At first, the only thing on Nate's mind was to find some sort of help for Kyra. Whether that be by finding somewhere with strong enough service to call the Solaceon Town pokémon centre, or whether that be by finding someone else in the tower.
But then he started hearing things.
He was unsure whether or not it was just paranoia, or whether this was someone playing a sick joke on him. Whatever was happening, he certainly didn't like it.
"Turn back.", "Leave us in peace.", "You're not welcome her.,"
Those three phrases. Constantly on repeat. Each time they were said, they were louder and closer.
Nate tried to ignore it as much as he could and continue up the tower. But that could only last for so long until the voices started referring to him by name.
"Who's there! Whoever's joking about, it isn't funny!" Nate snapped, he was very much put on edge by the eerie voices.
Nate was surrounded by a sinister, almost maniacal laughter, scaring him even more.
"Cut it out already! It's not funny!" Nate snapped, this time more to try and hide just how scared he was.
There were two options now. The stairs to the third floor were close by, if he could make a run for it, maybe he would be safe from the voices he had been hearing. But if he tried to run, he wasn't certain that he'd be able to get away due to the chance that whatever was taunting him was trapping him there.
Nate decided to run, but made a big mistake in the process. Just as Nate got to the stairs, he saw a ghostly figure floating down the stairs towards him.
"You won't be going anywhere," the figure said, her sinister tone making Nate's skin crawl.
Before Nate could even react, a horde of Gastly and Haunter surrounded him. This was far from an ideal situation.
"Gastly, Haunter, use Psychic," the ghostly figure said, once again scaring Nate even more.
Nate was left stuck where he was, he couldn't move. He couldn't cry out for help. Nor could he get one of his pokémon to help free him.
The ghostly figure laughed, "Seems like you're having a bit of trouble there. Not to mention you look terrified. Gengar, I think I'll let you handle this one," she said, summoning a Gengar right in front of Nate.
Nate was nearly crying due to how scared he was. Whatever the ghostly figure wanted with him, it wasn't good. He was surrounded by his worst fears, and was now faced by a very strong looking Gengar. He tried to calm himself down and not to panic, but that could only last for so long due to Gengar dipping in and out of his shadow, making Nate shiver every time Gengar entered it.
Through his slightly blurred vision, Nate saw the ghostly figure floating towards the stairs to go down. He could already guess where the figure was going.
Nate refused to let his fears get the better of him.
"Don't you dare. You've got me here, what more do you want?" Nate asked, fighting back against Psychic as much as he could.
The ghostly figured laughed once more, "You don't need to worry about that. I've got all I need for you. Gengar will do the rest from here," she replied, leaving Nate where he was.
Nate now knew it was possible to escape from Psychic, but he would need to calm down first. He didn't stand a chance in the state he was in now.
But Nate didn't have chance to calm down before it got too cold to fight against the Psychic. Gengar was absorbing all the energy Nate had and enjoyed seeing how Nate was quickly losing hope.
The Gastly and Haunter released Nate from Psychic not long after, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get away due to having no energy.
Gengar came back out from Nate's shadow for the last time, taking pleasure in seeing Nate with no life left, laughing as Nate collapsed and lay motionless.
Back on the first floor, Willow had attempted to keep Kyra as warm and dry as possible. Lucario was sat beside Kyra's head, hoping to notice any signs of her stiring. Eevee had made herself comfortable on Kyra's chest, trying to keep herself calm by being close to Kyra and knowing she was still alive.
"It doesn't make any sense. Nate should be back by now. Kyra should have come round by now. I don't know what's going on. What if Nate doesn't come back or Kyra doesn't wake up...it'll all be my fault," Willow said, beginning to break down and blame herself.
Lucario walked over to Willow and hugged her, attempting to calm her down as much as possible.
"I'm sorry, you must be so worried about Kyra. This is selfish of me, I shouldn't be worrying like this when she's your trainer," Willow replied, wiping away her tears and trying not to get upset anymore.
Lucario struggled to know what to do to help. With Kyra, it was so much easier because they could just talk normally, but since Willow couldn't understand her, it made things difficult.
Eevee suddenly saw something abnormal out of the corner of her eye. A ghostly figure floating down the stairs and towards them. Eevee alerted Lucario and Willow to the threat, hoping that they would be able to protect Kyra as well as themselves.
"Are you here to help? Where's Nate? What's going on?" Willow asked, desperate for some answers.
"Yes I am here to help, help reclaim my home from intruders. You have no right to be here, and you'll pay the price," the ghostly figure replied, walking over to Kyra where she stood beside her.
Eevee snarled up at the ghostly figure, but all that resulted in was being kicked away into the wall. Lucario didn't take kindly to Eevee being kicked away and she formed a Bone Rush, getting ready to fight back.
But to Lucario's horror, Bone Rush did nothing and just passed through the ghostly figure.
The ghostly figure laughed, "There's no point in trying to take me on, you don't stand a chance," she said, stepping into Kyra's throat.
Kyra was shocked awake by the cold touch on her throat. She now knew why she had been so weary about coming into the tower. She saw Willow was stood not too far away, frozen in fear as to what she was seeing.
"Willow...Lost Tower...run," Kyra warned as the ghostly figure applied more pressure over her throat.
Kyra felt her consciousness slipping away once more, but this was more than just her consciousness fading, this was her life too.
Willow took Kyra's warning and ran, but not away from the Lost Tower. Instead, she ran up the stairs to try and find Nate. If Kyra was right in thinking this was the Lost Tower, she didn't have much time to work with.
Lucario knew that she had to hold off the ghostly figure as long as possible, Kyra had already fallen limp now and there was nothing she could do now but protect herself and Willow.
With the help of Quick Attack, Lucario was able to avoid her life being drained too, but it only helped for a short time. As the ghostly figure learnt to predict Lucario's movements, Lucario had more and more energy drained away from her.
Lucario gave in, she knew she would be joining Kyra, Eevee, and possibly even Nate too. She led down next to Kyra and nuzzled her face to try and find some sort of comfort. But the cold of Kyra's face only made Lucario worry that there really was no coming back. The last thing she saw before her vision faded to black was Kyra's lifeless yet somewhat peaceful closed eyes.
Now there was only one intruder left to deal with. Then the Lost Tower's ghostly residents could be in peace once more.
As Willow made it to the third floor, she saw Nate lying motionless by the stairs to the fourth floor. Willow could guess what had happened, but she couldn't accept it. If Nate was already in this state, she hadn't even less time than before. She had to get to the fifth floor and fast.
Up on the fifth and top floor, Willow tried to catch her breath. But the ghostly figure was quickly closing in on her too, already having ascended to the third floor after dealing with Lucario.
Willow heard the laugh of the ghostly figure closing in on her and she knew she didn't have much time. She had to find a Cleanse Tag to save herself and her friends.
There were two Tags lying on the gravestones in the centre of the floor. But which was the right one? According to the Legend of Lost Tower her parents had always warned her about: the Cleanse Tag stopped the evil ghosts from harming any current victims of the tower and brought them back to life, but the Spell Tag lay a terrible curse upon the bearer, neither them, nor the ones they cared about lived for more than a week after the wrong Tag was chosen.
One was white with red markings, whilst the other was black with red markings. A fifty-fifty chance...would everyone leave alive, or would everyone Willow cared about suffer?
"Choose the white one, choose the white one," the ghostly figure said, pressuring Willow into making a choice.
Willow's hand hovered over the black Tag, guessing that the ghostly figure was trying to encourage her to choose the Spell Tag.
But what if the ghostly figure wanted Willow to pick the black Tag?
Willow made her decision and picked up the White Tag.
A blinding white glow burst out from the Tag, engulfing the ghostly figure, causing her to disappear.
Willow had chosen the Cleanse Tag. Everyone was safe once more.
Nate was just about stood up by the time Willow got to him, his legs were struggling to hold his own weight, but he was alive.
Willow ran to Nate and hugged him, taking him by surprise.
"You're alive. Thank Arceus," she said, letting her much needed tears out.
Nate felt safe in Willow's hug, his legs stopped shaking and he could finally stand for himself as he put his arms around Willow to return her hug.
"You're crying, are you not happy I'm alive?" he asked jokingly, gently tilting Willow's head up and wiping her tears away.
"These are happy tears. I was so scared I was going to lose you," Willow explained.
Once Nate had assured Willow that he would be ok, and after asking her not to question what had happened, they headed down to the first floor again to check on Kyra, Lucario, and Eevee.
The three were all now conscious, Lucario and Eevee having some very much needed cuddle time with Kyra. Kyra looked over to see Nate and Willow and was relieved to see that they were both alive.
The group decided it best to get to Solaceon Town as soon as possible, not wanting to risk the ghostly figure returning.
Once outside, they were glad to see the torrential rain had now stopped and the sun was beginning to set below the horizon. They followed the signs to Solaceon Town not too long after it got dark, all of them very much in need of a rest.
Nurse Joy had her Blissey take Lucario and Eevee to be seen to, much to their annoyance since they wanted to stay with Kyra, but Kyra eventually managed to persuade them to get checked over.
"I take it you accidently got caught in the Lost Tower during that torrential downpour. Are you all ok?" Nurse Joy asked, hoping the three hadn't put a curse on themselves.
Nate and Willow explained what had happened, everyone was fine on the whole, apart from Kyra who had caught a nasty cold as a result of facing a lot of the cold and rain without much protection thanks to protecting Eevee.
Nurse Joy booked the three their rooms and offered to have them a warm meal brought up so they didn't have to worry themselves over buying food when they had already had a stressful day enough as it was. The three appreciated the offer and went to change into something warmer, using the clothes driers that came with the rooms to dry their clothes and help warm them up further.
As Kyra sat on her bed in her warmest pair of pyjamas, a packet of tissues beside her, she felt the most ill she had done in a long time. The cold was far from pleasant and had her sneezing at least twice a minute.
"I feel so ill," Kyra complained, sneezing yet again.
Willow sat on the bed opposite and got another packet of tissues out from her bag just in case Kyra needed them. "I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do," Willow apologised, feeling guilty for not knowing what to do to help.
Kyra sighed, "There's nothing you can do...I just need to sleep...this off," she replied, two sneezes rudely interrupting her reply.
When food came not long after, Kyra could barely eat anything due to her frequent sneezing being a major inconvenience. She felt guilty for not being able to eat much, but Willow assured that it was fine since she had expected this to have happened, finishing the rest of Kyra's plate so she didn't feel as bad.
Kyra tried to settle herself down to sleep, but it was difficult considering she didn't have the company of Lucario and Eevee, and her constant need to sneeze. But eventually, mainly due to exhaustion qmore than anything else, Kyra finally got some sleep.
Willow on the other hand got settled off quickly, once she had gotten over her fear of her sleep being haunted by the ghostly figure that was.
Nate on the otherhand was sat on his bed, unable to close his eyes without seeing the Gengar the ghostly figure had brought upon him. Having a Gengar as one of his pokémon didn't help in the slightest, now more than ever he had a fear of Gengar potentially turning on him. But at the same time, he didn't have it in himself to release Gengar, he wasn't the kind of trainer who would release or give away a pokémon. But to make matters even worse, Gengar seemed to really like him, or was it just an act to lure Nate into a false sense of security? He didn't know know truth, and he hated this uncertainty more than anything else.