The sound of heavy rain hitting the gym roof echoed throughout the stadium. An occasional clap of thunder shook the building, but it was nothing that stirred the ghosts of the building.
Many Gastly in the building slept, the hallways being monitored by other Gastly and an occasional Haunter. A small dispute over an Oran berry slightly stirred the halls…but none of the ghost Pokemon disturbed on this stormy night…
…woosh…
One sleeping Gastly opened its eyes slightly at a small sound…but drifted back to sleep…must have been the storm. As the Pokemon drifted back to sleep, two figures rushed past, cloaked by the night.
The figures stopped every now and then, allowing Ghost Pokemon to drift by, not noticing them. As they neared the actual stadium. Their movements slowed and one of them looked around the empty stadium…
….far too quiet….which meant there were no Gastly…but there most likely WERE a whole group of Haunter in here.
The first figure scowled and glanced over towards her partner. "...Stay at the door." she whispered, slowly entering the room, staying close to the walls.
"...Zor…" her partner frowned, narrowing his eyes and carefully watching her sneaking to the other side of the gym.
The first figure narrowed her eyes, scanning the dark room for particular patterns…ways the shadows were resting….there was a sleeping Haunter right in front of her. Narrowing her eyes, she made adjustments to her walk, managing to get past all in the room. She pressed forward until she finally walked up the platform where the gym leader would stand if he were at his post.
Reaching out to a platform, she pressed a button and a small cubby opened…revealing several fog badges.
She took one in her hand and gazed at it bitterly….
"...GAR?!"
The girl gasped and suddenly turned to her right, where a large Gengar was entering the room from the gym leader's side, looking spooked.
At the Gengar's exclamation, several of the Haunter in the room were startled awake.
The girl quickly turned and bolted for the door. "GO! GO!" she yelled, rushing past some confused and still sleepy Haunter.
Gengar looked shocked, but gritted his teeth and took to the air. "GENGAR!"
"Haunter! Haunter!"
The Gengar and a handful of Haunter gave chase. The girl managed to get to the door and blew past her partner.
"NIGHT SLASH!"
"Scizor!"
Her partner blocked the way to the halls and sent a wicked wind of darkness towards the ghost type Pokemon, knocking them backwards. This gave the Scizor a chance to turn and rush after the girl.
The two rushed down the halls, alerting and waking many of the groggy Gastly, who looked spooked at the sight of their….intruders?
"Ga-Gastly?...GASTLY!"
Several Gastly quickly followed, others looked too stunned and confused.
The Scizor glanced back, seeing the large group of Gastly mixed with Haunter giving chase. He started to charge up an attack-
"Don't!"
Scizor looked towards his partner.
She frowned. "They're still young! They can't handle- GAH!"
The girl SLAMMED face first into Gengar who had suddenly appeared in front of her and got knocked to the ground flat on her butt. She shook her head and looked up, stunned.
Gengar towered over her, his normal cheshire-like grin upside down in a frown. Many Haunter and Gastly surrounded the girl and her Scizor, most of them with confused or worried expressions on their faces.
Scizor gritted his teeth and stood in front of the girl, putting up his claws in a challenge towards the Gengar…
…to which the ghost/poison type glared at the bug/steel type.
The girl got up and gritted her teeth, pushing past the Scizor and glaring at the Gengar. "Stop it! You know for a FACT that Cye is only doing what I instructed him to!"
Gengar glared at the Scizor known as 'Cye'...and looked down towards the girl, a disappointed scowl on his face. "Gengar!"
"I've made up my mind Gengar." She replied, narrowing her eyes at him. "I am NOT going to sit idly by and be treated like some china doll."
"Gen! Gengar!" Gengar flailed his arms and pointed towards the gym room.
"Oh PLEASE! If you really think he's going to keep that stupid promise he made TEN years ago, then you're just as blind as your stupid trainer!" The girl balled her fist and showed it to the large ghost type. "I've had enough of his promises! They aren't real! They NEVER are!"
She scowled bitterly. "I'm not going to allow YOU to keep me in this haunted prison!"
Gengar was silent, the only sounds in the room being the contact of rain on the roof, an occasional thunder, and the low muttering of Gastly and Haunter in the room.
Scizor stayed close to his partner, glaring towards Gengar…
A long, tense moment past…so long it felt like an hour….
The sound of a door opening on the other side of the building could be heard.
"Gengar?" a male voice called out. "Gengar! Haunter! Gastly! What's going on?"
All in the hall paused and looked in the direction the voice had come from.
Cursing to herself, the girl quickly took her Scizor's wrist and took off in the other direction, blowing past Gengar who only stood there and glanced behind them, watching them leave.
A handful of Haunter and Gastly rushed after them though, disappearing down the hall.
The girl and her Scizor burst out one of the doors into the pouring rain, quickly rushing for route 38 as fast as they could.
"Haunt! Haunter!"
"Gaaaastly!"
The girl glanced behind herself for a moment, but continued to run, gritting her teeth as she heard the pleas in their voices.
A betrayal really…could she live with herself….
….could she live with her situation though?
No…she was not going to change her mind. Performing this stunt had already sealed everything. It was time to begin her mission.
…and he was NOT going to stop her.
After a long while of running, the girl and her Scizor finally slowed and stopped running, taking shelter from the rain under some trees of Route 38. For a long while, both of them only panted, trying to regain their stamina from the stunt they had just pulled.
"...it's just you and me now Cye…" the girl crossed her arms and sighed, resting her back against a tree and looking down bitterly. "...I can't believe we did that…"
Her Scizor turned and approached her, looking over her solemnly. "...zor…"
The girl shut her eyes and looked up at him, giving off a weak smile. "...heh…what should we call this? 'The adventures of Cye and Lena?'...or how about this…'Cye and Lena. Bandits of Jhoto'!"
Scizor gave his trainer a sarcastic look.
Lena gave off a weak chuckle and looked down. "...yeah that's a bit much…"
"Gaaaastlllyyyy!"
"Huh?" Lena looked up, stunned, while Cye narrowed his eyes and quickly got in front of Lena to protect her…from a lone Gastly who was managing to catch up to them.
The Gastly managed to get closer and finally came to a stop, hovering a few feet away from the duo, a pleading look in his eyes. Scizor took a step up in challenge…but Lena put her hand on his arm, slowly making her way to the Gastly.
She looked around, looking for more Gastly or Haunter….but it was just this little one. She gave the ghost a troubled look and reached out, gently touching its face.
"Gastly….you need to go back home." she mumbled quietly. "...Cye and I are leaving…permanently…I don't plan to come back."
"GASTLY!" The ghost pushed against her hand and rested his face against her stomach, taking her jacket in his mouth and clinging to it. "Gastly!"
"...Gastly please…." Lena sighed and petted the ghost's head quietly.
After a moment Lena forced Gastly to let go of her. "...Please Gastly. You're so young…you need to stay with Gengar so he can teach you to be a strong ghost."
"Gastly! Gastly!"
Lena paused, looking stunned. "...what? What do you mean? You actually believe that?"
"Gastly!"
Lena was silent, processing the Gastly's request…and smiled softly. "...thank you…thank you for saying that…"
She reached into her bag and took out a single great ball, offering it to the ghost. Softly pressing the ball against his gaseous body, the ball opened, making the ghost-type turn into a flow of red light and entering the ball.
A wiggle….two wiggles….three…
The ball clicked.
"LENA!"
The girl paused when she heard her name being shouted from Ecruteak City.
"LENAAAA!"
The girl quickly put the great ball to her belt and turned. "Let's go. We need to get to Olivine before the ship leaves."
Scizor nodded and the two turned and ran off, listening to the fading sounds of one calling out as they fled.