Chapter 21:  Ghost of a Chance (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

We arrived back in Lavender Town, Emily was at the door looking pretty happy 
with herself.  
“I did it Tet’.”  
She gasped, “You got it, you got a Cubone for me, thank you!”  
She ran forward and kissed me on the cheek and then hugged me, I think she was 
getting carried away with the moment and totally forgot our previous agreement, 
the Gym Leader walked by smiling.  
“Come inside when you’re ready.”  
“Emily, I didn’t catch it as such, you’re gonna have to convince it that you’re 
just as good and kind a trainer as I am.” I said giving back her ball.  
“Oh.  Well I’m sure I can do it.”  
“Haunter!”  
"Eeaayyaaa!" Emily screamed.  
“Haunter, don’t do that! She’s my friend!”  
“Haunter...” he said sadly.  
“So Haunter, do you want to join me?”  
“Haunter Haunter.”  
“Haunter, I’m going to have a Pokémon Battle with the Gym Leader, will you 
battle her Pokémon even though she is your friend?”  
“Haunter.” he said in a tone that said to me, ‘She’ll understand.’  
“Well she’s waiting for me so I shouldn’t keep her by going to the Pokémon 
Centre, you’ll fight for me without a Pokéball, won’t you?”  
“Haunter...”  
“Good luck Tetsubo.” said Emily while I walked inside.  

The Gym had an ancient temple feel to it, torches hung on the walls and the 
pillars had ancient text on it.  
The old lady stood ready.  
“Now to properly introduce myself, I am Agatha.”  
It struck me, “From the Elite Four?! The renowned Pokémon Masters?!”  
“Yes...  The Pokémon League called for our services when Gyms went out of 
commission, now all of us have become the new Gym Leaders.”  
I was nervous, the Elite Four was what I said, crowned Pokémon Masters, all of 
them had won the Pokémon League in their time and studied all the Pokémon.  
“I should at least tell you that I am Master of Ghost and Poison Pokémon.  If 
you wish to use type advantages, be my guest, but it won’t really help you.  
It’ll be a three-on-three battle.”  
“Okay Agatha, I’m Tetsubo Capture of Fuchsia City and I will earn that badge.  
You ready Haunter?”  
“Haunter!”  
“Outstanding, a Ghost Pokémon listening to a person without being caught, you 
must be a good person.  But that alone does not mean you’ll win...  Go!”  

The Pokéball landed.  
“Ch’ar-BOK!”  
Another Arbok, Haunter floated forward.  
“Arbok, Bite it.”  
"Ch’ar!!!"  
“Haunter, float up high and use your Night Shade!”  
“Haunter!”  
The purple rain brought the Arbok down before it could get close, I probably 
needn’t had bothered and I wasn’t sure why Agatha would use that attack, I knew 
that Fighting and Normal moves were ineffective against Ghost-types, but 
Ghost-types could not do much to Normal Pokémon.  
Their weaknesses and advantages were still somewhat a mystery, but the attacks 
Haunter could learn were cool, it would be much easier taking on the Elites by 
turning their Pokémon against them.  
“Arbok, use Screech!”  
“Haunter! Lick that snake!”  
He flew down but the sounds hit it first driving him crazy.  
“Acid attack.”  
“Ch-AR!!!”  
The acid fell on Haunter, I gasped in concern for the ghost, but he was fine 
and shook off the gunk, he had a resistance against Poison it seemed.  
“Haunter! Lick!”  
The long tongue came out and flicked across Arbok, stopping it completely.  
“Finish it Haunter! Night Shade!”  
“Haunter!!!”  
Arbok was blasted back and defeated.  
“Yes indeed, you do know how to handle your ghost, unfortunately I know all 
their weaknesses.  Golbat! Go!”  
“Gol-bat!!!”  

“Golbat, the Bat Pokémon.  Golbats are known to feed off virtually any kind of 
Pokémon.  They suck and drain blood from their victim and won’t stop even if 
they get too heavy to fly.”  

“Let’s not take any chances, Haunter, Confuse Ray!”  
“Golbat! Use your Confuse Ray too!”  
There was a clash of light and both Pokémon were confused.  
“Haunter...  Are you okay?”  
“Golbat, don’t try to move.”  
It was apparent that both Pokémon were confused, Haunter’s detached hands flew 
forward, then came back and hit him, constantly.  
Haunter looked a little weakened.  
“Return Haunter.”  
He floated back and stayed behind me.  
“I choose Shockwave!”  
“Blllaaabbrrzzz!!!” he screamed jumping forward.  
“Its confused Shockwave, give it a Thunderpunch.”  
“Buzzzz!!!”  
It charged forward.  
“Golbat, prepare yourself...”  
“Shockwave stop, she’s up to something.”  
“Use your Haze.” said Agatha.  
Particles of ice surrounded both Pokémon and disappeared in a flash of light, 
the Golbat screamed and charged forward, bouncing off Shockwave but doing some 
damage.  
“You should have waited, kid, Haze is one of the few attacks that wipes away 
status changes, I’m afraid your Haunter won’t be of much use to you now.  
Golbat, use your Wing Attack!”  
“Come on Shockwave, everyone knows that Electric attacks easily beat 
Flying-types, give it a Thundershock.”  
“Buzz!!!”  
It easily shot down the Golbat but it wasn’t totally defeated.  
“Mega Drain!”  
It flew around Shockwave and stuck its teeth into him and sucked out some 
health.  
“Get that thing off you!” I shouted.  
He punched his back and the Golbat flew away but with enough stolen Hit Points 
to recover from the last attack.  
“Bite it now.”  
“Shockwave, Quick Attack!”  
He jumped up and knocked back the Golbat with his extended arm.  
“Golbat, Leech Life!”  
“Not again, Shockwave, Leer!”  
Its eyes glowed red and the Golbat was scared stiff.  
“Finish it with Thunderpunch!”  
“BllaaBUZZ!!!” he shouted punching forward, charged with electricity.  
The Golbat flew into the ceiling, then floated down like a piece of paper.  
“Yeah!” I shouted, I was proud of my Electabuzz.  
It was his first battle and he listened to me totally, he was happy too and 
hugged me, crushing me slightly.  
“Okay Shockwave, we’ve still got one more Pokémon to beat.”  
“Bllaaabrrzzz!”  
He jumped forward, arms in the air, fists clenched, with a confident grin.  
“You shall fall... to Gengar! Go!”  
“Gengar!” it shouted, the final form of the Ghost Pokémon.  

“Gengar, the Shadow Pokémon.  These wicked Pokémon appear under a full moon, 
they like to imitate people’s shadows and frighten them half to death.”  

“Gengar, use Hypnosis!”  
Shockwave tried to stay awake but fell into a deep sleep.  
“Shockwave, come on, you’ve got to wake up!”  
“Buzzzzz...”  
It wouldn’t wake.  
“Now, Gengar! Dream Eater!”  
“Oh no!”  
A blue mist surrounded Shockwave, some purple dust came out of Shockwave and 
into Gengar.  
Shockwave fell to the floor.  
“Shockwave?”  
“Bllaaaaa!!!”  
“Good, you’re awake, quickly hit that thing with a Thunderpunch.”  
“Gengar, use Toxic!”  
“Poison?...”  
Shockwave was covered in a purple liquid, he shook it off and charged forward 
but fell due to poison.  
“Shockwave, Return.”  
I thought about the situation, “If he could use Toxic and my Haunter had a good 
resistance to Acid, then that means these ghosts are Poison-types as well as 
Ghost-types.  In that case, I choose Psychot!”  
“Ku-dabra!”  
“Hah! Ghosts eat psychics for breakfast!”  
“Perhaps, but Psychic attacks make short work of Poison-types, Psychot! 
Confusion!”  
“Ku-dabra!”  
Gengar was blasted and fell to the floor.  
Agatha gasped.  
“Psychot, use Psybeam.”  
“Ku-dabra!”  
“Gengar, leap up!”  
He flew over the blast.  
“Keep firing!”  
“Ku-dabra! Dabra! Dabra!”  
The Gengar flew over the beams and came down on Psychot.  
The next thing I knew, Gengar’s tongue was scrapping across Psychot.  
“Yank that tongue!”  
“Da?!”  
He did as told with the hand that didn’t hold a spoon.  
“Now let go!”  
He did and the Gengar went flying back.  
Paralysis hadn’t struck Psychot thanks to my quick thinking.  
“He’s smart, I’ll give him that.” Agatha said to her Gengar, “Gengar, use 
Confuse Ray!”  
“Psychot, don’t look at it!”  
He quickly shut his eyes.  
“Night Shade!” shouted Agatha and Gengar reacted instantly, Psychot was blasted 
into the wall.  
“Finish it Gengar, another Night Shade should do it!”  
“Psychot! Get up, quickly!”  
His eyes shot open and he floated up, legs crossed, arms moving about.  
Blue light surrounded him and he looked as good as new.  
He’d learned Recover.  
“Gengar! He’s recovering, use Hypnosis so we can steal some Hit Points.”  
“Down Psychot!”  
The Gengar charged forward attempting to grab him but went through the wall, he 
was a ghost of course.  
He floated back in and grabbed Psychot by his head from behind and turned the 
psychic to face him, his eyes were glowing.  
He could only hold Psychot’s head, the rest was free.  
Only a couple of seconds before the Hypnosis attack, the Dream Eater that 
followed would probably finish it off.  
“Psychot! Psybeam!” I shouted.  
He reacted fast, his hands shot up and fired.  
The blast was at such close range that Gengar was flung into the wall, the 
psychic energy pushing his ghostly body through.  
We awaited his return to see what the result was.  
I looked behind me.  
Gengar reappeared in the centre of the arena through the floor.  
Agatha grinned.  
Then Gengar screamed out and collapsed.  
“It can’t be...  No one has defeated that Gengar...”  
She bowed down her head.  
“Good job Tetsubo.  You won fair and square.”  
“Ku-dabra!” said Psychot, a rare smile seen on his face.  

“And now I present to you, a Spirit Badge.” she said passing it down, it was 
new to the Kanto League and basically looked like a ghostly figure made of 
wavy smoke, coloured a pale purple.  
“Yeah! I did it!” I said to no one in particular while holding up my badge.  
Leaving the Gym, Haunter followed me.  
Emily was outside talking to her Cubone.  
“How are you two?” I asked.  
“We’re great,” she said, “Graveyard likes me and accepts me as a trainer.”  
“Graveyard, eh?”  
Well Cubone did wear the skull of its ancestors and carried a bone, it was a 
name that could stick.  
“That reminds me, I haven’t given you a name yet Haunter.”  
“Haunter?”  
“How’d you like to be known as... Spectre?”  
He thought for a moment, then teleported behind me.  
As I turned to meet him, his eyes popped out in a comedy way.  
“Haunter! Hau Hau Ha Ha!”  
I must have looked very nervous from his point of view.  
He nodded his head, I guess he was just playing around.  
“Okay then, Spectre...” I said throwing a Pokéball, “You’re my new Pokémon.”  
He went inside, but the ball shook and he burst out, the ball flew back and hit 
me on the head.  
“Hau ha ha ha!” he laughed.  
“Spectre!” I moaned.  
He stopped laughing and put his hands to the side accepting his fate now, he 
appeared to be quite the practical joker.  
I threw the ball again and he stayed inside this time.  
The ball disappeared and went back to Blossom’s place.  
Emily recalled little Graveyard and we departed to the Pokémon Centre.  
I’d learned not to judge things by reputation, Ghost Pokémon were just as nice 
and helpful as any other Pokémon, and now I had one on my side.  

End of Chapter 21B  

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