Author's Note

Fashionably Late here, and sorry for the wait. Creativity and I were in a trial separation and it wasn't working out for me. Writer's block, what are ya gonna do? Well, apparently all I had to do was switch perspectives with the peanut gallery, put on Jonathan Young singing Unbeatable and watch the Ash vs Morty episode. Who knew? Anyhow, I've got the Ash vs Sabrina episode written out...except Silver ain't gonna be doing much, so I'll try to justify a certain tag then.

Chapter 18: From Ghost to Ghost

Ding! Ding!

“Ten minutes remaining!”

Startled by the bell, I jolted awake atop a bed in a decrepit looking room. Sitting up I looked around the mostly empty room, save for a wardrobe closet and a desk with a mirror, and tried to remember what had happened and where I was. The last thing I remembered was looking up at a Gengar and…

The gym challenge!

I stood up quickly. I only had ten more minutes to earn three more points and challenge the gym leader! I moved my hand to my belt to bring out Bulbasaur.

And grasped nothing but air.

Looking down I saw that not only was Bulbasaur’s pokeball was missing, but my entire belt was gone!

With no time to lose I threw open the desk and closet to find nothing but dust before rushing to open the door.

Jiggle jiggle.

Locked.

Bam!

Not anymore as I shoulder checked the door open, splinters falling around me. Seeing an exit sign above a door at the end of the hallway I ran towards it, opening the door revealing that I was on the balcony in the foyer.

“Gen Gengar Gen.”

“Mis mag Mismagius.”

And right in the middle of the foyer was Gengar, two pokemon that I did not recognize and a table that wasn’t there before with my belt and pokeballs. Gengar and the pokemon that looked like it was wearing a witch's hat were arguing over something with the witch-like pokemon gesturing at my stuff while Gengar was counting something on its paws. The third pokemon that looked like it was wearing a ruffled dress was watching the two.

Before I could do anything, Gengar suddenly had a look of realization before holding its paws at the witch and launching a Shadow Ball that the witch barely dodged. And then bedlam as Gengar began attacking the witch who weaved to and fro, dodging Gengar’s attacks while the ruffled dress pokemon was panicking on the sidelines.

Taking this as my opportunity, I snuck down the stairs and towards the table with my belt and pokeballs. Just as I was almost within reach of my belt the ruffed dress pokemon glanced in my direction.

“Misdreavus?” The pokemon, Misdreavus, looked shocked before a look of inspiration overtook it. Suddenly it picked up my belt and pokeballs off the table and brought them to me.

“Mis Misdreavus Mis.”

Slam

“Weiss!”

Looking over towards the entrance Weiss saw an irate Ash and Misty pair and an exhausted Brock. Spotting Weiss sitting on a sofa eating an ice cream cone, the trio walked over to her.

“Ash, Misty, Brock.” Weiss nodded toward the group.

“Don’t just ‘Ash, Misty and Brock’ us, why didn’t you bring us here with Sarah?” Misty grilled Weiss face to face with her hands, balled into fists, laying on her hips.

“Yeah! I’m going to watch all of Sarah’s gym battles!” Ash declared.

“But you missed her gym battle with Brock.” Weiss pointed out.

“I’m…more than…happy to tell you…what happened.” Brock panted, resting himself and his bag on the sofa.

“Don’t change the subject! Now, why did you teleport Sarah here instead of walking here with us?” Misty demanded.

“The sooner she challenges the gym here the sooner we can deal with the Saffron gym.” Weiss admitted, her gaze turning back towards one of the many TVs scattered around the lobby.

“Huh? Hey, Sarah’s on TV!” Ash pointed out toward the TV Weiss was looking at.

“What? Why’s Sarah on TV? And are those ghosts!?” Distracted by Ash’s outburst, Misty glanced at the TV before fully turning her attention towards the screen which showed Sarah with a trio of ghost pokemon.

“Sarah’s currently participating in the gym challenge.” Seeing their clueless looks Weiss explained further. “In Galar and Paldea, trainers have to complete gym challenges before battling the Gym Leader. That is how we separate the wheat from the chaff.”

“What does wheat have anything to do with gyms?” Ash asked with Pikachu sharing in his confusion.

“Arg, it means they only want to battle serious Trainers and not rookies like you.” Misty fired at Ash while taking a seat on the sofa.

“Hey! I am a serious Trainer!” Ash fired back, taking a seat on a nearby chair.

“Pika-pika.” Pikachu gestured back to the TV where Sarah was battling a Gengar while the other ghost pokemon were watching on the sidelines.

“So, what’s the gym challenge for the Lavender gym?” Misty asked while glancing at Weiss' sandwich.

“Earn five points. Defeating a pokemon is worth one point, capturing a pokemon is worth two, and Sarah has defeated a Ghastly and Haunter.” Weiss rattled off.

“That means Sarah has two points already.” Brock answered once he was sure his lungs weren’t on fire.

Ding! Ding!

“Five minutes remaining!”

“Hm, and Sarah has five more minutes to earn three more points.” Weiss added after taking a bite of her ice cream. Just as she finished her statement, Silver finally managed to defeat Gengar.

Ding! Ding!

“Challenger Sarah claims three points!”

“Yeah! Go Sarah!” Ash cheered, leaping up from the chair.

“Do you think Sarah can beat those last two pokemon?” Misty worriedly asked.

“....maybe…although I don’t think she’ll have to.” Weiss started before noticing what was happening on the screen.

“You want me to catch you?” I couldn’t help but feel surprised.

That Gengar had apparently decided to beat the witch pokemon, I identified as Mismagius from its cry, just so I couldn’t beat the challenge and battle Lilith. The ruffled dress pokemon, my pokedex identified as Misdreavus, had decided to return my belt and pokeballs so I could battle and beat Gengar before it could knock out Mismagius. And after a long and drawn out battle I finally beat Gengar with only five minutes remaining. So, I was glad that Misdreavus was just going to let me catch it.

“Mis Misdreavus Mis!” Misdreavus trilled happily while Mismagius nodded in assent.

“Ok, then welcome to the team.” I smiled, taking out the Dusk ball Ball Guy gave me and gently tapping the ball to Misdreavus’ head. Misdreavus happily let herself be sucked into the ball, the Dusk ball immediately clicking shut.

“Challenger Sarah claims five points! Mission clear! Congratulations! You’ll be escorted down the hallway and enter the waiting area. Your pokemon will be treated by our onsite nurse before your gym battle.”

Immediately after the announcement, the door opened and the referee walked over to me.

“Clearing Leader Lilith’s gym mission like that… That was fantastic!”

I could only blush as we walked down the hallway towards the waiting area.

“Next you’ll be facing Lilith, the leader of the Ghost Gym. Since you have three badges this will be a three on three battle. On you go, challenger!”

It all happened so fast, I walked through the door and was immediately accosted by nurse Joy. A short time later, my pokemon were cleared for battle and I found myself in a hallway leading towards a stadium with a girl, slightly older than me wearing a black and purple outfit, standing in the opposite end of the stadium. She walked towards the field, motioning for me to walk towards the field, and we stood in the middle of the stadium filled with chanting spectators.

“Hmhmhm. So this is my challenger? Looks fun. I’m Lilith, the Gym Leader of the Lavender gym. Here I go.” Lilith turned away from me, once again motioning for me to follow her lead, and walked back a few paces.

Lilith then sent out a Ghastly as her first pokemon.

“Go Bulbasaur!”

“Bulba, saur!”

“Let the battle begin!”

“Bulbasaur Tackle attack.”

I wasted no time in ordering Bulbasaur just as Bulbasaur wasted no time in charging Ghastly. Against anyone else, I would have thought I caught them off-guard as Bulbasaur launched himself into the air at Ghastly.

Against anyone else that was.

Bulbasaur just…passed through Ghastly like it was an illusion. Bulbasaur must have been just as stunned as I was as he fumbled the landing a bit.

“What? How?” I couldn’t help but ask as Lilith caught my attention.

“Ghost type pokemon are immune to Normal and Fighting type moves.” She answered in a similar monotone voice as Weiss before focusing on the battle.

“Ghastly, use Lick.”

“Dodge Bulbasaur!” I shouted out as Ghastly revealed an abnormally long tongue and began whipping it at Bulbasaur who was leaping around the attack.

“Put some space between you two and use Bullet Seed.”

“Counter with Nightshade.” Lilith ordered just as Bulbasaur jumped back and released a torrent of seeds at Ghastly. Ghastly responded by firing a dark beam of energy that disintegrated the seeds and struck Bulbasaur head on.

“Bulbasaur!” I cried out as Bulbasaur stood up defiantly against Ghastly.

“Use Lick again.” Lilith ordered.

An idea formed in my head.

“Bulbasaur, restrain Ghastly’s tongue with Vine Whip!” I ordered just as Ghastly revealed its tongue with saliva comically dripping from its tongue.

“Bulba saur!” Bulbasaur did just as ordered and revealed his vines just in time to wrap around Ghastly’s tongue just as it closed in on him.

“What? Lilith stared at the scene before her confused while Ghastly flexed its tongue experimentally to see just how tightly Bulbasaur was holding onto its tongue.

“Leech Seed.”

“Bulba!”

Taking advantage of Ghastly and Lilith’s confusion, Bulbasaur launched a single seed at Ghastly that quickly took hold of the…Gas Pokemon. I’m sorry, how exactly is Leech Seed latching onto Ghastly when its body is made of gas?

“Nightshade!”

My musing was quickly cut off as Ghastly launched another beam of energy that struck Bulbasaur head on. Bulbasaur grunted in pain, but remained firmly attached to Ghastly’s tongue.

“Bulbasaur! Throw Ghastly into the ground, now!” I ordered, hoping to stop Ghastly’s Nightshade.

“Bulba!” Bulbasaur, while under the effects of Nightshade, yanked Ghastly towards himself, interrupting Ghastly’s Nightshade attack, before swinging Ghastly to the side and throwing it to the ground.

“Ghastly.”

“Razor Leaf.”

“Nightshade.”

Seemingly stunned from being thrown to the ground, Ghastly took a second to compose itself. A second that Bulbasaur used to launch a barrage of leaves at the Ghost pokemon. The first few leaves had just cut into Ghastly’s body before it retaliated with another dark energy beam. This time Bulbasaur managed to leap away from the attack. Whatever Lilith was going to order stalled as Leech Seed took effect. A combination of Leech Seed, being slammed to the ground and Razor Leaf putting Ghastly out of commission.

“Ghastly is unable to battle!”

“Huh.” Lilith returned Ghastly and looked at its pokeball before trading it for another.

“Go Haunter.”

“Haunter.” The Ghost pokemon floated above Lilith, learing at Bulbasaur.

Ghastly and Haunter. Did that mean her next pokemon was Gengar?

“Hypnosis.”

“Look away!” I ordered just as Haunter’s eyes started to glow.

Fortunately Bulbasaur looked away just in time to avoid Hypnosis.

“Shadow Punch, Lick.”

Unfortunately, that meant Bulbasaur wasn’t looking when Haunter launched a right punch at Bulbasaur, Ghastly’s hand being outlined in a dark aura.

“Saur!” To further rub salt into the wound, Bulbasaur had just enough time to turn his head and get punched in his face, launching Bulbasaur backwards. It was quickly followed up by Ghastly’s tongue wrapping around Bulbasaur and spiking him into the ground.

“Saur.” Bulbasaur…he tried standing up only to collapse to the floor.

“Bulbasaur is unable to battle!”

I returned Bulbasaur and thought about my next move. Eevee and Clefairy didn’t know any moves that could hurt Ghost pokemon, so that left Fearow’s Flying type moves and Misdreavus. I knew what Fearow could do, but would it be enough?

Pop.

“Misdreavus.”

Huh, and here I thought only Eevee could pop out of his pokeball.

“Misdreavus, what are you doing?” I couldn’t help but be a tad bit bemused when Misdreavus flew down towards me and began chattering excitedly, even turning to the side and throwing some quick jabs. “You want to battle don’t you?” At Misdreavus’ expectant look I caved in. “Ok ok fine. You can fight.” I couldn’t help but smile at Misdreavus' pleased trill as she got into position.

“Risky move, bringing in a brand new pokemon you just caught.” Commented Lilith.

“True, but I’m going to put my trust in her. Misdreavus, use Psybeam!”

“Shadow Punch, Haunter.”

It was a game of chicken that no one won or lost. Misdreavus had launched Psybeam only for Haunter to just barely dodge the attack after launching a right hook at Misdreavus who in turn dodged after cutting off Psybeam. Haunter continued to punch at Misdreavus while Misdreavus was launching Shadow Balls as she dodged. The two entangled in a sort of mesmerizing dance.

“Confuse Ray.” Lilith commanded.

“Use your Confuse Ray Misdreavus!” I ordered just as Haunter pulled back its hands and began staring at Misdreavus.

I couldn’t see Misdreavus' eyes from behind her, but I could see a gleaming red light emanating from her head just as Haunter’s eyes began to glow red. Shortly afterwards both pokemon stopped gleaming red. Misdreavus started swaying while Haunter continued to just float.

“Nightshade.”

“Payback!”

Haunter’s Confuse Ray must have worked because Misdreavus was staggering towards Haunter while Haunter launched a beam of dark energy at Misdreavus that connected.

“Misdreavus!”

I could only watch as Misdreavus took the hit head on before shaking her head. Suddenly Misdreavus rocketed towards Haunter, striking Haunter while Haunter was still using Nightshade causing an explosion of smoke. I didn’t have to wait long before the smoke cleared, revealing a no longer swaying Misdreavus and a wounded Haunter.

“Tsk, don’t tell me Nightshade canceled out Confuse Rays effects.” Lilith asked rhetorically, covering her mouth with a fist.

Huh neat, and if Payback worked as advertised then it would have done twice the damage after Misdreavus was hit by Nightshade.

“Confusion attack, Misdreavus.”

“Shadow Punch.”

Haunter actually managed to launch its fists at Misdreavus, but Misdreavus’s Confusion attack managed to blow Haunter’s fists back before blowing Haunter down to the ground.

“Haunter is unable to battle!”

“Misdreavus never showed such power during the gym challenge.” Lilith thought out loud as she returned Haunter. “She must want to fulfill Sarah’s trust in her.” Lilith looked at Misdreavus before focusing on Silver. “As much as I want to congratulate Misdreavus, this is a gym battle and it’s my job to push Trainers to their limits. Go, Gengar.” Determined, Lilith sent out a Gengar that stood confidently before Silver and Misdreavus.

Knew it.

“Misdreavus, Psybeam.”

“Gengar, Shadow Ball.”

The two attacks met head on before exploding, showering everyone with dark energy. The force of the explosion threw Misdreavus back slightly while Gengar began floating upwards, never losing its confident smirk.

That power. Ghastly and Haunter were strong, and Misdreavus too, but Gengar was stronger than both of them. And now Gengar disappeared!

“Nightshade.”

Suddenly Nightshade attacks came out of nowhere, Misdreavus miraculously dodging each one.

“Look out.” I could only cry out as Misdreavus dived down toward the ground, sticking closely to the floor. Either Gengar couldn’t attack from underground or it was humoring us. I know Gengar is out there, but how do I attack it if I can't see it? What if…

“Misdreavus, send Confusion throughout the field.”

Misdreavus gained some altitude before unleashing a Confusion attack that swept the field, revealing Gengar who looked affected by the attack.

“Psybeam.”

Misdreavus quickly attacked Gengar with Pysbeam, the attack doing further damage to Gengar.

“Shadow Ball.”

“Payback.”

Misdreavus charged Gengar, taking a Shadow Ball to the face and causing an explosion of dust. The cloud of dust quickly dispersed as Misdreavus rocketed towards Gengar, sending Gengar crashing into the ceiling of the stadium.

“Gengar!”

Gengar crashed to the ground with a flop, having enough energy to look up at Misdreavus before collapsing.

“Gengar is unable to battle! The match goes to the challenger, Sarah Silverman!”

The crowd exploded in cheers and applause, initially surprising me. During the battle I completely forgot about them. Still, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be thanking Misdreavus right now.

“Misdreavus you did it!” Misdreavus trilled happily.

“You put up a great fight, Gengar.” Lilith returned Gengar before muttering under her breath “They just put up a better one.” She then walked over towards me and Misdreavus. “I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting much considering the badges you already earned, but apparently I was wrong. So.” She reached into her outfit and pulled out a badge in the shape of a wispy ghost. “In honor of beating me I present to you the Phantom badge.”

"Thank you, Miss Lilith.” I said as she laid the badge in my hand.

“Also I want you to have these, too.” Lilith reached into her clothes and pulled out…three TMs. “They’re Shadow Ball, Shadow Claw and Hex. Use them if they appeal to you." She handed me the TMs.

Four badges. I’m halfway towards getting home. I can’t wait to get a camera and show everypony my adventure here. I’ll buy one after Ash defeats Sabrina. With Haunter it should be a cake walk.