Brock began to make breakfast and as always he was well prepared for it, he had all the 
ingredients he needed except for a smaller pot. If he was going to make a good omelet he 
needed the smaller pot so he slightly turned and said, “Hey Ash, could you hand me the 
smaller pot that’s on the table?” 
 
There was no response but Brock figured Ash just went for it without saying anything. 
Several seconds passed by and Brock was still without the pot so he turned completely 
and looked at Ash as he said, “Did you hear what I…” Brock’s question slowly 
disintegrated into the air as he looked at Ash. 
 
Ash was sitting on the chair frozen as if he was tied up, his face almost pale from what he 
conjured up to be fright. He saw his wide eyes and noticed how stiff he was. Brock set 
the kitchen ware down and walked towards Ash slowly. As he got closer he noticed how 
Ash was breathing heavily and deeply as if he were out of breath. Brock took two more 
steps forward but suddenly Ash stood up quickly pushing the chair back. His head turned 
to his right and slowly moved as if he were following something with his eyes. His 
breathing then increased in speed and depth, it was as if there was something else in the 
kitchen with them, something that seemed to terrorize Ash. 
 
Soon Ash began to back up slowly. One foot behind the other and so on, Brock was 
worried but for a minute he thought Ash was just playing a rather disturbingly mean joke 
on him. The look of sheer terror on Ash’s face was real and that worried Brock. He 
looked to where Ash seemed to be looking but there was nothing else in the kitchen. 
 
Ash had kept his eyes glued on the silhouette as he slowly backed up. Even though they 
were passing by some windows and the light from the waking sun was pouring in he was 
not able to make out a single detail about this strange apparition. It was as if this strange 
silhouette was nothing more. All Ash could see were two blood shot bulging eyes that 
seemed to have been almost pulled out of their sockets. 
 
In all his worry Ash had not noticed how Brock was looking at him strangely or the fact 
that he was mere inches from the old stove. Once Ash bumped into it he placed both 
hands on the stove and bent backwards trying to avoid getting close to this taunting 
phantom that caused him such torment. 
 
Ash closed his eyes shut and braced himself for anything but going down as a coward 
was just not in his system, he could at least put up a defensive fight for his life. As his 
eyes remained closed he swung back his right arm as he tightened his fist and in a swift 
movement he swung his fist at the apparition. 
 
Much to his surprise he felt as his fist hit something solid and to much more of his 
surprise he heard a loud groan accompanying the solid object he had just slammed his fist 
into with all his might. 
 
Ash opened his eyes and saw that the silhouette was gone. It was nowhere to be found but 
he did notice how Brock laid on the wooden floor with his hand placed on the side of his 
face along with a look of shock and confusion. Suddenly Ash put it all together; he had 
punched Brock instead of the apparition. He stood there in about as much shock as 
Brock. Neither of the boys said anything to each other but the expressions on their faces 
did much talking for them. Finally Brock got up and leaned over to the old sink and spat 
out a bit of blood. Ash remained frozen as he tried to search for the best and appropriate 
words to say. He knew an apology was in order but he felt too embarrassed to even 
speak. 
 
Brock on the other hand was worried about his now broken lip. He hurried to the hall and 
looked at his mouth in a mirror that was placed on the wall. As he searched his mouth he 
saw a small laceration on his lower lip, it was still bloody and it hurt a lot but over all he 
was still in shock from what had just happened. A few minutes later he broke the silence 
as he saw Ash walking up to him with his head hung. 
 
“What is the matter with you? You know, ever since we got here you’ve been acting 
extremely strange. What is going on with you?” 
 
“Nothing…” Ash said in a low tone, he sighed heavily and remained quiet. Both of them 
stood there silently as they heard May and Max running down the stairs. Both of them 
were laughing loudly but as soon as they saw Ash and Brock they also fell silent. The 
serious look on their faces was surely unsettling which made them wonder what had 
happened. 
 
Ash looked up at May and Max and then back at Brock. Brock was not angry; he was 
merely concerned about his friend. One thing Ash did have to admit was to the fact that 
ever since they walked into the manor he had been acting strange, he even admitted it to 
himself but he tried very little to figure out why. 
 
“I’ll be around if you need me.” Ash broke the uncomfortable silence and walked away 
from the group. Brock was not sure if Ash’s walking around by himself was a good idea 
but he figured he needed a few minutes to himself so he did not follow him. May and 
Max looked at each other and then walked up to Brock. 
 
“Brock, what’s going on?” May inquired as she looked at Ash as he walked away. 
 
“I’m not sure.” 
 
The manor proved to be big. There were hallways everywhere and in each hallway there 
was about twenty doors leading to some other room or part of the manor. It was like a 
giant maze with locked up secrets. Ash had been walking for fifteen minutes and all that 
time he kept trying to make sense out of what happened in the kitchen. He was sure he 
saw the silhouette; he knew he was not hallucinating or dreaming. He did see that 
silhouette; however he was still puzzled by the fact that Brock did not see it. 
 
“Maybe he can’t see them…” Ash thought to himself. The way Brock behaved was solid 
proof that he was not seeing the silhouette. Then a sudden memory came crashing on 
him. Back in Kanto Ash remembered Maiden’s Peak and what they thought was a ghost 
really turned out to be a Ghastly posing as a ghost. A crafty and wicked smile invaded 
Ash’s face as he walked along the hallway thinking that the next time he saw anything 
strange he would pull out the PokeDex in order to identify the mischievous Pokémon. 
Ash even chuckled as he planned out his own prank. 
 
As he walked past several doors Ash came to a stop when he saw one of the doors was 
open. He found this strange but nevertheless his curiosity had overwhelmed him and he 
walked inside. To his surprise he found the room to be an actual greenhouse. Ironically 
there was nothing green about it, all of the plants had died from lack of care and 
everything else in the greenhouse seemed to be either broken or heavily deteriorated. 
 
A strange feeling overcame Ash and for no apparent reason he looked up and saw a metal 
walkway up high on the roof. Ash looked at Pikachu and it looked back at him. 
Something about the walkway called to him, Ash could not determine what it was but he 
felt a strong sense of attachment to the walkway. Slowly he began to walk towards the 
side of the greenhouse where there was a set of stairs that led to the walkway. 
 
May and Max were sitting by one of the front windows and saw how tons of snow was 
pilling up on the door. Not only was the storm slowing them down but now the snow was 
burying them inside of the manor until the snow melted. Brock was still concerned about 
Ash. He couldn’t forget his reaction or the look on his face; it was as if he had just seen a 
corpse walking around. Whatever was going on Brock was dead-set in finding out. 
 
As Brock sat at the foot of the stairs his train of thought was soon side tracked by May as 
she said, “What of this storm lasts for a few days? And what if we’re trapped by the 
snow?” 
 
“We do have Torkoal. We could get it to melt the snow away.” Brock replied with a 
confident smile. 
 
“Great idea!” Max said, “But how do we get it outside?” His words with a bit of sarcasm 
completely annihilated Brock’s confidence on his strategy. Brock smiled in an 
embarrassing way but soon their attention was snatched by Pikachu as it ran towards 
them. 
 
“Pikachu pi!” Pikachu’s muttering seemed urgent and worried so Brock, May and Max 
all looked at it with concern. Pikachu stopped in front of Brock and as it stood on its hind 
legs it pointed towards the side door from where it came from. 
 
Obviously it wanted them to follow it so Brock, May and Max ran after it as Pikachu ran 
through the hallway. Once through the door it kept running without slowing down for the 
others or stopping anywhere near. After passing by several doors and entries to other 
hallways Pikachu finally ran into one of the doors that was wide open. 
 
Inside they saw it was a greenhouse. There were several tables adorned with pots and 
some dirt. All the plants had died from lack of care and water so there were no living 
plants anywhere. In the middle of the greenhouse there was a small fountain made of a 
dark stone which had been deteriorated over the years. Pikachu immediately stopped in 
the middle of the greenhouse and pointed up with its small fingers. 
 
Brock, May and Max looked up and saw Ash standing on a metal walkway facing the 
other side of the greenhouse. They were not sure but they could swear they saw 
something around Ash’s neck. Unfortunately they figured out what it was too late. Ash 
had a noose around his neck, the other end of the noose had been tied up around one of 
the bars in the walkway and he had placed the noose itself around his own neck. At the 
sight of this they froze in fear, the fear was more condensed from the fact that they did 
not know what Ash was going to do. As time itself seemed to slow down Ash took a step 
forward and fell off the walkway. 
 
As he fell May’s screaming was all that was heard. Both Brock and Max were frozen in 
place with an expression of sheer horror on their faces. As Ash fell the rope tightened and 
Brock saw how Ash’s neck did not brake. He used this opportunity to cut him loose. 
Brock looked at May who was covering her mouth with her hands as she continued to 
scream. 
 
“May, get Bulbasaur to cut the rope!” 
 
May reacted as soon as she heard Brock talk to her. She reached for her Pokéball and 
called out Bulbasaur, “Bulbasaur cut the rope with Razor Leaf!” 
 
From the Pokéball a burst of energy flowed out and as soon as it materialized a small 
Bulbasaur cried out as it unleashed a wave of sharp leaves at the rope around Ash’s neck. 
Ash had been struggling as his breath had been cut suddenly and the rope around his neck 
was painfully tightening. As the leaves passed by some of them managed to cut the rope 
and Ash fell from the walkway. 
 
He landed hard on his back on the concrete floor and remained still as Brock, Pikachu, 
May, Bulbasaur and Max ran towards Ash to see if he was all right. Brock was the first 
one to reach Ash so he kneeled down next to Ash and removed the rope from his neck. 
 
“Ash, are you all right? Ash!” Brock called out as he shook his friend to waken him up. 
Ash did not react but Brock noticed he was still breathing so that was of no concern. May 
and Max closed in to see for themselves what was going on. 
 
Suddenly Ash opened his eyes and sat up quickly as he screamed at the tops of his lungs. 
Brock, May, Max, Pikachu and Bulbasaur all backed away, the sound of his screaming 
was heard all over the greenhouse and shook the rest of the group. As sudden as it began 
Ash abruptly stopped screaming, he remained sitting up for several seconds more and 
suddenly fell on his back. 
 
The snowstorm had been going non-stop for an entire day now and it did not look as if it 
was going to diminish any time soon. The manor proved as a shelter but not a cozy one. 
The manor was no challenge for the weather nor was it enough to put a stop to the 
adamant cold winds of the storm. The wind’s howl gave announcement of the cruel 
arrival of the chilly cold that rampaged through the manor from holes and cracks of the 
manor. Max grabbed two thick blankets and wrapped them around his body to keep as 
warm as possible. Pikachu thought it to be a grand idea so it shivered the cold off of its 
small body and ran towards Max. The small mouse stood in front of Max as it looked at 
the young boy. Max of course opened his arms and Pikachu jumped into his arms and 
cuddled on the blankets as the warmth brought back feeling into the small Pokémon’s 
body. 
 
The group had brought Ash into the room he picked to sleep in and kept a close eye on 
him. The group was awkwardly quiet but in their silence they were all sharing one simple 
yet complicated thought in mind that would explain all the events that had been 
occurring. Brock had thought of it but did not say anything in case of a panic amongst the 
group. Brock looked at Ash and sighed heavily, the sight of him hanging by a rope was 
all too disturbing. He had known Ash for several years now and he had come to think of 
Ash as the most stubborn and most determined person he had ever met. The thought of 
Ash actually considering suicide as a way out brought remorse into his very being. 
 
At the door May sat down and kept to herself, she could still see Ash hanging by the rope 
and struggling for his life. The very thought of one of her friends committing suicide 
brought a tear to her eye but she wiped it away. 
 
“How could he think doing that to himself was all right?” May said in a low tone as she 
kept looking at the floor with vacant eyes. Max and Pikachu both lowered their gaze and 
remained quiet as they thought about what May had just asked. Brock on the other hand 
had thought about that ever since he saw Ash up on the walkway ready to jump. He had 
no clear answers and he knew they would not know for sure until Ash would wake up. 
 
He did however know that whatever problem Ash was facing he would assure him he 
was not to face it alone for he had his friends with them. 
 
“Whatever happens do not give him a hard time about what he tried to do. If he felt he 
had no other choice we should respect that but just try your best to calmly talk to him and 
make sure he’s never alone.” With that said May and Max both nodded in agreement and 
remained in place as they waited for Ash to wake up. 
 
After two hours Ash suddenly opened his eyes widely and sat up quickly. He looked 
around and saw Brock, Pikachu, May and Max asleep in the room. He started breathing 
rapidly and loudly and frantically searched the room. There was nothing else in it besides 
Ash and his friends. 
 
Ash got out of the sleeping bag and off the bed and stood in the middle of the room. His 
footsteps woke May up who jumped up when she saw Ash walking around the room at a 
fast pace. 
 
“Hey Ash, how are you feeling? Are you okay?” May asked in a low tone. 
 
Ash heard her and looked straight at her but he did not answer, he simply looked at her 
with wide eyes full of concern and fright. This also frightened May so she stood up and 
walked over to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder and felt he was trembling; May 
removed her hand and backed away slowly. 
 
“Ash, what’s wrong? What are you looking for?” May kept a decent distance between her 
and Ash and as she placed her hands together she looked at him with worry as she said, 
“Ash, you can tell me. It’s okay.” 
 
Once again Ash just looked at her without saying a single word. In his panic Ash was 
able to say in a low tone, “You can’t see what I see…can’t see…can’t hear…” Ash 
walked over to the window and looked out at the terrace but the snowstorm prevented 
anyone from seeing anything. 
 
May wondered what he was looking at so she walked over to the window and stood next 
to Ash to see if she could see anything. 
 
“Ash what are you looking for? What did you mean by that?” May’s concern was now 
growing ever more. Ash’s panic was noticeable and May was beginning to panic as well, 
it was as if he was looking for something but did not know what exactly. 
 
Ash backed away from the window and sighed deeply as he stood still in the middle of 
the room apparently waiting for something; it almost seemed as if he was listening for 
something. May could not wait any longer so she walked up to Ash and demanded to 
know what was going on. 
 
“Ash, you’re scaring me! What are you looking for!” 
 
“Ssshhh!” 
 
May backed up as soon as Ash had shushed her. She crossed her arms across her chest 
and waited to see what Ash was going to do now. Ash slowly took a few steps towards 
the door or the room and stood still. May’s patience was now running on low so she stood 
in front of Ash and said, “What are you looking at?” Her angry expression soon shifted 
into one of concern when she saw Ash had tears in his eyes. 
 
After a brief moment of silence Ash opened his mouth and said in a low tone, “Blood on 
the walls…” At that very second Ash took off and ran from the room. May did not waste 
any time either; she took off after Ash and followed him. 
 
Ash ran all the way across the hallway and ran down the stairs; he came to a sudden stop 
at the bottom of the stairs and looked around frantically. His breathing was heavy and he 
felt as if his heart would burst out of his chest at any given time. Ash ignored all of that 
and as soon as May reached him he took off again but this time he ran into the kitchen 
and May followed suit. 
 
Once in the kitchen Ash ran to the old pantry that was about as tall as the room itself and 
opened the wooden doors to reveal a set of old steps going down. Without giving it so 
much as a thought Ash ran down the steps and May did as well. At the very bottom Ash 
came face to face with a heavy iron door. He opened it and closed it behind him. May 
reached the bottom and tried to open the door but she was not able to, Ash had locked it 
or barricaded it from the inside. 
 
“Ash, open the door! Come back here, please! Ash Ketchum do you hear me! Open this 
door right now!” May kept yelling as she hit the door with both of her fists but it was 
futile. Ash had locked himself in and he was not about to open the door.