Me: It's double update time! In this first chapter, the team meets Morty, the Ecruteak gym leader in an effor to get permission to enter the Tin Tower once HO-OH arrives in Ecruteak to meet the heroes. The title is derived from that in the pokemon anime, the burned down tower in ecruteak was the original Tin Tower, which was HO-OH's old home, rather than the Brass Tower like it was called in Pokemon Crystal version. The way the anime portrays this makes more sense in this case, especially with how HO-OH is portrayed throughout the franchise. Hence, I called the chapter Terror of Tin Tower due to the fact the burned out tower is the original Tin Tower.
Gantz: Anyway, the second half of the update uses another idea I gave Nutcase to work with, as it involves my mysterious evil Mario OC you people might remember from my last deleted scene fanfic.
Servo: Ok, food's ready! Time to sit back and enjoy the show!
Chapter 32: Terror of Tin Tower
The morning after celebrating their latest victory (and after the latest nightmare Vivian had), everyone walked into Ecruteak City. While walking through town, Servo said, "After what we went through, I feel a little reluctant to wear my human form." Crow then said, "We have no choice, Servo. We'd cause a panic otherwise. I bet people would think we were mutants created by Team Rocket to attack people and steal pokemon."
Ash then said with great disgust, "I wouldn't put that past them..." Brock then said, "Take it easy. Their days are numbered." May then said, "So, what should we do first?" Vivian then said, "Perhaps visiting the Pokemon Center would be a good idea. Then try to find out where we should go while we're here since those legendary pokemon told us to come here."
Upon taking Vivian's suggestion, as well as getting some lunch, Ash then said, "The town's gym leader, Morty knows a lot about the legends of Ecruteak, so we should ask him to help us out on this matter." Zane then said, "Sounds good to me."
A few minutes later, they got to the Ecruteak Gym to find Morty. Ash tried to call Morty out, but there didn't seem to be anyone there to answer Ash's call. A cold wind flew through the room, and the lights went out afterwards. Luigi was a little spooked, as this was eerily familiar to him.
As he looked around to make sure he was wrong about his hunch, he didn't notice something suddenly appear in front of him shouting, "GAAAAASSSSSSTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!" Luigi screamed at the top of his lungs, starteling everyone else, who were already spooked by the ghost who appeared, which was a pokemon called Gastly.
Luigi cowered in fear, but the ghost pokemon wasn't looking to hurt the green-clad plumber at all. When Luigi looked up, he saw the ghost smiling as it yelled out in it's somewhat scary voice. Suddenly more Gastly emerged in the room, followed by creepier ghosts with disembodied hands which began chanting, "Haunter, haunt!!!". Finally, a large black figure with piercing red eyes and a sinister smile appeared, and shouted, "GENGAR!!!!!!"
Luigi fainted out of fear, but Ash and his friends weren't scared. Well, except May and Max who had never visited the Ecruteak Gym before, but they weren't as scared as Luigi. Pikachu lept off Ash's shoulder, and said to the Gengar, "Gengar, long time no see!" The Gengar then said in a scratchy voice, "Ah, it's my old buddy Pikachu! It's been too long since you and your friends came through last! How have things been going for you and Ash?"
Pikachu then said, "Well, we've been to Hoeen, and we conquered the Battle Frontier, but our current adventure will require a lot of explaining... We also really have to see your trainer, Morty." Gengar suddenly put on a frown and then said, "This sounds serious..." Clay then said, "You bet it is. Can you tell us where Morty is?" Gengar stared wide-eyed at Clay, as well as all of the other ghost pokemon in the room. "How in the world did you understand what I just said!?! No human can understand Poke language!!!"
Ash then said, "It's a long story Gengar, and it's partially why we need to see Morty." Gengar stared at Ash for a moment, and then said, "Ok, tell me and the other ghosts everything."
Luigi finally got up, and was relieved to know these ghosts weren't dangerous. Although, they still had the same annoying habit all ghosts have, and that's the love of scaring people, or playing pranks.
After all of the ghost pokemon were told of what was going on in the world today, one of the Gastly said to Gengar, "You know, this might explain why Morty was acting so odd lately." Gengar then said, "I think you're right... Let me explain, kids: A few weeks ago, around the time you supposedly started this little quest, our friend Morty began acting strangely."
Ash then said, "How so?" Gengar then said, "He said to us as well as a few of the monks who hang around here that he felt a shift in the balance of light and dark. I may be a ghost pokemon, and even classified as the Shadow Pokemon in that pokedex doohicky you have, but I didn't feel anything. But, if Morty said something was amiss, then he has to be right."
Zane then asked, "Well? What else happened?" Gengar looked a bit fearful before saying this part. He then said, "He went into a deep trance while meditating to figure out what was wrong. He kept it up for days, and one day he left the gym. The only thing he told me and the other ghosts that live here was, 'Look after the place while I'm gone. Until I get back, all challenges are cancelled!' Morty never closed the gym for any reason before. Whatever he saw in his meditation must've been importnt, and now I think it may have something to do with why you kids are here!"
One of the Haunter then said, "Not only that, there've been some strange noises coming from the old burned out tower to the northwest of the city. Rumors are going around saying that ghosts other than ghost type pokemon like ourselves suddenly moved in!" Luigi didn't like the sound of this, and niether did Clay. Both brothers had an understandible fear of ghosts, or anything supernatural in general. At least Clay wasn't as fearful as Luigi, but at this point in time he was probobly just as afraid as his older brother.
The Haunter then said, "Now that I think about it, I remember seeing Morty going into the remains of the original Tin Tower, but he never came out!!! It's not like him to get lost in there despite the place being such a deathtrap!" Gengar then said, "Since you kids came here, do you think you can give us a hand with this matter?" The heroes took Gengar's offer as they needed to speak with Morty if they wished to go to the top of the new Tin Tower to hopefully meet HO-OH.
Gengar escorted the group to the burned tower. Since the place was in such bad shape, only a small group could go in without causing further damage to the decimated structure. Ash, Clay, Luigi, and Brock decided to go in with Gengar into the ruined tower. When they got inside, the walls were covered in soot due to the flames that engulfed it long ago. Several support beams also littered the ground, threatening to cause the whole structure to collapse on the team.
Brock then said to Clay and Luigi, "When Ash, Misty, and I first came here, we mistook this as the gym since it was so close by to it. We met Morty here when he heard us screaming about a fire that was the result of the illusion-causing abilities of the local ghost pokemon. We then learned about Ecruteak's past, as well as Ash findng out the identity of HO-OH." Luigi then said, "What do you mean?"
Ash then said, "After Pikachu scared off those Spearow on my first day as a trainer, we saw a large bird pokemon trailing a rainbow behind it. My pokedex at the time had no information on it as it stated there were countless pokemon still left to be discovered. I tried to tell Professor Oak what I saw, but he said I had to have been mistaken since everybody on Earth had searched for that very pokemon for years. When Misty, Brock, and I came to Ecruteak, I saw a picture engraved in gold of the same pokemon I saw that day. I then learned it was called HO-OH, as well as why Professor Oak said I was wrong about what I saw when we were told the same story that you heard from Entei, Suicune, and Raikou a few days ago. Morty also wouldn't believe I saw HO-OH either, but after I defeated him in our gym battle for the Fog Badge, he was convinced through how I battled that I was telling the truth."
Clay then said, "With this in mind, I wonder if the Dentes Rhohos are trying to keep us from meeting HO-OH. That is, assuming if they're behind these disturbences." The four travelers and the ghost pokemon then heard a voice say, "Well, you're half right brats." Suddenly, a small group of Team Rocket agents dropped down from a relatively sturdy support beam.
Luigi then said, "Miserable Ministroni, I should've known you losers would mess with us again!" Ash then yelled in a demanding voice, "What convinced you guys to work with these Dentes Rhohos monsters!?! Even your boss of all people should know they're dangerous!"
One of the Rockets said, "Simple. We want revenge on you brats for spilling info to the cops about our hideout's position." Clay then said smugly, "You guys are at fault on that, not us. One of your own blurted out where your main HQ was, dumbasses." Brock then said, "That's right. Before pinning blame on people, it's best to get the facts straight. We may have told the cops, but it was one of you morons who told Clay and Meriee where the cops to go."
Another Rocket then said, "That doesn't matter. You still played a part in our current situation." Clay then said, "It's your own fault, dickweed! You and the other Rocket agents should've thought your decisions through before turning to a life of crime! Not only that, if you had even a shred of self respect as a human being, you'd know you should never treat a pokemon as poorly as you do, idiots!"
The Rocket squadron's leader then said, "Kindness is for the weak. Especially when we've got your friend here." The Rockets moved, allowing everyone to see the Ecruteak Gym Leader, Morty, tied to a support beam, with scratches and cuts all over his body. Gengar's temper flared as he yelled, "How dare you do that to him!?!! You want to see fear!? Allow me to show you what true fear really is!!!!!!" (of course, to the Rockets, all Gengar said was "GEN GENGAR!?!! GAR GENGAR GENGAR!!!!!!!!")
Morty looked up when he heard Gengar's yelling, glad to see his friend was here to help. One of the Rockets threw in a pokeball, which revealed an unusual-looking pokemon. It had a somewhat sinister face, made scarier by the fact this pokemon was a DR pokemon. The pokemon was rather small, and floated in the air like a ghost.
When Ash checked his pokedex, it said, "Pokemon unknown. No available data." Luigi then said, Great, we have no idea what this thing is or what it's capable of... Ash, perhaps you should ask Professer Oak for an upgrade when we finish up here." Ash nodded at Luigi's suggestion, then said, "What kind of pokemon is that anyway?" The Rocket that sent out the mystery pokemon said, "This is a DR Froslass. It's type combination is Ice and Ghost. It's also a higher grade DR pokemon compared to the one's you fools stole from us."
Clay glared at the Rocket, then said, "What do you mean?" The DR Froslass fired a Shadow Ball at Clay as it's answer. Clay narrowly avoided the blast before the Rocket said, "It doesn't even need an order from me to destroy you! Hahaha!!!!!" The rocket's fled as they left the DR Froslass to fight us.
Morty then yelled, "Careful guys, that Froslass has more strength than it appeares to have!" Gengar then said, "I'll handle this!" Froslass tried to hit Gengar with an Ice Beam, but Gengar vanished at the last second to avoide the strike. Froslass looked around trying to locate Gengar, but couldn't see him anywhere. Then everyone in the room heard Gengar laughing evily just before reappearing and striking Froslass with a Shadow Punch.
Gengar then said, "You are no match for me! There may be many more powerful Gengar in the world other than myself, but I do know I have enough strength to defeat you!" Froslass then said in a cold and emotionless voice, "You are wrong. You inferior creatures are no match for the perfection that is the Dentes Rhohos." The way that Froslass spoke creeped Clay out consideribly. It reminded him of the Shadow Queen's voice.
Gengar then said, "Kekekekekeke! You must be joking! The Elite Four ghost user, Agatha, may be the strongest ghost pokemon trainer out there, but that does not mean my trainer Morty has no experiance! I was his first pokemon, and I not only help him in gym battles, but I also help protect this town from dellusional fools like yourself! Now, get ready to get dropped in the dirt!" Gengar then fired a Shadow Ball of his own, which Froslass tried to block with an Ice Beam, but Gengar's power proved too much and forced Froslass to try to evade. She avoided the attack, but the blast of the Shadow Ball when it exploded threw Froslass into a wall.
Gengar then turned to Ash and Brock and said, "What are you two waiting for!? Catch her!!!!! I'll restrain her with a Mean Look!" Gengar then glared at Froslass intently, forcing Froslass to stay put. Ash then tossed a snag ball at the Froslass to end the battle. Luigi then said, "Well, that's the end of that..."
After untieing Morty, they left the burned down tower and returned to the gym. When they got back, Morty said, "I'm very grateful for what you've done. But I'm still curious as to what's going on." Ash then said, "You might want to sit down Morty, this'll take a while.
After a few hours of explaining, Morty finally said, "So, HO-OH wishes to meet you in person... This is truly a glorious occasion! HO-OH's finally returning after so long! HO-OH's power may be just what you need to free those DR Pokemon from whatever spell they were put under. Of course, we wont know how long it'll be before HO-OH returns, so it may be a good idea for you to keep travelling so Team Rocket and these Dentes Rhohos don't cause too much trouble. I wish you all good luck in the future."
With this firmly in mind, everyone left the gym, hoping to sometime soon obtain the divine assistance of HO-OH. For now, they'll have to keep travelling to ensure the enemy does not get to far ahead with their plans.
To be continued...
Gantz: Ah, I see you decided to use one of the currently known loyal DR Pokemon for this chapter.
Me: Yeah, since it was the only ghost element pokemon in that batch, I figured Froslass would fit this chapter well since in the anime, the burned tower was home to tons of Gastly and Haunter.
Gantz: Nice touch.
Crow: Well, ya gotta fit the enemy with the enviornment a lot of the time you know.
Gantz: I know that, thank you.
Me: The next half of the update is coming up, stay tuned! R&R!!!