On the highest floor of the Lavender Town Pokémon Tower, a hunched man with purple hair watched his underlings at work, filling crates with Poké Balls. A Hypno was by his side, watching with him. Petrel turned to look towards the back of the room, where an unconscious old man was tied up, before returning his attention to the Rocket Grunts within the room. The man wasn't entirely sure of the purpose of the mission he was currently leading, but he knew questioning the Boss would not end well, so he went along with it, despite not understanding why he and his grunts were capturing as many Ghost Pokémon as they could. During the month they had occupied the tower, non-Ghost types had tried to interfere with the mission, but Petrel had put an end to the resistance quite quickly. How he ended it may not have been entirely necessary, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

"Petrel, sir!" two grunts that ranked higher than most other grunts here, approached, one a green-haired man, and the other a blonde woman.

"Yes, Cassidy, Biff?" Petrel questioned. The green-haired man's eye twitched, "It's Butch, sir…" he corrected. The Rocket Admin glared at him, "What was that?" Butch quickly straightened up, "Nothing sir!"

"Whatever, what do you want?" Petrel demanded, Cassidy answered him. "Uh, the first five floors have been cleared of ghost Pokémon, sir" she stated, "and floor six is underway". Petrel nodded, "Very good, now back to your stations!" he ordered.

"Yes, sir!" they both answered simultaneously, and they quickly left.

Petrel sighed, he hoped they would be finished here soon, he was getting bored being in the tower for a month…


As the group entered Lavender Town, one word entered Ash, Misty, and Brock's minds: Creepy. The town seemed to always be covered in fog, and just seemed to have a spooky atmosphere. It didn't help that Kanto's main gravesite, the Pokémon Tower, was in the town. The group quickly made their way to the Pokémon Center, handing their Pokémon over to Nurse Joy, and then heading to the waiting room.

After sitting down, Brock started to read the section about Lavender Town in his guide book. Ash looked through his Pokédex, writing down all of the moves his Pokémon knew, and moves he wanted them to learn, on a notepad. "So, what's next?" Misty asked. Brock turned to look at her, "Well, it seems like the closest city to here is Saffron, which is still blocked off, but there is a pathway that goes under it, which leads to Celadon City" he explained. Ash looked away from his Pokédex, "Anything to do while we're here?" he asked. "Well, according to the guide book, the Pokémon Tower is home to wild Ghost types, which would be helpful for when you get to challenge the Saffron Gym" Brock stated. Ash's eyes lit up, "Oh, can we go there before we leave then?" he asked hopefully. "I don't see why not" Misty answered. "Great!" Ash exclaimed, "Time to catch a Ghost type!"

Soon, the trio's names were called over the P.A., signalling that their Pokémon were fully healed. Nurse Joy smiled at them as he handed them their Poké Balls (plus Pikachu, who quickly hopped onto his trainer's shoulder. Before they could thank the nurse and leave, Joy stopped them, "Were you three planning to go to the Pokémon Tower?" she asked. "Yeah!" Ash answered, "We were gonna head there now". "Before you do, I suggest you visit the Pokémon House", she stated. "Uh, okay, I guess" Ash replied, "Thanks, Nurse Joy!" he added, as he and his companions turned and left the Pokémon Center.


Following the directions in Brock's guide book, the group soon arrived at the Pokémon House. Stepping inside, they found themselves in a relatively plain looking room. A table in the center of the room, a small kitchen in one corner, and a door in the other. "Hello, is anyone here?" Ash called out. "Yes?" a voice answered back. The door in the corner opened, revealing a girl, who appeared to be around Ash or Misty's age, on the other side. She had reddish-brown hair that was done up in twin tails, with a hair clip that looked like a Butterfree. She greeted the group with smile "Oh, hi there, welcome to the Pokémon House" the girl greeted, "My name's Reina"

The trio introduced themselves as well. "So, Reina, what exactly happens here?" Brock asked. "Oh, you don't know? We take in and look after Pokémon who have been abandoned or orphaned" She explained, "This house actually belongs to my grandpa, Mr. Fuji"

"Really?" Ash asked. "Yep!" replied Reina, "If you want to see the Pokémon we look after, follow me" she offered. "Sure!" the three trainers replied. The trio followed Reina back through the door she had entered from, and arrived in a large room, filled with play pens with Pokémon in each, along with a few people, who the group assumed were volunteers helping to look after the Pokémon. One pen had a Vulpix, another a Bellsprout, one even had a Nidorino, but among all of them, one pen in particular caught the trio's attention. One in the back corner of the room, occupied by a lone brown Pokémon holding a bone, with a skull-like helmet on its head. Ash quickly scanned it with his Pokédex, "Cubone, the Lonely Pokémon. A ground-type Pokémon. Because it never removes its skull helmet, no one has ever seen this Pokémon's real face. It is said to wear to skull of its deceased mother" the machine stated.

"That's so sad…" Misty said. "That's apparently only a rumour, there are reports from breeders that have said they hatch with the skull" Brock stated. Reina sighed, "We don't know about the skull, but this Cubone definitely lost his mother…" she said sadly. "What happened?" asked Ash. "Team Rocket…" Reina replied. The trio gasped. "Team Rocket were poaching wild Pokémon outside Lavender Town, and Cubone's mother, Marowak, was killed by Team Rocket when she tried to protect him…" the girl explained, "Grandpa found Cubone alone crying and brought him here…"

"Team Rocket…" Ash muttered angrily, as if stealing and poaching Pokémon wasn't bad enough, killing them was definitely crossing a line. "Ever since that day, Cubone hasn't opened up to anyone, except Grandpa…" Reina stated. "By the way, Reina, is Mr. Fuji here? I'd like to meet him if it's possible" Brock inquired. Reina looked down sadly, "Actually, Grandpa is… missing…" she stated. "What?!" the group exclaimed in shock. "Do you have any idea where he could be?" Brock asked. Reina shook her head, "No…". Moments later, a man burst into the room, running straight up to Reina. "Reina! Someone might have seen where Mr. Fuji went!" he exclaimed. The girl's eyes widened, "What, where?!" Someone saw him enter the Pokémon Tower a couple days ago, presumably to get whoever's taken it over to leave!" the man explained. "Someone's taken over the Tower?" Ash asked. "Yeah, about a month ago, a bunch of people wearing black uniforms drove into town and took over the tower" the man explained. Well those people sound familiar… Ash thought to himself, "That sounds like Team Rocket to me…" Ash muttered. "If Mr. Fuji hasn't come out yet, he's probably been captured by them…" said Brock.

"Well, if it's Team Rocket, I'm kicking them out!" Ash exclaimed, "Pika"! Pikachu added. "Huh?!" gasped everyone else. "We've beat them heaps of times before, what's stopping us from doing it again?" he added. "But Ash, we don't even know how many Rocket members are there!" Misty argued. "I know, Misty, but I'm not just going to leave Mr. Fuji there!" he countered, "So, are you going to come with me or not?" he questioned. Misty sighed, "Well, I'm not letting you go in alone" she conceded. "What about you, Brock?" Ash asked, turning to his other companion. "You can count me in" Brock replied.


Sorry this took so long, I just haven't really had a lot of motivation to write recently, but this chapter was almost done anyway, I just had to end it, so here it is.

Current Teams:

Ash:

Pikachu (Male) (Static)

Charmander (Male) (Blaze)

Pidgeotto (Female) (Keen Eye)

Bulbasaur (Male) (Overgrow)

Squirtle (Male) (Torrent)

Nidorino (Male) (Poison Point)

At Oak's Lab:

Beedrill (Male) (Swarm)

Krabby (Male) (Hyper Cutter)

Mankey (Male) (Anger Point)

Misty:

Poliwag (Male) (Water Absorb)

Staryu (Genderless) (Natural Cure)

Goldeen (Female) (Swift Swim)

Oddish (Female) (Chlorophyll)

Horsea (Female) (Sniper)

Brock:

Onix (Male) (Rock Head)

Graveler (Male) (Sturdy)

Zubat (Male) (Inner Focus)