----------------------------------------
CHAPTER VIII
A GHOST IN CLATTERMORE (PART 1)
----------------------------------------
(-o-)
Not long after, we found the path again and we came to a crashing stop. We gasped for breath and shared muted looks. Natu had to keep readjusting herself to keep from falling, so Charli grabbed her and put her on his lap instead.
“We’re alive,” he said, looking down the path absently.
“Dude…” I gave him a look, my heart filled with gratitude. “You saved my life.”
He didn’t reply, but after a few moments, he giggled. “Natu was amazing.”
“So were you.” I don’t think he quite realized what he had done.
“That Confuse Ray saved us.”
If the Spearow hadn’t been dealt with as fast as they had, I had no doubt that we would have been overwhelmed. The way Charli handled the situation was a big reason as to why we had been able to escape.
“I just said the first move that came to mind,” he admitted. "I didn’t actually know what I was doing…”
I burst out laughing and grinned at him. “Now you know what I meant, right?”
“About what?”
I took in a deep breath. “About this battling thing. You said before that I looked like I knew what I was doing… How do you think that you looked?”
He grinned back at me and shrugged. “I guess that’s what’s expected of the future Champion.”
I blew out dismissively and let my head fall back on my shoulders, facing the sky.
We had captured an Arbok. A strange and abnormally big Arbok. A light bulb switched on in my head and I began rummaging through my backpack.
“What’s up?” Charli said.
Once I felt the pokédex machine, I pulled it out along with Arbok’s custom pokéball.
Charli watched keenly, making an ‘Ahh’ sound when he finally understood what I was getting at. He picked himself up and came up beside me, putting Natu down on the ground.
I switched on the pokédex and after Charli and I figured what buttons to press, I pointed it at Arbok’s ball.
The machine beeped once and read:
Arbok, Female, approximately level 57 …
I stopped reading there and my mouth went dry. “Fifty-seven?!”
That was TV level. Competition level. Indigo League level!
A chill ran through me at the thought of what would have happened if it had decided to attack. Charli seemed just as astounded.
We read on:
This pokémon has the ability to transfix its prey with the face-like pattern on its chest. It can slither at incredible speeds to attack or flee. Their temperament is fiery and short-fused, so great care should be taken when interacting with this species. In the wild, it is advisable to avoid engaging them due to their venomous nature.
“Hey, check that out!” Charli said intently, mashing a finger to the screen. “Ghost?”
Below the description was the type, and it very clearly read ‘Poison/ Ghost’. Although it was beyond weird, it did set my mind at ease knowing that Professor Cid had been certain that our targets would be ghost-types.
We took a break to drink water and chew on a pair of muesli bars that Charli had packed, and I dug into my backpack for one of the newly bought C-quality potions. I had brought Drowzee out and given him some dried oran berries from one of the tins I’d packed, and he nibbled on them happily.
Charli saw me remove the protective seal on the potion’s nozzle and came to watch.
“Make sure you do it right,” he said, leaning in close. I was pointing the nozzle at the biggest scratch on Drowzee’s back, and pouting in concentration as he munched on his berries, paying us no mind.
“Drowzee, don’t be moving now…” I placed one hand next to the scratch and squeezed the trigger, sending a puff of misty vapor that clung to Drowzee’s fur. I pointed at a smaller scratch near his shoulder and sprayed it too.
The contents of the potion had drained almost halfway.
“That’s crazy…” I muttered. I had never sprayed twenty bucks away so fast.
I had two more puffs left and I used them on his chest, where the last Raticate had scratched quick and relentlessly, leaving a tender patch of tiny wounds that looked sore. Beyond feeling my head with his snout as I sprayed, Drowzee gave no reaction, probably savoring the taste of his snacks.
When I was done, I kept the potion bottle on the off chance that cheaper potion refills were a thing. Even though I had access to a ridiculous amount of money, I didn’t really feel like it was my own. I would spend it the same way I might use a borrowed pen; Don’t waste ink on doodles, don’t keep it beyond the reason why you borrowed it, and the most important one of all - don’t nibble on the lid!
Charli brought out his map and found some shade under the closest tree to the path. It was almost noon, and the sun was starting to cook, so I took off my fleece and tied it round my waist, pondering how light and free Isabel, Rubert, and the others must have felt with no spare clothes to carry around.
On the other side of the path, Drowzee was digging lightly at the earth with his hand-like paws and lowered himself into the freshly turned-over earth.
“You’re going to sleep?” I called out, and he replied with a flick of his ears. Charli was grinning at him then looked to me.
“Let them rest a while. I think we’re safe for now.”
His Natu was already eyes-closed, napping atop his head.
“But we have to get to the closest town. We should be clear of the wilds before it starts getting dark.”
He patted at his map laid out on the ground. “That’s what I’m looking into, see?”
I went over and squatted next to him. Natu opened a dozy eye and closed it once she saw who it was.
“Won’t she crap on your head?”
Charli shot me a look and his expression changed to an uncomfortable realization.
“Haha!” I chuckled. “You hadn’t thought about that?”
He reached up with a hand and tapped Natu lightly on the wing.
“Natu, I swear, if you poop on my head, I won’t let you back on, ever. Understand?”
Natu’s eyes opened grumpily, and she let out a loud squawk.
I burst with laughter and sat down. “I think she said, ‘let’s see you try!’”
“No,” Charli replied, “she said, ‘OK! Just let me sleep!’”
I looked across the path at Drowzee, who was peacefully snoozing under a few canopy-filtered rays of sun.
The two of them were very different. Not just the difference in gender or species, but their personalities and natures. Professor Cid had been spot-on when he had described him as ‘wonderfully calm’. Since losing my eye, I had never taken so quickly to a pokémon as I had with Drowzee, and there was a curious thought that had kept surfacing in my mind ever since my battle with Lenn.
“Check it out,” Charli said, and I blinked, snapping out of my daydream.
He had brought out his Tracking Tool, and seeing it made a chill run through me. After what we’d just been through, I wouldn’t mind not checking the tool for a good long while.
“There’s one target northeast, and another northwest… I think they’re getting further apart,” he said glumly.
I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Do you really think we should be hunting these things alone?”
Charli adjusted himself and gave a sigh. “Boy, I’m glad you said that, because there was no way I was facing the next one by myself!”
We started giggling and then he added, “Or the one after that!” and we broke into laughter.
Despite everything the committee and Professor Cid had said, it would be foolish to go it alone. Maybe if the targets had been regular pokémon and not Indigo League worthy, then maybe. That begged the question: Did the professor know?
We were about to find out.
“Let’s make a call…”
I used my cellphone and called the professor’s number. The phone rang for almost a minute before he picked it up.
“Hello! There is a big letter E on my end. Who of you is it?” were the first words he spoke.
“Professor, it’s Tomas. I’m here with Charli.”
“Ah, hi boys, what’s the issue?”
I explained our encounter and capture of the aberrant, ghost-type Arbok. Charli whispered things to mention when he found my details lacking.
“Astonishing!” Professor Cid gushed over the line. “That’s superb! I did not expect news so quickly!”
I went on to mention the life-threatening rumble with the different kinds of pokémon and the professor’s reaction was shocking, if not outright disturbing.
He laughed. It was a short laugh, which he quickly brought under control, but something about it did not sit well with me.
“How is Drowzee, how is Natu?” he said in a more serious tone.
“They are sleeping, they are fine.”
He grunted in approval and coughed. “Alright, so what you are going to do,” he began, “is hold onto that ball like your life depends on it.
“Do not send it by airmail, or any kind of posting service. It is too important to risk that. You should continue capturing the other targets and deliver them back here in person at the very earliest convenience!”
Charli had his ear near mine, with the cellphone almost sandwiched in-between.
“But professor…”
The professor hummed inquisitively. “Yes?”
“We cannot hunt these things alone… we almost died!”
“I won’t argue with results! Act however you see fit!”
I felt a huge weight come off me and my body deflated. Muscles I didn’t even know I was tensing relaxed in a wave of relief.
“Professor!” Charli called loudly. Natu gave a weak, grouchy chirp atop his head as I passed him the phone.
“I have a question…” There was a brief pause before he continued.
“I was wondering if we can use Arbok in battle now that it’s captured?”
Oh, it sounded like a great idea, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to come face to face with the Arbok again.
The professor barked a “No!” loud enough for me to hear. He followed it up with more words that I couldn’t make out, but judging by Charli’s face, I could tell they were disappointing.
When the call ended, I gazed at Charli, waiting for him to relay whatever had been said.
“Can’t use Arbok,” he said flatly. “He says we shouldn’t even try to bring it out.”
I nodded slowly. “I think it’s for the best. The way we captured it… It could refuse to listen to us. Maybe even turn on us before we can even put it back inside…”
That seemed to convince him just how risky the idea was, and he quickly agreed.
“Hey,” I said, tapping the map on the ground. “Let’s find out where we’ll sleep tonight.”
He sat back down, and we began discussing our options.
***
Clattermore Town was big when you came from Kakuna Village. Any town was big when you came from Kakuna Village. Though it was no Rustboro City, it certainly had a lively bustle to it. There were plenty of buildings and shops, from grocery stores to berri and flower stalls, and even a few automobile garages. There was even a small branch of TC – Trainer’s Corners, one of the most popular trainer-focused chain stores in the region. Charli was ecstatic, and we agreed to hit it up after we had sorted out our lodging for the night.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Nearly all the roads were cemented, and tall, decorative streetlamps were pockmarked throughout the neighborhoods. To some degree of anxiety on my part, we saw the occasional trainer with their pokémon, walking about together. Pokémon we had only ever seen on TV, like Ledian, and a big tank of a Donphan. I even saw a few from my childhood region of Hoenn! The popular household feline, Skitty, and a dizzy-looking, plushy pokémon called Spinda. My memory of the Hoenn native species wasn’t what it used to be, but seeing those two brought a wide smile to my face. Back when I still lived and schooled in Rustboro, there were plenty of cautionary tales for children about behaving like a Spinda. The nursery rhyme was one of those that was hard to forget,
Spin around, my eyes go left,
Spin around, my eyes go right,
Never focus, what’s that for?
Spinda wants to spin some more!
And then when winds that came that spun,
Spinda had no roots nor plan,
So up she went into the air,
Oh, what a drop awaits her there!
We soon found a homely inn near the heart of the town and paid for one of the shared rooms on the second floor. It had two single beds and a bathroom, and a small, bulky television set with two antennas poking out from the top.
“Just drop it all,” Charli said hauling his backpack onto the bed and going to the bathroom to wash his face. He was itching to go to Trainer’s Corners, and it was rubbing off on me.
I took Arbok’s pokéball and carried it with me. I couldn’t chance leaving it unattended in a place we knew nothing about.
Drowzee had been sleeping when I put him back in his pokéball, but it had been almost two hours since then, and I wanted him to walk through town with us. I’d feel more relaxed having him with me while around so many new pokémon. I trusted him to have my back; that much was proven when he saved me from the charging Nidorino.
Natu was hopping everywhere, flapping from the TV set to the ceiling fan, back down to Charli’s shoulder, and anything that stood out in the slightest.
“Settle down, Natu!” Charli cried finally, and Natu squawked defiantly, pecking at his feet, so he brought out her pokéball and wagged it. “I’ll put you in, girl! You’ll miss the coolest stuff!”
Natu hopped from the floor to his head and closed her eyes, totally silent. The dynamic between them was already so clear cut that I doubt anyone would believe they had only met a couple days ago.
“Drowzee sure is an angel by comparison,” he commented, and Drowzee’s eyes narrowed slightly, in what I took to be a smile. Honestly though, smiling made him look like a little devil of mischief instead.
***
I had made a mistake.
Less than five minutes into our walk to TCs, and we were already swarmed with a group of people that had taken a raging interest in Drowzee. Trainers and other by-standers where in our faces, staring Drowzee down like an alien from outer space and asking a volley of questions.
A pair of them even had snap-cameras and asked for a bunch of shots with him. I was slightly embarrassed and reluctant, but Charli wove a thread of lies on the spot, mixing in a tinge of truth.
“How cute! Where did you get him from?” a girl with pigtails said.
“Well, he isn’t exactly ours,” Charli had replied. “We’re really just delivering him to his owner down in Cinnabar. They’re going to enter him into one of the island contests.”
“I’ve seen a few pink Drowzee in exhibitions before. Never one like this!” another person said.
“Yeah, he is pretty special.”
“Imagine what he’ll look like when he evolves,” a trainer-looking type said. “The darker shades will fade away completely. He’ll be a snow white Hypno!”
I hadn’t really thought of that considering we would be parting ways a few weeks from now at most. If the speed at which we captured Arbok was anything to go by, maybe we’d be done even sooner.
It took us almost ten minutes to shake off the crowd, and I put Drowzee back in his pokéball at the turn of the street. I’d have to keep my anxiety in check around strangers’ pokémon the old-fashioned way.
“Finally!” Charli yelled and Natu chirped from his shoulder. A stylish banner of Trainer’s Corners adorned the wall above the entrance, and like all other chains, this one had the trademark pillars with hand statues grasping a pokéball at each corner of the store. There was a guy, probably little older than us in the company uniform, waiting by the doors.
“Hi,” he greeted. “Is your friend there well behaved?” He was referring to Natu.
Charli blinked a few times and gave Natu a hasty glance. “Y-Yeah.”
The guy nodded and said in a lower, slightly reluctant tone, “You may enter with it, but just so you know, if any damages occur, you’ll be liable. Yeah? …”
“Right! No problem! Natu here won’t cause any trouble.”
The staff motioned for us to come in, and we were wafted with a cold breeze of air from the AC unit above the doors.
The interior was spacious and well-lit, with translucent sections of the ceiling letting in a generous amount of filtered sunlight. Every wall had something on it. Shelves upon shelves of gadgets, and other bits of equipment were neatly organized in rows and columns. There was a long counter with two cashiers on the left-hand side of the store, with a few customers queuing up or paying for their items. On the shop floor, a few rows of clothes formed short and straight aisles and appeared to have outfits for all occasions.
Lenn’s idea of not packing seemed begrudgingly cleverer now.
“Awesome…” Charli was wide mouthed taking the scene in like a child at a candy store.
We walked deeper in and saw an in-shop pharmacy with its own counter. There was a man, likely in his forties, sitting on a bench and tending to a pokémon I had never seen before. It reminded me of a pokémon from Hoenn called Whismur that stayed in the nearby caves on the Rustboro outskirts. This one was prettier looking though, with more human-like proportions and large, fleshy ears that resembled wings. Each had long, coiling appendages that hung from the lobes. Beside them was a female trainer, with a slightly concerned expression on her face.
They saw us approaching and the man looked up from what he was doing and spoke, “You need treatment too?”
“We’re just looking around,” I replied.
“You’re treating it here?” Charli asked. “Isn’t there a pokémon center anywhere in this town?”
The man uttered a gravelly, “No,” and gave him a little squint of the eye. “We’ve not had one for a long, long time. They tend to keep those within the circuit.”
“The circuit? As in the gym challenge?” Charli said inquisitively. Back home, when we were younger, he would say he’d earn a gym badge by the age of twelve. When that didn’t happen, he changed it to thirteen and increased the number by one every year after that. Now, recently turned sixteen, he had left his home and had a pokémon of his own. The dream of challenging a gym and getting that badge had never been so close.
The man gave a hum of agreement. “That’s right. No good for business having centers everywhere.”
What did that even mean?
“But what about the pokémon?” I said, slightly perturbed. “What if someone gets caught out in a bad way?” I was remembering our encounter with Arbok and its horde of wildlings.
“There’s potions,” the female trainer said, a girl around Anna’s age.
“There’s potions…” the man repeated. He pointed to the side behind the counter, where rows of glass shelves with numerous D and C-quality potions were mounted. There were others above them, likely higher grade.
“Potions are top sellers and the bread-and-butter of any serious trainer. They work good, and they work fast. As you can see with this big fella…”
I stared at the strange pokémon as the man sprayed into a folded cloth and dabbed it near its collar bone. The pokémon’s eyes were a pale color of blue, and it just looked altogether gentle. “Where is this pokémon from?” I said. “I don’t recognize it at all.”
The trainer gave me a glance and paused briefly, as was custom, when she noticed my scarred, glazed-over eye.
“You’ve never seen an Audino? They’re like the Chansey of Unova, I guess…”
Unova, a region even further away than Sinnoh, and even more enigmatic due to how much less I knew about it. I’d only heard playground rumors that they had the best police force in the world, but coming from the mouths of Kakuna Village kids, I never gave them much stock.
Natu had hopped down to the Unova-pokémon’s head, chirping, and the latter mumbled a soft reply. It even had a similar tone to a Chansey.
“H-hey! Natu!” Charli reached out and grabbed her, cradling her in his arms. The trainer smiled and said, “Why haven’t you nicknamed it?” and Charli hummed in thought.
I looked sideways, at the far side of the store and something caught my eye.
Pokéballs.
I left them talking, eager to see just how much a pokéball would sell for around these parts.
The capturing devices had their own special section. I even had to climb a two-step staircase to be worthy of being in their presence. My eye scanned the wall excitedly.
There were many different kinds of balls, and I found myself grinning like a fool. I could buy anything I wanted.
The standard pokéball had a price tag of ₽27.50 in big bold numbers, and in smaller print, ‘RP ₽110.00’ which was the price I’d be paying, since I was not actually a trainer.
Then there was the ‘Great Ball’ which went for an RP price of ₽155.00. A small description on the info banner read:
* Over 30% more effective!
* Sturdier!
* Improved interfacing!
I saw a pink one called ‘Heal Ball’ at a price of ₽130.00 and guaranteeing to fully heal a newly captured pokémon, and despite its girly appearance, I grabbed it. It was full size, and I pressed the button to minimize it, but nothing happened.
“These are just for display,” a voice called out behind me, and I spun around to see another employee, a young man with gelled back hair. “Can I help you?” he said, joining me up the steps.
He went on to explain how a number of them differed from the regular pokéball and I listened with slight disappointment when he told me that the Heal Ball did not heal beyond the very first time it was used.
I considered showing him the professor’s custom ball to see what he’d say about it but thought better of it and kept it safely snug within its pocket.
Charli joined us, eyes sparkling with eagerness and the customer assistant skimmed through most of the details a second time.
“F-four Ultra Balls?” the assistant said with confusion. “And you said you’re not registered?”
Charli nodded. “Yup.”
The assistant turned to me and smiled, looking for the punchline. When he saw that we were serious, his smile faded.
“That’ll cost eight-hundred Pokémon-Dollars… You have this on you?”
“That, and way more,” Charli said. “We’ve been saving up for nearly ten years.”
I managed to keep a straight face, but I’d make sure to tell him to go easier on the lies because rather than deflect attention from us, they seemed to be making people even more curious or in this particular case, borderline suspicious.
The assistant, still looking doubtful, told us our order would be ready for pick up at the cashier and we took another quarter of an hour to look at the aisles of clothing.
I picked out a grey fanny-pack, similar to the one I’d seen Lenn wearing. It would be useful for carrying urgent-use items, like pokéballs and potions, rather than having to offload and dive into my bag every time.
By the time I got to the cashier, Charli was there with a small basketful of stuff; Finger-less gloves, a scarf, a shirt with a large pokéball diagram on the belly area that read: Gotta catch ‘em bites, and a white bucket hat with a red rim.
I spent a total of ₽415.00 for my fanny pack and two Ultra Balls, and Charli paid for a total of ₽460.00.
The cashiers and the couple of trainers queuing up behind us were oddly silent as we checked out and I felt uncomfortably exposed.
“What are you planning to catch with them?” one of the cashiers said, breaking the ice. “I’ve never seen a hobbyist going for an Ultra. Must be something big you want to catch, right?
“A Raticate,” I replied carefully. One of the selling points of the Ultra Ball was that it was dubbed thee ball to use on evolved wild pokémon. Raticate, being such, was the first pokémon that popped into my head.
A trainer behind me snorted, and even Charli looked sideways at me, grinning. The cashier was also giving me an awkward smile, and I felt blood rush to my face. I blinked a few times and quickly added, “Or a Nidoking…”
“Ah,” the cashier replied, still smiling. “Be careful then.” He handed me a tough polythene bag with my items, and I nodded my thanks before eagerly walking outside.
“A Raticate?!” Charli whispered on the verge of cracking. I just shoved at his shoulder, stifling a smile, and we walked on to one of the more inviting, appetizing, hunger-quelling parts of town.
***
After a satisfying meal at a roadside restaurant where even pokémon had their own designated space to eat and interact, we headed back to our inn and began winding down for the day.
I spent the early evening going through the pokédex and reading about the pokémon we had already seen, then went on, scrolling through the list and reading entries at random. I took a special interest in the ones referred to as ‘Anomalous Specie’ such as one called ‘Mew’, or another called ‘Ho-oh’. Their descriptions sounded less factual than the normal entries and more like fantasy stories or myths.
Charli had been trying on his new clothes, looking in the mirror, and asking Natu for her opinions. He made a few poses with his Ultra Balls.
Drowzee had nuzzled me constantly until I finally realized he wanted more dried oran berries, so I opened him another tin.
By nightfall, when we were all rearing to sleep, Charli’s phone rang, and I sat up quickly.
“Yeah?” Charli said, holding the phone to his ear. There was a muted voice on the other end of the line.
“Myke! Hah! You won’t believe what happened!”
We told Myke about our encounter with Arbok and he didn’t believe us at first but shut up when we dared him to call the professor and ask.
“Are you with Kieran still, dude?” Charli said in an urgent tone.
“No?!” Charli was aghast. I pulled in close and spoke loudly into the phone.
“Don’t go after them alone!”
“Yeah! Don’t!” Charli concurred.
Charli went on to explain why, mentioning Arbok’s ridiculous level and the horde of wild pokémon that came out of the woodworks upon hearing the target’s cry of distress.
“Just call Kieran ASAP, and team up before you go after any of them!”
Myke chuckled over the line but agreed when he saw how insistent we were. “Have you told the others?”
There was a slightly awkward silence before Charli replied, “Well... not yet.”
Myke chuckled again. “Can’t have been that bad then…”
Charli rolled his eyes and huffed in exasperation. “Whatever!”
Myke gave a little snicker and changed his tone. “Don’t worry girls, I’ll let ‘em know. I’ve only hit up Rubby and Lenny so far, and they were still together.”
After Myke’s call, Charli rang every other hunter’s number himself. He didn’t think Myke would deliver the message with the right amount of severity, and he thought they would be more easily convinced if more than one person had warned them.
Everyone else, to our relief, was still travelling together, and besides a few wild encounters, they were yet to come face-to-face with a target.
“How do you think it’ll work?” I asked. We were both on our own beds, with Natu perched up on the room’s empty wardrobe and Drowzee snoozing on a floor mat next to me.
“I think…” Charli replied, holding his hands to the ceiling. He was still wearing his fingerless gloves. “That once we capture every one of these things… hmm… the professor will merge them together?”
I remained silent.
“The ghosts I mean,” he corrected. “It’s gotta be some weird pokémon move we don’t know about, right? Like a ghost-type version of Double-Team or something, but instead of being an illusion, it’s for real…”
I turned my head over at him and smirked. “Did you come up with that right now?”
“Recently, yeah… why?”
“Just. It’s not a bad theory,” I admitted. “Do you have some genius side you’ve been hiding all this time?”
I recalled how his quick thinking in the forest had saved us, and while I had been busy battering the Raticate off of Drowzee, he had been covering my back, directing Natu to zap the ones that fell off with Psybeam as soon as the shot was clear.
Maybe him challenging a gym wasn’t such a far-fetched notion.
An hour later, just as I was dozing off into slumber, I heard Charli jump off his bed and rush to mine.
“Tom…”
I groaned.
“Tom, check…”
Drowzee whined and let out a quiet yawn.
I rolled around and Charli shoved a screen in my face. My eye squinted groggily at the green-light display.
It was the Tracking Tool.
“What?” I said, sitting up.
“Look.”
I looked. I looked and my pulse began to rise.
“What the - …”
I stood up and grabbed the tool, staring hard for a few silent moments. I gazed at Drowzee, who was peacefully resting, then at Charli, who even in the low light, I could see his eyes were sleepless.
I walked over to the only window of the room and opened it, letting in a cold breeze of air that made the thin curtains flutter.
I stared out into the lamp-lit town of Clattermore, with the soft glow of the moon pressing weakly against a cover of clouds.
“Natu,” Charli called, and the tiny bird pokémon gave a loud chirp before hopping to the floor beside him.
I walked over to Drowzee and knelt beside him, patting his back gently.
“Drowzee, wake up.”
…
He yawned and whined and extended his snout to my face in greeting. He sat up and scratched at the back of his ear.
…
“Discover the ghost.”
(-x-)