Recommended Music: Kamen Rider Ghost Opening. I finally finished it last week, after like 2 years from when I started it. Kinda fitting that this chapter takes place in Lavender Town. I wanted to do some reference to the series in the chapter itself, but there wasn't a good chance. Maybe another time.


Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 23: Tower of Thrills.

"Oh! It's you, Red! You haven't called us in a long time. Your mother was beginning to worry."

Red, who managed to reach Lavender Town soon after parting ways with Sven, decided to have a videocall his parents since he didn't have time to do it since his second visit in Vermilion City. He was lucky that it was a Sunday, so both of his parents didn't have to work. He didn't want to stay in this place longer than necessary, especially since the whole town was giving off a creepy vibe.

"Tell her that I'm okay." he said to his father.

"Tell her yourself. She's..." the man didn't have time to finish the sentence since he was pushed outside the view of the camera.

"Are you okay?! You aren't hurt, are you?!" his mother started asking while getting uncomfortably close to the screen.

"Nooo. I'm not... hurt."

The woman was awfully suspicious of that pause he made "What's going?! Are you sick?! If you don't tell me, I'm just going to be more worried."

"Uuuh... No, I'm fine right now. I had a slight injury when I was in Cerulean some time ago."

"An injury?"

"I fell on some glass and it got stuck in my back. But I went to a hospital and they helped me with that." he answered while smiling shyly.

"G-glass?! Hospital?!"

"I... Why are you freaking out so much? I constantly got bruises while I was playing around with Eevee, yeah? Besides, you must have heard about all the stuff in Vermilion City."

"What "stuff" are you talking about?"

When he realized that his mother didn't know about how he risked his life during the battle aboard St. Anne, he was almost ready to end the call, but his father pushed his mother away in a similar manner to what she did to him.

"Don't yell at him so much. You can see that he's fine, so it's doesn't matter what happened before." he said to the woman once she was off-screen, before turning to his son "What about your Pokemon? Your badges?"

"Still the same as last time. But my Charmander evolved into a Charmeleon. Right now I'm in Lavender Town so if everything goes alright I'll get my next badge in a week or so."

"That's great. I wish you luck. Ah. You probably won't be able to call us once you're in Celadon City, since we're going on a trip overseas."

"Again? It's amazing how you can afford to travel so much and still have enough money for me to afford my journey."

"Well... It's not like you're spending that much. You've still got enough to money to afford some winter clothes, right? Your old jacket probably won't fit you anymore."

"It's not even November yet so I'll wait until I get to Saffron City until I buy a new one. But yeah, I've got enough money to probably last me till the end of my journey." he was confident enough to say that since he already went over the numbers in his mind, several times.

"But at this speed... You'll probably have all the badges in a couple months. Do you plan on coming back home before the Pokemon League begins?"

The boy couldn't tell his parents about Team Rocket, not after seeing how his mother reacted at the mention of an injury "Uuh... Yeah. But not right away. I've made a bunch of new friends during my travels and I promised one of them that I would help them with something important. Although, I think it kinda felt like I forced it on them."

"That's the way of our family. Once we decided on something, there's no stopping us. But I know you'll succeed in whatever it is you want to do."

"Thanks."

. . .

Misty, who was about to close her Gym for the day and go home, was visited by the two people who were assigned to guard the Cerulean Cave and have just ended their shift.

"Hey, guys. How was it? No disturbances today?" she asked.

"No. We've had that one time a week ago where Team Rocket tried to break through the barrier and failed, but ever since then everything has been calm."

"You wouldn't come to me if you weren't worried by something."

"We just had a couple surprising guests. We didn't know if you told them about the Pokemon inside the cave so we decided to contact with you to check if we should be worried." the person responded.

"Yeah. "Surprising" is a good way to put it. I never thought I would see Lance of the Elite Four up close." added the other guard.

"Huh... So, Lance..." she didn't know the dragon master too well, and Brock was the one to contact all the leaders and Elite Four so she didn't exactly know what to make of his visit "Who else?"

"This was even weirder. The Gym leaders from Cinnabar Island and Fuchsia City arrived almost at the same time. While Lance tried to ask us various question about that Pokemon, even though we don't really know anything, the other two just stood there for a while, observing the barrier." they explained.

"It was really tense. They looked at each other and we could immediately tell that there was something between those two. But then they both left without saying a word to each other. Bu neither them nor Lance tried to get into the cave. So, should we be worried?"

Misty kept quiet for a while. She considered it suspicious that Koga and Blaine both wanted to get involved after hearing about Mewtwo, even though it seemed like both of them wanted nothing to do with Team Rocket, when the leaders previously talked about it.

"Misty?" one of the guards said her name since he was worried by the concern on shown on her face.

"Ah. No, no. There's nothing to worry about." she said, not wanting them to get unnecessarily scared "Just keep on doing your job and bringing me any information. I'll call Brock once I get home, and I'll see what he thinks about that."

. . .

After spending a night at the Pokemon Center, Red decided to take a walk around Lavender Town, in order to see what it had to offer in terms of entertainment. For some reason, the air seemed colder than it was on his way to the city. The heavy mist around him didn't help in finding his way around. He stumbled into a crowd of people talking between themselves with worried voices. When he took a closer look, he realized that they were gathered around police barricades set up next to a building.

"Hey. What's going on here?" he asked a random man.

"It seems that someone kidnapped Mr. Fuji." the person responded, visibly distressed.

"I..." Red didn't want to say anything that could hurt this saddened man even more "I'm not from around here. Who exactly is Mr. Fuji? It seems like a lot of people are concerned about him."

"Of course we're concerned. Mr. Fuji is the owner of the Lavender Pokemon House, where he and other people take care of Pokemon abandoned by their trainers. He's the kindest person you'll ever meet... But now... We don't know what happened to him. I overheard the police saying that it looks like a bunch of people went through his house, but there was no blood. So we can at least have the hope that he wasn't hurt. We've been waiting here for an hour, hoping for some good news."

"Are the police in this place really so incompetent?" Red said quietly to himself, before looking at one of his pokeballs "This doesn't really concern me but if we can help..."

Feeling that thinking about it too long would probably make him change his name, he went with his gut feeling and released Eevee from his ball. He signaled the Pokemon to jump onto his arm before he took a few steps back. He put one of his arms forward to help himself gauge the distance with his fingers. After deciding that they were far enough, he looked at his partner.

"We need to get over that crowd and into the house as quick as possible? Got it?"

Eevee nodded before starting to gather energy inside its body. After there was enough, he gave another nod so that his trainer would knew that it was time. The boy took a couple quick steps at the same time as Eevee released a Superstar from its mouth. The attack was faster than the boy but he took that into account. All he needed was to get a good jump by kicking the star. After doing that, he was high enough to fly over the crowd and the couple police officers trying to keep people back.

Eevee made sure that the energy would turn into dust before hitting one of the bystanders. The police weren't prepared for something like that, so they stood there for a while, with their mouths agape, trying to understand what just happened. Red went through the front door of Mr. Fuji's house and as soon as he got past the entrance corridor, he noticed that the house had a bunch of other police officers inside.

"Hey! Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" one of them yelled after spotting the boy.

"I knew I would regret this." he said to himself, seeing that he was about to be surrounded "Eevee, use..."

He didn't get a chance to finish his command since he felt something pulling him backwards. He turned his head and saw a human-looking, Pokemon holding onto his arm with his hand which somewhat resembled a boxing glove. He didn't have time to check for information about it in the Pokedex since it threw him against one of the walls, in such a way that he hit it with his back.

"Hitmonchan, use Ice Punch!"

The Pokemon was so fast that Red had no chance to avoid its attack. He struck one of his hands, and although the force with which he hit wasn't too great, what came after that proved to be the real problem. A ring of ice formed around the boy's wrist, practically gluing him to the wall. Although the cold was uncomfortable, he knew that that trying to break out of it with his own strength would prove futile. Even though he couldn't move, Eevee was willing to fight, barking at the police officers who carefully approached them.

"Can you tell your pet shut up?"

Some of the police moved aside so that Red could get a clear view of the entrance to the kitchen and see someone who gave out a completely different vibe than the rest of them. That person was a man in his thirties, who was balancing himself on a chair, with his legs placed on top a table, while slowly smoking a cigarette. He had long, messy hair, tied into a ponytail and his face looked like it could use a shave. Beneath a long, beige, open trench coat, he wore a black turtleneck and dark-green trousers. The only thing about his look that connected him to the rest of the bunch was that he had the same shoes, although it looked like he didn't take any time to shine them like the others probably did.

"That's enough, Eevee." said the boy.

The dog immediately went quiet, but a look of worry remained on his face.

"So he listened? You've got him trained well." while saying that, the man got off the char and put out the cigarette by using the kitchen sink "That, or he just trust you that much... Or maybe, this isn't the first time that you got yourself in such a mess. Hm? Which is it?"

"Is "All of the above" an option?" the teenager responded, and even though it was the truth, he hoped that it would be taken as a joke which could lead to the eventual defusal of the situation.

It seemed to have slight effect on the man, since a smirk appeared on his face as he was leaving the kitchen. Hitmonchan who patiently waited for his arrival, approached him and bowed which confirmed Red's suspicion that this person was the one who ordered to have him attached to the wall.

"My name is Scott Yard. Detective Scott Yard. If you agree not to cause any trouble I can have you freed from this ice and we'll talk over why the hell you barged into a crime scene. Okay?" he spoke with a rather monotone voice, almost as if he didn't really care about what the boy was doing there.

"Yes." the teenager responed without hesitation.

"Alright. Hitmonchan, use Fire Punch."

"Wait. What?"

"...But go easy on him."

It took a little longer than freezing him but the Pokemon managed to free Red by setting his fist on fire and holding it close to the ice that bound him.

"Now that you're free, you can start explaining what you are doing here. Something tells me you're not a criminal returning to the crime scene but I can't really make a judgement based purely on my instinct. I would. I really would. But I know that one of these smartasses would report me to the Sergeant for doing that." during the last words he coldly stared down all the other officers.

"I wanted to help." the boy responded, while massaging his wrist.

"All these people outside probably also want to help. Yet you don't see them barging in here and getting in the way of our investigation."

"You were just smoking a cigarette while everyone else was doing their job."

"That is my job. I won't say anything ridiculous like "I can't focus until I smoke one" but with all the other guys searching for clues, there is nothing for me to do but think. I don't have to explain myself to you but I'm a pretty nice guy, even if you can't tell by looking at my face. Kitchen was the second place we searched after the entrance corridor and since there were no clues there, it wasn't a big deal that I smoked in there."

"Okay."

"Is that all you have to say?" the man looked like slightly irritated by the fact that the boy gave him such a non-answer.

"Do you... Do you want to hear more? Because, you see, I got the idea that..."

"How? How did you plan to help?"

"I didn't give it much thought until now so it's probably going to turn out that what I have to offer is going to be redundant... buuut... I have this guy." after saying that, he pointed at Eevee who was still on his shoulder "I mean... his nose. It's like 50 times stronger than a human one. I mean... that's just a guess. I don't really know."

"Oh, alright. That's not such a bad idea." the detective seemed genuinely impressed "Expect for the fact that we already have a team of police officers who specialize in this type of thing. We had one of them try to get the scent of whoever broke in here, but they didn't find anything. Almost like they didn't produce any smell. We would have it try to search for Mr. Fuji himself but it's his neighborhood, so his smell is probably all around this place. It would be the same as if we just started searching the whole city at random."

"Can we still give it a shot?" Red asked, with a determined expression on his face.

"If that means that you're going to stay out of our way then sure." Scott turned to one of the officers "Go find something that's likely to give the dog a good sense of how Mr. Fuji smells like."

Finally having some time to look around a bit more, Red noticed a photo placed atop a cabinet, with and old man and a Pokemon on it "Is that Mr. Fuji?"

"Yeah... Wait. You're not from Lavender?"

"And that Pokemon?" the boy asked, completely ignoring the detective's question.

"That's a Cubone. I don't think it's actually his Pokemon, but probably a young one that either got separated from its parents or... maybe they died."

"Doesn't this town have a bunch cemeteries?"

"What? Are you some special kind of stupid? There's not that much of them. It just seems like that since they're quite big. And they're not cemeteries. There aren't any actual bodies there. The person who was the mayor of this town about 200 years before the current one didn't want to cut down surrounding forests just to make space for the dead so instead we have these buildings where we burn the bodies. The family can do whatever they want with ashes but the buildings... we call them "temples"... also serve as a replacement for cemeteries. We have these things that are kinda like gravestones but instead each of them has like a 100 names inscribed into them. People can go there and visited the ones that contain the names of their family members and friends. Recently they even got somebody to digitize all of that so you wouldn't have to rely on memory to find their close ones. Instead you can just put their name into a computer and it finds them for you. Pretty neat, huh? The second building still has a bunch of gravestones that are waiting to be filled with names but they are already building a third one."

"What about Pokemon?"

"We have a separate building for them. We call it... the Pokemon Tower..." the detective was in the middle of taking out another cigarette and he almost lit it up, but something caused him to drop the cigarette.

He looked at Red who didn't seem to understand what was going on, but he felt like that was just a facade and the boy asked him a particular set of questions, in order to steer him towards a conclusion. But that would mean that the teenager was able to find a plausible solution to the mystery of Mr. Fuji's disappearance with only one clue.

Yard couldn't be certain if what he arrived at was actually what happened, but he would field even more ashamed of himself if he didn't follow this lead, than by the fact that Red was faster in understanding one of the possible answers. The instant he decided to check out that hunch, his demeanor changed. Maybe the boy was able to deduce the truth quicker than him, but all it did was light a fire in him. If what he thought had in fact happened, that could mean that Mr. Fuji wasn't actually kidnapped, but it also didn't mean that the possibility of it happening soon didn't exist.

. . .

"So this is the Pokemon Tower." Red said to himself while standing in front of the tall building.

"Stop gawking at it. We have to find out if Mr. Fuji is actually inside." Scott said to him while going through the sliding doors of the building.

He still felt slightly annoyed by the fact that the teenager acted like he didn't purposely put the idea of visiting the tower in his mind, but these feelings were pushed aside when he noticed that the reception desk didn't have anyone sitting behind it. As they walked a little further, they noticed the receptionist lying on the floor. The detective checked her breathing to make sure that she was okay but it seemed like she was simply knocked out.

"This doesn't bode well." stated Red.

"You saying that doesn't help either. Don't you watch any movies? Whenever someone says "this doesn't bode well", shit usually hits the fan fairly quickly."

"Are you getting superstitious because we're in a cemetery or are you always like that?"

"I already said this isn't..." he stopped after reminding himself that they didn't have time to argue, and instead went directly towards the elevator.

It felt like someone expected them since the panel with the buttons was completely destroyed. They had to take the stairs. Unfortunately for them, whoever designed the Pokemon Tower, decided for some reason that each floor should have a separate set of stairs which led to the next one. This meant that when they arrived on the first floor they had to go to the opposite side of the round room to get use the next flight of stairs.

There were barely any people there since it was still the morning, but they still had to stop here and there to check on an unconscious person. Despite that, they managed to reach the second to last floor fairly quickly. Mr. Fuji was still nowhere to be seen but since they ran practically all the way, both of them had to stop to catch their breath. Red was thankful that he decided to call Eevee back to his pokeball as soon as they left Mr. Fuji's house since otherwise he would probably get more tired.

"Is... Is there something off about this floor?" Scott asked out of nowhere.

Red looked around to try to understand why the detective would say such a thing but there was nothing that immediately seemed different from the other ones "I guess... Some gravestones have nothing on them. But that just means that they started to fill them from the bottom up."

"That's not it. There's something else. I just can't put my finger on..." he froze up after feeling something touch his shoulder.

He looked at Red but the boy was on the opposite side and not close enough to reach around and tap him on the arm. He turned his head and noticed some purple substance. He touched with a finger and tried to determine what it was by smelling it. The only thing he learned was that it had a foul stench. He turned towards the teenager to ask him about it but was immediately surprised by two other things. Time seemingly slowed down as he watched Red rush towards him while a mysterious shadow appeared above him. Both of them landed on the floor and although it wasn't too comfortable a landing, Scott immediately understood that the boy wanted to protect him from the owner of that shadow.

When he saw that what almost fell on his head was a Grimer, he immediately grasped that what was on his shoulder, was a part of its body. Seeing the Pokemon also helped him in realizing why he thought there was something wrong with the room they were in. The spot above where he stood had a green ceiling, while the rest of it was the same color as the Poison type Pokemon. Suddenly, a multitude of eyes appeared on the slimy substance above them and a bunch of Grimers started jumping towards the floor, one after another. His keen observational skills were working at an all-time high so he instantly realized that there was a place amongst gravestones that the Pokemon intentionally avoided while landing. He considered himself lucky since those were the ones without any inscriptions on them, which meant he didn't have to worry too much about destroying them.

"Go, Hitmonchan!" he shouted while throwing the pokeball containing his partner in that direction "Mach Punch! As many times as needed!"

Hearing that command and realizing that the attack was to be directed at them, a bunch of Team Rocket members stood up, hoping that they could somehow avoid being hit. Hitmonchan proved too fast for them and easily knocked them out, one by one, with a set of quick punches.

"So it was Team Rocket." Red thought to himself before choosing to take the moments in which Grimers were distracted by Hitmonchan's movements, to make his way towards the staircase leading to the final floor.

"Watch out!" Scott yelled out.

Red turned his head and saw one of the Grimers jumping in his direction. He didn't have time to call out any of his Pokemon. All he could do was instinctively close his eyes. He opened them right after that since he heard a peculiar sound. It turned out that Hitmonchan was fast enough to protect him by punching the Grimer with a fist covered in electricity, sending it into a wall. After the impact, the Poison Pokemon seemed to become completely unstable, turning into a puddle of sludge as it passed out. Scott saw that the rest of their opponents felt uncertain about what they should do so he took his chances and by jumping from one gravestone to another, he arrived right next to his Pokemon and Red.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"These guys you knocked out are nobodies. But it looked like they were left here to protect this place from anyone who would try to stop their boss. That means that he or she is up there with Mr. Fuji. And since we don't know what they want with him..."

"...then we must get there as fast as possible. Worst case scenario would be that Mr. Fuji is dead and their boss will take us by surprise any moment. But I don't think we'll be able to go up there unless we beat this bunch." he said just as the Grimers started moving in their direction.

"That's why I wanted to split up! Can't you handle a bunch of moving piles of slime yourself?" Red was getting annoyed since he felt all this talking was pointless.

"I'm worried about Mr. Fuji but I'm also worried about you!" he yelled before noticing that one of the Grimers was about to attack him "Fire Punch!"

The Poison Pokemon jumped towards the detective, but Hitmonchan stepped in front of his trainer and while jumping up himself, and spinning, he delivered an flaming uppercut which caused his foe to splatter on the ceiling.

"You think I can't handle myself in a fight?" Red laughed out loud at the idea of someone having such a notion without even having a chance to witness his abilities as a trainer "Check this out! Go, Raichu!"

The electric mouse appearance caused the group of Grimers to move to the side, which was probably because they were started but it looked kind of like they were making space for his landing. He spun around on one of his feet in order to get a look at what he was supposed to be dealing with and, after stopping, smiled to himself.

"Why does it look so happy?" Scott asked in confusion which he seemed to share with his Pokemon.

"Because we actually have a move prepared for such situations. Raichu, it's time for Iron Tail!"

The Pokemon listened and turned his tail to steel. The opponents got over the initial surprise and all moved towards the mouse.

"Type B! Laser Cutter!"

Raichu used Thunderbolt to send electricity to his tail instead of producing it with the tail itself. This meant that instead of becoming electrified, the metal covering the tail was heating up. The move was a double-edged sword since Raichu had to deal with that heat until the opponents were close enough. It was only seconds before all the conscious Grimers in the room got in the range of his tail. He swung it around while spinning on one feet, similarly to what he did before. This, combined with his opponents' semi-liquid state, caused the attack to cut through them like a hot knife through butter. And Raichu wasn't about to stop after cutting each of them just once. He kept spinning until he was sure that none of them would be able to continue the fight. After stopping and returning his tail to its normal state, he began nervously blowing at it. Hitmonchan was kind enough to walk up to him and use Ice Punch on one of his fists, allowing the mouse to cool down his tail.

"That was something... Uuuh... Are you like a Gym leader or something?" the detective who until that moment considered Red to be just an unusually bright youngster, gained some respect for the boy.

"Nah. I'm just a regular trainer. But now that we're done hereee..." he said while pointing towards the stairs to the final floor.

. . .

Peter was sitting on one of the gravestones while slowly sipping on a small carton of grape juice.

"I'm losing my patience, you old piece of shit." he said after finishing his drink and throwing it on the floor.

He stood up and walked over to Mr. Fuji, who was sitting on the floor, tied up to a stone monument atop which sat a statue of some unknown creature. His face was badly swollen, to the point that he could barely see with his left eye, but the blood that started pouring from his mouth after being repeatedly punched by the admin already stopped flowing and dried up, so he was at least able to speak.

"I told you already... I'm never going to help Team Rocket. I left as soon as I learned that you were the ones who sponsored our research... After hearing about all your crimes... I had to do something to atone... that's why I..."

"I don't care!" the admin yelled while kicking the man in the stomach, making him spit out more blood "I could drag you there by force but I feel like Doctor Humane wouldn't appreciate. That's why I'm giving you a chance. But if you don't want to go of your own will... Maybe I'm taking out my anger on the wrong person."

Mr. Fuji looked up at the criminal, and then at his belt which was missing the pokeball containing Cubone "What?! When did you..."

"You know that pokeballs are pretty sturdy, right? It's hard to break them but it's still possible to damage them enough so that the Pokemon won't be able to get out. I wonder... Even though Pokemon turn into energy when going inside them, they still seem to have the need to eat every day... Let's do an experiment. I'll smash this ball on the floor, then I'll take it back and have it fixed in... I don't know. A month or so? Then we'll see if your Pokemon starved to death." after saying that and witnessing the horrified expressions on Mr. Fuji's face, Peter started laughing out loud "Why the long face? You're a scientist, aren't you? This kinda stuff should be right up your alley. Nothing smart to say? Then let's get to it!"

"Quick Attack!"

As soon as the admin let go of the pokeball, it disappeared from his view. He instinctively turned around since he felt that there was something behind him. Raichu sat atop a stone monument. Aside from the one which Mr. Fuji was tied to, there were two other ones with the middle one having no statue on it. Sitting on it, with Cubone's pokeball below one of his front paws, the mouse resembled a Komainu. It took Peter a second to understand that he heard someone giving the Pokemon an order before it stole the pokeball. He looked towards the door and saw Red and Scott, staring at him with a mix of anger and eagerness.

"You don't look like police."

"We aren't." stated Red.

"Wait. I am..." Yard tried to interject.

"Then who are you?" the admin looked more concerned with the teenager.

"That's not a good question to ask. You don't need to know my name. The only thing you need to know is that I already defeated Alex and Angie. Oh. That makes me wonder, does your name also start with an "A"?"

"So you're the one whose been getting in our way." Peter said to himself after hearing that explanation "I really don't like people who try to act smarter than they actually are. And no, my name doesn't start with an "A", but to paraphrase your own words... You don't need to know it!"

The admin quickly tore of the piece of string holding his cape together before throwing it at Red and Scott. He judged the distance and ran at them, taking out a knife holstered at the back of his belt. He slashed horizontally hoping that at least one of them would be cut, but as soon as they saw the fabric flying in their direction, both quickly stepped back. Peter tore through the cape but his attack didn't stop. He kept swinging the weapon, each slash getting closer to piercing one of their bodies. Feeling the wall behind them, they understood that if he focused on one target, there would be nowhere for that person to run. Thinking it best to take out the tougher looking one first, Peter struck at Scott. Detective decided to gamble his hand in order to save his life. He reached towards the blade and although he wanted to grab the admin's wrist, the blade sunk into his palm. He ignored the pain and smiled.

"Got you."

"What?"

"Mach Punch!"

Hitmonchan, who still was waiting on the stairs, jumped into the room and appeared right in front of Peter. It looked like there was no chance for the man to get away, even if he let go of his weapon and backed out.

"Block!" he yelled.

Although Hitmonchan's attack was swift, it didn't reach its target. The Pokemon, his trainer and Red, all looked shocked by the fact that for some reason the attack stopped centimeters from Peter's face. Hitmonchan got over the initial surprise and tried again, this time with a one-two combo but, yet again, his fists didn't hit their mark. Additionally, he felt as if something grabbed his arms and he wasn't able to pull them back. Peter let go off the knife and jumped back, somehow causing Hitmonchan to be pulled along with him.

The Fighting Pokemon tried to stop himself by kicking the ground, but a second later he was in the air. He didn't understand why, but that was the least of his worries since whatever caused him to go up, also made him smash into ceiling. His subsequent landing on the floor also didn't prove too comfortable. Scott wanted to check up on his Pokemon but when he started to move in his direction, he remembered the knife still embedded in his hand.

"His face..." Red said quietly to himself after witnessing the same sinister look that Peter showed to Mewtwo during their encounter.

"I see that you are surprised. Not many people think about using their Pokemon in such a way. But then again, I'm not like the rest of you."

Red slapped both his cheeks in order to force himself to focus on what he had to do. He looked towards his Pokemon, showed him an open hand and immediately closed it into a fist. Raichu understood that and immediately jumped off the monument, leaving the pokeball with Cubone behind, in order to attack Peter while his back was towards him. He used Quick Attack, but it turned out that the admin didn't need to see where the attack was coming from in order for it to be stopped. After striking with his head, Raichu saw that his assault was stopped by a pair of levitating, purple arms. Peter turned around after realizing that something happened behind him and laughed after witnessing the Electric Pokemon's worried face.

"I would say your efforts are admirable, but trying to attack me with Normal type attacks is truly useless." he stated.

"Thanks." responed Red.

"Wait. What are you tha..."

"Iron Tail!"

Raichu spun around while turning his tail to steel and struck Peter's knee. Although the hands tried to protect him, the force of the attack proved too strong. It not only caused the Team Rocket member to fall on the floor, but also separated him from his Pokemon. Even though Haunter managed to quickly get over the pain, it wasn't sure if it should merge back with its trainer or wait for some other order.

"What are you waiting for?! Attack it!" the criminal yelled while still writhing on the floor.

Raichu cautiously moved away a couple steps in preparation for what was to come. Haunter created a ball made of black energy and hurled it towards the mouse Pokemon, who easily avoided it, causing it to explode after hitting the floor.

"Not that! He's too fast! You'll never hit him this way!" Peter yelled as he began to stand up.

"So it was a Haunter." Scott said to himself while using part of his trench coat, that he cut off with the knife, to stop the bleeding from his hand.

He noticed that his Hitmonchan has also managed to recover from its fall and their eyes met. Now that he knew what they were dealing with, it was clear why their previous attacks didn't work. Besides that, he also understood why the police Growlithe couldn't sense the one who barged into Mr. Fuji's house. Since Ghost type Pokemon are made of plasma, their bodies don't actually have any scent.

"Don't forget about us!" the detective called the criminal's attention to himself "Hitmonchan! Let's take a page from Red's book! Fire Punch in one hand! Ice Punch in the other!"

"What are you...?!" Peter never expected things to go so badly for him "Avoid it!"

Hitmonchan ran at Haunter and although the Ghost Pokemon tried to escape his reach, the double-typed attack managed to reach its target.

"We'll name it Fire Blizzard!"

Since they were close to one of the walls, after Haunter fainted from being hit by the powerful combination, Hitmonchan's fists went on to pierce the old bricks, causing a huge hole to form. Seeing that, Peter quickly moved towards the monuments and after calling Haunter back to its ball, he reached to his belt for another one.

"Can't you see it's over?!" Scott shouted to him.

"It isn't over until one of us is dead in the ground!" Peter sounded more and more unstable "Even if it's not today."

After saying that, he threw the pokeball in such a way that when Dodrio appeared out of it, he was already sitting on it. He grabbed the ball sitting on the monument and signaled his Pokemon to start running towards the hole in the wall.

"No! Cubone!" Mr. Fuji who remained silent for the duration of the battle, cried out in fear for his Pokemon's life.

Red didn't want to allow Peter to escape with the old man's partner. As soon as Dodrio jumped outside the building, the admin noticed the additional weight which caused them to start falling down.

"Let go!" he shouted while trying to kick the boy off his Pokemon's back.

"Give it back!"

"You want this?! Then catch it!" he said before letting go off the pokeball.

Red let go of the bird which allowed it to use its feet to jump off the side of the building, after which it quickly made its way from roof to roof. Although it all happened extremely fast, Red was able to catch the ball. But there was barely any time before he would splatter on the ground.

"Metal Claw!" he yelled the moment he let Charmeleon out.

The lizard couldn't understand what was going but his instincts kicked in and allowed him to turn his claws to steel, which in turn made it possible to pierce the wall of the building. The boy grabbed onto his Pokemon's free arm, but the additional weight made it harder to stop tearing through the old bricks. Red thought about how they were only delaying the inevitable, but there was something which suddenly took him out of that line of thinking.

When he attached Cubone's pokeball to his belt, he accidentally caused another one to get detached from it. While trying to grab it, he unintentionally clicked on the button which released Magikarp. Facing the ground, the fish saw that their end was near but it's resolve to prove its usefulness remained even in such a dire situation. It used Bounce so it could reach the bottom of the tower quicker than the other two. The teenager wasn't able to think of single thing that the fish could do to save them.

Charmeleon's claw hit one of the bricks in such a way that part of it flew towards it. Wanting to avoid it, the Pokemon panicked and let go of the wall. Knowing that they were only a couple meters away from the ground, he closed his eyes. Red was about to do the same when he heard a loud roar from somewhere below. They landed. It wasn't a soft landing and they would probably both have a couple bruises, but they certainly didn't hit the ground. The thing they were on was somehow cold and warm at the same time, while also being kind of moist. They laid there for about half a minute before they were in a state of mind where they could start trying to comprehend what just happened. A giant blue face appeared above them, but even though it looked somehow menacing, the boy got a weird feeling of familiarity from it.

"Magikarp?" he asked.

The Pokemon smiled before turning its head to the sky to make another astounding roar. Scott, Hitmonchan and Raichu looked at that scene, from above, with shocked faces, while Mr. Fuji sat on the floor, crying from happiness that his partner was saved.

. . .

The next day, Red met up with Detective Yard in front of the Lavender Town Hospital. The two of them went to visit Mr. Fuji who, while recovering, allowed only the two of them to be able to visit him.

"How could I thank you, my boy?" the old man asked Red after exchanging greetings.

"This may not sound nice but... I want to learn why Team Rocket wanted to kidnap you."

The senior looked at Scott with a worried expression.

"You didn't tell anything when we questioned you yesterday. Today you're off the record. I won't tell anyone, but I would prefer to know what I risked my life for." the man said while showing his bandaged hand.

"Very well." Mr. Fuji sighed "A bunch of years ago, I worked on a certain project, not knowing that it was being sponsored by Team Rocket, by money they undoubtedly got from the crimes they committed."

"What was that project?" inquired the detective.

"The official name for it was "M2" but my friend preferred to call it..."

"Mewtwo." Red finished the sentence for him.

"How did you..."

"You have to put him under protection!" the boy turned towards Yard.

"Wait. What is going on?"

"I don't know the extent of your involvement in this project..." he looked back at Mr. Fuji "...but if they believe you may be of use to them, I need you to remain safe. Not only for your own good, but also for my friend."

. . .

Somewhere in Team Rocket's main base, Doctor Humane arrived in front of a pair of big electronic doors. He touched the intercom.

"I'm here to see the boss."

"Your visit isn't on the schedule. You..." a woman's voiced answered him, before being interrupted by a male one.

"Let him in."

The room was spacious but there was barely anything in it aside from two desks and a lit up water tank with a couple Goldeens, which was the only source of light in the otherwise completely dark chamber. The doctor glanced at the woman, a bespectacled, beautiful brunette in her 30's, sitting at the desk placed against one of the side walls, while walking towards the boss' desk.

"Did you forget something?" Giovanni asked the scientist without even turning his chair enough to be able to see him.

"Excuse me. I'm still recovering from my injuries so I can't think completely clearly." the man responded, while grabbing his hair and beard, each with one hand.

"I can forgive it this time, since you're the closest thing I have to a friend but I really don't understand why you insist on keeping up this masquerade."

While throwing the wig and the fake beard on the floor, the scientist understood that the boss was able to tell his appearance thanks to seeing him earlier, through the camera in the intercom. The female looked at the floor, wondering if the boss would order her to clean it up after the conversation's end.

"You're right. We're so close to our goal that there's no longer a reason to keep my identity a secret. I wonder how the admins will react after realizing who they've been talking to this entire time." the scientist said while putting on a pair of round, sunglasses.

"Now tell me..." Giovanni began to speak while finally turning his chair around "...to what do I owe this visit, Blaine?"


Have no fear, dear citizen. I... I don't know where I was going with that... Aaanyway, this chapter was originally supposed to be a two-parter but since I changed a lot about it, it became kind of uneven. I want every chapter to have at least a little action but if I were to split this one down the middle, the first one would probably end with Red and Scott arriving at the tower.

In the original plans this was Peter's debut and he used only Haunter. Speaking about Peter, there's a couple quirks I put into his personality, which I tried to make more clear in this chapter than in his previous appearances, mostly so it would be easier to tell him apart from Alex. I don't know if it came across but basically he's the most cruel of the trio of admins. He's quicker to anger but would preffer it if everything went the easy way. He likes people to know that he thinks he's smarter than them. Definitely the most unlikable of the tree. Also, did anyone remember he wore a cape?

Scott was added when writing the chapter. His name is a play on Scotland Yard. He probably won't appear in the story after this. Maybe some cameo. I gave his Hitmonchan the coolest moveset he could have, which means I'll have to think of another one since Bruno probably also will be using one. I tried to make it so he would be this typical bright but lazy guy. It may not seem so but if you were to reread this chapter, you would come to a conclusion that he's actually much smarter than Red. The improvised attack he did got its name from Inazuma Eleven. EDIT: At one point Hitmonchan does a spinning uppercut with Fire Punch which was a nod to Shoryuken from Street Fighter.

Magikarp evolved. That also wasn't planned. I can't really reveal when it was originally supposed to happen without spoiling the next couple chapters. But looking at the time they spent together, which is around 2 months, it makes sense that it would be ready to evolve.

It probably isn't a surprise to anyone who read Pokemon Special that Blaine is in Team Rocket, but I purposefully didn't describe how Professor Humane looked so I hope there is at least one person who didn't see that coming. His fake name is basically a stupid, layered pun. Humane - Human - Hito(which is basically japanese for human/person and so on) - Heat(when spoken by a japanese it sound like hito) - Blaine is a fire trainer.

There's another thing in this chapter that you'll probably won't take note of, and it basically won't be important for like a 100 chapters or more. But if you think you know what that is then shush, don't tell anyone.

Next chapter will be technically a filler so I hope it doesn't end up being this long.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Oddish, Gyarados.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.