Chapter 67: That Day, Chi Was Finally Put to Rest...

The two of them arrived at the stairway leading from the first floor to the second.

Looking upward, a gloomy and ghostly aura rushed at them from above, as if it could swallow a person at any moment, causing Misty to shudder involuntarily.

Ghost-type Pokémon were not scary, but there were actual ghosts up there!

What a load of nonsense!

It seemed none of this was her business to begin with!

Misty slapped her forehead hard as she realized the blind spot.

"By the way, it's not safe for Brock to stay down there all by himself. In case he gets trapped in the abstinence club forever and can't come back, I'll at least be able to help collect his remains. As for the rest, you're on your own, goodbye."

Without waiting for any reaction from Ash, she scurried back to the entrance at a brisk pace to have a chat with that old witch.

Ash: "..."

Tch, so this is what women are like, truly laughable.

He shook his head with a scornful smile, turned around, and said to Cubone and Pikachu:

"Let's go. No matter what monsters or ghosts there are, as long as we possess righteous energy and our vital breath is united, deities and demons alike will never be able to invade us!"

"Cubone!"

Cubone struck the stairs fiercely with its large bone, looking somewhat impatient as the aura coming from above grew increasingly familiar to it.

After waiting for a long time, only one response came. Ash frowned. Where had those cute "Pika-Pika" cries of the past gone?

He suddenly realized that Pikachu was nowhere to be seen by his side. Ash quickly turned his head to search and soon spotted the target in the most conspicuous place.

A complete set of mattress, quilt, and pillow—an electric mouse was sleeping soundly within the safety zone of the green barrier, even softly snoring.

Electric mice were afraid of ghosts too.

Ash: "..."

Damn it!

This mouse is slacking off again!

Helpless, he could only pick up Cubone with one hand, took a deep breath, and climbed the stairs alone, while a plump Gengar faintly materialized behind him...

"Geng-geng-geng-geng~~"

...

On the second floor of Pokémon Tower, although it was indoors, a thick mist suddenly rolled in and filled the space. All that met the eye were rows of grayish-white, solemn tombstones, along with a green glow in the central area.

Presumably, that green barrier existed on every floor, which at least provided a resting point for travelers.

Soon, the sound of truly eerie howling reached his ears, indicating that they had now entered an area where wild Pokémon might appear.

"Si..."

"Hehe..."

Before they had walked more than a few steps, the rustling sounds grew louder. Ash looked up abruptly and discovered that two wild Pokémon had appeared before him out of nowhere.

One had only a pitch-black, round head with a fierce expression, as if its entire body were composed of gas, and purple mist floated around its head as it drifted back and forth in mid-air.

The other Pokémon looked like the surrounding gas had condensed into a fixed shape. Though it still possessed only a single spiked head, two purple claws had appeared just in front of it.

"Beep-beep. Gastly, a Ghost-type Pokémon, shaped like a hard-boiled egg. Its origin is unknown. It is rumored to be a new form born after Cloyster's shell was blasted open by someone."

"Beep-beep. Haunter, a Ghost-type Pokémon, the evolved form of Gastly. Its fingers and tongue are very flexible; it can swallow a Clefable in a single bite."

The Pokédex broadcasted consecutively twice.

"So these are Ghost-type Pokémon..."

Ash's gaze narrowed. He had previously heard all the names in the Gengar evolutionary line, but he hadn't expected the differences between these evolutionary stages to be so vast.

How could these two skinny, malnourished Pokémon eventually turn into such chubby creatures?

Ash couldn't help but cast a sympathetic look at the two Pokémon in front of him.

Meanwhile, Gastly and Haunter both flashed fierce expressions, looking as though they were about to attack.

If it were in the past, upon seeing humans, they might have just played some mischievous pranks. But sensing that humans might now directly destroy their living environment and raze the Pokémon Tower to the ground, all playfulness had vanished, replaced entirely by hatred.

Dark light was already gathering in the eyes of the two Pokémon, creating a formidable momentum as they prepared to unleash the Night Shade move.

Take down the humans and protect our most precious two-dimensional world!

"Slap!"

"Slap!"

Before Night Shade could even be unleashed, two crisp slapping sounds rang out consecutively.

Without seeing the wielder, a paper fan struck the heads of the two ghosts with a resonant blow. Since the latter both possessed gaseous bodies, their entire heads were caved in flatly, and the Night Shade attack directly exploded right inside their eye sockets.

"Boom!!"

Ghost-type Pokémon hitting themselves—it was super effective!

Gastly and Gengar plummeted to the ground simultaneously, their semi-gaseous bodies dented inward, looking pitiful and clearly suffering heavy injuries.

"Geng-geng-geng-geng!!"

Half a second later, Ash's Gengar slowly materialized its body, raised a chubby finger in mid-air pointing at the two, and began its twitchy ghost dance again, as if mocking them mercilessly.

Is that really it?

"Huh, that paper fan..."

Ash had sharp eyes and noticed that Gengar had somehow acquired a paper fan in its hand, with four large characters written on it: "Exorcism of Demons." It looked rather familiar.

Damn it, isn't this that old witch's magical artifact, the one that could supposedly scatter Red's soul with a single strike?!

How did it manage to steal this right under everyone's noses?

Red: "..."

The pressure fell upon him once again...

...

Gengar floated forward. Seeing that these were its evolutionary relatives, the two ghosts immediately became well-behaved and made no further moves.

"Geng-geng-geng-geng? (Kid, are there any female Gengars here?)"

The two ghosts seemed unable to understand Gengar's terminology and looked confused as to what a "female Gengar" meant.

A Gengar with a good appetite?

"Hiss-hiss..."

"Hehe..."

Haunter and Gengar nodded hurriedly. Most of the inhabitants in this Pokémon Tower were Gastly and Haunter, along with a scattering of wandering Rattata. Other than them, there was only their true boss—a Gengar.

The kind that could eat ten Clefables in a single meal!

That definitely counted as a Gengar with a good appetite in the other's words.

"Geng-geng-geng!!"

Having received the desired answer, Gengar was extremely satisfied. Its body swelled up into a large balloon, and it waved its hand to signal the two ghosts to back off and not disturb its pursuit of true love.

The two ghosts were sensible and quickly drifted away into the dense fog, vanishing within seconds.

"Geng-geng!!"

Gengar floated back in front of Ash, signaling that the female Gengar was just upstairs and urging him to hurry up and make it happen.

Seeing Ash standing in place and deep in thought, it suddenly raised the paper fan and, playfully, aimed a friendly strike right at his head.

Danger!!

In an instant, an unprecedented sense of crisis enveloped Ash, nearly suffocating him!

Ash was startled. He had been pondering whether this lousy fan could still serve the purpose of delivering evil spirits if used by someone else.

Is this Gengar an idiot? Is this how you treat your own trainer?! Is it murder?!

If that strike landed, he would probably have to find a prime feng shui burial plot for Red right here on the spot and burn incense on the ground!

"Whoosh!"

The intense sense of crisis sent Ash's adrenaline soaring, and his body dodged to the side like a flash of lightning, narrowly grazing past what felt like a fatal blow.

"Phew..."

Thank goodness...

After recovering his footing, he felt as though he had exhausted his life's strength, and cold sweat was already streaming down his back.

Ash had only bought one stick of incense earlier; he really didn't want to go back downstairs right now to buy another one for Red...

Even Red within his soul breathed a massive sigh of relief.

At that exact moment, even he had experienced a sense of crisis that his soul was about to be scattered...

What the heck, what on earth is this paper fan?!

Ash quickly collected himself, stood up, and intended to give Gengar a serious talking-to. It would be best to release Charmander and burn this dangerous object to ashes with fire.

"Huh?"

Ash was somewhat puzzled. Where was Gengar?

He looked around left and right, but could no longer see that chubby figure.

...

"Geng-geng-geng!!"

Suddenly, a mischievous laugh came from directly above him. Ash's breathing choked instantly, and he swallowed hard as a terrible thought suddenly popped into his mind.

Fun fact: If you are targeted by an evil spirit behind you, as long as you don't turn around, the spirit won't attack you.

Yet for a moment, the back of Ash's neck began to itch unbearably. Finally, unable to resist his inner curiosity, he looked up.

A Gengar was right in front of him, face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball.

Its two blood-red eyes were wide, round, and cruel, and its mouth revealed a row of gleaming white teeth.

But none of that was the main point. The main point was—

The thing in its chubby little hand!

"Slap!"

A crisp sound rang out. Even if Arceus himself had been there, he wouldn't have been able to dodge in time. Taken completely by surprise, Ash took a paper fan right to the face, leaving a stark, tragic red mark directly across it.

The next second, a bizarre sensation wash over him, akin to a soul being transcended. It was completely irresistible, making his mind spin with dizziness...

In his daze, Ash seemed to see a brilliant beam of golden light.

Within the golden light, a translucent young man wearing a baseball cap was slowly ascending. His body was a semi-transparent phantom, his expression serene and holy. His appearance closely mirrored everything Ash imagined Red to look like, while above him lay something resembling a heaven filled with holy hymns...

That day, Red was finally transcended by Ash's Pokémon.

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(The last day, the last day, please share all your recommendation tickets with me, thank you!!!)