Disclaimer: I don't own pokèmon!

A/N: Back from Colorado-o-o-o! The Rockies were great! I stayed 9,347 feet above sea level :-O *yay* Thank you EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! I wish I could remember everyone's penname ^^' but, alas, I can't so thanks everyone! Please review!

~ Kasagi Onaso

~! Switched !~

* The Ghosts of Lavender Town *

Lavender Town was bleak and depressing. As soon as Misty set foot into the town, she felt oddly depressed and miserable. The light mist from some leftover rain that rose up from the ground had light purple hints to it.

"Jeez this place is creepy," muttered Alexis as they approached the Pokecenter.

"I know," whispered Misty, and shuddered slightly.

"Welcome to Lavender Town!" said the Nurse Joy. Despite the atmosphere, she was as perky as her cousins and sisters. "Can we heal your pokèmon?"

"Yes, please," said Misty, handing her the white and red orbs. "Thanks." They sat on the pink couches to wait for her pokèmon to be healed.

"Oh, my," said an old man from across Misty as he scanned the front page of a newspaper. The newspaper looked yellowed and old as Misty scooted nearer to him.

"Um, excuse me," she said, her voice low. "But may I ask what's wrong?"

"Oh, my," the man repeated, seemingly ignoring her. "500 people. 500." He shook his head and pushed his glasses up on his crooked nose. Suddenly, Misty was hit with the stench of burning wood and she stared at the old man.

"What happened to you?" Misty gasped as she noticed that half of his gray suit was burnt and torn. "Excuse me? Sir?" The man continued to look at the paper.

"Misty?" She swallowed a scream and whipped around to stare Ash straight in the eyes. He didn't back away and kept his hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong? Who were you talking to?" He was looking over her shoulder, which wasn't hard since he was easily four inches taller.

"What? Oh, an old man. I think he may have been deaf though."

"What old man?"

"Nan?" Misty whipped around, Ash's hand flying off her shoulder, and looked around the old man-empty lounge area. Erika and Alexis giggled and pointed as they sifted though a PokèGirl Magazine but the old man was no where in sight. "But I'm sure I saw him…"

"Maybe you were seeing things," said Ash with a shrug and picked up a Pyro Magazine.

"I saw him…" Misty touched the side of her nose as she remembered the smell of the wood. "It was real. Excuse me," she said as she approached the Nurse Joy.

"What can I do for you?"

"Um, has there been any old men in here?" Misty flushed at the stupidity of the question but determination kept her head high.

"That's a pretty general question," the Nurse said and Misty let her breath out in relief. "There have been a couple elderly men in here."

"Any with…burned clothes?" The Nurse turned to look sharply at her and her voice became stony.

"No."

"Oh, I see. Thank you." Misty could feel the Nurse Joy's eyes burning into her back as she retreated to the couch. She plopped beside as and grabbed a Pokèmon Master magazine (with the current Master smiling on the front,) but her eyes only saw the words as black blurs. She had seen the old man. Right?

"What's wrong?"

"Nan?" she asked calmly and looked at Ash. He was staring at her in question.

"What's wrong?" he repeated.

"Nothing," she answered.

"That can't be it because you've been staring at the same page for five minutes," Ash said crossly.

"How would you know?" she snapped crossly. He blinked furiously.

"Because you haven't turned the page at all."

"Maybe I'm a slow reader," she mumbled and quickly turned the page. Ash rolled his eyes and went back to his magazine. Misty cast a quick side-glance at him before quickly turning her eyes back to her magazine as well. "I saw him." Ash's eyes flickered towards her.

"What?"

"I saw that old man."

"What old man?"

"The one I was talking to before you came," she responded. "I saw him. His clothes were burnt. I could smell the fire on them." Ash slowly put down his magazine.

"What are you talking about?" Misty set her magazine on top of the Pyro Magazine and sighed.

"When I came in here, there was an old man standing over in that corner reading a newspaper. He said something like '500 people' and then you came. His clothes were all burnt and he smelled like a bonfire."

"Weird," said Ash and sat back.

"Weird?" cried Misty incredulously. "Is that it? Weird?"

"Sh-h, I'm thinking," he snapped and closed his eyes. Misty frowned and crossed her arms in impatience. Patience is a virtue, patience is a virtue, she whispered mentally and closed her eyes briefly. "I have no idea," Ash said with a shrug and opened his magazine again.

"You are so insensitive!" Misty snapped angrily, crossed her arms, and sank back in the couch with a huff.

"Your pokèmon are ready," called the Nurse Joy and dropped the pokèballs into Misty's hand as if the small spheres were on fire.

"Thanks?" said Misty uncertainly but the Nurse Joy already had her back turned to Misty. Misty shrugged and attached the pokèballs to the belt on her waist.

"Ready?" asked Alexis from the couch as she and Erika stood. Misty nodded and they exited the Pokecenter.

The cheerless mood of the town didn't help Misty think any clearer. The lavender-tinted mist curled around her jean legs and prevented any of them from seeing more than a foot in front of them.

"It's gotten a lot thicker," said Alexis, swiping the mist with her hand.

"I can't see anything," agreed Erika. Alexis grunted as a running person rammed into her. They both fell to the ground and the person jumped up and disappeared into the mist without excusing himself.

"How rude!" exclaimed Alexis as Misty and Erika hauled her to her feet. Her Vuplix growled into the mist after the person.

"This place is definitely strange," Misty heard Erika mutter to herself and nodded in silent agreement.

"Look!" cried Alexis and pointed ahead of them. "It's the Pokèmon Tower!" (A/N: Someone PLEASE correct me if that's wrong and I'll change it!)

"Nan?" whispered Misty and saw something tall and dark looming through the mist. "What is that?" It was as dark as ebony in the shallow light protruding through rain clouds above them. It spiraled up and up until it reached a jagged point that stretched to the sky.

"It's huge," said Erika with disbelief. Ash's dark eyes narrowed as he stared up into the clouds where the pointed tip was hid among the gray clouds.

"I've heard about this," Alexis said solemnly. "It's a tower full of pokèmon graves." Misty felt her heart jump with excitement.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed. "Ghosts!"

"It's been closed off," continued Alexis. "For quite some time now. I came here to see Mr. Pokèmon with my Father once and it was closed then as well. No one would speak of it."

"I wonder how it got so black," said Ash, speaking for the first time. Misty hadn't noticed its color really and took the question into consideration.

"Maybe it was built that way," said Erika but her eyes held a doubt.

"I doubt it," Ash said, voicing what everyone seemed to be thinking. Misty shrugged and smiled.

"Who cares. Let's check it out!"

"No way," said Erika, shaking her head. "It's closed off like Alexis said."

"There's bound to be a way in somewhere."

"You mean like breaking in?" squealed Alexis nervously. Misty smiled slyly and batted her eyes before turning into the mist. "Misty! Wait up!" Alexis called and hurried after her.

"So you're coming with me?"

"I never said that," Alexis sniffed but slid her arm into Misty's. "Uh-oh. I think we lost Ash and Erika."

"They wouldn't have come anyway," said Misty with a shrug. "Come on. We can check it out before we find them, right?"

"I don't know, Misty," said Alexis through fright-clenched teeth.

"Come on! It'll be awesome. When you came here last time, didn't you want to see what was inside it?" Alexis hesitated before nodding slowly. "There! Come with me, please?"

"Vee!" growled Eevee and poked her head out of Misty's backpack. "Eevee, eve vee!"

"Back off, Vee," said Misty.

"Vee!"

"Don't be such a scardy-cat!" Eevee's ears flattened against her skull before she ducked into Misty's pack again. "Jeez. Now come on. Nice!" Some of the wooden planks boarding up the windows and entrance doors had rotted and fallen away.

"It doesn't look too safe," said Alexis, her grip on Misty's arm tightening.

"That's why it's boarded up," said Misty mischievously. "I wanna see what's inside." Alexis' arm slipped out of Misty's as Misty made her way towards one of the two wooden doors. Two Houndoom with spiny wings stood as gargoyles on each of the stone railings, their dark muzzles lifted to the stormy skies in silent howls.

"Misty, come back!" pleaded Alexis. "We should find the others!"

"Hold on," said Misty, rapping on the door before trying to open it. "Shoot. They're boarded in from the inside. I'll try a window. Give me a boost, will ya?"

"No," said Alexis curtly, sniffing.

"It's okay," said Misty brightly, too distracted to notice her friend's anger. "I can get up on my own." Misty gripped the stone window sill and pushed off one of the Houndoom gargoyles' chest. With a grunt, her torso was pushed into the window, leaving her legs dangling on the outside.

"Misty! Are you okay?" Misty heard Alexis yell from the outside.

"I'm fine! You should see this place!" Misty exclaimed as her voice echoed off the dusty stone walls.

"They're thinking about making this place into a Radio Tower," Alexis said from outside as Misty swung her legs up so she sat on the wide sill.

"That would be cool," said Misty.

"Not really," said Alexis, shaking her head. Her streaks looked dull in the faded sunlight. "It would completely dishonor the dead buried here."

"They're dead for Lugia's sake," said Misty with a chuckle.

"Sh-h, Misty!" warned Alexis. Misty laughed and began swinging her legs back and forth. Wind tousled her ponytail and caressed her cheeks.

"What! It's not like they can hear me."

"Misty!"

"Okay, I'll stop." Misty snickered again before turning to stare inside the Pokèmon Tower. "It's so big in here!" Something moved in the shadows and Misty turned to look. But it was still. "And Ash would love it," she said with a chuckle. "There's bugs!" She crawled forward and as she did, her hand slipped on the dust-covered stone and she hurtled forward.

"Misty!" screamed Alexis. Her name bounced off the walls, stirring Misty. But her eyes remained closed. "Misty!" Hearing no answer from her fallen companion, Alexis looked down at her small Vulpix. "What now?"

"Pix!" cried Vulpix and clawed at the gargoyle with premature claws.

"I should get Erika and Ash," said Alexis but the small pup clawed the statue harder and finally hauled itself up on the stone mount. "What? Go in after her?"

"Vulpix."

"But I…"The pup stared at her master intently until the girl sighed in defeat. "Fine. Go try to find Erika and Ash."

"Vul-PIX!" The red fox pokèmon leapt off the mount, landing clumsily, and bounded into the mist.

"Don't get yourself lost!" she called after it.

"Vee!" cried Eevee and appeared on the stone sill.

"Eevee!" breathed Alexis as she was nothing but a brown streak shooting past her. "Find Vulpix!" she called after it but she felt she needn't have to. "What have you gotten us in to?" Alexis asked the dense air around her as she pulled her self in through the window. She landed gracefully on the ground, sending clouds of dust spiraling into the air, and rushed to Misty's side.

"Misty!"

"Alexis?"

"Are you okay?" Misty slowly sat up and blinked the dust out of her eyes.

"I guess. My shoulder hurts a bit but I guess it's just bruised."

"We need to get out of here."

"Why? Now that we're in, what's the point of getting out?"

"Because Vulpix and Eevee are looking for Ash and Erika and they don't know we're in here," urged Alexis, offering a hand to Misty. Misty took it and allowed herself to be pulled below the window.

"But Vulpix and Eevee do," said Misty suddenly and pulled her hand from Alexis' tugging one. "Come on. Now that we're in here, the lease we can do is explore it." Alexis, who had been pacing the lengths under the window nodded.

"Fine."

"What?" asked Misty, who had been ready for a fight.

"I said fine."

"Why?"

"Because," said Alexis, her voice wavering. "Even if we wanted to, there's no way we could get out."

Voila! Okay, this is going to have to be broken into two parts because I can't fit it all into one part. So the next chappie will be the second part to this. There's also going to be a bit o' horror in the next one, too. As you can see, I'm really trying to make this different than the T.V show! 53 reviews…? Please??? Thanks everyone!

~ Kasagi Onaso