25. Of angry trees, pancakes, and troubles with history

After the adventures at National Park, they left to travel towards Ecruteak City. Because of the dense forests they had to travel east for a while before going north, on a route that led to Violet City. They were walking extremely slowly because Rina was skipping around, tugging up grass and slapping random trees as she passed. As they walked they also were discussing John's trusty jacket.

"It is brown," John insisted.

"It's green," Kaida said. She looked to Nila. "Back me up."

"It is green," Nila agreed.

"Brown!" Rina said, from over by the trees.

"It is actually sort of grey," Flo said.

They all stared at her.

"What? It is!"

"It is definitely not grey," John said, with agreeing nods from Kaida and Nila.

"What do you think, Reid?" John asked.

"Uh, I really don't care," Reid said. As an afterthought he added, "It's not grey though."

"Is it gang up on Flo day or something?" Flo demanded.

"It is always gang up on Flo day," said Kaida.

"Plum," Nila added.

John, Nila, and Kaida continued to debate the colour of his jacket. John was determined that it was brown and, as it was two versus two in the matter, and he was the owener of the coat, he declared that he won.

"You have Rina on your side," Kaida pointed out. "We win."

"What, why?" John said.

"She hardly counts as a vote. She picks up cheese from a dirty ground and tries to eat it," Nila reminded him.

"Ah," John said. He had no returning argument to that.

"I do like cheese," Rina said happily, still over by the tree line, poking at the trees. "Hey look," she said. "This tree is spotty!"

The tree in question was certainly a bizarre shape compared to the foliage around it. While it did have leaves they were dry and, when Rina swiped at them, they simply fell off. She started to poke the spots of the tree individually, poking harder and faster as she went along. Then the tree opened its eyes.

"Sudowoodo!" the tree declared angrily. "Sudo!"

Rina leapt backwards in shock. Her eyes were round.

"Wow, it's a Pokémon!" she said.

She went back to poking it.

"Sudo!"

Sudowoodo moved forward and Rina stumbled backwards. It moved forward again and Rina took another step away. Then, quite rapidly, it started to run. Rina yelped and ran away, the tree running after her. Seeing the chase, Totodile started to run too, firing random Water Gun attacks after the peculiar Pokémon. Then, oddly enough, Sudowoodo started to use Water Gun on Rina.

"It must know Mimic," John said, as they ran after it.

They couldn't help but laugh as Rina tried to dodge the powerful water jets. Sudowoodo then started to use Rock Slide, which was a little less funny, because large boulders could cause a lot more damage. Luckily Rina managed to avoid them.

"Clear off!" John said.

"Are you kidding?" Reid said. "I want it."

John had to admit it was quite a cool Pokémon. He nodded and stepped aside, recalling Totodile, who reluctantly returned to his side.

"Go, Snorlax!" Reid said.

Snorlax erupted from the Pokéball, asleep. Reid sighed.

"I didn't think this through," he admitted.

John laughed. "I'll help. Kaida's pretty much got me all my Pokémon, accidentally or not! Totodile, use Ice Fang!"

Totodile leapt forwards and happily bit the flailing Sudowoodo. Sudowoodo tried to return the attack using its Mimic, but it wasn't very effective. Instead it opted to use Low Kick, sending Totodile flying backwards to splat into a tree. This didn't keep the water Pokémon down for long and it retaliated with a Water Gun attack. Sudowoodo used Mimic again but Totodile met this water blast with one of its own.

"Use Bite!" John ordered.

Totodile leapt towards Sudowoodo but its move had a lot more force than usual. It had learnt Crunch! John was impressed. His Totodile was growing stronger rapidly.

"Totodile, use Water Gun one more time!"

Sudowoodo, despite its looks, was a rock Pokémon, so Totodile had the type advantage. This last Water Gun suitably weakened it so Reid could throw a Pokéball to capture it. They watched the Pokéball shake and, finally, Sudowoodo was caught.

"A useful Pokémon," Reid said happily. "Well, as long as it doesn't run away from me all the time…"

John glared. He helped Reid and that was the thanks he got! A snide remark about Pineco!

"Just kidding, John," Reid said. "Thanks!"

As they got to the north route, Flo piped up.

"I want to go back to Violet City," she said.

"You're leaving?" Kaida said hopefully. No more teasing about Matt! It would be heaven! Well, there was still Nila, but she wasn't nearly so bad…

"No, I want to go home for my birthday," Flo said.

Kaida looked her blankly.

"I already told you about this. My mum makes a big deal every year. She goes crazy baking. We have cake and cookies and–"

"I'll come with you," Rina said quickly. "I can have cookies, yes?"

"Yeah, sure," Flo said, glad she had someone to travel with her. She didn't want to go by herself.

"Well we want to go to Ecruteak," Kaida said.

"I have my eating contest soon," Reid said. "I can't miss it. Going to Violet would take far too long."

John looked between Flo and Rina and Reid. Then he looked to Kaida and Nila.

"Well, we can't let Flo and Rina go by themselves…"

"We can meet back up with Reid, in Ecruteak," Flo said.

Kaida could see she and Nila were being enlisted to accompany Flo and Rina to Violet City. She groaned.

"There better be some damn good cake," she threatened.

Flo nodded obediently. "My mum will make loads."

"Bring us some," John said.

"You wish," Kaida muttered. She sighed. It looked like they were going back to Violet City then. With Rina and Flo as companions and not even John to cook them nice food at dinner time. Oh, joy.

-

As John and Reid walked north to Ecruteak City, they found themselves walking along one of the roads leading in that direction too. It was taking longer than they had anticipated, even if they could walk faster without the girls because of Rina and Flo's complaining, and Reid wasn't sure if they could get to Ecruteak City in time for his contest.

"I'd be fine if I had the bike," he said miserably. "But without the contests there is no bike." He sighed. "Maybe we could hitchhike."

John was uncertain. After all, there were many dangers with hitchhiking and he didn't particularly want to be killed and thrown out a vehicle at high speeds. Not that it would matter what speed he was thrown out after he was killed, of course, but high speeds would certainly make it difficult jumping out.

Reid had already stuck his hand out.

"We have our Pokémon to protect us," Reid said.

"Yeah, and so will they!" John said. He sighed, exasperated. He knew Reid was desperate to go to the contest, but their lives were a little bit more important than a bike. Reid didn't seem to see things that way.

Mostly cars just drove past them but, eventually, a long, black stretch limo drove up. John gave Reid a funny look. This was strange. The door opened and they peered inside to see a tall boy, a few years older than them, with dark hair and eyes. He was dressed all in black.

"You want a lift then?" he said. "I'm going to Ecruteak."

"Sure," Reid said, jumping in.

"But," John protested. He sighed and got in. He couldn't exactly leave Reid by himself…

"I'm Morven," the boy said. "And you are…?"

"Reid."

"John."

John twiddled his thumbs together a little anxiously.

"So," he inquired, "why did you stop?"

"I was bored," Morven said. "I thought I could have some interesting conversation."

"With strangers?" Reid said.

"My bodyguard can protect me," Morven said.

He gestured to his left, and their right, and they saw a muscled man with dark shades skulking the corner. He was so quiet and still that he seemed to blend in with the dark leather despite his large size.

"Fair enough," Reid said, eyeing the man a little warily. "So, why are you going to Ecruteak?"

"Business," Morven said in clipped tones. "You?"

"Eating contest," Reid said. "I'm raising money to buy a new bike."

"His Snorlax destroyed his old one by sitting on it," John added.

Morven chuckled. "No offence, but aren't you a bit small to be in eating contests?"

"No offence, but aren't you a bit young to be conducting business," Reid shot back.

"Touché," Morven said with a dark smile. "I'm fourteen and my parents are away most of the time. Business isn't that difficult to deal with. Not like, what was it? Eating."

Reid raised his eyes to the ceiling at the patronising tone. Yes, eating contests could be seen as a bit immature, but they were fun, and he was good at them, and really people who snubbed them were probably uptight and needed poles removing from their rear ends. Like this guy here.

A long awkward silence passed.

"Sooo," John said, clapping his hands together. "Are you a Pokémon trainer?"

"Yes," Morven said. "My preference is for steel. You?"

"Um, bit of anything really," John said. "Unusual stuff. I'd like to get into Pokémon research so oddities are good."

Morven transferred his gaze to Reid.

"Well, I only have two Pokémon," Reid said. "Snorlax and Sudowoodo. Snorlax helps out in the old eating contests and Sudowoodo is there for anything else."

"I see," Morven said.

There was another silence.

"So what Pokémon do you have?" Reid asked.

"I have many," Morven said. "Some are imported from other regions because I don't have time to visit there at the moment with business as it is. I have Steelix, Metagross, Scizor, Magneton, as well as many others."

"Cool," Reid said.

The next few minutes had to be some of the most awkward moments of Reid's life. Then Morven decided to put on a DVD on his overhead wide screen TV player that slid out from the roof. They all began to watch it. Morven even seemed to lighten up (well, a little) as they laughed at the black comedy of the film. All too soon, in a far quicker time than they would have managed walking or even cycling, they were in Ecruteak City. Morven dropped them off just outside the small city and they emerged to see the rustic buildings, mostly made from dark wood panelling, with the backdrop of a tall building, The Tin Tower, and, a little closer, John fancied he could see a glimpse of the famous Burned Tower.

"Now we've got days to spare," Reid said contently. "See, hitchhiking turned out all right after all!"

John conceded to Reid but he still couldn't shake the funny feeling he had about that strange boy, Morven. There was something about him… He shook his head dismissively. He shouldn't dwell on it. He would probably never see him again.

-

Reid's eating contest involved pancakes this time. However, this time the contest was for people only, so he had to rely on his own merit instead of his Snorlax. John didn't think he had ever seen people eat so much. Without Totodile he wasn't disqualified, and he did eat a reasonable amount of food, but it was nothing compared to what some of the more serious competitors got through. How a lot of them remained so trim was a mystery to John. Reid was young and an athlete but some of these people… It was insane. There were a lot more people at this event than the one in Goldenrod and the competition was a lot fiercer as the prize money was greater.

Reid came second in the end, which was a disappointment, but he still scooped up a fair amount of cash for this. John received a bottle of apple pancake sauce for participating but he didn't expect he would use it too quickly. The thought of pancakes now made him sick.

"Next major contest is in Olivine City," Reid said, "but it isn't for ages. They have a few smaller ones there before then, but they have them here too, so it doesn't matter where I am."

Still, the girls were going to take ages to catch up. John and Reid decided they would have to find something to do in their free time so they wouldn't get too bored. Reid got an unofficial part time job helping in the eating contest café – he wasn't allowed to be paid in money so was paid in meals – but John struck lucky. One of the archaeologists from the Ruins of Alph had come up to do work in the Burned Tower and had spotted John in town and asked if he wanted to come along. John had jumped on the opportunity.

"I assume you have heard the legends about Ecruteak City," the tall archaeologist, Vincent, said to John.

"About Ho-oh and Lugia?" John replied. Yes he had.

Ecruteak had allegedly been the former home of Ho-oh and Lugia. They had each roosted on the peaks of the two tall towers north east and west of the city but, when one of the towers burned down, both of the legendary birds took off and they hadn't been seen in Ecruteak since. There had been tales of sightings but most of them turned out to be complete fallacy.

"Also of the three legendary dogs," Vincent added. "People claim to have seen those recently in the towers – and there are some depictions of them down there – but I assume these tales don't have much fact to them either."

John's first impression of the Burned Tower was how dark it was. Wood had crashed down from the levels above and had made the ground floor – the only surviving level – a complete labyrinth. The wood was black and stained with soot, despite the fact that the tower had burned down many years previously. In fact, John felt like the smoke and fumes were still trapped in there and his head felt lighter and he almost choked.

"Hopefully you'll make an amazing discovery here too," Vincent said. "We rearranged many of those tiles – we're still looking for a few more – but the ground opened up beneath some of the other tablets too. Some of the others swear they saw those letter Pokémon, the Unown, as well."

That was fascinating. John wished they had let him stay on the research team there. He knew he was young and needed more experience but the opportunities there were astounding. He could have helped discover new Pokémon – new legends – in that site. It was a pity. Still, he had more opportunity here. Normally people weren't allowed in the Burned Tower because it was unsafe but here he was in his hard hat, armed with a torch, tiptoeing around the site.

Near the entrance there was a hole in the floor and a ladder. Vincent told John that they had discovered a basement floor, which was more of a cave, underneath. This was where they had found many of the carvings.

"We want to investigate Tin Tower too," Vincent said, "but we're having trouble getting the clearance. The monks there are particularly defensive and they don't want us poking around. Still, it is a historical site…"

They climbed down the ladder and John saw that Vincent had been right. The cave was a bit messy – some wood and boulders had clearly been dislodged in the fire – but it was more intact than the first floor. Oddly enough there was a platform in the middle of the room with steps leading up to it on all sides. This could not have been where either of the legendary birds roosted so what was it for?

John was taken to investigate the carvings on the wall. They were written with the script of the Unown, which was similar to their alphabet but different at the same time. There were also depictions of other creatures including the legendary dogs: Raikou, Suicune, and Entei. John stared at them, impressed. The pictures on the wall even looked impressive. He couldn't help but wonder what they would look like in reality.

There were also drawings of Ho-oh and Lugia. It took John a while to realise that, as he walked around, there seemed to be some sort of timeline.

"Here," Vincent said, stopping him. "This is the tower burning. Look, Lugia and Ho-oh are taking off."

"Wow," John said. They were not very far along the wall at all and it already showed that event which was not recent but wasn't the ancient past either. "When were these drawn?"

"It is difficult to tell," Vincent said. "We're haven't found the utensils that drew them and everything seems too perfect. The script doesn't seem like something a human could draw some accurately."

"So it was a Pokémon?"

"We have no idea."

"Do you think this could really be the future of the birds?" John asked. "Look." He hurried up the wall. "This is Lugia. He is settling by the sea… Four islands and, hey, whirlpools. These are the Whirl Islands, aren't they? Could Lugia really be there?"

"We've got people over there searching, of course," Vincent said, "but we've come up with nothing."

John walked back along the timeline until the very beginning. There, before everything else, was the sketch of a bell and two wings. There was some script beneath it. John leaned in. Vincent approached him from behind.

"We've managed to translate that bit," he said. "It says 'summoned across the seas, lands and skies, the Clear Bell, Rainbow Wing, and Silver Wing.' There are a few myths about these objects, of course, but no one has ever found them."

John walked up and down the line again, trying to see if there were any clues about where these objects were. He could find no references, which was extremely disappointing.

When John emerged later he thought he saw a glimpse of a dark figure in a long black coat standing outside the Burned Tower in the darkness. He glanced back at the figure was gone. He blinked several times and decided he had probably imagined that Morven had been standing there.

-

Reid decided that his Sudowoodo was "made of awesome." He declared this to John one evening as they took their Pokémon to train on the outskirts of Ecruteak City, near Burned Tower. His Sudowoodo was certainly powerful and could face off John's primary Pokémon, Hoothoot and Totodile, who he had been training for quite a while. Hoothoot did put up an impressive fight though, despite its type advantage, using its new move, Confusion, which managed to confuse the rock Pokémon.

"Come on Sudowoodo," Reid urged. "Use Rock Slide!"

The rocks came crashing back down on Sudowoodo's head. It groaned in pain. Hoothoot flapped far above it, looking very amused. It had been very ineffective when trying to Peck Sudowoodo and this was perfect revenge.

"Use Hypnosis!" John said.

"Those sneaky moves are annoying," Reid said. "Sudowoodo, wake up!"

Confused, disorientated, and asleep… It all looked a bit hopeless for Sudowoodo but, surprisingly, it didn't take too long for the Pokémon to wake up.

"Use Mimic," Reid ordered when Hoothoot used Confusion again.

The psychic attack was turned around on Hoothoot and now it was the one who became confused. As it flopped out of the side Sudowoodo used Low Kick. This wasn't very effective but it did enough damage when followed by the powerful Rock Slide.

"Sudowoodo is pretty fast," John commented as they watched it nip around the area.

"It is insanely happy as well," Reid said. "I know it chased Rina but, let's be honest, she is really annoying."

John snickered.

"Anyway, this Clear Bell, Wing stuff is weird," Reid said. "And you thought you saw Morven?"

"I don't know," John said. Then he paused. "Look!"

He pointed towards the Burned Tower. They both saw a dark figure approaching it. A cape was fluttering around the figure's ankles. John frowned and, just before the figure turned, he pulled Reid to the ground so they would hopefully be hidden from his eyesight. The figure, definitely masculine, looked in their direction for a moment but then looked away again. Sudowoodo and Hoothoot seemed to have sensed the change in mood and moved silently behind them. John and Reid returned the Pokémon to their Pokéballs.

"Why is he going in there?" John asked.

The figure was moving towards the Burned Tower and the guard appeared to be missing! What on earth was going on? John and Reid hurried forwards, keeping to the shadows as best they could, following the mysterious figure.

"It's Morven," John declared.

"How can you tell?" Reid asked.

John shrugged. He had seen Morven earlier and the figure looked to be the same shape and he had the same dark hair. Why was he so interested in the Burned Tower? He was supposed to be in Ecruteak for business. This was an archaeological site! They drew closer and closer to Morven as he walked inside the building. He was wearing a cape that was dotted with rips and torn at the edges. When he turned, and they ducked out of sight again, they saw he was also wearing what appeared to be an iron mask.

"That is definitely him," Reid agreed.

"What does he want?!" John asked.

Two bulky looking men came hurrying from Ecruteak after him and one took position outside the door while the other followed Morven inside. These had to be his bodyguards. John and Reid couldn't get any closer while they were there. John frowned. They had better not touch anything down there. The historical evidence had to be handled carefully! John pulled out his phone. He was calling the police. He spoke quietly into the phone to brief them on the situation.

However, before the police could arrive, Morven came hurrying out, clutching a camera. He had been in there for over fifteen minutes and who knew what he had had the time to do. John's hands clenched into fists and his nails dug into his palms. If anything was ruined…

The sirens sounded and Morven's head snapped up. He and his bodyguards hurried away and John finally stood up. The police wouldn't be there in time so he had to stall them. He began to chase them and Reid followed behind him.

"Hey!" he yelled. "Stop!"

Morven glanced over his shoulder but one of his bodyguards ushered him on towards a dark vehicle, different to his limo.

"Morven!" John yelled. "I know it's you! Stop!"

One of the bodyguards reached into his belt and drew out a Pokéball.

"Go, Weezing!" the bodyguard yelled. "Explosion!"

Weezing flew towards Reid and John and they skidded to a halt, trying to backtrack. It was too late and there was a deafening explosion and they were thrown to the ground stunned. They were knocked out for several moments. When they came around the Weezing, the bodyguard, and the car were gone, and the police were skidding onto the scene.

"Are you two all right?" one of the officers called.

John weakly pointed. "They went… Black car… No registration plate…"

One of the police cars tore off after them but John doubted they would be able to catch them. They were probably long gone. He groaned and let his head hit the ground again. That had been a thousand times worse than Pineco's Selfdestruct and that had been bad enough. The attack was stronger and so was the Pokémon. He felt himself slip into unconsciousness and flittered in and out throughout the night as he heard shouts and the beeps of hospital equipment. Then, hours (or was it minutes?) later, there was finally darkness.

-

"Are you OK?" Kaida asked urgently down the phone.

"Yeah," John said weakly. "I had to stay a while in case I had concussion but I've just got a few scratches and bruises. Reid's fine too."

He was back at the trainer rooms that the Pokémon Centre provided after a few days in the hospital from Weezing's Explosion attack. The police had failed to catch up with Morven and John hadn't been able to provide much useful information about him. Even if they did catch him, John was going to have a hard job proving it was him, since he had been in the iron mask. John hadn't even heard him speak so he couldn't claim he recognised the voice. Still, he was hoping if he collaborated with Kaida they would have a little more luck. She had seen the face of the one who had stolen the Cyndaquil as well.

"I went to the police station but it didn't do much good," Kaida said. "They contacted Radio Tower in Goldenrod to see if they knew about the boy but they haven't had any luck." She scowled. "That guy needs someone to teach him a lesson."

Next to her, Nila nodded in agreement. She was equally fuming about Morven messing with a historical site, even if she wasn't as much of an enthusiast as John. Kaida was more concerned about the Cyndaquil.

"Do you want us to leave now?" Kaida asked John. "We can leave Flo and Rina and come pretty quickly."

"Nah, don't worry. I can go back to work on the site in another few days. Take your time," John said. "Reid has some little eating contests coming up too. You stay and enjoy the party."

"I don't think enjoy is the correct word," Nila muttered.

Kaida laughed. Flo's mother had already tried to force Nila into wearing a party hat. Nila had used Cyndaquil's flames to burn it. She was not impressed. Only the constant supply of milk was keeping her from walking out of the madhouse.

"Well, if you are sure," Kaida said. "We'll come as soon as we can."

"Yeah, bye," John said.

He hung up and flopped back down on the bed. He certainly hoped Morven was caught but it wasn't looking likely. He was definitely up to no good and needed to be stopped sooner rather than later.