Part 15: The Haunter went down to Saffron

        The sky was turning a twilight orange as we approached Saffron City. Looming clouds began to move in from the south west. The state of worn out houses and apartments reminded us about the horrors of our last visit here. We were here for two reason: the first being to fulfill the promise I made to Sabrina, or at least try; the second reason was I needed that Marsh Badge. Once these quests had been attempted we would leave this forsaken city for good.

        Aly, Salvadore and I walked closely together in silence, unnerved by our surroundings. Even Togepi could feel the foreboding aura of the city.

        Sir Duke, on the other hand was livid with excitement about meeting his brother for the first time in years. He danced around us and waved teasingly at the suspicious passers bye.

        It wasn’t until we went deeper into the city before Aly broke the silence. ‘Robin, are you sure this is going to work? What if Sir Duke isn’t strong enough? What if he can’t get through to Gengar!’, she said panicked.

        ‘He will be strong enough. He can break through Emmett’s bond. I know he can!’. I tried to sound reassuring but there was a nervous edge to my voice.

        Sir Duke suddenly appeared in front of us... with no eyes! He hovered eerily towards the shrieking Aly. He suddenly opened his sneering mouth and began to juggle his eyeballs on his tongue. The dragon tamer screamed definingly at the frightening spectacle. Sir Duke then swallowed his eyeballs which seemed to pop back into place instantly and laughed hysterically.

        ‘You see? He’s got this!’, I laughed.

        Aly scowled and squeezed her Togepi closer. Togepi squealed happily, apparently unphased by Sir Duke’s dark humor.

        We stopped laughing as soon as we saw a small girl with her Marill running around the corner. I instantly recognised her from when I last went to battle Emmett. She had been playing outside the gym with her pokemon.

 She stopped right in front of us and spoke as she gulped in lungs full of air, ‘Sir Emmett, Gym Leader of Saffron City has requested that you meet him in front of his gym in twenty minutes’.

        We looked at the girl suspiciously and then at each other.

        ‘In front of his-? Wait! How did he know we were here in the first place?’, I demanded, but the little girl just nodded politely and ran back in the direction from which she came.

        I turned to my friends. Salvadore looked at me anxiously, ‘It’s your call. I’ll be with you all the way. Just be careful. This could be dangerous’.

        ‘Lets finish this once and for all. Right now!’, I said hesitantly and gave a weak smile towards the menacing Sir Duke.

        We continued on through the falling city...

        As we got closer to the gym the burned down buildings brought back all my haunted memories of this place. It was like the buildings were crying out to us. All the structures and lives that perished in the fire. How could have such a force wreaked havoc across an entire city? Was it just a freak accident? A fallen match that was never quenched? Or could have someone.... or something done this on purpose? Why, I thought to myself, distraught.

We passed the once infamous, but now crumbling Metro Station. Although I had never visited Saffron before I started my journey I had still heard about it. This monumental building and station had been designed to connect all the different regions. This specific line must have been the one that once went across to our neighbouring Johto Region. It now barely stood in ruin as a blackened memory.

As we turned the final corner before Saffron’s Gym I inhaled deeply in a pathetic attempt to steady my breathing. All the memories of our last encounter with Emmett flooded back into my mind. Flashes of him and his Gengar exercising their power on our helpless bodies made me start to shiver in fear. I glanced at Aly and Salvadore whose faces were also stiff with nerves. I gulp and exhaled shakily, calming myself as I remembered my promise to Sabrina. I was just hoping- praying that she was watching over us.

We stepped out onto the main street of Saffron, leading down to the forsaken gym. To our surprised a crowd had gathered around the outside of the gym and a battlefield had been marked out by chalk on the pavement.

Some of the faces were familiar from the last time we walked this street. The suspicious middle aged couple eyed us from their shop once again. An old mustached man with a newspaper and his Pikachu were giving us curious looks from the bench on which they sat. I also noticed the messenger girl holding her Marill as she eyed us expressionless from the opposite side of the battlefield. A few new curious eyes, both human and pokemon had fallen upon us as well, but my attention was strictly focused on this upcoming battle.

‘You idiots! I thought I told you never to come back here again!’

We spun around to the familiar, deep voice. The bearded man glared at us angrily. ‘If you go through with this battle I will not step in again’, he said stiffly.

‘I don’t expect you to’, I replied coldly. ‘I made a promise and I’m going to keep it!’.

I then turned away from his warning stare and walked ahead of my friends, ready to face my destiny.

The crowd in front of me parted in the centre as a familiar voice lavishly echoed down the street. ‘The fool and the fool’s fools have finally returned’, Emmett mocked openly as he stepped out of the crowd. ‘You dare’th show thine face again- so be it unveiled as a liar to the people!’

‘I wasn’t lying! And you’re too full of hate to listen so lets settle this! Emmett, I challenge you to a rematch!’, I retorted angrily. All fear had fled my body and had been replaced by determination

‘Blasphemy! Gengar, curse upon him that he may swallow his own poison!’, Emmett roared and held up the Shakespeare skull prop. Gengar snarled as he soared out of the skull and onto the battlefield. As he entered the battle he looked curiously at something in the crowd before shaking his head and grimacing. His eyes drooped- lacking emotion.

‘Sir Duke! I chose you!’, I gritted through my teeth as I waited for the Haunter to appear.

There was an eerie silence as all the spectators watched me attentively. I almost lost focus in a brief panic, but my moment a fear was quickly subdued by a cold shiver which trembled up my spine.

I smiled.

It was a shiver I had learn to embrace rather than revolt. A tremble of hope.

Sir Duke was coming out to play!

There were a few gasps from the crowd as the menacing Haunter emerged from the shadows of a small side alley and laughed hysterically as he swooped over the unsuspecting spectators heads. He came to a sudden stop when he noticed Gengar, his brother hovering coldly on the street. They stared expressionless at each other as the last rays of the sun set behind the gym, shrouding the city in darkness.

‘A spirit of inferior qualities? How... pathetic!’, Emmett loathed as the two ghosts continued to stare. Some people in the crowd began to laugh and smirk at the gym leaders cruel comments.

-Haunter!-

Emmett watched in bewilderment as Sir Duke chuckled happily and floated over to shake the Gengar’s hand. He sniffed his brother like a growlithe sniffs familiar territory. Gengar eyed  Sir Duke cautiously but did not move. The Haunter then began to pull silly, distorted faces and juggle his eyes, but Gengar just continued to stare.

‘Well lets see if Dorian, your Gengar can attack his own brother!’, I beckoned the confused gym leader.

Emmett stared at me for a few moments before smiling confidently. ‘So be it! Let this be the night when thou crimes come undone. We shall dance under the chastising moon and the just stars! Let the crowd be your jury. I, the judge and Gengar, the executioner! Gengar, feed thine “brother” a taste of his own medicine!’

The crowd took a step back as Gengar began to form a shadow ball. Aly hugged Togepi close to her chest as the baby pokemon waved her arms happily.

Sir Duke began to retreat, shocked by his brother’s heartless behaviour. I watched in horror as Gengar hurled a powerful shadow ball towards his disheartened brother. Sir Duke flinched as he awaited to take the full force of the attack.

I stared in disbelief as the shadow ball exploded within an inch of Sir Duke’s face. It was as if the shadow ball had hit an invisible barrier before striking the Haunter. I thought back to when I had battled Anthony. His Hitmonchan had used a similar move called Detect, but I never knew Sir Duke could even learn such a move. By the looks of things, neither did he.

Sir Duke tapped the invisible barrier out of curiosity with his crooked claw. The shadow ball attack eventually expired and the invisible wall seemed to clear with a flash.

‘What sort of magic does the fool deceive us with?’, Emmett questioned infuriated. I replied with a blank expression. I could not answer him even if I wanted to.

‘Use Shadow Ball once more!’, Emmett ordered bitterly, ‘The wandering spirit shall not befall such luck again!’

Just as Gengar started to prepare another attack, the Haunter grabbed his chest with one claw and theatrically gripped the night sky with the other. He began descending to the ground, as if he was dying. I wasn’t even sure if ghost pokemon could die. I didn’t care to dwell on such thoughts at this time either. I just watched as Sir Duke slowly sank into the ground and completely disappeared!

I stood there in shock. Where the hell did he go? How could he just abandon me at a time like this? My heart started to thump heavily against my chest as Gengar and Emmett’s looks of puzzlement turned into glares of fury.

‘This is battle! Not theatre! Fie upon thy malevolent spirit!’, Emmett spat.

The crowd began to edge back in fear of Emmett’s enragement. The loathing Gengar was forming another shadow ball, presumably for me this time. However, he was once again stopped in his tracks by a sudden spotlight which appeared on the battlefield. Under the light floated a grinning Sir Duke with a top hat shadowing over his ghoulish eyes. He held a black cane in his claws.

Suddenly, a steady beat echoed around the street. Sir Duke began to click his fingers in time with the beat and advanced slowly towards his brother. A fiddle began to play out of nowhere, gradually accompanied by accordions and piano. Everyone turned their heads in search of the spontaneous song which seemed to have an air of traditional Russian waltz to the beat.

I then noticed Gengar, who, for the first time in a long time was smiling! Not a vicious or weary smile, but a genuine look of happiness lit up his deathly purple face. He began to walk over to Sir Duke when Emmett called him back. ‘Gengar! What foolishness has consumed thy mind!’. But Gengar just raised his arm as if to silence his master and walked over to meet his brother.

Sir Duke happily flung his top hat and cane into the bewildered spectator. Everyone gasped as the two ghosts drew long daggers from their gaping jaws.

‘Hey! I knew I recognised this from somewhere!’, Salvadore smiled, ‘This is the Mamushka!’

‘The Mamushka?’

We looked on at Dorian and Sir Duke who began to sheath their daggers as the advanced towards each other, smiling maniacally. They broke out into a controlled sword fight, clashing their knives in rhythm with the upbeat music. The surrounding audience gradually began clap, also keeping in time with the song. Everyone apart from the infuriated Emmett was enjoying the dance. The ghost brothers spun and swung their daggers with precision. Some people began to dance and waltz with one another while others continued to cheer on the crazed brothers, who had begun to juggle their daggers between them. The fiddle began to play faster, but both the Haunter and Gengar kept their rhythm, ignoring Emmett’s curses.

Even Aly was happily swaying her Togepi to the music.

It was a bizarre, yet cheerful spectacle. For the first time in years these civilians were happy. For the first time in years Saffron City was alive!

As the finale of the dance approached, Dorian caught all the daggers and Sir Duke soared crazily into the night sky. From his jaws the Haunter drew another sword- this one, however, noticeably longer than the other ones. He danced and swayed to the closing notes of the music before tossing the sword high into the air.

Everyone stopped dancing and watch amazed as the sword began to descend directly over Gengar. Gengar smiled and curtsied. He cocked his head backwards and stretched out his jaw. The sword fell all the way into Gengar’s welcoming mouth as the mysterious music came to a dramatic close.

There was a moment's silence before the crowd erupted in applause. Everyone was whistling and cheering for the two ghost pokemon. Gengar happily swallowed the sword and the rest of the daggers before taking a well deserved bow. Sir Duke swooped down beside his brother and also bowed respectfully to the spectators.

Then, Dorian and Sir Duke looked at each others with crazed grins and shook claws- a warming, reconciled handshake.

I punched the air in excitement. Sir Duke had succeeded in getting through to Dorian. It was a heartwarming scene. Unfortunately, it came to an early end.

‘GENGAR!’, Emmett thundered. His eyes began to glow a violent purple. His call echoed through the main street. Everyone was silenced. ‘Come forth and answer thy wrongs!’.

Gengar’s eyes drooped in a sul and he yanked his arm away from Sir Duke. Snarling, he turned his back to his brother and walked towards Emmett.

My heart sunk. I was sure Sir Duke had gotten through to him. I guess I was wrong. I guess I had failed...

Gengar faced his master, emotionless, staring into the gym leaders eyes.

‘What do you have to say for yourself’, demanded Emmett.

Gengar continued to stare at him in silence. Then, without muttering a word, he reached into his stern jaw and took out a small box wrapped in yellow paper and tied in a red ribbon. He handed the present to a confused Emmett, who in turn examined it and began to unravel the red ribbon. He slowly edged upon the small box and-

KABOOM!!!

To everyone’s surprise the present exploded in Emmett’s hands, leaving his face and shirt blackened and covered in soot. Gengar fell to the ground and held his sides as he rolled on the floor laughing. Haunter chuckled heartily as well. Emmett coughed and stared shocked at his Gengar before starting to smile. He eventually smirked and then began to laugh.

It was strange, and at the same time , uplifting to see the gym leader this way.

‘Haha!I cannot believe I fell like a fool. I haven’t seen thou use such nonsense since you... were a Haunter...’, Emmett stopped laughing and stared motionless at his Gengar. ‘Since... since you... played that prank on... Sabrina!’. He could only manager to whisper her name. He slumped to the ground and his lips began to tremble.

A thick fog began to settle around us. It rose up conspicuously and separated us from the rest of the civilians. Emmett, Gengar and Sir Duke were the only things I could make out in the fog’s density. Emmett continued to just stare, lost in memories.

I suddenly remembered when I had spoken to Sabrina’s apparition. It was the same type of thick fog that now surrounded us. I inhaled deeply.

It was time!

I slowly walked over to the reminiscing gym leader. It was the first time I saw him as the weaker trainer, not in terms of strength but in spirit. He looked like a broken man.

‘I remember...’, he spoke softly in a less theatrical voice, ‘I remember when I first laid my eyes on her. How she welcomed me into her life with a warm smile. She cured me of my loneliness and made me a better person! But look at me now. I’m a... a-’

‘An amazing trainer who loved his fiancee’, I commented with a sympathetic smile and offered my hand. He looked up at me for a minute before gripping my arm. I hauled him up onto his feet. ‘She loved you so much’, I continued, ‘But she wants you to move on and stop blaming yourself!’

‘When I proposed to her I promised her that I would take care of her and try to become a better person. But I failed! How can I move on!?’, he looked at me with pleading eyes.

 I could not give him a guaranteed answer. There was only one thing I could do. I dug deep into my pocket and pulled out the ring Sabrina gave me when I made the promise. I held it out to Emmett whose eyes shot wide upon. He reached out his shaking arm and delicately lifted the ring from my palm.

‘Tell her how you feel’, I said instinctively, ‘Tell her you love her!’.

He clenched the ring in his fist and held it tightly to his lips. Tears flooded his eyes and streamed endlessly down his cheeks. I could just about make out his slur and stutter of words. ‘I miss you... I miss you so much! And I will always love you!’.

‘I love you too, Emmett’.

I spun around to see the angelic Sabrina standing elegantly before us. The ghost of her Kadabra stood peacefully alongside her.

Emmett stumbled passed me and fell on his knees before the apparition. ‘I’m so sorry!’, he cried over and over again.

‘Emmett, please stop! It was not your fault. There was nothing you could have done! Be strong and move on. This city needs you! My father needs you! Please, just move on so that I too can move on!’

Emmett looked up feebly at Sabrina and gave a tearful nod. ‘I will! I promise! I will find justice, but until then, I will help rebuild this great city and restore it to its former glory!’

‘Sabrina!’, a voice gasped from behind me. It was that bearded man who had saved us before. He staggered towards Sabrina in disbelief.

‘Father! Take care of Emmett as you took care of me! Promise me!’, the ghost ordered the man.

‘I... I promise!’, her father said as tears trickled down his cheek.

Sabrina smiled peacefully and looked at me, ‘Thank you, Robin. You followed your heart and now I can rest in peace. Great things lie before you!’.

I nodded understandingly and let my thoughts linger on what she said.

Sabrina’s father went over Emmett and helped the gym leader onto his feet.

‘Dorian, take care of them’, Sabrina asked the Gengar kindly.

Gengar sniffled a nod and continued crying loudly into his handkerchief.

Sabrina laughed at her former pokemon and then spoke her final words, ‘Take care. Make the best of what life has to offer. I will always love you and watch over you’., and with those words Sabrina and Kadabra turned and walked into the fog, gradually fading in the distance.

The fog instantly started to clear, revealing curious faces from the surrounding crowd.

I gave a sigh of relief when I saw Aly and Salvadore’s reassured faces.

I walked over to them, leaving Emmett and Sabrina’s father to embrace and console each other.

‘It’s over. We did it’, I said with a smile. Sir Duke floated over along side me with a proud look of achievement across his face. ‘Thank you, Sir Duke! I couldn’t have done it without you’.

-Haunt!-Haunter!!!-

The Haunter chuckled to himself, happy with my praise.

‘So, what happens now?’, asked Aly.

‘Well, we can leave for Celadon City in the morning- if that’s ok with you guys?’, I suggested.

Aly and Salvadore agreed without hesitation, happy to be leaving this place for good!

* * *

The late morning sun shone brightly as we walked down Route Seven. We left Saffron City without breakfast, wanting to leave as soon as possible and planning to stop for lunch en route. We walked at a leisurely pace, basking in the warmth of the sun. Togepi was looking around curiously at her surroundings.

We had left without saying any goodbyes. I hated goodbyes and Sir Duke had really grown on me. It was for the best.

I detailed Aly and Salvadore with what happened while we were in the fog. Aly seemed a bit skeptical about it but Salvadore looked interested and questioned me about it. After my story Aly paused in thought for a moment and asked me, ‘Hey Robin, what about the badge?’.

I sighed thinking about the badge I never got, ‘Well, I never actually defeated Dorian so I guess I’ll just have to try even harder in Celadon’, I said resignedly.

I was just about to start questioning my friends about the Celadon Gym Leader when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.

I stopped and looked at the bush where I could have sworn I saw something sparkle or glisten. ‘Did you guys see tha-’

-Haunter!-

Sir Duke appeared in front of us stretching his mouth playfully.

‘Sir Duke!’, I exclaimed, ‘What are you doing here?’. I was overcome by both confusion and joy.

The Haunter laughed heartily and then pulled a small envelope out of his grinning mouth. He handed it to me with a menacing smile. I took it from him and carefully opened it, half expecting it to explode in my hands. I took out the the note inside it and read it out loud:

Dear Robin,

I never got to thank you properly for helping me come to terms with Sabrina’s passing. You made me see past my self pity and taught me how to appreciate life. My only regret is that I did not tell you this in person. As a symbol of my apology for all the trouble I have caused you and your friends, and in recognition of defeating my ignorance I leave you with this gift. Thank you once again.

I bid you adieu and a safe journey,

Emmett~

PS. Do not think you can get rid of Sir Duke that easily.

After reading the note I shook out the envelope. A small item dropped safely into the palm of my hand. I held it up to the sun for a closer inspection before lining it alongside my other badges on the inside of my jacket.

I grinned at my friends but Aly just gave me a puzzled look. It was then I noticed a pokeball had become unhinged from my belt and was floating in the air in front of me. I stared curiously at the pokeball which continued to levitate until it was at eye level in front of me. I hesitantly reached out for it and-

WHACK!!!

‘Ahh!’

I was struck in the face with my own pokeball and fell to the ground in pain. I groaned and rubbed my right eye to soothe the pain. I covered my eyes for a few moments, unable to see anything but a flash of red.

Beep!

I winced my eyes open and looked down at my pokeball to see the red light fading in the middle. I picked up my pokeball and stared at it, smiling in disbelief.

I could not have asked for a better start to the morning.

I now had Sir Duke on my team...

And the Marsh Badge!