Hunter knew his sister was putting in some time at the gym, and decided to take her some lunch. He had nothing better to do, and maybe he could even challenge some of the other junior trainers. It wasn't unusual; he already had his Marsh Badge, but Sabrina tolerated him challenging her underlings every once in a while, to keep them on their toes. Steel-types weren't vulnerable to very much, and Psychic-type moves only had a passing effectiveness on them. Hunter especially liked turning Cutter on them; the Scizor had a type advantage, being part Bug. It forced them to get creative in their battle styles, which was the only reason Sabrina tolerated his nearly-weekly beating on them.

He left the house a little after noon. All of his pokemon were in their pokeballs, since none of them were small enough anymore to walk around the city with him, but he didn't mind. He wanted to head back out to Johto soon, so they would have all the time outside the city that they could want. He and Naomi still had a couple of Johto badges to earn, anyways.

He walked through the city, intending to pick up something for lunch to take to his sister. Once that was done, maybe he would take a trip out to Lavender Town or something... Get away from Saffron for a while. He'd had enough of the city for a while, especially after what had happened at Silph Co. when he and Naomi had come back home from Violet City. Either way, he still needed to bring his sister lunch. Naomi couldn't leave the gym until it closed that evening.

After Hunter took Naomi her lunch, he stepped outside of the Gym and released his latest pokemon, a Skarmory. He'd been lucky enough to catch it while he and Naomi had taken a trip to Fuchsia City to try their hand at the Safari. The moment he'd caught the thing, he taught it Fly from the HM he and Naomi shared. They'd agreed to share all of their HMs with one another, so they only needed one of each.

"Come on, Blade," he said, affectionately patting the Skarmory's neck. Blade shook out his metallic feathers, which clanked together, and preened himself a bit. "What say you to a flight out to Lavender Town? Maybe we can even take a quick peek inside Pokemon Tower. Didn't you say you were having some issues fighting off Ghost-type moves?"

Blade crowed, and Hunter snickered. He wasn't sure how, but at some point while he and Naomi were participating in the type-affinity research for their parents, they gradually began to understand pokemon of their chosen type. They'd heard it was possible, even going so far as to assimilate some of the elemental types' abilities, but as it stood, Hunter could understand his Steel-types and he was fine with that. He wasn't sure what Naomi could do, though. She tended not to talk about it.

"Yeah, but the Gastlys and things in the Tower won't go easy on you like Espeon and Xatu," he pointed out to Blade. "Come on, buddy, just Fly me out to Lavender. We can figure out what to do from there."

The Skarmory crowed again, this time in agreement, and Hunter climbed onto his back. His wings flashing in the sunlight, Blade took off, taking his trainer to the next town.

~Bing bong~

Her Pokemon were healed and she stood up to retrieve them, thanking Nurse Joy. Chikorita as usual hoped back on top of her head from Sayuri's shoulder as she placed her Pokeballs in the same green bag as she hadn't even returned back home after arriving. That's how eager she was to finish getting her Kanto badges. "I know it's creepy in there, but I think fighting some Ghost type Pokemon might be good for us. What do you think?"

"Chiko..." She was becoming pale from fear and Sayuri could tell from the shaking. Chikorita really didn't want to go in there. Too many chandlers and possessed trainers... And that scary one at the top...

Almost made Sayuri double think that as it freaked her out, too. She didn't have the identifying scope from Silph so that was about as far as she could go. "I'm sure if we don't think about it, it'll be okay... Maybe the ghost is gone by now..." She hoped it was as she entered the building, looking around at all the monuments before walking toward the stairs going up.

It didn't take long for Hunter and Blade to get to Lavender Town. He didn't bother wasting time going to the Pokemon Center, he knew his team was in top form. He hadn't gotten into any battles lately, after all. None of the junior trainers at the Gym wanted to fight him that day.

Hunter didn't hesitate in going into Pokemon Tower. He had a Silph Scope, so he wasn't worried about the ghost on the fifth floor. He took the opportunity to train his Prinplup while he was making his way upstairs. He'd been lucky enough that his parents had been able to find a Piplup for him, and he was working on training it up into an Empoleon. Very few people realized that Empoleon was part-Steel, but it suited hunter well.

He treated the Tower like a training ground, and he wasn't really expecting to run into anyone there. He'd already challenged most of the mediums and psychics there, so they didn't bother him as he worked his way through the wild Gastlys that showed up.

Hunter knew his way through the floors well. He visited all the time to train, so he knew the quickest ways up the floors. He was able to get through the first few floors quickly, even though the swirling mist was getting a bit thicker as he went up the floors. Somewhere around the middle of the third floor, a Haunter came out of nowhere, and had no intention of letting him escape.

"Riptide, Ice Beam!"

Hunter had no trouble having his Prinplup engage the Haunter. He knew that elemental attacks were the best for taking on Ghost-types, and he had no shortage of those in Riptide. The Haunter got in a lucky shot, though, and Hunter had to switch out Riptide for someone more experienced.

"Buzzer, you're up! Thunderbolt!"

The Thunderbolt attack was more devastating than the Ice Beam was, and the Magenton was much steadier in its battle style than the Prinplup was. Buzzer was much more used to Hunter's lean-on-'em-hard battle style, and reacted better. The Haunter disappeared, scowling, and Hunter grinned.

"That was great, Buzzer," he praised. The Magneton beeped and buzzed hovering close enough to its trainer to give Hunter some static cling in his clothes. "Easy, buddy, you're sparking me up."

Hunter climbed the last couple of floors easily. He wasn't bothered quite so much after he dealt with the Haunter, which was good. Gastly were almost as bad as Tentacool and Zubat. At least he'd run across the occasional Misdreavus to break the monotony. His sister would have a much easier time with the Gastly; they were part Poison, and were weak to his sister's chosen type. At least his own Steel-types were immune to Poison-type attacks, that was something.

It didn't take him long to get up to the fifth floor, but he was surprised to hear someone there before him. Not many trainers wanted to climb up so far in the Tower; the rumors of the ghost at the stairs scared them all away. Reaching into his bag, he dug out his Silph Scope. He wanted to see what the ghost really was, and see if this other person was any good at battling. Buzzer was still hovering next to him, never having gone back into it pokeball. Hunter didn't mind, since it kept the Gastly away.

The mist on the fifth floor was thick, and he could barely see, but it didn't matter much. Hunter knew his way around, even though he'd never challenged the ghost at the stairs. He never wanted to bother it without knowing what it was. But now he couldn't see the other person, either.

The fog got thicker and thicker as Hunter approached the stairs that led up to the sixth and final floor of the Tower. Finally, he stopped when he couldn't see more than an inch past the end of his nose, and he sighed. He pulled another Pokeball from his belt and released the Pokemon inside. Blade crowed and shook out his feathers. He was a bit startled to suddenly be in the middle of a fog bank, and some of the fog condensed on his metallic feathers. He squawked indignantly at his trainer, even though he couldn't see him.

"I know, buddy," Hunter said. "I'll make sure to rub you down good once we're outside again, and I'll make sure to get all the problem spots. For now, though, use Defog to clear this all away. I can't see a damn thing." Hunter wasn't worried about the other person on the floor hearing him; Team Rocket had been chased out of Lavender Town, and didn't bother to come back. Their only draw in the first place had been the Tower, and now there was nothing in it worth taking anymore. The Skarmory squawked again and flapped his wings, using Defog to blow away the thick fog. It didn't completely clear, but it was about a hundred times better than it had been. "Thanks, buddy. I owe you a good oiling later on, don't let me forget. I have to help Nao take care of Metagross, anyways, so everyone's getting a deep clean tonight." He grinned. "Landslide is complaining about sand in his joints again, anyways." He sent a look at Buzzer. "Which is your fault, by the way. You know sand gets all staticky and sticks to him when you're around."

"Ton, magneton," Buzzer mumbled. It didn't sound too contrite. Hunter just rolled his eyes and turned on his Silph Scope.

"Alright, let's see what this thing really is..." he said as he used the scope to look around for the ghost.

Sayuri had been smart when the person approached closer. She couldn't see a thing either, but was able to hide behind a tombstone as the trainer approached. Though... She was too far away to hear anything the person said. Even after the fog was cleared up she still remained hidden unaware of who the person was or that she knew him.

Chikorita had no more luck than her trainer did when it came to identifying the person, but she had more courage to investigate and ran off toward that direction, ready to attack if necessary.

"Hanawa!" Sayuri whispered loudly toward her Pokemon, urging her to come back, but being stubborn and curious, Chikorita didn't listen and kept going.

Her earlier fear was gone and curiosity took its place. She was also worried that this trainer may be a bad guy and would harm Sayuri at some point so she wanted to make sure. She was also curious about the ghost, ready to face whatever it was.

Being worried, Sayuri slowly followed behind Chikorita using the stones as a shield, or rather continuous hiding spot. She was also curious about the ghost, but also didn't want anything to happen to Chikorita either as she neared closer, trying not to make a sound.

It took Hunter a little while to locate the ghost, but when he did, he relaxed some.

"So you're that Marowak, hm?" he murmured. The ghost of the Marowak stood in front of the stairs in a fighting stance, holding its club at the ready. Hunter held up his hands placatingly. "I don't want to fight you. I'm not here to hurt you, or your offspring." He knew what had happened to this particular pokemon. It had been all over the news. Team Rocket had killed the Marowak that looked after all the Cubone that lived in the tower, and her vengeful spirit never left. There had been trainers who had fought the ghost, and set it to rest for a while, but it always came back. "I'm just here doing a little training, that's all." The Marowak didn't seem to care, and raised her club threateningly. Hunter didn't quite take a step back, but sighed. "I don't know how Nao just talks pokemon down like she does..." He reached for two pokeballs on his belt. "Buzzer, Blade, return." Once the two pokemon were safely in their pokeballs, he reached for Riptide's ball. The Prinplup had had a bit of time to recover, and it had the type advantage over a Marowak, anyways. "Come on out, Riptide."

The battle wasn't all that long, and soon, the Marowak's ghost was fading away, gone to rest for a while longer. Once it was gone, Hunter deactivated his Silph Scope and put it away. Then he recalled Riptide and turned to leave, and yelped when he nearly tripped over the Chikorita that was suddenly there. "What the--?" He blinked. The Chikorita looked oddly familiar, but he didn't think he'd run across any trainers with such a rare pokemon lately...

Sayuri felt relieved when she saw that the ghost was a Marowak, but at the same time a sad feeling came over her. She'd read the story about what had happened to her long ago on a newspaper website achieve. It was horrible how some people, especially those in teams, treated Pokemon as war tools. She knew this wasn't the case, but still. The Marowak had a child! She sacrificed herself for her child's safety. This made her angry. Though... Why she didn't figure this out. The ghost... The story... Must have been her fear that made her forget such an event.

While Sayuri was going through her hate-phase of hateful people, Chikorita was nearly tripped over, but fell to her side trying to avoid the leg. She wasn't hurt, however, as she stood right back up again, ready to send an attack flying at whoever it was. Though a look of surprise came over her and she had to tilt her head in confusion. "Chiko?" This person... The fog was still there, but she could make out some things even despite it being a long time, not really noticing anyone around then. But something clicked in her mind. Travelers... This guy, though probably taller if just slightly, was familiar-looking. "Chiko?"

Sayuri finished her hateful rant in her head and stood up from her hiding spot, figuring the person was gone by now. She walked forward a bit to search for Chikorita only to trip over her herself, landing on her stomach, horizontally to how Hunter was standing. Luckily she didn't land on her as she'd jumped out of the way in time.

Hunter was studying the Chikorita, trying to figure out why the little Grass-type looked so familiar, when a girl suddenly came out of the fog and almost tripped over the poor Pokemon. Reaching down, he helped her up. Never let it be said that he didn't have SOME manners.

"Careful," he said. "My Skarmory got rid of most of the fog, but it's impossible to get rid of completely, and there's a lot of things to not see in here." He pulled the girl to her feet and tried to get a good look at her face. The fog blurred some of her features, but she looked so familiar. He just couldn't quite place where he'd seen her before. It wasn't from around Saffron, and he and Naomi hadn't stayed in other towns for long enough to get to know anyone... Then it really clicked. "Wait... Sayuri?" It made sense. Sayuri was the only trainer he and Naomi had ever met that had a Chikorita, and this girl looked just like her.

Chikorita resumed eying the guy after getting back to her original position. The fallen girl, her trainer, was pretty close to having one of her small legs broken. So dodging was a good idea even if it was pretty close and a risky move.

"Ow... It really is hard to see in here. Defog helps, but like you said. Not completely." She stood back up with his help, ignoring the headache she obtained after hitting her head on the ground. She couldn't think about that now as she heard her name. "Huh? Have we met somewhere before?" It hadn't been that long since the last time as she looked right back at the guy, trying to remember seeing that face... The headache didn't help.

Chikorita hopped up to only Sayuri's shoulder to take a closer look. "Chiko..." She was certain now who this guy was.

Sayuri figure it out, too then. "I remember now! Ow..." The excitement hurt her head, but she refused to rub it. "You're Hunter, right?" Names never stuck, but theirs had. "How's it going?"

"Not bad," Hunter replied. "What brings you all the way out to this end of Kanto?" He knew that the main passage between Kanto and Johto was the Indigo Plateau, way out on the other end of the region. The Magnet Train was faster and easier, though, so that was probably how Sayuri had gotten to the region. "Come on, let's go back outside, there's no fog there." He grinned. "Naomi isn't here, by the way, she's back home pulling Gym duty."

Hunter nodded as they descended down the floors.

"Yeah, Naomi pulls Gym duty three days a week," he said. "They make her use Pokemon provided by the Gym rather than her own, but she says that's alright. She takes on challengers before they get to the Gym Leader." He grinned. "That's why they make her use the Gym Pokemon. Her own are too strong for the level of the gym." He shaded his eyes when they got outside. "Come on, let's go back to the city. We can surprise my sister at the Gym. You said you had someone that knows Fly, right?"

"And you didn't use that thing inside the Tower?" Hunter asked as he saw the Pidgeot. "Ghost-type moves can't hit Normal and Flying-types." He grinned. "It's impressive, though." Reaching to his belt, he pulled out a Pokeball and tossed it into the air. "Blade, you're up!" The Skarmory appeared in a flash of metallic feathers and crowed. Hunter rolled his eyes. Blade was complaining about his joints still being damp from the fog inside the Tower. "Oh hush, you," he said to the Steel-Flying type. "You won't rust yet, and I'll take care of it before you do." He patted Blade's neck. "Come on, we're headed back home, but I need to you to take me to the Gym rather than the house." Blade crowed again, and Hunter climbed up onto his back. Then Hunter looked back at Sayuri. "Your Pidgeot mind following us back? We may as well go straight to the Gym, unless you wanted to go somewhere else first."

"Well... I'm not sure... Guess my fear took over and made me unable to think properly..." She also kind of thought he'd be too big for the floor, but wasn't about to say that when he was standing right next to her. Though something struck her... She'd heard the sound his Skarmory made in there and recognized it now as he made the same noise. Hunter had used his in battle and the two birds were roughly the same size...

"Anyway, thanks. I caught this one on Route 36 just after you guys left for home. Figured I needed another non-grass type to help me in later battles. He didn't seem to like me at first, but after awhile he grew used to my personality." Her hyper one...

Pidgeot gave a call as if to say he'd be fine with it as he lowered himself down so Sayuri could board safely.

"He's okay with it." She translated. Then she looked down at him. "You heard where we're going right? To the gym. Not the Pokemon Center." He nodded, understanding as he spread his wings out, ready to take off. It answered Hunter's questions, too. "Okay lead the way."

Hunter nodded and patted Blade on the neck again. The Skarmory spread his wings and took off, heading back towards Saffron City. The flight wasn't all that long, since Lavender wasn't all that far away from Saffron, and the Saffron Gym was a distinctive building. Blade landed just outside the Gym doors, and Hunter slid off of his back and recalled the Steel-type. He waited for Sayuri to land on her Pidgeot.

"Technically, there's one safe path through the Gym all the way to Sabrina, without seeing any of the junior trainers," he said when she got there. "If you take the teleport pads in a specific order, you can bypass everyone." He grinned. "So of course I know the exact path to where Naomi is. Let's go see if we can't interrupt whatever she's doing."

Hunter grinned and motioned for Sayuri to follow him. He had long since memorized the pattern that would take him to the room that Naomi watched over. He could hear one of the junior trainers battling, and wondered if it was Naomi. The gym was technically one gigantic room with walls that didn't quite reach the ceiling, so he could hear battles from across the gym on a busy day. After a moment, he stepped on the first yellow teleport pad. Upper left, upper right, lower right, lower right again... Finally, he found the room his sister was in, and grinned when he saw her engaged in a challenge match.

The challenger seemed like she was prepared to face Sabrina, which was unusual. Most trainers coming through for the first time had no idea how to handle Psychic-types, but this kid seemed like he was doing alright with his Houndour. Of course, he had no idea that he wasn't going to win, but he seemed determined.

Naomi was on the far side of the room, and in front of her was a Medicham, balanced easily on one foot.

"Force Palm!"

The Medicham surged forward and hit the Houndour square in the side, and the poor thing whimpered as it hit the floor. Hunter winced in sympathy. The kid rushed over to his Houndour and recalled it, sending out a Voltorb. Naomi recalled Medicham, and then tossed out another Pokeball. An Exeggutor appeared, shaking out its palm-like leaves. This match didn't last long, either, and pretty soon, the kid was running back to the green teleport pad that appeared behind him. Hunter knew that the green ones took you straight back to the entrance as an escape route.

"Hunter, haven't you already bugged me once today?" Naomi asked as she recalled Exeggutor and went over to her brother.

"Yeah, but I figured you would want to see who I ran into in Lavender Town," Hunter replied. "You were really hard on that kid, is something wrong? And why your own team?"

"What were you doing in Lavender?" Naomi asked. Then she held up a hand. "No, wait, I don't want to know. Anyways, Sabrina told me to use my own Pokemon today, she said it was my last day, and I don't know if she's just firing me or what, but..." She trailed off, frustrated.