Episode 14: Panic at the Temple? Halley is Haunted!?
On their way to the next gym, our trio of Pokémon Trainers take a break during the layover flight, which landed them in the South Asian country of India. Kris marveled at the unique architecture of the country, while Ashton got in more training with Halley and Azrael. The Clefairy was working on dodging Steel type attacks, while Dylan trained with Joker on a new move.
"Okay Joker, imagine that you're using your wing like a sword," Dylan said, gesturing with his hand. "One quick swipe!"
The Pidove tried to do that, but just ended up spinning around and falling on his back.
"Hm, it seems that Joker is having trouble getting the hang of that move," Kris noted.
"He did well back on the cruise ship," Dylan sighed. "Maybe he just does better under the pressure of battle?"
"Whatever he needs to train, just leave it to me," Ashton said. "Halley, use Life Dew to heal us up!"
The Clefairy followed the order, but instead of a pulse of green energy, Halley glowed purple and fell over, like it had been inflicted with poison.
"Halley!" Ashton said in shock, catching her Pokémon. "Did you use Metronome on accident?"
"It wasn't an accident," said a skittish voice. The gang turned to see a local man with a haunted expression. "Healing type moves don't work around here. Not since… the curse."
"What kind of curse? Like the Ghost type move?" Kris asked.
The man nodded. "Come with me and I'll show you." The gang followed the man to a small shine in the nearby town. The main part of the shine was a statue of a man with an elephant head. "This is a shine to Ganesha, one of our gods. However, there has been a strange presence around the statue. Whenever a Fairy type Pokémon goes near it, it becomes afflicted with Curse until it leaves the vicinity of our town. We don't understand why Ganesha would do such a thing. But as the keeper of the shine I, Abhay, maintain it to the best of my abilities."
Aurora closed her eyes and reached out with her aura. Yes, there is an odd air about this statue. Perhaps if I can interact with it… The Lucario sent out a pulse of aura, making the statue's eyes glow purple. Wait, is there a Pokémon within the statue?
Suddenly, the statue stood up, coming to life! Two ghostly hands burst out of it, and a long ghostly tongue stuck out from underneath the trunk. The statue laughed, hopping down in front of the group and giving a ghostly wail.
Abhay screamed and hid behind the kids. "What vile creature has defiled our glorious depiction of Ganesha!?" he shouted.
"Dude, you're like twenty years older than us and acting like you're ten years younger," Ashton muttered. She sent out Vulcan and Azrael. "If there's one thing I do know about this, it's that whatever is inside the statue is going down!"
"We should probably try not to harm the statue too badly," Dylan stated, Aurora and Joker at his side. "It is a sacred religious sight, after all. That'd be like going into a church and burning a cross."
"Clearly it's a ghost type of some kind," Kris noted. "So focus on figuring out the secondary type so we can hit it hard!"
Kris led Abhay to safety as the other two fought the statue. Joker and Azrael raced around the statue, dodging ghostly hands while Aurora and Vulcan tried to knock the statue off balance. Meteor Mash! Aurora called, punching at one of the legs. The statue caught itself, then sent out its ghostly tongue to Lick Aurora, paralyzing her! Ak! Curse this statue and having four arms!
"Quil-lava!" Vulcan called, using Flame Wheel to defend Aurora. The statue recoiled from the flames, making a sound of visible confusion.
"I think whatever is in that statue isn't used to being weak to Fire attacks," Ashton noted. "Azrael, let's disarm this thing with Pursuit!"
The Skarmory flew up high, coming back down in a quick attack that forced one of the statue's hands to open, dropping a stone onto the ground.
"Joker, grab that stone!" Dylan ordered.
The Pidove did as it was told, quickly flying low to avoid the statue and retrieve the item for his Trainer. Dylan then tossed the rock over to Kris for her to analyze.
"It's a Moon Stone," Kris replied. "But why would a Ghost Pokémon have one of these?"
"Aren't Moon Stones used to evolve some Fairy types?" Ashton asked. "This ghost must really hate fairies if it has one of those in its clutches."
Either way, we must stop its rampage here, Aurora said, focusing her breathing to rid herself of the paralysis. The Lucario stood up, and with a pinpoint Water Pulse, forced the other free hand open, dropping another item onto the ground. This got the statue to focus on getting the item back, distracting it from the fight at hand. Now's our chance to exorcise the ghost from the statue!
"Then Joker, you know what to do!" Dylan said.
The Pidove gained a look of confidence, then charged at the statue, flapping his wings at the last moment as a pair of dark slashes tore through it. While not leaving any physical damage, the ghost took the hit and was pushed out of the statue, leaving it to fall to the ground harmlessly.
"Oh thank you, brave warriors!" Abhay said. "Our efforts have freed Ganesha from being defiled any further!"
"You literally did nothing to help, dude," Ashton rolled her eyes. She then walked over and picked up the object the ghost had been reaching for. "What the heck? This is a Poké Ball, and a Dream Ball at that."
Suddenly the ghost reappeared, revealing itself to be a Haunter! It gave a spooky face and snatched the ball away, putting it back in the statue's hand. It then stuck its tongue out and turned away from the heroes.
"That ball must mean something to the Haunter," Dylan said.
Let me reach out to it, Aurora said, feeling the aura of the Haunter. There's an air of sadness around this Pokémon, like that of a broken promise. Abhay, were there any Ghost type Trainers that visited this shine often?
"My father took care of the shine before me," Abhay replied. "He had a Ghastly, and always told me the story of how it was connected to the Clefable line of Pokémon. Gengar, the evolved form of Haunter, is that shadow of Clefable, and the two complement each other as representatives of the darkness of night and the light of the moon."
Kris held up the Moon Stone. "So this Moon Stone was an offering of some kind then. What happened to your father?"
"He left on a trip into the mountains to find a Cleffa to balance with his Ghastly," Abhay explained. "But there was an accident on his trip, and he never returned."
"Then, this Haunter must actually be your father's Ghastly!" Dylan realized. "But since your father never returned, the Ghastly must have become angry and cursed Fairy types in retaliation for being the reason he lost his master!"
Then to make things right with Haunter, we must fulfill your father's promise, Aurora said. Ashton, if you could present Halley?
Ashton nodded, releasing the Clefairy before the statue. Haunter looked out of the statue, floating down and giving a scary face to Halley. The Clefairy just giggled, then waggled her finger to create a Life Dew pulse, healing the Haunter. Haunter smiled, then disappeared back into the Poké Ball, which rolled to the feet of Halley. She picked up the ball and presented it to Ashton.
"I think Haunter is satisfied now," Kris said. "And he wants to go with Halley as well!"
"But isn't this Abhay's father's Pokémon?" Ashton asked. "I'm noting going to steal another guy's Pokémon."
"Our village does not rely on Pokémon as much as others," Abhay responded. "My father would have wanted Haunter to live a life that he wanted to live. So if Haunter wants to go with you, then I will allow it."
Ashton picked up the Dream Ball, releasing Haunter. "I guess you're on my team now, Haunter. But I can't just call you Haunter all the time, so how does Phantasm sound?"
Haunter gave a laugh of approval. The newly named Phantasm then grabbed the Moon Stone and tossed it had Halley, the Fairy Pokémon glowing as it was forced to evolve into a Clefable! Phantasm then dived into Halley's shadow, its eyes turning red and a toothy grin forming as he too evolved into a Gengar!
"Woah, a double evolution!" Kris gasped excitedly. "I have to document this for my studies. There could be whole new papers written about the relationship between the Clefable and Gengar lines just on this phenomenon alone!"
"I wanted Halley to learn a few more moves before evolving," Ashton sighed. "Oh well, there's always TMs to fall back on."
"Thank you once again, heroes," Abhay said with a bow. "You're always welcome back here for your efforts."
"Just make sure people don't leave Ghost Pokémon lying around at shines," Dylan replied, getting a laugh out of the group.
Author's Note
Abhay's name is Hindi for "fearless" which is ironic considering his timid nature.
Genesha is an elephant-headed god of Hinduism, though I guess in Pokémon he would have the head of a Copperajah.
A short filler chapter, but Ashton gets a new Pokémon, and just in time for her next gym battle next chapter!