Hi everyone!

Keleri – I felt so bad for the kitten when I wrote the chapter too. I've had kittens like that…if I decide I need another baby pokemon, I'm definitely going with something I don't like so much next. Like igglybuff.

Morbane – Well, it's not balanced because it's mainly about Prowler, and really, too much of this is already about Prowler. Caw's wings freezing up was the result of an attack…it's hard to really tell the difference, because I have them glaring and screeching a lot, but Prowler had used a screech attack, and that startled/scared/automatically prevented Caw from moving, or however you imagine it might work to lower defense.

Negrek – Hi! Your favorite's Sono? Great! Now almost everyone is someone's favorite.

(Poor Howler…I'll have to try to get him to show up more…)

Act – Well, I wouldn't say Elliot's behavior gives Prowler the idea she has more power. I think she's thought she was in charge from almost the very start. Discord has been pretty much ignored, hasn't he? I've got some stuff for him, but I do need to work harder on giving him more screentime.

Haunter is a dangerous pokemon. If one beckons you while floating in darkness, you must never approach it. This pokemon will try to lick you with its tongue and steal your life away.

- Ruby Pokedex

Chapter Twenty-Three: Appearances

-

"Hey." A girl was perched on a boulder by the side of the path. She hopped down at Elliot's approach. "You're a trainer. I challenge you."

"O-okay," Elliot said, somewhat surprised. The girl looked younger than the usual ten years, and she was slight, even frail-looking. She seemed harmless. But she did have a several pokeballs around her waist, so she was a trainer.

"Two against two," she said.

"Okay," Elliot said again. He grabbed Din's Premierball and threw it. This battle wouldn't be hard, he thought, so it'd be good practice.

The girl responded by throwing a Safariball that released a scyther.

The battle was swift. Din bit into the carapace, bearing down with her strong jaws until the shell of its side cracked. The scyther slashed her again and again. Shortly, her grip broke and she slid down, unconscious, oozing blood mostly hidden by her thick fur.

Elliot recalled her with barely a glance, already thinking about the next pokemon. He threw Howler's pokeball. "Flamethrower!"

Quickly, the girl recalled the scyther. She ducked under the blast of heat and then tossed out her second pokemon. A large, rangy pokemon, somewhat doglike, materialized.

Elliot pulled out his pokedex and pointed it.

The new pokemon tackled Howler, sinking its teeth into his side. The two rolled on the ground for a minute, then it jumped back. Howler had fainted.

"I thought you'd be a lot weaker," Elliot admitted, handing the money over. The girl took it in a motion just slower than snatching. "You didn't look strong."

"I'm not the one who fought," the girl said, brushing her black hair out of her eyes as she counted the bills.

-

-

"I don't know who you've been talking to, but Team Rocket's not here," the man said, sounding annoyed. As Elliot walked off, he head the man turn to a friend and make a remark about stupid kids wanting to be heroes. Elliot flushed.

That wasn't it. He didn't really want to be there. But he was obligated to. His friend had asked, and then he'd heard the trainers talking. He'd been attacked by Team Rocket, he knew about them, and now he was stronger, so he had to go after them. That was how it worked.

This knowledge couldn't get rid of the pit in his stomach, though.

Elliot headed toward the Pokemart to buy supplies. He passed a pair of chatting women.

"…expensive."

"And my kids, they complained it was so morbid. But…"

Inside the Pokemon Mart, Elliot picked a few potions and a large bag of pokemon food off the shelves. Several nearby shoppers were talking about marowak. Elliot had always had a slight fear of them – they were said to rob graveyards for their bones, and for several weeks back when he was a still a kid, nine years old, he had woken up almost every night from bad dreams about them. He wasn't scared now, of course, just didn't like them, but he hurried to the counter, bought the items, and left again.

He headed toward the Pokemon Tower. He'd heard ghost pokemon showed up there, and who knew, maybe someone would know about Team Rocket there.

Elliot turned a corner and saw an Officer Jenny.

She wasn't in uniform. She was holding the hand of a child, about two years old in appearance, who looked like a smaller copy of her. On the other side of the girl was a man Elliot guessed was the father.

The Jenny had a serene, cheerful look on her face. The girl looked like a typical little kid, with wide, entranced eyes and one hand at her mouth.

The man looked like a chained growlithe confronted by a blastoise. He didn't look entirely sane, his face was a frozen grimace, and he was walking as if he didn't know how to bend his legs.

The toddler turned toward him and smiled, reaching out for his hand. The man made a strangled sound and fell backward. The girl's expression didn't change. Her arm stayed held out, extended like a robot.

The man's expression looked as if it would be more fitting for someone who had narrowly avoided being run over by a car.

"Dear," the Jenny said, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "You don't look so well."

He nodded numbly.

"You must be sick. We should go home."

The man stood like a marionette and she led him away. He shuddered suddenly, the motion so violent he nearly fell again.

-

-

Before entering the tower, Elliot paused, staring at the large, forbidding black door. He gulped, the thought suddenly occurring to him that there were ghosts in there.

Well, ghost pokemon. That was different, right? They weren't really dead or anything, just puffs of gas. Ghost types were just pokemon that happened to have bodies that could float through stuff. Nothing to be scared of. Silly haunter and gengar were a television staple, especially with simple programming for little kids. He wasn't afraid of something a three year old would point and laugh at. He pushed open the door and entered.

It was gloomy inside. Elliot blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting. There were other people inside, mainly older adults. Elliot walked in, noticing there was a staircase to his right. He headed toward it.

"Stop!" screeched a woman, jumping out in front of him. She was wearing a loose white shirt that Elliot recognized as the garb of a channeller. He eeped, going left and then stumbling as he tried to get away from her. She reached for him with grasping claws and he scuffed his shoe on the ground and tripped himself. He fell forward, coincidentally so that she was no longer between him and the staircase, then scrambled to his feet and ran in the direction he was facing. He got up the stairs.

He stopped at the top, looking down nervously, but the strange woman didn't seem interested in pursuit. He took a moment to calm down. He wondered what that had been about. She didn't seem so scary now…but he still didn't really want to go back down.

Looking around, he saw there was a strange haze over everything. It blurred objects nearby and further away changed the air into a featureless dull grayness. Elliot couldn't see across the room. There were gravestones everywhere.

This was a little scary, Elliot admitted. He opened Sono's pokeball.

The spearow looked around placidly. She flew up to perch on his shoulder. ((So where are we?)) she asked in his ear.

"We're at Pokemon Tower," Elliot said, unconsciously keeping his voice quiet. "It's a place where people bury their dead pokemon."

((Why bury?))

"Because that's what you do when something dies." Elliot didn't wonder at this, but Sono's question made him wonder why a tower. He thought about all the people below, on the first floor, with dead things in the ceiling over their heads, then shuddered, looking up. The tower had several floors.

Elliot was too disturbed by that thought to wonder why the people had been on the first floor if there were graves in the whole of the tower, especially considering that the more recent graves should be on the higher levels. Instead, he started walked through the irregularly spaced headstones, moving toward the other side. It seemed to be getting colder. Elliot rubbed his arms, looking around nervously. He didn't see any ghosts…

"Gah!" Elliot yelled. He'd almost walked right into one of the statues erected on the floor. Elliot looked at the carved stone of a sitting, regal persian, whose eyes seemed to have a very faint shine to them, probably a trick of the low light. He took a deep breath, calming down. "Hi," he said, patting its stone flanks. It felt cool but not actually that cold. "Sorry about that." He headed on.

"……ssssss……" whispered the air. Elliot jumped and walked faster. Sono fidgeted on his shoulder.

((What is it?)) she chirped.

"It's just eerie, being here," Elliot mumbled.

Sono didn't see how. She trilled, peering interestedly at the stones and occasional statures as they passed.

There! The third staircase. Elliot walked faster, then started to run.

"Go back!" A woman jumped at him, her eyes black hollows in the low light. "Go back!"

Elliot screamed. He didn't try to stop, just kept doing, running past her and up the second staircase.

Again, the woman didn't seem to try to pursue. Elliot's heart was hammering. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily. He shot an anxious look at the staircase, thinking at any moment he'd see her coming up. What was going on?

The haze of the lower level was now so thick Elliot felt it would smother him. He deliberately took several deep breaths, feeling the wet air slide down his throat chokingly but work fine in his lungs.

Why did he have to go there? Why didn't he run back when the first woman attacked him? Why were they attacking him at all, what had he ever done to deserve this?

But he wasn't scared, he reminded himself. Not of two old women and a bunch of fog. He was a trainer, and he was supposed to explore. He was a friend, and he'd been asked to do this. He'd been attacked by Team Rocket, and he had to go after them now.

Even if he didn't want any of that and what he really wished was that he was safe at home.

He took several more breathes and walked on, petting Sono on the head with one hand.

"Ofh!" Elliot tripped over one of the headstones and knocking Sono off. He scrambled up as quickly as he could, cringing to feel the soft ground under his fingers. Wasn't it bad luck or something? he thought? Like it'd make ghosts come after you for disrespecting their tombstone? But ghost pokemon weren't ghosts. But…that didn't mean there weren't ghosts, did it?

Sono returned to his shoulder after he righted himself.

There was a weird moaning sound. "Sono," Elliot whispered. "Can you hear that?"

((Hear what?))

Elliot didn't answer. He walked nervously along, looking around as well as he could trying not to move his head much.

Suddenly a form materialized in front of him. It was monstrous, dripping blood and bits. Elliot screamed, falling backward.

((What? What is it?)) Sono asked as she flew upward, through the face of the thing.

"D-don't you see it?" Elliot stammered.

((But it's just bits of light. It's not real.))

Not real. Elliot stared at it, holding perfectly still. Not real. An illusion. Like a picture. He wouldn't be scared of a picture. He tried to stand up but couldn't.

((What's wrong? What's wrong?)) Sono said anxiously, beating her wings.

Elliot whimpered as the monster started to shamble toward him.

((Not real!)) Sono cheeped frantically. ((Not real! Just bits of light out of the walls!))

Elliot was frozen, watching it get nearer and nearer.

((Close your eyes!)) Sono shouted.

Flinching, Elliot did, holding up his arms to ward it off. He didn't touch anything.

((Oh oh oh,)) Sono said after a moment. ((Don't open your eyes.))

"What? What's happening?" Automatically, Elliot's eyes opened.

The things were everywhere. Elliot screamed, scrambling backward until his back bumped into something flat and hard. He cowered, closing his eyes and shielding his head with his arms.

((Elliot! Elliot, they're not real!))

Elliot whimpered again. After a minute he whispered, "…they look real. They look dead."

((Not real! Not dead!)) Sono denied. She sounded like she was getting scared.

"They're ghosts. Or zombies."

((No! Not ghosts! Pictures from the walls!)) Sono's voice was growing frantic. ((Fake! Fake!))

"…they don't look fake…" Elliot whispered. His throat closed up with a quiet sob.

((Don't look at them!))

Elliot didn't answer.

((Elliot! Elliot!)) Sono was starting to sound hysterical herself.

"I can't."

((Don't open your eyes. Just go to the stairs and then they won't be there."

"I can't. I can't if I can't open my eyes."

Sono made worried noises for a while, then said, ((Stay here.))

Elliot whimpered again and tried to curl tighter.

It felt like hours passed before Elliot heard Sono's voice again.

((Found it.)) She let out a nervous peep when Elliot didn't answer. ((Elliot, are you listening? Tell me if you're listening.))

"…yes…"

((Stand up.))

Elliot shook his head slightly underneath his arms.

((Stand up,)) Sono repeated. ((You can stand up without opening your eyes, can't you? Just stand up. Stand up. Stand up.))

Shakily, Elliot did so. He felt agonizingly exposed. He quivered, certain that at any moment something was going to stab him in the stomach. His legs started to crumple.

((Stand up! Stand up!)) Sono screeched. She definitely sounded frightened.

Elliot straightened up a little.

((Take a step.))

"I can't. I can't walk if I can't see." Especially not now, not with the things everywhere waiting for him.

((Just one step. You can take a step.))

After a moment Elliot did so.

((That's it, that's it,)) Sono chirped excitedly. ((Now take another step. And another. Now, hold out your hand and touch that.))

Flinchingly, Elliot did so. He jerked back when he first felt it then hesitantly reached back out. He felt cold, smooth stone, flat on the sides, about waist high.

((Turn so it's on your left. That's it. Now, take a step…))

It seemed to take an eternity. Sono kept talking and talking. When Elliot touched the metal railing, he stopped.

"Wait, Sono, this can't be right," he said, opening his eyes by reflex, then cringed.

But there weren't any ghosts. They were in an enclave, and the mist was gone. Elliot peeked out the opening to see the same ghostly graveyard, with the moaning things wandering about. He backed up quickly as he dared, hoping they hadn't seen him.

He looked back at the staircase. It was different than the ones he'd been climbing. Those had thick wooden railings, not ones made of metal bars.

((I looked for the staircase but there was just a bunch of mostly hidden rubble and a fake seal over the hole,)) Sono said. ((But I kept looking and I found this.))

"The- the way down is-" Elliot slumped against the wall, stunned.

((No! The way up!)) Sono said, terrified. She didn't understand what was wrong with Elliot. ((You ran up here and you were so scared, so I thought you wouldn't be able to go down, so I brought you here. I heard people up here.))

"Okay," Elliot said, trying to regain his thoroughly destroyed calm. "Thanks, Sono." He fiddled with his pokeballs, letting out Din and Prowler. Having them both out just made him feel better. If something happened, he had three pokemon out. They'd protect him. He started to climb the stairs, listening to the ominous deep ring the cast iron grill made.

He stepped onto the next level.

It was like another world, with rich carpeting over the floors and bright light. Elliot felt as if he'd walked into some expensive office building. He was in the hallway, with no doors on either side. He took two steps in and heard someone speak.

"Hey!" a man was yelling off a distance away. "You little brat, you snuck up here?" Elliot ran toward the sound. He turned a corner – nothing – and kept going.

"Let go of me!" a boy yelled.

Elliot heard a pokeball opening just as he turned the next corner, and a man yell in shock. He saw a boy, a man in a black uniform, and a charmeleon.

The man's uniform had a bright red R on the chest. There was a matching red seeming through his left sleeve. He swore.

Elliot recognized the boy. He was the one Elliot had seen arguing with his sister.

What…what was happening?

Next chapter: You know about the cheri, demi and arcs. But there's another kind…