In this chapter, our heroes are going to try fighting Morty. He happens to be a ghost-type specialist. We can only hope that they are brave...and so are their Pokémon.
Of course, this doesn't bode well for Ned. He's frightened of ghosts. But on the other hand, Chris will probably be fine. You probably know how strong she is. She's not going to let ghost Pokemon scare her.
We're also going to see Jake's battle with Sarah. That's something to look forward to, am I right?
Chapter 24: Early Halloween
"So, it looks like the next Gym Leader specializes in ghost Pokémon..." stated Chris. Personally she thought it was rather refreshing after fighting those cute normal Pokemon.
"Ghost Pokémon!?" exclaimed Ned.
Ned began to sweat.
Chris looked at Ned.
"You're not going to let some ghost Pokémon scare you, are you?" inquired the girl.
"O-of course not!" exclaimed Ned.
"Then why don't we enter the gym?" asked Chris.
Ned nodded reluctantly.
Together, the two of them entered the Gym.
They quickly noticed how foggy it was inside the gym.
Waiting for them was the Gym Leader.
"Are you here to challenge me?" asked Morty.
Chris and Ned nodded. They were hoping to collect their fourth gym badge. If they succeeded at beating Morty, then they would be halfway to the Johto Pokemon League.
"Alright then...which one of you wants to go first? By the way, have you noticed the Tin Tower in this city?" inquired the Gym Leader.
"Yeah...it's right of the burned one..." answered Ned.
"Personally I was hoping to meet Ho-Oh someday...it's a legendary bird that brings rainbows wherever it flies..." noted Morty.
"Interesting..." answered Chris. Perhaps they would meet Ho-Oh someday. They had met legendary Pokémon before, though so far they hadn't encountered any in Johto.
"Now where were we?" asked the Gym Leader.
"Well, since my friend Ned is currently chattering his teeth...I guess I'll go first." noted Chris.
Morty nodded.
Chris sent out Jigglypuff. It seemed like the balloon Pokemon was looking forward to challenging the Gym Leader, so she figured, why not?
"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Jigglypuff.
Morty sent out Gastly.
"Gastly!" exclaimed the ghost Pokémon.
Gastly started off first, trying to lick Jigglypuff with his tongue.
However, it proved to be ineffective.
"I knew that you would try using ghost-type moves, so I brought Jigglypuff..." stated Chris.
"Smart..." nodded Morty. Ghost attacks had no effect on normal Pokémon.
However, it worked both ways. Normal attacks didn't hurt ghost Pokemon at all.
"You wouldn't happen to have taught Jigglypuff a move that can harm ghost types, could you?" inquired Morty. She couldn't win against him if her Pokemon's attacks didn't do any damage.
"As a matter of fact, I did. Try using Rollout, Jigglypuff." stated Chris.
Chris's Jigglypuff nodded and rolled into Gastly.
"Gastly!" exclaimed Gastly. Jigglypuff was like a wrecking ball. A pink, adorable, singing wrecking ball.
Unfortunately for Gastly, since he couldn't simply lick Jigglypuff (on account of Jigglypuff being a normal type), he was going to have to try a different tactic.
Morty had something in mind,
He had Gastly use Curse.
At the expense at about half his HP, Gastly cast a curse on Jigglypuff.
The curse began to negatively affect Jigglypuff.
Jigglypuff wondered why Curse worked differently for ghost Pokémon compared to other types of Pokémon.
It was strange.
Anyways, after being afflicted by Curse, Jigglypuff wasn't feeling too well.
If she didn't defeat Gastly quickly, chances are she was going to faint.
Jigglypuff used Rollout on Gastly again.
"Gastly!" exclaimed Gastly.
Gastly fainted. He simply could not take down Jigglypuff, especially considering her powerful singing voice which could induce slumber in a Pokemon in seconds. Not by himself anyway.
Since Gastly had fainted, Morty decided to send out Gastly's evolved form, Haunter.
"Haunt haunt!" exclaimed Morty's Haunter.
"Another member of the Gastly evolutionary line...ready, Jigglypuff?" asked Chris.
Jigglypuff nodded.
However, the curse was starting to wear her down.
Jigglypuff once again attacked with Rollout.
However, Haunter moved out of the way.
Haunter then used Sucker Punch on Jigglypuff, punching Jigglypuff with his right fist. For some strange reason even though Haunter did not have arms it happened to possess a pair of floating hands.
Jigglypuff was punched in the face and was knocked backwards.
"Jigglypuff!" exclaimed Jigglypuff. For a ghost Haunter packed a mean punch.
"Try singing to it..." stated Chris.
Jigglypuff nodded and sang to Haunter.
Haunter fell asleep.
"Haunt..." said the now dozing Haunter.
However, at that very moment, Jigglypuff fainted. It seemed that the curse had done its work.
"I guess Jigglypuff couldn't take on three ghost Pokemon all by herself." thought Chris. Even Jigglypuff had her limits, though admittedly her Sing ability was useful against almost every Pokemon she encountered.
Chris withdrew Jigglypuff.
"I guess I'm going to have to send out a different Pokemon..." noted Chris.
Now that she thought of it...weren't ghost Pokemon weak to dark types?
If so, it would be a good idea to give Houndour a chance.
He did fairly well at Bugsy's gym on account of having a type advantage. Maybe he would do well at this gym as well considering he had a similar advantage over ghost types.
Chris sent out Houndour.
"Houndour, you think you can handle some poltergeists?" asked Chris.
"Houndour!" exclaimed Chris's Houndour. He was a brave Pokemon, so perhaps he COULD handle the ghosts.
Since Haunter was currently dozing, it looked like the Wolf Pokemon had an opportunity.
He decided to bite Haunter to see what would happen.
"Haunter!" exclaimed Morty's Haunter. That really hurt.
However, Haunter woke up in the process.
"That seemed to be effective." noted Chris.
Houndour grinned. It looked as he had the upper hand against his opponent.
In retaliation, Haunter launched a Shadow Ball at Houndour.
However, Houndour ducked underneath it.
He then bit Haunter again and Haunter fainted.
"Haunt..." said Morty's Haunter.
With only one Pokemon left to battle with, it looked like Morty was going to have to make his last Pokemon count.
"It looks like it's about time for me to send in Gengar..." noted Morty.
"I have a Gengar." pointed out Chris.
"I guess you know a lot about ghost types then..." noted the ghost type Gym Leader.
"I do...I'd rather collect gym badges than be a Gym Leader though." stated the girl.
Morty sent in Gengar.
"Can you handle it?" asked Morty.
Gengar nodded.
Gengar used Sucker Punch on Houndour.
But unfortunately for him, this didn't hurt Houndour much. It WAS a dark type, much like the move that had been used.
In retaliation, Houndour bit Gengar's arm.
"Gengar!" exclaimed Gengar. Houndour had sharp teeth despite his small size. It would explain why they were efficient hunters.
He then followed up by using Ember, spewing flames from his mouth.
"Gengar!" shouted the ghost type. Now he was burned.
"Not bad!" shouted Chris.
However, Gengar retaliated by using Mean Look on Houndour.
"Houndour!" exclaimed Chris's Houndour.
That was spooky.
Well, he couldn't expect anything else from a ghost type.
Taking advantage of Houndour's astonished state, Gengar then tossed a Shadow Ball at Houndour.
"Houndour!" exclaimed the dark Pokemon. Gengar packed a lot of power behind his attacks.
"Hang in there!" shouted Chris.
Houndour nodded. As long as Chris was on his side, he wasn't going to allow a ghost Pokemon to intimidate him.
He bit Gengar once again.
Gengar fainted.
"Gengar..." said Gengar. It looked like Houndour had shown him who was top Growlithe.
Morty applauded Chris.
"Congratulations. Here is your Fog Badge." said Morty.
Chris happily accepted her Fog Badge.
"Yes!" exclaimed Chris.
Now the question was which gym she should go to next.
Maybe she could try visiting the one in Mahogany? Then again the Gym Leader was probably out of town. There was something going on at the Lake Of Rage according to what she had seen on the news.
Ned went next, reluctantly.
"Are you ready?" asked Morty.
"Y-yes..." nodded Ned.
After healing his Pokemon, Morty sent out Gastly.
"Gastly!" exclaimed the ghost Pokemon.
Hesistantly, Ned sent out Hoppip.
"Hoppip!" exclaimed Ned's Hoppip.
Hoppip looked around. It was kind of hard to see with all of the fog in the room.
"Gastly, use Lick!" instructed Morty.
Morty's Gastly nodded and licked Hoppip.
"Hoppip..." said Ned's Hoppip. That was scary.
Ned's face was turning pale.
"U-u-use Bullet Seed!" shouted Ned.
Ned's Hoppip nodded and spit several seeds at Gastly.
Ned clutched his head.
Morty raised an eyebrow.
"Should we continue this later?" asked Morty. Some Pokemon trainers got nervous whenever they encountered ghost Pokemonl it seemed that Ned was not an exception.
"I suppose..." nodded Ned.
Chris sighed.
"Did you really have to forfeit the match?" asked Chris. Surely Ned was braver than that.
"The ghost Pokemon were scary..." answered Ned. It looked like they had stepped right out of his nightmares.
Speaking of which, he heard that ghost Pokemon were capable of eating your dreams, much like a Drowzee.
"You're not going to make it far in the Pokemon League if you keep quitting like a coward..." stated the girl. To be honest, she didn't want to enter the Silver Conference alone.
"I just don't know how to deal with the ghosts..." said the boy.
"Why don't we visit the Burned Tower then? I'm sure that there are ghost Pokemon you can face off against..." pointed out Chris.
Ned gulped.
Reluctantly, he accompanied Chris into the tower.
Sure enough, there seemed to be ghost Pokemon inside the tower. Normally they showed up during the night time.
Ned began to sweat.
Suddenly, a Misdreavus approached him.
Apparently, she had taken a liking to the boy.
"Misdreavus..." said the wild Misdreavus.
"Huh?" asked Ned, turning around to look behind him.
His eyes widened and he let out a gasp.
"Oh no! It's after me!" screamed the boy.
Chris raised an eyebrow.
"Um, I don't think that ghost Pokemon is trying to scare you...as odd as it sounds." said Chris.
"Wait, it isn't?" asked Ned.
He was confused.
Ned scanned the ghost Pokemon with his Pokédex.
"Misdreavus, the Screech Pokemon. It has a tendency for mischief, and likes pulling and biting hair." said Ned's Pokédex.
Sure enough, Misdreavus seemed to be tugging at Ned's hair. It didn't hurt though.
"Huh. I guess this one isn't so scary..." noted Ned. Then again, it seemed to be in the minority.
"You know, the best way to study ghost Pokemon would be to catch one yourself..." remarked Chris.
Ned raised an eyebrow.
"Would you want to be my Pokemon?" asked Ned.
Misdreavus nodded.
Ned shrugged and pulled out a Dusk Ball. Misdreavus would likely like it in there.
Satisfied, Misdreavus went inside the Pokeball.
There was a rather familiar ding.
Ned sent out Misdreavus shortly afterwards.
"So...what do you like to do for fun?" asked Ned.
Misdreavus took Ned's glasses.
"Very funny..." said Ned.
Misdreavus gave Ned his glasses back. Though she liked pulling pranks she felt like she should have a measure for respect for her Pokemon Trainer.
"Anything else you want to tell me about you?" asked Ned.
Misdreavus flew straight through a wall, then came out the other side.
"You can fly through walls?" asked Ned.
Misdreavus nodded.
"I guess that explains why normal and fighting attacks have no effect on you..." noted Ned.
It then occurred to him that maybe he could use Misdreavus when he fought Morty again.
Ghost type Pokemon were super effective against each other, strange as it was. However, Misdreavus had decent Special Defense so perhaps she could tank a few Shadow Balls.
Either way, she would help him understand ghost Pokemon a bit more.
Meanwhile...
Lucy decided to visit the Olivine Gym, only to discover that it was closed.
Apparently, the Gym Leader specialized in Steel type.
According to the Pokédex, Steel types were very good at defense, though that didn't necessarily mean that they had no weaknesses. Fire Pokemon worked well against them for example.
"What's going on?" asked Lucy. Where was the Gym Leader? Was she busy shopping? Personally she enjoyed shopping at the Goldenrod Department Center.
At that very moment, Jerry showed up. Lucy quickly noticed that he had an angry look on his face.
"Dang it!" exclaimed Jerry.
"I guess you wanted to battle the Gym Leader..." stated Lucy.
"Apparently she thinks looking after a Pokemon is more important than doing her job! She's at the Olivine Lighthouse looking after the sick Ampharos!" exclaimed Jerry.
"A sick Ampharos?" asked Lucy.
Personally the Gym Leader was reminding her of herself. She always took good care of her Clefairy.
Lucy pulled out the Olivine City tourist guide. Clefairy had taken one from the PokeMart.
Apparently, that Ampharos was powering the lighthouse.
If he wasn't able to do his job, Olivine City's harbor would be in a lot of trouble.
"I don't know, that Ampharos seems awfully important. You don't want ships to crash into sharp rocks, now do you?" asked Lucy,
Jerry sighed. Lucy DID make a good point, as much as he was looking forward to challenging the Gym Leader.
"I guess I'll try the gym in Cianwood City. I heard that the Gym Leader is super buff!" exclaimed Jerry.
He would love to meet someone like that.
With that, Jerry left.
Meanwhile...
"Sentret, I choose you!" exclaimed Jake.
"Let's go, Sandshrew!" shouted Sarah.
"Sandshrew!" exclaimed the shrew Pokemon.
Sandshrew attacked first, rolling straight towards Sentret.
"Sentret!" exclaimed Jake's Sentret.
That really hurt.
Jake's Sentret tried attacking Sandshrew with Fury Swipes, but he had good defense. He wasn't getting hurt too much. Sandshrew's hide was definitely tough.
What was he going to do?
He decided to focus.
Suddenly, he began to evolve.
Sentret was now a Furret.
Jake applauded Furret for evolving for his Pokemon Trainer.
"Furret!" smiled Furret. He sure had evolved quickly. Then again, Sentrets were known to evolve at early levels.
Perhaps maybe now he would stand a better chance with Sandshrew. He remembered his last encounter with Sandshrew back at the Slowpoke Well.
Although, it didn't seem like there were any Pokemon at stake this time, though they WERE entertaining a live audience.
"It looks like we might not have the upper hand anymore..." noted Sarah.
Sandshrew tried focusing his energy to see if he would evolve.
It didn't work.
Apparently he wasn't ready yet.
"Keep trying, I'm sure you'll become a Sandslash eventually." noted Sarah.
Sandshrew nodded.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Furret was now too fast for him to handle. There was no striking the furry Pokemon with Rollout.
And to make matters worse, Furret was now capable of getting past his tough hide.
Furret struck Sandshrew several times with Fury Swipes.
"Sandshrew!" exclaimed Sandshrew.
"Oh no! Sandshrew!" shouted Sarah.
Sandshrew fainted.
"Shrew..." said the fainted ground Pokemon.
Sarah withdrew her fainted Pokemon.
Togepi was disappointed. She was hoping that Sandshrew would win.
Apparently, Sarah was going to have to try something else.
Which Pokemon would work best against Furret?
Suddenly, she had an idea.
"Ekans! I choose you!" exclaimed Sarah.
Sarah sent out Ekans.
Furret quickly realized that he might be in trouble. Ekans was one of several Pokemon that a Sentret needed to be on the lookout for, not least because Ekans were known to be poisonous.
Granted, now that he was a Furret, he probably didn't need to worry about them too much anymore, but it was probably best to approach with caution.
"Ekans, use Wrap!" instructed Sarah.
Ekans nodded and lunged towards Furret.
Furret quickly leapt out of the way. It would be bad if Ekans managed to coil around him with her strong muscles.
And to make matters worse, his trainer wouldn't be able to switch him out if that happened.
"Furret, use Defense Curl!" exclaimed Jake.
Furret nodded and rolled up into a ball.
"Use Poison Sting!" shouted Sarah.
Ekans nodded and spat several poison needles from her mouth.
However, Furret's Defense Curl shielded him from the stings.
Jake sighed in relief.
"Now try using Fury Swipes!" exclaimed Jake.
Jake's Furret nodded and began to claw Ekans furiously.
"Ekans!" exclaimed the snake Pokemon.
However, Sarah had a nasty trick up her sleeve.
"Ekans, use Bite!" exclaimed Sarah.
Ekans nodded.
Suddenly, she sank her fangs into Furret's arm. Personally it reminded Totodile of when he first met.
"Furret!" exclaimed Jake's Furret.
Unfortunately for Furret, Ekans had successfully managed to poison him.
Already, he was starting to feel woozy.
"Furret..." said Jake's Furret.
"Use Quick Attack!" shouted Jake.
Jake's Furret nodded and rushed towards Ekans.
However, Ekans stretched out her coils and Furret tripped.
She then bit Furret on the leg.
Furret simply could not tolerate that much venom, so he fainted.
"Oh man..." said Jake.
"Togepi!" cheered Sarah's Togepi.
It looked like Sarah had managed to even the score.
"Good work, Ekans!" exclaimed Sarah.
Jake withdrew Furret and got ready to send out another Pokemon.
Maybe Cyndaquil will do the job.
"Go, Cyndaquil!" exclaimed Jake.
I figured that Chris has a ghost Pokemon (which has fully evolved since this point), why not have Ned catch one too? I figure it would be ironic since ghost Pokemon frighten him. But of course, this Misdreavus isn't so frightening. Not to him anyway.
I also figured it would be a good way to continue the gag of female Pokemon falling for Ned.
Alternatively he could try using his Hoothoot. She's a bird of the night so chances are she would know how to deal with ghosts.
In other news, Jake successfully evolved his Sentret. I figured he would evolve quickly.
Who will win the battle, Jake or Sarah?
I'll continue the fight in the next chapter, I suppose.