"Spooks! Where the hell are you!" I yelled angerly. Slowly my Haunter's face drifted through the wall behind me with his eyes locked forward and his ghoulish mouth agape. "I know your in here Spooks!" I proclaimed getting rather agitated. The haunters hand had drifted onto my shoulder in an attempt to startle me. Unfazed, I turned to face my disembodied friend as he burst with a yell, grabbing his lower jaw and top of his head letting his large mouth lay open, tongue hanging limp. "Dude... Not today. You know this is a very important day for me!" I slapped the underside of the floppy red tongue to bounce off his forehead. Spooks dragged his tongue down his forehead into his mouth, pulling his eyes into his mouth and pretending to swallow. I cant lie... I did let out a small giggle as my mother entered my room with backpack in hand. "He's just nervous for you son. Spooks here just wants to.. lighten the mood on the day my boy leaves." my mother said, smiling with a glimpse of sadness in her eyes. "I know, but it not like you're not coming with me buddy." I offered up an explanation to my unfazed and seemingly "eyeless" haunter.

My mother handed my backpack to Spooks and stepped quickly out of my room with a smirk. "Spooks will help you pack." She patted the hovering head gently knowing that my haunters version of 'help' is a lot like a game of tag and keep away but Spooks never seems to know if he is IT or not. "Mom! Are you serious!?" I shouted, hearing a laugh and my mothers footsteps descend the stairs from my room. She had always tried to lighten any mood I was in by using my Pokemon against me. My haunter, now with freshly placed eyes on his chin, spun around a foot or so out of arms reach with my pack in his floating mits. He bolted for the wall with all his might to pass through and out of my reach. The pack hit the wall with a large thud and landed on my bed. "Close enough." I sighed.

It was a very stress filled day that lay ahead. My train would depart in three hours with a long journey after. I would be leaving my home in hopes of learning the secrets of Pokemon and discover my path in life. I would be leaving so much behind, my mother, my friends, and all the memories that this place held. All in hopes that this indever would bring peace and some understanding to my wandering mind. "Spooks! Where the hell are you!" I yelled angerly. Slowly my Haunter's face drifted through the wall behind me with his eyes locked forward and his ghoulish mouth agape. "I know your in here Spooks!" I proclaimed getting rather agitated.

"This could be the last time we're home for a long time bud." I whispered as my haunter slowly drifted back through my wall. "Ya' know what this means?" I spoke softly "It means that you and I are going to take a little walk before we head off to the train." I picked up the pack and tossed it over one shoulder. "Yeah bud." I sighed as I pat him on his floating head now about shoulder high. "One last walk around old Lavender Town."

Ch.1

Last Walk

Spooks faded into a soft mist at my shoulder as I stepped out the front door to our home. I yelled to my mother that I would be back in about an hour as the door closed to a click behind me. I herd my mother's muffled voice say "Be home soon Koal! We've got to head to the train station soon." I smiled to hear her so conserned because I know without me she's going to go mad trying to figure out what to do with her self when I leave. "I'm sure she'll figure it out" I thought to myself.

I'd always loved this place due to the lack of the hustle and bustle of big city life. With no gym and the not so much of a tourist attraction vibe of my town it was always very quiet. The odd thrill seeker or troubled kids trying to show there bravery by entering the higher levels of the Pokemon Tower, our graveyard building is about the closest we get to any type of tourism. I admit it was pretty funny to see something so simple and tranquil scare the daylights out of the people and trainers that dared enter it, but to the townsfolk that lived in this place it was no more scary than a Pokemon center.

Spooks and I walked about ten minutes from our home to to get to the Pokemon tower. The tower stood much taller than it seemed on the inside. I ran my fingers across the jagged grey blue lower bricks of the building. I figured that Spook and I should visit the grave of my fathers pokemon, Rilly the Marowak before leaving. I had hopped that seeing the gravestone and saying a small prayer would ease my nerves. Seeing as my mother kept his ashes in a urn above our mantle and Rilly and he were so close up until the accident, it just seemed like a better place to pray than at home to an urn.

Two people other than my father passed during the building of Pokemon Tower. Father and one other man were crushed when the southern foundation wall cracked and fell in. One other man just vanished during filling the third level with cement. He was thought to have ran off from work until another worker found a soft spot in the floor. As it turned out, if you drop a headstone on a thin part of cement with a man under it, it just cracks. It was a dark part of this towns history after that place was built, but our regine needed a place to put those who passed. I guess Lavender Town just fit the bill.

When the door to the tower slid open I could hear a young man yelling, "No shit! I'm serious man! Third floor! Third floor!". A group of about five people about his age crowded him around seemingly mocking him for only making it to the third floor without getting scared and running out. Making my way through the entrance corridor it became more apparent what the guy was talking about. "I'm telling you! I saw a freakin' ghost man! Check the THIRD floor!" he kept on.

My haunter and I like to play a little game when we see these types, always ranting on about the ghost they saw in the infamous Pokemon Tower. No sooner did I look to my right as did I see my haunter snickering with his hand over his mouth as to not attract any attention or give away his surprise advantage. With a quick knod he was back to eathril. If I'm honest it's really not nice what we do but it is VERY funny.

I made my way over to the boy yelling to stick my head into the conversation and say, "Did you say you saw a ghost? I was just on the third floor and I didn't see anything, but I did hear about a man seeing a ghost on the second floor. Yeah.. I guess it is about that time of year." "What do you mean 'That time of year'?" the young man begged with fear in his eyes. "Oh. You must not know..." I said with a slight lean to my head. "Know what?" the group exclaimed. I took a breath and held it in. I lowered my head and turned from the group and said "This is about the time a year that they come down a few floors." After a long pause of confused and concerned looks from the small crowd my Haunter appeared behind them and let out a tremendous scream! "HAAAaaa!" he bellowed. Very soon after it was just Spooks and I in the atrium. We giggled for a moment.

"Well Spooks, that one is going to have to last us a while." I said with a shameless grin almost as big as my companions.

Just thought I would throw the start to my little story out and see if anyone's interested and hopefully get a little feed back.

Thanks,

MMB