That's the Spirit! - Chapter 16

[Melemele Sea]

“Corsola!”

“Cor, cor!”

“Laaaaa~”

The seas around Alola were brimming with life of all kinds. From the schools of Fish Pokémon, to the Staryu and Starmie, the Crabrawlers trying to catch a nap, the Krabby, the Tentacool, and so many more besides, the shallows were just as lively and colorful as the jungles beyond the shore.

The reefs were home to so many Pokémon, and many of them were friendly. They were all neighbors! Corsola, as the stewards of the reef, were beloved and respected by all the denizens, because without them none of them would have such a safe and beautiful home.

One Corsola in particular was taking a stroll along the seafloor. She waved at a Wailmer floating overhead, cheerfully greeted an elderly Sharpedo as it puttered by, and carefully didn’t move as a school of Wishiwashi drifted through. She knew almost everyone who lived around here, because she saw them every day.

The waters of Alola were perfect for a living chunk of coral; warm, flowing, and despite the healthy tourism by humans, pollution was almost non-existent. Corsola took a deep breath, filtering a few microorganisms into her stomach, and sighed happily. Life was good.

This Corsola was braver than most of her kind. Within the reef no one was going to hurt one of the stewards, but beyond the reef…

Mareanie weren’t welcome there, so they waited outside. For stronger swimmers, Mareanie weren’t major threats, but their preferred prey were as good at swimming as you’d expect a rock to be. The bright pink coral antlers were as good as a beacon for the poisonous sea stars, and so generally Corsola stayed out of the open waters.

This Corsola didn’t have that problem. They blended in with the water just fine. In most species being Shiny was a liability, but for Corsola it gave them highly effective camouflage.

She liked to leave the reef every now and then. Sometimes she walked laps around Melemele for exercise. Sometimes she went to Big Wave Beach to watch the Mantine surfers. Other times she went to Hau’oli’s beach to show herself off to the tourists.

Heh. They tried to catch her a lot, but no one had managed it yet. She may be a rock, but she was faster than she looked!

Today, she went up to the private beach where the shirtless man lived. He was one of the more interesting sights around the island, always running around and doing something or other. Corsola was impressed at the way he let Pokémon attack him, and then walked it off like it was nothing. It was almost like he was Rock-type himself!

With a wiggle of her legs, Corsola managed to push herself up towards the surface, avoiding the need to struggle against the sandy hill that was the shoreline, and breached the surface with some effort. She misjudged where the Rock-man’s house was, but that was okay. She was close enough to see it.

He was out on the beach today, lucky her! He hadn’t been the last few times she checked in. His Incineroar was there, and a Braviary she hadn’t seen before was perched on a palm tree, watching. What were they watching?

Oh, and there was a boy too. By Corsola’s admittedly limited judgment, he wasn’t really a boy but he wasn’t fully grown either. She knew there was a word for that middle stage, but she didn’t know it off-branch. He looked like a tourist, with a floral shirt and the start of a sunburn on his too-pale skin.

The man’s Rockruff was running around the sand with a black Pokémon Corsola didn’t know, and a floating black ball was hovering over the boy’s shoulder. A Rowlet flew overhead.

Oh, this was interesting. The Rock-man was setting up targets. It looked like he wasn’t going to be taking attacks today, which was a shame, but seeing other Pokémon do attacks was so interesting either way! She wondered who was due for training. 

The boy stepped up, so she guessed the man was helping him out with something. Would it be the Rowlet or the ghost-ball?

Wait, Gastly, that’s what they were called. She knew that.

The white-haired woman walked out of the cabin, carrying a contraption. Corsola saw her only rarely. The beach was almost never this busy!

The woman called something out and held up the device. The boy took a stance, so Corsola assumed that he had a fourth Pokémon he was going to release. Or, maybe he was practicing throwing Pokéballs? That would be disappointing, but she guessed that could be interesting.

Still, it wasn’t anything like a Flamethrower or an Ancient Power. Maybe Corsola should go to Big Wave Beach instead today…

The boy made a face. He wasn’t holding a Pokéball, or anything. Now he was pointing the palm of his hand at the target. Corsola had no idea what he was doing, but this was boring…

The boy grimaced, then vanished into thin air.

Corsola fell over, shocked. Since she was in the water, this amounted to falling below the surface, and she had to kick like made to get back up, since the water was choppier this close to the shore. When she resurfaced, the boy was back, and she wondered if she was seeing things. Or not, as the case may be.

Then he started sinking into the sand, with nary a Sandyghast to be found. Corsola swam closer to the beach.

Finally, he did what he was apparently trying to do the entire time, and fired a beam of green energy at the target, hitting it on the edge and sending the target board spinning.

Corsola slowed down at that, because green energy was supposed to mean Grass-type, but that didn’t… feel right. Not that she could actually feel anything from this distance, but she sort of instinctively sensed that Grass wasn’t involved here.

Who was this human? Was this a human? She needed a closer look.

------------------------

[Kukui’s Lab]

Danny aimed carefully. After a moment’s thought he made finger-guns, using his thumb as a sight to line up his shot. He fired again.

It was still no bullseye, but he hit the target and that was good enough for him, really.

“Nice shot, kid!” Kukui applauded. “You can aim, so let’s see if you can modify it any! What’s the smallest and biggest blast you can do?”

“Smallest, huh?” Danny murmured. He stuck out his pinky, and fired a pencil-thin laser. It punched a hole through a target, then through the tree it was mounted on, continuing on to the lab, where it started burning through the wall. Danny hastily cut it off. “Shoot, sorry!” 

He panted slightly. That was more tiring than he thought it would be.

“Happens all the time!” Kukui assured him. Incineroar rolled his eyes next to him. “Try for a big one next!”

Danny quirked an eyebrow. “Okay… but can we move the target so that it’s not got the lab behind it?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Burnet agreed, waving her device around the point where the beam hit the wall. She frowned at the readings.

Burnet, Danny thought, was actually really cool. Where Kukui was friendly and boisterous, Burnet was a lot more chill, taking things in stride and barely reacting to anything weird. He was sure Kukui had already told her about him, but she still didn’t even blink when she saw Danny walk through walls or disappear, and only laughed at Rick and Zorua’s attempts to prank her.

Apparently she was also the more tech-literate of the pair, since she was able to repair the RotomDex to work without a ghost inside it. Danny also watched her make the little doohickey she was holding right now.

“What is that thing supposed to do again?” Danny asked, as Kukui and Incineroar moved one of the targets to stand in front of the ocean.

“It captures and analyzes energy readings,” Burnet explained. “If you know what you’re looking for, it’s possible to detect breaches in space, alterations to reality, unnatural weather patterns… I’ve even heard of some scientists in Johto and Sinnoh trying to create a means to detect time travel.”

Danny blinked. “...Does that sort of thing happen… often?”

“Ha! They didn’t used to, but the past few years have been weird.” Burnet shook her head. “We don’t know exactly what we’re looking for, so this scanner is only rated to identify Type energy.”

“Weird how?” Danny asked again, but he was ignored as Burnet focused on the scanner. Any further attempts to get her attention had to be put on hold, since Kukui finished with the target.

“Hit it with your best shot, Danny!” Kukui took several large steps away with an eager look on his face.

Grunting, Danny put his hands together and focused. Green light built up in his palms before coalescing into an orb. Danny pulled his hands apart, imagining the ball of energy expanding along with them…

…before the orb destabilized and popped, sending ectoplasm everywhere, bubbling on the sand. 

“Aw, what?” Danny shook the goop off his fingers, frowning at his new shorts. “Crap. I hope this world has some kind of super stain remover.”

“Danny, what happened?” Kukui asked, confused. “It looked like you were putting together an Aura Sphere.”

“I couldn’t hold it together.” Danny looked at his hands, frustrated. “That felt like it should have worked… Let me try again.” Danny waved at Zorua, who bounded over. And shrugged off his Alolan shirt. “Here, can you hold this for a sec? Ectoplasm stains.”

Zorua rolled his eyes. With a grin, he popped into Danny’s form and put the shirt on himself before running off again. Danny paid him no mind.

“Okay…” Another try. Maybe… if all he wanted was size, maybe he could… spread it out more? “What if I…?”

Danny repeated the same steps as before, this time holding the sphere in front of himself. When he pulled his hands apart, he imagined one of those plastic, folding balls one of his previous teachers had in her classroom--he forgot what they were called. This time, the ectoplasm spread apart, becoming thinner and almost see-through. When he finished, the orb was almost as wide as his arm span.

He threw it.

The instant it left his control, the orb shot forward faster than he could see. It made a direct course for the target, engulfed it, and then passed through it without interacting with it at all. The target stand didn’t even rock.

“...huh?”

Kukui, still standing to the side, followed it with his eyes as it flew over the sea into the distance. “Well. Seems to me that the smaller beam was more focused, while the big orb didn’t have any substance. Bright though! Could probably make for a substitute Flash, I bet. Neat.”

Danny sighed, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. He watched the orb slow to a stop over the water before a tall wave splashed through it and the construct collapsed, dropping a green mist onto the sea.

That… was probably fine?

“Oh, this is fascinating,” Burnet said from behind him. Danny turned to see her waving the scanner over the dissipating ectoplasm on the sand.

“Is it actually Ghost-type, then?” Kukui asked, jogging over.

“It’s an amalgam of energy types,” Burnet said, showing him the data. “Whatever that substance Danny is manipulating is, it reads as roughly 50% Ghost. The scanner is picking up two other types, but they’re both listed as Undefined.”

“What does that mean?” Danny asked. He looked at his hand. A spark ran across his fingers.

“I have no idea!” she answered cheerfully. “There are eighteen recognized Types, but there are a small handful of proposed ones as well.”

“Like Sound?” Danny suggested, recalling a file he found while browsing the lab’s computers.

“Exactly like that, but also not at all.” Burnet pulled a test tube out of a pocket and collected a sample.

“You’ll want to keep that in a metal container with a current going through it,” Danny said. “Glass and cold temperatures will make it keep for a while, but without some energy moving through it it’ll turn volatile before too long.”

Burnet gave the vial a wary look, then wrapped it in tissue from another pocket and handed it to Kukui, who took it without flinching. “As I was saying, Sound is a commonly proposed Type, but it’s actually a transmission vector. Not something most Trainers get into,” she added, seeing Danny’s confusion. “Sound waves act to carry the energy of some attacks, like Hyper Voice or Sing, and Pokémon with the Soundproof ability can interact with that, but they don’t have a unique Type signature, and people have looked.” She frowned at the scanner before putting it away. “I’ll have to do some research of my own to determine what the other components are. For now, back to training.”

Kukui smiled wider and clapped once. “Alright Danny! Since we’ve got confirmation that that stuff you’re generating is Ghost, kinda, what say we get to work on my favorite subject: Moves!”

“I’m almost scared to ask.”

The Professor brought two fingers to his mouth and whistled, getting the attention of Danny’s Pokémon. “C’mere, you three!”

--------------------------------

Corsola grumbled to herself, trying to shake the slimy green stuff off of herself. It didn’t seem to want to wash off in the water, and it was so gross! She tried to scrape it off on the sandy seafloor, but all that got her was a bunch of sand stuck to her.

Why did her branches have to pop that big ball? Stupid wave.

Whatever. At least the sand would make for more camouflage. Getting a little dirty wasn’t too bad a price to pay for seeing a human throwing around energy beams! That wasn’t supposed to be a thing, she was pretty sure.

With her attempted self-cleaning failed, she floated back to the top of the water to see what was happening now.

The woman went back into the house. The Rock-man was coaching the Rowlet in something. The boy looked down at the ground and frowned.

Corsola couldn’t see what they were looking at from her vantage point. She hesitated… but maybe all the sand would make her blend in with the beach? She swam closer and stepped onto the shore.

---------------------------------

“You really think I can do a Ghost-type move?” Danny asked skeptically, inspecting his shadow.

“Sure!” Kukui flashed a thumbs up. “I gotta hunch!”

Robin cooed, making Zorua and Rick snicker. She glared at them.

“I agree. I don’t know what I am, exactly,” Danny admitted, “But I’m like ninety-nine percent sure I don’t count as a Pokémon.”

“Probably not! But can you gather some energy for me for a second?”

Danny frowned, but acquiesced. A glow built up in his palm.

“Rick, touch the ball.”

The Gastly blinked. He licked the gathered energy; judging by the look on his face it was a choice he immediately regretted, but then he smacked his lips with a thoughtful look. “...Gas?”

“What’s your verdict? Ghostly enough for you?” When the ghost nodded uncertainly, Kukui clapped again. “Way I see it, you’re kinda Ghost, and so you should kinda be able to do ghost stuff!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be a scientist?”

“Listen, if an Ariados can learn Shadow Sneak without being a Ghost-type, I don’t think there’s any reason you shouldn’t give it a try.” Kukui pointed at Robin. “Rowlet can learn the move too, so why doesn’t she demonstrate?”

Robin tilted her head, then looked down from where she was hovering.

“First, land. The first time you use the move, it’s easier to actually be touching your shadow. Then--you know Astonish, right?--push the energy you use for Astonish through your feet. If you do it right, you’ll feel a connection to your shadow and will be able to manipulate it into an attack.”

Following Kukui’s instructions with a frown of concentration, Robin closed her eyes and focused.

Danny tapped his foot, thinking. He started focusing on his own feet, trying to do it himself--only to immediately feel dizzy enough to stop. Didn’t look like that was happening today. So instead he just watched.

Suddenly, he realized something and turned to Zorua. “Hey, what did you do with my shirt?”

Zorua smirked and looked over his shoulder. Following his gaze brought Danny to a sand sculpture resembling a snowman, with twiggy arms, seashell eyes and grass for hair. It also, crucially, had Danny’s shirt draped across what passed for its shoulders.

“Ah, no!” He ran over and jerked it off, trying to dust the sand off. “Man, there’s going to be sand everywhere!”

Zorua snickered and stuck out his tongue. Danny fell for the taunt.

“Why you--” He ran after the fox, who sped off while Rick burst out laughing.

“Rowl…” Robin shook her head with a sigh and returned her focus to practicing. Her shadow twitched.

“Hey, you got something!” Kukui said. “Keep going.” He looked up at the chase. “You really should be here for this, Danny, it’s your Pokémon training over here.”

“As soon--as I--give this fox--a noog-EE!” Danny tripped over a rock on the beach, faceplanting in the sand.

“Zo-ho-ho!”

“Ga-ha-ha!”

Robin huffed.

Danny pushed himself off the ground and spat out sand. “Bleh. What did I even trip over?” He rolled onto his back and came face-to-face with a piece of coral.

It blinked at him.

“...Hi?”

The Corsola spat a Water Gun in his face.

--------------------------------------

[Fenton Works]

Jack turned the Fenton Thermos over in his hands. Part of him still couldn’t believe it had finally, actually happened.

“I caught a ghost,” he said for what felt like the hundredth time.

“I know Jack.” Maddie stretched up to give him a kiss on the cheek before returning to her work. “And I’m very proud of you. But we need to get ready.”

“Ready? For what?”

She pointed at the portal. “The ghosts sent an advance agent. When it doesn’t return they’re bound to send more, or worse, a full-scale attack! Not to mention how we’re still waiting on the biker to arrive. We need to arm up!”

Jack looked around the lab. Green and silver guns and other weapons adorned an entire wall and covered every flat surface not already occupied by analytical equipment or research notes.

“You’re right, we don’t have nearly enough!” He dropped the thermos on a table and grabbed a pile of parts and his trusty screwdriver.

Maddie joined him, already disassembling her pistol for upgrading. “Are we aiming for capture or elimination?”

“Ha!” Jack barked. “Those ghosts won’t know what hit’em!” His expression darkened. “And the more of them we take out, the fewer will stand between us and Danny once we go to rescue him.”

“True,” Maddie agreed. “Do you think we can increase the payload of the grenades?”

“Hmmm… If we can find a way to keep the ectoplasm cold inside the grenade, it’ll be more compacted and we can fit more inside! And the sudden expansion on being exposed to higher temperatures will probably add some oomph to the explosion, too!”

“Ooh, what if we mix it in with that expanding foam we got from the police surplus auction? If we can immobilize the ghosts--”

“Hey, I think I can put claws in those gauntlets! If we--”

“And then you can--”

“And then--”

When Jazz got home and walked downstairs to find her parents in the middle of an inventing frenzy, she sighed and decided not to bother asking what dinner would be.

“Mom, Dad, Sam and Tucker are coming later today. Detention.”

“That’s nice, Jazzy-pants.”

She scowled. “Mr. Lancer also asked me if we’d heard anything about Danny.”

“We’re working on it, dear.”

“They had a run-in with the biker ghost,” Jazz said, a little louder. “And they told him where his bike was.”

Jack and Maddie looked up at her, then at each other.

They started working faster.

--------------------------------------

[Kukui’s Lab]

“Poor thing,” Burnet said, looking the Corsola over. “Getting all that gunk on it.”

“It’s called ectoplasm,” Danny said, scrubbing at the rock-types side. “And trust me, it’s a nuisance. At least it didn’t get in any food.”

Corsola tolerated him scrubbing with a disgruntled look on its face. “Cor…”

The training session put on hold for now, they’d moved inside to help clean Corsola off. It looked around the lab with interested eyes, only to sputter when the washcloth passed over its face.

“Sorry.”

“Cors.”

“It has to be coarse or it won’t come off,” Danny explained. Corsola gave him a weird look. “Trust me, I’ve had to deal with this stuff for as long as I can remember.”

Corsola nodded, confused, before it looked at the fish tank and saw the other Corsola inside, who waved. It waved back.

“Huh. Do Corsola come in all different colors, like regular coral?” Danny asked.

“Oh, no, not at all,” Kukui said from the kitchenette. He stood from behind the counter with a bottle of spray-soap. “This one’s a Shiny Pokémon.”

Danny looked down at the coral he’d cleaned. It sparkled. “I guess it’s kind of shiny…”

“No. I mean, yes, but Shiny Pokémon are very rare. A lot of them are wildly different colors from what’s normal for their species, and yes, they sparkle.” He handed Danny the bottle and crouched down to inspect the Corsola more closely. “Most people go their entire lives without seeing a Shiny, it’s that rare.”

“Wow.” Danny looked the coral Pokémon over with more appreciation. “Sorry again for getting you all dirty then.”

“So-la.”

Using the spray and a fresh cloth, he finally got the last of the sandy ectoplasm off and dropped the rags in a bucket. “You’re going to want to burn these.”

Burnet took the bucket with a look of interest, having no intention of burning them. “Will do,” she lied. 

Danny sighed. “Anyway, you’re good as new.” He picked up a hand mirror and held it up for Corsola to see.

While it was admiring its reflection with a look of awe--actually, living in the ocean, it might be the first time it ever saw itself. Neat--Danny noticed that between the soap and the natural sparkles, Corsola’s rocky skin was almost enough to see his own reflection in…

Corsola’s side shimmered.

Danny clapped a hand over the effect, making Corsola yelp in surprise.

“Sorry,” he said again, then panicked when the hand mirror shimmered as well.

He dropped the mirror, and everyone in the room watched, eyes wide, as the glass turned dark and a single glowing eye looked out on the room. It glanced around once, then faded back to normal.

“Cor…”

Kukui rubbed his chin. “So that’s what you were seeing before…”

“What the hell was that?” Burnet asked, staring intensely at the mirror. She dropped the bucket with a clatter and picked the mirror up, turning it every which way. “Was that--Danny? What was that?”

He groaned. “Alright, I don’t know what the Professor already told you, so I’ll start at the beginning.”

--------------------------------

[The Black Keep]

“The sea… she calls…”

Rebreather took a deep, watery, pointless breath, and punched the glass.