Grandma Keiko had passed away.
Naoki was fully awake in an instant. He swung out of bed and turned to Zorua. "Zorua, Pawmi, we need to go."
"Wuu?"
"Pawmi?"
Both Pokémon looked at him without understanding.
"Grandma Keiko has passed. Gengar is alone over there. We need to go check on her."
At that, Zorua and Pawmi snapped to attention immediately.
Naoki recalled Magikarp and Pawmi into their Poké Balls, kept Zorua close, and headed straight for Grandma Keiko's house.
Geosenge Town was quiet and still in the late night hours, the distant streetlights casting long amber halos across the empty roads.
Grandma Keiko's house sat at the far end of the old street. When Naoki caught sight of it from a distance, his footsteps slowed without him thinking about it.
The lights were on inside. The door was unlocked. He pushed it open and it swung inward without resistance.
A sound of grief came from within.
He followed it and found Gengar hunched beside the bed, clutching Grandma Keiko and weeping openly, tears running without stopping.
"Gengar... Gengar!"
"Wuu..."
Zorua watched the scene with an expression that could not hide how much it hurt to see.
Naoki's own feelings were complicated.
In the Pokémon world, Ghost-type Pokémon were genuinely dangerous. Many of them subsisted on human souls and life force.
Gengar was one of those.
And yet here was this same Pokémon, before its Trainer, showing a loyalty and devotion that left no room for doubt.
Gengar.
On the bed, Grandma Keiko lay with her eyes closed, her expression at peace. The deep lines that had marked her face had softened. She looked gentle and still, as though she had simply drifted into a sleep she would not wake from.
On the living room table, the snacks she had made for Gengar with her own hands earlier in the day still sat untouched, long since gone cold.
Gengar had noticed Naoki come in, but gave no reaction. It stayed where it was, face full of grief, still holding Grandma Keiko, still crying.
A faint violet light was seeping from its body. To anyone who knew what they were looking at, it was recognizable immediately.
A Ghost-type move. Destiny Bond.
Gengar was trying to synchronize its own life force with Grandma Keiko's. Trying to hold her here by force of will.
It was not working.
Then, from somewhere within Grandma Keiko's still form, a small, faint wisp of light rose slowly into the air. Pale and flickering, like a will-o'-the-wisp.
Gengar went still.
Words came back to it, words it had heard many times over many years.
When I'm gone, my soul belongs to you. When the time comes, you have to be the one to carry it away yourself.
"Gengar..."
Gengar stared at the small drifting light.
This was its Trainer's soul.
With the utmost care, it extended one small claw and touched the wisp, barely making contact.
The light responded, as though it recognized the touch, and drifted slowly toward Gengar.
"Gengar..."
Gengar gathered the wisp close with trembling care and held it against its chest. Tears ran freely down its face.
Naoki let out a long, quiet breath and scanned the room carefully.
The quest description had said a Spirit Realm gatekeeper would come to collect Grandma Keiko's soul.
They had not arrived yet.
He thought for a moment, then decided he would stay through the night.
When you help someone, you see it through to the end.
Grandma Keiko had no family left. When dawn came, he would contact the funeral services and make sure she was laid to rest properly.
"Try to hold yourself together, Gengar," Naoki said quietly.
"Gengar..." Gengar wiped its face with the back of its claw, then carefully, gently, drew Grandma Keiko's soul inside itself.
Within Gengar's body was a small pocket of space unique to Ghost-type Pokémon, capable of holding more than it appeared.
For all those years, it had been Grandma Keiko who protected Gengar.
Now it was Gengar's turn to protect her.
"I'll help arrange for Grandma Keiko to be buried properly tomorrow," Naoki said. "After that, what do you plan to do?"
"Gengar... Gengar..."
Gengar wanted to stay here. This house was where it and its Trainer had lived together for decades. This was home.
"I see..." Naoki looked at Gengar and understood. It almost certainly could not bring itself to leave this house.
He had been thinking of trying to persuade Gengar to bring Grandma Keiko's soul to the Spirit Realm to rest properly. He reconsidered and let the thought go.
At that moment, the temperature in the room dropped sharply.
The shadows in the corners of the room began to churn and writhe. Within the deep, inky darkness, a fragment of violet-tinged space slowly peeled open like a wound in the air.
From it, a tall figure condensed into shape, radiating a pale, ghostly light.
The Spirit Realm gatekeeper. A Dusknoir.
According to what Naoki knew, it came to those whose time had run out, guided their souls toward the afterlife, and carried them away to another world entirely.
The Spirit Realm, the place where spirits and Ghost-type Pokémon dwelled.
"Gengar..." Gengar immediately tensed at the sight of the newcomer, every instinct going to alert.
Dusknoir's hollow, pitch-black eye carried no emotion at all. It did not look at Naoki. It did not look at Zorua. Its silent, unblinking gaze fixed entirely on Gengar beside the bed.
Then a low, rasping sound came from somewhere within it.
"Dusknoir." (Hand over the human's soul.)
"Gengar?!" Gengar bristled immediately at the words. "Gengar!"
That was its Trainer. It had no intention of being separated from its Trainer.
This was a villain. This Pokémon was a villain trying to steal its Trainer away.
Gengar was already in an emotionally raw state, and this pushed it over the edge. It gathered a Shadow Ball and launched it straight at Dusknoir.
"Wait a moment, please." Naoki had been about to speak on Gengar's behalf.
Dusknoir did not acknowledge him.
Its form flickered and shifted, sidestepping the Shadow Ball with unsettling ease. Dark tendrils swept through the air, and it closed on Gengar directly, sharp shadow-claws reaching to tear the soul from within Gengar and drag it toward the Spirit Realm by force.
Gengar stumbled back instinctively. Dusknoir's attack caught the edge of a nearby flower vase instead. A sharp crack. The vase shattered.
"Gengar!"
That vase had belonged to Grandma Keiko.
Something broke loose inside Gengar at that. All the grief and fear it had been holding through the night surged up and transformed into something else entirely.
The Ghost-type energy around its body erupted violently, dark purple light tearing through the whole room without direction or control. Gengar swung its shadow claws and threw everything it had at Dusknoir.
Dusknoir's expression did not change.
Its tall form shifted back slightly, sank into the surrounding darkness, and simply vanished from sight.
"Gengar?!"
Gengar looked around in alarm.
Then Dusknoir reappeared directly behind it.
A heavy, terrible blow landed with crushing force, and Gengar was sent flying.
That had been an ambush from the shadows.
Gengar was not a match for this Dusknoir.
Naoki's brow tightened. He made his decision immediately.
"Zorua, support Gengar. Dark Pulse!"
"Wuu!"
Zorua surged forward, Dark-type energy coiling around her body, and a concentrated beam of black and violet tore across the room toward Dusknoir's form.
The sudden attack made Dusknoir pause.
It turned, and for the first time its gaze shifted to the human and the Zorua beside him.
Naoki spoke quickly. "Dusknoir, the soul that passed tonight poses no threat to this world. Grandma Keiko was a kind person. This is her Gengar, her companion of many decades, the closest thing to family she had. Please, understand the situation before you act."
He was thinking carefully as he spoke.
This Dusknoir held the role of Spirit Realm gatekeeper. Its combat strength was at minimum Elite Four level, possibly higher.
Even with every Pokémon he had combined with Gengar, they would not be able to defeat it outright.
Winning by force was not an option. Naoki's best chance was talking his way through this.
And he had reason to believe it might work. In the anime, Dusknoir acting as Spirit Realm gatekeepers were not evil Pokémon. They served a protective function, hunting down malevolent spirits that escaped from the Spirit Realm and returning them. This particular Dusknoir felt less like a predator and more like an embodiment of the Spirit Realm's order and responsibility.