Chapter 148: The Small Boat

"How exactly is this supposed to be used..." Ohm looked at the band with a puzzled expression.

Hearing this from the side, Misty immediately chimed in, "What do you mean, how is it used? Of course, you don't use it at all! You couldn't even beat a single 'ghost' yesterday, so why bother with a whole bunch of dead ones?"

"No, no, no. We have to talk about Pokémon and science. That must have been a Gastly brought by the warriors of the past..." Ohm insisted that "there are no ghosts in the world."

"What's Gastly's base stat total anyway? How could there possibly be a Gastly that strong!" Misty clearly didn't buy that explanation.

Ohm really wanted to say that he had even seen an Abra that strong...

"Besides... all we need to do is notify Officer Jenny, or tell Professor Giant." Misty suggested a very safe and reliable method.

"No, in just over thirty hours, it will be exactly one thousand years. That's when the time ripples will appear, and right now... people from the outside world can't get in at all, right?" Ohm said, looking out toward the ocean.

In the distance, a storm was raging.

"So? Aren't you unable to get out either?" Misty looked at Ohm in confusion—did he even realize that passage was blocked?

"So... could you lend me Gyarados?" Ohm asked sheepishly.

"No way!" Misty refused without even thinking.

Lending Gyarados was a minor issue, but right now Ohm was clearly about to go on some reckless adventure, so of course Misty wouldn't agree.

"Let's go, let's get something to eat first, and we can worry about Brock's situation later!" Misty changed the subject.

Figuring that not a single boat would venture out onto the sea in this weather, Misty didn't try too hard to stop Ohm—after all, he didn't have any water-type Pokémon he could ride, so no matter where he wanted to go, he couldn't get there...

"I... Okay." Ohm rubbed his rumbling stomach and then said helplessly.

Just after Misty walked away ahead of him, the old man fishing nearby reeled in his line and said, "Young man, did you get into an argument with your girlfriend?"

The old man was draped in a straw raincoat with a towel tied around his head, the quintessential look of an old fisherman.

"No... she's a female friend, and we didn't argue either," Ohm clarified their relationship.

"Youth is wonderful... I used to know someone who had a lot of female friends too, and later he died." The old man's words sounded rather unpleasant.

Ohm: ...

"Actually, these waves and winds aren't that big, right? If the place you're going isn't far, I can ferry you there tonight," the old fisherman said, dropping all pretense.

Hearing this, the corners of Ohm's mouth twitched slightly, and his hand instinctively reached toward his waist...

"Really? That's wonderful! I have no idea how far it is, but I can guide you when the time comes." Ohm directly asked the old man for the favor.

"Hey! What are you muttering to yourself over there?" Misty had already walked a few meters away and noticed that Ohm wasn't following.

"Coming, coming," Ohm hurriedly replied.

When he turned his head back, he found that the old man was already gone. However, Ohm didn't seem surprised; he just went with Misty to get dinner as usual.

In the afternoon, Ohm went to the Pokémon Center—due to the sudden turn of events, Ohm ultimately decided to swap Gengar and Clefable back first!

"Good afternoon, Professor Cerise!"

"Ohm... was your trip to Maiden's Peak pleasant?"

Ohm guessed that Professor Cerise might have been in contact with Ash, which was why he knew Ohm was also at Maiden's Peak.

Moreover... Ohm felt that Professor Cerise's expression was a bit strained, so he quickly changed the subject, saying, "It's alright, it's just that Brock..."

"Oh, about Brock... I heard Ash mention it. It's fine, I checked the records, and there have been no records of tourists disappearing at Maiden's Peak in recent years. Some disappearances reported to Officer Jenny were all tracked down later." Professor Cerise had clearly already heard about it from Ash.

"By the way, Professor, how are things going with the haunting at your lab?"

"No, these past two days have been quite peaceful..."

"In that case, I'll take Gengar and Clefable back for a couple of days, and I'll trouble Professor Cerise with them again later!" Ohm said promptly.

Taking advantage of the fact that Professor Cerise hadn't reached his wits' end yet with "Haunter" and "Clefairy," Ohm preemptively locked in the arrangement to "board them here again in a couple of days."

"Alright... alright." Professor Cerise was an honest man, and in the end, he didn't say much more.

After Ohm retrieved Haunter and Clefairy, the "two little cuties" still seemed unsatisfied, and there was no telling what kind of mischief they had been up to at Professor Cerise's laboratory.

However, once Ohm told them what they were about to do, Haunter and Clefairy's attention was instantly captured by Ohm!

Between the "Millennial Legend" and "Celebi," it was clear that Ohm's adventure sounded much more thrilling.

By nightfall, it was almost midnight...

At this time, Ash, Goh, and Misty had specially brought Minami's family along to keep watch over Brock and Shin!

Ash and Hiroshi had somehow managed to buy several [Cleansing Talismans] from goodness knows where...

However, right at that moment, the few people who were still awake suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness wash over them. This time, even Pikachu couldn't escape it, and only Ohm grew increasingly energetic under the influence of self-suggestion.

Not only did it happen much earlier than yesterday, but...

This time, after waiting for a while, Ohm saw no reaction from Brock or Shin, and couldn't help muttering to himself inwardly: Just as expected.

Ohm stood right up and walked toward the direction of the harbor.

Along the way, there were hardly any people left. In the distance, the direction of the festival grounds had also quieted down, with only the staff cleaning up the site remaining.

When he reached the harbor, it was desolate all around, but...

The old man he had seen during the day was still there, and he had already prepared a boat.

Only then did Ohm realize that his boat was actually just a small skiff... not only small, but also human-powered!

"Let's go. The worse the weather, the bigger the fish you catch..." The old man acted as if he couldn't see the lightning filling the sky in the distance.

"Old timer, how do you think this thing is supposed to be used?" Ohm asked, holding up the band.

"What do you mean, how is it used? Since it's a headband, you tie it around your head, of course," the old man said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Moreover, Ohm noticed at that moment that the "headscarf" the old man had previously tied around his head had been replaced with the exact same band as his own—bearing the same family crest on it!

After confirming this, Ohm tied the band around his own head.

Instantly, Ohm felt a "cool" sensation between his eyebrows, and he seemed to become sensitive to a certain kind of fluctuation.

It felt as though there was a breeze—weak, yet capable of blowing straight through the space between his eyebrows and into Ohm's mind!

"This way!" Ohm pointed in the direction from which this "invisible wind" was blowing.

The old man sat in the boat and began to row the wooden oars, and Ohm quickly jumped aboard as well...

The old man was actually rowing quite fast, and moreover... most of his figure gradually became transparent, while his "surviving" head transformed into a mass of dark purple "ghostly shadow," taking on the exact appearance of a Gastly!

Although the divine light effect wasn't fully unleashed, Ohm instinctively felt that this was the very same one from the early hours of yesterday...