Chapter 3
'Okay Dawn, once we're inside follow my lead', Ash instructed as he knocked on the door of the three bedroom house in Chocovine Town.
'Okay', Dawn replied, fiddling with her skirt a little . Pikachu turned and gave her a reassuring smile and Dawn smiled back at him.
The door opened and a middle-aged woman peered suspiciously out at them.'Can I help you?' she asked.
'Hi I'm Ash Ketchum and this is Dawn Berlitz. Brock sent us to deal with your problem', Ash said, holding his hand out.
'Ah yes, of course', the woman replied, shaking first Ash's and then Dawn's hand. 'Please, come in. My name's Susan by the way'.
They followed the woman into a smallish living room and took their seats on a cream coloured couch. Dawn looked around the room, taking in the TV, sound system and various pictures.
But what really caught her eye were the contest ribbons standing in glass cases and a Grand Festival cup proudly displayed on some shelves on the back wall.
'Are you a Coordinator?' she asked Susan excitedly.
'Oh no, those belong to my son, Anthony', Susan told her, noticing what Dawn was looking at. 'Actually it's realky him that you should be talking to. Excuse me while I go and fetch him'. Susan left the room and they heard her climbing the stairs.
'So, have you won any Festivals?' Ash asked, bringing Dawn's attention back to him.
'Huh? Oh, no I haven't. The one that I'm trying to qualify for now will be my first', she told him.
'Well I'm sure that you'll do great'.
'Thanks'.
'Your welcome'.
The arrival of Susan and Anthony halted further conversation as they sat down opposite Dawn and Ash.
Ash was the first to break the uneasy silence. 'Hey Anthony, I'm Ash and this is Pikachu and that's Dawn. Your mother told us that it's you that the ghost is targeting, could you tell us what's been happening please?'
'You can call me Tony if you like', Tony offered, seemingly already warming up to Ash. 'Well, when things first started happening, they were barely noticable. Like things bring moved slightly or scrapping noises in my room at night. But recently it started to get really bad. I started seeing a figure standing in the corner of my room or sometimes right by my bed and I thought that I heard voices once or twice. Then a week ago, I woke up to a feeling like someone was sitting on my chest. When I tried calling for help, hands wrapped around my throat, strangling me', he broke off, shaking at the memory.
'There were bruises on his neck too, in the shape of handprints', Susan added. Ash merely nodded for Tony to continue his story, but he seemed reluctant to, so Susan took over.
'We decided to call Brock after the other night. I woke up to Tony screaming in the small hours in the morning, so of course I rushed to him. I couldn't believe it when I saw the cuts appearing by themselves'. She turned to Tony, 'show them'.
Tony stood and lifted his t-shirt. Dawn gasped and even Ash looked a little shocked. The whole of Tony's torso was covered in cuts and scratches, some of which looked pretty deep. When he turned, they saw that his back was in a similar state.
Ash swallowed nervously. They weren't dealing with a regular ghost here.
'Dawn I want you to stay here'.
'What, why? You said that I could come'.
'That was when I thought that we would be dealing with an ordinary haunting. Not even Pikachu's coming on this one'.
'Chu', Pikachu said in a half upset, half indignant tone.
'Don't take that tone with me Pikachu, I'm not risking you on this Hunt and that's that', Ash told him.
'Okay I get why you don't want Pikachu to go, but I can handle it', Dawn insisted.
They were currently in their room at the Pokemon centre. After Ash had asked Susan and Tony a few more questions, Ash, Dawn and Pikachu had headed back to the centre to prepare. It was here that Ash told Dawn that she wouldn't be going back to the house tonight and she was not happy with the change of plan.
'You have no idea what we're up against here Dawn. I do. Trust me when I say that this is no case for someone's first Hunt', Ash said firmly.
'But'.
'NO!' Ash shouted, feeling instantly bad about it when Dawn bit her bottom lip and looked away. The room descended into an awkward silence.
'I'm back',Gary announced loudly, floating through a wall. 'Wow this atmosphere isn't tense at all', he commented sarcastically, 'what happened whilst I was gone?'
'Did you find out anything useful?' Ash asked, ignoring Gary's question.
'Yes I did', Gary replied, deciding to let the subject drop for now. 'That is one pissed off spirit haunting that house, she tried to kill me! Which coming to think of it must mean that she can't be all that smart either, since I'm already dead. You think that she would recognise another ghost when she saw him. Anyway, apparently her boyfriend, who had always been so sweet and kind and charming by the way'. He said this last part in a high-pitched voice, clasping his hands together and batting his eyelashes at Ash. Ash and Dawn snorted with laughter.
'Get on with it Oak', Ash smiled.
Gary grinned, having successfully defused the tension between Ash and Dawn and continued speaking. 'Yeah so, one night Prince-not-so-charming gets drunk and decides that Grace, that's the girl's name, has been cheating on him. So he decides to use the poor thing as a punch bag until he kills her before dumping her body in an alleyway to get away with it'.
'That's sad and all but why is she attacking Tony?' Dawn asked.
'Probably because Prince Charming happened to have been Tony's uncle. The guy killed himself by wrapping his car around a tree not too long ago, drunk driving most likely. So Grace has decided that attacking Tony is the closest that she'll get to revenge on her killer'.
'That doesn't seem fair', Dawn frowned.
'If a ghost is angry enough for long enough then it stops mattering to them if the person that they're attacking is responsible for their death or not. They just want somebody to lash out at', Ash explained. 'Gary, do you know if she was buried or cremated?'
'Cremated'.
'Any remains or something similar in the house?'
'Actually yes, there's supposed to be a locket with a lock of Grace's hair in it. I think that it's in Susan's jewellry box'.
'Okay thanks Gary'.
'No problem Ashy-boy'.
Ash groaned, 'don't call me that'.
'So, what were you two love birds fighting about when I came in?' Gary asked, catching Ash off guard with the sudden change of topic.
Both he and Dawn blushed at Gary's turn of phrase.
'I was just telling Dawn that I think that its too dangerous for her to come tonight', Ash replied, staring fixedly at his shoes.
'And I was telling Ash that it would be fine', Dawn said, giving Gary a pleading look. She thought that as he had helped to change Ash's mind the last time, maybe she could persuade him to help again.
Gary was beginning to look uncomfortable with the look that Dawn was giving him. 'I'm sorry Dawn but I have to agree with Ash on this one', he said.
'But I thought that you guys liked me, I thought that you thought that I can handle this Hunting thing. But you don't, do you? You think that I'm just another helpless little girl that needs protecting'. As she said this, Dawn turned to what was perhaps the most powerful weapon in a girl's aresnal; fake tears.
Dawn had learnt long ago that everyone, boys in paticular hated it when a girl cried and usually caved in and did whatever the girl wanted. Ash and Gary were no different, both were now looking decidedly uncomfortable and Pikachu even crawled into her lap to give her a hug in an effort to cheer her up.
Ash crossed the room and sat next to her on the bed, putting an arm around her shoulders. 'Dawn of course I don't think that, I wouldn't have let you come with me if that was the case. I just don't want you to come because I'm afraid that this paticular ghost might seriously hurt you if I can't get to you in time', he admitted.
'I trust you to protect me'.
'But I can't guarantee that I can and I can't take that chance with you'.
Dawn didn't miss the slight emphasis he put on "you" and her heart skipped a beat. Could it really be possible that he liked her?
'Please Ash', she said in barely above a whisper, laying her head on his shoulder. 'I don't want to have to sit here tonight, I want to come to make sure that you're alright too'.
Ash blushed lightly as the implication of Dawn's words hit him. Gary noticed and smiled to himself; so Ash actually did like Dawn. Knowing Ash, Gary knew that his friend would probably either never act on his feelings or take forever to. He would just have to help things along a little.
'Okay', Ash sighed after a couple of minutes. 'You can come".
'Stay close to me', Ash instructed as he and Dawn approached the house.
Upon Ash's suggestion, Susan and Tony had gone out for the evening to ensure their safety and so that they didn't get in the way.
Once inside, Ash and Dawn made their way to the stairs, keeping an eye out for signs that the ghost was coming. Ash carried a shotgun loaded with rock salt rounds, whilst Dawn held an iron rod. Finding out that she had had no experience with firearms, Ash had decided against giving her one for this Hunt, promising to teach her how to shoot at a later date. Both rock salt and iron would temporarily dispel a ghost if it wss hit by them.
Ash was beginning to find the lack of paranormal activity suspicious. Grace must know that he and Dawn were here and what they had come to do, yet so far he'd picked up no signs that she was about to make an appearance. A heavy silence pressed down on them as they climbed the stairs, as if the whole house was holding its breath.
'You okay Dawn?' Ash asked quietly.
'Yeah', Dawn replied. 'This isn't so bad, nothing's even happened yet'.
'I know, that's what's worrying me'.
'Huh?'
'Well she has to know that we're here to get rid of her, so by now she should be attacking us with a vengeance',
'Maybe she's waiting for something'.
'That's what I was thinking. Stay close, she could pop up at any time'.
They reached the landing and looked warily around. Still nothing. Cautiously they entered Susan's bedroom.
'Okay, look -', Ash started to say but was interrupted by the door slamming shut behind them.
Dawn darted over and tried the handle. 'It won't open'.
Ash nodded. 'I didn't expect it to. Come over here and be ready with that rod', he ordered calmly.
Dawn obeyed without question, standing back to back with Ash in the center of the room, iron rod held at the ready.
'Why don't we turn on the lights? Then we could see better', she suggested.
'It's a lot harder to see a ghost in strong light and I don't want to give her another advantage', Ash answered.
'Oh'.
'Right, I'm going to look for this locket so that we can get out of here. Watch my back', Ash said, moving towards the dressing table. He hadn't gone more than a couple of paces when the temperature in the room plummeted. The hair on the back of Dawn's neck rose and she turned to find herself face to face with the ghost.
Grace's long, green hair reached to half way down her back and her grey eyes bored into Dawn's blue ones, a cruel smile played across the dead girl's lips. Dawn's gaze was drawn to Grace's throat, to the ugly red line slashed across it. Blood still dribbled out of it.
The ghost's smile widened and she raised the knife that Dawn only now noticed that she was holding. Dawn gasped and stumbled back, in her shock momentarily forgetting about the iron rod in her own hands. There was a loud bang from behind her and Grace disappeared in a cloud of rock salt.
'Dawn are you okay?' Ash asked worriedly, gripping the tops of her arms. Dawn could only nod in reply but it was enough for Ash, he looked relieved. 'Good'.
Dawn's eyes widened. 'Look out!'
Ash turned just in time to see Grace standing behind him and barely managed to avoid the knife that had been aimed at his lower back. He didn't have time to bring his gun up before the next attack but Dawn was fast. Leaping forward, she swung the rod and it passes through the ghost's body, making her disappear again,
Ash flashed Dawn a smile. 'Thanks'.
'No problem'.
'She reforms fast, she must be more powerful than I thought. Here's what we'll do; you look for the locket and I'll keep her away from you okay?'
Dawn nodded in agreement and they headed back to the dressing table.
'Hey Dawn, could you give me your rod please? It might be better than my gun at the moment', Ash said.
Dawn passed him the rod and then reached for the jewellry box. Grace appeared and slashed at Ash with her knife but he blocked it with the rod and hit her with it yet again.
A heavy looking lamp lifted into the air. 'Uh Dawn', Ash said slightly nervously. 'Look faster'.
The lamp flew at him and although Ash managed to dodge it, he wasn't prepared for it to come again from behind and it slammed into his back, knocking him onto the floor. He lost his grip on the rod and it rolled out of reach.
'Ash?' Dawn called worriedly.
'I'm fine, just keep looking'.
Grace appeared above him, murder in her eyes as she raised the knife above his chest. He rolled to avoid the attack but the blade still got him in the top of his left arm. His fingers found the rod and he swung it, dissapating her as it passed through her abdomen. Ash stood up and placed a hand over the wound to staunch the bleeding.
'How's it going Dawn?'
'Give me a minute, I've almost... wait, got it!'
'Brilliant, now - ', he paused to counter another attack. 'Now open it and take the hair out'.
Dawn fumbled at the catch on the locket. Having not been opened in who knew how long, the catch was stiff and difficult to undo.
'Duck!' Dawn instantly reacted to Ash's warning and felt a rush of air as the rod swept over her head and hit Grace, who had been intent on stabbing her in the neck.
Knowing that she didn't have much time left, Grace increased the frequency and, if it was possible, aggression of her attacks and Ash was having a hard time keeping her away from himself and Dawn. Although he was by now beginning to tire, he was still determined that Dawn wouldn't get hurt and so began shielding her from any hurled objects aimed at her with his own body.
'Got it', Dawn said finally.
'Great. Take this and burn it', Ash passed her a lighter, wincing as a paperweight struck his shin.
Dawn grabbed the lighter from him and, after a few tries managed to maintain a flame. She held the flame to the lock of hair. The effect it had was immediate; Grace stopped her latest attack and made a horrible gurgling sound that was probably as close to a scream that her slit throat would allow. Then her form was enveloped in flames and with one more terrible gurgling sound, she was gone.
'Is that it?' Dawn asked.
'Yes that's it. She's gone', Ash said quietly.
Dawn turned to look at him and her stomach lurched; Blood ran down Ash's arm from under his hand and was dripping from his fingers to form a small puddle on the floor. Even in the poor light, Dawn could see that he looked a little pale.
'Oh shit, you're hurt', Dawn said worriedly.
'It's not that bad'.
'Yes it is. Come on, let's get you downstairs, there must be a first aid kit somewhere around here'.
Once in the kitchen, Dawn made Ash sit at the table whilst she located the first aid kit. Finding it in the cupboard under the sink, she set it down on the table and opened it.
'Okay, first thing we need to do is stop the bleeding', she said to herself more than Ash.
She found some guaze and held it against the wound, slightly worried when the blood soaked right through it. Forcing herself to remain calm, she got another piece and then another, until the blood flow had almost stopped. Breathing a sigh of relief, she treated the wound with antiseptic and then took a good look at it.
'I think that this is going to need stitches', she decided.
'Can you do it?' Ash asked.
'I can, but I don't have any anathetic'.
'It'll be fine if you just do it'.
'Are you sure?'
'Yes'.
'Okay'. Reluctantly, Dawn opened up a packet of surgical thread. She hesitated before piercing Ash's skin for the first time; surely it would really hurt if she did it withous something numb the area and the last thing she wanted was to hurt him.
'It's fine', Ash said again, sensing her reluctance.
Taking a deep breath, Dawn pushed in the needle and pulled the thread through as gently as possible. To his credit, Ash didn't even flinch and Dawn's confidence grew as she worked.
'Very professional', Ash praised when she was done.
'Thanks', Dawn replied, secretly thrilled at the complement.
'Kinda ironic don't you think? I didn't want you to come in case you got hurt and here you are, taking care of me', he smiled.
'Yes, it is', Dawn chuckled.
'Thanks Dawn, you're pretty awesome', he said warmly.
Their eyes locked and for a short time, neither was able to look away. Dawn's heart sped up and felt as though it was now in her throat and Ash got that nervous excited feeling he'd only ever felt just before a Pokemon battle.
'Uh, you're welcome', Dawn stuttered eventually. Blushing profusely, she turned away to return the first aid kit to its cupboard. Ash had turned just as red and pulled his hat down to cover his eyes; something that Dawn found incredibly cute.
Ash cleared his throat to break the slightly awkward silence that had descended. 'We should get back, Pikachu will be starting to get worried'.
'Right. Should we let Susan and Tony know that the house is safe now?'
'Yeah, I'll call them now'.
Ash made the brief phone call and then he and Dawn left for the Pokemon centre, locking the house with the spare key that Susan had given them and pushing it back through the letter box.
Unexpectedly, Nurse Joy was still up and standing behind the counter when they got back to the centre. She gave them an odd look when they came in but didn't comment. Ash knew that both he and Dawn must have looked pretty battered and worn out and he was grateful for the nurse's discretion.
'You did great back there by the way', he said to Dawn as they walked down the corridor to their room.
'Thanks Ash', Dawn beamed.
'You're welcome. You really surprised me tonight, honestly you were a lot better than I originally thought that you would be', he continued, opening the door and standing back to let Dawn in first.
'Pika pi', Pikachu cried, leaping into Ash's arms as soon as he walked into the room.
'Hey Pikachu, good to see you too buddy', Ash laughed and hugged the little mouse. Dawn smiled to herself; Ash and Pikachu had such a cute relationship.
'Hey guys, how'd it go?' Gary asked, hovering cross-legged above Ash's bed.
'We got rid of her', Ash told him.
'What happened to your arm?'
'I'll tell you tomorrow', Ash replied, lying down on his bed without changing out of his street clothes or removing his shoes. He was tired and wasn't in the mood to recap the whole Hunt tonight.
'Fine, then I'll ask Dawn', Gary persisted.
'No', Ash said without opening his eyes. 'I'm sure that Dawn's tired too and us humans actually have to sleep. Go haunt Nurse Joy or something and we'll fill you in in the morning'.
'Fine', Gary said again and floated off through a wall, grumbling as he went.
Dawn gave him an apologetic smile but was inwardly glad for Ash's intervention; it had been a long, adrenaline fuelled night and now all she too wanted was to sleep. Laying down on her own bed, she was asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.
Ash was up and outside training before Dawn had even woken up the next morning and was busy working with Torterra and Pikachu when she got down to the training grounds.
'Torterra, Leaf Storm. Pikachu, dodge it with Quick Attack', he ordered.
Torterra sent a flurry of leaves at Pikachu, who raced around the field so fast that Dawn had a little trouble tracking his movements.
'Great, now switch to Volt Tackle and Torterra, you use Rock Climb'.
Pikachu sprang towards Torterra, his body becoming surrounded by a bright light. Torterra cried its name and a spire of rock appeared out of the ground before it, which it climbed. Undettered, Pikachu leapt into the air and slammed into Torterra, the force of the attack knocking the huge Pokemon back slightly.
'Use Crunch', Ash said.
Reacting quickly, Torterra reached down and grabbed Pikachu's tail in its mouth. Pikachu cried out in surprise and struggled, although he wasn't really hurt; this was only a training battle, so Torterra was hardly doing more than holding Pikachu by the tail.
'Okay good job guys, that's enough for today', Ash said, deciding that there there was a good place to finish.
Torterra released Pikachu and the two Pokemon approached their trainer, who petted them and returned Torterra to it's ball. He jumped when he turned and saw Dawn standing behind him.
'Oh hey Dawn, I didn't notice you arriving', he laughed.
'I've been here for a while, I guess that you were really caught up in your training', Dawn smiled.
'Yeah, I normally do am. We've got a gym battle coming up, so I needed to get some practice in'.
'You're entering a Leauge?'
'The Sinnoh one', Ash confirmed. 'I figure that just because I'm a Hunter now, doesn't mean that I have to give up on my dream of becoming a Pokemon master, right?'
'Right', Dawn agreed. 'And that means that I can keep working to become a top Coodinator. If you don't mind coming to competitions with me that is'.
'Of course I don't mind', Ash smiled. His phone rang and, after checking who was calling, answered it. 'Hey Brock, what's up?'
Dawn watched as the smile on Ash's face faded to be replaced with a serious, slightly worried expression. Whatever Brock was telling him couldn't have been good.
'Alright, we'll be there as soon as we can', he said, ending the call. He looked down at Dawn. 'Brock said that he's heard something that could be very bad', he told her. 'Pack up, we're heading to Pewter City.
Dawn didn't know what she had been expecting Brock's house to look like, but she certainly hadn't expected it to have a Pokemon doctor's clinic attatched to it.
She and Ash arrived in Pewter City a day and a half after Brock's phone call. They had hopped on a last minute flight to Viridian City that Brock had been kind enough to pay for and from there, it was a little more than half a day's walk to Pewter, even when one of Ash's "short cuts" had ebded up getting them lost instead.
Ash knocked on the door and it was opened by a brown haired, blue eyed girl wearing a red bandanna. Dawn was sure that she recognised her, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.
'May, what are you doing here?' Ash asked happily, hugging her. Dawn felt a small pang of jealousy at the affection in his voice.
May grinned. 'Hi Ash, it's great to see you too, hi Pikachu', she scratched him behind the ear and Pikachu squeaked happily. 'I'm here because I'm the one bringing the bad news I'm afraid', she explained, moving out of the way so that Ash and Dawn could come in.
The inside of Brock's house was neat and tidy but somehow also homely. It wasn't very big either; three doors were set in the pale lemon walls, one leading to the living room, one the kitchen and the one opposite the front door led to the clinic. Light wooden stairs opposite the living room led to the upstairs of the house and the delicious smell of cooking hung in the air.
Ash, May and Dawn went into the living room, which had a white leather couch and seats and a hardwood floor. A small coffee table stood near the couch with a few Pokemon magazines lying on it and a medium sized TV hung on the wall opposite. On another wall, Dawn noticed a framed picture showing Ash, Pikachu, who Dawn presumed to be Brock and a red haired girl smiling at the camera. Next to it was a picture of Ash, Pikachu, May, Brock and a younger boy with blue-black hair and glasses.
'Hey Brock', Ash called, plopping down onto the couch and putting his feet up on the coffee table. Pikachu hopped onto the seat next to him.
'Hey Ash, I'll be there in a minute', Brock called from the kitchen.
May sat down on the couch. 'Hey Dawn, why don't you come and sit down?' she offered, moving Pikachu onto her lap to make room for Dawn.
'Okay', Dawn replied somewhat nervously.
'So Ash tells me that you're a Coodinator too', May continued once Dawn had taken her seat between May and Ash.
Dawn nodded. 'Yes, I'm hoping to enter my first Grand Festival soon'.
'I bet that you'll do great', May smiled.
'Better than May did I'll bet', Ash teased.
May smacked him playfully around the head. 'Like you can comment, mister my Charizard decided to take a nap in the middle of my first Leauge'.
'Oh yeah', Ash said, looking pensive for a moment. 'Ah doesn't matter, he listens to me now'.
'And Arceus knows why. I could probably do a better job with him'.
Ash snorted. 'Charizard in a Contest?' I don't think so, he'd probably get bored and fry the judges, then torch the audience for good measure'.
'That's because he has no finesse or elegance, much like his trainer actually'.
'Hey, I can be elegant', Ash argued and then both of them burst into laughter. Dawn smiled at their friendly banter, reassured now that friendship was all there was between Ash and May.
'So how is everyone?' Ash asked.
'They're all good thanks. Max can't wait to get his first Pokemon later this year'.
'I'll bet. Max is May's little brother', Ash informed Dawn. He turned back to May, 'still going out with Drew?'
'Yeah, it's going really good, although I'm still keeping him in the dark about the whole Hunting thing'.
'That's probably for the best'.
'That's what I think'.
Dawn was adding things up in her head. She knew that she'd seen May before, she also knew that she was a Coordinator and that she was dating someone called Drew... Suddenly, it clicked and Dawn's eyes widened.
'You're the Princess of Hoenn!' she blurted out.
May and Ash laughed. 'That's right, but it's really not that big of a deal', May smiled.
'I can't believe it, I love you', Dawn gushed. 'You're an amazing Coodinator'.
May flushed at the high praise. 'Thanks, but there are better Coodinators than me', she said modestly.
Just then a tall, brown, spiky haired young man entered the room. He frowned when he looked down at Ash.
'Ash, get your feet off my table', he said, swatting Ash's legs.
'Sorry Brock', Ash grinned sheepishly.
'Hmm', Brock grunted, although it was obvious that he wasn't really mad. 'Lunch is ready if you want it'.
'Food!' Ash and May shouted at the same time, leaping up and tearing out of the room, Pikachu hot on their heels. Dawn sweat dropped.
'Yeah, they do that', Brock said. 'Good to meet you Dawn, Ash has told me a lot about you. Are you hungry?'
'Yes'.
'Then let's go before all of the food gets eaten'.
Dawn followed Brock into the kitchen where Ash and May were shovelling food down as if they'd never seen it before. Pikachu sat on the floor with a bowl of Pokemon food. Dawm sweat dropped again.
'What? We were hungry', Ash defended, catching Brock and Dawn staring at them.
'Clearly', Brock said raising an eyebrow, his expression amused.
He pulled out a chair for Dawn and placed a plate of food in front of her. From the first bite, she was hooked; Brock's cooking was probably the best that she'd ever tasted.
The kitchen descended mostly into silence as lunch was eaten and when everyone was done, they went back into the living room.
'So what's so important that we had to get here so fast?' Ash asked as he sat back down on the couch.
'Well', May began. She had remained standing, along with Brock. 'My last Hunt was a demon possession, routine stuff, you know; finding it, trapping it. But when I was exorcising it, it told me that the demons are planning something big. Something bad for us'.
'How bad are we talking?' Ash asked.
May looked grim. 'If they pull this off, we could be looking at the end of the human race'.