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Leaf lived on the far side of Pallet. Not that it was really far, exactly. The town of Pallet was only so big with its whopping population of just under 500. There was exactly one convenience store, that everyone shopped at, so the owner was on a first name basis with everybody and their mothers. Everyone knew everyone, or they knew someone's friend, or cousin, or aunt, or uncle, or similarly distant relative. She...didn't have any of that, though. Just her, her mom, and her grandparents, who didn't even live in Kanto. Well, and Red (and Blue.)
The first time she invited Red, and by extension, Blue (because she hadn't invited him, he invited himself), out to her house, they (Blue) teased her about living out in "the boonies."
Sure, her neighbors were a herd of Miltank. So what? Sure, the sidewalk that went down the "main street" of Pallet, that they took to get to school every day, turned into dirt before it got to her house. So what? Sure, there weren't...streetlights. So what? Blue didn't know what he was talking about.
There was a small house a little farther past hers, dilapidated and nearly falling apart, slowly being overtaken by foliage and flowers. Her mom constantly told her not to go down there, since it was such a hazard, but she liked wandering around anyways. She liked crawling around in small spaces, exploring new hiding spots.
Her grandparents, and her mother, were superstitious people, so she ended up picking up a few habits. She knocked on wood, she never stepped on cracks in the sidewalk, she never whistled inside. But that was pretty much where it ended. Otherwise, she was fascinated by the other side.
She had the house to herself this weekend, with permission to invite Red (and Blue) over for the night. So, she had a plan, once it got dark: go to the abandoned house, and hold a seance.
Obviously, the place was haunted: it looked exactly like every single haunted house ever made. There had to be something there, even if it was just a Pokémon. (Secretly, she really hoped it wasn't a Pokémon.)
The sleepover proceeded as normal; Red and Blue were none-the-wiser to her super amazing plan. They changed into PJs, they ordered pizza with the money Leaf's mom left, they played Mario Kart until it arrived, and Leaf dished out scoops of ice cream for dessert. Everything was going smoothly.
They went back to her room after dinner, and as soon as they crossed the threshold, she dove to her bed and dug out her secret weapon. After finding it in the attic when they first moved in, she somehow managed to hide it from her mother ever since: a ouija board. It was time to put her plan into action. "Well? Ready?"
"...for what?" Red narrowed his eyes at the box in confusion. "What is that?"
"For summoning!"
They looked at her, looked at each other, and looked back at her. "...summoning what?" Red asked.
"Summoning ghosts! Duh. Haven't you ever watched a horror movie? Oh, yeah!" She ducked back under her bed, felt around until her fingers closed around a cloth bag, and re-emerged. "I have these, too."
She opened the bag and spilled out the contents. More leftovers from the previous owners - tarot cards, runs, and a wishbone. She picked up the cards, shuffled them, and cut the deck to reveal a card: The Magician, upside down. "Ta-da! Well, I don't know what they mean, yet, but I'm learning! I'll be able to read your fortune soon." She winked. "Isn't it cool?! My mom would've never bought me this kind of stuff, I can't believe they were just here."
Leaf looked back up at the two boys, grinning. Red was smiling back at her. Blue was not. "...cool," Red said, and sat down across from her. "Do you have a book or something? Or...instructions?"
"Yeah, the ouija board does. I might have to go to the library in Viridian for the cards and runes, though. What do you think this one means?"
"It's a wizard, isn't it? So...are you supposed to cast spells on us or something?"
"It's a magician, not a wizard."
"...what's the difference?"
"Are you sure about that?" It was the first thing Blue had said since she brought out her things. She and Red tilted their heads up to look at him. "Isn't that thing...bad?"
"Ugh, not you, too." Leaf rolled her eyes. "C'mon, it's fine! They're just games, jeez..."
"They are?" Red sounded disappointed.
"Well...sort of. But some people, such as myself, can use them the way they're meant to be." She knocked on the hardwood floor of her room for emphasis. "For ghosts!"
"Red." Blue was staring hard at Red. "I need to talk to you. Now."
"What is it?" Red frowned up at Blue.
"Come on."
"But - " Blue grabbed Red's arm and yanked him up, nearly dragging him to the door. "Hey, wait, ow - Blue!"
Red shot her a guilty look as the door slammed shut. Leaf sat on the floor, surrounded by her paraphernalia, alone. She heard furious, hushed whispering from the hallway. She had no idea what they were talking about, but it was becoming more and more obvious she never should have "invited" Blue. At least Red seemed like he was interested; Blue was being a straight-up negative-Nancy. She sighed, and tucked the cards and runes back into their pouch. The wishbone, she picked up and set down on her night stand.
She ran her hands over the box for the ouija board. She'd wanted to use it, ever since she found it, but never alone. Another silly superstition.
Eventually, the door opened back up. Red looked annoyed. Blue looked mad. Oh, boy. "I'm not touching that thing," Blue spat out, glaring down at the box in her hands.
"You don't have to." She narrowed her eyes. "It moves on its own."
"...it does?" It sounded like Red was still on her side, still curious.
Blue went from mad to furious. "Stop lying! No, it doesn't!"
"Of course it does," Leaf continued. She knew what was happening. "The ghosts move the planchette. We don't have to do anything but sit there."
"Really??"
"Stop it!!"
She nodded. "Mhm, we sit around the board, lights off, with a few candles lit, and hold hands in a circle, so whatever we summon can't escape - "
"S-shut up!"
"Blue..."
"Hey, wait a sec - you aren't scared, are you?" She grinned. Oh, this was fun.
"No!"
She let her face drop, feigning confusion, and leaned to the side with a frown, acting like she was glancing behind him. His face went from red to white. He was trembling. "...then, I guess I shouldn't mention that thing behind - "
Blue screamed. He dropped to the floor like a sack of bricks, curled up with his arms over his head, and started crying. Oh, no. "H-hey, I didn't..." She started, and trailed off. Red knelt down next to Blue, and gently put a hand on his shaking shoulder. "I...I'm...I'm sorry. I wasn't..."
"Blue?" Red sounded so soft. "Leaf was just joking. She wasn't trying to be mean..."
Except...she was. She was doing it explicitly to be mean. She had a feeling Blue knew that, too. She swallowed, and looked away.
Blue swatted Red's hand away, sprang up, and fled, swinging the door open so hard it bounced off her wall and closed itself. Distantly, she heard the front door open and close. All Leaf could do was stare after him. "Um," Red said, staring with her. He didn't say anything else. He looked at her, for a moment, then back at the door.
"I'm...sorry," she whispered. "I...I didn't think...it would scare him that much..."
"I didn't, either." Red frowned, eyeing the ouija board cautiously. "...were you being serious? About the board?"
"I mean...ouija boards are games, that's...that's what they are. They're sold in toy stores, as a board game." She shrugged. "Some people do think they work for real, but..."
"Do you?"
Of course she did. She nodded. "Yeah, sure. If you know how to use it, with the right circumstances. But...I like this stuff. Not everyone does. ...case and point."
Red frowned, and looked back at the door. "...I don't think he went too far. It's dark."
"I don't know - "
"He's probably outside, on the porch. He wouldn't have run home." Red sighed. "I wanna try it, too. But, as long as he thinks it's real...we can't."
"We don't have to."
"But that's what you wanted to do."
"Well, I mean...I guess..."
"Is there some way to make sure nothing happens?" He pointed to the box. "Didn't you say there were rules? What if we broke them, or did them wrong, or skipped a step or something?"
"That's the one, single thing we can not do." She huffed, laughing. "Doing that practically ensures a ghost shows up. Or worse. You're really clueless about this stuff, huh?"
Red's eyes wandered, looking around her room. He crossed his arms and tilted his head side-to-side, thinking. "...what if we just lied?"
Leaf didn't expect him to say that. Lie to his best friend? For her sake? "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. It'll be fine." Red smiled at her. "Blue's smart, but...I don't think he'd notice, if you told him that it isn't real, that it's just a game. Only 'cause that's what he wants to hear. Plus, he likes games."
"...okay. If...if you're sure. I can figure something out. Give me a few minutes."
Her plan, unfortunately, had changed.
Obviously, they wouldn't be going to the haunted house - she didn't want to give Blue a heart attack. So, they would have the seance in her room, instead. Which...wasn't ideal, but it would do.
Leaf began setting up while Red went outside to console Blue. She made sure her windows were shut and latched, drew the curtains closed, opened the box, and pulled out the board. It looked old, used. Maybe the old owners were like her, fascinated with the supernatural and occult. The paint was peeling a little around the edges, and the planchette looked worn and well-handled. She ran her fingers over the letters, the words, the numbers, and felt like the previous owners were right next to her.
She already had candles - they were pretty much the only thing her mom was willing to buy her. She arranged them in a ring of five, making sure there was enough room for the three of them to sit in the middle with the board. A box of matches she swiped from downstairs were shoved in the back of her nightstand drawer, along with a pretty quartz crystal she bought at the farmer's market in Viridian a few months ago. She took both items out, and placed the crystal near the top of the board, between yes and no.
She'd done a bit of research beforehand, but a lot of what she did was simply what felt right to her. Looking at her setup, she hummed. Something...was missing. She glanced around her room, and her eyes fell back on the bag containing her cards and runes. She snatched it up and pulled out the deck again, shuffling with her eyes closed. She tapped it on the board, and flipped the top card: Three of Cups. Picking up the crystal, she slipped the card underneath, and sat back to witness her handiwork.
Yeah, this felt good.
A cautious knock on the door startled her. "Come in."
Red peeked around the frame, and gave her a small smile. "...are you ready?"
"Yeah! Well, actually, hold on." Leaf stood up from the floor, stretching her arms up. "I need one more thing from the kitchen, then we can start."
The door opened a little more, and Leaf saw Blue close behind Red, practically hiding, hand tightly gripping the other boy's shirt sleeve. "I thought you said..." He mumbled, glaring at her. His eyes were still puffy. "Red, you said - "
"It's okay! I have a plan." She gave Blue a small smile. "He told you it's just a game, right?"
"Yeah." Blue yanked on Red's sleeve, making him stumble. "He did."
"Well, it is," she assured. She didn't really like lying, but...Red said it was okay. "But, just in case, there are steps we can take, to make absolutely sure that nothing happens. That's why I need to grab something from the kitchen."
"We'll come with," Red said, reaching up and grabbing Blue's hand from his sleeve. "Is that okay?"
"I'll just be a second," she said. "I know exactly what I need."
Red gave her a pleading look, one that said he wasn't asking her, he was telling her. They were coming with her, either way. She smiled and nodded, and he nodded back.
They grabbed a glass of water and poured in a few shakes of salt. Mixing it with her finger, she hummed a little tune. Blue still wasn't speaking to her. Red spoke up, instead. "What does that do?"
"Keeps the dangerous stuff away. Salt helps to purify negativity." She smiled at him. "So nothing scary will happen. I'll take this to my room and flick it around, mostly near the windows and door. Then...we can start!"
"How...how do you feel, Blue?"
Blue was staring steadfast at the glass in her hand. "...does that really work?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! It's been used for ages, by all kinds of people, to keep spirits out. I know, it's just a game, but you can't be too careful, you know?"
"...yeah, I guess not." Finally, Blue smiled at her, just a little. "As long as it's just a game."
Back in her room, she guided Red and Blue to sit on the floor by the ouija board, and shoved the little instruction book into Blue's hands. So you know exactly what's gonna happen. She walked around periodically dipping her fingers into the glass of salt water, flicking it into the air, a little on her bed, on the window sills, on the door.
It sucked, just a little, because she was really hoping to see a ghost tonight, but...maybe she could invite Red over again, and only Red, so they could hold a proper seance together. She felt really bad for making Blue cry. She just wanted to tease him, to have a little fun, because he did it all the time to both her and Red. Then again, Blue had never been that mean to them - at the very most, it was frustrating and annoying. He never made either of them cry.
Once she finished, she put the glass down on her nightstand, and picked up the box of matches. Striking one, she lit each candle wick in turn, going around the circle she made, until all five were burning. She stood and made her way to the light switch on the wall. "Everyone ready?"
Red nodded rapidly, giving her a bright smile. Blue nodded, a little more slowly.
"Alright." She flipped the switch.
The room went dark.
Her eyes slowly adjusted to the soft glow of the candlelight, and she carefully made her way to the boys on the floor, stepping into their circle. "Alright. First things first. Blue, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Okay. So the rules say we do have to touch the planchette to play. I know you didn't want to, so...do you wanna take notes, instead?"
At this, he frowned. "...notes? For what?"
"You read the instructions, right?" He nodded in response. "Well, the whole point is when you ask questions, the board responds by spelling. So it's easier to keep track if someone writes stuff down."
"That's so cool!" Red whispered excitedly.
"You wanna do that? So you don't have to use the planchette?"
After a moment, Blue nodded again. "Yeah. I know Red wouldn't be able to keep up, anyways."
Red frowned at him. "Hey..."
"Okay! There's a pen and paper in the box." She let him take a moment to rummage around until they came spilling out. "Red, you ready?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay. We hold hands, first." Red's hand found hers, and hers found Blue's. Red's was warm; Blue's was clammy. He was still a little scared. She cleared her throat and shut her eyes. "...spirits, if you're there, we welcome any friendly presence to our session. We call to you, kind spirits, and ask you to speak using our board."
The only sound she could make out was the soft crackling of the candles. She opened her eyes up, and saw Red and Blue staring at her - Red with fascination, Blue with abject horror. "What now?" Red asked, hushed.
"Red, you and I will put our fingers on the planchette. Then...we ask questions and wait. I'll move it around a little to warm it up." She put her fingers down, and Red copied her. As the planchette scratched around the board, she secretly hoped that a ghost would still show up, even though she did everything she could to make sure nothing would. She didn't want to scare Blue, but she really wanted to see a ghost tonight. "Do you want to ask something first? Or should I?"
"Um...you can."
Alright. She took a deep breath. "...is anyone with us right now?"
A few seconds passed. She felt her finger twitch. She cleared her throat again, closed her eyes, and repeated herself.
"Is anyone with us? Would you like to speak?"
She felt a chill. She felt a tug. Her eyes flew open. Slowly, the planchette moved from the center G to the top right corner.
No.
Red snickered, then started laughing.
"Okay, very funny." Blue was giving them both a hard stare. "You moved it."
Red shook his head. "Nuh-uh. No I didn't."
Leaf shook her head, too. She didn't, either. At least, she didn't think she did. It felt like the planchette had just moved by itself, under her hand. But, unintentional movements were something that could happen, she knew. She hadn't moved it, but maybe Red did, even if he didn't realize he did. She shrugged. "It's okay if you did. It was probably an accident."
"But I didn't..."
"What's your name?" She asked the board. Maybe, just maybe, it hadn't been a trick.
They waited. Blue scoffed. "Yeah, okay. So Red did move it."
"No I didn't!! You aren't even playing, how would you know?"
Leaf shushed them. "...are you still here? What's your name?"
Again, she felt a quick tug. The piece moved. Red gasped.
A. S. H.
It stopped on the H. "...Ash?" It moved up to the top left.
Yes.
"Do...you know anyone named Ash?" She asked Red.
"No. Do you?"
"No."
"He made it up." Blue said. He sounded uneasy.
"No, I didn't!" Red whined. "Stop saying that! I didn't move it! You try it, you'll see!"
"There's no way on Earth I'm touching that thing, you must be out of your mind."
"Then stop saying I'm moving it!"
"Well, what else could it be? It's just a game!"
"You're just scared that it might be real!"
Leaf tuned them out. She believed Red. He wouldn't have made up a name, especially because it would scare Blue, and she knew he didn't want to do that. He didn't move it; neither did she. That meant...
Dear Arceus. She got a real, live ghost. A grin split her face. "Hi, Ash!"
The piece moved again.
Hello.
"...cool..." Red whispered, staring at it in awe.
"Leaf..." Blue was looking at her. He was sounding more and more uncomfortable. "You, you said - "
"It's fine," Red interrupted. "Leaf said all the stuff she did was to make sure nothing bad came."
"No, she said she did it to make sure nothing at all came - you said it was a game!"
"Well - "
Leaf was hardly paying attention to the boys anymore. She was ecstatic. "How old are you, Ash?"
1. 0.
"We are, too! Oh, do you like Pokémon?"
Yes.
"What's your favorite?"
S. Q. U. I. R. T. L. E.
"N-no!!" Blue shouted suddenly, standing up from their group. "Stop! I-I don't - "
"Wait! You, you can't - " The candlelight flickered, and one went out. The temperature dropped. Blue froze. "Blue, we can't break the circle. We have to say goodbye before we do. It...it's dangerous. I don't think Ash is dangerous, at all, but doing that could invite something...bad."
The piece tugged against her fingers again.
P. L. E. A. S. E. D. O. N. T. G. O.
"Ash didn't mean to scare you, Blue." Leaf looked back up at the boy. "They're...they're just a kid. Like us. They don't mean any harm, I'm sure of it. I think they're just...lonely."
A lonely, ten-year-old spirit, who liked Pokémon just like them. What happened to Ash? Why were they here? Were they from that abandoned house? She had so many questions, but Blue looked ready to bolt if the planchette so much as twitched again.
"Here, Blue." Red took his hands off the planchette and reached up to grab one of Blue's. "I'll scoot closer to you. Is that alright, Leaf?"
It was a little more like a triangle than a circle, now, but if that helped Blue, if that kept Ash with them, if that kept the bad stuff away, she was fine with it. "Yeah, that should be okay."
Blue looked terrified. "Can - can we turn the light back on?"
She looked at the board, then to the wall where the switch was. "We...can't..." She frowned, thinking. "Well, um...if-if one of you wants to get up, and I hold hands with the other, the circle should hold. We just - we can't break it."
Red nodded. "I'll get it." Slowly, he tugged Blue back down on the floor, and Leaf reached out across the board to grab his hands in hers.
"It's okay, Blue. It'll be alright."
"You...you lied," he hissed, his voice filled with pure rage.
"I-I know." She squeezed his hands. "I'm sorry. I just, I really wanted to do this with you guys, and Red said...I didn't think - "
The light flicked on, and she shut her eyes tightly from the brightness. When she reopened them, Blue was staring wide-eyed at her, his hands shaking violently in hers. She could see tears forming in his eyes. His lip started trembling before he opened his mouth. "G - g-g-g-g - "
"What? What is it?"
"Holy crap!!"
There was a loud thud. Her head swung around to where Red stood. His back was pressed against the door in...fear. His eyes were blown open, just like Blue's, and his teeth were clenched. He slowly held out a finger, and pointed.
Behind her.
She turned her head.
Oh...so that was what Blue was trying to say.
Ghost.
A Haunter was floating above her head. It grinned down at her before it started flying around her room in circles, making the lights flicker. The candles all blew out in sequence. Blue screeched, jolting out of his stupor, yanking her across the board and pulling her into a tight hug. Red leapt over and wormed his way between them. She pulled her head away, trying to get a good look at the Pokémon. How...did it get in here?
It paused, and turned to her. Giving another great big smile, it zoomed up close, covering its eyes with its hands as it approached. When it was just an inch away, it spun around and swung its hands out when it faced her again, sticking its bright blue tongue out and laughing. Like it was playing peek-a-boo.
With a puff of smoke, it vanished from sight. The lights cut out completely; the candles reignited.
Blue, somehow, screamed even louder.
Her shelves of dolls trembled on the walls, her stuffed Clefairy toy floated up and down on her bed, a bag of marbles on her bookshelf toppled over and spilled across the floor. Her CRT-TV even flickered, booting up her Super Nintendo and playing the start-up song for Mario Kart.
It was playing with all her toys. Like a little kid.
This...was Ash. Their spirit.
Leaf blinked. Over Blue's wailing, she shouted, "T-thank you for the conversation! Goodbye!"
The Haunter poofed back into existence, hovering over her bed. It made one more lap around the room, gave her a final grin, and went straight through her window, making it rattle in the frame. As the curtains settled, the lights flickered back on, the candles extinguished themselves, the shelves stopped moving, and the temperature went up. She looked back at the boys in her arms. Blue was heaving, sobbing, snot and tears running down his face. Red was staring at her with giant, wet eyes. "It...it's gone. It's okay."
Blue flinched away from her, scooting across the floor, dragging Red with him. "Y-y-you - YOU LIED!!" He shouted, gasping for breath. "Y-you - you - y-you liar!"
"I'm sorry!" And she really was - she felt horrible. "I-I didn't...I didn't actually think anything would show up! I mean, everything - everything I did, nothing was supposed to happen! There shouldn't have been a ghost! That's why I did all that!"
Every precaution was taken to ensure that they wouldn't get any guests. The tight shut windows, the cleansing, the candles, the crystal - she did everything she could think of to prevent ghosts from appearing during their sessions.
Well, technically, it worked. Ash wasn't a ghost.
"...oh..." She sighed. "It...it must not work on...Pokémon. I'm sorry, Blue. I really thought it'd be okay..."
He buried himself in Red's chest, clinging tightly to his friend. Red blinked, looking over at her. He still looked a little shaken up, but he gave her a small, wobbly smile. "It-it was kinda scary," he admitted. "But...we did get to see a Pokémon. Um, isn't that...cool?"
Blue didn't say anything, since he was still sniffling and hiccuping, but he gave a small, jerky nod. He mumbled something under his breath, into Red's shirt, something that Leaf couldn't catch, but Red could. He grimaced. She frowned. "What is it?"
"...do you have any spare pajamas?"
"Hey, whatever happened to that shiny Haunter that we saw at your house?"
Leaf looked up from her phone. Blue sat next to her on his couch, feet up on the coffee table, looking at her expectantly. She was staying with him at his apartment in Viridian for the weekend before she headed back out to Johto for more hunting. She frowned, thinking. "...shiny...oh! You mean Ash?" That had been almost eight years ago, but of course she knew what he was talking about.
"...that was..." He frowned back at her. "You mean...that-that ghost. The 'spirit' you summoned. That Haunter was...it?"
"Yeah! You didn't know?"
Blue glared at her. "I try to block that night from my memory."
Yeah, that made sense. It hadn't been a good night, at least not for him. He never spent the night at her place again, after that. She shrugged. "If it makes you feel any better, I still haven't told anyone you peed yourself." She at least had that to hold over his head - no one else had ever managed to do that to him.
"Hey." He reached over and punched her shoulder, hard. "It'd make me feel better if you never mentioned it again."
"Well, then why'd you bring it up? You know I'll mention it every single time."
Blue hummed. "I dunno. It just popped into my mind..." He snapped. "Oh! That's right. Because of your Gengar, the one on your team. Is that why you use one, because it reminds you of the night you scared me to death?"
She narrowed her eyes, then grinned maniacally. No, that hadn't quite been why she caught one, exactly. At least, not the entire reason. "Oh...you mean Ash?"
Blue blinked. "...huh?"
"You didn't know?" She shrugged. "I mean, I don't blame you for not noticing - it's kind of hard to tell the difference between regular and shiny Gengar, if you aren't intimately familiar with them, but come on. Couldn't you tell by the beautiful, glossy, slightly-darker-shade-of-purple coat?"
The one negative to being a shiny hunter: sometimes, shinies were impossible to differentiate. But that's what made it so much fun - hiding out for days at a time, studying herds and families, trying to pick out the smallest differences between what was normal and what wasn't. Most of the time, she could tell almost immediately, but sometimes, even she would hesitate. Not that Blue would know.
"Wait a second. You're...you're telling me that your Gengar, is...Ash?"
She gasped and clapped. "Oh, good boy! Yes you are! Wanna t-r-e-a-t?"
He rolled his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me. All these years, and that Gengar is the Haunter that nearly gave me a heart attack?"
Leaf caught Ash a few weeks after they became official trainers. After that night, she got over her fear of using the board alone, and spent hours and hours chatting with the lonely spirit. He never revealed himself again, though, not until she went to catch him.
She asked, of course. Would you like to travel with me around Kanto? The answer had been an immediate yes. She told him he'd have to wait until she could catch Pokémon, but she promised she wouldn't forget.
When she crawled into the fallen apart old house, the shiny Haunter was waiting for her, and practically caught himself. He'd been with her ever since, still just as goofy and playful. "Wanna say hi? He never wants to battle you, 'cause he doesn't wanna make you pee yourself again."
"Leaf," Blue warned.
"Come on, he's a sweetheart." She giggled. "Besides, you like Pokémon, right? He's just a Pokémon, nothing to be scared of."
"No."
"No?" She frowned. "Oh...that's too bad. You might not want to look behind you, then."
When Blue flinched and whipped his head around, she laughed out loud.
Yeah, that was still fun.