Chapter 25

After giving the guards the drinks, they let us pass through the gates that block the Saffron City, and then we quickly rush to the Lavender Town as we are going inside the Pokemon Tower.

"So we are going inside to find Mr. Fuji?" Misty asks.

"Of course, we should. He might be still trapped inside and we need to save him." I say.

Just then, Cubone pops out of the Pokeball and she keeps tugging Serena's leg, Serena asks, "You want to go inside as well?" The Cubone nods and then they see a girl approaching them. "Excuse me."

We turn around and recognize the girl as Mr. Fuji's granddaughter. "Can we help you?"

"Is that Cubone the one from the Pokemon Tower?" The girl asks, and Cubone just nods. I say, "We saved her from Team Rocket. Just to make sure, are you Mr. Fuji's granddaughter?"

The girl nods and says, "This Cubone was a part of our Pokemon House, her mother is buried there in the Pokemon Tower."

"What happened?" We all gasp in shock, the girl says, "Team Rocket keeps on going after Marowak so it can sell those skulls they wear for profit...I think Cubone is still looking for its mother, even though she's gone..."

"Is that true?" Serena asks the Cubone with a sad look, and she nods with tears in her eyes. Misty says, "They're so cruel...to think they would harm a Pokemon just to make money..."

The girl says, "It seems like you caught this Cubone?"

"Yes, she wants to come with us after we saved her." Ash says, "And we may think that your grandfather must be inside the tower somewhere. We will help you find him."

The girl nods and she says, "Thank you, and be careful."

As we all enter the Pokemon Tower, we head to the second floor and see someone who we don't like to see. "Hey, Ashy Boy, and his friends as well! What brings you here? Is your Pokémon dead?"

We groan as we can't believe he's here. I say, "Where's your cheerleaders? Sacred to come inside the Pokemon Tower as well?"

Gary decides to ignore my comment and says, "Hey, looks like your Pokemon are alive! I can at least make them faint! Let's go!"

Is he seriously wanting to battle us right here in the Pokemon Tower? Misty has a tick mark and says, "You're here just to battle us? We're here because we have other business to do!"

"And what will it be more important than our battle?" Gary asks.

"Let's see, finding the ghost of Cubone's mother and also the missing Mr. Fuji?" Serena says. "Importantly, we have no time to have a battle with you."

This causes Gary to freeze a little, then his face turns serious and he says, "If that's the case, then let me help you out as well."

"Huh?" This causes confusion to us as Gary says, "You know, maybe the more the merrier."

"Sure, it will be better if you help us." I say and we all head upstairs. When we continue to climb, we see some ghosts floating around near the cemeteries, the girls are trembling in fear and Gary says, "Yikes, no wonder they don't want us to go upstairs, this place sure is haunted."

"It's not helping, Gary." I say while opening the bag and taking out the Silph Scope. "Good thing Gina left this with me. She did use it to make those ghosts into the Ghost Type Pokemon."

Then I use it to make them reveal themselves, and the others can take a breath and continue forward. There are several ghosts who are trying to attack us, but with the help of our Gengar, we manage to defeat them and continue forward. I notice that Gary has an Exeggcute and a Growlithe, not to mention his Abra also evolves into Kadabra.

"Seems like you are getting stronger, huh?" Gary says to me, and I was just using Gengar to defeat the Haunter and Gastly.

"Yeah." Ash says, "You are not bad as well."

Not only the Ghost Pokemon, but there are also some Channeler who also challenges us into battles, but after they are defeated, they don't know what they just did.

"This place sure is creeping me out..." Gary mutters as Brock says, "I agree with you, I really don't like how those Channelers are acting..."

Once we arrive at the sixth floor, we see a giant ghost in front of us. And we could hear the ghost yelling, "Begone! Intruders!"

"What? This looks even bigger than the rest..." Misty says with a shiver. Gary says, "Ashy Boy, use the Scope now."

"No need to tell me." I use the scope and find that it is actually a dead Marowak. Just then, the Cubone in Serena's arms rush towards the ghost, Marowak is surprised to see her child, and as the two of them rush towards each other, Marowak starts to glow and before Cubone can even touch it, it disappears into particles.

"So the true form of the ghost was...the restless spirit of Cubone's mother..." I mutter. "And now it is calmed, so it returns to its kind and gentle nature. It departed to the afterlife...and disappeared..."

Serena hugs the Pokemon, who is crying after her mother truly left her, she says, "I am sorry, Cubone..."

Gary says, "Are we going to stay here? Or should we continue to find Mr. Fuji?"

"You're right, Gary, there is only one floor left..." We then head upstairs, only to find Jessie, James, and Meowth tying up Mr. Fuji.

"So you're the old geezer they call Mr. Fuji, right? You're going to be repeating your Pokémon research for the glory of Team Rocket!" Jessie says.

Mr. Fuji just turns away, not trying to talk to the Rocket members.

"Ignore us all you like-we're used to it! We won't take no for an answer. You'll help the boss, whether you want to or not!" James says.

"You three!" I yell, and the trio finally notices us. Meowth says, "It's the twerps!"

Gary asks, "Did that Meowth just talk?"

"Yeah, but we can worry about that later. So you are the ones that hold Mr. Fuji captive. You won't be getting away this time." Yellow says.

"Gramps here thinks he can resist, so we're setting him straight!" Jessie says.

"You'd better disappear, twerp, or be prepared to fight!" James says as they send out their usual Weezing and Arbok. This time Cubone wants to battle and Gary says, "Let me deal with these guys." Then he takes out Kadabra to battle the Weezing.

Eventually the Cubone, with the anger she had for her mother being killed by the Rockets, evolve into a Marowak and then uses the Bone Club to defeat Arbok, and Gary defeats the Weezing easily.

Marowak: The Bone Keeper Pokemon: Ground Type. Evolved from Cubone at LV:28. The bone it holds is its key weapon. It throws the bone skillfully like a boomerang to KO targets.

"Ugh! Seriously? Again?" Jessie yells in anger.

"Looks like Operation Stealthily Kidnap Fuji is a bust, then..." James says.

"Don't you think we know that? It'll be fine—we just have to help out with the take-over of Silph Co. in Saffron City." Meowth says.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Then they run away once again. Brock also uses the chance to untie Mr. Fuji.

"Heh? Did you come to save me? Thank you. But, I came here of my own free will. I came to calm the spirit of Cubone's mother, but I was reckless that I was captured by those grunts."

"It is fine, and I think Marowak's spirit has finally left us." I say. "You're granddaughter is really worried about you."

"Reina..." He gasps. "Is she fine?"

"Of course." I say back.

"I must thank you for your kind concern. Follow me to my home, Pokémon House, at the foot of this tower." Then we follow the old man to the Pokemon House, and his granddaughter is happy to see him back.

"So... Your Pokédex quest is one that requires strong dedication. Without deep love for Pokémon, your quest may fail. I'm not sure if this will help you, but I'd like you to have it."

They give them each a Poke Flute, Gary asks, "What can this thing do?"

"Upon hearing the Poké Flute, sleeping Pokémon will spring awake. Try using it on Pokémon that are sleeping obstacles." The man says. And at the same time, my sister Gina arrives and she says, "Hello to you all again."

"Gina? What are you doing here?" Serena asks, and Gina says, "Are you Dr. Fuji? I'm the eldest daughter of Aurora Ketchum, the director of the International Police, and she wishes to speak to you about your activities with Team Rocket."

We are surprised, and Insey asks, "Big sister? What do you mean by that?"

Before she can say something, Mr. Fuji sighs, "Very well. I'll come with you, but can you let me prepare my things first?"

Gina nods as he is accompanied by his granddaughter into the other room. I ask, "So what do you mean by activities with Team Rocket?"

"Dr. Fuji was involved in a project to clone Mew." Gina says.

"Clone Mew?" Insey gasps. "No wonder Team Rocket has that disk containing Mew, though it was stolen by Leaf."

"But what does Dr. Fuji want to clone?" Serena asks.

"Other than Reina, Dr. Fuji has another granddaughter named Amber. After her death, Dr. Fuji wanted to revive her by cloning her. And in the process, he was funded by Giovanni to clone Mew at the same time. However, she didn't make it in the end, and the cloned Mew named Mewtwo escaped and destroyed everything. Dr. Fuji barely escaped from the explosion and he stayed here to stay low."

"I see... to think there is such a cruel history with the old man." We frown a little. Gary says, "Well, I think there is not something else that I need to do here, so I'll just leave. Smell ya later."

After he leaves, I groan, "He's still a little annoying..."

"I agree." Insey says.

Then Dr. Fuji comes and leaves with Gina. I turn to Reina and ask, "So do you have any clue about the Mewtwo?"

Reina frowns and says, "Ever since that explosion, we haven't heard about Mewtwo... my grandfather wasn't the same as before. Guilt was eating him alive and he also wanted to stay low. That's why we move from Cinnabar Island to this Lavender Town. This place is spooky with the mist going on, that's why it is perfect for us to hide from the others."

"I see." Then we decide to bid farewell to Reina and head to Route 12 for our journey.

Here is a new chapter, and this wraps up Lavender Town's Pokemon Tower quest. As for Mewtwo, Ash and his group will eventually meet it and something terrible will be happening then. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be the road to Fuchsia City.

Ash + Serena's Pokemon:

Ivysaur, Charmeleon x2, Wartortle, Butterfree x2 (One Shiny), Beedrill, Pidgeotto, Raticate, Fearow, Arbok, Pikachu, Sandslash, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Clefable, Ninetales, Wigglytuff, Golbat, Vileplume, Parasect, Diglett, Meowth, Primeape, Arcanine, Alakazam, Machop, Victreebel, Golem, Farfetch'd, Gengar, Onix (Crystal), Hypno, Voltorb, Marowak, Mr. Mime, Gyarados (S), Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Porygon

Insey's Pokemon:

Ivysaur, Butterfree, Beedrill, Pidgeotto, Fearow, Golbat, Vileplume, Parasect, Victreebel

Misty's Pokemon:

Horsea, Goldeen, Staryu, Starmie

Yellow's Pokemon:

Caterpie (Egg), Raticate, Pikachu, Geodude

Brock's Pokemon:

Zubat, Geodude, Onix