The Ghostly Gastly Acted Strangely

"Eh!!"

The lazy girl froze for a moment, then she let out a dry laugh. "Grandma, you just made this up to trick me, didn't you? You want me to come here and pay respects in the future just like Morty took his grandfather's place."

As soon as she finished speaking, even she felt a bit creeped out. In her understanding, Morty should have been the one least likely to believe this sort of thing, yet...

For some reason she felt a chill, so she tightened her collar and moved a little closer to her grandmother.

"Haha."

The old woman suddenly gave a hearty laugh. "Perhaps so, but if one were to say a person is all alone in this forest, it really is a bit too lonely."

With that, she stamped out the fire on the ground, then pressed her palms together once more. After murmuring silently, she took the lead and walked up deeper into the mountain. "Let's go. After the memorial is done, the festival will begin."

The lazy girl started. For some reason, the fear in her heart receded a little. Then, looking at the ashes on the ground, she too pressed her palms together, gave a bow, and followed after her.

She certainly wasn't scared; it was just that being by yourself really was quite lonely, if you were all alone.

After hearing that, Dian found it a bit hard to believe, because ghosts—well, Ghost-type Pokémon existing was totally normal... maybe real ghosts existed too.

"Misdreavus, have you ever seen a ghost?"

He asked Misdreavus, who was resting on top of his head.

"Mismag?"

Misdreavus lazily lifted her head, then, too lazy to even move her hands, directly split off a wisp of shadow to point at herself, meaning wasn't she herself a ghost?

"A ghost that people turn into after they die!"

Dian added helplessly. Ever since that Shadow Sneak move had been developed by her, Miss Misdreavus now lay down whenever she could and refused to lift a finger whenever possible, relying entirely on Shadow Sneak.

Misdreavus thought about it, then gave Dian a pointed look, shook her head, and went right back to her corpse-like resting state.

She was currently very satisfied with her sleeping environment.

"Naw-naw?"

Hoppip looked at the two of them in confusion, then curiously eyed the offerings on the ground.

Ah, the old woman had presented a picture book to that girl, pressing it down beneath a rock.

Dian slowly walked over, then pulled a stick of Candied Hawthorn and two pink Berries from his backpack and placed them beside the picture book. After likewise murmuring silently for a moment, he prepared to leave, figuring Beedrill should have scouted the path by now.

For some reason, Misdreavus acted as if she didn't even see Dian using Candied Hawthorn as an offering, which was completely out of his expectations.

He had originally prepared an extra stick meant to plug Misdreavus's mouth if she complained, but he ended up saving it again—a major victory for frugality.

Bzz!

A Beedrill suddenly appeared by Dian's side, then silently nodded at him.

"Good."

Dian took a few deep breaths, his gaze turning stern. "Let's go."

With that, he quickly followed along behind the floating Beedrill.

That's right, to avoid making any noise, it was actually Misdreavus carrying him along right now.

Originally, Beedrill and Misdreavus going together would have been the most covert approach, but Dian simply couldn't bring himself to trust that.

Just as Dian and the others vanished from sight, a gust of wind swept across the spot. By the time the wind faded, the picture book, the Candied Hawthorn, and the Berries on the ground had all vanished.

Only an ethereal, illusory female voice drifted out, whispering, "Thank you..."

When everything had returned to peace, the old crone with the terrifying appearance suddenly walked out. After standing right there for a full minute, she finally turned and left, a trace of heartfelt relief showing in her gaze as she departed.

"Thank you, Gastly."

The wind carried a young girl's sincere expression of gratitude.

"Think nothing of it. I just didn't want the legend to fade away."

The old woman—or rather, Gastly—grew gradually fainter until she finally vanished completely. "I'll come again this time next year."

A hazy figure emerged from the wind. She watched Gastly depart, then clutched her chest with emotion. "Thank you!"

Naturally, there was no longer any reply.

She slowly floated toward the direction of the festival, her body gradually draping itself in an exquisite kimono, looking exceptionally beautiful within the forest. "It's precisely because of this that I'm so deeply attached to this place."

Actually, although he had been asking Misdreavus, an answer had already formed in Dian's mind: regardless of whether one believed in the existence of ghosts or not, he believed that a lonely yet happy girl truly existed on this mountain.

He now understood why Antler Town insisted on holding the festival at an abandoned shrine halfway up the mountain instead of down at Stantler Park at the foot—it was undoubtedly connected to this legend.

Suddenly, Beedrill and a mass of dark shadows came to a halt.

"In here?"

Dian cast an inquiring look toward Beedrill.

Beedrill nodded, confirming it.

Dian frowned slightly as he looked at the fog before him. That's right, the reason he had stopped was that the space ahead was virtually impossible to see through.

Moreover, this kind of fog was different from the mist of the Misty Forest; the mist of the Misty Forest was natural.

Yet the fog here clearly was not. Although it lacked any distinct color overall, an eerie pinkish hue could be seen lingering at its edges.

The pink fog seemed to have a life of its own, churning incessantly.

Dian felt both pleased and worried at the same time. What pleased him was that the harvest appeared likely to exceed his imagination; what worried him was whether the Healing Crystal would be able to resist it.

He gritted his teeth and hastily popped another pill. Even this Healing Crystal was something he dared not consume too much of, since it was ultimately extracted from a Pokémon's body.

Although many auxiliary ingredients had been added to neutralize potential side effects on the human body, there were bound to be adverse impacts nonetheless.

As for Beedrill, a layer of white light flashed across its body—it was using the concentration move, Focus Energy.

As for Hoppip, it could only be recalled into its Poké Ball for now.

Although they had searched out quite a few herbs along the way, none of them had given Dian any pleasant surprises. Still, that made sense: a Stantler herd that was formidable to him was likely just a minor nuisance to certain powerful trainers.

In fact, if Dian had a Pokémon that knew Hypnosis, he wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.

At this point, he no longer had Misdreavus carry him along with Shadow Sneak, instead having her concentrate fully on resisting the hallucinogenic effects of this fog before leading them successfully to their destination.

Dian nodded silently at Misdreavus.

Shedding her previous laziness, Misdreavus turned exceptionally solemn as well. She first reached out to touch the pink fog, and a wisp of dark qi could be seen tangling together with the pink mist.

An invisible wave of energy suddenly erupted from the point of collision, rippling outward in all directions.

"Mismag!"

The red light in Misdreavus's eyes swirled mysteriously, and the red jewel at her neck responded in kind, radiating a blinding crimson glow.

Then a heavy darkness quickly intercepted the shockwave. Only after finishing all of this did Misdreavus let out a breath of relief.

She turned and smiled at a worried Dian behind her, signaling that she was fine, before taking the lead and walking straight into the pink fog.