Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon and am in no way affiliated with Nintendo or Gamefreak, or other companies that write or produce pokemon. Now that that legal stuff is out of the way, on to the story!

Pokemon Legends: Kanto Saga

Chapter Fourteen

Girly Ghostbusters

"This whole town gives me the creeps..." Ashley thought to herself. She looked up at the tall tower standing before her. "I was hoping to just quickly pass through but..." Ashley lowered her gaze to Rina, who was standing just in front of the entrance and waiting for her with Pippi. Bulbasaur was standing next to Ashley, waiting for her to move forward.

"Ashley, hurry up already..." Rina said to her in a solemn tone.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." Ashley replied with a sigh, glancing down at Bulbasaur. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

"-For once, I agree.-" Bulbasaur said, nodding to Ashley in agreement. "-This place gives me the creeps, but Rina really wants to go in...-"

Rina entered the tower with Pippi, and Ashley and Bulbasaur followed behind. Neither were in a hurry to go inside, though. The tower was Pokemon Tower, a pokemon gravesite in Lavender Town. It was also a place where ghost pokemon commonly hung out.

The first level of the tower, just inside the entrance, was more or less a reception area. The first floor was almost entirely empty as well, however. There were pictures on the walls, some of which depicted an old man that founded the tower a long time ago. There were a few people gathered on the first floor to pay their respects, and a set of stairs leading to the upper levels.

To Ashley's dismay, Rina wasn't intent on staying on the first floor of the tower. In fact, Rina ignored everything on the first floor outright and continued towards the stairs. Ashley was left with little choice but to follow her up to the next level. The next level, and every level after, is where the pokemon graves would be.

"I should have just let her go alone..." Ashley thought as she went up the stairs. "But if I did, then I'd just end up feeling bad..." Ashley wasn't paying attention to where she was going as she climbed the stairs and nearly bumped into Rina, who had stopped at the top. Fortunately, Bulbasaur grabbed Ashley with his vines, which prompted her to look up.

"Out of my way..." Rina said. At first, Ashley thought she was saying it to her, but then she realized Rina was looking into the room ahead.

"Hey now! Whats with all the hostility?" Ashley heard a familiar voice respond. She looked past Rina and saw Gary standing in the room, in the middle of a wide empty space between rows of graves. Despite Rina's hostility, Gary was grinning from ear to ear. Of course, he wasn't interested in Rina. He figured Ashley would be with her, and soon spotted her behind Rina.

"Still lagging behind me as always, Ash." Gary taunted her. "I've already been through the tower and captured a few ghost pokemon!"

"Rina, I'll deal with him." Ashley whispered to her. "You go on ahead, I'll catch up after." Rina nodded and moved out of Ashley's way so she could enter the room and face Gary. Without saying a word, Rina continued on past him and went up another flight of stairs at the far end of the room.

"What are you doing here anyway? Your pokemon doesn't look dead." Gary asked Ashley while looking down at Bulbasaur.

"-Oh, REAL funny.-" Bulbasaur growled back at him.

"Rina wanted to come here." Ashley replied. "Why is hardly any of your business..."

"I don't care about her anyway." Gary replied coldly, taking a pokeball off his belt. "I'm challenging you to a pokemon battle, three pokemon each! I'm going to show you just how strong my new pokemon are!"

"Fine by me! You're not the only one with new pokemon..." Ashley took a pokeball from her belt as well to battle Gary with. "Besides...anything to delay going further into the tower at least a little longer..."

"-And I suppose I'll be sitting on the sidelines for this one...-" Bulbasaur grumbled, sitting on his hind legs behind Ashley.

"Kadabra, time to show her just who she's messing with! Go!" Gary pressed the button on the pokeball he was holding, releasing the yellow, humanoid psychic pokemon Kadabra. Kadabra twirled a spoon in its hands when it appeared and held the spoon out in a fighting stance.

"Jolteon, you start this off! Go!" Ashley released her pokemon as well, sending out Jolteon from its pokeball. Jolteon stood ready for battle when he appeared before Ashley.

"Jolteon, start this off with a Thunderbolt attack!"

"Kadabra, dodge it with Teleport!"

Jolteon charged electricity in his fur and fired a Thunderbolt attack at Kadabra. As the bolt raced through the air, Kadabra concentrated and disappeared before the attack could hit it. Jolteon's attack struck the floor where Kadabra had been standing, leaving Kadabra unharmed. The psychic pokemon reappeared standing on top of a grave in the middle of the eastern half of the floor.

"Battling here really doesn't feel right..." Ashley thought. "I'll have to be careful not to hit any of the graves..." The graves were spaced very close together and there was no dirt for the pokemon to be burried in. Instead, each gravestone was standing in an indent on the floor. The pokemon themselves were stored in special ceremonial pokeballs in a sealed compartment inside the stone itself. The stones were kept in the Pokemon tower so they wouldn't be eroded over time.

"Now, Kadabra, attack Jolteon with Confusion!" Kadabra's eyes flashed as it focused its psychic power on Jolteon. A blast of psychic energy blasted Jolteon from all sides, causing Jolteon to give a pained yelp. Despite having obviously been hurt by the attack, Jolteon showed no signs of being weakened by it after.

"Jolteon, use Quick Attack to attack Kadabra before it can Teleport!" Jolteon jumped and shot forward towards Kadabra in a blur of movement, slamming into it and knocking it off the grave. Jolteon continued on past Kadabra and landed between a row of graves further away, managing to avoid hitting any. Kadabra, likewise showing such respect, used its psychic powers to catch itself before it landed on another grave.

"Oh yeah? Lets see you try that again! Kadabra, use Disable to prevent it from using Quick Attack!" Kadabra's eyes flashed as it prepared to use its pasychic powers on Jolteon, a yellow glow starting to surround the electric pokemon.

"Jolteon, attack Kadabra with Shadow Ball while you have the chance!" Ashley commanded, looking to take advantage of Kadabra's attack to get a good hit on it before it could teleport away.

Jolteon formed a purple ball of shadowstuff, unhindered by the Disable technique that was causing it to temporarily forget Quick Attack. Jolteon jumped up and threw the Shadow Ball down towards Kadabra. The attack was too late to prevent Kadabra from suceeding with Disable, but it landed a good hit on Kadabra that pushed it into the floor hard. Kadabra was down for a moment before slowly climbing back to its feet, looking pretty weak from the attack.

"What?! Shadow Ball? No way!" Gary said in anger and disbelief of Jolteon's Shadow Ball technique.

"Yes way!" Ashley shot back with a smirk. "Jolteon, now! Finish it with Thunderbolt!" Electricity danced through Jolteon's fur as the electric pokemon quickly prepared to attack.

"Kadabra, dodge with Teleport!" Kadabra closed its eyes and focused just as Jolteon was firing the Thunderbolt attack. Kadabra was too slow, however. The bolt of electricity struck Kadabra just as Teleport was taking effect. Kadabra disappeared, reappearing back in the aisle between the two grave sections still being shocked by the attack. Kadabra quickly collapsed, smoke rising from its unconscious body.

"Hmph...my pokemon was weak..." Gary grumbled, recalling his Kadabra. He placed the pokeball back on his belt and chose another. "My next pokemon will make up for it! Exeggcute, go!" Gary held up the pokeball and released his next pokemon, sending out five egg-like pokemon with eyes and a mouth. Some of the eggs looked cracked and broken and seemingly had permanent, but different, facial expressions.

"Jolteon, good job! You can rest now!" Ashley called out as she recalled Jolteon, returning him to his pokeball. She then switched Jolteon's pokeball with another one on her belt. "Ok, Golbat! Lets see what you can do!" Ashley released her green Golbat from its pokeball. The pokemon quickly looked around and, spotting Exeggcute, realized what was going on.

"-Bah! I have to fight for this stupid trainer now?-" Golbat grumbled angrily. "-This sucks!-" Golbat turned to Ashley and gave her the raspberry, then turned back to face Exeggcute.

"-I find myself fully in agreement with this guy.-" Bulbasaur mumbled.

"Ha! I bet that one won't even listen to you!" Gary taunted Ashley. He was jealous, however, that she had managed to catch a shiny pokemon. He had an opportunity to catch a shiny pokemon himself once, but it managed to escape.

"We'll see about that then!" Ashley shot back. "Golbat, attack Exeggcute with Supersonic!" Golbat let out a high-pitched shriek, inflicting all six of the Exeggcute with confusion. To Gary's disappointment, he was wrong about Golbat. Although it clearly didn't like having a trainer, it was still willing to follow orders in battle.

"Well even if it will listen to you, my Exeggcute will still win! Exeggcute, use Leech Seed!" One of the Exeggcute, managing to focus enough to attack, moved to fire a seed at Golbat. It was tackled by one of the others, and a dogpile soon followed as the group of Exeggcute, making up a single pokemon, turned on each other.

"Whose pokemon won't listen?" Ashley said to Gary. It was her turn to taunt him. "Golbat, now! Attack with Wing Attack!" Golbat dove down towards the group, wings stretched out. It flew by the group, striking all six of them simultaneously with its right wing and then pulling up again.

"Exeggcute, use Hypnosis and put Golbat to sleep!" All six Exeggcute turned towards Golbat as it also turned back towards Exeggcute. Exeggcute's eyes began to glow as it used the attack. To Golbat, their eyes appeared to be six pairs of swirling whirlpools. Golbat soon dropped to the ground, falling fast asleep.

"It knows Hypnosis?" Ashley thought. "That could be a problem..."

"We've got it now! Use Leech Seed next!" One of the Exeggcute, with a large hole cracked into the top of its head, moved to the front of the pack. It opened its mouth and fired a small seed at the sleeping Golbat. The seed sprouted vines and latched on to Golbat, then started draining energy from Golbat and feeding it back to Exeggcute. Even with this happening, Golbat continued to sleep.

"-Now if I tried that, it would have woken up...-" Bulbasaur grumbled.

"Don't let up! Confusion!" Any lingering effects of the confusion they had been inflicted with earlier was clearly gone as the Exeggcute performed their attack without any difficulty. The eyes of each of the Exeggcute's flashed purple as they focused on their psychic attack. A blast of psychic energy struck Golbat from all directions, inflicting quite a bit of damage on it in its sleep. The attack also seemingly caused Golbat to wake up. It shook off the blast and glared at the group of Exeggcute.

"Golbat, lets get this battle under control again! Use Supersonic!" Golbat let loose another high-pitched sound burst at Exeggcute. The group of Exeggcute, lacking hands, tried to huddle together to shield each other from the sound. It didn't work, however. A bit of a dazed look soon appeared in the eyes of each of the Exeggcute.

"Confusing my pokemon won't help you now!" Gary said to Ashley in a smug tone. "Exeggcute, attack Golbat with Confusion!" Despite suffering from confusion, each of the Exeggcute were able to focus. Their eyes flashed and psychic energy blasted Golbat from all directions, smashing it into the floor. Golbat stayed down for a brief moment before pushing itself back up with its wings. It was still able to fight, but it was clearly growing exhausted.

"We need to end this battle fast, if not then either Exeggcute or the Leech Seed will finish Golbat!" Ashley thought before issuing another attack. "Golbat, use Bite!" Golbat jumped forward, using its wings to propel itself further and bring itself closer to Exeggcute. Golbat opened its mouth and clamped down on its targets. With Golbat's large mouth, and the Exeggcute so close together, It was able to bite down on two of them at once. The two Exeggcute it had attacked were unconscious when Golbat released them, leaving only four more Exeggcute.

"Exeggcute, lets finish this! Use Confusion!" Exeggcute didn't follow through with Gary's command. They all looked at each other with perplexed looks on their faces and then jumped at each other in another dogpile. Exeggcute was attacking itself in its confusion again.

"No, I think we'll be finishing this one! Golbat, Wing Attack!" Golbat raised its right wing and struck out at the gathered Exeggcute. Becuase they were all gathered in one spot, Golbat was able to hit them all in one blow. The Exeggcute were knocked back and scattered, left unconscious on the foor. Gary recalled each of the six fainted Exeggcute one by one.

"You just got lucky..." Gary muttered, placing Exeggcute's pokeball back on his belt.

"Luck is just another part of a pokemon battle." Ashley replied smugly.

"Your Golbat is still weak enough for my next pokemon to finish off, and luck won't save you now!" Gary shot back as he took one last pokeball from his belt. "Growlithe, go!" Gary released his final pokemon from the pokeball he grabbed. An orange furred, canine pokemon materialized before him and growled angrily at Golbat. Golbat was no more than a few feet away from Growlithe and looked a bit intimidated by its appearance.

"Golbat has done enough for now, so he won't be fighting your Growlithe!" Ashley held out Golbat's pokeball and recalled it before the Leech Seed, still attached, could faint it. She placed Golbat's pokeball back on her belt and drew another one in one quick motion.

"Poliwag, your turn now! Go!" Ashley held up the pokeball and pressed the button on the front. The pokeball opened up and released Poliwag out into the aisle. Poliwag was still wearing the hat Ashley had bought for him. Seeing the Growlithe, Poliwag hopped up and down happily, expecting an easy fight after its previous experience with a Growlithe.

"What a wimpy looking Poliwag." Gary said to Ashley. Poliwag, hearing this, stopped hopping around and looked saddened.

"Don't pay any attention to him, he's just a big jerk." Ashley said to Poliwag, but loud enough for Gary to hear here. "We'll see how wimpy he thinks you are when you beat his Growlithe! Attack with Hypnosis!" Poliwag nodded and soon began its attack on Growlithe. The black and white swirl pattern on Poliwag's stomach began to spin, hypnotizing Growlithe until it fell asleep.

"You and your cheap tactics..." Gary muttered. "Just you wait until my Growlithe wakes up, he'll mop the floor with that pipsqueak!"

"I don't think so!" Ashley called back. "Poliwag, attack with Water Gun!" Poliwag sprayed out a small, quick burst of water at the sleeping Growlithe. Growlithe recoiled slightly in its sleep as the water hit it head on, but still remained asleep in spite of it.

"Ok! Now, use Water Gun again while moving closer and then follow up with Doubleslap!" Following Ashley's instructions, Poliwag shot another quick burst of water at the sleeping Growlithe. Once again, Growlithe recoiled from the attack. Growlithe was starting to wake up when Poliwag reached him and was fully awake when he started slapping Growlithe with his tail. He only got in three attacks before Growlithe backed up and out of reach of further attacks.

"Growlithe, take that Poliwag down with a Bite attack and don't let go!" Growlithe lunged towards Poliwag and snapped its jaws tight around Poliwag's body. Poliwag cried out in pain and his hat was knocked off by the force of Growlithe's attack. To Gary's dismay, Poliwag was tougher than he thought. Not by much, however. Poliwag looked like it was weakened quite a bit by that single attack, indicating that it was much better on the offense than defense.

"Poliwag, I need you to focus here!" Ashley called out to him. Poliwag nodded slowly, its eyes closed shut from the pain of Growlithe's jaws clamped around it. "Ok, finish it off with another Water Gun!" Poliwag opened its mouth and fired a short burst of water, aiming straight down at Growlithe's head. Growlithe yelped and let go of Poliwag, staggering back from the attack and then collapsing onto its side.

"Damn..." Gary muttered to himself. He held out Growlithe's pokeball and recalled his Growlithe. "Well so what if your pokemon are a bit stronger and luckier than mine? I bet I have a lot more than you do anyway."

"Oh yeah? And how many do you have?" Ashley asked him.

"I've already caught over 60 types of pokemon!" Gary replied with a grin.

"Six...sixty types!?" Ashley stammered in disbelief.

"Anyway, I'm done wasting time with you. Move aside, I'm out of here." Gary walked past Poliwag, Ashley, and Bulbasaur and stopped at the top of the stairs. "Smell ya later, losers!" Gary called back and then left down the stairs.

"That guy hasn't changed one bit..." Ashley muttered. She turned to Poliwag and saw him struggling to put his hat back on. Ashley walked over to him and picked up the hat, then placed it on Poliwag's head.

"Poliwag, great job out there. You really got that Growlithe good." Ashley congratulated him and held out his pokeball. "You can take a rest now." Poliwag nodded to Ashley and allowed her to return him to his pokeball. She placed the pokeball on her belt and looked back at Bulbasaur.

"Ok, lets go catch up with Rina now."

"-Fine by me.-" Bulbasaur got up and followed behind Ashley as she started towards the other flight of stairs leading up. "-You know, I bet thats about all the excitement there will be today and I missed out...-"

Ashley reached the bottom of the flight of stairs and started up to the second floor. She and Bulbasaur were taking their time now, neither overly eager to go any higher into the tower. When Ashley reached the top of the stairs she glanced around the second level. There was no sign of Rina, though she did notice that the graves were far less clustered on the third floor. There was still a single aisle through the center, leading to the next set of stairs, but there was also room for more graves.

Ashley kept on going, hurrying through the third floor to reach the stairs. Again, she climbed the stairs slowly with Bulbasaur following behind her. When they reached the top, Ashley could see Rina and Pippi standing in the middle of the aisle with their backs to her. She also noticed that the graves on the fourth floor were even more spaced out, suggesting there were going to be less graves the further she went up the tower.

"Hey, Rina!" Ashley called out to her, making her way across the aisle towards her. "What'd you stop here for? Change your mind?" She then asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Go back now...or you will never leave alive..." Rina said to Ashley, her voice sounding cold and distant. Ashley and Bulbasaur stopped in their tracks, realizing now that something was very wrong.

"Rina...? Are...are you ok?" Ashley asked her, slowly backing away. Bulbasaur took up point in front of her, extending his vines.

"Go back now...or else..." Rina and Pippi finally turned around to face her, and Ashley and Bulbasaur caught a glimpse of the blank look in their eyes. Pippi took up point in front of Rina as well, as if she intended to battle Bulbasaur.

"Is...is she possessed?!" Ashley wondered in disbelief, backing up further now until she was almost back to the stairs.

"-So much for this place being boring...-" Bulbasaur muttered.

"Pichu...attack them..." Rina commanded Pippi coldly. Pippi nodded, her cheeks sparking with electricity. She fired out a small blast of electricity at Bulbasaur, but Bulbasaur hardly flinched from the attack.

"-In the past week, I've taken Thunderbolts from a gym leader's Raichu and a powerful Jolteon...-" Bulbasaur grinned at Pippi. "-So I hope you can do a lot better than that, kid.-" Bulbasaur stood up on his front legs and fired a burst of green powder from his bulb. The powder hit both Rina and Pippi in the face, but didn't seem to affect either of them.

"-What? But that should have worked...unless...-" Bulbasaur growled and looked around the room. "-Alright! I know there's a pokemon behind all this, now show yourself!-"

Pippi's eyes suddenly closed and she fell to the floor. Rina's eyes closed as well and she started to fall, but Bulbasaur shot out his vines to wrap around her arms and slowed her fall so she wouldn't hurt herself.

"-Well, well, well...seems you're quite the observer, love...-" Bulbasaur looked around for the source of the voice. A purple, gaseous-looking pokemon with two clawed hands and a large mouth faded into view over Bulbasaur, hovering in the air. Ashley relaxed a bit when she saw the pokemon appear.

"That pokemon...is that responsible for all this?" Ashley asked.

"-Yeah, so much for possession.-" Bulbasaur replied with a nod. "-Listen, you! Those were friends of our's you were messing with!-"

"-You don't say?-" The ghost pokemon replied, a wide, toothy grin spreading across her face. "-But it was nothing but harmless fun. Afterall, no one was hurt.-"

"What pokemon is that anyway?" Ashley wondered, taking out her pokedex to scan it.

"Haunter, the gas pokemon." The pokedex read. "Because of its ability to slip through walls, it is said to be from another dimension." Ashley also noted, from the pokedex screen, that Haunter was a ghost and poison type pokemon.

"Well, we're not going to let it get away with what it did to Rina and Pippi, right Bulbasaur?" Bulbasaur nodded in agreement. "Alright then! Attack it with Leech Seed!" Bulbasaur launched a seed from the bulb on his back, landing it on the back of one of Haunter's hands. The seed sprouted vines and latched onto it.

"-Oh dear...well if you're going to be like that, then I will be leaving.-" The wild Haunter vanished, though the Leech Seed remained visible and attached to the Haunter. The seed could be seen flying up towards the ceiling as Haunter attempted to escape. Haunter tried to go through the ceiling, but while it could pass through the floor the seed was still attached very firmly to her hand. The seed acted as an anchor and strained against the ceiling as Haunter tried to go through, eventually forcing it to drop down and become visible as she tried to remove it with her other hand.

"Looks like Haunter's not going anywhere!" Ashley commented with a smirk. "Ok, Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf now!" Bulbasaur nodded and fired several sharp leaves from the bulb on his back. The leaves slashed across Haunter's body, causing the ghost pokemon to wince slightly. She didn't appear to be any weaker visibly from the attack though, only somewhat annoyed.

"-Well, if you're going to play that way...-" Haunter held out her left hand towards Bulbasaur, the one that didn't have the seed latched onto it. A dark aura surrounded her hand and Bulbasaur, and a similar aura seemed to gather in front of Haunter. It formed into a pin and stabbed through Haunter's body, then disappeared. The pin left no visible sign of damage on Haunter's body, aside from leaving her looking pretty exhausted, but Bulbasaur felt a chill go through his body as Haunter's Curse set in.

"-That was a dumb move.-" Bulbasaur said to Haunter. "-That hurt me more than it hurt you. You won't last another five seconds with that seed on you now...-"

"-That will be longer than I will need, my dear.-" Haunter's eyes began to glow a light purple as the dark aura faded from around her hand. The aura remained around Bulbasaur, however, with the curse continuously taking effect. "-Now look into my eyes...-" Bulbasaur unwittingly followed Haunter's instructions, looking into the ghost pokemon's eyes. Bulbasaur saw her eyes as swirling whirlpools, hypnotizing him and putting him to sleep. Bulbasaur was left defenseless as the curse continued to drain his life force.

"Bulbasaur's down for the count..." Ashley thought. "But it won't matter now...that was a Curse attack Haunter used, and it has that Leech Seed on it as well. So its just a matter of time now, I'll leave Bulbasaur out there until then..."

"-Now lets see how you like...uck!-" Haunter was cut off from using another attack as the Leech Seed finished her off, draining the last of her strength. Haunter floated down to the floor, rendered unconscious and incapable of fighting now. The seed withdrew its vines, fell off, and then withered and died. The dark aura around Bulbasaur faded as well, leaving him to sleep peacefully.

"Rina!" With Haunter out of the way, Ashley ran to her friend's side, kneeling next to her. She was about to put her hand on Rina's neck to check for a pulse, but stopped herself when she heard a soft snoring noise. "She's just asleep..." Ashley sighed in relief and smiled lightly. Hearing a yawn, she looked over at Pippi and saw that the small electric pokemon was starting to wake up.

"-What happened?-" Pippi rubbed her eyes with her small paws and looked around slowly. "-The last thing I remember is running into...-" Pippi stopped when she saw the wild Haunter, unconscious on the floor near a sleeping Bulbasaur. "-Wh...what?-" Pippi looked back at Rina and Ashley.

"-RINA!!-" Pippi cried out and quickly got up, running over to Rina and standing in front of her face. "-Rina! Rina! Please get up! PLEASE!-" Pippi looked on the verge of tears as she grabbed onto Rina's face and tried shaking her.

"Pippi! Relax! She's just asleep!" Ashley said to Pippi. Pippi stopped for a moment and looked at Rina. She could hear Rina's snoring now that she had calmed down and realized Ashley was right.

"You have done well, child..." Ashley looked up, hearing an eldery woman's voice speaking to her. Standing near the wall, at the bottom of the stair's, was an old woman dressed in purple robes and wearing an excess of odd charms. She held a stick topped with a piece of paper in her hand, the paper on the top of the stick looking like some sort of Japanese scroll.

"Who are you?" Ashley asked, blinking in disbelief. "And how long have you been standing there? I didn't hear anyone coming down the stairs!"

"I am Cleo, a channeler." The woman replied. "I felt a mischevious spirit at work on a lower level and came down to investigate, but I see you have already dealt with it..."

"A channeler?" Ashley thought with a look of disgust. "Just my luck I'd run into one of those spirit-talking weirdos here..."

"It is fortunate you and your friend arrived when you did." The channeler, Cleo, continued. "The spirits of this tower have been disturbed. The source of this disturbance is on the top level of this tower with Mr. Fuji as we speak. I believe you would know them as Team Rocket..."

"Team Rocket? That criminal organization?" Ashley asked, sounding unconvinced. "What could they possibly want here though? Its nothing but pokemon graves!"

"-Who's Team Rocket?-" Pippi wondered aloud.

"-They're another criminal organization, like Ashley said...-" Bulbasaur mumbled in response as he started waking up. "-They're dangerous, but after dealing with the Grand Hunters they'd be a piece of cake by comparison...-"

"-Oh...-" Pippi blinked and looked over at Bulbasaur curiously. "-Wait, how come we're both awake already and Rina isn't?-" Pippi asked him next. Bulbasaur shrugged, not knowing why either.

"Mr. Fuji has a flute they are after, but he will not give it up." Cleo explained to Ashley. "Many pokemon here were killed by Team Rocket, and as such their prescence here is making their spirits restless. Neither Mr. Fuji nor myself have pokemon that can deal with them. If the spirits are to be calmed, the three from Team Rocket must be driven out of the tower first..."

"So you want me to beat them for you?" Ashley asked her.

"Precisely..." The channeler replied, nodding. "There was another trainer here recently who I had asked to do so, but he refused. Said he didn't believe in any 'spirit mumbo jumbo' and said a few Team Rocket grunts were not worth his time..."

"That sounds like Gary..." Ashley muttered. "Well I'd help you, but..." Ashley looked back at the sleeping Rina. "I can't just leave her asleep here..."

"Allow me to help you with that..." The channeler approached Rina and kneeled down next to her. Reaching into her robe, she took out a few small brownish leaves from a pouch. She opened Rina's mouth and placed the leaves on her tongue, and then stood up. Rina seemed to stir in her sleep, and then suddenly bolted up and started spitting violently.

"Gross! Gross! GROSS!" Rina cried out, sticking her tongue out and scraping the leaves off. "Bleh! The taste won't go away!"

"-Rina! You're awake!-" Pippi cried happily and jumped into Rina's lap. Rina seemed almost paralyzed by the horrible taste in her mouth though.

"I apologize for the herb's taste, but it was necessary to wake you up." Cleo said to Rina. Rina blinked and looked around with a confused expression when she spotted Cleo, Ashley, and the unconscious Haunter.

"I'll explain on the way...I guess..." Ashley said to her, grinning wryly.

"Before we go, I suggest you catch that Haunter..." Cleo informed Ashley. "Mischevious as she is, I feel she will prove herself to be a competent battler."

"If you say so...having a ghost pokemon couldn't hurt, I guess." Ashley reached into her travel bag and had to feel around a bit before she found a pokeball. It was her last one. "I'll pick up more in Celadon I guess..." She thought to herself as she drew the pokeball. She then gave it a light toss towards the unconscious Haunter. The ball pulled the ghost pokemon inside and locked it in without any struggling. The ball then glowed white and vanished, sending Haunter off to storage.

"Now, let us be off..." The channeler held her strange stick in front of her and started back towards the stairs. Ashley and Bulbasaur followed along behind her, but Rina hesitated for a moment and only slowly followed behind them with Pippi in tow.

"Wait, where ARE we going?!" Rina asked, still greatly confused by the whole thing.


Ashley, Rina, and their pokemon accompanied the channeler up the tower. Ashley explained to Rina what was going on, and where they were going. As they walked, Cleo remained silent, holding her odd stick in front of her face and concentrating. As they went from floor to floor, they noticed there were fewer and fewer graves as well. They also ran into no other pokemon or any 'spirits' while they went on their way up the tower, a fact which left Ashley and Rina both a bit confused.

"I don't get it, where are all the pokemon?" Ashley wondered aloud.

"Ghost pokemon, like restless spirits, can be driven away with the right wards and charms." Cleo explained while trying to maintain her concentration. "As long as I am with you, they will not approach us."

"Oh..." Ashley blinked in surprise.

"How much further is it?" Rina asked in a whining tone. "My legs hurt...why couldn't this place have an elevator?"

"There is only one more set of stairs." Cleo replied. The group was in the middle of the room, on the floor just before the top floor. As they neared the stairs, Cleo suddenly stopped.

"I sense...a powerful, vengeful spirit..." Cleo informed the group. "My wards will not repel it! It is blocking our path!"

"What?" Ashley looked ahead of them. "There's nothing there...lets just keep going already."

"No. Its too dangerous." Cleo said to Ashley. Ashley ignored her warning, however, and continued on. As she neared the stairs, she felt a chill go down her spine. She stopped and looked around fearfully.

"Begone...intruders..." A cold voice bellowed throughout the room. Several Gastly, ghost pokemon looking like a face inside a gaseous cloud, suddenly appeared and converged into one point in front of the stairs. Ashley quickly backed away from the cloud of gas that formed from the Gastly seemingly combining. The cloud in front of the stairs began to take shape, forming into a humanoid pokemon with a tail, skull mask, and a bone club.

"Its the spirit of a recently deceased Marowak!" Cleo exclaimed. "It was killed by Team Rocket while trying to protect its baby Cubone. Now it seeks revenge, and its spirit is strong enough to influence the Gastly!"

"If its just a bunch of Gastly then we can beat it!" Ashley declared, reaching with both hands to draw pokeballs from her belt.

"Ashley, wait!" Rina suddenly ran out in front of her, putting herself between the spirit of Marowak and Ashley. "Let me try to talk to it...maybe I can calm it down..."

"No way! Thats way too dangerous!" Ashley replied, shaking her head. "Its not like a normal pokemon, you can't just reason with it..."

"No, let her try..." Cleo removed one of her charms from around her neck. The charm consisted of three gems that formed a circle, one red gem, one blue, and one green. She held out the charm to Rina. "Wear this and the spirit cannot harm you. The Gastly, however, still can. As a trainer I doubt that will be a problem for you..."

"Thanks, I'll do what I can." Rina placed the charm around her neck and took two pokeballs from her belt. There were six Gastly in all forming the fake Marowak, so she wanted to be ready. "Berry! Clyde! Go!" Rina held up the two pokeballs and released her pokemon. Clyde the Clefairy and Berry the Butterfree appeared before her. When they saw the ghostly Marowak they moved back slightly, looking fearful.

"-That creature is not of this world!-" Clyde exclaimed, moving into a defensive stance.

"-Its...its scary...-" Berry whimpered, hiding behind Clyde.

"Its just a bunch of Gastly." Rina explained to them. "Pippi, Clyde, Berry...if those Gastly attack, I need you to stop them. I'm going to try to talk with the Marowak..." Clyde and Berry nodded, relaxing slightly at the notion that the ghost Marowak was just a bunch of Gastly. Berry was still nervous, though. She realized Rina meant to talk with a ghost Marowak that was involved with the Gastly somehow.

"-Ok! I won't be caught off guard with another Hypnosis!-" Pippi nodded and grinned determinedly.

"Rina...be careful..." Ashley warned her. Rina slowly approached the Marowak, her three pokemon moving with her. The Marowak raised its club, ready to attack her. Rina didn't stop until she was standing only a bit less than ten feet away.

"Marowak, I know how you feel right now..." Rina said to it in a soothing tone. "I know you want revenge, but you need to calm down! Let us handle it!"

The Gastly gave a cry that sounded like a deep, echoing growl that mimicked what a real Marowak might sound like. It raised its bone club over its head and threw it towards Rina, sending it spinning like a boomerang on a curved path towards her. Clyde jumped out in front of Rina and formed a blue, transparent bubble around itself. The bone bounced off Clyde's bubble and was deflected back towards the Marowak, who then caught it.

"Thanks, Clyde..." Rina whispered to him. She looked sternly at Marowak, trying to figure out how to best approach him. If it were a normal, wild pokemon it would be no problem for her. Pokemon had a tendency to listen when they suddenly realize she can understand them. The shock of such a revelation would have weakened a real pokemon's resolve, but Marowak was hardly a normal case.

"Marowak, please! Listen to me!" Rina pleaded with it. "If you just let us through then we can deal with Team Rocket ourselves!" The Marowak seemed to hesitate a moment, as if Rina's words had managed to reach it. It gave another ghostly growl though and jumped towards Rina, raising its club to attack.

Berry quickly intercepted Marowak's attack, flapping her wings and kicking up a Whirlwind that caused Marowak to drop down too early to attack Rina. Clyde then jumped towards Marowak, punching it with a Pound attack. Marowak staggered back a few steps from the attack. It was plenty close enough to attack Clyde, however, and raised its club over Clyde to strike him.

Fortunately for Clyde, Pippi followed up his attack with a Volt Tackle. An aura of electricity surrounded Pippi as she dashed forward, slamming into Marowak as it tried to get up, moving more like a Marowak then a bunch of Gastly combined together. Pippi's attack didn't seem to do much damage to Marowak at all, as if the Gastly were somehow mimicking its ground typing as well, though the force of the impact pushed it back to the bottom of the stairs.

"Something tells me negotiations aren't going over too well..." Bulbasaur thought. "If that Marowak doesn't calm down I'll thrash it myself, seems like its still a ground type anyway..."

"Marowak, you can't keep this up!" Rina yelled at it. "You gave your life to protect your baby Cubone, right? Now let us help you! Let us get by to deal with Team Rocket!" Rina's words finally reached Marowak as the ghost recalled its death, how it had fought off Team Rocket while sustaining life threatening wounds from a gun one of them had all so that her Cubone could escape. She could not rest peacefully, however, as Team Rocket were still at large...

Finally accepting Rina's assurance that Team Rocket would be dealt with, Marowak closed its eyes. Marowak's spirit departed to the afterlife, and the Gastly finally separated. The three ghosts looked at each other in confusion at first and then spotted Rina and her pokemon. The Gastly quickly scattered to avoid a battle. Rina breathed a sigh of relief.

"Rina, you did it!" Ashley cheered as she ran up to her. "I didn't think it'd work but you did it!"

"I was kinda nervous for a bit there..." Rina admitted timidly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"This is no time for celebration." Cleo cautioned the two. "We must keep going. Team Rocket is still on the top level, just above us..." Ashley and Rina nodded and followed behind Cleo again as they went up the stairs. Rina kept both Clyde and Berry out of their pokeballs, knowing full well there was a battle ahead. After only a bit more walking they reached the top floor of the tower.

The top floor was different than the other floors of the tower in that it was completely devoid of graves. Rather, it was set up more like a sanctuary with a bell at the far end of the room. There was an older, bald-headed man on the other side of the room on the floor with three men in black uniforms and white boots standing over him. One of them had a flute in their hand that looked like it had a pokeball on the end.

"No one says no to Team Rocket, gramps, and don't you forget it!" The grunt holding the flute said to the man lying on the floor, kicking him in the side to emphasize his point.

"HEY! Stop right there!" Ashley called out from across the room. The three rockets left Mr. Fuji and turned to face the girls.

"And who's going to make us, huh? You?" The three grunts snickered in unison.

"Thats the idea..." Rina replied rather sternly. Berry, Clyde, and Pippi took up point in front of her and Bulbasaur moved out in front of Ashley.

"Lets see you try then, kiddies!" Each of the three grunts took a pokeball in each hand. They released their pokemon, sending out two each. One grunt sent out a Zubat and a Golbat, one sent out a Drowzee and a Koffing, and the last one sent out a Rattata and Raticate. Ashley reached for two more pokeballs as well to even things out.

"Charizard! Mankey! Come on out!" Ashley held up each of their pokeballs and released her pokemon. Charizard and Mankey appeared before her, both pokemon looking ready for the fight ahead. "Charizard, aim for the Drowzee with Iron Tail! Mankey, attack Raticate with Karate Chop! Bulbasaur, attack Rattata with Razor Leaf!"

Mankey and Charizard charged across the room, Charizard's tail taking on a metallic appearance and Mankey holding up his hand in a flattened position. Bulbasaur attacked Rattata with Razor Leaf from afar, firing out several sharp leaves at the small rat pokemon. Rattata squeaked in pain and nearly collapsed after just one attack from Bulbasaur.

"Berry, attack Koffing with Confusion! Clyde, attack Zubat with Pound! Pippi, attack Golbat with Thundershock!" Rina called out, her own pokemon quickly moving to attack.

Clyde charged across the room, following alongside Charizard and Mankey. Berry's eyes flashed and Pippi's cheeks sparked as both pokemon attacked from a distance. A blast of psychic energy struck Koffing from all directions, nearly fainting it in one attack. Koffing almost fell to the floor from the attack. Golbat, on the other hand, held strong against Pippi's electric attack. It took quite a hit, but hardly faltered as the electricity briefly coursed through it.

"Drowzee, attack Charizard with Headbutt! Koffing, attack that Butterfree with Tackle!" The grunt owning Drowzee and Koffing called out as Charizard was nearing his pokemon.

Charizard delivered a powerful blow to Drowzee when it finally reached the small psychic pokemon, smashing it on the head from above. Drowzee staggered back from the attack, looking stunned briefly but quickly shaking it off. Drowzee jumped back at Charizard, smashing head first into Charizard's jaw. Charizard reeled back from the impact but shook it off. Koffing, meanwhile, quickly hovered across the field and slammed into Berry. Berry was knocked back but remained hovering, easily recovering from the weak attack.

Meanwhile, Mankey was nearing his target as well as the grunt owning Raticate and Rattata called out his pokemon's attacks. "Raticate, attack Mankey with Hyper Fang! Rattata, go and strike Bulbasaur with a Quick Attack!"

Mankey quickly delivered the Karate Chop as it reached Raticate, delivering a powerful blow to Raticate's face. Raticate struck back with a powerful blow itself, however, as it clamped down hard and sank its two front teeth into Mankey's body. Mankey squealed in agony and furiously tried to pull itself free. Meanwhile, Rattata ran across the battlefield and then became a blur of movement as it neared Bulbasaur. It shot forward, slamming into Bulbasaur hard. Bulbasaur growled and staggered back, he was still weak from his previous battle.

"Zubat, counter attack with Bite! Golbat, attack that Pichu with Bite as well!" The last grunt called out his attacks as well as his own pokemon was about to come under attack from Clyde.

The Zubat tried to attack Clyde with Bite as he neared it, but it just ended up getting a mouth full of fist instead as Clyde jumped into the attack. Zubat became the first pokemon knocked out in the brawl, as Clyde struck a rather harsh blow. The grunt growled as he recalled his pokemon, but grinned when he saw his Golbat clamping its large jaws down on Pippi.

"I see now...they're grunts because they're no good with tactics." Rina commented to Ashley. "Pippi, you have Golbat where you want it so use Volt Tackle! Berry, finish Koffing off with Confusion! Clyde, help Mankey out and use Follow Me!"

Pippi couldn't help but grin, even while being trapped in Golbat's mouth, when Rina commanded her to use Volt Tackle. Electricity charged around her body and she took off running, pushing Golbat along ahead of her until she smashed into the wall. Golbat's eyes went wide from the impact and it let go of Pippi, crumpling to the ground. The Golbat's trainer recalled it after it had fainted, looking surprised at the Pichu's technique. The smug grin was wiped off his face.

Berry focused again, her eyes flashing purple as she used her psychic powers on Koffing. Psychic energy blasted Koffing from all directions, knocking it away from Berry when the attack was over. Koffing's levitation gave out as it was knocked unconscious, causing it to fall to the ground. The Koffing's trainer recalled his pokemon, leaving half Team Rocket's pokemon knocked out.

"-Hey, you! Why don't you pick on someone your own type?-" Clyde taunted Raticate in an effort to get the pokemon's attention. The trick seemed to work as Raticate suddenly let go of Mankey, turning towards Clyde and hissing at him.

"Yeah, have to agree with you there Rina!" Ashley replied to her with a smirk. "Bulbasaur, finish Rattata off with Vine Whip! Charizard, attack Drowzee with Bite! Mankey, use Karate Chop again!"

Bulbasaur quickly extended his vines towards the Rattata standing before him, striking the rat pokemon at nearly point blank range and sending it rolling back. Rattata landed on its side and tried to roll back onto its feet, but it lost consciousness before it could. The grunt owning Rattata recalled it, leaving only two pokemon on their team.

Charizard opened its mouth and quickly lunged towards Drowzee, clamping its jaws tightly around its snout. Drozee tried to pull itself free, but not before Charizard tossed it off to the side. Drowzee landed on its face just to the side of Charizard and was also knocked out, forcing its trainer to recall it. Now only one more pokemon of Team Rocket's remained.

"No way we're going to lose to these girls!" The only remaining grunt with pokemon growled. "Raticate, attack Mankey with Hyper Fang!" While Mankey was raising its hand to attack Raticate, Raticate was opening its mouth to attack Clyde. Its trainer had forgotten that Raticate was tricked into attacking only Clyde, and as such it didn't see the Karate Chop coming.

Mankey smashed Raticate from behind with a good, hard chop before it could sink its fangs into Clyde. Raticate squeaked in surprise and then collapsed forward, falling flat onto the floor. The grunt hesitate for a moment before recalling his pokemon, the realization setting in that they had indeed lost to the two girls. After defeating Raticate, Mankey looked around at the other pokemon, his gaze falling on Charizard in particular.

"I'm the only one...that needed help..." Mankey thought to himself disappointedly, feeling a twinge of jealousy as he looked at Charizard. "One of these days I'll evolve! Then I'll be strong too!" Mankey had a wild look in his eyes as he thought this, though no one else seemed to notice.

"Now why don't you hand that flute back to the nice old man and just sit tight until the authorities get here?" Ashley said to the three grunts, grinning. The one holding the flute grumbled and handed it back to Mr. Fuji, and then all three of them held their hands up and backed up against the wall.

"Finally...now I can do what I came here to do..." Rina sighed and ran across the room to a small shrine at the far end. Mr. Fuji watched her curiously as she kneeled down in front of the shrine, hands folded in her lap and eyes closed.

"All this trouble just so she can pray for the pokemon in this tower who had passed away..." Ashley commented quietly, smiling to herself. "She really wanted to do this though." Rina stayed in front of the shrine for several minutes, a silence falling over the room as everyone watched her. When Rina was finally finished and started to stand up, Mr. Fuji approached her.

"I can tell pokemon mean a lot to you, young girl..." Mr. Fuji said to her. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Its Rina..." She replied quietly, bowing to the man. "I'm sorry about what Team Rocket did to you..."

"Do not worry about it, I came here of my own free will." Mr. Fuji explained to her. "I came here when I heard of the trouble Team Rocket had caused, I knew what the consequences could be but I could not stand by idly. When they heard about my flute, they tried to take it from me..." Mr. Fuji held out the flute to Rina. "I wish for you to take this, child..."

"Your pokeflute?" Rina blinked in surprise as she stood up straight. "But why?"

"For your kind concern towards myself and pokemon. I am sure you will make better use of it than I will..." Rina looked at the flute and hesitantly reached out to take it from Mr. Fuji.

"The spirits of this tower should calm down once Team Rocket is taken away." Cleo said to Ashley. "It is all thanks to you two..."

"Its what most trainers would have done..." Ashley replied.


Ashley and Rina stayed behind in the tower until the local authorities showed up to arrest Team Rocket. Cleo would tell them after that the spirits in the tower had calmed down as she said they would. Because they spent so long in the tower, however, Ashley and Rina ended up spending the night in Lavender Town. Despite the town's spooky reputation, the two girls were too exhausted to worry about it and had a good night's sleep.


Author's Notes: Every one of Ashley's pokemon and 3/6 of Rina's pokemon made an appearance in this chapter. Originally it was going to be all Ashley and Rina was going to spend most of the chapter asleep, but then I realized how silly that seemed.

Yet another capture for Ashley as well at this point. Interestingly, though, its quite likely the last one she'll get for a while. Because of the pokemon I planned for her to catch they didn't really end up spaced very well. Though Rina's been catching pokemon too, in fact she's not far from her seventh.

This chapter would easily have been more in line with a regular chapter if it wasn't for the battle with Gary, but in a way that was rather pivotal to the plot anyway. And getting the Pokemon Tower out of the way now makes the story run a bit more fluidly since now Ashley and Rina can travel in a straight line to Celadon, then down to Fuschia, then back up the other side towards Lavender. Seems to minimize backtracking a bit if nothing else...

Anyway, I think I'm just rambling now. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!