Disclaimer: Welcome to the wonderful world that is Pokémon. Of course everything related to Pokémon is owned and licensed by Nintendo, and I'm sure the author of this story will do his best to treat Nintendo and Pokémon with as much respect as possible. Now, the characters in this story are all original except for professor Oak, Ash, Gary, Misty, Brock, several Jenny's and Joy's and some other weirdo's that wander around in the game and/or series and of course, the Pokémon.

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Chapter 11 – Towers

I

I needed some rest after my experiences with those fucking Natu's, and I thought spiritual guidance was best. What? Something had messed with my mind, and I thought the best thing to do was to clear it!

Not to mention, Tony thought, getting over the fact I killed someone cold blooded.

I informed myself on the internet about priests and monks and the likes, and I found there were quite a lot in Johto. And apparently they all resided in towers. I don't know if those monks build the towers or the towers just attracted them, but…

"Well, I think it's quite obvious that the monks build the towers," Ash interrupted, "I mean, somebody had to build them, right?"

"That was a joke," Tony glared, "thank you for fucking it up."

Ash mumbled an apology and tried to hide himself from sight.

Anyway, apparently there were four towers in Johto, the Battle Tower, which didn't held any monks, only trainers, so it didn't really qualify as a tower…

"Don't even think about it, kid!" Tony's finger shot out right in front of Ash's nose.

Ash closed his mouth, mumbled another apology and crept back into hiding.

And then there was still the Burned Tower, the Tin Tower and the Sprout Tower. Apparently the Burned Tower and the Tin Tower used to be twin towers, but one of them got burned, I forgot which one. Apparently some big ass bird flew into one. No repercussions were made against the bird. Anyway, they sorta rebuild the tower. Well, they fortified it so it wouldn't collapse, but it's still ruined. Don't know why they just didn't rebuild it, probably because of the tourist to check out the disaster site The Tin Tower was spared and therefore has less visitors. The last tower is Sprout Tower, which wiggles, because it's build around a huge Bellsprout. Hey, why not? What ever rocks your boat, dude.

Anyway, which one was I'm going to pick? The Burned Tower and Tin Tower were located in Ecruteak, and Sprout Tower was in Violet. A coin toss decided I was going to check out Ecruteak. I started up my bike and drove off.

I

Did I say that tourists liked to check out the disaster site? Well, that was an understatement. They fucking loved it! I wasn't going to find spiritual enlightenment here, unless I took a guided tour. I didn't find a way to the Tin Tower, although I could see it in the distance, so I asked one of the local folks how to get to the Tin Tower.

"No, no," he shook his head, "it's the Burned Tower you want."

To emphasise my true goal, he held up a small model of the ruined tower. My fault I guess, I shouldn't have picked a souvenir vendor.

"No, I really want the Tin Tower. Not the Burned one. I'm not here for pleasure, it's business."

"Business?" the man frowned, "but there's only monks there, nothing of business."

"I'll decide that for myself," I said, "now how do I get to the tower?"

"You sure you want to get to the Tin Tower?" the man raised an eyebrow.

I sighed, getting the hint.

"If you show me the way to the Tin Tower, I'll buy one of your souvenirs."

"All you have to do is go to the information desk of the Burned Tower and ask to let you pass to the Tin Tower."

"That's it?"

I was astounded, could it be this simple?

"That's it," the guy nodded, "now, what can I get you?"

"Give me a package of those fake fire birds," I said, "those look handy."

"Sure are," the guy grinned as he handed me them over, "place them in the ground, light the fuse, and then get to a safe distance to see the Ho-oh take off in a blaze of fire."

"Blazes usually are," I muttered under my breath as I paid the guy.

If I couldn't get into the Tin Tower via the information desk, I would use those Ho-oh's on his booth.

I

"Good morning, sir, do you want to take a tour, or buy a guide?"

"Neither, I would like to visit the Tin Tower."

The receptionist blinked, but regained her posture.

"I'm sorry sir, but the Tin Tower isn't open for visitors."

"No, sorry, I meant, I wanted to visit the monks…"

"Oh," she blinked again, "uhm, the passage way is, uhm, that door over there."

"Thank you."

I

A few minutes later I was back outside on a small path leading through the woods. About fifteen minutes later I arrived at the tower. I knocked on the small door and I couldn't help but think at the large gate that was the entrance of the Burned Tower. I had thought that looked fairly new. A young bald man opened the door.

"This isn't the Burned Tower anymore," he said, "this is the Tin Tower and isn't open for visitors."

"I know," I nodded, "I'm not here to visit the tower, I seek spiritual guidance."

"Oh, in that case, come in."

The monk opened the door and let me in.

"Do you get a lot of people trying to visit the tower?" I asked as I entered.

"Every day a few," he sighed, "people want to see how the Burned Tower looked like before the Ho-oh made it's nest there. Although there are plenty pictures of it in the tower."

Just as he closed the door, somebody knocked again. The young monk sighed and opened the door again.

"This isn't the Burned Tower anymore, this is the Tin Tower and isn't open for visitors."

"What?" a fat guy in a hawaiian shirt with a camera around his neck frowned, "but you let that other guy in!"

"Yes, but he's not a tourist."

"You're not gonna say he's a monk, do you? He had long hair for crying out loud."

"I'm a new breed of monk," I replied, "and besides, under the hair? I'm bald."

"What? Come on!"

"Sorry, you'll have to go back," the monk said as he closed the door.

I

"Now, how may I help you?" he asked me as he led me deeper into the tower.

"Well," I said, suddenly realising I hadn't completely thought this through, "I would like to see the head monk. I'm somewhat at a loss, and I'm looking for guidance."

"You've seen the light?" the monk asked.

"Quite the opposite actually, I'm completely in the dark."

"Aha, please this way."

I followed the monk some stories up and opened a large door. In the back of the room sat three old bald guys, even wrinklier than Mr. Fuji. I walked over and sat down in front of the monks, bowing slightly to greet them. I was hoping I didn't offend them, since I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

"Greetings," the middle (and oldest) one said, "how may we be of assistance."

"Well," I started, slightly embarrassed to tell my story to these strangers, "I recently had a very traumatic experience and I would like to seek guidance."

The two others leaned closer to the head monk and mumbled something.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but if you've had a traumatic experience, I suggest you'd take a shrink, those are better at dealing with that. If you're truly seeking spiritual guidance, then you may stay, but in your case, I think it's better if you left."

I thought about this for a moment, and nodded. I stood up and turned away. Well, no luck here, time to go to Violet. What? You thought I would give up this easy?

I

I was driving on the road to Violet as I saw the tower. I parked my bike at the side of the road and checked again. Yep, that tower was still moving. Guess it really did wiggle. Well, if not, what are the odds that I happen to be there when that tower decides to start wiggling? I have no idea, but I do know, if that was the case, I was going to be the one everyone depended on to fix it. Maybe I could still turn and run? Come on, it always wiggles, right? I mean, not just today… that's what I've been told… It would be a MAJOR coincidence if people said it wiggled, but didn't, and started when I arrived…

I

So I ended up flipping a coin to see if I was going or not. But if this was something funky and I had to sort things out, fuck 'em. I was turning back to Goldenrod after each and everyone sucked my dick, cause I wasn't handling anything. Well, maybe I'm a bit paranoid, but after the shit I've seen… Anyway, I arrived at Violet and parked my bike just outside the town. I could have parked closer, there were lots of empty spaces near the tower, but I didn't trust that wiggling tower one bit. Pretty cheerful because no one had asked for my help yet, but still holding a firm eye on the tower, I made my way to the moving Sprout Tower. I knew this was a real monastery, just like the Tin Tower. No information desk in sight, but it was accessible to the public. I entered the tower and looked around for someone who could give me guidance. Ah, one wrinkled raisin, coming up.

"Excuse me," I tapped a sweeper on his shoulder.

The guy turned around and his face wrinkled more as he smiled.

"Uhm, I'm looking for guidance," I said, "you know, of the spiritual kind?"

"Sorry kid," the sweeper sighed, "we sell hamburgers here…"

I raised an eyebrow as I tried to digest that information when I saw a twinkle in his eye.

"Come along," he said as he nodded me to follow him, "let's see what's today's special."

I followed him to the back where he put his broom in a small cabinet and went up the stairs. The stairs only went up one floor and it seemed the entire floor seemed to consist of one big room with a slightly moving pillar in the middle. I saw another set of stairs were on the other side.

"So, why do you seek guidance?" the sweeper asked as he guided me to the other set of stairs.

"Well," I started, "I recently had a very traumatic experience and I'm looking for a way to deal with it."

"And you've decided to come here," he nodded, "how very nice of you."

God, the movement on this floor was even worse.

"Well, actually I went to Ecruteak first, but they kicked me out."

"Ah, I see, how very honest of you. What made you think we wouldn't kick you out after you telling us a bunch of monks already did the same?"

Hmm, good point, maybe it had been better if I hadn't told him. Floor four, and even worse movement.

"Well, to be honest, I hadn't."

"You should ask yourself questions to know the essence of you. If you can answer those, you're one step closer to true nirvana."

"The band?" I frowned.

"Eternal bliss," he corrected.

"Oh, THAT Nirvana," I nodded, "could you excuse me for a moment?"

We were on the fifth floor and the floor were shaking as if the floorboards were stacked on a thousand washing machines, all swirling like there were no clean clothes left in the world. I fell to my knees and threw up.

"I'm sorry," I said as I got up, "guess I came motion sick."

"That's okay," the sweeper said, "it's not my floor to clean. Besides, most guys who climb the tower for the first time throw up on the third level. But let's return to the second floor and talk further."

I

Ten minutes later we sat on the floor somewhere near the pillar in the large vibrating room.

"So, all you have to do here is ask questions?" I asked, "you know the answers to everything?"

"Well, not everything, but we try to seek as much answers as possible."

"Okay then," I ventured, "why is this tower moving?"

"It's build around a large Bellsprout."

"No shit! That's real?"

"Yes it is."

"What happens if the Bellsprout would die?" I asked.

"That's a question nobody wants to know the answer to."

"Fair enough," I said as I went through some scenario's in my head.

"Any more questions? Or can we start with the important ones?"

"Just one, why didn't they rebuild the Burned Tower in Ecruteak?"

"Next to that dancing parlour the Burned Tower in it's present state is the only thing that attracts people to Ecruteak. They build their whole economic system on ripping off tourists. If they rebuild it, they would lose their income."

"Thought so," I nodded, "now, what are the important questions?"

"The ones I will ask," the sweeper said, "now, tell me, why have you come here?"

I

So I told him my whole ordeal, who I was, where I came from, what I had done before I went to Johto and finally the whole thing at Alph Ruins.

"I see," he said when I had finished, "the abbot of the Tin Tower may have been right, you might need a psychiatrist. But I don't think you need to go that far. The answer to you problem might be much simpler."

"Spiritual guidance? I mean, that's why I'm here."

"No, not that. That's something you don't need. I believe it will all become clear when you find the answer to my next question."

"Which is?"

"When was the last time you had a vacation?"

I

AN: Okay, I'm kinda disappointed. I mean, no reviews for the last two chapters? That's not really encouraging, and I do want to continue this story after Tony reaches Kanto, so start reviewing! Or else you'll have to wait for another year for Hunter 3 (now if that's not a threat, I don't know what is). Anyway, as you might have guessed Tony goes on a vacation (woohoo, beach fun! Be nice and maybe I'll throw in a topless sunbathing beauty, or even Tony topless!), and who knows (but me) what he'll encounter there! I should warn you, it's not what you'ld expect...