A/N: So quick reply to a guest's question to which I couldn't reply personally because they have no account. The answer to your question is that Gary's story shall be revealed soon.

Okay, that's it. Enjoy the next chapter everyone.

Chapter 5

'You want to summon a demon?' Brock said the next day.

'Yes, we think that it might be the only way to actually find something out anytime soon', Ash replied.

'Alright, I'm not happy about it, but I'll make all of the neccasary preparations. When do you think that you'll be back?'

'Hopefully tomorrow, definitely the day after that'.

'Well, let me know when you're on the boat back and I'll be there to meet you at the docks'.

'Got it. Thanks Brocko'.

'Don't mention it. See you soon'.

'See ya'.

Ash ended the call and poked his head into the tent. 'You girls ready yet?'

He was greeted with shrieks and an angry 'get out' from May. He flinched back, yanking the flap closed again.

'Pika chu pikapi', Pikachu looked up at his trainer with a slightly amused expression.

'Yeah I know that I should have known better', Ash acknowledged.

'Really Ash, anyone would think that you were getting as bad as Brock', May said, as she and Dawn emerged from the tent, ready for the day, five minutes later.

'Nobody is as bad as Brock', Ash replied.

'I don't know, Max is pretty bad these days'.

'Really?'

'Yeah. I was home for a week last month and I walked into the living room to see him making out with some girl'.

'Whoa. Do you know who she was?'

'A challenger at the gym apparently'.

'Huh. Who'd have thought Max would be like that'.

'I was rather shocked too'.

'What did you do?' Dawn wondered.

'I screamed at him, whacked him around the head, chucked the girl out and yelled at him some more. Creepy little mini Brock'.

'Hey', Brock's voice protested from Ash's back pocket.

'Huh?' Ash took his phone out and looked at the screen. 'Oh sorry Brock, I must have pocket dialed you', he said.

'Why does everyone insult me?'

'Because you're bordering on pervert', May called.

'Thanks May', Brock said dryly.

'Welcome', May replied cheerfully.

'We've gotta go. See you soon Brock', Ash said, once again ending the call and returning the phone to his pocket. 'Okay girls, let's go'.

They managed to find a boat back to Pummelo island that afternoon, but arrived a few minutes too late to catch the last boat of the day to Kanto. Not too disappointed, they checked into the Pokemon centre and Ash went out the back to train for a bit. He hadn't been out there long when a girl approached him.

'Hey, you look strong. Fancy a battle?' She smiled at him.

'Yeah okay', Ash replied enthusiastically, always up for a battle.

'Three on three okay?'

'That's fine with me'.

'Great. My name's Amy by the way'.

'I'm Ash'.

'You ready Ash?'

'Yup'.

'Then let's go Golem'.

'Pikachu, I choose you', Ash smiled. Pikachu bounded forward, the confidant smile on his face identical to his trainer's.

Dawn, who had come outside with May to watch Ash practice, was surprised by Ash's choice of Pokemon. Surely he knew that electric attacks would do nothing against a rock/ground type.

May however, was smiling. 'Same old Ash', she said fondly. 'He's always liked to go against type advantage'.

Out on the battle field, Amy was temporarily thrown by Ash's choice.

'Golem, use Rollout', she ordered, recovering quickly.

'Dodge, then use Quick Attack and Iron Tail', Ash responded.

Pikachu nimbly leapt out of the way of Golem's attack and waited until the other Pokemon had stopped moving before racing towards it, leaping into the air and slamming his glowing tail hard onto his opponent. Golem staggered under the strength of the attack and the mouse landed lightly a good distance away from it.

'Alright Pikachu, Volt Tackle', Ash called. Pikachu ran forward and was enveloped in a yellow light as he gathered speed.

'Rock Blast', Amy countered.

Pikachu was unable to avoid the boulders and the first one slammed into him hard, hurling him into the air and the next one knocking him back to the ground.

'Pikachu', Ash called in concern as his Pokemon struggled to stand.

'Stone Edge', Amy called.

'Send them back using Iron Tail'.

'Pika', Pikachu said in acknowledgment.

His tail glowed and he jumped into the air. Swinging his tail around, he hit the stones back into the surprised Golem.

'Golem are you okay?' Amy asked.

'Gol', her Pokemon confirmed.

'Good, now use Brick Break'.

Ash and Pikachu were unprepared for the speed of the attack and Golem landed a direct blow. Pikachu flew through the air, but managed to twist and land on his feet, although he was now beggining to show signs of tiredness.

'Let's finish up with another Rollout', Amy said.

Golem tried to obey but found itself unable to move. Electricity arched across it's body.

'Yes', Ash cheered, recognising the effects of Pikachu's static ability. 'Okay buddy, use back to back Iron Tails'.

Despite his fatigue, Pikachu eagerly obeyed. Unable to move and defend itself, Golem buckled under the multiple powerful attacks.

'Let's finish this with a Quick Attack', Ash decided.

Pikachu charged at the paralysed Golem and plowed into it. This was too much for the worn out rock and ground type and it sunk to the ground, knocked out.

'Great job Golem, return', Amy told her Pokemon fondly.

'Pikachu, return buddy, brilliant job', Ash said.

'Rapidash, let's go', Amy called out her next Pokemon.

'Rapidash huh', Ash mused. 'Alright, Staravia, I choose you. Use Wing Attack'.

Staravia chirped in response and flew towards Rapidash.

'Use Bounce', Amy said.

Rapidash leapt into the air and appeared above a surprised Staravia.

'Dodge it', Ash cried desperately.

Staravia did it's best to obey but couldn't react in time. Rapidash came down on top of the flying type, driving it into the ground in a cloud of dust.

'Staravia, are you alright?' Ash called worriedly. Staravia struggled to rise from the small crater it's body had created.

'Rapidash, use Jump Kick?' Rapidash spun around and kicked Staravia powerfully, sending it flying through the air. It was able to flap it's wings to regain it's balance however, and hovered unsteadily a few metres off the ground.

'Staravia, let's try a Quick Attack', Ash ordered. Staravia responded and was able to land the attack. 'Good, now use Ariel Ace'.

'Flame Wheel', Amy snapped.

Rapidash began to spin, becoming enveloped in fire and rolled forward, picking up speed as Staravia came in low for it's attack. The two attacks met and battled it out for a moment before exploding, knocking both Pokemon back a few feet.

Ash grit his teeth when he saw that his Pokemon couldn't last much longer.

'Staravia, use Brave Bird', he instructed, knowing that this last attack would be all or nothing.

'Fire Blast', Amy commanded.

Rapidash whinnied and released a star shaped blast of fire. The glowing Staravia expertly dodged it and plowed full on into the fire type. Both Pokemon were knocked out, Staravia being hit by the recoil of the attack. Both trainers praised and returned their Pokemon.

'Buizel, I choose you', Ash shouted, sending his Pokemon out first this time.

'Torterra, let's go', Amy said, throwing her starter's pokeball.

'Use Sonic Boom', Ash started off the last round.

'Counter with Frenzy Plant'.

Torterra roared its name, reared up and slammed it's feet onto the ground. Thick vines erupted from the battle field, reaching up and smacking into Buizel, who had jumped into the air to perform his attack. Torterra wasn't without damage though, as Buizel's Sonic Boom had made contact.

'You alright Buizel?' Ash asked.

'Bui bui', he replied, getting up and looking as determined as ever.

'Okay then, Aqua Jet into Ice Punch, go'. Buizel surrounded himself in water and shot towards Torterra.

'Leaf Storm', Amy replied.

Buizel was able to pass straight through the flurry of leaves and reach Torterra, where he then used Ice Punch.

'Quick, use Crunch Torterra', Amy shouted.

'Dodge it and keep using Ice Punch'.

Buizel leapt up onto Torterra's back, where he began to relentlessly pound away at the grass and ground type.

'Shake it off', Amy yelled, getting a little desperate now.

Torterra attempted to obey but the ice type attack was taking it's toll on it and Buizel had too good a grip to shake off. The huge Pokemon groaned and sank to the ground.

'Buizel that's enough, return', Ash called.

Buizel immediately stopped his attack and ran back over to Ash, who petted him and returned him. He then walked over to where Amy was kneeling next to Torterra.

'Is Torterra okay?' he asked.

'She will be after she's seen Nurse Joy', Amy replied, returning her Pokemon. She turned with her hand out. 'Good battle Ash'.

'You too', he replied warmly, shaking her hand.

'Great battle Ash', Dawn said as she and May walked over to him.

'Yeah, good job', May agreed. 'Keep that up and you may just win the Sinnoh leauge'.

'Thanks guys', Ash smiled. 'I'm gonna ask Nurse Joy to take care of these guys and then how about we grab some food?'

'Sounds good to me', May said.

'Okay', Dawn replied.

'Great. Give me two minutes', he said, hurrying into the centre.

'You like him don't you?' May asked Dawn out of the blue.

'What! No of course I don't', Dawn replied, flustered, certain that her face was red.

May smiled knowingly at her. 'Dawn, I'm going to give you some advice; if you like the boy, then tell him. Because believe me, Ash will never act on his feelings. And he does like you, you know. It would be a real shame if he got away, you would always regret it'.

'It sounds like this comes from experience'.

'It does', May replied wistfully. She didn't elaborate and Dawn didn't push her. But she couldn't help but wonder who May was talking about.

As promised, Brock was waiting to pick them up at the Viridian docks the next afternoon and drove them back to his house.

Now afternoon was turning into evening and the four of them were preparing to summon a demon.

'Hey Dawn', Brock got her attention. 'Could you take this can of spray paint and paint this on the floor of the garage please?' He asked, showing her a diagram of a pentagram with symbols inside it. 'Make it about half the size of the floor and make sure that all of the lines are joined up. Don't leave any gaps'.

'Sure', Dawn replied, taking the piece of paper and can of paint from him.

'Thanks'.

'Got the Holy water', Ash announced, entering through the front door with Pikachu at his heels.

'And I found some rock salt', May added, following him in.

'Put them in the garage', Brock told them, seemingly slightly stressed.

'Hey Dawn', Ash greeted as he and May entered the garage. He did a double take when he saw that she was on her hands and knees in front of him and he realised that he was able to see up her skirt.

'Hi', Dawn replied, turning around and smiling, not seeming to notice Ash's unease.

May fought back a laugh when she saw the look on Ash's face. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen a girl's body before; he had seen both her and Misty in a bikini plenty of times. And she couldn't speak for Misty but May had never seen him get this embarrased around her before. It was kind of amusing.

'Everything done in here?' Brock asked, coming in and breaking the rising awkwardness.

'Almost', Dawn replied, tearing her gaze away from Ash. Brock had also noticed Ash's expression and shared an amused look with May.

'Good', he said. 'Okay we're as ready as we're going to be. We might as well get on with this'.

'Who's going to do the spell?' Ash asked.

'Well not you', Brock snorted. 'You'd probably end up somehow ordering a pizza or something'.

'I'm offended, all I would have to do is read something from a piece of paper'.

'You'd probably still manage it'.

Ash pouted.

'Okay everyone, get ready'. Brock took a deep breath and began reciting the summoning spell in Latin.

A shiver ran down Dawn's spine at the sound of the ancient language.

As Brock ended the spell, a heavy silence fell upon the garage. Dawn looked into the circle and gasped. A woman in her early thirties with brown hair and green eyes stood in the center.

'It worked', Ash said in surprise.

'Of course it did, I was the one doing it', Brock answered.

'Well well well, and what exactly do you lot want with little old me?' The demon asked, her eyes changing to black.

'We need to know what you know about the plan to release Togoros', May replied, stepping forward.

'Why would you think that I know anything? I'm just a lowly, normal old demon'.

'Yes, but you must know something. It seems like a pretty big plan', May pressed.

'Maybe, maybe not', the demon replied cryptically.

'We're not going to get anywhere like this. We're going to have to try something else', Brock decided.

'Like what?' Dawn asked.

'Something more... extreme'.

'Like torture?'

Brock said nothing, which was a reply in itself.

'So who wants to do this?' Ash asked.

Nobody replied. Understandably, nobody was comfortable with the idea of torturing her. After all, that was a poor, innocent woman trapped inside that circle who just happened to have had her body taken over by a demon and used as a play thing.

'Luckily, I forsaw this and arranged something', Brock said.

'What did you do?', Ash asked.

'I called someone who would do this'.

'Who?'

'Someone who's not too pathetic to be able to do what needs to be done', a new voice said.

Ash growled. 'You called Paul?' he said to Brock.

'I didn't exactly have much of a choice', Brock pointed out.

'I'm about to get started, so if you can't stomach it, I suggest that you leave', Paul said coldly.

'I can't say that I'm surprised that you could do this Paul', Ash said to him and Dawn was surprised at the amount of venom in his voice. Whoever this Paul guy was, Ash clearly couldn't stand him.

'Funnily enough, I don't care what you think of me', Paul replied stonily. 'Now I really am going to start, so get out'.

May, Ash, Dawn and Brock moved out into the garden and stood in an unhappy group. There was silence for a few minutes and then the screaming started.

'Come on, let's go inside', Brock said.

Once inside, Brock made everyone a light snack and they sat in the living room, half watching a TV show and trying to pretend that Paul wasn't torturing someone out in the garage.

About an hour later, Paul walked into the living room, blood specks on his T-shirt and jeans, he carried his jacket over his shoulder. 'I've managed to get some information', he told them.

'What about the woman?' May asked.

'Didn't make it', he replied shortly.

Dawn saw anger flare in Ash's eyes and thought for a moment that he would actually hit Paul. 'And was that because of the demon or you?' He spat.

'What do you think?' He replied stonily.

'You know what I think'.

'If you don't like my methods, then don't ask for my help'.

'I didn't ask for your help. You're the last person that I would want help from'.

'What did you find out Paul?' Brock interrupted the arguement.

Paul switched his attention to Brock. 'The demon didn't know that much but it eventually told me that they have sacrifice seven people by the winter solstice to summon Togoros'.

'Winter solstice?' Dawn asked.

'The shortest day of the year', Brock explained.

'The demon said that there's more steps to summoning him than that but didn't know what they were', Paul finished.

'Do they have to perform the sacrifices in a paticular place?' Ash asked.

'The demon didn't know'.

'Did you find out anything else?' Brock asked.

'No'.

'Okay. Thanks Paul'.

Paul grunted in response, turned and left the room and house.

'I really hate that guy', Ash muttered.

'Is he always like that?' Dawn asked.

'No, he's usually worse', Ash said. May and Brock said nothing, obviously knowing better than to comment.

'I'd better get rid of the body', Brock said grimly after a minute. 'Ash, can you help me please?'

'Yeah, of course', Ash replied and the two of them left to perform the grisly task.

'Are you okay Dawn?' May asked.

'Mmm hmm', Dawn replied unconvincingly.

'I know that this job can be pretty tough. It took me a quite a while to get used to it too', May smiled sympathetically.

'How did you get into Hunting anyway. If you don't mind me asking. Or Ash for that matter?'

'Well it's up to Ash to tell you his story but I got into it through my brother. You see, about a year ago, Max and I travelled together for a bit, it made sense because we were going to the same town. One night, I met up with Drew for a few hours. I figured that Max would be alright; he usually is. But when I got back to the camp, something felt wrong. Everything looked alright, but something just felt... off. If you know what I mean'.

'I had a strong feeling that I needed to check on Max, so I poked my head into his tent. I almost had a heart attack when I saw a man crouched next to his head. I didn't think, I just yelled and tackled the guy; I think that he was more surprised than I was. Max woke up and I shouted at him to get out'.

'I thought that I was losing it when the guy bared his fangs at me. I mean, I always thought that vampires only exsisted in movies and TV shows and stuff. And then he dived on me and bit my neck. I would probably have been a goner if it hadn't been for Max, because I completely froze. It was the shock I assume'.

'He hit the vampire over the back of the head with a stick he found outside. Obviously it didn't hurt him, but it did get his attention off of me. Max sort of panicked a little when he had his attention. He tripped over when he tried to back away and dropped the stick, so I grabbed it and hit the vampire so hard with it that it broke in half and I moved in front of Max; I just kept thinking that no matter what, I couldn't let this guy hurt my little brother. When he went for us again, I jabbed forward with the stick, luckily for me, the broken end ended up piercing his heart. And that's basically how I got into Hunting, once I knew about vampires and things, I just couldn't go back to exactly the way things were before', May finished.

'So does that mean that Max is a Hunter too?' Dawn asked.

'Oh no. No, I would never let that happen. Brock found a good witch to wipe his memory of the whole incident. He doesn't need to know about these kinds of things'.

'That makes sense'.

'Yeah', there was a pause, then 'Dawn, are you sure that you want to get into this?'

Dawn barely had to think before replying. 'Yes'.

'Why? I mean me, Ash, Brock; we don't have a choice. We were allndragged into this monster crap one way or another and by now, we've all caused way too much trouble to get out of this life; we'll never be left alone. But you; you can still get out Dawn. So why would you ever choose this life?'

'I don't know', Dawn replied truthfully. 'Honestly, I wouldn't have thought any more about the whole Shifter thing if it hadn't been for...' she trailed off, not quite wanting to finish that sentence.

'If it wasn't for Ash?' May guessed. Dawn would normally have been too embarrassed to admit that, but for some reason, she found that she did want to admit it to May. She nodded.

'I thought so', May said. 'He has that effect on people. They meet him and they're, I don't know... drawn to him or something. They always seem to be willing to follow him anywhere. I think that maybe nobody who's travelled with him quite knows why they did. With him, you just feel... Safe'.

'Who are you talking about?' The boy that they were discussing asked, walking into the room with Brock.

'Oh no one important', May replied dismissively, sharing a knowing smile with Dawn.

'Huh', Ash grunted, flopping down onto the sofa. 'Brock, never ask me to do that again'.

'It wasn't that bad Ash', Brock said, sitting on the couch next to his friend much more gently than he had.

'Yeah, for you. You weren't the one digging the hole'.

'I already told you; I was holding the torch'.

'You could have given that to Pikachu'.

'There was no room in the hole'.

'I'm not that big, you could have fitted. You were just making excuses because you didn't want to dig'. Brock didn't deny it. 'See, I'm right', Ash said triumphantly.

'Fine, you can have this one', Brock conceded the fight with a smile.

'Yeah, I win!' Ash cheered.

'Alright, I'm going up to bed', May announced, rising and stretching.

'Me too', Brock said. 'Night guys'.

'Night', Ash and Dawn chorused.

'Pika'.

'Night Pikachu', Brock and May smiled.

An easy silence settled over the room. With Brock gone, Ash had taken over the couch, sprawled out lengthways on it. He absentmindedly petted Pikachu and looked as if he was on the verge if falling asleep.

After a while, Dawn spoke. 'Hey Ash'.

Ash, who had just drifted off, woke with a start.

'Oh, sorry', Dawn apologised.

'Don't worry about it', he said, sitting up. 'What's up?'

'I was just wondering how you got into Hunting. It's okay if you don't want to tell me', she added quickly.

Ash stroked Pikachu reflexively, looking thoughtful.

'It's kind of a long story', he began. 'I guess it happened one summer when I was back in Pallet Town for a visit, after I beat the Kanto Battle Frontier. Gary was back home too and we were hanging out one evening. We were coming back from Viridian City actually, we'd been meeting up with some old friends. It was kind of late, so nobody was around and we were almost back when we saw somebody standing in the middle of the road'.

'Of course, Gary slammed on the brakes but we still hit whoever it was anyway. We got out to try and help. I started phoning for an ambulance whilst Gary went over to the guy'.

'It happened so fast that I wasn't able to stop it. The guy jumped up and the next thing I knew, he was on top of Gary. I tried to help get him off but it was too dark to see clearly and the guy was really strong. I felt something warm spraying me but I didn't really think much of it at the time. I chucked a rock at him and that got his attention. He had sharp, pointed teeth and I realised that they had blood on them. Gary's blood', Ash shivered at the memory. 'I probably would have been done for too if Sceptile hadn't gotten out of his ball and Leaf Bladed him. The Werewolf did seem to consider fighting him, but he must have thought that Sceptile was too strong or something after he used Bullet Seed on him, because he ran off'.

'As soon as the Werewolf had left, I ran over to Gary, there was blood everywhere and his chest was ripped open. The thing had torn his heart out and eaten it. So after the funeral, I felt the need to get into Hunting. I figured that even if I couldn't protect my friend, I could protect other people from the things that lurk in the dark out there. I talked to Sabrina at the Saffron city gym and she turned me onto somebody who could teach me how to hunt and here I am', he said, ending his story.

'That's terrible, I'm sorry', Dawn said. 'Wait, so how is Gary a ghost now?'

Ash shrugged. 'Honestly I'm not sure, neither is he. Most we can guess is that he has unfinished business of some kind that's keeping him from moving on. Or he could be hanging around just to annoy me. Personally I'm more inclined to believe the latter'.

'That sounds about right from what I've seen', Dawn chuckled.

'I am insulted', Gary sniffed, popping up. 'And after I went to all of the trouble of finding out where the sacrifice is going to be held'.

Ash perked up. 'You did? Where?'

'What will you give me if I tell you?'

'I won't take a trip to Pallet Town to salt and burn your bones'.

'Good deal. Okay they need to do the sacrifice on top of Celestial Tower'.

'Celestial Tower? Never heard of it. Where is it?'

The Celestial Tower my dear Ash is located on route 7 in Unova'.

'Great. Do you know when they're going to do it?'

'Yes. The sacrifice has to be complete by 11:58 on the winter solstice'.

'That's a weirdly specific time', Dawn commented.

'It is a bit, isn't it', Gary agreed.

'Good job Gary, who needs Paul', Ash praised.

'Thank you. You know, I don't know why you didn't just ask me to find out in the first place'.

'Guess we didn't think of it'.

'Forgotten about again', Gary fake pouted.

'You'll get over it', Ash said.

'Oh yeah and we need to find Togoros' true vessel', Gary added.

'Why?' Dawn asked.

'Because whoever he or she is, the demons are going to try and get them. So if we can get to them first, then we can keep the demons from using said person and stop them raising Togoros', Gary explained patiently.

'How come you explain to Dawn nicely but if I had asked that question you would have treated me like I'm an idiot?' Ash wanted to know.

'Because you are an idiot'.

'Why don't you stop haunting me then?'

'Because it's way too fun annoying you'.

'I knew that that was the reason!'

'Well I always did it so well in life, why should I let death stop me?' Gary smirked.

'How are we going to find this vessel?' Dawn asked, cutting the boys' arguement short.

'With Ashy-boy's favourite thing', Gary replied. 'Lots and lots of research'.