The dusclops strode off into the woods, followed by Cassius. Pandora, coming back from his errand, quickly caught up to his trainer and handed him the potion he'd requested. "What's up?" he asked, floating alongside the gymleader.

"Long story, may involve a living pokemon sacrifice, we need to hurry" he replied, speaking in human for Sidney's sake.

((Hmm. Guess Sneaky_Sneasel isn't online anymore.))

"Pokemon sacrifice?!" Sidney cried. "Is that what happened to him?!"

"Shush!" Ginger said. "Do you want them to get us too?"

The Absol didn't speak for a long time--then, all of a sudden... "I got it!"

"Don't yell!" Suzaku hissed.

"I know how we can get Veggie Guy back!" she went on, ignoring the Blaziken. "It's perfect! It doesn't matter how tough the Gengar and his buddies are. We can still win!"

"Oh? And how does this perfect plan of yours work?"

"Well, well, I'm glad you asked that, Suzaku." She grinned a devious grin. "But it looks like Michael might be able to help us after all."

Cassius turned to look suspiciously at the absol, and Herodi paused in his walk. "You guys coming?" asked the large ghost, "because no matter how brilliant this darkling's plan is, it won't make much of a difference if the big guy's already been skewered and served up as pokekibble."

"Oh, I love pokekibble!" Ginger exclaimed, bounding after the ghost. Suzaku made a face, wishing the Absol would have enlightened him a bit more. He had always known Ginger to be...well, to be a little reckless. He wasn't sure if he should trust her with such a serious matter. This was someone's life they were talking about here.

"Can you explain what exactly is going on?" Sidney asked Cassius, wearing a worried expression. "Is Lighthouse...alright?"

"Lighthouse is probably alright for now, but there's a group of ghosts around here that are really dangerous, and they've probably captured him" explained Cassius. He left out the gruesome comments about sacrifice and cannibalism- there really was no need to go into /that/ much detail. "Ginger has a plan, but she's not letting us in on it."

((Since Sneaky_Sneasel isn't here, maybe one of us should RP the Gengar? What do you think?))

Sidney withdrew into her thoughts. What could Ginger be planning? Dispite being a bit hotheaded, Ginger was rather bright. But no matter how hard Sidney tried to figure the Absol out, she couldn't possibly know what she was plotting.

"If this calls for violence," she said, "then maybe we should have our strongest Pokemon ready. The only other Pokemon I have that may have a type advantage is Abina, but that's only against the poisonous ones."

((Sounds fair, but you can take him- I've got more than enough ghosts for now ))

"Sneak is the only one with an advantage and no weakness, but all my ghosts will have an attack advantage" said Cassius, mostly talking to himself. He kept his night vision firmly off- if this gengar leader was really as tough as Herodi said, he might need the energy for actual attacks.

Suzaku adjusted the human on his shoulder. This guy was heavy! Figures, since humans enjoyed eating more than most Pokemon. But the Blaziken's back was starting to hurt, Michael really putting the strain on his spine.

Sidney saw something in the distance. "Another light!" she said, hiding behind Cassius before she was swayed into following it again.

Ginger saw it too. "Huh? You were tricked by that?"

"I...don't think that's a will-o-whisp," Suzaku grunted, finally shifting the trainer to his other shoulder. "Looks like a lightbulb. Or something."

"Pandora, could you check it out?" asked Cassius. The haunter nodded, then almost vanished. In this translucent form, he zipped through several trees, emerging at the edge of the clearing around the cave.

"It's Lighthouse!" he said, zipping back, "and he's all tied up! It looks like they're starting some sort of ceremony, but there's a whole bunch of them there- at least two dozen ghosts, but some are unevolved."

"The light is from Lighthouse" translated Cassius, "but we need to hurry- they're starting a ceremony now. There are a lot of them, but some are weak."

Meanwhile, inside the cave...

A collosal fire had been contructed in the center of the cavern floor, its long, ravenous tongues lashing out, blindly searching for their victim. Several ghosts had surrounded the fire, laughing giddily, their offering still tied to the stalagmite deeper inside grotto.

"I think it's time we brought down our special guest," the Gengar said with a wide smile. He was easily the tallest Pokemon in the room.

"Excuse me, Brutus?" the Shuppet said, floating up to him. "He's been shining his tail light ever since he woke up. Do you think that maybe those humans in the forest--?"

"As soon as the ritual is complete we won't have to worry about any dirty humans!" he boomed, the Shuppet drifting back in fear. "Bring him, NOW!"

"This would be a good time for this plan of yours, Ginger" said Cassius, continuing on towards the clearing. "We're severely outnumbered, and we don't have much time left- it had better be a good one."

Ginger nodded. "When you guys hear my signal, come running in, ready to battle. You'll know it when you hear it. Come with me, Suzaku."

"Wait. I'm going too?"

"I can't carry the trainer on my own. Now hurry!" The Absol took off, disappearing inside the mouth of the cave. Suzaku sighed, then followed her.

"I hope this works," Sidney whispered, her fingers nervously touching Abina's pokeball. Don't start getting jumpy, she told herself. Bad things have happened from people panicking. Flipping gym leaders over your shoulder was a good example.

----------

The Shuppet reappeared with Lighthouse. "Ah, well done," Brutus praised the tiny Pokemon. He grabbed one end of the rope, tugging the yellow Pokemon over to him. "Don't look so frightened, little Ampharos," he laughed. "While you burn...just remember it's for a good cause. Ready?"

"Pardon me." Every single one of the ghosts turned their eyes to the dark intruder, silence filling the cave, save the crackling of the fire. "Hello, gentlemen...and ladies." The Absol's voice sounded so sweet and polite that that in itself was far scarier than her constant nagging.

"What do YOU want, darkling?!" Brutus roared. "Your kind aren't welcome here!"

"Now, wait just a--!" She cleared her throat, remembering her manners. "I'd like to make a trade."

"A trade?!"

Suzaku stepped inside, blinking at all the ghosts. "This human for that Ampharos," Ginger said.

Cassius closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths to calm himself. The pokemon instinct to battle told him to attack- there were dozens of opponents in there, dozens of opportunities to get stronger, faster, more powerful…

He tried to focus instead on the human side he had recently acquired, some basic instincts for planning and thinking things out that were tied to the body and not the vicious soul it had once belonged to. "Hurry, Ginger" he muttered to himself, wondering what on earth the absol was up to.

The Blaziken's jaw dropped at this. Did he hear what he thought he just heard? How would trading save anybody?

"A human, hmm?" The Gengar seemed to consider this. "But what makes this electric Pokemon so important that you'd trade a human's life?"

"Well, y'see," Ginger said, batting her eyelashes, "the Ampharos is very important to me. He eats my broccoli...and I hate broccoli." She was really pushing the vegetarian thing, wasn't she? "If you barbeque him, then who will eat my vegetables? And besides, you know you want this human. Think about it--a very handsome Pokemon trainer in exchange for the stupid Ampharos."

Brutus didn't respond for a long time, then... "You've got yourself a deal! Give them the Ampharos. You, leave the trainer here."

Suzaku didn't realize what was happening. The ghosts took Michael from him. They then untied Lighthouse, shoving him over. "A pleasure doing business with you." Ginger winked at the Gengar, then whispered something to Suzaku.

"But--!" he began.

"Go."

He made a face, then took Lighthouse with him back outside, joining up with the others. "Ginger's still inside! She told me to tell you to cover your ears!"

Cassius' eyes widened as he guessed at Ginger's plan. He covered his ears as requested, clenching his teeth. "She can't be serious about this, though- even with her type advantage there's no way she'll survive three turns in there with that lot..." he muttered.

"Is she going to use...Perish Song?" Sidney followed Cassius' lead and covered her ears. "But that doesn't work instantly!"

"Maybe it's the signal," Suzaku guessed, shrugging.

The signal? That's it! "Cassius, the song is the signal!" she said. "When she's done singing, we battle! All we have to do is prevent them from hurting Ginger or Michael long enough for them to faint."

----------

The ghost were already preparing Michael for the ceremony. "What are you still doing here?" the ghost growled, eyeing the Absol suspiciously.

"Oh. I forgot I had another gift for you."

"Another gift? I see nothing."

"Of course not." Her innocent smile twisted into a malicious grin. "It's a song." She opened her mouth, filling the cave with the haunting melody. The cave walls only seemed to increase its strength as the sound waves bounced off.

"Aaagh! Not...Perish Song!" Brutus pressed his hands to his ears, while those, like the Shuppet, suffered because they had no appendages to block out the music. Lucky for Michael, he was already knocked out. "You sneaky, little--!" The song ended, and Ginger took a few steps back towards the exit.

Cassius nodded- that made sense. He could hear the faintest trickling of the melody even with his hands over his ears, and once it was over he was up in an instant. "Pandora, Rook, Sneak, Godfather and Marionette" he said as he ran, releasing each one in turn. "It's a long story" he told them, "but here's the short version- get those ghosts! Pan, get Michael out of here- unconscious body, no will to resist, it's an easy possession."

"Lighthouse! Stay here!" Sidney told the Ampharos. "You're safe now, so leave this to us." She ran after the ghost trainer, releasing all her Pokemon, except Taro, as well. "Ginger's in trouble!" was all she had to say to get the group into action. "Ghosts! In that cave! Take 'em out!"

The ghost trainer's pokemon moved to surround Ginger, while Pandora zipped quickly over to Michael and dove into his chest. Cassius himself called out to Brutus in the pokemon language, trying to draw him away from attacking Ginger and the others.

"I almost didn't believe Herodi when he said you were that little gastly from the tower, but now I can believe it- you may have grown a little, but your brain's the same size as it always was. No wonder you fell for the darkling's tricks" he taunted, standing quite open to attack at the edge of the clearing. One of his hands was in his pocket, gently clasping his secret weapon against the ghost- a rolled up cleanse tag that was warm to the touch, charged with positive spiritual energy.

"Cassius?!" Brutus said, almost laughing. "You're behind this?!" He faced the ghost trainer, still wearing a broad grin. "I wouldn't talk if I were you. As you can see, I'm fully evolved. And I can see that you've downgraded yourself by taking this human body. Have you no ghostly pride?" He snorted. "I'm going to enjoy bringing you down!"

Gonzo took off like a bullet, slinging mud into the eyes of a stunned Haunter. Ginger, now realizing that reinforcement had come at last, used Bite on a rather dumpy Duskull, the Pokemon flailing his arms. Suzaku used the power of the fire to increase his fire attacks and Lulu blasted away a few ghost with Psychic. Abina was still outside, already exhausted from all the running.

"Taking in cronies just to survive in a forest like this?" asked Cassius, "I doubt you have enough strength to take me on even with this human body. But then, you always did have low self esteem- first all those tough nicknames you gave yourself, now minions and rituals to some cult religion?"

Pandora was struggling to get up in his new body and guide Michael into the protective circle. It was difficult to control foreign limbs, but the trainer's subconscious wasn't objecting, so it wasn't too hard. The others were helping to hold the line, fending off smaller ghosts with shadow balls and hypnosis attacks.

"I'll make you eat your words," the Gengar drew back his fist, leaping at Cassius. "Let's see you dodge my Shadow Punch!"

The Flygon was still trying to reach the cave so she could jump into battle, but all that food she ate must've slowed her down. "Save some for meee!"

Sidney's scream rang through the hollow cavern. A large Haunter had her backed up against the wall. "Sidney!" Ginger shouted, quick to spring into action. "Get away from her, ghost!" she growled, jumping the Pokemon and using Bite on him as well. The Haunter cried out, then tore the aggressor off his head, throwing her against the wall. "Ugh!"

Over a decade in a human body had taught Cassius a thing or two about using it, and he moved with remarkable speed as the gengar attacked. He ducked to the side, and in his place he held out the cleanse tag, activating it with a thought and causing the tag to glow with pale purple energy.

Michael, under the tentative control of Pandora, made his way slowly into the circle. Rook and Marionette moved out to cover them, as Sneak took out a group of approaching duskull with a shadow ball, toppling them like bowling pins.

((I'd better head off to bed- see you tomorrow ))

((Um, what does the Cleanse Tag do exactly...besides reduce encounters?))

((Edit: I'll just wait until tomorrow. Good night. ^^))

((Officially in the game, that's all it does, but in LG/FR you find it in the healing area where the channeler has created a ward to hold off evil spirits, so I'm sorta guessing a malevolent ghost wouldn't much like the energy stored in one. It's up to you how much it effects Brutus.))