I didn`t want to talk. I was just running forward, trying not to think about the nearest future. I already feel something bad coming, but that won`t stop me. Mr. Fuji and his kidnappers are now my only trace. Maybe this was a horrible plan to block them inside the ghost-filled tower for three days. I keep reminding that to myself each damn thirty seconds.

But what could I do? That ghost monster was just unbeatable. It was huge, powerful and scary enough to send two adult men running. Well, I could tell the same thing about two Gastlys we caught. They were also under some sort of an illusion, maybe. Douchebag said that these ghosts are in the process of converting into ghost pokemon, but I don`t even know should I believe him or not. This sounds really ridiculous. Maybe, I should ask professor Oak about it later.

As for now, I need to move forward. Firstly, I`m going to find Douchebag. If he somehow managed to defeat that strange ghost, then I can easily get higher… Only if there is no other more serious obstacle that actually stopped him…

Maybe, there is. Am I ready for this? Are WE ready for this?

We`re going to find out right now. The distant scream from high above gave us the direction. At least now we know there`s definitely someone alive. Although, maybe, not so definitely alive…

I looked at Erika behind me. The atmosphere really affected her – I could see it in her eyes. She is scared, but very determined to continue. Maybe it`s just the thrill that keep her going. Yes, that`s why she is following me into the criminal organization hideouts and ghost-filled towers. She`s just an adrenalin maniac! That`s a thing you don`t see every day, but sometimes – yes.

Why didn`t I notice this before? The flames of dangerous excitement in her eyes. She likes to risk… to endanger herself. A regular gym leader job doesn`t give you such feelings. Heh, rich and famous people sometimes have interesting habits.

"Are you all right?" I carefully asked her.

"You`re kidding? We are in a ghost tower! I always wanted to see it!" Erika sounded too excited about our environment. That soothes and worries at the same time. "Who knows – maybe I can find a grass-ghost pokemon here!"

I quickly looked though all pokemon that I know in my mind and failed to find any on those type combination.

"Nah, I don`t know such pokemon. I know just that Gastlys live here, ghost-poison type." I waved at her and continued the way up.

"I heard sometimes wild Cubones live here." Suddenly Erika said.

"Cubones?" I reacted to the name of new pokemon.

"Yeah. Cute little creatures, but… the Mother Nature was too cruel to them. They can actually be on their own only when they wear the skull of their mother…"

"That`s… really odd, I have to say." She made me think about it. "I`m not even sure if I want to meet such pokemon here."

She didn`t reply. I guess she had the same opinion.

At the second we reached the third floor, a sudden energetic shadow flew pass us and struck the wall. In front of us we saw a Douchebag and his loyal Quartz the Blastoise surrounded by a bunch of strange women and their… Gastlys? Yes, looks like each one of them had Gastly in her possession and not hesitated to attack my old non-so-friend. Judging by the strange appearance of these women I could say they look like… priests? Shamans? Regular psychos? Their crazy wide eyes tell about all of this, but especially about the last.

"Night Shade!" They all shouted simultaneously and pointed their fingers at Douchebag. The bunch of gas pokemon screeched and disappeared into the darkness. Their shaded silhouettes headed to barely standing Quartz.

"Okay, boys, let`s bring some balance here!" I purposely shouted behind Douchebag to scare him by our sudden reinforcement and released Dumpling and my own Gastly for support.

"Finally, some fun!" Erika joined our battle with her Vileplume and that large palm tree pokemon she used in Team Rocket`s hideout.

Our pokemon covered Quartz and protected from the attacks. Ghost pokemon were surprised, but their trainers didn`t seem to express emotions at all. I even wondered who`s controlling who here?

"It`s you again…" Douchebag tiredly commented our arrival. Thanking was not his style at all. "Oh… Leader Erika? That`s sudden." He also added when noticed my companion.

"Talks later. We have a battle here!" She replied. This time I had to agree with her. "Vileplume, Stun spore on the right one! Exeggutor, Psychic the left one!"

"Dumpling, Caesar, let`s focus on the one." I began to command my pokemon. "The middle one. Metal Claw! Night Shade!"

"Niiight… shadeee!" The opponents hissed.

"Quartz, use Surf!" Douchebag shouted the loudest.

"Why you…" Erika tried to question him, but she was too late. Even before all our pokemon the powerless but mighty Quartz rushed forward and stomped the ground, releasing the large wave of water from all holes on his body.

The wave was so large and fast our pokemon couldn`t react to that and got into it too. Dumpling got the most of it being not only hurt by the water itself but also thrown back at the wall. Caesar felt the hit too, but withstood that just like Erika`s pokemon. Their grass-typing let them easily take damage from that destructive wave of Surf. As for the opponents, all five pokemon at once were thrown back and hit into the walls, graves and their trainers causing the immediate fainting.

With all opposing Gastlys unconscious, the crazy women rolled their eyes and fell on ground, wet and fainted too.

"Hey, you could at least warn us!" I scolded my stupid Douchebag.

"I could do this myself." He imperturbably replied and headed forward, but I noticed how tired he was. Looks like it was not the first battle of his, and after a couple of another ones he couldn`t do this himself.

"Stop! Tell me what happened!" I demanded from him. "Did you find the way of defeating that monster?"

He actually listened to me and stopped squeezing his fist. And Quartz suddenly gave me a thankful look. I think he was very glad for us to appear here and give him some rest.

"No, I didn`t. But I found the secret way to the tower." He turned back to us. "I guess that`s how Team Rocket got here. That`s how these crazy… sectarians got here!"

"Sectarians?" Erika surprisingly questioned and looked at the women lying on floor. I think they actually look like sectarians.

"Yes. I tried to battle my way to the top and defeat the monster… But I suddenly found them. Controlled by ghost pokemon. And very angry."

I squatted before one of them and looked at the face. Seeing a sect here, in Kanto is not a usual thing. I faced one in Korrok, but… that was one disgusting experience. I do not wish for another one.

"But I think those were the last ones… I battled them too much because of one interesting thing. Follow me, I`ll show you." He turned away from us again and headed to the opposite side of hall. Now Quartz gladly followed him.

"Damn… Go after him, I need a minute" I looked at my guys damaged by this idiot. I had to quickly use two potions to heal them a bit and then followed Douchebag with Erika. I decided to keep Dumpling outside for now, just in case.

We got to the third floor where familiar voices in my head appeared again. Calling, screaming, howling… It`s been a while. Something is repeating again… But this time the ghost pokemon won`t defeat my mind! I know that not everything here looks real so this time I`m prepared.

"So… What were you doing these days?" I asked Douchebag.

"The first day I just called the cops so they do the job." He replied offhandedly. "They cordoned the building, tried to negotiate… They still are trying… Morons… And then I noticed the hidden backdoor and those sectarians coming in."

"What were they doing here?" I got my real interest here. A criminal organization is one thing, but my experience tells me that a real sect can bring much more trouble.

"I don`t know what exactly it was… I just followed them until here. There they were trying to do one strange thing… THIS thing!"

I didn`t even notice how we crossed the fourth floor and got to the fifth. In the middle of the large hall we could see a circle-like drawing on the floor… Glowing very shiny, even enlightening the whole hall.

"What the heck is that?" Erika shockingly exclaimed.

"I don`t know. Runes, demonic symbols – have no idea. But this thing has one interesting feature…" Douchebag said mysteriously and made a step inside the glowing are together with Quartz. They both shined like the place they entered, and a bright light gently exploded in the center. When they went out, they both looked… Rested somehow?

The traces of fatigue clearly disappeared from Douchebag`s face, replaced by his sudden happy smile. Quartz had all his bruises healed right at once too.

"Wow…" Erika exclaimed admiringly.

"Exactly! This thing… whatever it is… heals you and your pokemon! I am not even hungry anymore!" Douchebag looked really excited by his discovery. As for me, I was not.

"Wait a second…" I approached the circle and squatted before it. So interesting thing… And yet I felt something more behind it… "This is not a demonic rune or something like that. Demons don`t exist! This is a purification area. I have seen this once…"

"Where could YOU see such thing?" Douchebag shockingly asked.

"You better not ask…" I carefully touched the floor near the symbol and felt the warmth from it. Now I see that it`s not actually the work of sectarians. This circle is made for a real purpose. "This thing does not only heal your body, but mind too, in some way…" I raised my eyesight at Douchebag. He was still smiling happily, and that already became too weird.

"Heyyy, buddy!" I joyfully addressed him. "How`re ya doing?"

"The best day of my life!" He was literally shining with positive and happiness. At that was really creepy.

"What… with him?" Erika carefully asked.

"This thing… Clears your mind from bad thoughts too. Fills you with the false happiness." I explained while approaching to Douchebag for a nice slap in the face. I waited for this moment for so long…

"Ouch!" Douchebag just squeaked and retreated back keeping his hurt cheek.

"Pull yourself together! Everything is not fine, everything is terrible!" I cheered him a bit.

He just looked at me with misunderstanding for some seconds.

"Screw you…"

"That`s the Douchebag I know!" I smiled pleased. "I guess you used this thing a couple of times?"

"Yes. And so did they. No matter how hard they fall – this thing let them arise again. So I finally managed to lure them as far as I can from this place and finish there on the third floor. Can you imagine almost three days of endless battles?"

I tried to imagine this. Maybe each time both sides could restore their power and strength, but this is so exhausting for your mind… Yeah, I don`t envy Douchebag`s adventures here. At least, mine had some variety.

"Do you think we could… use it too?" Erika asked me. Actually, this would help me with my wounds after battle with Giovanni. But I don`t like this thing at all… I don`t trust such mystics.

"These don`t last for long. And I think I have a better idea." I stood up and headed to ladder up. To the damned sixth floor. Somewhere here we encountered that monstrous ghost that day. The squad followed me and soon we reached the next floor. The atmosphere tenses even more. Now I could clearly see some shaded figures flying around.

"Did you at least get what you`ve left me for?" Douchebag mockingly asked.

"Of course, I did!" I unzipped the top of my greatcoat and revealed my Silph Scope. "I had to kill some Rockets for that."

"Really?" Douchebag asked skeptically.

"No. I lied." I replied obviously.

The device flashed slightly in my hands when I turned it on. The violet clouds around us began to approach from all sides at ones.

"Activate it, damn it!" Douchebag hurried me up.

"Wait a second! I need to understand… HOW to activate, damn it…" I turned the device around, trying to point it at the ghosts, but didn`t find any other button to actually make it work.

"Oh, crap! Give it to me!" He tried to grab the Silph Scope from my hand, but I didn`t let him to.

"No way. You will break this one too!" I pulled my device back and pointed at the nearest ghost cloud again. For some reason this model of Silph Scope differed from the one Douchebag had before. I tried to quickly find another button on it, but I couldn`t.

"Put it on, idiot!" My annoying companion pointed at the head. I didn`t understand what he could mean by that, but listened and put it on. The stripes perfectly fit to my size, and I replaced my regular sunglasses with the Silph Scope.

From the inside of it the world around became dark-blue. Some writings appeared on the screen before me… something was initialized. Damn, this thing is really high-tech!

I quickly looked around me and noticed that the dark clouds became outlined in my eyesight. When I focused on one of them, the device automatically flashed and turned it into a regular Gastly.

"It`s working!" Erika amazedly shouted. Our pokemon cried something joyous too.

Meanwhile, Douchebag didn`t waste the time and attacked immediately.

"Quartz, use Water Pulse!" He commanded to his partner. Blastoise stomped the ground before him, bended to aim at the opponent and shot a pulse of water into him. The Gastly looked scared more than us at this moment, and got the powerful hit in the face before disappearing.

"Another one behind!" Erika shouted at my ear. I turned around not just because of the enemy approaching, but because of the woman`s actually startling cry.

I focused on another cloud coming right at me, and flashed to reveal another Gastly.

"Exeggutor, Psychic!" This time Erika stepped into the action. Her palm-like pokemon stepped forward and stared at the cloud before us, causing the purple aura appear around the gas pokemon. This seemed to damage Gastly quite a lot, and he immediately fainted even before being thrown into the wall.

Meanwhile I flashed three more ghost-type pokemon, and Douchebag with his Quartz quickly dealt with them. I felt a gentle poke in my leg and looked down to see Dumpling boringly looking at me.

"Yeah, I forgot about you. Well… Ember everything hostile you see, pal!"

He gladly prepared to attack the next wave of Gastlys coming at us. So did Quartz and Exeggutor.

And when another pack of distinct purple clouds appeared from the darkness of the tower and headed to us, a loud roar sounded across the hall. The clouds turned back and ran away, really scared.

"It`s coming…" I said and prepared for the incoming attack, directing myself with the Silph Scope at the direction of roar. "Everyone, ready!"

The silhouette of large dark cloud appeared from the shadows. The thing that even made the other ghost pokemon run for their lives… or whatever they are running for. And this thing is the last barricade before the highest floor where Team Rocket holds Mr. Fuji now. They can`t escape anymore… We can`t escape too… So… It`s time to save them!

I focused my sight on the approaching monster. The device outlined it, then showed me a list of possible kind accordance. Then, when the algorithm of analysis was complete, the bright flash struck the ghost monster and opened us his real appearance…