Kapitel 28: A Bond between a Trainer and Their Pokemon in many Battles

Ren had a typical day; nothing out of the ordinary had happened to her in the previous few days. She recently got the Soul Badge yesterday, but other than that, nothing much occurred. However, there was a strange thing that had happened between her and Gengar, the Pokemon that's always been with her ever since she was a kid. They both don't know what happened, as the event was a brief moment, a moment that barely lasted an eye blink.

She took a deep breath as she drank the cold water from the table. The chilling touch of the liquids tapped on her pinkish lips as she sipped them from the glass. They were sitting on the tables near the windows so that they could see what was going on outside. Other than that, in front of her was Gengar, who was eating his favorite pizza.

Out of all the Pokemon from her team, Gengar was the most active one outside of his Pokeball. He usually levitates around Ren to play with her sometimes, helps her fix her hair, reminds her of important stuff, and jokes around whenever he sees her sad.

'Why are the streets so empty?' Ren thought as she took a small glimpse outside from her seat.

She heard a few panting at the entrance as if they were running from something.

"They're here!!!" A man panted as they entered the restaurant.

"Who?" A waiter asked the man.

"Those crooks from the Sevii Islands." As he sits on one of the chairs near the entrance, he stated.

The people in the restaurant quickly realized what he meant. Some of them were confused, some of them panicked, and others were worried. The waiter locked the door of the restaurant and told the panicked customers to quiet down as they called the police for their safety.

"Can the police stop them? They've been doing this for a long time." One of the customers asked with curiosity

"Are you insane? Not even the police can stop them, they're trainers. They have strong Pokemon. Do you think an average person, who has no idea how Pokemon battles work, can fight them? I'd rather stay at home with a bat near the doorway than rely on the police." The other ranted. While the others were clashing about what they could do so that they could safely escape from the crooks, one of them noticed Ren and saw her Gengar eating his pizza.

"You." They pointed their finger at Ren. Everyone stopped their bickering and looked at her.

"Are you a Pokemon trainer?" They asked Ren. She looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at her. Gengar stopped eating his pizza as he felt the eerie feeling of being watched by a crowd.

"Uhh yes?" She timidly said. She was very uncomfortable with the number of people staring at her. She tried to ignore their glances by eating fresh and crispy onion rings

"Thank goodness. May we ask if you can drive them away from here?" a kind gentleman asked her. She took a bite from her newly picked onion ring and sighed.

"Sure, but let me finish my onion ring first." She stated her answer was enough to reassure the people in the restaurant.

After finishing their meal, they quickly paid her bill. Even though she was willing to pay it with her own money, they insisted on paying it instead. The two left the restaurant and prepared themselves for any battles nearby. They gained enough information on how to handle these crooks, and she was thankful that most of her team had some sort of resistance against poison types.

"Hmmm, Muks and Wheezings, how original." She taunted as she continued to walk alongside Gengar as they navigated through the empty streets of central Fuchsia city.

"Gengar, can you look above and see if there are any crooks nearby?" She asked her Pokemon to ensure that her surrounding area was safe for her to navigate.

The Pokemon nodded and slowly levitated to the sky, beginning to have a keen observation of where the crooks might be. Ren leaned on one of the nearby walls and looked from left to right to see if there were any incoming bikes that the crooks might use. Gengar patiently looks around to see if there are any movements nearby. He knows that he can appear and disappear from nearby places to see if there are any crooks.

"Gengar, do you see anything?" She asked the shadow Pokemon as it continued to soar through the open sky. It looked around once more and it was clear. It slowly descended from the sky and flew near to its trainer.

The Pokemon shocked its head as a confirmation. After that simple confirmation, the trainer quickly takes out a Pokeball and calls out the Pokemon inside of it.

"Dodrio, take us to the Pokemon center." She said this as the Pokeball opened and began to emit a small beam of light towards the ground. A Pokemon appeared from the beaming light. It was none other than Dodrio, a Pokemon with three sentient heads yet one small body. Something was clinging onto Dodrio's body. It was a black equestrian helmet.

"First thing we should do is head to the Pokemon center. Then, we'll find the Fuchsia city specialist so that she can help us drive these crooks out. You got that?" She said as she grabbed the helmet and put it on. She makes sure that the helmet is big enough to fit her head and buckles up the lace to fasten it.

Gengar nodded as answered, Ren quickly sat on a saddle that was lying on top of Dodrio and held on to its luscious brown hairy body. Gengar nodded as he answered. Gengar then disappears within a blink of an eye, Ren knows that Gengar is nearby as she felt a small tap on her shoulders.

"Let's go." She addressed the Dodrio. The Pokemon begin to leap from the streets to the roofs of small houses to the pagados as they try to find the nearest Pokemon center.

Ren looked around to see if there were any people outside of their homes, and to her surprise, the city was a barren land as people were truly hiding inside. Restaurants were closed, public officers were closed, houses were fully locked, and the streets were empty.

'Why does this city rely too much on trainers? The police should toughen up their game.' Ren ranted in her thoughts as she continued to find the Pokemon center.

As Dodrios continued to leap from one pagoda to another, from a distance, Ren saw a fearow, slowly lifting itself from the ground.

'A Fearow? Who owns a Fearow nowadays?… oh no." Ren quickly realizes who might be the owner of the Fearow.

"Dodrio, head towards that Fearow, right now!" She told her Pokemon. Dodrio didn't hesitate and quickly leaped from one roof to another as it chased the Fearow from the distance.

'What the hell happened to him this time.' Ren sighed in her thoughts as she was very concerned about both Gardevoir and Yoake's whereabouts.

They continued to hop from the sky as they tried to reach Fearow, but as they were getting closer, something felt uncomfortably strange. It felt like something had just awakened, an opening perhaps?

"What the…" Ren confusingly said as she felt a tingly feeling in her body. There was a constant touch of something supernatural that was tapping on her back, she knows that it wasn't Gengar who was the one who was doing this.

"Gengar." She called out her Pokemon. The Shadow Pokemon appeared beside her, instead of the usual purple body and sinister grin, staple imagery of Gengar. There was something wrong with him. He was pale black. He had lost his smile and was getting precautions.

"Are you alright?" Ren asked in a concerned tone about her Pokemon. Gengar nodded as if there's nothing wrong with his body.

"Okay, change of plan. We have to find Yoak-" She was briefly interrupted by a powerful explosion. The heat wave drizzles through the sky as smoke slowly rises from the cored streets. Ren was blasted off to a nearby roof alongside Dodrio, Gengar managed to catch them in time and safely place them on the said roof.

"Are you two okay?" She panted. The two nodded.

They fixed their posture and looked at the smoke that was forming in the area. Ren saw the Fearow flying away from the cloudy gray smoke and began to smell something rotten.

"That smell…" She said as she pinched her nose to avoid smelling that rotten and stenchy smell that was soaring through the air. Dodrio also smelt the stench and quickly regretted it. Ren withdrew Dodrio since it was the only way for it to not smell the foul odor.

"That's from a Muk, isn't it?" She guessed. She was looking down from the streets as the smoke was clearing up. She was concentrating on the streets, but she felt something unusual in front of her. She heard Gengar scream behind her. She turned around and saw how frightened Gengar was. It's unusual for him to be scared, and this concerns her the most.

"What's the matter?" Ren asked her Pokemon, and it slowly raised its left arm and pointed its finger at something behind her.

She turned around and saw something that would frighten her for the rest of her life.