering, Aerodactyl fired a multi-colored dragon-shaped beam of energy, but it went through Haunter, as if it wasn't affecting her at all. It turned out to be a substitute, which disappeared soon after. Confused, Aerodactyl looked around, until he was poked in the shoulder. He turned around, firing a dragon-shaped flame, but hitting nothing. Turning back around, he found Haunter with a yellow orb between her hands, which she threw at the Fossil Pokémon and leaving him confused and disoriented. Aerodactyl tried to use Crunch again, but Haunter just evaded the attack, rather easily. He then dove down into the ground, hurting himself in the fall. Haunter laughed and used Hypnosis once again, putting him to sleep and followed up by creating a dark orb within her hands and launching it at Aerodactyl, causing him a Nightmare and creating a headache so powerful that made him roar in his sleep. She then started laughing, feeling victorious, until Aerodactyl's eyes opened, fury dwelling within it. Before she could even flinch, Aerodactyl flew up and hit her with Aerial Ace, causing her to fall back. Aerodactyl kept attacking her, until a surprise attack, Sucker Punch, broke through the pattern, sending Aerodactyl into the wall. A cloud of dust rose, but Aerodactyl emerged from it shortly after, taking Haunter by surprise again and biting down and crunching her body. She yelled in pain but then cupped her hands together and slammed them against Aerodactyl's jaw, freeing her from the grasp. She gathered darkness within her hands and then fired a beam of multiple black rings and Aerodactyl responded by using Dragon Pulse again. The crash of attacks caused an explosion that knocked them both out.

Vaporeon's target had a different strategy. The shiny Haunter used Double Team just before Vaporeon attempted to bite her body. Then, she used Shadow Ball in multiple directions in order to destroy every copy, but just as she was about to fire at the last one, Haunter flung her fist surrounded by a purple glow, punching Vaporeon and knocking her back. However, she was quick on her feet and fired a Water Pulse, following the orb with an Aqua Tail ready for action. Haunter fired a Shadow Ball, which caused the Water Pulse to explode into a wave of water, but Vaporeon jumped through it and slammed her tail against Haunter. However, she disappeared, confusing Vaporeon, but reappearing with black eyes and hands surrounded in black sparks. Vaporeon turned around and flinched upon seeing Haunter, who slashed her with both hands. This attack in particular, Payback, was much stronger as a result of getting hit. Vaporeon released a mist of black smoke around them both, blinding Haunter. Vaporeon jumped in front of her opponent and delivered a Water Pulse at point blank range, exploding into a wave of water that cleared the smoke. Haunter shook it off and used her large blue tongue to lick Vaporeon, leaving her paralyzed with disgust. Then, Haunter scratched Vaporeon with a claw surrounded in violet, causing further damage, but Vaporeon wouldn't give up. She fired a powerful jet of water from her mouth, but Haunter snapped her fingers before getting hit, making her eyes glow a mixture of red and black. She was knocked out by the Hydro Pump, but a large eye surrounded in darkness appeared and unleashed a purple thunder, shocking Vaporeon. The Hex attack made the double of the damage because of Vaporeon's paralysis.

"Return!" Bothe Trainers withdrew their Pokémon and Agathe was quick to open the two next Poké Balls. The first let out a large, blue bat-like Pokémon with purple wing membranes, while the second released a a serpent like Pokémon with purple scales all over her body.

"Gol-Bat!"

"Arbok-Ar!"

Yellow knew about Golbat through Koga, but not Arbok.

'Arbok, the Cobra Pokémon, and the evolved form of Ekans. This Pokémon is terrifically strong in order to constrict things with its body. It can even flatten steel oil drums. Once Arbok wraps its body around its foe, escaping its crunching embrace is impossible.'

"Why are all of her Pokémon creepy…?"

"Pikachu, Venusaur, let's do this!"

"Pika!"

"Venu!"

The two Pokémon landed on the floor, however it made a comment escape through Agatha's mouth.

"A Grass-type against two Poison-types? Isn't that a poor choice?"

"I know what I'm doing." Red assured, just before the round gave itself a start.

Pikachu was the first the move, thanks to Quick Attack, his target being the one who had a weakness to electricity, Golbat. Golbat flew up briefly and spread her wings as much as possible, creating a shield in the shape of an open hand in front of her body, protecting her from Pikachu. Bounced off from the shield, Pikachu somersaulted multiple times, gathering electricity at the end of his tail and forming it into an orb of electricity, which he hurled at Golbat. However, Golbat evaded the attack while quickly flying up to Pikachu and bit down his body with purple glowing fangs. In a panic, Pikachu released a thunderbolt from his body and struck Golbat with an Iron Tail, pushing her away while falling towards the ground.

In the meantime, Arbok and Venusaur clashed, Arbok firing an orb of purple sludge and Venusaur a white orb of energy. The two attacks collided and cancelled each other out, but Arbok had disappeared from the stadium, leaving behind only a hole on the floor. Venusaur was confused at first, but the Cobra Pokémon sprung out from beneath him and struck his body. Before Venusaur could counter, Arbok dove into the ground again. Venusaur was smart, however, and standing on hind legs, Venusaur slammed the front ones against the floor of the battlefield, creating an Earthqake. Arbok was expelled from the underground because of the seismic wave, heavily damaged. She glanced to her partner and they nodded at one another.

Arbok started the operation by shooting a glare at Venusaur, paralyzing him with fear. Then, Golbat moved to the opposite side of the field, chased by Pikachu, but Arbok blocked his path. While Golbat flapped her wings, releasing a stream of 'X' shaped blades from its tips, landing on Venusaur and causing damage, Arbok became coated in green energy which fired multiple bolts of the same that shocked Pikachu and drained his energy, healing some of her wounds. Pikachu released another Thunderbolt, cancelling Giga Drain, and then prepared his Iron Tail. However, the end of her tail also became made out of iron and the two fought with their tails.

Venusaur fired Weather Balls, one at a time, attempting to hit the swift Golbat, but unable to. Golbat then formed an orb of light blue energy surrounded by a veil of wind, which she hurled and damaged Venusaur with. However, he came out of the dust cloud surrounded by a golden aura, causing quite some damage. Pikachu began gaining dominance over Arbok and eventually jumped, flipped and hit her hand, but Arbok was quick to react and bit down Pikachu's body with fiery fangs, causing a light explosion and pushing him to Venusaur's side, while she returned to Golbat's. The four Pok+emon glared at each other and unleashed attacks in unison: Pikachu dashed surrounded by golden electricity, Venusaur by a golden aura, Golbat movedat great speed, leaving afterimages of itself behind through Acrobatics, and Arbok reused Fire Fang. The collision of all four ended up in an explosion. When the smoke cleared up, Arbok and Golbat ha fallen, while Venusaur and Pikachu were still standing strong, though heavily damaged, which was a combination of the one caused by the opponents' attacks and the recoil damage of their own.

Agatha witdrew her pair of Pokémon and finally threw the final Poké Ball at her disposal upwards, letting out her phantasmagorical ace, a dark purple Pokémon with a roundish body, red eyes, a wide mouth curled into a sinister grin, multiple spikes covering her back, and large pointed ears.

"Gengar-Gen!"

'Gengar, the Shadow Pokémon, and the evolved form of Haunter. Sometimes, on a dark night, your shadow thrown by a streetlight will suddenly and startlingly overtake you. It is actually a Gengar running past you, pretending to be your shadow.'

"Eek!" Yellow got scared of her own Pokédex.

"Volt Tackle and Solar Beam!"

As Venusaur charged with sunlight, Pikachu dashed, becoming surrounded in golden electricity.

"Trick."

Gengar huckled and snapped her fingers, making her switch positions with Venusaur. Surprised by such, Red's Pokémon couldn't stop their attacks. Pikachu crashed into Venusaur just as the beam of solar energy was fired, making him faint. Venusaur was still able to fight however, and quickly tried to take revenge on his fallen comrade by unleashing his vines, but Gengar casually passed through them, showing virtually no effort in such, and upon being close to Venusaur, she fired a Shadow Ball at point blank range, making him faint.

Red withdrew them both and looked at his final choice inside the Poké Ball. "I'm counting on you… Let's do this, Snorlax!"

"Snorr!"

Snorlax landed and Gengar didn't waste any time. She released a stream of purple Toxic venom, which hit Snorlax. She cackled, but was surprised by seeing an unaffected Snorlax.

"Snorlax's ability, Immunity, makes him un-poison-able!"

"Red, I don't think that's a word…"

Snorlax hurled a fiery punch, but Gengar evaded and created a ball of darkness within her hands, which she aimed at point-blank range and then fired a stream of black energy rings against Snorlax's face. The Dark Pulse made him step back, but he was quick to jump forward and attempt to slam his body into Gengar's, which was not possible. Passing right through her, Gengar laughed, mocking him, but she was struck in the back by an icy punch, freezing her into a block of ice. Snorlax then made his forehead glow bright blue and he slammed it against the frozen Gengar, breaking the ice and causing quite some damage.

Gengar stood back up and pulled down an eyelid with the help of an eye and stuck her tongue out, Taunting Snorlax and infuriating him as a result. He ran towards her with a fist surrounded in electricity, but failed to punch her since she had disappeared, confusing him. She then reappeared right in front of him with a clenched fist, surrounded by a black aura, and delivered a Sucker Punch, obligating Snorlax to step back. His forehead glowed again and he attempted to ram it against Gengar, but she stopped him through the use of Psychic powers, pushing him against one of the walls. Snorlax tried to recover from the hit while Gengar returned to her side of the field and laughed, making Snorlax angrier than he already was. As he returned to the battlefield, Gengar released a blast of electricity from her body, hitting him hard. However, he didn't give up. He raised a fist, which he used to create Thunder Punch, and it acted like a lightning rod, attracting the electricity into and feeding it, creating a Super-Charged Thunder Punch. Flinching by seeing such, Gengar stopped her attack and was struck by Snorlax, ramming her into the floor, but she vanished into the form of a shadow, which she used to travel through the walls and eventually the ceiling. While Snorlax followed it, he charged psychic energy into his forehead. Gengar emerged from the ceilingwith a Dark Pulse ready between her hands, and Snorlax immediately jumped up, attempting to head butt her body. However, Gengar snapped her fingers, changing their positions. So Snorlax would be above and Gengar below, facing away from each iother. As Snorlax began to fall towards the ground, Gengar turned and fired the Dark Pulse, causing further damage.

Snorlax landed and turned, finding a laughing Gengar and his glare narrowed. He formed an orb of orange energy between his hands and hurled it against the ground beneath Gengar. While Focus Blast wouldn't have affect against her, it would still raise a cloud of dust and smoke. With a fist covered in electricity and the other surrounded with fire, Snorlax dashed, but Gengar snapped her fingers, changing places with Snorlax again. However, because she was facing towards the wall inside the cloud, she had to turn around in order to put her eyes on Snorlax, but the Sleeping Pokémon delivered a Thunder Punch as soon as she turned. He had moved quickly by slamming the Fire Punch against the floor to propel him back to his original standpoint. The punch sent her against the floor, but when she tried to move, yellow static surrounded her, stopping her from moving.

"Weight of Thought!" Snorlax combined Heavy Slam and Zen Headbutt into two and approached Gengar. She tried to snap her fingers to change position and perform the Sucker Punch attack to stun Snorlax, but the paralysis stopped her from doing so. As a result, Snorlax delivered a heavy blow, knocking her out completely. Breathing heavly, Snorlax gave a cocky grin, but it disappeared when Red ran to give him a hug, being replaced by an innocent smile. "Way to go, Snorlax!"

"Snorr…"

Agatha withdrew her Pokémon and closed her eyes. "You win. I see what the old duff sees in you now. I've nothing else to say. Run along now, child!"


Pokémon of the Day:

Haunter - Haunter hides in very dark places, where it plots to take the life of the next living thing that comes near it. It silently stalks its victim and steals its life force with a lick from its gaseous tongue, which inflicts convulsions that persists until the victim dies. It has the ability to float through solid walls.

Arbok - Arbok is capable of crushing opponents by coiling its body around them and squeeze them tightly. It can even flatten steel oil drums. If it encounters an enemy, it raises its head, mimics the opponent with the frightening pattern on its body and making eerie sounds by expelling air from its mouth. It has been stated that if any part of Arbok's body except for the head is cut off, it can regrow the rest of its body again in a matter of a few weeks. It also has the ability to detect. Arbok has been known to be capable of spending long periods underwater and surviving in aquatic environments.

Gengar - Gengar has the ability to hide perfectly in the shadow of any object, granting it exceptional stealth. However, Gengar's body acts as a heat sink; its presence cools the temperature of the surrounding area by nearly 10°F/5°C, because it absorbs the warmth. In addition, Gengar possesses the ability to fly through the air.

REMINDER: any reader who does 5 well-structured reviews gains the chance of requesting a chapter of their choosing for the series.