Mawile blocked a Night Shade attack long enough for Purrloin to deal with Gastly via Shadow Claw while Kirlia continued to blast others away from the team with her psychic blasts as Lombre and Wartortle were on channeler catching duty, grabbing the freed girls before they fell on their faces. There were a few more tremors that came from above before the channelers who were still possessed let out a series of cries and the Gastly all suddenly fled from the channelers. With the channelers all out cold from the possession, Mizuki was starting to get worried. "Kirlia, do you know if Taiichi is alright?"

Kirlia closed her eyes, trying to feel for Taiichi. "Kir!" She pulled on Mizuki's arm and pointed to the stairs. With that Mizuki quickly rushed up the stairs with Kirlia as Wartortle, Lombre, Mawile and Purrloin followed.

She did not stop as she past two more unconscious channelers then she came upon Ayame and Taiichi both on the floor as their Pokémon were at their sides. She quickly rushed to Taiichi's side. "Wake up! Please don't tell me you…" With her head on his chest she could feel him breathing. "Oh thank goodness. Kirlia use Heal Pulse to help everyone."

Kirlia focused her thoughts as she created a pink ball of energy before her. With the energy at a sufficient size it shattered, scattering the energy around them. The energy revitalized all of the Pokémon as Ayame and Taiichi slowly regained consciousness. "Uh…" Taiichi's first sight was Mizuki. "Where's Marowak?"

"Marowak?" Mizuki took a moment to look around. "I only see a Cubone."

Snivy tried to explain, using her vines to make shapes as she told them. They were rather shocked at how a Dusknoir of all things came and took the previously angry Marowak to the world of spirits. Taiichi got back to his feet as he approached the still crying Cubone. "Everything's going to be alright little guy. But maybe you can help explain why Marowak was so angry."

Snivy walked over to Cubone now, even after Cubone bit her vine she kept calm as she spoke to Cubone with a very gentle touch. Cubone didn't want to talk at first, continuing to try and open the portal again with his bone club, but eventually, with some assistance from Kirlia, Snivy got through to Cubone promising to help however they could.

Cubone wiped the tears from its face as it pointed to the stairs Ayame tried to climb earlier. "Looks like all of our answers are up those stairs. How are you doing, Ayame?"

She quickly recalled Shedinja into its Poké Ball and joined them, "A throbbing headache but I'll live. So do you intend on marching up those stairs like 'heroes' without a plan or are we going to do this smart and think strategically about the assault?"


Charmander wander up the stairs, pretending to just be walking around without a care in the world. He spotted three members of Team Rocket as they were doing something in the far back. One of the men chased after Charmander due to his unusual coloration. As he descended down the stairs to continue his chase only for Ayame to sneak up behind him and render him unconscious. Taiichi started to chuckle as he tied him up. "What?"

"Nothing, Mizu. It's just that we're using Escape Rope to tie him up. Ironic."

Ayame however wasn't so easily amused. "Hilarious. Continue with your jokes. Your Charmander reports that we still have another two to deal with."

With the Rocket grunt all tied up Cubone jumped over as he started hitting the guy with his bone club. "Whoa there, I think he's had enough. Why put the smack down on him while he's like this?"

Cubone started to flap his arms franticly, pointing to his head and up the stairs. "It has something to do with Cubone, or maybe it has to do with the skulls they wear…"

Cubone nodded at Mizuki, pointing up the stairs as he tried to emulate being stuck in a box. "No, they wouldn't…"

Ayame looked back to the stairs, "There are collectors out there who would pay a fortune on the black markets for rare Pokémon, memorabilia or items crucial to their existence; the leek from a Farfetch'd or the pendulum from a Hypno as examples. They are even willing to pay small fortune to poachers in order to possess rare Pokémon. I can only imagine they are after Cubone skull helmets and bones for that very purpose."

"Then the Marowak from before was his mother…" Taiichi looked down to the little guy as a tear started to form in his eyes again. "Forget the plan. I'm charging in now."

"Wait! The plan!"

Ayame tried to stop him, however Mizuki got in her way, "Sorry but they're being shut down now. You could watch over Cubone for us if you aren't helping fight."

When she got up there she found the two Team Rocket members as Taiichi already had Charmander and Mudkip battling against Koffing and Drowzee. "Well, well, looks like the brave little boy scout had a friend come along for emotional support."

Mizuki grabbed Wartortle's Poké Ball, "I'm no tagalong, doofus! I'm here to put you in your place."

"That's it, I was going to let off with a warning girly, but now I'll show you!" The Rocket grunt threw out his first Pokémon, a Zubat.

Mizuki swapped for Mawile's ball instead, calling her out. "Well see who the girly is after I mop the floor with you! Mawile let show him your fangs!" Mawile quickly struck out first with her horns trying to bite it as Mudkip sprayed Drowzee with water and Charmander slashed at Koffing with Metal Claw.

"Drowzee, Koffing! Time to spread some Poison Gas to our foes!"

Drowzee and Koffing both took deep breathe before they released dark clouds of gases at Charmander and Mudkip. "Charmander you know what to do!" Mudkip jumped behind Charmander as the fire spitter spouted embers to burn up the toxic air before they breathed any of it.

"Mawile, I think Zubat could use a little convincing that he's on the wrong side." Mawile quickly turned around as she blew a kiss to Zubat. The heart shaped light flew off to Zubat and when it hit the Bat Pokémon it fell completely infatuated over Mawile.

"Zubat get a hold of yourself and attack!" Zubat couldn't hear him as he flew closer to Mawile as she played it up and acted like she was interested. With Zubat in range, Mawile used Crunch to end the battle, throwing the unconscious Pokémon back to his trainer. With Zubat back in his Poké Ball the Rocket Grunt called out a Rattata. "Now you're in for it, kid."

"Charmander, Mudkip, time to end this!" Charmander burned Koffing before he batted the ball of gas away with his tail while Mudkip tackled into Drowzee's stomach, launching the duo back toward their trainer and knocking him off his feet.

Mawile continued to use her horns to defend against Rattata's attacks. The Rocket grunt sent out another Zubat and Raticate to join the Rattata in the assault against Mawile. "Hey that's cheating!"

"It's not cheating. It's called doing whatever it takes to win."

"Well then it's a good thing we finished playing with your buddy. We wouldn't want your Pokémon getting lonely without dance partners." He turned to Mizuki and nodded to her as she nodded back. Mudkip sprayed Zubat back as Charmander used his flame tipped tail to keep Raticate from rushing him.

"Mawile time to swap opponents with Mudkip!"

"No you don't! Rattata use Hyper Fang!"

Rattata jumped at Mawile again as it looked like she was going to defend with her horn. But Mawile was using her large steel horns to cover Mudkip until Rattata was close enough. "Water Gun!" Mudkip sprayed into Rattata's open maw, filling him up like a balloon.

"Zubat Supersonic! Raticate Quick Attack!"

"Mawile, counter it!"

"Charmander keep Raticate at bay!"

Mawile turned around to Zubat as she started to cry loudly. Her loud screams messed with Zubat's highly sensitive ears and echolocation, hurting Zubat with her loud cries. Mawile took this chance to grab Zubat within her horns in a Vice Grip before she tossed him back to the Rocket grunt. The Rattata that was bloated with water was launched by Mudkip like a ball back to his trainer at the same time. Zubat and Rattata knocked the grunt off his feet.

Charmander used his flames to keep Raticate from actually ramming into him, but he could only spit out so much for so long. Mudkip then jumped in and tackled into Raticate to give Charmander an opening to used Metal Claw to fling Raticate back to the Rocket grunt too, adding to the weight holding him down.

Mizuki and Taiichi high-fived each other in celebration of their victory. "Nice use of Fake Tears against Zubat."

"Thanks. Good to see your Pokémon know how to work together in battle." Mizuki then turned back to the two unconscious grunts and their Pokémon. "So, any ideas about how we deal with them?"

"I'll take care of that." Ayame and Cubone walked up the stairs. Cubone started hitting the two grunts in the head just like the other one, "You should focus on finding the other Cubone and their skull caps."

Taiichi and Mizuki looked around the area trying to find any trace of the Cubone and their skulls. Mizuki found the Cubone. They were thrown into small metal cages, separated from one another as they tried to stay away from the doors as best as they could within such small confinement. Mizuki paused as she looked at the coverless Cubone. "I don't know why, but if they didn't look so sad they actually look kinda cuter without the skulls covering their faces."

"Mizu!"

"Uh, right," snapping herself out of the strange stare she was giving them. "Mawile, break the locks." Mawile used her horns and easily snapped lock after lock as Mizuki helped the Cubone higher up back to the ground. They were understandably suspicious at first, but seeing the Rocket grunts tied up and the other Cubone trying to help Taiichi find the other skulls seemed to ease their worries. "There must be over forty Cubone here."

Ayame looked at cages after she finished tying the Rocket grunts and putting the Pokémon back into their Poké Balls. "It's possible that they had planned to sell both the skulls and the Cubone separately to expand their profit."

Taiichi continued his search for the skulls until he found a rather large wooden crate. "I think I found it. Help me get these skulls back to them and then check to make sure they're all alright."


It took roughly an hour to give back all of the Cubone their skulls and bones in addition to checking on their health before letting them go. With all of the Cubone happy once again and the channelers safe, Taiichi and Mizuki took the Rocket grunts to the Lavender Town police as Ayame disappeared on them once again.

With the ordeal in the tower seemingly over, they went to the town's Pokémon Center to heal their Pokémon and to get something to eat. "Where does she go?"

"I have no idea." Taiichi stopped eating as he remembered those poor Cubone, "Man that was nuts back there. Those Team Rocket guys are twisted."

"I just feel sorry for the Marowak spirit you encountered. To die to protect her child and be so enraged that the Gastly in the tower possessed those channelers to help her. I'm just glad we were able to help everyone."

"Not everyone," still thinking about Marowak and that particular Cubone.

Mizuki looked away having forgotten about the lone Cubone for a moment. "I still think you should have captured him. He would have made a nice addition to the team."

Taiichi quickly shook his head, "It wouldn't have been right." He was now gazing back toward the tower, "He had recently lost his mother, he was about to lose all of his friends, if any of the other Cubone were his friends, and to top it all off to be captured by the trainer who's Pokémon helped send his mother's spirit to the spirit world. I think Cubone has been through enough."

Mizuki didn't really think about it from Cubone's perspective. Now it just seemed all too cruel. She quickly tried to change the subject to get their minds off of it, "So do you think Ayame is coming back?"

"Eventually, I think…" Taiichi looked out the window they were sitting next to, "Since most of the day has come and gone after our side trip to the tower, I was thinking we check out the Silence Bridge and then just spend the rest of the day in town."

"To just kick back and relax huh? I wasn't expecting you to suggest that."

Taiichi just shrugged as he smiled to her, "Well our Pokémon did fight some tough battles and I think they deserve it." He then started to rub his arm, "So, since you're superstar world famous and all of that, I've been meaning to ask you…" Mizuki seemed to have her hopes up predicting his question in her mind until, "Do I use your name in public or use an alias or something?"

Her arms slip a bit, but she quickly recovers and answers casually, "I think using my name should be fine. I didn't actually tell anyone who would go to the press about my time away from the set and I normally had a lookalike take my place at most of those fancy dress up parties, and a few interviews I really didn't want to do. If anyone can put two and two together about me I say let them."

"But Misty did."

"That was Ayame who told her, and I don't believe she knows me as an actress, so Misty probably had to figure it out on her own. But that's just my guess right now. And Misty doesn't seem like the kind of person who would blab about me. Well…maybe to her sisters to brag about it…and they would…oh boy…" Mizuki slammed her head against the table as she really didn't want to deal with this kind of trouble.

"So, alias?"

"Alias…" Mizuki thought about it for a bit trying to remember some of her past roles. That's when she got her inspiration and finally rose up, "Monica. That's the name Karla had in our latest movie. We had just finished shooting the last scenes a few days ago and I still get to just be me, just with a different name."

"Monica? That's going to take some getting used to."

"I know, but better than hordes of people slowing your journey down any more than what has already happened."


After the late lunch, Taiichi and Mizuki explained her alias to their Pokémon so there'd be no confusion for them later on if they had to use it around them. With that all said and done they traveled to the Silence Bridge to check it out. When they arrived the bridge wasn't exactly what they were expecting. "This is a bridge? It looks more like a bunch of rafts fastened together."

"And yet the fishermen do not complain." Ayame reappeared behind them from nowhere.

Mizuki almost leaped when Ayame spoke out, turning to her after she had caught her breathe. "You're going to give someone a heart attack one day if you keep doing that."

Ayame didn't seem to care, "It is capable of holding that gate above the water. There should be no concerns about it holding our weight. Are we going to traverse this now?"

"No, we just wanted to take a look at the bridge before we traveled it. We were planning on just spending the night here and coming back later."

Ayame looked up to the sky, "Get the most out of the sunlight during your travels. A sound plan, and after our unexpected encounter with Team Rocket once again, probably for the better."

"Oh and Mizuki is going under an alias around the public. So could you use it?"

"It's Monica. Nice to meet ya," Mizuki playing it up. Ayame didn't seem to care, though she acknowledged it before returning to Lavender Town ahead of them. Mizuki turned to Taiichi, "Too much?" All he could do was shrug, uncertain how Ayame felt about it.


With peace restored to the Pokémon Tower, many of the friendly Ghost Pokémon started to play with the previously abducted Cubone, cheering them up with various comedy acts or funny faces. Most of the Cubone were obviously happier now, however a Haunter found a Cubone who had isolated himself on the sixth floor near the stairs leading to the seventh. Haunter tried his usual pranks, suddenly appearing in front of Cubone with his face all jumbled up, stretching his face out, even swallowing a bomb and expanding his body to get the Cubone to react. Even as Haunter laughed at it all Cubone did nothing, he wasn't afraid, he wasn't laughing, he just stared blankly at a wall.

Haunter tried popping out of the wall to preform another of his gags but before he could actually do his routine Cubone started to respond. He frantically tried to get Haunter to open the portal to the ghost world but Haunter couldn't do it even if he wanted to. Haunter tried to make Cubone laugh again, however the Lonely Pokémon insisted Haunter open the portal so he could see his mother.

Haunter continued to play around trying to get Cubone to join him in his antics. Instead Cubone thought of another idea. He walked over to the window and spotted the ones who helped him as they entered the Pokémon Center. He knew if anyone might be able to find a means to the ghost world, then the humans might find a way. He just couldn't think of how to join him without being put into a Poké Ball.

Haunter had an idea, he jumped at Cubone and enveloped him in something. Once Haunter finished Cubone looked at his own reflection to find that he now looked like a cloaked human, but when he looked at himself he just saw his own hands, though Haunter was holding him up to a human's height. Haunter started laughing as his hand jumped out to shake with Cubone. Cubone was hesitant to take the offer, to leave the tower, but so long as the humans could get him what he wanted Cubone found the push to accept. To Haunter though, this was a chance to learn new tricks to play on new people and Pokémon. With the deal struck Cubone grabbed one of the left over Thick Clubs and was ready to follow the humans to his desire.


A/N: Well I believe Junichi Masuda can lay to rest the many rumors floating around the internet on May 19th. The Japanese show, Pokémon Smash, is promising lots of information to be revealed about Gen VI. Translators get ready, cause everyone will be knocking to find out the details.