Ash took a deep breath, threw his head back facing the air, and shouted: "Hey! I know it's you playing tricks!"
"Friend, can we not do this?"
"You're making this very awkward for me!"
Unlike Misty, who had already let the anger go to her head, Ash had already figured out that this was obviously a Ghost-type Pokémon playing a prank.
The surrounding clamor seemed to stagnate for a moment.
The movements and expressions of those "beautiful young girls" looked as if the pause button had been pressed.
Then, an aged voice, yet carrying a full measure of mischievous vigor, sounded as if it were ringing directly inside Ash and Misty's minds, carrying undisguised teasing:
—"No."
—"Heheh, this old man finds it quite interesting!"
The appearance of this voice confirmed Ash's guess.
Misty also froze for a moment, realizing that these "love rivals" were probably not real people. Her anger instantly transformed into embarrassment and annoyance directed at the mastermind behind the scenes.
Misty was very shy right now.
If she didn't know for a fact that she definitely couldn't beat it, she would definitely drag this old ghost out and give it a beating!
However...
Misty stole a glance at Ash.
After all, Ash had been protecting her just now.
It was embarrassing, but also quite sweet.
Ash felt helpless: "So what exactly do you want to do?"
That aged voice chuckled: "Nothing much, just watching the excitement."
"Youth is truly great. Making such a racket over such small matters, how energetic!"
"Kid, this little girlfriend of yours has quite a jealous streak, hahaha!" The thousand-year-old Gastly was really just pulling a prank.
From its perspective, if such a small matter could cause feelings to rupture... then there was actually no need to discuss such feelings to begin with.
"Who—who is his girlfriend!" Misty's face turned beet red instantly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
She jumped and retorted, which instead made it look more like she was trying to hide something, making it all the more obvious.
"Oh? Is she not?" The thousand-year-old Gastly's voice was full of teasing amusement. "Then this old man will have to put in some more effort and introduce a few more 'understanding' girls to this kid to get to know?"
"You dare!" Misty roared almost without thinking.
Only after roaring did she realize what she had said, and she immediately felt so ashamed she wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Ash was also between laughter and tears, speaking to the air: "Senior, please stop making fun of us."
For a time, the two humans and one "ghost" actually started chatting and arguing across the air like this.
Ash attempted to reason.
Misty puffed up her cheeks and refuted Gastly's teasing.
And that thousand-year-old Gastly tirelessly fanned the flames, enjoying the fun brought by this prank.
The illusionary figures around them became sometimes clear and sometimes blurry along with their "conversation," and the atmosphere became both eerie and somewhat inexplicably... joyful?
This was probably a problem with Ghost-type Pokémon's aesthetics.
After all, when a Gastly is having fun, gouging out its own eyes or chopping itself up is completely fine.
But if a Gastly is having fun and gouges out a human's eyes or chops them up... then that's a big problem.
However, this Gastly had lived for a thousand years; it was still able to restrain itself and completely understood the rules and concepts of the human world.
"Pika pika..." Pikachu sat on Ash's shoulder.
It watched its own Trainer and partner arguing lively with an invisible existence.
Pikachu tilted its small head, expressing that its mood was complex.
Pikachu: 'What should I do if I encounter this type of opponent in the future?'
In Pikachu's eyes, Ash and Misty looked like they were performing a monologue.
It hadn't been long since they set off; they had only just beaten the 3rd Gym.
Regardless of Ash or Pikachu, their strength was still not quite up to par.
Although it hadn't learned Foresight, theoretically it could use Thunder Wave to sense... but Pikachu hadn't learned that yet either.
Ash got more and more into it as he spoke, arguing on the basis of reason: "Pranks also need to observe proper limits, right?"
"What if you conjure up these illusions out of thin air to sow discord and drive a wedge between people, causing real misunderstandings? What if fewer and fewer people come to participate in the temple festival in the future because of this?"
"Fear is difficult to sustain, but laughter can circulate eternally~"
"Besides Trainers, many people who come here are couples or parents bringing children."
"Everyone comes here just to be happy."
"If they aren't happy, then the flow of people coming will become smaller and smaller."
Fighting was definitely out of the question.
So Ash attempted to persuade.
The thousand-year-old Gastly's voice initially still carried casual teasing: "Hey, kid, you're reasoning with this old man?"
"This temple festival has been played this way for two thousand years. Did you set the rules?"
From the thousand-year-old Gastly's perspective, it had always done this, so it was definitely not wrong.
But the times were changing.
In the past, there was little entertainment, so legends could be spread through this method.
Now there is a lot of entertainment, so this method of dissemination would be outcompeted by other methods.
"..." Ash expressed speechlessness, and then attempted to start analyzing for the thousand-year-old Gastly.
He gestured with his hands, trying to make this invisible "old urchin" understand more intuitively, "This is just like... like making a movie!"
"Movie?" A trace of curiosity revealed itself in the thousand-year-old Gastly's voice.
The swaying of the surrounding illusionary figures slowed down by a few degrees, seemingly attracted by this novel phrasing.
"Right!" Seeing an opening, Ash hurriedly explained, "Isn't the main force going to watch movies couples on dates, or families happily bringing their children?"
"This temple festival is just like a super long-lived big IP movie series. The ones it attracts are also these guests who want to come and be happy, to create beautiful memories, right?"
After all, desiring beauty is the need of the majority.
Misty also temporarily forgot her shyness and nodded subconsciously, feeling that Ash's analogy was inexplicably fitting.
"But think about it," Ash changed the topic, "If a movie showed nothing but plots of couples arguing and breaking up, husbands and wives clamoring for divorce, and family members blaming each other..."
He pointed at those "beautiful girl" illusions around them that had just been fanning the flames: "Just like these ones you transformed just now, specifically saying things to sow discord and make people angry and quarrel."
"Then what would the audience feel after watching it?"
"Suffocated! Uncomfortable! A belly full of anger!"
"Who would still be willing to buy a ticket next time to enter and look for discomfort?"
"If the reputation goes bad, the number of screenings will have to be reduced, and in the end, there might be nothing left to show!"
Ash's voice was clear and sincere, appearing exceptionally persuasive against the background noise of the bustling festival.
"But what about the other way around?" Ash's tone became positive, "If what's acted in the movie is couples being sweeter after going through small misunderstandings, and families being more united after overcoming difficulties, a happy ending full of laughter and warmth..."
"Just like those best-selling family-friendly blockbusters!"
"After watching, the audience feels warm inside. They walk out of the cinema happily, and will even recommend it to friends. When the sequel is released next year, they'll definitely come back to support it!"
"This temple festival works on the same principle!"
Ash opened his arms, as if embracing this brightly lit grand gathering.
"Only by letting everyone, especially couples and families, have a great time here and leave with the best memories."
"Will they think about it year after year: 'Ah, summer is about to end, it's time to go to the Maiden Gorge temple festival!'."
"This is the logic for long-lasting excitement!"
Ash remembered very clearly that the reason this Gastly organized the temple festival here was to let the legend of Maiden Gorge be passed down forever.
This was this Gastly's obsession.
Starting from other angles, saying anything would be useless... most Pokémon of the Gastly line were shameless and heartless.
But speaking from this angle would make the Gastly think.
____
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