Flashback to Lavender Town.
"Are we there yet?" Cherry's voice asked. "I'm getting tired."
"It shouldn't be too long now." A different voice replied which didn't sound like Atticus.
"I hope so because we've been walking for hours." Mo's voice said.
"It should be around here soon." Atticus's voice replied.
The three were soon shown with a brown-haired boy who seemed to be dressed in red, black, and white, almost like Emi, but of course a different outfit as this was a boy.
"There's a Center right there." Cherry pointed out once she saw a building in the new place they came for their journey.
"Good, we can get our Pokemon all healed up." Atticus smiled.
They soon went to do just that after they had been traveling for a while.
"I heard that a ghost has been appearing in the Pokemon Tower lately." A man's voice commented.
'A ghost?' Mo thought to herself.
"Really?" A woman asked.
"Yeah, that's right," The man told her. "And a lot of people have said that they've seen it."
"Psh... Ghosts," Cherry scoffed. "I ain't afraid of no ghosts."
"Excuse me, what's this about ghost at a tower?" Mo asked the man and woman.
"Well, I haven't seen him myself, but everyone is talking about it." The man replied.
"Figures." Cherry rolled her eyes in disbelief.
"That's, uh, interesting." Mo said, unconvinced.
"And what exactly is the Pokemon Tower?" Red asked the adults.
"I take it it's your first time in this town?" The man asked them.
"Yep." Red nodded.
"You haven't heard this town is the Grave Site for Pokemon?" The man then asked.
"Yeah, we've heard." Mo nodded.
"The Pokemon Tower is the Grave Site," The woman informed. "I'll show you."
"This should be good." Cherry muttered.
"I'm sure it's not that scary." Mo smiled.
They soon went to see what the woman had told them about.
"That's Pokemon Tower?" Red gasped.
"Yes," The woman replied. "The Tower is used for services. The memorials that are held for Pokemon."
"In fact, lots of people come from great distances to pay their respects." The man added.
"So, then what's this about a ghost?" Atticus asked. "If people come to pay their respects, why would a ghost come to scare them away?"
"The ghost is a Pokemon," The man replied. "It seems like it, but it's really just a rumor."
"So then, do you actually believe in ghosts?" The woman asked them.
"No, no, I don't think they exist," Red replied. "I'm not sure though."
"Yeah, it's probably just someone trying to pull a prank." Mo said.
"Maybe, maybe not," The woman chuckled. "I guess that white hand that's resting on your shoulder's not real either, huh?"
"W-White hand?" Mo gulped.
Red, Atticus, Mo, and Cherry soon looked at their shoulders only to not see any white hand on any of their shoulders.
"Nice try," Atticus said as he faced the two people only to not see them there anymore. "Uh, w-where'd they go?"
"Oh, don't be silly, they're just trying to scare us, but I'm not scared." Cherry replied cockily.
"Then why are we the only ones that are still in front of the Pokemon Tower?" Mo shivered.
"Coincidence..." Cherry replied.
"Oooohhhh~..." A moan was heard.
"Dah!" Cherry yelped before she glared to see Atticus smirking. "I'm going to kill you."
"Oh, come on, you had to know I couldn't resist." Atticus smirked.
"Well, it wasn't scary or funny." Cherry huffed.
"Whatever you say." Atticus smirked.
'Go away.' A scary voice said.
"Okay, knock it off, Atticus." Cherry glared.
"I didn't do that." Atticus replied.
"Red? Cherry? Atticus? Mo?" A woman's voice called and they looked over to see that it was the nurse.
"Yes?" The four replied after being startled.
"I want to thank you for waiting," The nurse smiled as she brought them to her desk. "You'll all be glad to know that your Pokemon are completely fighting fit! We hope to see you again soon."
"Uh, okay, thank you." Red replied.
"And, uh, by any chance, are you all going to the Pokemon Tower?" The nurse then asked.
"Yes, we are." Atticus said.
"Yeah," Red added. "Since we came all this way, we figure we check it out."
"Then before you go to the Pokemon Tower, I strongly recommend you guys visit the Pokemon House." The nurse suggested.
"Um, okay?" Mo said out of confusion.
They soon collected their Pokeballs and began to leave.
'Lavender Town, huh?' Drell's voice asked on an emergency phone that he gave to the kids if they needed to talk to him about something. 'Careful there, I hear there's ghouls there.'
"The only ghoul around here is you!" Cherry glared. "Why is everyone trying to scare us with this ghost bull crap?!"
'But there just might be ghosts/ghouls there.' Drell told them.
"I bet!" Cherry rolled her eyes in deadpan.
'Be sure to go to the Pokemon House before the Pokemon Tower.' Drell advised.
"The nurse suggested the same thing." Atticus said.
'Good... Listen to her...' Drell replied. 'Tell me more later." he then hung up on them.
They soon arrived at the Pokemon House.
"Hm... I wonder why the nurse wanted us to come here first?" Atticus wondered.
"Anyone here?" Red called out.
"Yes?" A girl's voice replied before she soon came out to see them.
"Hello, we were recommended to come here first before going to the Pokemon Tower." Mo greeted.
"What is this Pokemon House anyway?" Cherry added.
"Oh, so you mean no one told you?" The girl replied. "This is a place where abandoned or orphaned Pokemon are taken care of."
"Abandoned or orphaned Pokémon?" Mo frowned.
"I'll show you," The girl smiled softly as she went to show them. "This way, please."
The others then followed after her, and they came into a room which looked like a stable with other people working. They soon saw different Pokémon that they assumed that were abandoned. Mo frowned as this looked a bit awful and depressing.
"I had no idea there were so many abandoned Pokemon..." Red commented.
"You should talk to the founder of the Pokemon House, his name is Mr. Fuji," The girl suggested. "He says that lots of people around the world think that Pokemon are nothing more than tools or accessories. Did you know that this house used to be Mr. Fuji's own home? He remodeled it so it would have facilities just for the Pokemon."
Two of the Pokémon seemed to notice the group and seemed to find a connection with Atticus and Mo even without knowing them. Cherry soon noticed one Pokémon that wasn't happy.
"This Mr. Fuji really seems like a kind person." Red smiled.
"You're right, he is," The girl smiled back. "That's why a lot of people started helping out as volunteers at the house. As a matter of fact, I'm one of them. My name's Reina."
"Excuse me, Reina, what's with that Pokémon?" Cherry asked as she pointed to the Pokémon that had a skull mask and a bone-like club in its hands while seeming to glare at the group.
"Oh... You've found Cubone..." Reina said to her. "It's a baby. It's only friendly to Mr. Fuji, but it's very nervous around anyone else."
"You call that nervous?" Cherry replied. "It looks like it wants to beat me up."
"It's because of Team Rocket." Reina frowned.
"Somehow I'm not really shocked to hear that." Cherry said.
"One day, Cubone was being chased by Team Rocket close to town," Reina explained. "Because of Team Rocket, Cubone lost its mother, Marowak."
Atticus and Red's hand's began to tighten into fists after they heard that, feeling angered that Team Rocket would do such a thing. Mo looked a bit sad for poor little Cubone.
"Ever since that day, Cubone hasn't opened up for anyone, except Mr. Fuji." Reina frowned for the orphaned Pokemon.
"I can't believe Team Rocket, what horrible thing to do." Red said firmly as he tightened his grip.
Cubone's expression seemed to soften.
"You poor thing..." Cherry said to Cubone.
"Cherry has other emotions?" Mo whispered to Atticus.
"She has her moments when she shows them." Atticus whispered back.
They soon left after a while as Reina led them out while Cherry looked and felt bad for Cubone. Suddenly, Growlithe and Oddish, two of the orphan Pokémon, looked like they wanted to go with Atticus and Mo.
"That one's like a dog." Atticus said about Growlithe.
"You guys, Drell said not to get too attached." Cherry hissed through her teeth, anxiously.
"I know." Mo said.
Atticus came towards the dog-like Pokemon.
"Atticus... Don't!" Cherry warned.
Growlithe came towards Atticus, not feeling any reason to stay away from him. Atticus came up to Growlithe and held out his hand with a small smile. Growlithe came up to his hand and sniffed it before licking it, showing he trusted the strong wiccan teenage boy. Atticus laughed as that tickled before he soon picked up Growlithe.
"Atticus! Stop!" Cherry said.
"Aw, come on, Cherry, what's gonna happen?" Atticus smiled as he hugged the Pokemon.
"We could get in trouble with Drell." Cherry panicked.
"Oh, you let me handle him." Atticus smiled before he noticed Oddish looking like it was trying to get to Mo.
"But...?" Cherry bit her lip.
"Why, hello there." Mo smiled to the Pokemon who looked at her.
Oddish simply smiled back as it tried to get out so it could get closer to her. Mo soon reached out.
"Stop it!" Cherry panicked. "You guys are gonna get attached to these weird and disgusting monster things!" She was too late as both Atticus and Mo got attached to Growlithe and Oddish. "Guuuys!" she then panicked and shook a little, slowly losing her hair from the stress.
"Huh... That doesn't sound so bad..." Present Atticus commented during the story.
'I believe it was at the time when you four were inside the Pokémon Tower.' Present Patrick said.
"Hmm..." Present Atticus replied in thought.
"I wanted to thank you for showing us around here," Red smiled to Reina. "It all makes a lot more sense now. I get why the receptionist at the Pokemon Center told us to come here before the Pokemon Tower."
"Mr. Fuji is not just kind, you know?" Reina smiled back. "He knows everything there is about Pokemon, and he teaches us all kinds of things."
"Really? Then maybe he can help us complete the Pokedex." Cherry said.
"You think we could meet him if he could spare the time?" Red added. "Uh... Which one of these guys is Mr. Fuji?"
"Well, that's just it." Reina frowned.
"What's wrong?" Atticus frowned back while he still held Growlithe who looked sad as it didn't know where Mr. Fuji was.
"What... What do you mean...?" Red asked.
"Everyone, I found out where Mr. Fuji is!" A man called out as he came inside.
"Aha! The plot thickens!" Cherry smirked. "This should be good."
"Where is he?" A woman begged. "Tell us!"
"He's in the Pokemon Tower." The man replied.
"Pokemon Tower?!" The others gasped.
"That's right," The man nodded. "Someone saw Mr. Fuji heading that way yesterday, then they saw him go into the Pokemon Tower."
"Why would he go there?" Mo asked.
"Team Rocket, that's the only reason," The woman replied firmly. "He must've gone there to convince Team Rocket to leave the Pokemon Tower, but... Then he was captured."
"What's Team Rocket doing at the Pokémon Tower? They don't have any Pokémon to pay respects to." Atticus said.
"I don't think that's the point, Nancy Boy Fudo." Cherry muttered.
"I'm afraid those kinds of people won't listen to anyone else." A man sighed.
"Excuse me," Red spoke up. "The Pokemon Tower; what happened to it?"
"Who are you?" The man asked him.
"My name's Red," The boy replied. "And these are my friends, Cherry, Atticus, and Mo. We're on a journey, and we were hoping to possibly learn everything we can from Mr. Fuji."
"So, what happened to the Pokémon Tower?" Mo asked the man.
"It was the day Team Rocket showed up, and made the Pokemon Tower their base." The man replied.
"It was completely out of the blue with no warning!" Reina added. "They came by truck, and before we knew it, worst of all, they chase away the people who come to visit the Pokemon Tower."
"So then how can anyone pay their respects without them knowing?" Mo asked.
"I'm afraid since that day, no one's been allowed inside the Pokemon Tower." Reina frowned.
"Not even at night?" Cherry asked.
"The other night, I sneaked into the tower when Team Rocket wasn't looking," A woman spoke up. "And... That's when..."
"Don't tell me," Cherry rolled her eyes. "You saw a ghost."
"Exactly!" The woman gulped.
"Aw, jeez." Cherry muttered.
"It was unbelievably scary!" The woman shivered in fright.
"It was probably just Team Rocket." Cherry said.
"If people can't come to visit the Pokemon Tower, this town is finished." The man frowned.
"Hey! Let's all go together and rescue Mr. Fuji." Reina suggested.
"But there's no way we can battle against Team Rocket." Another man told her.
"Some people challenge them to battle, but they're pretty strong for a bunch of petty thugs." The first woman frowned.
Atticus couldn't believe what he was hearing. The people looked scared about going back to the Pokemon Tower.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Reina narrowed her eyes. "Mr. Fuji went to Team Rocket's base to protect all of us! Are you saying we should just abandon him?"
"No, we're not abandoning him." One woman frowned.
"Then what are you going to do?" Mo asked.
"Team Rocket will eventually let Mr. Fuji go," One man said. "We'll just have to wait, and see, that's all we can do."
"I can't believe you'd act like this!" Reina glared at the people.
"We'll go and rescue Mr. Fuji." Atticus said, referring to himself, Cherry, Mo, and Red.
The people soon gasped to that.
"You? But that's impossible," The woman replied. "You're just children. Even the adults here didn't have the strength to beat Team Rocket."
"That's right, it's a waste of time," Another man added. "Even if you go there, nothing's gonna change!"
"Well, I'm pretty confident about my skill in Pokemon Battles." Red smirked before showing his badges.
"And as for us, we're not just teenagers." Cherry said.
"Okay, so I see why you're all so confident, but are you sure that's going to be enough?" The man asked.
"It doesn't matter, we can't let Team Rocket get away with this!" Red glared.
"And we won't." Mo reassured him.
"That's right." Atticus nodded.
A certain boy glared not too far away from where they were, and he decided to get to the Pokemon Tower first so he would be the hero.
"All right, looks like we're going out tonight..." Cherry replied. "Ghosts... Hm... Oh, brother!"
"Yes?" Atticus smirked.
"That's... That's not funny." Cherry glared about that.
"Whatever you say." Atticus smirked.
But then, that night...
A howl was heard which made Mo shiver a bit.
"I said that I'd go, but now that I'm here, it's more scary than I thought." Red looked nervous about the Pokemon Tower.
"I-It sure is much scarier at night." Atticus gulped.
"Aw, come on, ya big babies." Cherry scoffed as they went to go explore inside, but once they got in there, it was a bit creepy.
"You like it here, Cherry?" Atticus asked nervously as he used his flashlight.
"Um... It's not too bad..." Cherry replied, not sounding so cocky anymore. "I... Uh... Could have a poetry slam here."
"There s-sure are a lot of grave stones in here." Mo gulped.
"There's a sudden chill in here..." Red said nervously.
"GIRL FROM THE WELL!" Cherry yelped once someone came towards them which looked like someone from a horror movie she saw.
But luckily, the person that came towards them seemed to be human and not ghost.
"You really don't have to worry; I'm not a ghost." The woman told them.
"Phew! Please don't scare us like that." Red sighed.
"I wasn't scared." Cherry muttered.
"We've, um, come to pay our respects." Mo said.
"What about you?" Atticus added.
"I came here because I need to see my Nidoran," The woman replied. "I see you all care about your Pokemon too."
"We sure do." Atticus smiled as the Growlithe he had made friends with was by his side.
"Uh, ma'am, aren't you afraid?" Red asked.
"Of course not," The woman smiled. "It seems that the ghost only appears farther up. It must hold a grudge against Team Rocket."
"I wouldn't blame it." Cherry said.
"You said that it's farther up?" Red asked nervously.
"Yes, that's right." The woman replied.
"Oh, great." Mo smiled nervously.
"We'll go check it out... Later of course." Atticus said.
"There is no ghost!" Cherry glared in annoyance.
"Oh but there is." The woman told them.
"Bah..." Cherry rolled her eyes.
"You sounded scared earlier." The woman replied.
"I wasn't scared," Cherry replied. "I thought I stepped on a bee."
"Excuses. Excuses." Mo smirked.
Cherry glared slightly.
"Be careful, dears." The woman warned them.
"We will." Atticus said.
The woman nodded to them and let them go as they went to keep going.
"Come on, guys." Red told the others.
Growlithe and Oddish made sure to stay close with Atticus and Mo as they continued on.
"It's probably just that Blue kid trying to prank us." Cherry muttered.
"That guy seems like the arrogant type." Mo said.
They soon went to explore while trying not to get scared about the ghost, and Cherry seemed to be humming the Ghostbusters theme song. They were soon arriving at the staircase to the very top of the tower.
"It's like an attic up there." Mo commented.
They soon heard yelling coming down.
"It's the ghost!" Cherry gasped nervously.
Luckily it wasn't the ghost, but unfortunately, it was the one that Cherry thought that was trying to prank them.
"Blue?" Cherry asked.
Blue yelled out and soon ran into them by accident.
"Blue?" Red asked. "What're you doing here?"
"I... I saw a g-g-g-ghost!" Blue told them.
"Seriously? You too?" Cherry asked, unimpressed.
"GET OUT!" A voice yelled before they saw a spirit in front of them with beady red eyes. "LEAVE THIS PLACE!" And where after seeing the spirit, Atticus, Mo, and Cherry actually looked traumatized to see it was real.
"Oh..." Atticus said.
"My..." Mo added.
"GOD!" Cherry concluded.
They soon all screamed like they were scared to death and freaked out from the ghost. The flashback seemed to stop from there.
Atticus soon shuddered after that story. "Ooh, I feel like I just got a chill down my spine I haven't felt in over 20 years."
'Plus you three kept on having nightmares about that ghost before finding out who the ghost was.' Patrick said.
"I see..." Atticus replied. "So that's why Drell erased our memories about Pokemon."
'Exactly.' Patrick told him.
"Oh, Dad, I'm sorry for yelling earlier, I was just frustrated." Atticus replied.
'It's okay, I should've expected this sooner or later.' Patrick reassured his adult son.
"And I'm going to have to apologize to Drell too for making him come here." Atticus said.
"Oh, you better hope he forgives you," Patrick suggested. "He's a pretty big grudge holder."
"I can believe that." Atticus muttered.
'Anyway, good luck.' Patrick told him.
"Thanks, Dad, sorry to bother you and Mom," Atticus replied. "Oh, but we'll see you for Christmas, okay?"
'You know it.' Patrick smiled.
"All right, talk to you later, Dad, send my love to Mom." Atticus smiled back before hanging up.