Chapter 17
Luckily for the pair of traveling Trainers, the road to Lavender Town was a straight-shot from Saffron City. Un-luckily for them, the fog that surrounded Saffron seemed to be even thicker the closer they got to the other town. If Ash thought the fog that almost made him fall off the cliff on Route 6 was bad, it was nothing compared to this. "The fog's coming in," Ash commented, "and that's not good. We'd better be super careful; we've got to make sure we don't get separated."
"Let's hold hands and stay together," Brock agreed. As the fog continued to get so dense that it would even be tough for a knife to cut through it, the older Trainer reached out his hand.
"Right," Ash responded. Even though he was so close to Ash, the smaller boy had been swallowed up by the thick gray fog, and soon Brock was stumbling around with both arms out so he didn't walk into any trees.
"Hey Ash! Where are you?"
"Up here!"
"What do you mean here?" Suddenly, the tip of Brock's shoe caught against a tree root that was sticking out of the ground, and he let out a loud yell as he tripped and fell to the ground with a thud. Ash stood still with his back to Brock and head lowered as the former Gym Leader hissed in pain and slowly sat up. The fog had somewhat lifted, and he could see the culprit of his fall and let out a nervous laugh. "All this thinking about ghosts is getting to my head. I was scared something reached out and grabbed me."
"Well, Brock, you sure scared me..." Ash murmured, his voice sounding muffled, and chuckled with his voice trembling. "I'm feeling like a ghost myself!" He whipped around, and let out a yell as he got close to Brock's face, and instead of Ash's face peering through the fog, it was a skull wearing the boy's hat. Brock let out a scream that echoed through the forest as he fell backwards onto his backside this time, and Ash, unable to contain his laughter any longer, held his belly as he cackled, this time in delight.
"Sorry, Brock; I-I was just testing you," the Pallet Town Trainer said, pulling the mask off his face. "If we're gonna try and catch a Ghost Pokémon, we got to learn to deal with fear." He stuck his nose in the air with the skull mask still in his hands. "That's the only way we're going to become great Pokémon Trainers." But Brock's reaction wasn't one that he was expecting as the former Pewter City Gym Leader jumped up off the ground.
"DON'T EVER DO THAT!" Brock screamed, his voice echoing through the forest as he took off his backpack and swung it sideways at Ash. From the amount of stuff that was inside it, it felt as though a bag of bricks had struck him in the stomach, and he felt the air forcefully leave his lungs as he was thrown off his feet and fell onto his side on the trail floor, his fall cushioned by pine needles.
"I'll just save the masks... 'til next year's Halloween..."
o 0 o
Bird Pokémon were cawing in the forest as they approached a cliff overlooking Lavender Town. The fog was finally starting to lift, almost as if now that they had found their destination, the hard part was over. They both knew that to be far from the truth. "There's Lavender Town!" Ash pointed out. It was a small town with good size buildings in it, but the main attraction that drew their eyes was the large, castle-like tower that seemed to be peering down over it opposite of them. The base was hidden amongst the trees from their position, but even just the top part that they could see sent chills down Ash's spine, and he knew instantly that was where they had to go. "I'm glad we got here before it got dark."
But the Pokémon Trainer was soon eating his words. The distance didn't seem too long, but time was not on their side, and by the time they did make it to the sinister-looking tower, the sky was dark with only the moonlight illuminating their way. The trees all around the tower were dead, and it seemed as though not even the wildlife wanted to make any noise to upset it. It was several stories tall, and with the protrusions coming out the top like horns and the circular windows towards the top, it was almost like a great demon was peering down at them as they walked up the broken brick path.
"This is the Pokémon Tower, where Ghost Pokémon hang out," Brock introduced as they approached.
"I like what they've done with the place..." Ash joked, trying to be confident but failing at hiding the quivering in his voice, and Brock placed his hands on his hips and smiled at the boy.
"I'll let you handle this one alone," he said, and Ash's breath hitched in his mouth as he turned and looked at Brock.
"Hey, wait a minute! You promised me you'd help me capture a Ghost Pokémon when we got to Lavender Town!" he whined, but when he turned to look at Brock, he saw the Pokémon Breeder wasn't beside him any more, but quite a ways behind him.
"You know how to deal with fear, Ash!" he called. Collecting his jaw, Ash crossed his arms and frowned.
"Ha! Run away if you want to," he scoffed. "I'm not scared, and I'm not gonna let some stupid Ghost Pokémon prevent me from becoming a great Pokémon Master!" Feeling like he needed another team member on his side, he pulled his trusty Poké Ball and threw it forward onto the weed-riddled path. "Wartortle, I choose you!" Wartortle emerged from the Poké Ball following a flash of light. "Are you with me, Wartortle?!"
"War-" the Water Pokémon began to answer, but upon looking at the intimidating tower glaring down before it, it quickly retrieved a sleeping bag and pulled the top of it up to its neck, rolling over onto its side with its back facing its Trainer. "Tortle..."
"Wartortle..." Ash growled, his body quivering in anger. "All right, good idea. Let's do this in the morning." Retrieving his own sleeping bag from his backpack in one quick swoop, he jumped into it and laid next to Wartortle. "Hey! Make sure you don't wake me up too early, okay? Night, guys." Brock stared at the pair pretending to sleep with an exasperated look on his face.
Finally, he took out a pot and a pan from his backpack that he normally cooked with, and began to clank them together loudly over Ash's head. "Time to wake up!" Brock shouted, causing the black-haired boy to scream and both him and Wartortle shot up and wrapped their arms around each other.
"Maybe I'll be a little braver tomorrow morning..." Ash admitted.
"C'mon Ash, it's not like they have some sort of torture chamber in there or anything," Brock attempted to encourage him.
"Then why are you so scared to go in?"
Before Brock could retort, a haunting voice echoed through the tower, sending shivers down the pair's spines. "GAAASTLYYYY!" The two exchanged nervous glances, wonder what it could have been.
"That voice sounded familiar..." Ash murmured quietly. "I feel like I've heard it before..."
"Why don't we go inside and find out who it is," Brock suggested, and then shoved Ash's back so he would be pushed forward. "Go, go!" The Pallet Town Trainer shot his traveling companion a dirty look, but him and Wartortle took the first steps forward, walking to the arched doorway that was lit on either side by a glowing light at the end of a stone banister. The door creaked loudly, cutting through the silence, and he walked inside, his heart pounding in his ears as Brock slowly went in behind him.
"Hello in there!" Ash called, and his voice echoed through the darkness. He could barely see anything from the limited light coming in from the outside, but once Brock came inside, the doors shut with an even louder creak on their own, the resulting slam shutting out both vision and sound.
"I can't see a thing!" Brock exclaimed, and Ash didn't skip a beat.
"Charmander, I choose you!" A pop from the Poké Ball in his hand gave way to a bright light, and it formed together into the orange Lizard Pokémon.
"Char, char!" it cried upon emerging, and the flame from its tail instantly gave light to the pitch-black room. Taking in a deep breath, Charmander cried out and let out a Flamethrower into the air, giving further light. They seemed to be in a foyer or living room of an old abandoned house, with furniture that was covered in sheets and layers of dust. A fireplace sat on the other side, and it looked like it had been years and years since a fire had been enjoyed by it, and the painting above it was covered in so much filth that you couldn't even tell what it depicted.
Finally, Charmander stopped its attack and breathed heavily while it replenished the air in its lungs, but thanks to its tail flame, the darkness didn't completely swallow them up again. Half of Ash wanted to come back during the day, but he pushed down his fear. There wasn't such thing as a ghost that came out during the day.
"Look! I found a candle," Brock said, approaching and holding a candle and his finger curled around a copper candlestick.
"All right Charmander, light up that candle for us," Ash instructed his Pokémon. Charmander nodded, and opened its mouth at Brock, releasing a large flame from it out from the back of its throat. While the flame did envelop the candle, it also enveloped Brock's upper body as well, and when the Flamethrower faded, Brock's chest and head were singed with his spiky hair sticking out more wildly than it normally was. On a lighter note, the candle wick had a small flame lit atop it.
"LIGHT THE CANDLE NOT ME!" Brock screamed at Charmander, and beside Ash, Wartortle laughed wholeheartedly. They had barely taken a few steps forward when suddenly, two different laughs echoed throughout the entire tower, but it definitely wasn't coming from the room they were in now. Their necks craned upward as the sinister laughs that turned their bones to ice. A third laugh joined the fray, and soon, the noise stopped all together.
Every cell in Ash's body was screaming for him to run out, but part of becoming a Pokémon Master was to overcome one's fear. There had to be an explanation to it. There were probably some of the local kids hanging out upstairs trying to play tricks on them. So they continued on ahead with Ash in the lead, followed by Wartortle and Charmander, and Brock behind them at the flank with his candle.
"Might as well check in this room first," Brock suggested, pointing at a door closest to them opposite the door they had entered from. Cobwebs and dust covered the hallway, and pictures of people donned in old-fashioned dresses and suits lined the side of the corridor that didn't have windows looking outside. Ash tried his best not to make eye contact with them as they crossed the hallway.
"There's no way we can turn back now," the Pokémon Trainer said with determination. "We've got to go in." Walking through the double doors that awaited them on the other side, the creak filled the dark room, and they blinked as their eyes still attempted to get used to the darkness.
"Uh, hey Ghost Pokémon! If you're in here, say 'hello'!" Brock called as they both hesitated to step inside.
"I'm gonna capture you!" Ash added, as if that would tempt them to come out. Suddenly, the light in the room turned on, and the two humans gasped as they looked to the ceiling. They weren't the only ones who were frightened, and Wartortle and Charmander quickly closed the distance between each other and wrapped their arms in comfort around the other.
"Char char!"
"War...?"
"What's this?" Ash questioned as he blinked, his eyes screaming from the sudden light.
"It looks like... It looks like some kind of fancy restaurant!" Brock commented. The room was lit by a gold chandelier atop the high ceiling, and in the center of the dining room was a massive table. Silverware with empty plates were laid out all across the table, and all the chairs were pushed in. Strangely enough, there wasn't a speck of dust on anything in the room.
But what caught Ash's eye was something hanging from the ceiling right in front of the table. "What's that string?" They got closer to it, and there was a note attached to it right at eye-level.
"There's something written on the card..." And he was right; in smudgy writing, the note had 'PULL THIS' scrawled across it.
"Well, why not?" Ash shrugged, and reached out. Before Brock could say anything of protest, the boy was already pulling the string. A loud pop like a party popper sounded, and confetti rained down on them from a party ball at the string's beginning. Red streamers came down from the inside of it, and a large white banner unrolled itself, reading 'WELCOME'. "Are we..."
"Being welcomed?" Brock finished with a raised eyebrow. "By whom?" His answer came in the form of the whole table before them shivering. The silverware clattered on plates, and ceramic upon ceramic scraped together as if an earthquake was happening just underneath the table. Ash soon felt the blood drain from his face when he saw everything on the table – the plates, the spoons, knives, forks, and even the food on display, rise into the air before his very eyes. The chairs soon rose into the air as well, and turned to face them. This was when they found their voice and screamed loudly.
As soon as they made any noise, the chairs flew at them. Taken completely by surprise, the first chair swooped down and caught Brock up in a digging motion, taking him into the air and holding onto the back of it for dear life. "Help me!" he yelled as he was taken into the air. Wartortle and Charmander also yelled as they were carried off on top of two dinner plates that were previously holding food. Ash stood frozen in place among the blizzard of dinnerware, and soon abandoned all confidence and quickly ran away towards the exit from which he had walked into.
"Jump!" Brock instructed to the two Pokémon flying around with him, and soon the four of them ran out of both the room and the Pokémon Tower as fast as they could.
Now back at square one, they sat outside on the broken concrete walkway, hands on their knees and panting heavily while adrenaline and fear still coursed through their veins. "I'm not going back into that tower," Brock puffed between breaths, and Ash sat back right up.
"What are you saying? There's no way we can capture a Ghost Pokémon if we don't go back in there!" He frowned and looked down at his Pokémon. "Right, Wartortle? Charmander?" Both Pokémon wore scared expressions on their face, and Wartortle shook its head back and forth while Charmander covered its eyes with its hands before opening its mouth and letting out a yell, sending a stream of flames out from it involuntarily and enveloping the two humans. Ash and Brock fell to the ground with their clothes slightly singed, but Ash quickly recovered and glared at his Pokémon. "Hold on! Are you two really cowards?!" The two Pokémon flailed their arms in shock at his sudden outburst. "How do you expect to beat Sabrina's Psychic Pokémon if you don't go back in? Do you want to lose again?"
"War..." The Turtle Pokémon gasped, and then its shoulders and ears sunk in shame.
"Listen," Ash began, kneeling down on one knee and looking at both Pokémon, "if you're ever gonna beat Psychic Pokémon, you've gotta learn to overcome your fear, understand?" The two Pokémon looked at each other, and then back at their Trainer and nodded.
"War."
"Mander."
"I say it's time to give it another try! Wartortle, Charmander, are you with me?" The pep talk worked, and the two Pokémon now had determined masks on when they nodded. "Great! Let's do it!" And the three marched towards the door, but it wasn't until he reached it that he realized that Brock wasn't following him. "C'mon Brock. What about you?"
"I'll be waiting for you right here," Brock answered with a smile on his face, bending his knees and squatting in the spot he stood to show he wasn't moving. Ash, Wartortle, and Charmander let out a groan, but knew there was no convincing the Rock-type Trainer otherwise, and headed inside.
"Hello everybody!" Ash called as the three walked inside, the doors slamming shut behind them similarly to how they did on their first visit. "We're back! We'd love to meet you! Feel free to introduce yourselves whenever you'd like!"
Suddenly, Wartortle let out a cry and jumped up into the air. "Wartortle!"
Ash followed his starter's eyes towards a painting, though the woman in it looked like a normal painting. "Wartortle? What do you see, buddy?" Wartortle continued to shiver and simply pointed its finger out at the painting. "Did you see anything?" he asked Charmander, but the Fire-type shook its head. Upon the response, Ash pulled out his Pokédex. Though the screen was blank, the device flickered to life.
"Ghost Pokémon are in a vapor form. Their true nature is shrouded in mystery."
"Oh well, guess it's time for me to solve the mystery," Ash murmured. Looking back at the painting one final time, he thought he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye from the painting, and his breath hitched in his throat. It was almost like... the painting gave a Cheshire grin. Wartortle seemed to see this too, and it jumped into the air and cried out. That was confirmation enough for Ash, and he pointed at the painting. "Wartortle, Water attack!" he exclaimed.
"War!" Wartortle cried, pulling in a deep breath and blasting the painting with a Water Gun. But when the water stopped, all it seemed to do was clear off the dust in the area that was hit.
"Charmander, Flamethrower, now!"
"Chaaarrrr!" the Fire-type shrieked, and let out a stream of fire from the back of its throat. The red-yellow flames hit the wall and a loud hiss could be heard from the wet surface being hit with the strong fire, and not wasting any time, Ash pulled out a Poké Ball.
"Go, Poké Ball!" Swinging his arm as hard as he could, Charmander stopped its Flamethrower attack and the Poké Ball hit the wall and clattered to the ground. "Eh, the ghost is gone. Guess we'll get it next time."
Suddenly, Wartortle let out a blood-curdling scream, and started to flail its arms while all the blue seemed to drain from its face. "Wartor-War!" it screamed, looking over Ash's shoulder.
"Huh? What's that?" But when Ash turned and looked, all he saw was the darkness faintly illuminated by Charmander's tail flame. "You must be seeing things." But when he turned back to face the painting, he was soon face-to-face with a large purple floating creature with a mischievous grin spread across its floating face. Ash stayed completely still as him and the purple ghost stared in each other's eyes, but suddenly, the creature let out a cry and its eyes bugged out from its sockets, and stretched as long as its tongue reached out. Ash let out a scream and stumbled backwards while the ghost cackled at his reaction. "Is this a Ghost Pokémon?!" Ash questioned as the three of them quickly pressed themselves against a staircase which led upstairs. Mustering the courage to move his arms, he reached into his pocket and took out his Pokédex to scan the specter.
"Haunter, a gaseous Pokémon. No further information."
"Huh?! Is that all?!" the dark-haired boy exclaimed, and his eyebrows drew down over the tops of his eyes as he put away the red device. "Well, we're not gonna lose to some stupid Ghost Pokémon! Go, Charmander!" But when he actually looked ahead, the Haunter was gone. His eyes scanned the dark room. They had adjusted to the darkness quite a bit, but it was still hard to see. As he looked around, he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Don't bother me now, Wartortle. Quit it." But the tapping consisted, and so Ash grabbed Wartortle and pulled it over his shoulder. "Cut it out-" But soon his blood froze in his veins when he pulled and simply saw he was holding a disembodied purple hand floating in mid air. Ash let out a cry and stumbled backwards while throwing the hand into the air, and the familiar laugh of Haunter filled the room. Ash turned back towards it just in time to see Haunter's hand float back to the side of its body.
"I'm not afraid of you!" Ash said to it. "You just surprised me a little bit!" Then, he looked back down at the Fire-type and nodded. "Charmander, you're on."
"Char!" his Pokémon agreed, running forward and stopping between its Trainer and the Haunter.
"Charmander, time to use your Leer attack!" Lowering its brow and trying to mask its fear, Charmander glared and growled at Haunter, and the other Pokémon seemed to be glaring back. With each passing second, Charmander tried to glare harder, but Haunter only got closer to it. Eventually, Charmander saw it wasn't working and crossed its eyes while pulling its cheeks to make a funny face. The move caught Haunter off-guard, and the Gas Pokémon cackled in delight at it. Ash, however, was not impressed. "What are you doing, Charmander? You're not suppose to make it laugh."
"Mander?" the Fire-type said back to its Trainer, scratching its head with its claw. When it turned back, Haunter floated down in front of it and extended its long tongue before dragging it up the whole length of Charmander's body. Charmander reeled back, and its whole body seemed to seize up and quiver from the attack. Ash frowned as Haunter laughed at its handiwork, and raised his Pokémon's Poké Ball.
"Aw, this isn't working; Charmander, return!" And with a beam of red light, the paralyzed Pokémon disappeared into its Poké Ball. With the Fire-type gone, Haunter once again bulged its eyes out of its sockets, and stuck its tongue out. "Do you really think I'm afraid of you?!" But both him and Wartortle let out a scream when another figure rose out from the wood flooring. This one was dark purple in color, and had red eyes and a wide grin plastered across its face.
"Gengar gengar gengar..." the Pokémon muttered as it rose from beneath the floor.
"There are more of these?!" Ash cried. But suddenly, Gengar reached into the ground and pulled out a paper fan, and before the Pallet Town boy could react, the Ghost Pokémon hit Ash across the back of the head with it. Ash stumbled forward – the strike didn't hurt, but more surprised him than anything. Meanwhile, Haunter gave a hearty laugh and clapped its floating hands together, and Gengar cackled in delight. "I better find out about this one!"
"Gengar," his newly-retrieved Pokédex said upon scanning the fully-evolved Pokémon. "No information available."
"Not again!" Ash moaned, but gave a confused look when his eyes traveled upward to the pair of ghosts. Haunter was stretching its body sideways with its hands, and as it did, Gengar raised its paper fan and slapped Haunter on the top of the head with it. Haunter's eyes bulged out of its head, and it bounced in the air, and then they both froze and looked at Ash through the corner of their eyes, awaiting a reaction. "I don't get it. They're weird..." he murmured with his hands on his hips. Apparently, this was not the reaction they were looking for, and physically recoiled back as though they had been struck with flames.
Throwing away the paper fan in its hands, both Haunter and Gengar soon began to stretch and distort their bodies as though they were looking through fun-house mirrors, all the while lowering and rising the pitch of their voice. "Are you guys trying to be funny? Your routine really isn't working for me." The words devastated the pair of Ghost and Poison Pokémon, and they collapsed to the ground, looking thoroughly depressed. "I'm sorry to say it, but their humor really leaves me cold."
"Wartor..." Wartortle agreed with a nod.
"They're pretty sad." The two deflated Pokémon soon began to sink into the ground, and Ash realized that if they got away, he wouldn't have a Ghost Pokémon to capture after trying so hard to find one. Letting out a cry, both him and Wartortle ran towards them. "Hey, don't go!" Knowing he wasn't going to make it on foot, Ash leapt forward. "Wait a secooooond!" But the Pokémon disappeared into the floorboards, and since he was not a ghost, Ash collided with it face-first while Wartortle skidded beside him. The crash shook the whole room, and soon, a loud noise from above sounded. Ash peeled himself off the ground and looked up, just in time to see the chandelier on the ceiling had come undone from it and was now falling toward him. He let out a scream, and suddenly, everything went black.
o 0 o
Coming back slowly from the depths of unconsciousness, Ash was amazed that he didn't have a headache. And much to his surprise, he didn't feel any pain at all. His head was hanging, so when he opened his eyes and his vision slowly faded into view, he saw that he was looking at the ground, but the ground was far from his feet. Was he hanging? No, he was floating! But what surprised him more than the floating was what he saw below his feet. The metal chandelier which had come crashing down on him was laying crumpled and bent from its descend on the floor. And underneath it, slightly dusted over with debris and ceiling particles was... him and Wartortle.
"We're down there!" Ash exclaimed, his voice sounding as though he was at the end of the tunnel.
"Wartor, War!" his Wartortle said, puzzled and floating beside him. It too had the same echoing effect to its voice, and instead of its normal bluish hue, its entire body was grayscale.
"What's going on?" A disembodied hand grabbed Ash's attention, and he looked across from him to see the Haunter from earlier floating in front of him. It gave him a wide grin, and pointed both to Ash and then to itself.
"Haunter Haunter!" Right away, Ash knew exactly what it said.
"You're saying... we're alike now?" His jaw dropped, and he looked down at his body. "Oh, no! We've been totally separated from our bodies!"
"Haunter Haunter!" the Ghost Pokémon said excitedly, bouncing up and down in the air and unable to wipe the grin off its face, but Ash raised his arms in protest.
"No way, I don't wanna be a ghost yet!" But Haunter ignored his words and wrapped one of its floating hands around Ash's wrist. Before he could stop it, Haunter flew higher into the air. Beside it, Gengar and a new Ghost Pokémon that had joined them – a Gastly – floated up, with Gengar keeping Wartortle on its forehead and rising higher into the air. "Oh, no! Wherever you're taking us, we don't want to go!" But higher and higher they traveled, and finally, they passed through the ceiling, and Ash let out a cry. It was completely through instinct that he closed his eyes and braced for impact, but he didn't feel anything at all, and a few moments later when he opened his eyes again, they were floating above Pokémon Tower and looking down at Lavender Town. Haunter let go of his arm, and both him and Wartortle floated in the sky by themselves, all anxieties forgotten as a smile spread across their face as they looked down at the twinkling lights of the city.
"Wow! What a view!"
"Wartor, tle!" his starter Pokémon agreed.
Though Ash's gray eyes took in the beauty of the town that sent chills down his spine just hours before, he stopped just at the entrance of the tower below his feet, and a mischievous grin spread across his pale face as his eyes fell upon Brock standing under the safety of the streetlights at the top of the staircase that led up to Pokémon Tower. "Oh; now's our chance to have some fun!"
"War?" his starter Pokémon murmured with a questioning look. He floated down to where Brock was standing, his arms crossed and a stern look frozen on his face.
"Ash has been in there a while... It's probably a good idea if I go check on him..." he heard the Pokémon Breeder mutter.
"So Brock, you're really worried about me!" Ash stated playfully, hanging upside down behind Brock. Instantly, Brock's eyebrows rose and he whipped around. Though he looked directly at Ash, he seemed to be looking through him.
"How odd, I thought I heard a voice..." Flipping right-side-up, Ash put his ghostly hands on Brock's hips. He had to use all his might, but eventually, he was able to grip the older teen's midsection and pulled him slightly into the air.
"Come for a ride with me, Brock!" Ash said, though he knew his friend couldn't hear him. And while Ash giggled in delight, Brock let out a loud scream, and began to fidget with fright in his arms. "Okay, ride's over!" And with that, Ash let go, and Brock fell to the broken path where he landed on his backside with a crash. The older teen only took a few moments to revel in what had happened before he sat up quickly.
"Wait, that voice! Did something happen to Ash?" Brock asked, and within seconds was on his feet and running towards the entrance of the tower. But Ash didn't pay any attention to this, and feeling nothing but joy, him and Wartortle rose high into the air, and spreading his arms wide like a bird Pokémon, he soared through the air.
"Yeahhhh!" he cried loudly, and he was soon joined by Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar, who flew through the air behind him, laughing and cackling with joy. "I'm flying!" Dipping down at the outskirts of the city, he and the other Pokémon around him dove into the trees surrounding the tower. With him flying through the woods and easily weaving between the trees, it was like he was in a dream. Beside him, Wartortle was enjoying itself too, a wide grin plastered on its face so wide that it couldn't even keep its eyes open. "Cool!"
Suddenly, Haunter appeared from one of the sides, and Ash flinched and cried out as Haunter opened its mouth and seemed to swallow Ash whole. The young Pokémon Trainer let out a cry and raised his arms instinctively, but he instead passed right through Haunter's body. Turning around, Ash gave the Gas Pokémon a puzzled look. "You fooled me!" But the Ghost-type Pokémon only laughed loudly in response. And within seconds, Ash and Wartortle was joining them as well.
The tour of the forest was now behind them, so Haunter and the others directed Ash and Wartortle back towards the tower. Half of him almost floated down to the door, but then he remembered that he could pass through walls, and followed the purple Ghost-type through the cold concrete bricks that made up the circular tower near the roof. But unlike the chilling, dreary base of the tower that Ash had only been in that looked like an old, abandoned mansion, this room was drastically different. "Oh!" It seemed to make up the whole entirety of the top floor, and was painted bright white. The roof followed the shape of the roof outside with a dome-like structure, but was painted indigo with planets and stars to make it resemble outer space. A light shone above, revealing all sorts of toys from right out of a children's book. There were giant rideable toys, as well as stuffed animals that towered over Ash and smaller toys scattered all over the blue and teal tiled floor. There was even a swing-set on one end of the room, and a giant merry-go-round at the other. "Wow, look at all these toys!"
"Haunt haunt haunt haaaunnt!" Haunter exclaimed, pointing proudly at the merry-go-round. Gengar went off to go play, and was attempting to show-off for the Pokémon Trainer by balancing on one hand on a large ball. And Gastly had a wide grin on its face as it swung back and forth on the swing-set, forming hands out of the gas that drifted around its body. Just then, it clicked with Ash, and his eyes sparkled in realization.
"Huh – did you mean you only wanted somebody to play with?" Gengar rolled the ball over with its feet, and both it and Haunter stopped beside each other. As the fully-evolved Pokémon stopped and balanced on one foot, they both nodded in response to Ash's query. "Really? Was that all? You just wanted to have some fun, not scare people?" He heard a laugh of delight, and looked over to see that Wartortle had joined Gastly on the swings, both of them swinging back and forth beside themselves and having the time of their lives. "I understand how you must have been bored for such a long time," Ash commented with a shrug, unable to stop himself from smiling upon seeing his starter Pokémon and Gastly playing together. "That's tough."
The two other unoccupied Pokémon approached Ash with hopeful looks on their faces, and Ash could almost sense their excitement, so it painted him to frown and he forced himself to look towards the ground away from their excited faces, instead choosing to look at the base of a giant plush die that was as tall as his chest. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay with you and play with all these great toys."
Summoning his courage, he looked back at them, this time with determination. "There are still lots and lots of opponents out there for me to battle! I have to fulfill my dream of becoming a Pokémon Master!" The two Pokémon gave him questioning looks, as if they didn't quite understand, so he had to say it bluntly. "Sorry, but I really have to go. I'll miss you all." This the Ghost Pokémon understood, and even Gastly stopped swinging with Wartortle and hovered over with the others, joining their sad looks. The three Pokémon soon burst into tears from the devastation of his words, knowing that they would have to give up their new friends, and Ash and Wartortle only exchanged guilty looks.
Finally, after getting the three Ghost and Poison Pokémon to calm down, Ash convinced them that it was time to return him and Wartortle back to their bodies. The three were reluctant, but complied nevertheless, and the five melted through the floor, passing through each floor until they arrived in the large entryway. He was surprised to see that Brock had pulled both him and Wartortle away from the fallen chandelier, and both of their backpacks were strewn to the side as he tried to shake them awake.
"Ash! Wartortle! C'mon, wake up!" he urged, his voice whispering and quiet with fear – not of the tower any longer, but of losing his friend. "Please say something!" Ash once again felt the strange feeling of looking down at his own body, but pushed this aside and looked at his Pokémon.
"I guess it's time to go back, Wartortle." The three Ghost Pokémon let out a moan of concentration, and Ash suddenly felt a strange sensation as though he were being sucked up by a vacuum, but he was being pulled to the floor and towards his body. Both him and his Pokémon let out slight cries of surprise, but soon closed their eyes, and within moments, he could feel his muscles begin to twitch.
His vision was blurred as he opened his eyes, and his head was throbbing, but his eyelids slowly drifted open, and he turned his neck ever-so slightly and smiled up at Brock, who had yet to notice he hadn't regained consciousness yet. "Hi, Brock..." Ash moaned quietly. The Pokémon Breeder's head whipped up at the sound of Ash's voice, and instant relief swept over his face as Wartortle sat up with Ash following suit.
"You're alive... And Wartortle, too..."
"Hey Brock, sorry to worry you," Ash apologized, and Brock simply grinned from ear to ear.
"No sweat; glad to have 'ya back." Remembering the Ghost Pokémon above, Ash leaned back and looked straight up into the air. Despite being sad about having to leave their new friends earlier, the three Pokémon were smiling down at him with wide grins, and all chuckled. Ash joined with them, but when Brock looked up to see what he was looking at, the mischievous Pokémon disappeared, leaving only a wondering look on his face.
o 0 o
By the time that Ash had gotten to his feet and the pair finally made it back outside, the morning sun was just starting to come up. The Pokémon Tower looked completely different during the day with the blues and greens of the morning sky as a backdrop, and with his adventures last night, it wasn't terrifying in the slightest. But he still surprised Brock when he said he was ready to go.
"But Ash, I thought you were gonna catch a Ghost Pokémon." Looking up at Wartortle who was perched on Ash's backpack and leaning on the top of his head, the two exchanged a grin.
"Aw, it's impossible to catch them," he replied.
"What?!" Brock was reeling in shock. "Then how are you ever gonna beat the Psychic Pokémon?" This question pulled the corners of Ash's mouth down in thought, and he looked up at the clouds drifting lazily in the sky, but then smiled and looked back at Brock.
"Maybe I'll have to use my sense of humor!" Brock only raised an eyebrow at the suggested method, as if Ash had said an inside joke he wasn't clued in on.
"Wartor!" Wartortle said with excitement, pointing behind Brock. The former Gym Leader turned around just in time to see Haunter floating down from the sky, and he only rested his eyes upon the Pokémon for a moment before the Ghost Pokémon stuck out its comically-large tongue and bulged its eyes out of its sockets. Brock let out a scream with his hands high above his head, and without even giving a second glance to Ash, took off in the direction of the city while the younger boy stood and laughed at Haunter's joke.
Haunter floated up beside Ash, and the two exchanged grins before Haunter began to stretch its body like a fun-house mirror. Finally, Ash had found its humor funny, and both him and Wartortle were holding their stomachs in laughter.
-end-
Ash:
Party:
Wartortle (Poké Ball)
Moves: Tackle, Dig, Water Gun, BubbleBeam
Pidgey (Poké Ball)
Moves: Gust, Sand-Attack, Whirlwind, Wing Attack
Bulbasaur (Poké Ball)
Moves: Tackle, Vine Whip
Charmander (Poké Ball)
Moves: Flamethrower, Leer
Krabby (Poké Ball)
Moves: ViceGrip
Traveling with:
Haunter
Moves: Lick
Badges:
Boulder Badge
Cascade Badge
Thunder Badge
Brock:
Party:
Onix (Poké Ball)
Moves: Tackle, Bind, Dig
Geodude (Poké Ball)
Moves: Seismic Toss, Tackle
Zubat (Poké Ball)
Moves: Whirlwind, Supersonic
