“Hey Jinji… I have a question…”

It’s another night in Jinji’s corner of the Realm of Spirits, and as always, the space in and around the mansion is filled with an array of Ghost Pokémon all doing their own things. One of these, a young and curious-minded Gastly, has chosen to float into Jinji’s room, where the Gengar had been silently reading to himself at his desk. At the sound of the younger Ghost’s voice, Jinji turns to face the gaseous spirit, a smile to his face.

“What’s on your mind, Gaspar?”

“Well… I was wondering. Why is it never cold here in the Spirit Realm?”

“…Geh?”

“Well… don’t Ghosts absorb heat as one form of energy? And there are so many of us here. Plus, the sun is almost never out – it’s night here almost all the time. So why do we never feel cold?”

Ah, to be young and naive. Not all the Ghosts under Jinji’s care, have been with him from the beginning – some Ghosts have come to Jinji over time, having aligned with his views; and others are spirits of recently-departed former mortals. The Spirit Realm is not like the Mortal Realm – the laws of physics are there to be broken; and the flow of time and every force that defines the living universe is able to be tampered with. To new Ghosts like Gaspar, it can be difficult to come to terms with such a reality – after all, when you’ve experienced many years of life under physical rules, unlearning them is not something that can be done in an instant.

Jinji gives the question some thought, trying to come up with an answer that would satisfy and not require him to get into a long explanation. Suddenly, an idea comes to his head.

“Well, if we absorb the heat from our surroundings, it has to go somewhere, doesn’t it? And that somewhere is inside us. The reason we never feel cold, is because we’re so warm!”

“I never thought of that…”, the Gastly responds, a sense of embarassment in his voice as he realises just how obvious the answer was. “But, if it actually IS cold here, why aren’t things covered in ice and frost?”

“Well, I know I like to have an open fire burning most of the time”, Jinji laughs. His joke, while intended to dismiss what is actually a clever question, does indeed have some truth in it – the mansion that forms the home and central point of Jinji’s corner of the Spirit Realm is of a bygone age, and open fireplaces can be found in many of the larger rooms, as well as the study that has long become his private room. Being of an age himself and having a fondness for traditions, Jinji will often have a fire burning in each room, not out of need for warmth, but because he sees beauty in every flicker of the flame. “In all seriousness though, just because we rarely see the sun does not mean it’s not there, on the other side of us; and we still receive it’s warmth.”

“But… it’s Winter…” says Gaspar, in a confused tone. Jinji realises that Gaspar is thinking about his former life. Before becoming a Gastly, Gaspar was once an Arctic Explorer called Jasper, who lived in the Sinnoh region. His life was tragically cut short one Winter when he was buried in an avalanche; and he became a Gastly, now known as Gaspar as a tribute to his former self. Although Gaspar’s death was about a year ago, the lack of a consistent flow of time within this new realm means that, to him, it feels as though only a few days have passed. So it’s no surprise Gaspar, who is yet to understand such things, must still believe it to be winter!

“It’s getting late, Gaspar. I think it’s time everyone got some rest. I know that us Ghosts don’t really need sleep, but we have much haunting to do tomorrow; and it’s vital we all are at our strongest.”

“Awww…” Gaspar groans dissapointingly, but knowing that Jinji is only looking out for them all, he soon floats out of the room and to his own. Jinji chuckles – no matter how old they once were, all Gastly act like such kids. The Gengar soon walks back to his desk; but rather than return to his work, a feeling compels him to look outside, and cast an eye over the dark, empty field surrounding his mansion.

Suddenly, an idea befalls him. Jinji grabs his pendant, and walks over to a mirror on a side wall of his study. The reflection of the room begins to disappear; and the mirror becomes cloudy. Suddenly, the cloudiness is replaced with an image of a Froslass.

“Froslass, I have a favour to ask you…”