Chapter Seven

It was a relief to Kalin when they found Hydrangea Town without incident. There was still no explanation for the weird fog they had experienced, and it being from Ghost Pokemon seemed likely. If so, then, it seemed strange that it hadn't happened again when they had gone back over some of the area where the fog had hit them before.

Evan was snuggled against Kalin's chest as he walked. Evan wasn't hurt, unlike Evie, but he seemed to utterly love being carried, as she did. Kalin could hear what really sounded like purring sounds as he walked.

"He's so affectionate," Kalin said to Radley. "I might have thought he'd be skittish of people after living away from them."

"And maybe he would be, ordinarily," Radley said. "But he's really taken with you. You and I did risk our lives to protect him and Evie. I think that made a big impression."

"It must have," Kalin said.

"Eevee," Evan agreed.

Kalin eyed the sign in front as they approached. ". . . What kind of town is this?!"

Evan cuddled closer, whimpering as they stepped inside the town gate.

Radley sighed. "If it's like Lavender Town, it has a huge cemetery for Pokemon."

Kalin gave him a blank look. "Scotch would be excited about that?" Scotch loved creepy things, but he also loved animals. Thinking about animals dying was not something he enjoyed.

"He did in the games," Radley said. "But I'm sure it started sinking in before long that this was real."

Evie burrowed against him. "Vee-vee-vee!"

"You're really spooked, huh?" Radley said soothingly to her. "We'll find the others and go, okay?"

Kalin was staring ahead. "They're going into that huge tower!"

Radley heaved a weary sigh. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised." He took out his phone and tried calling Scotch, but it also wasn't a surprise when it didn't work. Ghosts were blocking the communications again. He shoved his phone back in his pocket. "Come on, we'll have to catch up with them."

They hurried down the street until they arrived at the tower. As they entered, a mix of sweetness, sadness, and something chilling swept over them.

"Vee!" Evie wailed.

"I know, it's creepy," Radley said kindly to her. "We need to find the others, but you and Evan could wait outside if you want."

Evie shook her head and continued to burrow into his shirt. "Vee . . ."

"Eevee," Evan agreed.

"Why does it feel so cold in here?" Kalin frowned. "You wouldn't think Pokemon would cause it to feel dark like this."

"I hope it's not that something terrible happened like in the games," Radley said in concern. "During a Team Rocket plot, they killed a poor mother Pokemon when she was trying to get away. Her spirit was restless and kept haunting the Tower, even possessing multiple channelers, before she was finally able to rest in peace. The earlier games had her go away after being defeated by the player, but the most recent remake had it that she had to see her kid again before she could rest. That makes more sense to me."

Kalin grunted. "I didn't realize Pokemon games got that dark."

"I was surprised by that myself," Radley admitted. He looked around. "It's weird that the lobby is empty here too. You'd think there'd be someone around when the place is open."

"And there's this purple fog." Kalin started to tense. Purple fog reminded him far too much of the Dark Signers. That was not what he wanted to think about right now.

Radley drew his free arm around Kalin's shoulders. "We'd better hurry and find the others and get out," he said. "I don't like any of this."

Kalin certainly didn't either.

The situation only became more eerie as they headed upstairs to thefirst full floor of graves. The fog was thickening, making it almost impossible to discern the locations of the graves. But they could see enough to tell that no one was on the floor at all.

"That's strange," Radley said in concern. "How could Scotch and everybody be higher than this floor? We're not that far behind them!"

Kalin ran his hand over the top of a headstone. "I wonder if any of these are trick stones," he mused. "Maybe there's a trapdoor that's activated by pressing something on one of them."

"Maybe," Radley said. "Or maybe we just need to go higher."

Evie looked up at the graves and swiftly burrowed again. Radley petted her as they headed for the stairs.

The next level was worse. The fog was even thicker, barely allowing for any visibility from the waist down. Several identical women dressed like Shinto priestesses were standing at various spots around the floor. There was no way to go higher without running into them.

"Uh oh," Radley said in concern. "These ladies might want to battle."

Kalin had other things on his mind. "Why do they all look like Carly?!"

Radley had to laugh in spite of the grim situation. "I never thought about that before, but you're right! They look like Carly's twin sisters."

". . . That's just bizarre," Kalin said.

"Ten to one Scotch took a picture to show her later," Radley said, shaking his head. ". . . If they came this way." He looked around in growing bewilderment.

". . . You said Ghost-type Pokemon show illusions," Kalin said. "Could they have cast an illusion of the others coming in here?"

". . . You're right, they could have!" Radley exclaimed. "I thought I'd be able to reach Scotch on the phone if they weren't in the tower, though."

"Maybe the signal is blocked all over the town," Kalin said.

"In any case, I think we'd better turn around and go back the other way," Radley said. "I don't wanna get caught up in things here if we don't have to. At least not without the others." He turned back to the stairs.

A hand snaked out of the darkness and clamped on Kalin's shoulder. He immediately went tense.

"Beware," one of the channelers intoned in an eerie voice.

Kalin grabbed the hand and held it away from him. "Beware of what?!" he retorted.

Radley turned back to look with a frown.

"You have already become entangled in the affairs of this land," the channeler said. "Your involvement will only grow stronger before you can leave."

"All we really wanted was Pokeballs for our Eevees," Radley said. "Are you saying we can't just get them and go?" From his expression, he wasn't sure he believed any of this.

"You can certainly try," the channeler said.

"We came in here looking for our friends," Radley continued. "Has anyone else been in here in the last few minutes?"

"There was indeed another group," she said. "They went up past us, seemingly not seeing us at all."

"What?!" Kalin stared at her. "How could they not see you?! The fog isn't that thick!"

"They may have been plagued with an illusion," was the reply. "The Ghost Pokemon love to torment people. They may be leading your friends into the most dangerous part of the tower, where they will then drop the illusion."

Kalin scowled. "Why is it the most dangerous? What's up there?"

"The ghosts are very temperamental," the channeler said. "We never know what they'll do next! Sometimes they possess people, sometimes they just sit and look mournfully at them, and sometimes they don't come out at all but just leave everyone with a cold and clammy feeling."

"Vee!" Evie exclaimed.

Evan looked worried, but didn't speak.

". . . So exactly why are Pokemon acting like that?" Kalin retorted.

"They're lost and sad and aren't ready to move on," the channeler said. "We do what we can, talking to them, trying to guide them to the light . . . but it doesn't always work." She shook her head sadly.

"And some of the Pokemon acting out are the actual Ghost types, aren't they?" Radley said.

"Yes, that's right. They love to play pranks, so they get in the fray and make a bad situation worse," the channeler sighed.

"Well, we'd better hurry and find the others then," Radley said. "I hate to think what's happening to them."

"I'll guide you up there," she offered. "My name is Carlie."

". . . What," Kalin intoned.

Radley shook his head, amused in spite of himself. "We'll talk about it later," he chuckled when Channeler Carlie gave him a confused look. "We need to go."

Evie looked up, placing a paw on Radley's shoulder. "Vee! Eevee-vee!" she exclaimed.

Radley petted her. "You're worried about us going up there?" he asked.

"Vee!" Evie gave a firm nod.

"We kinda have to, though, pretty girl," Radley said soothingly. "You don't want the others to get hurt either, do you?"

Evie sighed. "Vee . . ."

"If anyone gets possessed, it's more likely to be me or one of my family," Carlie said. "The spirits are drawn to us and like to talk through us."

"I don't know whether to say that's encouraging or not," Kalin deadpanned. "If you get possessed, you can't do anything to help us."

Radley sighed. "Let's go anyway. Hopefully we can catch up to the others before anything goes seriously wrong."

Carlie glided past them to the stairs. "Follow me."

"And let's hope she doesn't suddenly turn and try to push us down the stairs," Kalin grunted.

It wasn't really funny considering it actually was a possibility, so Radley just held the trembling Evie close and laid a hand on Kalin's shoulder.

xxxx

The fog had thickened on the upper levels, so much so that barely anything could be seen, even whatever people were standing there. Biff could not stop shaking.

"Where is everything?! And everybody?!" he exclaimed.

"I'm right here," Scotch told him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"I didn't realize it would be like this," Yusei said in chagrin. "We should just turn around and go back."

"Only now we can't even see the stairs!" Scotch gasped.

"They've gotta still be back the way we came, don't they?!" Biff cried. "We didn't walk that far ahead!"

In his haste to turn around and look for the stairs in desperation, he crashed into something cold and hard next to him. Immediately he went stiff.

". . . It's a grave!" he wailed. "I just bumped into a grave! The ghost is gonna be furious!"

"And you don't think it'll be annoyed that you're yelling at the top of your lungs?" Virgil grunted. He reached out, attempting to feel his way along. "We're probably all going to crash into the graves. There's no way not to, when we can't even see them! The ghosts should have thought of that before they fogged up the whole room!"

"They probably fogged it up to keep people away, and we just plowed right in anyway!" Biff shot back.

"We didn't even know it was this bad until we got up here!" Virgil said. "All we wanted to do was see that memorial! Why the heck did they put it on the top floor?!"

Yusei sighed. "Maybe because the innocent victims deserved to be elevated as high as possible. It could be that they know who I am and they're so upset that that's what's causing the fog."

"That's looney talk," Virgil snorted.

"Not when you remember that the human victims all grabbed me and tried to drag me down with them," Yusei said.

"That doesn't sound much like they deserve to be elevated," Antinomy remarked.

"They're lost in hate and anger and confusion," Yusei said. "My dad can't get them to want to move on to the afterlife. Maybe it's the same here."

"Or maybe it's not," Antinomy said. "They could be upset about something completely different."

"Yusei?" Kalin suddenly called through the fog.

"Scotch? Everyone?" Radley added. "Are you all here?"

"We're here!" Scotch called back.

A bright glow cut through the fog as one of the channelers held up a red orb. As she did, everyone's locations were illuminated. But at the same time, her eyes went blank.

"You've come back!" she said eerily, pointing at the terrified Evie in Radley's arms.

"Vee?!" Evie shrieked in bewilderment.

". . . She's possessed," Kalin realized.

Radley narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"My sweet little Eevee." The channeler came over and stroked Evie's head, while she shook against Radley and just stared, trying to understand what was going on. When the girl started singing, however, Evie's ears pricked up.

". . . That really is freaky," Virgil remarked, while Biff cried on Scotch's shoulder. The tune was mysterious, the words seemingly nonsensical.

Come again to me, my little one,

And we'll dine together

Where the Zubats play

Don't fear the dark or the dead

It's the living who will bring

The greatest doom and dread

Remember me, as you once did,

But never abandon your friends now dear

Bring them too and we will sup

While the Golbats steal our cups

And if you win to fight again,

Visit me before you leave

I will always be waiting here

Loving you as I always have

Death is never the end

No, it's never the end . . .

She continued stroking Evie's head.

Evie was staring at her, still bewildered. "Vee . . ."

Radley just stared at Carlie. "Just what is all that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"I used to sing it to my Eevees," was the reply.

". . . And this one was one of yours?" Radley asked warily.

"She might have been," Carlie said.

"Your song doesn't make sense," Kalin pointed out.

"Is it some sort of code?" Antinomy asked.

"It's just an old family song." She bent down, kissing Evie on top of her head. "Goodbye, little one."

"Vee . . ." Evie looked up at her in sad confusion.

"Who are you?!" Radley demanded.

"Emilia," was the soft reply. Then Carlie fell back, her eyes clear again. The worst of the fog lifted.

Evan had been staring through the whole encounter. "Eevee?!" he demanded now.

"Eevee-vee," Evie replied. She nuzzled Radley.

Radley held her close. "It sounds like Evie had another owner and she died," he said. "If she wasn't mistaken about our Evie being hers. Evie doesn't seem to remember her."

"But she recognized the song," Kalin said. "That isn't something that could be easily forgotten. Even if I wish it could be."

Yusei nodded. "But it doesn't explain why the woman came to haunt the tower or what that song means," he said. "I've just got the feeling there's more to it than a Pokemon lullaby."

"If anybody sang that to me before bed, I'd have nightmares every night!" Biff said.

Radley looked to Carlie and the other channelers. "I guess none of you know who that Emilia could be," he said.

Most of them looked confused, but one in the back spoke up. "It could be Emilia Hawkins. She lived around here years ago. She used to breed Eevees."

"Hawkins?" Kalin quirked an eyebrow.

"Not any relation to the professor, Arthur Hawkins?" Radley mused.

"His cousin," was the reply.

"Hmm. Then I would say another trip to the Game Shop is in order," Radley said. "After we reunite with the others, of course."

Yusei nodded. "The police are checking out the Team Rocket thing, so I'll just visit the Pokemon memorial at the top and we can go." He stepped back and wound his way around the graves to the next stairs going up.

Kalin stared after him. "Memorial?"

"For Zero Reverse," Antinomy explained. "It's for any Pokemon that may have died in it."

Kalin frowned and looked down at Evan. "I see."

"Should Yusei really go up there alone?" Radley frowned.

"He'll need a moment alone," Antinomy said. "But we should be nearby for when he's done."

Kalin nodded and headed for the stairs. "I'm going up there."

The others soon followed. They would all be there for support.