Chapter 4 – Fear and Terror
The sunlight blasting in through the open curtains was the first thing Alex saw the next morning. He groaned in disapproval and rolled over, trying to block out the harsh brightness and wishing he'd thought to close them before laying down the night before.
"Good morning!" came a bright female voice from the other side of the room.
"Hey you," Alex called back, his voice raspy. He was awake now, no point trying to pretend otherwise. He rolled over again to see his girlfriend and almost choked.
Kimiko was sitting with her back to him, instead facing a mirror that sat atop the lone end table in the room, her long, soaking wet hair over her shoulder as she brushed it. However, she was wearing nothing but the necklace he'd given her for her last birthday, and a fluffy pink towel around her waist.
"I washed my clothes while I was in the shower," Kimiko explained with a shy smile, seeing Alex's reflection blush in the mirror. "They're not dry yet. Besides, it's nothing you haven't seen before…" she added as her own face reddened.
A few seconds passed, the only sound being the stroke of Kimiko's purple hairbrush pulling at her knotted golden-blonde hair. Then she spoke again, her voice softer now, so much so that it starkly contrasted just how cheery she'd sounder before: "If you're going to stare, why don't you come get a better view?"
Alex's blush deepened in embarrassment as he realized he indeed had been staring. He quickly changed the subject.
"Uh, hey… you didn't bring any other clothes, did you?"
"Would I be sitting here naked if I did?" Kimiko replied, rolling her eyes, her voice back to normal volume. Then, a more serious answer; "Only the pajamas that I didn't wear last night."
"You should think about getting some. Never mind the fact that your… usual outfit isn't exactly the best for traveling… your back is covered in bug bites."
"Oh, is that why I'm so damn itchy?" she complained, her smirk slipping into a frown.
"I would imagine so," Alex commented. Sighing, he forced himself up and out of bed. He stretched, trying to kick-start his body, before walking over to Kimiko. She made no motion to cover herself; she simply continued trying to unknot her hair. Alex gently placed his hands on her shoulders and began to rub them, using every ounce of self-control he had to force himself to stare at the top of her head rather than her reflection.
After only a few seconds, Kimiko stopped fiddling with her hair, closed her eyes, and leaned back in her chair, savoring her lover's touch.
"Now I remember why I keep you around," she said after a few minutes.
"Do explain," Alex shot back playfully.
"Your massages make me absolutely melt…" She allowed him to continue for another several minutes before she eventually stood up.
"Okay, that's enough," she said, untying her towel and lifting it over her chest. "No more for you until you go get clean too."
"I wasn't even looking!"
"We're in front of a mirror."
"… Er, right, I think I'll go take that shower now," Alex said hastily.
"That's what I thought," Kimiko said with a grin, rolling her eyes again as Alex rapidly backed away, and closed the bathroom door just a little too hard.
"Waiting for me?" asked a fully-dressed Alex asked as he stepped out of the bathroom, causing Kimiko to jump.
Still unclothed but toweled, Kimiko had settled herself in the bed and flipped on the television. Too occupied by her own thoughts, she didn't hear Alex finish his shower and leave the bathroom, and she literally jumped and squealed when he spoke. Alex couldn't hold back his laughter.
"That wasn't funny!" Kimiko said, playfully tossing a pillow at him.
"I thought so, that's what matters," Alex shot back, catching the pillow and hurling it right back. "What's on?" he added, gesturing at the TV.
"News," Kimiko said, sounding completely uninterested. "Another trainer's disappeared. That's, what, four now just this month?"
"Huh. That's not so unusual," Alex commented, sitting down on the bed next to his girlfriend. "A little high, I guess, but people go missing all the time."
"Except this chick was supposedly pretty good. She'd placed top four in last year's Hoenn League. The other girls she was traveling with say they woke up this morning and she was just gone."
"Where were they?" Alex asked.
Kimiko hesitated and chewed on her bottom lip before answering. "Camping in the Whispering Forest… the other side of the region, though. Closer to Gelid."
Neither one spoke after that, the memory of their less than pleasant experience of the previous night brought to their minds. Alex wished he hadn't asked, as his mind was flooded with feelings of guilt. It took a few minutes before he realized how much worse it was for Kimiko, and what she must be thinking right now. In fact, considering last night's events, it was odd for her to have been so cheerful when they'd woken up… He cleared his throat and tried to change the subject.
"So, uh, anyway… Oh, your clothes are dry. What do you say we go get dressed, have some breakfast, and head down to the gym?"
"Mmm? Oh, yeah," Kimiko mumbled, and hopped off the bed to go get ready.
Meanwhile, as Alex reached for his pokéballs, intending to introduce his new team member, a thought crossed his mind. He hadn't released the sableye since capturing it and he had no way to know how it would react to their little group, especially after being separated from his own. Still, though, it would have to be done sooner or later anyway…
Alex dropped Thorn's pokéball to the ground, releasing only the grass-type instead of both of them at once, as he originally intended. She yawned upon materializing, then jerked awake as though she sensed danger, and then winced; the cut on her side was no longer bleeding, but it certainly needed tending to. He should have done this last night, he realized, regret setting in again. He should have left them with the nurse overnight so they both could recover. He'd have to go do that as soon as possible. But first… he pulled out a potion from his bag, hoping it wouldn't be obvious to the nurse that she'd only just been treated.
"Hey Thorn. How are you feeling?"
To his surprise, the chikorita cooed happily, although she'd begun to pick at the dried blood with her vines.
"Stop that," Alex responded, scratching her head under the leaf, glad she wasn't seriously hurt. The slash must only look worse than it feels. Or maybe the potion was already doing its job. Maybe he could hold off on the healing for a little longer… on second thought, who knows how the sableye might react to being released suddenly in front of total strangers? It would probably be a good idea to just go ahead with his original plan first, if only to make sure the ghost would cooperate with the healers.
"You know that sableye we caught last night?" Thorn tilted her head; Alex wasn't sure if she understood, so he held up the other ball. "Well, er… I'm going to let him out. He's part of the team now and I want to make sure he's okay with that. And, you know, we should make sure he's not too hurt, too."
"Ri?" Thorn questioned, her head tilted.
"Well, he might be a little unruly. So, er, be on guard, just in case, alright?"
Thorn's only response was to tip her head in the opposite direction.
Kimiko poked her head out of the bathroom door in surprise at the sound of the pokéball opening. As the white light began to take shape into the sableye, Thorn jumped up and immediately crouched into a defensive position, and Kimiko asked, "What are you doing?"
"I've got to let him out at some point," Alex shrugged.
Sableye turned around to face the group, barring his teeth as he saw Thorn, ready to attack, and took his own battle stance. Alex put a hand lightly on Thorn's leaf. She looked up at him, confusion on her face.
"Easy now," Alex said. "Relax. Both of you."
Thorn gave one last glare at the sableye, but did as told, though she never took her eyes off the ghost. Sableye, surprisingly, relaxed as well, though he certainly didn't look happy about being here. He couldn't seem to sit still for long, head jerking back and forth like a bird as he took in his surroundings. He didn't look terribly injured. At least, no outward injuries. But then… upon closer inspection, the ghost-type was actually faintly glowing with a purple aura… healing himself? It was a little hard to see in the light, as was the shine of the ruby in his chest, but both were definitely there.
And then the glow was gone. "How are you feeling?" Alex asked his new pokémon. Sableye glanced up at him, no longer casting glances around the room. Alex could have sworn that if sableye had a nose, he would have just stuck it up in disgust.
"Okay… so, I was thinking… since you're a part of the group now, how about a name?"
Sableye didn't respond at all. No sound, no movement, nothing. Alex sighed. Well, at least he's not going on a rampage.
As it turns out, with the aid of the shiny beedrill, the pair managed to get to their original destination, confirmed by the nurse on duty as Blossom Town, site of the first pokémon gym in Vidiva. The town itself had a very natural atmosphere about it. The roads were dirt rather than cement. Gardens, trees and flowers of various bright colors and sizes were everywhere. Most of the buildings had the appearance of log cabins, with few exceptions including the pokémon center, which of course had to be built to certain standards in order to safely treat any pokémon brought in (including fire-types, who might otherwise be hazardous in such a highly flammable building) and the town's pokémon gym, which resided inside a large greenhouse on the easternmost edge of town. This was the trainers' destination as they left the pokémon center.
"Well damn, I wonder what type this gym leader uses?" Kimiko said sarcastically as they approached the giant greenhouse.
"Should be fun to see how mine fares," Alex answered, and the pair walked inside. A bell chimed as the door opened.
As expected, the air in the greenhouse was rather warm and humid. Directly ahead of them lay a huge expanse of tall grass. A female voice echoed throughout the building: "I'll be with you in a second!" Rustling grass could be heard shortly afterwards. Alex and Kimiko stood in the doorway, waiting for the speaker to show herself. The rustling sound grew louder until finally, a young-looking brunette girl tumbled out, stumbling as her feet hit solid ground again. She let out a small squeal as she managed to regain her footing and then dusted off the white apron that she wore over her forest green undershirt.
"Sorry about that!" she apologized as she re-tied her red bandana. She couldn't have been any older than seventeen. "I was looking for my oddish. Anyway," she looked up as she spoke and her face quickly turned a light shade of pink. "H-hi! M-my name's Nyra. I'm the gym leader here! Um, are you two here for a battle?"
"Call me Alex," he replied, oblivious to Nyra's blush. "We're here for the badge, yeah."
"I'm Kimiko," his partner said with a polite nod.
The gym leader refused eye contact after her initial glance, instead fascinating herself on her new arrival's outfits. Then, as suddenly as it came, the extra color left the young girl's face as her gym leader instincts overrode her human emotions.
"You only have two pokémon with you?" she asked, indicating the two lone pokéballs on Alex's belt. Nyra's face flooded with color again as she realized where she'd been staring and immediately turned to her left. Kimiko frowned, but Alex spared the girl further discomfort.
"Yeah, just these two. Why?"
"O-oh…" Nyra stuttered. "W-well… the rules here require at least three pokémon to battle with…"
"Why's that?" Kimiko asked. "This is the first gym in the league, isn't it? How many new trainers have three pokémon well-trained this soon?"
"W-well… in general, yes," Nyra replied. "That's why, actually… the champion thought it would be a good idea to have a sort-of high requirement specifically because this normally is the first gym most new trainers challenge. She said it would help trainers get used to training several pokémon at once early on in their career, so that they don't end up relying on a single pokémon throughout their travels."
Did people really do that? "Huh… well, damn," Alex said. "I guess we've gotta go out and catch something else." Not that he minded. He wanted a full team of six eventually, although he hadn't really given too much thought as to what he'd hoped to add.
"I'm-so-sorry!" Nyra spat out in one breath as she bowed at the two trainers in front of her.
"Don't worry about it," Alex answered. "Rules are rules. Any idea where there's some good pokémon around here without going too far from town?"
Nyra seemed caught off guard by the question. She probably didn't get many people asking her advice on how to defeat her. "Uh… well, there is supposed to be some really rare water-type pokémon around this side of the region…"
Kimiko looked at her suspiciously, then shifted her gaze to their surroundings. "Why would we want to catch water-type pokémon? Don't you use grass-types?"
"W-well… yes, I do… but… the routes leading in and out of town are pretty open… you won't find very many pokémon out there in the open. Unless you want to go southwest into the Whispering Forest-"
"Hell no," Kimiko and Alex answered in unison.
"A water-type sounds fine," Alex said. "I could use one on the team, anyway. And besides, if the ones around here are rare, what better chance to go and get one?"
"Well, okay then," Kimiko said, shrugging. "It's your battle, not mine. Your call. I'll find something along the way."
"Thanks for the tip," Alex reached out to shake Nyra's hand. She couldn't even look at him as he gripped it. "We'll be back once I've caught something new."
"She's got a crush on you," Kimiko said bluntly as the pair headed away from the gym, down the route to the south.
"Don't tell me you're jealous," Alex laughed. That was news to him. Another emotion she'd never displayed before. Not that he'd had many girls crushing on him in his life, either, though. "She looks like she's underage anyway. Not my type."
"Alex!" Kimiko snapped, aiming a kick at his ankle.
"Ow! Sorry!" Alex spat. Okay, stupid thing to joke about. "Not what I meant, and you know that. Seriously, what are you afraid of? Now you know how I feel on a daily basis," he taunted.
"Oh, ha ha."
"Relax," Alex said, leaning in and kissing her. "We've been together for what, almost seven years now? You worry too much."
Kimiko blushed in embarrassment and stared at her feet as the two continued walking, but remained silent.
The pair reached a small lake on the outskirts of Blossom Town shortly after leaving the gym. Several fishermen were already there hard at work, and identified the location as Petal Lake. It was Kimiko who asked the question on both of their minds.
"So… how exactly are we going to even find any water pokémon?"
Alex stared at the water for a moment, wondering if Thorn's vines would be quick enough to snatch a swimming pokémon. "Well… we could go ask to borrow someone's rod?" Alex suggested. "One of these fishermen is bound to have a spare or two."
Kimiko sighed, but didn't argue, and followed Alex to the edge of the lake. Then, as he went to talk to some of the fishermen, she stood at the water's edge and looked down. The water was sparkling and clear; although large in area, the lake didn't look very deep, but it also didn't look like it contained any pokémon…
A few minutes later Alex returned, apparently successful in his endeavor. He carried not one, but two fishing poles with him. Kimiko gave him a curious look as he passed one to her.
"If you're not going to go catch something on your own in the meantime, it will give you something to do other than sit here and watch me… well, sit here."
"Good point, I guess… though it's you who really needs the water pokémon," she argued half-heartedly.
"Well then, having you help will make it go faster," Alex commented with a wink before turning to select a spot to settle down. "And I'll help you catch something afterwards, deal?"
Several minutes later, the pair had chosen a grassy spot not far from the dirt path leading back into town. After casting their lines, there was nothing to do but wait and enjoy the warm weather and light breeze. Alex sat patiently, staring at the spot where his line landed in the water as if that would cause some sort of reaction. He'd never really understood the appeal of fishing… waiting… and waiting… and more waiting… but the temptation of rare pokémon temporarily boosted his curiosity.
Next to him, Kimiko lay on her back with her arms behind her head and eyes closed, basically sunbathing. Her own pole sat anchored down by her side in a small hole in the dirt.
"I want an espeon," Kimiko said suddenly several minutes later as the young couple waited for a bite.
"Seriously?" Alex grimaced. "An eeveelution? That's not very original."
"They're adorable!" Kimiko shot back, a little hurt. "Besides, they're psychic-types. How cool would that be?"
"I guess so…" Alex thought. "…But an eeveelution?" Kimiko didn't bother replying this time.
After a few moments, Alex picked a pokéball from his belt and let it drop, releasing his chikorita. She squeaked happily as she adjusted to the warm temperature, quickly lying down in between the two humans to sunbathe.
Without sitting up, Kimiko reached to her backpack and pulled out a pokéball of her own, releasing her mudkip. The tiny water-type squeaked in fear as the sunlight blinded him momentarily, but after blinking and taking in his surroundings, relaxed after realizing there was no danger. Thorn had returned to sunbathing after looking up at the sound, and Kimiko resumed relaxing on the grass. Radar, possibly thinking it was some sort of game, attempted to mimic them, laying on his front and resting his head on the ground, occasionally lifting it up to glance at Thorn to make sure he was doing it right.
Alex laughed as he watched the three of them. It was unusual, but he was glad that they all seemed to be recovered from last night's incident already and that so far, no lasting scars were left. Well, he still wasn't too sure about Kimiko, but at least the pokémon were easier to read. The morning's stay at the center certainly did wonders for Thorn's scratches.
After a moment of hesitation, Alex also released his new sableye, Diamond. The ghost-type emerged exactly how he had previously, growling and snarling. Radar squeaked, and Thorn jumped up into a defensive stance, shielding the mudkip with her leaf. "Relax," Alex told him. "We're not in a battle. I thought you might enjoy some fresh air."
Diamond straightened up, but offered no reply other than to look directly at the sun, then back towards him. Thorn relaxed also, laying down again, but her eyes never left the ghost. Radar peeked over Thorn's head before crouching down again to hide.
"So, uh…" Alex started. "You met Thorn this morning. The mudkip is Radar, and the other human is Kimiko. They're traveling with us."
The ghost's head tipped in the direction of the other trainer, whose eyes were warily watching him, but still offered no answer.
Alex frowned. Before he could think of something else to engage the ghost-type, however, two figures approached them. How he missed them coming until they were practically right next to them, he had no idea – their black clothing and hair stood out painfully in the bright colorful day. The male's hair was short with red streaks and tips. The female, about the same height as the male, also had coloring in hers, a dark royal purple, and was up in two large pigtails.
The eyes of both trainers and their teams were on the newcomers as they approached.
Alex cast a glance at Kimiko as if to ask her if she knew them. She shook her head before sitting up and addressing them. "Excuse me, you're blocking the sun. Can we help you?"
"Forgive us," the male said flatly. "Believe me, we don't much enjoy being here ourselves, but we have a job to do."
"And that is…?"
"Pardon my brother's rudeness," the female spoke in a similar monotone. "My name is Phobos, and this is my brother, Deimos. We run the pokémon gym in Phantom Village, in the forest to the west."
"Just how big is that damn forest, anyway?" Kimiko said as she and Alex stood up to introduce themselves.
"So… what brings you two all the way out here?" Alex asked.
"The ghost pokémon in our forest have been acting… unusual for the last few days," Phobos replied. Alex heard Kimiko whisper, "no kidding" under her breath. The woman didn't seem to hear her. "Naturally, as the owners of a ghost-type gym, it is our responsibility to find out why. They have led us here."
"Is this your sableye?" Deimos spoke up.
"Yeah… I just caught him last night. In that forest, in fact."
"May we have a word?" Deimos specifically addressed Diamond. The pokémon nodded slowly and deliberately, sparing no glance for his new trainer beforehand. Without another word, ignoring Alex's protests, the newcomers and Diamond stalked off to the nearest shaded spot – underneath a tree several meters away. Alex refused to take his eyes off them.
"What's this all about?" Kimiko asked.
"Hell if I know," Alex answered. Something felt wrong about this, but he couldn't quite grasp what that was. They appeared to be talking directly to the ghost, without using another pokémon to communicate between them. Then again, they were ghost-type gym leaders. Maybe he was just uncomfortable letting strangers alone near his pokémon? "Diamond seems to know them. That's… odd."
"Is it really? They are the ones who keep the ghost pokémon in the forest under control, aren't they? Maybe Diamond's met them before."
"Maybe, but I don't trust them."
The group returned several minutes later. Diamond, unharmed, simply sat down upon arrival, staring out upon open water with his back to the trainers.
"Thanks for your time," Phobos said. "You appear to be trainers… so I'm sure we'll meet again." And with that, the siblings turned and walked off without waiting for an answer.
"That might have been the weirdest thing I've seen in a long time," Kimiko commented, lying back down in the grass.
"Yeah…" Alex said, looking down at Diamond. The ghost pokémon had stood up and walked over to where Thorn and Radar lay sunbathing and extended a clawed hand without a word. Thorn looked at him oddly, but hesitantly wrapped a vine around the ghost's hand and shook it. Alex smiled.
"So, accepted the fact that you're one of us now, have you?" Diamond grunted at him. "How about that nickname? Gonna respond to it now?" Diamond shrugged.
Technically a reply, but not one Alex had been hoping for. He frowned at the sableye. The ghost took that to mean the conversation was over, and with a stiff nod, he then turned and sat down next to Thorn, who watched his every move out of the corner of her eye. She subtly covered Radar with her leaf.
Alex pulled out his pokédex again and ran over sableye's statistics and data while he waited for a bite. After a short time of searching, he found no suitable answer in the dex's data for the questions he had. Shadow claw and power gem… and he knows recover, too… how does a wild sableye know such advanced techniques? He's at too low a level to learn them naturally… unless he was bred and released, maybe?
"I think that one's yours," Kimiko announced, snapping him out of his thoughts. His girlfriend was pointing towards the lake. A yellow starfish with a red core was silently standing there over Alex's forgotten fishing pole, watching them.
"Whoa, a staryu!" Alex exclaimed. "I thought they were only active at night. Guess Nyra was right, there really are rare water pokémon around here! Go get it, Thorn!"
If she were angry at her sunbathing being interrupted, Thorn didn't show it as she obediently dove headfirst into battle, with only a quick cheerful glance back at the mudkip behind her. It only took two barrages of razor leaf to bring the staryu to the ground. The creature didn't even fight back. Alex frowned at he tossed a pokéball at it and then frowned more when the pokéball hardly resisted before closing with a ping.
"Well… that was anticlimactic," he sighed. "Good job, Thorn."
"Chikchik!" Thorn exclaimed happily before returning to her sunbathing.
"So… what should I name it?" Alex asked as he stared at the pokéball in his hand. He got no answer. Turning around, he saw Kimiko busy with a pokémon of her own.
She had pulled her fishing line in and brought up a blue seashell. She watched as the shell opened to reveal a softer, lighter blue inside, as well as a pink pearl in the center, complete with an angry face. The water-type didn't seem very happy to have been hooked, and was having some difficulty untangling itself, as though it'd been caught on the wire accidentally.
"Radar, think you can battle?" Kimiko called. Her mudkip looked at the clamperl and squeaked worriedly, but with an encouraging nudge from Thorn, waddled up to face it anyway. "Don't worry, you'll do fine! Go get it with a tackle attack!"
Radar obeyed, closing his eyes as he ran in a straight line towards the clamperl. Before he struck, however, clamperl hurled itself forwards, and clamped down on Radar's fin. The mudkip shrieked with pain and attempted to wiggle himself free, but clamperl had him tight.
"Oh god, now what do I do?" Kimiko asked no one in particular.
Before she got an answer, though, the clamperl blasted a torrent of water out of its shell, releasing its grip on Radar and blasting him away. Radar struggled to his feet, whimpering.
"Come on, Radar, you can do this! Show it a real water gun!"
With a deep breath, Radar planted his feet firmly and exhaled – and nothing happened. The clamperl roared with laughter as the mudkip began to cry. Kimiko gave him a soft encouraging smile, though, and Radar tried again. He took another deep breath. This time, the little mudkip managed to summon a blast of water of his own. Clamperl, who had been too busy laughing at Radar, screamed in agony as it got a blast of water to the face as Radar struck its vulnerable inner shell.
"You know what, now it's my turn," Kimiko said, reaching for a pokéball in her bag on a whim. She grabbed the nearest one and hurled it at the weakened water-type. The ball bounced off the dazed clamperl's shell and opened…
…But instead of transforming the pokémon into red light and absorbing it, Kimiko's pokéball instead released a white light. She and Alex stared at it in confusion as the light materialized into a rounded shape. When the light faded, the round, black shape, face and all, had become enveloped by a cloud of purple gas. The new creature stared at Kimiko, who simply stared back at it.
The two continued to stare at each other. Nothing in the area seemed to move – even the other fishermen had turned their attention to the commotion – except for Diamond the sableye, who let out a silent scowl.
"GAAAAASTLY!" the creature suddenly boomed, and everyone stumbled backwards, startled.
"Where the bloody hell did this thing come from…?" Kimiko demanded, hand over her heart as she attempted to calm her breathing.
The small group simply stared at the gastly, no one knowing quite what to do next. Gastly solved that problem, however, as it floated up to Kimiko and nestled in her hair. She winced as the ghost caused her hair to float about with its odd ghost-type powers.
"Well… at least he's friendly," Alex said, laughing.
"But… where did it come from?" Kimiko repeated.
"The forest," Alex said thoughtfully, a vague, forgotten memory returning to him. "You must have caught it when you dropped that pokéball."
"What are you talking about?"
"When that… dusknoir… was lifting you," Alex started, afraid to bring back the memory of the event. Kimiko simply stared at him, showing no sign that it bothered her, so he continued. "Well, you dropped a pokéball. I remember seeing a red flash of light out of the corner of my eye but I didn't think anything of it, I was busy trying to figure out how to save you. I guess I just thought it was an attack. But maybe… maybe that flash was this gastly getting sucked into the pokéball you dropped. Remember when you fell? We landed on top of a pokéball?"
"Oh," was all Kimiko could reply with.
"Kiiip!" came a squeal. Kimiko looked down to see Radar jumping up and down, and pointing at something. Following his little paw with her gaze, Kimiko spotted the clamperl desperately trying to hop back towards the lake. She mentally slapped herself as she hastily scooped up another pokéball from her bag and hurled it at the fleeing seashell, somehow still managing to strike true. This time, the pokémon was properly sucked inside, and the ball fell to the sand. The pokéball shook for a few seconds, and then echoed the earlier ping from Alex's pokéball.
"I thought you didn't plan to capture anything?" Alex asked as Kimiko walked over to pick up her new pokémon, the gastly still toying with her hair.
"I didn't," she answered. "I just… well, I didn't want you to get too far ahead of me. And now, I guess we're… still even," she added, reaching for the gastly. It laughed eerily as her hand went right through it. Its body caused a strange tingling sensation in her arm and she quickly withdrew it. She sighed.
"Well, now I need to find names for these two also, don't I?"
A/N: I wonder if anyone even noticed the (accidental) capture of gastly in the previous chapter. (Because yes, it's definitely in there, very briefly, and no, he did not just appear out of nowhere in this chapter.)