Staring at the now-empty battlefield.
The twelve Pokémon that had just been fighting had seemingly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.
"Strange… this is so strange…" murmurs began to spread among the group.
"A true ghost… it's a true ghost…!"
A man in his thirties turned pale, his whole body beginning to tremble.
"The ancestors must be angry. We shouldn't have intruded into their tomb… we deserve to die… We deserve to die…!"
Another man suddenly dropped to his knees, furiously slapping his own face with both hands.
In an instant, panic swept through the group and their morale collapsed.
Raine's grandfather exchanged a look with his son. Raine's father nodded, eyes flashing with menace.
"These two are spreading fear and lies. They deserve to die! Gengar, Shadow Ball!"
With a sudden roar, Raine's father gave the order. The Gengar beside him lunged forward and hurled two pitch-black Shadow Balls straight at the two men's heads.
With two muffled blasts…
The men's heads were blasted apart, brain matter and blood flying everywhere. Blood spurted from their necks like fountains as their headless bodies collapsed.
Some of the gore splattered onto the people nearby. They quickly tore off their clothes, discarding the unlucky mess.
Tetsuya glanced at Raine's grandfather, his expression unchanged.
'This old man really is ruthless.'
But honestly, Tetsuya would've done the same. If those two had been allowed to continue their hysterics, they would've incited even more people. Once fear gripped the group, they wouldn't be able to take another step.
The Pokémon had indeed disappeared, swept into the dimensional space along with the Mismagius when the energy exploded.
After witnessing such a bloody scene, the rest of the group were thoroughly cowed by Raine's grandfather's brutality. Their fear of the "true ghosts" was now replaced by fear of the father and son.
None of them dared speak a word.
"Everyone who entered this tomb today is in the same boat. I don't want to see anyone else losing their resolve. The Pokémon from earlier were merely pulled into Mismagius's dimensional space.
These two insisted on spreading fear… tell me, should they not have been killed?"
Raine's grandfather's voice boomed like Thunder, echoing through the tomb.
Now, apart from the father and son duo, Tetsuya and Raine, only ten of the so-called members remained, and they had all just lost their Pokémon, severely weakening their combat strength.
---◓---
With the Mismagius gone, the group continued forward and finally arrived at a grand hall.
Inside, the hall was filled with blue crystals, glowing brightly even without flashlights.
At the center of the hall stood a coffin. Beside it was a stone tablet describing the life of Matsuba II. Tetsuya glanced at it.
It matched what he'd read in the Matsuba Family Chronicle.
"This should be the body of Matsuba II," Raine's grandfather said.
"I'll open it and see if there's any treasure, tahaha."
The same old man, Takakura, who had opened the Ghost World portal earlier, now ran toward the coffin, eyes filled with greed.
He rubbed his hands together and pried open the coffin lid.
"Ahhhh…!!!"
With a scream, Takakura was launched backward from the coffin. When he hit the ground, his pupils were wide open and his reddening eyes were full of terror!
Looking again, his chest had been blown apart.
Everyone gasped, each thankful they hadn't rushed up themselves.
From the opened coffin rose a Gengar, grinning eerily, its long red tongue flicking in and out as if ready to consume them all.
"Go, Ursaring!"
Raine's father didn't hesitate. He threw out a Poké Ball. He knew well that if he waited any longer after Takakura's death, the others would be paralyzed by fear.
A brown, 1.8-meter-tall savage bear emerged. Murderous intent burned in its eyes as it sharpened its claws, clearly ready to tear Gengar to pieces in the next moment.
"Ursaring, use Night Slash!"
Ursaring let out a roar. Dark shadows surged around its claws -Dark-type energy gathering fast- as it lunged toward Gengar.
Raine was staring intently at his father's battle.
Tetsuya let out a sneer. "Ohhh~ Looks like you came prepared."
First, Raine's grandfather had sent out a Dark-type Houndoom. Now, his father brought out a Normal-type Ursaring, immune to Ghost-type moves, and even trained it in Dark-type moves. They were clearly ready to face Ghost-types.
"Go, Ursaring! Kill it!"
Raine's father was in high spirits. Ursaring picked up speed at its Trainer's shout. Just as it neared Gengar, it sprang into the air, and the shadows on its claws swelled to more than double in size, slashing toward Gengar.
"Impressive! That's gotta be Gym Leader level power."
"Yeah, it sure looks like it!"
A bunch of Poliwag at the bottom of the well discussing the size of Arceus.
Just as Ursaring's Night Slash was about to strike down Gengar, a faint smile crept across the corpse-like face of Raine's grandfather.
In a single instant, Ursaring suddenly dropped, clutching its head and writhing in pain on the ground.
'Psychic.'
Tetsuya glanced at the Gengar, its eyes glowing red. Its immense psychic power had invaded Ursaring's brain. A Gengar that had trained its psychic strength for over a century could already rival Psychic-type Pokémon. Clearly, Tetsuya's own Gastly still had a long way to go…
"Gengar is concentrating its power. Attack now!"
Raine's grandfather grew anxious. The remaining nine people each threw out a Poké Ball; again it was Haunter and Misdreavus.
These were people who, just because their ancestors had used Ghost-types, insisted on training them too, whether they were suited to it or not.
Raine's grandfather's Gengar launched several Shadow Balls.
In an instant, over twenty Shadow Balls rained down toward Gengar like a storm.
But the Gengar remained still, focusing entirely on using Psychic against Ursaring. This Gengar, dormant for so many years, seemed to have fallen completely into the pursuit of Psychic mastery.
Even as Shadow Balls struck its body, Gengar's glowing red eyes never wavered.
Ursaring rolled on the ground, howling in agony.
Raine's father, heart aching, reached for Ursaring's Poké Ball to recall it!
…But Raine's grandfather glared at him. "Let Ursaring hold on! It must keep Gengar's Psychic locked down. Once we defeat Gengar, he'll be freed."
Raine's father could only lower his head and put the Poké Ball away.
"Come on, Ursaring, hang in there!"
With his [Trainer's Move: Shout], Ursaring suddenly stood and roared toward the ceiling. A thick white light gathered around its arms.
"Nooooo! Ursaring!" Raine's father shouted.
"Stop it! Stop it now!" Raine's grandfather also realized something was wrong.
Ursaring raised both arms and brought a Hammer Arm down upon its own head. Its skull shattered instantly, brain matter bursting out. Both eyeballs popped from their sockets, blood gushing from every orifice… its face a twisted horror no one dared look at!
Unable to endure the excruciating pain in its head, Ursaring committed suicide, collapsing straight to the ground…
Gengar's eyes slowly returned to normal.
"Don't stop the attack!" Raine's grandfather now sensed danger was closing in!
---◓---
Countless Shadow Balls rained down once more.
But that Gengar, obsessed with its "mastery" of psychic power, used Psychic to kill four of the nine Trainers' Haunter on the spot.
Only the five Misdreavus, with their natural fear-inducing abilities, were able to avoid direct mental invasion and escape.
Finally, under the relentless assault from Raine's grandfather's Gengar, that Gengar fell.
Phew…
Everyone finally let out a breath of relief.