I set off down Route 9 toward Rock Tunnel.
The path began peacefully. A few trainers dotted the route—nothing too serious. Zephyr and Blaze handled most of them without breaking a sweat. Sun picked fights just for the fun of it, obviously. Levi… was still Levi. Splashing.. And Astra stayed in her Pokéball, but I could still feel her presence. Quiet, observant. Watching everything.
At some point, I picked up on this strong electric presence a few miles out, which definitely had to be Zapdos. I thought about going after it, but decided not to. I've always been more of a Moltres kind of guy anyway. Besides, I'm not planning to catch every legendary out there, just the ones I actually like.
Eventually, the tunnel loomed up ahead.
It looked every bit as ominous as I remembered from the games.
Anyways, there was a small Pokémon Center nestled right at the entrance. I popped in for a quick checkup, the team was still in good shape, and then I headed into the cave.
Dark.
That was my first thought. Not "dim," not "hard to see." Just straight-up pitch black.
I reached into my Inventory and summoned a glowing sphere, kind of like a floating lantern, but better. It hovered near me, casting soft, steady light that pushed back the darkness.
So, Rock Tunnel? Total garbage. Like, not even the fun kind of garbage. Just literal hell with rocks.
In the games, it's just this maze with random battles popping up every three steps. IRL? It's worse. Way worse. Think constant echoes that sound like something's about to murder you, water dripping on your head every five seconds, and the overwhelming sense that you're being watched by things that definitely want to eat your face.
We'd barely made it fifteen minutes in when someone yelled from behind a rock.
"HEY! YOU!"
I turned to see some dude stepping out of the shadows. Hiker outfit, complete with those stupid shorts that no sane person would wear in a cold, damp cave. Either he's got superhuman leg warmth or he's completely insane. I'm betting on the second one.
"BATTLE ME!" he shouted, like I was three miles away instead of ten feet.
I looked at him and sighed.
"Indoor voice, my dude," I said. "And fine, but make it quick. I've got places to be."
"Alright Blaze, you're up," I said, tossing his Pokéball. "Try not to set the entire cave on fire. Actually, on second thought—no, that would probably improve this place."
Blaze popped out, looking way too happy for a dog that just entered the seventh circle of hell.
"Let's make this quick before I lose my mind," I told him.
He sent out a Geodude. I almost felt bad for it.
"Blaze, Fire Fang."
One bite later and that rock had two googly eyes and a frown.
"Wow!" the hiker exclaimed, handing over what looked like pocket change. "You're super strong! But there are WAY more trainers deeper in! They're TOTALLY gonna be tougher than me!"
"Fantastic," I deadpanned. "I can't wait."
"You know what, buddy? I think I'll just keep you out here with me for now," I tell Blaze, who responds with an enthusiastic tail wag that nearly knocks over a small rock formation.
The next hour was just trainer after trainer after trainer. Like, were they having some kind of convention in here? "Let's all hang out in the dark and jump unsuspecting travelers!" Club meeting? And they weren't even good. Just... numerous. Like mosquitos.
Eventually, I stumbled onto this weird underground lake. The water was black as oil and still as glass. Instinctively, I reached for my phone to take an Instagram-worthy shot before remembering: 1) I'm in Pokémon world, and 2) no one would believe me anyway.
Blaze started growling at the water.
"What's up?" I asked, then noticed ripples spreading across the surface.
"Oh for—let me guess," I groaned. "Ghost type? Because that's exactly what this cave experience was missing."
Right on cue, a Haunter burst up from the water, doing its best horror movie impression.
Blaze jumped back about ten feet. I just stared at it.
"Really? That's your scary face?"
The ghost looked confused, then tried another face, this one with its tongue out and eyes bulging.
"Look, I've seen cosmic horrors that would make Arceus wet himself," I said with a yawn. "You're gonna have to do better than that."
The Haunter deflated a little.
"No hard feelings," I said, tossing it a Poké Treat from my bag. "You're just haunting the wrong guy. Try that hiker back there—he's wearing shorts in a cave. He's clearly easy to frighten."
The ghost actually caught the treat, munched on it, then disappeared with what I swear was a shrug.
"Easiest ghost exorcism ever," I told Blaze, who was still eyeing the water suspiciously. "Come on, ya big baby."
We kept going deeper, squeezing through narrow passages that definitely weren't designed for human shoulders. My claustrophobia was having a field day.
Eventually, we hit a fork in the path.
I checked my Pokédex map. "Right is faster."
So obviously, I went left.
Sue me. I'm curious.
This time was no exception. After walking down a steadily sloping path, we entered this massive chamber filled with crystals in every color you could imagine. They caught our light and practically turned the whole place into a natural rave.
"Okay, this is actually sick," I admitted, running my fingers over a crystal.
Blaze barked his agreement, sniffing around a particularly chunky purple crystal.
I took a second to appreciate the view. It's moments like these that really make me wonder how the hell this became my life. But I'm not complaining. It beats a 9-to-5 any day.
My existential moment was interrupted by the cave rumbling like it was about to throw up.
"That's not great," I said, as small rocks started raining down. "Actually, that's the sign for 'GET OUT NOW'!"
I scooped up Blaze and bolted as sections of ceiling started collapsing behind us. We barely made it out before the entire chamber entrance came crashing down.
"That was close," I panted, setting Blaze down. "But hey—almost dying is how you know you're having fun, right?"
Blaze gave me a look that very clearly said, "You have issues."
"Don't judge me," I told him. "We're fine. Mostly fine. Technically alive, which counts as fine."
It took another hour, several more battles with cave-dwelling weirdos, and nearly getting flattened by a very territorial Onix before we found the main path again.
"You know," I told Blaze, who was looking at me like I was the dumbest trainer alive, "next time we're just flying. Screw the 'journey' part of 'Pokémon journey.' Sky travel is the future."
The last stretch of tunnel felt like it went on forever. My legs hurt, my throat was dry, and even my eternal optimism was starting to crack. Just when I was about to sit down and accept my new life as a cave dweller, I saw light ahead.
"FREEDOM!" I yelled, suddenly finding my second wind. "Race you!"
We sprinted toward the exit like our lives depended on it, which, given my deteriorating mental state, they kind of did.
We burst out of Rock Tunnel and immediately flopped onto the grass outside. The sun was setting, turning the sky orange and pink, and it was the most beautiful thing I'd seen all day.
"We made it," I gasped dramatically, dismissing my light sphere. "We survived. Barely. With psychological damage, but still."
I took a deep breath of fresh air. After hours of cave stank, it was like mainlining pure oxygen.
"New rule," I announced to Blaze, who was lying beside me in his own state of relief. "No more caves. Ever. I don't care what legendary Pokémon is hiding in there. They can keep it."
Blaze woofed in enthusiastic agreement.
In the distance, I could see Lavender Town, with its famous Pokémon Tower sticking up like a middle finger to the sky.
"That's our next stop," I said, pointing it out to Blaze. But first—" I pulled out a water bottle and poured some into a bowl for him, "—let's take a minute to appreciate not being underground."
—
Lavender Town loomed in the distance.
Small. Quiet. Too quiet.
You know how in most towns, even small ones, there's always some noise? A couple of Pidgey squawking, wind rustling trees, a Murkrow yelling at the void? Not here. Lavender Town was quiet.
Even from here, something about it felt… off.
I narrowed my eyes.
Something was off.
Something happened here. Something big.
You know that feeling when you walk into a room and know someone's been talking about you? Multiply that by ten and throw in the vibe of a haunted house and a church funeral, and that's what Lavender was giving off right now.
I put everyone back into their Pokéballs and started walking again, slower this time. As we approached Lavender Town, the air grew colder. Thinner.
The lights in the town flickered weakly, and that iconic Pokémon Tower stood tall in the middle like a gravestone that watched you back.
"I don't like this," I muttered.
I passed a guy on the street—a local, maybe—and gave him a nod.
He didn't nod back. He just walked past, stiff and silent, eyes wide and unblinking.
"...Okay. That's not creepy at all."
I peeked into the Poké Mart window.
Empty.
Not closed. Just… vacant. No clerk, no customers. A few items on the shelves like someone left in a hurry and didn't bother locking up.
The Pokémon Center was technically open, but the lights inside were flickering like a horror movie on a budget. I stepped in anyway, mostly out of stubbornness.
Nurse Joy was there, but she didn't greet me.
She didn't even look up.
She just stood behind the counter, hands folded, staring straight ahead. Unblinking.
I cleared my throat. "Hey, uh… Hi?"
She didn't move.
"...Cool. Totally not creepy."
As soon as I stepped back outside, a cold wind cut through my jacket.
I looked up.
The Tower loomed even closer now. Even taller than it looked from the hill. The top disappeared into the fog, and I swear for a second, I saw movement up there. Then nothing.
Something was in the tower.
I walk deeper into town, a chill settling into my bones.
The houses are all technically occupied—I can see figures through windows, standing motionless like mannequins in a department store. Not moving. Just... existing.
"Hello?" I call out to a woman watering dead flowers in her garden. The water's overflowing, creating a muddy puddle around her feet, but she doesn't notice. Doesn't care. "Excuse me?"
She slowly turns her head toward me, movements jerky like a poorly oiled machine. Her eyes are wide open but completely vacant—like someone scooped out whatever made her a person and left just the shell behind.
Then she just stared. She stared at me..Creepy
I try a few more houses with the same result. Everyone's there physically, but nobody's home mentally. They all have that same empty stare and the same stiff movements
Even the Pokémon—what few I see—are acting weird. A Meowth sits in a window, completely still, not even blinking. A couple of Rattata move in perfect synchronization along a fence line.
And that's when I hear it.
The music.
It starts so faintly I think I'm imagining it. Just a few notes that tickle the back of my brain—familiar yet wrong somehow. As I get closer to the center of town, it gets louder, more distinct.
"No way," I whisper, recognizing the corrupted melody. "That's the Lavender Town theme."
But it's... off. Like someone took the original 8-bit music and twisted it, adding notes that shouldn't be there, removing others that should.
It's slowed down and distorted.
I reach the town square, and the music is impossible to ignore now. It seems to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. The few people here stand in perfect circles around the square, facing the tower, swaying slightly to that corrupted rhythm.
I remember that old creepypasta about the "Lavender Town Syndrome"—how the original Japanese version supposedly had frequencies that made kids sick, drove some to suicide.
I look up at the tower again, and this time I'm certain—there's movement at the top. Something's up there, watching the town, watching me.
I turned slowly.
Every single person I'd passed was now facing me.
All of them.
Not blinking. Not moving.
Just… watching.
The song grew louder. It was coming from the Tower.
Of course, it was coming from the Tower.
As I approach the tower entrance, the corrupted Lavender Town theme grows louder.
The door creaked shut behind me without even touching it. The inside was dim—lit only by old lanterns swaying gently, like they were breathing. Dust floated in the air like snow, thick enough to choke on. And that cursed music? Louder now. Warped. Like someone was playing the melody on a broken organ underwater.
The whole place smelled like incense and something else.
Something rotten.
I took a step forward, boots echoing against stone.
The second I reached the first stairwell, the temperature dropped.
Then came the whispers.
Dozens. Hundreds. All at once. Too many voices to count, all speaking at once, overlapping into a choir of nonsense.
"...get out..."
"...not yours..."
"...he's here..."
"...HE SEES..."
Something burst out of the wall to my left—a Haunter.
I ducked just in time as its tongue lashed out.
"Okay, rude!" I snapped, reaching into my Inventory mid-roll. "Alright, if we're doing this—"
Another shadow zipped past—Banette. Followed by Drifblim, Mismagius, a swarm of Shuppet. All flickering in and out of visibility, circling me like hungry sharks.
"Alright, Astra," I muttered, touching her Pokéball. "Let's bring out the big guns."
She didn't wait for the ball to open.
She appeared beside me, eyes glowing, tail lashing once in warning.
She didn't speak out loud—she never really does—but I felt her voice like a ripple in my skull.
"These spirits are not at rest."
"No kidding."
"I will help you."
I smirked. "Let's clear the house."
The battle that followed was chaos.
A Haunter rushed me from behind—bam, I yanked a Flash Bomb from my Inventory and dropped it like a party trick. It exploded in a burst of blinding light, sending it spinning.
Two Banette came at me from the front. I whipped out a Force Net—a glowing trap cube from the Halo universe—and tossed it straight at them. The energy web wrapped around them mid-air, yanking them to the ground like misbehaving balloons.
Astra moved like a phantom, glowing with psychic energy. She sent a Gengar through the floor with a single pulse. A Mismagius tried to hex me—Astra caught it mid-spell and locked it in a psychic sphere, holding it gently but firmly until it passed out.
We didn't kill anything. Just stunned. Subdued.
But it was clear—
They weren't attacking because they wanted to.
Something was controlling them.
Possessing them.
The moment I stepped onto the top floor, I saw it.
A figure stood at the far end of the chamber.
Tall. Twisted. Familiar, but wrong.
At first, I thought it was a Malamar.
But no.
This one was different.
Its body was elongated, spiked with unnatural ridges. Its tentacles pulsed like veins. The colors were inverted—inky black and blood-red with streaks of sickly violet. Its eyes glowed with a purple hue that made my stomach twist.
And around its neck?
A jagged piece of black stone, glowing faintly with ghostly energy.
The Ghost Plate. I recognised it easily.
I scanned it with the UltiDex.
"Name: Twisting Dread. Classification: Paradox Form – Subject resembles Malamar but possesses radically altered typing and behavior. Type: Ghost/Dark. Aggression: Maximum. Known to manipulate minds of both people and Pokémon. Proceed with extreme caution."
A paradox Pokémon. Warped by time and space.
Astra stepped in front of me, energy flaring.
"That… thing should not be here."
The twisted Malamar stared at us. Its mouth didn't move, but the voice—low, deep, in my head—did.
"This place belongs to us now."
"Alright, Astra," I said, stepping beside her. "I got your back."
She didn't reply—just launched herself forward in a blur of violet light.
Astra moved like lightning—no, faster.
One second she was beside me, the next she was in the air, psychic energy crackling off her like a second skin. She didn't hold back. A full-powered Aura Sphere launched toward the twisted Malamar like a meteor.
It didn't flinch.
The thing absorbed it.
It laughed.
A low, guttural psychic vibration that buzzed against my skull like a migraine.
"You will fall, clone."
Astra's eyes narrowed.
She didn't answer.
She launched forward, faster than the eye could track, and slammed her fist into the creature's torso, psychic force exploding outward in a shockwave that shook the whole tower. The Malamar staggered back—
But then its tentacles lit up.
Purple and black energy surged around it. Night Slash came fast, and Astra barely dodged. A second tentacle caught her side, and she was sent crashing into a stone pillar with a thunderous boom.
I winced. "Astra—!"
But she was already on her feet, blood trickling down her arm, fur singed.
Still silent.
Still fighting.
The air warped. The tower groaned.
That plate—it was feeding the Malamar. I could see it. The shadows around it grew thicker every time it landed a hit. Ghost-type energy boiled off it like steam. Even Astra, as strong as she was, was slipping into defense mode.
Malamar's eyes pulsed again—this time, I felt it clawing into her mind, trying to twist her will.
Her aura flared so violently I had to take a step back.
"You do not control me."
Her voice rang out in my mind like a bell. Clear. Cold. Unshaken.
She surged forward again.
Psystrike.
Barrier.
Recover.
A ballet of power, speed, and unrelenting will.
But the Malamar wasn't weak. Every hit Astra landed, it returned with something darker, something crueler. Shadowy waves warped the floor. Its tentacles moved in ways no living thing should move. One wrapped around Astra's leg—another slammed into her back. She hit the ground hard.
I took a step forward, reaching into my Inventory.
She turned her head just enough to look at me.
"Do not interfere."
Her voice was strained, but firm.
That was her choice.
And I respected it.
Astra floated higher now, chest rising and falling, aura pulsing like a star on the brink of collapse. Her energy was focused into one final strike.
"I was created in a lab. Born to destroy. I chose to protect."
Then—
She was behind it again.
Final Psystrike.
White light erupted. Pure, condensed willpower laced with psychic wrath exploded outward like a bomb. The tower screamed. Dust and stone and shadow flew in every direction. I shielded my face, teeth gritted.
And then—
Silence.
The Malamar was down.
Cracks spread across its body like glass. The Ghost Plate had shattered, black mist leaking out like its soul was bleeding.
It wasn't dead… not yet.
But it was over.
Astra stood above it, her body swaying, her arm limp at her side. She looked down at it—no fear. No anger.
Just a decision.
One more Psystrike.
Silent.
Final.
The creature dissolved into mist.
Gone.
Astra dropped to one knee.
I sprinted to her side and caught her before she hit the ground.
Her body trembled slightly. Her breaths were short.
But her eyes… they were still hers.
"Hey," I breathed, lowering her gently. "You okay?"
She nodded once.
"It is over."
Her eyes flicked to the spot where the Malamar had been.
"It would not stop. I made sure it never could hurt again."
"...You did well, Astra."
She didn't reply.
But she leaned her head against my shoulder.
The Tower was still again. The ghosts, the pressure, the whispers—they were gone.
But the music… the cursed, twisted Lavender melody?
That had stopped, too.
Silence.
Peace.
Finally.
For the first time since we arrived… Lavender Town felt like it could breathe again.
---
Author's Note:
So I had this idea... what if we dipped into horror for a chapter? 👀
This one's inspired by the creepy Lavender Town story from Pokémon—yep, that one.
Thought it'd be fun to put my own twist on it.
just having fun with it, hope it gives you a little spook :)
Let me know what you think!
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