Here's chapter 14! Enjoy!
Chapter 14: Burnt Tower Encounter
"Here it is," Angelina slowly viewed the Ecruteak City Gym; traditional Japanese like house, from the long stretch of stairs. "And the very place to earn my Fog Badge."
"You'll need luck, I heard that Morty uses strong Ghost-type Pokemon!" Jeremy informed Angelina as they walked up the stairs, but an old man blocking their entrance soon stopped them.
"Let us in!" Angelina pleaded.
"Morty, the Gym Leader, is absent. Sorry, you'll have to leave. Hohohohoho!" the old man said, shoving her away from the door.
"Whah?" Angelina asked the old man as he turned his back to her and walked back to guard the door.
"Morty is usually always at his gym, unless," Jeremy paused to think.
"What?" Angelina turned to him, very curious. "You know where Morty is?"
"Hmm," Jeremy thought, then he nodded. "About fifty years ago, there was a tower built to honor the legendary Pokemon Ho-oh that watches over Pokemon and humans that interact peacefully. The tower mysteriously caught fire and three Pokemon died, Ho-oh resurrected the three Pokemon, but no one knows what or where they are. When Ho-oh fled from the tower, he never returned, which was why the burned-down tower was called Burnt Tower. Up to this day, a new tower was built just like the original one, bells were placed inside the rooms upon climbing the steps, and the very top room has sacred crystal bells that alert Ho-oh's arrival."
"Okay then, we're off to Burnt Tower." Angelina announced excitedly.
Angelina and Jeremy stood before the Burnt Tower. They could see why the people started calling it that; the base was the only part that still looked intact, while coming out of the top of the base were the burnt remains of its structure.
"Come on, we shouldn't be scared." Jeremy said, holding out his hand. "The tower has been standing for more than fifty years, so what can it hurt?"
"You're right," Angelina agreed, placing her hand in his.
They walked up the steps and into the old tower. They found that it was slightly lit up by the hole in the roof and that there were many rocks and a few boulders blocking paths and such. Debris littered the floor and Angelina could've sworn she saw something move behind some boards bunched up in the corner. There was also a hole in the middle of the floor, which was very dark, showing no signs of light.
Angelina couldn't help but gulp, and murmured, "It looks scary down there..."
Jeremy nodded, saying, "We'd better watch our step then."
Angelina noticed two young men walking about the tower. One of them had blonde hair to his shoulders and brown eyes; wearing a light blue headband, a light blue and yellow shirt, and dark blue pants. The other man, who just acknowledged Angelina and Jeremy, wore a purple suit, with a small white cape on his shoulders. His hair was a light brown color, and looked to be slicked backwards in a fancy manner, with the exception of a single strand of hair hanging in front of his face.
"Hey Morty? It isn't just me seeing two figures over there, is it?"
"Hm? Oh... hello Jeremy, and who's your friend?" Morty's voice sounded vaguely bored.
"I'm Angelina Murakami. You must be Ecruteak's gym leader, or so I'm told."
"Yes, nice to meet you." Morty nodded. "And this is Eusine."
"So what're you two hanging around here for?" Jeremy asked.
Eusine flipped his long brown bangs out of his face and put a glove-clad hang on his hip. "We could ask the same of you. Anyway... You probably wouldn't know this, but Ecruteak's known as the city of legends. Lots of people come here trying to soak up the atmosphere and learn the stories."
"I believe you've heard of the legend of the Burned Tower?" Morty asked the two young trainers. They nodded, and he continued, "Well, there's more to this legend...allow me to explain... the Brass Tower was burned down after it was struck by a lightning bolt during a storm, driving the Pokemon that roosted here away. The fire might have consumed the entire tower, if a rain hadn't have come and put out the flames. There's a rumor that this had something to do with the ending of a drought around Azalea Town, but that's something else. Anyway, amidst the burning of the Brass Tower, three Pokemon lost their lives..."
Angelina and Jeremy stared, wide-eyed at this, as Morty continued, "However, there was another Pokemon that roosted on Tin Tower as well...after the fire, it gave new life to the three Pokemon killed in the blaze. It is said that the three Pokemon resurrected symbolized the lightning that struck the tower, the fire that destroyed it, and the rain that ended the destruction."
At this, Eusine finished, "These Pokemon are Raikou, Entei, and Suicune..."
"And they're supposed to be around here somewhere?" Angelina asked, her interest admittedly rising.
"Well, this is the best lead we have so far," Eusine grinned. "We've been inspecting this place up and down since about four this morning."
Angelina nodded, "Okay then…. Jeremy and I will just do a bit of inspecting for ourselves then."
"Don't damage anything!" Eusine warned, but the young trainers already walked away.
"What do you think is over there?" Jeremy asked curiously.
"I might have an idea," Angelina said.
Once they had made their way around all the rocks, Angelina and Jeremy peeked around the corner and found a black haired boy, Angelina's rival, bathed in the light.
'Whoa, he actually looks kinda cute like that.' Angelina thought before softly slapping herself. 'I hate my mind.'
"Who's that?" Jeremy asked.
"Seamus Nichols, my rival. I don't like him very much because he stole a Croconaw from Professor Elm the same day I was helping with the Togepi errand, and he's been after me ever since..." Angelina sighed heavily.
Jeremy chuckled, "Are we going to scare him? That'll be fun."
"Much as I'd like to…. No." Angelina sighed. "I have to go face him, stay here."
With that, Angelina stepped around the corner fully, acting like she had never even noticed Seamus was there as she gazed up at the huge hole in the ceiling.
"...Oh, it's you." Seamus said, finally noticing the other presence as Angelina brought her soft gaze down from the gaping hole.
"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Angelina shot back, calmly ready for any verbal berating he could give her.
Seamus scoffed. "I originally came looking for some Legendary Pokémon that they say roosts here. But there's nothing here! Nothing after all of the trouble of coming to this dump? No way! It's all your fault! Angelina, I demand a battle from you!"
"Me?" Angelina asked as Seamus he threw a Poké Ball, which released a levitating steel sphere littered with bolts beneath its single eye and one on top of its head. There were two magnets on its left and ride sides. "What's that Pokemon?"
"Magnemite, the Magnet Pokemon. It is attracted by electromagnetic waves. It may approach trainers if they are using their Pokégear."
'Could that be how Seamus got Magnemite?'Angelina thought, pulling out her own Pokeball containing Geodude and tossing it onto the ground in front of her.
"Magnemite, use Magnet Bomb!" At this, Magnemite fired a ball of magnetic energy at Geodude.
"Rocky, dodge and use Rock Smash!" Angelina called. Geodude floated out of the way of the Magnet Bomb and slammed Magnemite with its fist, hitting it hard. "Alright, now use Rollout!" Geodude curling up and rolling into Magnemite, Seamus making no effort to have Magnemite do anything. As a result, Magnemite was knocked out and Seamus simply returned it to its Poké Ball.
Seamus then threw his second Poké Ball, saying, "Gastly, go!"
As the ghost Pokémon appeared, Angelina called, "Keep going, Rocky! Keep using Rollout!" Geodude went in for another strike when Seamus ordered a Confuse Ray from Gastly, which threw it off and allowed for a Lick attack to hit, which caused Geodude to faint
Recalling Geodude, Angelina sent out her Marill, who attacked with an Ice Punch, which caused Gastly to faint, though it managed to get a Curse in while it was frozen, which began to make Marill feel weak.
Seamus, seeing that Marill was getting close to fainting, sent out his Zubat and had it do an Astonish attack, which was enough to make Marill faint. After recalling her Marill, Angelina sent out her Absol, leading off with a Quick Attack that threw Zubat off-balance. It recovered though, and used Supersonic to try to confuse Absol. The dark Pokemon dodged it by pulling off an Aerial Ace that knocked Zubat out.
Jeremy watched the heated battle between Angelina and Seamus, he was amazed how Angelina defeated each of Seamus' Pokemon and cheered her on silently.
"... Aw, whatever. You'd never be able to catch a legendary Pokemon anyway." Seamus scoffed.
Angelina was about to retort before the floor gave way under her and she fell through with a shout in surprise.
"Hmph! What are you doing falling through a hole? Some genius you are! Serves you right!" Seamus said before walking around the hole and leaving. He ran into Jeremy and narrowed his eyes, "And who're you? Don't tell me you're friends with Murakami! You won't have luck with her catching a Legendary Pokémon anyway." He laughed, then left the tower, heading for Olivine City.
Jeremy growled. "Angelina's a far better trainer than he will ever be!" then he walked over to the hole, peering over it. "Hey Angel, you okay?"
Down in the supposed basement of the tower, Angelina groaned as she sat up and rubbed her head. "I think I broke something..." she groaned as she reached behind her to pull out a broken stick she had landed on.
Angelina groaned and stood up in the pile of wood from the floor above and looked around. Light leaked through gaps in the floorboards above and a pillar of light descended from the hole she had fallen through. She could see Jeremy peering into it.
"Don't just stand there! Go get help!" Angelina ordered.
"Right, sorry," Jeremy said and his head disappeared from the hole.
Angelina shook her head and took a few steps around, searching for the Pokemon that Morty had mentioned.
'Legendary Pokemon... They must be pretty strong...'
After a few more feet of wandering around, Angelina noticed a small stone staircase leading up onto some kind of pedestal. Carefully, she walked up the stairs, ignoring the small pain coming from her back and grinned when she arrived on the platform.
Three large figures were standing stone-still in a triangular formation. One looked vaguely like a saber-tooth tiger, with a pair of obligatory long teeth and a set of stripes on its yellow body. The second one had long fur and a red mane, with a yellow crown-like object on its head and black cuffs on its ankles. Finally, the third one was leaner than the other two, with a diamond-like growth on its forehead and a flowing mane.
"These must be…."
As Angelina drew closer to the Pokémon, she reached out and touched the diamond crown of the third one. It didn't move at first, much to her surprise, and when Angelina mover her hand down to its face, it felt oddly like stone. However, suddenly, Angelina felt the Pokémon's skin warm up, and it yawned and stretched, causing her to draw her hand back it surprise. It then gave her a long stare, and turned away instantly. The Pokémon touch one side of its ribbon-like tail to its tiger-like companion, and the other side to the other one.
Angelina watched in surprise as the other two Pokémon roared to life. Dozens of questions swam through her head, most prominently being how the Pokémon had turned to stone in the first place.
Entei, with its shaggy red and brown fur, standing proud and tall to fullest height it could achieve when standing on all fours, dashed away in a blur, creating a warm breeze behind it. The second Pokemon, Raikou, with its sleek yellow skin and black markings, barely spared a glance at Angelina before also dashing off and leaving a crackling wind behind it.
Angelina then slowly looked up at the third Pokémon— a beautiful blue creature with white dots and a white underside, a violet crest upon its head with a long white mane flowing behind it and ribbons weaving about its body. She guessed it had to be Suicune. It had been calmly watching her the whole time, and it was inspecting her curiously. She took another few steps towards it, and Suicune allowed her to come surprisingly close to itself. The legendary Pokémon stared into Angelina's eyes for a few seconds, and before Angelina had time to react, it followed Raikou and Entei's examples. Jumping gracefully over Angelina's head, it delicately dashed away into the shadows and left a cold breeze behind that chilled Angelina to the bone.
Angelina blinked and broke from her stupor as she heard a voice from way below. She slowly turned and saw Eusine, Morty, and Jeremy, with surprised looks on their faces, standing a few cliffs down with a ladder nearby, probably from which they came from. She shook her head to clear it and slowly walked down from the platform, jumping carefully over the ledges that were always to high to climb back up.
"I was shocked when I saw what happened! Suicune leapt out of the hole like a blur, right in front of my eyes! And you wouldn't believe—! Suicune paused on its way up here, and took a few steps towards me before bolting!" Eusine babbled, his voice shining with excitement.
"Oh really? Well… I got to touch its face."
'He doesn't need to know it wasn't technically alive at the time, right?'
Eusine blinked, and his mouth dropped open. Suddenly, the man seemed to wilt, and even his cape drooped.
"Eusine, it was just an accident. Angelina didn't mean to make Suicune and the others run like that." Morty spoke, then explained to the confused trainers,"Eusine is.… quite a fan of Suicune in particular," Morty explained. "Although it is still a great honor.… to even be able to see it."
"Aha! You're right!" Eusine snapped his fingers. "I heard that Suicune tests chosen humans by allowing them to get close. I'll chase Suicune to the ends of the earth if it means I get to see it again! Angelina, my dear, let's meet again. Farewell!" he scaled up the ladder, leaving the young girl with Jeremy and Morty down below.
"... Whatever happened to 'ladies first?' " Angelina asked, glaring up the ladder to where she assumed Eusine had exited, then sighed, "Well, let's get outta here." before climbing out herself, followed by her friend and Ecruteak's Gym Leader.
A little later at the Pokemon Center, Morty turned to Angelina and asked, "Are you sure you feel alright after that fall?"
"Yes, I'm fine. No major injuries for once!" although, Angelina was wearing a few bandages, since she did get a few cuts when she rolled.
Morty smiled, "Maybe what Eusine said holds some truth after all. Perhaps they could sense what was in your heart, especially Suicune, which was why they didn't leave until they did." he then stood up and said, "I'm going to head back to my gym. You two and your Pokémon should probably rest for a while just to make sure everything's fine. Come by the gym later and I'll let you battle me, Angelina." Both trainers thanked him, and he headed for the sliding doors.
There weren't barely any trainers around the Pokemon Center, which was good. Angelina wanted some time alone with her Pokemon and Jeremy. It was also dinner time, so they ordered food in the dinning area.
"Ah, the perks of being a trainer…. Free food!" Angelina grinned before dining on her meatloaf and mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans.
Angelina's Pokemon, who were nearby, agreed whole-heartedly with her before they dug their tiny mouths/paws into their Pokemon food. Jeremy laughed and smiled. Since the day he met Angelina back in Goldenrod City, he wanted to be with her. Now since that's happened, he hoped that nothing in the world would separate him from her.
"And how bout' tomorrow, we go and see if we can earn another badge!" Angelina cheered happily, her Pokemon letting out their own roars of agreement.
"Sure, Angelina." Jeremy agreed.
§To Be Continued§
*Angelina and Jeremy explore the Burnt Tower and meet Mysticman Eusine and Ecruteak's Gym Leader Morty.
*Angelina finds Seamus also roaming Burnt Tower, she defeats him in their third battle
*Angelina falls through a hole in the floor, not injured and encounters the three legendary beasts for the first time; Raikou, Suicune, and Entei, who flee the Burnt Tower.
*Eusine also sees Suicune; determined to keep searching and chase after the Pokemon.
Hope you like this so far! Chapters 15 and 16 are on the way! Thanks for reading!