Phillip awoke from his rest as the captain called to all current passengers, alerting them that they had arrived at their destination. Phillip just got up, stretched, and walk out of his room and off the boat.

Apparently, the location was place named Maiden's Peak, name based on the statue of a woman that was carved into the cliff facing the sea. If Phillip remembered correctly, the peak was haunted by the ghost of the maiden the statue represented due to her boyfriend/husband didn't return after going to war. To what war, Phillip didn't know in the slightest.

Phillip walked past Ash, Misty, and Brock along the way into the city. Ash and Misty ran up to him for a small check-up on how everyone was doing, but Brock didn't follow. Looking back, Phillip was the Brock was staring off in to space, specifically a pier not too far from the boat. Phillip traced Brock's line of sight, but found nothing particularly interesting there.

'Maybe the Gastly, sure, but nothing important'

Phillip gave a call to Brock, which got his attention long enough for him to catch up with the others. However, Brock turned his head back to the pier moments later, to find nothing there.


Now in the city, the group noticed the festivities happening around them: dancing, amusement park rides, parades, and several stalls giving out food, candy, drinks, and souvenirs.

Misty and Ash grabs some lollipops while Phillip just grabbed a water bottle. Brock was too down in the dumps to care, going over what he thought to be a girl on the pier. Phillip knew better than that, but allowed Brock to wallow in his grief for a bit longer.

Soon, an old, short woman wearing a purple robe and carrying a cane snuck up on Brock from behind, saying "Hey, you there!" Brock twirled around thinking that the voice belonged to the woman he say, only to flinch back upon seeing the frail granny.

The lady pulled out a magnifying glass and inspected Brock, before stating, "Beware, not of an old beauty like me, but of a beautiful young woman, or you'll meet a cruel fate." Brock took this challenge and said he needed to see the girl he saw on the rock.

Misty mistook the "young beauty" part for herself. "But I'd never hurt Brock."

The old lady looked at her. "I was talking about an elegant, young woman. Not some scrawny, little blabbermouth like you."

Misty took offence to the remark, and when Ash added his own two cents in, Misty punched him directly to the floor. Afterwards, Misty dragged both Ash and Brock off.

Phillip stared down at the old woman. "You're a real heckler, you know that?" With that, Phillip followed after Misty.


Phillip stretched his neck to pop it as an old man started talking about the festival. He stood there with a covered picture to his right as he explained how the picture is removed from the shrine in front of the crowd every time the festival comes around.

When the geezer finally removed the cover, the picture showed a young woman wearing dress and a flower in her hair, which was flowing in the wind. The picture was almost a perfect copy of the statue found in the cliff.

Misty and Ash gawked at it while Brock seemed a bit confused on the matter. Phillip connected the dots to figure out that the woman in the picture was the one Brock thought he saw by the pier.

Just then, James came to be standing on the other side of Phillip, also staring into the picture with Brock. The two began walking up to the picture, muttering on how beautiful the girl was.

The old man pushed Brock back before stating, "The woman in this painting perished over 2,000 years ago. She was in love with a brave and handsome young man, but he left her and sailed away to fight in a war."

The old man went on about how she waited for the man to come back, but the man never did. She waited for so long that, apparently, her body became one with the cliff and turned to stone. Brock asked for the location of the rock, which the old man gave willingly. Ash, Misty, Phillip, and the rest of Team Rocket followed Brock and James as they raced towards the location.


From sunset to night, the two groups stood there looking at the rock of the maiden. It bored Phillip quickly, but at least he got to watch Jessie and James fall into the ocean below for the laughs. Soon, Ash and Misty left for the Pokémon Center with Brock telling them he'll be in by curfew. Phillip left for his hotel shortly after 10:30.

When he got to the hotel, Phillip grabbed his key from the front deck, only the clerk to tell him that Pokémon are not to be released in the rooms. When Phillip was walking back to his room, the clerk had allowed him to release 3 Pokémon for the night and all of them tomorrow morning due to the amount of a "tip" Phillip had given him.

"And, thus, the wheel of abusing power continues to rotate." Phillip stated, as he stared in his wallet, which was thicker than before.

Gabriel's voice called out. "He really should have stood his ground."

'I know, right? Had he done so, I would have just given him the wallet and not broke the rule.' Phillip thought to Gabriel.

It didn't take Phillip long to reach his suite, which was right next to the elevators. He opened the door and was met with a large room with two beds, a well-kept bathroom, a small living area with a couch, television, sink, and small refrigerator, and a large mirror between the living area and beds. Phillip released Wartortle, Pidgeotto, and Pikachu. Wartortle immediately rushed one the beds, Pidgeotto landed on the table in front of the mirror, and Pikachu hopped onto the couch to lay down.

Phillip first showered, combed his hair, and switched into a pair of pajama pants. Then, he called his Pokémon into the bath for a scrubbing, Pikachu being the last in for obvious reasons.

Wartortle had some fun in the tub, swimming and splashing about, catching Phillip several times. Phillip would always retaliate with dunking Wartortle under the water before pulling him near enough for the bath part. Wartortle would remove the bubbles with a small dive into the water.

Pidgeotto was much calmer than Wartortle, taking the scrubbing with stride and perking up if something felt off and hurt. A swift drying and combing kept Pidgeotto nice and happy.

Pikachu, on the other hand…

"No!"

Phillip sighed. "This isn't even a discussion. It is a bath." Pikachu still continued to struggle long after being in the water. Phillip just kept scrubbing.

At some point, Pikachu had enough. "Thunderbolt!"

Phillip absorbed the lightning attack by placing his palms on top of Pikachu's head. After three second, Pikachu stopped and Phillip looked down at her, asking, "Are you done?" He was awarded with a pout, which he just shrugged to, picked up the brush, and continued scrubbing. Pikachu kept still the rest of the bath.

With everyone cleaned and Phillip dressed for bed, everyone fell asleep.


Phillip yawned as Ash and Misty called for Brock. The two had figured out where he was staying and asked him for some help finding their lost friend. Phillip collected the Pokémon he left out last night, though Charmeleon and Wartortle decided to stay at hotel a moment longer to tidy up.

Apparently, Brock decided to stay out all night for the stone. Later on, Phillip learned that James was missing as well, as Phillip saw Jessie and Meowth looking for James.

The two groups did run into each other, and Team Rocket was starting their motto, only for James to rush out of the cottage that was next to Maiden's Rock. Soon after, Brock followed. However, the two were incoherently muttering.

"Ah, so everything turned out just as I predicted." The two groups turned to see the old lady from before. "Obviously, these two have both seen the ghost of the maiden."

Upon hearing this, Brock and James chanted how much the love the maiden before hugging each other. Ash and Phillip used their Pikachus to shock the two back to normal.

Well, for Brock came back to normal. James… we don't talk about what happened to James. Let's just say he knows his name and affiliation for now.

After bringing the two groups into the shed, the old woman tells how men fall prey to the ghost maiden's spell. The men are left to rot in the cottage, babbling about and their lives drained away, like a zombie.

When James started getting scared, the old lady slapped an "anti-ghost sticker" on him and Brock. When asked for the catch, the old lady told them they needed to pay for them.

Shortly after, Misty and Ash placed as many stickers they could buy on the cottage while the Pikachus were placing stickers on Brock and Team Rocket placed some on James.


Night fell and everyone was staying at the same cottage as before, waiting for ghost of the maiden to come. Charmeleon and Wartortle came back at noon when the manager forced them to leave, something Phillip expected.

Suddenly, a fierce wind came about, removing all the stickers from the house before bursting the door open to remove the ones on Brock and James, proving the stickers uselessness.

The ghost maiden talked to Brock and Brock talked back, both seemingly longing for the other. The ghost left, carrying Brock off and tried doing the same to James, who clung to a poll to stop flying off, though James eventually, and unwillingly, let go after talking with his team mates.

Ash and Misty grabbed Brock by the legs to anchor him to the earth, but Brock wanted them to let go. However, when Jessie fired something at the ghost, she stopped levitating the two to allow the projectile from hitting her. This caused James to fall back into the ocean, though he did climb back up the cliff within seconds. The ghost wasn't pleased and sent a wind into the forest to summon spirits.

Phillip, finally, grew bored. "Alright, I'm done." Phillip brought out all of his Pokémon on to the field. "Team, attack the maiden's ghost." Without hesitation, the Pokémon released whatever elemental attack they could muster: Pidgeotto with Gust, Pikachu with Thunderbolt, Charmeleon with Ember, and Wartortle with Water Gun. All of these missed

Phillip heard Ash's Pokédex say that the Ghost Maiden was a Gastly, which he guessed some time ago, and called to Wartortle. "Wartortle, use Bite on Gastly." Wartortle leapt at the ghost, but it moved out of the way, causing Wartortle to fall into the ocean.

With the word out, Gastly took its original form and all Pokémon went in to fight. They were defeated by the illusions of things that forced them to back off: Pikachu with a mouse trap, Meowth with a cat toy, Charmeleon with a hose, and Pidgeotto with a net. Jessie's Ekans came close, but Gastly turned into a mongoose to battle it. James went with a poison gas, but Koffing was quashed by the same mongoose, but with a gas mask. Ash's Charmander was forced to flee by a fire extinguisher. Ash tried getting Squirtle and Bulbasaur to attack together, but they ended up fighting their evolved forms, which were then fused together for an abomination Pokémon. Squirtle and Bulbasaur didn't stay long.

Misty was about to go full vampire hunter on the Gastly, who even commented on the fact that he wasn't.

Phillip groaned. "You know what, I'm done with this. Wartortle, do it now before I lose my patience." Gastly seemed confused, up until Wartortle managed to take a bite into it.

Gastly gave a gasp, before the bell began to ring. At the chimes, Gastly told them not to forget the ghost or the old lady as they will be back next year. Then, it faded to nothing as the sun rose above the horizon.


The officer of the town began to comment how each festival ends with paper-boat send off at night with each boat carrying a candle to allow lingering spirits to find their way to the afterlife. Misty and Ash dropped theirs in before meeting up with Brock once more. Phillip was more content watching the boats float into sea. Rather, he was watching Gastly stare up at Maiden's Peak to talk with the true ghost of maiden.

Phillip kneeled down on his left knee, help one palm to his forehead and other cupping the right knee, using the index and thumb together to form a circle for his elbow to be placed in, and gave a small prayer for Gastly's adventure to be fruitful

With his prayer done, Phillip traced his steps back to the hotel, though not without seeing Misty and Ash dance in their kimonos at the last festivity of the festival, with Team Rocket playing the music of the event. Phillip gave a final sigh before retiring for the night.


That's a wrap.

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