Burned Tower

After many adventures, the gang finally arrived in Ecruteak City.

"We're finally here." Misty sighed. She was exhausted.

Ash, Tomo and Brock were tired as well and they all agreed that it was time for a rest in the Pokemon Center. They gave their Pokemon to Nurse Joy and they all took relaxing baths then had a nice nap in the in the bedrooms of the Pokemon Center. After napping for two hours, the gang was refreshed again.

"Phew I needed that nap." Misty sighed.

"Yeah so did I." Brock said. "Especially our Pokemon."

"Speaking of Pokemon, I've been thinking about something." Ash said. "Since I got that Metal Coat from my new Steelix at the swap meet, I've been thinking about evolving my Scyther into a Scizor."

"I say that is a good idea." Misty said. "Besides your Scyther is very strong, so I think it's time to evolve it into Scizor."

"Yeah do it big brother." Tomo said.

Brock then thought it was time for his Onix to evolve into a Steelix, so he and Ash decided to evolve their Scyther and Onix now.

Ash got his Scyther from Prof. Oak and told Scyther about becoming a Scizor. Ash showed Scyther a picture of Scizor on the Pokedex and Scyther was eager to evolve into that.

"Do you want to evolve?" Brock asked Onix if he wanted to evolve into a Steelix and Onix nodded.

Ash and Brock gave their Pokemon Metal Coats to hold, returned their Pokemon to their Poke Balls and went to the Pokemon Center's trading machine to trade their Pokemon. Once they were traded, Ash and Brock released Scyther and Onix from their Poke Balls and as soon as the Pokemon were out of their Poke Balls they began to glow. Onix evolved into a Steelix and Scyther evolved into a red Pokemon with wings and two big pincers.

"Scyther is now a Scizor." Brock said.

After the evolution, Brock and Ash traded their Pokemon back. Brock was happy with Steelix just as Ash was happy with his new Scizor.

Ash looked at Scizor on the Pokedex.

"Scizor, the Pincer Pokemon and the evolved form of Scyther. It swings it's eye-patterned pincers up to scare it's foes. This makes it look like it has three heads."

Attacks: Quick Attack, Double Team, Razor Wind, Slash, Aerial Ace, Air Slash, X-Scissor, Bug Buzz, Bug Bite, Night Slash, Bullet Punch, Steel Wing, Flash Cannon and Iron Head.

"Wow I can't wait to use Scizor in battle now." Ash said.

Once the trade was complete, the gang had to decide what to do next. Ash did want to go to the gym to get his next badge, but he wanted to stop by the old Burned Tower first.

"Why do you want to visit the Burned Tower first Ash?" Misty asked.

"Well Misty." Ash said. "In the book detailing Johto's legendary Pokemon, the Burned Tower was the home of Ho-Oh a long time ago."

"You certainly are interested in legendary Pokemon Ash." Brock said.

"Well don't forget Brock that I have run into legendary Pokemon before." Ash reminded him. "I also have two legendary Pokemon of my own as well."

Tomo, Misty and Brock knew what he was talking about; they remember seeing legendary Pokemon themselves and they also remember Ash owned Lugia and Mewtwo.

Everyone then agreed to go to the Burned Tower.

The Burned Tower was located in the northeastern part of Ecruteak City and it was indeed burned.

"Wow it really is a burned tower." Misty said.

"Yeah it says this tower has been this way for 150 years." Brock said. "I'm surprised it's still standing after all this time."

Ash opened the door and the gang headed inside.

Inside the tower looked more burnt than the outside.

"Watch your step." Brock advised. "I mean, the wooden planks above us may be unstable and might fall down on us."

Ash was in awe at the moment; he was fascinated with the old Burned Tower.

Suddenly a fire was ignited in the tower.

"How did this happen?" Misty gasped.

"I don't know." Brock said. "But we need to get out of here."

He grabbed Tomo to help him. Ash stared at the fire.

"Why?" Ash asked as he touched the fire. "This is just an illusion. If it was real, I would smell the smoke."

Brock touched the fire as well.

"Ash is right." He said. "This fire isn't real at all."

Ash released Noctowl from his Poke Ball.

"Use Foresight." He told Noctowl.

Noctowl's Foresight revealed that a lot of Gastly and Haunter were in the Burned Tower.

"These Gastly and Haunter probably live here." Brock said. "And they used their fiery illusion to scare us away."

The Gastly and Haunter stared at Ash. Ash returned Noctowl to his Poke Ball to prove to the ghost type Pokemon that they weren't here to cause trouble.

Just then a man with blonde hair came onto the scene.

"Calm down Gastly and Haunter." He said. "This Pokemon trainer speaks the truth. I can tell."

The Gastly and Haunter stared at the gang again and then they disappeared.

"Sorry about that." The man apologized to the gang. "The ghost type Pokemon here get nervous when someone enters the tower."

"It's fine. I know what ghost type Pokemon are like." Ash brushed it off. "I met ghost type Pokemon inside Lavender Tower back at Kanto and I have two ghost type Pokemon; a Gengar and a Misdreavus."

"I see." The man replied.

The man introduced himself as Morty, the Ecruteak gym leader and the gang introduced themselves as well.

When Morty heard Ash's name, he spoke to Ash.

"Are you the Ash Ketchum who has a Lugia?" He asked. "Bugsy from Azalea Town told me about you."

"Yes that's me." Ash said. "And if you'd like I'd gladly show you my Lugia."

"I would like to see your Lugia, Ash." Morty replied. "But not here, show me at the gym."

Just then Ash saw a wooden plaque on the wall. The wooden plaque had a big picture of a bird.

"Is that Ho-Oh?" Ash asked.

"Yes it is." Morty answered. "The truth is, Ho-Oh used to live here a long time ago before it was burned down."

"What caused this to become a burned tower?" Tomo asked.

"I will tell you." Morty replied.

Morty's story was that a long time ago the Burned Tower, originally known as the Tin Tower was built to promote the understanding between humans and Pokemon. The Tin Tower also became a special place because Ho-Oh used to make contact with humans there. Ho-Oh's visits were signs of peace between humans and Pokemon, but Ho-Oh would only show itself to a chosen few; those that guarded the tower. But one day something horrible happened; a group of invaders entered the tower, they wanted to acquire Ho-Oh's power for evil purposes. A fight broke out and in the process, the Tin Tower was set on fire. Ho-Oh fled from the tower and never returned, nor did it contact humans again.

Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock were fascinated by Morty's story.

"How come this tower was never rebuilt?" Misty asked.

"Because my ancestors wanted to keep it like this." Morty answered. "That way it would remain a witness forever to man's brutality."

"But if this was the Tin Tower a long time ago." Ash said. "Then what's the Tin Tower nearby?"

The gang saw the Tin Tower on their way to the Burned Tower.

"That is actually a copy of the original Tin Tower." Morty explained. "When they built the new Tin Tower, they hoped that Ho-Oh would return. But Ho-Oh hasn't been seen since and no one has laid eyes on it."

"Excuse me Morty, but I've seen Ho-Oh." Ash said. "I've actually seen it twice while traveling."

"I doubt it Ash." Morty replied. "You must have seen a different Pokemon."

Morty didn't believe what he was saying.

"It's true. I can even confirm it." Ash remarked.

Ash took his backpack off, opened it up and removed a big white handkerchief. Inside the handkerchief was a green, white and red feather. Tomo, Misty, Brock and Morty were amazed by Ash's feather.

"Wow, what a beautiful feather." Misty said.

"Yeah, it's something I've never seen myself." Brock added.

"It's so awesome." Tomo finished.

Morty gazed at the feather.

"Ash, that's a Rainbow Wing." He said. "It's a feather of Ho-Oh and it's a real one, not a fake. Ash, I want you to tell me how you got this feather."

"Yeah I want to know too." Misty added.

Tomo and Brock wanted to know as well.

"Well I got this feather the day after we started our journey in the Johto Region." Ash said.

(Flashback)

"It was just after we met Casey and before we entered the forest where I captured Heracross. That day it was raining really hard and we had to take shelter at once."

"I remember that day." Brock said. "Not only was there rain, but thunder and lightning as well."

"Yeah and luckily for us we found shelter in a cabin." Misty remarked.

"Yes, well anyway after the storm finally ended two hours later I went to get some firewood for the fire." Ash said. "Tomo, Misty and Brock stayed in the cabin to stay warm. I was just starting to get some firewood when I noticed a big rainbow in the sky. I stared at the rainbow for a while and nearly forgot about the firewood, so I resumed collecting it. Then suddenly I heard a screech in the sky and looked up. A big red, yellow and white bird was flying through the clouds. I recognized it as one of the Pokemon I saw after leaving Pallet Town when I first started my Pokemon journey. I also recognized as Ho-Oh because I have a book on all the legendary Pokemon in Johto. I was in disbelief over seeing Ho-Oh a second time. Suddenly, just as Ho-Oh was about to disappear over the clouds, something fluttered down towards me; it was this feather and I've kept it ever since."

(End flashback)

Tomo, Misty, Brock and Morty were fascinated by Ash's story.

"Amazing." Tomo said.

"Why didn't you tell us about that day Ash?" Misty asked.

"Because you probably wouldn't have believed me." Ash replied.

Misty thought about it somewhat.

"Now that you mention it, I don't think I would have." She confessed.

"I have to say Ash." Morty said. "Of all the lucky people I've met in the past, you are the luckiest because you got to see a Ho-Oh and you have a Lugia in your party. But whatever you do, do not show that feather to anyone. Because that feather's proof Ho-Oh is still around and people would try to go after it for themselves."

"I got it." Ash nodded. "We've run into our fair share of nasty individuals that want to use legendary Pokemon for evil purposes."

"He's right." Brock agreed.

"Come to my gym with me." Morty instructed. "I have something for your Rainbow Wing Ash and I would like to see your Lugia."

The Ecruteak Gym looked like a temple and it was made out of wood.

"Why does your gym look like a temple?" Misty asked.

"That's because I use ghost type Pokemon." Morty said. "And I also teach kids here about ghost type Pokemon."

Brock thought that made sense; after all temples were said to be home to spirits and ghosts. When they got to the battle arena where the gym battles took place, Ash released Lugia from it's Poke Ball. Lugia began to fly a bit in the gym; he had fully learned to fly and swim thanks to Ash's flying and water type Pokemon and he had grown up a bit. Morty couldn't believe his eyes once he saw Lugia.

"Wow Ash, Bugsy was telling the truth when he told me you had a Lugia." He said. "And from the looks of it, I can tell that you have taken care of it well."

"Thank you Morty." Ash said. "But he still has some more growing up to do because he's not a full grown adult yet."

"How did you acquire Lugia?" Morty asked.

Ash told him about how he met Lugia in the Orange Islands and about Lugia giving his son to him as a gift after sorting out the disaster that befell the Orange Islands.

"Wow Ash, you are one amazing Pokemon trainer and a very lucky one too." Morty said. "Actually I have something in the gym you should see. Follow me."

Morty led the gang to one of the rooms in the Ecruteak Gym; it was a room that held a lot of ornaments and stuff. Morty took out two big lockets from a wooden box in the room. One locket was made out of pure gold and the other locket was made out of pure silver.

"These two lockets were in the original Tin Tower before it was burned down." Morty said. "They were also worn by the chosen few that could communicate with Ho-Oh. My ancestors recovered these before the tower burned down."

"Wow, they are so gorgeous." Misty said, examining the locket's beauty.

"I take it they both represent Ho-Oh?" Brock asked.

"The gold locket does." Morty answered. "But the silver locket represents Lugia."

The gang gasped when they heard this.

"You see, Lugia used to visit the original Tin Tower too." Morty explained. "Legend has it Ho-Oh and Lugia were best friends and of course after the tower burned down, it never returned either. Ash pass me your Rainbow Wing please."

After Ash passed his Rainbow Wing to Morty, Morty opened up the gold locket, placed the Rainbow Wing inside, closed it again and presented it and the silver locket to Ash.

"Ash, I'm going to give you the gold and silver lockets."

Ash was surprised.

"But they belong to you." He said.

"I'm passing them to you Ash." Morty replied. "Since you possess a feather from Ho-Oh and you have a Lugia, I believe that you should own them now."

Ash didn't know what to say, but he accepted the two lockets.

"Morty, you have my word that I will take really good care of these." Ash said. "And I promise they will never get broken or stolen. And before I die an old man in the future I will return these to the gym."

Morty smiled.

"I could never leave these two lockets in better hands than yours Ash." He said.

Evening had come and it was getting late.

"Let's head to the Pokemon Center for the night." Brock suggested and the others agreed.

"Before you go." Morty said. "I have a suggestion for our gym battle tomorrow Ash."

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"I would like to battle your Lugia." Morty answered.

The gang was surprised by Morty's proposal, but Ash agreed to it.

"I warn you now Morty." Ash told him. "Lugia and I will show you no mercy."

"And neither will my Pokemon and I." Morty replied.

Tomorrow would be a interesting day.