Gastly

Hearing Misty's startled cry, Xia You and the others hurriedly looked back, and they also saw that so-called ghost.

This ghost's shape was no different from the woman in the portrait. She floated in the air, her body transparent and hazy, and drifted slowly toward them just like that.

"I've missed you so much."

The soft words came from the ghost's mouth. Xia You didn't feel much, but Brock by his side was captivated by her beautiful appearance, completely losing his mind.

Brock said infatuatedly, "I've missed you too..."

Looking at Xia You and Brock, the ghost said softly, "I've been waiting for you to come back."

Along with her words, a strange gust of wind suddenly blew. The next second, the bodies of Xia You and Brock were uncontrollably wrapped up by the wind and drifted toward her.

This suction force was extremely strong. Xia You instinctively reached out, wanting to grab onto something, but there was nothing empty around him, not a single thing he could use for leverage. Yet just as he flew closer and closer, a pair of delicate hands suddenly grabbed him.

This person, naturally, was Misty.

Seeing Xia You fly away, at this point she could no longer care about being afraid of any ghost.

"You guy, where on earth are you taking them!"

Misty grabbed tightly onto one of Xia You's hands and pulled backward with all her might. Although she was only a girl without much strength, no matter how that strange gust of wind blew, she consistently refused to let go.

Xia You knew in his heart that this ghost was actually transformed by Gastly. With Misty's help, he finally gained some breathing room and shouted loudly toward his two Pokémon, "Charmander, use Ember! Jolteon, use Thunder Shock!"

A flash of fire and a beam of electricity flew toward the ghost almost simultaneously.

Attacked, the ghost naturally could no longer control that strange gust of wind. As it dodged, the suction force dissipated, and Xia You and Brock couldn't help but drop down from midair.

Misty instinctively stepped forward, wanting to catch Xia You, but then she was pinned underneath his body. As for Brock, he wasn't that lucky and slammed heavily onto the ground.

Yet thanks to this fall, Brock temporarily recovered his sobriety.

"What happened?" He looked around in a daze. In truth, ever since coming to Maiden's Peak, his mind had been hazy all along, as if his soul had been bewitched by a ghost.

On the other side, seeing her obstruction, the ghost's tone changed abruptly as she said viciously, "You annoying guys, don't come and get in the way!!"

Following her words, a swarm of skeletons suddenly appeared, howling as they flew right over everyone's heads.

"Ah! What on earth are these?" Looking at this terrifying sight, Misty couldn't help but hide her body in Xia You's arms.

Xia You got up, and seeing that everyone seemed to have lost their fighting spirit, he shouted loudly, "Everyone don't be afraid, it's just a Pokémon!"

As he spoke, he took out the Pokédex and aimed it at that ghost.

Pokédex: Beep. Gastly, the Gas Pokémon. Ghost and Poison types. A Pokémon born from poison gas, skilled at Hypnosis. It loves playing pranks, constantly hiding its form in daily life, and can pass through any solid object including walls.

"Gastly!?"

Hearing that it was actually just a Pokémon, Ash and Misty both looked at it in surprise.

"Heh heh, since I've been discovered, there's no help for it!"

The woman suddenly cracked a wide smile, and her body slowly changed. First she transformed into that old woman wearing a purple cloak, and finally she turned into a 'black balloon' surrounded by purple smoke.

"Sometimes I'm a legendary beautiful woman, and sometimes I'm a mysterious fortune teller! Yet my true appearance is actually... Gastly!!"

This black balloon was both Gastly's body and its face. Aside from a pair of sharp eyes, it had only a large mouth baring two short fangs!

"It really is a Pokémon!?" Ash said excitedly, "All right! Then let's battle with Pokémon! Pikachu, go!"

"Pika, pika!"

"Want to battle?" Gastly grinned and said, "I'm in quite a rush right now, so let me resolve all of you in one go!"

Following its words, ripples of circles surged out from within Gastly's body and attacked the crowd.

Xia You recognized that move at a glance: "Not good! It's Hypnosis!"

Before everyone had time to react, they were all penetrated by the rays of Hypnosis. Immediately afterward, everyone felt a strong wave of drowsiness surge up, their eyelids growing heavier and heavier as they collapsed to the ground one after another.

"That really was easy." Gastly looked around, and seeing that the three humans and their Pokémon had all fallen into a deep sleep, it said complacently, "All right, next I have real business to do!"

That strange gust of wind blew once more, wrapping up Brock's body. And just as Gastly focused its gaze on Xia You, it suddenly saw a flash of blue light at his waist as a Pokémon appeared beside him.

Green hair, resembling a maiden's body, it was Kirlia!

"Oh? It actually ran out of the Poké Ball on its own. What? Are you trying to help your Pokémon Trainer?" Gastly looked Kirlia up and down, then shook its head. "But what a pity, you Psychic-type Pokémon are countered by my Ghost type. You certainly won't be my opponent, and everything you do is simply in vain!"

Kirlia naturally knew that the typing was unfavorable to it, so it didn't plan to launch a direct attack. Instead, it used Confusion to pry open all of Xia You's Poké Balls.

Instantly, blue light flashed one by one, and all the Pokémon including Zapdos were released.

Gastly's gaze swept in turn over Kirlia, Zapdos, Ivysaur, and Squirtle, lingering for a long time on the bouncing Magikarp as it said with a smile, "Four against one? I never expected this Pokémon Trainer to even possess Zapdos. This is really something!"

Zapdos proudly raised its head, expressing both disdain for Gastly and having been stung in some sore spot by its words.

As for Gastly, perhaps intimidated by Zapdos's aura, it felt that matters were truly becoming somewhat troublesome.

Hesitating for a moment, it said, "Forget it, although there's only one person and stamina is slightly lacking, since you all protect your Pokémon Trainer so much, I'll let him off and take just this one instead."

With that, it took Brock and left this place without looking back.

When Xia You woke up, he found himself lying on the ground, and before his eyes was Kirlia's face full of worry.

"Why did you come out?"

Rubbing its hair, Xia You sat up and found that Ash and Misty, along with Charmander, Jolteon, and Pikachu, were lying all around sleeping soundly, while only Brock's figure was missing.

And on the other side, he saw his other Pokémon, including Zapdos.

Even Zapdos had come out too!?

Seeing this, Xia You pondered for a brief moment and already understood how things had transpired.