The 23 challenges

Chapter 28

"So this is the twisted forest..." said Maya and Serena looking at their surroundings amazed at the unique trees as they traveled with Ash using his Pokedex to search for something. However, this was then stopped when Ash suddenly stopped in his tracks as if he was seeing someone.

He felt a strong presence with him looking straight at a tree that seems to stare right at him. 'I feel like I'm about to get jumped' thought Ash which made the figure slowly curl up in a sad-like stance making Ash and the crew awkward. 

But then Ash looked at the situation from reading the figures Aura and walked toward it making Serena and Maya at first worried but after Maya used a bit of Aura to see the figure's soul he calmed downed and went with Ash to the figure who produced a sniffing noise as if it was crying. 

"Hey...I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings..." said Ash trying to calm down the person who seems to have two streams to purple like tears run down his face making Ash worried as he saw that the figure was losing its soul energy. 

"Please stop crying... I didn't mean what said in my mind okay" said Ash while making a small smile hoping it would cheer up the child who seems to start sniffing and calming down with him tilting his head to the side exposing how he looked. 

The boy was short but his hair was long and raven black with his eyes being brown and black making Ash feel uncomfortable as the boy looked a lot like him with the exception of his hair but slowly he noticed a thin and semi-transparent string making him put all the clues together making him think. 

As he was thinking about the string Maya had the great idea of pulling the string making the boy disintegrate into dust making them jump back. And a screaming coming after that...

"OUCH!!!!" screamed within the forest making Serena and Maya scared and Ash worried as he used Aura Vision to see who it was. "Please...stop it was a Gym Test..." said a short boy who had full white hair with a tint of purple at the back with a tired face and seems to move in a weak and frail motion making it as it was a living dead. 

As the short boy moved toward the crew he then fell down and stopped all movement making the gang have the assumption of him being dead. 

They were about to see if he was alright but then the body started to quickly animate making Serena scream thinking that the boy was a zombie but it revealed that the boy was a robot with a face of it is having a jolt of electricity. 

Ash and the crew were sick of this weird prank but suddenly a cold presence right behind them. As they slowly turned around they saw three Ghost-type Pokemon with scary faces making Serena and Maya scared out their bits making them grab hold of Ash's arm and leg who was standing completely still due to him processing the whole situation. 

"Wait...aren't you the Ghost-type Gym Leader Garl's Pokemon..." said Ash finally understanding the situation to only see Serena holding onto his arm and Maya holding onto his leg like a Koala. 

The Ghost Pokemon then started to laugh until they felt a colder presence behind them to only see a ghostly figure with a half-smiling and frowning theater mask and dark purple eyes making them hide into Ash's shadow who was sweatdropping seeing everyone's reaction. 

"Do...any... of you all...learn...about scaring...challengers..." said the ghostly figure which had the exact features of the robot before. "So you are the Gym Leader Garl right?" said Ash who was sick of the weird situation. 

"Right...and I'm...sorry about...my Pokemon's... behavior..." said Garl slowly as his Pokemon returned to him and sweatdropping at their behavior. "I...think it...would be...best to...explain...the whole situation," said Garl who sweatdropped rethinking about similar encounters.