Episode 94: The Ghost Wisp-erer

A lone man walks through a dark and foreboding forest. The trees are without leaves, and appear mangled, gnarled, and twisted, and completely block out the sky. A thick mist obscures the surroundings. The man appears extremely nervous. He takes a cautious step forward, and suddenly something screeches, "Raaaaaav!"

The man leaps back in fear, and then watches as a flock of Ravenoir fly away from a nearby tree. He lets out a deep breath, having expected something worse. He goes back to walking, but with extreme caution. He mutters to himself a mantra, "There's no such thing as ghosts. There's no such thing as ghosts. There's no such thing as ghosts."

Suddenly, a massive wall of white-blue flames erupts in front of him, blocking his path.

The man falls backwards onto his bottom and begins to hyperventilate and repeat his mantra faster and with more urgency, "There's no such thing as ghosts, there's no such thing as ghosts…"

Then the fire suddenly grows a huge and menacing face. It lets out a noise somewhere half way between a roar and a shriek.

The man shouts at the top of his lungs, "There's a such thing as ghosts!" He leaps up and runs away as fast as he can in the direction he came from.

The fire wall shrinks away to nothing, and a voice can be heard laughing.

Ash, Brock, and Brenda are on the road once again, continuing their journey. With their excursion to Cosm City for Brenda's Pokémon Contest complete, our heroes find themselves on the way back to Opti City, in hopes that the gym leader has returned for Ash's next gym battle. And, of course, Ash is more than eager to get there as fast as possible.

Ash goads, "Come on Brock, you said it yourself that it would be faster for us to go that way."

Brock responds, "Yeah, and I also said that all the guide websites specifically tell us not to go that way."

"But if it's faster, why not go that way?"

Brock takes a glance at his Pokéssistant to make sure he's reading it right. "Well, it says it's haunted."

Brenda immediately freezes up. "Haunted? As in ghosts? Nope. No way. Nah ah. We are not going that way."

Ash turns to Brenda, "But Brenda, if it's faster, that means I can get to my gym battle that much sooner. Don't tell me you're afraid of a ghost story."

"What? Me? Afraid of ghosts? No way. Ghosts don't exist."

"Then why not take that road?"

Brenda shouts, "We're not taking that road!"

Ash groans. "Fine."

After walking a little further, they come across a fork in the road. To one side is the clearly haunted path, with the same gnarled trees seen before, looking very ominous. The other path looks not only clear, but downright inviting, especially in comparison.

Seeing this, Brock nods. "Yeah, I say we take the way that doesn't look like you're going to get lost forever."

Ash still doesn't seem happy with this choice. Regardless, they all head down the bright and sunny path.

However, moments later, they're brought to a complete stop when someone blows a whistle. A voice shouts, "Stop, this road is closed!"

They turn around to see Officer Jenny running up to them. Brock is overwhelmed by her presence. She says, "I'm sorry you three, but there was an accident a little way down this road, and we have to close it down for the next week in order to clean up."

Ash objects, "But I need to get to Opti City!"

Officer Jenny hesitates at first, but then suggests, "Well, you could always take that other path…"

Before anyone says anything else, Brock leaps forward and takes Officer Jenny's hand. "Oh Officer Jenny, the only path I need to take is the one straight to your heart, but I'm afraid to take such a path would require a map. Please, be my cartographer and make me that map-!"

Meteorfight appears to interrupt in its usual fashion, sending Brock hurtling upwards.

Ignoring what just happened, Brenda begs, "Please, you have to let us through, we can't take that path."

Ash objects, "You heard her Brenda, we have no other choice. We have to take the haunted path now."

Brenda shouts at him, "Could we please not call it the haunted path!?"

Jenny apologizes, "I'm sorry, but there really is no other choice. Unless you want to wait a week."

Brenda sighs. "There's no way Ash would ever agree to that…"

Ash, looking excited, declares, "Come on guys, we're wasting time! Let's go!" He and Pikachu race back to the fork in the road, leaving behind Brenda, who appears uncertain of what to do, and Brock, who lies slumped on the ground as result of Meteorfight's uppercut.

When they finally catch up with Ash, he is eagerly awaiting them so they can head off into the spooky woods. He urges, "Come on guys, we've wasted enough time already!"

Brenda pauses as she looks for any last-minute excuse she can come up with. Before she does, screaming can be heard. They look towards the dark path to see the man from earlier running towards them and screaming in terror. Once out of the woods, he stops to catch his breath.

Brock asks, "What's wrong? Did something happen to you?"

The man looks to the three of them and morbidly warns, "Do not go into those woods, whatever you do! I didn't heed the warnings, and I paid the price. There really are ghosts!"

Brenda shouts, "Ghosts!?"

The man says once more, "Don't go in there!" He then flees again, trying to get as far from the woods as possible.

Brenda asks, "So…we're going to listen to him…right?"

Ash says, "We don't have any choice. We can't wait a week."

Brock nods. "Yeah, I don't really see any way around it either. There's nowhere nearby to stay for a week, and we don't have enough supplies to camp for that long. Besides, there's no such thing as ghosts. I'm sure that man was just spooked by something completely normal and explainable."

Brenda slowly nods, "Yeah, completely explainable." She seems to say this more for her benefit than anything else.

Then a voice suddenly laughs and declares, "Explainable by ghosts!"

Brenda leaps up, the voice startling her. "Ahh!"

Ash and Brock turn to see a spooky-looking man standing behind them. He has pale white skin, which is contrasted by his pitch-black hair. His clothes also appear very macabre. He smiles in a downright creepy manner. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

Brenda accuses, "Hey, you weren't there just a second ago!"

"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear your situation, and decided to approach and offer my help."

Brenda appears skeptical, but Ash happily asks, "Help us? How?"

The man responds, "I have what you could call…" he hesitates to search for the right word, "…unique skills."

Brock asks, "Skills that can help us?" He's not sure what to make of this.

"My name is Damon, and I am a medium. I can speak to the spirits beyond this mortal world."

Brenda demands, "You talk to ghosts!?"

Damon chuckles. "If that's the way you like to say it, yes. I talk to ghosts. The woods ahead of you is loud with the cries from beyond the grave. If safe passage is what you seek, you'll need me to decipher them."

Brenda suppresses a shiver, "If you're trying to make us feel less scared, you're not doing a good job of it."

"I speak nothing but the truth."

Brenda pouts, "That's what I'm afraid of."

Ash interjects, "We're going through these woods, one way or another, so if you're offering, I guess you might as well come."

Brock strokes his chin skeptically. "I don't know. Something doesn't seem right about this."

Damon responds, "I offer my services for free, asking nothing in return. As it so happens, I planned on venturing into these woods myself anyways. Even if you do not believe me, you might as well have me along. You will be no worse off."

Ash says, "We really might as well."

Brenda adds, "I'm all for anything that keeps the ghosts away."

Brock still isn't convinced, but relents, "Okay, fine. He can come with us."

Damon gives his creepy grin once more. "Excellent. Let us be off then." Without another thought, he casually strolls right into the haunted woods.

Who's that Pokémon!?

This Pokémon cannot fly because its wings are not yet fully grown. If your eyes meet with its eyes, it will stare back intently at you. But if you move even slightly, it will hop away to safety.

They have now ventured deep into woods. Even though it's the middle of day, the combination of thick trees and mist makes it look closer to night. Brenda treads cautiously. Every little noise or motion startles her, causing her to leap. She asks, "Why do ghosts always chose to haunt the spooky areas? If I were a ghost, I'd want to spend all my time somewhere a little nicer. You know, like a tropical resort, or something like that. This is not a place I'd want to spend an eternity."

Damon suddenly appears behind her and answers, "Spirits from beyond have no care for the fascinations of this corporeal world."

Brenda freezes up, completely shocked by Damon's sudden appearance. "Yeah….sure…"

More out of boredom than curiosity, Ash asks, "So, Damon, what's it like to talk with ghosts?"

"Spirits do not speak verbally, but rather with impulses of essence."

Ash is baffled. "What?"

Damon clarifies, "What I mean to say is that the spirits send out their feelings and emotions, which have to be interpreted. We all feel these impulses, but only the trained can decipher them."

Ash nods. "Huh."

Brock, more skeptical, sarcastically says, "Right."

Suddenly the ground itself begin to shake. Brenda screams in terror, "Ghosts!"

Damon asks, "Spirits from beyond, what have we done to anger you?"

Brock asserts, "This isn't the doing of ghosts, look!"

A gigantic robot is marching towards them. The robot is chubby in body proportions, looking like some sort of cartoon or mascot. It's colored pure white. Riding on its shoulders is Jessie and James. They are both dressed in gray jumpsuits and wear over-sized metal backpacks.

Jessie shouts, "Prepare for trouble, all you guys and ghouls!"

James adds, "Make it double, for you're all fools!"

"To protect the world from ghostly specters!"

"To unite against wraiths in all sectors!"

"To denounce the truth of the paranormal!"

"To extend our reach to this world's abnormal!"

"Jessie!"

"James!" They both strike a pose, taking hold of the vacuum cleaner-like extensions to their backpacks.

"Team Rocket is who ya gonna to call at the speed of light!"

"Ghosts surrender to us, so you better prepare to fight!"

Meowth, wearing a white sheet ghost costume drops down from above and declares in an over-dramatic "ghost" voice, "Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime mime!"

Ash demands, "What do you think you're doing, Team Rocket!?"

James shouts back, "What does it look like we're doing!? We're here to capture some ghosts and maybe a Pikachu!"

Meowth, ripping off his ghost sheet, adds, "And since the ghost busting wasn't going too well, guess what that leaves!"

Damon's eyes suddenly widen. He announces, "The spirits, they are not happy with this intrusion."

Everyone's too focused on Team Rocket to listen.

Jessie and James then both take their backpack extensions and aim them at Pikachu. From the nozzles, energy beams fire out, and envelop Pikachu in a bubble of the energy. Pikachu is pulled towards them.

"Pika pi!"

Ash leaps forward, trying to catch Pikachu. "Pikachu!" He misses.

Then, a great wall of white-blue fire suddenly erupts around Team Rocket and their robot. Jessie and James' surprise at this causes them to stumble, and the beams from their packs cross over each other.

Meowth shouts in fear, "You fools! You crossed the beams!"

No later than he says this, everything explodes, sending Team Rocket flying up through the foliage roof above them. They shout, "We're blasting off again!"

Pikachu falls and Ash catches it. Brenda looks with much worry at the fire.

Within moments, the fire erupts further, taking on a monster-like form. Brenda screams at the top of her lungs, "Ghost!" And she runs off as fast as she can.

Ash and Brock take a glance at each other, and then run off too. This leaves Damon alone. He stares at the fire, unafraid. If anything, he amused by it, as faint smile appears on his face.

It's Natu!

Having run off first and faster, Brenda finds herself all alone in the haunted woods, completely lost. She may have calmed down somewhat from her encounter with the fire, but she is still completely on edge. She calls out, "Ash? Brock? Anyone?" No response. She says to herself. "Great. Now I'm stuck in the haunted woods all alone." She suddenly gets an idea. "Wait a second, I'm not alone!" She pulls out a Pokéball and calls on Kappaqueous.

"Kappapapa!" It gets a look at the surroundings and then looks questioningly at Brenda.

Brenda explains, "We're stuck alone in these haunted woods. I need you to protect me from ghosts."

Kappaqueous, looking to impress, stands up straight and pounds a hand to its chest and declares, "Aqueous!" as if to say, "Leave it to me."

This almost gets Brenda to smile, but not quite. "Okay, we need to find Ash and Brock. Or at least a way out of these accursed woods."

Ash and Brock are catching their breath after running for some ways. Ash breathes a sigh of relief. "I'm glad we got out of that one."

Brock admits, "Could that really have been an actual ghost?"

Suddenly Ash realizes something isn't right. "Hey, where's Brenda?"

Brock looks around. "Oh no, she must have ran in a different direction. There's so many paths through this forest, she could be anywhere."

Ash asks, "How are we supposed to find her?"

Damon makes a sudden entrance and states, "Do not fear, the spirits will guide us to her."

Ash leaps up in surprise at his sudden appearance. He asks, "Hey, you weren't there just a second ago, what happened?"

Damon shrugs. "You must have just missed me running in after you guys."

Brock doesn't care, he says, "Look, our friend is missing, and forgive me for saying this, but I don't really want to rely on 'spirits' to find her."

Damon nods. "I understand your reluctance, but after what just happened, can you really still doubt me?"

Brock isn't sure how to respond.

Damon takes this as agreement. "Good. Now allow me to focus, and I will commune with the world beyond ours."

Brenda and Kappaqueous cautiously journey through the woods, looking for any hint of the others or a way out. The angle they are viewed from seems like a first-person view of something hiding behind some nearby trees. To confirm this, a stifled chuckling is heard, and the viewer then sneaks closer to the two, only to hide behind another tree before they notice. This goes on as such for a little longer. Whatever is watching Brenda seems fixated on her.

Brenda asserts with anxiety, "We're being watched, I just know it." Something moves in a tree above, causing Brenda to leap and shout.

Kappaqueous leaps into action and attacks the source of the noise with a Water Gun. An angry Ravenoir flies away.

With the view of them returning to normal, Brenda breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh, false alarm…again…" She gives the sense that they've been through this at least a couple of times. They continue on. Brenda says, "At least if Brock were with us, he could use the Pokéssistant to find the fastest way out. For all we know, we could be heading both deeper into the woods and away from him and Ash. This isn't good."

Kappaqueous suddenly points excitedly ahead. "Kappa appa aqueous!"

Brenda looks ahead and sees it. Off in the distance there's a flickering light piercing through the haze. Relief comes to Brenda's face. "There's someone with a lantern over there! We're saved!" She and Kappaqueous break out in a run towards the light. She waves and shouts, "Hey, over there! We're lost and need help! Do you know a way out of here!?"

After running for several moments, Brenda realizes something isn't right. No matter how long they run, the light seems to get no closer. It's as if it's at a fixed distance away from them. "It's not getting any closer…" Losing confidence, she shouts again, "Hello!?" She slows to a full stop.

Upon her stopping, the light suddenly spirals upwards at high speeds. Brenda freezes in terror. The wispy light then suddenly zooms in closer to them. As it gets closer, it is clear that it's a floating ball of fire. It circles around Brenda and Kappaqueous several times, causing them to both take a step backwards, ending up back-to-back. Then the harmless-looking orb of fire becomes much more of a threat when it slams down into the ground. The moment it does, another wall of blue-white fire erupts from the floor, this time completely encircling Brenda and Kappaqueous.

Brenda looks around in panic, and sees no way out. Kappaqueous, despite its earlier show of bravery, leaps into her arms, completely terrified. The two of them scream in tandem.

After moments of nothing but scream of terror, Brenda manages to regain some sense, and throws Kappaqueous to ground. "It's fire! You're a Water-Type Pokémon! Put it out!"

This obvious solution only now occurs to Kappaqueous. It takes a moment to gather itself, and then uses a Water Gun at a wide angle, spreading water across much of the wall of fire. The water has no effect. If anything, it seems to pass right through the fire without interacting with it in the least.

Brenda can't believe this. "But… that's… impossible…" She shakes it off and tries to think as rationally as her terrified state will allow. "Try Aqua Bomb instead."

Kappaqueous ceases the Water Gun and begins to launch orbs of water at the fire, which explode into a mist upon impact. If anything is going to put out the fire, this would have done the trick.

The same laughing as before echoes through the woods.

Brenda shouts, "Who's there!? Why are you doing this!?" She shakes her head in helplessness. "If only Damon were here…"

An idea suddenly strikes her. "Ghosts hate light! If this is really a ghost doing this, we can drive it out with light!" She pulls out another Pokéball. "Glitterfly, I need you!"

Glitterfly appears, and is immediately caught off-guard by the fire. It cowers away from it.

Brenda stresses to it, "Glitterfly, I need you to make the biggest and strongest pulse of light you can. You have to light up the entire forest, do you understand?" Glitterfly nods. "Okay then, use Flash!"

"Glitererererfly!" An intense pulse of golden light flares outwards from Glitterfly's abdomen and wings. In an unexpected occurrence, the light causes the fire to disappear entirely for a moment. At the same time, it reveals a floating orb of blue-white flames not too far away, which was previously invisible. Once the Flash subsides, the fire orb disappears again, and the fire wall returns.

At first, Brenda is confused by this occurrence, but then she realizes, "The fire! It's just an illusion! That's why Kappaqueous couldn't put it out!" She looks to the raging flames and takes a deep breath. "And if there's no actual fire, that means there's nothing blocking us from running away."

Kappaqueous and Glitterfly look to her with concern, as if to ask if she's sure about this.

Brenda shakes her head. "No, I'm not sure, but it's the only idea I have left." She grabs ahold of both of them, holds them close to her body to shield them from harm, and runs right through the flames without a second thought. They don't offer her the slightest resistance or harm her in any way.

As she runs out of sight, the wall of fire subsides, and the orb of fire reappears. This time, from up close, it is apparent that the wispy ball of fire has a face on it with large red eyes and a small slit mouth. The flame orb chuckles mischievously as it watches Brenda flee. "Wisp wisp wisp wisp!"

Damon proclaims to no one, "Spirits from beyond this world, come to me! Speak to me! Reveal to me the location of the one known as Brenda!" There's an awkward pause where he dips into complete silence and stillness.

Brock asks sarcastically, "So, what are the spirits telling you?"

Ash shushes him. "He said he needs to concentrate, Brock. Don't interrupt him."

Brock sighs, but pushes no further.

After several moments more of complete silence, Damon finally declares, "They have spoken!"

This sudden burst startles Ash and Brock. Eager to find Brenda, Ash asks, "So, what did they tell you? Where's Brenda?"

"They told me that they will tell me nothing."

Ash is confused. "They what now?"

"The spirits seem to want Brenda to remain lost. They have latched on to her in some way. They will not help us find her."

Ash worries, "Oh no, Brenda…"

Brock, growing impatient with what he assumes is Damon's act, asks, "Did they refuse to speak with you, or did they just not speak with you because you can't speak to them?"

Damon appears disgruntled with Brock. "All I can give you is my word, and if you do not trust that, then fine, don't believe me. I honestly don't care. I'd think you would though, seeing as it may be the only way for us to find your friend, and to me, it sounds like she's in danger."

Brock returns, "Regardless of what I believe, you said it yourself that this method won't work, so how about we use some actual scientific methods this time?"

Ash asks, "Do you have an idea, Brock?"

Brock grins confidently and nods. "Indeed, I do. We're just going to need a little bit of help from Turtsol."

Ash nods and quickly pulls out a Pokéball. "Alright then, Turtsol, let's go!"

"Turtsol!"

"What do you want us to do, Brock?"

Brock explains, "The largest hazard of traveling through this forest is the haze obscuring nearly all vision past a certain point. Finding Brenda would be much easier if there was no haze."

Ash nods. "Okay, so how can we fix that?"

"Haze will dissipate with heat, so let's heat things up. You've got to use Sunny Day."

Ash understands. "You heard him, Turtsol, let's use your Sunny Day! Just remember everything we've been practicing, and you'll pull it off, no sweat!"

Turtsol, with complete confidence in itself, nods. "Tuuuuurtsooooooool!" However, as is more often than not the case, nothing happens at all. Turtsol hangs its head and apologizes, "Turtsol…"

Ash declares, "Chin up, Turtsol! This is our best shot at finding Brenda, no way we're giving up! We'll keep on doing this until you can pull it off!"

This reinvigorates Turtsol's attitude, and it looks ready to try again. "Turt!"

Brenda, Kappaqueous, and now Glitterfly are back to cautiously searching the forest for either their friends or a way out. Glitterfly now lights the way with its tail, allowing them to see their surroundings more clearly. Still, it doesn't seem to do much to quell Brenda's fears.

Out of nowhere, several large balls of fire, this time normal colored, appear in a circle around them, and begin to rotate rapidly. Brenda shouts, "Not again!" She forces herself to calm down and asserts, "It's not real. It's just an illusion." She attempts to take a step forward, but suddenly leaps back as she feels the heat coming off the fireballs. "Ah!" she rubs a spot on her arm that got burnt. "That fire's the real deal this time…"

Kappaqueous declares, "Aqueous!"

Brenda nods. "You're right, if it's real, that means you can put it out! Use Water Gun!" Kappaqueous attempts to quash the flames with its water, but the flames are so hot that the water flash evaporates into steam. Brenda begins to panic again. "Not good, not good, not good!"

The fireballs, now spinning so fast that they blur together into a ring, begin to spread, and create an entire dome of fire around Brenda and her Pokémon.

"Eep!" Brenda is back to being absolutely terrified. She frantically looks from side to side, trying to figure any possible way she might get out. Through one of the gaps in the fire, she notices the fireball ghost from before floating on the other side. In sudden burst of inspiration, Brenda reaches into her bag and frantically digs around. "Come on, there's got to be something I can throw at that ghost to distract it…" She fishes out an empty Pokéball. "Perfect!" She hurls the Pokéball as hard as she can at the ghost.

Much to Brenda's dismay, the Pokéballs hits the fireball, bounces off it, and opens, capturing the ghost inside.

Brenda is completely shocked. "Wait…if the Pokéball worked on it…then that's not a ghost! It's a Pokémon!" Confidence suddenly returns to Brenda. "This, I can handle."

With nothing to control them, the flames die down. The Pokéballs wiggles once, but then the Pokémon breaks out from it. It laughs mockingly at Brenda, "Wisp wisp wisp wisp!"

Brenda orders, "Kappaqueous, use Aqua Bomb!"

"Kaaaaappaaaaaqueous!" It hurls its orb of water at the ghost Pokémon.

The Pokémon stops laughing when it sees this attack. It suddenly summons up a wall of yellow-orange flames in front of it, which causes the Aqua Bomb to flash evaporate.

"Alright, if water won't work, let's try light! Glitterfly, use Signal Beam!"

"Gliiiiiterfly!" Glitterfly's beam of light catches the Pokémon off guard, and lands a solid hit.

Upon recovering, the Pokémon seems to decide that this is no longer fun for it, and flees into the haze.

Brenda shouts, "After everything you did to me, there's no way you're getting away that easily!" She and her Pokémon run after it.

Ash encourages, "Come on Turtsol, just one more try! I'm sure you'll do it this time! I can just feel it!"

"Tuuuuuurtsoooooool!" Something is immediately different this time. Turtsol begins to glow orange in color as it gathers energy.

Ash cheers, "Yes! You're doing it!"

Within moments, the haze begins to dissipate, as harsh sunlight filters in through the tangle of tree branches above them.

At this same moment, the haze dissipates around Brenda too, revealing the fireball Pokémon floating off in the distance. It looks to be chuckling, apparently pleased with itself for escaping Brenda.

Brenda orders, "Glitterfly, Solar Beam!" The sunny weather allows Glitterfly to instantly let off its most powerful attack.

The Pokémon's eyes widen as it notices the incoming attack too late to avoid it. It becomes completely encompassed by the attack. Once the beam passes, the Pokémon falls to the ground.

Brenda pulls out a Pokéball. "Go, Pokéball!" The Pokémon is pulled into the ball, and it begins to wiggle. After several wiggles, it clicks. "Yeah!"

Brenda runs up to the ball and retrieves it. She triumphantly holds it up and proclaims, "Alright, you're all mine!"

Kappaqueous adds, "Kappa appa aqueous!"

Glitterfly, "Glittererererfly!"

Brenda takes a look around at the Sun-illuminated forest. "Wow, this place isn't nearly as creepy when the Sun's out. That was lucky that it came out just when it did."

Then, from afar, someone shouts, "Brenda!"

Brenda turns to see Ash, Brock, and Damon running towards her. Brenda waves to them. "Hey guys, you'll never believe this story!"

They've all made it to the other side of the woods. The fireball Pokémon is floating next to Brenda, and Ash has his Pokédex out. It says, "Wispirit, the Will-O-The-Wisp Pokémon, and a Fire and Ghost Combo-Type. Wispirit can conjure illusory fire to scare unaware travelers. It can also control real fire at will. It is known for its flickering blue light that appears and disappears in darkness of night. Evolves into Infearno with a Fire Stone."

Ash says, "Wow, I can't believe it was just a Pokémon all along. I guess there was never anything for us to be afraid of."

Brock looks to Damon and says, "I thought you said it was a spirit doing all that to us."

Damon shrugs. "I must have been receiving communications from some other spirit."

Brock can't believe this, but decides it's not worth pushing any further.

Damon then says, "Anyways, now that you three have made it safely through the woods, I must be on my own way again."

Ash nods. "Of course. Thanks for all your help."

Brock points out, "But he didn't do anything."

Brenda seems not to notice him and agrees with Ash, "Yeah, thanks."

Brock holds his arms up into the sky, as if to ask the heavens what is wrong with everyone.

Ash then says, "Yeah, so now it's on to my next gym battle, come on guys!" So they set off once more, leaving Damon behind.

Well, this just goes to show that not everything is what it at first seems. Perhaps after this experience, Brenda won't be so afraid of ghosts. Though, with this new Pokémon on her team, I have a feeling that she's going to have her hands full.

A wall of blue-white fire suddenly appears in front of Ash, Brock, and Brenda. Brenda instinctively leaps back in fear. Realizing what has happened, she gets a hold of her sense and shouts angrily, "Wispirit!"

The Pokémon just floats there, laughing at her reaction. Brenda charges at it, and ends up chasing it in circles around Ash and Brock.

As Damon watches this all from a distance, he grins. He says to himself, "Wispirit, I'm glad you found someone new to play with. She's a perfect match for you. With that, my last business in this world is at an end. So long, my old friend." Then, inexplicably, Damon begins to fade away, until he completely disappears.

To Be Continued…