My Little Pokemon Silver Spoon Version

We continued to Lavender town bright and early, but thankfully we didn’t have to get moving before sunrise this time. We actually slept in a little. It was nice.

The road was easy to follow up until we got to the forest surrounding most of Lavender. A thick fog started rolling in.

“Do we really have to do this?” Misty sounded uneasy.

“We’ve come this far.” Brock pointed out, though he didn’t sound too happy either. The fog cast everything in an eerie light.

“Quit your bellyaching, you don’t hear Sarah complaining.” Ash huffed at them. He paused to look around. “It would be easy to get separated in this fog though, we should hold hands.”

“Right,” Misty sighed, taking one of his. I held onto Brock’s with one hand and took Misty’s other one while Weiss held Brock’s other hand. As a human chain we continued down the road.

“I hope this fog lifts soon.” She groaned. “I’ve heard stories of Lavender town and none of them are nice, happily ever after stories!”

“Ah, really? I’m sure they’re not real though.” I tried to reassure her.

“There have been strange reports from this area though.” Brock spoke up behind me. “People run afoul of the ghost pokemon here and then sometimes aren’t found for weeks.”

“Weeks?” Misty squeaked.

“That just means the ghost pokemon are powerful! You remember how strong that Gastly on Maiden’s Peak was?” Ash pointed out cheerfully.

“I remember.” Brock shuddered. “And I don’t want to end up in love with a rock again.”

“I’m sure it won’t be that bad.” I laughed nervously. I’m pretty sure the Gastly we’d faced before was extraordinarily strong and likely very old if it was the same Gastly that had been around for hundreds of years.

“We’ll have to be prepared…for ANYTHING!” Ash whipped around without warning, a skull mask where his face should be.

“AAAAAAAAHHHH!” The three of us, except Weiss, jumped back, nearly tripping over ourselves. Even Pikachu was startled by his transformation.

“Oh man, that was great!” Ash doubled over laughing. He pulled the mask off and stowed it back in his jacket pocket. “Sorry guys, but you’re gonna have to get used to fear if we’re gonna catch a ghost pokemon!”

“Pii-kaa!” We wisely decided to take two steps back as Pikachu’s cheeks sparked.

“Uh, c’mon buddy, can’t you take a joke?” Ash gulped.

“CHUUUUUUU!”

“That should teach you not to play pranks.” Misty humphed. “Now let’s hurry up and get to Lavender town so you can get your ghost pokemon so we can leave!”

“Everybody’s a critic.” Ash pouted. After a minute to make sure he was alright we started moving again. The fog was starting to lift but it was getting late.

Lavender town isn’t very big. Most of the land is dedicated to graveyards.

“Geez, this place really is creepy.” Ash commented as we passed the third grave site for pokemon.

“Lavender town is considered sacred so trainers bring their pokemon here to be buried.” Weiss stated. “That is also why there are so many ghost pokemon reported to be here.”

“Do people come from all over?” Ash asked in a subdued tone.

“No, other regions have places similar to Lavender town, and some people prefer their own graves.” Weiss looked through a chain linked fence.

Three Cubones led by what I assumed to be its evolved form were dancing around a grave.

“Most trainers like to rest their pokemon where they know they’ll always be tended to.” Weiss finished.

“Is that what those pokemon are doing?” Misty asked.

“Mm-hm.” Weiss nodded.

“It was interesting enough to keep us distracted until we arrived, look up ahead.” Brock pointed down the path. We’d left the town and arrived at the Pokemon Tower.

“I…like what they’ve done with the place.” Ash chuckled nervously.

“Alright Ash, good luck in there.” Brock patted his back.

“Huh?” He blinked at him.

“You wanted a ghost pokemon so you can go inside. Without us.” Misty said, hugging my arm.

“Yeah, besides you know how sensitive Sarah is. It’d be better for us to stay out here and keep her company so she doesn’t get scared.” Brock nodded hastily.

“I’m going to challenge the Lavender gym.” Weiss stated before teleporting away.

“Um, what?” I blinked at the scene in front of me.

“Grr! Well, if that’s the way you feel about it then fine!” He spat. “Pikachu and I aren’t afraid. We’ll go in there and…” Pikachu jumped from his shoulders with a small blanket in his mouth. In seconds Pikachu was curled up and fake snoring like his life depended on it.

“And…err.” Ash faltered. He took another look at the tower then at his pokemon, still fake snoring.

“You know what? When you’re right, you’re right.” He nodded and slung his backpack off his shoulders, going for the sleeping bag. “It’ll be better to get a fresh start in the morning.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Misty stopped him. “I am not camping outside a creepy tower! It would probably give us all nightmares!” She seemed to rally herself. “We’re going to go in there, get a ghost pokemon, then get out and away from this creepy town!”

“And you’re going first!” She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him towards the door.

“AAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaHHHHHhhhhHHHH!!!!!”

I froze mid-step.

With that blood curdling scream left hanging in the air around us, I suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here.

“Do-Do you think that was…a ghost?” Misty clamped herself to Ash’s back. For his part Ash had tensed so much he might’ve been paralyzed.

“I’m…I’m sure there’s a…reasonable explanation for this.” And then he looked at me to provide said reasonable explanation.

“Um, yeah, probably.” I nodded absently.

“AAAAAIIIIiiiieeeEEEEE!!!”

“And the explanation is…screams of the forsaken dwelling within, yep.” I nodded once before backing away slowly.

“Not so fast.” Brock grabbed the back of my jacket to stop me. “Look, it’s scary, sure, but we can’t just ignore those screams. Someone could be hurt in there.”

“So we’ll go in, together.” Ash checked. We exchanged looks, gathering our courage. Misty grabbed my hand as we walked to the door.

“It’s pitch black in here.” Misty whimpered. She had a steely grip on my hand that was slowly cutting off circulation. Not that I was complaining. I liked the reassurance of a living person’s hand in mine too.

“Charmander, I choose you!” Charmander’s tail light did help a lot.

“Whoa, watch your step. There’s a big hole in the floor.” Misty gasped.

“Hey, I found some candles.” Brock brought over a candle stick for Charmander to light.

“Chaaar!” Flamethrower straight to the face. Poor Brock’s eyebrows would never be the same.

“Gah! Light the candle, not me!” He snapped, patting his singed eyebrows.

“Where should we start?” Ash put his hands on his hips.

“There’s a room over there. Might as well start down here before we think about climbing.” Brock suggested once he’d recovered. With his candle and Charmander’s tail light we were able to see a bit around us in all directions.

The door Brock had suggested led to a dining room, but instead of being rundown and abandoned, this one looked like it had jumped straight out of a storybook. Everything was clean and polished, the food was still lightly steaming and looked as delicious as the stuff on the St. Anne had.

“There’s a rope with a card attached.” Ash walked over to it. It was connected to a ball hanging from the ceiling. “Huh, ‘Pull this.’” He shrugged and did so.

A burst of confetti and streamers was accompanied by a large banner, spelling out Welcome.

“Friendly bunch, aren’t they?” I hummed thoughtfully.

“Hello? Any ghost pokemon there?” Ash called out.

I couldn’t see anything but that didn’t mean nothing was there. There was a chance that if I pretended to be bored and uninterested the ghost pokemon would take that as a challenge and appear. I walked closer to the table to inspect the food.

It was past dinner time and the food looked good.

Unfortunately, it was nothing but a beautiful trap. As soon as I reached for an empty plate the whole table began to shake. Dishes and silverware and even the chairs flew into the air, circling each other, sending food and broken glass flying in all directions.

“Duck and cover, people!” I screamed, grabbing a passing tray to use as a shield.

“Agh! Help!” Brock got caught by one of the chairs. Pikachu and Charmander were both scooped up on big platters.

“Quick, jump!” I called. I swung my improvised tray to send forks and knives flying away. Misty and Ash made for the door, grabbing it before it could swing closed on us. Brock, Pikachu, and Charmander jumped from their platforms and we all ran, chased by everything not nailed down. It didn’t stop until we were out of the tower and the doors slammed behind us.

“That was horrible!” Misty clutched her side. Her whole body was shaking and I still had a hold of the tray.

“It’s easy to see why a ghost pokemon is the best pokemon to send against a psychic.” Brock nodded in agreement.

“Okay, one more time!” Ash declared.

“What? Ash, are you serious? After what just happened?” Misty gaped.

“I need a ghost pokemon to beat Sabrina, so I’m going to get one.” He spoke decisively.

“Piiii.” Pikachu’s ears tucked back. Charmander was holding his nervously.

“Hey.” Ash gentled his voice and knelt down. “I know it’s scary, but we can do this. I believe in us. We can beat a ghost pokemon and we can beat Sabrina. I know we can.”

“But not unless we’re willing to face our fears.” He took a deep breath. “So, are you guys with me?” Pikachu and Charmander looked at each other, then nodded, bravery shining in their eyes.

“Right!” Ash stood up, facing the tower the same way he faced tough opponents. “Let’s go.”

I started following automatically. It felt like ever since he’d led us over a cliff away from a flock of Spearow that’s what I’d been doing, following him.

There are probably easier ways to make a friend for life but if there are I certainly don’t know them. I wasn’t exactly the Princess of Friendship.

Misty and Brock stayed behind.

“All you, Ash. Good luck!” They waved cheerfully, already several feet back down the path.

“Mmm. Sarah?” He looked at me questioningly.

“I’m with you.” I did a little fist bump for support. Ash grinned and together we reentered the tower.

“Hello? Ghost pokemon? Come out, come out wherever you are!” Ash yelled.

“Hold on.” I held up a hand. “Do you hear something?” We both stood in silence for a moment before I heard it again. Voices, or something like that, but not with any words I could make out.

“It’s coming from down there.” Ash pointed to the big hole we’d skirted past before. Carefully, we crept up to it, making sure the rest of the floor wouldn’t give out on us. There was a murky mist hanging below and voices drifted up to us.

“Alright, this is it.” Ash pumped himself up. “Pikachu, give it a Thunderbolt.”

“Pii-kaa-CHUUUU!” The lightning hit something down below. We heard its shriek.

“Now Charmander, Flamethrower!” I moved aside so Charmander could have a clear shot. We saw it hit something down below. A second later a ball of fire began circling the room, accompanied by some high pitched squeals.

“Huh, a fireball? Could it be a Ghost/Fire type?” Ash wondered.

I quickly pulled out my pokedex.

“My pokedex doesn’t list any Ghost/Fire types.” I frowned, putting it away.

“PIKA!” Pikachu screamed, scaring us both.

“What? What is it?” Ash and I turned to look. There was nothing there. “Are you seeing things?”

“Um, maybe, maybe not. Ghost types can become invisible, remember?” I pulled Ash up by the hand and positioned us back-to-back. “Keep an eye out, don’t let it sneak up on you.”

“Right.” He was determined, focused.

I didn’t focus too narrowly on one place, letting my vision spread out as I waited for some sign of motion. The room was dark and chilled. The furniture cast odd shadows and Charmander’s tail was the only light we had.

“It’ll be okay, Sarah. Don’t be scared.” Ash tried to reassure me.

“I’m…fine?” I turned my head a little.

There was something big and purple holding Ash’s hand. It came up past my waist, had dark purple fur and skin, big, pointed ears and a devilish smile. It saw me looking and playfully put a finger to its mouth, telling me to keep quiet.

“Um, Ash?” I started hesitantly. “There’s a…uh, a ghost pokemon, I think.”

“A what?” Ash looked over his shoulder and saw the ghost pokemon. “AAAAAHHHH!”

“Gengengengen!” The pokemon laughed as Ash ripped himself away from it. He tripped over Charmander, scaring him into letting out a Flamethrower that nearly barbecued me. I dived to the ground to avoid the flames and shimmied back up as soon as I could.

My vision went dark as two clawed hands covered my eyes.

“Haunt haunt?” The pokemon responsible jokingly asked.

“Ash! Get it off!” I shrieked, stumbling around. I tried to grab the pokemon’s hands but they just phased right through. Shaking and twisting did nothing to loosen its grip.

“Hold on Sarah, I’m coming! Charmander, use your Growl attack!” Ash was somewhere to my right. Where was that hole from earlier? I didn’t need to fall and break something.

It wasn’t hurting me. Okay, just calm down. It wasn’t doing anything but hanging there, blinding me. Was it playing?

“Ha…ha…” I tried to force out a laugh. “Okay, you got me. You, uh…” What had it said? Haunt? After encountering that Gastly at Maiden’s Peak I looked into the ghost type in Kanto and Johto and only the Gastly line and Misdreavus had entries, so if there was a Gengar here then, “Haunter?”

“Haunter!” It cried joyfully, lifting its hands away from my eyes. Once I was able to see it my heart rate slowed down. It was smiling and googling its eyes, laughing at the ‘game’ we’d just played.

“Good one, really had me there.” I smiled sickly.

“Charmander, return!” Ash had been trying to battle the Gengar and the Gastly that had shown up.

“Ash, they’re playing! Play along!” I called. Haunter flew over to its friends and the Gengar pulled out a folded paper fan. Gengar slapped Haunter so its eyes bugged out again while I walked over to Ash and Pikachu.

“They’re playing?” Ash repeated, sounding not just a little confused.

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” I chuckled nervously. The three ghost pokemon had seen their slapstick was having no affect so they were moving to a different gag, ‘dying’ dramatically like our response had fatally wounded them.

“Oh, wow, you guys are really talented!” Ash clapped. He looked at me to check he was doing the right thing. I gave him a quick thumb’s up and joined in the applause.

“Mmhm, you must practice a lot.” I laughed. The pokemon seemed happy.

“Now let’s see what Dexter has to say.” Ash snickered.

“Haunter: The Ghost Pokemon. No information is available at this moment.”

“Gengar: The Ghost Pokemon. No information is available at this moment.”

“What? Nothing on either of them?” His jaw dropped.

“I guess research about them is still on-going.” I shrugged helplessly. “If it helps, Gastly evolve into Haunter which then evolves into Gengar, so they’re all from the same line. They’re all ghost/poison mixes.”

“Well, they’re ghost types so that’s good enough for me!” Ash decided. He put the pokedex away and pointed at the pokemon. “Hey there, I’ve got an important battle with a psychic coming up and I’m here to capture one of you for it! So who’s it gonna be?” In answer, all three pokemon began to sink through the floor.

“Maybe, um, that wasn’t the best way to go about it.” I winced.

“Hey, don’t go!” Ash dived after them, trying to get a grip on one before they could all sink out of view.

There was a jingle overhead, like rusty chains brushing each other. Over Ash and Pikachu’s position was a big chandelier, shaking ominously.

“Ash!” My feet moved faster than my tongue. No time for thought. I dive tackled them both and knew I’d be too late.

And then…

One second unconscious and the next I’m wide awake.

And transparent. And floating. And Sweet Celestia, is that my body!?

My hands came up and squeezed my head, tugging at strands of hair that felt too ephemeral to be real. I could see straight through my body to the broken chandelier and our broken bodies below.

Our bodies.

That knocked a little of the shock off. I went from panicking about myself to panicking about Ash and Pikachu. My thoughts scrambled, part of me screaming into the void and another more irrational part trying to figure out how I’d contact his mom.

“Sarah, are you okay? Calm down, it’s fine.” Ash…floated…up in front of me and grabbed my hands. I allowed him to pull my hands free as I took in his translucent face. Pikachu was hovering over his shoulder, looking just as concerned.

“Nnng.” I couldn’t form words. Below us our bodies were tangled together. It looked like I’d tried to throw Pikachu clear but he must’ve hit his head on something. I was mostly on top of Ash, a fruitless effort to shield him from a few hundred pounds of rusted metal.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He said again. “I don’t think we’re dead.”

“We’re not?” I wanted to cry and then suddenly there were tears in my eyes. I’d just wanted them and they’d appeared.

I looked down again. Slowly, my ghostly form lowered to the ground until I could make out the sounds of breathing and see the rise and falls of our chests.

“We’re alive.” I fell back and started floating on my back. Tiredly, I wiped my face.

“Haunter haunt!” In my panic and subsequent relief, I’d failed to realize we still had company. Haunter passed through me, laughing and enjoying himself. He pointed to Ash, then me, then at himself, laughing the whole while.

“You’re saying we’re alike now?” Ash interpreted.

“Haunt haunter!” He nodded.

“Um, not that this isn’t fascinating and all, but there is a way to kinda reattach to our bodies, right?” That was a major concern for me.

“Gengengen!” Gengar and Gastly circled us with their own bursts of laughter. Gengar grabbed my hand and Gastly used its body as a platform to carry Pikachu. Haunter grabbed Ash and the six of us ascended through the walls and upwards, out of the tower.

“Whoa, what a view!” Ash’s eyes sparkled. “I can see Misty and Brock!”

“Er, yeah.” They were standing under a couple of lamp posts.

“Let’s have a little fun with them!” Before I could say anything or think of something to say he’d already gotten down to Misty.

“Let’s go for a little ride, Misty!” He grabbed her under the armpits and rose up.

“AAAAHH! The ghost got me!” She screamed, flailing her legs.

“Ash, that’s mean!” I fretted underneath.

“It’s just a little fun!” He defended himself. “Look, I’ll put her down now.”

He dropped her through me.

“That’s not funny!” I snarled, launching myself at him. And it really was a launch.

Brock caught Misty below us as I tackled Ash through several trees.

With an inarticulate yell he kicked me away. It didn’t hurt, I barely felt it as I went flying into the ground. Luckily I still had a natural orientation for where up is so I could find the surface again.

I came up behind a rock a few feet off from where I’d entered. Ash was hovering over that spot worriedly with Pikachu scolding him.

Well, he wanted to have a little fun.

Pikachu saw me coming but I guess he decided not to warn Ash. I hit him full throttle and we wrestled our way through trees, rocks, shrubs, and on one occasion a young Cubone who angrily shook his bone club at us.

“Man, that was great!” Ash laughed as we separated. We were both laughing, grinning ear to ear and breathless.

“Gastly gastly.” The ghost pokemon came up to us again. They each took hold of us again and pulled us back to the tower. Instead of the entryway though they took us up to the top floor.

It was like night and day compared to the rest of the tower. Not a lick of dust anywhere. Everything was brightly colored and filled with toys. There was a carousel like the festival at Maiden’s Peak had, but smaller. Little slides, a rocking pony, balls, a swing, everything a child could ever want and more.

“Look at all this stuff!” Ash watched in wide-eyed amazement as the trio of ghosts began playing with everything. “I guess you guys must’ve really wanted someone to play with.”

“It looks that way.” I agreed. Gastly was playing on the swing with Pikachu. Gengar was standing on a ball and rolling around, managing to keep his balance quite well.

“Haunt haunt, haunter.” Haunter floated up and offered a stuffed bear to me.

“But we can’t stay and play with you forever.” Ash frowned a little regretfully. “We have to get back to our bodies. We’ve got too much stuff to do to hang around as ghosts.”

The trio were saddened by it but they didn’t get aggressive. We went through the other floors of the tower towards the entry. The different rooms really made me wonder about the people who built this tower. Was it supposed to be someone’s home?

Misty and Brock must’ve gotten worried about us. We got there in time to see Brock holding up the chandelier so Misty could drag Ash out. My body and Pikachu’s was already lying prone a few feet away.

“Ash, Sarah, please wake up.” She sniffled as she laid Ash out next to me.

“Uh-oh, we’d better get moving.” Ash ducked under me for his body.

I was a little worried about how to reattach but it was surprisingly intuitive. As soon as I was close enough to touch it felt like my soul or spirit was simply sucked back in.

Gaining full awareness of my body after existing as a spirit is interesting. My body felt heavy and clumsy. I was aware of every square inch of cloth. My backpack was curling my spine at an uncomfortable angle.

“Hey Misty.” Ash sat up first, readjusting faster I guess. I sat up a little more gingerly, clenching and unclenching my hands to test my fine motor control. Everything seemed to be in working order and wow, was I hungry!

To summarize, Ash initially decided to give up catching a ghost pokemon in favor of a different strategy but Haunter decided he wanted to come with us. Weiss teleported back and teleported us to the nearest Pokemon Center and we had ourselves a late dinner. Weiss won herself the Phantom badge and we agreed that I would challenge the Lavender gym.

Honestly there wasn’t a lot of time to strategize, we all needed our sleep.