"Yikes! A ghost Pokémon!" yelped Misty with a little alarm.

"Haunter, haunter!" said the Haunter, as two beams of black light zapped out of its eyes, just narrowly missing Misty's head!

"Hey, that's not nice!" rebuked Misty irately, only to have to duck as the Haunter fired another Night Shade attack at her.

Seeing that this particular Haunter seemed to be in the mood for a fight, Pikachu leapt defensively in front of Misty and fired a thunderbolt at Haunter. The bolt hit Haunter dead-on, stunning the ghost Pokémon as electricity danced all over its form. As it recovered, the Haunter seemed somewhat shaken by Pikachu's attack, and thus floated down the alley away from them.

"Yay, Pikachu! You scared it off!" said Misty jubilantly.

"Pikachu!" said Pikachu happily.

As the Haunter disappeared from sight, there came a number of rustling noises from the crates against the walls. To Misty's surprise, a number of Pidgey, Oddish, and Rattata emerged, having apparently been hiding behind the crates.

"Oh, hi there," said Misty a little nervously. "Um, you're not going to attack us too, are you?"

The various Pokémon shook their heads and began making various squawking noises at Misty and Pikachu. Pikachu went over and began talking to them, and as they replied, Pikachu turned back to Misty.

"Say, they don't look too happy," remarked Misty, noting the sad and fearful expressions shared by the various wild Pokémon. "Has that Haunter been bothering them too, Pikachu?"

"Pi-ka," nodded Pikachu solemnly, before proceeding to use its imitation skills to try to explain to Misty what had been happening in this particular neighbourhood. First, Pikachu imitated a Haunter, holding up various fingers to indicate that there was more than one Haunter; then it pretended to be holding and swinging a mallet; and finally it gestured to the terrified-looking wild Pokémon.

"Oh, I think I get it," said Misty as comprehension sunk in and she turned to the wild Pokémon. "A whole load of these Haunter have come here and they're bullying you? And there are too many of them for you to fight back, and now you're too scared to come out from hiding while they're about?"

The wild Pokémon nodded sadly, their mood considerably downbeat.

"You poor things," said Misty sympathetically. "Don't worry, we'll help you out. If we all work together, I'm sure we can put those bullies in their place!"


Meanwhile back at the ship, Ash had managed to free himself from the crates, just as Officer Jenny arrived on a motorcycle to find out what all the commotion was about. Ash quickly explained the situation to the attractive police officer, who then instructed the young trainer to jump into the sidecar connected to the bike. As Ash quickly did so, the Captain called down from the ferry:

"Hey Ash! The water tanks should all be repaired by nightfall. If you haven't gotten back to the ship by then, we'll have to leave without you, all right?"

"Don't worry Captain. I'm sure we'll be back by then. Thanks!" replied Ash, as Officer Jenny sent her Pidgeot to swoop the skies for any signs of Misty and Pikachu.

As soon as Ash was all set, Officer Jenny got the motorcycle driving down the dockside as they commenced their search.

"So Ash, I guess you're really close to Misty and your Pikachu, am I right?" asked Officer Jenny.

"Yeah, we've been through everything together," confirmed Ash solemnly, worried greatly about his friends. "So I've got to keep looking for them until we're all back together again."

There came an urgent cry from Pidgeot flying above their heads, and as Ash and Officer Jenny watched, Pidgeot suddenly began picking up speed.

"Looks like Pidgeot's spotted something," remarked Officer Jenny. "And if it has, then we better speed up ourselves."


Ash and Officer Jenny did not know it at the time, but what Pidgeot had spotted was a very intense situation. The Haunter that Pikachu had initially scared off had returned with reinforcements, and now Misty, Pikachu and the wild Pokémon found themselves facing a whole load of these Ghost Pokémon!

"Haunter! Haunter, haunter!" said the first Haunter threateningly.

But Misty refused to let herself get intimidated by the unfriendly ghost Pokémon a second time.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, pushing these other Pokémon around!" she scolded the Haunter. "Why can't you just leave them alone? This neighbourhood is big enough for all of you!"

"Pika Pikachu!" agreed Pikachu as it took up a fighting stance.

Unfortunately, the Haunter was not so easy to sway at the prospect of living in harmony with the other Pokémon. Instead, the leader formed a shadow ball in its claws, which it sent flying straight at Misty, who was barely able to get out of the way in time.

"All right, you bullies!" said Misty, her temper now really fired up. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get! Pikachu, thunderbolt attack!"

Leaping into the air, Pikachu let off a powerful thunderbolt at the Haunter. But they swiftly floated clear of the blasts, before surrounding Pikachu, their eyes glowing red as they each prepared to launch a Night Shade attack.

"Pikachu, leap clear!" cried out Misty.

As the Haunter opened fire, Pikachu leapt up into the air again, and the beams collided into the Haunter instead. With the Haunter momentarily stunned, Pikachu let off another series of thunderbolts, which this time found their targets! The Haunter winced in pain from the powerful electric charges, and they made a hasty retreat out of the alleyway away from everyone else.

"You did it again, Pikachu!" said Misty jubilantly, with Togepi giving another happy squeak of support.

The wild Pokémon suddenly came up to Misty and made some frantic sounds, which caused Pikachu's mouth to open in surprise.

"What's the matter, Pikachu?" asked Misty.

Frantically, Pikachu made various gestures, and after a minute, Misty's eyes widened as she realised what the other Pokémon were saying.

"Huh? You want Pikachu to stay here and become your leader?"

The wild Pokémon nodded enthusiastically, but Pikachu was clearly not keen on the idea.

"I'm sorry," Misty said gently to the wild Pokémon, "but Pikachu can't stay with you. He's already got a trainer to be with. Which reminds me, we need to get back to Ash right away!"

"You're wrong there, twerp!" came a voice from above.

Without warning, a metal clamp suddenly shot through the air and snapped shut around Pikachu's body! Taken aback, Misty looked up towards the source of the attack and was not surprised to see that it was none other than Team Rocket in their hot air balloon.

"Now, James, pull up Pikachu, then we'll pull out!" commanded Jessie.

"Aye-aye," replied James as he pulled a switch on a control box in his hands. "Activating our super electromagnet!"

Responding to a signal from the control box, a hidden panel in the balloon basket's undercarriage opened up and a large round metal magnet emerged. As the magnet began to hum with energy, it pulled at the metal clamp around Pikachu's body, causing the electric Pokémon to begin hovering off the ground and up towards Team Rocket!