A Little Peace and Quiet

[Cell]

Gengar approached one of the objects he had spotted in the far distance. Time didn't mean much in this chalk-white void, but it must have been at least a few hours of travel time. From this point, he could see a further array of objects on the horizon, but he had no intention of checking each one out. He found this one, and this one would do.

The ghost Pokemon floated before two tall palm trees bowing towards each other, their boughs entangling at their apex. In the archway formed beneath them, a portal of cyan blue swirled in a steady, undulating rhythm like flowing water. Through the ripples, a new landscape spread out, but the distortion prevented Gengar from piecing together what he was looking at.

Being experienced with portals, he hovered closer, unafraid of the dimensional gateway. He stuck his stubby hand into the veil and it vanished from sight.

"Oooh, tingly!"

A pleasant heat washed over his missing digits. He wriggled them and pulled them back through the divide, seeing them all intact. That was all he needed. Grinning, he dashed into the door between worlds, ready to leave the mighty dull prison of white behind.

A multitude of colours and wavy patterns rushed over the ghost Pokemon's eyes as he felt his body stretch between dimensions. A moment later, he was deposited onto sand. He stood up and patiently waited for the vertigo to vanish, a strange sensation he hadn't experienced through hopping portals of his own.

As his vision settled, Gengar took in a massive, sprawling city spanning the width of his eyeline, all somehow contained on a single island. A beautiful tropical breeze rustled his gaseous body, and the salty musk of the ocean drifted thickly on it. Loud, inane chatter blurred together as the ghost Pokemon strutted his stuff down the street, taking in his new surroundings.

Maybe he would take a little holiday before deciding what to do with the rest of his life. He earned it. As much as he loved fighting, Agatha never gave him a day off; if there wasn't a challenger to the Elite Four, which was often, the old woman would be training him. He was an excellent shot and speedy too, but Agatha always pushed him harder, set up difficult exercises from the day before. If Gengar smashed twenty targets dead-on in sixty seconds, the next day he'd have to smash twenty-five.

But now he was the master of his own destiny. He heard a group of humans laughing at some stupid joke, and instantly he grew itchy. Something about another creature's joy stuck ants in Gengar's brain. He wanted to suck their happiness out of them, stomp on it and replace it with fear. Nothing delighted him more than hearing the high-pitched shrikes of a terrified human as they scampered away from his grinning visage that had suddenly popped out of a wall.

Gengar's grin deepened as he approached the unsuspecting ignorant group of people, wondering just how he would tackle this scenario. Could he transform into one of their burgers, and stick his tongue out between the burger buns as they notice their food had taken on a strange tint of purple? Maybe he could sink into the ground, slink beneath them and stick his claws out, scratching at their ankles, until they looked under the table and saw his blood red eyes?

He had forgotten how much fun it was scare! Battling had been his life for so long, he'd forgotten the simple pleasures of being a Gengar. Just thinking about the myriad of ways he could horrify unsuspecting morons got him all aquiver.

"Excuse me sir?"

Oh yes, the way their hairs would stand on end made his grin even wider.

"Sir? Mr. Pokemon, sir?"

Gengar paused and turned around, one red eye cocked. A human female stood behind him, hand waving. "Sir? Mr. Pokemon sir? Who do you think you're talking to, buddy?"

"Oh! I'm so sorry to bother you, Mr. Pokemon," the woman said, brushing off her safari suit with delicate hands. "But I thought since you are a Pokemon and all, you might be able to help me out."

Gengar opened his mouth to shout down this sheltered little snowflake, but his cunning got the better of him. Why not start with a full-frontal scare? Not as enjoyable when there's no foreplay, but fear was fear, regardless of how it came about. "Help you out?" His grin stayed. "Of course! Anything for a fellow ... uh ... island dweller!"

"Oh, aren't you just the loveliest thing," she smiled sweetly. She aimed a finger further down the street. "Can you come here and tell me, is that the right boat?"

Gengar frowned. "Right boat for what?"

"There's a few boats down there, but I don't know which one to take. Since it's for your home, I thought you might know."

"Boats aren't exactly my-"

She gestured for him to come closer, her ruby lips spread in a good natured smile. "Please, come a little closer. Just that one, right there. Is that the one?"

Gengar waited until she turned her head back down the street. He dashed towards her, raising his arms and illuminating the red of his eyes. When she turned back to him, she was going to get the scare of her life. Hell, maybe she would even have a heart attack! Now that would be stimulating!

The ghost Pokemon was three or four steps away from leaping at her. His foot went down on something cold and metallic, and a surge of electricity consumed his gaseous body. He tried forcing his form into gas, but the shock stole all control from him. He rocked as the ditzy young woman in a safari suit slowly turned her head back to him, grinning with the same malice Gengar reserved for his victims.

She knelt down as electrified bars slotted out of the base of the metal pad. She placed another metal slab on top of the bars and a click locked them into place. Gengar was frozen in place. Jolts of electricity periodically ran through him, and the pauses between them were not enough to return function.

"Just another dumb human, huh, little Gengar?" she said in a mock sympathetic tone. "Oh dear, it looks like you might be in over your head!"

She gasped, raising her hand to her mouth. All false innocence faded away and she snickered, her eyes hard and cold, her mouth still twisted in a macabre smirk.

"Maybe you'd like to come with me?"

[Cell]

Gengar's eyes snapped open. Steel bars framed a lazy, inert sea in the background, swaying gently.
 
"What the hell?" The ghost-type Pokemon sat up, thinking back. Where was he?
 
He peered downwards through the bars, outside of his cage. The deck of a sailing ship filled his eyes. Staring upwards, he took in the tall, proud mast and the flapping sails that ballooned outwards, catching the winds. A rope ran the length of the mast, secured through a pulley system, and led down to the top of Gengar's cage.
 
"Oh, right. That human. " Gengar patted the bars, recalling their shocking properties previously, but they remained lightning-free. Maybe the power source had run out?
 
Where is she? Gengar thought, his red eyes scouring the deck below. When I find her, I swear I'll possess her and make her walk the plank!
 
Gengar released the density of his gaseous body, slipping between the boundaries of the physical world. As his foot penetrated the base of his cage, a blinding pain coursed through him. Sparks jumped from him as he lost his concentration and solidified. As soon as he was whole, the shock stopped.
 
"Tricky!" Gengar shouted as a seagull wheeled overhead, crying out. "Seems like someone has dealt with ghost-types before, huh?"
 
The floorboards of the ship creaked as the human woman stepped out into the salty sea air. Her short blonde hair bobbed as she craned her neck upwards. Her ruby lipstick had been removed, as had her innocent countenance. Her safari suit had been abandoned for a leather tunic and pants, and her dainty hands were sheathed within leather gloves. A scabbard hung from her hip, with the hilt of her sword jutting out of its top.
 
"Oh, I know what I'm dealing with," she said, her voice low and full of confidence. "You're not the first Pokemon I've had the displeasure of meeting, and you won't be the last."
 
"I can't speak for your past experiences, but as soon as I get free of this cage, I'll be sure to put a stop to your future ones!" Gengar threatened, his stubby fingers wrapped around the cage bars.
 
"Feisty one, aren't you?" she said, smirking.
 
Gengar felt the heat rise in his mind. "Trading barbs isn't doing much for me, I have to admit. I'd rather you just get to the point already. This is more talking to a human that I've done in a long time and frankly, it's upsetting to my digestion."
 
"Fine. It's not like I enjoy talking to you filthy creatures." The human traipsed over to the mast and worked the pulley, lowering Gengar's cage to the deck. "I've got a job for you, and it's non-negotiable."
 
A magnifying glass fell out of a puff of purple smoke and Gengar buried his eye in it, pointing his gaze at the human. "Let's see ... leather armour, sword on your hip, gruff demeanour ... well if I didn't know any better, I'd say you could do whatever shit it is you need done!"
 
The human reached in and ripped the magnifying glass from him. It instantly disintegrated into dust. "For this assignment, I need to use a tool, for obvious reasons. I can't go waltzing onto Cinnabar Island now, can I?"
 
"Why? Your legs seem fine. Or did no one teach you how to waltz?" A flower puffed into Gengar's teeth. "I am an excellent dance instructor. Tango is my speciality, but I'm sure I can fumble my way through a waltz!"
 
The mercenary frowned. "Are you being a smart arse, or do you not know what Cinnabar Island is?"
 
"Ahem, madam," Gengar said, peering down a pair of spectacles that appeared from the ether, "I may appear of a learned and scholarly sort, but let me assure you, I am not knowledgeable on everything."
 
She crouched down, her lips bulging as if she was running her tongue over her teeth. "A new denzien of the Omniverse, I take it. Well, Cinnabar Island is a thriving den of you Pokemon. Not just Pokemon, but all sorts of vile beasts. But you, as a Pokemon, will be the best agent to send in."
 
"And what is it I'm supposed to do for you, out of the kindness of my own poisonous heart?"
 
"Cinnabar Island has a leadership council, who run the day-to-day functions of their little misfit paradise," the mercenary said. "Because their mayor, for lack of a better term, has done his best to isolate themselves from the outside world, they consistently lack for things. Supplies, luxuries, weapons, transportation. Plenty of their own misbegotten kind are happy to help, but there are usually more jobs to go around than there are hands to take them.
 
"So they are willing to accept the assistance of people who genuinely want to help their cause. They're not in a position to be picky; beggars can't be choosers, or so the saying goes. So if you present yourself to the council and state your intentions, then-"
 
Gengar snored obnoxiously, a striped sleeping cap balancing on his head, the fluffy pom-pom on its tip swaying in front of his face. His red eyes snapped open. "Oh, I'm sorry. I find exposition tends to put me to sleep."
 
"The point I'm making-"
 
"Oh come on. Give me a little credit," Gengar interrupted, stretching. "You want me to get on this council's good side."
 
The mercenary smirked. "And there's why I didn't give you any credit. What I want you to do is take a job for them, contact me and tell me what it is, and then act as a mole to use that job to infiltrate their council."
 
"A coup, eh?" Gengar said. "Changing of the government? Why would you want to do that?"
 
"That's hardly any of your business."
 
Gengar's smiled flattened. "I beg to differ. I'm being forced into this. I at least deserve to know for what purpose."
 
"Deserve? You don't deserve anything."
 
"So what makes you think I won't just run away as soon as you let me out of this cage?"
 
The mercenary fished out a thumb-sized device with a big red button and a small blue one. "Because if you don't, I'll push this red button." She smiled. "Like this."
 
A thousand vines of electricity shot through Gengar's body. The pain stiffened his entire body as he shook to the pulls of the device. The mercenary released the button and Gengar fell to the cage floor, smoke drifting from his ears.
 
"That wasn't the cage," the human said. "There is a chip floating inside you that will zap you whenever I hit this button. It will also activate if you try and phase your body through solid objects, so don't even think about reaching into yourself and taking it out."
 
"I see," he said, breathing out more grey tendrils, his voice coarse. "Very compelling argument."
 
"Once I've accomplished my mission, I'll take the chip out and we'll part ways forever," she said, pocketing her remote control. "If I'm fortunate, it won't be very long until we do."
 
Gengar hauled himself up with the cage bars. Over the edge of the ship, as it swayed in the current, the ghost-type Pokemon caught a glimpse of an island. "Is that where we're making port, captain?"
 
"No," the mercenary said. "That's just one of the little islands that's a part of Cinnabar Island's jurisdiction. Looks abandoned. The island proper is still a little while away." She walked back to the mast and handled the ropes. "In fact, why don't you go back up the mast and be the lookout?"
 
"Ugh," Gengar moaned as the human yanked him back above the deck, watching the sails ripple with the breeze. "I finally get my freedom and I'm already in someone else's cage."
 
His red eyes locked onto the mercenary as she blew him a kiss and grinned.

[Cell]

Gengar swayed from the mast as the ship slid into port. The mercenary hurled a rope to a sailor standing on the pier, who tied it to a pole. He hauled a plank of wood over and dropped one edge over onto the boat with a clap, holding the other edge firmly. The blonde woman sauntered over to the mast, having added a cloak that hid her face, and lowered the cage back to the ship. She opened the cage door with a little kick and Gengar spilled out.
 
A pair of thin, filmy wings popped into existence on Gengar's back and he hovered up to the mercenary's face. His red eyes made a wet, slurping sound as they turned into the compound eyes of an insect. "You know, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."
 
"Honey's much too sweet for my liking," the mercenary said. "Besides, the only thing flies are good for is for swatting."
 
She smacked the ghost Pokemon in the cheek and he dropped to the ground, his insectoid features vanishing.
 
"Ugh, OK, I get it. Not a fan of outside advice," Gengar said, rubbing his face. "So tell me what I'm supposed to do so we can end this relationship of ours."
 
"Go and meet the council, or a representative of theirs," the mercenary said, fishing out the tiny remote control. "Tell them you want to join their filthy little community, and they'll give you a task to prove you want to be one of them. Once you get that task, come back to me and tell me what it is they want you to do. Then I'll work out how you are to proceed from there. That's it."
 
"Somehow I think there'll be more to it than that."
 
The mercenary ran her thumb over the red button and raised her eyebrows.
 
Gengar lifted his hands in a gesture of defeat. "OK, OK, I'm going!"
 
The ghost Pokemon glided over the gangplank and onto the pier. Seagulls squawked and squabbled over a pile of abandoned fish heads. Gengar strafed a few labourers hauling tangled nets, barrels of provisions and fishing rods out to the other docked boats, though no one gave him a second look. Gengar thought about terrorising a few of them, but the mental image of the mercenary and her little red button kept those thoughts at bay for now.
 
He floated past the hustle of the docks and into Cinnabar Island. Dirt roads joined most of the sparse, ramshackle buildings together. The buildings, constructed of sheets of tin, wooden planks and dirtied glass, looked as if they had been glued together from the flotsam and jetsam that washed upon the island's shore. Every now and then Gengar would notice a structure with better materials; stone, brick, better grade of wood, clean and uncracked glass windows. As he floated to what he assumed was the centre of the island, the prevalence of higher quality buildings increased. He wondered if there was some sort of caste system at play here, or if the leadership of the island had managed to procure better materials over time, and the outside ring were the first shelters to be raised.
 
Gengar wended his way through the streets, past an assortment of oddballs. No cohesive theme linked the varied inhabitants of the island, save that some patronising fellow might think they're not of the normal sort. Plenty of Pokemon roamed about, and they were perhaps the largest slice of those he encountered. Humans of all unwieldy shapes and sizes moved about as well, and creatures of unusual appearance, both massive and tiny, helped to bolster the numbers. No one seemed the slightest bit interested in the purple Pokemon gliding through their island, as if his presence was expected, or maybe even commonplace.
 
"What is this place?" Gengar said under his breath.
 
He continued to drift over the island, eventually coming to open air amphitheatre built into the side of a sloping hill. Large sandstone steps embedded into the hill provided a descending set of levels to seat upon, and at its base was a rectangular dais constructed of the same material. Some of the stones were unevenly sized or had chunks missing, but it was otherwise an impressive sight.
 
At the wooden pulpit in the centre of the dais, a lanky figure with pointed ears and long whiskers shuffled papers, their back to Gengar. The tan skin and silhouette reminded Gengar of something, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Either way, he figured this person could tell him how to get to where he was going.
 
He paused, grinning devilishly. Why not scare them? But if they took the fright the wrong way, maybe they wouldn't be inclined to part with their information. Bah, Agatha and her training had changed Gengar's nature irreparably. If he had been left to evolve on his own and never taught strategy, he wouldn't have thought twice about pulling a prank on this stranger. Oh well, what might have been.
 
Gengar saddled up onto the dais, producing a ten-gallon hat, cowboy boots with glistening spurs, and a belt holstered with two revolvers on his body. He walked up slowly, his spurs and guns jingling, ensuring that the stranger would hear his approach.
 
"Excuse me there, partner," Gengar said, his voice drawling. "Don't suppose you might help a poor cowpoke out? I'm a mite lost out here and was hopin' a kind samaritan like yourself might point a fella in the right direction?"
 
The figure spun calmly at Gengar's voice and the ghost Pokemon's cowboy paraphernalia dissolved into thin smoke as his concentration faded.
 
The creature's piercing eyes didn't flinch as it sized up Gengar. It clutched its papers in one hand, and two spoons in the other. A white sash draped over its back and chest, with COUNCIL written in black felt pen. Its long, bushy whiskers twitched, as if it sniffed the air.
 
"A Gengar," the Alakazam said. "Well well well. It's not often that a fully evolved ghost-type Pokemon appears on Cinnabar Island."
 
Gengar blinked his red eyes, his characteristic smile replaced by a gaping circle. "You're ... wait. An Alakazam? A psychic-type Pokemon?" His gaze dived to the sash, then back to Alakazam's eyes. "You're on the council here?"
 
"Bartram is my name. Alakazam is my species," the Alakazam said, a note of disapproval in his tone. "And yes, I am a representative of Cinnabar Island's leadership council. I take it you are new to the island, Mr. ... ?"
 
"Just Gengar is fine," the spectre said. Another talking Pokemon, and in a leadership position as well? A lot of Pokemon simply didn't have the requisite lips and palette shape for speech, and many of those that did rarely spoke the human tongue. It wasn't surprising that of all of them, an Alakazam would be of that number; they were considered one of the most intelligent Pokemon on the face of the planet.
 
"Well thank you," Bartram said. "We are often considered very intelligent, but we aren't always afforded the respect such an accolade should award."
 
Gengar frowned. "You ... oh, you psychic-types. You just read my mind, didn't you?"
 
"That's hardly here nor there. The more pertinent matter is that you go by your species name, rather than by an individual moniker." Bartram said. "What happens when there are two Gengar in the room? How does one refer to a single Gengar without getting the attention of both?"
 
"You know, it's never come up," Gengar said. "But anyway, I was hoping I could speak to the council here."
 
"Well as you can see, we have just finished our latest meeting," Bartram said, pointing the spoons at the empty stone steps. "But if you wish to raise something, I am willing to listen to you now."
 
Time to mix truth with fiction. "I'm new here. I heard about Cinnabar Island and thought I could make this place my home. But I also heard that I need to prove my worth to the council in order to be accepted here."
 
"And you were hoping to be assigned a task by the council," Bartram finished the thought. "The council meeting has adjourned, but I'm sure I can think of something." He hopped off the dais. "Come, walk with me."
 
Gengar floated down and followed the Alakazam by his side.