So I've been getting a crap load of 'That was so cute' reviews! :D yay! That means that you guys are seeing close to what I'm seeing when I type those cute parts out. But fair warning, this chapters gonna get a bit intense...

And just to let ya know. I strongly feel that Dark Pulse should be a Multi-Hit move. Stumble upon a Hoard in the games or enter a 2 Pokemon battle, use Dark Pulse and it hits ALL of the opposing Pokemon (including the ones you are battling with.) Like Blizzard or Swift :/ seems logical to me.

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That morning Kate couldn't stop staring at Gengar. She was sitting at the table eating her Lucky Charms, and he was curled up in the far corner of the living room, trying to catch a few Z's, since he had literally been awake all night. 'He looks like a cat...' she thought with a small smile. He was by the heater, his ears lay flat against his head, his short tail curled around to his side, head resting on the ground and his nose tucked under his paws. Kate giggled. Her parents were still sleeping, so Gengar had gotten the box of cereal down from the shelf for her and had watched her pour the milk, making sure she didn't spill any.

Gengar peeked one eye open, hearing Kate. He gave her a bit of a smile, then closed his eye again. He heard the chair move on the wood floor, and Kate's little foot steps. He then sensed her lay down on the floor beside him, aligned to his right ear. He opened his eye again and was met with Kate's bright blue ones. He chuckled and smiled at her, "What are you looking at, dummy?" Kate giggled again and smiled back, "You, dummy."

Gengar lifted his right arm and caught Kate in a head-lock. She squeaked and wriggled in his grasp, laughing. Gengar sat up and started giving Kate a noogie, laughing a bit as well. Martha emerged from the hall way, hearing Kate laughing. She stood in shock and watched the play-fighting.

Kate reached up with a free arm and tugged on his ear, which lead to his head being pulled down and him rolling onto her. As he fell, he released his head-lock grip and Kate wriggled out from under him and onwards to freedom. But as she tried to run away, Gengar caught her ankle with his hands, sending her back to the floor. Gengar started a frenzy of tickling at her ribs and Kate started squealing in laughter, begging him to stop when she found the breath too.

"What the heck are you two doing!?"

The new voice made them both stop and look up. They had an audience.

Martha, Paul and Wooper were there, but there was a new face. Aside from those three, there was a Growlith giving them both an odd look. Great. Now Gengar felt like an idiot. He flattened his ears, scooted back into his corner, sat and faced the wall. The quills on his back stood up like a threatened porcupine, keeping anyone away from him. Kate giggled at him and faced her mother, "We were just playing, mum!" she defended with a smile. The Growlith was the one who had asked the question, but Martha was the one who needed the answer. Gengar glanced over his shoulder, glaring daggers at the lot of them. Well... all but Kate.

Martha helped Kate off of the floor with an amused smile on her face, "You want some breakfast, Kate?" she asked. Kate shook her head, "No, Gengar already got me Lucky Charms!" she pointed to her half-finished bowl on the table. This earned a jaw-drop from Wooper, who gave Gengar a dumbfounded look. Gengar didn't see it, but once Kate had said those words, he knew he would be getting looks. He shifted slightly, feeling their eyes on him. Paul smiled, "Well that was nice of him, wasn't it?" he commented giving Kate a playful wink. Kate started giggling. So Paul had noticed that Gengar was embarrassed too? The Ghost picked up on the teasing vibrations in the room and sharply threw Paul a defensive glare, growling ever so slightly.

This sent Kathrine into a fit of laughs, dropping to her knees and hugging her sides. The others chuckled a bit at Gengar's reaction.

Gengar, however, felt his face go hot with embarrassment and he turned away from them. Kate calmed down and picked herself up off the floor and took her bowl off the table, placing it on the counter by the sink. Martha then started ushering her to the hallway, "Kate! Hurry and get dressed! Your going to be late for that class picnic!"

Kate's eyes widened and she took off running to her room, slamming the door behind her. Gengar perked an ear up, and looked at Wooper and Growlith with a confused look, "Aaand... what just happened?" he asked them. He didn't dare speak English though. Wooper was the one to answer, "Kate has a picnic to go to today. It's a school thing, only kids in her class can go." he explained. Gengar stood up and started to walk down the hall to Kate's door, but Martha prevented him from going any further, "Not so fast, Gengar. You know the rules." she warned with a firm voice. Gengar dropped his ears and slumped his shoulders, 'Damn...'

Wooper scoffed, "Martha, when has a Ghost ever followed the rules?" Growlith nodded in agreement. Gengar narrowed his eyes at them. Growlith ducked his head and flattened his ears, cowering. But then Gengar noticed something. Wooper was right. When has a Ghost ever followed the rules? This gave him a fun idea. He picked up a foot, making it look like he was about to take a step forward, but then suddenly turned around and walked over to Kate's yellow bean-bag chair by the couch. He dropped onto it, sitting with his arms crossed and a smug, toothless grin on his face. The looks on their faces were priceless. Martha's mouth hung open slightly, her would-have-been scold caught in her throat before she could even get the first sound out. Wooper and Growlith were giving him this look like he had just told them his favourite color was pink (it totally wasn't). And Paul, well, Paul was leaning on the counter beside the sink with an expression that was a combination of shocked and amused.

If there was one thing Gengar liked more than scaring people, it was proving them wrong and doing something completely unexpected and watching their reactions.

Meanwhile, in Kate's room, the little girl was trying to find some clothes to wear. She was still in her pink cotton panda-decorated pyjamas, tearing through her dresser. She lifted up a blue t-shirt and stalled at the hidden purple shirt underneath it. She picked it up and held it out in front of her, letting it unfold. It was a nice royal purple color, nothing fancy. Kate threw the shirt on her bed and then pulled out a pair of white shorts. She took off her P.J's and put the outfit on. She zoomed out of her room and rand to her mom,

"Mommy, mommy! I'm dressed now, I need to go!" she rushed, trying to push Martha towards the door so she could open it for her. Then Kate looked to her left. Gengar lifted a hand in a half-hearted wave, the smug grin still on his face. Kate looked up at her mom, "Can Gengar come too?"

The question surprised him, causing his ears to perk up. Martha looked down at Kate, "No, sweety. I think he might scare the other kids." She gasped and ran over to him, and clutched his hand. She tried to pull him off the bean-bag chair, but he was to heavy, "C'mon, dummy! Lets go! If the other kids have a problem with you, they will just have to deal with it!"

Gengar rolled his eyes and smiled a bit, getting up, but making it look like Kate had pulled him. Martha was hesitant, "Kate, if the other kids see him with you, they will tell their moms. Then the moms will tell the Council and we could get into a lot of trouble." Kate had that 'So what?' look on her face again. Martha gave her a sad look, "Kate, if the Council finds out about him, and that he belongs to you-" Gengar flattened his ears, 'I wouldn't go THAT far.' he thought, "- You would have to leave home. We wouldn't be allowed to come with you, or help you." she finished, gesturing to Paul and the other two Pokemon. Gengar frowned. That could happen? This town would throw out a 4 year-old girl and leave her to fend for herself just because she had a Ghost-Type as her partner? That made no sense to him. Heck, he wasn't even a Pure Ghost!

Kate sighed, "Okay." She turned around and gave him a hug as best as she could. Her arms were either to short or he was to big or to poofy. Kate decided that he was to fat.

Gengar didn't hug her back, but just settled for bending over a bit and placing his hands on her back, to save him from the embarrassment.

She let go of him and bolted for the door Martha now held open, "Bye mom, bye dad, bye Wooper and Growlith!" she yelled as she darted out the door wile grabbing her lunch bag from Growlith. She was half way down the steps when she poked her head back in, "Bye Gengar!" she said with a smile. The Ghost watched as she ran past the large front window, waiving and smiling at everyone. Once she was out of view, Gengar had a though, 'After all I've been through and all I've done, a four-year-old is the one who doesn't see me as a monster,' he smiled a bit, 'Who would have guessed?'

:..~..:

Kate ran along a gravel path to the park. It was a large green, green field with a few picnic tables strewn about the lower half. The entire circular shaped park was surrounded by evergreen forests on all sides. Wild Pokemon were not an uncommon thing to see while paying the park a visit. As Kate ran through the forest trail, she couldn't help but get the feeling that she was being followed. She slowed to a walk, looking around herself nervously. She jumped when she heard a twig snap somewhere beside her. It wasn't super close to her, but it was close enough to scare her. She took off running towards the open field at the end of the trail.

She reached it and saw her class instantly. Her teacher beckoned her over once she saw her and she joined up with the rest of them.

"Alright class," her teacher began, "This is a free day today, so you all are more than welcome to go play with your friends and in the trails. But remember, you must stay were we can see you." she instructed, gesturing to her Abra, who was napping in the sun.

"Yes, Miss Marpole!" agreed the class in unison. They all crowded around the picnic tables were simple board games had been set up, and on the picnic blankets, to play clapping games, read books, make bracelets or trade game cards with others. Kate walked over to two girls braiding bits of colored string together to make bracelets, "Can I play with you?" she asked. Both girls, each one a brunet of a different shade, gave her a dirty look, "No, we don't want you to play with us." The dark haired one answered. "Yeah," added the light haired one, "You're too weird. Go play by yourself. No one likes you anyways."

So Kate walked away, hurt and lonely. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she went over to the box of books that her teacher had brought. She skimmed through them until she found a blue book with a gold spine. She pulled it out and read the title. 'The Ugly Duckling: A simplified book for beginning readers'. Of course Kate could only recognize the book from the picture of the crying white duckling on the front cover.

She found a soft patch of grass away from the other kids and decided to read the book there. She sat down and started to flip through the book.

:..~..:

"Timothy don't do it!" pleaded a young boy to his friend. The black haired boy, who his friend had called 'Timothy', glared back at him, "Be quiet Erin! Wild Pokemon need to know that they can't come this close to people places with out being punished." he turned away and threw another rock. The two boys had wandered into the forest to go exploring.

Erin, a small red haired boy with freckles and glasses, flinched as the rock hit its target, "But it's just a baby one, let it go home!" he pleaded once more. Timothy scoffed at him, "Stop being such a wimp!"

"But it's momma's gonna get mad!"

"So what?! It's momma can't hurt me! Besides, this stupid little runt is all alone anyways!"

"But-"

"But nothin'! Now be quiet!" Timothy threw another rock. It hit the Pokemon once again. Now, the Pokemon that this young boy had chosen to pick on may not have been the wisest of choices. It was a Houndoor. Needless to say, it's mother and father were both Houndoom, and there is always something one should keep in mind about wild Houndoom:

They travel in packs.

:..~..:

It had reached mid-day and Kate was in the middle of reading her book when two boys from her class came running and screaming out of the woods. She looked up from the page she was on. Soon she saw dozens of sleek black figures pour out of the forest edge. She flung the book aside, got up and started running as one of them made eye contact with her. They were everywhere!

It was like there was hundreds of them, though she may be exaggerating a bit. She heard her classmates screaming and crying, and she heard the growls and barks from the Houndoom. All she could do was run. Most of her class was ahead of her, and had no Pokemon attacking them. Miss Marpole's Abra had teleported away as most Abra's do.

She looked over her shoulder to see how close the Houndoom was to her. Bad idea. She tripped over a half buried rock and fell to the ground. She looked behind her and saw the Houndoom. It was only a few feet away, but that gap was closing fast. She covered her head, curled up into a ball and screamed.

But what happened next was something no one expected. A large dark mass darted out of the forest and blind-sided the dog with a slash to the face. The Houndoom reeled back and yelped in surprise, but the attack had done nothing but stun it. It shook it's head and growled at it's attacker. Kate looked up and was met with a near black wall. The quills on it's back were raised above it's fur in defence and anger, and the pupils in it's pale red eyes had thinned to nothing more than a black sliver. He bared his teeth, exposing a set of sharp, one and a half inch canines where the eye-teeth would have been, a deep, threatening growl escaping his throat. Kate gawked at the figure is disbelief. Flecks of pale blue flames rolled of his back and vanished into the air.

The Houndoom growled back, red fire licking at the corners of it's mouth. Gengar glared, "You won't touch her," he spat. All Kate heard was angry growls. The Houndoom chuckled deep in his throat, mockingly, "Your attacks can't hurt me, Ghost." he stated. He glanced at Kate. "It's just one puny child. What is she to a Gengar, anyhow?" he asked. The Ghost's quills twitched and a sickly dark purple and black aura surrounded his body, snuffing out the flaming blue flecks, "Why did you attack her?" he demanded, avoiding the question, "She did nothing to your pup. She's innocent. Punish the two boys, but leave her and the others out of it."

The Houndoom snorted fire, "And what would that have accomplished Ghost?" he asked, "Simply attacking those two alone would have sent hunters after my pack. We are sending a message this way." Gengar's ear twitched in annoyance, "Attacking all of the kids is just making it worse. If you only attacked two, the humans would know that they were the ones at fault. Not your pack," he explained, "They would understand and probably discipline those boys themselves. But by attacking the ones who did nothing wrong, your setting yourselves up. Your giving them more of a reason to go after you."

The Houndoom bared his teeth, "I'm done speaking to you, demon!" he barked. Gengar had never been called that before. He noticed the wild dog preparing to attack. No flames were held in his mouth, so he guessed the Houndoom was about to use Bite. It was a Dark-Type move, so it would tear him up a good amount if he let it hit him. Gengar heard Kate whimper behind him. He felt her fear and knew she was crying. He could also hear her teacher and classmates, accompanied by a dozen adults, yelling at her to run away. There was Pokemon yelling at him, too. Wild or owned, they all knew that the dogs were the issue. Reluctantly, they were on his side for once.

Gengar focused on the dog again. The Houndoom lunged at him, snapping his jaws and narrowly missing his left ear. Gengar caught him by the throat and sank his claws into the flesh. The dog yelped and he felt them puncture the skin. Gengar threw the Houndoom back to the ground and waited, moving directly in front of Kate. Should the Houndoom try and attack from the side, he could better defend both of them. The dog struggled to get back up, the landing being rather violent, and shook his head ignoring the pain in his neck. He let a burst of flame erupt from his mouth. Gengar ducked just in time, having the fur on his back singed, but not burnt. He growled a warning to the dog, then using the cover of the fire, lept to the side, abandoning Kate only for a moment, and ran at him, nailing a blow to the dogs rib cage. The Flamethrower sputtered into smoke and embers as the wind was knocked out of the Houndoom. The dog landed on his side. As he was getting up he felt nauseous and ill. His paw-steps were staggering as his legs tried to hold him. He glared at the Ghost. The hand that had struck him was a toxic, sickening purple color. He had used Poison Jab. Each use of that move contained a different poison, depending on what Pokemon used it. Some caused wounds to stop healing, others you simply felt horribly sick for a few days. You either healed from it over time, heal yourself instantly by eating a Pecha Berry, or fainted from the effects. A Gengar's poison, however, was not to be taken lightly. Theirs was the only poison know to kill. Given that you lacked proper treatment afterwards, that is.

Gengar sensed a tinge of fear from the Houndoom, once the dog had registered what had happened. The corners of his mouth twitched. He got the dark urge to smile at his opponents fear. To use that signature grin Gengar's were so well-known for. To make him more afraid.

'It will scare her.'

A voice in the back of his head suddenly reminded him that Kate was watching this fight. He looked at her. Their eyes met, she flinched and he felt a jolt of fear rush through her. His breath caught in his throat, 'No...' he thought. Dread washed over him and now he was the one afraid. He had entirely forgotten that the Houndoom was only injured, and not at all out of fight.

Out of nowhere, the dog lunged and bit down hard on the side of Gengar's neck. Thick, dark red blood ran freely from between the Houndoom's fangs. The impact of the attack sent them both to the ground. The dog used his front claws to carve deep gashes into Gengar's ribs and chest, all the wile tugging at the bite in his neck. Gengar hurt everywhere. The dark purple and black aura surrounding him built up in ferocity. Gengar relaxed his body and breathed out. The aura exploded outwards, throwing the Houndoom back a good forty feet away. But also causing the neck wound to rip were the teeth had once been.

Gengar breathed heavily. Using Dark Pulse required a decent amount of his energy. It held no physical tolls, but he was drained of some vital adrenalin. Even more so after taking so much damage. And thanks to said damage, he was very weak. If the Houndoom decided to attack him again, or even attack Kate, he wouldn't be able to do much about it.

Luckily for him the Houndoom was in no shape to fight. He was suffering from the poisoning and probably had a few broken ribs because of that jab Gengar had given him. The landing from the Dark Pulse afterwards probably didn't help. He shared a glance with the Ghost and bowed his head, "You win."

Gengar got up on his hands and knees. He spat blood, and placed a firm hand to the gaping wound on his neck. He nodded to him, accepting the dog's surrender, and watched the Houndoom stagger back into the forest, followed by his pack.

He looked down at the grass. His blood stained the ground and dripped from his gashes. He must look horrible. He could just imagine himself and the look on everyone's faces. On Kate's face.

He braced himself for the horrified look she must be giving him. But when he looked he didn't see her. She wasn't even there anymore. Frantic, he scanned the area, finding her crying in her mother's arms at the other side of the park with the adults and her class. She wouldn't even look at him. He could hear her wails and sobs. Growlith and Wooper were there, too. They were looking at him. Their jaws were slack as they took in the sight. His injuries. What he had put himself through for Kate's safety. Gengar looked away.

He guessed the parents were here because of the teacher's Abra who had Teleported away before the real hell had broken loose. But that also meant that they had seen the fight too. There were many stunned faces in that crowed. He could sense the terror and shock and confusion. He didn't want to be there anymore. He wanted them to go away and leave him alone with his injuries. He wanted Kate to stop crying. It seemed that was all he was good at. Making Kate cry. This was the second time he had done it in 24 hours. He didn't want her to be scared. He didn't want her to never talk to him again.

'So much for not being the monster...'

Why did he care what Kate thought of him anyways? Because in that moment when Kate had screamed, he had felt her fear as his own and something in him had snapped. He had wanted that Houndoom dead. It was only after he had slashed it across the face that he had gotten control of his rage and had started using logic, not instinct.

Kate was his human. Nothing was going to harm her. Not if he had anything to say about it. He just wished she wasn't so afraid of him.

'But then again...' he thought, 'I'm pretty sure I'd be afraid of me too, if I watched all of that happen.'

He took his hand off of the bite and sank down onto the bloodied grass. He just lay there, un-moving. His vision was getting blurry. The blood loss was taking its tole on him, and his adrenalin rush was wearing off. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly,

'Just make it go away,' he told himself, 'Just close your eyes and it will all go away.'