Three days later.
During those days, Ethan Black's house was incredibly lively, with a constant flow of visitors.
Not only from Stonefield Town, but also from neighboring towns and villages; anyone who had some kind of connection with Ethan Black's father or mother came by. Waves of guests arrived, one after another.
At the old quarry where Ethan Black had trained Sandshrew to master the move Rollout.
At that moment, many Pokémon could be seen training there, and without a doubt, the most numerous were the Sandshrew rolling back and forth.
Ethan Black had dedicated those days to guiding the new trainers of the town in training their Pokémon, and that was one of the reasons why so many uncles and aunts hurried to curry favor with his parents.
In everyone's eyes, Ethan Black was without a doubt an outstanding student, and each person tried by every means to send their children to him to learn at least a little.
Ethan Black was not stingy either; he taught these new trainers all the key points he had once used to train Sandshrew.
"Alright, it's about to get dark. Let's leave it here for today," Ethan Black said with a smile, seeing the sun already setting on the horizon.
The new trainers, although a little reluctant, came over to say goodbye one by one.
Watching them leave, Ethan Black let out a sigh. He definitely wasn't suited to be a teacher... it was exhausting.
"Come on, let's go home," he said with a smile, and set off with his six Pokémon who had trained all day.
"Huh? Did it get dark so fast?"
But after just a few steps, Ethan Black suddenly felt the sky grow darker.
Something was strange... Even at night, there's always some light, but now everything was completely dark, unable to see even his own hand in front of his face. And, on top of that, the atmosphere was eerily silent.
Fuuuuuh...
At that moment, a gust of icy wind blew suddenly, bringing with it an inexplicable chill.
Through the gloom, Ethan Black saw how, in the middle of that darkness, a huge door bathed in a purple and shadowy glow began to slowly open.
From inside appeared a Pokémon floating in the air: its body was mostly black, with a spectral tail instead of legs, no feet, only two large hands; yellow stripes crossed its body, its head was gray and cylindrical, topped with a yellow antenna, and it had a single eye.
"That Pokémon is... Dusknoir!"
"Why would a Dusknoir appear here?"
Recognizing it, Ethan Black's eyes filled with horror.
Dusknoir could receive waves from the Spirit World through the antenna on its head and, following those orders, carry people to that world.
And, without a doubt, the door behind it was the entrance to the Spirit World.
But... why would a Dusknoir come to the real world? And, from the looks of it, it was here for him!
"Dusnoir dusnoir dusnoir..."
As soon as it emerged, Dusknoir fixed its gaze on Ethan Black, muttering something incomprehensible.
In the next instant, Ethan Black felt his body become paralyzed by a mysterious force. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move.
At the same time, he sensed a strange force tugging at his soul, trying to pull it out of his body.
"This Dusknoir wants to drag my soul into the Spirit World...?"
The intense pain from the pulling of his soul made him tremble and filled his heart with despair.
Just when he thought he would be dragged away, suddenly his whole body relaxed.
Opening his eyes, he saw that Dusknoir had been struck by Meltan's Flash Cannon, which knocked it back.
That attack interrupted the pull on his soul, allowing him to break free.
"Haa... haa..."
Freed, Ethan Black collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily.
Sandslash and the other four Pokémon looked first at Meltan, then at their trainer, and finally understood the situation. With eyes full of hostility, they turned toward Dusknoir.
"Dusnoir dusnoir dusnoir..." growled Dusknoir, fixing its single eye on Meltan, visibly irritated.
"Zzzt!"
Meltan held its gaze coldly. The other five Pokémon, hearing the growl, also showed serious expressions, surrounding Ethan Black and taking battle stances.
"So this Dusknoir really did come for me..." Ethan Black muttered, his expression icy.
At that moment, several purple fireballs began to float around him, and then, like meteors with flaming tails, they shot toward him.
Shellder reacted immediately, raising a barrier that blocked the flames.
Boom!
The fireballs exploded against the barrier, shattering it and unleashing a wave of flames.
"Then... let's fight!" Ethan Black exclaimed, rallying his Pokémon.
Cacturne drove its roots into the ground with the move Ingrain, quickly spreading them underground.
Shellder created defensive barriers around them again.
"Sha sha sha!"
Sandslash, impatient, seeing his trainer attacked, charged furiously at Dusknoir, his claws gleaming with metallic light: Metal Claw!
Dusknoir clasped its fists, igniting them with fire, and launched Fire Punch straight at Sandslash.
Boom!
Both attacks collided in the air, but after a brief struggle, Sandslash was thrown flying.
Although Dusknoir was a Ghost-type, in addition to its own abilities, it possessed impressive physical strength for punch-type moves. And this being, capable of traveling between the Spirit World and the real one, was at an extremely high level, even able to overpower the veteran Sandslash.
"Catch it with the roots!"
At that moment, Cacturne launched its roots toward Dusknoir. However, upon touching it, they passed straight through its spectral body without causing any damage at all.
(End of Chapter)