After leaving Porta Vista Harbor, Ash and his friends traveled by ship to a small port town steeped in ancient legend, Maiden's Peak.
It was the end of summer festival season, and the town was bustling with excitement. They soon heard the famous tragic love story: two thousand years ago, a young maiden had waited here for her lover who sailed out to sea and never returned. In the end, she turned to stone.
During the festival, an old woman claiming to be a fortune teller, in truth Gastly in disguise, stopped them. Her voice was hoarse and mysterious. "You… carry an unusual aura about you. Especially you, young boy." Her deep gaze fixed on Ash. "I can see that you have a peculiar connection to the power of souls and will." She was referring to his Aura. "The path ahead of you may intersect with ancient obsessions…"
Ash's Aura stirred slightly. He could sense an abnormally powerful and ancient Ghost type energy emanating from the so called old woman. He did not expose her, but quietly remained on guard.
Moreover, he already knew what was going on. He had made his plans long ago.
That night, after the festival ended, the moonlight turned cold and pale.
As they once again passed by the Maiden's Rock near the harbor, something strange happened.
Brock and James, who had been lingering nearby with Team Rocket, seemed to be enchanted at the same time. Their eyes grew dazed as they stared toward Maiden's Rock, murmuring, "Miss… wait for me!" Then, like sleepwalkers, they began walking toward the rock.
"Brock! What's wrong with you?" Misty cried out.
"James! Snap out of it!" Jessie shouted anxiously.
Before Maiden's Rock, a girl in ancient clothing had appeared without anyone noticing when. She looked exactly like the stone statue, breathtakingly beautiful.
Her expression was filled with sorrow as she silently wept toward the sea.
The sight instantly captured the hearts of Brock and James.
"It's the girl from the legend! Has she come back to life?!" Misty said in disbelief.
"No!" Ash's eyes sharpened as his Aura surged to its fullest. "That's not a real living being! It's an extremely realistic illusion! And the source of that energy… it's the same as that fortune teller!"
He spun toward a shadowed corner not far away and shouted, "Gastly! This is your doing, isn't it? Show yourself!"
"Heh heh heh…" An eerie laugh echoed out. From the darkness, a mischievous looking Gastly floated out slowly. "So you figured it out? That's right! It's me! Every year during the festival, how could I not have a little fun? Watching these silly boys get completely bewitched by a thousand year old illusion isn't that entertaining? Heh heh heh!"
It admitted that both the fortune teller and the maiden's illusion were tricks it had created.
"Release your illusion, now!" Ash demanded sternly.
"Why should I? As long as I'm having fun, that's all that matters!" Gastly grinned playfully and began conjuring even more terrifying illusions, attempting to scare Ash and Misty away.
But Ash's Aura could stabilize his mind and pierce through falsehood.
He did not send out any Pokémon to battle. Familiar with the original events, he knew this thousand year old Gastly possessed profound power. No matter what Pokémon he used, Gastly could simply transform into something that countered it.
While resisting the illusions, Ash carefully observed the maiden's phantom and the stone statue beside it. His Aura extended deeper, probing further, and suddenly he understood something.
"Gastly! This isn't just a prank!" Ash shouted, trying to cut through its carefree facade. "You've lingered here for a thousand years because you can't let go either, right? Your obsession has intertwined with the maiden's over the long passage of time! You recreate this waiting year after year not only to tease passersby, but because you don't know how to end it! You're waiting for something too. Or maybe you're afraid of the moment when this thousand year long wait truly comes to an end!"
Gastly's laughter abruptly stopped. The surrounding illusions flickered and warped slightly.
Its mischievous expression froze. Deep within its eyes flashed a tremor of being seen through and something else… a weariness and confusion accumulated over a thousand years.
"…What exactly are you trying to say?" Gastly's voice was no longer playful. It carried a hint of hoarseness.
"I can help her find release," Ash said, shocking everyone. He pointed at the maiden's illusion and the stone statue. "My Aura can reach the core of her lingering obsession. I can weave the most perfect dream for her. In that dream, she can reunite with the one she's been waiting for, settle all her regrets, and allow her soul to truly rest. She can break free from these thousand years of bondage."
Gastly fell silent, as if judging whether his words were true.
"Not only that," Ash's eyes blazed as he presented an even more astonishing condition, "I can also use a special kind of power, World Points, to temporarily reconstruct a real energy body for her. When the 'dream' becomes reality, she will be able to truly touch the one who has returned and complete a perfect farewell. Instead of forever remaining a phantom and a statue, repeating an endless wait!"
"Reconstruct a body?!" Gastly's voice trembled with disbelief.
"System, confirm query," Ash murmured inwardly.
[ Based on analysis of spiritual intensity and depth of obsession, constructing a stable energy body lasting 24 hours will require 3000 World Points. Confirm? ]
Ash steadied himself and looked at Gastly with unwavering determination. "I can do it. But on one condition. If I succeed, you will immediately dispel all illusions, end this thousand year wandering, and come with me. Your power should not remain trapped here forever. The world outside is vast. It's worth exploring."
Gastly fell into a long silence.
Behind a thousand years of endless pranks lay immeasurable loneliness and a hidden longing for release.
Ash's words, and that seemingly impossible promise of reconstructing a body, were like a ray of dawn piercing into its millennium of stillness.
"…Alright." Gastly's voice carried both resolve and a faint trace of anticipation. "If you truly can do it… if you can let her truly rest… then I will follow you."
"It's a promise."
With the agreement made, Ash stepped before Maiden's Rock and placed his hand against the statue. Closing his eyes, he focused. His Aura flowed like the gentlest threads, reaching into the obsession that had endured for a thousand years.
"In the name of Aura, I weave the dream of eternal rest…"
At the same time, he confirmed inwardly, "System, deduct 3000 World Points and construct the energy body."
[ World Points deducted: 3000. Constructing… ]
A vast yet gentle power surged forth, merging with his Aura. Before Maiden's Rock, an energy body identical to the phantom, yet solid and tangible, slowly took shape.
At that very moment, the perfect reunion dream Ash had woven poured into the core of the lingering obsession.
The phantom maiden stopped crying. She looked in astonishment at her solidified hands, then toward a point in the empty air. In her perception, her beloved had returned. A radiant smile bloomed across her face, one that carried happiness and relief spanning a thousand years.
She stepped forward and embraced the air as if holding him close. Then her entire energy body, along with the lingering obsession, dissolved into countless warm points of light that rose and faded into the moonlight.
The eternal wait had finally come to an end.
With the maiden's obsession dispersed, Brock and James snapped back to their senses at once, staring around in confusion, completely unaware of what had just happened.
All of Gastly's other illusions vanished as well.
Gastly quietly gazed at the place where the maiden had disappeared. The burden it had carried for a millennium seemed to lift at last.
It floated before Ash, its expression complicated.
"The promise," Ash said, his face pale but his eyes shining brightly. "It's time to fulfill it."
Gastly nodded. Shrinking its form, it settled onto Ash's shoulder while Pikachu curiously examined this new companion. "Yeah… I'll be in your care from now on. But pranks are my favorite pastime. Don't expect me to stop, heh!"
[ Ding! Host has successfully released a thousand year obsession and captured a special Gastly with a millennium of power. Reward: 2000 World Points. ]
[ Ding! Host has successfully combined Aura power with system energy to complete a high difficulty soul reconstruction. Aura and soul affinity greatly increased. ]
[ Current World Points: 10000. ]
And so, the legend of Maiden's Peak gained a new ending.
Ash had captured the Gastly that had witnessed a thousand years of history, and with it by his side, he continued toward new adventures.