After taking a boat to Olivine City so they could arrive back in Johto, the gang made their way quickly to Ecruteak City since it was only two days worth of walking.
"So we're finally here." Ash said as he and Pikachu stretched their arms up, seeing the city's skyline.
"And bigger than advertised. I can't believe how big it all is." Elaine commented as she saw a thriving community rather than a low-down, seclusive town like it was about 20 years ago.
"It became popular after the champion of this region, Ethan Kaneko, did something here." Trace mentioned. "I forget what it is though. It at least involved that Bell Tower there." He pointed to the pristine looking tower there. "Talk about a landmark."
"Eevee." She nodded in agreement.
"Cool. We'll have to have fun with this town first before leaving." Elaine suggested, before smiling. "But first, there's some other place I'd like to visit."
"The burned down tower?" Ash asked, as they now stood at the base of the destroyed, charred black building.
"Yeah!" Elaine cheered. "I always wanted to go into a destroyed building. Plus we might catch some ghost type Pokemon."
"That would be a lucrative find." Trace agreed, albeit with hesitation as he scratched his skin.
"Come on it'll be spooky in that fun Halloween kind of way! Come on Clefable!" However, even the Fairy Pokemon seemed apprehensive as she walked in with her. She could hear laughs and giggles coming from there and they didn't sound friendly. Going in, they saw that the inside looked even worse than the outside.
"Clefable." She shuddered. Ash and Trace followed suite along with their worried Pokemon.
"It's totally burned out." Ash noted.
"The pictures don't cut it." Trace shook his head. "It's like you can feel how hot and destructive it was the day after despite the fire being so long ago." He placed a hand on a wooden support pillar. Clefable's ears twitched as they heard something swish past them.
"Cle?"
"What is it Clefable?" However, fire suddenly combusted around them like it was that same fateful night the tower went ablaze! Everyone gasped in horror they were now in an active burning fire.
"We've got to get out of here!" Ash exclaimed in fright.
"Pikapi!" His partner wanted to get out as well.
"Run for it!" Trace yelled as they went for the entrance, but it closed shut. "What the?! This way!" They turned right so they could find the next exit, going down a hallway. There was a back exit, but a fire burst there as well. They tried to avoid it, but thanks to a stumble, they painfully fell down some stairs as they crashed to the floor below, dazed and hurt from the experience.
"Ow, is everyone okay?" Trace asked, to which they groaned yes.
"What's with there being a fire all of a sudden?" Elaine questioned as they got up. Speaking of which, said fire followed them down and filled the room.
"There's no way out!" Ash cried out.
"Alright, I've had enough of this! Azumarill, douse these flames with Aqua Tail!" Sending out her water/fairy type, the Aqua Rabbit Pokemon came out as she got onto all fours and started waving her tail in a circle, generating water as the blue liquid sprayed around all over the room, but the flame wouldn't go out. In fact, they weren't even being touched.
"What's with this fire?!" Elaine complained. Trace's Eevee sensed something was off, and thus jumped out of Trace's arms.
"Eevee, what are you doing?!" He gasped as she got close to the fire. However, it didn't feel hot. She even went into the fire and it didn't burn her. "Huh?" He went to the fire and waved his hand through it. "There's no heat. This isn't fire!" This revelation got to Elaine badly as he temper grew to be hotter than actual fire.
"Is this some kind of prank?! Clefable, use your senses to seek out the trouble makers then use Psychic through the whole room!" Nodding with a determined look, the Fairy Pokemon closed her eyes and listened with her ears, trying to detect where this was coming from. Finding them, her eyes glowed as she opened them.
"Cleeeefable!" She sent out a psychic shock wave throughout the room, rocking it on its very foundations as groans and moans were heard. Numerous Ghastly revealed themselves since the move was super effective against them, and as a result the fire vanished.
"Ghastly Ghastly." They moaned as they faded into the walls and floor.
"Ha, we scared off the ghosts." Trace chuckled, though he soon collapsed onto the floor as he adrenaline started to drop. His Eevee went and snuggled up to him to cheer him up. He smiled with a slowly relaxing grin as he petted her head. However, they weren't out of the burned woods yet as they surrounded again, not only by Ghastly, but Haunter as well. Including a Gengar in the middle.
"Haunter. They just got reinforcements." Ash pointed out.
"Doesn't matter, Clefable and I can psyche them out all day!" Elaine boasted, no longer afraid. "Clefable, use-"
"Stop." A voice gave her pause as they turned to see a man walk down the stairs they tumbled upon. All the Ghastly and Haunter went to him as Elaine gasped.
"Morty Randall!" He wore a yellow and cyan sweater, a cyan headband and brown pants.
"Please understand these Pokemon are not trying to harm you. They're only defending themselves against your intrusion."
"Oh, whoops." The girl became all nervous and awkward. "Sorry about that. I just wanted to see this cool tower and perhaps catch some Pokemon here."
"While I can appreciate someone who's interested in the history of this tower, just coming in without invitation or permission is frowned upon. So, who might you three be.
"I'm Elaine, and these are my best friends Ash and Trace. I also came here to challenge you to a WCS battle."
"I'll be glad to do battle with you Elaine, but this is not the place to do so."
"Right." Ash noticed something on one of the walls, and pointed to it.
"What's that?" It was a plaque of a bird.
"That's Ho-Oh, an ancient legendary Pokemon. It vanished a long time ago. When this tower burned down over 300 years ago." The teens went quiet as the gym leader started to explain. "There's a building called the Bell Tower not far from this place. It's the most recognizable piece of this city's skyline. That tower is a copy of this, the original Tin Tower.
"So what happened?" Ash inquired.
"It was built for the understanding of humans and Pokemon. And my ancestors protected it for generations. We protected it for another reason, for it was the only location that Ho-Oh would appear before humans. Ho-Oh's appearance was a sign of peace, but it would only show itself to a select few, the few who guarded the tower. Then, one day, invaders came who sought to use Ho-Oh's power for evil. In the ensuing battle, Tin Tower was set afire. Ho-Oh fled, to have presumably never again make contact with humans, never returning until our as of yet great champion, Ethan Kaneko with the help of our kimono girl dance troupe, summoned it back with one of its feathers. He soon set it free, but while it may no longer visit personally, our people and those all over Johto claimed they've spotted Ho-Oh crossing a rainbow, even if it was just the sparkles of its feathers."
"Amazing. So, follow up question on the history, why is this place still burned?" Trace asked.
"Some wanted to rebuild it, but my ancestors insisted that it be left as a witness for future generations of man's brutality. But they also decided to build a new tower. The Bell Tower, in hopes it might return." He smiled. "And it did. I'm grateful to have seen it, even if not up close. It meant my ancestor's attempts were not in vain. It meant a new generation of peace has come that Ho-Oh deemed worthy of appearing again, thanks to a trainer with a heart of gold."
"That's beautiful." Elaine said, having enjoyed what Morty explained and what has happened.
"Yes. How about we go and have that match, right?" The gym leader gestured to the upper level. As they were leaving, giant hands that looked like white gloves shot out of nowhere and snagged Pikachu and Eevee, as they were dragged screaming towards who stole them right from their owner's shoulders. The teens were shocked that Team Rocket struck again from such a distance on top of the walls surrounding the burned tower.
"Aha, Pikachu and Eevee!" Meowth cheered at their capture as Jessie and James nabbed them with their devices strapped to their back, the gloves receding
"We've got our treasure!" James added with glee.
"And thus our victory is assured!" Jessie giggled.
"Who are those three?!" Morty questioned.
"Prepare for trouble, we've got Pikachu!"
"Make it double, we've got Eevee too!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!"
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash told his partner.
"Pikaaaachuuuu!" She tried shocking Jessie, but the glove wasn't effected at all. Jessie and the other criminals laughed.
"Oh so sorry, but we made these with 100% shock proof gloves!"
"That's one of the things with these gadgets I absolutely love!" James laughed.
"Now to escape from the wall we're above!" Said Meowth before they backflipped onto the ground on the other side of the wall and tried to run off.
"Gengar!" Morty called for the Shadow Pokemon, which then appeared. "Don't let those crooks get away!"
"Gengar." It said before disappearing. Tailing behind the fleeing Team Rocket, it extended its tongue so that it went around their feet and tripped them onto the ground painfully.
"Ouch! Meowth, you tripped me!" Jessie called out the Scratch Pokemon.
"It wasn't me, I tripped too!"
"It must've been something!" James guessed, which was correct as Gengar showed its face from the road they were on, which spooked James into standing. "Gengar!" He gasped from shock.
"Hey, give us back our Pokemon!" Ash called out to them as they caught up.
"What do we do? We're surrounded." Jessie growled.
"If we can't skedaddle..." Meowth started.
"Then we must battle! Wheezing, go!"
"Arbok, I choose you!" They sent out their poison types, but Morty's Gengar flew ahead, ready for the challenge. Turning invisible, it confused the two Pokemon as they looked around for the ghost. Appearing from behind, the Shadow Pokemon slammed into them, sending the two poison types into a tree and a bush respectively. Arbok hit the tree and was thus knocked out. Appearing in front of the startled Team Rocket, Morty called them out.
"Thieves! You should be ashamed of yourselves! How can people who are Pokemon trainers steal other trainer's Pokemon?!" They just simply grinned however.
"It's quite easy." James responded. Jessie added to that.
"We're Team Rocket members first and people second!"
"I ain't even a people." Meowth said just to add to the mockery of human decency.
"Gengar, use your Night Shade!" The Shadow Pokemon went behind Team Rocket and then shot black bolts from its eyes, destroying the mechanical arms that kept Pikachu and Eevee restrained.
"Gengar!" It exclaimed with glee.
"Haunter, Gastly!" Morty called for them. They appeared so that the former could catch Pikachu and two of the latter caught Eevee.
"Thank you!" Both Ash and Trace told the ghosts as they returned the two Pokemon to their owners.
"You're not getting away! Arbok, return! Seviper, go!"
"Wheezing, go get that Gengar!" James told his Pokemon. Jessie's swap in and James's bruised but ready Poison Gas Pokemon went on the offense.
"Dodge their incoming attacks!" Morty commanded. Gengar phased out of their way, letting the Pokemon crash into the ground.
"Gengar, it's up there!" James spotted it hovering from above.
"Seviper, wrap up Gengar!" Jessie demanded. Leaping from the smoke, it caught the Shadow Pokemon in its coils, but the ghost type simply phased out of its binding body. Team Rocket was shocked to see it so good at getting away.
"Gengar, Shadow Ball!" Morty proclaimed to finish this up. Gengar's hands glowed with grey energy as it charged its attack.
"Seviper, Poison Tail!"
"Weezing, Tackle!" Both poison type Pokemon obeyed Team Rocket as they tried to charge at Gengar, but the Shadow Pokemon formed a ball as dark as it was, and fired it with such force, it not only negated the incoming attacks, it overpowered them as they were painfully pushed back and exploded at Team Rockets feet, sending the criminals flying high and screaming.
"Ugh, we lost Pikachu and Eevee!" Jessie complained intensely.
"Why do we keep losing?!" James called out the unfairness they were being consistently dealt with.
"We'll say it before we'll say it again!" Meowth sighed as they collectively yelled,
"Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaaain!" They left a twinkle in the sky.
"Wow, Gengar are awesome." Ash whistled.
"I'll say." Elaine agreed.
"Gengar are one of the most powerful ghost types aside from Legendary and Mythical Pokemon." Trace pointed out. "I'd hate having to face that with Eevee." Elaine smiled to that.
"Well, lucky for you I'm perfectly capable of doing the match against Morty myself."
"Well, while we can battle now if you'd like, perhaps your Pokemon would like to rest up? We can have our battle tomorrow."
"What do you say Clefable?" Elaine asked her Pokemon. The Fairy Pokemon pumped a fist and had a positively determined face.
"Clefable!"
"That's what I like to hear!" Elaine praised her Pokemon's perseverance. "We'll have that WCS battle now please."
"Then follow me to the gym, where we'll have our match." Morty led our heroes to the gym, where they stood on the opposite side of the gym battlefield, and a Rotom Drone appeared.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome! You have been approved for an official Pokemon World Coronation Series Normal Class battle! The challengers here are Morty Randall from the Ecruteak City Gym vs Elaine Gladwin from Pallet Town! For today's battle, you can choose two Pokemon! When a Pokemon on either side are unable to battle, that side loses! Both challengers bring out your Pokemon!"
"Haunter, I choose you!" Morty sent out middle stage evolved Pokemon of the Gas Pokemon.
"Clefable, let's be smart here." Elaine warned her Pokemon as her partner ran onto the field.
"Battle begin!"
"Flamethrower!" Elaine went first. Clefable tried to burn the ghost with a plume of fire, but it quickly vanished. "Grr, use two Moonblasts!" Charging up a pink orb in both hands, Clefable threw one at the ghost Pokemon, to which it dodged. "Now throw it as soon as it appears!" Sensing that it tried going in for a sneak attack from behind, the Fairy Pokemon spun around and punched her other fairy type attack in to Haunter's face, pushing it away with an explosion as it groaned from the pain.
"Haunter, use Hypnosis!" Morty tried to get the upper hand. Haunter's eyes glowed red as it tried to put the fairy type to sleep. Clefable's eyelids were getting heavy.
"Clefable, use Psychic to disrupt the battlefield!" Elaine pleaded. With her own eyes glowing blue, the drowzy Pokemon raised the dirt and dust from the ground, causing Haunter's Hypnosis to lose its effect as it had to get out from the mid-air debris.
"Plunge your fists in for Shadow Punch!" With its hands gaining a grey colored glow, it sent them flying in to deliver a one-two hit combo against Clefable, whom was punched in the face twice and grunted from the discomfort. She was hardly out however as she shook her face.
"Let's wrap this up! Use Psychic!" Once again making her eyes glow blue, Clefable caught the Gas Pokemon in a telekinetic grasp. It tried to escape but the hold was too strong as it was slammed into the ground, hard enough to crack it. It fainted instantly from that.
"Haunter, return." Morty recalled his fallen ghost, then sent out his ace. "Gengar, I choose you!" The red eyed, toothy grinning Shadow Pokemon finally came out to play.
"Clefable, Psychic!" The ghost/poison type was captured, but Morty wouldn't let it fall so quick.
"Quick, use Shadow Ball!" Forming a black sphere, Gengar launched its attack and it hit Clefable head on as she was pushed back before the attack exploded. Eaine had to brace herself against the ghostly wind. Once that was done, Elaine tried to focus on the battle but couldn't find Gengar.
"It disappeared during that?" The Kantonian girl questioned.
"Counter with Night Shade!" Black bolts struck against Clefable as well from out of nowhere, pushing her into the ground on her back.
"Clefable!" She cried out from being subject to so much pain. Being durable was fine but if the attacks still hurt then prolonged battles were not always fun.
"Clefable, use Psychic on the ground again as a smoke screen!" Using her psychic power, she caused all the dirt, especially all the newly displaced dirt to cover herself and made the cloud much bigger. Gengar's invisible form could be seen amongst the air-born dirt.
"While covering your tracks is a good idea Elaine, your Pokemon can't see ours all that well either!" Morty told his challenger, who made sure her determined poker face didn't lose composure. Gengar then went intangible, so that dirt and dust was no longer visually giving away its movement.
"Clefable, use Recover!" Closing her eyes, the Fairy Pokemon allowed herself to glow white as her health started to return to her.
"Don't let her heal too much! Shadow Ball!" Sensing a chill from behind her, Clefable only had enough time to turn before being hit in the back by a point blank Shadow Ball from behind.
"Cleeee!" She screamed from the intense pain in her back.
"Quick, use your wings!" Grunting with effort, she flexed her wings so that she had more surface area for the wind to catch, and thus she fell off and tumbled across the floor, panting from how difficult this match was. "Use Psychic across the whole room!"
"Cleeeeefable!" Sending out a psychic shock wave like in the burnt tower, it sent all the air-born dirt and dust flying, along with Gengar as it lost its invisibility and smashed into a wall. It tried to get up, but it couldn't muster the strength and thus fainted.
"As a result of today's battle, there has been a change in the WCS rankings effective immediately!" The Rotom Drone announced.
"Whew, we won." She wiped her brow with a sigh of relief. Clefable limped towards her owner, and Elaine smiled proudly as she petted the fairy type on her head. "You did so great Clefable. I'm proud of you."
"Clefable." She nodded with tired eyes and a tired grin.
"That was a tough battle." Ash gulped.
"I really wouldn't have stood a chance there." Trace nodded. Morty returned his Pokemon and said to it,
"You put up a great fight Gengar. But I have to admit Elaine, you and your Pokemon battled better than we did. Congratulations."
"Thank you so much." Elaine nodded as they shook hands. Trace started to look on his phone, to which Ash noticed.
"What are you doing?"
"Looking up the next gym match."
"Trace, how about we take a break for the rest of the day and tomorrow?" Elaine called to him. "I'd rather enjoy Ecruteak City a bit more." Trace considered her proposition, looked down at his phone, then closed his eyes as he smiled, putting his phone away.
"Alright. That sounds good. I can take on Falkner Ishida later."
"Wait, isn't Falkner a flying type specialist?" Ash asked. "I want to battle him!"
"Pikachu!" However, Trace objected.
"I haven't gotten to battle for some time! You and Elaine have been hogging all the good matches while I've done nothing but battle rock types specialists! I should get a turn!"
"Boys!" Elaine broke them up before they got too much into an argument. "Ash, Trace is right. We have been taking up quite a bit of the battles. Let's give him this one so that he doesn't fall too far behind us." Ash crossed his arms as he grumbled. But he did quickly let it go as he put his hands behind his head.
"Well Pikachu, looks like we'll have to battle a bit later."
"Pika." She sounded disappointed.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you two will have a good match up in the future." Elaine told them. She even gave Ash a kiss for his understanding, making him blush and smile.
"Thanks Elaine."
"Yeah, thanks as well." Trace nodded with a smile to his female best friend. "I really appreciate you giving me the chance to take on the next challenge next."
"You're welcome. Now let's go, there's something I want to see."
"And what would that be?" Ash inquired.
"I want to see this Kimono Girl troupe Morty mentioned. I bet they have some interesting things to share." Trace wondered about what could be found there.
"Yeah, sounds likely."
A/N: About time Trace got a turn. I've noticed I haven't been giving him the proper attention lately, so I wanted to give him a chance to not be overshadowed too much. What did you guys think of the match? It's good, yeah?