Chapter 21 – Mujizoto Tower
Pelame awakened with a start. She could feel the Dark Blessing's desperation even in her sleep, and it was having an effect on it. Upon her sudden awakening, she was momentarily disoriented by her surroundings before remembering that the trip to Suzaku City was to be done by the overnight train she and TIGHS were currently on. Suzaku City was located very far south on Shizazoto's landmass, making for a train trip that would last fifteen hours, five of which passed by now. The itinerary put their arrival at 11:00AM. As there were ten hours remaining, and it was an early-morning hour before anyone could be expected to be awake, Pelame went back to sleep. Fortunately for her, this attempt was much more successful. Seven hours later, it was time to get up.
"Goooood morning, Researchers!" Trailblazer greeted in his most excited tone yet. "In another three hours, we're going to arrive in Suzaku City! Who can tell me why that's so exciting, as if we didn't already know?"
"It's the city Mujizoto Tower is located in!" Pelame and Mori said in unison. Pelame quickly turned and glared at Mori, saying, "I said it first."
"Yep, that's right. And in fact, if you'll all look out the window, you can see it from here. See?" Everyone, Researcher and staff alike, took a look out the train's windows. As Trailblazer noted, the tower was visible. "As it is the world's tallest Pokémon-made structure, that's to be expected. By the way, can anyone tell me exactly how high the tower is? How about you, Harry?"
"1.852 kilometers, sir!" Harry answered. "And that's without the 70 meters of the plateau it's built on."
"Good answer, Harry. And Jean, can you tell me what the tower's reinforced with?"
"Oh, that's easy. It's reinforced with glass made out of Sacred Ash. It's only the toughest glass in the world."
"That, it is, as Solothurn demonstrated last night."
"Urgh… don't remind me…" Harry grumbled in his thoughts. "Magnum shots and small rooms do not mix well with my huge ears."
"Basically, nothing short of lava or an impossibly powerful weapon or move can break Sacred Ash glass. Why, even one of Shizazoto's famous bullet trains would make like a soda can against a trash compactor against it. One last question: what was the tower built for? This one's for Mori."
"WHAT?!" Pelame demanded.
"You heard him," Mori chided. He then looked at Trailblazer and gave his answer. "Mujizoto Tower was built by Emperor Mienshao VI, the last member of the Mienshao Dynasty before the Hito Dynasty took over. He built it as a gift to Mujizoto, the Guardian of Shizazoto's skies. And he made it a tradition that the new ruler would have to climb the tower to receive Mujizoto's sacred blessing. That's the one and only Mienshao Dynasty tradition that the Hito Dynasty observes, by the way. Not to mention that since the tower has 306 floors, lots of Hito Dynasty members used that as bragging rights."
"Well, well, not a single wrong answer from anyone I've asked questions of today!" Trailblazer complimented. "I'm so proud of you guys. So then, it's time for breakfast, and in barely less than three hours, we'll be at Suzaku City!"
Rooter entered with a giant cart-full of food for the TIGHS Researchers and staff. Everyone took what their culinary preference was and ate their fill of it. By this point, there were 160 minutes left until the train was to arrive at its destination. To take up the remaining time, everyone got to various recreational time-wasters. Harry got out his laptop computer to load up the newest "Riptide" episode he'd missed. Pelame took the seat next to him and noticed what he was going to watch.
"Oh, my friend Torden told me about this show," Pelame said. "I've been meaning to check it out."
"You've never seen it before?" Harry asked, stunned.
"Nope."
"Well then, let's watch together from the beginning. You're kinda way behind on it if you've never seen it." Harry input a search request into Twang for the first episode. "Oh? The Twilight Kingdom has their own version of it?" Pelame and Harry watched the localized first episode. By the end, neither were particularly impressed. "Huh… that was… odd…"
"This was worth Hot Air burning Sivik-Ripney over?!" Pelame said with incredulity and anger.
"Yeah, the original is better, but this was still good enough—" Harry quickly turned to Pelame after comprehending what she said. "Wait, did you just say Sivik-Ripney got burned down because of this?"
"Well, just the Localization Department. But yes, a crazy fan burned it down, probably taking other localized episodes and other parts of Sivik-Ripney with it. And for what? I mean, I hated it as much as everyone else did when 'Squirtle Squad' went from being an action show to a sitcom, but I'd never burn Paragate Studios down over it. Besides, 'Riptide' doesn't even look like it's that good a show—no offense, Harry."
"None taken. But that's nuts! Committing arson over a TV show? Did that Hot Air guy have a Dark Blessing?"
"Actually, yes he did. But that's still no excuse!"
"Unbelievable…"
"Really, just how much better is the original, anyway?"
"Well, I can show you."
"Okay. Queue it up."
Harry did, they watched, and Pelame still wasn't too impressed.
"Seems like just a usual generic pirate story, to be honest," Pelame said. "And that goes for both versions. Sorry, Harry, but I really don't see the appeal."
"It's all good, Pelame," Harry responded. "Just know that when we get to Tradja, it's gonna be everywhere. The whole nation's absolutely obsessed with it. And you'll unfortunately meet some fans less tolerant than myself about those not liking the show."
"Yeah, Torden warned me about Internet fandoms."
"And he's not wrong to. I mean, if something like a foreign localization can cause someone to set fire to the localization office in question, that really says something terrible about the rest of us in general. Now, I don't know how ugly it gets online since I don't like visiting online forums, but I just hope it doesn't get any crazier in the real world than arson"
"Me too, Harry. Especially because that'd be a gigantic chance the Dark Blessing would certainly jump at."
"Yeah…"
The train followed the itinerary to the numeral, arriving at 11:00AM at Suzaku City. Upon disembarking from the train, it was a bit of a surprise to see that the city was rather small.
"It ought to be called 'Suzaku Town'" Komed quipped, offering the first spoken thought about the situation.
"Yeah, it should," Mori agreed. "This used to be the capital of Shizazoto before Yuxiujing was named the new capital by the Mienshao Dynasty. And then, as we all know, Daoyin was made the new capital once the Hito Dynasty took over."
"So why point that part out, then, huh?" prodded Pelame.
Mori chose not to respond.
"Okay, everyone!" Trailblazer said to the group. "So, just in case you're all wondering why Suzaku City is so small it really should be called a town, that's because this was Shizazoto's very first capital. Once Yuxiujing became the new capital, this town basically lost its… shall we say… spirit, and it basically wasted away. And matters weren't helped when various members of the Hito Dynasty literally moved their favorite buildings and structures onto the property of the Royal Palace in Daoyin. If any of you ever at any point heard Zotoan populace complain about how crazy Kentahito's ancestors were, rest assured that they're 100% right. In fact, I really wouldn't be shocked if anyone though Mujizoto Tower would've been the next to be moved. Oh, and speaking of which…" Trailblazer pointed at the tower, the roof of which was casting a large shadow over the town. "Yep, they had to build it far enough away so that there wouldn't be an unnecessarily huge shadow over the city. All kinds of problems were averted by the genius decision. Downside is, it's gonna be about a two-hour hike from here, so let's pick up some provisions from the station while we're still here. They accommodate for travelers."
In the early morning hours (as was the time in the Twilight Kingdom at the moment), Keldeo, Pinna, and a gliscor were meeting in one of the watchtowers of the castle's battlements.
"Valkyrie," Keldeo said, addressing the gliscor. "I'm certain you remember Lieutenant Pinna."
"Been trying not to forget him," Valkyrie answered. "Good thing that's not easy to do."
"Good. Because he'll be part of the International Guard alongside you. He's going to be accompanying you to Ordoxivia."
"It'll be like old times…"
"Just keep the war stories to a minimum this time, okay?" Pinna requested.
"No promises of that. They're so much fun to tell that I can't help it!"
"Well, anyway, best of luck to both of you. You're shipping out in ten minutes," Keldeo stated.
"Yes, sir!"
"Take a look at this thing…" Trailblazer said once TIGHS had finally reached Mujizoto Tower. It certainly was a spectacle. Its first hundred floors were built like a pagoda, with eaves on each of them. The eaves stopped after floor 100. After that point, the rest of the tower was all wood and metal. Its top floor was the only other floor besides the initial hundred that had its own set of eaves. After that was the roof. The tower was colored blue for the first twenty floors, white for the next thirty, gold for the thirty after that, green for the twenty after that, red for the one hundred sixty after that, green for the ten after that, red for the thirty after that, and gold for the remaining six including the roof.
"Isn't it just breathtaking?" Trailblazer asked. "One of the Wonders of Pocketurn, and we're about to explore it. I've dreamed of the day I'd be able to see inside this tower for myself…" Trailblazer then cleared his throat and turned to the others. "Okay, before we go in, let me tell you a few things. First of all, as it is very notoriously hard to get official permission from the Zotoan Empire—who has to get it from Mujizoto himself, by the way—this is a very special occasion to be able to see inside the tower at all. As with all Pokémon not related to the Empire's Royal Family, we are only allowed to go as far as the 100th floor. Any attempt to try to go past that won't even be possible, as the way forward from that point is only known by the Royal Family, and likely can only be activated by a Royal Family member. Also, as this is one of the most revered places in Shizazoto, let alone all of Pocketurn, please treat this place as such. Are we all clear?"
"Yes, sir!" shouted the Researchers and staff.
"Good. Now, just one more question: what is the name of Mujizoto's species?"
"Ho-oh!" Pelame answered as quickly as she could. "The tower's color scheme even matches his own, from the talons up to his crest feathers."
"Well said, Pelame. Okay then, let's research!" Trailblazer opened the gate to the tower's front lawn, where the two golem guards let them in upon checking their TIGHS IDs.
As beautiful as the tower was on the outside, the inside was even more amazing. From inside, it was possible to see the Sacred Ash glass reinforcing the structure.
"By the way, here's what's been keeping this tower standing for so long," Trailblazer noted. "This goes up for 200 of this tower's 306 floors, and it's all it needs to survive all kinds of disasters. Sorry to spring another pop quiz on all of you, but who can tell me exactly how Sacred Ash and Sacred Ash glass is made?"
"Sacred Ash is made from—" Mori began before Pelame suddenly covered his mouth with both her paws.
"It's made from Mujizoto himself when he dies," Pelame finished. "But he's special in that—"
"His death is not permanent," Mori continued, having pried Pelame's paws off of his mouth. "As long as his death can leave a body behind, he'll turn it to ashes upon a death, and—"
"He doesn't need all of his own ashes in order to reincarnate. The leftovers are what other Pokémon can use for all kinds of purposes: medicine—"
"—glass, a blessing to the Royal Family—"
"—peace offerings—Mori, just shut up and let me answer this one!"
"Find it funny that 'peace offering' was the last thing she said before that outburst?" Kasumi whispered to Redfoot, who nodded.
"Yeah, she sure could use some Sacred Ash in that case," Redfoot whispered back.
"Well, you're both right," Trailblazer commended. "Though only one of you needed to answer. Anyway, let's get to researching for real." As soon as everyone dispersed, Trailblazer approached Pelame and Morikain. "Okay, you two," he began. "I know you're rivals, but if there's any place where you'd do good to put your rivalry aside and focus on the job at hand, this would be it. May you two please do that for me?"
"I'll try to—" Pelame began.
"No, I don't want you to just 'try to'; I want you to actually do it."
"All right," Pelame and Mori answered.
"Thank you very much. Besides, there's really nothing in here to fight about, anyway. Just take in all the sights this tower has to offer." With that, Trailblazer went to conduct research of his own.
"Okay, Mori," Pelame said. "Trailblazer's counting on us to behave. So don't you mess this up."
"And don't you do the same," Mori responded.
"It's a deal, then." Pelame and Mori reluctantly shook on it. After that, they went with separate groups to go further into the tower to conduct research.
Pelame decided to go with Kasumi and Komed to the third floor of the tower. In there, they found nothing other than Old Zotoan text spelling out Mujizoto's name carved into the wooden pillars on the walls. The first truly interesting find was on the tenth floor.
"Is this…" Kasumi began, blown away by the beauty of what she saw in the glass case on the central pillar.
"Yep, that's Mujizoto's Rainbow Wing," Pelame answered. "Oh, if only photos were allowed inside the tower like they are outside…"
"So, what exactly is this thing's purpose?" Komed asked. "I mean, it looks more like a feather than an entire wing."
"See the inscription there?" Pelame asked, pointing at the plaque. "It's written in both of the Old Zotoan languages, which are often incorrectly called dialects."
The plaque's first line read, "ゾトウ人の帝国は、ども有り難う。わしはにじいろのはねを授けよ。" Its second line read, "ゾトウ帝國、謝謝。我賜予你我的彩虹羽毛的感激之情。"
"That second line probably has a mistake in it somewhere, but I'm not sure where," Pelame noted. "The scribe who wrote that one probably wasn't well-versed in Western Old Zotoan."
The third line read, "My deepest thanks to the Zotoan Empire. In gratitude, I bestow this Rainbow Wing."
"That last line appears to be Emperor Kentahito's handwriting," Pelame said. "After all, I think he was the first of Shizazoto's rulers to visit the tower after Pocketurn switched to just one language."
"That's very interesting," Kasumi responded
Mori had gone with Harry and Seedling up to the twelfth floor, which was where they made a very interesting find. Inscribed on this floor's section of the central pillar was a mural of a mienshao receiving a blessing from Mujizoto.
"That must be Emperor Mienshao VI," Harry noted. "First to receive Mujizoto's blessing. Makes sense."
"Heh, I almost mistook him for Kentahito," Seedling confessed shyly.
"Me, too," Mori added. "But Kentahito is just a little bit taller than Mienshao VI was."
"Yeah…"
Further up, Pelame and her group had reached floor seventeen. Inscribed on that floor's section of the central pillar was something that immediately got Pelame's attention. It appeared to be an astrolabe.
"Whew… for a minute there, I thought someone inscribed that insignia I saw in that nightmare I had when I touched the Mortite," Pelame said with relief.
"Uh, no, Pelame," Kasumi corrected. "This is the Emblem of Existence. Everyone knows that!"
"I know it's the Emblem of Existence. I'm just saying that at first—"
"I know, Pelame. It's fine."
The group took a look at the Emblem of Existence. The topmost node on its astrolabe-like setup depicted Arceus. There were two lines of six nodes in the middle of the Emblem: one line had six Pokémon on it that couldn't be made out due to the wear and tear, and the lower line depicted Pocketurn's World Leaders. The node on the very bottom depicted a mew.
"The Emblem of Existence, huh?" Mori said, arriving on the current floor. "This looks like one of the oldest ones in the world. You can't even see these in photos."
"Nope, only up close," Kasumi agreed. "Know what it means?"
"I do!" Pelame piped up. "Arceus is the creator of all things and the representative of Immortal life, which is why he's up at the top of this Emblem. These twelve in the middle are the Bearers of the Planes' Boundaries, six for the Immortal Realm and six for the Mortal Realm, and Mew represents all mortal life."
"Thanks, Pelame, but I was asking Mori."
"Besides which, you got one very important thing wrong," Mori said. "This Emblem—" He placed his hand on it and turned it. "—has no actual direction to it, so as not to imply any superiority or inferiority. In fact, it usually is set up like this." Mori turned it until the nodes depicting Arceus and Mew were on the left and the right respectively.
"Yeah, thanks, professor," Pelame snapped. She continued up into the eighteenth floor. There, a gigantic vat was situated in the corner of the room.
"Whoa, that's huge," Komed said once the others caught up. "Please tell me there's the world's biggest cookies in there."
"No, Komed, why would there be—"
"Sheesh, Pelame, I'm just kidding around! But seriously though, know what's in there?"
"That's easy," Mori answered. "There's a huge reserve—"
"Mori, she was asking me, so shut up and let me answer!"
"Well, actually, I was asking anyone…"
"This always happens! You keep getting in my way!"
At long last, Mori had taken all he could from Pelame. "All right, Pelame. What's your big problem with me?!"
"I just told you one of them: you keep getting in my way. You keep acting like you're the greatest Pokémon to grace the field of historical study—"
"When have I ever—"
"And you ju… j… you annoy me to no end! There! I SAID IT!"
"Well, same to you, you stuck-up brat! Ever since you joined TIGHS, you've turned every research run into a contest to see how much better you could do than me. It's like you stopped caring about Pocketurn's history and just started trying to be better than me! Not that I'm saying you are nor am I saying you aren't, because it really doesn't matter to me which one of us is better."
"Yeah, because even you know deep down that it's me!"
"There you go again! For the love of Arceus, it's like—"
"And a million pardons for that, plus all the craziness that's been going on in my life lately!"
"Well, that's still no reason to take it all out on me! What have I ever done to you to deserve this?!"
"Sheesh, have I been stuttering this whole time?!"
While the argument was going on, Komed silently left the room to go fetch Trailblazer.
"You are the most annoying and pretentious Pokémon I've ever met, Morikain!" Pelame finished. "So stop bothering me!"
"Funny; those words describe you a lot better, Pelame," Mori added. "The Alpha Bloodline really ought to be ashamed of you."
Pelame stood there, glaring at Mori. "…take that back…"
"Why should I?"
"TAKE THAT BACK!"
"Never!"
For a moment, Pelame had no response other than to continue to stare at (and glare at) Mori. Her facial expression was intensifying until she suddenly lashed out with a Quick Attack that sent Mori back-first into the room's central pillar. Before he could get up, Pelame struck him with her Iron Tail attack. At that point, all bets were off.
"All right then!" he challenged. "You want a piece of me?!"
He tossed an Energy Ball attack at Pelame, striking her where her Alpha Sigil was located. She dodged another one and retaliated with a Swift attack, which Mori powered through despite being hit. The two physically collided.
"That's enough, you two!" Kasumi ordered, attempting to mediate.
Pelame and Mori were rolling along the ground exchanging fisticuffs (with Pelame being a quadrupedal Pokémon, it could barely be called fisticuffs in her case) with one another. Mori tossed Pelame off of himself and hit her rear end with an Energy Ball. He then rushed her only to run straight into an Alpha Barrier. Once he was knocked over, Pelame landed a Swift attack on his rear end. The two got back to their fisticuffs once they tackled each other once more.
"I said 'THAT'S ENOUGH!'" Kasumi cried, letting out a Hydro Pump at Pelame and Mori. The two brawling Pokémon ended up rolling out of the way, causing Kasumi's attack to hit the giant vat. It wobbled loose from its bindings and broke upon hitting the ground, spilling out lots of Sacred Ash. The residual water from Kasumi's attack got the ash wet. Upon all this, everyone stopped what they were doing. Trailblazer had arrived just as the vat fell, and that was enough for him to tell what was going on. And he was very livid.
"They started it!" Kasumi defended, pointing at Pelame and Mori.
Trailblazer didn't respond. He went forward, picked up Pelame, Mori, and Kasumi, and headed down the tower with them. When he came across Winifred on the ninth floor, he briefly stopped.
"Continue the research trip without me," he ordered. "I need to have a word with these three."
"Yes… sir," she responded, confused. She thought better of inquiring why, considering the look she saw her boss having on his face.
TIGHS had a small HQ in Suzaku City, which Trailblazer brought Pelame, Mori, and Kasumi to. He brought them to his office and seated them down before taking his own seat. He was still very angry. None of the three Researchers felt comfortable in this scenario, which was why they elected to remain silent, if only out of fear. Finally, the silence was broken.
"To be blunt, I am absolutely appalled at your behavior today," he began. The three Researchers could practically feel their boss's wrath despite him not raising his voice. His tranquil anger was terrifying to say the least. "Here I thought visiting one of the Wonders of Pocketurn would be our greatest Research Trip yet, but then this happens. You two break out into a brawl, and you ruining about thirty years' worth of perfectly good Sacred Ash in a misguided attempt to stop them."
"It was just an accident—" Kasumi stammered.
"Do not. Speak over me. Kasumi, your fellow Researcher Komed came to inform me of what was going on between Pelame and Mori. You should have just let me handle it. But since you took action, you broke a vat that contained enough Sacred Ash to reinforce at least three more floors of the tower. Do you have any idea how serious this is?"
Kasumi didn't dare answer.
"That vat was the only one that could contain Sacred Ash without contaminating it, which would render it unsuitable for use for any purpose. Now another one will have to be made, and Mujizoto will have to spend another who-knows-how-many-years refilling it, since the water from your Hydro Pump utterly ruined it all. That is how serious this is!"
Kasumi stopped being able to look Trailblazer in the eye.
"When I founded TIGHS, I did so with the intention of solving Pocketurn's many historical mysteries. So when an incident like this happens, Pocketurn eternally loses a part of its history. I cannot tolerate that. You know the guild rules, right?"
Upon hearing that, Kasumi knew exactly what her punishment was going to be. "But it was just an accident! If these two morons hadn't been—"
"I don't care if it was an accident. The point is, you destroyed a historical artifact, which directly violates the most important of the guild's rules. History is to be studied, not destroyed. So, for that, I have no choice, Kasumi. Your employment with TIGHS is hereby terminated."
"…yes, sir…" Kasumi said sadly. She took out her TIGHS ID Card and gave it to Trailblazer.
"I thank you for the good work you've done before today. This will get you home." Trailblazer gave Kasumi a voucher for a plane ticket home. She took it and left without saying a word. Pelame and Mori knew it was their turn next.
"As for you two, well, I can't help but feel aghast at you two as well," he began. "The two of you broke the deal you made with me. I told you to mind yourselves around each other, only for this to happen. Well, I hope you now see just how harmful your rivalry gets when it spirals out of control like this. If it weren't for you two, Kasumi would still be working with us. But as the circumstances were, neither of you destroyed anything, so I'm not firing either of you."
Pelame and Mori were relieved despite knowing that there would be a caveat to this.
"However, I'm certainly not letting you off the hook. You two acted very reprehensibly today. So, for the rest of the time we will be spending here in Shizazoto, you will both be on probation. During this time, you will both be required to return to this HQ from Research Trips at no later than 5:00PM every night. Your salaries will also be cut by 40%—with an additional 10% for repeatedly ignoring my warnings, so 50% pay cut it is—, and finally, you will both be visiting Winifred every night upon your return to work your feud out, because I, along with the rest of the guild, have had it with you two constantly being at each others' throats. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir…" Pelame and Mori answered.
"Good. Now both of you, to your crew rooms. And needless to say, you will not be sharing a crew room with one another. And if I find any signs that you've fought again, then you will be following Kasumi back home. Same goes if you violate curfew." Trailblazer left the building, leaving Pelame and Mori to go to their rooms. The two glared at each other as they slammed their doors shut. As Mori lie down on his bed after setting his things down, he was spoken to.
"Looks like Pelame's gotten you down again, huh?"