The Ghost Specialist

That night, Sam’s sleep was plagued by nightmares. He dreamed of his home burning. He dreamed of his mother’s bookstore on fire. He dreamed of finding his grandfather.

On the floor.

Clutching his chest.

His Typhlosion desperately trying to get him to move.

But the dreams soon vanished, consumed by a darkened yet welcoming maw. His slumber became one of pure nothingness, and when he awoke the next morning, Haunter backed away and burped.

“Thank you,” Sam said.

The morning was slow, and the same tenseness from the day before lingered in the air. People were nervous about what was taking place on the northern routes. They wanted to see the attacks stop. Likely, some less prepared trainers were already panicking about the lack of jobs.

Sam ate breakfast with his team in the Pokémon Center’s cafeteria before stepping outside.

While the other trainers used the field to practice with their teams, Sam decided to read. Trying to take it easy, he found a shadowed spot in the corner and opened the New Pokédex.

He wanted to learn everything about Trevenant that he could.

“It’s a Ghost-Grass Type—which we knew. But it’s a Ghost Type before it’s a Grass Type, so it’ll act like a ghost before it acts like a plant. As for its moves, they’re... expected. Mostly. It’s more of a physical attacker than anything else, but it learns several status moves that can really make fighting it a struggle.”

Quilava rested her head on Sam’s leg to stare at the open pages. Misdreavus and Haunter hid in nearby shadows and listened to his words. Primeape, however, stayed in his Pokéball. He was still resting, and he trusted Sam to give him the necessary orders based on whatever plan the team created.

Unfortunately, making a plan wouldn’t be easy; Trevenant was going to be a threat no matter how prepared they were. The combination of Growth and Ingrain could turn it into an immobile but powerful attacker. Then, it could combine Will-O-Wisp with other two damage-over-time moves—Leech Seed and Curse. Just those two moves alone formed a potent combination; the health drain of Leech Seed could offset the self-damage taken from the initial use of Curse.

Reading through, Sam also found a move specific to Trevenant, Forest’s Curse, which caused no damage but cursed its target to gain the Grass Type. While gaining the Grass Type would only serve to prevent something like Leech Seed in the first place, a Forest’s Curse could open up Trevenant’s target to super effective moves from its Flying and Bug Type allies.

“So it’s a tank,” Sam mumbled. Trevenant didn’t have the best defensive stats, but its species was impressively skilled at debilitating foes and sustaining damage.

Frowning, Sam continued reading through the entry, devouring even the smallest of details and groaning when he checked its abilities. Its first ability, Frisk, was meaningless, but if Trevenant had Natural Cure trained, it could easily counter Sam’s team. All it would need to do was find some way to hide for just a moment—an act in which Ghost Types were skilled—and its passive recovery would allow it to cure itself of any status conditions Sam’s Pokémon had inflicted.

That was half their strategies down the drain, just like that.

“...I know you need to evolve, but the more I think about you going up against this thing, the more it feels like it’s a bad idea. Trevenant is already aggressive, but how are you supposed to calm it down on your own?”

Quilava’s chuff told him that she was willing to try regardless of the danger, but Sam couldn’t get past their lack of an answer for how.

Quilava was a Fire Type. Trevenant was a Grass Type. That should have meant she had the advantage, but how was she supposed to help Trevenant when a forest fire was what enraged it in the first place?

As Sam tried and failed to find an answer to that question, Quilava never once looked away from the sketch of a Trevenant on the New Pokédex’s page. It displayed the same figure that had pulled itself out of that tree last night—splintered claws, brambled teeth, and a red eye that looked as though it was burning inside a darkened crack on its face.

Eventually, Sam just let out a sigh. They didn’t have all the time in the world to decide on what to do, but they would at least have the rest of the day. The continued lack of news made it pretty clear that the local Rangers were taking their time. Sam wasn’t alone in his need to make a plan.

...However, before Sam could call it and take a break, a single word caught his attention. Only one of Trevenant’s abilities had the potential to pose an issue, but its hidden ability would turn it into even more of a nightmare to fight.

And Sam had a sinking feeling that this Trevenant had its hidden ability trained.

Though extraordinarily rare, extraordinary Pokémon could sometimes have inherent mastery over their hidden abilities. In the case of Harvest, Trevenant’s hidden ability, it played into the fact that a Trevenant was basically just a haunted tree. Harvest allowed a Pokémon to regrow berries with an infusion of Grass Type energy after consuming the relevant berry seeds.

Having Harvest trained would explain a lot about these attacks. If Trevenant can quickly reproduce healing berries, then that’s why the Pokémon working under it aren’t worried about being hurt. More than that, it even helps to explain why it’s sitting in the grove and not fighting travelers, itself. Fighting would waste too much energy it could use to regrow berries and support the Pokémon that it sends out on attacks.

A single Trevenant with Harvest could support an army—albeit, a small one, but one large enough to “take over” a Route like this one had. While growing so many berries would be exhausting work, it would be the exact kind of work a Trevenant so fueled by revenge would be willing to take on.

So it’s going to be well-rested no matter what. If it’s purposefully staying in its well-defended grove, there’s going to be no chance of contacting it in “neutral” territory if it’s so focused on using Harvest.

“We’re supposed to have the advantage!” Sam threw his hands into the air, letting the New Pokédex fall into his lap. “Ghost is super effective against Ghost! Fire is super effective against Grass! What are we supposed to do if it has a counter to anything we throw at it?!”

As a fight, Sam knew for a fact his Pokémon would win. Eventually, at least, depending on how much effort Trevenant put into healing. The problem with any plans that involved a fight was that Trevenant had countless allies, and Quilava would have to fight it on her own. They weren’t even sure if a fight was how they needed to go about this, but at least a fight might exhaust it into a state in which it would be forced to talk?

Even going as far as to check the notes from the Blackthorn Clan didn’t help Sam make a plan. Unfortunately, while those copied documents confirmed the existence of Trevenant in the deepest parts of Johto’s forests, they did nothing to discuss a Trevenant’s actual skills in battle.

“Why does this have to be so difficult?” Sam groaned.

He pressed his face into his hands, just wanting all of this to be over.

Ahead, trainers continued to practice with their Pokémon, and a few of them sent sympathetic looks to Sam after his shout. He’d made sure to not name Trevenant at all up until this point, and the most he’d done was mumble facts to his Pokémon.

He was still the only one who had this information.

Which meant he was the only one who could help Quilava make a plan to scale that impossible wall they currently faced.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Sam said.

He slipped his books back into his pack and his pack over his shoulders. Shadows melded with his own as he stepped out from that shadowed corner. Though she wasn’t comfortable being around so many people, Misdreavus stayed out to float near Quilava in support, and Sam picked up his Fire Type friend to let her rest across the back of his neck.

“I don’t suppose you two have any ideas?” he asked.

Quilava’s snort told him that she didn’t, and Misdreavus refused to make eye contact.

“So you’re as stuck as I am,” he said with a single, self-defeating laugh.

He left, walking not with a purpose, but just to feel like he was doing something. He knew he could potentially go out and tell the local Rangers or even Mahogany’s Gym what he’d found, but then what? How would that help Quilava?

No, the only thing that would happen is that they’d thank him and tell him to stay behind. They would call him foolish for entering a dangerous forest on his own, and they’d tell him to leave the revenge-seeking Trevenant to the professionals.

Sharing this information would only force him and Quilava to stay behind. They couldn’t let that happen, as they’d already learned that helping random ghosts wouldn’t be enough for her to evolve before the Conference. Calming Trevenant down would be their best bet to gain the specific surge of energy Quilava needed to reach her correct, final stage.

Besides...

Briefly, an image of Trevenant’s face flashed to the forefront of Sam’s mind.

He remembered its glowing eye.

He remembered its angry scowl.

He felt his insides roil at how there was a Pokémon out there so consumed by revenge.

Trevenant deserved to be helped.

As Sam strode past the Pokémon Center, trying to stop his meaningless thoughts, he passed by a set of back windows open to the Center’s cafeteria. Within, Redi slowly ate, scooping a bowl of cold porridge into her mouth one spoonful at a time.

The bags under her eyes were so deep that she could hardly keep her head up, even resting on her arm as it was.

She probably slept just as well as I did, and she didn’t have Haunter to eat her dreams.

Sam changed directions, heading inside, and with Quilava still on his neck and Misdreavus still floating behind him, he joined Redi and her half-eaten, pre-noontime breakfast.

“Hey,” Sam said. Redi looked up at him with a grunt. “You had nightmares too?”

He kept his voice low just in case, and Redi replied with a slow nod and a yawn that proceeded into a stretch.

“Ugh,” she said. “Yeah. That Treeven— Trentveh— Threnve—”

“Trevenant,” Sam completed quietly.

“That Trevenant hates us,” she said. “It hates everything we stand for and do as Pokémon trainers.”

She stared at her bowl of food. This late in the morning, it contained nothing more than the cooled slop of leftovers. Still, she wasn’t one to pass up a free meal. She shoved another scoop straight into her mouth.

“But it does make you think what it had to go through to get like that,” Redi said while chewing, pointing her spoon at Sam. “Not every Ghost Type starts off that evil, right?”

“It’s not evil. Ghost Types aren’t evil,” Sam replied quickly. “They’re just... motivated by desire. And this one’s desire is—”

He stopped.

“It’s just motivated by revenge,” he said, rubbing his temples.

Redi continued to eat her breakfast. She didn’t say anything, but she did hum.

When Sam closed his eyes to breathe for just a moment, that same image of Trevenant’s glare flashed in his head once again.

“Let’s change the topic,” Sam said, opening his eyes and trying to think of anything else. “We have time. A bit of it, at least. I might want to try something tonight, but right now... I don’t know.”

He shook his head.

“I want to at least stop by the local Gym. I don’t think my team is strong enough to win right now, but I want to see if we can arrange a match for the future.”

Redi nodded.

“I’ll come with.”

Over the next few minutes, she shoveled the rest of her food into her mouth and deposited her bowl on the return counter in the room’s back.

They then left the Pokémon Center, walking in silence down the road toward Pryce’s Gym. It wasn’t located outside of town, but it wasn’t exactly within it, either. They had to walk down a few separate streets, moving past touched-up log cabins made to fit a more modern era and evergreens growing along the side of the road.

When they arrived, Sam was unimpressed. The building honestly looked pretty generic, as if someone had taken the default, brown-roofed building of a Gym and decided that was good enough.

“Didn’t bother with any personal touches, huh?” Sam mumbled to Redi.

“Even Clair’s Gym was more interesting than this,” she whispered back.

While the inside was just as bland as the outside, it still contained the same general lobby most Gyms had. Most importantly, this place was packed.

It wasn’t as packed as the Pokémon Center was the other day. Instead of trainers filling every available space, it was more just that every waiting room chair was filled. No Pokémon were out, and a few other trainers also loitered at its sides.

People were chatting, but no one was talking to the Gym Trainer behind the counter—they didn’t need to given how little time it took to get registered. As Sam and Redi approached the Gym Trainer, a woman in a teal snow coat working reception, she looked up from a computer to greet them.

“Hi,” Sam said. “We’re here to sign up for a battle, but why is it so...”

“Crowded?” Redi finished for him.

While Gyms tended to get a second rush at the very end of the season due to last-minute challenges, that period was still weeks away. Even with the number of trainers stuck in town, there shouldn’t have been a reason for so many trainers to be here.

“Ah,” the Gym Trainer said, nodding her head as if the question was expected. “Pryce only accepts so many challengers per day, mostly depending on his mood. Recently, he’s been accepting two daily on average—better than usual. His Gym is a pretty major chokepoint when it comes to earning badges.”

“Wait, his Gym? Not our Gym?’” Redi suddenly asked. “I thought Gym Trainers were supposed to help with Gym Battles. How do lower-level trainers ever get a chance to fight?”

Her expression made it pretty obvious she thought this place was barely functional.

Yet, to Redi’s questions, the Gym Trainer just chuckled. Her casual reaction made Sam think she’d received a similar question many times before.

“We Gym Trainers handle challengers with four Gym Badges or less. Pryce says he doesn’t want any challengers that ‘aren’t worth his time,’” she said, imitating a gruff voice at the end. “As for your first question, I would say the answer is complicated, but it really isn’t. Pryce isn’t the one who hires Gym Trainers. We’re placed here by the Pokémon League, instead.”

“...So he’s barely even a Leader,” Sam mumbled.

The woman heard his comment but shook her head.

“Pryce might not go out of his way to lead, but you can’t question his strength or how dedicated he is to Mahogany Town. Most Ice-leaning Ace Trainers volunteer to come here, if not to try to pry tips out of him, then to join the largest gathering of Ice Type specialists on this side of Indigo.”

She then sat up with a smile on her face, proud of her position.

“Elite Four Lorelei trained here. There’s a reason Pryce is as respected as he is. He might be a bit, well, he’s as stubborn as a glacier, but we aren’t here to change his mind, just to do as he says and improve ourselves in the meantime. If you have any Ice Types on your team, it might be worth seeing if you can stop by to watch one of his training sessions out back. Even just a few minutes of observation is an incredible learning opportunity. Pryce is considered to be an Ice Type Master for a reason.”

However, Sam knew Pryce wasn’t officially an Ice Type Master—the knowledge coming courtesy of Redi’s chats with other trainers back in Blackthorn. Being as old as he was, Pryce didn’t bother to hide how he wasn’t a fan of the current state of the League, so he had never bothered to go out and prove himself worthy of his Ice Type Master title.

No, Pryce just did everything his job needed him to do, which was to make sure the area around Mahogany Town was safe. While whatever was causing these attacks had slipped under his radar, it was his work that prevented the forest fire from spreading. He did his job because he very publicly believed no one else was as good as him—which was honestly probably true.

So Pryce was still around thanks to his competence, and because he was far too ingrained within Mahogany Town for the League to even think of replacing him.

“But let’s get to your registration!” The Gym Trainer shuffled a pile of paperwork before laying some sheets out. “How many Gym badges do you have so far?”

“Six,” Sam said.

“Five,” Redi added for herself.

Unfortunately, the Gym Trainer winced.

“To earn a sixth badge, we might be able to arrange a battle against a Gym Trainer,” she said to Redi, “but for you to earn your seventh, that requires enough of a challenge that Pryce will want to face you. If you want, you can join the rest of the trainers here waiting for an early opening. If anyone fails to show up or if Pryce decides to take on an extra challenger today, we run a lottery between all the present trainers to choose who his next challenger will be.”

Sam turned his head to scan over the room. Dozens of eyes stared back, daring him to even think about joining this already full crowd.

“...And if I just want to schedule a date for a future match?” Sam said, looking back to the Gym Trainer.

She hummed and tapped a pen to her lips.

“For a seventh Gym Badge battle, I can pen you in for a challenge in just over two weeks. For you,” she said, pointing her pen at Redi, “give us your information, and we’ll pass on a note to the Pokémon Center if we can manage to arrange your battle to be against a Gym Trainer. Otherwise, you’ll need to wait longer, unfortunately.”

Redi looked frustrated but still provided the information. She and Sam left the waiting room once everything was set up.

“I might skip this Gym, too,” Redi grumbled.

“Wait, what? And not take on another Gym?”

“No, I definitely want to take it on, but if you get to battle Pryce, I want to battle Pryce,” she said with a huff. “Porygon knows Teleport. We just need to build up their strength so they can teleport further and bring me back here later.”

After a short discussion, Redi went back inside, wanting to talk to some of the other trainers waiting for a potential challenge, and Sam chose to stay nearby, finding a tree to place himself directly under. The shadows cast by its leaves meant there was less light to see the text, but he was getting used to reading in the dark thanks to all of his frequent practice with the Ghost Type.

This time around, he tried to look up information on the other Pokémon working with Trevenant, checking on entries like Murkrow, Ariados, Girafarig (weirdly enough), and even Honchkrow.

If Trevenant’s so tanky, we might have a chance if we hold off its allies. If everyone else can create a space for Quilava to interact with Trevenant, then maybe...

Then maybe they had a chance.

Sam did his best to gather the relevant information, going as far as to write notes in the margins of his journal and utilizing its rapidly dwindling space. He had hushed discussions with his team while keeping an eye on the Gym, seeing if Pryce called up any extra trainers for Gym Battles.

Noon came and passed, and Sam felt he was starting to get the semblance of a plan. However, talking and writing was becoming more and more difficult as he didn’t want to be overheard by the ever-growing number of trainers passing by outside.

...Yet, no one was leaving the Gym.

“This is getting ridiculous,” Sam said, closing his books. “Is Pryce really not taking anyone today? Are all of these trainers really here for a fight?”

He put the New Pokédex away so no one would see it and stood up to check with Redi. However, as he started to head to the Gym, what he didn’t expect was to see Xavier, of all people, actively approaching from the center of town.

“Xavier!” Sam called out. “I thought you already earned your seventh badge. Why are you here?”

Xavier stopped walking to glance at where Sam stood in the shadows of that nearby tree.

“A Gym Trainer posted a notice in the Pokémon Center,” Xavier said. “Pryce will be making an announcement.”

He then continued on to enter the Gym like everyone else, unaware of the sudden tension Sam felt in his chest.

Hurrying inside, Sam had to push through the crowd to find Redi. He felt awkward and a bit out of place given that all the trainers crowding around this small room seemed to be older or at least on the more experienced side.

That’s not good news.

The crowd somehow managed to arrange itself into a U-shape, giving everyone a clear view of the Gym’s front counter. Redi was frowning when Sam reached her, and she looked over with her arms crossed as he approached.

“Know what’s going on?” she asked.

“An announcement,” Sam replied grimly.

“Duh. I know that. About what, I mean?”

Sam stayed silent. The gut feeling he carried about this announcement’s purpose was anything but pleasant.

It took half an hour for something to happen. No trainers were called up before that time. In fact, at one point, the Gym Trainer behind the front counter stood up to announce no further Gym Battles would be happening that day.

Only a small handful of people bothered to leave.

Eventually, the time came, and a door to the rest of the Gym opened up. A balding man stepped through. White wisps of hair crept up the sides of his head and into a defiant point at its top. Pryce frowned, his eyes narrowed, but he held his head high. His passive scowl made it seem as though he was annoyed at his own old age.

“Good. Enough of you are here for this to matter,” Pryce said, holding his hands behind his back and doing his best to stand at attention despite his slight slouch. “My announcement is simple: I’m sick of this. Those Rangers had plenty of time to get a handle on this situation, but all they’ve done is spent the last two days letting dangerous Pokémon run amok!”

A light growl left his throat, and no one in the room moved even an inch.

“It’s downright irresponsible to let these attacks continue for as long as they have! So, I’m calling it. I’m taking the matter into my own hands.”

As his eyes flicked through the crowd, he somehow made eye contact with every trainer here while simultaneously dismissing each and every one of them. With the strength of the old man’s gaze, Sam could understand why the Gym Trainer had held so much respect for Pryce. He carried the confidence of someone who knew he would win.

Although, he didn’t need to be so dismissive about it.

“I’m recruiting,” Pryce said flatly. “I’ll be getting to the heart of this problem and taking out whatever’s causing this mess. To do that, I need more than just the League’s trainers working under me. That’s where you come in.

“Four trainers will be assigned to each Gym Trainer, with generous payment granted according to the level of your contribution. Trainers with six badges or more, only. Five or less need not bother.”

He nodded once to finish his statement, and the room was utterly silent. With that lack of reaction, Pryce’s frown somehow deepened.

“Well? I’m finished. Form the groups. Get to it.”

He then turned around and disappeared inside of the Gym, and the room burst into action the second he was gone. The Gym Trainer behind the front counter stood up to yell out commands as everyone hurried to figure out how they’d be dividing themselves into groups.

But the other Gym Trainers weren’t even here yet. No one knew how many people would be allowed to take on this task.

“There are too many people here. But there aren’t enough trainers working for the Gym.”

Sam almost jumped when he heard Xavier speak up behind him.

“I’d be surprised if there were more than a dozen Gym Trainers. They’ll only accept the best of the best onto their teams. For you two, you could join, but...” He looked at Redi. “It won’t matter. You don’t have enough Gym Badges.”

She bristled.

“Woah, woah! Hold on, he’s just stating that! That wasn’t supposed to be an insult!” Sam said.

Without confirming or denying what Sam said, Xavier scoffed and turned around. His eyes locked onto a group of unfamiliar trainers before striding directly their way.

“He didn’t need to say it like that,” Redi said, shoving her arms together. “I hate that guy.”

“He’s alright.”

“Is he?” she hissed.

Sam wasn’t able to answer outside of a wince.

With the chaos unfolding within the small lobby, Sam and Redi were effectively forced outside. Redi was already prevented from joining due to her lack of Gym Badges, and Sam knew that he wasn’t interested himself.

“...What are we going to do?” Redi whispered, looking through the glass doors at the slowly forming teams.

“I don’t know,” Sam said. “The Pokémon Rangers were already working on this problem, so this was always going to be a race against time. But now that Pryce is stepping in...”

The stubborn Gym Leader would never change his mind no matter what Sam or anyone else said. Pryce would head north the moment these groups formed. And, he wasn’t bothering to waste time with a more detailed plan like the Pokémon Rangers were still making.

Any chance Sam had to work out a solution was vanishing before his eyes. At most, they only had a few hours before Pryce faced Trevenant himself.

And Sam knew for a fact that Pryce would win.