The Ghost Specialist

Sam didn’t sleep well that night. It didn’t help that he’d been staying up later and later. He found himself tossing and turning, waking up at even the smallest of noises. The sheets on the bed were too heavy, Quilava was a bonfire at his side, and Primeape’s snores were screams to Sam’s ears.

He wouldn’t call himself stressed or worried, it was more that there was an expectation for the next day. The knowledge that everything involving Petrel would come to its head was settling in. Sam was half tempted to try to have Haunter use Dream Eater on him, but the Pokémon still hadn't learned the move, and asking for help in that way felt a bit too extreme for something this “minor.”

But Sam’s thoughts still lingered on what was soon to happen. No other impending battle had ever felt like this. Even against real ghosts, there had been fear, but there had also been the sense of underlying excitement that came from encountering something incomprehensible.

Petrel was just a man.

He was a common criminal, and there was nothing mystical about him. Yet, with how grounded of a threat he represented, the knowledge of an impending encounter made the situation feel that much more real.

Alright, Sam was a little worried.

Thankfully, when he eventually got out of bed the next morning, his team was well-rested and ready to go. Quilava puffed out any lingering ash from her fur, Primeape boxed the air to try to prove he was awake, and Haunter kept trying to lure out the Gastly in Sam’s shadow. While Tibia was annoyed, Haunter treated it as a game.

“And good morning to you, too, Misdreavus,” Sam said.

The Ghost Type pushed against his shoulder and smiled when he rubbed her head.

“Today... is a big day,” Sam said, his Pokémon slowing down to listen to his words. “I don’t think I need to go into details about what might happen. What’s going to happen. Fighting Petrel won’t mean a normal battle. It’s an actual fight. And if we can’t do it, and if the worst comes true—”

Quilava squeaked to interrupt. Before he could vocalize anything else, the rest of his team yelled their names at Sam, all in agreement that they’d never let something so awful occur.

Seeing everyone’s determined expressions, Sam knew there was no point in bringing up those awful thoughts. Speaking of a loss was the same as preparing for a loss. All it would do was make them feel worse. Instead, what Sam needed to do was understand that they were going to win.

He smiled as he took in his team, nodding once to agree with their shouts.

“You’re right. We can do this. We’ve been preparing for this exact battle. I’ll believe in you all, and we can celebrate after.”

Haunter and Misdreavus dived into Sam’s shadow as he helped Quilava onto his shoulders. As for Primeape, while the Fighting Type was trying to act awake, Sam recognized the need to return him to his Pokéball. There, Primeape would be able to get more sleep.

Redi was already in the lobby when Sam finally managed to leave his room. He’d needed to take an extra few minutes to make sure all of his belongings were packed up. Sam found her idly leaning back in one of the few single-person chairs, kicking up her legs out of boredom and to lazily pass the time as she waited for Sam to show.

As he entered, they locked eyes, and Redi jumped to her feet.

“Ready to punch a dude in the face?” she asked. “Nurse Joy promised.”

“She didn’t promise. She just said she’d try to set something up. And punching someone in the face is a waste of time.”

“But—”

“Kicking someone, however, is a lot easier and can be way more painful if you aim it correctly.”

She snickered and patted Sam’s arms, exposing her teeth in a bloodthirsty grin. He snickered right back and moved into line to check out of the Pokémon Center alongside her.

Thankfully, leaving took no effort whatsoever. Nurse Joy tended to stick to night shifts, and she wasn’t working this early in the morning. However, the nurse on duty immediately recognized Sam and Redi and wished them luck on their journey out of town. She spoke of them leaving before either of them mentioned wanting to head out.

When their IDs were passed back after providing them to the nurse, those two plastic cards didn’t come back on their own. Subtly, the nurse also slid over a paper packet that went unmentioned. Sam picked it up as if it were supposed to be there.

“Thank you,” he said.

Redi also thanked her, doing so cheerfully.

Sam carried the packet outside, slipping it into his backpack while moving out alongside Redi. He scratched Quilava’s neck as they exited through the front doors.

The sidewalks outside were dense with people, and slipping into the crowds, he and Redi quickly found their way to a certain restaurant. A few days ago, Sam had scheduled a reservation at an all-you-can-eat buffet as a gift for Primeape. It took a call last night to reschedule their reservation, but that reservation was more about warning the restaurant rather than guaranteeing a seat. Primeape would be able to enjoy his gift while letting Sam and Redi eat a hearty breakfast before leaving town.

They sat at a booth, scooting onto the cushioned seats and bringing plate-covered trays with them. Primeape’s mouth was drooling as he sat next to them. His tray was covered by a veritable mountain of food.

Alongside him, Quilava was out and nibbling on a small piece of fruit. Ursaring wasn’t as much of a glutton, but he wasn’t out. He was still in his Pokéball. As for Sam and Redi, Tibia and Fibula stayed in their shadows, ready to warn them if anyone got too close during the important conversation they were about to have.

“So what’s in the packet?” Redi asked, using her teeth to tear off a full third of a piece of toast.

Sam glanced up from where he was reading. Redi looked at him expectantly.

“Oh, you know, stuff,” he idly replied. “It’s actually really interesting. Wanna read it yourself?”

Rather than taking the offered papers, Redi leaned back, scratching at her ear with casual disinterest.

“Nah. It’s alright. You can keep it,” she said.

Sam’s flat look didn’t cause her expression to change. She absolutely could read it—and would read it if he wasn’t around—but at this point, having Sam read everything for her had turned into a bit that he could tell she thought was hilarious to keep up.

“The packet’s a basic overview of Morty’s plans,” Sam explained, pushing past Redi’s lack of reaction. “There isn’t enough in it to reveal everything to us, but there’s enough here to give us a rough idea of what’s going on.”

“Oh. That’s... Hm.”

Redi looked thoughtful. She at least seemed to recognize that now wasn’t the time for further jokes.

“We aren’t bait,” Sam continued. “I mean, we are, but only technically. Morty has basically locked down the city with his Ghost Types and made it impossible for anyone to hide outside of a few intentional locations. Gaps in patrols and a few other openings are going to pick up today as he pretends to ‘change plans.’ There’s nothing explicitly stated for his goals, but from what I can tell, it looks like he’s trying to control how ‘Pete’ tries to leave Violet City.”

Redi frowned.

“But won’t Petrel notice that? And try to do something else?”

“If he stays behind, Morty’ll catch him. Since there’s gonna be so much pressure today, Petrel is going to be forced to leave. Morty’s even managed to get Ace Trainers to set up ambushes for when Petrel tries to head out.”

Morty was preparing five obvious exits from Violet City, and Sam and Redi were technically part of one. They weren’t bait in that they weren’t purposefully being used to draw him out, but they were still “tasty” targets for Petrel to try to take out before entirely running away.

Their presence was a delay for the worst-case scenario.

As Sam continued to explain his understanding of Morty’s plans, Redi hummed and played with a fork on the table. She pressed down on the prongs of its head and watched as its handle bounced off the wood.

“So he’s not going to go after us?” she asked doubtfully. “There’s only gonna be a twenty percent chance he actually shows up?”

“About, but Morty thinks it’s a bit higher than that,” Sam said. “There might be other ways for ‘Pete’ to leave the city, but if he heads towards us, he’d be able to knock out two Pokémon with one stone—the recapture of Porygon and escape.”

Redi snarled the moment Sam finished talking. A fist pressed down on the middle of the fork, making it go utterly still.

“He’s not ‘recapturing’ Porygon. Recapturing means he captured Porygon in the first place! As far as I care, he was never Porygon’s trainer. All he does is see Pokémon as tools. Petrel’s scum. A poacher. Nothing more than that.”

Sam pulled back in his seat at Redi’s surprising show of vitriol. The movement seemed to shock her out of her rant as she blinked at him and recovered.

“Sorry. It’s not you, I just...”

“We’ll get him. We just need to make sure we’re working inside Morty’s plans.”

“...Yeah.”

There were a few more details in the packet, but there was nothing too pertinent to them. The trap for Petrel thankfully made room for their own planned path, where they’d head east along Route 31 with the intent of visiting Mr. Pokémon’s home at the entrance of Route 30. Sam wanted to talk to the man, as during the tournament, Mr. Pokémon had dropped hints about a certain few evolutions on Sam’s team.

Redi shared a similar objective, as Mr. Pokémon was connected enough that he might be able to help her obtain the right kind of peat block for Ursaring’s evolution into Ursaluna. If they couldn’t secure his help, they’d need to instead set up an international job when they returned to Olivine’s port. Doing so had no guarantees, and there’d be no way to ensure it’d be completed quickly. As of right now, Mr. Pokémon was their best option. If it was easy to obtain an Ursaluna, someone else would have already done so.

“Anything else?” Redi asked.

“We just need to be sure to use that Pokégear the moment we learn Petrel is nearby. There are going to be Ace Trainers waiting at points along Route 31 to jump in when needed. Unfortunately, they’re kind of limited, because if there’s too many, they might scare Petrel away. There’ll still be enough that any of them can come quickly once called, though.

“Also, the Gym is apparently using Xatu to try to learn Petrel’s movements,” Sam added. “Psychic Types can’t exactly predict the future, but they can predict probabilities. That’ll help narrow down plans once it gets closer to Petrel’s capture.”

“Huh,” Redi said. She chewed on a piece of food. “Wouldn’t Dark Types mess with that?”

“Probably?” Sam said, not knowing himself. “But I don’t think Petrel has any Dark Types, just a bunch of Poison Types.”

She idly nodded her head.

Sam finished listing off the last few minor details, but there wasn’t anything specific to their current plans. They would buy a few supplies—berries kept fresher for longer when bought at the last minute—before heading out. Once on Route 31, they’d stay on high alert until Petrel attacked or until they got the all-clear message via PokéGear.

They sat in silence once Sam was done, quietly continuing their meals, lost in thought. Primeape utterly devoured his pounds and pounds of food, and he leaned back with his hands on his stomach, looking utterly satisfied.

Redi drank soda. Sam had a cup of tea. Quilava sipped at a saucerful of berry juice. They sat and quietly processed the day’s impending plans.

“Man,” Redi eventually said with a sigh. “So Morty just wants us to stall more than anything else, huh?”

“I mean, Petrel has a seven-star team. Our Pokémon are at five. Even with a good strategy, it’s too risky to throw ourselves into a direct fight. Morty’s Dusclops is one Pokémon, but it could crush us entirely on its own.”

A sour look passed over Redi’s face.

“Too bad we can’t ambush Petrel right back,” she grumbled. “Like, when Tibia and Fibula detect him, we jump out when he thinks he managed to sneak up on us and scare him instead.”

Sam stopped eating to look up at his friend.

“I mean, we could?” he said slowly. “We could ambush him with some sort of jumpscare. Haunter’s gotten good at that.”

Redi met Sam’s eyes. He could tell what she was thinking. Something like that could work, but it came with a lot of risks. Notably, they wouldn’t be able to control how Petrel might react, but it could stop him from attacking them directly.

And that was enough for Sam to be convinced.

“You’re the Ghost Type specialist between us,” Redi said, casually pointing her fork at Sam. “You’d be the one to know how to make things really spooky. I guess you could scare Petrel so he’s too afraid to fight, or maybe trick him into needing to hunt us down. Anything like that might throw him off. And he really seems like someone who’d think it’s fun to give chase. At least, he seemed like that kind of guy based on how he acted in Sprout Tower.”

Redi’s smile fell, and she stretched down to unhappily rub her still-injured ankle. She could walk—the sprain was almost healed—but she was forced to wear a boot that limited how much she could move.

“But it wouldn’t work,” Redi grumbled. “He’d be ready for us to attack.”

“Really?” Sam asked. “You really think he’d be ready for us to try to scare him?”

“He would detect us.”

“Misdreavus is an expert at hiding, and Haunter’s been training how well he can stay hidden. And your Pokémon can be scary, too. Imagine Ursaring jumping out at Petrel from behind a tree.”

“...Hm.”

The plan was a bit opposite to how she usually battled, but Redi wiggled in her seat, visibly considering it. She let her hands rest against the table, arms pressing into its edge.

“So... what?” she asked. “You use Will-O-Wisp as actual Will-O-Wisps? Set the mood and lure him somewhere so you jump out and injure his team?”

“Sure. Or I find a way to distract him and burn his Pokémon. And I really doubt Petrel would be expecting a Hex. That, and if we find the right place, Haunter could sneak up with a paralyzing Lick or two, and then Misdreavus could escort him away before Petrel retaliates.”

“...Porygon has great aim,” Redi added. “Any Koffing can be sniped out of the air with a single Psybeam.”

“And Misdreavus also knows Psybeam, now. Her aim isn’t as good, but she’s better at attacking while hidden.”

Redi tapped her fingers on the table. Sam knew he needed just one more push before she was convinced.

“We’d use the cover of the night?”

“Or the darkness of a forest.”

“I guess we could really amp up the spooky environment,” she said “Deep woods are always kind of creepy.”

Sam shrugged.

“Ghost Types lurk there.”

“Would you have Haunter sing?”

When Sam looked at Redi questioningly, she blinked at him, confused.

“What? Never heard him late at night?” she asked. “He goes out and practices spooky noises away from where we camp. It wakes up Ursaring, sometimes.”

“But we’re doing this, right? Trying to scare Petrel instead of just sitting there and letting him attack.”

Redi shook her head, amused, and by the end of it, she’d gained a feral smile.

“Yeah, you sold me. Just imagining seeing that guy afraid...”

She laughed to herself and grinned. Sam agreed he wouldn’t mind seeing Petrel make that kind of face.

As they were currently, Sam knew they’d never be able to beat Petrel. Fighting him conventionally meant an inevitable defeat. Three days of practice wasn’t enough to catch up with years of skill, and as a criminal, Petrel fought dirty. Going against him on his terms meant he’d absolutely win.

But if they were prepared for Petrel’s appearance, and if they had a plan to wear him down...

And if they made sure he was always moving and kept him on the back foot...

“Huh,” Sam said. “We might actually be able to do this.”

“I know!” Redi said. “Neat, right?”

As Sam looked at her, she cracked her knuckles over the table. At the sight of her eagerness, he couldn’t help but let loose a short laugh.

It felt stupid. Trying to scare Petrel felt so, so dumb. They’d still call for help, of course, but if they set up everything just right, then Petrel would be forced to live through a real-life ghost story if he tried to pull off an attack.