"Creak!"
The front door, worn and dilapidated from years of neglect, creaked open with a sharp, piercing sound.
A musty, decaying aura wafted out.
The room was incredibly dark. Fuyuki pulled a flashlight from his bag, barely illuminating the surroundings.
"Click!"
A white light appeared from the Poké Ball on Fuyuki's waist. Squirtle, worried its trainer might be scared, had jumped out of its ball to keep him company.
"Squirtle?" Fuyuki looked at the little turtle.
"Squirtle!"
Squirtle couldn't help but turn and look around. Looking at the eerie surroundings, it couldn't help but imagine terrifying monsters emerging from the darkness and snatching it away.
This made Squirtle instinctively grab Fuyuki's pants with its little paws.
Fuyuki: "..."
It was clearly scared too, yet it still insisted on coming out to keep him company?
Fuyuki patted Squirtle's head, comforting it, "Don't be afraid, Squirtle, Daddy and I are here."
"Squirtle!"
The first floor was a living room. There was a sofa, an old-fashioned television, a dining table, a crib, and some building blocks scattered on the dusty floor.
Looking at these toys, images flashed through Fuyuki's mind.
He saw his father, Matsuda, playing with these toys in front of him, while his mother, Yumiko, gently cooked dinner for her husband and child.
Back then, they also had a cat.
His human parents in this life were very gentle and loving.
Fuyuki's mind returned to the incident from years ago. Perhaps because his soul was that of an adult, he remembered that time very clearly.
But at that time, he was too weak to protect them.
Thinking of this, and that his gentle parents were dead, Fuyuki suddenly felt a deep sadness.
"Daddy, I remember..."
Entei didn't speak; it simply watched over its child, staying by his side.
"Squirtle..."
Seemingly sensing the trainer's sadness, Squirtle's face also showed a sorrowful expression.
Suddenly, a cold wind swept through the room, followed by a sinister, cackling laugh from Fuyuki's ears.
"Heh heh! Heh heh heh!"
"Who's there?!"
Entei frowned, its voice authoritative.
A powerful pressure swept out from its body, accompanied by scorching heat.
In an instant, a small Pokémon, resembling a wisp of purple smoke, was knocked to the ground by Entei's pressure.
Fuyuki looked in that direction.
The Pokémon seemed terrified by Entei, frozen in place, too afraid to move, its face filled with fear as it stared at the group before it.
That's... Gastly?
How could there be a Gastly here?
Fuyuki recalled information about Gastly Pokémon.
Gastly, a gaseous Pokémon, is said to be born from the resentment of the dead residing in the gas emanating from cemeteries.
Others say it's a new life form born from the fusion of the soul of the deceased and gas, and they only appear in old, uninhabited houses.
At first, Fuyuki wasn't too surprised, but he suddenly remembered what Officer Jenny had said earlier.
The owner of this house used to have a Meowth.
The Meowth didn't leave, staying in the house waiting for its owner's return, but it never came.
After hearing of its owner's death, it stopped eating and drinking, until one day, people never saw it again.
At that time, the Meowth must have been resigned to death, right?
Could this Gastly be the reincarnation of that Meowth's soul? This thought suddenly popped into Fuyuki's mind.
He called out to the Gastly, "Meowth?"
"Hoo...?"
The frightened Gastly suddenly heard the voice and couldn't help but look over.
What Meowth? Was it being called? Gastly didn't know; Gastly thought it was just a Gastly.
As expected… Fuyuki sighed. Even if this Gastly was a new life form transformed from the soul of the deceased Meowth, it shouldn't have any of its previous memories.
It was no longer Meowth, but a completely new Pokémon.
"When did you get here?" Fuyuki asked again.
Gastly didn't want to answer, but seeing the terrifyingly large creature beside it, it trembled and replied,
"Kuji…"
"You've been here since you had memories?" Fuyuki asked.
"Kuji…" Gastly nodded, but then, as if it had discovered something, its eyes widened in shock: "Kuji!"
This human could understand it!
"Do you live here alone?" Fuyuki glanced at the shocked Gastly and asked again.
"Kuji…" Gastly nodded blankly.
"I see! You're alone too…" Fuyuki asked, "Then come with us! I'll take you away from here, and we'll go play outside, okay?"
"Kuji?!" Gastly's eyes immediately lit up.
"Play together?" Would this human really want to play with it?
It had lived alone in this place since it was little; people were afraid of it, and no one wanted to play with it.
Gastly was lonely and isolated, often sitting alone by the window of its dark room, gazing at the outside world.
And now, someone was willing to play with it!
This made Gastly somewhat incredulous.
"Ghost?" it asked again, really willing to play with it?
"Yes." Fuyuki nodded.
"Ghost!" Gastly nodded eagerly; it was willing!
From now on, someone was willing to play with it!
"Dad, I want to catch it," Fuyuki said to Entei.
"Hmm." Entei had no objection, because it also felt sorry for Gastly.
It was good that it could stay by Little One's side and play with him.
In Entei's eyes, both Squirtle and Gastly were just Fuyuki's playmates, his peers.
"Then, Gastly, come in here!" Fuyuki took out a Poké Ball.
"Gah!"
Gastly happily burrowed into the Poké Ball, which wobbled twice before stopping.
This meant the capture was successful.
Fuyuki sighed, opening his mouth as if to say something, when he suddenly heard a violent explosion in the distance.
He turned to look out the window and saw a massive explosion in the center of Viridian City, flames shooting into the sky and illuminating the dark night.
"Squirtle?" Squirtle couldn't help but look out the window.
Ash and his friends were in Viridian City too… Looking at the explosion, Fuyuki immediately recalled a scene from the anime.
Team Rocket had gone to the Pokémon Center to catch Ash's Pikachu, and during the battle, Pikachu's electrical overload caused a chain reaction in the Pokémon Center's machines, resulting in a massive explosion.
He hadn't seen Ash for three years; since that was the case, he might as well go and say hello.
....
Power Stones PLZZZZZ
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