Chapter 52
After weeks of traveling, Ash and his friends have finally arrived in Ecruteak City.
"This place looks nice." Serena commented, as they were walking through the City, and were looking at the architecture, which was quite different than in most of the places they have already been at.
"It sure is." Misty agreed.
"If nothing else, then it's at least much quieter then the Cities of this size usually are." Leaf said.
"So, where are we going first?" Brock asked, while looking at Ash.
"It's all the same to me," Ash said. "I'm not in a hurry, so we can rest today, and then go in the gym tomorrow if you all want."
"I agree with that," Serena said. "We should definitely rest today, and have our Pokémon checked in the Pokémon Center after the long journey. We can all battle tomorrow when we are rested."
"Ok," Leaf said. "But maybe we should at least check the gym first, and see if the gym leader is even there, or if he/she will be there tomorrow."
"Why wouldn't he/she be there?" Misty asked.
"Remember Whitney?" Leaf asked, and Misty realized what Leaf meant.
"I see," Misty said. "I guess you are right, we should go there first to check it out, and then we are free later."
"Ok, then, let's go." Ash said, and they headed toward the Ecruteak Gym.
Fifteen minute later, the group arrived in front of what they thought to be Ecruteak Gym.
They would have been there several minutes ago, but some guy was selling some crap, and tried to con them as he assumed, they were stupid as they were young, but after they spent two minutes listening to him until they all got annoyed, the group just brushed him aside, and continued walking.
"This looks weird," Misty said, as she and the others were looking at the strange building, they thought to be Ecruteak Gym. "Are we sure this is the gym?"
"Actually," Brock said. "We are not."
"Then why are we here?" Misty asked annoyed.
"We followed the route that was given to us by the people we asked." Brock replied calmly, and Misty sighed.
"Let's just go in there and see what this place is," Misty suggested. "If we are lucky, then this place really is Ecruteak Gym."
The others agreed, and they all entered on the ground where a big burned tower is, and went toward it.
Once they reached the tower, and entered inside, they saw it was practically in ruins.
"Well, I guess this is definitely not the gym," Serena said.
"We probably didn't follow the directions very well, and must have made a wrong turn somewhere," Brock said.
Just as they were about to leave, a fire appeared in front of them from out of nowhere, and started spreading.
"What the hell," Misty yelled! "Where did this fire come from?"
"I don't know," Leaf said! "But we must get away from here!"
"Let's go!" Brock said, and they all turned around, and started running toward the exit, when suddenly the fire appeared in front of the door, and blocked their exit.
"Oh great," Leaf said. "What now?"
"Ash, can you do something to get us out of here?" Misty asked, while looking at Ash, who was looking at the fire, and at the building with narrowed eyes.
"We are not in danger," Ash said, and everyone looked at him in surprised.
"What do you mean," Serena asked? "Can't you see all the fire that is surrounding us?"
"We can all see it," Ash replied, and looked at Serena. "But can we fell it?"
Now everyone was looking at him with narrowed eyes. "What do you mean?" Brock asked.
"With this much fire, there should be heat as well," Ash said. "But it's not hot at all. It's just like there is no fire at all."
"But then what is all of this?" Misty asked.
"Illusions," Ash said, and took one Poke Ball from his belt, and let out his Noctowl. "Noctowl, use Foresight!"
Noctowl's eyes glowed red, and he released a red beam of light from them and at the fire, which undid the illusions, and also revealed group of Gastly.
"Are you serious," Misty asked after she saw Gastly's. "We were fooled by a bunch of Gastly's."
"It would seem so." Brock said.
Then, all the Gastly that were revealed, fired a light purple beam from their bodies at the group, and they all jumped to the side to avoid them.
"Noctowl, stop them with Confusion!" Ash said.
Noctowl's eyebrow tufts glowed blue and the Gastly's become surrounded in a blue outline and Noctowl could now control them with his mind.
"Nice job, Noctowl," Ash said, as he approached the group of Gastly, who were struggling to escape from Noctowl's grasp. "Now, tell me why have you attacked us?"
"You have no right to be here," one of the Gastly said. "This is out home, and you invade it!"
Ash looked at them, and saw that the Gastly that spoke was not lying, so he nodded, but before he could say anything, a bunch of Haunter and one Gengar suddenly appeared as well, and surrounded the group.
"Oh great," Misty said. "This is exactly what we needed now."
The Ghost Type Pokémon were about to attack them all, but they were stopped by a voice that came from the top of the staircase. "Stop!"
As everyone looked toward where the voice came from, they all saw a young man standing on top of the staircase, and looking at them all.
When the Ghost Type Pokémon saw the man, they all went in front of him, and hovered there calmly.
"You can calm down," he said to the group. "They were not really trying to harm you, they just wanted to protect their home."
"I figured as much after what Gastly told me," Ash shrugged, and the blond man, and the group of Pokémon looked at him weirdly.
"You actually understood what I said?" The Gastly that told Ash earlier to leave, was now asking him the question.
"Yeah, I'm a little weird like that." Ash said simply, as he really didn't want to say again how he as an Aura Guardian, and that that's exactly why he can understand Pokémon.
The blond guy raised his eyebrows, while the Pokémon looked surprised, but didn't say anything.
"So, who are you," Ash asked at the guy and around the room he was in? "And what is this place?"
"My name is Morty, and I'm the gym leader of Ecruteak Gym," the guy introduced himself, and everyone was surprised that he is the gym leader. "As for this place, well, this is Burned Tower."
"I see," Ash said, and started thinking about Burned Tower, and why it sounds familiar.
"And who are you all?" Morty asked Ash, but Ash was quiet, and didn't reply, so Leaf decided to reply.
"We came here to challenge you," Leaf said. "We made a mistake and came here in this tower thinking that the gym is here."
"Oh, is that so," Morty said. "Well it's no problem them, I'll take you to the gym, and I accept your challenge." He then looked at them all, and asked confused. "Who among you is challenging me?"
Leaf, and the others except Ash laughed at Morty's question, and Leaf said. "Actually, Ash, Serena and I are the ones who came to challenge you." She said while pointing at Ash and Serena.
"Three of you at once," Morty said with raized eyebrows. "That doesn't happen often.
"But anyway," Morty continued. "I'm accepting your challenge. When do you want to have the battles?"
Leaf then looked at Ash, who was standing in front of a picture of some Pokémon that Leaf has never seen before. The same goes for Brock and Serena, while Misty seemed to recognize it.
"Isn't that Pokémon, Ho-Oh?" Misty asked, and everyone raized their eyebrows in surprise. But no one was more surprised than Morty.
"I'm surprised that you know that," Morty said. "There aren't many people who can recognize Ho-Oh."
"She recognized it, because we have seen Ho-Oh before." Ash said.
"What," Morty yelled? "But that's impossible. No one has seen Ho-Oh for the last 300 years."
"Actually, Ash is telling the truth," Misty said. "We have both seen it the day we first met."
Misty then explained to Morty how she and Ash met, how he saved her, and how they saw Ho-Oh flying above them after that.
"Wow," Morty said. "I cannot believe that two kids saw Ho-Oh just like that, while some people have spent their entire lives searching for Ho-Oh, and they couldn't find it."
At that moment, everyone asked themselves how Morty would react if they showed him the Legendary Pokémon they have. But then they realized he might have a heart attack, so they decided to be quiet."
"Is this the tower where according to the legend Ho-Oh used to live at?" Ash decided to ask.
"Yeah, it is," Morty replied. "I see you know that as well."
"Yeah," Ash said. "When you said this place is called Burned Tower, it sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember why. But then I saw this picture of Ho-Oh, and I remembered I saw it in some books I read years ago."
"Yes, well, you see, according to the legend, Ho-Oh lived here until 300 years ago, when the tower was burned in the war where people fought for Ho-Oh's power," Morty explained. "It is said that in that fire three Pokémon died, and that Ho-Oh revived them, and sent them to roam around the world and protect it. Those Pokémon are Entei, Raikou and Suicune."
"Ah, Suicune," Misty suddenly said, and got stars in her eyes. "I just wish it didn't run away that day."
"What are you talking about?" Morty asked confused by Misty's words.
Ash sighed, as now he has to explain again how they saw another Legendary Pokémon.
A minute later, after Ash finished explaining to Morty how they all saw what they believe to be Suicune, Morty just stood there, and looked at them with unreadable expression.
After a while, Morty said. "You kids must be the luckiest people on the world."
The others smiled at that, and Ash said. "Yeah, you must be right about that."
Morty shook his head, and then decided to change subject. "So, when do you want to have those battles?"
"We thought about resting today, and let our Pokémon rest in the Pokémon Center, and then have our battles tomorrow," Ash said. "But we thought about coming to the gym first to see if the gym leader is going to be taking challengers tomorrow."
"Yeah, I'll be in the gym tomorrow," Morty said, and after the others nodded, he lead them to the gym, to show them where it is, so they won't get lost again tomorrow.
After they saw where the gym is, Ash and the others left Morty and the gym behind, and went to the Pokémon Center, where they took rooms for them all, and left all of their Pokémon to be checked out by Nurse Joy and her Chansey.
XXX
The gang have decided to go and visit the Bell Tower that Morty mentioned to them as the replacement Tower that was built after the first got burned.
He told them that the entrance is usually forbidden inside and only those who are qualified can enter, such as himself, but he has decided to give Ash and the others passes so that they enter, since in his opinion, anyone who Ho-Oh and Suicune deemed worthy to see them, are also worthy of entering into the Bell Tower.
After they spent almost an hour in the Bell Tower looking at everything that was there, which was not a lot by the way, but they spent a while looking at the bells that decorated the tower, and especially the crystal bells on the top floor, the group left the Bell Tower, and went out of its grounds, when Misty said. "I want to check this place where there is a tea ceremony being held. I always wanted to go to one of those, and I can't miss this chance now."
"Ok," Ash said. "Do you know where it is, and how to get there?"
"No," Misty said. "But we can always ask someone."
"Ok, but we better make sure this time to follow directions like we are told, so won't end up somewhere else," Leaf said.
"Don't worry," Misty said. "We won't get lost again."
"Haven't I heard that before?" Ash muttered under his breath with a sigh, but no one heard him.
As they started looking for someone to ask for the directions to the so-called 'Kimono Girls', an Eevee came running down the street, and crushed into Misty.
"Where did this Eevee come from?" Misty asked, as she kneeled down, and picked Eevee to see if it got hurt somewhere.
"I don't know," Serena replied. "It just came running."
"Hey Eevee, can you tell us if you have a trainer so we can help you find him/her?" Misty asked Eevee, who nodded its head, and just then, and girl voice was heard from down the street.
"Eevee," the girl yelled as she approached to the group, and took Eevee from Misty. "Where did you run of to?"
Eevee said something that Ash understood as 'I'm sorry, I won't do it again', and the girl knew what Eevee said, even though she didn't understand the exact words, nodded her head, and then looked at the group.
"Sorry about this," she said to them. "Did Eevee do something?"
"Oh, don't worry, it was nothing," Misty said, with a smile, and the girl returned it. "I'm Misty, by the way, and these are my friends, Ash, Brock, Leaf and Serena. It's nice to meet you."
"I'm Sakura, it also nice to meet you." Sakura said.
"You wouldn't happen to know something about this tea ceremony, and how to get there, would you, Sakura?' Misty asked, and Sakura giggled, much to everyone's surprise.
"Yeah, I know where it is," Sakura said. "Were you going there?"
"Yeah," Misty replied. "I always wanted to see one of those, and this is a good chance, but I don't know where it is exactly, so we decided to ask someone, and then your Eevee came running down the street."
"Well, if you are going there, then I will gladly take you with me, as I'm also going there." Sakura said.
"Are you also going there to see the ceremony?" Misty asked.
"No," Sakura shook her head. "I leave there. The four beautiful Tea Ceremony Sisters, are my older sisters. I guess you can consider me the fifth sister. Though in their opinion, I'm not the beautiful one?"
Sakura ended her speech with a pout.
"Hmm," Ash hmed, and everyone looked at him. "This is sort of like a Déjà vu. Why do I feel like I have heard this somewhere before?" He finished with a thoughtful expression, though there was a little curve on his lips, like he was smirking.
Among the group, only Misty and Brock knew what he was doing, and while Brock was trying not to laugh, Misty was blushing in anger.
"You should watch yourself, Ketchum," Misty suddenly said, with anger in her voice. "One day all those teasing's are going to come back and bite you in the ass."
Ash smirked at this, and looked at Misty. "Maybe," he said. "But not today."
"I! HATE! YOU!" Misty yelled at Ash, while still blushing.
"No Misty," Ash said. "You don't hate me. You love me, and we both know that very well."
"GOD DAMN IT, ASH," Misty yelled again! "Why are you doing this to me?"
"I just love teasing you." Ash said, and Misty was ready to explode, but was stopped by the sound of Sakura's voice.
"Ahhhm, what's going on?" Sakura asked, not really sure how to react at what she was seeing.
Since Misty was so angry, and wasn't in the condition to reply, Ash decided to explain. "You see Sakura, Misty is in the same situation as you," Ash said, and after Sakura looked at him curiously, he continued.
"She has three older sisters, who are the three Sensational Sisters from Cerulean City, and the three of them have always considered Misty as a runt of the family, and not as beautiful as them."
"I see," Sakura said. "And here I thought that I'm the only on in this situation."
"Let's just forget about this, and go to the tea ceremony," Misty said, seemingly calmed down a little, but only a little. "I need to calm down, and that ceremony should do just fine."
The others agreed, and then Sakura led them to her house.
XXX
When they arrived in Sakura's house, she went to change into her kimono, while she also left them to explore the grounds.
They saw all four of her sisters, and Brock couldn't help himself, and ended up complimenting all of them.
Eventually they all visited Satsuki, and watched her traditional tea ceremony, and Sakura joined them, and formally introduced them to her older sister, and then the other three sisters, Sumomo, Tamao and Koume joined them as well, and all four recognized Brock as the guy who was throwing compliments on them.
Misty and Sakura became good friends, as their lives with bigger sisters are near the same, and Sakura said how she wants to compete in the Johto League, but her sister will probably not let her, but she still asked Misty if she can come with her and the others if her sisters let her.
Later that day, the group watches the dance performance, in which the Kimono sisters and Sakura perform a traditional dance with umbrellas, and after it was over, Sakura pleaded with her sisters to let her travel with Misty and the others.
The four sisters were reluctant to let Sakura go, as she is still young, and has almost no experience, but in the end, they agree, but only if Misty and her friends defeat them in battles.
It was decided that Misty, Leaf, Serena and Brock will battle against four sisters, and Ash will stay out of it, as with him, it wouldn't be a fair battle.
In the first battle, Misty's Poliwhirl defeated Sumomo's Vaporeon, after a tough battle.
In the second battle, Serena and her Houndour went against Koume's Flareon, and also won, this time easier than Misty won her battle.
After that, Brock with his Nidorino defeated Satsuki and her Jolteon, and in the end, even though by now there was no point for the battle, as the sisters already lost, Leaf battled against Tamao's Umbreon and won using her Espeon.
After all the battles were over, and Sakura was allowed to go with Misty and the other, she suddenly changed her mind, as she realized that she truly is so far behind everyone, and would just be a burden to them, so she decided to train for a while with her Eevee, and then start her journey on her own.
Sakura's sisters smiled, and were happy with the choice she made, as they were sure it would be better for Sakura to wait a little longer with her journey. They also agreed to help her train, and when she is ready, they will let Sakura start her journey.
Misty was a little sad that her new friend will not travel with her, but she understood Sakura's decision, and was happy for her.
A little later, the group said good bye to Sakura and her sisters, and went to the Pokémon Center to rest, as tomorrow, Ash, Leaf and Serena have their gym battle's against Morty.
XXX
The next morning, the group awoke, and after they got ready, they came down from their rooms in the Pokémon Center, to the cafeteria for breakfast.
Once they finished, they went to pick their Pokémon from Nurse Joy, and then left the Pokémon Center, and headed toward the Ecruteak Gym.
On the way, Ash, Leaf and Serena discussed which Pokémon to use in the battles, as Ghost Type Pokémon can be a little bit tricky, and are not easy to deal with.
All three thought about using Houndour as they have a type advantage, but in the end decided to wait with the planning, and see how the things go.
They arrived in the gym about 15 minutes later, and came right at the time when Morty was demonstrating to a group of young trainers, how to battle with Pokémon without using too much force, and to help him in that, he was showing his Gengar's, Confuse Ray.
Once he saw Ash and the others, Morty introduced them to the young trainers, and asked the three challengers if they will mind if the trainers watch the battle.
Ash and the girls had no problem with that, and then it was decided that this time, Ash will go first, so he and Morty stood at their spots in the field, while the referee came, and stood at his own spot, and then announced the three-on-three match between the challenger Ash, and the Gym Leader, Morty.
Morty went first, and he chose Gastly as his first Pokémon, and then Ash chose Noctowl.
"BEGIN!" The referee started the match.
"Noctowl, use Hypnosis!" Ash started the battle.
"Gastly, hide!" Morty countered.
Noctowl's eyes glowed red and he released red circles that expanded as they move towards Gastly, who floated away from them, and disappeared.
"Noctowl, Foresight!"
Noctowl's eyes glowed red, and he released red beams of light from them, which then hit, hidden Gastly, and undid his illusion, which revealed it to the viewers, and made it vulnerable to more attacks.
"Now use Whirlwind!" Ash said again.
"Gastly, dodge and use Night Shade!" Morty said.
Noctowl, then started flapping his wings and created a strong gust of wind from them that then spread around the field and Gastly, even though it tried to dodge, was caught in it, and was tossing it around for a while.
"Finish it off with Tackle!" Ash said, and Noctowl dived straight down at Gastly, who was being swirled around in tornado, and then flew inside of the tornado, tackled Gastly, which threw it out of the disappearing tornado, while Gastly hit in the wall behind Morty, and fell unconscious.
"Gastly is unable to battle," the referee said! "The winner is Noctowl!"
"Damn, that was quick," Morty said, as he returned his Gastly in its Poke Ball. "You are a better trainer then I thought, Ash."
"Thanks' Morty," Ash said. "But I doubt this is over just yet. You are definitely better than this."
"Yes, Ash, yes I am," Morty said, and took another Poke Ball, and released his second Pokémon. "Come out, Haunter!"
"BEGIN!" The referee started second round, after Ash decided to stay with Noctowl.
"Haunter, use Confuse Ray!" Morty said.
"Noctowl, dodge, and use Confusion!" Ash said.
Haunter went on quickly, and fired a purple circle from its eyes towards Noctowl, who also very quickly flew away, and his eyebrow tufts glowed blue and they released a blue light toward Haunter, who then became surrounded in a blue outline, and got stuck, as Noctowl now controlled its movements.
"Use Foresight!" Ash said, and Noctowl fired another red beam from his eyes, which struck the unmoving Haunter, and prevented it from potentially disappearing.
"Haunter, got out of that Confusion, and use Night Shade!" Morty said, a little too loudly, as he was irritated as he was getting his ass handed to him, and looks like he can't do anything to get heads up on Ash.
Haunter struggled for a few moments, and then broke the control Noctowl had over it, and the blue light around it disappeared, and then, its eyes glowed red, and quickly fired multiple black beams outlined in streaks of dark red from its eyes at Noctowl, and hit him straight on, which caused a lot of damage to Noctowl, as he almost instantly lost over half of his power.
Noctowl then fell on the ground from the air, and breathed hard from the sudden power sap.
"You OK, Noctowl," Ash asked? "Can you continue?"
Noctowl looked at Ash, and after he took few more deep breaths, and then nodded at Ash, and flew back in the air.
"Haunter, use Mean Look!" Morty said, a Haunter's eyes glowed light-purple, and now Ash couldn't switch Noctowl until the end of the round.
"Great job, Haunter," Morty said! "Now use Lick!"
"Dodge, and use Whirlwind!" Ash said, and just as Haunter extended its tongue, and was about to lick Noctowl, he flew away from the extended tongue, and flapped his winds again, causing another tornado to spread around the field, and caught haunter inside it, just like Gastly earlier.
"Finish it off with Sky Attack!" Ash said.
"Haunter, get out of there!" Morty yelled, seeing that his Pokémon is about to get finished!
Noctowl's eyebrow tufts glowed white as he flew into the air, then, his body become surrounded by a white aura and he flew back into the tornado, and hit Haunter, who was struggling to get out of the tornado, but was unsuccessful.
When Haunter was hit, it flew out of the tornado, and collided with the gym fall far behind Morty, and then fell on the ground, but was still conscious.
"Come on Haunter, get up!" Morty cheered for his Pokémon, who was struggling to get back up.
"I guess Haunter still has some fight in it," Ash commented, and then looked at his Pokémon, who was also tired, but in a much better situation the Haunter. "Use Tackle, and finish it off."
Haunter, with a lot of trouble floated back up from the ground, and was moving slowly back to the field, when it looked up just in time to see Noctowl flying at it, and tackled it with full force, throwing it back in the same wall it came from just seconds ago, but this time, after it collided with that gym wall, Haunter stayed there, as it was unable to battle anymore.
"Haunter is unable to continue, the winner of second round is Noctowl!" The referee said.
"Haunter, return!" Morty said, and returned his Pokémon, and then sighed. "Damn, Ash, at this rate, I'll lose like never before in my life."
"What can I say, I just train my Pokémon hard, and this is the result." Ash said.
Morty just shook his head, and called his final Pokémon, Gengar, who, instead from his Poke Ball, came from the ground, and stood on the field.
Ash thought about what to do, and in the end, he decided to switch his Noctowl, as he is tired, and deserves a good rest.
Ash then returned him, and took another Poke Ball, and called out his second Pokémon, which turned out to be Espeon, and not Houndour as his friends expected.
"BEGIN!" The referee started the final match.
"Gengar, use Night Shade!" Morty said.
"Espeon, use Confusion!" Ash countered.
Gengar's eyes glowed red, and it fires a dark crimson beam, outlined in red from its eyes at Espeon, who countered it when her eyes glowed as well, and then fired a light blue beam from them, which then collided with Night Shade. The two attacks exploded, and spread dark energy everywhere.
Gengar used this chance, and disappeared from sight, and then Morty said. "Use Night Shade again!"
"Dodge them, Espeon!" Ash said.
Gengar then started sending an attack after attack at Espeon, but she was quick enough, and was able to evade them all, without receiving any injuries.
"Use Confusion, across the entire gym!" Ash said, and the gem on Espeon's forehead glowed, and she released waves of pink energy that spread across the entire gym, and when it his Gengar, it became tangible again, and also surrounded in pink energy.
"Great, now use Foresight!" Ash said.
Espeon then fired a red beam of light from her glowing eyes, which then hit Gengar, and stopped him from disappearing again.
"Gengar, use Shadow Ball!" Morty said.
"Espeon, counter it with Psybeam!" Ash said.
Gengar opened its mouth and formed a ball of black and purple energy with black static in front of it, and then fired the ball at Espeon, who quickly followed Ash's order, and released a multicolored beam from the gem on her forehead.
When the two attacks collided, they pushed at each other for a few moments, and then Espeon's Psybeam broke Gengar's Shadow Ball, and went straight at it, and hit it head on, which than made Gengar stumble around, with swirls in its eyes, as it looked confused.
"Use Iron Tail!" Ash said.
"Gengar, snap out of it!" Morty yelled, as he knew that the end is approaching, but wasn't to last a little longer in this fight.
Espeon's tail glowed white, and she then jumped into the air, and started falling toward still confused Gengar, her tail hardening in the process, and she hit Gengar right across the face, sending it flying backwards and behind Morty, where it fell on the ground, rolled a couple of times, and stopped before it hit the wall.
The referee looked at Gengar, saw it was done for, and announced it. "Gengar is unable to battle, the winner of the round is Espeon, and the winner of the match is Ash!"
Morty sighed for the third time that day, and returned his Gengar in its Poke Ball, and then approached to Ash, while Ash's friends also approached them and the trainers who were watching the battles were cheering for both trainers.
"Congratulations, Ash, those were great battles," Morty said, and shook Ash's hand, and then pulled out Ecruteak Gym badge, and showed it to Ash. "This is the Fog Badge, take it, you have earned it."
"Thanks' Morty," Ash said, and took the badge from Morty, and placed it in the badge case along with the other four he already had.
"Who's next?" Morty asked, and looked at Leaf and Serena, who looked at each other's, and the Serena decided to go next, so she stayed on Ash's former spot, while everyone else moved away from the field, and waited for the battle to start.
Morty started the next battle with his Misdreavus, and Serena sent her Houndour.
"BEGIN!" The referee started the battle, and both trainers went with their first attacks.
Morty started the battle by telling his Misdreavus to use Confuse Ray, while Serena countered it with Flamethrower.
After the two attacks collided and negated each other, Morty went on with Shadow Ball, which Serena's Houndour then dodged, and fired Dark Pulse at Misdreavus, which hit Morty's Pokémon head on, and then Houndour finished it off with Tackle.
Morty's next Pokémon was another Haunter, and Serena decided to switch her Houndour, and use Butterfree.
Morty started again by firing Shadow Ball, which Serena's Butterfree dodged, but then Haunter disappeared, and started attacking Butterfree while invisible.
Butterfree took a few hits, but was able to avoided several attacks by feeling where they will come from.
Feeling for the attacks from Pokémon who can disappear like this is something that Ash is teaching most of his Pokémon, and Serena as well as the others in the group have picked it up from him, along with several other useful tricks, like Protect.
Morty then continued with a surprise move, when he used Destini Bond, so now even if Serena and Butterfree win this round, Butterfree will also be out.
Serena didn't know how to get out of that, so she went on with Whirlwind, followed up by the Sleep Powder, which was then spread all over the field by the wind, so even though Haunter was invisible, he was still able to get hit by the Sleeping Powder, and then fell on the ground asleep, but visible again.
Of course, because of the Destini Bond, Butterfree also fell down, and was unconscious.
Both trainers then returned their Pokémon, and then Morty chose his final Pokémon first, as he was the one who technically lost the previous round.
His third and final Pokémon was Mismagius, and Serena went with her Houndour again.
Mismagius started with Shadow Ball, and Houndour countered with Dark Pulse.
After two attacks collided and exploded after few seconds of pushing at each other, Mismagius used Ominous Wind, which managed to hit Houndour, and caused him some damage, but Houndour then rose, and countered with Flamethrower, which Mismagius dodged, but Serena quickly reacted and fired another Dark Pulse, which managed to land on Mismagius, and caused it even more damage than Mismagius caused to Houndour earlier.
Mismagius floated back up few moments later, and followed Morty's instructions by using Phantom Force, which made it disappear, and then few seconds later, appeared behind Houndour, and delivered a Tackle right from behind, which sent Houndour bouncing off the ground and outside of the field.
Houndour stood up quickly, though she had some bruises, and fired Fire Blast, which Mismagius dodged again, and again used Phantom Force, but this time Serena and Houndour were prepared, and as soon as Mismagius started appearing, this time on Houndour's right side, Serena told her Pokémon to use Shadow Ball immediately, and Houndour did.
From barely a half meter away, Houndour fired a dark and purple ball, which hit surprised Mismagius head on, and sent her flying all the way outside of the field, and towards the young trainers who were standing on the side and watching the battles.
They ended up having to move away so they wouldn't get hit by the flying Mismagius, who instead collided with the wall, and fell on the floor passed out.
The referee declared the end of the battle, and Serena the winner.
"That was a great battle, Serena," Morty said, as he approached her, and was handing her Fog Badge. "Congratulations on the win."
"Thanks, Morty," Serena said, and took the badge, and then returned her Houndour to take a rest, and then went out of the field, while Leaf took her place, so she can have her battle against Morty.
The referee announced the match, and said the rules again, and then Morty and Leaf chose their Pokémon.
Morty chose Banette to be his first Pokémon, and surprised everyone, as most didn't know about this Pokémon, while Ash wasn't expecting Morty to have Banette, as it's a Pokémon from Hoenn Region.
"Long ago I have traveled across several Regions on my journey, and I caught this Banette when I was traveling through Hoenn Region," Morty said, after he saw confused expressions on almost everyone in the Gym, even the young trainers, as he also didn't show it to them before.
After Leaf nodded in understanding, she chose Espeon to be her first Pokémon.
The referee started the match right away, and Morty went first, with his Banette using Shadow Ball, and Espeon countered it with Psybeam.
Two attacks canceled each other out, and Morty quickly followed his first attack, by using Night Shade as his second.
Espeon was hit by this attack, and was damaged severally, but was able to stay in the fight, and then used Confusion, which managed to confuse Banette long enough for Espeon to fire another Psybeam, which hit Banette, and sent him flying.
Somehow, Banette was not defeated, but was barely hanging to the last straw, so Morty went with Phantom Force, which was followed by the Shadow Ball, which was supposed to finish Espeon, but Leaf was able to react quickly since she saw Phantom Force used by Morty against Serena, so Espeon fired Psybeam at the same time as Banette fired Shadow Ball, and then two attacks collided right in between the two Pokémon, and then exploded, which sent them both flying, and after they fell on the floor, and rolled for a few meters, they stopped, and everyone saw they were both unconscious.
The referee declared the first round a tie, and then both Morty and Leaf chose their second Pokémon at the same time.
Morty's second Pokémon was Cofagrigus, and Leaf's was Noctowl.
The battle started with Cofagrigus shooting Shadow Balls at Noctowl, who was flying around and dodging them, until after fifth ball, Morty switched tactic, and Cofagrigus used Phantom Force to disappear in a hole, and then appeared behind Noctowl, who reacted on time and moved to dodge, but was still caught by Night Shade that delivered some damage.
Leaf retaliated by having her Noctowl use Confusion, and then Air Slash after Cofagrigus was held back for a few seconds because of the effect of the Confusion.
Air Slash sent Cofagrigus back on the floor, and then Noctowl followed it up with Hurricane that lifted Cofagrigus and was spinning it around in the wind, and then use Steel Wing to finish it off.
Morty returned his Cofagrigus, and called his final Pokémon, which is also the strongest Pokémon he has, and it is Dusknoir.
Morty started with his Dusknoir using Shadow Sneak, which allowed it to send its shadow closer to Noctowl, and the Morty followed it up with Thunder Punch, which landed straight on Noctowl, as Leaf wasn't expecting that move, and was surprised.
Noctowl flew at the floor from the punch, and stayed there, as that one attack was enough to finish it off.
Leaf returned her Pokémon, and thought what to do as this Dusknoir seems to be much more powerful than any of the Pokémon she currently has with her.
In the end, Leaf sent her Houndour, as while it's definitely not as strong as Dusknoir seems to be, at least has type advantage, and will have better chances to win then her other Pokémon.
Leaf started the final round, with her Houndour using Dark Pulse, and Dusknoir countered it with Confuse Ray.
The attacks collided, and canceled each other out, and then Dusknoir used Shadow Punch, which hit Houndour, and sent him backwards, though he recovered quickly, and jumped at Dusknoir, then used Crunch, making Dusknoir pull back a little. Then, Houndour followed it up with Dark Pulse, which hit Dusknoir, and caused him some damage.
Dusknoir stood back up after a few moments, and then used Shadow Sneak, and then punched Houndour with another Shadow Punch, which brought Houndour down, and made him struggle to stand up.
Morty then went for the finish, and Dusknoir used Shadow Ball, but before it can throw it at Houndour, Leaf's Pokémon started glowing, and then grew larger, and finally after few moments evolved into Houndoom.
After some congratulates to her Pokémon, Leaf breathed easily, as she thought she was done for, and then the battle continued, with Houndoom using Flamethrower, which Dusknoir countered with Shadow Ball, but Flamethrower was more powerful and broke Shadow Ball, and then hit Dusknoir, and caused it some burns, as it was very powerful.
Leaf continued to put pressure on Dusknoir by having her Houndoom use Bite right after Flamethrower, and after Houndoom bit Dusknoir on its arm, which made Dusknoir flinch, Houndoom fired Dark Pulse and brought it down.
Morty cheered for his Pokémon to stand up and continue to fight, but Leaf saw her chance, and Houndoom then quickly fired another Dark Pulse.
After this one hit Dusknoir, it caused an explosion, and after the smoke cleared, Dusknoir was shown to be defeated.
"Dusknoir is unable to battle," the referee said! "The winner is Houndoom, and the match goes to the challenger, Leaf!"
"All right," Leaf yelled, as she was quite happy she won this, since she was so close to losing. Then she looked at her Houndoom, and approached and hugged him. "Thank you Houndoom, you were awesome!"
Houndoom nodded, and acted like it as nothing, but was quite happy with himself.
"Congrats', Leaf, that was a nice battle," Misty said, as she and the others approached to Leaf.
"Thanks guys," Leaf said. "But I was very lucky that Houndour evolved into Houndoom, as I don't think we would have won if he didn't."
"You probably deserved that luck in some way," Ash said. "So, don't think about it, and be happy that you are now just three badges away from the Johto League tournament."
"You are right, Ash," Leaf said, and thanked him.
Morty then approached them, took another Fog Badge, and presented it to Leaf.
"I really thought I will win this battle, when I decided to use Dusknoir, but you proved that I was wrong, so congratulations' Leaf, you have deserved this badge as much as Ash and Serena before you." Morty said.
"Thanks, Morty!" Leaf said, and took the badge.
"It's been a while since I lost three badges this quickly," Morty then said. "I feel like I should be embarrassed, but for some reason I can't be embarrassed considering that the ones who defeated me are the guy who saw Ho-Oh, and his friends."
The others smiled at Morty's words, and convinced him that there is no reason to be embarrassed, as loosing is a part of growing as a trainer, and Ash also added that one day, he might see Ho-Oh as well.
They then said good bye to each other, and also to the young trainers who were watching the battles, and the group then left Ecruteak Gym.
"Where to next?" Leaf asked.
"We can either go to Mahogany Town, or to Olivine City," Brock said. "They are at about the same distance from here."
"We should go to Mahogany first, and then to Olivine." Ash said.
"Why?" Serena asked.
"If we go to Mahogany now, then our final two gyms will be at the shore, and we won't have to come back all the way to Mahogany Town after we are finished in Olivine City and Cianwood City." Ash said.
"That's actually a good reason," Misty said, and the others agreed.
"Then it's settled," Ash said. "We will spend the rest of the day here, and we leave tomorrow after breakfast.
After they came to an agreement on where to go next, the group went back to the Pokémon Center, where they spent the remaining of the day, resting for the continuation of their journey which was supposed to be the next morning.