บท 29: Ch 29. Lavender town
Lavender Town, a town that is covered in mist 24/7. The people who live there are mostly the elderly, as well as those that want to remain close to their departed pokemon. Sometimes kids would visit their elderly grandparents, but they would soon return home due to the uncomfortable looks from their parents. One of the main town features is the pokemon tower. It is a graveyard for pokemon, while also being a natural habitat for ghost pokemon because of that. Ghost pokemon were created by maisma coming from negative emotions and the departed living, making graveyards an excellent breeding ground for them. Or so it has been told.
Stepping into town, Ares was surrounded by the fog, with only limited view in front of him. Around the street, old people were walking around with their pokemon, happily taking a stroll through the small parks that were spread here and there around the town.
Making his way through the fog, Ares soon arrived at the base of the pokemon tower. It stood tall through the dense fog, the top not even visible. The feeling it gave of was clean but dreary, dark but peaceful, gloomy yet calming. It really gave of a strange feeling.
Shaking his head, Ares entered the tower, the mist parting ways as he passed through. The mist around the tower was thinner than in the town, giving a bit more to the eye to see.
By his side were Umbreon and Lucario, who were looking around the building with vigilance. The basefloor of the tower was a reception room. Only a few people were present, the receptionist and a few elderly that made it up the stairs.
Climbing up the stairs as well, he was soon surrounded by a myriad of tombstones and graves, all neatly ordered side by side. Here and there were people crying or cleaning the graves. Fresh flowers were placed on each grave, no matter how old they were. It was surprising, as there weren't only old people, but also children, adults and teens. All equally sad, grieving silently or weeping loudly to clear out their agrieved hearts.
It was obvious not all the pokemon buried here were those that died of old age.
Not disturbing the grieving people, Ares quietly made his way up the stairs. From time to time, a shiver would run down his spine, but Umbreon would always quickly act, using attacks like Snarl or Dark Pulse to send the teasing ghost pokemon fleeing.
Ares was glad he had his pokemon by his side as he continued to make his way upwards. If he didn't have Umbreon at his side, things might have been a bit more tiring, considering Lucario wasn't the best match up against ghost types.
The higher he went, floor by floor, the scarcer the people were that visited. The graves were also becoming bigger and more luxurious but also a lot older.
Here and there were signs of graves having been cleaned up, but no flowers or other items were laid beside it. There weren't any family members left to weep for them, even if their descendants might be alive somewhere.
The ghost types were also appearing more often, those being the evolved forms of their weaker evolution lines.
Haunters and an occasional Gengar would appear every now and then, but each time they appeared, Umbreon would sent them away again. Through all this, Umbreon became stronger, as he became more and more used to the new form he had acquired.
It was no doubt that Umbreon and Lucario were two of his strongest pokemon right now, Pidgeot being a close second. After that it would be Lapras, followed by Clefairy with Pichu at the last place. It wasn't that surprising though, as Pichu was still in her first evolution fase. When she evolved, she would likely be at the same spot as Clefairy, maybe a bit higher.
And Mew, well, she wasn't really on the ranking list, as he had never battled with her. But one thing was for sure. Mew didn't even need a ranking as she would just give a big beating to anyone who messed with her. There wasn't really a chance to battle with her either, as it would just attract people like team Rocket to chase after him all the time.
No way was he letting that happen.
Patting Umbreon on the head, they continued onwards, finally seeing the staircase leading up again.
Going up, he arrived at the biggest tomb yet, that one being the only one that occupied the whole room. Standing in front of it was an old man that was carefully cleaning up the incense ashes and putting up new ones.
"Mr. Fuji?"
Turning around, the man glanced at Ares.
"That's me. Can I help you with something young man?"
Mr. Fuji asked, wiping of his dirty hands on a hankerchief. He was surprisingly springy and energetic for such an old man.
"I read about a aura master that was buried here. Do you know more about him sir? His name was Isaac."
"Isaac, Isaac, where did I hear that name before..."
Mr. Fuji was deep in thought about the mention of the name. He started to count on his fingers, sometimes shaking his head in denial, as well as nodding when he remembered something.
"Ah, yes. I remember now. He should be just a floor below us in one of those tombs. He was a strange man, wanting to be buried in the tower, wanting to reunite with his Lucario should he pass away as well. I was planning to clean those tombs after I finished this one. As I am already done, let's go down shall we. In the meantime I will share a bit of what I know about that man."
Mr. Fuji slowly made his way down the steps, grunting a bit with every step. From time to time he would stop to catch his breath, then continued downwards again. Not so springy after all.
"Isaac is a man that lived far before my time, but there were stories that have been told about him. Yes, stories of him and his Lucario as they traveled to far away places. Isaac was a welknown aura guardian at that time, resolving problems when they became too big for the general population to handle. He averted the attack of a rampaging Articuno, driving it off with little difficulty."
Mr. Fuji spoke as if he had truly been there, waving his hands about in excitement as he vividly spoke of what had occured in those times.
"Alas, Isaac was human. He soon grew older, his body damaged by a disease that was unknown at that time. I believe it was cancer, but it can be something else, who knows? Isaac knew his end was coming, so in his last moments he returned here, to this tower. He shared his tales with the townsfolk and quietly passed away soon after. His Lucario had shared a deep bond with Isaac, safeguarding his tomb during the rest of its life, soon passing away as well."
At this point in time, they stopped in front of a grave, a rather large stone statue of a Lucario looking over the grave with focussed eyes. It looked as if the statue could start to move any time now.
"The old people in this town believe that Lucario, at the end of his life, turned to stone to protect his trainer even after this life had already ended. If it is true, I don't know. Believe of it what you will. Now then, If you want to learn more, there is a small chest on the side with his history. It was so interesting, I couldn't help but read it more than once, hehehe. Feels like I have been there myself at some point."
Laughing a bit, Mr. Fuji slowly made his way around the tombs, cleaning the ones that needed it and offering incense to those that had run out.
Standing in front of the grave, Ares read the few words that were still eligible.
[Here lies a hero, a friend, a lone soul. May his Lucario follow his bond to the next life]
The words beneath it were so weathered by time they had become completely unreadable.
Looking in the box for the book Mr. Fuji had spoken about, Ares quickly read it. It was as expected. Most of the stories in it were also in the relic he had gotten from Steven. Yet this story had been written in the common tongue. It was surprising, since Isaac had lived a long time time after the relic had been written. Maybe there was a secret he did not discover yet about the book. Sighing, Ares closed the book. He was afraid he might accidentaly destroy it. The paper had become so fragile, the pages almost crumbled away in his hands.
When he was about to put it back, a small yellow piece of paper fell down.
Picking it up, he furrowed his brow in confusion.
[Lucario's paw]
That was the only thing written on it.
Turning the page around, holding it to the light, nothing revealed anything more.
So he did what was written on the paper.
Looking at Lucario's hands, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary at all.
However, his own Lucario did seem to notice something. Coming closer, Lucario carefully fumbled around the paws of the Lucario statue, only to get a pair of simple looking gloves in return.
They were a bit dusty, but there were no signs of wear or tear to it at all. The fabric felt soft to the touch, with a hint of something hard in the middle.
[Oh, you found something interesting.]
Mew came out of her poke ball, having stayed in there instead of the bag, gazing over his shoulder at the gloves.
[They act the same as the pendant I gave you. It makes it easier to control your Aura. Your aura constructs will become a bit more stable now when you wear those. But don't become to reliant on them, they are just tools after all. With enough practice, you would be able to do the same without the gloves. Still, it is a nice item indeed. I guess you need to thank this person then.]
Mew said as she lounged on Ares's shoulder, not planning to go back anytime soon.
"Then thank you for the gloves."
Ares gave a short bow to the grave and left soon after. Lucario did much the same, directed to the Lucario instead.
Together they left the pokemon tower. There was another city to get to after all.
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