If the water park is dismantled any slower, the Tentacool and Tentacruel swarms will attack the pier!
It's not too much for Ash to receive a small reward for doing such a big good deed, right?
Although this reward cannot compare to the one from Team Rocket before, it has added a bit to Ash's travel funds.
After this little episode, Misty also captured a Horsea.
It's the second Pokemon Misty has caught, apart from Squirtle, and now she has four Pokemon with her.
Misty wanted to catch Horsea because she liked it. If it weren't for that old woman who angered the Tentacool, Misty might have wanted to capture one herself.
But now the Tentacool are furious, and trying to capture one might provoke them further, so Misty gave up the idea.
However, being able to catch a Horsea is not bad. Ash checked and found its qualities pretty good, so Misty got a lucky catch.
After these events, it was already the afternoon, and the three hurriedly ran to the pier and caught the last ferry.
By the time they reached Maiden Gorge via the boat, it was almost evening. There's a small town here which apparently is holding a festival tomorrow, so Ash and his friends decided to find a local inn to stay for the night.
Staying here for two nights wasn't a bad idea, considering that travel is common, but festivals aren't. There's even supposed to be a bonfire party tomorrow night. Ash has never participated in such activities and is very curious about it.
After registering at the place they're staying, the three of them headed into town to see any festival preparations.
There were snacks and goldfish scooping games, among other fun activities, open before the festival officially started, and Ash and Misty enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
Pikachu and Ralts were also very happy.
However, they didn't notice that while they were playing, someone among them seemed to have disappeared...
"Where's Brock?" Just after winning a Squirtle doll in a shooting game, Ash suddenly remembered someone he'd forgotten.
They were so engrossed in playing that they hadn't noticed that Brock was missing!
"Brock probably went to play by himself, maybe the activities aren't quite suited for someone his age," said Misty, noticing Brock was gone but not too worried.
Ash twitched at her words, "Is it really okay to say that? Brock would cry! He's only five years older than us, just turned twenty."
"Anyway, let's look for him." Ash said, closing his eyes, and began to use his Aura Power.
He had recorded Brock's Aura, so as long as Brock was within a fifty-mile radius, he would find him.
And the whole town wasn't even fifty miles across.
In a moment, Ash opened his eyes and looked in a direction, "He's over there, but there's also a very strong Aura there with him."
"A strong Aura?"
"Yes, let's go check it out. I have a bad feeling." Ash said, placing his Squirtle doll into his Space Backpack and grabbed Misty's delicate hand, running quickly towards the direction he had sensed.
Misty felt the warmth and broadness of his hand, looking a bit stunned, then a blush appeared on her fair cheeks.
This wasn't the first time Ash had held her hand like this; it happened quite often lately, and she was almost getting used to it. Was this a good thing or a bad thing?
...
Running along with Ash, they reached the edge of a cliff. Here stood a statue of a maiden, with the cold night wind blowing, making one's whole body feel chilly and an eerie sensation rose involuntarily within.
"What... what is this place? Ash, why did you bring me here?"
"Brock is here."
"What? Is he crazy, skipping the festive celebration at night to come to this spooky place in the cold wind?" Misty shrank back behind Ash, grumbling with some dissatisfaction.
It's summer now, even at night it should be warm, but the wind in this place was eerily cold.
Resounding over their bodies, it made them shiver uncontrollably.
Ash looked towards the cliffside, and there stood Brock, with a blue-haired young man—that was James from Team Rocket!
"Why is Team Rocket here too? What are they doing? Have they gone mad?!" Misty also noticed James and instantly felt it was even stranger; why were Brock and James both here?
This place must truly have something wrong, right?
"Hey, kiddo, hottie, what did you do to James?!" At this moment, rushed footsteps approached, accompanied by a sharp voice.
Turning around, they saw it was Jessie and Meowth!
"Who would do anything to him? You guys are the ones always causing us trouble! I'm the one wanting to ask what happened to Brock!" Misty snapped, annoyed by Team Rocket's accusatory attitude.
"Tsk, James! What are you doing, come back quickly!"
Hearing Jessie's call, James seemed to gain a bit of clarity. He turned his head towards Jessie, his eyes lacking color, but his trembling lips seemed to say—help me.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt in that direction!" Ash commanded with a serious look, directing Pikachu to the dim, empty sky.
"Pika? Pika—chu!!" Pikachu seemed confused but didn't hesitate, electricity surged over its body, launching into the empty void above.
The dark sky illuminated by gold electric light as Thunderbolt struck the air only to be blocked by something unknown!
Brock and James instantly regained clarity, looked at each other in fear. (Brock's eyes emoji: unseen.jpg)
Although their consciousnesses were clear, their bodies moved uncontrollably towards this place, feeling their souls nearly being drawn out, and faintly seeing a maiden's ghost before them.
The ghost was extraordinarily beautiful, causing not just their bodies but their very spirits almost entrancingly drawn away.
If Ash and Jessie had arrived a moment later, they might have stepped right off the cliff.
Now, as soon as their control was released, they quickly ran back to the others beside Ash and Jessie.
Following the direction of the Thunderbolt, Misty saw a ghostly purple gas slowly becoming visible.
The gas swirled like a ghostly entity, ethereal and black as a dark sun shape.
A Ghost-type Pokemon—Gastly!
This was the one responsible for hypnotizing Brock and James, and the powerful Aura Ash sensed!
[Species: Gastly]
[Attributes: Ghost, Poison]
[Gender: Male]
[Level: Elite Advanced Level]
[Ability: Levitate]
[Skills: Confuse Ray, Lick, Hypnosis, Spite, Curse, Hex, …(over a hundred skills)]
[Six-dimensional Abilities: Physical Attack B (B) Special Attack A (A) Defense B (B) Special Defense B (B) Physical Strength S (S) Speed A (A)]
The stats for Gastly hovered in Ash's mind, shock flashing through Ash's eyes.
A level reaching Elite Advanced, and all abilities at maximum potential. What's the story about this Gastly? Is it wild?
But how could a wild Gastly reach the Elite level and have max stats?
Moreover, it hypnotized Brock, and who knows what its intentions are, suggesting a possible masterminded plan.
"Unexpected, indeed. These young folks are truly accomplished, encountering an Aura user here, with such strong Aura." All present were shocked, for this statement came not from another, but from the Gastly floating in the sky!
This Gastly could speak?!