Gengar and Sanura walked into the room. “Kekeh! We’re here at last! This is it? This is the deepest floor of the Murky Cave?”

     “It looks like it,” Sanura assured.

     Gengar looked to the back wall. “Oh look! There’s a dais!” They approached it. “There’s a hollow spot. I guess that stone goes in there.” He placed the 9-Tail Crest that Ninetales gave him into the hole. A light flashed. They waited and waited for something else to happen…but there was nothing. “Kekeh! What’s this about? Nothing’s happening?” Then, Gengar heard a noise.

     “…Wel…co…”

     “…Huh? I thought I heard something…” He turned to Sanura questioningly. “Kekeh! Did you just say something?” Sanura shook her head no. “That’s odd… I could’ve sworn I heard something…” They listened closer.

     “…W…e…lc…ome…” The voice became clearer. “Welcome to the Murky Cave!”

     Gengar and Sanura looked around for an embodiment of the voice, but no one was around. Gengar backed up. “What? What?! Where is that voice coming from? Who are you?”

     “I am the judge of darkness,” the voice replied. “You have nothing to fear from me. I mean you no harm. Just now, a key was inserted to break a curse. The curse… It is the one on Gardevoir?”

     “Kekeh! Exactly! Please lift the curse now!”

     “I cannot allow that right away. I must first know if you have earned the right. I must evaluate you. You must bear your true feelings to me.”

     “Kekeh? What? You’re going to test me? What, I have to fight some boss creature?”

     “Oh, no. Nothing so barbaric. All that I need is for some questions to be answered. However…”

     Lights flashed, and a barrier formed around Gengar. He tried to move…but to no avail. “Gegeh?! What the…?! I can’t move!” Sanura gasped.

     “Gengar, you will not be doing the answering… Sanura.” Sanura jumped. “Sanura. You will answer.”

     Sanura stepped up to the where the 9-Tail Crest was placed. “Huh…? Me?”

     Gengar was shocked. “Gegegeh! What are you saying?!” he yelled. “Why is someone else speaking for me?! Let me do it!”

     “Gengar,” the voice reasoned. “Your heart is interwoven with conflicting emotions. You will probably never show the truth within your heart.”

     “Kekeh?! What?!”

     “Sanura will enter Gengar’s heart. Please navigate carefully through Gengar’s emotions.”

     “Wh-wha?” Sanura questioned. Then, everything went dark. When Sanura was finally able to see again, she and Gengar were in a purple, dream-like space. “Woah…”

     The voice spoke again. “If you fail to draw out Gengar’s true feelings…the curse will never be broken.”

     “Gegege!” Gengar called out. “Hey, Sanura! Don’t you dare fool around! I’ll make you pay for it!”

     She turned to him and smiled nervously. “Eheh… Don’t worry, Gengar…” I just know I’m going to mess this up…

     “You have but one chance,” the voice told her. “Sanura, do your best.” Sanura nodded uncertainly. “Fine… It is time. First of all… Why does Gengar wish to break this curse?”

     “Because he wants to help Gardevoir, of course.”

     “That’s a lie isn’t it? Didn’t Gengar abandon Gardevoir long ago? Why would Gengar want to save Gardevoir now?”

     “Because…he came to understand Gardevoir.”

     “Came to understand Gardevoir’s feelings? What is it you claim to understand? What do you claim to be Gardevoir’s feelings?”

     “She cares for Gengar.”

     “Caring for Gengar. I see… Gardevoir became a presence without a physical form because she bore the curse… But even then, Gardevoir never stopped caring for Gengar… Having learned that, Gengar now wants to save Gardevoir… It makes sense… However… Until now, Gengar had forgotten entirely about Gardevoir, correct? But now, Gengar wants to save Gardevoir. Isn’t that asking a lot?”

     “Well…” Sanura thought about it. “Not really… I don’t think so…”

     “You say that is not so… You believe that this is another matter? And to help is only natural? That is what you believe?” Sanura thought about it some more, and then nodded. “I understand now… My questions are finished.”

     Everything went black again, and then they were back in Murky Cave. Please, lift the curse… Sanura pleaded to herself. Please…

     “Gengar. Whether you have the right to break the curse or not… I will now render my judgment.” Sanura and Gengar waited with much anticipation. “The curse…could not be lifted.”

     Sanura jerked back. “What?”

     “W-wait…” Gengar spoke.

     “It is most regrettable,” the voice went on, “but the curse on Gardevoir will last all eternity…”

     “Wait!” Gengar yelled out. “Wait a minute!” The barrier around him shattered, and he stepped up to where the 9-Tail Crest was placed. “Let me… Let me say something! It’s true. I abandoned Gardevoir and ran. I was afraid that the curse would fall on me.” He looked down, and spoke with a remorseful tone. “I had to get away, no matter what… That’s what I thought. It didn’t take long for me to forget about the curse and about Gardevoir.” He looked back up, contemplating. “Many long years passed… But Gardevoir… She never forgot about me. One night…in Sanura’s dream, Gardevoir said this…that she considered me an irreplaceable friend, and that she still believed we would meet again… Gardevoir kept thinking about someone like me.”

     Sanura gasped. Gengar’s eyes had begun filling up with tears. The sight made her almost cry herself.

     He continued. “But I… How selfish I was. I lived carefree all this time… I realize now how selfish I was. It’s not just Gardevoir.” He averted his gaze to Sanura. “Sanura put up with my selfishness and brought me here. I finally know what I was missing.” He closed his eyes. “What I lacked… It was something for the others… A sense of gratitude.”

     Suddenly, an invisible barrier that surrounded them completely shattered. The judge of darkness spoke. “The lock bearing the curse… It has opened.” Then, appearing in front of them laid Gardevoir’s unconscious, physical body.

     Gengar jumped with the sight of her. “Ga-Gardevoir!”

     “She’s back!” Sanura rejoiced.

     Then, Ninetales came into the room and walked up to them. “It worked, Gengar!”

     Sanura and Gengar both jumped at her sudden appearance. “N-Ninetales!” Gengar exclaimed. “…But… I don’t know what you’re saying…”

     “The curse has been broken,” she explained. “I cast my curse, enraged at your twisted heart. When your heart gained what it had been missing…the curse was shattered. The final key to break the curse…was your sense of gratitude.”

     He turned and looked at Gardevoir. “Then, Gardevoir…?”

     “You may be reassured. Gardevoir has returned. She will soon awaken.”

     Sanura sighed with relief. “That’s great!”

     “However…” Ninetales warned. “That you were her partner in the past… Gardevoir will have no recollection of that.”

     “Wh-what?” Sanura stared at Ninetales in disbelief. “No memory of Gengar?”

     “…That doesn’t matter,” Gengar said. “Gardevoir is back. That’s enough for me…”

     Sanura looked at him. His expression was sad, yet accepting. “Gengar…”

***

     Sanura, Gengar, and Gardevoir had all returned to the base. “Thank you so much…” Gardevoir said gratefully. “My curse has been lifted. You did this for me, even though I had never met you before… I have no idea how to thank you… From the bottom of my heart…” She bowed. “Thank you so very much for saving me.”

     Sanura tried as hard as she could to keep herself from crying. To lose your memory of such a good friend… Poor Gengar…

     Gengar stared at Gardevoir. Even if she won’t remember… At least she’s okay now… “…Good for you, Gardevoir.” He turned to Sanura. “Hey, Sanura. Thanks for getting me through this.” He handed her a purple scarf. “This is my thanks.”

     “Oh? A Mobile Scarf?” She put it around her neck, and then looked at Gengar with a smile. “Thank you.”

     Gengar merely nodded, then began to walk away. “Adios.”

     Sanura was about to stop him, but Gardevoir beat her to it. “Oh, wait, please!”

     He turned around. “What is it now?”

     “Your name… Please, what is your name?”

     “Keh!” He regained his smile. “The name’s Gengar. Glad to meet you.”

     Gardevoir smiled back. “My name is Gardevoir. I am also glad to meet you.”

      She may not remember… Sanura thought. But even so…they could always become friends again, anyway. “So, Gardevoir. What do you plan on doing now that you’re finally free?”

     “I’m not sure. I suppose I’ll just walk around and get familiar with this place for now.” She started walking toward Pokémon Square. “I’ll see you later, then, alright? Au revoir.” They waved goodbye, and she left.

      Sanura then faced Gengar, but he had already started walking off. “Gengar! Wait!” He stopped, but said nothing. “You’re not going to disappear again…are you?” Still, he said nothing. “Please, don’t…” she pleaded. “If you go away again, like you did last time…I would miss you too much. It’s not the same without you around… We are friends now, aren’t we? …So, please…don’t leave again!”

     Gengar turned around with a smirk. “Kekeke! Who said I was leaving for good? Sounds like someone wants to get rid of me. Well, since you miss me so much, I guess I could stick around for a while longer!”

     Sanura’s face lit up, and she gave him the biggest smile. “Thank you, Gengar! Thank you so much!”

     “Kekeh, yeah, yeah.” Then, he thought of something. “Hey, Sanura? You wanted to know my real name, right?”

     “Yeah?”

     “I guess you’ve earned the right to know… It’s Akuji. Zane Akuji.”

     “Akuji, huh? What a cool name!”

     “Yeah…” He then got threateningly close to her and warned, “BUT I’D BETTER NOT EVER HEAR THAT NAME SPOKEN AGAIN, GOT IT?!”

     Sanura winced. “Of course!” Then, she smiled reassuringly. “I’ll never say it again. I promise!”

     “You’d better not.” He laughed. “Kekeke! Well, then… See you tomorrow?”

     Sanura nodded. “Sure!”

     He smiled at her, the warmest smile she’d ever seen on him, and then left. “Sanura…” he whispered. “…Thank you…”

     Sanura watched as he left. ‘He’s not worth it,’ he says… She shook her head at Keahi's words. No, Keahi… He is worth it. When he’s made up for all his past wrongdoings… When he’s admitted them and repented them… When he’s replaced his cold, malicious laugh with a warm, lighthearted smile… When he’s really tried to become someone so much better than he used to be… Tears rolled down her smiling face. He’s worth everything to me.