Alone

"It's that time again! Are you ready? It's Pokemon 101 with your host, Jeremy Carson!"

"Hey there everyone, welcome back to Pokemon 101! Last week we talked about the amazing and exciting Pokemon that could be found in Wayward cave, and we also went on a deep dive into Poison Types! Do you remember what we learned? Let's test that out with a quick question! Ready?"

"There are two types of status conditions you can get from poison-type attacks, what are they?"

"Do you remember?"

"It's poisoned and badly poisoned! If you didn't get that right let's do a quick refresher! The Poisoned status condition causes a Pokemon to feel nauseous and will start feeling pain until they faint over time. While Badly Poison does the same thing, the symptoms will get even worse over time! So you better have an antidote ready with you at all times!"

"So enough about Poison types, today I want to talk to you about one of my least favorite types of Pokemon. Ghost types! Ghost-type Pokemon are considered to be one of the most dangerous types of Pokemon to tame, and they are mischievous by nature. There are Ghost Pokemon like Misdreavus who purposely spook trainers walking through Eterna Forest, so beware when you travel at night! And there are stories of Driftloon taking children away from their homes. So be careful kids! Don't trust a Ghost type!"

"But in battle, these Pokemon can be real vicious! Take the move Curse for example. If you watch league matches you'd see a lot of non-ghost type pokemon using it to really buff themselves up! But what happens if a Ghost type uses it? Well, what it does is the Ghost Pokemon would take a portion of its stamina and uses it to curse the opposing Pokemon! So what's this curse going to do? Well glad you asked! When cursed, your Pokemon is going to receive intervals of damage over time until they faint. Isn't that crazy? Researchers found that the interval between damage depends on how strong the Ghost-type Pokemon is, and how much damage it does. The stronger the Pokemon, the more often the opposing Pokemon gets damaged."

"We can find an example from an Elite Four member over in Hoenn who specializes in Ghost types and uses Curse in her matches, the Elite Four member Phoebe! Her Duskclops uses a curse that can even put down a fully trained Walrein in under a minute! How crazy is that?! Of course, there are records of people like the Champion Steven Stone countering this with his Aggron using Taunt. So there are ways to counter such a deadly tactic! My personal favorite is putting them to sleep with my lovely Vileplume! Or you could switch out your pokemon to get rid of that curse effect, but that'll leave you open for an attack or a potential setup!"

"Well that's it for Pokemon types, we'll be right back after commercials with more about Eterna Forest! Stay tuned folks!"

…

Jason opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital, with an IV Drip attached to his arm. The smell of cleaning products entered his lungs as he took a deep breath. Looking around he noticed the room was a private ward, with only a couch for guests to sit on, and a table with medications on it as well as a box of sweets. There was a note on it that read out, 'To Mark's good health. - Sinnoh Lab'. Out the window, he could see that he was in a city somewhere, but he couldn't make out where exactly.

"Hey, Mark. Where do you think we're at? The buildings outside don't look like those I saw last time." Jason said as he stared at the cityscape filled with tall buildings. "It's way bigger than Sandgem, reminds me of those really nice cities you'd go to on holiday."

Jason waited for Mark's response, but an eerie silence filled the time as his worry grew. Looking at the IV Drip he was on, he notice the bag of saline was attached to a pole with a wheelbase. With his movement not restricted, Jason removed the blanket from his body and stood up, holding on to the pole as support. His body felt sluggish as he stood up, his muscles ached and his legs wobbled slightly under the weight of his body.

Slowly walking toward the end of the bed, he noticed a board attached to his bed. Picking it up the words 'Patient Diagnosis and Care Plan' was listed at the top as the title. Under it was his personal information like his name, age, blood type, height, and weight, etc. But what caught Jason's eye were the few lines that had the title 'Diagnosis'.

Name: Mark Truman

Age: 10

Height: 1.41 m

Weight: 34 KG

Blood type: A

…

Diagnosis:

The patient has undergone intense physical fatigue during an encounter with the ghost-type Pokemon, Dusknoir. Minor scratches were observed on the Patient's arms and legs, 100g of healing power was used to heal the open wounds, and natural healing is expected to recover the rest of the wounds quickly.

Psychic readings conducted have resulted in a large amount of residual Ghost-type energy lingering on the Patient, results from the reading suggest the energy has been infecting the Patient for possibly years. Potential to affect the Patient's mental state is high, and reports from Professor Acker suggest that the Patient was speaking and behaving differently from when they had met earlier in the day after the Patient's encounter with the Ghost type Pokemon, Dusknoir. Psychic Specialist Sally was called to help remove the remaining ghost energy.

Remarks:

The patient is to be monitored every hour, an IV drip has been administered, and is to be checked every 12 hours. If the patient regains consciousness, seek Doctor Kurk immediately.

"Ghost energy? Years? Mark said he got the Jirachi paper thing on his…7th or was it 6th birthday?" Jason muttered as he scratched his head. "Argh but that can't be right, Jirachi's a steel psychic type… Was I wrong about which Pokemon? Nah, it must be something else…"

While Jason was muttering to himself, the door of his hospital ward slides open to reveal Nurse Joy on the other side with a surprised look on her face. But in a split second her expression turned into the loving smile he'd seen before back at the PokeCenter.

"Mark! I'm so glad to see you're up and about again! Are you doing alright?" Nurse Joy asked as she approached Jason.

"Umm, yeah. Just a bit confused is all. Where exactly am I? It doesn't look like I'm still in Sandgem Town."

"You're in Jubilife City, Mark. Due to your situation, it was decided to have you be sent here instead. But you still need some more time to recover, so why don't you lay back down while I get the doctor over to see you."

With a nod, Jason went back to bed with Nurse Joy's help. As Nurse Joy left the room, his mind return back to figuring out the relation between the Ghost-type energy mentioned in that diagnosis and Jirachi, but he still couldn't come up with anything. As far as he knew, there wasn't any legendary ghost Pokemon in Hoenn. Unless spirits were considered Ghost-type energy in this world? But before he could continue his train of thought, an elderly man with a lab coat and white curly hair entered the room. The old man had with him a clipboard with a cute Blissey Sticker on the back and he wore what Jason could only describe as a Scouter from a certain anime.

"Good afternoon, Mark. It's nice to finally meet you. My name is Doctor Kurk and I have been your doctor during your treatment. How are you feeling at the moment? Both physically and mentally?"

"Good afternoon to you too, doc. Physically sluggish at the moment, a bit of aching here and there, mostly my legs. Mentally? I guess confused, last thing I remember was collapsing on some floor after a teleport."

"Hmm, well you've been recovering well physically. Luckily you did not suffer anything bad during your encounter in those ruins and should be in fine form after another day of rest." Doctor Kurk said as he jolted something down on his clipboard with a pen that had a Clefairy at the top of it. "Do you feel any different after you woke up today? Any oddities that you can't explain or something that doesn't feel or look right?"

"Uhh… other than the view outside, not really. Doc, I took a look at the diagnosis on my bed, what's going on with me?"

"Mhm, yes some explanation is in order. Your encounter with the Dusknoir in the ruins was likely caused by the large amount of Ghost-type energy detected on you when you arrived here. I suspected at first that you could have been hit by a Ghost-type move such as Dream Eater or Curse. However, upon further examination, the energy was found to have been lingering on you for a very long time. Do you recall having been around any Ghost-type Pokemon for long periods?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Even if it's a few years back?"

"No, I don't."

"So you don't recall any… Hmm alright. Mark, do you recall anybody in your family that might have a strong Ghost-type pokemon?"

"Umm, not that I know of."

"No close family members? Not even extended ones?"

"No…"

"I see… Okay, just needed to cross off some boxes. There are occasions when children grow up with strong Ghost-type Pokemon around them which resulted in their personalities being warped. These children grow up largely with traits that cause them to be strongly fixated on certain items or activities. At any rate, you don't seem to have been one of these cases from what you've told me."

"So what happened to the ghost energy? The diagnosis said it was removed?"

"Yes, Miss Sally was able to remove the residual ghost energy from your body." Doctor Kurk Said as he touched the Scouter on his head, with the screen lighting up. "You're currently free from any remaining energy."

"Are there any side effects? I'm guessing having something like that for a while would be pretty bad, right?"

"Under most circumstances, children who have grown up with Ghost-type energy would develop the personality traits I mentioned before. But in rare and server cases, such a thing would cause a person to develop something we call schizophrenia. Usually, in these cases, patients would be seen talking to themselves often and would perceive reality much differently from what we do. Fortunately, you did not succumb to such a fate, it's why ghost types are so heavily regulated. You'll be aiming to become a Pokemon trainer yes? I'd advise not going for ghost Pokemon until you've obtained a strong psychic Pokemon or learned under a Ghost-type Specialist. I've had a patient develop something called Multiple Personality Disorder, it was quite a shame as they were rather bright."

"R-right, I see… And umm might I ask. Would someone's spirit be considered ghost-type energy? Like you know, cemeteries and stuff."

"Hmm? Have you visited a cemetery for extended periods before?"

"No, just curious is all…"

"Well, there is a belief that ghost Pokemon are the results of human spirits from the afterlife. But I'm not too well versed on the subject." Doctor Kurk said as he finished jolting down the last note on his clipboard. "I think we've covered everything. Thank you for being so patient with my questions, Mark. You are much more mature than what I had heard."

"Ah, well it's no problem, doc. But what do you mean by more mature?"

"Hmm, no it's just a feeling. Well then, take some more time to rest. I will be reporting the good news about your condition. Your mother has been especially worried about you." Doctor Kurk said and looked around the room. "But I could have sworn I'd told Nurse Joy to add a TV for you in this room. Well, that should be in by the evening, if you ever need anything there's a button on the left of your bed. I'll see you tomorrow again, Mark."

"Yeah, thanks doc."

Once Doctor Kurk left the room, Jason let out a long sigh as he touched his forehead which was now full of cold sweat. Halfway through the Q&A session, he had with Doctor Kurk, he'd realize that the doctor was probing him about knowing his family's pokemon. Mark would know since he wanted to become just like his dad, and likely knew his mom's team as well. But Jason? The only pokemon he knew that his mom had a Lopunny. If Mark's dad had a whole team of Ghost-types or had an ace ghost pokemon, then it'd look like something was really wrong with Mark.

"Fuck…" Jason muttered while he started biting his nail unconsciously, "worst-case scenario chuck it down to memory loss? If they affect people that much… It ain't a stretch… Argh damn it, Mark where the fuck are you…"

Jason closed his eyes and tried to focus on that white room again. But no matter what he tried, or how long it took, he was only met with nothing but silence. There was no one else but him. And a thought crawled into his head, one he didn't even want to consider thinking about. If he wasn't in control of Mark's body, what would have happened?

….

"Yes… unfortunately, it seems to be the case. I'm terribly sorry, but we cannot do anything else as from what we can tell your son is now perfectly fine…. Yes, I understand that but there really isn't anything we ca-…." Doctor Kurk stopped and looked at the phone, the person on the other end hung up on him. With a sigh, he placed down the phone.

"Maria didn't take it well I presume." Professor Rowan said as he sat on a couch with a scowl.

"That's an understatement, but I do understand where she's coming from." Doctor Kurk said as he leaned back on his office chair. "He really has changed compared to the boy she and your team have described to me."

"Indeed, my first impression of him was a shy, sheltered boy. My aides mention him having a very noticeable stutter whenever he spoke, he was likely not used to speaking with others. But he's now able to carry a full conversation?"

"With no stutters yes, while his body language was quite tense, he didn't seem scared of me, nor was he worried about our conversation. He was more inquisitive than anything. I suggest his tense demeanor was due to the results he found. Your advice on putting the diagnosis for him to find was a good touch, he reacted much better than what we assumed."

"But this doesn't seem right, a Dusknoir wouldn't change a person's personality like that, it'd rather consume it. Worst-case scenario, do we conclude that he has Multiple Personality Disorder?"

"I'm leaning towards that conclusion as well, I noticed his stutter kicked back the moment I mentioned the disorder. Though that could be me hyper-analyzing the situation, such talks could be frightening to a young child like him. It would explain why he doesn't remember any of his family's Pokemon, but not even remembering a key Pokemon in his father's team is quite concerning."

"Right, Arthur Truman… I'll try contacting Phoebe to see if she knows about his whereabouts. If his Pokemon is the cause of his son's condition then we'll need to question him."

"Hmm, well that's your business. For now, I need to calm an angry mother before she meets her son."

"I'll come along to take the blame should any issues arise, after all, he was hurt while in my care."

"Well, I'll hold you on that. Come on, we should meet her at the entrance."