The Sad Shade of Purple

Norman got off of the Saffron train station, wincing at how the timing was a bit off. Well, better late than never, and he was certainly around the estimated time behind May’s train, though he took maybe a little longer than he thought he would as apparently his train ended up in Saffron, while hers had stopped at Vermillion.

His first thought, as he watched the video of Ash Ketchum one last time on the train, was that she was obviously a pokémon trainer. From the way she handled her pokémon, he just had that gut feeling. She wasn’t a Coordinator, despite how well she did in that contest and how actual Coordinators seem to really like her. And she wasn’t just someone who owned pokémon either.

And then he found an “uncut” version of the contest, where in fact some odd-looking, short woman had been in a Gyarados submarine and had attacked the contest, and Ash’s Espeon had expertly dealt with the matter. That just confirmed to him that she was a trainer, and that she battled, her pokémon knew how to battle, and both had experience in it.

That meant, as a pokémon trainer, if she’d been in Saffron, then she would have definitely gone to the gym for a match to win a badge off of the gym leader there.

Wasting no time, as soon as he left the train station, he headed straight for where the gym would be. He got directions and initially set off on foot to there, until a cab came by and he’d hailed it. He rode the rest of the way, saving time, and was quickly in front of the Saffron Gym. He entered it and found the décor to be a little creepy, but brushed it off and continued on.

He ran into some guy, who demanded to know who he was and why he was there, and before Norman could answer, the man started to rant about psychics and psychic power.

Ah. So this was a psychic-type gym then.

He sweatdropped as he listened to the man, wanting to cut in and just ask his questions, but the guy kept on. Fortunately, someone else cut in for him.

“Artie, why don’t you help some of the others on their training? I’ll take over from here,” another man, this time with dark hair and beard, came around the corner and came over to them, smiling exasperatedly.

“Yes, sir! Of course!” Artie bowed low and then excitedly ran off.

“Excuse him, please,” the newcomer directed to Norman. “He’s a little…eccentric. Anyway, how may I help you?”

Norman cleared his throat awkwardly. “Um, is the gym leader here? I wanted to ask them something important.”

The man smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, sir, but Sabrina’s currently busy. She’s in the middle of a match right now.”

Norman was disappointed, but he decided to at least try asking this man as well, before giving up and waiting another time. “I was wondering if you knew a trainer named Ash Ketchum came by? She’s got a Pi –”

“A Pikachu,” the man finished. “No, I didn’t read your mind. She did, actually, pass through here, and she’s known quite well here by everyone, including myself and my daughter –the gym leader Sabrina. She just left Saffron an hour ago, however.”

Norman sighed. Damn it all, he’d just missed her.

“There’s a bus coming through here in half an hour, that’s heading to Lavender Town, where she’s heading. You can catch it if you stick around,” the man offered. “I’m Robert by the way.”

“Norman,” he offered up his own name. “And thank you. I appreciate the offer.”

“Come on back then. We can have some tea while we wait. You can tell me why you need to see her, and I can tell you about her time here and how she actually helped out my daughter and I.”

“It’s a bit embarrassing,” Norman muttered as he followed behind him.

Ash wasn’t sure how to react upon realizing the new position she woke up in. The fact that Giovanni’s arms were tightly wrapped around her and that she was apparently lying back against him, or the fact that he was close enough to her that she could feel his breath against her ear every time he breathed. Heck, she could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back! That’s how close they were!

Was it too much to say that she felt like hyperventilating?

“Pst, Ash!” she looked to see Misty, who was in a seat in the front of the middle section, turning in her seat to smirk at her. “Comfy?”

Ash swallowed nervously and stared at her with wide eyes. Pikachu, still on her lap, opened an eye and huffed at her, inwardly shaking his head at his owner.

Realizing that this floor was mostly empty, aside from Misty and the Harem Club, she realized the others must be on the other floors, most likely sleeping. Turning her head slightly, she looked to see that Giovanni was also fast asleep. By his grip, she doubted he was going to let go of her any time soon, sleeping or not sleeping.

So Ash mentally shrugged and went back to leaning comfortably against Giovanni (who was very comfortable indeed, though she wondered if he was comfortable). She didn’t notice when she grabbed onto one of his hands that rested comfortably around her hip, and then after awhile her thumb began to idly move back and forth, caressing it.

Of course, her mind had been wandering and she was starting to count the many Pikachu jumping over a fence in her head, but regardless –what was happening outside her head was happening. And when Giovanni slowly began to wake up, he immediately noticed the action. He didn’t move for fear she’d stop. For awhile, he stayed as he was, feeling her hand on his and letting her rest against him.

The moment ended when Oak trotted down the stairs and announced that they were very close to Lavender Town, to which they were going to make a stop and stay a bit and explore.

“How long exactly until we reach Lavender Town?” Giovanni spoke up, scaring the hell out of Ash, who twitched and refrained from jumping away from him.

“About an hour, I think,” Oak estimated. He glanced at them, hiding his smirk. “Good sleep, you two?”

Giovanni glowered at the professor, while Ash’s face turned a bright red. Pikachu was quick to snicker quietly, while Persian began waking up from his spot on the floor, yawning and peeking up at his master and the girl he was curled around.

Ash tried to, as smoothly and naturally as she could, move away from Giovanni, who masked his disappointment.

“Um, is there a lot of pokémon there?” she asked them.

Everyone glanced at each other uneasily, causing her to frown and become curious.

“Well…” Brock joined in on the conversation, stepping down from the stairs with Lt. Surge. “Lavender Town is known for having a lot of ghost-types.”

Ash stared at him blankly, before laughing nervously. “It’s just pokémon, ghost-types or not. Eheheh…”

Not that any of them bought that. They didn’t blame her though –after Ghastly and the Maiden’s ghost, and then with Sabrina sort of…Ash was having a run of really bad luck.

In the meantime, while they continued to travel, Ash thought she could busy herself with a movie. Except she chose to watch The Grudge and wouldn’t stop cowering and hiding in the back of the bus, peeking every once in awhile. Pikachu was copying her, unable to watch the movie at all. Or unwilling to.

“Ash! Why would you choose a freakin’ horror movie to watch, especially when you’re going to act like this?” Misty face palmed.

“I thought I could prepare myself for when we get to Lavender Town!”

“Clearly it’s not working!”

“I know! But I can’t help myself! I can’t look away or stop it myself!”

As one, the group sighed and moved in unison. Oak went to be beside Ash, covering her eyes with his hands, one of the Harem guys shut off the movie, and Lt. Surge flipped on the installed iHome machine, playing whatever was on last. Apparently, that was Boyz II Men’s I’ll Make Love to You. He shrugged and let it go, and went to go sit next to Ash.

Consequently, as soon as the chorus hit, he regretted it immediately.

“I’ll make love to you,

Like you want me to –”

“Lucien, you idiot,” Giovanni groaned and lightly smacked his forehead, holding it after.

Lt. Surge imagined himself jumping off a cliff.

It was worse when Ash started to sing along, and if they closed their eyes, they could imagine she was singing to them.

“Noooo!” Brock snapped and ran out of the first floor, hightailing it up the stairs.

Ash watched him go bewilderedly, before shrugging and going back to singing, this time joined by the Harem Club…who sang to her. Pikachu also joined in, even if no one could really understand his words. She giggled at their silliness, while Lt. Surge and Giovanni were steadfastly trying their best to sit there and endure. Oak simply shook his head at them all.

Misty? She was inwardly cackling in her head.

“And I’ll hold you tight

Baby, all through the night!”

By the time they finally reached Lavender Town, the whole group was ready to rush out of the bus, stretch and get some fresh air. Giovanni more so, after receiving a call and getting the news about some idiot Rocket grunt having lost a Silph Co. device in Lavender Town, somewhere in the Pokémon Tower.

Idiots, the whole lot of them. Did Giovanni have to do everything himself?

“First things first, the Pokémon Center,” Oak announced and everyone agreed.

They quickly traveled to there, leaving the Harem Club to watch over and stay with the bus. After all of their pokémon had been taken, they chose to wait around a bit, until they overheard two people talking about the ghosts in the town, and the increase in them.

“Excuse me, are you talking about the ghost pokémon?” Ash asked tentatively. Pikachu straightened up on top of her head, staring intensely at the two.

The man and woman talking looked over to her curiously.

“Well, there’s been an increase in them too,” the woman explained. “But we’re talking about actual ghosts showing up. Spirits of both pokémon and humans have been haunting the town recently.”

“Yeah. There’s like an infestation of them around here now,” the man added on.

“Oh, where did she go?” the woman then said, and Ash’s group looked around and saw that Ash and Pikachu had actually somehow disappeared from within their midst.

“Looks like someone decided to play hide and seek,” Oak deadpanned, as the duo moved away to collect their pokémon from Nurse Joy.

“I’ll go drag her back,” Giovanni sighed. “Besides, maybe I can convince her to come with me to the Pokémon Tower. I’ve got business there.”

“Business in the Pokémon Tower?” Lt. Surge looked at him in confusion, considering the place was the resting ground for deceased pokémon.

Giovanni grimaced. “One of my employees dropped an important company device in the Tower, while on a visit. Since I’m here, I’m going to personally retrieve it.”

Oak huffed. “I feel your pain about unreliable workers. Stupid, lazy aides of mine…” he muttered at the end. “Nevertheless, that’s a good idea. Why don’t we all take Ash out to some place around the town, to help her get rid of, or at least, temper, that ghost fear of hers? I can take her out to an old friend of mine, Mr. Fuji.”

“I’ll take her around town to tour around the place,” Brock volunteered.

“And I’ll come with you two,” Misty said sweetly, giving Brock a dark look.

Brock pouted. Why did she always pick on only him?

“There’s another haunted place around here that I can try to walk her through, a second Pokémon Tower where I heard a Ghastly, Haunter, and Gengar hang around and bother the people who come into it,” Lt. Surge added. “I think people around here call it the Poké Tower or Poké Haunt to differentiate from the Pokémon Tower.”

“Good, that settles it,” Oak said finally. “Giovanni, just bring her back here and once all our pokémon are all rested up, we’ll bring her around town.”

Giovanni nodded at him and then went straight to the bus, to which the Harem guys immediately pointed up the stairs. Without further ado, Giovanni strode up the stairs and paused at the top, not entering just yet. He took out Persian’s pokéball and let the feline out. With a jerk of his head, he gestured into the second floor and Persian understood without any other direction.

He followed behind at a sedate pace, watching as Persian located the girl hiding in the last bunk in the back, holding her legs to her chest and with Pikachu lying curled on top of her head. Persian walked closer, and Ash was quick to see Persian, who then leapt up and nuzzled his head against her legs.

“Pika?” Pikachu asked him.

“Per Persian,” Persian answered.

Persian continued to rub up against Ash, who reached out and rubbed his head contentedly.

“It is a rather comforting pastime, just sitting and petting Persian’s head,” Giovanni spoke up, and Ash looked up in surprise. “I’m surprised though. He’s a little high-handed and usually doesn’t play so well with others, or get along easily. He’s also pretty much stuck up and think others below him…like me,” he admitted, though Ash giggled at him. “He also doesn’t let anyone other than me pet him. But he seems to really, really like you.”

“Perrrsian,” Persian agreed, purring a bit.

Ash smiled a little, happily petting Persian a little bit more. “Well, I really like Persian too.”

Giovanni sat himself gently down next to her. “You know, there’s a resting place here for pokémon. People come from all over to pay their respects. Wouldn’t you want to? I know how pokémon are really important to you.”

Ash shifted uncomfortably. “…Yeah.”

“Why don’t you come with me to there? I need to locate an important device an employee accidently dropped there. You can…you can even help me look for it,” Giovanni tentatively decided to recruit her for the job. Besides, she was much more competent than many of his employees. “What do you say? You want to help me out?”

Ash became a little more confident. “Of course I’d help you, Giovanni! Besides, you’re always helping me. I want to repay the favor.”

“Good, good. I’ll even pay you with a pokémon and I’ll buy you a ton of pokéballs, because I remember you saying in our first meeting –‘pokéballs are hella expensive!’”

She pouted at him. “I’ll have you know that my exact words were ‘And do you know how expensive pokéballs are?’ I was much more polite!”

Giovanni rolled his eyes.

“Although…you don’t have to pay me, you know. I’d help you out just because. Plus, you’re a friend,” she said shyly.

He couldn’t help smiling gently at her. “I know you would. It’s just like you. But just think of this as a job assignment. It’s only right I’d pay you for your services, and since I know you don’t like taking my money, I came up with an alternative.”

“I don’t even know if this way is worse though,” she pouted even more.

“Deal with it,” he said dryly.

“Pika!”

“Persian!”

Both pokémon echoed him. Ash huffed and continued pouting.

“You’re all against me!”

At the moment, she’d just finished going around town with Brock and Misty, and she didn’t feel as adverse to the town as she had before. It was kind of peaceful and quiet around there, if solemn. And so far, they hadn’t run into any ghosts of any type, spirits of people and pokémon or even ghost-type pokémon.

“‘Lo, Ash,” Oak greeted her with a smile. “Ready to meet my friend?”

She smiled brightly back at him. “Sure am, Sam! Let’s go.”

“Pika Pi!” Pikachu echoed her.

Together, they went back out with Oak leading the way. They reached out and grabbed hands, swinging them slightly as they walked.

“So, tell me about your pokémon journey so far,” Oak brought up, deciding that since he had time now with her, and he probably wouldn’t be able to get a hold of and have time to ask Viridian Joy about it (like he’d initially planned). “And don’t leave anything out! I promise I won’t tell your mother,” he added as incentive, poking her side. She squirmed away.

Though she scrunched up her nose, she began to tell him everything that had happened from the moment she left Pallet Town, to meeting back up with Oak at the Pokémon Technical Institute. Oak nodded along, smiling at her…but inwardly, he frowned at a bunch of spots. It was a good thing Delia wouldn’t hear about this –she’d fret and demand Ash come back home immediately.

Sleeping over some man’s house (someone she just met too), the debacle with the St. Anne, falling into an “electric pool of water”, and then all the recent stuff that had happened while Oak had joined them…And he was still bothered by Giovanni’s interest in her. It wasn’t like him at all, and it was just too unusual and out of character of the man, hence everyone else’s bewildered reaction to it and Giovanni. But then, considering the more Oak observed and the more obvious Giovanni became, he was getting a feeling of why Giovanni was acting so oddly…

He wasn’t sure if he was happy or at ease with the revelation.

“Ah, here we are,” Oak saw the modest, slightly large home. “His home also doubles as a place for abandoned pokémon, who are taken cared of by townspeople who volunteer to help out.”

While Ash didn’t like that people abandoned pokémon, she was happy that they had somewhere to go and that there were people who cared enough to care for them.

Inside of the house, they were met immediately by people. When Oak told them who he was (minus his actual name and saying he was just a friend) and that they were there to meet Mr. Fuji, one of the volunteers led them to a nice, old man that greeted them jovially. After awhile of chatting and Ash getting to know Oak’s friend, Mr. Fuji suggested that she could go around and see all the different pokémon that were currently being cared for there.

She eagerly accepted and left the two to catch up, also glad that Mr. Fuji didn’t make a big fuss over Oak’s new looks and age, once the professor whispered to him what had happened. While she walked and even helped out the volunteers (Pikachu was making a lot of friends and being cooed over by a lot of people –she had to stifle her laugh as she saw him begin to play up the cuteness factor on purpose), she spotted a lone Cubone in the back.

“I see you found our little Cubone,” Mr. Fuji said, coming up from behind her with Oak. “He’s quite a bit of a loner, the poor thing. Aside from me, he tends to stay by himself and avoid the other volunteers and pokémon.”

Ash frowned and watched the small pokémon stand by himself, reminding her a little of when she met Pikachu.

“Why is Cubone alone and doesn’t want to be around others?” she asked, feeling bad for him and wanting to reach out.

Mr. Fuji smiled sadly at her. “It’s a bit of a story…You see, about a year ago, Team Rocket came and took over the Pokémon Tower. Most of their business there was taking the skulls from the Cubone around the area, and then selling them. However, when they tried to come after this little one, his mother protected him. She died and left him an orphan, and he hasn’t really allowed others to come close to him, physically or emotionally.”

Ash watched the Cubone sadly. She then decided she’d go over and make friends with him, hoping she could help him not be so lonely. Walking over, she approached him, seeing him notice her and watch her coming warily. She smiled gently at it.

“Hi,” she said softly. “My name’s Ash. This is my partner Pikachu.”

“Pika Pikachu! Pika!” Pikachu enthusiastically greeted the other, popping up over Ash’s shoulder.

“Do you want to come play with us?” Ash asked him kindly.

Cubone, though, turned his back on them. Still, Ash wasn’t discouraged.

“Okay then. We’ll play here, and if you want to join in, you can join in at any time,” Ash offered.

Cubone stayed with his back facing them, so she and Pikachu started to play a random game together. Eventually, as Cubone watched them and they had fun, he started to inch closer until he was right with them, and soon enough was playing along as well.

Ash smiled happily.

Giovanni could tell Ash was nervous, as was Pikachu, as the four of them entered the quiet and solemn Pokémon Tower. His Persian was out with them, allowing Pikachu to ride on top of him and cling to his fur.

Neither mistress nor mouse pokémon looked all that comfortable or happy to be there.

“I don’t mean to be a coward or to whine, but…I’m really scared right now, Giovanni,” she admitted quietly to him.

He took her hand and squeezed. “I know. We’re going to be really quick. We’ll find the device and get out as fast as possible. It’ll be in and out.”

She refused to let go of his hand, so he let her cling to him like Pikachu continued to cling to Persian.

“We’re only on the first floor,” Giovanni murmured to her, eying the lack of people around. It was cold too –too cold. “There are about seven floors, the last of which my employee told me he’d dropped the device at. We’ll keep going until the last floor, that way we’re not making unnecessary stops and can get out of here quickly.”

Ash nodded anxiously, and Giovanni glanced at her before determinedly leading the way. The sooner this business was done, the sooner they could get out of there. He was having a bad feeling about this as well.

If the first floor was practically empty, the second floor was devoid of any life at all. It was eerily quiet and still, and the cold got worse. Ash shivered and Giovanni took off his jacket, placing it around her. She slipped her arms through the sleeves and smiled at him gratefully.

“Thanks, Giovanni. Is it normally this cold around here?” she frowned as she looked around dubiously.

“No, it isn’t,” Giovanni’s eyes darted around warily.

She looked at him uneasily. “Is…is something wrong then?”

“I don’t know,” he told her quietly, still looking around. “Maybe. Stick close to me just in case.”

She went even closer than before to him (he tried not to get all restless and bothered about that, considering the seriousness of the situation they were in), and Ash was trying her best not to fret so much or show him how much she was worrying. Not that it was working so much, but she was glad he didn’t say anything about it, and he just didn’t want to embarrass her or worse, alarm her even more than she was.

“Pika…” Pikachu was lying flat on top of Persian’s back, practically plastering himself against the feline as he shivered from the cold. Though, despite his fear, he was ready to attack and defend his mistress no matter what.

Ash took a deep breath. “Alright. Time for the third floor.”

They went up the stairway together, and cautiously went onto the third floor. At first, it was silent and seemed as empty as the first two floors. And then there was a loud screech, and from out of nowhere some lady in an off-white robe and rolled up eyes came running towards them.

“Beware! It’s the end!”

Giovanni pushed Ash behind him as he got ready to intercept the woman, grabbing hold of the woman as soon as she was in front of him, and then bodily tossing her onto the ground. He grunted at the exertion, but straightened up and reached for a pokéball, only to be surprised to hear Ash.

“Eevee, Quick Attack! Make sure she’s knocked out!”

A brown blur brushed passed him and took the lady down for sure. Giovanni then turned to Ash, seeing Persian protectively standing in front of her and Pikachu standing on top of the feline and sparking with electricity.

“I didn’t know you had an Eevee,” he said faintly, still trying to recover from whatever the hell had just happened.

She fidgeted. “Bill gave her to me the night before we left his lighthouse…I haven’t had time to get her ready for battle or used to people, and I was saving her as a surprise…But then Eevee are immune to ghost-types, so I thought this would probably be a good experience for her.”

“Well then, make sure to keep Eevee out, just in case this wasn’t an isolated attack,” Giovanni doubted it would be. “Although, perhaps I should have you get back…”

“No!” Ash shook her head vehemently. “I promised you I’d help you, and I never back away from my word. I swear I’ll make sure you get that device back!”

“If you’re certain,” he wasn’t so sure, but he appreciated her sticking by him and her word. “In any case, I believe she’s supposed to be a Medium. Not that I believe any of that nonsense.”

“Must I remind you of Maiden’s Peak?” Ash grumbled, looking cautiously at the unconscious woman.

“This is completely different. An actual ghost was involved then. People like her are just hoaxes and con artists,” he dismissed it.

Ash wasn’t so certain, but Giovanni seemed the skeptical type. He’d have to see and experience before believing it, she bet.

“Next floor then,” he muttered.

On the next floor, they were attacked by several more “possessed” Mediums, further frightening Ash and aggravating Giovanni. Some of them even had some presence of mind left to attack them in a pokémon battle that Eevee was quick to finish off.

“Hey, look! Someone actually left an Elixir, Awakening, and an HP Up on the ground here,” Ash noted, breathing a bit more harshly.

“Keep it,” Giovanni told her. “They obviously don’t need it anymore. Finder’s keeper’s.”

He had a feeling it either belonged to either people who had fled the haunted tower after a failed visit, and accidentally left those things behind, or they’d been dropped by some of his grunts when they’d taken over the tower before and had then left in a rush, consequently leaving things behind.

He looked to Ash and frowned, noticing her pale pallor and her clammy appearance. Touching his hand to her forehead revealed that she was just as clammy as she looked, and icy cold.

“This isn’t good, Ash. You look sickly. Something in the tower is making you ill,” he tensed up.

She frowned. “I…I don’t,” she took a deep breath to regain it, feeling herself having trouble breathing. “I don’t want to stop now. We’re…getting there. Right?”

They had about three more floors to go, but he wasn’t sure she could make it. Hell, he didn’t even know what was wrong with her.

“Recall Eevee. Pikachu, stay close to Persian. And as for you,” he turned back to Ash after she’d replaced Eevee’s pokéball. “I’ll carry you the rest of the way. I’m worried about your health and what’s ailing you. But if you’re so stubborn to want to keep going on, then we’ll just have to hurry this up so we can get you out of here and get looked at. Okay? That’s the only way I’ll allow you to keep going on with me.”

Though she didn’t want to be a burden and be carried, she reluctantly agreed. And then he was scooping her up into her arms, carrying her bridal style instead of piggyback like she’d expected.

However, as they got closer to the fifth floor, she started to shiver worse than before, and she quickly found herself huddling into Giovanni for warmth.

Her eyelids began to grow heavy and soon she couldn’t help but close them.

Giovanni nearly panicked when he realized Ash had passed out in his arms. Upon closer look, her breathing was labored and her heartbeat too low, and she’d become like ice to the touch. When he stopped to shake her, trying to wake her up, nothing was working. She wouldn’t wake for anything, not even when Pikachu tried a thundershock on her.

It was almost as if she was comatose…

He turned back and began to head back down, when at the bottom of the stairwell, something grabbed hold of Ash and refused to let her go passed the doorway. After several minutes of attempting to cross with Ash with no luck, Giovanni cursed and realized that he might have to keep going up with her.

Practically forced to, he made his way to the fifth level. He saw a few more Mediums around, but they were either sitting dazed on the floor or standing up, swaying and in a strange trance.

He ran further in and spotted an object on the floor, sighing in exasperation when he realized it was a fist-sized gold Nugget. Probably a leftover from the Team Rocket unit that had operated here a year ago. Well, he had no need of it and he didn’t mind handing it over to her…

Pocketing it, he was about to keep going on, when someone interrupted him.

“Hello? Are you in need of help?”

He looked around and noticed a Medium, this one looking aware.

“You’re not going to spout some apocalyptic nonsense, are you?” he asked her warily, heading over.

Her lips twitched up. “No. But that girl in your arms seems to need help. I see spiritual residue clinging to her. It seems as if the restless spirits in this tower are latching onto her and even seeking to leech her life force.”

He sucked in a harsh breath, eyes focusing sharply at her.

“Do not mess with me. This better be serious or I swear I’ll –”

“I am certain,” she cut in. “It is dangerous for her to travel any further into this tower. Whatever forces that are lingering about, they wish to consume and keep her here. Perhaps even drain her life force to strengthen them as well. She must somehow be strong in the spiritual sense. Those that draw spirits in are usually strong psychics, Mediums, and the like. Hence, my brethren around being overpowered by their spiritual senses.”

Giovanni wondered if that meant Ash’s Aura abilities counted and were the cause of this.

“And of you –why are you still normal?” he eyed her suspiciously.

“I am within this area of sanctuary that I have created,” she gestured to the floor beneath her, where he saw the square section of symbols that she stood on and which glowed faintly. “Bring her here. It will not cure her, but the purified space will keep her from being harmed further, and protect her from the spirits that wish to take her from this world.”

Grimacing at her words and at the thought of having to leave her behind (and with some stranger), Giovanni reluctantly set her down on the ground.

“Pikachu, Persian, stay here with her and keep her safe. I’ll go on. Maybe there’s something I can do…”

The Silph Scope device he was after was said to be able to see ghosts, according to his agents that had been working on it. Maybe something about it could help him solve this problem and help Ash back to normal.

Quickly, by himself now, he passed the next floor and picked up two more items that he stored away for Ash. The next floor after was the last level, and he entered it cautiously, finding the narrow rectangular room dark and ominous.

A raspy growl echoed through the air, and he damned the poor lighting. He was, at least, able to spot the Silph Scope, and he darted over to it and picked it up. Another growl had him put it on, and he looked around the room, utilizing the inbuilt nightvision that allowed him to see better.

He was disturbed to see a blurry figure in the air, and after he adjusted the Silph Scope, the blurry figure became clearer and revealed itself to be a…a Marowak?

He inwardly cursed. If it was a ghost and a Marowak, chances were that it was the spirit of the Marowak mother his idiotic agents accidentally killed when they’d temporarily taken base here in the Pokémon Tower not too long ago.

“You may not know who I am, but I know who you are,” Giovanni spoke clearly, trying to inch back towards the entranceway. “I am sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. You weren’t supposed to die. But please, if you have anything to do with it, please leave the girl alone. She has done nothing wrong.”

The ghostly Marowak let out a roar and a horde of vaguely shaped spirits appeared and converged on him. He ran the rest of the way to the door and took leaps down the stairs, to head to the fifth level, where Ash still was. He had to somehow get them the hell out of there, before they were overwhelmed by the spirits.

He managed to the fifth floor, surprised that they hadn’t caught up to him, and ran the rest of the way to Ash and the Medium. However, he soon realized that the spirits had let him get away, so that he could bring them right to Ash, to which the Medium fearfully tried to strengthen the purified space they were now all in. But it was clear the spirits were and would soon overcome the barrier and converge on them all.

It was, in the nick of time, where a small figure darted in front of the spirits and yelled bravely at them.

“Cu Cubone! Cubone Cubone! Cu!”

The Marowak that had led the onslaught paused and stared at the small Cubone, and then the two were exchanging words. Giovanni quickly realized that the Cubone was probably the child of the Marowak; the very same one that the Marowak had tried to protect from his Rocket agents, and had ended up dying for it.

He took a deep breath and looked at the Marowak.

“I’m sorry,” he said loudly, strangely very sincere. The words felt foreign to him and odd coming out of his mouth. But the girl in his arms made him not focus on that and instead focus on the fact that Ash was lying cold and still in his arms and he had to do something. “I’m sorry for what happened.”

The Marowak stared straight at him, looking deep into his eyes. And suddenly, she seemed to understand everything. She gave him a final nod and turned to her child, and caressed his head. And then she faded away, and one by one so did the other spirits.

He gave a sigh of relief, more so when he felt Ash’s breathing even out and her temperature go back to normal. Looking at her, she already seemed to look much better than before.

He felt a nudge at his elbow and saw the small Cubone there, looking up at him wide-eyed while calmly laying his chin on top of Ash’s leg.

“I’m sorry to you too,” he murmured, gently patting the Cubone’s head. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes.

Damn, this girl was softening him up.

When Ash woke up, she was filled in on what had happened (minus Giovanni’s role and connection with Team Rocket).They both agreed that it was a good idea to just shut up about the whole ordeal, and not reveal anything about it to the others.

They can just imagine how that conversation would go.

Therefore, they kept very quiet about happenings that would do well to never be mentioned again. On the other hand, they still had to explain Cubone’s sudden appearance with them, considering the fact that he refused to leave their side and refused to move from being carried in Ash’s arms.

“Er, he just appeared,” Ash said lamely to the others. “We were finishing up at the Pokémon Tower, when he appeared and didn’t want to leave us.”

“I believe he wants to stay with you,” Mr. Fuji noted, smiling slightly, though he seemed a bit sad.

Ash shifted him in her arms. “Um, is that really alright?”

“It’s up to Cubone, of course,” Mr. Fuji declared. “But it seems more than obvious that he wishes to be by your side. I know you’ll take good care of him for now on. As a thank you for helping Cubone out and taking him in, please accept this in my gratitude.”

He handed her an oddly shaped flute. “It’s a Pokéflute. Pokémon will calm down with it, but it can also wake any sleeping pokémon up.”

Awkwardly accepting it with one hand, using the other arm to keep a hold of Cubone, she studied her new flute in amazement.

“I can really have this?” she asked unsurely. “I mean, I’d take Cubone in regardless.”

Mr. Fuji smiled widely. “Of course. Use it well.”

Afterwards, Mr. Fuji exchanged a heartfelt goodbye with Cubone, who went back to snuggling into Ash’s arms after.

“There’s one more ‘Pokémon Tower’ to check out, if you are up to it?” Lt. Surge brought up, looking expectantly at her. “Want to come with me?”

Ash hid her anxiety and gave him a weak smile. No need to alarm the others, or let them catch on to what had happen. This’ll be good. It’ll be fine. Right…

She and Giovanni exchanged looks as she left with the lieutenant.

They entered the creepy tower warily, with Ash more so.

“Okay, you know what? I’m just going to admit I’m a coward and latch onto you, and use you as a shield,” Ash declared, going behind Lt. Surge’s back and huddling behind him, clinging onto his arms. Pikachu likewise copied her actions, doing the same to Ash.

“…Well, at least you’re honest,” he said in amusement. “We won’t take long. We’ll just act like a bunch of dumb kids doing a dare about a supposedly haunted place, hanging around for a certain time and trying to see something ‘ghostly.’ Like those graveyard dares or something.”

“Except I’ll never step foot inside a cemetery at night,” Ash muttered. Pikachu agreed. “Pika…”

He chuckled and walked on, moving slowly so she could continue to clutch onto him and not trip and he wouldn’t stumble.

“I feel like Scooby and Shaggy,” Ash mumbled.

“Want a Scooby Snack?” he asked dryly.

She pouted and lightly headbutted his back. “Not funny, Lucien. I –Hey, why is your belt unbuckling?”

He blinked. “What the…”

Suddenly, his belt rapidly unwound from his waist, and then they dodged it whipping at their heads.

“Aiiiiee! It’s a ghost!” Ash screamed and began running away, with Pikachu clinging tightly to her. He ran after her, only to find that it seemed they were going around in circles.

“Why can’t we get to the exit?” she hid behind Lt. Surge again.

“Something’s preventing us,” he muttered, looking around with a frown. “Probably same thing that stole my belt.”

Without warning, something took Pikachu from Ash’s back and made him float in the air, before beginning to make him dance.

“Eh?! Pikachu’s dancing?” Ash gaped and she leaped up, trying to grab him.

And then Lt. Surge’s belt returned, whipping at Ash’s bottom, and something yanking down Lt. Surge’s pants.

“Ahh! It’s a pervert ghost!” she covered her eyes, while holding her stinging bottom.

He yanked his pants back up and he was whipping his head back and forth, looking around the room and trying to spot the culprit.

“Hey! This isn’t funny!” he shouted angrily. And especially since whoever they were made him expose his boxers to Ash…

His eye twitched.

The two of them then followed after Pikachu, who was dancing away, and caught him when he suddenly stopped and then dropped from the air into Ash’s arms.

“Pika Pika! Pika Pika Pikachu!” Pikachu rapidly chattered in anger, shaking a fist into the air.

They heard odd sounds then, and they looked around in confusion. When they finally looked up, it was too late as the chandelier above them fell and landed on them. When they woke up, they were having a literal out of body experience.

They immediately looked at the guilty parties, now revealed to be a Ghastly, Haunter, and Gengar, who all waved cheerily at them (if sheepishly). Instead of panicking, Ash and Pikachu marched over to them (well, their ‘astral bodies’ did) and began lecturing all three ghost pokémon.

Lt. Surge was more appropriately freaking out about the fact they were all practically ghosts, and for all intents and purposes, more or less dead.

“Hey, hey, Lucien! They’re going to take us flying!” Ash called out to him, apparently now all on amiable terms with the ghost pokémon.

“Ash, do you not see our bodies lying there?” he pointed sharply at where they were laying.

“It’s okay! They said we can just slip back into our bodies afterwards,” which apparently made it all okay.

He inwardly sighed. Well, since it seemed temporary…

Soon enough, they were flying through the air and traveling around Lavender Town. He admitted it was kind of nice and was fun.

“I kind of really miss my plane now,” he told Ash, flying beside her.

“You have a plane?” she looked at him with wide, awed eyes.

“A two-seater back home,” he wistfully recalled. “Never got to bring ‘er over.”

He then playfully dunked her head. “Race you back to the tower!”

“It’s on!”

And when they neared the tower, the three ghost pokémon led them to their little play area, filled with toys and things for them to play with.

“Aw, you guys were just lonely and wanted someone to play with, right?” Ash grinned fondly, more so with the chorus of agreements coming happily from the pokémon.

So, for awhile, they played with them in their room, before declaring that they had to get back and the others were probably worried. And they certainly were, having found Ash, Lt. Surge, and Pikachu’s bodies under the chandelier. After pulling them out, they were worried on what happened and why they weren’t waking up.

The three semi-ghosts smoothly slid back into their bodies and began waking up.

Misty threw herself onto Ash, while Oak asked what had happened. Lt. Surge explained, with Ash interjecting (though he really wished she would have left the whole ‘boxers’ thing out –the others looked ready to murder him and dump his body into a ditch, despite that whole thing not being his fault).

“Ugh, can we please get out of this town already?” Brock was ready to pull out his hair.

Everyone tiredly agreed with him.

Sometime later, somewhere on the way back to their bus…

“Why the heck are they following us?” Misty jabbed a finger towards the three ghost pokémon that had showed up not too long ago.

“I think they want to come along,” Oak said dryly, staring at the pokémon.

“Gengar!” “Haunter!” “Ghastly!”

Giovanni glared viciously at them. If it was up to him…especially as, if it weren’t for those little cretins, Ash wouldn’t have been subjected to Lt. Surge’s underwear!

The three pokémon could feel his glare, and turned to face him. They shivered slightly.

That human must have the ability to use Leer or something.

Norman breathed a sigh of relief when he finally made it to Lavender Town. He could only hope she was still here, and hadn’t moved on from the town already. Although, he wasn’t sure what could make her stay for so long in this town, unless it was just for a pit stop.

He was actually kind of excited about this though. He remembered the way she was with her pokémon and wanted to battle her. And he just…he just wanted to meet her. He felt like he needed to.

And, well, he just really wanted to meet her. It wasn’t something he could put into words or explain clearly. He didn’t know how or why, or even when, but somehow or other, he came to really look forward to this meeting, for reasons outside of wanting to get his daughter back.

Checking his PokéNav and making sure he had a saved picture of Ash Ketchum that he’d gotten off of the web, he slowly began to go around and ask if anyone’s seen her. It actually didn’t take too long.

“Go to the side of the Pokécenter,” one person gave him a bland look. “You can’t miss it.”

Miss it? Miss what?

A few minutes later found him staring at the huge bus with a dropped jaw, understanding what that person had meant about not missing ‘it’ –with ‘it’ being this monstrous bus, and Ash’s face plastered on the side of it.

A group of young men were washing the bus, cheerily singing along to the song that was playing from inside the vehicle.

“Girl, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel

Closer than my peeps, you are to me, baby~

Shorty, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel

Girl, you’re my friend when I’m in need, lady.”