Chapter 8 – A Ghost of a Chance

The wind whipped at her hair, face, and cape as Kirsten raced through the skies towards Crescent Town. Crobat was her only real flying-type and though he could carry her in a pinch, it was extremely difficult – especially while maintaining his speed. Kirsten wanted to get there as quick as possible so she had borrowed Emily's skarmory for the occasion. She was unaccustomed to riding the metallic bird, though, and found that she was extremely uncomfortable; the bird's sharp feathers kept slashing cuts in her legs. She adjusted her position constantly while the skarmory kept shooting her annoyed glances. Her crobat was still with them though he clearly wanted to move faster; the skarmory, while still fast, was too slow for Crobat's liking.

The light of the full moon kept the skies bright even though it was well after midnight. Not that there was anything to see up in the sky; Kirsten took off late that night straight from the League HQ on Araka Island after receiving no answer to her calls at professor Spruce's lab. She had been flying over the open sea towards mainland since.

As she neared the main coastline, the lights of the city at the bottom of the cliff came into view. The small town was called Lentic, home to the traditional eighth gym in the Vidiva circuit, as well as the port where qualifying trainers could be taken to Araka Isle to compete in the league. The entire city, including even the wooden boards that the homes were built on top of as well as connecting the entire city together, was visible thanks to the huge spotlights embedded in the cliffside to illuminate the city during the night.

Skarmory passed over Lentic and turned northwest. Soon after, a few more speckles of lights began to emerge on the horizon, signifying the small party's arrival at Crescent Town. Her anxiety began to surface again as they began their descent into town. How could the region's best pokémon researcher, his assistant, and a dozen skilled trainers all disappear without a trace? Kirsten hoped she was wrong and that the professor simply had forgotten to contact her upon his return from his excursion into the forest earlier that day, though she refused to allow herself to start being that optimistic and instead be realistic.

She directed Skarmory straight towards the lab and they touched down right in the front yard. Kirsten jumped from the bird's back in relief, vaguely dreading the return trip – her legs were cut and bruised from the steel bird's sharp feathers – and deciding one of the elites, if not herself, should acquire a teleporting pokémon sooner rather than later. Before she turned to the lab, however, she pulled out her pokédex, intending to take note of the time she arrived and instead discovered a voicemail that had been left during her flight. She planned to ignore it but seeing as though the lab was dark and looked vacant, she decided she could wait another minute and listened anyway. It was from the trainer with the sableye. It was a quick message, simply stating his concern over not hearing from the professor after his own attempts failed to make contact as well. Kirsten put away her dex, her apprehension peaking again.

She stretched her stiff body for a moment longer before recalling Skarmory and walking towards the lab, Crobat perched atop her head. She tried the bell first; if the professor had arrived home safely, he was most likely either working deep in the lab with his findings or sleeping at this point in the night. Of course, it was too much for Kirsten to honestly believe that either might the case, and predictably no one ended up answering. She tried the door. It was locked, so either the professor didn't hear the bell or he never returned. She considered picking the lock and going inside but decided to simply scout the outside first. After asking Crobat to take a peek into the upper windows where the professor lived, Kirsten ignored the covered window next to the door and walked around the back of the building.

The yard was mostly barren; the professor must have safely recalled most of the pokémon in his care before leaving, though a few of the more intimidating ones were left out on guard duty. As soon as Kirsten climbed the fence and leapt to the ground inside, there was a howl and a blur, and she found herself pinned to the ground with a very angry houndoom in her face, flames licking her lips.

"Easy girl, it's me! It's Kirsten!" the champion cried, but the pokémon seemed not to recognize her. She growled threateningly until Crobat returned seconds later and forcefully rammed the fire-type off his trainer. The houndoom got to her feet quickly and blasted a flamethrower at Crobat, who avoided it effortlessly. The houndoom let out a sharp gasp as she finally realized who she had fired upon, the light from her flames illuminating Kirsten as she tried to stand.

"That's better," Kirsten said as the houndoom slunk up to her, her head hung in shame. She whined in what Kirsten recognized as some sort of apology. She put a hand on the dog pokémon's head. "It's okay, you didn't recognize me in the dark," she said, though she was certain that houndoom could see in the dark just fine. She also vaguely wondered if this houndoom could recognize her voice, and assumed she probably could – or should. "Have you seen the professor since this morning?"

Houndoom looked up at her and barked fiercely, looking towards the back door of the lab. Kirsten took that as a no. As if to answer her, Houndoom bolted away from them, returning seconds later with a dead, bloody pidgeotto in her mouth. Kirsten made a mental note to remind herself to find someone to look after the lab and the pokémon if the professor wasn't actually there, which the houndoom had essentially just confirmed. Professor Spruce fed all the pokémon in his care so they wouldn't have to kill others for food. But Houndoom had killed a pidgeotto and started eating it. She had been hungry, and so she found food. Not a good sign.

Kirsten's heart sank. She hoped the bird hadn't belonged to a trainer. She patted the houndoom's head once again and after confirming with Crobat that he couldn't see anyone upstairs, walked to the back door, which also turned out to be locked. With a sigh, she retrieved her pokédex again. It only took one ring before her call was answered.

"Emily, we've got a bigger problem on our hands than we thought."

Alex woke the next morning to a voicemail and nearly dropped his dex in his attempt to play the message. He slept poorly the previous night, waking up several times in distress. He hadn't heard from professor Spruce at all and it filled him with guilt. Though he hoped the professor was okay, it would be his fault if something did happen to him in that forest; he was the one who suggested calling him and Luke in to investigate. Not only that, but his call to Kirsten last night had also gone unanswered. It took a great deal of coaxing for Kimiko to convince him to relax and sleep after that, though he ended up doing very little of either anyway despite his girlfriend's efforts.

As it turned out, the voicemail was from Kirsten, not the professor. The message was short, apologizing for not responding the night before because she had been traveling. She had also not heard from the professor but she was planning another trip into the forest herself with another group of trainers. Alex could hear her calm voice crack as she mumbled a hasty goodbye.

His motion to return his dex to the nightstand beside the bed roused Kimiko from her sleep and she clung to him, smiling until she noticed the grimace on his face. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing," Alex replied. Kimiko made to object to the obvious lie, but Alex explained; "That's the problem. I just got a message from Kirsten. She never got through to professor Spruce last night either. She just said she's taking a team of trainers into the forest herself and that was it."

"He'll be fine," Kimiko whispered, putting a hand on Alex's cheek and kissing him. "She's the best in the region; she knows what she's doing. She'll find him."

Alex made to argue about how the ghosts practically tore half her team apart, but his will was drained this early in the morning so he simply turned away, staring at the opposite wall, eyes unfocused. Kimiko frowned, laying her head down on his chest with a sigh and stroking his arm with the back of her finger.

They remained like that for several minutes before Alex tensed underneath her. Before she could question him, he asked, "Where's Fantomé?"

Kimiko lifted herself up just in time to see Diamond shrug before turning his attention back to the carpet, seemingly fascinated by a loose thread that he pulled at until it was torn off completely. Thorn, Radar, Koyomi and Ariel appeared to all still be asleep; the former three huddled together on the small bathmat in the opposite room with the clamperl alone behind them. The gastly was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, damn," Kimiko groaned as she carefully scrambled out of the bed to go get dressed.

Just as Alex and Kimiko were emerging from the stairwell into the center's main lobby, a loud scream echoed through an open window. Kimiko groaned as she sprinted for the door, Alex calmly following. She had a bad feeling she had just found her missing pokémon.

Sure enough, there was Fantomé outside in the morning sun. He had a teenage boy cowering behind a tree while he happily cackled from above. The gastly was laughing so hard that he was in tears, and while it was probably for a completely different reason, so was the red-haired boy.

"Fantomé!" Kimiko shouted. "Get over here!" The gastly turned at the sound of her voice, bellowed a happy wail, and shot towards her. He circled her head with glee, completely unaware he was being scolded. "You don't do that! Look, I don't know what your life was like before, but things have changed! You can't just go off scaring the daylights out of other trainers! And more importantly, you do not leave the room without my permission! You had me worried sick! Do you understand?"

"Gaaaaaas!" the ghost bellowed, still cackling, before taking off again.

"Fantomé! Come back here!" Kimiko demanded. She stomped her foot and pointed at the ground at her feet. The ghost-type finally stopped giggling and floated to his trainer curiously. He tilted his body in confusion, having no real head to do the action with.

"Yes, you're in trouble," Kimiko sighed.

"Keep that thing in a pokéball if you're too incompetent to control it!"

Kimiko looked up, her attention diverted to Fantomé's former victim. The blue-eyed teenager had emerged from behind his tree, wearing nothing but a pair of black running shorts and white sneakers. He looked to be around fourteen, but he was short. He marched right up to the other two trainers and although he barely came up to Kimiko's chest, he still gave her a daunting glare.

"I'd apologize for his behavior if I thought you deserved it," Kimiko shot at him. "If you're such a competent trainer, why didn't you just fight him off yourself instead of cowering like a cornered poochyena?"

"That was as arrogant as his comment," Alex said, but he went ignored, as Kimiko pretended not to hear him.

"Because I-I… He caught me by surprise, that's all!" the boy stammered. "Any of my pokémon could have beaten him if he didn't startle me on my way back from my morning jog!"

"Well, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again," Kimiko replied, turning back to Fantomé, who was grinning with bemusement at the humans' exchange. She beckoned to her gastly and made to return back to the center but the boy called out to her.

"No, wait! That, uh, was a challenge!" he shouted. "Get back here and face me in battle!"

Kimiko stopped and looked back over her shoulder at him. Fantomé, who had been following her, floated right through her head and she winced at the strange sensation. "I've got no reason to battle you," she said hesitantly.

The boy snorted. "Are you even a trainer? What are you doing at a pokémon center, with an obviously disobedient pokémon in your possession? Or is it yours?" He glanced at Alex, who until then had been standing idly by with his arms crossed, watching with quiet amusement.

"Nope, he's not mine," he answered.

"I just…" Kimiko trailed off. "It's not a law that he has to be trained to be in a pokémon center…" she countered weakly.

"Look, if you're not keeping that pokémon as a pet, then you're a trainer and I demand a battle!"

"She said no," Alex started, but Kimiko turned around fully to face the nameless boy.

"Alright, fine. If it will shut you up, let's just do it. Fantomé, over here." Her gastly wailed in glee once more before floating around in front of his trainer, once again through her head, causing a shiver down her spine.

"That's more like it," the boy stated, pulling a pokéball of his own from his pocket and tossing it to the dirt. "Go, Bill!" The pokéball opened to reveal a small magby. The creature blew out a tiny fireball upon emerging, squinting in the morning sunlight. "Alright, Bill, let's show these two how a real trainer fights!"

"A magby…? Oh my god!" Kimiko cried, looking around for her pack. "Damnit! Alex, I need your pokédex, I left my bag in the room!"

"What? Why?" Alex asked, startled, as he pulled from his pocket and handed it over.

"What are you doing?" the nameless boy demanded. "We're about to battle here!"

"Mag, magby!" his pokémon echoed.

Kimiko turned to him in frustration with a hand up to silence him, then her call was answered. "Just hold on a minute, I'm going to– You! Oh, thank god you're all right! You were supposed to call back two days ago to meet up or whatever!"

"Who is that?" Alex whispered.

"It's Lillia," Kimiko whispered, before speaking into the phone again. "No, it's okay, but you really need to not scare me like this. With all these disappearances lately, I had just thought of you and it scared me half to death! I don't want you to–"

She was cut off by a small explosion to her left. She looked over to see the boy's magby dancing around the remains of a night shade attack that Fantomé had used to block some fire attack with. "I said wait!" Kimiko shouted in anger before returning to her conversation. "I know you can, Lillia, but I still worry about you all alone out there. We both do. Just be careful, okay? Professor Spruce… well, I'll tell you about that later. Just don't do anything reckless."

"Come on, already!" the red-headed boy sighed. "This is boring. Bill, ember again!"

The fire pokémon eagerly obeyed, launching several small flames from his mouth. Fantomé responded by floating out of the way of the fire, cackling with glee all the while. He then shot another night shade at the little magby, who leapt to the side and out of the way.

"Ugh, I can't do this right now!" Kimiko cried. "I'll talk to you later," she said into the phone before shoving it back at Alex. She turned her attention to the battle, ignoring the conversation Alex had started with Lillia. "Fantomé, do that again!"

The gastly, still laughing, shot another twin purple energy blast at the magby. He easily avoided them once again, a wide grin on his face.

"There we go," said the boy. "Bill, feint attack!"

"Um…" was all Kimiko got out before Bill the magby vanished in a puff of purple energy. A second puff formed simultaneously directly behind and above Fantomé. Bill shot out of it, his body now glowing with the dark energy, and rammed the ghost-type to the ground. Fantomé laughed again as he recovered, more amused than harmed.

"Try hypnosis!" Kimiko ordered.

"Smokescreen," countered the boy.

Bill obeyed and let loose a steady, thick smoke from his mouth that began to conceal him. Fantomé, however, did nothing but continue laughing. Kimiko tried to scold her pokémon and ordered the attack again but the ghost simply turned, floated up to her and nestled in her hair, laughing even harder than before as he began raising locks of her hair and tying them in knots.

The red-headed teen looked on awkwardly for a minute before opening his mouth to call out an attack. Then he hesitated, realizing it unsafe to attack his opponent while it was so near his trainer. He sighed. "What is this? Your gastly has the attention span of a skitty."

Kimiko's cheeks flooded with color. "I just caught him, for heaven's sake! He's only had a real battle once! Fantomé! You need to listen to me! Go back over there and battle!"

Finally, Fantomé stopped giggling and looked down curiously. He caught his trainer's eyes giving him as stern a glare as she could with him just barely in her sight. The gastly bellowed his name in glee and shot off from his resting place, looped around the area once, returned to his trainer, and licked the side of her face. The boy burst into laughter as Kimiko recoiled from the unpleasant tingling sensation that swept through her entire body. With that done, Fantomé finally floated back to face the thinning smoke cloud. Bill's silhouette was already mostly visible through the remaining smoke.

"Ahaha! Oh man! That… was priceless!" the teen gasped out between laughs. "Okay Bill… let's… haha, let's… finish with… fire spin!"

Bill glanced backwards at his trainer briefly with a confused expression, wondering just why he was imitating the gastly, but turned back with a shrug and launched another stream of flame at the ghost. Without an order, Fantomé became shrouded in a bright purple aura. The fire attack exploded on contact with Fantomé's gaseous body, causing another smoke cloud, though this one died out quickly. Fantomé lay on the ground, knocked out, inside a small ring of fire.

"All right!" the boy cheered.

And then his magby erupted in a similar aura, like violet flames burning all around his tiny body. Bill screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground, his energy drained. After a few seconds, the purple flames died out as well, leaving nothing but a fainted magby in their wake.

"Wh-what was that? What did you do to my pokémon?" the teen gasped and kneeled down to pick up and check on his fire-type.

"That was destiny bond," Alex said, now off the phone and watching the 'battle'. "Fantomé let himself be taken down so he could bring down Bill, too."

"Then it's a draw," Kimiko said, hiding her face in her hands, avoiding the ghostly saliva still clinging to her cheek.

"But… but she didn't order that! That battle doesn't count! It doesn't count!" the boy cried before his face softened and his voice became that of a whisper. "Is Bill going to be okay…?"

"He's just fainted," Alex answered. "He'll be fine. He just needs a rest. Bring him to the nurse inside," he added, pointing a thumb to the pokémon center behind the group. The boy stood up and carried his magby passed the two trainers, muttering a brief thanks to Alex. He then stopped and turned to Kimiko, who still had her back to him and her face hidden. "This isn't over. We're going to have a rematch. But… you should have your gastly healed too. And he needs training. We had him beat and you know it. If he didn't act on his own–"

"Shut up already," Kimiko replied, defeated. "I know."

"Come on," the boy said. Alex walked up and put a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. She glanced up at him for a moment, then turned her head to watch the boy behind them. He hadn't moved, apparently waiting for her. With a sigh, Kimiko returned Fantomé to his pokéball and followed the boy into the pokémon center.

"Are you okay?"

"I will be."

Back in their room, Alex sat down on the bed and looked down at Kimiko, who had her back to him as she lay on the bed facing the wall. She rolled over and looked up at him, offering a small smile that took him less than a second to see through.

"Want to talk?" Alex asked.

"What about?" Kimiko replied.

Alex stared at her for a moment, debating what to say. She frowned at his hesitation, but remained silent until he started speaking again. "Okay, well… for starters… why didn't you want to battle Wyatt? Fantomé needs the training."

Kimiko continued to state at him, her face slowly turning pink. "Because I was half asleep and annoyed. Why else?" Alex just stared at her with a frown, and she continued with a sigh before he could argue. "Because I'm not much of a trainer, am I?" she said after a few seconds. Alex tilted his head in response.

"Yes, you are," Alex said. "You're still raising a team of pokémon, and you've even won a badge already, so you're still a trainer. There's no real rule about what's considered a trainer when it –"

"I really was not expecting a serious response to that," Kimiko interrupted flatly.

"Then… what's up?"

"I don't really know," Kimiko answered. "I don't know how to do this. I thought I did, but actually doing it… well, clearly, I'm doing it wrong. Only Radar actually listens to me. Fantomé is a menace to everyone around him, and Ariel won't even acknowledge my existence. What am I supposed to do?"

Alex sat down and put an arm around her shoulders. "That's what being a trainer is," he said. "They'll come around. Don't forget, I've got a pokémon who won't always listen to orders, too. We just have to work through it. It might work out, and it might not."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Well, then… we'll find them another home. Another trainer, or release them, or… something."

"I don't know if I can do this," she admitted.

Alex hugged her. "Do you want to stop? We can go back home if –"

"No. Absolutely not. I want to be here with you, even if I'm not good at it. I… I'll keep trying, if you'll help me."

"Of course, I'll help you. As if I wasn't already poking my nose in your business. I'm not going to leave you alone."

"Better not," Kimiko said, finally smiling. "You're stuck with me. For a long, long time."

"That goes double for you," Alex replied. "So… what else, then? I know you're traveling for more than just to stay with me."

Kimiko sighed, her smile vanishing. "I'm not lying!" she cried.

"I never said you were."

"So damn annoying… I can't hide anything from you, can I?" she groaned. Alex's own smile only widened, and she rolled her eyes. "Okay, well… I know it's silly and pretty much really unlikely, but… I'm kinda hoping, somewhere along this trip, to find some clues about… whatever happened to my dad."

"Oh," Alex said. That was never something she'd told him she'd been planning before. She wanted to keep it secret, her own private mission, but she couldn't realistically hide it forever. She hoped telling him might shed a better light on why she was having so much trouble training. He squeezed her hand. "It's not silly –"

"But it is unlikely," Kimiko interrupted. "I don't know where to start or what I'm looking for. Chances are I won't find anything even closely related. But… hey, I can dream, can't I? I'm out here anyway, might as well see what information I can find."

"It couldn't hurt," Alex added. "I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually, don't you worry."

Kimiko grinned at him as she sat up and leaned in to kiss him. They stayed there for a minute before she broke it off. "What say you we get some breakfast? And before you get any ideas," she added, throwing the covers off her body, "I mean food."

"Wait, you're going to challenge the gym? I gotta see this."

The red-headed teen from earlier that morning smirked as he followed Alex and Kimiko back into the Ferrum gym through the sliding glass doors that he had just left the building through. The entire skyscraper seemed to be made of nothing but glass and thick iron beams one would find at a construction site.

"I don't suppose you can tell me anything about the gym's rules?" Alex asked as they walked down a long hallway towards the single bolted door at the far end.

"Legally, there's no rule that says I can't. Trainers exchange information at the pokémon center all the time. But I want to see how you handle this," Wyatt replied.

"How did you lose, then?" Alex shot back, smirking himself. "I know steel-types are weak to fire-types, and your magby should have been battle-ready by now. Fantomé didn't beat him up that badly."

"Wha…? That's not my fault! I couldn't tell Bill – I mean… Nice try. I'm not saying anything. You'll see for yourself."

The bolted door at the end of the hallway opened automatically as the three approached it. The room inside was dark, lit by candles along the walls. Alex looked around and could see the battle arena boundaries painted on the standard floor and a raised trainer's box on each side but saw no one inside. "Uh, hello?" he called.

Wyatt began to laugh. "The registration desk is across the room. The leader was able to see me right away though so I don't think he was expecting a busy day."

"You couldn't have said something sooner?" Kimiko growled.

"Of course I could have. But this is your boyfriend's fight, I'm just a spectator."

Kimiko rolled her eyes and followed Alex across the room towards the registration area. Before they even got there, the lights in the arena suddenly activated, blinding the trio momentarily.

"Hey over there!" a loud male voice echoed through the arena. "Welcome to the Ferrum gym!" The speaker was a man already in the far trainer's box across the room. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, his light, sandy hair sticking up all over. He wore a sleeveless neon pink vest over a bright red button up shirt and vibrant neon green pants, making Alex wonder how he missed the man standing there earlier, even in the dark. "If you're here for a battle, don't bother with the registration, you're the only one in line for the afternoon," the man continued. "So, step right up to the box over there and let's get started!"

Alex and Kimiko shared a glance, but she whispered, "I'm really not in the mood today." So, Alex shrugged and headed for the box on their side of the arena. Kimiko wished him luck before following Wyatt to the seats on the far wall opposite the entrance. The man continued talking once Alex was in his place in the box. His voice came out of a speaker set up along the guardrail of the box, though it also continued to echo loudly through the whole room and Alex doubted the speaker was really necessary.

"Well, my name is Cyrus, and I'm the leader around here. Who might you be?"

"Call me Alex," he answered loudly.

"No need to shout, young man. Talk into the speaker and I can hear you just fine. Now then, are you ready to get started?"

"Aren't you going to explain the rules first?"

"After we choose a pokémon, yes, I'll inform you of our rules."

"That's a little unfair," Kimiko called from the sidelines.

"My gym, my rules, miss. Besides, you'll see soon enough that it won't really give me an advantage anyway. Though if it makes you feel better, I can tell you that we'll only use two pokémon for this battle, okay?"

"Alright, then," Alex answered, picking a pokéball off his belt and tossing it out. At the same time, Cyrus threw a blue great ball onto his side of the field, revealing a massive steelix that dwarfed Koyomi tenfold, and then some.

"Alright, so here's the deal," Cyrus said, pulling a small object out of a pocket and holding it up, though it was too small to see at a distance. "Today you'll be battling for this here chrome badge. As I stated, we'll use two pokémon each. However, the goal of this gym is to learn that you aren't always in control during battle. You need to learn to trust in your pokémon. And as such, you are not to give your pokémon any instructions, nor will I. They will act completely on their own. Whoever defeats the other side's team first is the winner. Understood?"

Alex cursed under his breath as he nodded. With this new information, he realized what Kirsten's warning had meant, and she hadn't been talking about his steel-types.

A/N: Yes, this chapter title is a reference to that ridiculous season one episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Lentic Town was originally inspired Oceanspiral's "Master's Degree" (I think this is discontinued, sadly) in which she described Kanto's route 12 beautifully, and I wanted to base a town around it. Ignore the fact that Pacifidlog Town already existed. I also liked the concept of a city at the bottom of a cliff.