Chapter 6

Japanese Names:

Matsuba = Morty

Akane = Whitney

Disclaimer: We do not own pokemon in any shape or form. This fanfic is written for entertainment and self enjoyment. Pokemon is owned by Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo. OC characters and plot belongs to us. Game characters' personalities are loosely based off of their game counterparts. Please enjoy the fanfic.

Border of Route 36 and the Ilex Forest

"I know Satsuki isn't bad," Keigo ranted to Red and Green as they were walking through the forest for Ecruteak City. "I mean, yeah, you just heard my mom say all those nasty things, but she really isn't bad... If I watched my mom and dad die in hospitals, I think I would be terrified of them too."

"Where were you when we were walking in the forest?" Green whispered to Red, who wasn't paying much attention to the other trainer, who was talking in circles for the past hour or so. Keigo talked more than Red had in a lifetime. The kid was a real motor mouth.

"Lost," Red said in a low tone. "You?" He didn't see Green at all in the forest.

After Red and Green had their light lunch, Keigo led them out of the village with a nervous look in his eyes. The boy tried to give the Kanto trainers a much generalized tour of the village before rushing them to leave. As they walked through the forest, Keigo would randomly point out at different pokemon or landmarks and would recall his childhood to his uninterested listeners, who have learned that he could go off a tangent for hours. It was a warm day, but the sky had some small gray clouds grouped together. The weather here was different from the bright sunny day at Olivine City a few days ago.

"I'm not sure about why she also doesn't like things being perfect though. Once, mom brought home a really nice vase she got on sale. Blue and perfectly symmetrical in both design and shape. The next day, when Satsuki came over, she just kept staring at the vase." He continued on his ramble, not really paying attention to whether or not the two behind him were listening.

"Those ghost pokemon mean business," the gym leader gave a weak laugh. "They had some weird things up their sleeves."

"Huh," the champion replied. "What did they do?" Pikachu was walking beside him and was looking around at the lively forest. The big forest had many different types of trees and flowers along with pokemon hiding behind them.

"When we took our eyes off of her, the next thing we knew was that the vase was chipped on one side and that missing shard was indented into the wall. She kept apologizing like we were about to wring her neck for doing that, even though Mom told her it was alright."

"They..." Green paused and looked at Pikachu, who was too occupied with the surroundings to listen to neither conversation. "I heard myself." His voice grew soft. "I know I sound crazy, but..." The gym leader saw Red hold his breath.

"She hated being out during the day too. She was what you would call a Hoothoot, always being up late into the night. She would sometimes take me with her to explore the woods at night. This is why I know this place almost as well as I know the back of my hand," he said with a somewhat modest tone. "She still knows it better though, all the possible hiding places or spots where you can set up a natural secret base. And even where all the pokemon like to roam or hide."

Red stared at Green, who had an uncertain expression when he said it. The gym leader had to stop himself from continuing on, like he was attempting to find the right words. Keigo was still talking about something in the background about who knew what and Pikachu was stopping at a daffodil to take a wisp of its perfume.

"No," Red said. "I heard myself too."

"So that means...!" The gym leader felt ashamed of himself. He wanted to bury himself underground in Sinnoh and never resurface. He heard his worst memories when the ghost pokemon played a trick on him, so what about Red? "What did you hear?" Green was afraid to ask.

"I..." The Kanto champion was speechless. How to start? There was too much to say and how would Green react if he talked about their...? Red pulled his cap down to hide his eyes.

"Man, she really knew how to connect to pokemon," the middle school student continued. "When my sister, her friend, and I were with her, we never had to worry about wild pokemon in the tall grass. Satsuki would talk to them and then befriend them almost instantly. I don't know how she does it, but we could play with them all day and they wouldn't attack us as long as we were with her."

Green could sense his friend feeling uncomfortable and put his arm around his shoulder as a sign of comfort. "You don't have to say it if you're not ready." The green eyed gym leader didn't feel ready himself, but he took a deep breath and said, "I saw...no, heard, you, Blue, and me...playing together as children." He remembered their laughter shaking the leaves of the trees that night. Red nodded in response.

"But," Green gulped. "We got into a fight, and I got mad at you because Gramps was always favoring you and..." He had to stop himself from letting a tear fall, "I'm sorry Red. For all the stupid things I've said..." He cringed at his past stupidity. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm really, really sorry." He hung his head in shame and pleaded, "You don't have to forgive me. If you hate me, that's okay. I would hate myself too."

"It was like she could really talk to them and they would respond back!" Keigo said excitedly, steadily walking away due to his lack of awareness. "Once, I saw her just chatting with a Mareep. Like, sitting down and having a conversation with it. It was kinda weird, but pretty cool!"

Red gawked at Green, who was still giving him a slight bow in his apology. The gym leader said all of those apologies in one breath. As children, he remembered Green sarcastically saying sorry after a few pokemon battles, but this sorry felt different. It was a sincere apology. It was rare to see the gym leader apologize. Although it was usually Green feeling awkward for their conversation, now it was Red who was feeling awkward for being apologized to. The champion was unused to being treated like that by his childhood friend. It felt unnatural.

"Hey!" Keigo called out, gaining their attention. "Why did you stop walking? Do you need to take a break already? It's not even sunset yet! Wow, you guys are getting old."

"That little brat..." Green gritted his teeth in annoyance. He ran up to catch the kid in a hold, wrapping his arm around Keigo's shoulders and then ruffling his already messy hair into tangled knots.

"H-hey! Let go of me!"

Red didn't respond to Keigo's insult and chose to take a view of the flowerbeds Pikachu was playing in. The electric rat was seen earlier socially chatting to the forest pokemon with a smile on its face. Red hasn't seen Pikachu happy for so long. The pokemon at Mt. Silver were mostly aggressive from the rough nature of the terrain and for Moltres' presence, who was always in a foul mood. Before the champion could say something, he felt water drip on the tip of his nose. The trainer rubbed his nose and felt the warm water on his moist fingers. The two brunettes stopped briefly to look up and saw that it was raining.

"It's raining," Green forgot that it was rainy season and said this out load (1). The sky had turned to a dark gray color. The rain was light, drizzle really. Clear raindrops tapping on their heads and leaving them drenched within a few minutes. All of the forest pokemon have disappeared to find shelter while several water pokemon came out to play. A group of Marills waddled away when Keigo's voice interrupted Green's surprise of the sudden shift in weather.

"You can't do that!" Keigo continued shouting, ignoring the small raindrops drizzling on his face. "You need me to get you guys to Ecruteak City!" He wrestled with Green's arms, trying to get his hands off his hair.

"I think we can fight off a few ghost types," Green smirked just as Red tapped his shoulders. "What's up?" he responded.

Red casually took out a black umbrella out of his backpack and opened it while pointing at the newcomers behind the gym leader. Green's eyes nearly budged out when he noticed them. A massive wave of Gengar and its pre-evolutions blocked their pathway, each with an equally angered face. Forgetting that a thirteen year old boy was still in his grasp, the brunette man almost immediately released him from his grip. He caught Keigo stumbling away from him in a dramatic fashion with a comical expression. The young boy shook his head from the rain and covered his head with his red hoodie.

"Gen, gen gengar gen!" The biggest one cried out, pointing its tiny fingers at the three trainers. Hey, don't touch him like that!

"Pika pii!" No, they are just messing around! Pikachu countered, referring to Green having Keigo in a submissive hold. Both had their mouths wide open from the number of pokemon.

"Gengar?" A Pikachu in Johto? Another Gengar looked at the electric type with new interest. "Gengar, gar, gengar! Gar gar gar?" The ghost pokemon picked up Pikachu and hugged the mouse pokemon with glee. I never saw one in this forest before! Can I give you a hug?

"Piii..!" I don't remember giving you permission... it answered as the ghost type happily danced around with it in its arms.

"Hey! Give back Pika!" Red called out, somewhat losing his cool with his signature pokemon being treated like a giant plush toy. The Gengar was tossing Pikachu into the air and catching him like a parent and child. The other ghost pokemon laughed at the shadow pokemon's antics.

"Ah, Gengar," Keigo said with a somewhat normal tone.

He met that particular playful ghost pokemon before. He knew it way back when Satsuki introduced him to it as a Gastly. The pokemon got so excited; it tried to give Keigo a hug in his face, but ended up almost suffocating the child instead. Despite its terrifying looks, that Gengar had a soft spot for small pokemon. It would try to hug pokemon like Marills, Jigglypuffs, or Clefairies every chance it gets. Keigo once saw Gengar bringing a baby Rattata to him, but the ghost pokemon cried because the purple rat kept slipping through his paws due to type immunity.

"Does he do that to everyone?" Red blurted out as he watched the big purple pokemon continue to hug his Pikachu. Pikachu himself appeared to be uncertain of its situation and was struggling to break free from the ghost pokemon's bear hug.

The other Gengar watched with annoyed looks in their eyes, a few even attempting to face palm, but miserably failing due to their short arms. Keigo answered, "Yeah, it tries to hug everything. When it's sad, it goes and hugs the Haunters or Gastlys, and when he lost a playful battle, he goes and hugs trees. Dunno why though."

Before Green could find the proper words to respond, he heard a loud shriek of, "Pika!" Red's Pikachu cried in the middle of the gym leader's train of thought. He looked up to see the electric rodent being kidnapped by the giant shadow pokemon.

"Gen gen gar~!" I'm going to take you home~! It smiled gleefully, which to the trainers and non-ghost pokemon; it looked sadistic and full of malice.

"Give me back Pika!" Red chased after the ghost pokemon with his eyes on his pokemon, who was still reluctantly being hugged by the ghost pokemon. The Kanto champion knew Gengar were fast, but this particular one was very quick on its feet.

"Keigo, please tell me it doesn't do that to every new pokemon it meets," Green groaned as he followed his friend after the lively Gengar and its friends, who were all grumbling to each other.

"Uhh, not sure about that, but when it's in a hugging mood, it doesn't prank people. Although, Zoroark would still trap them in illusions and have them walk in fog for hours."

"Thanks for the information, but we need to help Red right now..." The gym leader never considered the possibility of Pika getting kidnapped by a Gengar of all things. A jolly Gengar that apparently had a thing for cute small pokemon. Green ignored the fact that it was pouring hard and didn't bother taking out his umbrella and ran after his childhood friend to catch up.

"Gengar, gen, gen, gengar, gengar!" I'm going to hug you, feed you, brush you, and call you Taro Tanaka! (2) It said happily as it ran towards the east, the opposite direction of Ecruteak City.

"Pika pi! Pikachuuu!" But I already have a name! Let me gooo!

Green sighed; it was going to be a long day.

Ilex Forest - Within Sacred Heart Village's radius

"Zoro," It's been a while. A tall dark fox pokemon with a crimson mane said with a wide smile. Its sharp eyes never left Satsuki's gaze as her lips twitched upwards on her own face. The fox pokemon stood on its hind legs and had sharp fangs and claws sticking out.

"It has been too long, how have you been?"

"Zoro roro ark, roark zo?" The pokemon in the forest keeps it interesting, where have you been? The pokemon looked at the girl with its dark blue eyes.

Satsuki shrugged, "Around I suppose. There is not much I can say about these past five years."

"Ro zo?" Boring? The Zoroark asked, tilting its head to its right.

"More like nightmarish," she admitted.

She leaned her back against a tree, still facing the Illusion Fox pokemon. The dark type pokemon studied her face, noticing signs of malnutrition and the indifference she has towards herself. Around her left arm, mostly covered by her short sleeved hoodie, an old white cloth was hastily and carelessly wrapped to cover what appeared to be a dark red stain. The wound looked new, and judging from the amount of blood soaking into the bandages, it had reopened multiple times.

The dark haired girl chuckled darkly as she added, mostly to herself, "In the end, who knows. I might get to see my parents again."

Ecruteak Gym

Mirei stared at the gym leader, who was giving her a creepy smile. On second thought, maybe he wasn't a normal gym leader after all. The girl silently gulped but said, "Ha, let's battle already!"

"We will," the gym leader closed his eyes. "After we introduce ourselves. It is curtsey for trainers to tell each other about themselves before engaging in battle."

"Okay then," the brunette trainer narrowed her mahogany colored eyes full of determination. "My name is Mirei, pokemon trainer. I want to become a stronger trainer and defeat all of the gym leaders. I challenge you to a gym battle!" She struck a stance where her legs were spread apart and pokeball in hand. Her Eevee hopped around the small stage where the battle would take place, holding its proud head up, ready to battle.

"My name is Matsuba, Ecruteak's gym leader." the blond man reintroduced himself. "I have trained with ghost pokemon for as long as I could remember." He adjusted his dark colored scarf and opened his eyes. "As the gym leader, I accept your challenge!" He took out his pokeball from his belt, "Gastly, let's begin the show!" The dark room was filled with bright red light.

The ball of gas was released from its container. Gastly hovered slightly above the battle platform and gave a loud yawn. "Gastly! Gastly, gas, gastly?" Ah! We're having fun this early? Its face made a wide grin. "Ga, ga, gastly!" Ha, ha, haha!

What a noisy ghost pokemon, Mirei thought as she watched the ghost pokemon happily float around its trainer like its birthday came early. "Kisaki, go use Bite on Gastly!"

Her Nidorina jumped out of the pokeball with a battle cry, "Nido!" Let's get this done! Unlike her pre-evolution, Nidorina was turquoise colored with a pale underbelly. Her back poison spikes were more prominent and sharp edged. The poison pokemon landed neatly on her two hind legs and charged at the gas pokemon with her sharp fangs. Gastly easily dodged her attack and disappeared from view.

"Where is it?" There was panic in the girl's words. She frantically looked around the battlefield in search for any signs of the pokemon.

"Now's our chance," Matsuba smirked. "Gastly, Mean Look!" The ghost pokemon reappeared behind the Nidorina with narrowed eyes and a menacing look where its mouth was open wide to reveal a set of fangs and its tongue. Nidorina paled at the sight.

"R-return, Kisaki!" Mirei tried to recall her pokemon. She too was shocked from the ghost pokemon's frightening expression. She noticed that Chiharu was holding her breath as well. The blue haired girl was standing behind Mirei, away from the main part of the battlefield with her Eevee.

"Ni, do." What, uh. The poison type couldn't will itself to move. She refused to return back to the catching capsule and looked at her trainer nervously.

"It's no use," the ghost trainer said. "Mean Look doesn't let trainers switch out their pokemon."

"Kisaki, try to hit it this time with Bite!" She commanded.

Nidorina slowly nodded and clumsily ran towards Gastly with its fangs out. Once again, Gastly disappeared from view, but this time, Nidorina was ready and attacked it from the side. She sank her teeth into the gas pokemon's soft body and flung it to the floor. Gastly's eyes bulged out from the surprised attack and instantly fainted from the super effective attack.

"Gastly is unable to battle!" The referee announced; this one was a young man who was wearing a purple striped shirt.

"Ah," Matsuba sighed. "I guess you weren't ready today. It's okay," he bent down to return Gastly into its pokeball. He stood up to talk to Mirei, "Here in Ecruteak, pokemon have long been revered. Gastly was strong, but I guess I underestimated you." The gym leader looked sad before taking out another pokeball, "Let's see how you deal with our next friend, Haunter!"

Gastly's evolution came out with its paws grasping the cold fog that surrounded the gym's battle platform. "Haunter, haunter!" Looks like Gastly didn't make it, it said with forlorn. "Haunter!" I'll have to fight you then!

"Bite it!" Mirei shouted. Nidorina rushed to the ghost type, jumped up, and clamped its jaws at Haunter's paws.

Haunter shook the paw the poison pokemon bit and cried, "Haaaaunter, haunter!" Hey, stop doing that! It flimsily floated around the room with tears pouring out. "Haunter!" That hurts! It flew around, trying to make Nidorina let go, but the poison pin pokemon continued to hold on like an Octillery.

"Nido, nidorina!" Nidorina said through her teeth, Sorry, no hard feelings! She finally let go and waited for her trainer's next order.

The ghost trainer rubbed his forehead at the sight of his pokemon still whining about Nidorina's bite attack. He studied the poison pin pokemon, who was steadily standing on her hind legs with eagerness to fight. Matsuba noticed that Mirei was constantly keeping an eye on her pokemon, but was also relying on offensive attacks. His plan came together in one thought.

"Haunter, use Hypnosis on that Nidorina." The gym leader said. His pokemon had swirls in its eyes and glared down at Nidorina, who wasn't expecting that attack. Nidorina gazed up at the ghost pokemon and made eye contact. Her red eyes abruptly snapped shut and her body limbed into a sleeping position.

"Kisaki?" Mirei asked. She went over to her pokemon crying, "Hey, wake up! We need to battle for the badge!" The brunette shook the poison type. "Kisaki?"

"Finish it with Dream Eater," Matsuba said coolly.

Haunter hovered to Nidorina and had its paws glowed white. Energy drained out of Nidorina and caused the poison type to jerk around in its sleep. Nidorina cried out in pain as Haunter continued to consume her dreams until her eyes opened wide for a brief moment before closing them shut again. Nidorina fainted from the super effective attack.

"Nidorina is unable to fight!" The referee announced.

"Use Sora," Chiharu suggested from the side. "Normal types won't get any damage from ghost moves." She stood with her Eevee, who had woken from her short morning nap. The other Eevee was already awake and was watching the match since it began.

"Eevee, Eevee!" Pick me, pick me! Leo squealed. "Eevee, Eevee!" I can take it down! He ran over to Mirei and jumped on his hind legs to bother his trainer.

"Who asked you," Mirei didn't look at the girl. She pretended not to notice Chiharu's hurt look and turned to Matsuba, "I guess I'll have to use a different pokemon." She grumbled and looked down at her Eevee, "Leo, go use Shadow Ball on Haunter!" The male dog like pokemon animatedly walked into the platform with a few hops and skips.

"Vee! Eevee, eevee!" I can finally show my beautiful moves! Eevee happily hopped into battle and charged at Haunter with a smile, "Eeveeee!" Take this! A dark ball of energy concentrated in front of the normal type pokemon before it was launched at Haunter's direction. Shadow Ball hit the ghost pokemon squarely in the face.

"Haunter!" Ow! It cried, once again taking damage from a super effective move. It was still standing, barely opening its eyes.

Matsuba wasn't expecting the Eevee to already know a ghost type move. The normal type pokemon was already considered rare in most regions due to their problem in breeding and for being domestic pokemon. It was even rarer to find an Eevee that knew Shadow Ball. He could ask Haunter to use Hypnosis again, but he doubted that the challenger would fall for the attack again after his Haunter knocked out her Nidorina.

"Curse." The ghost trainer made his move.

His Haunter didn't question his decision, but let a giant size pin solidify out of thin air and pierce itself. The ghost pokemon had a wild look in its eyes as it took the pain. Haunter had a wide grin before it fainted from its own attack. The room's already cold temperature sharply went down and made Mirei and Chiharu shiver from the abrupt temperature change.

"Haunter is unable to fight."

"What's with ghost trainers and using that move?" Mirei complained as she took out her jacket and wore it to warm herself. She didn't think she would need to use a winter jacket in the middle of the summer. She rubbed her cold hands and put them up to her face to heat them up.

"It is said that a rainbow-hued pokemon will come down to appear to a truly powerful pokemon trainer." Matsuba said, ignoring the teenage girl's whining. He retrieved Haunter and grabbed the pokeball next to Haunter's. "I have trained all my life to meet that pokemon."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mirei was clearly not in the mood for cryptic messages from odd gym leaders.

"I see a shadow of a person trying to reach that pokemon's wings," he continued before taking a sip of water from his canteen at his feet. "That person will fly too close to the sun and have the wings melted with wax." He calmly threw his pokeball, "Haunter, it's your turn." Another shadowy ghost pokemon came to replace the last one.

"Haunter, haunter." You must be something to defeat my brother, Haunter came out of its pokeball with an interested look at its opponent.

"Stop saying weird stuff!" The brunette grew annoyed by the mysterious messages the gym leader was sending to her. "Leo, use Shadow Ball on this Haunter too!"

"Eevee!" Watch this! The brown dog formed another ball of dark energy between its paws and hurled it at Haunter. The ghost pokemon groaned as it took the attack and crashed against the floor.

"We got it!" Mirei cheered, but the gas pokemon jerkily picked itself up and floated again, still conscious for the battle. Eevee suddenly stopped jumping for joy and fell on its stomach from pain.

"Vee!" Oww! The little fox rolled on the floor uncomfortably. "Eevee, eevee?" What did you do to me? Leo dragged itself up towards Haunter with one paw with a depressed expression.

"This is the effect of my other Haunter's special attack Curse," Matsuba explained. "It deducts the user's health by half, but it makes the opponent deal with health lost for the rest of the battle. It's a move ghost types love to use."

"So it's like the move Leech Seed," Chiharu said slowly. Her voice startled both Mirei and Matsuba. She had barely talked during the battle.

"That's right!" He beamed at the blue haired girl. Mirei on the other hand, wasn't pleased of how casual Chiharu was interacting with the gym leader. The ghost trainer was getting excited now; there was eagerness in his voice when he talked. His pokemon were just as energized as he was from the heat of the match.

"A shadow," The blue haired girl mumbled a few words, "Wings...melted with wax..."

He knows, the catcher thought. She took a quick glance at the handsome trainer. The blond man had a puzzled look on his face. He was just as shocked as Mirei from hearing her voice. Chiharu rubbed her head and thought, His odd statement from earlier sounded like a prophecy. Could he know where Satsuki was? She made eye contact with the gym leader, who stared back at her, not giving away any emotions. His eyes were a shocking shade of violet, an unusual color; even in a world where having purple hair was considered normal.

"Why are you listening to his weird words?" Mirei sent her friend a confused look, "Don't tell me you believe in it?" She was getting nervous from hearing Chiharu mumble the same things the ghost trainer did from before.

"You two used to be close," Matsuba said in a low tone. The girls had to lean over their ears to catch his words, "One of you won't look at reality." He gazed at the girl with the side ponytail. "And the other won't consider other options for aid." Chiharu felt uncomfortable when he said that.

"Nothing is wrong with us," the short trainer snapped. "It was just a stupid argument, that's all." She didn't want the ghost trainer to know their personal problem. Why was he poking his head into their business? "What would you know about us? This problem is only between us, not you!" She glared at the blond man. "Leo, use Shadow Ball again!"

"Eevee, eve, eevee!" Look how pretty I can make this! Leo forced itself to stand up and pounced on the Haunter to unleash another Shadow Ball. The Haunter flinched from the second ghost attack and was barely hanging onto its health points.

"Haunter, haunter!" Too bad you can't do much damage! It laughed, barely standing up.

"Eevee, eevee!" But you're obviously losing! The high spirited pokemon chirped before whining, "Eevee..." It rubbed its belly as the evolution pokemon took additional damage from the Curse from the last Haunter.

"Sucker Punch her Eevee," Haunter zoomed to the Eevee and gave it a quick punch on the side. The normal type pokemon was beginning to look worn down from Haunter's attacks and from Curse.

"Just one more attack, Leo." His trainer encouraged the Eevee, "Give it another Shadow Ball!"

"Ee, vee." Here is goes, Eevee gave the ghost pokemon one last charge. Haunter stopped moving from the dark ball of energy and fainted. "Eevee." I won, Leo smiled before he fainted as well from Curse.

"Haunter and Eevee are unable to fight." The referee looked surprised at the results.

Mirei sobbed, "Leo!" She hugged her fainted pokemon and shot an angry look at Matsuba, "I'm going to defeat you!" She called out, "Sora, defeat his pokemon!" Pidgeotto flew out of its pokeball and was flying over the platform.

"I see you're angry now for my comment earlier," the gym leader was used to that sort of comment. Many of his predictions made his challengers angrily attack him for that reason. He showed his last pokeball to the trainer, "Gengar, let's end this."

This pokemon was as tall as a short grown adult. It was similar to Haunter, but Gengar was dark purple with limbs now connected to its main body and a pointed tail. Its red eyes glowered at the bird pokemon and wore a wide grin. His trainer was wearing a grim smile and announced, "Gengar, use Hypnosis." The pokemon moved its arms in circular motion and put Pidgeotto to sleep.

"Pidgjoh..." So sleepy... The bird pokemon yawned and fell to the floor.

"Not again..." Mirei moaned. She took out a yellow bottle and sprayed it in the bird's mouth, "Wake up, Sora!"

"Sucker Punch Pidgeotto!" Gengar formed a fist that glowed bright purple and jabbed the flying type pokemon from below.

"Pidgeo!" Pidgeotto snapped away as he clashed into the ghost pokemon's fist, which made it unable to react properly. "Pidgeo, geotto, geo!" I can't fly! I can't! Sora moved his wings that were still stiff from his brief nap and from Gengar's attack.

"Sora?" Mirei peeked at her fallen Pidgeotto.

"Finish it!" The shadow pokemon gave the bird pokemon one more punch.

"Pidgey, eo." I'm sorry, Mirei, the big bird blurted out his last words before he blacked out from exhaustion. Pidgeotto grew still and didn't open his eyes.

"And Pidgeotto is out!"

Mirei couldn't believe her luck. Sora fainted. This was the first time any of her pokemon had fainted from a pokemon gym battle. Matsuba was taking out her pokemon like they were a bunch of leaves. She was hoping that Leo would take on Matsuba's team for the whole match, but Haunter's Curse did the trick and made him faint. She recalled the bird pokemon and miserably stared at her last pokeball.

"I had to use you in the end anyway," the girl whispered. "Kazama, please listen to me and fight this guy!" She cried angrily. The psychic pokemon was released from its pokeball with an inattentive expression.

"Alakazam?" I have to fight again? The psi pokemon yawned, "Alakazam, kazam." I thought I already fought today, it glared at Gengar, who was balancing itself in midair with its paws.

"Alakazam, I need you to use Psychic on that Gengar," his trainer pleaded. The girl was practically on her knees, trying to convince the bored psychic pokemon to cooperate.

"Alakazam, kazam." Nah, I'm too tired. He ignored Mirei's request and turned away from her. "Alakazam." Good night, and he closed his eyes to sleep.

"I knew this would happen..." Chiharu didn't like where this was going. She rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"A pokemon that doesn't listen to its trainer," Matsuba wasn't amused. "And I thought I was going to have a fun challenge today." The ghost gym leader was no longer smiling.

"You think this is just for fun?" Mirei snarled at him. She turned to her Alakazam, "Kazama, use Psychic!" Her high shriek echoed in the foggy room. She was beginning to sweat, despite wearing a jacket in a cold room cooled by air conditioner and ghost pokemon's presence. Her pokemon continued to sleep; it was already deep in REM sleep. The brunette could hear Alakazam murmur in his sleep about whatever he was dreaming about.

"Why does your pokemon refuse to listen to you?" The ghost trainer looked at the psychic pokemon curiously. The psi pokemon looked pretty strong for a pokemon that belonged to a trainer with only three badges, "Did you over train him?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up!" She hollered. "You don't know anything about us!" Mirei continued to beg, "Kazama, please use Psychic!" Alakazam refused to open his eyes. Gengar was starting to grow bored and was walking in the air while peeking at the psychic pokemon with an evil grin.

"It looks like you had him from the very beginning," he continued his analysis. "I don't understand how a fully evolved pokemon who has been with you since the very beginning won't listen to you.

"Wait..." Matsuba paused. "Did you do something to your Alakazam when you traded it to make it lose your trust?" He was looking at all the possibilities. "Is that it?"

"...!" Was Mirei's intelligent response to the gym leader's hypothesis. "I didn't do anything to him!"

"This was a disappointing match," the gym leader sighed, "Perhaps I was wrong to think that my prophecy had some relation to you."

"What prophecy?" Mirei was too dazed from Alakazam disobeying her to make a good comeback at him.

"Now's our chance," Matsuba shouted. "Shadow Ball!" Gengar grinned as it dark energy formed between its paws. The shadow pokemon floated up towards the sleeping Alakazam and threw the ball at Alakazam. The tall psychic pokemon jerked out of its sleep and stared at its pursuer wide eyed.

"Kazam!" You-! Alakazam shook his hand at the ghost pokemon before he grew dizzy and fell back into unconsciousness, unable to fight.

"Alakazam is unable to fight!" The referee declared, "Matsuba, the gym leader of Ecruteak City wins!"

"I lost..." Mirei sobbed, "I can't believe I lost..."

Her mind abruptly zoned out. All she could see was her defeat playing in her mind on repeats. Nidorina being taken out by Dream Eater, Eevee fainting from Curse and Sucker Punch, Pidgeotto from Sucker Punch, and Alakazam... Mirei's mind furiously searched for other things to think about, but all it could find was defeat and disappointment.

She had never lost a pokemon match in her life, ever! Not even against Akane, whose Miltank made many trainers dread fighting it. Her Nidorina...she was sure that the poison pokemon would be quick enough to out speed Matsuba's ghost pokemon and use Bite before they could hit. Mirei didn't expect the ghost trainer to have pokemon with psychic moves... Leo and Sora were supposed to fight most of the battles for her because they were normal types. They weren't supposed to be hit... Although she was angry at Chiharu, she followed her advice and avoided using Kazama, but she had to resort to him anyway.

"Mirei?" Chiharu's voice popped out. "Are you okay?"

No, she wasn't okay. Mirei felt a throb on her forehead. Her mind was feeling hazy and confused. Her mind still playing the same images of defeat. The trainer attempted to look up at the gym leader who defeated her, but her eyes were watery from the tears. Her vision was clouding, different colors distorting her view.

"I don't feel good..." As Mirei said those words, her mind shut down and threw the girl into unconsciousness. The trainer blacked out.

"Mirei!" Her friend ran over to the fainted trainer and cried, "Wake up! Are you alright?"

"She'll be fine." The gym leader reassured the catcher, "She's just exhausted from the match. It was a long gym battle." He tried to smile for the teenage girl. "She just needs some rest and she'll be alright."

"Fly too close to the sun and have the wings melted with wax," Chiharu recited Matsuba's quote. "Interesting choice of words," she said. Her Eevee looked at Matsuba with big innocent eyes.

"Am I wrong? Is my prophecy close to home?" he asked with a hint of mystery as he started to walk off the stage to go heal his own pokemon.

"They say you can predict the future," the catcher said. "Could you be referring to Ho-Oh?" She gazed at the ghost trainer with new interest.

"Why don't you challenge me yourself to find out?" He smiled. His referee rushed down to help carry the unconscious girl to the hospital. "I'll be at the gym tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning, don't be late. I hope you're more entertaining than you friend there." He chuckled at the girl's shocked expression.

Extra Notes:

rainy season (1) = Went back to do research and realized that Japan gets lots of rain in June and July. There are hints here and there that it's summer when this story took place, July to be exact. This chapter takes place on Monday, July 2 for those who want to know. Johto weather is based off weather in the Kansai region.

Taro Tanaka (2) = More or less the Japanese equivalent name for John Smith. A very common generic Japanese name.

Author Notes: Writing gym battles is fun! Especially when you can understand what the pokemon are saying to each other. In the original story, only Satsuki's pokemon could talk due to Satsuki's ability, but we decided that battles would be more interesting if the readers could understand all of the pokemon. It may be easy to defeat the gym leaders and Elite Four in the handheld games, but this is a story, this is much more different. If the Elite Four was that easy to beat in real life, everyone would become champion. It would be pointless to hold the title as champion, wouldn't it? Question of the chapter: Who is your favorite ghost pokemon? Leaving constructive reviews or comments are great. Until next time, see you later!

"RainSonata": I didn't think the battle between Mirei and Matsuba would take up so many pages. The gym battles always feel so fast paced in the handheld games. I'm glad Red never decided to evolve Pikachu. The little guy is so cute!

"LunarAbyss": I had so little screen time... Maybe next chapter?