On the other side, the room was very well lit. It looked like a child's play room. There were pictures of some strange woman dressed in an all black uniform with white trim. In her arms, she held a small girl, maybe around five or six.
Ruby inspected the picture. There was something about the woman's posture and gaze that made her feel uneasy. She was standing and posing like, like some kind of comic book super villain. Her eyes had a sharp dangerous gleam to them, like maybe she was proud of herself for getting away with some heinous crime. There was no innocence in the woman's eyes; they were just cold and piercing. Ruby inspected the picture more closely and saw that the middle of the woman's shirt had been filled in with magic marker.
Ruby felt an uneasiness as she continued looking at the picture. Even though the child in her arms looked happy, she didn't know if it was her child or if this was a photo op taken during a kidnapping. The daughter, if that's who she was, was a lot different, much more innocent, she lacked the gleaming snake eyes and condescending scowl of her mother, if that's even who this was.
Haunter nudged her while she was studying the picture.
The girl reached up to pet the Pokémon, as she did, she only felt a very slight pressure. It felt like stroking a cobweb covered in smoke. There was almost nothing to actually feel. The Pokemon seemed to appreciate the gesture anyway, though.
"Haunter...haunter..."
"Thank you," the little girl whispered.
"You're welcome," came an unexpected reply.
Ruby whipped around.
Standing in front of her was an old woman with white hair, a slender build, and almond shaped eyes. She looked like an older version of the woman in the picture, but her eyes lacked that snake-like gleam.
"Welcome to my haunt; pardon the pun," the older woman quipped.
Ruby stared wide-eyed without saying anything. She started putting pieces together, the woman who attacked her brother, the Pokémon she used, this picture.
"What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost Pokemon!"
Haunter looked at the woman with a confused look.
Ruby pointed to the picture; her eyes started welling up with tears.
"Haunter...haunter..."
"That's you, isn't it?"
The little girl paused for a minute.
The old woman sighed and didn't answer.
"Let's not talk about me."
Ruby sighed. She thought she would get the biggest worries off of her chest.
"You kidnapped me, didn't you? What did you do with my brother?" Ruby asked while looking straight at the woman and almost staring her down.
The woman looked back at Ruby; her eyes gave off sort of a kind sparkle as she explained.
"Goodness, no! You passed out. The Pokémon found you, and I gave you some herbs to heal your poisoning. That was a nasty poisoning, though. not to alarm you, but a few more minutes and you might have been seeing the world from Haunter's point of view," the old woman explained.
Ruby sighed. She decided to try to stay calm and not jump to conclusions. The woman didn't seem to have malicious intentions. It wasn't right for her to accuse her of being the attacker, was it?
"I...need to get back to my parents. Do you know how to get out of this tower?" Ruby asked.
"Haunter, haunter!"
"Right now, I would advise that you not leave, at least not until the Pokémon residents of this tower are calmer."
"What's going on?" Ruby asked.
"Well, I'm sure you heard about what happened..."
Ruby gave her a blank stare.
The old woman sighed and shifted in her chair.
"Some very bad people did some very bad things, and many of the ghost Pokemon are out for revenge. From what I've heard, they aren't too choosy about who they take prisoner, either. You're lucky you found us."
"I need to check on my brother and my parents."
"If they know what's good for them, they'll leave Pokémon Tower."
"...but what if they don't?" Ruby said.
"Young lady, it's too dangerous. Please stay here. I...I tell you what. I'll go out and look for your family, but promise me that you will stay right here, okay?"
Ruby nodded her head, all the while not really trusting the woman.
"How do you know what they look like?" Ruby asked.
"Do you have any pictures of them?" the woman asked.
Ruby shook her head.
"Haunter, did you see this little girl come to the tower with her family?"
The Pokemon nodded its head.
The woman turned to her Pokémon, the giant Haunter.
"Do you think you could help me find them?"
"Haunter!"
"Good!"
The old woman turned back to the little girl and handed her two Poké Balls.
"Stay here and rest. Use these only in extreme emergencies."
"Haunter...haunt..."
"Haunter, have you found any signs of the boy or his parents?"
They disappeared in the fog shortly before the girl showed up. I think they might be on the top floor.
"Fly us up there!"
You're...too heavy, Miya. Plus, all of the other Pokemon are probably too young to remember, but some of the ghost Pokemon may still remember that you were once a Team Rocket agent.
Miya, also known as Agent M, supposedly the wrinkled old woman from earlier, paused at the corridor on the bottom floor of the tower.
"If you think I'm just going to cause trouble...go without me. If you find them, stay with them until help arrives. I'll look for another way to the top of the tower," Miya said.
It's too dangerous! You may wind up floating...like me!
"Risks make life worth living," Miya said.
Please don't say I didn't warn you.
"Go to the top of the tower. I can take care of myself," Miya said with a dismissive wave.
Without further argument, Haunter disappeared, and M was left alone.
She cautiously made her way through the fog. It was too thick to really see what was going on. Her foot caught on something hard. She hit and broke a Pokémon memorial by accident.
"Ouch!"
She suddenly heard loud shrieking, not coming from her. Suddenly the fog cleared as if someone sucked it up with a vacuum and standing before her was...another Pokémon trainer dressed in flowing garments with a crown of flowers on her head.
"What hippy flower children raised you?" Miya taunted.
"Who dares disturb my peace?"
Without further conversation, the weirdly dressed woman threw a Poké Ball and out popped a ghastly.
"Say your prayers, Rocket!" the woman said as she waved her staff, also covered in flower garlands.
"I think I would rather battle you, instead, but thanks," Miya said as she took out the only remaining Poké Ball in her arsenal, enlarged it, and got ready to throw it into the battle.
"I hope you don't mind assisting me just this once, old friend," Miya said to the Poké Ball. Suddenly, she was interrupted by something.
Stop blubbering and start battling! We know you'll lose and become our slave, but we'll let you try anyway.
"You know, I have a Pokémon in this master ball so powerful that it wouldn't even be worth it to waste it on you, so I don't think I will," Miya said as she retracted the Poké Ball and put it back in her belt.
"Stop stalling!" the woman yelled.
"Make me..." Miya taunted.
"Grrr...Gastly, she refuses to call out her Pokemon; maybe she doesn't have any!" the woman with the flowers said.
This should be fun, although disappointingly easy.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking when I thought about pulling out this Pokemon to fight a level seven Lavender Tower ball of hot air," Miya quipped.
You can hear me? Level seven...how dare you!
Miya nodded and smiled a faint sarcastic smile.
"What are you going to do about it?" Miya said, her body language challenging whoever or whatever was in the room.
Shhh. You'll call attention to yourself. Haunter thought loudly.
"Haunter, you're supposed to be at the top of the tower!"
I checked the top of the tower and found out what I needed to know. I'm back to help you now.
"Did you find her parents?" Miya asked.
Yes...and no. Her parents are in a state of rest, eternal rest.
"You mean they're...dead? How?" Miya asked.
Let's finish this battle first, and then I'll try to give you the all the gory details.
"Thanks for offering to win this as a fair battle, but I think we should try a different strategy on this one," Miya said with a wicked smile as she pointed to the trainer.
Can do.
With that, Haunter turned and attacked the "trainer."
The woman fell on her face and coughed a few times. Then, she looked at Haunter and panicked.
"Where am I? What's going on?" the flowery woman asked.
"That's what we would like you to tell us," Miya snapped.
What? Stop? That's not fair! Keeping fighting!
"Oh, and Haunter, psychic attack for the windbag who won't keep his mouth shut."
Aye Aye mon capitain!
"...and the last thing I remembered was holding hands with a family during a candle light memorial for their Pokémon...then, I woke up here, in pain, staring down a huge Haunter."
"...and you don't remember challenging me to a Pokémon battle with a Gastly?"
"You might find this odd considering my line of work, but I don't even carry ghost Pokémon."
While Miya and the strange woman were talking, Haunter let out a blast of confuse ray in the background, finally knocking out the Gastly that was his opponent.
Miya heard a small clanging sound after the Pokémon faded out of view. It was terribly faint sound, like a pin dropping.
"You don't say?" Miya answered absentmindedly as she walked over to investigate.
On the ground was a tiny metal object, about the size of a fingernail. Miya discretely picked it up and put it in her purse.
"Well, let us know if you see anything suspicious," Miya said absentmindedly.
Aren't you going to tell her to get out while she still can?
"'Get out while you still can?' What is this a bad 90's horror movie? You know I hate to be cliché," Miya retorted in a playful whisper to her Pokémon friend.
She looked at the woman just standing there and let out a sigh.
"Oh yeah, and you might want to stay away from Pokémon Tower for a while until we get this all sorted out. Unless you like the idea of getting into Pokémon battles you won't remember."
"Should we notify the police?" the flower clad woman asked, still visibly confused.
The woman's last question was spoken to dead air. Miya had vanished like a ghost Pokémon.