"What's happening?" Sara asked in confusion.
"I don't know, let's go see." Kiara, with her curious nature, pulled Sara along as she pushed through the crowd.
"Let's go look too." Delia said.
"Mm." Cole nodded, then extended his hand to Ash, "Ash, hold my hand. There are a lot of people here — be careful not to get lost!"
"Mm!" Ash obediently slipped his small hand into Cole's palm.
Following the crowd, they quickly reached the edge of Maiden's Peak, where several men were clinging to the shrine's gate posts, wailing miserably.
"No! No!"
"Mom, I'm scared! I'll never be lecherous again!"
"Help! There really is a ghost! Someone save me..."
...
The men's bodies were being pulled uncontrollably toward Maiden's Peak, while a beautiful phantom of a young woman slowly floated toward them.
"I miss you so much, I miss you so much!" The young woman repeated over and over.
"What's going on?" Kiara asked.
"You know the legend of Maiden's Peak, but don't you know about the supernatural event that happens there every year during the Summer Festival?" Cole asked.
"Supernatural event?" Kiara and Sara looked at each other, then exclaimed in unison.
They really didn't know about this.
"That's right. Legend says the maiden's soul comes out every year to capture lecherous men and drain their energy — all to prevent herself from disappearing!" Cole explained.
"That's so scary!" Kiara said, hugging her arms, "By the way, how do you know about this?"
"Everyone's talking about it." Cole pointed to the spectators around them. Sure enough, everyone was discussing the supernatural event, "But don't worry, it's just a prank by Gastly. It's only teasing those men; it won't actually drain their energy."
"That's good, that's good!" Kiara patted her chest and sighed with relief.
Nearby, some people spotted the men being pulled toward Maiden's Peak and tried to rescue them, but they were no match for Gastly's power. They could only watch helplessly as the men were slowly dragged into the darkness and disappeared.
Several spectators turned pale with fright and even reported the incident to Officer Jenny, but she clearly knew what was happening — even if she wanted to help, she couldn't!
"Look over there!"
Someone suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention toward the strait. As if by magic, flocks of Butterfree appeared flying over the sea.
"Ree~"
The Butterfree danced in pairs, creating a magnificent and heartwarming scene against the sunset backdrop.
"Wow, so many Butterfree!" Ash shouted, his eyes sparkling.
"So it's that season again!" Sara sighed as she gazed at the distant scene.
"Uncle, where are the Butterfree going?" Ash looked up at Cole with curiosity.
"The Butterfree have found their mates, so they're flying to the other side of the sea to have babies." Cole answered.
"Oh~" Ash nodded, hugging Pikachu in his arms as he eagerly watched the Butterfree dancing their mating dance.
After the Butterfree had all departed in pairs, Cole said, "Alright, that's it for today. We should head back!"
Ash felt like he hadn't played enough and sighed like an adult, "Ah~ time passes so quickly!"
Delia tapped his head with amusement, "You little rascal!"
And so, the five of them parted ways at the Veilshore Town dock.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
At Maiden's Peak, Gastly floated in front of the maiden's statue, speaking.
"The festival has ended for this year. I have to go!"
A ghost slowly emerged from the statue — the beautiful maiden's spirit. She looked at Gastly gratefully and said, "Thank you, Mr. Gastly. Thank you for helping me every year."
"No need to thank me. I'm just helping a little. I hope your lover truly returns someday."
"He will. I believe he'll definitely come back. We made a promise, and he never breaks his word!" The maiden declared with determination.
"I'm going to travel now." Gastly said, "If I encounter your lover's soul during my journeys, I'll certainly tell him to return to you quickly."
With that, its figure slowly vanished into the air.
"Mr. Gastly, I wish you a safe journey." The maiden murmured, then gazed toward the distant shore, hoping her lover would return soon.
Little did she know that her lover had already returned and visited her every year.
The maiden's lover had died on the battlefield and, transformed into a Gastly by the resentful energy there, had been drawn back to Maiden's Peak by devotion and instinct to reunite with his beloved.
The reborn Gastly had lost his past memories, so even though the former lovers had reunited, they no longer recognized each other.
Unfortunately, no one knew this tragic truth.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
When Cole and the others returned to Pallet, it was already dark. Exhausted from their day of activities, they all separated to rest upon reaching town.
The next day in the classroom, their teacher announced unexpected news: for the next two days, they would undertake a special task instead of having regular classes.
Students had two options. They could either work at a breeding center and earn the owner's approval certificate within two days, or challenge a gym and earn a badge as proof of success.
Either task could be chosen based on personal preference, and completing either would earn the student 10 points.
"Alright." The teacher announced after explaining the rules, "Now line up to draw lots for which gym or breeding center you'll go to."
Students couldn't choose their destinations; they had to draw lots randomly for either a breeding center or gym.
The classmates quickly divided into two groups: one for breeding centers and one for gyms.
Daniel and Valerie, both weaker in battles, naturally joined the breeding center line, while Cole and Keith opted for the gym line.
For Cole, breeding centers presented too much uncertainty. Success depended entirely on the owner's subjective opinion — if they didn't like you and refused approval, wouldn't two days of work be wasted?
With gym challenges, however, victory almost always guaranteed a badge.
In the draw, Cole got Cinnabar Gym, Keith got Vermilion Gym, Daniel got a breeding center in Commerce City, and Valerie got one in Crimson City — each headed in different directions.
"Oh no!" Daniel wailed, "Do I have to set out alone? Is anyone else going to Commerce City like me?"
"Me, me, me!" Another boy from their class raised his hand and called out to him.
Valerie quickly found partners who were also assigned to Crimson City.
Only Cole and Keith would be traveling alone, as they were the only ones from their class assigned to Cinnabar Gym and Vermilion Gym respectively.
"Then I'll see you in two days!" Cole said to Keith.
"See you in two days!" Keith waved back.
Before departing, Cole visited Delia and Ash to let them know he'd be away from Pallet for the next two days.
When Ash heard Cole was going to challenge a gym, he became very excited and begged to go along. Unfortunately, he faced firm opposition from his mom. In the end, he could only watch tearfully as his uncle rode Dragonair and flew away from town.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
Cole's Dragonair had the Shed Skin ability, making its body extremely smooth. To ride it comfortably, he had specially commissioned custom riding gear.
Cinnabar Island was located in the southern waters of Kanto. Though not actually far from Pallet — just to the south — a portion of Viridian Forest and a strait separated them, forcing travelers to take detours and sea routes that made the journey seem much longer.
In reality, if traveling by air on a flying Pokémon, the distance from Pallet to Cinnabar was only slightly greater than the distance from Pallet to Viridian.
Since Kanto hadn't built any land connections between Cinnabar and the mainland, and the island had no airport, travelers without flying Pokémon were limited to just two sea routes.
Few people visited Cinnabar besides adventurers and trainers challenging the gym, as a considerable portion of the island was abandoned due to its active volcano, which had erupted in recent years.
This volcano attracted many Fire-type Pokémon, making it popular among trainers. The Cinnabar Gym that Cole was heading to was built directly on this volcano.
Cole rode his Dragonair toward Cinnabar Island, following the navigation device's directions.
Dragonair wasn't particularly fast, but it was steady. It carried him over Viridian Forest, past the hunting grounds they had visited before, and half a day later, they reached a large valley.
According to the navigation device, after crossing this valley, they would soon reach the strait between Cinnabar and the Kanto mainland.
When Cole saw the name of the valley marked on the device, he paused thoughtfully.
Grampa Canyon!
This place left a strong impression on Cole, and not just because of its amusing name.
In the original anime, when Ash and his friends traveled through here, a fossil-digging trend was underway. Prompted by Gary's taunting, Ash had joined the fossil hunters.
Later, amid Team Rocket's mischief, Ash discovered an underground cave containing living fossil Pokémon — not just remains. The egg that eventually hatched into Misty's Togepi was found by Ash in that same underground cave.
But why would a Togepi egg be in an underground fossil cave? This puzzled Cole, since Togepi wasn't a fossil Pokémon.
Maybe he should go down and investigate? After all, he had two days for the gym challenge — he wasn't in a hurry.
"Dragonair, let's go down and take a look." Cole said, patting Dragonair's neck.
"Woo~"
Dragonair nodded and slowly descended toward Grampa Canyon.
There was no fossil-digging trend happening now, so the entire canyon was quiet. Neither people nor wild Pokémon were visible.
The desolation explained why. Apart from large exposed areas of red and yellow rocks and a small stream with little water, there was nothing else — not even a blade of wild grass.
Cole explored the area with Dragonair but made no special discoveries. He recalled that Ash and his friends had only found the underground cave because Team Rocket had blown up a certain area with explosives.
Evidently, that cave must be buried deep underground.
But how could he enter that cave? Surely not by using explosives like Team Rocket?
He was troubled. Using explosives was definitely unrealistic — too damaging to the environment — and besides, he didn't have any.
Wait, I'm a Psychic too! I could use my powers!
Cole suddenly had an inspiration and immediately directed his mental energy toward the ground beneath his feet.
Extending mental energy underground proved much more difficult than on the surface. After penetrating about seventy meters below ground, his forehead was already covered in sweat.
The earth contained ley lines and special magnetic fields, all of which interfered with his Psychic Power. The deeper he went, the more rapidly his mental energy was consumed. In the past, not even ten of him would have dared to squander mental energy so freely.
Finally, after searching about a hundred meters underground, Cole's mental energy suddenly relaxed as he sensed an unknown space.
This is it!
In the next second, Cole and Dragonair disappeared from where they stood and reappeared in a pitch-black space.
"Woo~"
Dragonair called out in fear, unable to see in the darkness.
Cole took out a Poké Ball and released his Heliolisk, "Heliolisk, Flash!"
"Helio~"
Heliolisk's frills emitted a bright light, instantly illuminating the cavern. Cole finally saw his surroundings clearly.
The space stretched wide, with numerous cone-shaped stalactites hanging from the ceiling, dripping water. The ground beneath his feet was damp, covered with dark mosses and dotted with pools of water in various sizes.
Drip~ Drip~ Drip~
Water droplets fell into the pools, their sounds distinct in the quiet cavern.
Splash~
Cole heard another sound from the water. Looking toward its source, he spotted a pair of crimson eyes emerging from the darkness.
His arrival had awakened something that had been sleeping here!
Whoosh!
A dark shadow cut through the air, swiftly attacking Cole.
"Woo~"
"Helio~"
Dragonair unleashed Twister while Heliolisk fired a Thunderbolt at the shadow.
Both moves struck their target. With a pained cry, the shadow crashed to the ground.
Upon closer inspection, Cole discovered that his attacker was a Kabuto.
✲✲✲
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