Next, Ghastly told Satoshi and his friends the so-called story of a girl's ghost possessing people. Satoshi knew that Ghastly was just trying to keep the legend of Maiden Gorge alive.
Under Satoshi's watchful eye, Ghastly pulled out a stack of talismans and said, "If you want to stay safe, use my talismans. But they come at a price."
"I'll take all your talismans. Tell me, do you take cards or cash?"
Seeing Satoshi's black card, Ghastly felt a wave of "big spender" vibes.
"Thank you for your patronage!"
Satoshi, his four companions, and Team Rocket's Meowth and Musashi started to put talismans on the shrine. Since Satoshi bought so many, they practically covered the whole place. Even Takeshi and Kojiro ended up looking like mummies.
That night, Satoshi and his friends hid inside the shrine, watching Takeshi and Kojiro, waiting for the supposed girl ghost to appear.
"Do you think she'll appear?" Kasumi looked at the time, a little worried they were being tricked. Kasumi also looked at her watch and said, "It's almost midnight, if it's a ghost, it should be appearing soon."
Satoshi, standing protectively in front of Kasumi, Kasumi, and Aoi, said, "Charizard, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, watch your backs. Jigglypuff, Meowth, Growlithe, watch the right side. Pikachu, Cloyster, watch the middle. Team Rocket, watch our left. That way, we can avoid being ambushed."
"Hey, kid, you don't have to be so scary, do you?"
"Yeah, you're putting a lot of pressure on us..."
As they were talking, a strong wind blew in. The flickering candlelight was quickly extinguished, leaving only Charizard's tail to provide some light. Then, a gray, ghostly figure appeared.
"I want to see you, I really want to see you."
Seeing this, Satoshi immediately shouted, "It's appeared! Super strong light, shine!"
With Satoshi's shout, everyone immediately pulled out their flashlights and shone them frantically at the ghost. The ghost, feeling a bit uncomfortable in the light, dragged Takeshi and Kojiro and ran.
"Don't think you're getting away! Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip! Grab them back!"
"Bulba!"
Bulbasaur's Vine Whip instantly brought Takeshi and Kojiro back. Satoshi then turned to the ghost and said, "That's enough. I think it's time you showed your true colors." As he said this, Satoshi took out his Pokédex and pointed it at the ghost. The Pokédex instantly announced, "Ghastly, Ghost-type Pokémon..."
Seeing that his disguise was blown, Ghastly stopped hiding and revealed its true form.
"So you figured it out. That's right! Sometimes I'm a fortune teller, sometimes I'm an old lady, sometimes I'm a girl's ghost. I'm Ghastly!"
Looking at Ghastly in its true form, Satoshi turned to Team Rocket and said, "Team Rocket, it's time for your revenge! I'll leave the rest to you!"
Team Rocket, who had been planning to watch Satoshi's performance, was stunned. Musashi pointed at herself and asked, "Us?"
"Yes! Don't you see I'm busy?" As he said this, Satoshi glanced down at his arms. At this moment, Satoshi was indeed busy, because Kasumi, Kasumi, and Aoi were hiding in his arms due to the fright they'd just experienced. Satoshi, very considerately, was protecting them.
"Well, okay, Meowth, go!"
"What? Me?!"
"What do you think? Go!" Musashi kicked Meowth, sending him flying towards Ghastly. Ghastly, laughing, said, "Meowth, you're a cat, so use a dog!"
Then, Ghastly transformed into a Houndoom.
"Oh no!"
Seeing the Houndoom opening its mouth at him, Meowth immediately ran back. Musashi, watching Meowth's lack of courage, could only throw out her Poké Ball and say, "Arbok, use Wrap!"
"To deal with Arbok, use a Persian!"
As the Persian Ghastly had transformed into used a Quick Attack, Arbok fell flat.
"Weezing, use Poison Gas!"
"Wee!"
Weezing sprayed out countless streams of gas, but they were all knocked away by the Persian, who was wearing a gas mask.
"Borrowing your gas. Charizard, use Flamethrower!"
"Char!"
The red flames, upon touching the gas, produced a huge explosion. However, Ghastly was completely unscathed.
"As expected, this Ghastly, being a thousand years old, isn't so easy to deal with. Pikachu, Ba-o..."
Seeing that Satoshi's Pikachu was starting to charge up its power, Ghastly quickly said, "Wait, wait! I just wanted to play with you. Don't be so serious..."
Looking at the suddenly docile Ghastly, Satoshi was confused, but he didn't give the order to attack. Instead, he held Kasumi, Kasumi, and Aoi tightly and asked, "What is your real goal? You can tell me now."
"My goal? To be honest, my goal is very simple: to keep the legend of the girl's ghost alive. But now, I have something more interesting on my side."
"Huh? What is it?"
"Your name is Satoshi, right? Haven't you been hearing it all this time? The girl's call to you?" Ghastly looked at Satoshi with a nostalgic look in its eyes.
"What do you mean?" Satoshi had a vague guess, but he wasn't sure.
"You should be starting to understand now. Satoshi, is that your real name? It seems that the gods have wiped your memories, Arang!"
Hearing Ghastly say this, Kasumi was the first to be upset. She stepped forward and argued with Ghastly, "What do you mean? Is Satoshi a dead man?"
"Of course not, little girl. I mean it very clearly. Satoshi is the Aura Warrior, Arang, from a thousand years ago."
"Are you sure? Could Arang be Satoshi's past life?" Kasumi thought it was more likely that Satoshi was Arang's past life. After all, Satoshi clearly couldn't be a thousand-year-old monster. But Ghastly shook its head and said, "No, no, no. A reincarnated person can't possess the exact same Aura. And I'm a Ghost-type Pokémon, I can see people's souls. Now I've discovered that Satoshi is Arang from a thousand years ago. Then everything makes sense. Forget it! Let me show you what I saw with my own eyes!"
As Ghastly's smoke spread, images began to appear, and everyone saw the journey of the Aura Warrior named Arang and Lucario as they worked to stop the war.
"Arang-sama, it seems someone is following us."
"Huh? It's alright, it's not malicious. It's just hungry. I don't know if this will work, but I've left some incense for you. Go eat it."
After Arang burned three sticks of incense, he left with Lucario. A Ghastly, impatient, appeared and began to eat the incense.
After it had eaten its fill, Ghastly secretly followed Arang and Lucario, witnessing their battles along the way, as well as the Aura Warrior Arang's final fate.
Arang, taking advantage of Lucario's inattention, sealed him within a gem. He then smiled at Mewtwo and said, "Excuse me. If Lucario remains outside, his Aura will be absorbed. This must end. This pointless war. My Aura power is within my heart. My Aura, my life, I accept it all. Then end this pointless war."
Then, Arang's Aura was completely absorbed by the World Tree. As he was dying, Arang leaned against a tree trunk and looked at Ghastly.
"Ah, it's you. I'm sorry I can't prepare you something to eat. But the world will be better from now on, I hope. I hope that Muzi won't wait for me anymore... Oh, right, I don't have the strength to release Lucario. But when he comes out, the world will be able to comfort him. After all, our sacrifice was worth it..."
"Ghastly..."
"Don't be sad for me. I have to thank you. Thank you for witnessing my adventure with Lucario. It was so amazing to adventure with Lucario..."
At that moment, a creature resembling a llama appeared. Arang, seeing it, couldn't help but laugh and say, "What? So you're here. I wish I hadn't done this."
Arceus looked at Arang and couldn't help but ask, "Why did you do this?"
"Why? Because I deeply love this world. Isn't it normal to sacrifice for love?"
"I see. Your feelings have been passed on to the World Tree. The war is over. I didn't want to interfere with the world anymore, but it changed because of you. This time, you win. Thank you. Thank you for loving this world. Now return. Return to those who care for you. As for that girl, don't worry. You will see each other again. This is also part of my gift to you."
Then, with a flash of light, everything disappeared. Ghastly said, "That's my memory."
But at that moment, a flash of light appeared. The following scenes appeared. They were the events after Arceus and Arang met.
The Aura Warrior named Arang gradually became smaller. Then, Satoshi appeared before everyone. Immediately after that, Satoshi closed his eyes and returned to Meowth and Pikachu.
When Satoshi opened his eyes, he just looked around in confusion.
"What's wrong, Boss?"
"I don't know, I have a strange feeling. It's like I was gone for a while."
"Pika?"
"Forget it, never mind. The Magikarp still need to be given calcium supplements. Let's go."
"Boss, are we eating fish today?"
"It depends. If I can catch one."
"Pika!"
"I understand. Tomato lasagna, right? The ingredients are ready, don't worry."
And so, Satoshi, Meowth, and Pikachu walked farther and farther away. Arceus watched them from afar.
"Your story isn't over, it's just beginning, Satoshi."