Pokémon: Above the Top-Chapter 220: True Ghosts

In a trance, it felt as if Sato had lived through three completely different lives, but to call them lives... at the end of the day, all he remembered was the searing love and hatred.

"Sato... Sato... wake up! What's wrong with you?"

Mark's voice instantly jolted Sato awake from the dream. He abruptly opened his eyes and saw Mark's anxious face.

"I'm fine!" Sato ignored his still-pounding head and unleashed his Dark Energy completely. He had to find out who was behind this!

"Glad you're okay, but Joseph still hasn't woken up, what should we do?"

Mark paced in circles, panicked. The three of them had only been on the second floor of Mt. Pyre for a few minutes before both Sato and Mark fell asleep and collapsed on the ground.

Only Arceus knew what kind of horror a ghost-fearing Mark had experienced in those few minutes while unconscious.

Sato was shocked he hadn't fled.

"Hmph! Weavile, Night Slash!"

Suddenly, Sato fixed his gaze on a freshly placed gravestone and without hesitation sent out his fast attacker, Weavile.

Night Slash struck the gravestone hard. It shattered on impact, but in the instant it broke, the entire gravestone dissolved into black mist and vanished into the air!

"Weavile, northeast, use Foresight!"

"Wea!"

A red glow burst from Weavile's eyes. To the northeast, a black shadow was being forcefully forced into form!

"A Hypno? No, that's not right" Sato stared at the dark figure but quickly noticed something was off. If it were a Psychic-type Pokémon, why was his Dark Energy reacting not at all?

"G-ghost!" Mark suddenly screamed, staring at the flickering, phasing Hypno in horror, immediately ducking behind the still-hypnotized Arbok.

"That's it... it is a ghost!"

"What did you say?!" Mark had tried to sneak another glance, but Sato's words terrified him so much he didn't dare lift his head again.

Sato had no time to deal with Mark. His full attention was on the entity in front of him... more accurately, a Hypno ghost!

Foresight clearly affected the ghost; unable to turn invisible, the Hypno ghost struggled, its body flickering in and out, trying to reform, but it remained visible throughout.

"Hyp!"

The Hypno was panicked at first, but once it realized it could no longer hide, it stopped holding back and lunged directly at Weavile!

"Weavile, Dark Pulse!"

Weavile leapt backward, creating space, then unleashed a Dark Pulse that struck the ghost hard!

The ghost was instantly scattered, but quickly reformed, though Sato could tell it looked a bit fainter. The attack had clearly worked.

The ghost retreated. It pulled back some distance before stopping. Seeing this, Sato was suddenly struck by a bad premonition.

"Sato, help me!" Mark suddenly screamed. Sato turned around and saw Joseph being tightly restrained by Arbok. At this rate, he'd be dead in moments.

"Gengar, use Psychic on Arbok"

"Gengar!"

Boom!

Sato rolled across the ground, narrowly avoiding a sudden betrayal from Gengar. Looking closely, he saw that both Gengar and Arbok now had pitch-black eyes.

They had been possessed!

Sato cursed internally. Before he could act further, Weavile abruptly appeared beside him and activated Protect.

Ting-ting-ting-ting...

A barrage of Magical Leaf rained down on Sato. If Weavile hadn't reacted fast enough, he would have been turned into a pincushion.

Clearly, Florges had been possessed too.

Joseph had always played a support role and never took initiative in battle, but he had once told them, during his long solo journey, Florges had been his main force, carrying out nearly 90% percent of the battles.

So now, with a simple Magical Leaf, Florges unleashed something akin to a Leaf Storm... unreasonably powerful!

"Weavile, go save Mark right away! Ariados, Cacturne, hold off Florges and Gengar! Zoroark, we'll take on that ghost!"

Sato threw out three Poké Balls at once, then dashed toward the ghost without looking back. As Zoroark appeared, it immediately followed.

Behind them, Weavile slashed Arbok fiercely with its claws, forcing it to release Mark with a painful cry.

But Mark was clearly in bad shape, clutching his chest and unable to speak. Arbok, driven by pure hunting instinct, had nearly strangled him to death.

Ariados had a type advantage. Against a Grass- and Fairy-type who couldn't hurt it effectively, it was capable of holding off Florges.

However, it still couldn't counterattack, which frustrated Ariados deeply. Normally, Florges carried a haughty air, but now it was truly outmatched.

It was infuriating!

Cacturne also had a type advantage, but it still struggled under Gengar's relentless assault.

Fortunately, since Gengar was under mind control, it only knew how to attack wildly. Cacturne adjusted its tactics, avoided direct clashes, and began to dance around Gengar without showing signs of weakness.

It was clear that Cacturne was a bit smarter than Ariados.

With the situation under control in the back, Sato was free to focus on the ghost.

Even in death, it still had such powerful hypnotic abilities. When it was alive, it surely had been no ordinary Pokémon.

Faced with Sato charging in, the ghost clearly panicked and pulled out a hypnosis pendulum, clearly aiming to put Zoroark to sleep.

"Cacturne, give me a Worry Seed!" Sato shouted. Cacturne, still holding steady, instantly fired a Worry Seed that Zoroark caught in midair.

Worry Seed: temporarily changing the target's Ability to Insomnia. No matter how strong the hypnosis, with the Insomnia Ability, it was useless!

At the same time, Sato activated his Dark Energy and covered his eyes, staying alert.

"Zoroark, Dark Pulse, hit it nonstop!"

The dark purple waves struck the ghost again. When the scattered form of the ghost reassembled, the black mist around it had faded further.

"Keep going!"

Zoroark didn't close the distance, instead launching wave after wave of Dark Pulse like there was no tomorrow. The ghost couldn't even fully regroup under the barrage.

"Wigglytuff, Heal Bell!"

Joseph's voice called from behind. Though faint, it made Sato rejoice, and he immediately shouted, "Joseph, help Mark first!"

"Got it!" Now awake, Joseph didn't ask what had happened. He ran straight to Mark and activated his Viridian Power.

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"Don't let it escape. Zoroark, full power Night Daze!"

Now that Joseph was awake, Sato had no more reservations. He was ready to wipe this ghost out.

At that moment, the ghost suddenly realized it was truly facing total annihilation. It fell to its knees and began kowtowing like a human.

Sato didn't blink. He watched Night Daze erase the ghost completely... only then did he finally relax.