Chapter 12 - Welcome To The Team, Phantom

I threw the Pokeball in the air & a white light shined in front of us. Charcoal was in his fight stance, slightly crouched foward. My heart beat doubled in quickness, I was scared as hell.

The white light faded & there stood the shadow, except, it looked... Less menacing in the light of the room. I suddenly began to laugh.

Tears came out of my eyes & everyone, even the ghost Pokemon, were looking at me like I was crazy.

"It... It was just a Haunter, & here I thought it was a dead person or something!" I wiped the tears from my eyes & relaxed. Haunter stood there, staring at me. A smile creeped on his face & he hovered around me.

I smiled, not feeling scared anymore. In fact, the Haunter didn't look menacing at all. It looked as harmless as a Caterpie.

"Hello Haunter, I'm Katrina. I accidently captured you," I giggled. Haunter stuck out his tongue & smiled at me. He seemed so friendly. He looked at me, as if trying to figure me out. This Haunter was something else. I had read in a Pokemon book that they were dangerous, & most people agreed that they were evil spawns of Satan, simply because they were ghost Pokemon. But this Haunter didn't look evil at all.

"So this whole time... The ghost of Pokemon Tower... Was a Pokemon?" my mom questioned, wide eyed. She seemed a bit scared of the Haunter because she cowered back a bit.

I nodded happily. "It's crazy right?" Haunter was running his ghostly hands through my hair & examining me, his captor. "I never would have guessed," my dad looked toward the Haunter, a bit uneasy, as if he thought the Pokemon would turn on us any minute. Charcoal seemed comfortable around Haunter, however.

"But what would a Haunter be doing living up there all those years?" I asked as Haunter nuzzled its head against me & allowed me to pet him. I expected my hand to go through him, but for reason, it didn't. "I have no idea. What are you going to Katrina? Are you gonna keep it?" my mom blinked repeatedly.

"I... I don't know..." I frowned. I let out all of my Pokemon to show them that Haunter was the ghost that haunted Pokemon Tower. "Guys, meet the ghost of Pokemon Tower."

Cinder in particular was the most frightened, because she had been scared her first time meeting the ghost. She hid behind my leg. Haunter chased her around & laughed.

"It's okay, Cinder. He's harmless! Look," I extended my hand to pet the Haunter & again it let me. He nuzzled against me again. He seemed to really like me.

That night I spent again in Lavender Town. It was about 3 in the morning when I felt a ghostly hand stroke my hair. I thought it was my parents, but they were both asleep on the bed across from me. My eyes went wide & I was paralyzed with fear. I looked behind me slowly & no one was there. All my Pokemon were sound asleep. Then something headbutt into me & began rubbing its head against me affectionately. Haunter. I sighed.

"Haunter," I groaned. He snuggled against me, as if wanting to cuddle, so I put my arm around him, & slowly drifted to sleep.

I was awaken by a phone call the following morning. It was Brandon. I shot up & tried to fix my hair. It was a complete mess. I needed to comb it. Fast. But where was the hairbrush?

Haunter floated into view with the hairbrush in his hand. He was just out of reach. "Haunter! Give me the hair brush!" I demanded. He laughed & floated around with it for a few seconds, but then he gave it to me. I brushed the top of my hair, then answered the video call with my Poketch.

"Katrina?" "Brandon! Hey," I smiled. "Hey, umm, I challenged Lt. Surge, but I lost," he sighed. "We need a lot more training. Are you almost here?" he asked. "I'm gonna leave to Vermillion City in a few minutes, actually." Haunter was snuggling against my stomach, making me giggle a bit.

"Are you okay?" Brandon raised an eyebrow at me. "Yeah! I'm fine," I muttered. "I'll call you when I get to Vermillion!" Before he could reply, I hung up.

Haunter floated in my view & stuck out his tongue happily. I noticed Haunter really liked attention. He liked being babied. I pet him as he cuddled next to me. I told my parents I was departing to Vermillion, & although sad, they understood. I said bye to the master & his family, & took Haunter back to the Pokemon Tower.

If that was his home, I didn't want to force him to come with me. Besides, without him haunting the place, it wouldn't be the same, would it? I let him out of his Pokeball & told him that I wasn't gonna force him to come with me. "This is your home, I don't want to take you away from it by force." I was sad, actually. Haunter was a nice Pokemon. He was so affectionate, & I didn't want him to leave. He just smiled at me.

Before I got any sadder, I turned on my heels, & walked away. I headed towards Route 12 & was on my way.

The walk was relatively quiet. The sun was beginning to set, & most of the route was a bridge. I couldn't camp out on a bridge. What if it collapsed & I drowned?

I ventured further down Route 12 & found a clearing with grass, & a couple trees. I let my team out & we had our dinner there.

We slept there that night. I felt someone stroke my hair again around 3. Was it Haunter? A smile curled on my lips & I looked up. No? I missed him so much that I was starting to feel him around me, when he wasn't. I wished he could have been my Haunter. I loved his attitude. He was always happy & so affectionate. I didn't know him for long, but I did miss him.

I tried to fall back asleep, but I kept feeling someone stroke my hair. I cursed at myself for imagining things, but then something cuddled up beside me, & I just knew it was Haunter. I stroked his head. "You followed me." I smiled. "Haunter," he said happily. I slept happily that night.

The next morning, when I woke up, Haunter was having what seemed like a conversation with Charcoal. They blabbered in their Pokemon language. Venus was nowhere to be found, but I knew he was nearby, he never wandered off very far. Cinder & Relic were still fast asleep. I had breakfast with my wonderful Pokemon.

"So guys... Haunter here, is gonna be part of our team," I smiled big & Haunter nestled against me like a puppy. Charcoal smiled a bit, & the others seemed happy about it, too. "Well... I should give you a nickname..." I thought for a few minutes. "Phantom?" I asked Haunter. He seemed to like the name because he nodded. "Haunter," he smiled.

"Phantom it is, then. Guys, we should do some training for a bit. We haven't trained in a while. & when we get to Vermillion we want to battle Surge."

As we trained, I found out that my Haunter knew quite a lot of moves, including Thunderbolt & Psychic? But Haunter could only learn those moves through a TM? Meaning, that he had a trainer before me... Hmm... I wondered what happened to his trainer. Perhaps he was abandoned?

Whatever happened, it made me sad to think of Phantom losing his trainer. He was pretty strong. "Wow, Phantom, that was a good Thunderbolt!" I praised him when I saw him snap a branch im half with it. "Haunter!" he happily floated.

After our little training session, we headed to Vermillion. This time Cinder walked beside me. She was so excited to see Brandon's Growlithe again. After I ventured through the horrid Diglett's cave, which took forever because Diglett's kept burrowing around me & trying to trap me, I phoned Brandon & he told me he was at the Pokemon Center healing his Pokemon after having a battle. I met him there & he was chatting with a boy.

The boy had brown hair, & he was wearing a red shirt with tan colored pants. "Brandon?" I questioned. They tirned around & looked at me. "Oh. Katrina, hey," Brandon said casually. "This is Derek. Derek this is Katrina." We shook hands.

Brandon explained to me how he met Derek through a Pokemon battle. I explained to Brandon & Derek the incident in Pallet Town. "Wow, that's wierd. You know, stolen Pokemon rates have risen like crazy these past few months. I think something is very wrong in Kanto, guys." Derek frowned. I couldn't help but remember what the man in Pokemon Tower said.

"I got us some Pokemon from Lavender Town as a test run. Yes, the Pokeballs are working nicely, they even work on trainers Pokemon! We are getting very close to our goal."

What goal? If I didn't know any better I would have thought that he was trying to capture legendary Pokemon.

"No worries, Katrina. Do you know how many people have attempted to catch legendary Pokemon? Thousands! No one ever succeeds," Derek assured me. He was right. Thousands of people tried to capture legendaries, & they always failed. Sometimes they would come close, but they always failed.

Besides, a guy with a Golduck could not defeat a legendary Pokemon. Most people didn't even believe they existed, because most people, including myself, had never seen one.

"Hey, Katrina. I know I don't really know you... But how about we have a Pokemon battle before we sleep?" Derek smirked at me cockily. His white teeth sparkled in front of me. I thought it wouldn't be such a bad idea. "Sounds good," I shot him back at a smirk.