Chapter 61, everybody! And now we're getting into the stuff that would have been really good in October but oh well.
In other news, there was indeed a Beetlejuice cartoon, and every time I hear some big company complain about how something would be too hard to animate I think of the fact that they animated that striped suit of Beej's in nearly every episode. Also referencing the Buried Alive and White Hand creepypastas, and the fact that yes Darkrai does look like a Ghost type despite being pure Dark. And Furfrou-Doo seems to fit as a Scooby-Doo expy. XD
Another urban legend we're addressing? Gary/Blue's Raticate. We'll leave whether it's an actual point here up in the air, maybe—speaking of Raticates, we're also mentioning the one from my sort-of pilot episode for this fic, "Ghosts in the Machine."
Also I feel like I'm indirectly referencing a lot of nuzlockes with the various ways that 'mons are disposed of on trails good grief. And leaning on the there was a war before the games started theory I was doing up a paper on that and I really need to finish it.
Moving on: Chryssal, Kayuri Igrimakeon Pax, LongNightDragon, Cyan Quartz, Dragonkeeper10, talesfanjmf, Urdeadnotbigsurprise (thank you, glad to BE back! :D), Chroniclerpoke, Vilkath, and Guest(s), thanks for the reviews! Y'all are great. :D
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
What's New, Scooby-Doo? © 2002 Warner Brothers
And now, for something completely different:
What's new Furfrou-Doo? Coming after you—gotta solve that mystery! What's new Furfrou-Doo? The trail leads back to you—what's new Furfrou-Doo! Don't look back, you may find another clue! Poké-snacks will be waiting here for you! What's new Furfrou-Doo? Coming after you—gotta solve that mystery! I see you Furfrou-Doo, the trail leads back to you—what's new, Furfrou-Doo?
The purple-tinged tower looked no less terrifying and spooky during the day. As a matter of fact, it looked worse—just a normal, slightly-creepy building in a normal, slightly-creepy town.
"I told you it wasn't going anywhere," Brock said, slightly smug.
"Yeah, you say that, but how do you know it's not one of those mountain retreats like on Beetlejuice? Where every time you say it, it backs up?"
"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."
"Maybe I should go on ahead to Saffron," Misty said. "Scout out the competition and all that."
"Aw, come on, Misty," Ash teased. "You're not afraid of ghosts, are you?"
"More like a healthy respect for them."
"She's scared," Ash said to Brock.
"Oh come on! Don't tell me you're not at least a little spooked!"
"Nope!" Ash said, shaking his head. "I'm ready and raring to check out all the urban legends surrounding this place!"
"The—do what?"
"Makes sense," Brock said, shrugging. "After all, it's a tower filled with the remains of Pokémon—horror stories were bound to turn up sooner or later."
"Yeah," Ash said eagerly. "Like—how all the Pokémon rise from their graves on full moons…or-or that buried alive ghost, where if you beat it you white out and if you lose to it it eats you alive….Or hey—that—that—augh Misty! That white hand on your shoulder!"
Misty screamed, jumped into Brock's arms—scowled as Ash dissolved into laughter, Darkrai floating over and joining in.
"I-I-I knew it was you!" Misty tried, pointing at Darkrai. "I've heard of that one, and I'm pretty sure the white hand has five fingers!"
"If you guys are trying to get her to come along, I don't think this is the way to do it," Brock said, apparently taking her leaping into his arms Furfrou-Doo style in stride. "And I don't think you should be out in the open like this," he added, looking at Darkrai.
"Nonsense," Darkrai said airily, waving him off. "People have long been mis-assigning the Ghost type to Darkrai—from a distance, I look like just another spook."
"But I do need to catch a real spook," Ash said, pulling out a flashlight and testing it. "And since the Pokémon Tower is the only place to catch a Ghost Pokémon in Kanto, that's where I'll be! And I'm not coming out until I catch one!" he declared, running inside.
"Ash, show some respect!" Brock yelled, handing Misty off to a confused Darkrai before running in after him.
"Well this is awkward," Darkrai said after a minute.
"Yeah," Misty said. "You can put me down now—gaack!"
Darkrai dusted his claws off from dropping Misty, floated in after the others, ignoring Misty running after him and yelling—
Dodged into a shadowy enclave when he heard the argument ahead of him.
"What are you doing here, Ash?" Gary demanded, as Misty caught up with the others. "You don't have any dead Pokémon!"
"Yeesh, Gary! I thought you were a ghost!" Ash gasped, patting his chest.
"Hmph. You always were a loser, Ash—only babies believe in ghosts!"
"Hey!" Misty snapped—Gary might not have realized it, but he had just insulted her too.
Before she could warm up to rip him a new one, Brock stepped between them.
"Guys, here is not the place, and now is not the time," Brock insisted evenly. "Come on, it's disrespectful."
They glanced around, as though recalling what they were standing in—a war monument, a Pokémon graveyard, a place of death and quiet respect.
They sobered up quickly. Gary gave them a short nod, stalked out without another word.
"Jerk," Misty muttered. "I wonder what he was doing here."
"Ghost hunting?" Ash guessed.
"No way—didn't you hear him? Only babies believe in ghosts—hmmph!"
Ash shook his head, glanced around, spotted Darkrai floating above a tombstone not too far from where Gary had come from. "Hey, Darkrai! What are you looking at?"
Darkrai looked at him, back at the tombstone before floating over.
"Nothing," Darkrai said. "Nothing at all."
"I have a question."
"Go for it," Brock said.
"Why bury Pokémon here?" Misty asked, glancing about as they made their way through the tower. "I mean, I get the war Pokémon, but this is an awfully long way to come to bury a Pokémon."
"We didn't," Ash said. "When Ratty died—my mom's Pokémon. We cremated him, and he's on the mantle."
"We had an old Dewgong we buried in the backyard," Misty said. "I miss him—he was really sweet, and he'd always play with me."
"Most landowners do bury their dead Pokémon in their backyards," Brock said. "And some in towns bury them in a town cemetery. And then there's travelling trainers in the middle of a journey who misjudge an attack, or those in the city who have no place to bury their Pokémon. Some of them choose cremation, and others choose to bury their Pokémon in the Pokémon Tower."
"But why would a trainer bury their Pokémon here?" Misty asked. "It's creepy."
"Save on backpack space?" Ash guessed.
Darkrai popped up behind Misty, eliciting a frightened yeek from her. "And to keep from using the ash as a Pokémon item," he suggested.
"Ew," Brock opined. "Moving on—it's easier to find a tombstone here than on the road."
"And people are less likely to plant berries on their graves."
"Are you done?"
"And scavenger Pokémon are less likely to dig them up here because they actually dig the graves the right depth here. Now I'm done."
Brock wobbled his head, as though he didn't quite believe Darkrai on this. "Of course, there's always that questionable point—that for some reason these types of places always attract Ghost Pokémon."
"Yeah. Like the Old Chateau in Sinnoh! The one you told me about," Ash said, pointing the flashlight at Darkrai.
"Watch where you point that," Darkrai said, shielding his eyes. "And yes. There's some people who train Ghost types, but usually they're a little nutty in the head—their Zubats are all confused, if you get me."
"I always figured it was in bad taste," Misty said. "If Ghost types are really those who have passed on."
"But if they are, then maybe battling would be their unfinished business, and then they can cross over?" Ash guessed.
"You're just trying to justify catching one."
"I am," Ash admitted, shrugging as they went up another flight of stairs. "I mean, catching a Dragon has been a bust, but Ghosts are awfully powerful in their own right, so…."
"So you've heard."
"Yeah, well, it's worth a shot anyway," Ash said, jogging ahead a little and flashing his light up and down the rows.
"Don't get too far ahead!" Brock called.
"I'll be fine, honest!"
"No he won't," he heard Misty mutter.
"No he won't, but at least he's still in earshot," Brock said.
Ash rolled his eyes, let the flashlight illuminate some of the different headstones—he had heard that Gastly liked to lurk around graveyards, and seeing as how this was the biggest one in Kanto—
Not this row. Flash it across—
Flash it back when he realized someone had been standing between the rows.
Ash blinked, registering the apparition as human, was about to call out when he realized that this person just didn't look…right. A few years older than him, wearing a black shirt and a red vest and hat, brown stains on the vest's shoulders and what looked like a jagged second smile beneath the first, red irises on black sclera, and leaking dark material like runny mascara.
Ash coughed, restarting his heart, forced himself to smirk. "That's not funny, Darkrai."
Nothing happened—the thing in front of him continued to stare.
"I said, that's not funny, Darkrai," Ash repeated.
It started coming closer—jerky and slow, a rime of ice on the legs evident when it moved.
"Darkrai, cut it out," Ash said, backing up. It continued to advance. "Darkrai, it's not funny—quit it!"
And then Ash came to a realization.
By now, Darkrai would have dropped the nightmare and laughed at how gullible Ash had been. The fact that this hadn't dissipated, hadn't gone away…meant that Ash was indeed looking at his worst nightmare, the trainer whose horror story he feared most.
He was looking at the ghost of Red Satoshi.