The moment Yuji's feet hit the ground, the eyes disappeared, and the hallway lights flickered back on.

"Derek!" Yuji spun around the room, looking for danger. "What's wrong?"

I couldn't move, I couldn't answer him. My body just wouldn't respond. My jaw was locked in place, my hands had clamped down on the bedsheets.

People in the hallway started to open their doors, checking to see what the commotion was.

Amy climbed down from their bed, flicked on our room light, and made their way to me. Their eyes filled with worry.

"Something has him terrified," Amy said, their own eyes widening as they experienced my emotions.

Hana had crossed the room and made it to the doorway. "Sorry guys, night terrors," she lied effortlessly to the other trainers. "We'll take care of it."

Before she closed the doors, I could see that her answer had mollified most of them, and people started returning to their rooms.

Hana looked at the other two. "Do we know what happened?"

My eyes flicked around the room. Just because I couldn't see the ghost didn't mean that it wasn't there. I wanted to tell them that we were in danger, but my mouth still refused to open.

Yuji leaned down, sitting on the edge of my bed. "Derek? Can you respond? Was it actually a nightmare?"

"He's feeling more anxiety and frustration," Amy winced at the emotions blooming in my chest. "I don't think it was a nightmare."

Amy's analysis gave me a sense of safety. They knew exactly what I was feeling, even if it was just as unpleasant for them.

They'd told me they felt emotions much more strongly when it was directed at them. I tried to feel gratitude as much as I could.

Amy nodded. "You're welcome, Derek." They turned to Yuji and Hana. "I'm right, it wasn't a nightmare."

My eyes flicked down to my hands, and I saw my fingers unclenching far too slowly.

What is going on? I raged in my mind. Yes, that scared the shit out of me, but I shouldn't be this unresponsive. The Misdreavus must have used something on me.

That made the most sense. All my life I'd always been on the 'fight' scale of fight-or-flight. I'd never frozen up like this.

The rage helped clear my mind, and I was able to unclench my jaw ever so slightly.

Yes! I screamed in my mind.

I interrupted the others, who were still discussing what could be wrong, with the smallest whisper I could get out. It came out frustratingly slow.

"Gh... ...ost... ...type," I breathed out. I inhaled heavily after, feeling light-headed from the strain.

The others all stopped.

"Did he just say 'ghost type'?" Hana asked nervously.

Amy stared at me in horror.

Yuji once again got onto the bed, making direct eye contact with me. His dark eyes were alight with alarm.

"Derek, do you know where it came from, and where it went?" He said slowly.

"For... ...est.. ...Mis... ...dre..." I gave up on the word and inhaled as hard as I could with my locked-up body. It was just too hard.

Within seconds, Hana had pulled her laptop from her bag and connected it to Yuji's Pokedex. "There are no ghost types native to the Viridian Forest," she said, eyes glued to the screen. "However, doing a cursory glance, there is a line of ghost types named Misdreavus who are native to Mt. Silver. One could've come to the forest from there?"

Amy recovered enough to give them an update. "He feels proud. I think you got it, Hana."

I nodded ever so slightly, regaining movement in my neck. The clenching of every muscle in my body was painful, and I didn't know how much more of this I could take before I had an actual panic attack.

Yuji wasn't satisfied with the answer, though. "Derek, do you know where it went?" He repeated.

I didn't need Amy to translate. I shook my head 'no'.

My friends all began to look around uncomfortably. They knew as well as I did that ghost types were not to be messed with as a low-level trainer. They drilled it into us in every class: ghost types were dangerous, tricky, and often murderous.

I felt every muscle in my body go lax, and I sputtered out a cough. Every single one of my friends jumped at the loud noise.

I kept going with a hacking cough, my lungs not prepared for the huge inhale I'd done when my muscles had relaxed. Amy patted my back, but honestly, it was more for comfort than anything else.

Yuji handed me one of our water bottles and I drank from it greedily.

After I finished, I turned to them. "Holy shit, that fucking sucked."

Yuji and Hana gave anxious smiles, obviously happy that I was out of whatever that had been, but Amy tossed their arms around my torso and pulled me into as big of a hug as their small body would allow.

I didn't need to ask what that was about, I just hugged them back. As well as they'd been acting functional for the last few minutes, they'd felt every bit of the fear and anxiety that I'd felt.

"I'm pretty sure I'm haunted," I announced to the room as I kept up my hug with Amy

Amy pulled away quickly and punch me in the arm. For a tiny person, their boney arm still packed a punch.

"Ow!" I yelped. "I'm haunted, not dead! Don't use me as a punching bag."

They punched my arm again, albeit softer this time. "You didn't think to mention to your resident psychic that you might have a ghost following you?"

I stared at them. "Well, when you put it like that- Wait a minute, how am I at fault here? I thought I got away from it!"

"Derek," Hana spoke up hesitantly. "When did you even meet a ghost type?"

I frowned, letting unpleasant memories surface. "When I was stuck at the Beedrill nest, it helped me escape. Well, it helped and then alerted the hive, so I guess it was really just trying to get me killed."

Yuji let out a frustrated breath. "It's probably been hiding in your shadow this whole time, waiting for you to feel safe so it can prank you again."

My eyes bulged. "They can do that?"

He shrugged. "We have a lot of myths about ghosts in Saffron, the psychics hate them."

"Yeah, we do!" Amy got up and started looking around the room, checking under the beds and in the bathroom. "They're not as bad as dark types, but they disrupt the hell out of our powers."

Hana pulled back up her notes. "If yours is a Misdreavus, you'll be safe once the sun comes up. According to this, they sleep during the day."

"It is." I nodded. "I'm sure of it."

"Do they have them in Hoenn?"

"No, but a friend of mine growing up really wanted one. She even had a replica set of the red beads that Misdreavus wears."

"That's great! Could you send her a message and see if she knows anything helpful?"

"Uh," I hesitated. We hadn't spoken in some time, and it would be a bit awkward to text her out of the blue. Especially when it was just to ask her advice and not to actually say 'hi'.

"I don't know, she's really busy these days-"

"Derek," Hana gave me a flat look. "This article also says that Misdreavus 'feeds off the fear of those they prank'. This thing's going to get hungry again."

"I'll text her."

Hana nodded.

Yuji reached up and slid his entire mattress off of the top bunk. Amy nodded at him and did the same, though they put in significantly more effort to reach the top bunk.

"What are you guys doing?" I gave them both a puzzled glance.

Yuji glanced at Amy, and then went back to getting his bedding tidy. They nodded and turned to me.

"One of the biggest wards against ghosts is a feeling of safety," Amy explained. "Even if it's only subconsciously, you're going to feel safer if we do a sleepover. And because you feel safer, you be safer."

"So what, are we doing a cuddle pile?"

"Yeah."

I glanced up at Hana, and she gave all three of us weird looks. "I love you all as friends, but I'm skipping the 'cuddle pile'."

Yuji walked over and grasped the edge of Hana's bed. "No, you're not," he said, a little too much of a grin on his face.

He tugged as hard as he could, and Hana's mattress, with Hana fully on it, landed on the ground.

Amy and I laughed ourselves silly at Hana's expression, and promptly shut up when she reminded us that she was the one who organized the supplies.

No one was brave enough to argue with the person who bought your food.

----------------------------------------

The next morning, I left the Pokemon Center with a goal. The others all were doing their days off to celebrate getting to Pewter, but I convinced them that I'd technically already slept through two whole days of the trip and needed to catch up.

I held Artis' ball tight as I moved through the crowds of trainers still surrounding the Pokemon Center. My initial goal had been to use the training grounds, but the sheer amount of trainers in the area had defaulted the place into a battle arena. Right now, two zero-badge trainers were using the field to settle an argument.

Instead, I walked across the way, using my Pokenav+ to get me to the public fields near the Gym. Pewter City's Gym was just as impressive as Viridian's but significantly older. It did have the difference of having an open top, though, so it cut a much more imposing figure than Giovanni's gym.

Like I'd feared, the trainers had also taken over the public fields, but that wasn't my real goal. As I approached, I walked toward the flashiest battle I could find. There were two trainers currently battling, and I actually recognized one of them.

Terry, the guy that Amy and I had met yesterday, was battling against another trainer that I knew to be one of his group. He was commanding a vicious-looking blue Pokemon, with a ridge of red scales running down its back. I didn't recognize it, so I pulled out my Pokedex and scanned it.

"Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokemon," it pinged. "This Pokemon has extremely developed jaws that can cause extreme injury, even with minimal effort."

It was fighting a bright red fox Pokemon that I actually knew from my home region, though I'd never seen one in person. Out of sheer appreciation for its beautiful tails, I scanned it anyway.

"Vulpix, the Fox Pokemon. Inside this Pokemon's body burns a flame that never goes out. During the daytime, when the temperatures rise, this Pokemon releases flames from its mouth to prevent its body from growing too hot."

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I gave a low whistle of appreciation as the Vulpix released several small purple flames into the air that began to float around Totodile. Even the Pokemon's moves were beautiful.

I wouldn't mind having one of those on my team.

I tore myself away from the fight, though, and looked for my real target. Dozens of trainers had gathered to watch the two rare Pokemon battle, but they were only in my way.

There!

Hanging off of a nearby fence, five kids around ten years old or so watched the battle in awe. Their eyes got big as they watched Totodile strike back with a Water Gun.

I felt bad interrupting, but I walked up to them. "Hey guys, sorry for getting in your way, but I was wondering if you were locals?"

Four of them immediately deferred to the one in the middle. They were neither the tallest nor the broadest, but they had an air about them that I could tell the others respected. They had dark skin and a jaw that was going to be strong when they got older.

They looked me up and down, eyes pausing on Artis' ball. "We're too young to battle, sorry Mister," they said.

"No, no, this is nothing like that," I answered, trying not to show that the other four starting to snicker was getting on my nerves. "I was just wondering if you guys knew anywhere I could train that the other out-of-towners wouldn't know about?"

That was my reason for seeking them out. Kids always knew the places that would be the most cleared out, and asking a local gave me a leg up on the other trainers in town. Everyone else was going to be patiently waiting for their turns to battle while I was seeking out a private training ground.

The kid's eyes narrowed at me before they glanced at the others and grew a mischievous grin. "We could tell you for... .. twenty bucks?"

"How about we call it thirty and you agree to not tell anybody else about the training ground?" I pulled the cash out of my pocket.

All of their eyes went wide, and they quickly looked at each other. "Deal!"The lead one said.

I grinned. Thirty bucks wasn't even a quarter of a Pokeball, but to these kids, it was an entire afternoon of snacks and fun.

"Lead on."

----------------------------------------

The lead one, I found out his name was Harrison, led me down the walking trails to the outskirts of town while his buddies went to greedily spend the money I'd given them.

"So mister," Harrison asked as we walked. "Why did you want to come all the way out here to train? Wouldn't it have been better to battle with all the other people?"

"You'd think that, but my Pokemon and I are trying to get some of the basics down for new moves, and he works best in a stress-free environment."

"Um, that's not what my brother says. He says that Pokemon unlock their biggest potential when they're battling others."

"That's true for most things, but we're going to be working on technique today, which is something that you can only get down with hours of hard work. You can't just throw your Pokemon into trauma after trauma and expect them to improve."

I looked down at him, questioning something he said. "Is your brother some kind of trainer?"

"Yeah." He said simply, offering no further explanation.

We walked for a few minute minutes before he announced, "We're here."

I looked around and grinned. We were just outside of town enough to be inconvenient for others, and we'd moved right up against the quarry wall to a small dry riverbed with an abandoned waterwheel. Both were in disrepair, and the shattered rocks around the dirt field told me that I wasn't the only one to use this place as a training ground.

"This is perfect. Thanks, Harrison."

"Do you mind if I stick around and watch? After my friends get the snacks they're gonna come down here anyway."

"Sure, as long as you stick to our agreement and don't tell other people about this place."

He gave me a thumbs up and headed over to the waterwheel, where he sat on the floor with his back against it.

I released Artis in a flash of red light, and he popped out as energetic as ever. He barked to say 'hello', and quickly rolled in a circle around me.

I leaned down and scratched his chin. "Hey, buddy. Our friend Harrison over there," I gestured to the kid and he waved, "found us a place to practice for our next battle."

Artis happily barked at Harrison, which made the kid smile.

"So, we're going to work on what we were doing the other night. It's going to be Water Gun drills until we get it down, and then practicing using Powder Snow and Rollout at the same time."

Artis once again took my mentioning the move as permission to practice and gave his best attempt at a Water Gun. A pitiful stream of water dribbled onto the ground from his snout, and he mumbled sadly.

Harrison giggled.

I ignored him. "That's okay bud, we just need to figure out what your process is for learning. You picked up Powder Snow through repetition, so we can probably get there with enough tries."

Harrison spoke up from the wheel, "If one of your friends has a Pokemon that already knows the move, you can probably use that to speed up Artis' learning."

I squinted at him. "You know a lot about training Pokemon. Your brother teach you that?"

He shrugged.

"Anyways," I looked back down at Artis. "Unfortunately nobody we know currently has a water type, so we'd have to ask a stranger." I shuddered.

I might've started the conversation with Hana's group, but social interaction was not my strong suit.

"So, we're going to have to get by with hard work. We're going to earn that move! Right buddy?"

He jumped into the air and yipped excitedly.

"Alright, bud! Concentrate on this rock here. This is gonna be your target..."

----------------------------------------

Several hours later, Artis and I returned to the Pokemon Center. Harrison and his friends had stuck around the whole day to watch us train and were actually really helpful when it came to their callouts. I forgot how much kids' brains were sponges for knowledge, and they could often recall things faster than I could.

It was mid-afternoon when I got back to the Center, though I didn't immediately head up to the room. Instead, I wandered the first floor until I found the computer lab.

I found an empty stall, and there were actually more than I thought there'd be, and I plugged my Pokenav+ into the console. The Pokenav+ might've been good enough on its own to send recordings and do an audio call, but I wanted a video call and that could only be done at a console.

I took a deep breath and dialed a number that I'd memorized as soon as I was old enough to stay the night at a friend's house.

The call rang for a moment, and I feared they wouldn't pick up, when the camera clicked on and my mom answered the phone.

My mom was an intimidating lady at the best of times. She wore a grey suit, the shoulders constructed and clean, and her dark glasses frames gave her a severe librarian look. She was significantly paler than me, which meant that it was easier to see when she was angry from the vein that would pulse in her forehead.

When her expression split into the widest grin I'd ever seen, however, it ruined the whole image. She quickly looked off-screen and called my dad's name.

"Andrew! Andrew, Derek's on the phone!" My mom turned back to her screen. "Hi, honey! It's so good to see you! How have you been? How's Kanto? Your dad said you made some friends?"

There was a crash off-screen, something that sounded suspiciously like a door slamming open, and my mom jumped in her seat. She gave an angry glare as my dad rushed to sit down next to her, clearly out of breath.

"Mari, you're asking him too many questions, let him answer one first!" My dad said with a grin.

My dad was where I got my color from. His skin was dark, much darker than mine, and his long black hair was braided over one shoulder. The sides of his head were shaved, as was his face. He was built and scarred from his time in the Ace Trainers, and he struggled to fit in the chair made for normal-sized people.

They couldn't look more different, but to me they looked perfect. My dad had met my mom at a meeting on Ever Grande because she was one of the lawyers that represented the League in legal disputes. She'd actually been doing an investigation on one of his colleagues when they met, and apparently, she couldn't stand him at the time. He'd been the one to fall first, and he'd waited until after the case to ask her out for drinks. The rest was history.

"Hi, Mom. Hey, Dad." I felt overwhelmed as I saw the two of them sitting there. Even though I'd just heard Dad's voice a week ago, it was nothing like seeing them talk directly to me. It was the first time I'd spoken to them since they dropped me off at the Lilycove airport.

"Kanto's great!" I pushed through the emotions. "I was calling because I made it to Pewter City, and you had mentioned wanting updates."

"I'm glad you called, Der. Your mom was starting to worry you'd forgotten about us."

She scoffed. "I was not!" She turned to the camera. "Your dad is making things up. I knew you'd call eventually, when you were ready."

"Yeah, I think I did too," I agreed. I shook my head and went into focus mode. "So to answer your questions in order: I've been okay, though I got spooked on my journey a few times. Kanto is good, and I'm loving the cool weather. And my friends are pretty great and I'll probably send you photos sometime soon."

My mom nodded, satisfied, while my dad looked impressed. "That's great, Der," he chuckled. "By week two on my journey, I'd almost died at least twice, so you're already doing better than your old man."

My mom must've noticed my wince, because she leaned farther into the frame with a worried look. "What happened?" She asked.

I sighed. "So there was this thing in the Viridian Forest-"

"Haha!" My dad laughed. "It's always a cave or a forest."

My mom shot him a 'lawyer glare' and he shut his mouth.

I continued. "There was an incident in the forest with some bug types, but I got out okay. My friends helped save my butt and made sure everything was okay."

I very specifically didn't give them more details and kept everything about Misdreavous to myself.

My mom gave me a suspicious look, but didn't press further.

Instead, she started asking me more questions I didn't want to answer. "How are you doing on money? Do you need us to send you anything?"

My dad piggybacked on her question. "Yeah, Der. Have you thought any more about me sending you another Pokemon?"

I took a deep breath.

We were getting into the stuff I'd actually called to tell them.

"So, um, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you guys about." I cleared my throat. "I've done a lot of introspection over the last few weeks, and I've decided on something."

"I made the decision that I'm not going to reject people's help anymore, but I am going to pay them back whenever I can."

Both went to speak, but I cut them off. "I know that you're my parents, and you don't think I need to pay you back for anything, but this is important to me. Dad, I know you want to send me another Pokemon, but I need to earn Artis first."

He scrunched his eyebrows at me, but looked pensive. My mom chose to speak up.

"I actually think that's really admirable, Derek." She said in a stiff voice. Looking closer I could tell she was tearing up. "I just also want you to know that if you ever need help, we'll always be there for you, baby."

She grabbed a tissue from off screen and started dabbing her eyes. Mine were a little watery, but I held it together because Mom was a sympathetic crier, something I'd inherited from her. If either of us went, then we both would.

My dad slipped his hands into hers. "Der, I respect a call like that a lot. You're choosing to make your own way, and we're okay with that. We just also want you to know that we're your parents, and we should be allowed to spoil you from time to time. It's our legends-given right."

"I know, that's why I'm willing to compromise. If you want to send me stuff, wait until I've earned it. I think badges are a fair place to start."

"Two badges, then I'll send you another Pokemon."

I shook my head. "Four, let me get halfway there."

"No, you're going to need a strong team to get the fourth badge, that's when they get hard. I get to send you one after three badges, that's the longest I'll wait."

Mom piped up. "And we get to send money to feed your new teammate."

I sighed, but that was better than what I'd been hoping for. "Sure, assuming I have room in my team, you can send me another teammate when I hit three badges."

My mom quickly pulled a notepad off of her desk and started writing. I rolled my eyes when she held up a hand-written contract to the camera.

"Do these terms look agreeable to you?" She asked in her 'lawyer voice'.

Now that I think about it, just adding the word 'lawyer' in front of stuff Mom does basically just describes when she's being stern.

"Yes, that looks fine Mom."

"Good, I'm glad that we could come to an agreement." Her facade broke immediately as she started tearing up again. "My little boy is so grown up now. I have to get him to sign a contract to send him money..."

I panicked as her tears started to fall freely. "Mom, you can't start crying because then I'm going to start crying!"

"I can't help it!" She sobbed.

"Go, Der!" My dad said with a big grin on his face. "Escape this!"

"I love you both! Bye Mom, bye Dad, I'll call soon."

I hit the hang-up before Mom could keep crying. I took a moment to wipe my eyes on my sleeve, feeling a goofy smile on my face.

That had felt good. I missed them a lot.

I moved to the text-based function of the Pokenav+ and sent Daisy a text that I was in Pewter early, and that I would be around when she stopped in town. She wasn't supposed to be here until the fourth of April, so I had a little less than a week to prepare.

I also checked my email and found an email from my childhood friend, the one I'd asked about my Misdreavous problem.

It read:

Hey Derek!

Long time, no see! I thought you forgot about me. I'm pretty busy, but I can spare a few minutes to give you some tips.

First off, I'm so JEALOUS you got haunted by a Misdreavus. They're so graceful and beautiful!

Second, your friend is probably right about it staying in your shadow. Relax, it's probably not there anymore. It probably won't jump back in until you get on better terms with it or it thinks you're going to be leaving for a long time.

Having it in your shadow is actually the best possible option, because it can't take any actions without revealing itself.

Third, if you're planning on catching it (which you totally should) you should get on its good side first. Keep up your end of the deal and offer to take it to see new and cool stuff.

Fourth, the articles might say it 'eats fear' but while that's technically true, it's not the only thing it eats. Ghost like good food just like you and me. Try leaving it out something tasty at night, that'll probably stave off the pranking. I find they like sweets.

Anyway, I've got to go take care of a thing, so I'll have to text you later.

P.

I grinned as I finished reading the text. She was just as excitable as ever, and genuinely seemed to have no ill will toward me for not reaching out in a few years. The ball had definitely been in my court there, and I'd dropped it.

I sent her a thank-you message and closed up the computer console.

Sweets, huh?

----------------------------------------

Later that night, I walked out to the alleyway behind the Pokemon Center. I hadn't told my friends where I was going, because they'd probably stop me, but I did have my Pokenav+ open to speed dial, ready to call if anything bad happened.

In the other hand, I had a cheap box of chocolates that I'd gotten on sale from the Valentine's Day clearance aisle. Given that the holiday was over a month ago, I'd gotten them for seventy-five percent off.

I stepped into the alleyway, careful to keep my Pokenav+ light on low. I glanced around and verified that I was alone.

"Hey," I called out to the darkness. "Misdreavus? I heard you liked sweets, so I figured I'd bring you some."

There was no response, but the air in the alley got significantly colder.

"I know you enjoy your pranks, and oh boy you got me earlier," I feigned enjoyment. I had not enjoyed that prank. "But I was wondering if you'd prefer if I brought you snacks instead?"

A pair of glowing yellow and red eyes appeared at the end of the alley. They seemed cautious, but interested.

I gulped as I stared into the eyes. Every single bit of training and preparation said not to go near these guys, and I was treating it like my Valentine.

"H- hi. I know that I also said I'd take you to see the world. If you want to get started on that, my friend and I train at an old waterwheel out of town. It's kind of spooky, so I figured you might like it."

The eyes began to approach me quite quickly, and the white-toothed grin appear beneath it, just like it had this morning. I felt a jolt of energy go through my body, artificial fear trying to do what it had done before.

"Mean Look," I said, naming the move it was using. "You're really good at that, I bet you scare people a lot."

"He he he he..." Giggling came from the darkness. The teeth disappeared as the Misdrevous realized it wouldn't work on me again, not while I was prepared. They didn't look upset, though. If anything, the eyes looked more intrigued.

I sat the box of chocolates on the floor.

"That's for you. If anything I've said sounds interesting, you can just let me know by hanging out with me. If you want to go visit the waterwheel sometime, you can just hop in my shadow. I won't even try to catch you unless you ask."

I took a shaky step out of the alleyway, letting the streetlamp illuminate me. I let out a breath I'd been holding the whole time.

In the darkness, I could hear the crumpling of paper and the greedy chowing of a hungry Pokemon.

I smiled as I turned to go inside, still very nervous.

We weren't done yet, but it was progress.

I slept soundly that night.