| Pokemon Neo
Part 16: The Lavender Menace © 1999-2000 Willow McCall “THIS is Lavender Town?” Aoife cried in disbelief at the sight of an almost empty town, eerily quiet. “It’s like a ghost town.” “Funny you should use that word to describe it,” Petra said, pointing to a tower stretching up into the sky in the center of the town. “See that? That’s Pokemon Tower. Ghost Pokemon live there. So it is a ghost town, I guess.” “But there are people…there’s a gym here, right?” Aoife asked nervously, not wanting to be alone in a spooky town with only ghost Pokemon. “Of course,” Sora said. “I bet they train ghost Pokemon a lot here. Come on, want to explore the tower?” “I dunno…” Aoife hesitated, then changed the subject. “Let’s go to the Pokemon Center, hey? I bet Chu-Chu would like a rest!” She skipped off in the direction of the Pokemon Center, but Sora pulled her back. “Ah, no, we’re going to the tower,” Sora said, pulling Aoife and Petra in that direction. “Go on, Aoife. I dare you to go in.” “A dare, huh?” Aoife said. “Well, I can’t refuse a dare. Let’s go!” “I don’t know if this is a good idea…” Petra hedged. “It IS,” Sora insisted, pushing Petra into the tower. “The ghosts won’t hurt us, we have our Pokemon with us and they can defend us.” “You sure?” Aoife asked. “I was looking at the battle chart on my Pokedex and it says only other ghost-type Pokemon have an advantage over ghost-type Pokemon.” “It’s okay,” Sora said, opening the door and shoving Aoife and Petra inside before following them in herself. It was surprisingly well lit inside, with lanterns on the walls and hanging from the ceilings. Headstones saying things like “R.I.P. Vulpix, CE 2504-2070” were all around, as well as compartments in the walls holding cremated remains of deceased Pokemon. A staircase in one end of the room led up to the next level. Aoife shivered. “It’s creepy. All these dead Pokemon are in here…and probably a bunch of ghosts…” “Gee, Aoife,” Sora chastised, “you didn’t seem like the fraidy-cat type.” “I’m not!” Aoife replied, trying to sound brave. “I just…have respect for the dead.” “Come on, guys,” a voice said from up the stairs. “We’ve got to get out of here.” “Was that a ghost?” Aoife wondered, trembling. “No, idiot,” the voice said. “It’s me, Fawn.” Fawn Oak, the source of the voice, came down the stairs, followed by Steve, Bert, and Charlie. “I heard the Lavender Gym could be accessed by a secret passage somewhere in this tower, but I couldn’t find it. How about you?” “It can?” Aoife asked. “All right! Let’s go, guys! I have to find this gym!” She ran towards the stairs, but Fawn’s voice stopped her. “Don’t bother; it’s not here,” said Fawn. “I’ve looked. There’s no gym. I’m going to go ask at the Pokemon Center where the gym is. Come on, men.” She and the boys marched out of the tower, leaving Aoife, Petra, and Sora alone again. “She probably just didn’t look hard enough,” Aoife said. “We can go find this gym, right guys?” “Uh, sure,” Petra said, herself and Sora following Aoife up the stairs. (Who's that Pokemon? It's Gastly!) “We’ve looked everywhere,” Aoife groaned. The group were on the ground floor of Pokemon Tower once again, after searching all the other floors they had had access to. “No sign of any gym.” “Maybe it’s not here after all,” Sora said. “Maybe Fawn was just leading us on here while she went to the real gym,” Petra suggested. “Pikachu,” Chu-Chu sighed, leaning against one of the compartments in the wall. “PIKA!” she shouted as the wall gave way and she fell. “Is that…” Sora asked, eyeing the wall suspiciously. “A secret passage!” Aoife yelled, jumping up and pushing the wall open. “This must be where the gym is! And to think that it was down here all along and we were searching all over the tower for it." She got the wall open and they all went in. The passage went down under the tower, and it was lit with lanterns from overhead like the other rooms. It seemed to go on forever before they reached a large, heavy-looking wooden door at the end. Aoife decided to be polite and knock on the door. “Hellooooo? Are the gym leaders home? I want to challenge yoooouuu…” Her voice echoed off the passage walls. “Gaaaaastly…” a ghastly voice said. A ghost-like head with two eyes and a fanged mouth appeared in front of Aoife and company, who all screamed. “Is that…a ghost?” Aoife asked, checking her Pokedex. “Gastly,” Dexter cleared up Aoife’s confusion. “A ghost Pokemon. Since they are so hard to capture, there is little data available on them. They are gaseous, not solid, and can’t take a solid shape.” “Gengar gengar!” another chuckling voice said, as another ghost appeared. This time, however, Aoife, Sora, and Petra were more prepared for it and weren’t as shocked. This ghost was a Gengar, a squat purple creature with spikes down its back. “Gengar,” Dexter said of this new ghost. “A ghost Pokemon. No data available on this elusive Pokemon.” “Just great,” Aoife muttered. “Two interesting Pokemon and no data for them.” “Gen,” Gengar offered, pushing the door open for Aoife and company. “Thank you,” Sora said as they walked through the door. “Pika pika,” Chu-Chu thanked the ghost. They entered the room, which appeared to be a gym. There was an arena with a stone floor with lines carved into the stone. Spectator benches sat on either side, and platforms for the trainers on either end. “It’s the gym!” Aoife cheered. “Uh, but where’s the leader?” “Right here,” a voice said. Aoife looked around. “Um…where?” A light turned on over the gym leader’s platform, revealing three young men. The oldest was about 21 and had light brown hair. The younger two were about as tall as the oldest one, and they both had very light blond hair, almost a whitish platinum blonde. The youngest was probably 15, the next-oldest 18. All three of them had dark black eyes. “Oh. My. God,” Sora thought. “They’re all so good-looking…the oldest one looks kind of stuck on himself, though…the middle one too, but the youngest one looks like he’d be the nicest.” “Are you the gym leaders?” Aoife asked rhetorically. “Obviously,” the oldest one said. “My name’s Kieran.” “I’m Ewan,” the middle one said. “And I’m Aidan,” the youngest said. “We’re the Specter brothers.” “Specter means ghost,” Petra pointed out to Sora and Aoife. “We’re the gym leaders,” Ewan said. “You here to challenge us?” “Yes, I am,” Aoife said. “I’m Aoife Ketchum from Pallet Town.” “Ketchum, did you say?” a female voice asked from the shadows. An older aqua-haired woman stepped out from the shadows. “Mom?” Kieran said. “How come you came down?” “Just checking on you guys,” she said cheerfully. “Aoife Ketchum…any relation to Ash Ketchum?” “Yes, in fact,” Aoife said. “He’s my father.” “Oh,” she nodded. “I met him once. I’m Duplica Specter.” “Duplica Specter?” Sora gasped. “The master of transforming Pokemon?” “That’s right,” Duplica smiled. “And obviously these are my sons…so you’re here to get a badge?” “Yeah,” Aoife said. “Who will I be battling?” “You can choose which one of us you want to battle,” Ewan said, as Duplica sat down to watch the match. “Yeah, which one of us will you pick, Aoife?” Kieran asked. “Hey, Aif.” Sora poked her. “Pick the youngest one, okay?” “If you say so,” Aoife said, then to the boys, she suggested, “How about you, Aidan?” “Okay,” Aidan shrugged, as Petra, Sora, and Aidan’s brothers sat on the benches to watch the battle. “I’ll use…three Pokemon, just to make it a little easier.” :”You don’t have to go easy on me,” Aoife said. “In fact, don’t. Use four Pokemon.” “If you insist,” Aidan said indifferently. “Okay then, I’ll use four. And you can use up to six. How about that?” “That’s fine,” Aoife agreed. “I think I’ll start with Rattata.” She brought out her small rat Pokemon. “Okay, I choose you, Gastly!” Aidan yelled. The same Gastly that Aoife had seen earlier materialized in the middle of the arena. “Rattata, Hyper Fang!” Aoife instructed. “Ratta!” Rattata said, jumping up at Gastly and biting it, injecting it with poison. “Again, Rattata!” Aoife said. Rattata attacked Gastly a couple more times, until Gastly started to look ill. “I think it’s been poisoned,” Aidan said. “And to fight with a poisoned Pokemon is cruel, so I’ll return it.” “That’s nice of him,” Sora thought. She hadn’t been paying attention to the gestalt of the battle very much, just staring at Aidan and watching what he was doing. “It’s good that he cares about his Pokemon. I don’t think I could go out with anyone who didn’t.” “Now go, Gengar!” Aidan said, summoning his Gengar to the middle of the ring. “Same Gengar as I saw earlier,” Aoife said. “I think Rattata needs a rest.” She returned the rat, then sent out Chu-Chu. “Chu-Chu, Thunderbolt!” “Pika!” Chu-Chu nodded, then darted out. “PiiiikaaaaCHUUUU!” “Smart move,” Duplica noted. “Electricity can really affect a ghost Pokemon if the electric Pokemon is really strong. Which that Pikachu she has must be.” “Gengar, return,” Aidan ordered. “You’re not bad, Aoife. Try this one, I’m sure you can beat it too. Go, Marowak!” A Pokemon similar to Cubone, except that the skull helmet it wore covered more of its face, popped out. “Marowak,” Dexter said. “The bone and skull it uses can be used for offensive or defensive attacks.” “It’s good that he’s encouraging her,” Sora analyzed. “Most gym leaders say that the challenger will never win and they put him or her down. But Aidan’s saying stuff like ‘I’m sure you can beat it’! That’s really different, and that’s how they should behave towards the challenger. What a nice guy.” “Marowak’s easy,” Aoife said, throwing out her Pokeball. “Go, Shellder! Water Gun attack now!” “Shell!” Shellder complied, spitting a jet of water at Marowak, drenching it. But Marowak wouldn’t give up. It ran up to Shellder and started beating on its shell. “Shellder!” Aoife cried. “It can’t come out now, so…try to move away!” Shellder jumped out of harm’s reach, then used Water Gun again to completely finish off Marowak. “Marowak, return,” Aidan returned the waterlogged ground Pokemon. “I’m down to my last Pokemon, Aoife. If you had let me make this easy for you I would be defeated right now and you would get the Phantom Badge at this point. Are you sure you want me to use a fourth Pokemon?” “Of course!” Aoife said. “I’m at Thunder Level, and I want to fight at that level.” “If you say so,” Aidan agreed. “At Thunder Level I would usually use four Pokemon, so this battle is at Thunder Level if I use my next Pokemon.” He took out his last Pokemon of the match. “Go, Xerox!” “What’s a Xerox?” Aoife wondered, turning on her Pokedex again. “Xerox. The evolved form of Ditto. It can transform like Ditto but it also learns Poison Gas, Pound, and Softboiled.” “Xerox!” the Pokemon said. It was a little bigger than a Ditto, but it was the same shape, except it was see-through. “Xerox, transform!” Aidan commanded. “Xerox,” Xerox said, mutating into a Shellder. “Shellder!” Shellder’s duplicate stuck its tongue out at Shellder. “The real Shellder’s not going to like that,” Aoife said, returning Shellder before it could do anything. Petra stood up. “Um, excuse me? May I speak with the challenger for a moment?” Aidan looked to his mother and brothers, who nodded. “Yes, go ahead. But the rules state that you may not give the challenger one of your Pokemon to use during the battle.” “Thanks!” Petra said, running over to Aoife’s platform. “Aoife, once Xerox transforms it remains as a Shellder until the end of the battle.” “Yeah, so?” Aoife asked. “It’s a water Pokemon now,” Petra explained, trying to get Aoife to realize what she was getting at. “Who do you have that can beat a water Pokemon really easily?” “Chu-Chu!” Aoife realized. “Okay, Chu-Chu, get in there!” “Pi!” Chu-Chu hopped into the ring. “Pika pika…PIKACHU!” It shocked the Shellder, who was forced to return to its normal form, whereupon it fainted. “Xerox, return,” Aidan said, returning his last Pokemon. “That’s all, Aoife. You won.” “Really?” Aoife gasped. “No way. But that was…four Pokemon, wasn’t it?” Her eyes lit up, and she jumped off the platform. “YAAAAY! I GOT A PHANTOM BADGE!” She was so loud that the people paying their respects to the dead Pokemon in Pokemon Tower could hear her, and they wondered what was going on. Aidan walked over. “Congratulations, Aoife.” He handed her his badge, a black crescent moon with a lavender circle. Sora ran up and pulled Aoife aside. “Hey, Aoife,” she whispered. “You absolutely HAVE to invite Aidan to come with us, okay?” “Huh?” Aoife asked. “What do you mean, like…come on our journey with us?” “Yeah,” Sora nodded. “Pleeeease?” Aoife smirked. “You have a crush on him, don’t you?” Sora blushed. “Shh!” she hissed. “Not now! I don’t want to blush in front of him!” “Okay, I’ll invite him,” Aoife grinned. “Hey, Aidan!” “Yes?” Aidan turned around. “Well, y’know…I’m going on my Pokemon journey,” Aoife said. “And Sora and Petra decided to come with me, to help me out and coach me sometimes, sorta. We were wondering…would you like to come with us?” “Yeah,” Petra put in. “You’re older than us…well, you’re my same age, actually…but you seem to be really good at Pokemon training and you know a lot about them. I personally think you could be a real help to Aoife. And I wouldn’t mind having a guy around; I get tired of talking to girls anyway.” Aidan thought about this. “Well…I guess so.” The girls high-fived each other, and Aidan added so his brothers and mother couldn’t hear, “I’ve always wanted to get out of this place anyway. It’s not the best place to grow up in, you know? And I think my Pokemon need some things that I can’t give them here.” “Great!” Aoife cheered. “If it’s all right with you, Mrs. Specter.” Duplica, Kieran, and Ewan came over. “It’s all right,” Duplica said. “We’ll miss you though, you know that, Aidan.” “I’ll miss you too,” Aidan said. “But I won’t miss Lavender Town.” Author's Notes Before you ask what C.E. is supposed to mean, I'll tell you. It's another term for AD, as in Anno Domini, the "year of our lord". But that only applies to Christianity, because Jesus isn't everyone's lord. So the better term to use would be CE, for Christian Era. Just to explain that. Heh, Aidan has Small Town Fever, doesn't he? I'd want to leave as soon as I got the opportunity as well, if I lived in a tiny haunted town. By the way, as for the title? It has nothing to do with the ep itself, and I'm not saying Aidan is a menace, but that's what people used to refer to homosexuality as way back when. The Lavender Menace, that's what they called it, the bigoted buttheads. back |