That's the Spirit! - Chapter 12

[Hau’oli City]

“Tell me, Danny, what do you know about the Normal type?” Ilima asked from the opposite side of the battlefield, out behind the Pokémon Center.

Danny frowned, thinking. He’d done some more research on Types, but there were so many and it was like Rock Paper Scissors on steroids. “Uh… immune to Ghost and vice versa… weak to fighting… a lot of them are brown.”

Ilima blinked, then chuckled. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. I can’t say I’ve noticed that before. What else?”

Danny snapped his fingers. “It’s, uh, it’s…” His eyes wandered and landed on Hau, beside the field, who was shadow boxing. “Weak to Fighting?”

Ilima gave Hau a mild look. “Correct. However, you’ve overlooked the most important aspect of the Normal type, which is that, ironically, they are incredibly unpredictable. Many Normal-types can learn a wider variety of move types than other Pokémon. Many beginning trainers overlook them as ‘boring,’ but then they go up against a Tauros that can use Surf or Thunderbolt.” They tossed a Pokéball from hand to hand. “Before you can begin the Normal Trial properly, and take the first step on your challenge, you need to prove you can adapt to unforeseen situations.”

Danny pulled a Pokéball of his own out. “Alright. I’m ready.”

Ilima’s eyes twinkled. “Yungoos, go!”

“Get’em Rick!”

The Gastly appeared opposite a small, ferret-looking thing with a blond streak down its back and great big gritted teeth. The Yungoos immediately began pacing back and forth, keeping Rick in its sights. Rick turned to face Danny and raised an eyebrow.

“Gast’ga?”

“I’ll work on it,” Danny promised. “For now, get your head in the game.”

Hau cleared his throat and raised one arm. “Okay, how’s it go? Oh! This will be a two-on-two battle between Captain Ilima and Trial-Goer Danny! Substitutions allowed! The battle will end when both of an opponent’s Pokémon are unable to battle! Begin!”

Hau chopped his arm down, and Yungoos immediately Leered, narrowing its eyes and growling. Rick twitched but otherwise looked unimpressed.

“Clear Smog!”

Rick took a deep breath, inflating to twice his normal size, and then burst like a smoke bomb, flooding the field with white smoke. Yungoos was knocked over by the force of the initial blast and broke into a coughing fit.

Ilima clicked their teeth. “Odor Sleuth, Yungoos.”

The weasel--Wait, was it a mongoose? Is that what a mongoose looked like?--snarled, sniffing to find Rick, who had turned invisible and hidden in the smog. It looked ill as it breathed in the smoke, but still zeroed in on the Gastly’s hiding spot and broke into a run.

“Tackle!”

Danny and Rick both tilted their heads, wondering why an experienced trainer would use a Normal attack, and was taken by surprise when instead of passing harmlessly through, Yungoos spiked Rick into the ground like a volleyball.

“Gas?!”

“What? How?!”

Ilima grinned, wagging a finger. “Odor Sleuth doesn’t just find the opponent, it also removes a Ghost-types immunities. Which means Yungoos can hit your Gastly--”

“But Rick can’t hit back,” Danny said, frowning. “How does that even work?--Rick, tackle it back!”

“Ly?”

“Just use your body to hit it, it’s not complicated!”

Rick shrugged and attempted to follow through. He was certainly able to knock the smaller Pokémon around, since he was the size of a beach ball, but he didn’t weigh enough to put much force behind it.

“Now, Pursuit!” Ilima shouted.

Rick’s eyes widened as his opponent shrouded itself in Dark energy. It leapt--

“Bada Boom!”

Ilima blinked. “What?”

Rick stuck his tongue out,, bomb sitting on the end.

“What?”

It exploded, throwing Yungoos across the field.

“What?”

“How’s that for unexpected?” Danny asked. He brightened, and beckoned Rick closer, whispering. Rick’s face lit up to match, and he cackled, nodding.

“That’s worrying,” Ilima said, not sounding terribly worried. “Yungoos, can you fight?”

The mongoose pulled itself up, looking angry. It was roughed up, but not out yet.

“Make this next one count, then! Last Resort!”

Yungoos smiled nastily, and then raw power cascaded off of it, taking the vague shape of a five-pointed star. It charged, shouting its name.

Rick paled, making an aborted move to dodge but hesitating, like he wasn’t sure where to go.

“YUUUUUNG--!”

“Chomp!” Danny called, and Rick dropped his scared look instantly, opening his mouth wide to meet the little mongoose.

“Chomp?” Ilima questioned, scratching their cheek. “You mean Bite? Gastly can’t learn--”

Rick stuck out his massive tongue, caught Yungoos with it, and pulled the poor creature and the entire attack surrounding it into his mouth, and started chewing.

Ilima’s face fell. “...Eh?”

Hau’s jaw dropped. “What the hay?”

The Gastly chewed, with muffled yelling leaking out of his mouth. Then he jolted, stars in his eyes, as Last Resort went off inside him. He opened wide, and Yungoos… oozed off his tongue, unconscious. Rick wasn’t much better, drifting slowly to the ground with smoke from the explosion pouring out of his mouth.

Danny winced. “Okay… that worked, but not really how I wanted…”

“What on earth did you do?” Ilima asked, completely lost. They returned Yungoos and let their arm fall limp by their sides.

Danny laughed sheepishly, walking onto the field to pick Rick up. He was weird to hold, only sorta solid… “I guess… I figured all that tongue has to go somewhere, so maybe he’s bigger on the inside? I thought it would look funny, and since the bomb thing works…” He shrugged helplessly. “You okay, buddy?”

Rick’s eyes fluttered. He chuckled tiredly. “Gassss…” He sounded like a leaking balloon.

“Don’t worry, you’re done. Get some rest.”

Hau shook himself out of his stupor. “Uh. Double knockout! Both trainers are down to one Pokémon!”

Ilima stared for a moment longer, then laughed. It started small, then built into a full-on belly laugh as they bent over. “W-well, yes, I s-suppose y-you--haha!” Ilima took a deep breath, forcing themself to calm down. “Well, I don’t need to worry about you when it comes to dealing with the unexpected, no sir. I d-daresay it's the rest of Alola that needs to watch out for you!”

Danny grinned and gave them a thumb’s up. “I have no idea what I’m doing!”

“Ha! Well, we still have a battle to finish. Smeargle!”

“Robin!”

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The battle with Smeargle wasn’t nearly as interesting as against Yungoos, though it still gave Danny some trouble. Smeargle was apparently a Pokémon that could learn any move it wanted, and this one had access to Fire Spin, which gave Robin some trouble. But the Rowlet’s aerial advantage won through in the end, and a series of Razor Leafs were able to eventually seal the deal.

When it was over and Hau declared Danny the winner, Ilima walked over to shake his hand.

“Danny, you are the strangest battler I’ve ever met,” Ilima said, “And I mean that as a compliment, of course.”

“Thanks!”

Ilima giggled, then took a breath and was calm once more. “Well. I’m off to prepare the Trial area for you. Once you’re ready, exit the city north into Route 2. I’ll be waiting by the entrance of Verdant Cavern.

Ilima walked off, waving. Danny turned to face Hau and jumped back, because the boy was already an inch from his face.

“Did you just invent a new move again?!” Hau whisper-shouted, excited.

“I don’t think so,” Danny said, gently pushing him out of his personal space. “Chomp or whatever I called it might be too… too much, I guess. But I think I’m on the right track with a battle style for Rick. Confusing and hilarious. I’ll have to really see what he can do, there’s got to be more to it than bombs. The Professor thought it was just illusions, but illusions can’t blow holes in the sand…”

Danny broke off, muttering to himself and brainstorming.

“Uh, Danny?” Hau tried.

“What? Oh, sorry.”

Hau waved it off. “No worries, I’ve seen the Professor get like that sometimes. Principal Oak too! And Gramps, come to think of it.”

“Well, I’m sorry anyway.”

“C’mon, let’s get to the Center. If this is what you do with a normal battle, I can’t wait to see how you solve the Trial!” Hau finished, pulling Danny along.

“Hey!” Danny protested, not really trying to escape. “I can walk by myself, you know!”

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[Route 2]

Not long after, Hau led them up the road towards the trial. There were a number of trainers wandering around, and Hau stopped to have a battle with one, some lady in a white dress. They moved up to a nearby motel’s parking lot to have it out.

Danny stood off to the side, Zorua on his shoulder, and watched.

“How about you, young man?” the motel’s owner said, walking up beside him. He held up a ball. “Interested in a friendly battle?”

“No, thanks,” Danny said, holding up a hand. “I’m on my way to my first trial, and I want my partners rested.”

“Fair enough, fair enough.”

Danny watched Pichu manage to land a Thundershock on a tiny bug-thing. The lady, Krystal, mostly seemed to want to show off her Cutiefly’s adorable looks, so Hau was using it as an opportunity to train Pichu’s aiming. Cutiefly seemed okay with it, at least, taking the attacks like a champ.

Danny hiccuped.

“Oh, let me get you some water,” the owner said, turning to go inside.

“You don’t need to--”

“Nonsense, there’s a cooler right by the desk. One second.”

Danny shrugged, not willing to protest. A cup of water did sound pretty good right now, actually. He hiccuped again, and his breath misted in front of him.

“Uh oh.” When that happened before…

The older man came back with a cup, and Danny accepted it gratefully. As he turned, a chill went up his spine and he stopped. Turning slowly, he was facing east and slightly south when the chill was strongest.

“Hey, uh,” he said, pausing to take a sip. “What’s that way?”

The owner followed his pointing finger. “Oh, out that way is the cemetery,” he said. “Why? Got someone to visit?” he asked.

“Oh, no, I just… felt something,” Danny said, more mist seeping out on the ‘f’.

The older man frowned, waving the mist away. “Odd, that. Well, feel free to go check it out, I think your friend’s battle might take a bit.”

“You sure?”

“Oh, it’s safe during the day. It’s only at night when the ghosts come out.”

Danny’s brow furrowed. He nodded. “Can you let him know where I am if he finishes before I do?”

“Of course.”

Danny thanked him and walked out of the parking lot back to the main road, following the ice in his gut.

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[Hau’oli Cemetery]

The cemetery was a cemetery. A small one, just a few rows of headstones, nothing special. It was nestled in a small valley and framed by trees on all sides, but aside from some geological interest it didn’t stand out in any way.

There were a couple of visitors, including one little girl who challenged him to a battle. Danny had Rick take a dive against her Happiny, since there wasn’t really a happy reason for a kid that young to be at a graveyard. He didn’t ask.

“Do you like ghosts, too, mister?” she asked afterwards.

“Well--” he began, then stopped. He knelt down and smiled, waving Rick to get up and come over. “Yeah, I do. People think they’re scary, but Rick here’s just a big goofball, aren’t you?”

“Gas!” Rick agreed, then Licked him. Danny fell over, stiff as a board.

The little girl gasped, surprised, then burst into giggles. “You’re silly!”

“Grkt.” Danny twitched. He shook the spittle off and swatted the Gastly, getting a yelp out of him. “Yeah, silly, that’s us alright.”

“Huh?” The girl looked over his shoulder and waved. “Okay, bye!” She returned her Happiny and ran over to a tired-looking man who nodded at Danny before leaving.

Danny slumped. “Rick, that was rough.”

“Gast…”

Danny stood back up with a grunt and stretched. “I didn’t appreciate the paralysis. I’d rather you just give me a wicked cowlick next time.”

Rick’s eyes crinkled and he snickered. “Gahaha…”

“Not that there’ll be a next time,” Danny hastily corrected. “Wait a minute.”

His breath misted again, and he looked towards the treeline. Something purple ducked out of sight.

“I knew it,” he said quietly.

“Gas?”

Danny grabbed Rick and pointed him towards the trees. “There’s ghost Pokémon out there!”

Rick looked unimpressed, eyes half-lidded. Despite his complete lack of limbs, he endeavored by use of his eyes to suggest that they were in a cemetery, or course there were Ghost-types, and where did Danny think Rick lived before showing up on the beach?

Danny of course only caught half of that, but let him go with with an embarrassed look anyway. “I mean, yeah, obviously. But Rick, I have a Ghost Sense!” He breathed out, and cold air escaped. “See? That happened just before we met, and again when we were looking for Rotom, and then again just now here, where some other ghost is watching us. My breath fogs whenever a ghost is nearby!”

Rick’s eyes looked at something over Danny’s shoulder, so he spun around and pulled a very startled Drifloon into a hug.

“Thanks for helping out! The Professor’s gonna want to hear about this.” He broke away and made for the path back to the motel. “I’m not sure just how useful it is yet, but I’m sure it will be…”

Drifloon hung there, slightly askew, and blinked in confusion. “...Drif?”

Rick cackled. “Gast, ly ly gas.”

Drifloon shook itself and twirled a string next to its head. “Loon?”

“Gahaha!”

Drifloon drifted awkwardly away as the Gastly floated after his human. It watched them go, mood thoroughly ruined, and grumped to itself. That was the first time a human reacted to a jumpscare by hugging it. Disgusting.

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Hau looked up as Danny approached. “Oh hey, man!”

Danny waved, smiling. “Your battle end already?”

“Yeah, eventually Pichu got too tired to keep throwing electricity around. Miss Krystal was a real good sport about it too.” Hau hopped in place. “Ready for your trial!”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”