New spring growth surrounds me as I march along through the woods northeast of Sunnyshore, afternoon light filtering in from above. Once again I find myself 'hand-in-hand' with the silly ball of joy and energy that is Drifloon, as she leads me on a path that avoids any particularly bothersome terrain. Misdreavus floats along beside me, cheerfully humming a tune as we travel on our merry way.

Over the past several months, visiting these two in the forest has become a major part of my routine. Drifloon waiting on the outskirts of town for me a few days a week I set aside to visit either after classes or on the weekend. Sometimes when I come to visit they bring me to see something they think is interesting, or we might run about and play. On other occasions, we've just taken time to relax, Misdreavus singing along to my humming as I doodle, sharing snacks from the city, or simply napping together in a pile somewhere.

It's felt rather surreal honestly, these past few months. Living in the orphanage all these years, scurrying about through the streets with Bucky, Felicity, and Flint had reminded me of my childhood and left me feeling nostalgic. That said, while I've grown close to them over the years, I've always felt a bit like someone looking in from the outside. I never would have described myself as feeling like a child, just myself living in the circumstances I'd found myself in, with the people who considered being around me acceptable or maybe enjoyable. Recapturing tiny fragments of my childhood, and savoring the memories.

But ever since that day Drifloon pulled me off into the woods, and every time I've spent here after, I've found myself truly feeling like I've returned to childhood while I'm here. Frolicking about in the woods with these two, it's like I'm free again. All the worries, the secrets, the past, the lost, for a little bit, none of it matters. One thing has stuck out to me as a bit odd however…

"Hey guys, why is it that we never see any other Pokemon out here in the woods?" I finally ask the question I had found myself mulling over a few times. Perhaps I've just been misunderstanding how common Pokemon are in the wild, but the way people talk it feels like I definitely should have seen some on our trips besides the three ghosts.

"Mis!" Misdreavus puffs up self importantly in front of me, pointing at himself with one of his hair tendrils. "Miss dreav mis vuss." He gestures around with 2 tendrils spread out, pointing all around the woods as if to say 'Look at it all'. "Mis dreav vus!" With a final twirl and flourish, red jewels glittering with light, he points towards himself once again and makes a declaration. Altogether it feels as if he's saying 'It's all my precious domain, who would dare intrude?!'

"OK, so do you have an actual answer Drifloon?" I chuckle and inquire yet again. Misdreavus screeches and yanks down my hood over my face. Before floating off a bit grumbling to himself. "Oh don't be that way little lord." 'His answer does lead me to the likely one though.'

"Drif drif. Flooooooooon." Drifloon points toward Misdreavus before puffing up to nearly double her usual size and pointing at herself, then off into the distance.

"It's Gengar's territory we've been going through, so other Pokemon avoid it?" Drifloon floats along, nodding at my deciphering of her answer. 'Interesting, it feels too close to the city for something so strong that other Pokemon don't dare to come near it to live, but maybe the League and Rangers leave it alone because it's non-hostile?'

We pass the treeline, and I find myself in the clearing yet again. A smile grows my face and I let myself forget about all the questions kicking about in my head.

"Well guys, you said you wanted to try dodgeball this time right?"

I lay down in the soft grass of the clearing and exhale as I let my body slacken. The rustle of the trees and the burbling of the stream pass through my ears and mind, as the evening light begins to drift down toward the horizon.

'I'm not sure if I should be more impressed by how good Misdreavus was at dodging, or how incredibly bad Drifloon was at it, silly little thing just sat there and let the ball hit it.'

I let the thought go, and continue allowing myself to simply exist in this simple moment for a bit longer.

'Suppose I'll give it another go, honestly, it's not like it's ever gone actually bad, it just feels so awkward every time. Who knows though, maybe today they'll humor me.'

I roll over and push myself up off the ground, looking over at the two ghosts who've also sprawled themselves out next to me. 'Is it weird I think they're adorable? Just a pair of silly lil guys.'

"Alright guys, I'm gonna go sit with Gengar for a bit and see if maybe he'll talk at all today, wish me luck." I hear a giggle from Misdreavus and a soft sigh from Drifloon behind me.

I carefully step up onto the intact portion of the porch, listening to the wood groan even under my light steps. Heading inside the front of the room is still slightly illuminated, but I step deeper into the dark, taking a seat crisscross style on a slightly moist light violet plush chair.

Next to me, Gengar sits in their own navy blue chair, completely ignoring me as they stare into the middle distance. We sit together in silence for several minutes, Gengar lost it their thoughts while I attempt to collect mine.

"Um I brought you a chesto berry today, you didn't seem to particularly like any of the previous ones I brought." I reach into my messenger bag and pull out a bundle of napkins, buried within which lies a brown segmented fruit with a dark blue rind that grips it like the top of an acorn. "It's not really to my taste, but I like pecha quite a bit and you seemed to hate that so…" I bring it over to them and they snatch the fruit out of my hand before waving me away.

I sit back down, and Gengar begins heartily chewing into the berry, rind and all. Within just a few short moments it's gone and Gengar leans back into its seat a little more before giving me the subtlest of nods. Silence returns to the room and I lean back in my chair as well, gazing into the burnt-out coals of the long-dead fireplace.

"Gen. Gengar." I look up, and Gengar waves their arm in a 'well get on with it' gesture. I just sit and blink in surprise, completely blindsided by what seems to be their sudden amenability to questions.

They raise up a single finger. 'One only for now, got it.'

I find myself in a spot of choice paralysis at all the things I want to know. One of the first issues I found on the path of Ghost specialization, is the utter lack of information. Few people seem to trouble themselves with the task of attempting to raise entire teams of Ghost types, and from what I can tell those that do keep what information and secrets they've gleaned in a vice grip, preserved for whatever form of successors they choose. Fantina is generally considered to be a rather enigmatic individual, the only consistent understanding most have being that the lady has grown rather tired of running her Gym and would rather focus her days on Contests. What information we have on the other regions suggests that Agatha of the Indigo Elite Four, The Enoki Family of Ecruteak, and the Monks of Mt. Pyre are all extremely insular and secretive about the nature of their training and handling of ghost Pokemon.

Sadly the internet offered little in the way of help either, as I seemed to be living through a mirror of the internet boom of the late 90s, and as such there was not much information aggregated on more niche or esoteric subjects by less tech-savvy individuals yet.

'Just go with the original planned question for the day Isaiah. Hopefully they'll be willing to answer more another day.'

"Could you tell me the difference between the 'normal' confuse ray most Pokemon use and the one that ghosts use? If it would be too hard to charade, maybe show me?" One thing I had seen noted often was that a Confuse Ray from a ghost and those from others have a rather extreme difference in level of efficacy, being harder to snap Pokemon out of and having a higher chance of repeated success. No information on the why or how though, simply that it was.

A harsh breathy noise rumbles from Gengar rhythmically as he chuckles at my request, a grin of what looks to be somewhat mischievous glee appearing on him for a brief moment. "Gen." He beckons me to stand up in front of him with his hand.

As I stand before him he smirks, and his eyes begin to emit an eerie red glow that draws me in. I-

Reality warps around me, wrapping and twisting in on itself in a sickening and disorienting manner. Ringing echoes through my ears and I stumble and collapses to the ground. Even on the floor though everything is wrong, I feel as if I'm about to fall down onto the ceiling, my hands desperately grasping for whatever they can reach, yet even that is wrong, attempts to reach out with my right seem to come from my left or behind me. I feel warm liquid sink under my fingernails and a tearing scratch against my lower abdomen as my breath begins to rapidly accelerate in panic. My head slams into something, and I try to curl up-

Suddenly world snaps back into place, the ground is down, the ceiling is up, and each part of my body feels like it's where it is supposed to be. I take a deep breath, collecting myself for a moment while I scratch my head.

"Was that the worse one or the better one?"

Gengar answers with nothing but a small chuckle. "Gen?"

"Yea I'm still doin' it, gimme a sec." I roll up and push off the ground to stand face-to-face with Gengar once again, feeling a decent bit more apprehensive. 'Honestly, what did you expect, asking to get hit by the thing that mentally incapacitates magic monsters.'

Gengar gives me a single nod, and their eyes glow bright scarlet yet again, although this time violet creeps into the edges. Once again I feel myself pulled i-

My heart hammers in my chest, and my legs throb with pain, but I can't stop running. The forest behind me echoes with the persistent skittering of dozens of sets of legs hot on my trail. I sprint on and on, desperately pushing myself forward, narrowly weaving between trees and hopping over roots and felled trees obstructing my path. Suddenly I slip, a tiny stumble I could normally right myself after, but my landing finds me catching my foot wrong on a root, sending me tumbling onto my hands and knees. I scrabble to my feet, trying to take off again, but I feel the dull wet thud of a string shot hitting the back of my leg. I run anyway desperately hoping for a chance but the silk cord tugs me backward. Quickly I'm surrounded by what seems like an unending stream of red, violet, yellow, and black. I struggle and flail desperately on the ground, trying to claw at the wretched chitinous beast, anything that might let me see my wife and little girl again. Its empty compassionless compound eyes burn into my memory, just before its fangs sink into my neck- PAIN PAIN-

I desperately inhale for air, as my body shudders and my mind suddenly remembers who it actually is. I'm on the ground yet again, this time covered in several self-inflicted bruises and bleeding in a few more spots. My heart pounds like a rabbit, before slowly settling down as I return my breathing to a more normal rhythm as well.

'Wild, it was as if I had completely become someone else during the effects of the move, an entirely different set of memories from my own that felt totally normal. Meanwhile, I was completely unaware of what my actual body was doing while I was out, although it seems it was mimicking what I thought I had been doing at least a bit.'

Tons of questions further on the topic begin to race in my mind, but I resist all but the one I find most concerning.

"Are those your memories? Are they memories at all? It just felt oddly specific and real."

Gengar looks at me, seeming to grumble something akin to 'Give them an inch they'll take a mile.' They give a shake of the head no followed by a so-so hand waggle before waving me off and out of the room.

'Not his memory, nor quite one at all, but something similar to it? I wonder if it has something to do with how ghosts feed or what exactly they are, so many ghosts were described as taking in negative energy from people around them as some form of sustenance in the games, maybe this is related in a way.'

'Well, more questions to try to coax out of them later I suppose.'

"Thank you, have a good evening, I'll bring more chesto berries next time." I nod towards Gengar, who looks at me with... Slight distress? Worry? Nonetheless, he waves me off yet again, and I prepare to head back to the city with Drifloon.

Still curious about the question that had been bothering me yesterday, I decide to pursue the topic at the library through a slightly different route.

"Do we have any local ghost stories about the woods Ms. Mable?" I wander up to the librarian's desk, as Bucky zooms off to the children's fiction section, probably to read something else in the 'Ruins Diver' series. The petite brunette woman adjusts her glasses, seeming to mumble to herself in thought at my request.

"Hmm, ghost stories about the woods outside town? Well, actually there is this old folktale we have about 'The Caretaker', they say he watches over the children of Sunyshore and keeps them safe from harm. There are even some versions of the story about him k… about him punishing adults who don't take care of their children well. If I recall correctly I think they would say he lives over in the woods northeast of town, but I never have heard of anyone really seeing something out there, just about how it seems abandoned by wild Pokemon."

She steps out from behind the desk and begins searching through a few different shelves, before pulling out a small worn leatherbound book.

"Here you go, nothing professionally published, but this has a collection of so-called 'sailor's tales' about the city and the places around it. The story should be in here in a bit more detail for you to enjoy, along with some others you might like." She gives me a warm smile and pats my head, before stepping back behind the desk to check out the book for me.

Upon making it back to the orphanage, I find the place to be in a bit of disarray. The children all seem to crowd in front of the door to Flint's room, clamoring to see something.

"HEY! HEY! Give him some space wontcha, this is way too many… Hey BUCKY! IZZY! Check it out, no more studying and cramming for this guy." Suddenly Flint shoves himself past the crowd of kids holding a- 'You lucky fucker, how in the hell…' small orange chimp in his arms, its eyes wide in fascination and slight overstimulation at the massive crowd of children all trying to play with him.

"WOAH how'd you get a CHIMCHAR?!" Bucky shouts in a very much outdoor voice the question that is echoing in my dumbfounded head right now. 'Should I really be surprised though? Flint's grades were in the dumpster on his own, and even trying my best to help him study they still aren't impressive. I guess his starter was never from Rowan's lab, but I also suppose I just wasn't sure if he'd actually end up with one to start.'

The regional starters are generally viewed with great affection and fanfare, generally considered to be only a bit lower in potential than pseudo-legendaries, while being far more amiable and easy to handle than them. They are however rather rare in the wild, and generally have low reproduction rates compared to many other Pokemon. The end result is that in Sinnoh, the majority of the regional starters available to the league itself are distributed to trainers that Professor Rowan, the current holder of the League title of 'Pokemon Professor' in Sinnoh, believes to be suitable.

Traditionally, a trainer who managed to convince a regional starter to journey with them by themself in the wild, especially before the start of their journey, was considered to have received a small acknowledgment of potential from Arceus, and would be blessed with a journey both challenging and, should they rise to the task, fruitful in equal measure.

Flint begins regaling his audience with a tale I have the feeling I will be hearing many many more times in the future, and will likely grow into a sailor's tale of epic proportion within a few months. But for now, I give him a smile and honestly, find myself feeling happy for him. Every one of these kids deserves a turn of good fortune in their lives.

[Author's Note]

Hello again, thanks for reading!

Honestly, not a whole lot I want to say this chapter, It's a much shorter time skip, but I wanted to give Gengar a bit more time before doing another couple-years skip like we've had before.

I will say my timeline is looking a bit pushed back though, I want to give this part of the story just a bit more time to breathe and I'm hoping its shaping up to be a bit more interesting than I had thought it might be at first so you guys won't mind too much.

Thank you guys for the reviews and favorites/follows, they are honestly really helping to keep me motivated and I'm really surprised how seemingly well received the story has been so far. I'll keep doing my best to make it enjoyable! As always, if you see anything you think I could improve on, please leave a review and suggestions, I genuinely appreciate it.