The Ghost Specialist

There was a simple fun that came with shopping. Having money to spend, a willingness to splurge, and friends to choose gifts for made the act of going out and buying items way more interesting than doing so for errands.

Sam didn't search for a specific store; he went out and stopped by anywhere that caught his eye. As he shopped, his team followed him. There were technically rules in place that prevented trainers from releasing their entire team on a city street, but as long as Quilava stayed on his neck, she was too cute for people to complain, and Haunter and Misdreavus couldn’t be discovered as long as they stayed in his shadow.

Primeape eagerly followed along at Sam’s side, which earned them a few concerned looks given a Primeape’s penchant to explode with anger. However, anger was something they'd be working on. Instead of allowing it to consume him, it was something that was always simmering, able to be carefully called up at any time.

Sam made sure the first gift he bought went to Primeape, mostly because he was the easiest. For Primeape’s gift, Sam made a reservation at an all-you-can-eat restaurant that specifically catered to trainers and their Pokémon. Of course, it was much more expensive than a normal restaurant, and to save money, the place served lower quality meals. The important part, however, was that it’d let Primeape eat as much as he wanted.

After Sam informed his Pokémon of the reservation, Primeape cried and hugged his legs.

Out of everyone, that gift was the most transient, as it was effectively a one time event. But Sam knew Primeape would prefer the chance to pig out over any material gift.

Haunter received a small, handheld mirror that’d let him practice his disappearing act while also making adjusting his appearance on a Route an ease. Quilava got a tiny little sun hat. It was supposed to be fireproof, but it lasted only thirty minutes before a sneeze turned it to ash.

Sam apologized and quickly bought her new gifts: scarves she could wear instead. She already had one to hold her piece of Charcoal, but she only put it on when needed. Instead, these scarves were more about fashion, and while she did shy away from the coos she got from passersby, Quilava clearly enjoyed the compliments. The scarves fit her quite well.

Finally, there was the last member of the party, Misdreavus. Sam knew the least about her. If anything, she seemed nervous. He could tell she was excited to find out what he’d buy.

In the end, her gift ended up being more practical, consisting of a small satchel that could hang around her neck. Until she evolved, Misdreavus wouldn’t have hands. The satchel gave her a way to carry items without needing to use telekinesis or her mouth.

Gifting it to her, Sam brought it over her head with a smile. The satchel was child-sized, so it perfectly fit around her neck.

“So, what do you think?” he asked.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she flung herself at his chest.

It might have been his birthday, but Sam didn't buy anything for himself. Instead, he created a list. He wrote down every book series that seemed popular. His plan was to see what the trends were in other towns before buying anything specific. If something stood out, he’d get it. Otherwise, he’d just record what was popular.

Is it wrong that I'm looking forward to the research more than the books?

There was something about being a trainer that was changing his mindset. All throughout his childhood, he had been so excited to learn about other trainer’s strategies, but now that he was a trainer himself, he preferred to research and develop his own.

He was smiling when he came back to the Pokémon Center, arriving exactly an hour-and-a-half on the dot. He strode in with a skip to his step, searching the room for Redi.

“She’s in the back,” the front counter’s nurse said with a light laugh.

Sam bowed his head in thanks before rushing into the Center’s small cafeteria. There, he found Redi facing away and standing at a table while fiddling with something. Porygon floated by her side, and Ursaring was struggling to blow up balloons a foot away.

“Hey!” Sam said, walking closer to greet her.

She turned around, wide-eyed, before hurrying to throw out her arms.

“Surprise!”

Behind her, Ursaring tried to cheer as well, but he accidentally sucked in the balloon. He pounded his chest and coughed up a piece of soggy plastic that splattered onto the ground.

Sam stared at the wet balloon. Redi also stared at the piece of plastic on the ground. After several seconds of silence, both of them burst into laughter.

“You bought me a cake?” Sam said, breathing to calm down looking at the table.

“Of course! It’s your birthday! And because it's your birthday... I got you a gift, too!”

Sam waited to see if she’d hand anything over. Instead, she just puffed up her chest.

“I scheduled a tour of Sprout Tower!” she said, pointing at herself proudly. “It’s completely private, and it’s way late at night!”

Sam had wanted to visit Sprout Tower, but he didn’t think he’d be able to with how crowded it was with tourists. After learning about the parades last night, he wanted to see how the tower’s monks took care of the Gastly, but he doubted the Ghost Types would appear in the day and around such dense crowds.

But now he would have the chance. Redi saw his surprise and smiled.

“I thought that since the place is so old, you might be able to find a hint about Quilava, too,” Redi said.

“I didn’t even think of that,” Sam said softly.

“But I did!”

Redi looked exceedingly smug.

However, that smugness quickly faded. While she had bought a cake, she had forgotten to buy utensils.

Or even plates.

She had to awkwardly ask a nearby Chansey if the Pokémon Center had any spares, and thankfully, they did.

“So,” Sam said over a bite of ice-cream rich dessert, “how’d you manage to swing a late night tour? I thought Sprout Tower was only open to the public during the day.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Redi said with her mouth full, waving her fork in her hand. “It’s not a public tour. While sitting in the park, one of the monks there approached me and offered the tour to cheer me up. He was nice! I thought it would be a perfect gift, so of course, I accepted.”

“A random guy approached you in a park, offered you a private tour, and you accepted?” Sam asked.

She huffed.

“If you put it like that, then of course it sounds weird! Come on, Sam. I thought you’d like it.”

“I do. I just think how you got it in the first place is funny.”

Redi forced her food down and stuck her tongue out. Sam snickered at her reaction.

Around them, their Pokémon ate. Primeape smashed his face down to inhale his food, and Quilava went at it with much smaller, almost dainty bites. Everyone else ate more normally, except for Porygon, who didn’t have a mouth, and Haunter, who picked apart his cake layer by layer before swiping everything up with his tongue.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how they take care of all of their Bellsprout and Gastly. They come out at night, so I’m hoping we can catch Sprout Tower sending them off or seeing them back,” Sam said. “Thank you, Redi. I really meant it.”

“Y-yeah. It’s no problem.”

Sam laughed again when her face turned bright red.

They spent a while just chatting. Minutes turned to hours, and both them and their Pokémon devoured the entire cake. Primeape’s messy eating habits meant he got frosting all over his face, and the Pokémon had to briefly step away to wash up.

Quilava somehow ended up sleeping in Sam’s lap, and Misdreavus lingered near his head. Haunter phased through the wall but kept nearby, hiding himself as he watched other trainers practice outside.

Overall, while Sam never went out to do anything he had planned at the start of the day, he genuinely had a good time. He might not have spent much time by himself, but being around friends was better.

When the time came to take part in the private tour, Sam couldn’t explain why he felt so nervous upon entering the park. This late at night, it made sense for the place to be utterly empty, but there was something about its unnatural stillness that felt... off.

He’d explored towns at night. He knew the effects of Ghost Types on their immediate areas. He’d even experienced a real ghost first hand as well as the silence that came with it. Yet, as he walked down the path towards Sprout Tower, he just couldn’t put his finger on what he was feeling.

There were no Pokémon. There were no humans. There was no sound. All of that made sense, but shouldn’t there have been at least something?

“Are you sure we have a tour scheduled?” Sam whispered. Even though he kept his voice low, the lack of ambient noise made him feel as though he had just yelled.

“Yeah! I mean, probably. The guy’s a monk or whatever they call the people who work at Sprout Tower. Sage, maybe?” Redi shook her head. “Whatever he is, he approached me to help, and the park was packed. If he wasn’t trustworthy, someone would have definitely called him out.”

Redi had a point. Not just that, but monks were just about universally respected. There wasn’t any ground to distrust the guy, but the current state of the park just felt so wrong to Sam.

If there was a chill to the air, he could have chalked up the feeling to a nearby Ghost Type. But it was warm outside. Johto’s League season started at the beginning of the year, and since it was halfway through the season, the temperature wasn’t out of place for the current, early summer month.

It’s like everything is waiting. Or all the Pokémon are... hiding?

It was like something had scared the Pokémon off, but Redi seemed unconcerned. They were in the middle of a city, after all. If there was a problem, she would have faith that her Pokémon and Sam could handle it.

Sam chose to have that same faith in Redi and his team as well.

Redi continued toward Sprout Tower as Sam followed along. A wooden bridge brought them over water lightly pushed by a small breeze, and Sam looked down to whisper to his Pokémon just in case.

“Be on guard just in case, alright?”

Both Haunter and Misdreavus were in his shadow. They brushed against his feet to silently acknowledge his words.

Sam and Redi reached the entrance a moment later. Seeing no one, Redi cupped a hand to her mouth and breathed in.

“Pete!” she shouted.

The name echoed throughout the park.

Only a few seconds later, they got a response. From around the side of the tower, a man came walking out.

He... looked normal. Almost perfectly average. He was essentially the most generic monk Sam had ever seen. The man had a bald head, blue robes, and a nondescript face. He wiped his hands together to knock away a few traces of dirt.

“Ah, apologies for that. I was getting everything set up so we’d remain undisturbed. It unfortunately required taking care of some light taskwork. Gardening and the like. Did you know mushrooms respond best when tended to at night?”

“Huh. I didn’t,” Sam said.

Redi grinned and held her arm out towards the man.

“Sam, this is Pete, the monk who helped me out! Pete, this is Sam, my friend I was talking about!”

Pete gained a small smile on his face and slightly tilted his head in greetings. Sam respectfully bowed back. Thankfully, unlike the rest of the park, the monk actually seemed normal.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Sam said.

“It’s a pleasure to finally be in your company, oh grand winner of the Violet City Tournament.”

Redi snickered as Sam felt the heat rush to his face. He stuttered briefly as Pete looked on, amused.

“Come, come. Follow me, and we can start this properly. I’ll ask you to remain as quiet as possible as we move up to the third floor. I’ve always found tours work the best when we start at the top and work our way down. It removes the need to rush. A tour like this is best done slowly, yes?”

Pete moved to the front doors of Sprout Tower, grabbing its large, bronze handles and pulling them open. Somewhat dramatically, he held out an arm to beckon them in.

“Thank you!” Redi said.

“Thank you for doing this,” Sam said, following her inside.

Pete closed the door behind them and nodded his head. He held up a finger to his mouth as the lock clicked. Now that they were in the tower, they needed to stay quiet.

This lowest floor reminded Sam of the Burned Tower, except the building wasn’t collapsed and scorched black. The walls and floors were constructed in a similar way, and there were old, hanging pieces of artwork and seals still intact on the walls. Silvery moonlight peeked through wooden slats of windows, providing just enough illumination to see. In the center, there was a pillar. It stretched into the floor and up through the next floor as if it should have been critical to the building’s structure, but it swayed. It slowly moved back and forth as if it were unconnected and free.

Sam and Redi both stared as Pete waited behind them. The way the massive wooden beam constantly moved was almost mesmerizing.

“Is that—”

Sam cut himself off as Pete brought up a finger to remind him to stay quiet. Sam sent the monk an apologetic look, and the man started to walk to a point nearby.

Through the dim room, Pete led them past human-sized statues of Bellsprout and over to an old, wooden ladder near that central pillar. Climbing it brought them to the second floor, a different ladder brought them back down to a closed-off section back on the first floor, and then two more sets of ladders served as the path to the uppermost floor.

It was needlessly confusing. Everyone remained silent the whole time.

Sam would have expected this place to contain other monks and wild Pokémon. The monks’ love for Bellsprout was one of the reasons the tower was so famous, but Sam also knew Gastly could be found here. Except, no other living thing showed up—or even any ghosts. From a few silent gestures from Pete, the man explained that all the other monks here were asleep, and the wild Pokémon were apparently already out on their parade through the town.

I mean, I guess it makes sense for this tour to take place right now, but it’s kind of disappointing to know the tower is empty except for us. Maybe the reason we’re here right now is specifically to make sure no one else is disturbed?

Sprout Tower closes itself off at sunset, after all.

Eventually, once they reached the third floor, their group emerged into a room that could only be called a shrine. The floor didn’t quite cover every square inch of the space, but low, wooden walls blocked off the sections that only consisted of the exposed rafters of that second floor.

That central, swaying beam stretched through the room as well. Sam couldn’t see how or if it was even attached. The ceiling above them was completely obscured by darkness, the only light coming from a few slatted windows behind them and against the far wall.

“Can we talk now?” Sam whispered.

Pete chuckled at his question.

“Go ahead. No one will hear us here.”

“So the Bellsprout statues,” Sam said, looking over the ones set up at the edge of the walkable floor. “Are they important?”

“I’ve heard that if you pray before them, you’ll be blessed with a year’s worth of luck. It would be a fun way to start the tour, no?”

Pete brought up a hand to wave them forward, much in the same way a parent might encourage a timid child to have fun at a park. When Sam glanced over to Redi, she seemed to be honestly considering the idea.

“It’s just a superstition. Come on, you don’t really believe that, do you?” Sam groaned as he took in his friend.

She shrugged.

“I mean, if ghosts are real...”

“I...”

Huh.

Sam had to admit Redi had a point. It didn’t make sense to outright dismiss a superstition.

Pete stayed behind as Sam moved up to one of the back wall’s statues, a massive wooden composition of a Bellsprout curved into a wiggling pose. The lopsided head of the Pokémon juxtaposed with its thin, root-like body made it seem as though the statue should have collapsed long ago. Though the wood was worn, the statue was still standing. If Sam had to guess, he’d say it was as old as Sprout Tower itself.

Doing as suggested, Sam and Redi both clapped their hands together. Despite his love for the Ghost Type, Sam wasn’t one to visit shrines frequently, so he wasn’t super familiar with what to do.

Following Redi’s example, he bowed his head and considered it. He needed to ask for a specific fortune, maybe?

Please let us make it to the Conference, and please give us the strength we need to win!

He waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. Sam just awkwardly stood there with his hands pressed together.

Next to him, Redi stood in deep thought. She kept her eyes closed with her lips moving ever so slightly as she whispered some sort of prayer. Sam couldn’t stop himself from smiling at that. She always threw herself into everything, even something as simple as this.

Not really having a reason to linger, Sam turned around to start moving back to Pete, but he froze. Pete wasn’t at the ladder. No, the man was right behind them, an arm outstretched and reaching towards where Redi had her team’s Pokéballs clipped to her belt.

The single instant of eye contact felt like it lasted forever. Sam’s mind ground to a halt as he tried to rationalize what was going on. He hadn’t heard the monk approach—any footsteps had been utterly silent. Pete seemed to be surprised that Sam had turned around so soon, but after that brief moment, he moved.

Pete threw his whole body behind his motion, trying to snap his hand forward to grab a certain Pokéball before Sam could do anything. Sam’s shadow was already moving, and a purple claw burst out of it to swipe across Pete’s extended arm.

“Agh! You freaking—”

The shout shocked Redi out of her focus, and Pete pushed off the ground to take many quick jumps away from them. He moved with surprising agility, situating himself at the ladder to the room. He was framed by the low wall of the edge of the floor and that large, central beam of the tower. There were too many alarm bells ringing in Sam’s head for him to excuse that behavior.

Sam never once let his focus break away from Pete. Haunter entered the air to glare at the man.

“What happened?” Redi asked, looking between everyone.

Pete nursed his arm through the torn sleeve of his robe.

“Pete was... trying to take Porygon?” Sam said, disbelieving his own words.

Yet, as he said it, the statement felt like acid in his mouth.

Redi at first seemed to not believe him. She rapidly glanced between Sam and Pete, taking in the way the supposed monk's entire body language had changed. Her eyes narrowed as Pete held up his arms. He chuckled, somehow still maintaining his friendly demeanor.

“Man. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to forget all of that? Start over and give us another chance?” Pete asked.

For some reason, his voice didn’t sound as deep as before. If Sam had to describe it, it was a touch more nasally.

“Not a chance,” both Sam and Redi said.

Pete let out a breath, rubbing his cheek with the back of his hand. As he did, the skin on his face stretched and squashed unnaturally. Something broke away at the top of his neck, curling and sticking out like a small strip of paper.

“Sorry,” Pete said. “Then I guess this is where I come clean. Yeah, turns out I lied to you. There’s no tour. I’m not a monk. My name’s not even Pete.”

As if to prove his own words, he grabbed at the tag on his neck, yanking and pulling it away. The skin on his face went taught and stretched into a horrific visage that didn’t match anything alive. Eyes briefly hidden in shadow, Pete groaned as he tore off his entire face. A bit of make-up fell off his rubbery mask. A wig was pulled off his head.

With him distracted by the reveal, Sam quickly used the moment to wave a hand behind his back. Part of his shadow split off and left. Pete didn’t seem to notice.

The mask was tossed to the floor, and the completely unfamiliar man put on a pair of white gloves. He touched his eyes to take out a pair of brown contacts and shook his hands to flick them away.

“Hello! Nice to finally meet you face to face. Let’s do this properly,” he said, wiping his hands together. “Call me Petrel. You have something of mine. I wanted to take it back.”

The look in his eyes was sharper, and his head was less rounded now that the mask was off. He was young—gaunt—and he fell into a slouch that was likely his natural stance.

Petrel ran a hand through purple hair sticking up on his head. He smiled a weaselly smile. It was obvious that he was still trying to act friendly, but any friendliness that remained in Redi’s eyes had utterly faded away.

As the truth of this situation settled in—this man had lured them here specifically to ensure they’d be alone—an honest-to-goodness growl left Redi’s throat.

“You’re trying to take Porygon,” she stated.

Petrel laughed, and Sam frowned as he considered the man’s words.

He spoke in past tense, not present.

“Kind of,” Petrel replied. “Definitely not going to deny trying to pickpocket you. No, since you figured me out, how about this: would you kids be interested in a job?”

Redi glared at him. Her hand twitched at her side. Sam could tell that she was itching to send out Ursaring, but she didn’t.

Instead of jumping into a fight, she was waiting for a signal, first. He could tell that she was trying to give him time to come up with a plan.

Well, I’ve already done one thing, at least.

“We’re listening,” Sam said slowly. Right now, he just wanted to delay.

“Great!” Petrel clapped his hands. “See, I’m not really supposed to be here. Yeah, I was told to get Porygon back, but you two are mostly a side-goal while I’m taking care of some other stuff.”

He wiggled his fingers.

“I’m part of a larger organization, one trying to expand. We care a lot about Pokémon, but we care more about people with the right kind of skills. See, you two are the exact kind of person we’re looking for!”

“...You’re really giving us a recruitment pitch?” Sam asked flatly.

Petrel snapped his fingers to lazily fire off finger guns at Sam.

“You got it! Look, I know we might have started off on the wrong foot, but you gotta admit you have a lot of potential.”

Redi let out another growl.

“Think about it,” he continued. “You have a few Gym Badges. You’ve won a decent-sized tournament. Your Pokémon are mid-level but skilled, and the best part about you is that you were able to snatch up that Porygon in the first place!”

He never once let up his smile.

“Like I said, we’re trying to expand, and people with skills capable of something like that would be perfect for our organization. Want payment? You got it. Want some training? We have teachers. And if you want to add some rare Pokémon to your team? Prove me right, and we’ll be sure to accommodate you. It’s a pretty good deal, yeah?”

Even in the slim amount of moonlight getting through the windows’ slats, Sam could see Redi’s knuckles whiten on her fists. She was dying to do something, likely wanting to attack Petrel outright, but she was being patient.

She utterly trusted Sam.

Pretending to carefully weigh Petrel’s words, Sam ignored a patch of shadows that was darker from the rest, currently creeping towards Petrel on the wall. As it moved towards the man, Sam said nothing. He pursed his lips as if in thought.

“How much?” he asked.

“How much what?”

“How much money, how many Pokémon, and what connections can you provide? Tell us that, and then tell us if we need to drop out of the Pokémon League, too.”

Petrel pinched at a small goatee on his chin. He seemed to be honestly considering Sam’s questions.

“Rewards vary on the role you take on. For all three of your first requests, I mean. And for dropping out of the Pokémon League, you don’t have to, but it’d be preferred. It’s not too big of a deal to stay in since you don’t really have a name for yourself, but if you drop out right now, no one would blink if you stepped back at the same level most other trainers do.”

Sam nodded along, gears furiously spinning in his head.

“And what would you have us do?”

“Just a bit of group work,” Petrel said. “You know, scouting. Battling. Maybe steal a Pokémon or two?”

Sam bristled at the statement. Redi seemed to inflate with rage.

“You’re a poacher,” she said, her voice becoming far too calm for their current situation.

To that, Petrel grinned. The shadows of the night emphasized the whiteness of his teeth. His eyes glowed within the darkness.

“No,” he said. “Only amateurs poach. I’m better than that. See, I’m a Pokémon thief!”

His words oozed with pride.

Petrel brought up a thumb to his chin, smiling at them like a madman. Redi was shaking, but Sam recognized that they didn’t need to wait anymore.

Sam’s eyes flicked to a certain point above Petrel’s head. Petrel’s eyes flicked to a spot on the walls behind them.

A few things happened very quickly. Several Pokémon attacked at once.

Misdreavus revealed herself to be above and to the side of Petrel, unleashing a Psywave right at the man. Redi, meanwhile, took that as the signal to act and tossed forward her Pokéball. Ursaring appeared and let out a furious roar.

However, from behind them, a darkened shape leapt out from the shadows. Revealed by the pink light of Misdreavus’s attack, a Raticate, having sneaked around, jumped right at Redi with its claws held out and jaw open wide.

“Haunter!” Sam shouted, desperately calling for help.

“Bite!” Petrel called out as he jumped back to avoid Misdreavus’s attack.

Haunter shot through the air, interposing himself between Redi and the lunging Pokémon. Despite being a usually phantasmal Ghost Type, the Raticate latched onto him with its massive teeth and tore a chunk right out of his purple flesh.

He wailed in pain. While the injury wasn’t debilitating thanks to his amorphous and smoke-like body, using Bite to tear part of him away was far crueler than anything allowed in a Pokémon battle.

The Raticate’s eyes were beady and feral. It tried to chew on the purple flesh in its mouth, but putting pressure on that piece of Haunter caused it to dissolve away into deep purple smoke.

“Fury Swipes!” Redi yelled.

She wasn’t turning around. Sam understood that she trusted him to deal with the Raticate while she handled Petrel.

Except, can we really do that?

Despite the charging bear, Petrel looked utterly unconcerned.

“This is going about as expected,” he quipped.

He made no effort to dodge Ursaring’s impending attack, merely watching the Pokémon rush closer and closer to him. Right before Ursaring became in range, a sudden, high-pitch whine sent the bear to the ground. Ursaring clutched his ears and groaned.

Behind them, the Raticate snarled at the wheezing Haunter, but it didn’t make any moves to attack. In front of Petrel, the largest Golbat Sam had ever seen dropped from the ceiling with its mouth held open, still in the process of screeching a Supersonic.

A brief lull fell across the room. Sam and Redi were outmatched, and both sides of the battle seemed to recognize that.

Smug, Petrel kicked up his legs as he walked, ambling back over to position himself next to the sole ladder in and out of the room.

“Poison Fang,” he ordered. “And, uh, Raticate? Keep an eye on them. Make sure they don’t get away.”

Haunter was in no condition to fight, but the Raticate wasn’t moving, waiting in place as an implied threat. Instead, the only battle going on was around the swaying pillar in the center of the room.

From the ground, Golbat lunged. Misdreavus, still involved, tried to use Confusion to stop it. Even though her move should have been super effective against the Poison Type, the Golbat merely swung its wings to break free of the telekinesis and send out a gust that knocked Misdreavus back.

“You know—” Petrel paused when Ursaring howled in pain as the Golbat latched onto his shoulder. “It isn’t often I get to battle like this. It’s honestly rather refreshing.”

Sam wanted to send out Quilava, but relying on a Fire Type in a wooden building would be a fool’s mistake. Primeape was his next best option, yet when he grabbed his Pokémon’s Pokéball on his belt, he couldn’t bring himself to pull it away.

Primeape doesn’t have a malleable body like Haunter. If he messes up even once, that Raticate could seriously wound him.

This wasn’t a Pokémon battle. This was a fight against a dangerous criminal.

Unable to act, Sam grit his teeth. Haunter was having trouble breathing but forced himself to stay in the air. Sam would have liked to return his Pokémon, but he was worried that the Raticate would strike if there was nothing defending them.

And Petrel was blocking their exit, too. While the Golbat was keeping both Misdreavus and Ursaring occupied, the man was standing right next to the ladder. It was the only way in and out, and even if they rushed him, there was no telling what other tricks the thief had prepared.

“Thunder Punch!” Redi roared.

Ursaring brought up a fist that crackled with electricity. He threw a punch at his own shoulder, but Golbat dropped down to let the attack swish right over its head.

“Air Cutter,” Petrel said with a yawn.

Golbat jumped back, entered the air, and sent out dozens of blades of wind, only needing a few flaps of its wings.

Misdreavus had to unleash her growing Shadow Ball early to dodge, her attack going wide. Ursaring, meanwhile, took the damage in full. The previous Poison Fang meant he was now poisoned, and the pain meant he was struggling to move.

“Idiot. You’ve fallen for my trap!” Redi said, grinning ferally.

Petrel snapped his fingers.

“Ah, you mean Ursaring’s Guts, right?”

She hesitated.

“You kids need more experience. You really think this is the first time I’ve fought Pokémon like yours?”

When Ursaring tried to jump towards Golbat, he didn’t jump far enough. In fact, he wasn’t able to jump off the ground at all. A single foot was lifted up before the massive Pokémon fell on his face. Petrel just laughed as Ursaring pushed up and limply tried to slash a claw into the air.

The Supersonic, Sam realized.

While the move didn’t layer illusions like Confuse Ray, its high-pitched noise messed with a Pokémon’s inner ear to throw off their sense of balance.

Sam hated this. He hated having been tricked, and he hated being trapped. Most of all, he hated the way he was just standing around, watching everyone else battle while he stared like a slack-jawed fool.

Redi had at least taken action. She was the one to try to battle once everything properly started. But what had Sam done? He had Misdreavus sneak off to the side. He delayed the fight to try to set things up in their favor. Except, his gambit had failed, and he still wasn’t giving any orders. He was freezing up in the face of a real life, extremely dangerous fight.

He didn’t want his Pokémon to get hurt. At the same time, he didn’t want his friends to be taken away. The only benefit to his indecision was that the only being in the room paying attention to him was the Raticate, and that was only because it was paying attention to their entire group at once.

...All of that combined meant that, somehow, Sam had placed himself in the perfect position to think.

Ursaring and Misdreavus battled it out, struggling and failing to do anything to Petrel’s Golbat. Sam furiously searched the room, trying to find something they could use to their advantage. He looked at Petrel, the Golbat, Ursaring, Misdreavus, Raticate, those Bellsprout statues, the central pillar, the windows—

The windows!

Petrel wasn’t just a random person. He was a career criminal sent after them, likely also a master of disguise. While Ursaring and Misdreavus were both strong, neither of them had the strategy or the experience needed to turn this fight into a win. Except, while they were trapped in this room, Petrel had trapped himself in a box of his own making.

He thought he was blocking the only exit, but there was another way out. The downside was that it involved doing something only an insane person would do.

Sam bit his cheek, not sure if his plan was worth it, but Petrel unfortunately forced the decision for him, the man leaning back against the ladder.

“Yeah, I think I’ve had enough of this,” Petrel said, bringing his arms into his sleeves. “Time to end this, kids.”

He pulled out two sets of Pokéballs. He held three in each hand before tossing them into the air.

“Poison Gas,” he ordered. “Slowly! Fill the space.”

Six different, bulbous Koffing left their Pokéballs and opened their mouths to groan and exhale. Sickly, purple gas poured out like a waterfall, massing together and creeping over the floor to pin everyone else in.

Golbat moved back to land in front of Petrel. Ursaring fell to a knee, and Misdreavus floated up higher to avoid the slow-moving wave of smoke.

Petrel then tossed up another six Pokéballs. Then another two. A total of fourteen Koffing floated in the air and vomited up purple fog. Sam wasn’t surprised a criminal didn’t follow the legal carry limits, but this many Koffing felt... excessive.

Unless they’re expendable.

He’d looked up Poison Types before. He knew Koffing could explode with Self-Destruct. If there was anything to reaffirm his absolutely insane plan, it was the knowledge that Petrel could blow up this place at any time.

Sam snapped his gaze to Redi.

“We’re leaving.”

“Oh? And how are you going to manage that?” Petrel asked.

He made a show of rolling his back against the ladder as Redi hurriedly returned Ursaring to his Pokéball.

Sam recalled the heavily injured Haunter as well, just as quickly sending out Primeape. With the newcomer’s appearance, Raticate hissed and immediately lunged.

“Rock Smash!” Sam yelled.

Primeape ducked and brought a fist into an uppercut placed right into Raticate’s stomach.

While the rat Pokémon was strong enough to withstand the super effective attack, it didn’t have the weight to not be launched. The power carried in the punch sent it into the air, where it sailed over a wall and landed on the exposed rafters of the second floor.

“Huh,” Petrel said. His Raticate scrambled to get up and began to scurry after Redi and Sam.

He didn’t wait. Sam charged towards one of the room’s windows, shouting “This way!” to get Redi to follow.

A hum came from behind them, and Petrel snapped his fingers. Gas began to coil around their feet. The rate at which the main mass of smoke moved drastically increased.

A quick order of Brick Break saw Primeape smash through the window’s old, wooden slats. Redi pulled the splintered wood to the side as Sam peeked his head out and returned Primeape.

They were three stories up. It was a long way down. Still, they didn’t have much of a choice.

“We have to jump,” Sam said.

Redi squeaked in surprise. Meanwhile, Petrel just laughed.

“I love it! You kids are insane! Are you sure you don’t want to work for us?”

Misdreavus rushed to Sam’s side, and Redi got the hint to send out Porygon. With the Koffing’s growing gas coming out like a tidal wave behind them, Sam grabbed Redi’s hand. She grabbed his hand back and squeezed.

Their Pokémon moved under their shoulders, and then together, they jumped.

Neither of them had any Pokémon that could use Fly, a move generally required if a Pokémon wanted to carry a human through the air. Without it, a Pokémon needed the inherent strength and size to be able to support a person.

However, Misdreavus could levitate. Same for Porygon. The problem was that neither of them had the strength to lift up an entire human, let alone two.

They were falling at a slower rate, but it wasn’t enough. The speed at which they plummeted would mean catastrophic results when they hit the ground.

Their savior came in the form of a flash. As the grassy soil raced towards them, Sam felt something pull on his neck.

Haunter, still injured, had released himself. His hands grabbed onto the back of both of their shirts to give the Ghost Type a handle to pull up as hard as he could.

It was enough. When they hit the ground, it still hurt, but outside of the immediate moment of shock, Sam didn’t feel anything break. Redi somehow managed to stay straight up as Sam stumbled forward. He waved for her to follow, and they both took off running.

Redi winced with every step.

“You kids are really going to make this harder than it has to be, aren’t you?” Petrel said as he peered out the broken window, his Golbat blowing away any lingering smoke. Sam glanced behind him as he ran, only hearing the man thanks to the unnatural silence of the park.

All the wild Pokémon were hiding from him, weren’t they? I should have recognized the signs.

“It won’t matter!” Petrel shouted as Sam and Redi ran as fast as they could. “We have people everywhere! And we’re going to find you! No matter where you go, no matter where you hide, Team Rocket is going to know exactly where you are!”