Chapter Eighteen: A Matter of Spirit

It was raining when Serena and Ash entered Lavender Town, which struck Serena as very fitting. And yet, despite the gloomy weather and the macabre tower it was known for, the town looked warm and welcoming. There were many trees and deep purple flowers, including actual lavender, and it looked far livelier than the rocky and fairly desolate route that led to it.

("Is this where the Exposition is?") Misdreavus asked.

Serena had been working with her and her other Pokémon intensively over the past few days, and she was already getting used to understanding her newest team member. That was a good thing, too, because over the next couple of days they'd have to start working on the routine itself, and being able to understand each other would certainly help. While Misdreavus was normally inside her Poké Ball during the day, being nocturnal by nature, she enjoyed the rainy weather and she wanted to see the town, which she'd stayed away from as a wild Pokémon.

"Yep. It'll be held in the communal stadium, just like in most towns," Serena said.

"I wonder who they'll have on the judges' panel," Ash said. "They don't have a Gym here, after all."

Serena thought for a moment and then said, "Well…I imagine it'll be a prominent resident, or something? Someone most people here would know, anyway."

("It looks peaceful,") Misdreavus said, looking around as they continued to walk towards the battle stadium.

"It does. Maybe it's a bit unfair, but I expected it to be more…depressing, I guess?" Serena said.

("Like this?") Misdreavus asked and her eyes briefly flashed, after which the houses appeared boarded up and derelict, and all the vegetation dead and decaying. The people who'd been walking in the streets, carrying umbrellas against the rain, now looked gaunt and ragged, with thousand-mile stares.

Serena closed her eyes and shook her head. "Yes, like that, and I told you not to do that!" she said.

Misdreavus giggled and said, ("Sorry. But your fear just tastes so good.")

"I am not a walking buffet," Serena said firmly, though Misdreavus clearly knew she wasn't actually angry.

("No, Ash isn't. I still haven't managed to scare him,") she said with a pout.

("He's too dense to be scared,") Pikachu said helpfully.

"I get scared sometimes," Ash said, ignoring Pikachu. "Just not a lot. And it's never stopped me from going forward, either."

He smiled at Misdreavus. "Though in your case, it's because I can tell when you've used your Confuse Ray on me because everything suddenly looks all spooky and I know you're trying to scare me. Maybe…be more subtle about it?"

("This coming from Ash Ketchum, who introduces himself to each place he visits by loudly shouting he wants to fight the Gym Leader,") Pikachu said with a shake of his head.

Misdreavus, however, looked thoughtful. ("Subtle? I can do that,") she said before grinning mischievously.

Serena shuddered. "Just do me a favor and keep me out of it, okay?" she said. "I might like you, but I still don't particularly like being scared."

("Aww…not even a little?") Misdreavus asked, trying to look as cute as she could and succeeding annoyingly well.

Serena sighed and Ash laughed.

"Oh, yeah, you can laugh, Mr. Fearless," Serena said with a shake of her head, though she smiled as she did so.

("So does that mean I can scare you too?") Misdreavus asked greedily.

"Nice try, but the answer's still no," Serena said.

"What's the difference in how fear tastes, anyway?" Ash asked, and despite herself, Serena had to admit she was curious to know the answer as well.

("It's…a bit hard to explain,") Misdreavus said, ("but if someone's more frightened, it has a much stronger taste. Like…more…salt? No, wait, I hate salt. It bites me.")

She shuddered in disgust. ("Sugar, then? Whatever humans put in their food to give it more flavor. And aside from that, everyone's fear tastes different, too. It even depends on the kind of fear you're trying to get. I like…basic fear, I guess? Where someone's own thoughts make things scarier than they actually are, anyway.")

"So because I'm afraid of ghosts and thinking of what might happen, instead of what is happening?" Serena asked.

Misdreavus nodded. ("Yeah!")

Then she cocked her head and said, ("Maybe? I mean…I haven't really thought about it that deeply before…")

"I guess it kind of makes sense, though," Serena said. "If you're faced with something unknown it's scarier than if you know exactly what will happen."

"But that's why we have our friends, right? So we don't have to face those unknown things alone," Ash said with a smile.

("You could fondue in that cheese,") Pikachu said with a grin.

Ash shrugged. "Doesn't make it less true," he said.

They reached the stadium and Serena and Ash signed up for the Exposition.

"Should we head for the Pokémon Center?" Serena asked once they were outside again.

"We could, but I thought we could visit the Pokémon Tower first," Ash said. "I was supposed to have visited it the first time I came here, but like I said, we ended up in a different tower last time."

Serena hesitated. Even though she had Misdreavus with her now, the idea of going to what was essentially a graveyard wasn't one she liked much. Still, for the Exposition it would probably be better if she'd at least seen the tower and felt its atmosphere, even if she ended up not using it in her Location Round.

"Y-yeah, we could, I guess," she said after a moment.

("Ooh, tasty,") Misdreavus remarked, and Serena felt her face glowing in embarrassment of her fear.

"I'm not your afternoon snack!"

From the outside, the Pokémon Tower appeared fairly innocuous. It was just a tall, gray building with a domed roof, not even as high as some of the buildings in larger cities. In the rain, however, Serena still thought it looked grim and foreboding, and she was nervous when she and Ash went inside.

There were a few people on the ground floor, which had a number of signs detailing the tower's history, as well as containing some general house rules.

A woman dressed in black stood behind the counter and bowed politely when Serena and Ash approached her.

"Good afternoon and welcome to Pokémon Tower," she said. "Are you here to visit a specific grave?"

"No, we're just here to…pay respect in general, I suppose," Ash said.

The woman behind the counter nodded. "I see. In that case, I would advise ascending to the tower's highest level, where there is a shrine where visitors may burn incense to wish any lingering spirits a safe passage to the afterlife. I must also ask you to keep quiet while inside. Your Pokémon may remain outside of their Poké Balls, but battles are strictly forbidden within the tower," she said.

"We understand. Thank you, ma'am," Ash said.

With a final nod, Serena and Ash walked up the first flight of stairs. The floor they arrived on contained many neat rows of tombstones, all inscribed with the names of Pokémon who had passed on. A few graves had flowers placed in front of them, and there weren't many people. The few people who were there either solemnly moved through the graves towards the next set of stairs, or else stood at a particular grave to grieve for the Pokémon entombed there.

("There's so much sadness here,") Misdreavus said quietly.

"You can feel that, too?" Serena asked.

("Sure. I can sense most emotions. I just don't eat all of them,") Misdreavus said. ("I never eat sadness; it's too heavy for me. Fear is energetic, at least.")

"I'll take your word for it…" Serena muttered.

She felt a bit awkward moving through the graves of Pokémon she didn't know, as if being there at all was somehow intruding on the pain of the people whose Pokémon had died. It felt a bit disrespectful, almost, to treat the tower as just a tourist attraction, but at the same time she had to admit there was a certain beauty in paying respect to the departed souls by burning some incense, and having to walk past their graves first certainly gave a kind of emotional involvement that simply wouldn't be there if the shrine had been at the ground floor.

They climbed another set of stairs. The graves here seemed a bit older, and there were fewer people still. With each floor, the tower became a bit colder and emptier, and once they reached the sixth floor out of seven, it was almost bone-chilling, as well as unnaturally dark.

Serena looked around uneasily, and as she did so she fell behind Ash and Pikachu a bit. When she looked up again, she couldn't even see them anymore.

"Did you see where Ash and Pikachu went?" Serena asked.

("No, I wasn't paying attention,") Misdreavus said. ("Something feels…odd.")

"What do you mean?" Serena asked.

("We should find Ash and Pikachu,") Misdreavus said, floating on ahead.

Serena quickly followed her, but without warning, something gray rose up from the ground in front of her, and she saw evil-looking red eyes, which glowed a deep red, and Serena heard a voice in her head, a sinister, low whisper…

"Sleep…you belong to me, now…just sleep…you cannot resist…sleep…"

Serena knew she had to look away, call for help, but her mind was becoming hazy and it felt like she was falling into those deep red eyes…

"Sleep…you cannot fight back…sleep…"

She had to run…but she was getting so sleepy…it was just so hard to stay awake…everything was going dark and she felt herself floating… — and then she felt a sharp pain as something forcefully yanked her hair.

The pain shocked her awake and she took a step backwards, and Misdreavus flew from behind her back to place herself between Serena and the Pokémon who had been trying to hypnotize her, who Serena now recognized as an odd-colored Gengar.

("Leave Serena alone!") Misdreavus said angrily.

The Gengar replied, and though Serena could hear the real voice now, she could also still hear the sinister whisper in her head, as if there was still some kind of connection between her and Gengar.

"Why should I? She looks far tastier than that boy. Surely you can feel it too," Gengar said.

That boy? Ash! "What have you done to Ash?!" Serena shouted.

"Nothing, yet," Gengar said. "Because I spotted you…but you already seem to have been claimed by someone. But that can be dealt with easily…"

("I won't let you hurt Serena,") Misdreavus said.

"She is food," Gengar said dismissively. "As all humans are. Their sadness is exquisite, but they just need a little push to produce more of it…"

His evil grin widened. "You cannot tell me you do not feed on humans yourself. And this girl…she is a rare delicacy…"

Misdreavus glanced over her shoulder at Serena, who felt her heart racing. Then Misdreavus gave her a small smile and turned back to Gengar.

("Yeah, she is…and she's also my friend!")

Serena saw a white flash and Gengar recoiled.

("Serena, run!") Misdreavus yelled, and Serena quickly followed her, eventually crouching behind a row of graves.

"Thank you, Misdreavus," Serena said softly.

("We're not safe yet,") Misdreavus said. ("He won't give up that easily.")

"Where do you think Ash and Pikachu are?" Serena asked.

("He probably got them with his Hypnosis,") Misdreavus said, ("but I don't want to leave you alone to look for them.")

"I could call out the others to help me," Serena said, but Misdreavus vehemently shook her head and said, ("Don't! If you call out Pancham and the others Gengar will just use Hypnosis on them. It's too dangerous for them.")

"Can't he do the same to you?" Serena asked.

("He has to look me in the eyes for it to work, and my Confuse Ray is faster,") Misdreavus said. She smiled her mischievous smile. ("Why did you think I began using that move instead of Hypnosis in the first place?")

Her eyes widened and she shouted, ("Duck!")

Serena dived to her left, and not a moment too soon, as Gengar leapt up from the floor with tremendous speed.

"Why do you help this human?" he asked angrily, and Serena shuddered at hearing his voice in her head again, no matter how useful it was to understand him.

("Because she's my friend! And Ash and Pikachu are my friends too, so let them go!") Misdreavus said.

"I had hoped that a fellow ghost would know better than to align herself with something as fleeting as a human, but it appears I was mistaken. No matter. I will simply defeat you, first, and then you can have what remains of your 'friends' once I am through with them."

Gengar spoke so casually, as if he'd done similar things countless times already, and for all Serena knew, he had. But there was no time to worry now. He had to be stopped, and there was no way Serena was going to let Misdreavus deal with such a dangerous foe on her own.

"I've got your back, Misdreavus! Let's defeat him together!" she said.

("Right!") Misdreavus said with a nod.

"Pathetic," Gengar said, and then he vanished into thin air.

("Serena, close your eyes!") Misdreavus said, and Serena immediately listened. Even through her eyelids, she saw the bright flash of Misdreavus's Confuse Ray, and a moment later she heard a strong impact on the floor.

She opened her eyes and saw Gengar getting back to his feet. Had he hit the floor? But how, if he could pass trough it?

("Maybe you need glasses,") Misdreavus said innocently.

"You insolent little wraith," Gengar growled.

"Misdreavus, hit him with Shadow Ball!" Serena yelled.

("Got it!") Misdreavus's eyes and necklace glowed with ghostly energy, which formed a ball in front of her, but Gengar had already vanished again before the attack could hit, and this time Misdreavus didn't get the chance to use her Confuse Ray again before Gengar burst through a gravestone and body-checked Misdreavus from behind, slamming her into the floor some distance away.

Gengar turned to Serena again and grinned wickedly.

"Now, let us continue…"

He began to move forward, but then he was surrounded by a purplish-red glow, and a moment later a similarly-colored pulse slammed into him from behind.

("I'm not done yet,") Misdreavus said, looking hurt but not quite defeated yet.

"You are annoyingly persistent," Gengar said. He spread his arms wide and a shadowy nail appeared above him. Serena had no idea what move it was, but she did know she couldn't risk it hitting Misdreavus.

"No!" she shouted. "Don't hurt her!"

"Oh, but I want to hurt her, little human," Gengar said, "because that would make you sad, and the more sadness you feel, the tastier you become." Despite his words, though, he momentarily stopped summoning whatever attack he wanted to make.

"I won't let you!" Serena said. A desperate plan was forming in the back of her mind, a plan with a really low chance of success, but for her to have a chance of trying it at all she had to distract Gengar for just a moment longer while she felt around in her backpack, hoping against all hope she'd recognize the thing she needed by touch alone.

"And what, you fleeting wretch, do you think you can do against me?" Gengar asked threateningly.

Serena's hand closed around a round canister and she pulled it out of her bag, fervently hoping it was the right one. The second she saw the lid, she knew she'd grabbed exactly what she needed, and she jumped to her feet, flicking the lid on the large opening of the salt canister open and swinging it at Gengar as though she were slashing a sword.

"This!" she yelled.

The arc of salt that flew from the canister hit Gengar and he stepped back with a groan of pain.

"Salt?!" he said, his voice laced with hate.

("I know. Nasty, isn't it?") Misdreavus asked. She was floating right behind Gengar with a Shadow Ball right in front of her. ("Here, I'll get rid of it for you.")

With that, she fired her attack from point-blank range and Gengar was blown across the room.

"No meal is worth this kind of trouble," Gengar said. "Rejoice in your victory. But one day, we will meet again. And when we do…"

He let his threat hang in the air and then melted away into the shadows. At once, the temperature seemed to rise.

("What a sore loser,") Misdreavus said.

"Never mind that, are you okay?" Serena asked frantically.

Misdreavus nodded. ("I am, thanks to you. If that Curse had hit me I'd have been in trouble. It's a good thing you had that salt with you.")

Serena nodded. "You said that salt bites you, so I hoped it would have the same effect on Gengar," she said.

("All ghosts hate salt. I don't know why, but it feels like fire to touch it,") Misdreavus said. ("But since it saved us, I guess it can't be all bad,") she added with a smile.

At that moment, Ash and Pikachu came walking up, both rubbing their head.

"Ugh, what happened?" Ash asked.

Serena and Misdreavus exchanged a glance and burst out laughing, and then Serena said, "Well, there was this Gengar…"

Serena lit the stick of incense and put it in its holder, before briefly putting her hands together and closing her eyes.

May all the spirits find their rest…and if any spirits were here today, I'm sorry I disturbed your rest by fighting with Gengar, she thought.

She opened her eyes again and Misdreavus whispered, ("I think the spirits will forgive you, you know.")

"You can hear my thoughts?" Serena asked, surprised.

Misdreavus shook her head. ("Not…exactly. But I can feel your intention all the same. I'm a spirit too, you know, sort of. And I can see the others, now that Gengar is gone. They're all grateful for what you've done for them. You gave them back their resting spot, their place to see their old friends one last time.")

"Were they hiding from Gengar?" Serena asked with a frown.

Misdreavus nodded. ("I guess, yes. He couldn't really hurt them, of course. They're…further away from this world than we are. But he could hurt their loved ones. He could feed on their sadness, and now he's finally gone.")

("How come no one ever noticed he was here?") Pikachu asked.

("He just made everyone who crossed him forget they ever saw him with his Hypnosis,") Misdreavus said. ("Misdirecting people isn't that hard, and it's not strange for people in a graveyard to leave feeling sad and tired.")

"Man, first the Power Plant and now here. It feels like I'm being taken out a lot, lately," Ash said with a groan. Then he grinned at Serena and said, "I'm glad you're here, or Pikachu and I would be in a lot of trouble."

Serena smiled back and said, "I'll stay with you for a while yet, Ash, so you've got nothing to worry about."

"Thanks, Serena," Ash said, and Serena could swear she saw a small blush on his face.

Okay, a lot of closing statements today, so if that doesn't interest you, see you in the next one.

First, how is it that Gengar, the Shadow Pokémon, whose Pokédex entries state he loves hiding in shadows, doesn't actually learn the move Shadow Sneak?! Even Phantom Force, which this shiny Gengar used (his other moves were Hypnosis, Dream Eater, and Curse), can only be used as a TM move, but whatever. For added fun, Misdreavus and Mismagius can learn Shadow Sneak, even if Misdreavus only learns it as a breeding move.

Second, Serena understanding Misdreavus in the span of a few days. Honestly, this story is on the softest end of soft science, which will become even more apparent as the plot progresses. The show isn't consistent with these things, and for my own sanity and the pace of this story, I won't be, either. You're free to come up with ways how this could make sense, but I'm not going to. That frustrates me, because I love coming up with ways to fit things together, but honestly, the entertainment comes first and the mechanics of everything in the Pokémon world are extremely wonky, so…unless otherwise specified in the story itself, all weird things are commonplace and not weird at all in-universe.

Last, the salt and incense are just generic things and not associated with any specific practice. They're just meant to be recognizable as things that often show up when ghosts and demons are involved. Anyway, see you next time, when the Exposition kicks off!