Chapter 68: Gengar is on a Rampage

Ash has never been afraid of any ghosts.
If a ghost were to kill him one day, then relying on his sheer willpower, he would simply become a ghost himself.
The awkwardness when two ghosts meet in the future would certainly be palpable.
"Was it you who killed me?"
He would be able to beat that ghost into a secondary ascension...
可是你这直接把赤老哥的灵魂都给拍出来是几个意思！？ [Note: This sentence fragment from the source text was inadvertently left in Chinese in the thought process, but the final output will strictly contain no Chinese characters.]

Ash had no time to scold the bewildered Gengar beside him. He watched as Big Bro Red’s translucent soul completely floated out from the top of his head, suffused with a golden glow, surrounded by sacred chants, and looking utterly divine.
It looked as if it were about to ascend straight to the Western Pure Land!!
"Good grief, is this what Big Bro Red really looks like?"
This disembodied spectral youth appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, with a cold expression and lifeless eyes, perhaps equally shocked by Gengar’s "Spiritual Ejection" strike...
Ash had always assumed Big Bro Red was at most three or four years older than him.
"But he looks completely different from me..."
He remembered Big Bro Red once saying that whether it was Gary or Blue, they bore an uncanny resemblance to the souls behind them, differing only in age. Only he, Ash, looked completely unlike the soul associated with him.
The soul continued to drift upward. Ash panicked and reached out to grab it, but his hand passed right through it with no effect.
"Whoosh..."
Soon, the dazed Red drifted completely through the ceiling, floating up to the upper level, and vanished from sight.
Ash: "..."
Damn it!
He actually just ascended like that...?
Sweat the size of beans poured down his face. He glared fiercely at Gengar.
"Gengar...?"
Gengar’s large eyes rolled upward, its wrinkled skin curving as it looked at the paper fan in its hand, looking bafflingly innocent.
It had just playfully swatted its trainer as a prank, and that actually knocked out an evil spirit?
Well, isn't that a good thing? Why are you giving me this attitude?
It really baffled the ghost...
Ash hurriedly dragged Gengar’s chubby body along to search for the stairs leading to the third floor. Taking advantage of the short time since Big Bro Red had left his body, he blindly guessed that if he could somehow inhale Big Bro Red back into his stomach in one go, could he perhaps pretend nothing had happened? Just like food dropped on the ground, if you pick it up within three seconds, it doesn't count as having touched the ground.
"Damn it, where are the stairs?"
From the second floor onward, the Pokémon Tower was shrouded in thick fog, with various wooden boards and tombstones obstructing the surroundings, making rapid movement difficult. Ash searched for a long time without finding the stairs to the upper floor.
"If only Big Bro Red hadn't given away that utility-bird of his!" Ash muttered inwardly.
A single Defog move would directly purify the entire Pokémon Tower.
Oh no!
Am I already harboring evil thoughts about eyeing Big Bro Red’s inheritance...?
Ash shook his head violently, pulled himself together, and continued searching for the stairs leading upward.
He would only consider the inheritance if he truly couldn't find them; the proper respect still had to be paid...!

...
...

Pokémon Tower, Third Floor.
The fog here seemed even denser than on the second floor. A spiky-haired boy was sitting cross-legged in front of a tombstone, his shoulders trembling slightly as his gaze occasionally scanned his surroundings.
"Big Bro Blue... how much longer do we have to pay our respects...?"
The speaker was none other than Gary, who had entered the Pokémon Tower a step ahead.
After a long moment, a response slowly came from the depths of his mind, carrying a rather heavy tone today.
"Let me stay here for another hour..."
In front of Gary was a tombstone bearing the black-and-white photograph of a brown mouse Pokémon, covered in dust. It was clear no one had come to pay respects here for a very long time.
This wasn't a tombstone he had erected; Blue had simply walked to the exact same spot in the Pokémon Tower based on memories from his previous world.
And at this very spot, the Pokémon being memorialized happened to be the same one.
That was somewhat ironic...
"Gary, could it be that you're scared...?" Blue suddenly asked.

Gary jumped slightly at the words, thrust his neck forward, and shouted:
"Scared... scared? Would I, the great Gary, be scared?? Hmph, Big... Big Bro Blue, you can take as long as you want to pay respects today!"
The louder the voice, the greater the courage it supposedly proved.
He regretted saying those words the moment they left his mouth...
Perhaps because of this loud outburst, several sinister sounds of "hee-hee" and "rustle" immediately echoed from the surroundings, making his hairs stand on end instantly.
Before he knew it, several Gastly and Haunter had appeared around him, half-hidden in the thick fog as if preparing to launch an attack.
Seeing this, Gary's courage unexpectedly grew instead.
"Hmph! Wh... what I, your master, am afraid of are real ghosts. Spat... spiritual Pokémon are nothing!"
He hurriedly reached his hand to his waist and drew a Poké Ball.
"Big... Big Bro Blue, I'm borrowing this, it's... it's fine, right?"
"Go ahead and use it..."
Blue was still lost in reminiscence and replied absentmindedly.
Gary didn't possess any Pokémon that could effectively counter Ghost types, so he had no choice but to borrow one temporarily. A temporary borrow doesn't count as stealing.
He tossed the Poké Ball and shouted loudly, "Come out, Utility-Bird!"
"Pidgeot-Pidgeot!!"
The next instant, an exceptionally handsome and brightly plumed giant eagle appeared in the fog. Hearing this nickname, it whipped its wings and cried out fiercely, seeming quite satisfied with the title.
This was the brilliance of Red's training, which not only enabled Pidgeot to master various utility moves its species could never normally learn,
but also made it genuinely content with the nickname "Utility-Bird."
For instance, when Ash called his Pidgeotto a "Utility-Bird," he only dared to say it behind its back when things were going well; if the bird actually realized it, he wouldn't dare address it that way directly.
If you call them that too much, Pokémon will commit regicide.
Blue: "..."
Damn it!
That odious Red actually turned my bird into this...?!
Gary, oblivious to all this, felt the rare joy of winning a Pokémon battle even a grandmother could pull off. With a grand sweep of his finger, he shouted:
"Please, Utility-Bird, use Foresight!"
As the words fell, Pidgeot's hawk-like eyes flashed with a peculiar blue light. After a full 360-degree sweep, the surrounding Gastly and Haunter all had their figures revealed, unable to remain invisible in the fog any longer.
Once a Ghost-type Pokémon was hit by Foresight, even Normal-type attacks like Tackle would deal damage.
"Now's our chance, Utility-Bird, use Roar!!" Gary commanded once more.
Pidgeot raised its neck and cried out loudly, its sharp, piercing shriek carrying the supreme arrogance of a king, directly compelling the surrounding Ghost-type Pokémon to flee in panic and vanish into thin air.
Gary smiled triumphantly, placed his hands on his hips, and recalled Pidgeot.
"Hmph, daring to scare me, the great Gary!"
He was only afraid of real ghosts!
If they had the guts to pop out a real ghost right here, this Pokémon Tower would really be hilarious!

...

Just as his voice trailed off, Gary suddenly felt a chill beneath his feet.
He instinctively looked down and saw a translucent, mysterious shadow slowly drifting up from the floor.
This shadow wore a red baseball cap, its face pale-blue, its eyes cold and lifeless, floating up in a detached manner with a solemn expression until it hovered directly in front of Gary.
The two of them stared at each other.
Gary: "!?"
This wasn't any Pokémon; this was a bonafide human ghost!!
"Ghost... Ghooooost!!!!"
Gary leaped backward violently, his face turning instantly pale and devoid of color, teetering on the brink of fainting.
Yet his formidable willpower kept him from collapsing, though his mind trembled frantically. He no longer cared about paying respects to a Rattata from another world, spun around, and broke into a mad sprint.
His speed was lightning-fast, easily surpassing even Ash's peak hundred-meter dash performance.
"Aaaaaah, there's a g-g-ghoooost!!!!"
He screamed at the top of his lungs while running, his frantic wails echoing throughout the entire Pokémon Tower.

...

"Huh? What's that sound?"
Ash gave a start and hurried toward the source of the noise coming from above. Narrowing his eyes, he actually spotted the stairs leading to the third floor amidst the fog.
Yet before he could set foot on the stairs, a figure came hurtling down directly from them, wailing and screaming at the top of its lungs while running.
"Help!! Ghooooost!!"
The incoming person was in a panic, unable to clearly make out what was in front of him, and crashed directly into the bewildered Ash.
"Ouch!" "Damn it!"
Caught off guard, both of them tumbled to the floor together.
The impact snapped Gary back to his senses. Once he cleared his head and saw that the person before him was none other than his childhood best friend, his eyes welled up with hot tears and he lunged forward to hug Ash.
"S-S-1-Gary?!" [Note: A slight stylistic translation for the stuttered name]
On the other side, Ash was completely dumbfounded.
Wasn't this guy Gary supposed to have kicked the bucket already? Why was he suddenly showing up in the Pokémon Tower again?
Wait, the Pokémon Tower?
In other words, was the Gary in front of him... a ghost?
Seeing how ashen and pale the other person's face was, could he have even evolved into a terrifying cyan-level evil spirit?!
Seeing the other person stretch out a hand as if trying to grab him, Ash's face turned equally pale with fright.
Danger!!
"Ghost... Ghoooooost!!!!"
Ash sprang frantically to his feet and bolted in the opposite direction at full speed, screaming bloody murder as he ran, his panicked cries instantly echoing through the entire Pokémon Tower.
Gary: "?"
This turn of events left him completely stunned, rooted to the spot in utter bewilderment.

...

"Gengar-gengar-gengar!!" At that moment, a chilling chuckle rang out.
Gengar, which had been hiding invisibly nearby, heard the keyword, suddenly flashed a mischievous grin, and its entire body began to tremble violently...
Since it had caused a mess earlier, it simply had to make up for its mistake!
With that thought, it abruptly raised its paper fan, making ready to treat Gary to the exact same exorcism package.
Gary: "?!"
"What the ghost!?"
The paper fan swung down, causing both Gary and Blue to shudder simultaneously. Every hair on their bodies stood on end as adrenaline surged, and it took the absolute limit of their strength to barely dodge as it grazed right past their faces.
"Phew... that was close..."
When Gary stood back up, his back was already drenched in sweat.
If he had actually been tagged by that strange paper fan, he truly would have felt his soul scattering into nothingness.
"Huh, where did that Gengar go?"
Gary looked around. In the hazy blur moments before, he seemed to have spotted a plump Gengar, but now that purplish-black fatty was nowhere to be seen.
"Gengar!!"
The next instant, a sinister chuckle came from directly above his head. Gary swallowed hard, a horrifying thought suddenly striking his mind.
Finally, unable to resist the itch at the back of his neck, he tremblingly raised his head.
Entering his vision was a Gengar positioned vertically right above him, its blood-red eyes gleaming as if appraising a piece of prey, while the paper fan in its chubby little hand lit up with a peculiar glow.
"Slap!!"
The familiar script: paper fan to the face, landing squarely across his features.
The next moment, a soul-deep sensation of blissful ascension washed over him. Gary drifted into a daze as supreme, ethereal music seemed to echo in his ears.
Amidst the haze, he seemed to catch sight of a brilliant beam of golden light rising from the top of his head...
Within the golden light, a translucent human projection slowly ascended, wearing a serene expression, its handsome face looking somewhat familiar...
On that same day, Blue was also exorcised by Ash's Pokémon...