In our first night in Lavender Town, Akira is faced with a very confusing and frightening situation. Sylvia's acting creepier than normal, and seems to be trying to lead him somewhere! And Misty won't be any help, because she's trapped in a deep sleep! What's going to happen? Will Akira be attacked by the ghosts of Pokemon Tower next?

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Akira is really in a tough position. Hopefully he'll be able to handle whatever it is that's going on.

KedharS: What, you didn't think they'd go to Lavender Town and talk to Mr. Fuji and nothing would go wrong, did you?

JoshGamerV: It certainly sounds like something that Syvlia would do. The question is, if she is possessed, what does the spirit possessing her want with her body?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 843

Ever since Satsuki had appeared to him as a ghost, Akira hadn't really been afraid of ghosts or Ghost type pokemon.

That was no longer the case.

It was like he could see an aura of malevolence emanating off of Sylvia. Maybe she really was possessed by a ghost.

His bigger concern at the moment, though, was Misty. She was lying cold and motionless in her bed, she was barely even breathing. Akira had no experience with anything like this, but he thought it was a fairly safe bet that she wouldn't be waking up any time soon. Whatever it was that had possessed Sylvia, it must have put Misty to sleep, too.

Akira felt himself freezing, too. The way Sylvia was staring at him, that hollow look in her eye, it was frightening, and he found himself wishing that he was asleep in bed as well. But of course he wouldn't get that lucky.

Whatever this thing was, it wasn't trying to hurt him, at least not yet. It was watching him from a safe distance and clearly was trying to lead him somewhere. Understanding that gave him the confidence to start speaking again, asking her "who are you?"

But all the courage he'd summoned was for nothing, because Sylvia didn't say a word. That was another thing about her that was creepy. She was staring at him without blinking, and her smile didn't so much as twitch. With the silent way she moved, it was hard to see her as anything other than a spirit, not a real human being.

Unnerving as she might have been, he wasn't about to just let things stop there. He needed to know if Misty was going to be okay. He tried asking another question. He gestured to Misty, trying not to seem as scared of the potential ghost as he felt. "Tell me, are you the one responsible for this?"

Again, Akira received no reply. He ground his teeth together in frustration. It might not have been Sylvia he was dealing with, but whatever it was they certainly shared her knack for pissing him off. But he tried not to lose his cool. If he panicked, the situation would only become that much worse. He needed to be thinking clearly right now.

Stay calm, he reminded himself. You have to stay calm.

If only it were that simple. The problem was, as much as he didn't want to be, Akira couldn't deny the fact that he was legitimately scared now.

But he also knew that he didn't have a choice.

It was clear that Sylvia, or whatever it was inside of her, was trying to lead him back the Pokemon Tower. A baby could have figured that out. He couldn't get help from Misty, and he didn't know what sort of effect trying to battle Sylvia with his pokemon would have. Could it even work? Or would the ghost inside of her trash him and his team of pokemon with supernatural abilities not even they were capable of?

Akira didn't believe that now was a good time to find that out. He ran his fingers along the pokeballs attached to his belt, rationalizing that he could at least have the fight in the Pokemon Tower, so Misty and other people in the area wouldn't get dragged into the whole mess.

"…Okay," he said, sighing in resignation. He lowered his hand. "You win. Just take me to wherever it is you want me to go."

The specter stared at him with that same unblinking gaze. Sylvia's face gave nothing away, but he was hoping that she had come to the conclusion that it was okay to take him away from here. He'd figure out what to do next when the time came.

Sylvia stepped out of the room, beckoning him to follow with the look in her eyes. Akira didn't really have a choice. He walked out of the room, before turning back one final time to look upon Misty's sleeping figure.

"I'm sorry," he whispered out his apology. "You wouldn't have gotten caught up in this mess if it wasn't for me. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. And then we can go back to Cerulean City tomorrow after talking with Mr. Fuji."

Honestly, Akira had no idea whether or not things would end up working out that way. He could tell by looking at her that she was asleep, and he didn't know if she would ever wake up. He'd managed to figure out that she was breathing, at least, which came as a relief, but whether or not she would wake up…

Akira didn't like that fact that the women in his life were repeatedly ending up in comas, never to awaken. That was just insane. It made him think, or more like hope, that this really was just some elaborate prank of Sylvia's and not the universe having it out for him, personally.

Not wanting to spare another thought on that possibility, he quickly moved to follow after Sylvia, hoping that in the Pokemon Tower everything would make sense and he could resolve the problem without anything bad happening.

It may have been foolishly optimistic, but that was the hand he'd been dealt.

As they left the Pokemon Center, Akira felt the cold chill of the grave run over his skin. It was likely the cool spring winds blowing down the mountain and into the town, but he couldn't help but shiver at the unearthly presence that seemed to hover ominously around them.

The winds were really howling though. The eerie song from earlier in the evening had only grown more intense as the night drew out, to the point where he couldn't just tune it out into the background anymore. It was still there, digging into his skull, reminding him that things in Lavender Town were unnatural.

For the first time, he began to seriously question whether or not coming on this trip to see Mr. Fuji was a good idea or not. Now that he thought about it, what kind of old man would live in a creepy place like this? Why would anybody?!

Akira was pretty certain that he hated Lavender Town. Once he finished his business, he vowed that he was never coming back.

Sylvia walked ahead of him, leading the way to the Pokemon Tower with a silent smile. Akira trailed after her, sighing as he saw the large purple tower get bigger and bigger the closer they got to it. She really was taking him there.

He didn't know why he'd thought that wouldn't be the case, because it was the most obvious thing to happen. But he still hoped.

A few minutes later and they were there. Sylvia stopped at the entrance and turned around, her eyes and grin goading him into following after her.

It wasn't like Akira had much of a choice.

She slipped through the wooden door securing the old tower and ducked out of sight, and Akira followed after her again.

The inside of the Pokemon Tower… was not what he had expected. Well, it was, and it wasn't. For starters, there wasn't any dirt for the graves. Did they load the coffins in with concrete or something? Or was this a graveyard without any actual corpses?

He didn't want to think about that, either.

The Pokemon Tower was covered floor to ceiling in dull purple bricks. Even the floor was made out of brick, causing the entire chamber of the first floor in an eerie purple glow. At the far end of the room, Sylvia stood in front of a spiraling staircase.

Akira quickly reached Sylvia, and she ascended the staircase in an instant. Following after her, Akira made sure not to go too fast. He didn't want to make a scene of himself and draw the attention of anything else that might be living in this place…

Another shiver. It was no longer a passing feeling of discomfort, just standing here was unnerving him now, there wasn't a time when he wasn't anxious or uncomfortable at this point. He just had to hope that he could resolve these issues quickly.

As he followed Sylvia through the floors, Akira kept a close eye out for Ghost type pokemon. The only ghosts that were native to the Kanto Region were Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar, but he didn't see any of them. All he could see was an ominous lavender fog.

Wait. That didn't make any sense. They were on the fifth floor, and there weren't even any windows or drafts in the tower that would catch fog.

So why was it so foggy? What was going on?!

"Sylvia!" Akira cried desperately, barely able to make out her silhouette in the mist. "Sylvia, wait up, I think this fog is-!"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Sylvia had disappeared completely, and the shadows cast through the mist were morphing, changing, becoming something else.

A specter of fog loomed in front of him, a wicked grin stretched across its face. It was pretty much all fog, but it wasn't Gastly. At least, Akira didn't think it was a Gastly. Whatever it was, it wasn't round, and Akira couldn't really make out a core.

It was just gas. Mist. Mist with a smile.

Akira was really tempted to just give up and go back to the Pokemon Center. Why was he trying this hard for Sylvia Driscoll of all people?! He didn't want to fight ghosts to save someone who had lured him here in the first place!

It was just a passing curiosity, nothing more. It wasn't like he was REALLY gonna abandon Sylvia to her ghostly fate. He was just looking around, considering whether or not he really WOULD be able to go back at all.

But when he turned to look over his shoulder at the staircase leading down, he saw that it was completely obscured by this fog. Whatever it was, this thing didn't want him to leave just as much as Sylvia had wanted him to come.

"What… what are you?!" Akira asked, finally getting up the courage to demand answers from this shadow fog creature. "Are you a pokemon?! A ghost? Tell me!"

But the fog didn't reply. It twisted and warped, tendrils of mist stretching out to Akira and then collapsing, like it was curious about him. Like it was trying to reach out to him. Akira was not willing to reciprocate.

"Okay, that does it!" He scowled, taking out one of his pokeballs. "Kumari, I need your help dealing with this thing!"

Akira flung his pokeball, sending out his trusty Beartic. Hopefully he would be able to get through this fog and smack some sense into this ghost!

"Beartic, I need to get through that fog," Akira ordered. "Can you take down that fog creature over there?"

Kumari turned to look at the main "body" of this shadow creature, staring directly into the thing's pure gold eyes. "Beartic," he nodded, and raised his claws. He fired a wave of ice shards at the cloud creature, smashing it to pieces.

"Yes! Way to go, Kumari!" Akira cheered. But his joy was premature. Because as quickly as Kumari's ice shards had broken the thing's body apart, it had already reformed itself, floating closer to the two of them.

Akira gasped and backed up. "What the hell?! Why didn't that work?!"

He could accept that there were pokemon that he didn't know, and perhaps this was one of them. He could also accept the fact that ghosts were real as well. But he didn't think this was a ghost. Or at least he hoped it wasn't. The thought of Satsuki being in this… strange, empty form, didn't make him feel better.

Kumari was similarly flummoxed. He was used to his attacks hitting hard, and had expected to finish off the pokemon in one hit. But he'd failed, and now he didn't know what he was supposed to do. So he did the only thing that he could.

"BEARTIC!" Kumari let out a roar so loud he shook the tower. Lifting his hands in the air, he summoned a massive tidal wave in the room.

"Yeah! That's the way to do it, Kumari!" Akira cheered. If he flooded the whole room, that would be able to remove the fog, for sure!

KUmari sent the tidal wave crashing forward, smothering the fog monster. The fog itself was blown aside, making room for a clear path ahead. Akira couldn't see Sylvia, but he could see the stairs leading up to the next floor.

"Thanks, Kumari," Akira said, patting his pokemon on the back. "That was a good job. I'm glad that we don't have to worry about that…"

Akira's voice trailed off and his face went cold. No. No way. It couldn't be, could it?

He didn't want to believe it, but the evidence was there, clear a day. Kumari might have blown away the fog with the force of his surf attack, but that had only slowed the creature down. It was already reforming itself in front of him, filling the room with propagating fog that surrounded Akira and his Beartic.

The only thing Akira could do is shout a string of curses as the room closed off around him, trapping him in a prison of lavender fog.

By this point, Akira had pretty handily dismissed the "real ghost" theory. If this creature really was a ghost, then it was a fair approximation of them, and it wasn't exactly acting the way he expected ghosts to act.

Satsuki had been watching over him and came to see him because she had regrets and wanted to work them out.

But this ghost wasn't saying anything. It wasn't behaving like it wanted something from Akira, it was just… there. Blocking his path. And to Akira, that sounded a lot like the actions of a pokemon, and not a ghost with unfinished business.

The problem was, if it really was a pokemon, then why couldn't Kumari's attacks do any damage to the thing? No, its behavior was erratic, and its shape even moreso. This wasn't any Ghost type pokemon he'd ever encountered.

As he was considering this, he remembered something that Misty had said earlier that day on the road to Lavender Town. Something about how the ghosts in the Pokemon Tower weren't like ordinary ghosts. Could that be what this was?

…That was probably it. Whatever was up with Lavender Town, their stupid tower, and their stupid brick huts, it had done something to the local Ghost type pokemon. Changed them into something unrecognizable to the human eye. But what could he do about that?

Without knowing what he was attacking, Kumari could only helplessly fire off moves at the cloud. And none of them seemed to be doing any damage.

So was that what was going to happen? Would he and Kumari stay in this tower forever, locked behind this fog, unable to fight against this thing that seemed intent on keeping them here? It wasn't a very appealing prospect, to say the least.

If only there was some way to figure out what this thing was, Akira muttered to himself. It seemed like the only chance he had of getting out of this place alive.

Then, another shadow appeared in the mist, followed by more eyes. Oh, fuck, that wasn't good at all. There were more of these things?! …Well, he supposed that made sense, considering this was a natural habitat for Ghost type pokemon, he should have been expecting to run into more than just a few of them.

That didn't make him feel happy about it, though. He was still very much petrified with worry and fear. Shivering and shaking his head, her turned to Kumari. But he didn't have any orders to give. He wasn't even sure what he should be saying at this point.

Kumari looked back at his trainer with a defeated look in his eye. He was frustrated himself, he wanted to get out of here just as badly as Akira did.

"…Wel… come…"

A voice with the sickening sweetness of a friendly whisper echoed through the fog, and Akira pun in circles trying to see where it came from. But all he could see were more sets of those golden eyes, staring at him, taunting him, drawing him in.

He couldn't give up to those ghost things!

"Where are you?!" He demanded, looking around frantically. If only he could draw a beat on one of them and have Kumari knock it out, maybe he could scare the rest of the creatures away as well, and get to safety!

For the first time in his life, Akira actually wished that Sylvia was here right now. With her knowledge of the Ghost type, with her supernatural connection to real ghosts, surely she would be able to do something about this whole mess, right?!

But unfortunately, Sylvia wasn't here. She was upstairs, far from sight, and possessed by one of those creatures itself it looked like.

Which raised the question, why hadn't they gotten him? Why was he still walking around? Wouldn't a ghost have seized the opportunity to hop into his body and take it for a test drive the second he entered the premises?

Akira decided that a question like that wasn't exactly something he wanted to get an answer to.

"I know you're here!" He shouted, looking from one fog creature to the next. They were all blending together and mixing, forming a curtain of fog and eyes that was drawing closer and closer to him, threatening to suffocate him or worse.

"I heard you talk just now," he added. "Don't pretend like you're mindless ghosts, I know you're smarter than that! You're capable of understanding me, right?!"

The ghosts throbbed and stretched. "…Yes," they finally admitted. "…This… is… our home… you are now… our guests…"

Somehow, Akira wasn't entirely thrilled with the prospect of being a guest at a place like this.

"So if I'm a guest, then does that mean I'm free to go?!" He asked hopefully, turning to look over his shoulder and see the exit. But he couldn't see anything but the purple mist. So much for that plan, anyway.

"…No… stay…"

Great. A pack of clingy ghosts.

Akira was almost positive he was going to die tonight. He was trapped by these creatures, and he didn't have any way to get out. When Misty woke up in the morning- no, if she woke up in the morning, then she would see that he and Sylvia were gone, never to be seen or heard from again. He didn't want that to happen.

And what about Dakota? No, he couldn't just give up and die. There was someone who was counting on him to save her!

"Listen up you stupid ghosts!" Akira shouted. "I'm not afraid of you, do you understand?! Sure, you're big and creepy, but so what?! There's no way you can keep me here! I'll find my way out someday, just you- AAAAAAAH!"

In spite of his brave speech, Akira was like any other man. When he felt a hand grab his shoulder from behind, he behaved like anyone else would, he burst out into a scream.

Uh-oh, this isn't good! These ghosts certainly are going to be tough to deal with. Will Akira be able to get out of this place? What's going to happen?