Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, the contents revolving around and within Pokémon, and all of that fun stuff. If I ever do gain ownership, I will tell all! But for now, I don't, sorry. All OCs are owned by their respective creators.
Author's Notes: I highly encourage any constructive criticism because it does help me make the story better for everyone's enjoyment. Please feel free to review and all that fun stuff. I've had this story stuck in my head for a few months now and I'm actually going to write it. The story overall was inspired by the whole 'Heroes of Truth and Ideals' in Pokémon B/W. Anyways, let's get this started!
-Prologue
Ever since I was young I always wanted to be a hero, just like every kid out there in the world. I even went to Ranger school just so I can save both Pokémon and people alike. Yeah, life was easy then at the age of ten, I didn't have a care in the world. My Cyndaquil that I obtained back from my hometown, Mahogany Town, became my partner during my missions. The poor little guy.. He was stolen from me during a mission, and when I recovered him, he became afraid of people; even now, as a Typhlosion, all because of that experiment. I was among the few to become a Top Ranger at my age, but things went downhill after my first mission as a Top Ranger. Saving Pokémon, that's what my job is, and that's what stripped me of my rank. I'm eighteen now, practically a fugitive, my life is on the line and I risk the life of those around me as well. I fought for what I thought was right and now I am being hunted for my ideals.
Yeah, I always wanted to be a hero.. Never did I think I would get wrapped up in this mess..
-Chapter 1
I lie on the hard bed staring up at the ceiling in front of me. The chill breeze lingers in the air despite that no windows or doors are open. My eyes scan around the room to take in the view of bare walls, a small wooden table with two chairs to accompany it huddle in the corner, a lamp in another corner, and the television stationed next to the lamp. My Typhlosion's rough breathing travels to my ears; the guy hasn't slept like this in a long time. Typhlosion, my companion for so many years, I can remember when I first got him as a Cyndaquil in the shiny, red ball that my master gave me when I was young. My Typhlosion is not the same as others, his fur coat is white, opposed to how most Typhlosion's would have dark blue, all because of the experiment those years ago.
My eyes wander some more and I find my Ranger clothes scattered on the floor near the door. The hooded, red vest kept the white tank top and black shorts from the floor. My metallic chains—made from discarded Aron scraps—rests on my dirty pair of black shoes. The capture styler rests on the pile of clothes and reflects the light from the ceiling. My eyes return to the ceiling and the first thought that immediately comes to my mind is that haunting lecture.
"I'm sorry Noxis, but I will have to strip you of your Top ranger rank," Professor Hasting's voice echoed.
"For doing what? Fighting for what was right?" I question.
"No, you broke the code of the Rangers and you will have to pay the consequences. You went too far Noxis, it was one thing to stop the army from attacking, but it was another thing by attacking them. You never hurt people, even if they interfere with your mission."
A knock at the door snaps me back into reality, it even woke up my sleeping friend. Typhlosion's head snapped up, his keen eyes target the door. I slowly move off the bed, shuffling to the door. The knocks continue to echo throughout the room; I really wish people weren't so troublesome.
When I open the door I see a woman with light brown hair falling to her shoulders, her breaths are heavy and tired. I could see my own crimson eyes within her wide-open, brown eyes. "Nox! Come with me!" She grabs my wrist through the doorway before I can protest and drags me into the hallway. My Typhlosion follows along, not for my protection, but for the woman's.
The woman leads me all the way outside of the center and into the cold night lit up by the full moon that hovers over the planet. Lavender Town, there is always an eerie sensation that taints the air. A crowd of people stand behind an invisible wall, each of them staring at the tall tower that shadows over them. From just looking at the tower, there's nothing wrong with it, hell the thing was transformed into a radio tower anyway so I don't understand why there is such a crowd out here. I get pulled and dragged through the crowd until we're in front, still I see nothing.
I turn my head to the woman and ask, "Why did you bring me all the way out here?"
"The radio tower is haunted, just like it was before it became the radio tower," The woman explains in a frantic voice. This woman is Lilian, better known as Mrs. Secretary-of-the-Radio-Tower. She gets a bit scared or startled over little things and even now, she's freaking out when no one else really is.
"It's haunted?" I raise a brow. I remember several years ago when the tower was first a graveyard for deceased Pokémon, but ever since it was transformed into the Radio Tower there hasn't been a case of the tower being haunted at all. If anything, the graveyard, not so far from here, should be haunted.
She nods vigorously with wide eyes. "Just like it was before it turned into the radio tower. The spirits are angry!" Her voice begins to rise in loudness. "What are we going to do! What is going to happen to the tower! Oh my—what will happen to everyone's job!"
I place a hand on her shoulder and calmly say, "Lilian calm down. Everything will be okay. You dragged me out here so I can look into it right?"
However, my voice didn't really calm her down nor did it even penetrate her ears. "I can't even begin to imagine what will happen to all of us! Our jobs will be in peril if the tower is haunted again!"
I repeat to her, "Lilian, calm down." I repeat my sentence a couple more times, and each time my voice became louder; I even shook her a bit for her to calm down. "Now, you wanted me to look into it, right?" She nods. "Okay then, I'll go in now, don't follow and if anyone else tries to follow please tell them not to, drag them back if you need to. Understand?" She nods again. "I'm going in now," I turn my back to her and walk towards the entrance of the tower, "let's go Typhlosion." Without even looking I know he's following right along.
The entering doors move aside as I enter, my bare feet feel the coldness of the tiles. I could see my sleeping gear reflected on the tiles, a simple t-shirt and gym shorts; my dyed, white hair is a little messy, but I could care less. My eyes gaze around the lobby finding nothing out of the sort or even interesting just the usual tables, couches, magazines, and counter for the front desk attendants. "Sense anything Typhlosion?" I ask my friend. I hear him sniff a bit, when I look at him he slowly shakes his head. "Let's head on up then." I make way for the set of stairs that settle in the corner.
At the end of the stairs is a long hallway decorated with framed pictures and doors; strange that this floor used to hold graves of deceased Pokémon. I slowly walk through the hall, taking as much scenery as I can with my eyes even though all I see are the framed pictures and doors. However, now that I listen more carefully, it's quiet. The kind of quiet that is questionable and ominous. I can feel the cold tingling sensation crawl up my body as I begin to pay more attention to the silence that surrounds me and Typhlosion. The end of the hallway draws near and I can find a small lobby with a couple of small tables and a water fountain backing up against the wall. That's when I hear it. A laugh, a hysterical laugh. Typhlosion heard it too, with the way he's staring at every which way, I know he heard it.
"Be on your guard my friend," I say to Typhlosion as I gaze around the lobby myself.
My best guess would be the laugh belongs to a Gengar, they're known to laugh hysterically. If I remember correctly from my capture styler's data, Gengar also likes to possess shadows especially on a night like this, a full moon. I look at mine and Typhlosion's shadow, and like I predicted they're moving around by themselves. My shadow is flailing its arms around as Typhlosion's shadow is jumping. For a few seconds the actions continue, when they stop both mine and Typhlosion's shadows have their mouths wide open and they're laughing, first the laughs are inaudible, but we hear the same hysterical laugh like before. Our shadows separate from us and crawl to the wall until we can look straight at it without having to glance at the floor. The shadows begin to shrink until two dark violet creatures hover over the ground, Gengar.
Gengar, a ghost and poison type Pokémon, also known as the shadow Pokémon. I've seen plenty of Gengars on missions in ruined buildings or grave sites. In the "wild" they like to play with their target, meaning they want to confuse or catch their target off-guard so they can do as much damage as they can. Typhlosion has dealt with plenty of Gengars back in Oblivia, when I was stationed there. If these Gengars are like the ones in Oblivia then they shouldn't be too much of a nuisance, but I should never underestimate a Pokemon's strength especially in a region where the Pokémon are more aggressive.
"Typhlosion," I say to him, "I don't have my styler on me so you'll have to repel them yourself." Typhlosion looks at me and nods, he slowly walks in front of me and stares at the pair of Gengars.
The Gengars laugh with their mouths opened wide exposing their large tongue in the process. Now I really wish I could've grabbed my items or other Pokémon, Honchkrow would be a great Pokémon to have at the moment. The Gengars rapidly dash at Typhlosion with sinister grins on their faces. Instead of charging straight at Typhlosion to attack, they circle around him laughing loudly as if this battle is a game. My friend, however, knows this isn't a game as he coughs out a continuous stream of gray smoke out of his mouth. I know what he's doing, blinding the Gengar and then attacking them within the smoke. The only thing I can see other than the smoke would be the flashes of fire that emanate from Typhlosion. The Gengars let grunts of pain when being hit, they laugh no more. My ears try to pick up as much of the conflict as possible, but nothing loud or drastic can be heard. The smoke slowly clears up and by the time it does, the battle is finished also. Typhlosion stares at the wall attentively and the Gengars are no longer in sight, I look at my shadow and it returns to be completely normal. Typhlosion shows no sign of exhaustion or damage, but his eyes are so focused on the wall that it almost seems like the Gengars are still waiting to attack.
I slowly walk to Typhlosion praising, "Good job Typhlosion." I gently rub between his ears, being careful not to accidently cause a small flame. Typhlosion lets out a little snarl with a trail of smoke, guess the Gengars annoyed him. Typhlosion slowly relaxes his body and breathes deeply. "Ready to go back?" I ask him, without a nod he walks to the stairs and I follow.
As I walk I feel an immediate rush of coldness through my body. I freeze up, I can't even move a finger. My eyes refuse to close, my mouth refuses to open. Typhlosion stares at me in confusion and barks at me several times. Inside my head I can hear the repetition of hysterical laughing, the same ones the Gengars have. The laughs are torturing my head, I'm not scared, I'm annoyed. I feel as if someone is trying to pull my brain apart to get information. The laughs immediately subside and I regain movement of my body. I can feel the Gengar exiting out of my body to float in front of me. It turns to me and laughs again before it rises into and through the ceiling.
I drop to my knees, breathing heavily. My whole body feels cold. Typhlosion blows out a small flame, similar to how a flamethrower, in front of me to warm me up. I lift my head to look at Typhlosion to say, "Thanks Ty, I'll be fine now." I slowly stand up and begin to walk.
When both Typhlosion and I enter the lobby from the bottom of the stairs Lilian is inside and she is overfilled with joy. "I saw those Gengars fly away! You did it Nox!" She shouted, grabbing a hold of my shoulders and jumped joyously in front of me.
"Glad to help," I say to her, "I'll be heading back to the center now."
"So early?" She questions. "It's only eight."
"I know, but I have to leave early tomorrow. I have some important business to attend to," I lie under my breath. I need to leave before they begin to search here.
Lilian retreats her arms and says disappointed, "Oh, I see. Well get some rest."
"Night Lilian, be safe," I say to her as I leave with Typhlosion.
When I exit out of the tower I immediately go straight to the center and into my room, which was still open. I examine the room to make sure nothing was stolen, opening up my pouch that is connected to my belt to find all of items inside untouched. After fully examining the room Typhlosion goes to his resting spot and I turn off the lights and lie on the bed. I gaze outside the window to find the full moon shining brightly over the town. The encounter with Gengars was nothing compared to what I had to do in that ship, but I'd rather not remember that day, all of my Pokémon would rather avoid remembering that day as well.
My eyes close seeing the abyss of darkness waiting the next time they'll open.