In this chapter, I tried to show the more animalistic instinct in Pokemon. Remember, as clever and even human-like as Pokemon are, they do have more animal-esc impulses than humans.

Chapter 3: Tears of a Ghost

Days turned into weeks, and then into months.

Every night, Eevee would come to visit Gastly in the Zoryn Cemetery. Though she would see the eyes of the ghosts there, they always kept their distance. It made her a little grateful, especially since they were more dangerous than Gastly.

At first staying up for most or all of the night was exhausting for Eevee, but as time went on she somehow grew more accustomed to the night time. It wasn't as scary anymore, and she could feel herself starting to like it. Gastly was so nice and it was like he opened a whole new world to her, the world of darkness.
Contrary to what most may think, it's not scary or evil. If you just looked at it with a different view or image, darkness can look very beautiful.

One night, while they were exploring the graveyard, something would spook her like nothing had before…

"So what's it like to have legs?" Gastly circled playfully around Eevee in the air, like he usually did.

Eevee smiled up to him, "Legs? You mean what's it like to have limbs and walk around?"

"Uh huh. Like…what's it like to be able to run or…touch things?" He hovered in front of her and his tone became oddly serious.
She stopped walking and just stood in front of him, curious.
He reached out with the purple aura round him and brushed her face, but it just felt like cool mist, "See? I can grab things, but I can't really FEEL them. It's just a like a piece of rock to me. So what's it like to have legs and feel the grass on your feet? To run?"

She blinked a few times, stunned by his sudden 'limb envy' and looked to her own little brown paws.

She lifted her right one up and flexed her toes a bit, "Well, with feet or hands you can feel lots of things. Sometimes, when the day is hot, rocks or sand you walk on will burn you. Other times, on nights like this, the grass under you feels cool and damp. With hands and fingers, you can grab and pick up things, and those are very useful. I can't do a whole lot with that, but my momma is a psychic Pokémon. She can sometimes lift things with her mind. It's really neat!"
The baby Eevee put her foot back down, "But, in all seriousness, having legs is great and all but running can be tiring. Flying around is much more interesting, and it looks a lot less tiring too! I wish I was a flying-type Pokémon so I could float around with you!"

Gastly's serious expression was replaced with amusement and slight flattery, "Thanks! Say, someday when I'm big enough, would you like a ride? I can lift you over the graveyard and we could go flying! How about it?"

Her big brown eyes widened, "Really? Oh Gastly that would be-"

She stopped when his happy expression was wiped from his face and he turned away from her. She shook her head.

Eve had known him for several months, yet she still hadn't gotten used to his odd mood swings.

His black eyes darted all around the Cemetery, and without warning they turned into such thin slits that they looked invisible and his bared his fangs, "Intruders! The living are here!"

Before she had time to ask what he was talking about, Gastly zoomed behind a large nearby tombstone, "Hide!" his hissed frantically.

Eevee jumped behind the grave and sat right next to him. She nudged the dark sphere out of impatience, "Ghastly? What is it? What's going on?"

"Shhh!" he snapped, spinning around to face her, "Can you not smell them? There are two living creatures here. They are nearing! Stay quiet until we know what we are dealing with! It could be dangerous!"

She gulped and nodded. It was true. If anything, even another Pokémon, would dare to come here they would have to be bold. Either that, or stupid.

Still, it was better safe than sorry, right?

The two Pokémon hid and waited for any sign of the 'intruders'. A few minutes passed without a sound. The cemetery was quieter than usual.
Empty and hollow, the night sky clouded, the crickets quiet, the wind still.

Silent. As if many eyes were bearing down on something. Watching, waiting to pounce…

Then, there was a rustling of the grass that caused Eevee's ears to perk up. A scent also caught her attention, two to be exact. They were both very different, but underneath the outer layer was a similar smell. They were alive, but no Pokémon. In fact, she wasn't familiar with this scent at all, and that uneasy feeling made her fur stand up.

More rustling gave away a duo set of footsteps. Eve leaned from behind the tombstone a bit further as two figures appeared from the darkness. Her jaw dropped from the sight.

Two…creatures…with shining lights walked from the opposite side of the Cemetery. They weren't like anything she's ever seen before.

One of them was small and looked very young, maybe only 8 or 9? It was wearing a pink-what was it called-shirt with a matching skirt, along with some white, erm, shoes. It's, or her, hair was dark green and fell to her tiny shoulders, and her skin was bare and fleshy. No fur or scales. The only amount of fur was on her round, chubby head, and that was just her hair.
The other one was taller and looked a little older, probably 13, and Eve guessed it was a boy. This one was wearing kacky-colored shorts, some boots, and a red shirt. His hair was short and a little spiky, but the same color as the younger one's. His face was longer than the female's as well.

They both walked up right on two legs, had arms and hands, and five fingers on each one. That was a lot of fingers!
They both also had two blue eyes on the front of their faces.

Judging by their similarities, they had to be related. Siblings, perhaps?

Eevee didn't have to ask Gastly what the strange creatures were. From all the stories and descriptions she's heard, the baby knew they were humans.

She moved her eyes to the right and the look Gastly was giving them confirmed it. He knew they were humans as well, and he seemed to be both scared and angered by their presence. She knew the main source of his hostility was territorial. All Pokémon had an animalistic territorial need to protect their home. They were no exception.
Though the Cemetery wasn't her home, it was her friend's home, and if need be she'd fight to keep it safe.

However, the humans weren't as intimidating as Gastly made them out to be. They looked small, fragile even. How dangerous could they be?

Then the human male spoke quietly, "Man, I'm surprised we haven't run into a single Ghost Pokémon yet!"

"Shut up Max!" the little female whined at 'Max', "They might hear you! And I still don't wanna see one!"

The boy snickered at her, "What's da matter, wittle Abby?" he said to the girl in baby talk, "You scared of the Ghosties after all? Maybe you're not brave enough to explore with the big kids?"

Eevee flinched. She knew this method very well. Other bullies at her forest would tease her size and age, daring her to act with them to feel like a 'big kid'.
It was exactly the same technique that caused her to come into the Graveyard in the first place…

Just like she had, 'Abby' fell for the tease just as easily, "Nu uh! I'm not scared!" she pursed her lips, "I'm not afraid of ghosts! And I'm gonna prove it to you by meeting one! You'll see!"

It made the knots in her stomach twist at the thought of the hungry ghosts currently watching the two fresh souls in their home. These children shouldn't be here.
Oh, why did they have to be here?

"Gastly." She whispered, looking around, "Why haven't they been attacked by the other ghosts?"

He didn't look at her, but he answered, "There's two of them, lesser chance of trickery, and they have those horrible lights. I think they're called flashlights. Whatever they are, they hurt our sensitive eyes when they shine it directly. These souls are also young, small, most might not think they're worth the effort. I sure don't, and I'm not getting anywhere near them."
He said it with such ominous disgust it frightened even himself. He'd never seen a human, but he feared what they were capable of. They were small and young, but so was he, and he was capable of a lot of dangerous things. Besides, dangerous or not, they weren't Pokémon or the dead or even in mourning, so they had no place here. Even by human standards he was certain this was still trespassing. If they dared vandalized any of these tombstones he'd scare them into the underworld!

The two children continued talking about the Graveyard, looking here and there for Ghost Pokémon. Gastly started to back off, in fear of being discovered, but Eevee's curiosity got the best of her. She stepped forward a little bit and accidentally kicked a nearby rock. It rolled and bumped into the tombstone she was hiding behind, making a loud scraping noise.

The sound was small, but the humans were already on edge so they turned their flashlights in her direction, briefly blinding her eyes.

Gastly was right, the lights were horrible!

She suddenly wished she didn't have legs after all.

Her first instinct when she was revealed was to run, but she was so stunned by the shock and lights she stayed put. Gastly panicked and became invisible, but still watched with caution.

The young human girl cocked her head and lowered her light, making it easier for Eve to see again, "Aw, look Max!" she took a few steps towards her, "It's a baby Eevee!"
Her voice went from surprise to admiration, "It's so cute!"
Eevee only blinked a few times to clear the spots in her eyes and remained still as the human known as Abby squatted down to her level, "Hello little baby Eevee!" her face was beaming, "Hello! What are you doing all alone here? Are you lost? Are you?"

She reached her small hand to the baby Pokémon and stroked the soft brown fur on her head. Eevee flinched, and it made Gastly tense.

If they harm one hair on her head…

The touch from the child was surprisingly soothing and it felt good on her fuzzy head. She even found herself leaning into the girl's hand, adoring the petting.

The other one, Max, came towards them and grabbed Abby's left shoulder, "Sis! Get away from it! These aren't like the Pokémon at the town's Pokécenter! This is a wild one! It could be dangerous! Or feral!"

Eevee started to get annoyed at being called an 'it'. She was a she. Did all humans call Pokémon it or something?

Abby turned her head to him, "Nah, it's just a baby, it can't be that dangerous. It's all alone here in the Graveyard, though. It must be lost and hungry." She turned her head back, "We should take it home with us!"

Eevee's ears stood up straight.

Wait what? Take?

Eevee's ears then drooped and she started to back away, frightened.

Max crossed his arms and started down at her hard, "Well, it does look a little skinny…"

"See! The poor thing's all alone as is gonna starve if we don't help it!" she reached out for her, "Come on little cutie. It's okay. We're going to help you."

Eevee's ears drooped more and she started to whimper.

The child didn't seem to catch her fear and instead snatched her by her waist with both hands, "It's okay now…"

Eevee's fear turned into terror, "No! No no no!" she cried, starting to squirm.

The girl didn't understand her little repetitive noises. To her and Max, it only sounded like she said, "Eve! Eevee eve!"

The child pulled her into her chest and tried to cradle the scared Pokémon, but Eevee continued to put up a fight, "Put me down! I don't wanna go! Let me go!" she screamed, but the people still didn't understand her. If anything, they seemed to be annoyed she was struggling.

Why was it that Pokémon could understand humans but they couldn't understand them?

Gastly became infuriated at the sight. Without warning, he floated out from behind the statue, fully visible, and flew straight at Eevee and the girl, "Get your hands off of her!" he bellowed. They didn't understand him, but that didn't matter. He was pissed and it was obvious.

"Ghost!" the girl cried out of fear, but before she could drop Eevee Gastly rammed into her side with his forehead. It wasn't too hard, as with such a force he's capable of breaking bones, but it was enough to get his point across.
Abby fell to the ground with a yelp, releasing Eevee from her arms. The baby Pokémon scurried off from the girl and Gastly hovered protectively in front of his friend, snarling at both humans. Eevee only stared at his back, taken aback by his sudden attack.

It was actually a little admirable.

The girl wiped some of the grass off of her and began to cry. Gastly frowned at the sight but held his firm gaze. He didn't mean to make the human cry, but he didn't want her taking his friend against her will.

Just then the boy picked up a nearby rock and chucked it at him, "Leave her alone!"

Gastly concentrated and the rock fazed right through him, but that was a careless move because the rock smacked into Eevee's side. She gave a small cry and Gastly spun around to her.
The rock had bruised her left leg and she was licking it to ease the pain.

Gastly gritted his sharp teeth and his eyes glowed white.

He hurt her! The human hurt her!

Spinning around and blinded by rage, he shouted out, "Shadow ball!" a sphere of dark, swirling energy appeared in front of the ghost and hurled right at Max.

The boy barely had time to dodge the attack and roll into the ground before the sphere hit the grass, burning it in small purple embers. That would have done some pretty significant damage to small boy.
Realizing he could have really hurt the child, Gastly's animalistic rage died down and his eyes stopped glowing, backing up a bit in the air.

Then he was blinded by a searing light. Screaming, Gastly fell to the ground, rolling and trying to get away from the light.

It was Abby, holding her flashlight on the Ghost Pokémon with both hands, "Get away from my big brother you meanie!" Gastly just continued to scream at the light, trying to roll away from the harsh rays of the flashlight.

Now it was Eevee's instinct that took over. The girl didn't realize she was hurting Gastly, she was just trying to scare him away from Max.
Eevee didn't care. She jumped to her feet and growled at the girl. Gaining speed, she used Swift Attack on her, tackling her back into the ground. Her flashlight hit a nearby rock, breaking it and extinguishing the light.
Gastly was still lying on the ground, dazed. Eevee walked to him and nudged him with her nose, trying to stir her ghostly friend. Pain then erupted from her side when the boy kicked her hard. She flew across the air and into the grass. The wind was knocked out of her, but she wasn't seriously injured.

Abby started yelling, "Max! Stop it! They're just babies!"

"Babies that are trying to kill us!" he snapped right back.

Eevee culled into a ball, breathing painfully.

Kill? No…no we weren't trying to kill. We just wanted you to go away. We wanted you to leave us alone…we wanted to scare you away… Why can't they understand?

Gastly saw the horrible human boy kick Eevee across the grass and heard the painful wheeze forcefully exiled out of her lungs.

Rage took him again.

He hurt her again! He hurt her AGAIN!

Eevee watched in horror as Gastly picked himself up and floated towards the boy's face. Before the child could bat him away, the Pokémon licked his face with his long pink tongue.

Immediately, Max fell to the ground shivering and convulsing uncontrollably. Abby ran to his side and started to scream and cry.

Eevee only stared in horror at what he had just done.

Wh-why? Why did he poison him? They didn't mean to hurt us! They were only protecting themselves! Gastly what have you done?

Then something surprised her. After a few frantic shakes from Abby, the boy continued to shiver but his paralysis and convulsing lessened. He was able to stand with her help. Using her as support, they fled the graveyard and off into the night to hopefully never return.

Eevee only watched them leave, but then felt something nudge her tail. She twisted around to see Gastly hovering over her, concern in his slit eyes, "Are you okay?"

Furious, she jumped up, "How could you?"

He backed away, stunned by her hostility, "How could I what?"

"Paralyze him?" she was shaking she was so mad, "How could you do that? How could you try to devour his soul?"

"I…what?" he seemed even more confused, "Relax will ya? I didn't steal any part of his soul, and the little punk had the paralysis coming! He hurt you twice!"

"Yeah, after you attacked them!" she didn't know why she was suddenly so mad at his protection of her. Perhaps it was more of fear taking over, "Of course they were going to react harshly!"

Gastly seemed to get angry, "The girl was going to take you! I wasn't going to just sit here and let humans take my only friend away from me! What else was I supposed to do?"
Eevee bit her lip. She didn't have an answer for him, so he continued, "Since you're so overwhelmed with concern, the boy will be fine. My poison isn't very toxic because of my evolve form and age. It just caused minor paralysis, and when I choose it I can steal souls that way. A ghost can choose when to kill, and I chose not to."

"But are you saying you would have?" Eevee asked, becoming a little afraid of him. He was more powerful and dangerous than she realized.

Gastly didn't answer her this time and looked away, but his gaze said it all.

If they had done greater harm to either of them, he would have killed.

When he floated towards her to talk more, Eevee backed away with more fear than she should have.

He could kill. Her ghostly friend not only could have killed, but would have.

This hurt Gastly and he started to float away, "Y-you're afraid of me? Just like all the others? But I was trying to pr-protect you!"
Tears started to form in his large eyes; something she didn't think a ghost was capable of, "Y-you're no different! You're just like everyone else! Y-you're just a-a stupid little crybaby!"

His clear tears rolled down his face and hit the grass. They didn't turn into mist or dissolve, but instead stayed. They were real actual tears.

Oh, how ironic it was, calling her a crybaby even though he was the one crying. Even so, the insult hurt. It didn't hurt as much as what she had done to him, "Gastly, no wait-"

"Shut up!" he hissed, "Just go away! Go away and don't ever come back here!" He started to disappear from sight, fading away into invisibility.

She started to follow after him, "But I-"

"Come back again and I'll eat your soul!" he threatened. His expression was too full of sorrow for her to read if he meant it or not.

The tone in his voice only scared her and made her back away.

He followed up on that fear by screaming, "GO!" and he disappeared from sight completely.

His bellowing voice caused her to scream and run away from him. She ran through the twisting leaves and grass of the cemetery, past the tombstones she'd known so well, and through the metal gates.

Tears were swelling in her own eyes, and even as she passed the trees that lead into the forest, Eevee could still hear the mournful wails and sobs of the ghost she left behind.

Sorry, not a very happy Chapter this one. So, what do you think? Will Ghastly make true on his threat and devour her soul if she comes back? Will Eevee even want to come back? Read and Review!