After recalling all his Pokémon except Kirlia, Xia You gently woke Xiao Xia and Ash.
Ash stretched lazily, apparently having slept quite well: "Is it already daytime?"
Xiao Xia also rubbed her eyes, drowsily saying, "I think I just had a dream that we were attacked by ghosts."
Xia You said with a wry smile, "That wasn't a dream, it was real, and Brock has also disappeared."
"What!?" Xiao Xia and Ash were shocked, instantly wide awake, "Was he taken away?"
After thinking about the relevant plot in the anime, Xia You nodded and said, "But I think he shouldn't be in any life-threatening danger, but no matter what, let's find him as soon as possible."
The few people looked at the wooden house in front of them and cautiously walked in, only to find it empty, with only a damp, decaying musty smell, and they didn't know how many years it had been built.
Their feet made a chilling creaking sound on the floor, and Xiao Xia's head peeked out from behind Xia You, looking around with some fear.
"Huh? Brock isn't here?"
Xia You thought seriously for a moment and said to the two, "Let's go back to the Maiden's Shrine!"
By the time they re-entered the Maiden's Peak town, it was already midnight.
The night sky was dotted with stars, the day's hustle and bustle had ceased, the entire town was unusually quiet, and the chilly air penetrated their clothes, causing them to shiver involuntarily.
The people who attended the festival had long since dispersed, leaving only trash everywhere, to be cleaned up at dawn.
They arrived at the Maiden's Shrine, opened the door, and saw Brock lying on the floor, unconscious.
And besides him, there was still no sign of Gastly.
In fact, Xia You also understood that given Gastly's elusive whereabouts, it would be very difficult to truly find it.
"Brock, wake up!"
Ash vigorously shook Brock, and after a long time, Brock weakly came to, and even then, he was still muttering softly, "I really want to see her…"
Xia You quickly squatted down and checked his condition.
"He has dark circles under his eyes, his clothes are disheveled, he's listless, and he's clearly thinner than before. He must have had too much physical strength and vital energy drained!"
Compared to a simple kid like Ash, Xiao Xia, being a girl, was more mature in mind. Although she didn't fully understand such matters, she somewhat grasped them.
Her face flushed as she said, "Was it Gastly who did it?"
"No." Xia You shook his head, "I think it was absorbed by the real ghost, and Gastly was just her accomplice."
"A real ghost?" Xiao Xia asked in surprise, "Are you saying that woman actually exists?"
Xia You affirmed, "Of course, otherwise Gastly wouldn't have brought Brock to this place."
Xiao Xia asked again, "Then why would she do that?"
Xia You thought for a moment and speculated, "After all, having existed for two thousand years, even a ghost needs energy to maintain its existence. So, during the summer festival each year, she would drain men's energy like this, I suppose."
Seeing that Xiao Xia was about to ask something else, Xia You quickly said, "Alright, don't ask anymore. Let's quickly take Brock back to the Pokémon Center."
At the Pokémon Center.
After Nurse Joy diagnosed him and confirmed that Brock was truly just overly exhausted, everyone finally relaxed.
However, no matter how much they asked about what had just happened, Brock just looked bewildered, seemingly having no memory of anything after being taken by Gastly.
After placing him on the dormitory bed and entrusting Ash to take good care of him, Xia You left the Pokémon Center alone.
Although that Gastly was very troublesome, Xia You was determined to capture it.
As a wild Gastly that had lived for an unknown number of years, its abilities were naturally very powerful, and most rarely, it could also speak human language, just like Team Rockets' Meowth!
Just based on this point, if he captured it, communicating with his Pokémon in the future would be much more convenient. He would no longer have to rely solely on intuition and guesswork to communicate with them.
But where would Gastly be now?
It was two in the morning, and the night was deep.
Xia You looked left and right, and finally decided to rely on his intuition and go to Maiden's Rock on the seaside cliff first to try his luck.
Following the mountain path, he left the town and soon reached his destination, but as before, there was nothing there except the waves and the salty sea breeze in the air.
"Gastly, are you here!?"
Xia You shouted loudly, but his voice carried far, yet there was no response.
"Is it really not here?" Walking to Maiden's Rock, Xia You muttered to himself, "Then it doesn't matter if I destroy this rock now, right?"
"Hey, hey!" A voice suddenly came from behind him, "I can't pretend I didn't hear that!"
Xia You smiled and turned around, and it was indeed Gastly.
"Gastly, let's have a decisive battle!"
"Oh?" Gastly said seriously, "Do you want to capture me?"
Xia You took out a Poké Ball from his waist and enlarged it in his hand: "Of course, I'm aiming for the Shiying Conference and looking for partners, and your abilities will definitely be a great help to me!"
With that, Xia You threw the Poké Ball in his hand, and after a flash of red light, what appeared before Gastly was an Eevee with its fur all puffed up!
"What, it's Jolteon!" Gastly's tone at this moment, while somewhat surprised, was more of a sense of relief.
Xia You asked, "What? Are you surprised to see Jolteon?"
Gastly said, "I thought you would send out that Zapdos to deal with me. To be honest, if I really had to deal with a Legendary Pokémon like that, even I wouldn't have much of a chance."
Xia You chuckled.
Did you think I didn't want to?
But would I tell you that I can't command it yet!?
"Don't worry, even if Jolteon fails, I won't use Zapdos against you!" Xia You crossed his arms, feigning nonchalance, "Alright, enough idle chatter, let's start the battle! Jolteon, use Thunder Shock!"
Threads of electricity flickered around Jolteon's body, then converged into a bolt of lightning, flying towards Gastly.
Seeing Jolteon launch its attack, a black Energy Ball suddenly condensed around Gastly, colliding with the bolt of lightning.
It was the Ghost-type move, Shadow Ball!
However, the power of Thunder Shock was clearly inferior to Shadow Ball. Shadow Ball pierced through Thunder Shock and continued to fly towards Jolteon.
Xia You shouted, "Jolteon, quickly dodge! Then use Pin Missile!"
With its extremely fast speed, Jolteon easily dodged the Shadow Ball. It jumped aside, and the fur on its body, like steel needles, shot towards Gastly in wave after wave!