Haunted

I was sitting alone in my room again, working on calligraphy. Aya was handling the trainer battles just as she had for the past few weeks. I had told her I wanted her to get used to it as I would soon be handing the gym over to her. That was true, though I was no longer certain about moving on to something more challenging. I wasn't thinking about the future right now.

There was a knock at the door. I knew it wasn't Aya or a trainer. Warily, I opened it.

It was Team Rocket agents. I would have been shocked that they had openly entered my gym, but I knew who they were. The two with the white uniforms, who had been performing their dramatics unsuccessfully in almost every Pokemon gym.

"I'm prepared for trouble," I told them irritably. "And I assure you I can give you more trouble than you could ever handle. So clear off." I considered throwing a weapon to accentuate my point, but I prefer a more low-key approach.

"We're not looking for trouble. We're looking for help," said the blue-haired man.

I raised an eyebrow. "And you're about to explain very clearly why I should help you," I said.

"It's not us," said the woman, "It's Sabrina."

I sat down suddenly. I didn't bother pretending I didn't know who they meant. If they had come to me, they knew something already, though I had no idea how.

"Go ahead, James, you're the storyteller..." the woman said.

"Jessie, he doesn't want to hear a story," muttered the man. "But there's no short way to explain this."

He began. "Look, yesterday we went to the Saffron City gym. We'd never been there before. We wanted to..." he trailed off

"You wanted to steal something," I said.

"Right," he went on. "Anyway, when we got there, the place looked deserted. We looked around a little, and finally we found the gym leader, Sabrina, in the main room. It was like she was asleep, but right in the middle of the place."

"More like a coma," interrupted Jessie.

I squeezed my eyes shut. "And you didn't call emergency services?" I was ready to hurt them.

"We did!" said Jessie. "We're not that heartless. We even planned to stay with her instead of running off with her Pokemon. I'd never seen anyone in that kind of state even in nursing school."

"As it turned out, no one would come," James went on. "Everyone in the town was terrified to come to the gym. Then we started sensing the fear too. I scare easily, I'll admit it, but this was a terrible kind of feeling. We couldn't possibly stay in the gym and it didn't go away until we left Saffron entirely."

"There's something there, something that's hurting Sabrina," said Jessie. "She's alive, but she can't respond to anything, and it stops people from doing anything for her."

"Why were you two able to get in then?" I asked.

"At first we weren't there to help her," responded James. "Then when we stopped thinking about stealing, we became terrified too."

"How did you figure all this out?" I asked.

Jessie opened the door and called "Meowth!"

Their bizarre talking Meowth came in, leading an Alakazam.

"Dis is Sabrina's Pokemon that she raised from an Abra," the Meowth said.

"I know," I replied.

"It don't know what's dere, but it knows something's taken over dat gym. It talks to me a little. It's been a long time since I talked a lot of Pokemon language, and it talks mostly wit' psychic stuff that I can't get. But it knows Sabrina's in trouble. Even here it feels pain from Sabrina."

I winced.

The Meowth continued. "And it thinks it can get us back in by shielding our minds."

"I've never heard of a Pokemon doing that," I replied.

"Me neither," said the Meowth. "But he taps in on Sabrina's powers... 'dey have a connection, see. It told me it tried to find her parents but no go. Dey ain't speakin' to Sabrina after what she did, huh?"

"That's not it!" I said sharply. "They're very forgiving people who realize that Sabrina never meant real harm to anyone. But they're out of the country now doing psychic research. I wouldn't know how to contact them either."

I stood up. "You know I'll help. But what made you come to me? And what's in it for you?"

Jessie glared at me. "There's nothing in it for us! We just didn't want to abandon her. I wouldn't do that to someone who needed help that desperately. And I've always admired Sabrina."

"Yet you were willing to steal from her."

Jessie and James both turned away from me at that, but the Meowth met my eyes. "Dey got to make a living. Dey ain't gym leaders in a big mansion."

James turned around. "And as for why we came to you... we found this."

He handed me a crumpled piece of paper. It was what I had known it would be, the only love letter I have ever sent. A misguided attempt to tell a friend and colleague that I wanted to be her lover, despite age differences or anything else. I had sent it two weeks ago, and she had never replied, not even to say anything patronizing. Though I hadn't expected more, it had left me too sad to think of anything else.

"How did you get this?" I asked James.

"It was in her hand when we found her."

It seemed I was stuck bringing Jessie and James with me to Saffron City. The Alakazam trusted them because they had tried to help, and it remembered me as Sabrina's friend. I still wondered what was in this for them. But I didn't think they would hurt Sabrina and that was all I was really concerned about.

We had to take a bus to Saffron. The trip seemed to take forever. I had little to do but observe my temporary partners. They seemed to have an amazing rapport. They didn't seem to need to speak in complete sentences and often touched one another automatically for reassurance or to emphasize a point. I decided they were probably lovers, and I envied them having found another person they could be so complete with.

I had waited too long for that, and then I had done the wrong thing. I started to uncrumple the letter and look at it, mostly to punish myself. I told myself that saving her life was the only important thing now but I couldn't help dragging my eyes back to the phrases on the paper.

"You are beautiful and I long to be close to you... Please allow me to tell you that I love you... I want to bring you close to me and help you to feel joy... " I winced. I never claimed to be a poet but this seemed incredibly pathetic now.

The Meowth started looking over my shoulder.

"You've had your laughs over this already!" I snapped at him.

"What makes you think we laughed?"

"A man my age, not exactly known for his irresistible charm, writing to an attractive young woman. I suppose I'd think it was funny too, if it weren't me. But it doesn't matter."

I shoved the letter back in my pocket.

The Meowth shrugged. "So you're ten years or so older than she is, you think that's such a big deal? Dis mus' be a human thing."

"I have more important things to think about now anyway." I replied.

The Meowth nodded. "And you think I'm just a freak who's got nuttin smart ta say. But I'll say dis: If you tell somebody you love them, dat ain't wrong. If you hide it 'til it's too late, dat's messed up." He glanced over at his partners as he said this, and I realized the situation wasn't as simple as I had thought.

"Anyways, it's gotta mean somethin' that she still had your letter."

I glanced at the Meowth. "I thought James made that up... I thought it came from the trash."

"You think we had time to dig through da trash? It's all crumpled up because she was clutchin' on to it so hard."

I wasn't sure I dared to think about the implications of that now.

They insisted on stopping to eat before we entered Saffron so we got off the bus at a nearby town. The meal was awkward, no one wanted to mention our mission yet talking about anything else seemed ridiculous.

Finally Meowth started up.

"Whatever 'dat is, it made me more scared than I've ever been. And I'm braver then youse two. It was like... like da worst thing I could imagine."

"What's the worst thing you could ever imagine?" I asked him. I just couldn't think of such an articulate Pokemon as an it.

"Nightmare stuff? Or stuff that could really happen? Da wors' thing dat could really happen... maybe forgettin' how to talk. I wouldn't be me anymore."

That was surprisingly deep and I nodded.

Jessie began to speak then. "I've survived so many attacks you'd think nothing would scare me anymore. But ... being old and alone. That scares me, and there nothing I can do to stop it."

James looked at her with such open tenderness in his eyes it was almost embarrassing, and stroked her hair. But she didn't turn to him.

"What about you, Koga?" asked the Meowth. "You ain't scared of anything, huh?"

I thought for a moment. Somehow it seemed all right to tell them the truth. "I don't know... there aren't many people I'm afraid of, or Pokemon. I'd say my worst fear is of being weak and vulnerable. But right now my fear is that we'll fail to save Sabrina."

There were tears in my eyes when I said it and an awkward silence followed. The Meowth broke the ice, and I began to realize that his incessant talking was calculated rather than insensitive.

"How 'bout you, James? I know, it's gotta be Jessiebelle."

Jessie and James laughed at that.

Later Meowth began prowling around looking for dessert and Jessie went outside to get fresh air. I asked James who Jessiebelle was.

"She was my fiancee. I came from a very rich family, and my parents picked her out for me. But she was a psychopath, so I ran away from home."

"Is she really your worst fear?" I asked curiously.

"Not anymore. She got married a few years ago, and my parents had given up on the match anyway. But Meowth and Jessie don't know that."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, if I told them I was welcome back in that big mansion Jessie and Meowth would never understand why I didn't go. But I'd have to go by myself, and I won't."

I nodded. "I have a mansion too, but as time goes on it's worth less and less to me."

Jessie and Meowth returned then, and we proceeded on to Saffron.

When we arrived at the outskirts of the city I began to understand what Jessie and James had said about fear. It wasn't a specific fear, more of a nameless dread and a feeling that going into Sabrina's gym would be the mistake of a lifetime. Jessie, James and Meowth began following single file behind the Alakazam, who was setting up a mental shield for them.

I was able to fight the fear at first simply because I was expecting it. Later my strict mental training came into play. But soon I found I simply couldn't direct my feet toward the gym anymore, and I began to actually feel deeply afraid for the first time in years. I began to follow the others behind the Alakazam. The fear was still there, but we were able to continue on.

Finally we reached the doorway of Sabrina's gym. We opened the door and saw only empty halls. We found the door of the main battle room and pushed it open. Sabrina lay in the middle of the floor, her dark hair spilling out around her. I wanted to run toward her but I forced myself to slow down and be aware of my surroundings. I told everyone else to stay back by the door.

The Alakazam did its best to shield me from there, but the sense of fear was still stronger than any I have ever felt. Before I reached Sabrina, a booming voice sounded out in the room.

"Come to wake the sleeping beauty?"

I looked up. But the voice wasn't coming from above me, it seemed it was coming from everywhere. A dark cloud manifested itself, seeming to fill the entire building. Slowly it shrank until I discerned the form of a Haunter. But this was not a Haunter like any I had seen. Rather than purple, it was a deep black. And instead of a Haunter's normal jaunty mischievousness, it radiated pure evil.

Terror overtook me at that point, and I sank to the ground knees involuntarily. I turned to look at my companions and saw Jessie and James gripping each other. Meowth looked up at the Haunter impudently and raised his claws. I rose slowly and approached Sabrina again.

"Are you going to save her, ninja?" That voice invaded my brain.

I had a brief mental flash of myself in a traditional black ninja costume such as I have never worn. The Haunter's laughter filled my mind and the room.

"Your little girlfriend isn't what you think she is anyway... I've seen things in her mind." Images flashed through my mind, mostly strange and ugly... violent, bizarre. But they didn't bother me, I have known for some time that all humans have hidden ugliness. It seemed a pathetic attempt from such a powerful creature.

"You can't make me stop loving her," I muttered. "And even if you did, you couldn't make me stop trying to save her."

The Haunter seemed to disappear then, but I knew it wasn't gone. I forced myself forward and grabbed Sabrina's hand, though I didn't know what I could do for her now. I was surprised to hear her voice in my mind.

"Koga? I don't believe you're here! But you can't help me now."

"How can I hear you?" I thought. "I'm not psychic."

"Everyone has some psychic power, even if they don't know... but it would take a psychic more powerful than my father to help me now, and he could never return in time. That's why the Haunter waited until my parents were gone to try to destroy over my mind. It's been torturing me for weeks but it will be over soon."

"No!" I shouted uselessly. "We've got to fight it somehow... What is it really? If it were really a Haunter we could have defeated it long ago."

"I don't know, really. It looks like a Haunter but I'm not even sure it's really a Pokemon as we know it... It told me it's the original spirit that Haunters are patterned after. And I think that may be true. It can do things no Pokemon can do, and it can take minds."

"But now, when I'm talking to you... I don't hear it," I said.

Sabrina gave a mental shrug. "Just because it doesn't interrupt our conversation doesn't mean it can't destroy me."

I turned to see that the rest of the group had come to join us.

"What's going on?" asked Jessie. "We saw that Haunter, or whatever it was, but that's all."

Evidently it hadn't gotten into their minds. I wondered if their reliance on each other had helped prevent that.

I explained as best I could what Sabrina had said.

"Who's here?" asked Sabrina. She still didn't seem able to sit up or to open her eyes.

I told her who was here and why.

"They came to steal and stayed to help? I don't think the Haunter anticipated that," said Sabrina.

"I think that Haunter doesn't really understand human minds. It tried to show me things it dug out of your mind, like that would bother me..."

"It didn't?" asked Sabrina.

"Of course not." I gripped her hand tighter. I saw the Alakazam drop one of its spoons and reach out for her other hand.

"It isn't going to help, Alakazam... your power won't help..." murmured Sabrina. But the Alakazam gripped her hand tighter and beckoned to Meowth.

Meowth looked at the Alakazam strangely, then stood near it.

Meowth grabbed James' sleeve. Jessie grabbed James' arm, and took my hand as well. The Alakazam's eyes began to glow and suddenly I understood what it had been trying to accomplish.

I could feel a mental connection growing among us. I focused my mind as much as I could on Sabrina and I felt I had an insight into her mind, the vibrant beauty that I loved, the inner fire combined with tenderness.

Slowly I could sense the others too. The simple fierce loyalty of the Alakazam. Meowth, neither Pokemon nor human but a full and complex mind. Jessie, bitter but determined, complemented by James' love and wistfulness. We stood there, not knowing what would happen next.

Then Sabrina began to stir. "I can't..." she murmured out loud. But the Alakazam's eyes glowed more fiercely and soon she was sitting up.

The outlines of the ancient Haunter appeared. "Do you really think you can fight me? There's no power here."

"Love, I think, is a kind of psychic power," said Sabrina. And then her own eyes began to glow.

All our minds were combining to give Sabrina strength. I felt a mental force drain out of my mind as Sabrina relied on us. A bolt of light that was more than simple light proceeded from her and struck the Haunter. I heard a howl from everywhere. The Haunter began to solidify in front of us but Sabrina struck it again.

For a moment it seemed to fade, then it crumpled in on itself and was truly gone. The mental connection broke up and there was silence.

Sabrina fell against my chest and began to cry. Jessie, James, and the two Pokemon all looked as exhausted as I felt. Meowth recovered first and began to gesture his friends toward the door. I tried to shake my head at them; I was sure there was no need of a private moment. But they left.

"I'm so tired," Sabrina said. "It tortured me for so long. But it's dead now."

"If it was ever alive," I said, holding her. "Tell me how I can help you," I said.

"I'll try," she said. "But it's so hard. It showed me so many ugly things about me, and it drained all my strength. And I was so confused."

She looked into my eyes then. "I had this weird dream about a letter."

"This letter?" I pulled the crumpled piece of paper from my pocket.

"It was real!" she said. "That was part of what kept me going all this time... but the Haunter tried to make me believe it didn't happen. You said you loved me."

"You don't have to think about that now," I said. But she raised her face to mine and kissed me. It was a real kiss, a lover's kiss, and I was overwhelmed. She lay her head on my shoulder and I repeated all the unpoetic but true phrases from my letter.

Eventually the others began to drift back into the room but I still didn't let go of Sabrina. After all that had happened I had a feeling they understood.

Sabrina spoke to them.

"Without your help, I would have been dead. I feel like I owe you something."

"I already told Koga that we weren't in it for what we could get," said Jessie.

"I know," said Sabrina. "Otherwise it probably wouldn't have worked."

"Those two got enough out of 'dis anyway," said the Meowth.

James put his hand on Jessie's shoulder then, and she turned and gave him a smile almost as beautiful as Sabrina's.

The Meowth looked at his feet. "Dose two are gonna drive me nuts now... dere gonna be..."

"They're going to be happy?" I suggested.

The Meowth smiled. "Yeah, 'dat too, finally."

We had all been through something too deep for discussion. In the end we settled for shaking hands all round. The Team Rocket members departed, for some more selfish escapade which I imagined would involve some privacy for Jessie and James and some calm for Meowth.

I turned to face Sabrina. "Do you want me to stay?" I asked.

"Yes. I want you to stay forever," she replied simply. I kissed her again, and I was happy too, finally.