There seems to be something wrong with these Pokémon

"It's really strange." Fujino Sakura sat next to Izumi Yuu and watched him flipping through the booklet in his hand. She couldn't help but complain, "It looks like an ordinary tower at the beginning, how come it has something to do with curses later?"

“Do you find death scary?”

Izumi You did not directly answer Fujino Sakura's question, but instead threw out a confusing question.

"Well, normal people are supposed to be afraid of death, right?"

Fujino Sakura scratched her face, and the faces of her parents and friends appeared in her mind. "Although I don't care, I am afraid that my relatives and friends will be sad because of my death, so I will definitely protect myself. Even if not for myself, but for their sake."

"Yes, the main reason why people are afraid of abstract death is what you just said, the bond with other people in the world."

Izumi Yu closed the booklet and took a deep breath.

He started reading the information earlier than Fujino Sakura, so naturally he saw a lot more than her.

"But if people knew that even death would not mean they would be separated from their worldly ties, and that they could still watch the people or things they cared about grow and develop as usual, just living in a different place... would they still be so afraid?"

"If you say so, it's simply a gift from God!" Fujino Sakura nodded seriously, "If I can still see the lives of my parents, Pokémon, and Xiaomu after I die, I won't be afraid anymore."

"Yes, it's a beautiful curse."

Izumi sighed, his deep eyes seemed to hide a myriad of emotions, and his expression was complicated.

“But when the people or things you care about slowly fade away in your infinite life, when the meaning of your existence in the world disappears, even your soul cannot exist in the world.”

"From that moment on, your memory will become increasingly hazy, your face will become increasingly ordinary, and your voice will become increasingly uniform, until you become a ghost that can only repeat certain fragments in an invisible space, and no longer have any consciousness."

Izumi Yu's voice became softer and softer, with the ending syllable of each word falling slightly, sounding particularly desolate.

Fujino Sakura was fascinated by what she heard, and softly retorted, "But... I have also seen the beauty of the people I care about, even if it is an equal exchange..."

"But your relatives who are still alive don't think so." Izumi Yuu closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "When they learn that their relatives who they thought had been buried for a long time are still imprisoned in the world, gradually becoming confused and turbid in a corner they can't see until they become like puppets, the objects of worship and prayer every year during the Obon Lan Festival are still suffering in the world."

"In their eyes, it's like you died all over again, and you were cursed by an ancient relic left behind, turning into this half-human, half-ghost appearance."

"So... people will be afraid and stay away from it, deliberately erasing all the festivals and history related to the tower, until one day they hope it will be completely demolished."

Fujino Sakura continued what Izumi Yu said and felt very sad.

After death, a person is reborn in another form.

Is it a blessing or a curse?

"It's mainly because the Pokémon Tower is where ghost-type Pokémon live." Izumi Yu fell backwards, and the gold and silver jewelry hanging all over his body collided with each other, making a "jingling" sound.

"In ancient times, people had no ability or means to fight against the ghost Pokémon that made the Pokémon Tower their home, so they could only ignore and resist it. But now it's different."

"The number of ghost-type Pokémon in the Pokémon Tower has dropped dramatically, and people have mastered the methods of fighting alongside Pokémon, coupled with various advanced high-tech sciences."

Izumi Yu raised his arm to block the morning light coming in through the window and made a final statement.

"Pokémon Tower, there is no escape."

----

"So, now you also..."

"That's right. My face is now blurry, my voice has become ordinary, and my memory is gradually being lost." Evely's voice was still calm. She had long been accustomed to her horrible appearance and was ready to face complete death.

She could feel that the meaning of her existence was slipping away.

Maybe in a minute, maybe in an hour, maybe in a day, she would become like most of the ghosts that Sakuya Ye had seen on the lowest floor of the Pokémon Tower before, doing things in a daze day after day without even knowing the purpose of doing so, and truly "die".

Shuoya Ye concentrated and hugged the Ditto in his arms even tighter, his heart beating violently.

Destroying a tower with an ancient history is a heresy no matter how you put it...

Let’s not talk about whether this matter is legal or moral.

It was too much of a pipe dream for a teenager who had barely reached traveling age and had nothing in his hands to try to destroy a tower that was a famous historical site.

Ivli didn't know where she was hiding, but she seemed to see through Shuoya Ye's hesitation at a glance, and she stopped abruptly after uttering a short syllable.

Suddenly, one person was missing from the original question-and-answer exchange, and the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

It was dead silent. I couldn't hear anything except my own breathing. It was like I was isolated in a space that never existed.

Shuoya Ye called Evely's name softly but received no response.

If there wasn't a small soft source of warmth in his chest that made some incomprehensible sounds from time to time, he would have probably lost his composure long ago.

"...There's no time, let's go!"

Evely's voice reappeared like a ghost.

However, compared to her previous voice which was as calm as a pool of stagnant water, her voice at this moment was filled with a lot of anxiety, and every word she said was urgent.

"It's here. It discovered my plan. I can't be fooled by it..."

Evely started to babble neurotically, seemingly having forgotten the existence of another person here, and was completely immersed in the fear of being annihilated by the same fate as the other souls.

"I don't want to, I don't want to forget... I can't forget... who is it... he is..."

"Evelyn?"

A gentle voice interrupted Evely's soliloquy, and she couldn't utter a single sound, as if her throat was strangled.

Shuoya Ye took a few steps forward, crossed the corridor-like stairs, stepped on the creaking wooden floor, and looked at the void in front of him, a transparent woman with a light blue outline, who could still be called a "person".

Evely squatted in a ball in an extremely embarrassed manner, with her messy long hair sticking to her face. She silently stared at the young man who broke into this "forbidden land" that he should not have stepped into like a bright glimmer of light, and at the Pokémon who climbed onto his shoulder and raised his right hand as if to say hello. A flame of hope suddenly ignited in her empty eyes.

"Yes... I still have a chance... I can't give up yet..."

Evely stumbled to her feet, her eyes wild and eager, as she limped towards the young man who looked out of place in the surroundings.

Shuo Gu Ye resisted the urge to retreat and forced his legs to stay here like pillars.

The despair in the woman's eyes was so thick and deep that the hope burning in her eyes at this moment was as conspicuous as a candle in the dark night, and also as fragile, as if a gust of wind could blow it out.

Shuo Gu Ye didn't want to be the one who dashed other people's hopes, so he stopped and watched the arm with a faint blue glow fall on his shoulder.

The strange touch passed through the thin clothes to the skin, and Shuoya Ye felt a chill on his shoulder blades, and it felt like all the temperature in his body was being drained away at that moment.

But in just a moment, all the warmth swept back into his body, as if falling into the ice cave just now was an illusion.

Shuoya Ye blinked, slowly raised his head and looked at Evely, who was becoming increasingly blurry and could hardly maintain her human form, and said while tearing his stiff vocal cords.

Ditto looked at his round belly in confusion, his little eyes couldn't understand what caused him to feel so weak for a moment.

"That is..."

"This is the kingdom of the dead." Evely's voice became increasingly ethereal, but she was obviously more relaxed.

"The vitality in you is a perfect feast for every inch of land and every inch of light here." Evely let go of her right hand, which was now truly placed on the boy's shoulder, and let herself collapse weakly. "From the moment you stepped into this place, your vitality was silently devoured by them. The moment your vitality was completely plundered by them, you no longer existed in this world."

Evely added, "It's not even possible to survive in my current form. That's why Gengar is trying to stop you from entering here."

Shuoya Ye understood. He tried to clench his fist tightly, then gently placed his fist against the new wooden stake next to him, closed his eyes and felt the new touch.

If before Evely's action, every step he took and every inch of air he breathed seemed illusory, unreal, and unreal, then at this moment, it seemed as if this space had truly accommodated and accepted him, and he felt "alive".

"I used my power to cover up your anger." Evely climbed up from the ground with the help of Sakuya Ye and said concisely, "Garsis will not allow any living person to enter here and leave safely. Whether you really want to help me or you pity me for a moment, we are now in the same boat. Only if you work with me to demolish this tower, Gastly will have no time to pay attention to you, and you can return to the ground as a living person."

Evely raised her hand and pointed towards the dark void.

"The Pokémon Tower has a long history. The formation of this strange and bizarre area can be traced back hundreds of years." Evely gently pushed the boy, "I will explain these things to you on the way. Now we need to find the four statues and destroy them."

"Are they maintaining the operation of this space?" Shuo Gu Ye stepped forward in the direction of Evely's finger.

“They are the source of power for this space.”

Evely curled the corners of her mouth - if her face at this moment could still be distinguished into such clearly divided areas.

"A long time ago, hundreds of ancient ghost Pokémon fell here and condensed into residues, eventually forming four sculptures of different shapes, which maintain the stability of this area, but also its strange operation."