Author's Note: My original plan was to wait and put this chapter up on Sunday after I did some work on another story I had put on hold. But with all the coverage on Pokemon X and Y, it's been hard to concentrate on any non-Pokemon related stories (there are so many Mega Evolutions!). And since we are getting fairly close to the climax, it seems silly to delay.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 6: The Blood Soaked Tower
It was not long before Ash and the others had arrived at the Tower of Memories. As soon as they arrived, the group headed straight for the top floor of the tower, with Shannon leading the way. Each floor of the tower was filled almost completely with the tombstones of Pokemon that had passed on. And as they ascended to the top floor, everyone noticed that the number of mourners and visitors to the tower seemed to decrease as they went. Ash had also noticed a sort of dark oppressive atmosphere, as they got further up.
At last they had reached the topmost floor of the tower. The gravestones were arranged in a circular pattern, allowing for a wide-open section of floor in the center. The oppressive atmosphere that Ash had been feeling was at its strongest on that floor. It was almost as if something was screaming at them to leave.
"So… this is where it really happened?" Dawn asked as she looked around while Piplup skittishly hid behind her leg.
"Yep. The bodies were found right there in the middle of the floor there." Shannon confirmed. "According to what little my aunt told me, the first three she saw after those three scumbags from Team Rocket escaped was the one Cubone crying over the Marowak's body. The bodies of the other four Cubone were all gathered in a pile."
Misty noticed a large very dark-red stain in the middle of the floor. "Is… is that spot what I think it is?"
"Yeah, that's the blood of the Marowak and her children." Shannon answered. "No one knows why, but nobody has ever been able to wipe all of it away."
"I sense a presence here." Sabrina informed everyone. "Morty, do you sense it as well?"
"Yes. We're not alone." Morty confirmed.
"I've been feeling the same thing." Ash revealed as he suddenly began walking towards the stain with Pikachu and Lucario.
"Ash, what are you doing?" a concerned Misty asked.
"I think… there's something we're supposed to see." Ash replied as he kneeled down.
Ash touched his hand to the bloodstain on the floor. As soon as he did, the stain began to glow with an unearthly crimson light. Suddenly the room echoed with an inhuman shriek that caused Ash to stand back up. The entire chamber was soon enveloped with a blinding white light.
The light cleared and everything inside the chamber suddenly looked as though it was an old black and white film. Sitting in the center of the room was a bipedal almost reptile-like Pokemon with a white skull-like head. Resting at its side was a single white bone that had been fashioned to be used as a club. Everyone in the group recognized the Pokemon as a Marowak. Sitting against the Marowak as if sleeping was a smaller version of a Pokemon wearing a similar skull as a mask. It was a Cubone.
Two more Cubone were playing behind the Marowak by sparing with their clubs. Another two sat in front eating.
"What's going on?" Diane wondered. "What is this we're seeing?"
"I think… this is what happened on that day." A stunned Ben assumed.
Suddenly horrid cries of pain rang through the tower, alerting Marowak and her children. The cries were those of the other Cubone and Marowak living in the tower.
"Sir, we've secured all the floors below." A voice reported from the staircase. "But I'm afraid someone has alerted the cops. I'm not sure we'll be able to get a full haul."
"Just get everything you can." A familiar voice ordered. "We've gotten a lot of orders for these skulls, so there's a lot of money on this."
"That voice!" Cynthia recognized. "It's…"
"Baron!" Ash finished.
"I'm going with John and Edger to secure the top floor." Julius's voice continued. "Let's get this wrapped up quick."
"Yes sir!" the other voice replied.
Footsteps then began to come up the staircase. Marowak quickly stood up and picked up her club. The Cubone that had cuddled up next to her quickly ran and hid behind one of the tombstones at the far edge of the room. Entering the room were younger versions of Julius, Edger, and John. All three of the men were wearing the standard Team Rocket uniform. The four Cubone that had failed to hide like their sibling had done all huddled together behind their mother. Marowak meanwhile had taken a fighting stance to defend her children.
"Another damn Marowak." An annoyed Edger observed. "Their skulls are pretty much worthless, since they're fused to the heads. All these damn things have done is get in our way."
"On the other hand, there are four Cubone here that are ripe for the picking." Julius pointed out. "We'll grab their skulls and leave."
"I don't like this, you guys." John told them. "Stealing Pokemon to sell is one thing, but this… I feel like we shouldn't be doing this."
"If you're going to be so squeamish about this, just watch the door!" Julius ordered. "Edger and I can take care of this without you."
"Hey, looks like that Marowak wants a fight." Edger grinned.
"Then let's not disappoint." Julius decided.
Both Edger and Julius reached behind to the back of their belts and pulled out extendable black poles with electrified metal tips. Marowak heroically charged at Julius, but Edger quickly came around from behind and slammed his weapon hard into Marowak's back, causing her to cry out and drop her club. Edger then kicked the mother Pokemon to the ground and began stomping on her. Julius joined in and slammed his pole weapon very hard into Marowak's skull, causing a loud horrid cracking sound. Blood began to pour from the wound, and unlike the rest of the surroundings it was red.
Ash's eyes went wide with horror and disgust as he backed away from the unspeakable sight before him. The others in the group shared his reaction. Even Sabrina was visibly appalled.
"Well, looks like all that's left is to beat those four Cubone." Edger observed.
"I think we've wasted enough time with these beatings." Julius decided.
Suddenly Julius pulled out a pistol and fired four shots. The Cubone fell to the ground on top of one another.
"Whoa! How long have you had that thing?" a surprised Edger asked.
"I've had it since we arrived." Julius revealed. "But I've been saving the bullets for when we really needed them."
Suddenly sounds began to come from Marowak from the ground. Ash and the others were horrified to find that Marowak was still alive, and she had seen all four of her children get slaughtered.
"Oh, so that hit wasn't enough to finish you, eh?' Julius indifferently observed. "No matter."
Julius fired his gun down at Marowak, shooting the wounded Pokemon in the back. More red blood began to pour from Marowak's body and joined with the blood of her slain children.
"…Dear god man!" an appalled John exclaimed.
"Damn it John, will you grow a spine already?" an annoyed Julius shouted. "Our orders were to gather all the Cubone skulls we could by any means necessary!"
"But this… this is crossing the line!" John declared. "And in this tower of all places! Don't you guys get it? This is sacred ground!"
"Don't be so mellowdramatic John. This tower's just a place where people dump their Pokemon after they keel over." Edger scoffed. "It's nothing more than a glorified garbage dump made to look pretty. Now let's just grab those skulls and get the hell out of here."
"This is the police!" a voice exactly like Shannon's called up from the stairwell. "Stay right were you are! You're all under arrest!"
"Damn!" Edger cursed.
"We have to get out of here!" a panicked John told them.
Another Officer Jenny arrived on the scene. But only a second after she did, John threw a small black ball to the ground, filling the chamber with black smoke. When the smoke cleared, all three Team Rocket agents were gone. Officer Jenny looked around to see where the three might've gone. She knew that they couldn't have run past her. The only other way out was a large window on the far side of the room. But they were all on the top floor. A jump from that height would kill anyone.
Soon after the three left, Officer Jenny noticed the horrid scene on the ground before her. She brought her hand to her mouth to stifle a cry. Just then the one remaining Cubone came out from hiding and sat down before Marowak's body. Its cries of sorrow echoed through the entire chamber. With the scene at its tragic end, the room went dim and the surviving Cubone vanished with Officer Jenny. But the bodies of Marowak and her four other children remained. Suddenly their bodies began to rapidly decompose and melt into the expanding pool of blood, their skulls sinking into the red liquid. Seconds later there was another blinding flash of light.
When the light had faded, everything inside the chamber was as it was before. Everyone was trying to recover from the horrid atrocity they had just witnessed. Shannon wound up hurrying over to a small wastebasket at the outer wall of the chamber and vomited into it.
"…Dear God in heaven!" Clint uttered.
"How could they… how could they be so… so cruel?" a very upset Dawn wondered.
"It was business my dear." A familiar voice interrupted. Everyone looked to see Julius standing in the doorway of the stairwell. "As members of Team Rocket, we all had our orders."
"You… you bastard!" Ash shouted at Julius. "You call the thing you and those friends of yours business? That was murder!"
"Spare me the dramatics, young man." Julius scoffed. "I'll admit that I regret some of the things I did during my time with Team Rocket, but Pokemon are just beasts. If they can't contribute any use to society or be effective in battle, they're just vermin. All those Cubone and Marowak infecting this tower were no different."
"Mr. Baron, are you admitting that you were a part of the group that raided the Tower of Memories twenty years ago?" Shannon asked after regaining her composure.
"Hmm… I suppose I am." Julius confirmed. "After that little phenomenon we all just witnessed, the Persian is out of the bag, so to speak."
"Then I am placing you under arrest!" Shannon proclaimed.
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen." Julius told them as he suddenly pulled out the same pistol he had used to kill Marowak and her family years ago. "I really didn't want it to come to this, but I'm afraid you've all learned too much."
"So you're going to kill us too?" Cynthia realized.
"I am doing what is necessary, just as I did twenty years ago." Julius declared. "After all, I have my career to think about, and I can't afford to let this little secret get out. Now then, if you'll all just cooperate I'll make this as painless as possible."
"That toy of yours will do you no good." Sabrina told him.
Suddenly Julius's pistol glowed with a faint blue aura and was crushed like a tin can. Startled, the ex-Team Rocket member threw his useless weapon to the ground.
"You think you can just bury this and pretend it never happened?" an outraged Ash asked him. "I should do to you what you and Gates did to Marowak and her children!"
"I doubt you'd have the stomach for that, boy." Julius scoffed.
Suddenly a white whirlwind appeared around Julius, startling everyone. The wind looked at though it was filled with the spectral forms of Cubone skulls. In moments the whirlwind split and the skulls forced their way into Julius's mouth. His neck bulged as they slid down his throat. Once all the spectral skulls had gone into him, Julius fell to the floor and began to violently convulse. His arms and legs failed around and his elbows and knees bent in ways they were never supposed to. After a few agonizing moments, Julius finally stopped moving. His silver hair had turned completely white and an expression of utter terror was frozen on his face.
Clint went over and took Julius's pulse. "He's dead."
"Oh dear, looks like I was too late again." A voice suddenly spoke. Everyone looked again to see Dusk standing in the doorway with Helen the Yamask floating by her side.
"Dusk, we have to know. Do you have anything to do with these deaths?" Diane asked.
"You think I had something to do with killing Mr. Baron and the others?" Dusk responded with a hurt expression. "You're mean, Diane!"
"Dusk, just tell us what's going on." Ash requested.
"I've been trying to calm down mother Merowak's spirit." Dusk explained. "She's very angry. I've met a lot of other angry spirits in the past, but mother Marowak's anger has gotten really bad. Giratina and I tried stopping her from killing Mr. Gates and Mr. Braxton, but she was way to fast for us. Somehow she got inside them before we could make a move."
"If Marowak's ghost has been giving you so much trouble, why didn't you ask for our help?" Misty asked.
"It's usually better if I work alone." Dusk replied. "Besides, I somehow knew this would be hard on Ash. I just thought it'd be easier on everyone if I took care of things on everyone if I took care of things on my own."
"Well, with Baron dead it looks like it's all over." Ben assumed.
"It's not over yet Ben." Dusk told him. "Killing Mr. Baron didn't change anything."
Before anyone could ask what she meant, a purple light suddenly appeared in the center of the chamber. The light took the form of Marowak. Only her form was much different from when she was alive. Her brown flesh had turned a sickly grey and a large hole had rotted all the way through the center of her torso. Her eyes had become empty sockets and streaks of dried blood ran down her cheeks like tears. The end of the bone she used as a club was covered in dried blood as well.
"That's Marowak's ghost?" a shocked Dawn realized.
"All the anger and sadness she's held onto all these years has turned her into a vengeful spirit." Dusk explained. "Even killing the ones who murdered her and her family isn't enough to calm her. There's only one way to do that now."
"I get it. You've been trying to beat her in a battle." Ash realized.
"Let's see… this room's too small for Giratina. So I guess I'll go with plan B." Dusk decided as she threw a Pokeball. "Let's play, Dusknoir!"
Emerging from the ball was a ghost-like entity with an almost round dark-grey body with well-developed arms and a tail instead of legs. Its hands were a lighter shade of grey and its head resembled a grey hood that showed a single red eye. Atop its head was a short thick yellow antenna, and decorating its torso were yellow lines resembling a sort of face. Marowak cried out in a putrid voice and suddenly four ghostly Cubone skulls flew out of the hole in her chest. They all took the form of undead Cubone similar in appearance to Marowak.
"Marowak's murdered children!" Misty identified. "They're ghosts too?"
"Oh no! Looks like I screwed up." Dusk realized. "I should've realized that mother Marowak's children were helping her. They killed Mr. Gates and the others to keep me and Giratina distracted while their mother got away."
"Pikachu, use Thunder Bolt on all of them!" Ash commanded.
"Pik… a… CHUUU!" the electric rodent cried out as he zapped the five specters with a bolt of yellow electricity. But when the attack ended, all five ghosts were unharmed.
"It didn't work!" Ash observed. "Are normal attacks useless against them?"
"They're Ground-types, silly." Dusk chuckled. "They may be dead, but they're still immune to Electric attacks."
"Okay then, we'll try this!" Ash decided as he pulled out a Pokeball. "Go Serperior!"
Bursting out of Ash's thrown ball was a ten-foot long snake with a mainly dark-green body and a white face with red eyes. Growing from her neck was a sort of long curled collar with a yellow interior, and extending up from the back of her head were what looked like a pair of pointed ears that were yellow on the inside. Growing from the end of her tail was a sprig of leaves that she waved in front of her face like a fan.
"I'll help too!" Misty decided as she threw her own ball. "Go Corsola!"
Emerging from Misty's Pokeball was a round rock-like creature that was pink on top and white on the bottom. Growing out from the top were four long horns that looked like branches of coral. The creature stood on four stubby legs and two stubby arms on its front.
"Go Gengar!" Morty called out with the throw of his own Pokeball.
Coming out of Morty's ball was a black creature with a round body and short arms and legs. Its back was covered in spiked fur, with two of the points resembling ears. Its face was made up of two red eyes and a sinister grin.
"Go Alakazam!" Sabrina called with her own throw.
Bursting out of the ball was a somewhat humanoid creature with a large fox-like head that had long whiskers similar to a mustache. Its torso, lower legs, and forearms were brown, while the rest of its body was tan. In each hand it held a large silver spoon.
"Dusk, we'll take care of the Cubone." Ash told her. "You and Dusknoir just worry about Marowak."
"Oh… okay then." Dusk agreed.
The four ghostly Cubone charged towards Ash and the others with their clubs held high. One of them struck Serperior in the side of her face.
"Serperior, use Vine Whip!" Ash commanded.
The grass snake extended two green vines from her back and struck the undead Cubone. The ghost was thrown into the far wall and was knocked out. Or at least that's how it had seemed. Meanwhile, the second Cubone charged at Gengar but missed as the shadow Pokemon sidestepped the attack.
"Gengar, use Shadow Ball!" Morty ordered.
Gengar raised its arms forward and created a ball of black energy. The ghost Pokemon launched the ball at the Cubone ghost, knocking it back to the same sport where its sibling had landed.
"Corsola, use Bubble Beam!" Misty commanded.
"Alakazam, use Psybeam!" Sabrina ordered.
Corsola fired a concentrated beam of bubbles at one of the remaining Cubone, while Alakazam blasted the other with a ray of multicolored light. The two ghosts were knocked to the floor and appeared unconscious. Marowak and Dusknoir meanwhile were still just about to face off. Marowak threw her club high into the air way past Dusknoir. A second later it came back around and struck the reaper Pokemon in the back. The club continued to spin and came back to Marowak's hand.
"Dusknoir, use Ice Punch!" Dusk commanded.
Dusknoir flew in as its raised fist became shrouded in an icy mist. Its punch struck Marowak in the chest and caused a patch of ice to form. The undead Pokemon recovered and swung her club at Dusknoir. But the reaper Pokemon quickly moved out of the way of the attack.
"Use Ice Punch once more!" Dusk ordered.
The reaper Pokemon hit Marowak with another icy punch to the chest, knocking her back at least a foot. The undead Pokemon fell to one knee.
"Let's finish it Dusknoir!" Dusk decided. "Shadow Punch!"
Dusknoir raised its fist again and launched an even larger fist made of shadows at Marowak. The Pokemon ghost was knocked back and fell to the ground unconscious. With the battle over, Marowak and her four children suddenly began to glow with a golden light. The light soon faded and the five Pokemon were all on their feet again. They had gained their original forms, only all of them were transparent.
After Ash and the others called back their respective Pokemon, Dusk approached Marowak and her children. "It's over now. The people who hurt you have paid, and you'll be happy to know that your other child has grown into a strong Marowak. You and your family can leave in peace."
Marowak closed her eyes and she and her children began to rise into the air. In moments the five Pokemon flashed into five golden balls of light and vanished.
"So is it over now?' Ben asked.
"Yep. Mother Marowak and her children have finally moved on." Dusk answered happily.
"Then in that case, it's time for you to come with us Dusk." Diane interrupted. "You need help."
"I'm not going with you! So there!" Dusk told her as she stuck her tongue out.
"Please Dusk, you're not well!" Dawn begged.
"There's no use in arguing with us Dusk. The only way out of this chamber is past us." Diane pointed out.
At this Dusk grinned. "Don't be silly, sister. There's another way out of this room."
Suddenly Dusk dashed to the window of the chamber. The very same window Julius and his comrades had possibly used as an escape years before. Before anyone could stop her, Dusk jumped out with Helen flying close behind.
"Dusk!" a horrified Ben called out.
"Let's play… Giratina!" Dusk called from outside as she fell. From outside there was a flash of light, and soon Dusk floated before the window with Helen on Giratina's back. "Well, I guess this is goodbye again. It was fun seeing you all."
"Dusk, wait!" Ben called. But Giratina had already begun to fly off. "Damn! I can't let her get away from me again."
"Hey Sabrina!" Ash spoke.
"On it." The psychic gym leader nodded.
Sabrina closed her eyes and the chamber was enveloped in a flash of blue light. The light faded and the entire group was on the ground right outside the tower.
Dusk noticed their appearance from above, causing Giratina to stop. "Oh wow! That was a neat trick."
"You're not going to escape this time Dusk!" Diane declared as she threw a Pokeball. "Go forth, Dialga!"
Bursting out of the thrown ball was a very large dark-blue four-legged dragon with a long neck and tail, making it look almost like a dinosaur. It had a long crest extending from the back of its head, and it had light-blue stripes running along parts of its body. The dragon's head had two long metal horns that extended into fang-like protrusions near its mouth. Covering its chest was a large metal plate with a blue diamond-shaped gemstone in the center, and near the dragon's rear was a large fin-like blade.
"I'm not letting you get away either!" Dawn declared as she threw her own ball. "Palkia, spotlight!"
Coming out of the ball was another large dragon that was almost light purple in color and stood on two legs. It had well-developed arms, with its forearms resembling armored gauntlets. Embedded in each of the dragon's shoulders was a large pink pearl, and purple stripes ran along parts of its body. On the back of its long neck was a fin-like crest that extended down to wings on its back.
"So you both want to play, huh?" Dusk observed with an almost mad grin. "Fine then. Let's play."
Author's Note: The hardest part of writing this chapter was the murder scene. I won't lie, I almost teared up a little towards the end of it. This I think was my first time writing a scene that was this dark. My original plan actually was to show more of the massacre, but I felt it was a little much. Besides, the murder of Marowak and her four children was the important scene in this case. I thought that showing any other parts of the massacre would've been pointless. By the way, the hold though Marowak's chest in her ghost form was meant as an homage to the Hollows from Bleach.
Please review and let me know what you think.