บท 10: Ghost Busters
Waking up to a bright and sunny day, Jared felt a sense of renewed energy and purpose. He got out of bed with a smile on his face and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. After his simple meal, he went to brush his teeth, only to realize that he had forgotten to buy toothpaste.
"Haha, oh well, that's fine. I'll pick some up later," he thought to himself, shrugging off the small inconvenience.
Jared stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. "What a beautiful day!" he exclaimed, feeling grateful for the new day and all the possibilities it held.
As he was about to set off on his day, Jared spotted Akamai walking towards him. Akamai's eyes widened in shock as he took in Jared's appearance.
"By Arceus what happened to you?" Akamai asked, concerned.
Jared laughed, feeling somewhat amused by his his tutors reaction. "It's nothing to worry about, don't worry," he assured Akamai, brushing off the concern.
"So what brings you here? I thought the tutoring would only be once a week?"
Akamai replied, "Mm, yes, it is, however, you told me you hadn't tested your elemental affinities yet. Gathering all the elemental stones is normally difficult, but Professor Makina just happened to return to the college, and she happens to have a collection of elemental stones. But she will be leaving soon, so if you don't make use of this opportunity now, it may be more difficult in the future."
Jared's face lit up, "What great luck, let's go!"
While walking, Akamai commented, "You're quite chipper today, aren't you, despite... your face."
Jared chuckled, "Hahah, you noticed? You could say I found my purpose yesterday."
Akamai was curious, "Oh, and what is your purpose?"
"Losing fights obviously, can't you tell from my face? Hahaha," Jared responded with a grin.
Akamai's eyes went wide, and then he gave a thumbs up. "Good one, you had me hooked like a fish!"
"Of course, after your joke yesterday, I felt I had to repay the favor."
"Well, it's good to see you're taking your losses in stride."
Jared shrugged and said, "What else can I do? I'm not exactly the best fighter out there."
Akamai smiled, "Well, who knows, maybe finding out your elemental affinity will give you an advantage the next time."
Soon, Akamai and Jared were standing outside an office, Jared was about to open the door and walk in, but he was stopped by Akamai.
"Wait here a sec, I will need to check if Professor Makina is busy or not," Akamai said.
After a few moments, Akamai returned with a thumbs up. "Alright, we are good to go, but please make sure you are as respectful as possible. Professor Makina can be a little... well, you'll see."
"Sure thing."
The office was small but cozy, with walls adorned with shelves filled with books and various artifacts. A large wooden desk was positioned in the center of the room, with an equally large chair behind it. There was a bookshelf standing behind the desk, filled with thick volumes of various colors and sizes.
Professor Makina was an elderly woman with short gray hair and small, round spectacles perched on the bridge of her nose. She was dressed in a long dress with a golden trim and had a small pendant hanging from her neck. Despite her age, she had a sharp look in her eyes and a commanding presence that demanded respect. Her office was decorated with various trinkets and artifacts from her many travels, giving the room an air of mystique and adventure, quite unlike the other rooms in the school.
"Aha! You must be Jared. I have heard so much about you," Makina smiled, seemingly noticing but not caring about the man's slightly beaten up appearance.
"Of course, I have heard much about you as well"
"Oh, you have? What have you heard?" Makina asked.
"Uhm..." Jared looked at Akamai, unsure of what to say. Akamai simply shrugged and looked back at him.
Makina playfully punched Jared on the shoulder and said, "I'm just pulling your leg. How about we get this test done, shall we?"
Grabbing her suitcase, she hoisted it onto the desk. After unbuckling it, Makina presented an array of stones of all different colors embedded into the suitcase like wedding rings in their holders, and under each stone was a label with their specific properties.
"Incredible, but don't you need special ways to contain elemental stones? Professor Kukui had his wrapped in all different things, like a cloth or a thermos," Jared asked.
"Does he? That's hilarious. Anyways, start touching the stones. Let's see what you've got."
Slowly, Jared began to touch each stone, but there was no reaction whatsoever, even up until the final one.
Jared was aghast as he began to feel like the world was closing in on him. Wasn't he supposed to be the chosen one? How could he become a trainer without an ounce of talent?
Not realizing Jared's internal struggles, Makina chuckled, "It looks like you have no talent whatsoever. Shit out of luck, I guess? But that goes for most people."
Although Jared couldn't believe it, he was not resigned to his fate. So before Makina closed the case, he quickly asked, "Are these really all the types of stones?"
"Well, yeah, unless you count ghost stones, but ghost stones don't exist," Makina said, snapping the case shut.
Jared muttered, "Ghost? So it's possible I have an affinity for ghost Pokemon?"
"Yeah, right. And how many ghost Pokemon have you seen so far? Even if you saw a Gastly, how are you going to catch it when it disperses into the air? It's impossible. And for whatever reason, whenever someone catches a Gastly by freak chance, their Pokemon go missing soon after," Makina sneered.
"A Gastly, so I just need to find a Gastly and tame it to know if I have a ghost affinity?" Jared asked.
Makina expected Jared's shoulders to slump in defeat and accept reality, but instead, he straightened up and continued asking questions, which made her grow increasingly annoyed.
"Did you not listen to a damn thing I just said? This is hopeless, don't waste your time. There are about five trainers worldwide that have a ghost Pokemon, and who knows how long until their Gastlys vanish as well. Do you really expect to be one of them?"
"I have to try," Jared said.
"Well, go try then. Maybe after that, you can try winning the lottery a few times too. Akamai, please escort Mr. Jared out of my office," the woman behind the desk said.
Once outside, Akamai shook his head. "I think you may have angered her," he said.
"Well, I suppose I did," Jared chuckled before turning somber. "So, are ghost pokemon really that rare? How did those other trainers get one?"
Akamai coughed to hide his embarrassment. "I'm sorry, but I don't know much about this subject. Perhaps your best bet would be the library. We have one of the best collections of books in Alola."
Saying his goodbyes to Akamai and thanking him once more, Jared headed off to the library. Once inside he meandered over to the section on pokemon and found that all pokemon books seemed to be sorted by their element. But when he went to the tiny divider that should have held the books on ghost pokemon, he found that all the books were already checked out. So Jared went to the front desk where the librarian sat and asked him, "I'm looking for books on ghost pokemon. Do you happen to have any?"
The librarian sighed inwardly, 'Another one huh? They enroll every year. There's always a few without talent that come to browse the college library to research ghost pokemon in the vain hopes of finding one. From the looks of this mans face, and the way he's dressed, it looks like he's not doing too well either.' But he didn't say that out loud.
"Sure, we have a few books about it, but I think someone else has already beaten you to it. If you ask her, maybe she'll share. She's looking through them over on that table," the librarian pointed.
Following the librarian's finger with his eyes, Jared nodded, then he approached the table, and found the person in question. She was a young woman, likely in her early twenties. She looked nice enough, with long, straight black hair that fell down to her waist. Her eyes were a striking blue, almost as though they were glowing in the dim light of the library. She wore a black hoodie with the hood pulled up, obscuring most of her face, and a pair of faded blue jeans. She had a book open in front of her and was furiously scribbling notes in a notebook beside it. From the looks of it, she was deeply engrossed in whatever she was doing.
"Maybe these two talentless 'dreamers' will make a good couple," the librarian laughed inwardly after he saw Jared sit down across from her.
Jared politely tried to get this lady's attention by clearing his throat.
Looking away from her book with a frown, the woman asked, "Yes?"
"Hello, ma'am. My name is Jared. I came here today to read up on ghost pokemon because I plan to catch one, but I found that they were all accumulated on this table. Would it be alright with you if I browsed the ones you aren't currently reading?"
The woman's eyes lit up. "An excellent idea! Two heads are better than one, after all."
"Erm, what?" Jared asked, confused.
"Look around you. They look at us like we're all crazy."
Looking around, Jared saw that everyone at the other tables was engrossed in their books and not at all interested in them.
She continued, "They think ghost pokemon can't be caught, but we aren't crazy, are we?"
Looking back at her, Jared replied, "No."
She nodded. "I know, right? Ghost pokemon have been caught before, so how come we can't do the same?"
"That's my hope... so can I-"
She spoke before he could finish, "But it's hard, way too hard. So the best thing to do is gather as many people as possible and all try our best together to accomplish this goal. Because if one of us succeeds, they can help the rest succeed, right?"
By now, their conversation was beginning to annoy the other readers, so they began asking her to shush.
"Look, they're trying to silence us. This is because they don't believe in our cause."
Keeping his voice low, Jared replied, "I think the problem might be that this is a library, and we are being a bit loud."
She showed a choked expression before shifting her chair next to his and speaking more quietly. "So, do you want to join my ghost trainer club?!"
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