Chapter 39: Line Up and Give Her Berries
The video continued playing.
The second floor of Pokémon Tower.
As Raina climbed the final step and poked her head above the stairwell, she immediately heard a burst of hushed whispering.
"Gastly, Gastly, Gastly..."
She’s here! That’s the human...
"Gastly..."
Keep your voices down. Don’t frighten her away...
The second floor’s layout was entirely different from the first. Half-open wooden doors lined both sides of the corridor, with faint, eerie blue light seeping through the gaps.
Several Haunter were huddled together in a corner of the ceiling. The moment they saw Raina, they all fell silent. A few Gastly were also floating nearby.
Raina took a deep breath and raised her right hand.
"...Hello!"
The Haunter exchanged glances.
Then the bravest among them floated down from the ceiling and stopped three steps away from Raina.
It extended one hand.
Clutched in its palm was a beautifully wrapped piece of milk candy.
"Haunter."
Raina froze for a moment before crouching and accepting the candy with both hands.
"...Thank you."
Haunter’s expression instantly lit up.
It turned toward its companions on the ceiling and gave them an extraordinarily exaggerated thumbs-up.
"Haunter!"
She accepted it!
The ceiling immediately erupted into chaos.
"Haunter?!"
Really?!
"Haunter, Haunter!"
I told you she would take it!
"Haunter!"
Hurry down! Hurry!
What happened next was something Raina had never experienced in her entire life.
One Ghost-type Pokémon after another floated down from the ceiling and formed a crooked line.
Each one carried something different: Berries, candy, cookies, and even a slice of chocolate cake.
Raina found herself surrounded, her arms piled high with gifts. Even Eevee had candies hanging all around its neck.
Gengar stood nearby with its arms crossed, its face filled with pride. It had clearly informed all its little friends about Raina in advance.
[Regular-Seat Chat Group]
"Hahahahaha! They’re lining up to give her presents! Ghost-type Pokémon are lining up to give someone gifts! I’ve never seen anything like this!"
"That thumbs-up from Haunter was far too realistic. It looked exactly like the overwhelming joy of a socially anxious Haunter successfully giving someone a present for the first time."
"Receiving all those gifts is touching, but there’s a bigger problem now. Raina still has several floors to climb, right? How is she supposed to get up the stairs? Is she going to open doors with her chin?"
[VIP Chat Group]
[Acerola]: Aaaaaah! Ghost Pokémon lining up to give presents! They’re far too adorable! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و
[Dawn]: That slice of chocolate cake Haunter gave her looks as though it’s been sitting there for a long time... Is it still safe to eat?
[May]: Raina definitely won’t throw it away, though. She carefully kept even the stone Poké Ball that Gengar gave her.
The video continued.
Raina placed the gifts inside her backpack, then gave the Ghost Pokémon some Pokémon food and Pokéblocks in return before continuing upstairs.
The third floor.
This floor had a different layout from the second. At the far end of the corridor stood a half-open door, with eerie blue light shining through the gap—brighter than ghostly flames, yet dimmer than ordinary lighting.
Raina walked over and gently pushed it.
The door opened.
Beyond it was an abandoned archive room.
Bookshelves covered all four walls, filled with yellowed paper records and old notebooks.
Just as Raina was about to approach them, a cloud of dark-purple mist rose from between the pages of a book and gathered into an elderly face in midair.
Raina’s pupils abruptly contracted.
Gengar instinctively moved in front of her. However, when faced with this elderly Gastly, its expression became as restrained and respectful as that of a child meeting the head of its family.
The elderly Gastly blinked.
A kindly smile appeared across the face formed from mist.
"Gastly..."
Don’t be afraid, child... I haven’t come to frighten you...
Raina took a deep breath and stepped out from behind Gengar.
"H-Hello."
The elderly Gastly studied her for a long time.
It then slowly floated toward one of the bookshelves. A claw formed from mist reached out and removed a book.
The book was older than all the surrounding records. Its cover was bound in some form of dark-blue leather, with several handwritten words inscribed in golden ink. They had faded until they were almost illegible.
The elderly Gastly offered the book to Raina.
"...Is this for me?"
The elderly Gastly nodded.
[VIP Chat Group]
[Professor Oak]: Wait. The cover of that book... Although it is badly faded, the combination of dark-blue leather and golden ink is characteristic of ancient Kanto document binding. That particular method was lost approximately three hundred years ago.
[Bill]: Three hundred years ago?! Are you certain, Professor Oak?!
[Professor Oak]: When I was younger, I encountered a similar fragment inside some ruins. Only a few damaged pages remained, but the binding method was identical.
[Professor Sycamore]: So Raina is currently holding a three-hundred-year-old book? It’s unfortunate that we can’t understand what that Gastly is saying.
[Jessie]: Hm? It sounds like we finally have an opportunity to be useful!
[James]: Go, Meowth!
[Meowth]: I know, meowth! It said that the book was left for Raina, meowth.
The video continued playing.
Raina gently opened the book.
Every page was covered in dense ancient writing.
"I’m sorry... I can’t understand a single one of these words."
The elderly Gastly floated in midair, a nostalgic expression appearing across its misty face.
It extended one gaseous claw and slowly drew a circle in the air.
A blurry image appeared within it.
An enormous silver Pokémon soared across the ocean beneath the moonlight.
A herd of Lapras followed behind it, with tiny human figures riding upon their backs.
Raina’s eyes widened.
"Is that... Lugia?"
The elderly Gastly nodded.
Its misty claw gently tapped the book’s cover before pointing toward the image of Lugia.
Ghostly flames spread around the image, transforming into several silver-white trails.
Those trails gathered above the ocean and formed several lines of glowing text.
The People of the Sea God—those who travel alongside the Sea God.
Raina quietly read the words aloud.
Then she abruptly looked up at the elderly Gastly.
"This book... Is it about the Lapras herds?!"