For a long while, Arden stood outside the mouth of the tunnel to Lavender town, staring at its dark entrance with Blazer rubbing his head on his leg. He gripped the handle bars of his bike tightly. "It looks dark in there," he said. "I don't like that…"

"Vul!"

"Would you stop that? You're starting to creep me out."

"Pix!"

Arden rubbed his arm and wheeled his bike a little closer to the tunnel's pitch-black opening. Biting his lip, he pedaled slowly into the darkness, Blazer padding along behind him. "Hey—can you maybe give me some light or something?"

"Vulpix!" shouted the pokemon, but he made no attempt to provide any light.

Arden sighed and picked Blazer up. Holding the vulpix against his chest with one hand, he slowly made his way though the dark tunnel. He went slowly, bumping into rocks and the like occasionally as he wandered about the impenetrable dimness. Eventually, a spot of light in the distance struck his eye, and he raced to get near it.

Arden exited the tunnel and looked around.

"Damn it! This is where I entered the damn thing!"

"Vulpix," said Blazer, licking Arden's face.

With a heavy sigh, Arden turned his bike around and pedaled back into the tunnel. He didn't get far into the rock tunnel before the light of the entrance had disappeared. Wandering about in complete darkness, he soon became disoriented again.

"I hate this place, I hate this place," he mumbled to himself over and over again as Blazer rubbed his muzzle against Arden's neck. "Stop doing that."

His bike hit a snag in the dark path, throwing him over the handle bars, and flipping the bike. Boy and bike and vulpix tumbled together down a hole, landing in a painful heap at the bottom. "Vulpix!" objected Blazer, pulling himself out from under Arden and the bike.

Arden moaned and sat up, groping around for his bike. He folded it up and put in his bag. "I can probably do without this for a bit," he mumbled. "…Blazer, are you here still?" He felt around until he found the pokemon.

"Vul!" said Blazer, licking Arden's hand.

"Guh—stop that. It's disgusting," said the trainer, withdrawing his hand quickly, and wiping it on his pants. The pokemon rubbed his head on Arden's leg. "Seriously, if you don't start acting normal and stop all this licking and nuzzling I'm going to... put you back in your ball and float you down a river."

"Vul?" said Blazer, lowering his ears—a gesture that Arden couldn't see at all.

The pair wandered along through the oppressive shade of the tunnel. The air was thick and humid, and the path was littered with rocks of all sizes. Arden ran face-first into boulders and walls five times before he learned he should walk with his hands outstretched before him. However, there was nothing to be done about the lower obstacles, and he repeatedly tripped and fell, and smacked his legs on outcropping rocks. For hours he wandered aimlessly through the dark caverns of the rock tunnel, keeping one hand out in front of him and gripping Blazer's tail with the other. At last, he saw a light.

"I swear, if this isn't the other end of the tunnel," he murmured, approaching it cautiously.

He looked out at the landscape beyond—a cliffy overlook of a quaint little town. An enormous tower rose up over the little city, and Arden couldn't help but shiver looking at it. In fact, the whole city seemed to have an uneasy aura of sadness about it. Glancing around, he chalked it all up to the inexplicably grey weather that had formed at this side of the tunnel. Blazer was rubbing against his leg again, and Arden returned him to his pokeball with a frustrated sigh.

"Does he even hear me when I talk?" asked Arden, clipping the ball to his belt. "Does he understand me at all when I speak?"

He started down the path to Lavender town, pausing only to battle a couple of trainers waiting about on the path. Eventually, however, he reached the town, carrying Gentry in his arms, and found it to be a silent and somber place. Said Arden to Gentry, "My brother told me this town it haunted. –Not that I'm saying he was telling the truth, or that I believe in ghosts, of course…"

"Niido," said Gentry, looking up at the tower, whose shadow fell across the town.

Arden looked up at it to. "Gaius said that building's a pokemon graveyard," he said. "But, I don't, uh, I don't think that's a lie."

Gentry shivered. "Ni—nidoran," he said.

"Hey, stop moving around so much," Arden said. "I don't want to get poisoned again."

He glanced around. Spotting a path to the west, he turned away from the tower. "Creepy old thing," he said. "I can't wait to get out of—"

"Arden!" came the familiar voice of Dixie from behind him. He turned around to see Dixie jogging toward him, an arbok at his side. "Arden! Good to see you."

Arden smiled as best as he could, considering the amount of banging-up he'd gotten in navigating the tunnel didn't exactly make him feel too cheery. "Hey, Dixie. What's up?"

"Well," said Dixie. He dug his hands into his pockets and kicked lightly at the dirt. "Well, see—I've got a problem. Me and a couple guys were supposed to be securing things for the Team here—a strong pokemon that lives in the tower…"

"Oh," said Arden. "Well, good luck. I should be going—"

Dixie grabbed his arm. "Well, see, we need some help securing the pokemon," said the Rocket grunt. "I saw you come into town, and I was hoping that maybe you'd help me."

Arden frowned and glanced at the path at the town's edge. "Well, see…"

Dixie tightened his grip on Arden's arm and leaned in close. "Look, I didn't want to say it at this point in our… relationship, but, quite frankly, you owe me."

"Owe you?" said Arden, raising an eyebrow. "For what?"

"How about for saving your life?" said Dixie, flicking one of Gentry's spikes.

"I… forgot about that…"

"Or, maybe for giving you dig so you could take on the Vermillion city gym."

"That didn't help me at all; I still lost to Surge!"

"Or perhaps for generally looking out for you," said Dixie. His nose was practically touching Arden's, and his grip on the boy's arm was becoming painful. "So, how about you please come up to the Pokemon Tower with me and help us?"

Gentry flattened his ears and growled, "Raaaan."

Beside Dixie, the arbok raised himself up and hissed, baring his fangs. "Nathair—down," said Dixie sharply. The pokemon obeyed. "Well, Arden."

"Fine," said Arden. "I'll go up there with you."

Dixie let go of his arm and smiled. "Good man," he said, throwing his own arm over Arden's shoulders. "Let's go then. Ah—point of interest, you do have a pokemon which knows some dark-type moves, right?"

"Yeah, I do," said Arden. He frowned as they walked toward the tower. "…why?"

"Ah… Ghosts," said Dixie, nodding toward the tower. "Lots and lots of ghosts."

A/N: I've put another relevant picture up on DA--link's on my profile--this time of Felicia and her team. Next picture will either be Dixie and team, or Gaius. Not sure yet.