There seems to be something wrong with these Pokémon

Post-disaster reconstruction is already on track. Many townspeople who suffered the unexpected disaster sit there in a trance, staring at the thin and unfamiliar tents.

He had lived a law-abiding life, never committing murder or arson, not even stealing or other bad things. How could he suffer such a disaster?

A breeze blew up dust that flew onto people's faces. Mayor Shenqi, the only one who knew a little bit of the truth, wiped his face and said nothing. He just squatted down silently and touched handfuls of rotten wood with a complicated expression.

Thousands of years ago, the super ancient Pokémon fought each other for their survival territory, and the mountain range where Lavender Town is located happened to be one of the territories conquered by the ghost-type super ancient Pokémon.

As the river of time flows, within a month, all the super ancient Pokémon in the world seem to have evaporated from the face of the earth and disappeared.

Most of the super ancient Pokémon did not leave any traces. Over a long period of time, they were just tiny existences like dust.

But before disappearing, the super ancient ghost Pokémon left behind residual power comparable to nuclear pollution, which endlessly corroded the ruined land.

Several hundred years ago, a group of humans migrating from the north stopped here.

After several months of long journey, they quickly let down their guard as they looked at the flat land nestled between mountains and water, and looked at each other and smiled.

Everybody!

A man in the crowd shouted.

From today on, this is our home!

People cheered and their longing for a warm home swept away their vigilance.

Perhaps they were deliberately avoiding and deceiving themselves and did not notice the black marks on the tips of the green leaves in the seemingly lush forest.

Their nerves, which had been tense for a long time, could no longer withstand the setbacks, and this group of people soon settled down here.

Build houses, have children, and till the fields.

They lived in peace for decades in this cursed land, relying on a hint of coincidence and luck.

Just when people thought that the fact that there had never been any living Pokémon around here was a gift from God.

(ps. Ancient Pokémon were extremely fierce, had a strong sense of territory, and would attack humans without reason.)

The curse that had been spreading and observed for a long time finally fell upon them.

Zombie, living dead, ghost!

Humans screamed and roared, and curses smiled quietly.

God, please have mercy on me and save my mother...!

The thin little girl was sleeping on the couch, with two tear marks falling from her eyes to her cheeks.

My mother, her body is so cold, but she still moves. Her eyes are always closed, and she hasn't told me a story for a long time...

The mayor said, Mom is no longer my mom, what does that mean?

Mom is just sick. As long as God is willing to help me, I am willing to give everything!

Including the fluffy and warm scarf my mother knitted for me!

[The soul has left the body, but it is not completely dead yet...? ]

who? !

Who is there? !

[It's really a rare and strange thing, interesting...]

who are you?

The Pokémon with a dark purple ghostly aura raised its eyebrows and looked back, meeting a pair of big watery eyes.

Are you... God?

[God?] Gastly looked strange, and after a moment he raised his mouth mischievously [Yes, dear child. Do you want to make a deal with me?]

transaction?

What is a transaction?

[To put it simply, I'll give you a candy.] Gastly's eyes flashed with a gleam of light, [In exchange, you have to give something of equal value to this item.]

A candy?

The little girl's chubby face wrinkled into a ball, and after a long while she spoke hesitantly.

I have nothing but the scarf my mother knitted for me.

[No, you do.] Gastly floated upwards, and the little girl followed its movements closely, [We need a place to stay. Perhaps you are willing to give us half of this house.]

----

[Let's make a deal.] Gastly's eyes were full of calculations. He stared at the trembling man in front of him with a "kind" smile.

what do you want?

[Food, water, shelter.] Gastly answered like this, as if he had planned it for a long time, without any hesitation.

【Everything you humans have, you must give us half.】

Impossible! You are too greedy!

[Greed?] Gastly narrowed his eyes and sneered, [Foolish human, you need to understand the situation.]

[Only our ghost-type Pokémon can suppress the curse left by the ancient Pokémon here. This is just a deal.]

【What's more...】 Gastly's teeth were exposed, and his voice gradually became erratic【We, the ghost-type Pokémon, can also bring you some special "benefits."】

【For example, "Resurrection from the dead." 】

----

[Gars, we are running low on food! ]

【How many more? 】

[It can probably feed our family for about a week.]

Gastly floated to the side of the tall tower built for them by humans, stared intently at the marks corroded by his poison, counted silently in his heart, and let out a long sigh.

[No hurry, humans will hold a celebration in three days, and there will be abundant food for us.]

[Another celebration?] Haunter scratched his head, puzzled, [Human life is really colorful, with a big celebration every three days and a small celebration every two days.]

[This is part of the deal.] Gastly glanced at the dumbfounded Haunter, [We suppress the scum, and humans regularly offer us food resources through festivals and celebrations.]

[Humans are pretty good, too.] Haunter said with a silly smile, [They have never owed us food.]

In arrears...?

Gastly smiled and floated to the wooden stairs and passed through the wall.

【They dare not. 】

----

How dare they?!

Gastly looked back angrily, and everything around him exploded and shattered with his anger.

[Humans, you bastards who don't keep your word...] Gastly gritted his teeth, his eyes full of ferocity [In order to seal this piece of debris, we have sacrificed the lives of so many brothers and sisters to achieve this! ]

[It was just that some residue leaked out, the boundary between life and death blurred for a few moments, and a few people died because of it...]

[These damned humans put the blame on us, thinking that we are the source of this disaster! ]

Humanity...

Gastly sneered a few times, mocking himself for being a bit naive before.

【Short-lived and ignorant, timid and incompetent. 】

[Gars, the seal has been loosened again, we...]

[Don't worry about it!] Gastly turned back and said, [Let humans suffer the consequences of their own actions. This is the result of breaching the contract!]

----

A few more years

Without the regular food supply from humans, many ghost-type Pokémon had to sneak into the townspeople's fields at night and make a living by stealing in order to survive.

Although the price of this practice is that their reputation in the hearts of humans is getting worse and worse, and people even show disgust on their faces when they mention them.

As the leader of this group of ghost-type Pokémon, Gastly will naturally not do shameless things like stealing like other Pokémon, but it will not restrict their actions either.

It's all about survival.

Gastly had no choice but to wander alone in the forest in the dead of night, looking for all the bitter fruits that were left after humans picked them to fill his stomach.

It was here that it met a girl.

"Well, green fruit must not taste very good, right?"

When Gastly heard the sudden noise, he swallowed the sour fruit in a hurry and turned back to be on guard as if facing a great enemy.

But I saw a girl wearing coarse linen clothes, with pigtails and a concerned smile on her face.

"Are you hungry?" The girl stepped forward, one hand groping in her pocket, "Wait a minute, I remember my uncle gave me..."

Gastly was still wary of the girl's approach. Every time she took a step forward, it would take a step back. There was always a clear line of defense between the two sides.

"...Apple!" The girl's eyes lit up, and she took out a bright red apple from her pocket, curved her eyes and handed it to him, saying, "It's delicious. Uncle picked it from the tree he planted not long ago."

It doesn't believe it.

Gastly swallowed and forced himself to look away from the tempting fruit.

Human beings are evil and unfaithful, and her rash approach must have ulterior motives.

Perhaps humans have also noticed that strange things have been happening recently, so they deliberately sent out "scouts" to investigate the situation of their ghost-type Pokémon?

Cunning human beings, I almost got fooled by them!

Gastly, who had finally figured out the whole story, had just thought of a perfect revenge plan in his mind, but when he looked up, his face had already changed into a pitiful expression.

【It’s been a long time since I last...】

Gastly choked midway through his words.

Red Apple:?

There was nothing in front of me except the fresh and juicy apple.

Gastly looked around and finally saw a small brown dot several dozen meters away.

The girl stood on tiptoe and waved her hands, with a simple and warm smile on her face.

She opened her mouth and spoke word by word.

I’ll come to see you again tomorrow!

After saying that, he ran away without looking back.

Gastly was the only Pokémon left standing in the forest in a daze for a long time. He carefully picked up the apple that was placed on a piece of cloth and took a light bite.

As the girl said, it's sweet.

----

From that day on, the girl would come on time every day with food and fruits, and talk to Gastly with a smile, but would quietly leave when Gastly was about to put up his guard.

Gradually, Gastly let down his guard and would just sit quietly by the side during meals, listening to the girl talk about interesting things in the town.

It learned a lot from the girl's chat, understood many things that it could not understand as a Pokémon, and discovered problems from another perspective.

In the corner of Gastly's heart, the ice that had formed due to his prejudice against humans was slowly melting, although he neither admitted nor noticed it.

"When I'm chatting with Gastly, I always feel very happy and time flies by." The girl tilted her head with a faint smile in her eyes. "I hope I can spend every day and every second like this, with Gastly."

----

In the heavy rain, all traces of the existence of all living things were washed away.

In the silent forest, there is a ball of purple flame that is still burning stubbornly.

It's Gastly.

It had a gloomy face, but still counted silently with a glimmer of hope.

,,...

After an unknown amount of time, the sky cleared up and all the Pokémon in the forest came out from their hiding places. They shook off the moisture on their bodies and stretched themselves, looking very comfortable.

The ball of purple flame still did not move, and the silent humming continued.

,,...

Flames of anger burned in Gastly's eyes. He looked up at the Pidgeot chasing and playing with each other, and a mocking smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.