The Ghost of Maiden's Peak

"Hey, look over there!" Misty called in the morning as they continued to sail off. They all looked to where she was staring to see a small island.

"That must be the Maiden's Peak," Ashlyn said, "We'll be landing soon."

"It would matter to me if I wouldn't see a land again," Brocks said, looking very down, "I just wasted another summer."

Ashlyn frowned, "But, we had a whole summer of adventure."

"For kids, summer means playing on the beach, splashing around, having fun, but for me... Summer means, bathing suits, and girls that wear them!" Brock said before kneeling down in sadness, "Now, bikinis season's over and I have to wait another year to meet a girl."

Ashlyn and Misty looked at him annoyed. Tesla looked at him in confusion and she looked to Ashlyn and Lucario. Lucario shrugged.

Tesla commented, "Raichu. (He was fine yesterday.)"

They looked back to the sea and Ashlyn gazed at the Island as they were approaching it. Ashlyn noticed stands around and smiled, "Hey, what's going on there?"

"Looks like there's a Festival going on," Misty replied with a smile.

"How about we check it out?" Ashlyn asked.

"Sure, why not?" Misty replied and they started to walk back to their room before stopping when they noticed Brock was still on the floor.

Misty looked angry, "Come on, Brock! Let's get our bags!" She grabbed him by the shirt and started to drag him away as Ashlyn, Tesla, and Lucario followed.

=====================================================

When the ship finally stopped at the dock, Ashlyn and her friends got out and looked around.

"Cool." Ashlyn awed.

"I'll ride the Ferris wheel all alone." Brock said in sadness before looking to the side.

Ashlyn sighed, "Oh brother."

Brock looked shock, "Whoa, what a knock out!" People from the ship were walking between him, walking to the Festival. Brock looked to where he was staring in confusion, standing next to Tesla, "Hey, she's gone."

Ashlyn, Lucario, and Misty stood next to him.

"Come on, Brock, cheer up, we're at a Festival." Ashlyn encouraged.

"Yeah, let's go have some fun." Misty said before she started to drag him off with them following.

=================================================

They stopped at a shooting game stand where you should as many the targets as possible and the highest score gets the grand prize. Ashlyn immediately wanted to try it. Funny enough she was somehow able to win a Pokémon egg and some more Mega Stones which was weird to her state of mind.

After walking around for a bit, Misty was getting very annoyed by Brock's mood.

"Would you stop?" Misty asked, exasperatedly.

Brock was looking down, "She was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

Ashlyn, Lucario, Tesla, and Misty looked at him in confusion. Well Ashlyn knew who Brock was talking about: the Ghost of Maiden's Peak.

"Hey, you there," a voice spoke behind Brock, and he quickly turned around in excitement.

"Are you the--" He stopped when we looked down to see an old woman looking up at him. Brock stepped back, "You're not that beautiful girl."

"Who's not beautiful?" the old woman asked, looking offended, "Beware, not of an old beauty like me, but a beautiful young woman, or you'll meet a cruel fate."

"That girl on the rock, I have to meet her." Brock said.

Misty placed her hands on her face smugly with a blush, "Now, I'm must be the beautiful girl she's talking about, but I'll never hurt Brock."

Ashlyn raised an eyebrow in confusion.

The old woman looked at Misty in boredom, "I was talking about an elegant young woman, not some scrawny little blabbermouth like you."

Misty looked at her offended, "Scrawny?!"

Then the old woman turned to Ashlyn who flinched at her stare.

"That's it, I don't have to stay around here and be insulted! Let's get out of here!" Misty grabbed Brock by the back of his shirt before grabbing Ashlyn's wrist before starting to drag them away.

They continued to walk a bit until they saw people were gathering around the shrine. They walked closer and pushed themselves to the front row to see an old man with a painting that was hung underneath a cover.

"Welcome!" the man said, "To celebrate the Summer Festival, we will now represent the shrine of the Maiden's greatest treasure! For 2,000 years, this painting has been hung in the shrine of the Maiden. Once, in each year, it is removed from the shrine, and displayed for the public during this Festival." He grabbed the sheet and pulled it away, showing a painting of a young pretty woman, who had her hands together and looking sad.

The gang all looked at in in amazement.

"It's her... but it can't be." Brock said before he took a step forward, staring at the painting with... James?!

Ashlyn pointed at James in confusion as Misty, Tesla, and Lucario also looked at him in confusion.

"She's so incredibly beautiful." Brock gazed at the painting.

"She's the girl of my dreams, don't wake me up." James gazed at the painting in a daze before he and Brock started to walk up to the stairs.

The old man held his hands up to their faces, "Stay back. The woman in this painting has perished 2,000 years ago," He told them.

"2,000..." Brock trailed off.

"She was in love with a brave and handsome young man, but he left her and sail away to fight in a war," the man explained, "She waited for him, in a very long time, hoping to see his ship on the horizon, but her true love never returned to that place again. Still, she waited, and waited, never moving from that spot, until finally, her body turned into stone. Just like the cliff upon, she stood. To this day, she waits for her love to returned."

"Just tell me, where's this rock?" Brock asked.

"Maiden's rock is not far from this shrine." the man answered.

With that said, Brock took off, and Misty, Ashlyn and her Pokémon exchanged a quick look before following him quickly.

"Brock, wait up!" Ashlyn yelled.

===================================

As they reached to the cliff, the sun was starting to set. Brock was leaning on the railing as we looked at the stone of a woman at the other side of the railing.

"So, that's Maiden's rock," Brock gazed at the rock, "It's the most beautiful rock I've ever seen. If she was my girlfriend, I'd made sure she would never be out of my sight."

Misty grabbed his shirt from behind, "Come on, Brock, let's go."

Brock pulled away from her grip, "No! I have to stay here. She will come, I know it."

Misty, Ashlyn and her Pokémon exchanged a worried look before looking back at Brock.

=================================

It was night now, and they were still at the cliff, waiting for that girl to appear. Brock was sitting on the grass while facing the back of the rock. Misty, Ashlyn and her Pokémon were starting to fall a sleep so they decided to head to the Pokémon Center to sleep there.

"No matter how long you'll wait here, a rock is a rock, Brock." Ashlyn told him.

"(Yeah, I'm tired)." Lucario said.

"Me, too." Misty agreed.

"Why don't you three go get some sleep?" Brock asked, "I'll join in soon."

"You know where we're staying, right?" Ashlyn asked.

"At the Pokémon Center," Brock answered, "I'll be there soon. I'll be fine."

The group hesitated and looked at him.

"Okay..." Ashlyn trailed off before they walked away.

=================================

As they waited for Brock, Ashlyn gave a call to her mom and Prof. Oak to tell them how she was doing. She told Oak that she now has two Pokémon eggs to take care of. He decided that she should have the limit of sixteen Pokémon. But Ashlyn felt that was too much to keep on her. However Oak had explained that she won't have enough room to catch and train her new Pokémon until the eggs have hatched. So she reluctantly agreed and was given the sixteen Pokémon limit.

At the moment, it was getting really late and Brock still hasn't came to the Pokémon Center. Ashlyn, Misty and the Pokémon were on the beds in their room.

"I'm really worried," Misty said, "Brock isn't back yet."

"I know that we should get him, but we can't leave. Now, that it's curfew time, we're not allowed to go anywhere. In a Pokémon Center, when it's curfew time, Nurse Joy is around to make sure that kids in our age are not wondering around outside the rooms." Ashlyn explained.

The Pokémon and Misty sighed and Ashlyn laid down.

"(We'll get him in the morning)." Lucario decided.

"Rai rai raichu (Let's hope he's in the same spot we left him)." Tesla said.

=====================================

In the morning, Misty, Ashlyn and the Pokémon were looking on the cliff and around a small house that was near it, for Brock, who wasn't in the spot they left him last night.

"Brock! Where are you?" Ashlyn yelled.

"Raichu! (Brock!)" Tesla yelled.

"(Brock! Where are you?)" Lucario called.

"Come on Brock this isn't funny!" Misty yelled.

"James! James! If you're not here at least come out and tell us!"

They heard a familiar voice near them and they all looked over to see Jessie and Meowth, who both then looked at them.

"It's the twerps!" Meowth pointed.

"What are you guys doing here?" Misty growled.

Before a fight could break out Ashlyn decided to intervene, "You're missing someone too?" She noticed the purple haired man wasn't with them.

"Yeah we can't find James." Meowth said.

Jessie cleared her throat, "Prepare for trouble!" She tried to imitate James' voice, which just noticed wasn't here. "Make it double!" She sighed, "Doing it by myself is a real drag. To protect the world from devastation. To unite all people's within our nation. To denounce the evils of truth and love."

Suddenly, they heard a muffling voice of James from somewhere, "To extended our reaches to the stars above."

They all looked around in confusion and Jessie hesitated before quickly continued, "Jessie?"

"James."

They looked around but couldn't see James anywhere.

"Uh, Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."

They looked to the small house near them and then, James thrown out as he called, "Surrender now or prepare to fight!" James landed between Ashlyn and her friends and Team Rocket.

"He looks awful." Jessie stated.

"Worse than usual." Meowth commented before Brock fell out of the house, landing next to James.

"Brock!" Ashlyn knelt next to him, setting him up.

"Pull yourself together." Jessie shook James angrily, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"So, everything turned out just as I predicted," a familiar voice spoke and they all looked over to see the old woman from yesterday.

"It's the old woman." Ashlyn said.

"Obviously, this two have both seen the ghost of the Maiden." the old woman informed.

"Ghost of the Maiden?" They all repeated together before they looked down at Brock and James as they mumbled together before they pulled away from them and hugged each other.

"They're possessed!" Ashlyn gasped, "Tesla!"

Tesla used Thunder Shock, hitting James and Brock together and it stopped, making them fall to the ground.

Brock sat up, groaning, "Who am I? I'm Brock."

Misty, Ashlyn and the Pokémon smiled.

"Brock's back!" Ashlyn said.

James sat up, "I'm James, from Team Rocket." He stood up as Ashlyn and Misty helped Brock stand up.

"Come with me." The old woman walked into the house, and they quickly followed inside. The gang and Team Rocket sat in front of the woman as she explained to them what was happening.

"All men who passes this way, fell under her spell," she began to explain, "It's always the same story, over and over. We find them here, acting like Zombies, with the life suck out of them, mumbling like idiots. It's the work of that Maiden's ghost! Still waiting for her young soldier to return. It's just as I warned you."

"So what? Who cares, as long as I can be with her." Brock said in a daze.

Misty, Ashlyn and the Pokémon looked at him in shock and Ashlyn quickly waved her hand in front of his face, but Brock didn't react. "He isn't cured!" Ashlyn said.

"I'm scared! You've got to do something!" James panicked.

'At least one is cured from it.' Ashlyn thought.

"There's only one thing we can do about it," the woman stated and they all looked at her. She grinned and held up stickers, "We have stickers." She walked closer, sticking two stickers on James' and Brock's foreheads. "These are anti-ghost stickers. However..."

"What's the catch?" Ashlyn asked as she raised an eyebrow.

The woman smiled innocently, "I can't just give these stickers for free." They all exchanged a look.

=====================================

They bought the anti-ghost stickers and stuck them around the house and on James and Brock. They waited at night for the ghost inside the house, and to their surprise the doors opened up. "She's here!" they heard the old woman saying.

The wind blew fast around them, pulling the stickers away from the walls, and from Brock and James. To their shock, they saw the ghost of the woman at the opened doors.

Brock stood up as he gazed at her, "It's you."

"I've been waiting for you." the ghost's voice echoed.

"Yes, and I've been waiting, too." Brock said.

James was shaking with fright, "I'm scared, really, really scared."

"I've wanted to meet you." the ghost said.

"And I, you," Brock said.

Suddenly he and James were lifted in the air. Brock was floating after the ghost as she floated away.

"Brock!" Ashlyn called before she, Misty and the Pokémon followed him.

"I don't want to go! I don't want to go!" They heard James behind them as they grabbed Brock's legs before he could reach to the ghost over her rock.

"Brock!" Misty called. Brock looked down at them, "Hey, let me go."

They ignored him and pushed him down to the ground.

"I don't want to go!" James cried and Ashlyn looked up to see him floating toward the ghost. They saw a missile hitting the ghost, but it went straight her, making the ghost let go of James, and he grabbed the railing before he could fall into the water.

Ashlyn and her friends looked at Jessie in surprise, seeing she was the one who fired the missile, "Hey, girl! You can't take him, you haven't got a ghost of a chance!"

James looked at her in relief, "You really do care!"

"It's not 'cause of you," Jessie said, "Girls like her disgust me. Always waiting around for her man as if she were his faithful pet. She can't stand of the thought of losing him. She cries. But I say, 'see ya, later'. There are plenty more fish in the sea."

Meowth crossed his arms, "I could go with some fish."

"I've been waiting, you can not interfere." the ghost said before sending wind around us. Right after it stopped, several skull-like ghostly appeared, laughing. Jessie and Meowth quickly ran to stand behind James, Ashlyn and her friends.

"What is that?!" Misty asked in fear.

"Not any Pokémon I know." Ashlyn pulled out her phone and pointed it at the ghost maiden.

[Gastly, a Ghost Pokémon. It is usually invisible. Its specialty is Hypnosis.]

"So you're really a Pokémon?" Ashlyn asked.

"So, you finally figured it out," the ghost replied, "Sometimes I'm the ghost of a 2,000-year-old Maiden." It changed to the old woman, "And sometimes I'm the mysterious old woman, but no matter what the disguise, I'll always be..." It started to change, making the skull-like ghostly disappeared, and it changed into Gastly. "Only Gastly."

"Raichu rai rai chu. (Wow, a Gastly who can talk.)" Tesla said, surprised.

"(And here I thought that Meowth was the only talking Pokémon around)." Lucario commented.

"The true reason why you posed as the maiden so that she would never be forgotten, right?" Ashlyn asked.

Gastly looked surprised and then nodded, "Yes."

"Wait a minute!" Meowth called out, "Are you telling us that this whole time you were the ghost maiden?!"

"Yes, I was the ghost maiden." Gastly replied.

"That doesn't matter now. A talking Gastly will be a perfect gift to the boss." Jessie declared.

"You're right. Let's catch it." James agreed.

"Face my Fury Swipes!" Meowth leaped towards Gastly.

"So, Meowth, you want to play games with me?" Gastly asked, "Here's a cat toy I think you'll enjoy." A ball suddenly appeared, making Meowth stop running towards the Ghost Pokémon and quickly turned to the ball to play with.

Jessie threw her Pokéball, "Go, Ekans!"

Ekans was released and went straight toward Gastly. The moment when Ekans wrapped itself around the Ghost Pokémon, Gastly turned to a mongoose.

The mongoose smirked, "Dinner time!"

Ekans quickly ran away from it and hid right behind Jessie. Jessie looked annoyed, turned to James, "Your turn."

James blinked before letting Koffing out, "Uh, Koffing, Poison Gas attack."

Koffing did as it was told, but then the mongoose stomped Koffing down.

"You know what? The boss won't have much use for a Gastly." Jessie quickly returned Ekans.

"Indeed. There's always another rare Pokémon we can catch some other time." James quickly returned Koffing to its pokéballs and ran off, grabbing Meowth on the way.

The gang watched them hurry off and then turned to Gastly.

"Gastly, how come you can't just tell the Ghost maiden that her lover is no longer alive? He's probably still waiting for her in the after life." Ashlyn questioned.

Gastly sighed sadly, "I have tried. But it seems that she knows in her heart that he'll come. So I disguised myself as the maiden so that she'll always be remembered."

"So that means..." Misty trailed off.

"She won't be able to pass on?" Ashlyn asked.

Gastly nodded sadly.

Suddenly at that moment, Ashlyn felt a presence nearby and turned around to see a spirit of a young man in armor.

"My love." A male voice said.

"Gastly, is that...the maiden's lover?" Ashlyn asked.

Gastly nodded with shock, "Yes, he's finally come back to her."

The gang gasped at that. The ghost walked over to the rock maiden. A light came from the rock and then a ghost appeared. It was the real maiden from the painting.

"My love, you have come back to me at last." The maiden smiled.

The maiden and her lover embraced and the maiden cried tears of joy. Ashlyn, Lucario, Tesla, Misty, Brock, and Gastly were touched by this scene.

"I have missed you so much, my love." The young man smiled.

"You as well." The maiden smiled, "Where have you been all these years?"

"I don't even know myself. As I was dying, all I could think about was seeing you one last time and I was plunged into darkness and then I was surrounded by light. I wondered around there for some time. Strangely enough, I came across a door. When I opened it, I found myself here." The young man explained.

"Well I'm glad you're finally here." The maiden said with a closed eye smile and turned to Gastly, "Thank you for everything, Gastly."

"I was glad to help." Gastly assured her.

The maiden and the young man smiled and their forms soon to faded away. That meant that the two are finally resting in peace in the afterlife together. When the maiden and her lover disappeared, the sun began to rise.

"Well, it's time for me to leave." Gastly announced.

"What are you going to do now, Gastly?" Ashlyn asked.

"I will still be wondering around," Gastly replied, "there are still many spirits that are lost, so I intend to help them all." Then Gastly left.

"What a night." Ashlyn sighed. Everyone else agreed.

"Well, let's get some sleep and then we'll go to the festival." Brock suggested.

"Good idea." The girls and the Pokémon agreed.

================================================

The gang slept through nearly the whole day, since they were awake all through the night before. Then as evening came, they were all refreshed.

Right now they were watching the citizens of Maiden's peak put the candled lanterns on the water.

"Rai (Pretty)." Tesla watched in awe.

"I hope that all the wondering spirits will be able to rest in peace." Ashlyn watched the lanterns float across the water.

"Me too." Misty said.

"(I have a feeling they will)." Lucario said.

Soon afterwards, the gang (except for Brock) got into comfy kimonos and went to the festival to have a good time.

================================================

Pokémon on hand: Raichu (Tesla)(F), Lucario (M), Rockfuff (M), Pidgeot (F), Shiny Suicune (Azure)(F), Bulbasaur (M), Shiny Charmander (Natsu)(M), Squirtle (M), Shiny Gyarados (Rory)(M), Butterfree (M), Gengar (M), Pokémon Egg (2)

Prof. Oak's Lab:

Boltund (M), Scyther (F), Nidoran (M), Nidoran (F), Mienfoo (F), Glaceon (F), Leafon (F), Shiny Rapidash (Comet)(M), Scorbunny (M), Fennekin (F), Krabby (M), Eevee (F), Eevee (M), Eevee (F), Shiny Sylveon (Parisa)(F), Shiny Umbreon (Mani)(M), Espeon (F), Clefable (F), Sandslash (M)