Ohs. My. Gods. Such a long time. For me… anyway, I've been extremely busy (with reading and… more reading) and hadn't gotten the time or motivation to do this. So I'm going to make it up to you by making this incredibly long. For me that is.

Crazy Ghosts, Inane People

The forest was extremely peaceful. But most forests are in one way or another. This was the kind of forest that hasn't been touched by mankind in it's life. The trees were big enough that five adults could have stretched their arms around it together and would still not be able to touch each other's fingertips. The birds made music that sounded as if it was never going to stop, never had a starting point, it was just there forever. There was life in the forest, much of it. But secrets of that life were meant to be kept it seemed, for the trees were so close together that the forest seemed black as night, even with fall on the way.

It wasn't the darkness that scared this young girl though. The darkness added to the effect of the rest of the forest, the feeling that if you just lie down for a moment, you could sleep forever… But the girl was truly scared out of her wits. But I suppose you would be too if you had gone to sleep in a warm comfy bed only to wake up on a curved tree branch, ideal for lying down on, suspended fifty feet in the air. If you aren't sure about that, then you are most likely insane, go see a physician right away.

But as it is, this peaceful forest got a rather rude awakening. Perhaps it was because nothing in the forest had ever seen a human before, or maybe it was because it had been so long, but I think that extremely feminine shrieks that are from the throat of a tomboy just isn't ideal for their status.

When the shriek started, the birds got started out of their nest, a few forgetting to leave those hardly earned worms for their poor chicks, some forgetting to breathe until it was too late. The unknown forest dwellers got rattled out of their peaceful sleep or lost the trail of that extremely fat and tender little sentret. Heck, I might even go so far as saying that the wind picked up a chiller breeze.

Now this girl had perfectly good reason for disturbing everybody in the forest for miles, sound traveled quite fast here, as they would soon find out. But right now, the little beast that had ever so nicely brought the girl here to disturb the peace was dealing with the problem. Really, he was! Okay, so he wasn't doing much of a good job I guess, seeing as another scream pierced the air.

Now if we could adjust this here… Err, you weren't supposed to hear that! Right over there, now look! Here we see a young girl, teenaged by a rough guess, being confronted by a ghastly purple form with blood red eyes fifty feet in their air. I'm wondering why she hasn't fallen down already…

"What the f-"

"Now don't start that, I'm not going to hurt you-"

"The hell you ain't! You brought me here, right!"

"Well yes…" The ghastly form moved, something of a 'hand' started scratching his 'head' embarrassedly.

"Well you bloody well better get me home! Where the hell are we? Why did you bring me here? Answer me you… you…" Lacking an offending way to put his form, she drawled off, but left the threat hanging. If you could call it a threat, personally- nevermind, you wouldn't care.

"Look, I brought you here because I have a… request." The form we people commonly know as a haunter answered carefully, if choppy.

"What the hell is it? I won't do it! And get me down from here!" She yelled back.

"Really, there is no need for profanity! And I was going to bring you down, but after that snappish attitude, I think I'll leave you be. It could have been an interesting task…" Now if you actually knew this girl, Rachel by name, you would have known that once you have her curiosity piqued, you can't stop it. Apparently this haunter knew that weakness…

"… I'll be quiet and listen if you get me down." She said quietly.

"Why should I make a deal like that with you? Who do you think you are?"

"Please?" She answered, acting as if she had not heard the previous questions.

"Well maybe…" The haunter scratched it's 'chin' now, deciding where to start. "Once upon a time, there was an ambitious haunter who wanted to be extremely strong. Pantalaimon by name, though nicknamed Pan by friends. He knew that to be strong he would have to travel and train, but he knew he would be eventually captured during his training by also ambitious trainers who might not treat him well. He also knew that a pokemon owned by a trainer gets far more experience and are always stronger.

"So that haunter decided to find a trainer. Not just any trainer though, someone who was kind, just, and knew how to train pokemon. But he wouldn't want to give himself to someone with pokemon. He wanted someone with a fresh start, but not someone who would be too young for him. That was when he heard news from an old hypno who had recently moved into the forest. He talked of a kind young girl who had experienced a very hard loss, and given up. He said that if someone were to revive that strength that was lost, she would be ideal for that haunter.

"Of course, the haunter wanted to see this person very much. He took directions from the hypno and set out on his first adventure out of the Maho Forest. It took his strongest skills to keep out of sight, for he spied on that girl and learned all her traits and characteristics before confronting her. So he brought her here to make sure no other ears but the forest's people to ask her his request."

Pan told the tale like it was a fictional piece from a master storyteller. And the girl kept her promise to be quiet and listen. Pan was absolutely positive that she knew who he was talking about and what the request was.

"You've made a mistake Pantalaimon. I won't be a trainer again." She said coldly.

"Please?" He said with a wheedling tone, like a toddler asking for a cookie before dinner.

"No, and that's the end of it!" She snapped.

"Honestly, you need to control that temper. I know you long for the wilds again, I can see it in your eyes. It is as bright there as was your determination to win the leagues," said a raspy voice from down below. Pan and Rachel both looked down to see a very old hypno. His white collar was a mess and matted very badly in places, his fur that must have once been shining golden was a sickly yellow, he was hunched and the look in his eyes showed that he was not going to be of this world any longer.

"Gramps!" Rachel exclaimed. "I can't believe you're here! I thought it was you from the story."

'Gramps' craned his neck up toward them. "Do bring her down, I don't want to get myself stuck in this position!" He called up to them.

Pan brought her down without much difficulty. While haunters are mostly transparent and cannot be hit by physical things most of the time, they can make themselves tangible at will as can most other ghost pokemon.

"Please Rachel, do give this another chance." Gramps said when they were all down on sweet, precious ground.

"Why? To get someone hurt again?" The resentment on her face made it clear that she wasn't changing her mind anytime soon. "Now please get me home!"

"I understand you are worried, but what about me? I can't die again!" Pan spoke up for the first time since Gramps appeared, sounding very amused.

"But if I start training again, I'm going to have to get other pokemon also! And a team full of ghost types is definitely not recommended." She retorted, her excuses being sanded down with common sense. True, her parents have tried this quite a number of times already, but hearing it from one of your own pokemon is much different, believe you me.

"What happened to you was something that could not have been predicted, you lost a partner and a friend. Family outside of normality. It was cruel and only happens once every couple hundred years or so. Don't let it destroy you, try again. Remember when we couldn't get the eighth badge in Kanto because Marill and Jumpluff weren't strong enough? We lost 7 times straight, but you still kept at it," Gramps replied.

"Well yes but-"

"Not buts! Please, just think about this for a moment," Pan interrupted.

And she did. She thought about it in silence for about ten minutes before coming to a decision. Not something Pan would have liked, but this was a broken person, she could be fixed in time.

"All right, I'll do it. But any freak accidents and we're done."