The Ghost Specialist

When Sam raced to the edge of town to meet back up with Redi, all it took was a single glance for her to double over in laughter.

“W-what are you wearing? You look like a neon clown!”

He crossed his arms, pressing them against his chest in a not-so-subtle attempt to adjust how the striped snow jacket sat on his body. He could feel the heat rush to his face as Redi’s laughter echoed around them.

It didn’t help that she wasn’t alone. At her side, a bit above her head, a few held-back snorts came from another Pokémon. Dragonair looked as graceful as ever, but that meant nothing next to the goofy face she made while trying to stop her laughter.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want, but when we go through Ice Path, see which one of us stays warm,” Sam said.

Redi breathed in to try to gather herself, and Sam stared her down until the only thing she let out was the occasional snort. No other people were around, and this part of Blackthorn City lacked buildings. The only thing here was a well-worn road that led into the open tunnel of Ice Path and the trail that connected to Route 44 near Mahogany Town.

Since Redi had calmed down, Sam proceeded to release Quilava, wanting her to be nearby in case one of Ice Path’s wild Pokémon jumped out at them.

However, the moment Quilava appeared, Redi and Dragonair went completely still.

“What?” Sam asked.

That innocent question did it.

Redi and Dragonair collapsed to the ground, absolutely howling with laughter.

To their raucous noises, Quilava growled her name as her fur stood on its ends out of sheer annoyance. She held up a paw indignantly, but that just served to make those two laugh even harder.

“L-Little... little booties!” Redi yelled.

Tired of this, Quilava put her boot-covered foot down, but Redi continued to laugh alongside Dragonair.

Sam and Quilava walked away, leaving those two idiots behind.

With the Blackthorn Clan’s trials complete, Clair “defeated” in a Gym Battle, and Dragonair finally retrieved, there wasn’t much left for them within Blackthorn City. The place had been generous with its many open training fields, but with each one located so far away from the Pokémon Center, going back and forth to keep their teams healed wasted time that could otherwise be spent training.

They needed to move on to their next destination—Mahogany Town. Within it was Pryce’s Ice Type Gym. There, Sam would earn his seventh Gym Badge and Redi would earn her sixth. This time around, their battles would be separate instead of involving a two-on-one fight against the Gym Leader.

But they still had to actually reach their destination before they could make any explicit plans. With how the routes around the mountainous Blackthorn were set up, Ice Path was their only way forward unless they wanted to travel off-route, and neither one of them wanted to risk something like Dragonite again.

It’d take only a day or two to get through, with Ice Path stretching through Blackthorn’s northern mountains and over to the city’s west. Sam already had his share of freezing temperatures back at the Sinjoh Ruins, so he wanted to get through this place quickly and be able to take his time once they reached the next route.

“Sam! Wait up!”

Having finally recovered from her laughing fit, Redi ran to catch up to Sam with Dragonair following along at her side. Quilava very purposefully ignored the both of them, choosing to stare straight ahead no matter how pitiful Dragonair’s apologetic whines sounded.

“I’m sorry,” Redi said, placing a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “I just thought that as a Ghost Type specialist, you were familiar with curses, and that jacket is such an obvious cur—”

She snapped her mouth shut at his annoyed glare.

“Alright, alright! I’m sorry. Shouldn’t have laughed, no matter how bad your jacket is. But think about it from my perspective! Neon colors don’t suit you, Sam.”

“We’ll see which of us will be laughing when you enter an ice-covered cave without a thick enough jacket,” Sam countered.

Redi gasped, but she started to snicker, and Sam joined in with snickers of his own. To the side, Dragonair lowered her head to try to apologize to Quilava even harder, but she just pointed her nose in the air and continued to ignore the Dragon Type.

Her booties might have looked silly, but it meant she wouldn’t have to walk over ice with her bare paws.

Passing through the wide cave, they continued forward even as the road sloped up. The core sections of Ice Path had a secondary entrance they’d need to reach located about a third of the way up the mountain.

This cave they were in was technically part of a cave system, but a path had been smoothed to better support travelers. It curved up and around this northern patch of mountains, with hanging lanterns connected by wires to provide light at the tunnel’s side. This place was big enough to support a truck—and had likely supported trucks in the past. Since they were only at its start, Ice Path wasn’t freezing cold just yet. Its icy nature wouldn’t become present until they entered into its caves.

“So... Ice Path,” Redi said, moving to Sam’s side as Dragonair whined at Quilava. “I heard about this place before ever coming to Johto. Some researcher found out pollution was causing its ice to melt, and there was a big push for alternate sources of power. My parents talked about taking in another displaced Pokémon when that drama was going on, but in the end...”

She shrugged.

“We weren’t the right kind of people to help that type of Pokémon. We take in Pokémon in need, but not Pokémon that need freezing conditions.”

They stepped around a conspicuous boulder that was likely a Graveler trying to bait travelers into attacking it for blocking the path. A few other stones—Geodude—occasionally dotted the road’s side, and an occasional crack in the wall revealed eyes that tracked them as they walked past.

Primarily, those eyes followed Dragonair, as goofy as she was, since she was visibly a full-fledged Dragon Type. In human-maintained areas like these, some wild Pokémon went after obvious trainers in hopes of being caught, but that risk wasn’t worth getting involved with something as threatening as a dragon.

“Taking in Pokémon in need,” Sam repeated. “I thought your parents built buildings?”

“Yeah. We do both, but we also do construction. It’s kind of the same business?” Redi said. “Not all Pokémon like to battle, but Pokémon still tend to want to do something that involves their bodies. So my family works with Pokémon that want to work but don’t want to fight, and they help us build buildings. Some live with us, whereas others already have partners and just stop by every so often to help out. It’s a good setup. We get the help we need, and then the Pokémon get a way to expend their energy without hurting themselves in a fight.”

“Makes sense,” Sam said. “Helps explain why your family has a Pokémon as rare as Kangaskhan around.”

In a way, his mother was doing the same with Sableye as well as Shuppet and Duskull.

“Over in Hoenn...” Sam paused when they entered a section of the cave in which one of the lights had gone out. He felt the air churn around him as Ghost Types left his shadow to take this chance to stretch, but by the time he re-entered the light, they all dived back into his shadow to continue to be passively carried along. “Over in Hoenn—and Alola, I guess—there’s this group trying to do something similar to what your family’s doing, but on a way bigger scale. They’re based in Alola, but they’re all about helping threatened species of Pokémon. I think I heard something about them introducing foreign Pokémon to specific routes?”

“Huh,” Redi said. “So then if you traveled through Hoenn, would you have had the chance to catch a bunch of foreign Pokémon?”

“I’m in Johto,” Sam replied flatly. “I’m already catching foreign Pokémon.”

Redi laughed at that.

“But the Foundation or whatever it’s called hasn't done that much yet,” Sam continued. “All I’ve heard about was some kind of flower Pokémon, probably a Grass Type, being tested out near Verdanturf. And then I think Glacia’s trying to make them do something? Something about new Ice Types in Mossdeep’s Shoal Cave?”

Ahead, part of the cave opened up due to a collapsed wall that revealed an expansive view. They weren’t too high into the mountains just yet, but even this far up, Sam was able to see the entire city of Blackthorn below.

Redi ran up to a short safety railing and breathed out in amazement. Dragonair followed, wrapping the end of her tail around the railing to be prepared to catch Redi in an emergency.

Both of them, however, stared out with their eyes wide, taking in the incredible view. Sam stayed back, with Quilava remaining at his side.

“When you fly up, is this what you see?” Redi asked her Pokémon.

Dragonair’s eyes were sparkling, and she nodded.

“...Can you take me one day?” Redi asked, following up her last question with a whisper.

Immediately, Redi burst into laughter as Dragonair threw herself into Redi’s chest. The Dragon Type rubbed her head against her with enthusiastic agreement.

Unfortunately, any such flight would only happen in the far future. Unlike Clair’s Pokémon, Dragonair didn’t yet have the strength to fly with a rider on her back.

They both lingered for a few minutes, but Sam had to turn around once he wasn’t able to resist his nausea. He liked the sight near the Sinjoh Ruins a lot better since the clouds blocked the view of the ground. Here, sure, it was neat to see an entire city at once, but they were so far above the ground. All he could think about was the distance he’d have to fall to hit the earth if he accidentally lost his balance.

“So since Hoenn’s getting new Pokémon and there was that push for environmental stuff, you think Ice Path has anything new? What rare species does it have in it, anyway?” Redi asked once she skipped over to Sam.

“Not much. Few Ice Types. Not many. Zubat and Geodude, of course, but after that—”

“New Pokédex doesn’t say anything else?”

He froze, looking up at Dragonair, and Redi just rolled her eyes.

“Come on, Sam. We’re out of the city. Dragonair’s with us, and there’s no one nearby! She’s part of our group now! She should know, too!”

Sam frowned, but Redi kept talking. Before he could stop her, she was already looking up at her Pokémon and starting to explain.

“Sam has a magic book from the future that contains a whole bunch of secret information about Pokémon, moves, and evolutions. Did you know that Ursaring can evolve? Same for Primeape? And then he knows all about abilities and hidden abilities and foreign species and—”

“Hey!” Sam shouted.

Redi clasped her hands together.

“Look at her face! You’d really try to stop her from learning the truth?”

She proceeded to push out her bottom lip while mustering the biggest puppy dog eyes she could. She held out both of her hands, and Dragonair plopped her head onto them to stare at Sam with a nearly identical look.

They both whined, staring at him with just the most pitiful expressions. Sam found himself unable to reply, and he turned away to march off so that Redi couldn’t see his face.

“I can’t believe it,” he mumbled.

“What? That I want my friend to know, too?” Redi replied.

“No,” Sam answered. “I can’t believe that there’s now two of you.”

A full ten seconds of silence passed. It was interrupted when Quilava snickered. Redi’s eyes finally widened then, and her jaw fell open at the indignity.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

Trotting away to join Sam, Quilava pointed her nose in the air while refusing to look at Redi.

Redi just as quickly caught up, and after a bit of humored yelling, she settled in to tell Dragonair about all of her plans—Sam was never going to stop Redi from revealing the New Pokédex in the first place. Dragonair, amazed, listened as all of her potential moves, the method of her evolution, and both of her abilities were described. Redi went as far as to reveal Dragonair’s hidden ability, too:

Marvel Scale.

Once trained, Marvel Scale would increase Dragonair’s defense whenever she suffered from a status condition. She’d lose that benefit when her scales changed upon evolution, but as a Dragon Type, Dragonair was a long way away from becoming a Dragonite—unless she went out of her way to push for it.

Hm. But Marvel Scale...

Sam listened as Redi talked excitedly to her Pokémon.

Should I be worried that her team will have yet another counter to my team’s main strategy?

Ice Path continued up in a relatively short path. Side tunnels opened up at the sides, practically inviting further exploration, but Sam just wanted to move on from this place. For now, it was better to push forward and stick to the main path.

Along the way, no Pokémon attacked, and the further up they went, the colder the air became. Some sections of their hike moved across cliffsides with breathtaking views, and other sections dove deep into the mountain itself to pierce through solid rock and curve around.

Eventually, however, the temperature plummeted. Though no clouds drifted by overhead, wind blew in from both the open side and further down the path. Patches of white became more and more frequent against the stone, with areas of natural ice having frozen over to form natural crystals.

One last, exposed edge ended in a harsh turn directly into the mountain. They reached the second entrance, located about a third of the way up.

“This is where it’s going to get difficult,” Sam announced to the group. “Ice Path is maintained by both its relatively sealed environment and the Ice Type Pokémon inside, so we’ll need to watch where we step if we don’t want to be attacked or slide across the ground. And since we’re trainers, Pokémon might attack us regardless. Expect species like Jynx, Swinub, Delibird—”

He stopped himself when a freezing wind blew out of the opening ahead. Sam wasn’t sure if the wind had been caused by a temperature differential or a faraway Pokémon’s attack.

Dragonair shivered.

“Quilava, would you be willing to heat us up?”

She said her name in agreement and let her flames flare to life. Dragonair breathed a bit more comfortably, but Redi still turned to her friend with a worried look.

For some reason, both of them looked like they were about to cry.

“Dragonair,” Redi said softly. “I know you want to hang out with us, but you’re a Dragon Type. You’re really weak to ice. It’s not going to be safe or comfortable for you in there, so you’ll be happier in your Pokéball. I’ll send you out once we’re on the other side.”

Dragonair whined again, but her eyes flicked to the cave itself. The line of lanterns stopped a few feet in front of the opening, but the cavernous interior contained enough white snow and clear ice to reflect the small amount of light coming in from the entrance to illuminate most of the cave.

“...Nair,” Dragonair said reluctantly.

She bowed her head, and Redi tapped a Pokéball to Dragonair’s forehead. The serpentine Dragon Type was sucked up in a flash of red light.

Despite being forced to recall her friend, Redi still smiled. She stared at the Pokéball in her hand as if it hadn’t settled until now that Dragonair was a member of her team that she could send out and recall at any time.

“Let’s make this quick,” Redi said, bringing her head up with a determined look to her eyes.

This place was still a tunnel, but from the many branches in the path, it was clear there was an entire network of frozen caverns through the mountain. Ice formed against the walls like patches of crystal, and they had to avoid glass-like puddles that would have otherwise seen them slide forward.

Like the climb up, Sam didn’t see any Pokémon, but he had a feeling that was due to Quilava and her flames that kept the area around them warm. Like how the wild Pokémon indigenous to Blackthorn City’s mountains weren’t willing to be involved with a scary Dragon Type like Dragonair, the Ice Types here did not want to subject themselves to Quilava’s fire.

“I know I just returned Dragonair, but should we stop here and train?” Redi asked. “It’s Ice Path. It’s full of Ice Types. If we could encourage some wild Pokémon to battle us, it’d be the perfect place to train for Mahogany’s Ice Type Gym.”

But Sam shook his head.

“It’s not worth it,” he said. “We’re too far away from a Pokémon Center. Besides, the main path through isn’t actually that big, and there are snowy areas near Mahogany Town to visit if we really want to.”

“I guess,” Redi said with a sniff. “I just wanted to make sure we were ready. Since my team’s up to three, I was thinking of taking on Pryce as soon as we get—”

She stopped herself when Sam frowned.

“...We lost against Clair,” Sam said quietly.

“We won against Clair!” Redi countered loudly.

“We almost lost against Clair,” Sam said to correct himself. “Think about it. If she started with a pair of stronger Pokémon, or if Dragonite was more willing to follow her strategy, or if she had just used a full team of six instead of five plus her ace...”

Redi stayed quiet.

“Taking on Pryce is a bad idea. Not until we have more time to train, I mean,” Sam said, continuing. “I can’t stop thinking about our battle and going over it in my head. I don’t think we should have won. The only explanation is that she went easy on us. I don’t know if we’re ready to win in our next Gym.”

“But Clair is a Gym Leader!” Redi shouted. “Look, she knows how to test people. You’re being too negative. It just felt easy because we’re getting stronger, yeah?”

“Maybe,” Sam said as he continued to slowly march forward, “but I want to make sure we’re prepared for the Conference. That match was close—too close. And then I also lost to Will beforehand, so...”

He sighed.

“With how strong your Pokémon are, you might be able to pull off a win, but Mahogany Town is going to be my team’s seventh Gym,” he said. “I can’t see us winning without some serious developments.”

He glanced over to Quilava to see her staring. She understood what he meant.

A fully evolved Fire Type would be a great boon for taking on the Ice Type Gym.

“So how is Quilava going to evolve, anyway?” Redi asked, quickly catching on.

Sam smiled.

“Practice!” he said happily. “And by practice, I mean hunting! We have a big list of haunted locations, and we’re going to go through them one by one until we finally get a ghost suitable for Quilava!”

Also, Sam was on what was effectively a ‘priority’ list. If Morty learned of a suitable ghost near Sam’s location, Sam would be the first to know. Using a League favor for Morty’s assistance meant more than just a one-and-done deal.

But it also made him dislike what the Blackthorn Clan had provided him even more. He understood that they had fulfilled his request for free, but he had to force himself to not outright disagree with their... everything.

“I see,” Redi mumbled.

“I also called ahead to request an Everstone for Quilava, so we’ll be picking one up once we reach Mahogany Town,” Sam said. “For the other evolutions on my team, Primeape just needs to master Rage Fist, and I need to find a Dusk Stone for Misdreavus. Even just one evolution would do a lot to help with my confidence, but after everything, I’d prefer if it was Quilava.”

Redi nodded, and Sam caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He could see a wild Sneasel watching them, but the way it kept its ears back, he could tell it was only watching to make sure they were moving on.

“Mm. I guess I should teach Dragonair better moves. And everyone else can always get stronger, too,” Redi mused. “Mr. Pokémon told me he’s hiring people to gather soil samples for us, but we won’t be able to test them on Ursaring until the next full moon. He also agreed to help with Porygon, but he’s being cagey about what that means.”

She grunted unhappily.

“I really should have added some kind of clause to get information in return, but whatever,” Redi said.

After a few more moments of walking over snow and ice, Redi started to grin.

“Well, I’m fine if he wants to be a bit cagey. Sam, he’s giving me money. So, so much money.”

With that statement, she walked with a kick to her step, and Sam laughed as he followed along. They had to spend a minute grabbing the wall to move around a patch of ice. If they hadn’t, they would have had to angle the direction they slipped to hit rocks and bounced around.

Something like that was viable, but it also would be painful.

“And Stantler?” Sam asked once they were on the other side.

Redi looked at Sam.

“What about Stantler?” she replied with a cheeky smile.

With that tone of voice, it was pretty obvious to Sam that they wouldn’t be getting a more specific answer, so he chose to just continue through the ice-covered cave.

“Then, I guess we both have a lot to work on,” he said. “But I hope our time in Mahogany Town will be easy. No criminals. No big tests. No tournaments or events or trials or any sort of emergency that’ll take up our time. Just us, our Pokémon, a whole bunch of practice, and—”

He stopped himself.

“What?” Sam asked, hearing Redi’s groan.

“Why would you ever say that, Sam? You’ve jinxed it! Now, Mahogany Town’s going to be horrible!”

Sam stopped walking to stare at her, his mouth open but with no words coming out. Seeing the look on his face, Redi cackled and kept heading forward.

“Wait, that’s not how it works! I’m a Ghost Type specialist! You said I know about curses!”

“Sorry, but that’s the rule. You say something like that, and then something bad happens!”

He shouted as he ran after her, and both of them alongside Quilava passed through the rest of Ice Path.