Alu grinned, walking next to Minato. Minato was sighing resignedly and Alu laughed. "Aw come on! Cheer up. You know Pichus are very rare."

"I don't care that it's rare… I only care that I need to find a rubber collar for it." Minato grumbled.

Alu grinned. "I'm just so proud of you.~"

Minato looked at her wearily. "Proud?"

"Yup. You managed to beat Team Rocket with your team~I didn't even need to show up." she said happily.

Minato sighed again.

Alu laughed.

They walked in silence for a bit and finally came to a rectangular building which Alu explained was a gatekeeper structure leading into Saffron city.

Minato realized something. "Hey Alu, my next gym battle is technically against Lt. Surge of Vermilion City, so how come we're going to Saffron? If I recall correctly, that is where Sabrina is, and she's the sixth gym leader… I'm only on the third."

Alu waved her hand lazily in the air and shrugged.

Minato waited for her to answer but they had already entered into the building.

The guard blocked them before they could exit.

Minato looked at the guard annoyed and surprised. "What's the problem?"

The guard bowed apologetically, "I am very sorry, but this pass is off limits at the current moment. Please try a different route."

Minato looked at Alu expectantly, but she only shrugged at him and turned around. He ran after her outside.

"Alu, what was up with that? Why can't we go through?" he asked impatiently.

Alu grinned. "Because fate has different plans I suppose."

Minato groaned.

He followed her resignedly and they came to a small town eventually. This must be Lavender town, Minato thought, looking around. "Alright, I sense that we were called here for a good reason." Alu was saying in a matter of fact tone which Minato decided not to respond to. Instead he decided to just walk around since there was no actual gym in the village. This greatly hinders me, he thought dissapointedly. What do you have, a son complex or something? The fox sneered annoyed. Kyuubi, shut up. Minato thought heatedly. I have to win no matter what, that way I can return soon as possible. Hmm… Suppose, but why can't you make her take you back? Minato stopped walking for a second caught off guard. W-what? Using force may be your thing, but I refuse to hurt anyone! Minato shot back, regaining his composure. Alu had gone off somewhere and Minato realized she must be giving him a bit of a free venture. I let my guard down, but I know what to do now, Minato thought strongly and the fox was once again shut off from his own thoughts. Minato sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. He wanted to return, more than anything… He felt a little upset that his whole life was being controlled by Alu at the moment but then he remembered back to the time on Mt. Moon. Alu had been genuinely crying because of the hurtful things he had said… She had saved his life, and he had only repayed her with insults. His hands tightened into fists at his side; he decided he'd definitely do the right thing and not hurt her anymore. He did not want to get back by using hate as his motto; he wanted to get back with a friend by his side. Even though she was light years younger than him; I wonder what people think of us together, he thought randomly. I do not want a replay like at that Inn back in Cerulean, he thought grimacing.

He sensed a commotion and looked up from the ground, realizing there was a buzz in the air.

A few kids ran past him and he called out, "E-escuse me, er… what is going on?" The kids laughed and one of them excitedly said, "There is a giant sleeping pokémon on route 10 leading to the rock tunnel! We're gonna go try to catch it! We heard it's a rare species!" Minato stared after them as they ran off. He recalled that kids at that age were budding trainers. He followed pursuit. Upon entering the route entrance there was a small crowd already assembled and Minato pushed his way through with polite speech and came to the front of the crowd. This pokémon must be quite something, and it's rare on top of that! What could such a pokémon look ….like…. Minato thought as he saw the biggest, most flabby pokémon in his life. It resembled what was supposed to be a….bear? it had a cream colored belly and paws and was also greenish blue. It had small closed eyes and it was so big. Minato stared at it. This is….the great rare species? It looks completely useless and lax. "That's the Snorlax!" someone exclaimed. Minato face palmed, what a fitting name, he thought shaking his head.

He saw some of the kids getting ready to battle it. The crowd was cheering the young trainers on; none of them noticed that the Snorlax was injured. Minato realized it was out of the corner of his eye because it was breathing more strained. He made a step forward and was about to call out when all of a sudden he saw Alu put her hands out protectively in front of the sleeping pokémon. "Sorry but, there will be no trainer battles at the current moment. This Snorlax is injured." The kids groaned at her.

"We were totally pumped up though!"

"Come on! Move it lady! We wanna catch it!"

"Yeah, we'll heal it after it's caught, doesn't this make the job easier?"

Minato heard all of these words and looked at the kids in amazement. They only cared about adding to their pokédex… but Alu on the other hand was caring about the creature not as a specimen, but as a living thing. He remembered her saying something about being a pokémon ranger and sure enough, she showed her badge. " Unit 7. I am rank 005, and I command that you all leave this injured Snorlax to me, once it is healed then you may battle to catch it. Until then, no one harms it, or you answer to me." She said serious. Minato looked at her and was amazed. She was always so carefree, seeing her so adult like and authoritative… it was a little strange; he smiled to himself.

The kids groaned annoyed but they dispersed along with the adults. Minato put his hands in his pockets and walked over to Alu as she was patting the Snorlax soothingly. "Is this the fate you were talking about?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Alu sighed and then she stood up. She turned to face Minato and then she grinned hugely.

"There you are Mina-chan! I was getting worried, you really shouldn't wander off on me like that!" Minato looked at her taken aback by her usual attitude.

"You're the one who left me remember?" he retorted. Alu only grinned and then she began to rummage in her pack.

"I'm gonna be staying with this Snorlax until its burn heals fully." She took out a strange spray bottle as she spoke, and walked around the snorlax which was hard to do because it was so big and the road was small. He heard a spraying noise and figured it was some sort of medicine…a Burn Heal perhaps? "Wow, that was good guess Mina-chan. It is in fact a burn heal." Alu said happily. She squeezed back over to his side.

"Please stop calling me Mina-chan." Minato said tiredly.

"Ok…Sparky." She said winking. Minato groaned.

The snorlax made a deep rumbling of gratitude and Minato watched with undivided interest as Alu packed up. "There is a small lodging in the town you can rent out. This town hasn't had much business in a while so it should be fine." Alu was saying.

"Eh? Not much business? Why's that?" Minato asked.

"Well, I don't the details, but there is a rumor that in that old lavender tower, a ghost lurks, a ghost of a pokémon who died in a fire. That creature is said to haunt the tower because it is waiting to exact its revenge… or it could be waiting for something. Who knows? I haven't figured out how to end it yet. " Alu said grinning at Minato. Minato groaned.

"You mean you made that up?" he thought, weakly sinking to his knees in resignation.

Damn, she knows how to get a guy… He thought sighing. Alu giggled. But her face became serious again.

"Did I?"

Minato looked at her trying to figure her out. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you are making it up. There are no such things as ghosts."

"You were one." Alu pointed out.

"That's different! I mean…ghosts can't be seen! Normally…" Minato argued.

"Normally..correct…but there are some instances…."

Minato clamped his hands over his ears, "I can't hear you, lalallalalalallaa!"

Alu laughed.

Minato got up. "I'm heading in to look around town a bit more, probably do some training with the gang as well. The sooner we finish here, the sooner I can get to my village." Alu stared after him as he walked off. She had smiled and waved at him but now that his back was turned, a sad light shined in her eyes once again. She shook her head, and turned back to the Snorlax.

It was evening and Alu had been relaxing when all of a sudden a string shot came out of nowhere and spun her up. She couldn't call for help, her mouth had been covered by the attack as well. She struggled. She wondered if it was those kids, but some annoying laughter proved otherwise. Two team rocket grunts stepped out from the dark and so did their pokémon. "Oh?" The woman on the right said surprised. "We heard there was a poke ranger in town but who would've thought it was just a kid. No matter, it'll be easier to dispose of you this way." Alu couldn't call out her partner or her others; the woman had a Beautifly which could truss them up fast. The Beatifly looked mostly normal, but something was wrong with it…. Alu noticed its eyes were red. ! she thought. She struggled but her energy was still very low. She had to try though! She didn't call for help from Minato; no this was her fight. She had no reason to depend on him. She hurriedly tried to run but her legs were tied up as well and she fell; hard. The Snorlax was still in a deep sleep recovering. Alu didn't know who these two were, they didn't strike her as familiar. The woman had blue short hair and a pair of cold blue eyes where-as her accomplice had brown eyes and dark brown hair. He had an Umbreon and she noticed something strange; its eyes were a darker red that normal. What was wrong with them? Some sort of mind control? Alu thought shocked.

"We'll just be taking this here Snorlax and we can't have any witnesses to tattle on us can we?" the woman said as though she was purring. Out flashed her Persian who hissed at Alu Alu's heart beat faster. I have to win… I can do this…I can….! Alu thought and then she grinned at her captors.

"Not on my watch, you don't!" came a confident voice from the trees.

The two looked up in surprise. There was Minato with his arms folded. "Sorry, but, you'll be leaving here empty handed, but not scott-free." He said, staring at the two. The man yelled at his Umbreon, "Use Shadow ball!" Minato dodged the shadow ball attacks and avoided the string attacks that followed. He was still faster than an average human; even with his chakra sealed and he made this known as he knocked out the bad guy. The woman glared at him, and her Persian and Beutifly and the Umbreon lunged at Minato. Minato was prepared and all of a sudden a sleep powder filled the area. Minato pulled Alu out and he and her watched as the woman fell asleep along with the pokémon.

"Thanks," Alu said.

"Well Snorlax is safe thanks to Bulbasaur's sleep powder." Minato said, freeing Alu from the now slackened string shot.

"Yeah, that was smart, waiting for just the right moment, and all that. Cool thinking." Alu said.

"Well, it was only because you told me earlier that you felt uneasy about those two bystanders in that crowd from earlier. Good thing you decided to investigate huh?"

Minato said shrugging.

"Yep, two is better than one!" Alu said happily, petting Bulbasaur praisingly.

"I'll tie up these two, let authority take it from here." Minato said and he did as he said while Alu meanwhile tried to figure out what was wrong with the pokémon. The Umbreon was the first to come to, and it looked at her confused. It was no longer under any sort of control and Minato found some sort of device in each of the Rocket Grunts' pockets. "No way, it's a mind control device….it must somehow affect their brainwaves," Alu said before Minato could make a theory. He looked at her. "You sound like you've heard of it before." Alu nodded at him. "Sadly, in this world….there are people who only seek to exploit the powers of the pokémon, seeing them merely as tools and even….monsters." Minato couldn't meet her eyes when she said that. She wasn't going to get him to categorize Kyuubi with them that easily; It would take a helluva lot more than that to even just consider the fact that Kyuubi wasn't a mad deranged killer.

Alu tapped his forehead. "Relax, I don't care if you don't see things my way. I'm only saying that creatures of any sort of phenomenal ability will always be used whether for justice…or for evil. In the end…we humans still control the fate of these creatures…."

Minato looked at the Snorlax and tried to figure out where such a lazy weird pokémon fit in.

"Anyways, let's get them to a Pokémon Center Pronto. We'll depart tomorrow morning. Like you say, the rest is out of my hands." Alu said as she called out Abby. She nodded and Abby teleported them all to the Pokémon Center where the story was explained.

The next morning Minato woke up earlier than Alu. He rubbed his eyes and felt the cool breeze on his face. He had camped out with her to keep the Snorlax safe, and no further harm had come to it. He stretched and looked around. Suddenly he realized something. The Snorlax was gone. His jaw dropped. It had seemed so big, he had no idea how fast that thing could actually go. "Alu…" He said, and Alu rolled over, "Mhhmm?"

"The Snorlax is gone." He stated.

Alu opened one eye and then stretched. She sat up. She looked around groggily. "So it would appear…" she said. "Is that all?" she asked.

Minato looked at her stumped. "Uh…what if it was taken!"

"It wasn't, it left in the middle of the night fully healed." Alu mumbled and she went back to sleep. Minato stared at her. Really…. He thought to himself, I went to all that trouble and it's not even here anymore. He sighed. He closed his eyes…. And then he opened them quick again. He shook Alu.

Alu got up finally grumbling.

Minato: "Alu….what about that Lavender tower?"

"Eh? What about the haunted tower?" Alu asked.

"It's not haunted! I just mean, I heard in town yesterday while taking a break that there was supposedly this... item that had a strange sort of energy." Alu looked at him curious.

"Since the Saffron Route is open on this end, we can go through Saffron now and get down to Vermilion city, why do you want to bother with some rumor?" she asked bored.

Minato had expected her to jump on the idea and was surprised at her disinterest in the matter. He folded his arms thinking, true, my desire to get back to home is greater than this but…. But….I feel…curious all the same… I shouldn't….but... I may never return to this place after I leave…

"That's the spirit!" Alu said, thumping Minato hard on the back cheerfully.

"Off we go then! To the Haunted Tower!" She marched off all packed up already and

Minato groaned. "Stop saying that! That isn't its name."

"Ok, the Haunted Lavender Tower!~" Alu fixed and she marched on with Minato trailing behind, wondering if she had changed her mind due to his thoughts. I change my mind, I'm going. He thought and he turned to go. He got a few feet but realized she was not going to follow and groaned again. She really is….controlling my life. He trudged after her, hoping that she wouldn't pull a prank on him; most of all, he was hoping the Lavender Tower was not haunted.