Ash, Misty, and Brock have just reached the shore on their boat. Brock is upset because summer is almost over and he still hasn’t met a girl yet.

They arrive on shore and find that there is a festival in place. They walk through the fair, and Brock sees a beautiful woman with purple hair. He goes all gooey as usual >_<, but when he looks again she is gone.

We see Team Rocket, and James catches sight of the same woman. He too goes all gooey ^_^ over her, but again, when he looks a second time she is gone.

Ash, Misty, and Brock bump into a little old lady who tells Brock to beware of young woman who will lead him to a cruel fate, or something like that.

Whilst looking for change on the ground, Team Rocket bump into the same woman, who tells James the same thing. James sighs. "Some woman is always causing me trouble, it’s a curse! sigh" Guess who he’s talking about????? ^_^ All the characters are in the shrine of the maiden. They learn that 2000 years ago a man set sail to fight in a war. His beloved watched him go from atop a cliff, and declares that she will wait for him forever. And she did, and from standing in one spot too long her body turned to stone, forming Maiden’s Rock. Also, he reveals a painting of the maiden. She turns out to be the same woman who Brock and James both glimpsed. They walk up to the painting, their faces red and lovestruck, and the man directs them to Maiden’s Rock.

It is evening. Brock is sitting staring at Maiden’s Rock. Ash and Misty make him promise to come back by curfew and he promises. Then they walk off. Later that evening, it is curfew time and Brock still isn’t back. They are worried but Nurse Joy packs them off to bed. In the middle of the night, we see Team Rocket in their sleeping bags suspended from a tree. Meowth sees the ghost of the maiden, but it emits rays from its body that causes him to sleep again. Then James wakes up and sees her and she makes him fly off with her. The next morning, Ash and Misty bump into Jesse and Meowth whilst up at the cliff looking for Brock. It turns out that James is missing too. Jesse launches into the motto by herself, but halfway through James’ none-too-healthy voice joins in from somewhere. They all start looking, and then James and Brock fly out of a shrine behind them. They are possessed, babbling like idiots. Pikachu gives them a thundershoc that helps a little, but Brock comes out, well, almost right, and James is still James but on drugs.

They meet the mysterious old woman who takes them into the shrine and explains that they have been possessed. She sells them a set of anti-ghost stickers which they stick all over the shrine and all over Brock and James. The ghost arrives and the wind blows away all the stickers, and she pulls away the two guys. Brock wants to go to be with her but James doesn’t. The ghost seems about to pull them away with her when Jesse comes out and blasts it with her flamethrower. The two guys fall to the ground. The ghost summons up skull-ghosts who fly around. Ash pulls out Dexter but he finds no entry. Then Misty pulls Ash away and Dexter points at the maiden’s ghost. Dexter finds the entry on Gastly. The ghost transforms into Gastly and declares that he is sometimes the ghost of the maiden and sometimes the mysterious old woman. Ash sends out his pokemon, but Gastly defeats them all in the most creative ways, ie. a water extinguisher for Charmander, a mouse-trap for Pikachu, and combining Squirtle’s and Bulbasaur’s evolved forms Blastoise and Venusaur to make one super pokemon - Venustoise. Meowth, Ekans, and Koffing try but are defeated. Then dawn comes. Gastly hates sunlight and says he must leave, and vanishes.

Later we see Ash, Misty, Brock, Jenny, and Joy watching little candles on boats disappearing toward the ocean. Jenny explains that they are to guide wandering spirits. We see, invisible to the characters, the real ghost of the maiden thanking Gastly for keeping alive her legend as he disappears with the candles.

Afterward, there are celebrations. Team Rocket are playing the huge Japanese drum, while everyone else dances in traditional Japanese clothing. The episode ends here.

- Miniryu