The Ghost Specialist

The chill of the darkness felt like it soaked into Sam as he rubbed his head and sighed. Mankey couldn't meet his gaze, and Teddiursa scratched at the stone floor. The light from Sam and Redi’s flashlights served as the only source of illumination.

Sam knew it would have been easy to be annoyed. It would be easy to lash out and snap at Mankey or complain or whine or shout about how they were now stuck.

He didn’t do that. Instead, he turned to Haunter. The Ghost Type’s amorphous body was half-obscured by the dim light.

“Haunter, you can phase through the ground, right?”

The Ghost Type nodded excitedly. Haunter looked proud of that ability.

“Then, I have a plan,” Sam announced, trying to gather everyone’s attention. “While I do think we should enter the tunnels, I don’t think we should try to explore.”

“Aw, but—”

“We’d get lost,” Sam said, interrupting Redi.

She crossed her arms, but she didn’t try to argue.

“Caves and underground areas have been awful enough for us as it is,” Sam continued. “Haunter can help guide us to another exit by going up and down to the surface and leading us towards the other buildings. I can see the tunnel starting to slope down a few feet away, and if we follow it, we’ll probably be able to find an exit wherever the floor slopes back up.”

The building they had entered was partially covered by rock. That rock hid the hallway they were currently in. Likely, other buildings could contain similar secrets. To Sam, having Haunter guide them would give them the best odds of finding a way out.

“Hm. What if we send Haunter off to get help, and we wait here?” Redi said.

Sam stared at her, and she could barely keep her expression level before breaking into giggles.

“Yeah, this is an easy excuse to actually explore, isn’t it?”

“We’re not exploring, we’re searching for an exit,” Sam half-lied. “That, and I don’t think the researchers would appreciate being dragged away just to help a pair of dumb tourists.”

As he sent the signal to Haunter, Haunter pushed his chin out and brought up a hand in a salute before disappearing into the ceiling. A few seconds passed before he came back down, phasing back through and pointing ahead excitedly.

It’s confirmed, then.

Haunter could definitely go up and down and use the surface’s landmarks to guide them towards potential exits.

“Man, I love Ghost Types,” Sam said quietly. “Thanks for the help. You’re amazing, Haunter!”

Moving to Sam’s side, Haunter made a show of bringing his hands behind his back and shyly looking away. Sam briefly checked his flashlight before taking a step forward, but he paused and looked at Mankey and Teddiursa.

“Follow carefully, alright? Keep an eye out for Unown.”

He kept his voice light to signal that they weren’t in trouble. However, neither of them were able to look him in the eye or respond in general. Both of them knew they shouldn’t have engaged in a fight like that. Sam could tell that the guilt they were feeling was punishment enough.

Thankfully, they’ve learned that lesson here and not somewhere more dangerous. If we really get lost, we can still send Haunter out to get help later.

Truthfully, a small part of Sam felt that this was his fault. While there was a definite rivalry going on between Mankey and Teddiursa, Mankey was also prone to bouts of anger. Sam had helped Mankey develop that anger to fuel his attacks, but they’d barely practiced actually bringing it under his control. Sam had always thought they’d only need to do that when he was about to evolve for the final time.

Pressing forward into the underground network of tunnels, Sam saw that its brick walls were lined with carvings of Unown. Letters in nonsensical patterns almost seemed to follow them, lit up by the edges of their flashlights’ beams.

“The floors are spotless,” Redi suddenly said after a minute or two of walking through the halls.

“Sorry, what?” Sam asked, looking down and pointing his flashlight to the floor.

“I kind of expected to see footsteps or scuffs or maybe scratches from things being dragged around? You know, obvious clues that’d lead to treasure? There’s nothing. Nothing! There’s not even dust!”

She grumbled to herself. Her eyes scanned the area around them but seemed to fail to find anything of interest. Sam couldn’t see any hints to any hidden rooms, himself. As far as he could tell, this place was used as a passageway and nothing else.

They came to an intersection, and Haunter checked the surface before directing them to the left. While the uniform walls didn’t provide any hints on which way to go, Haunter was able to see where the closest building was above them.

“So...” Sam said, his voice echoing as he desperately sought some kind of topic to keep himself distracted. “Looking forward to the next Gym?”

Redi sent Sam a look as if he were insane.

“Really? You’re really gonna ask me that?”

“I’m just trying to pass the time,” he said sheepishly.

Redi rolled her eyes—or at least Sam was pretty sure she did. It was hard to make out specific details with the shine of her flashlight obscuring them.

“Duh,” she said with a scoff. “It’ll be my fourth Gym. That’s right when they start to get hard. You know that I’m looking forward to an actual challenge! But, uh... Well, I’m pretty sure it’ll be a challenge as long as Porygon doesn’t sweep again.”

Their fourth Gym—Violet City Gym—would be the Flying Type Gym, and Porygon was great at Electric Type moves. It had taken only a single, correct push to get Porygon to understand that new Type, and now the Pokémon was capable of setting up and sweeping thanks to both Conversion and Charge Beam.

In other words, the Pokémon could sweep with super effective moves pretty easily, especially when accounting for the artificial Pokémon’s ridiculous aim.

Redi mumbled something about Porygon before sending the Pokémon out next to her. She seemed to look over the polygonal creature before telling it to keep at her side. She affectionately rubbed its back.

As Sam watched, there wasn’t an obvious reaction, as expected, but Sam did tilt his head. For a second, he could have sworn he saw Porygon’s passive movements slow ever so slightly. Yet, once again, it was hard to make out more details thanks to the bright beam of Redi’s flashlight.

“I don’t think you should worry about whether or not it’ll be a challenge,” Sam said, turning back to face ahead. “I’m pretty sure Violet’s Walker is one of the toughest Gym Leaders in Johto.”

“I mean, yeah,” Redi said, speaking as if it were obvious. “I even heard he was offered a position in the Elite Four. He turned it down, though. Rumors say it’s ‘cause he doesn't like staying in one place.”

But he’s a Gym Leader?

Sam supposed that a Gym Leader could still go out and patrol the local area.

Walker was supposed to be one of the foremost experts on the Flying Type too, and Sam was excited to see how that translated into a battle. His team’s agility could probably give even Porygon trouble.

Another turn, and Haunter briefly disappeared once again. They were apparently right underneath a building, but there was no obvious slope or door, so they were forced to keep moving through the tunnels.

“How about you, Sam? Looking forward to the next Gym?” Redi said.

He almost made a comment about the obvious question. He chose not to, simply responding with an answer.

“Absolutely,” he said. “My team is amazing. Everyone’s getting stronger by the day. By the hour, sometimes! We’ll need to continue developing our strategy and pick up new moves, but if we really want to be prepared, we’ll need to—”

“Catch another Pokémon?”

Sam blinked.

“For your fifth badge, Walker can use either four or five Pokémon against you, but you only have three Pokémon on your team,” Redi pointed out. “I mean, I’m personally happy with my two team members, but what about you? You know any specific Ghost Types you wanna catch?”

Sam hummed, considering. There were a lot of Ghost Type Pokémon out there.

“I have a few species I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t think I’m going to hunt down anything specific,” he said. “I think I'd be happy with anything that comes my way, as long as they fit the team or are willing to be my friend. I know I went out of my way to catch a Gastly, but I don’t have that same motivation anymore. I have a Ghost Type, and he’s pretty cool. I know I’ll get another one eventually no matter what. I don’t feel a need to rush.”

Haunter preened at Sam’s words before disappearing back to the surface. Meanwhile, Redi hummed, mimicking Sam. He sent her a dirty look.

“Alright, alright. Whatever,” she said, snickering. “How ‘bout we tackle this from a different angle—instead of what Pokémon you'd like, what Pokémon do you not want to catch?”

Sam frowned. With how much he liked Ghost Types, he wanted to say he needed time to think about it. However, an easy answer came to mind almost right away.

“Mimikyu,” he answered.

“A Mimi... Huh? What's that Pokémon?”

“Mimikyu. A Ghost Type. Alolan. It tries to pretend to be a Pikachu to get people to like it, and it has a decent ability, decent moves, decent stats—”

“But...” Redi said for Sam.

“But, it’s part Fairy Type,” he continued, shrugging, not super committed to the idea. “I don’t know. It’s kinda petty, but I don’t like the Fairy Type. It feels... off and too cheerful. Almost like it’s extra, you know? I’d honestly be fine with never adding a Fairy Type to my team. Wouldn’t complain about that.”

He couldn’t argue against its existence—Hex had worked on Whitney’s Clefairy, after all. He just didn’t like that over the many years of his life, he had never heard about the Fairy Type. It didn’t feel reasonable that something as major as an entire Pokémon Type had avoided his discovery for so long.

That, and it was too cheerful, like he had said. The Fairy Type seemed like the antithesis of the Ghost Type for him.

Redi snorted at Sam’s comment. He didn’t have a way to defend himself, so he just shook his head as they continued to follow Haunter’s directions.

“Any Normal Types you’d like?” Sam asked. “I know you said you want to keep your team small and focused, but would you ever make an exception?”

Once more, the light made it hard to see Redi’s exact reaction, but there was obvious thought behind her pause.

“I don’t know,” Redi eventually said. “Maybe? I definitely prefer the Normal Type ‘cause it's so simple to train, but I don’t have that same attachment to it as you do with Ghost. Definitely depends on the Pokémon. I’ll know when I see them.”

Sam nodded along.

“Let’s do the same as I did, then,” Sam said. “Any Pokémon you absolutely don’t want to catch?”

“Snorlax,” Redi answered right away. “Super strong, but you know how expensive it is to feed?”

They both laughed.

The hallway continued to stretch out in front of them, and the conversation petered out. The only noise was their footsteps. Teddiursa and Mankey were still trying to make themselves small. A few turns broke up the monotony, but these underground hallways felt as if they would go on forever. Sam let out a sigh as he continued to point his flashlight ahead.

This is taking a while.

He expected to see at least one more Unown, but these hallways were strangely devoid of them. The one that had first allowed them to discover the secret door had utterly disappeared, and Sam had no clue where it might have gone. In a place that was apparently supposed to be the one location the species could be found, Sam wasn’t sure why they had all but vanished.

Suddenly worried, Sam briefly glanced behind. Both Teddiursa and Mankey were following along without a problem. Sam looked at Mankey and saw how the Fighting Type still looked pained.

His eyes were downcast, and his fur hid a frown. His brow was furrowed in deep thought—as if he was considering all the different ways this could have gone. He walked next to Teddiursa without a problem, but he wasn’t glaring at the other Pokémon like usual.

“Hey, Mankey?” Sam said. “I want you to know this isn’t a big deal. Part of this is my fault, anyway. If we’d worked on your anger more—”

“There!” Redi interrupted. “Finally! The floor’s sloping up!”

She dashed forward, and Sam was forced to cut himself off to give chase. Mankey and Teddiursa both picked up the pace but still stayed in the back. For some reason, they didn’t seem as excited. It was as if the exit reminded them of why everyone was stuck here in the first place.

A steep slope split from the main hallway to lead to an entrance nearly identical to one they’d first passed through. A similar secret door was built into the wall in front of them, partially open. Unfortunately, it was only noticeable due to its slight angle—barely cracked. There wasn’t even a gap for them to slip their fingers into.

But there was an exit here. One that hadn’t clicked shut.

“Perfect! Come on, help me push it open!” Redi asked.

Once more, she ran ahead and grabbed the door, trying to pull it back. The heavy stone didn’t budge. Only the tips of her fingers could find purchase.

Sam quickly joined in too, but he struggled just as much to get any sort of grip. After his hands slipped a few times, he walked back to put his flashlight on the ground, and then he returned to try again.

Even with Haunter phasing through from the other side and helping, Sam and Redi didn’t have the angle to actually pull it back.

“Has to weigh at least a ton,” Sam mumbled, taking a step back. “I mean, at least we have an angle?”

Redi dropped her arms and moved to stand by his side.

“Hm. If we need leverage... Have a crowbar?”

Sam sent her a look.

“Why would I have a crowbar?”

“To open doors?”

He scowled as Redi laughed at his reaction. Although, her chuckles quickly quieted.

“This sucks. I thought about buying one back in Goldenrod, but I also thought we’d never need it and it’d be better to save the money.”

Haunter phased back through to rejoin them. He looked miffed that they’d stopped pulling. But, without something to properly grab onto it, they’d need a ridiculous amount of strength to utilize this exit.

Almost feels like these doors weren’t meant to open, but then why include so many of them in the first place? No handles, no indents, no secret buttons...

Only way I can see this working is some kind of telekinesis. Maybe this place was built with a bunch of Psychic Types helping them. Might explain some of the species nearby.

For the Pokémon on Sam’s team, Haunter could learn Psychic, but there was no way he was figuring out that move here. There was a difference between gaining insight into a new move in battle and randomly learning an attack of a Type they’d never practiced.

As Sam stared at the barely angled door, a sinking feeling filled his chest.

What if the one we entered was the only one open?

What if all the other doors are closed?

...What if we’re never able to find a way out?

His spiraling train of thought was interrupted by a grunt from behind.

Sam turned to see Mankey take a step towards them. The little monkey’s expression was hard. When he noticed Sam looking, he nodded, and he started to walk right towards the door.

Each step came out slow and controlled. Putting to use Quilava’s tutoring, his hair stood on its ends as Curse boosted his bodily might.

“Curse might help in battle, but it's better used for improving attacks,” Sam said, frowning. “It’s less about increasing physical strength and more about making your moves come out with more power.”

Mankey grunted again. He was saying that he at least had to try.

He paused once he reached the door, closing his eyes and breathing in. He used Curse several times over, trying to maximize how much energy he could draw from the boost. While his hands weren’t any better at grabbing the door than Sam’s or Redi’s, as a Fighting Type Pokémon, his grip strength was significantly stronger. Though only his fingertips managed to grip the edge, it almost looked like he had a better handhold.

Mankey roared. His arms shook from the effort.

“Mankey...” Sam said.

The door didn’t move an inch.

He ended up falling backwards, breathing heavily. Redi was frowning next to him.

“You don’t need to do this. We can find another way out,” Sam said.

Mankey shook his head. At first, he was just trying to help. Now? It was a point of pride.

Pushing off the floor to stand back up, Mankey moved closer to the door only for someone else to join his side. Teddiursa stepped up, using his claws to dig into it and get an even better handhold (pawhold?) than him.

Mankey paused. He met Teddiursa’s gaze. Both of them seemed to hold it for a long time before Mankey joined him to try to pull.

“Woo! You can do it, Teddiursa! You too, Mankey!” Redi cheered.

Sam quickly glanced at Haunter.

“Can you push from the other side? You might be able to help.”

A salute. Haunter once more moved to phase through the wall, but he was stopped when both Mankey and Teddiursa shouted. They stared at Sam pointedly.

“You two... you don’t want Haunter’s help?”

Two simultaneous huffs in response. If Mankey and Teddiursa were the reason everyone was stuck in the first place, then they’d be the reason everyone got out.

“You two don’t have to do this on your own,” Sam said. “We’re a team! Let’s work together.”

But when Mankey looked at Sam, Sam knew there was no point. Mankey was adamant he’d open the door. He and Teddiursa working together would be more than enough.

Sam opened his mouth to fight back against the idea, but he closed his mouth and shook his head, smiling.

“Alright. Good luck, you two.”

Redi cheered again as Mankey and Teddiursa locked eyes once more. The monkey grunted. The bear growled. The arms of both Pokémon went taut from the effort as their shouts turned to roars.

They shook from the strain, forcing as much strength as they could into it. Feet slid against the stone floor as they fought to gain a sturdier stance. Noise echoed around the group. For some reason, the letters on the walls almost seemed to bounce. If Sam didn’t know any better, he’d almost say the carvings were cheering them on.

The door didn’t move.

It continued to stay in one place for a long, long time.

Past the point Sam would have thought he’d give up, Mankey kept pulling. It might have just been a door, but it was a life or death battle for him. Alongside Teddiursa, the Fighting Type was trying to prove a point.

Then, finally, there was something. At first, it was just a quiet scratch. It was subtle, but Sam heard it. Something ground together in the walls.

“They’re actually doing it,” he whispered.

The door began to move. It was only a single, tiny lurch, but it was movement. Most importantly, the added distance let Mankey and Teddiursa adjust their hands to get a better grip.

“That’s it! You’re so close!” Redi cheered.

Sam clenched his hand into a fist.

“Just a bit further,” he whispered.

He honestly never thought he’d be so excited to see a door open in his life.

Their feet continued to scrape across the ground, and the impossible finally started up. The massive chunk of stone actually started to move. For every inch, Mankey and Teddiursa adjusted their grips to better prepare for the next inch. The angle grew larger and larger, and each development started to occur at a brilliant rate.

Haunter was outright howling in excitement. Redi was cheering along. As for Sam, he silently watched. He continued to silently watch as both Pokémon were consumed by a brilliant light.

It wasn’t light from the outside sun. No, the light was coming from inside the tunnel. Both Mankey and Teddiursa glowed as their evolution fever reached its final form—a progression of stage.

Teddiursa had the most drastic shift, as his height skyrocketed upwards. Where he was once two feet tall, he exploded to be around six. Small paws became threatening claws, and his shoulders became much broader to support his new strength. He grabbed the top of the door as it creaked open, as Sam’s Pokémon stayed grabbing the bottom.

For Mankey, he ballooned outward. His rounded body stayed round, but it increased in size. The biggest change was in limbs, which thickened and rippled with muscles. His hands lost their individual fingers to change into a form resembling a boxing glove—perfect for punching.

He also lost his tail. Sam wasn’t sure how he’d take that.

When the light faded away, there was no Teddiursa and a Mankey trying to rip open the door. Instead, there was a full-fledged Ursaring and Primeape easily pulling open the stone. Their evolutions came with a drastic increase to strength, and Sam could hear the bricks crack into dust due to the difference in power.

Together, one last roar saw the door thrown open. A half-collapsed building waited before them. Those two secured everyone a way out.

For a moment, no one could say any words. Primeape and Ursaring looked at each other, as if sizing one another up. After several long seconds, Ursaring chuffed—Primeape was now only about half his height. However, as veins throbbed on Primeape’s head out of annoyance, the evolved Pokémon held up an arm in threat. He flexed, showing off his muscles. Yes, Ursaring was strong, but the bear was no Fighting Type.

For all the rivalry those two had, neither of them attacked. Instead, both of them grinned and clasped arms, congratulating one another on their evolution.

The very second the moment passed, Redi snapped out of her shock and charged forward. She cried out and let herself fall onto Ursaring’s side.

“It’s not fair! I wanted to be able to carry you more!”

Ursaring chuckled under his breath, saying the name of his evolved form. Sam could see him bring an arm around, but Redi didn’t. She yelped as his claw wrapped around her side and brought her into the air. She flailed, but when the movement stopped, she looked around from where she now hung off of Ursaring’s shoulder.

“Actually, this works too,” she said.

Ursaring gained a nasty grin and smacked his claws together. Redi’s expression matched his, as both seemed ready for any future fights.

As those two shared a moment, Sam faced Primeape. The evolved Fighting Type stared back. Despite Curse having worn off, his hair still seemed a bit frazzled, standing up on its ends.

Though evolved, his new height still didn’t reach Sam’s chest.

“So you evolved, huh?”

One of Primeape’s ears twitched. Once again, veins throbbed in annoyance. Primeape snorted at Sam as if to say, “That’s it?”

Sam just laughed in reply. He walked to his Pokémon and put a hand on his head, rubbing the Pokémon’s coarse fur.

“I’m proud of you,” Sam said, crouching down. “You worked really hard for this, huh?”

Sam didn’t need to sit to let Primeape look him in the eye. The Pokémon had become so much bigger than he was before. As he stared, Primeape’s expression was flat, face hard to read. However, with a pig-like nose, he sniffed once. Then twice. His eyes began to water.

“Oh, no. No, Primeape, not again—!”

Even with Sam trying to flee backwards, Primeape was still able to lunge forward and wrap Sam into a hug. Primeape’s newfound strength squeezed the air out of him, but Sam did his best to hug back.

The air was filled with the sounds of their Pokémon's reactions. Primeape cried, Ursaring made noises as he flexed to show off, and Haunter whispered something congratulatory to Primeape from over the Pokémon’s shoulder. Sam was finally able to free himself when Primeape let go to give the Ghost Type a high-five.

Quilava squeaked something as well—apparently, she had released herself from her Pokéball to try to ask for Primeape to let Sam go. Still, her squeaks were just as congratulatory. There was a smile on her face as she looked on, just as proud.

But Primeape stared at her. More specifically, he looked down, standing rather imperiously, if Sam had to describe it.

The Fighting Type was trying to make a point. Ursaring might have been taller than him, but he was at least taller than her.

Any celebration from Quilava ceased as she immediately squeaked indignantly and ran around Primeape. He just laughed, flexing his arms just like Ursaring. Evolution was a point of pride, and he wasn’t going to give up the chance to brag about his increased strength.

“Well, everyone,” Sam said, standing. “The door’s open.”

“Ready to head out?” Redi added, shouting to Sam from where she still hung off Ursaring’s back.

He looked to her and to where the sun's rays leaked in from the wide open door.

“Absolutely,” Sam said. “Next stop, Violet City, and there, a fight against Walker in his Gym!”