Loyal Ninetales

The gang was still continuing to Mahogany Town when they stumbled across a rather foggy area.

"I don't like this fog." Misty said. "It's creepy and it's hard to see where you're going."

"We better not continue on." Brock advised. "It's too risky, especially since we are on a mountain. I mean we can fall off one of these ledges without even knowing it was there."

Just then a beautiful woman with a Ninetales beside her walked up to the gang.

"You trainers can take shelter in my mansion." She said. "It's not far from here."

"That will be great. Thank you." Misty said.

Ash looked at the woman.

*'Weird.'* He thought. *'I sense a strange energy coming from her and Ninetales.'*

The woman named Lokoko guided the gang out of the mist.

"My home is near here." She said.

Suddenly like magic Lokoko's home appeared; it was a huge mansion.

"Wow, what a place!" Brock gasped.

Ash felt that something was weird about how they suddenly ended up at a mansion and had a bad feeling about this.

Lokoko led the gang to one of the big rooms of the mansion and served tea to them. Lokoko's Ninetales seemed to like Brock a lot and kept on nuzzling him.

"Ninetales probably likes you a lot Brock, because you remind her of her owner." Lokoko said.

"Is the owner here?" Brock asked.

"I'm afraid not." Lokoko said. "You see, the owner of Ninetales and this mansion went on a journey years ago and hasn't returned. There were other servants, aside from me looking after the mansion, but they all left. So now it's only me and Ninetales staying here and we keep on waiting for the master to return."

The gang felt sorry for Lokoko and Ninetales.

Suddenly Misty noticed something; she was looking at a mirror which was reflecting Ninetales. But Lokoko was standing next to Ninetales and she had no reflection. Misty started to feel creeped out. Ash noticed the expression on Misty's face and decided that they talked privately.

He asked Lokoko to excuse him, Misty and Tomo for a moment and they went into a hallway.

"You won't believe this." Misty said nervously. "But Lokoko didn't have a reflection in the mirror."

"Really?" Tomo asked.

"Yes." Misty nodded.

"I feel obligated to admit something." Ash confessed. "Ever since we met Lokoko and first set foot in this mansion, I've felt a strange energy coming from Lokoko and Ninetales."

"What are you thinking Ash?" Misty asked.

"I don't think Lokoko and this mansion are real." Ash answered. "And I think something's off about that Ninetales."

"What should we do?" Tomo asked.

"We need to find out more about Ninetales and her owner." Ash replied.

Tomo and Misty agreed with him.

Ash, Tomo and Misty began to look in several rooms for clues. They searched in rooms away from where Lokoko, Brock and Ninetales were; that way they wouldn't realize what they were doing. So far they found nothing about Ninetales except old books and other old things. Just then Tomo opened the door of another room and he was surprised.

"Hey look at this painting on the wall." He said to Ash and Misty.

When Ash and Misty saw the painting, they were surprised. The painting was a portrait of Ninetales and a man who looked exactly like Brock.

"That man must be Ninetales' owner." Misty said.

Ash noticed two things on a desk in front of the portrait. There was a diary and green and white Poke Ball.

"Hey this is one of the old fashioned Poke Balls, what they used hundreds of years ago." Ash said. "Prof. Oak once showed me what old Poke Balls used to look like."

Ash picked it up to examine it.

"That's weird." He said. "I feel a strange and strong power coming from this Poke Ball."

Misty picked up the diary to see what it said.

"This diary is about Ninetales." She said. "And it talks about when the owner went on a journey."

Suddenly she became very pale.

"No way. The date of this is two hundred years ago."

"No way." Tomo said.

"Yes way." Misty replied. "And if this was two hundred years ago, then the owner should be dead by now."

"It also means that Lokoko is dead as well." Ash said. "But Ninetales wouldn't be dead though. It can live up to a thousand years which means that it's two hundred years old now."

"What can we do?" Misty asked. "I mean since Brock resembles the master, it means Ninetales thinks Brock is her owner and it also means that he might be in trouble."

"We need to get out of here." Ash said. "But first things first."

He released Celebi from her Poke Ball and explained what was going on.

"So Celebi we need you to go to the time when the owner of Ninetales was still alive and find out what happened to him. That way we can prove to Ninetales that her owner is dead."

*'Leave it to me Ash.'* Celebi said.

Then she traveled into the past.

"While Celebi is getting information, we will help Brock." Ash said.

"We better be careful though." Misty advised. "I mean that Ninetales might be very strong since it's over two hundred years old."

"True, but we have no choice." Ash said.

When Ash, Misty and Tomo went to look for Brock, they found him outside with Lokoko and Ninetales. Brock looked like he was in a trance. Ash released Croconaw and told it to attack Ninetales with Water Gun. Ninetales sensed the attack and dodged it. Brock somehow managed to break out of his trance.

"Hey what are you doing?" Brock asked.

"Brock look at Lokoko." Misty said.

Brock looked at Lokoko and saw that she was disappearing. Suddenly the mansion changed from brand new to in complete disrepair.

"I knew it." Ash said. "Everything was an illusion."

Ninetales began to get angry and started attacking the gang with Fire Spin.

Ash, Tomo and Misty led Brock and Ninetales into the room where they found the portrait, the Poke Ball and the diary. Brock was surprised to see the portrait of the man, who looked just like him. Ash and Misty tried to reason with Ninetales by telling her that Brock was not her owner. Ninetales wouldn't listen and started to attack again. She used Confusion and Psychic to defeat Croconaw. Ash found it odd that Ninetales knew psychic type moves because it wasn't able to use psychic type moves like that. To stop Ninetales from attacking, Brock held up the Poke Ball and used it to return Ninetales which it accepted.

Lokoko appeared and thanked Brock for returning Ninetales to her Poke Ball.

"You're a ghost, aren't you Lokoko?" Ash asked.

"Yes I am." Lokoko nodded. "The truth is I died a long time ago and I stayed with Ninetales to wait for the master to return."

"What exactly happened?" Misty asked.

"I shall explain." Lokoko said.

Brock released Ninetales to listen to the story too. The story was that two hundred years ago before the owner of Ninetales went on his journey, he said to the staff and Ninetales that he would return within one month. But a month passed and the owner didn't return. Months and years went by and the owner still didn't return. As the years passed the servants died of old age and Ninetales was left all alone at the mansion. Lokoko died too, but her spirit stayed behind so that Ninetales wouldn't be alone. After a hundred years passed, Ninetales felt that her owner wouldn't be alive anymore so she tried to leave the mansion to start a new life somewhere else. But for some reason a strange power was keeping Ninetales trapped within the mansion, and she couldn't leave. So Ninetales stayed alone in the mansion for two hundred years. The gang felt sorry for Ninetales.

"It must be the strange power emanating from that Poke Ball that Ninetales knows Confusion and Psychic." Ash said.

Just then Celebi returned from the past.

*'I saw what happened to your owner Ninetales.'* She said. *'He was about to return home from his journey, but was afflicted by a illness and died from it. That's why he never returned, the sudden illness prevented him from doing that.'*

Ninetales started to cry after hearing this.

Brock walked over to Ninetales and stroked her head.

"Don't cry Ninetales." He said. "I'll be your new owner."

Everyone was surprised by what Brock said.

"I'll never be able to replace your old owner, but I will take care of you." Ninetales jumped on Brock to hug him.

"It seems Ninetales accepted Brock's offer." Ash smiled.

"I'm happy to hear that." Lokoko said. "Ninetales has been very lonely ever since the servants died years ago, so she should have a new owner. And no one else aside from Brock should be her new owner."

Just then Misty had a thought.

"Hang on." She said. "Since the Poke Ball is keeping Ninetales trapped here, we might have trouble leaving the mansion."

Then Ash came up with a idea.

"Why don't we break it." He said. "I mean if we do that, it will lose all connection with Ninetales."

"Then Ninetales will be free at last." Tomo said.

So Brock smashed the Poke Ball onto the ground and the Poke Ball broke into a million pieces. Then Brock caught Ninetales with a normal Poke Ball. As soon as Brock captured Ninetales, Lokoko started to disappear.

"I can finally rest in peace now." She said. "Goodbye and thank you."

She disappeared into the afterlife.

"The master and Lokoko won't have to worry about Ninetales anymore." Brock said. "Because I will take care of Ninetales until the day I die."

"It makes me wonder who will look after my Ninetales when I'm gone." Ash said.

"Well I'm sure it will be a nice trainer." Misty replied.

Now that the fog had cleared, it was now safe for the gang to continue heading to Mahogany Town. And Brock was happy to have a Ninetales in tow.