13. Gold and Silver

"What do you mean I can't come?!"

"You may have just been healed, my typhoon, but you are not any less conspicuous."

Typh sat on the wooden floor and pouted, knowing better than to argue with his father. Their last quarrel had been disastrous. "Can I stay in their pool at least?"

Salamence said, "Now that I've shown you what kinesis feels like, perhaps you can make use of this time and practice it. Only with training will you be able to move heavy objects such as yourself." Raios and several Kimono Girls watched as the dragon tried his best to throw an arm around Typhus. "You'll be very safe here."

"But I wanna adventure with you guys…"

"Today we are just going to speak to the human who unfairly took you to this place while you were unconscious. I don't think you will find it too interesting. For now you must stay hidden."

Typh knew a bunch of ways he could go with them, but they all required psychic skills that he lacked. The only thing he knew so far was telekinesis, and he couldn't even lift a coin. "When you put it that way… maybe I should practice."

"You certainly should—it will make your next technique, open telepathy, reveal itself to you sooner. Will you practice diligently, my typhoon?"

"I don't know what you mean by open, but you're on." After a parting hug, Typh stretched out on the floor. "I'll be waaaaiting!"

"Remember, Morty shouldn't know that you've visited," Kuni said as Raios and Salamence headed out the door. "He told us to not let anyone see Lugia at all."

"Right," said Raios. "Thanks for letting us see him despite that."

The Kimono Girl nodded. "You still have the element of surprise, but not for long. Morty still thinks he has Lugia in his possession through us, and he wants us to bring him to the tower later today."

"Got it."

They left the dance theater, which still had a couple of hours to go before it opened. "Earlier, Typhus suggested that I bulk up by boosting my size before confronting any foes today," Salamence said outside with a laugh. He sniffed the damp morning air as Raios led him down the road to their first stop on the hunt for Morty. "I did consider it… but it's rather time-consuming to even initiate the process."

"It doesn't matter. I'm trying not to get in any fights today."

"Ah, watching his psychic powers grow will be so exciting!" the dragon said. "We start so weak, Raios, unlike your kind… but with diligence our strength becomes great."

Salamence had spent a couple of hours in private with his son, teaching him about his newfound power. Raios had a feeling the privacy was more for reducing distractions than maintaining secrecy, so he asked, "How do you train him?"

"Every complex psychic action is a sum of certain fundamental abilities," Salamence said, happy to teach someone else that morning. He had spared Typhus the details, but Raios would certainly grasp them. "These basic actions, whether psionic or telethesiac, cannot be taught… they arise on their own when the time is right. Kinesis is always the first to come, but since Typh had not felt it yet we meditated for an hour in an attempt to draw it out."

If Raios really was stronger than Lugia psychically, Lugia still had it down to a science—whereas Raios just knew it intuitively. Maybe Salamence could teach him some things, too. "How did the meditating go?"

"I felt very empty without my psychic powers… or psypowers, as Typhus wants me to call them." Salamence laughed. "But my typhoon had been comfortable enough to fall asleep. When I nudged him awake, he described a peculiar little feeling in his mind—and I knew that it was kinesis. According to our tradition, I was then to donate a feather with which he could practice… but I have none, and Typhus insisted that a feather was too easy. We tried to skip it, but kinesis begins exceedingly weak, and my son eventually grew frustrated with his coin and pulled out one of his own feathers." Salamence looked sideways at Raios. "He envies you, because you were no doubt born a psychic and all of it is second nature to you. He told me sadly that he wasn't even as strong as a baby Latios."

"Aww! No, we're just different, that's all." Those differences—and all the training Typh still had to do to become a good psychic—hadn't occurred to Raios until now. "Is there anything I can do to help out?"

"Perhaps you can sit with us next time and encourage him."

"Okay." Raios wanted to talk about something else. "Speaking of differences… do you have any new ideas for why you can't be psychic in other forms and I can?"

"I have no new thoughts," Salamence said with a weak growl, "but I do have concern. When it comes time for me to transform back into Lugia, will I be able? I might need to ask for your assistance once again."

Raios waved it off. "Don't worry about that—you should already know I'm going to help."

"I suppose so, friend… thank you in advance, then."

"Uh, you're welcome in advance."

They walked along, meeting no one on the road, until they reached the Burnt Tower. Or at least, where it used to be. A brand new structure, free of its construction scaffolding, stood in its place. Salamence gazed up in awe, his eyes glimmering.

"It's exactly as I remember…" he said fondly. "They reproduced my… my tower. It is here again."

"It must be like seeing an old home."

"That is exactly what the tower was to me." Salamence wanted to fly straight up to the top, but a brightly-painted sign draped above the doorway caught his attention. "What does that say?"

"Grand opening and dedication ceremony tomorrow."

Salamence laughed. "And I was not invited?"

"Well… maybe your son was going to show up. Maybe that's what Morty wants to do!"

"I thought Morty wanted Ho-Oh. Why would he arrange any of this?"

"I guess we'll have to ask him… hey, is that the guy we saw at the Gym?"

"I believe he called himself Eusine." Salamence spotted the man ducking behind the tower and tilted his head. "He looks rather suspicious. I will investigate him, whilst you ascend the tower."

"Don't you want to come too?"

Salamence gave the top of the tower another longing gaze, but shook his head. "I would rather wait until my son is with me. This is very… sentimental."

"Say no more." Raios went up the steps. "Don't get lost or anything… you're my only Pokémon."

"If you need me, just call telepathically. And… enjoy the tower. It's marvelous in every way."

"I wonder if they made it fireproof this time. Makes sense… what?"

After being treated to a long, icy glare, Raios apologized and disappeared inside the tower. Salamence soon wanted to apologize back—he had overreacted to what must have been just an innocuous remark—but his friend was already gone. After giving a little sigh in acknowledgement of his mistake, Salamence walked onward past the tower. The cool weather quickly restored his mood, and he walked slowly and leisurely, with his mouth open in a happy gape—one would have to be a fool to mistake me for a wild animal, he thought.

But lo and behold, the man in purple jumped as soon as he saw Salamence coming down the hill his way.

"Is that a wild dragon over there?" Raikou said. "It looks like it's coming straight for us!"

Unmoved, Entei uttered, "Most wild Pokémon don't wear collars."

"Oh, it must be that one Trainer's dragon," their captor said to himself from his cheap old chair. "The Salamence. What a relief—by the looks of it, I chanced upon the mildest dragon this side of Mt. Silver." He watched as Salamence approached, ready to spring if the dragon turned out to be hostile after all.

But it only whined anxiously, poking at Eusine's chair.

The human raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh my, are you lost?" The Salamence nodded and glanced backwards at Ecruteak City before whining at him some more. "I saw you just yesterday—well, I suppose you can sit there…"

The dragon seemed to brighten up a little, sitting between Eusine and the two caged Pokémon. It seemed rather interested in Raikou and Entei. "Feeling better, dragon?" Eusine said. "I'm glad I could ease your worries." He reached down and stroked the dragon's tail. It growled.

"Hands off," Salamence snapped, swinging his tail away from the human.

Raikou guffawed and greeted the dragon from his cage. "I knew you weren't so mellow after all!" he said. "So, um, who are you?"

"Right now, I am Salamence." He gazed at Raikou and Entei solemnly, knowing that his words would sound absurd to them. "But my true identity is Lugia."

"Lugia?" repeated Raikou. "You mean Lugia the psychic flying somewhat-bird thing? The Lugia who used to be here in this town? The Lugia that's huge and white and… not a dragon? That Lugia?"

"…Yes. I can use my psychic powers to—"

"Hahaha! You must be into that thing people do. What's it called—role-playing! Yeah, roles! If you're gonna be Lugia, then I'll be… oh! I've always liked Skarmory! I'm a Skarmory! Keeee!" Raikou reared up to spread his make-believe wings, bumping his head on the cage's ceiling. "Yeeow!"

Salamence disapproved of his levity. "I am not playing a role in words alone. You must believe me—as Lugia, I am psychically able to transform my body."

"What would you even be doing as a fat dragon?"

"I am broad, not fat! And I took this form as a disguise, so I could search for my son without drawing unwanted attention. He went missing after the recent terrible storm."

Entei sat up. "Oh… I hope you find him."

"Thank you, but I have already."

"Oh."

"I recognize you two. Many years ago, you fled as the tower behind me turned to rubble. The original tower, that is."

"Hi. I'm Entei. I trust you, Lugia." Entei threw Raikou a defiant look.

Raikou didn't know whether to side with Entei or his own reliable, always-right-sometimes gut. "I'm Raikou… I'm not actually Skarmory."

Salamence nodded like he was entertaining a child. "That much is clear. Now, for the question I have been meaning to ask… why does this human have you two in cages?"

"He's a maniac," started Raikou with a growl. "First he caught Entei, and then he caught me when I was coming for him to rescue Entei, and now he has us both and—grrr! I hate cages! I really really hate them!"

"He wants the third of us," Entei said plainly. "Suicune. He's been trying for years and years."

Salamence looked at Eusine again, who checked his watch absentmindedly. The dragon snorted. "I would detest having someone like him on my tail for that long."

"Wait!" exclaimed Raikou. "I totally forgot! I saw a small-looking Lugia in his truck! I couldn't wake him up, and that's sorta how I ended up getting caught. That must've been your kid!"

"Yes, it must have. I'm sorry you got drawn into trouble."

Raikou looked puzzled for a second before saying, "Don't sweat it. It's not like this is all your fault or anything—it was the storm."

"…I suppose." Salamence sighed. "I wonder if Morty and this Eusine are cohorts. It seems unlikely that their mythical pursuits are uncorrelated, since you are tied rather closely to Ho-Oh…"

"Morty? I've heard the purple guy say his name on the phone a couple times. They probably talked to each other. But I dunno who Eusine is."

Salamence dealt out a withering stare. "Eusine is your captor!"

"Oh! A weird name for a weird dude, huh?"

"I worry that your presence here might somehow draw Ho-Oh to the city," explained the dragon. "That is what Morty desires. He, in all likelihood, took my son in an attempt to achieve that. Perhaps Eusine is working toward the same end."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure he's just Suicune's rabid groupie," Raikou mused. "What do you care about Ho-Oh, anyway?"

"I… she is like me in many ways. I may have my son back, but as long as Ho-Oh is also in danger we must stay. I owe her that much, if not more."

"That is very nice of you," Entei purred.

"Wish we could help," added Raikou.

Salamence smiled. "You have helped—I followed Eusine here hoping to discover new information, and I have. Namely, it is that he has you two…" The dragon figured that Raios would come find him eventually, so he decided to bask in the sun until then and keep his two caged friends company. "I'm glad I found you."

"So am I!" Raikou nodded. "It's funny that we can talk right under Eusine's nose!"

Entei suddenly stood up as straight as his cage would allow and squinted. "Uh… what does Ho-Oh look like?" he asked.

"She is vibrantly colored, like a living rainbow—"

"Oh."

"—but when the sun is bright and shining directly on her, she can take on a marvelous golden appearance."

Raikou lifted a paw and stammered, "That thingy in the distance there looks like it fits!"

Salamence turned around and peered at the shining speck in the sky. "My goodness… if only it were closer or my eyesight keener."

"Is that Ho-Oh?" Entei continued asking. "I wonder if she's coming."

"I wonder as well. That skyward spark is too distant to identify." Salamence jumped to his feet, ignoring whatever the startled Eusine was saying to him. "I will fly to it and see," the dragon declared, rearing up and preparing to fly. "I must go now and warn—"

His voice cut off in pain—something extremely cold blasted into his side, causing stunning, intense agony. The bewildered dragon collapsed to the ground with a thud, hardly hearing Eusine's panicked calls. What he felt was no ordinary cold—it had been an ice-based attack! Ice was one of Lugia's weaknesses, and he had felt its terrible sting before… but as Salamence, it was even more devastating.

Steeling himself, Salamence rose to his feet—only to feel a chilling blow to his right wing that magnified his pain. Enraged and knowing that he had to strike back immediately or else face defeat, he tried to turn and face his attacker. But it was already too late—this time the intense frigidity spread through his whole body in seconds, and every part of him grew stiff and numb. He found himself stuck in his tracks, unable to move, and when even his breathing stopped he started to panic.

He struggled to fight the cold and move just an inch, to no avail. He had been rendered completely motionless. Someone called out… and colors moved in his vision… but Salamence couldn't make sense of his senses. They faded away, along with his anxiety, and then he felt and thought nothing at all. Caught like a statue in his half-turned pose, Salamence had frozen solid, his mouth hung open in a silent, desperate roar.

Raios panted his way onto the roof of the Brass Tower.

Maybe he should've asked Salamence for a quick ride before splitting up—it had been a long trip up many stories, and Raios had hurried his way up the many stairs in an effort to keep Salamence from waiting on him later. Still, despite his exhaustion… the inside of the tower had been beautiful, filled with intricate designs and even elegant statues and figures of Lugia. They represented the real deal beautifully and with great detail, even if they were a bit… slimmer.

Raios had half expected someone to find him and throw him out, since the tower wasn't officially open yet, but every floor had been deserted. So when he stepped out onto the tower's roof, it actually surprised him to find someone standing there, leaning against the railing and peering at the sky. He wore subdued tones, with a purple headband circling his blond head.

He heard the door to the roof slam shut—the wind was blustery that high up—and turned around. "Hey, I'd appreciate it if you didn't break something so soon," he said, more cheerful than concerned. "I could have sworn I locked the door…"

"Sorry." Raios reached the platform where Morty was standing and peered at the landscape stretched out in front of him—fields first, then a dense forest farther out. No wonder the towers had been chosen as roosting places… the view was incredible, and even though they were part of a city the roofs remained quite private. "Are you Morty?" Raios asked.

"Yes." He turned so that they were both gazing outward from their high vantage point—but he kept his eyes on the sky. "Are you Raios?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Lynn told me you were coming." Morty shook his head. "Do you see what I'm doing now? I hope she didn't make me out to be an evil person."

Raios frowned. "She didn't." He decided to go straight for the questions he wanted to ask. "So you helped build this tower for Lugia?"

"Well, it was my idea," Morty said with a smile. "Until now, everyone was content to pay their respects to that burnt scar. But I convinced some important people that a new tower would be the greatest monument to the old… and I filled them with the hope that Lugia would return at its completion."

"And you wanted to make that true, right? So you took Lugia from Lynn?"

"I brought him here, yes. Lugia appearing here again, at the new tower, after what—more than a hundred and fifty years? That would be the most impressive sight Ecruteak has seen for a long time. When both Lugia and Ho-Oh come back… it'll be perfect."

Raios didn't exactly feel comfortable standing there with Typh's kidnapper, so he skipped to the point he wanted to reach. "But Ho-Oh's the one you really want, right?"

"Did Lynn tell you that too?" Morty chuckled. "Or maybe not. Everyone must know how much I have been trying to encounter that rainbow legend. And look—there it is, in the distance." He pointed at a golden dot in the sky. "It really worked."

"…What really worked?"

"Let's be real here, Raios. There's no need to tease my schemes out of me, because I don't need to hide them. Since they're honestly noble, and nearly complete, I don't mind telling now. It sounds bad from Lynn's point of view… but that's just because she wanted Lugia to herself. Surely you don't think I'm being more selfish than she is."

"She just wanted to…" Raios blew some air. "Never mind. If you're so open about your plans, then go ahead! I'd like to know why it's so good that you took Lugia away from his home in the sea."

"It's simple. The sea isn't Lugia's true home. It's here, on this tower. When the original came down all those years ago… Lugia had no choice but to find a new home, and it chose to dwell in the ocean. Now that the Brass Tower is back, though, he can return. So I helped him along."

"But he was so hurt!"

"I know… but if I waited, Lynn would've just returned Lugia to the ocean. Or maybe she'd have held onto Lugia even harder once it was healed and I had no reason to take him." Morty shrugged. "Either way, Lugia would escape me, and then so would Ho-Oh. I tried to tell her my plans, but she could only see that I was taking her Lugia away."

"Wait." Raios stopped Morty before he could keep going on about Lynn. "What makes you think Ho-Oh will come because of Lugia?"

"Before Lugia went to the sea, it was a guardian of the sky just like Ho-Oh. They were a pair—gold and silver, fire and water. When Lugia moved to the sea, though, Ho-Oh felt the same kind of unrest, causing it to leave its home as well. I believe Ho-Oh is just waiting for things to be restored… it's waiting for things to be made right. And I've made them right.

"And even if that theory's wrong—Lynn kept pointing out my lack of evidence—even if I'm wrong, my friend Eusine is catching Entei, Suicune, and Raikou. I let him have three of the four Master Balls I've acquired over the years, because it's the only way he'll catch them in time." Morty chuckled to himself, probably at Eusine's expense. "Those three wanderers… according to legend, Ho-Oh gave them life. So maybe bringing them together could also draw Ho-Oh here. I don't know, but it was worth a shot. Eusine really wants Suicune anyway, and I owe him one for driving Lugia here.

"Oh and finally, there was the ideal I used to believe. The one that states Ho-Oh only appears to a worthy Trainer. I developed my abilities for a long time to that end, letting my position as a Gym Leader steadily train me, but after a while I realized something. Worthiness wasn't just might—it was inner strength, too. So I told myself if that one legend was true, then Ho-Oh was really looking for a pure-hearted person. And I think renewing Ecruteak's long-lost Brass Tower and bringing Lugia home counts as pure-hearted!" Morty beamed proudly.

"Not really, if you're doing it all just to get to Ho-Oh," murmured Raios.

Morty threw up his hands. "Whatever. That doesn't matter, because Ho-Oh really is coming, and right this way too."

"Thanks for telling me all that," Raios said. "I didn't really think you would."

"Don't tell me you're going to thwart my evil machinations, Raios. I know Lynn sent you, but look—what's at stake here? Everybody benefits, even Lugia."

"Did you know that you took the young one? You took Lugia away from his father."

"If that's true, I don't see why the father hasn't come to save him yet. And besides, the older one would be welcome to join its offspring up here. I wouldn't stop it."

Raios had to find more ways Morty was being destructive. "What about Ho-Oh? You're going to catch her, aren't you? That's what I'm the most worried about, I think."

"I am going to catch it. But—hold on! It's not like I'm going to use Ho-Oh in my Pokémon team. It'll live its life as it would normally! As far as I'm concerned, my possession of it keeps the powerful being from falling into less pure-hearted hands.

"And don't tell me I'm disrupting any natural balance. Studies have shown that it's not really true that catching a powerful Pokémon limits its power. Ho-Oh will be fine. And I don't really believe Ho-Oh or Lugia actually reproduce, despite what Lynn told me. It doesn't make sense. I mean, you need a male and a female, right? And there's just one Lugia. There isn't a breeding population, or whatever the term is Lynn said."

Raios wanted to spill out so many things to refute Morty, but he couldn't give up the element of surprise Kuni had mentioned. He wished Salamence was there to tell him what to say! "I… I think Ho-Oh needs to be free. You've done nice things, but… you're still not justified in catching these special, unique Pokémon. How do I know you don't want to catch Lugia too? Will you really resist the temptation to master them? It's a lot of power to put in one person's hands!"

"Do you think I'll turn into a tyrant or something?"

"Even if you don't… these Pokémon have a legacy. Who are you to disrupt it?" Raios turned his indignation on full blast, doing his friend Lugia justice. "Who are you to say you know what's better for Lugia and Ho-Oh than they do?"

The words seemed to move Morty, by his ponderous expression, but then he turned to his visitor with confidence. "Raios, you're overreacting! If I'm changing their lives at all, it's for the better! And they're just Pokémon!"

Raios stood back from the railing, irked by Morty's arrogance. "They're not just Pokémon! They're like us, even though they're wild! That goes with what I said about how they're unique—"

"What're you talking about? Are you saying that they're like people? What makes you think that?"

"N-never mind!" Raios just wanted to run away. "I'm going to stop you somehow!" he vowed like some sort of hero.

Morty's hands flew into his pockets.

"Oh, is that so?"