"All right, Graveler! Tackle attack!"
"Chompy, use your Razor Leaf attack!"
As the large Rock/Ground-type known as Graveler lunged forward, Violet's Weepinbell swiped at the air with the leaves on the sides of its body, sending a flurry of sharp-edged leaves flying towards the living boulder. Violet's opponent, a large Hiker, looked less than confident as Graveler cried out in pain from the Grass-type move.
"Let's end it, Chompy!" ordered Violet. "Acid!"
"Bell," grunted the Weepinbell as it fired off a blast of corrosive purple fluid from its mouth.
"Graaaaveler," groaned Graveler as it slumped to the ground.
"Not too shabby," the Hiker remarked as he withdrew Graveler. "That's one fine Weepinbell there, little lady. You about ready to evolve it?"
"Not sure," replied Violet. "To evolve Chompy, I'd have to use a Leaf Stone. Pokémon that evolve with the help of stones have a tendency to stop learning moves on their own. I'm not sure if Chompy's learned all the moves that it won't be able to learn as a Victreebel."
"Well, you know something? Here," the Hiker said as he produced a chunk of green rock from his backpack and handed it to Violet. The rock had an indentation in one side shaped remarkably like a leaf. "This here's a Leaf Stone. Whenever you're ready to evolve your Weepinbell, just put this stone right next to it."
"Thanks," said Violet as she accepted the Leaf Stone and placed it in her backpack. The Hiker nodded and walked away as Violet withdrew Chompy.
"Lucky," grumbled Orange. "You can evolve Chompy any time you want to now."
"Will you relax?" groaned Violet. "I'm not going to evolve Chompy right away. I'm gonna wait until it learns Slam, OK? It can't learn Slam in the Victreebel stage."
"OK, yeah, now let's get moving," said Orange impatiently as he looked around. "There looks to be plenty of trainers around here, and we're not gonna defeat them by just standing here and- what isthat?!"
Red and Violet turned to face the direction in which Orange was looking, and saw what he was undoubtedly seeing; a large, dark blue mound, the top of which appeared to be light beige, just beyond a cluster of trees that, while looking relatively like normal trees to Red, were undoubtedly sporting electric pencil sharpeners in place of leaves. Together, the trio walked over to where this huge thing was located, and found themselves near the ocean. A series of concrete and wooden docks were positioned over the water, acting as walkways over the water. At the T-shaped intersection they had just approached, however, no progress was possible, due to the aforementioned large mound. The mound was slowly moving up and down, and light rumbling could be heard from behind it. In front of it, at the bottom, there were attached two large, round feet, each one tipped with three claws.
"It's alive?" Orange murmured.
"It's asleep?" wondered Violet.
"It's a Snorlax," said Red as he held out his Pokédex.
"Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon," droned the device. "Very lazy. Just eats and sleeps. As its rotund bulk builds, it becomes steadily more slothful."
There was silence, aside from the Snorlax's snoring, as the group stared at the slumbering behemoth blocking their path.
"So how do we wake it up?" asked Orange.
"Professor Oak told me about Snorlax," said Red. "They only wake up when they're hungry, and they can sleep for weeks at a time."
"Just great," sighed Orange. "So what do we do? We don't have much in the way of food on us."
"I have an idea," remarked Violet as she produced a Poké Ball from her fanny pack. "Flutters, come on out!"
"Flutters? What's that gonna do?" asked Orange as aforementioned Butterfree emerged from the ball.
"Use Sleep Powder on Orange," Violet ordered.
"Hey, wait, whoa, whoa, wh... whoa... night, night," mumbled Orange as the blue dust the Butterfree scattered from its wings sent him drifting off to sleep. Violet then dug a pair of earplugs out of her pants pocket and placed them in her ears, motioning for Red to do the same. Sure enough, moments later, Orange's infamous snoring started up. Red hastily dug out his earplugs and put them in. He had a shrewd idea as to what Violet was up to, and he anxiously looked over at Snorlax, but the Sleeping Pokémon seemed remarkably unaffected by the grating cacophony. Violet noticed this too and swore very loudly in surprise, which Red was unable to hear due to the earplugs. Even if he hadn't been wearing them, however, Orange's snores would have drowned out the profanity.
Violet then seemed to get an idea. She waved her arms to catch Flutters's attention, then said something to it. Given the loudness of Orange's snores, however, the Butterfree merely tilted its head in confusion, not having heard a word of what its trainer had said. Violet sighed. She pointed at Orange, then mimed the action of lifting him into the air, then pointed as best she could over the top of the Snorlax's stomach, at its head. Flutters seemed to comprehend what was being asked of it now, and flew over to Orange, trying very hard to endure the noise he was producing. The Butterfree then grabbed Orange's shirt and lifted the slumbering trainer into the air. Red watched as Flutters struggled to carry Orange over to Snorlax's head, and stopped once Orange's mouth, from which the snores were still flowing freely, was right next to Snorlax's ear. After a few seconds, the ear started to twitch, and Snorlax gave a few uncomfortable grunts. Satisfied, Flutters brought Orange back to the other side of the Sleeping Pokémon, and they all watched as Snorlax began to stir.
"Is it waking up?" Red asked as he removed his earplugs- only to be subjected to Orange's earsplitting snores. Violet noticed this and lightly slapped Orange's face, causing him to wake up.
"Zzzz-hmm? Wha?!" he exclaimed as he leapt to his feet. "Hey, Vi, what was the big idea anywa-"
"Orange?" said Violet as she removed her earplugs.
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
Orange glared at Violet, but stopped speaking as Snorlax, with a tremendous effort, rolled over to its left. The dock heading south was still blocked by the Snorlax, now laying on its stomach, but the other path was now clear.
"Perfect," smirked Violet. "I had a feeling that if anything would get through to that thing, your snores would," she said to Orange. "I was hoping to wake it up, but this'll do just fine. That's the path we gotta take to get to Vandeler Town."
Orange opened his mouth to reply to this, when a pair of all-too-familiar voices rang out from behind the trio.
"Stop right there, twerps!" the two voices called simultaneously. Groaning, Red turned to face a pair of people he would much rather never see again; the Team Debug grunts known as Will and Lou.
"Not you guys again," said Orange disdainfully. "It's bad enough we got two goons from Team Error always crossing paths with us. Two sets of morons is a little much."
"What do you two want this time?" asked Violet, frowning.
"What do you think we want?" replied Will. "We want your Pokémon!"
"The real ones, that is to say," added Lou. "We only want your natural Pokémon. You can keep those glitches."
"Our Pokémon are our Pokémon. Go and catch your own!" said Red.
"Yeah, that ain't gonna happen. Not until the boss gives us a raise," chuckled Will. "Now hand them over or we do this the hard way."
"Bring it," said Orange in a deadly voice as he took a Poké Ball off his belt. Red did the same as Violet produced a Poké Ball from her fanny pack.
In response, Will had already thrown a ball of his own. "Go! Poliwag!" he shouted.
"Vulpix, you too!" added Lou, throwing in another Poké Ball. In twin flashes of light, a pair of Pokémon appeared. One was blue and spherical, standing on a pair of small feet. The white circle on its stomach was adorned with a large, black spiral pattern, and a wide, flat, white tail was visible behind it. The other one was a reddish-orange quadrupedal creature with no fewer than six tails.
"Poliwag, the Tadpole Pokémon," droned Orange's Pokédex. "Prefers swimming over walking. Its newly grown legs make walking challenging for it."
"Vulpix, the Fox Pokémon," said Violet's Pokédex. "When first born, it only has one tail. This tail splits into six gradually as it gets older."
"So you managed to get some new Pokémon after all," remarked Orange. "Well, we'll see just how far they'll get you! Fearow! Go!" he shouted as he threw the ball in his hand.
"Migraine, you too!" added Violet, throwing her own ball.
"I choose Parasect!" Red called as he tossed his Poké Ball.
"Three against two? Hardly a fair fight," said Lou as Parasect, Psyduck, and Fearow materialized before them.
"Oh, yeah, this from the crooks who are trying to steal our Pokémon," scoffed Violet. "You guys are more hypocritical than Orange's stance on sore losers."
"Hey!" Orange snapped.
"Forget it, Lou, we can take 'em," said Will. "Poliwag! Psywave!"
"Yeah, Vulpix, use your Quick Attack!" added Lou.
Poliwag's spiral glowed and shot off a volley of glowing blue rings at Fearow, while Vulpix lunged forward, charging towards Migraine.
"Migraine, Water Gun attack!" ordered Violet.
"Psy aye aye aye aye aye aye!" quacked Migraine as it opened its bill wide and let fly a stream of water. Vulpix squealed in discomfort as the water soaked it, impeding its progress.
"Fearow, dodge it!" Orange commanded. "And use your Razor Wind!"
"Parasect, nail them both with Spore!" Red ordered.
Fearow expertly evaded the oncoming Psywave and then flapped its wings hard, sending a slicing gust of wind flying at Poliwag. "Poli poliiii!" it shrieked. At that point, Parasect scuttled forward and let fly a cloud of blue dust. Poliwag and Vulpix both slumped to the ground and were asleep in seconds.
"Poliwag, return now!" called Will as he withdrew his unconscious Water-type before throwing another Poké Ball. "Tangela, go!"
"Get back, Vulpix!" added Lou as he mirrored Will's actions. "Mankey, go get them!"
In twin flashes of light, the slightly more familiar duo of Tangela and Mankey appeared, both of them narrowing their eyes at the sight of their recurring adversaries.
"Tangela, Vine Whip that Psyduck!" ordered Will.
"Mankey, strike down that Fearow with your Rock Slide!" shouted Lou.
"Peck attack now, Fearow!" commanded Orange
"Migraine, just stand there!" said Violet. Orange turned and gave her a funny look, then something seemed to occur to him.
Tangela extended a pair of vines and slammed them right on top of the Psyduck's head as Mankey made frenzied slashing motions with its hands, somehow causing a barrage of rocks to fly forth from its hands. Fearow deftly evaded most of the rocks and swooped down, striking Mankey with its beak. Meanwhile, Migraine didn't seem to be reacting much to the Vine Whip... except for the light blue glow in its eyes, that is.
"Uh-oh," muttered Lou.
"That ain't good," remarked Will.
"Oh, you have no idea," Violet replied, a satisfied smirk on her face. "Migraine? A Confusion attack, if you please."
"Psyyyyyy," droned Migraine as its eyes unleashed twin beams of blue light. One beam struck Tangela, while the other hit Mankey. The two Pokémon were flung backwards, into their trainers' arms. Then, to the Team Debug grunts' horror, Migraine continued the attack, slamming the bad guys with blasts of telekinetic power and sending them flying backwards.
"You may win this time, twerps, but we'll be baaaaaaaack!" Will shouted as they soared clear across Route -11.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," replied Red, Orange, and Violet simultaneously as they withdrew their Pokémon.
"Bunch of losers," Orange chuckled as they made their way along the series of docks that spanned across the water.
"Agreed," nodded Violet. "Their salaries must really suck if they can barely afford Poké Balls, they don't even cost all that much."
The rest of the walk went much like this, with the three of them putting down Team Debug. Team Error was eventually brought up as well, with Orange having several choice words to say about them.
"It's shocking, really," he said. "I mean, how the hell can either one of those groups possibly justify trying to wipe out entire species of Pokémon? I'm just glad they seem to suck at what they do."
"Definitely," nodded Red. "I mean, I've never seen Pokémon like 44Hy, or .4, or Q, or any of those back in Kanto, and I'm not gonna lie, they still weird me out a little bit, but you know what? I'm starting to warm up to them. I don't want to see Team Debug wipe them out."
"I know what you mean," nodded Orange. "Just because I'm afraid of Bug-types doesn't mean I want Team Debug to burn down Ivadirin Forest."
"Say, Orange, why are you-" began Red.
"I don't want to talk about it," interrupted Orange.
"I do," piped up Violet.
"Of course," sighed Orange, rolling his eyes. "But you're not gonna talk about it."
"You say that like you have an actual say in the matter," chuckled Violet.
"Just... don't, OK?" said Orange.
"OK, fine," Violet replied. Orange sighed in relief, but then Violet continued. "I won't tell Red how when you were six, you found a Kakuna in your mother's garden, took it in the house, and held it in your arms when you took a nap. And I certainly won't tell him how it evolved into a Beedrill while you were asleep, or how its angry buzzing woke you up and made you start freaking out, or how its Twineedle attack ensured you couldn't sit down for a week."
"Well, as long as you don't tell him," sighed Orange. Then he blinked. "Hey, wait a minute!" he exclaimed, which caused Violet to start laughing. "Violet! Come on, you know that story embarrasses me!"
"You fell asleep with a Kakuna in your arms?" Red asked, successfully suppressing the urge to laugh, but failing to conceal a grin.
"I WAS SIX!" roared Orange.
"Heh... Heh... Oh, look, we're here," Violet said as she stopped laughing.
"Oh, don't try and change the subject!" said Orange. "You- oh, look, we're here," he said suddenly, for they had indeed stepped off the docks onto firm, dry (plastic) land, and approached what appeared to be a small town.
They had arrived at Vandeler Town.
The trio wandered down the streets of Vandeler Town, in search of the Pokémon Center. As Red looked around, he suppressed a shiver. Random though the towns and cities of Tanko seemed to him, he had the distinct feeling that this one was more... run-down. The buildings seemed to be constructed out of pieces of wooden fence, hedges, chunks of rock, and various odd numbers. But the fence pieces were rotting, the hedges were dead, their leaves brown, and the rocks looked worn and crumbling. The trees seemed to be made of rusted sheet metal, with absolutely no semblance of leaves whatsoever. The streets and walkways seemed to be mostly made of concrete, albeit with a number of square puddles scattered all over. The concrete portions were occasionally adorned with what appeared to be chalk outlines of human bodies. To top it all off, navigation was complicated by the sheer number of freeze arches in the town- dozens of them. More than Red had ever seen before.
"Yeesh," muttered Orange as they wove in and out between a large quantity of freeze arches. "I've never seen so many in one place bef- Mew damn it! Guys, little help here?" Red and Violet turned around to see that Orange had inadvertently wandered right into a freeze arch. They each took a hand and yanked him out.
"Glad it's not just me," Red remarked. "Hey- is this it?" he added, pointing to the run-down building they had approached. Unlike most buildings in Tanko, this one seemed to be composed of just one element- stone. In fact, Red couldn't help but notice that the gray structure resembled a large tombstone. It was only a one-story building, but it still seemed to tower over the trio.
"I don't think so," Violet shook her head. "From what I've heard, I think this is the entrance to Pokémon Tunnel. It's an underground burial site where deceased Pokémon are buried."
"Wow," Red murmured. "Sounds a little like Pokémon Tower, back in Kanto. Hey, what say we go in for a minute, pay our respects to some of them?"
"You know what? That's actually a decent idea," nodded Orange as he led the way in.
The inside of the building was no less depressing than the outside. It was made of the same stone material the outside was made of. Bare light bulbs on the ceiling gave off the only light in the building, with which Red could spot two or three people, kneeling down before graves, one of them crying silently over what appeared to be her Grimer's grave. It was then that Red noticed a staircase leading to a lower level. He led the way to this staircase, but found his way barred by a young woman with black hair, dressed in an odd white robe.
"I am a Channeler," she greeted them. "Please be careful if you intend to go very far down. On some of the lower levels, there are angry spirits who will not take very kindly to your presence. You should be fine if you keep to the two floors below this one, however," she stated before walking away.
"...OK, that was weird," remarked Orange. "So, let's move."
They made their way down the stone stairs and found themselves in a slightly darker room. A number of bare bulbs provided semi-adequate illumination, as was the case on the floor above. This floor appeared to be much larger, however, and housed many more tombstones. Then, Orange jumped slightly as a wisp of purple smoke floated over some of the tombstones. The wisp billowed, becoming larger and larger, until a dark purple orb became visible within the smoke. A face could be seen on the orb- large, white eyes, and a wide grin. It took Red a second to realize what he was seeing, at which point he held out his Pokédex.
"Gastly, the Gas Pokémon," the machine droned. "Almost invisible, it cloaks its target in its gaseous form and puts it to sleep without notice."
"A Gastly," remarked Violet. "I think I might want to catch it."
"Yeah... Go ahead, Vi..." panted Orange. Red turned to look at Orange, who was breathing a little heavier than usual, and looked a little paler.
"Orange?" Red asked. "What's up?"
"No... nothing," Orange replied with a grin. "I'm... I'm fine..."
And then he fainted.
"Orange? Orange!" Violet exclaimed as she realized what happened. She knelt down and examined his now feebly stirring form. Orange was very pale now, and while he had regained consciousness, he couldn't seem to sit up. Red looked around, frantically looking for someone who might be able to help, and leapt about a foot in the air as he came face to face with a large cube with black and lavender square-shaped markings all over.
"Wah!" Red exclaimed as he leapt backwards, holding his Pokédex out in front of him like a shield. "What is that?!"
"h Poké, the Spirit Pokémon," droned Red's Pokédex. "A common sight near graveyards. Employs a powerful technique to drain energy from others."
"So that's it!" Red exclaimed as he backed up a little bit. "This thing's draining Orange's energy!"
"An h Poké, I should've guessed!" Violet exclaimed as she prepared a Poké Ball and threw it. "Go! Flutters!"
In a flash of light, Violet's Butterfree materialized. The Ghost/Poison-type shifted its attention to Flutters now, and Orange started to breathe a little easier.
"Poké..." h Poké uttered in a low, eerie, echoing voice. Suddenly, Flutters's wings flapped a little slower, and it started to get a listless look in its eyes.
"HM02- h Poké's special attack," stated Red's Pokédex. "A powerful move in which the user stealthily steals its opponent's energy and uses it for itself. There is no way to visually confirm usage of this attack."
"Come on, Flutters, hit it with Confusion!" Violet exclaimed.
"Freeeh... Freeeh..." panted Flutters as it fired off a pair of blue beams from its eyes.
"Po! Poké!" groaned h Poké as the super-effective Psychic-type attack connected. Flutters then seemed to regain a bit of strength, and was flapping its wings with renewed vigor. Once h Poké regained its balance, it then fired off a bolt of black energy from one of its corners, striking Flutters directly.
"Yeesh," Orange remarked weakly (he seemed to have regained a moderate amount of energy now, for he was now watching the battle). "That Night Shade looked like it hurt."
"Let's do it, Flutters!" said Violet. "Slow it down with String Shot!"
"Freeeheeeeheeh!" chattered Flutters as it let fly several strands of sticky, white string from its mouth, which wrapped around h Poké's cube-shaped form. h Poké groaned a little bit, then suddenly charged forward, tackling Flutters. The Take Down had taken both Butterfree and trainer by surprise, yet it didn't seem to do too much damage.
"Shake it off, Flutters, Sleep Powder now!" commanded Violet.
"Freeeh, freeeh!" Flutters replied as it soared above h Poké, scattering a blue dust with every flap of its wings. Slowly, the wild h Poké slumped to the floor, and echoing, eerie snores could be heard from it.
"Nice job, Vi," grinned Orange as he climbed to his feet. "Just as long as you don't-"
"Poké Ball, go!" Violet exclaimed as she heaved an empty Poké Ball with her right hand.
"...do exactly that," Orange finished lamely as the Spirit Pokémon was sucked into the ball. The sphere then fell to the floor where it wobbled back and forth, a red light blinking on and off on the button. It did this for several tense moments, and then finally fell still, giving off that telltale ping, which echoed around the room.
"OK, what the hell?" demanded Orange as Violet picked up the Poké Ball containing her new h Poké. "That thing just tried to kill me and you caught it?!"
"Well, now that Flutters happened to evolve into the one Bug-type you don't seem to be afraid of, I had to catch something else to keep you in line, now, didn't I?" smirked Violet.
"RRRRRGH!" was Orange's response.
"Orange, relax," chuckled Violet. "I'm not actually gonna let Tombstone harm you. Unless you got it coming, anyway."
"That's kinda scary, though, that HM02 move," said Red. "It can suck someone's energy away while appearing to not be doing anything."
"Agreed," Orange nodded with a shudder. "OK, perhaps we should get out of he-aaaaaaaaaaaaaah-OOF!"
"Orange?" Violet said as she and Red raced over to where Orange had been moments before; as it transpired, Orange had been aimlessly wandering around without looking where he was going, and had stumbled upon the stairs leading to the floor below, subsequently falling down them.
"You OK, Orange?" called Red.
"I'm OK... I'm OK..." Orange responded as he got up. "I'm- AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"What? What?" asked Red as he and Violet raced down the stairs- only to see exactly what.
Orange was shakily standing before a ghost. It was a dark purple form suspended in midair, with several wisps of lavender gas around it. Its wide eyes and diabolical grin were pure white, and it sported a pair of dark purple, disembodied hands with eerily long fingers, floating in front of its body. Red knew about a Pokémon called Haunter, but this certainly wasn't one. It didn't look like anything Red had ever seen before.
"Wh-wh-what is that?" Red whispered as he held out his Pokédex.
"Cannot identify," stated the machine. "Pokémon species unknown."
"Species unknown?" repeated Orange. "Wait... it couldn't actually be a ghost, could it?"
"The Pokédex said it was a Pokémon," said Violet. "It might not be able to identify it, but it's still a Pokémon." She took a Poké Ball out of her fanny pack and threw it. "Skulls, I choose you!"
In a flash of light, Violet's Koffing materialized, though its usual grin seemed slightly subdued at the sight of its opponent.
The ghost made the first move, if it could even be called that. Its white eyes flashed dangerously, and an eerie voice echoed around the entire floor, not seeming to come from any source in particular.
"GET OUT... GET OUT..." the voice rumbled.
"Skulls, Sludge attack now!" Violet ordered.
"Koff... Koff..." Skulls squeaked in response, backing slowly away from the menacing specter.
"Koffing's too scared to move," said Red. "OK, my turn," he added, as he threw a Poké Ball. "Charmeleon, you're up!"
Red's Charmeleon materialized in the dimly lit room, but upon spotting the ghost, all of its usual confidence seemed to drain out of it. Its tail drooped slightly, its eyes went wide with fear, and Red could've sworn that it looked paler.
"GET OUT... GET OUT..." the voice resounded once again.
"I'm inclined to do as the creepy, disembodied voice is telling us," Orange said in a slightly higher voice than normal.
Red and Violet nodded wordlessly and withdrew their Pokémon. Just then, another ghost appeared behind the first one. This new ghost looked like the first one exactly, except it was slightly larger. The trio exchanged uneasy glances, unsure what would happen to them. What did happen, however, was completely unexpected; the new ghost tapped the first one approximately where a human would have a shoulder. The ghost wheeled around, and seemed to be rather intimidated itself by the new presence. It floated off into the dark room rather quickly. The new ghost then approached the trio, but something about its grin seemed less malevolent than the one on the first ghost.
"Wait..." Orange said as he held out his Pokédex. "If this is what I think it is..."
"Missingno., the Data Pokémon," droned Orange's Pokédex. "Available in four different forms. In its ghostly and skeletal forms, Missingno. can learn most attacks and changes type constantly."
"I had a feeling," said Orange, now grinning feebly and chuckling weakly. "Missingno. can appear in four different forms. This ghostly form, obviously, two different forms that look like the skeletons of prehistoric Pokémon, and one that looks like 'M, only larger.
The Missingno. nodded, then pointed at the stairs with one long finger on its right disembodied hand.
"You want us to leave?" asked Violet.
Missingno. pointed at itself and shook its head. It then pointed into the dark depths of the room and nodded.
"So it's the other ghosts that want us to leave?" asked Red. Missingno. nodded at this.
"Missingno., why do the ghosts not want us here?" asked Violet. At this, Missingno.'s benevolent grin turned to a frown of concern. After a moment of apparent thought, it brought its hands together and formed a bright, glowing orb between them, then brought the orb close to the trio, so they could look inside it; indeed, a scene was unfolding within the orb, as if there was a tiny television inside it.
A group of light brown Pokémon wearing skulls as headgear and brandishing bones as weapons were running for their lives from a group of Team Error grunts. Another two were high-fiving each other as they admired the h Poké they had trapped in a cage. Violet could only assume the cage was somehow reinforced to prevent the Ghost/Poison-type from escaping. Finally, a group of Team Error grunts could be seen, with one of them holding a bloodstained skull in his hands.
The scene ended there, and the trio exchanged looks of shock and horror.
"Team Error!" they exclaimed simultaneously.
"Missingno., is this happening right now?" demanded Orange. "And if so, where?"
Missingno. nodded slowly and pointed to the floor.
"The bottommost level of Pokémon Tunnel, is that where it's happening?" asked Violet. Again, Missingno. nodded.
"That... that skull," Red muttered, his face having gone white. "W... what... did they..."
Missingno.'s right hand glowed pink as it pointed at Red's Pokédex, which suddenly came to life.
"Marowak, the Bone Keeper Pokémon, and the evolved form of Cubone," droned the machine. "Originally small and weak, it became more powerful when it started using bones as weapons."
Missingno. then drew the index finger of its right hand across its throat in a significant gesture. Everybody present understood what this meant.
"So they killed a Marowak?" Orange asked quietly.
Missingno. nodded once more. Missingno. then pointed to the floor again, where Red noticed that the shadows the group was casting were changing. All three of them payed close attention. First, one shadow took the shape of a Cubone's skull, another one took the shape of a Pokédollar sign, and the one in between them took the shape of an equal sign. Then the shadows changed to show a shadowy figure pursuing a fleeing Cubone. Then a shadowy Marowak appeared between the Cubone and the figure, giving the Cubone time to escape. The angered shadow figure then kicked the Marowak in the stomach, hard, causing it to fall over and not move.
"So it's all about the money," Orange growled. "I get it now. Team Error wants to make up for their pitiful salary, so they're stealing Cubone skulls to sell. Then that one Marowak got in their way, so they killed it."
"What can we do?" asked Red.
As an answer, Missingno. manipulated the shadows once more. Now it showed an angry, spectral Marowak waving its bone around and going on a rampage. Then it showed a shadowy figure call out a cube-shaped Pokémon, who blasted the Marowak shadow with what appeared to be BubbleBeam. The Marowak shadow fainted, but rose into the air again, now seeming to have calmed down, and then vanished.
"So... the Marowak's ghost?" asked Violet skeptically. Missingno. nodded.
"We have to calm the ghost down," said Orange. "If we beat the Marowak's ghost in battle, it'll calm down and move on, right?" This was answered by more nodding from Missingno.
"We'll do it," said Red. "We can't just leave the Marowak ghost like this."
"What about the other ghosts, Red?" asked Orange. "I don't think they'll be especially keen on us going down there." At that moment, another eerily disembodied voice sounded, though this one seemed decidedly less spooky than the one belonging to the ghost.
"I will accompany you," the voice echoed. "I will see to it that the ghosts in these tunnels bring no harm to you as you go to soothe the mother Marowak's restless spirit."
Decidedly in better spirits, Orange looked at Violet and Red, who were looking back at him. "Well, that works for me," he said. "Let's go!"
"Hold on," came Missingno.'s voice again. "I shall first heal your Pokémon. You will likely be facing Team Error down there as well, so it is best to be prepared." As it said this, Missingno.'s hands glowed pink, and the trio felt a slight tremble coming from their Poké Balls. Then, all was still once more, the glow fading from Missingno.'s hands.
"Thanks," said Red. Satisfied with this, Orange led the way across the room, towards a staircase which led to the floor below.
The trek through the tunnels was decidedly less frightening, now that the trio had Missingno. by their side. While numerous ghosts would approach them, their malevolent grins and eerie eyes startling the trainers every time, they would always flee once they spotted Missingno.
"It is through no fault of their own," explained Missingno. after the fourth or fifth time of this. "Marowak's rage is affecting the wild Pokémon in such a way that they take up these frightening facades and try to scare humans away. However, they know better than to mess with me."
At that moment, a figure approached them from out of the shadows. Red tensed up for a second before realizing that this one was a human- a Channeler, not unlike the one from the first floor. This one, however, had a blank look in her eyes.
"Leave... Now..." she demanded in an eerie, inhuman voice.
"She's possessed," Missingno. stated. "I was afraid of this. Channelers train their Ghost Pokémon in here while they attempt to channel the spirits of the deceased. Now they seem to be getting possessed by some of the more malevolent spirits in here."
As Missingno. was speaking, the Channeler produced a Poké Ball from her robes and threw it awkwardly. "Gastly... attack them..." she said.
In a flash of light, a Gastly materialized, facing the group.
"One of you should battle," suggested Missingno. "I cannot say for sure, but perhaps defeating her Pokémon would shock the spirit into leaving. It has worked like that in the past, it could work again."
"I'll do this," Violet said as she prepared a Poké Ball and threw it. "Tombstone, I choose you!"
The ball split open, and Violet's h Poké materialized. "Poké," it said in an echoing voice.
"Lick attack..." the Channeler said.
"Gaaaaastly!" replied the Gastly as a long tongue protruded from its mouth.
"Tombstone, use your Night Shade!" Violet ordered.
"h Poké!" shouted Tombstone as it fired off a bolt of black energy from one of its corners, striking the tongue. Gastly muffled in pain and withdrew the tongue into its mouth.
"Good job, Tombstone! Now use your Confuse Ray attack!" Violet commanded."
"h! Poké!" Tombstone exclaimed as the markings on its front seemed to melt, and a strange lavender light was cast onto Gastly, whose eyes immediately became unfocused.
"It's confused, very good," nodded Missingno.
"Finish it, Tombstone! Lick!" Violet exclaimed. One of the black block-like markings on Tombstone's front side slid open like a mouth, and a long, pink tongue emerged, slurping the dazed Gastly's face. The super effective Ghost-type move was too much for Gastly, who slumped to the floor, and, to general surprise, didn't phase through it.
The Channeler withdrew Gastly, shaking her head. Her eyes didn't look blank anymore. "Wh.. what just happened?" she asked. "I... I think I was possessed, but losing the battle caused the spirit to flee. Thank you," she said to Violet. Remarkably, she didn't appear too surprised at Missingno.'s presence.
"Not a problem," Violet replied as she withdrew her h Poké. "Happy to help."
"Please, you must help the Marowak's restless spirit," the Channeler pleaded. "She-"
"We already know," interrupted Orange. "We're going to do just that."
"Oh, thank you," said the Channeler. "Once the Marowak's spirit departs to the afterlife, the chaotic happenings in these tunnels should cease." She then stepped off to the side to allow the group to pass.
The next couple of floors went rather smoothly. Tombstone was given another opportunity to battle, and performed marvelously against another Channeler and her Gastly and Haunter; Red was able to make great use of Doduo's Peck and Charmeleon's Flamethrower to take out a Channeler's h Poké; and the team of Orange and Q proved to be sufficient to take out another Channeler's pair of Haunter.
As they approached a staircase, Missingno. stopped. "Here," he said. "This staircase leads to the lowest level. But there is a presence barring our path. If it's what I think it is..."
At that moment, however, the air before them shimmered, and then something seemed to materialize out of nowhere. It was a brown, bipedal Pokémon hovering in midair- it was a Marowak, but there were no eyes visible through the holes in its skull. The skull itself looked cracked in places, and was stained with blood.
"Yes," Missingno. confirmed. "This is it- the Marowak ghost."