The Ghost Specialist

There was an audible thunk when Redi’s head hit the table. For the tenth time today, she let out a long, annoyed groan. A passing trainer sent her an amused look as he carried out a tray of breakfast. Sam continued to eat his own meal at their table in the cafeteria of the Blackthorn Pokémon Center.

“I’m so stupid,” Redi said.

Sam chewed on his bite before swallowing.

“You’re not stupid. Eat your breakfast.”

“I am stupid. And I dun’ wanna.”

Sam sent her a flat look, and they locked eyes until Redi sighed. She didn’t lift her head, but she scooped up a bite of oatmeal and shoved it in her mouth.

They had only been in Blackthorn since late last night. The Stantler herd hadn’t been too far away from the city itself—which was half the reason Clair and her Dragon Types had seen them in the first place. Everything involving the wild Pokémon had taken place yesterday. Redi still hadn’t gotten over her decision to wait to add that elder Stantler to her team.

Yet, her current attitude was still somehow an improvement from her depression last night.

“I really don’t think this is the end of the world,” Sam said. “You technically have a third Pokémon waiting for you. You just have to figure out how to get a fourth Pokémon somewhere in town.”

“But there aren’t going to be any interesting Normal Types here, and we gotta fight Clair! How am I supposed to catch something?” Redi groaned.

Sam lazily pointed a spoon at her.

“You could trade?” he offered.

Redi glared at him.

“I don’t want to give up any of my Pokémon.”

“I mean talk to someone and make a deal where you go out and catch something for a Pokémon of theirs in return.”

She did seem to consider it, breathing out and pushing back in her seat. Redi brought up her arms to stretch before reluctantly continuing her meal. Quilava sat on the table next to them, munching on a berry, and Primeape and Ursaring had already finished eating.

The Fighting Type had eaten breakfast in their room, mostly to avoid making a public spectacle out of the ensuing mess.

“I’ll figure it out,” Redi grumbled. The food looked to be helping. “But we still have a bunch of other stuff to do. Signing up for the Gym battle in the first place is one. I also gotta tell the League where I am so they can send me that TM for Porygon. And then for Mr. Pokémon’s deal...”

She grimaced.

“You have to call your family,” Sam said, practically ordering it.

“...I have to call my family,” Redi repeated before sticking a spoon in her mouth.

Sam could tell she wasn’t looking forward to that, but he also knew she loved her parents. She spoke about them and their Pokémon so often that he was certain they were always on her mind. That, and her main goal was to become famous and help support them with her earnings. Most of the reason she became a trainer was to help them advertise. Even if she was avoiding talking to them, she still obviously cared.

“I need to call my mom, too,” Sam said. “I don’t need Mr. Pokémon’s help, but I should probably get her opinion on what I’m doing with that book. I also think the Pokémon League might owe me a favor? Nurse Joy never told me if I got that as payment or not, but they didn’t tell me I didn’t, so I could probably ask them for a Pokémon if you really—”

“I’m already going to get that Teleport TM! Use the favor for yourself!” Redi interrupted.

Sam shrugged and scraped his bowl for the last dredges of his meal.

The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence, and Redi stared at her bowl, deep in thought. She rested her head on one hand as she absentmindedly spooned food into her mouth.

Eventually, when her meal was mostly gone, she pushed away from the table and stood up.

“Screw it!” she yelled. “I have time today! Before I do anything else, I’m gonna find a place to train with my team and get my mind off everything!”

“But you’re still going to call your family.”

“But I’m still gonna call my family,” Redi repeated again. “Just... I’ll do it later.”

They returned their bowls to the counter. Rather than a Chansey in a hairnet, a volunteer was working the cafeteria today. Quilava finished off her own food, and they headed outside, where Redi arched her back to stretch.

“Are you going to train at the Pokémon Center?” Sam asked.

“Nah. I’m probably going to find a spot at the edge of the city.”

“Watch out for Dragon Types, then.”

Redi snickered.

“If I’m attacked by a Dragonite again, I’m gonna blackmail the Blackthorn Clan for everything that it’s worth.”

Redi might have been heading out, but with their awaiting double battle against Clair, individual training wasn’t as valuable as usual. Double battles were uncommon in Indigo, but Sam was familiar enough with them given their popularity in Hoenn. He and Redi needed to come up with strategies together to figure out how they wanted to fight as a team. As a child, when Sam visited his Grandfather, they’d often watch televised tournaments together. He had seen trainers who should have done well instead get quickly eliminated when paired with another trainer they were unable to work with.

However, while they needed to practice, Sam didn’t want to jump back into training right away. After traveling so long off-route, he wanted to take it easy for a bit, first.

“I’ll join you later. I want to explore the city.”

“Ah. Looking for more lame books?”

Redi smirked at Sam, but he smiled back without an ounce of shame.

“Yup!” he said. “I didn’t get any in Violet City, so I wanna see if I can find at least one interesting one to take with me.”

Redi started to walk backward, waving as she left.

“Then I’ll catch you later! We’ll split up for the start of today!”

She ended up jogging off, leaving Sam behind. Quilava looked up from where she stood on her hind legs next to him, and she dropped to all fours.

She wanted to stretch her paws instead of riding on his neck.

“I need to find a bookstore, so keep an eye out,” he told her.

Blackthorn’s sidewalks were tiled, and its streets were hardened stone. Blackthorn City might have been called a “city,” but it lacked tall buildings like those of Goldenrod and Violet’s Gym.

Sam walked from block to block, not really having a specific goal, but just wandering around in his search. Nothing here was taller than three or four stories, and many contained decorations that celebrated the Dragon Type. He’d pass by one place with what were either claws or fangs carved into its windowsills. He’d then pass by another that incorporated the snarling faces of Dragon Types into its facade.

Few places were built with wood, and the city seemed to rely on an overabundance of stone. It made sense to Sam, at least. The place was under control and named after the Blackthorn Clan, a family of Dragon Type tamers that were one of the few remaining clans of old Johto. They didn’t want to risk such a storied city to any Dragon Type-caused fires.

Though Primeape stayed in his Pokéball to digest his breakfast, Sam didn’t just have Quilava at his side. His Ghost Types remained under his feet—wild Pokémon included. Their presence caused a slight chill that helped him better resist the heat of the summer. He would have thought that so high up in the mountains, Blackthorn City would stay cool, but it seemed that this time of year’s heat was unavoidable no matter what.

As part of his exploration, he skipped over a popular bookstore that seemed to be a part of a chain and instead searched for an independently owned business. Sam found what he was looking for in a side street. The place had a small entrance at the end of a short staircase down.

Stepping inside, his presence was announced with a chime, and Sam took a deep breath in.

He smelled the familiar smell of paper. The store was cozy and quiet. It almost reminded him of home.

However, it had its differences. The shop’s wooden bookshelves looked older, and there was no counter right next to the door. A flat table had been set up at the store’s back, and an old man reclined behind it while reading a thick book.

Not only that, but the place smelled different, which Sam was surprised to notice. Since his mother’s bookstore was in the seaside Dewford, she went to great lengths to keep the corrosive salty sea air from getting in. She didn’t do it perfectly, so there was always the hint of the scent of the ocean, but the smell of books tended to be far more prevalent back home. Here, the place had an almost smokey smell to it. The old man had an unlit, though previously used, candle sitting next to him.

Sam took one step in and paused. The old man looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah,” Sam said.

He glanced down at Quilava, a Fire Type walking into the bookstore, before glancing back up at the store owner with a wince.

“Uh, if you don’t allow Pokémon to be out—”

The old man snorted.

“Nah, it’s fine. You look responsible. But if you burn it, you buy it.”

Sam nodded and tried to ignore the memories of Quilava’s “accidents” that had happened when she first came home with him.

A few shadows split off as he started to wander through the store. Haunter, guiding a few Gastly, seemed interested in checking out a place so similar to what was Sam’s home. Misdreavus left as well, likely going off to browse.

Sam wasn’t sure if she could read. Most Pokémon under trainers figured out common words and phrases, but the vast, vast majority of Pokémon had zero interest when it came to written text.

He browsed the available books, fingers trailing over their spines and coming back up with a layer of dust. There were sections filled with older, less popular novels and tomes, but there was a shelf right at the front dedicated to the entries of the most popular recent series. Based on how there were gaps in that shelf but none of the others, Sam had a feeling this place operated differently than his mom’s store back home. Instead of needing to place orders for new books from the mainland, the shop owner seemed to have bought whatever seemed popular and hoped for the best.

Sam did at least glance through the most popular series. They were all fantasy or adventure, and magic was a common theme. By far, the most numerous book was one about a boy going to a magic school. The third book in that series had recently been released, and it was almost sold out.

Sam also saw a few physical Pokédexes, but they weren’t present in the numbers his mother had acquired for Dewford Gym. They sat in a corner, slowly gathering dust. Like his mother’s shop, this place was having trouble selling them as well.

However, there was some sort of irony in that Sam wasn’t planning on buying any physical Pokédex. Even though he hated how the electronic Pokédex was doing away with that form of profitable sale, he wasn’t going out of his way to do anything about it.

Shapes in shadows continued to dart from shelf to shelf as Sam continued to browse. Nothing really grabbed his interest until he had a sudden thought.

Sam spoke up.

“Excuse me, but do you have any older books? Like, really old books?”

Blackthorn City was as old as the Blackthorn Clan itself. With that kind of history to it, Sam hoped that he could maybe find a clue or two to help Quilava evolve.

Without looking up, the old man pointed to a corner of the room with an isolated bookshelf. He didn’t notice Misdreavus floating before it, nor did he notice any of the shadows of Ghost Types moving about.

Sam joined Misdreavus’s side, and she smiled and said her name. He smiled back before looking through the bookshelf. What he found was... a lot.

These books were definitely older. He recognized a few as ones he’d read in the past. One section of the shelf seemed to be reserved for outdated textbooks and encyclopedias, too. There wasn’t much organization past that, however. Rather, it seemed that anything too old for the rest of the store had been left here and forgotten. Hardback, paperback, and even some books bound in leather sat before him. Pages had turned yellow, and others were grey from a thick layer of dust.

“We put books there when they don’t fit anywhere else,” the old man said, still not bothering to look up from his book. “Most often, when someone’s relative passes away and they got a lot of stuff, families will ‘donate’ their books here when they don’t want to throw them out. I’m not sure what to do ‘em half the time, so feel free to take what you want.”

“So they’re free?”

The old man barked out a laugh.

“Ha! No. You still gotta pay. I mean that they aren’t reserved or anything. Barely anyone is interested in what we got over there.”

He returned to reading in silence, and Sam returned to his search. He had trouble figuring out exactly what was here. Most of these older books lacked titles on their spines.

Opening a few up, he found a mix of various things. Empty journals. Stories way out of date. A few unpublished manuscripts. And one collection of notes—

Sam blinked and reread the title he saw on the first, interior page.

“Legends of Hisui,” he whispered under his breath.

The book was a collection of research on the Diamond and Pearl clans of Hisui. Pages were missing, and it wasn’t any official textbook, but someone had written down and copied text that concerned the two groups’ history.

Just skimming through it, Sam could see that this was primarily meant as a form of cultural documentation. A few decades ago—at least, Sam was pretty sure this was from a few decades ago—someone had tried to record the history of the Diamond and Pearl clans before they were lost forever. The notes were mostly about tall tales and myths from the region itself. It mentioned something called “noble” Pokémon. It referenced some sort of ancient hero. It told stories and legends from around the region.

Unfortunately, specifics of any long-lost evolutions and species were sparse, and there were even some inaccuracies—like how it mentioned a Scyther evolving after being struck by lightning. The only thing Sam could find that might have been relevant to him was a brief mention of Liligant. Hisui had its own variant of that Grass Type species, but the book never differentiated it from the Lilligant commonly found in the rest of the world.

Yet, even though he doubted it had anything that’d be directly helpful for him, it was nice to learn more about the region where Quilava’s hoped-for evolution had once existed. Sam was still skimming it over as he walked up to the counter. He half-hoped he could find a clue that might help them achieve it.

When he set the book down on the counter, shadows rushed to rejoin him under his feet. The old man then looked up at Sam with a cocked eyebrow, never once having noticed all the Pokémon that had been moving through his store.

“Oh? You’re really interested in that old thing and not something more exciting? Wouldn’t that series about that magic kid be more your speed?”

Sam replied with a simple shrug.

“I like Hisui,” he said.

The man put his book down and began to ring Sam up.

“Fine with me. Always happy to make a sale. I’m just surprised to see that one go. We got it from the family of some researcher after he passed a while back.”

Sam paused.

“Do you have anything else from him?”

He locked eyes with the old man, who paused where he was working the cash register.

Unfortunately, he replied with a shake of his head and a single laugh.

“Nope!” Sam disliked how amused the man looked. “The Sinjoh Ruins aren’t too far north of here, so we occasionally get other researchers passing through. Anything old and rare about Johto or Sinnoh’s shared history tends to get snapped up pretty quickly. Did you know that the first settlers of Sinnoh were from Johto?”

“I did,” Sam said with a sigh. “But not all of them. The Galaxy Expedition Team had members from a bunch of different regions.”

He walked out of the store with the book in hand. Its incomplete nature was probably why it had been skipped over. He doubted it had any information that wasn’t already known, but Sam felt that it would at least be useful to him.

Quilava and Misdreavus made sure no Ghost Types were left behind, and the little Fire Type chased after Sam as he headed back through the city’s streets. He skimmed the book as he walked, deciding to read it more thoroughly once he had a chance to, later.

The journey toward Redi was mostly uneventful, as he simply traveled the way he saw her run. He looked down to ask the Ghost Types in his shadow for help to find her, but none needed to leave. Fibula was able to direct him toward where she was on his own.

Along the way back, traffic on one street all but stopped as people turned and stared at the sky. A lone Dragonair flew over the city, and several people pointed in excitement. Sam would have thought that the appearance of a Dragon Type was a common event, but it seemed that locals treated the rare Dragon Type sighting as a sign of good luck.

Sam found Redi shortly after, just slightly further down the same road. She wasn’t out of the city’s bounds, rather, there were dedicated training fields set up at the city’s edge. Clearings that weren’t quite parks but were still open to the public had been created to help control where trainers went. If Dragon Types tended to leave the city to train—like what he and Redi had seen with Clair—then Blackthorn City was likely trying to provide alternative training spaces to minimize how many risked themselves to an attack.

Redi stood in the middle of one of those fields. Her Pokémon weren’t out, but just like everyone in the street leading to this place, she stared up at the sky. Sam noticed that she almost looked melancholic as he approached. She didn’t notice him until he called out.

“Redi!”

She blinked at him as he waved. She seemed surprised to see that he was there at all.

“Sam,” Redi greeted. Slowly, she ran her tongue over her teeth. “I’ve been... thinking.”

“You’ve been doing that a lot, recently.”

“Yeah,” she said hesitantly. “I have.”

Sam frowned and looked at Redi again. He’d only been gone for just over an hour. She wasn’t as depressed as she was before or as energetic as she usually acted.

Instead, she brought her gaze back to the sky. When Sam checked, there was nothing there at all.

“I might have a solution for getting a new Pokémon,” she said.

“Already? I haven’t been gone for that long at all.”

She didn’t respond, choosing instead to keep staring.

“I know. It’s just...” Redi briefly let her volume drop and her words fade away. “Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“What are your thoughts on helping me steal a Dragon Type? I think that’s the only way I’ll be happy to get a new member of my team.”