Episode 27: For Litwick the bell tolls
The blanket of snow sank under Niko's feet as he walked through the valley on route 7. The sun was shining through a thin layer of gray clouds. He was warm, even if perspiring slightly. To his left was Charlotte; to his right was Warren. Above him flew Rufflet and Warren's new Pokémon—Pidove.
They had been walking through this valley for a couple of days now, watching the collection of mountain ranges slowly move past them. The snow was light that day, enough that Niko could see some grass and dirt underneath.
Often, he thought about new ways to train his Pokémon. During their extended breaks, he spent time trying to work with his five Pokémon on new techniques. After feeling a little better, Niko and Servine worked to practice a move called leaf blade—one that Niko had seen his Sceptile learn and one that Servine was perfectly capable of understanding. Although, due to her illness she was having difficulty gathering up the strength to learn this new move. With encouragement from Niko and her teammates, her tail began to glow a pale green color, and she was on her way to mastering a new move.
Rufflet and Solosis were working on their usual moves, often battling against one another. They enjoyed being able to practice against one another. Occasionally, they would try to help one another with technique, but neither really understood the other's movesets well enough, and often failed in their attempts.
Lastly, Tynamo spent most of his training time alone, trying to practice his electric moves, all with little success. Niko would often sit down and watch the little EleFish Pokémon lit a spark or two, or attempt to use charge beam. Tynamo's lack of success made Niko wonder how he was able to bring his battle with Swanna to a draw. One morning he pondered this while watching Servine and Boldore spar with one another. Servine was practicing her leaf blade, and Boldore's job was to defend, as he was at a natural disadvantage. He could use any move to do so, and fully utilized this rule, either by smacking Servine into the ground or kicking dirt at her face.
At one point, Servine went berserk and barraged Boldore with a series of vicious leaf blades, and all because the Ore Pokémon used a rather successful smack down to run his opponent into the ground. This was just after Servine got back into training again, and was feeling a little inadequate, Niko believed. Niko attempted to put himself in between them, but it was ultimately Solosis—of all Pokémon—to halt Servine's advances and push Boldore backwards to create space for the two so Niko could speak to them without getting hurt.
All-in-all, Niko felt more comfortable about his team of Pokémon. All he needed was a sixth to round out the group. What Pokémon that would be, he truly had no idea yet. But he was looking forward to meeting it.
Meanwhile, Warren introduced Pidove to the rest of the group after its capture. Most of the Pokémon took to the Tiny Pigeon Pokémon quite well. The only exception was Swadloon, who was in constant fear of Pidove trying to eat her. Poliwag would occasionally train with Niko's Pokémon, and since the capture of Pidove felt like spending more time by himself, away from the others. Warren noticed this, but chalked it up to the cold weather…for whatever reason.
Charlotte spent much of her time reading and playing with Deerling while Smeargle worked on her imaginary paintings. Occasionally the Painter Pokémon would accidentally shoot an ember into a practice battle and anger one—or more—of the Pokémon involved. Smeargle shrugged at the responses, as if not having a care in the world. Charlotte found this amusing, even if she had to scold her longtime partner.
"Woah…" Niko said, looking off in the distance. To their left, off in the distance, was a tall tower that stretched past the clouds. At its base was a small village. "What's that?"
"It's the Celestial Tower." Charlotte said matter-of-factly. It's actually an old resting place for Pokémon. No one goes to it much anymore, since it's kind of far away from any major cities."
"Kind of like Lavender Town…" Niko said, remembering his brief adventure into the Pokémon Tower back in Kanto. That was four or five years ago…wow. He thought to himself as he considered the passing of time. "Do you want to check it out?"
"No." Charlotte said quickly and curtly.
"Why not?"
"I don't do or watch anything related to horror. It's creepy, and I don't like it." She said, crossing her arms decisively.
"I think it'd be interesting, actually." Warren suggested. "Charlotte, maybe we could get a motel room or something in that village, and while Niko and I check it out you could stay there or check out the town?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you don't want to see the Celestial Tower…" Warren explained.
"Yes, but you're just going to leave me?"
"Well…we both want to go see it, and you don't…"
Charlotte stomped her foot in the snow lightly before puffing her cheeks a little in anger. "Fine. I'll go. But as soon as we see any sign of danger, I'm out. Got it?"
"Don't worry, Charlotte." Niko said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "You'll—we'll be fine." She nodded, and the trio set off on their detour towards the tall tower in the distance.
The village surrounding Celestial Tower looked familiar to Niko. It took him a few moments, but he remembered walking into a small, almost irrelevant village back in Hoenn, when he met Melinda and Nero at the Trick House. The flashbacks made him frown a little, but he shoved the expression away as he continued on with his friends. The village itself was run down. Most of the buildings were made of wood, but there were a fair amount that looked like they were made of hardened clay.
It was a chilly afternoon, and it looked like most people were inside, as the streets were nearly empty, save for a few walking to unknown destinations. Warren occasionally smiled and waved at a passerby, while Charlotte looked downright unhappy, and Niko was somewhere in between. He then turned to see the tower, now only a couple blocks away. It was a truly amazing sight—the Celestial Tower seemed to reach the heavens which, in hindsight, made sense.
The Celestial Tower itself was a tall, spiraling tower with a wide base and a thinned out top. The entrance lacked a door, and was instead a tall, slightly wide tunnel. Niko peered in, eventually entering the ground floor with Warren and Charlotte closely behind. The ground floor was the largest, with graves scattered all around. The most interesting aspect of the Celestial Tower was, in Niko's opinion, the wide spiral staircase that went up as high as the tower itself.
"Well…what're we doing here?" Charlotte finally asked when Niko and Warren finished looking around in awe. "This is nice and all…but it's really creepy, don't you think?"
"Yeah, it is." Niko said, grabbing one of his arms. He was certainly colder inside the tower than outside of it. "If you want to go you can. We can meet you somewhere."
"Actually…sure, I'm fine with that." Charlotte said, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her. "I'll, err, catch you two later, alright?"
"If we can't find you we'll send the birds to look for ya, alright?" Warren said, turning back to watch Charlotte quickly exit the Celestial Tower. She nodded, shivering as she moved out of sight. "So…let's check out some of these gravestones?"
"I suppose so…" Niko said, walking towards the nearest one. It was of average size, and was dedicated to a human. Niko crouched down to read it. "Lisa Juno. Looked like she died young, judging by the dates. She was also beloved by her friends, family, and son." He looked up at Warren before expressing a brief look of mourning.
"You alright, Niko?" Warren asked, sensing something off about his friend.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just…I don't really like cemeteries very much."
"No one does, man." Warren helped his friend back up.
"Have you ever been to a funeral?" Niko asked. He had been thinking about this since he was told the purpose of the Celestial Tower. He thought of his Rampardos' near-death experience, and then his father's death and subsequent funeral. The funeral he didn't attend.
"Yeah, my grandmother's. It was a couple of years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Niko said as they toured the other tombstones.
"Thanks. She was very old, and very sick. We all saw it coming, of course, but these things just happen, y'know? Death is inevitable."
"Well that's pretty dark." Niko said with a light chuckle, which seemed to off-put some of the other people there.
"It's true, but it doesn't have to be dark. Consider it a reason to live your life to its fullest. What we're doing here—traveling, experiencing the world, meeting different kinds of people and Pokémon—isn't that what life's all about?"
"You're right—it is." Niko said, examining a tombstone for a Pokémon this time. It was a Pokémon called Chandelure. "What's this Pokémon?"
"Oh, Chandelure? It's a pretty interesting Pokémon, actually." Warren said. "It's a ghost and fire type, and can be pretty strong."
"Right! I battled one once, with Charlotte. The guys on the Battle Subway—Ingo and Emmet—had an Eelektross and Chandelure." Niko said as he felt a lightbulb light up above his head. However, the moment of realization was broken when he looked down to see a small Pokémon floating in front of it.
It was no more than a foot tall, and looked like it was made completely of wax. Atop its white, melted head was an eerie purple flame. On both sides of its body were stubby arms and legs. Niko barely got to see its face before it ran away, but noticed that only one of its yellow eyes was showing—the other was covered completely in wax.
"What the heck is that?" Niko asked curiously. To answer his question, Warren pulled out his pokédex:
"Litwick, the Candle Pokémon. Ghost and fire type. Its flame is usually out, but it starts shining when it absorbs life force from people or Pokémon."
"Huh…Chandelure is the final form of Litwick, actually." Warren said. Niko turned to see his eyes widen with realization. "That Chandelure—the dead one—is related to that Litwick that just ran away. Maybe it was the parent, or sibling, or whatever. But definitely important."
Niko turned back to see the Litwick hurriedly floating up the spiral staircase towards the top of the tower. Without much hesitation, Niko then walked in the direction of the staircase, towards the Litwick. Warren, equally concerned, followed his friend.
Minutes later, the two made it to the top of the tower. In front of them was a raised platform, nearly half a story high, with a massive bell in the middle that was nailed to an arch that ran down both sides of the platform. Litwick stood in front of the bell and, just as Niko and Warren appeared, shot a ball of fire at it. The flame burst—a move Niko recognized—hit the bell with enough force to cause it to move back and forth.
From the bell rang an unusual sound. It clattered and clanged as it rocked back and forth with a simple energy. It was a sad sound, though. And when Niko and Warren walked up the stairs to the platform, they saw Litwick floating there, looking downcast towards the valley below.
"Hey, Litwick…" Niko said, slowly approaching the Candle Pokémon. "I don't know you, and you don't know me. But…was that Chandelure…the grave you were floating at…was that a parent of yours?"
Litwick nodded, only briefly eying Niko with its pupil-less yellow eye.
"I know what that's like. A few months ago, my father died unexpectedly. He got very sick." Niko was now right beside Litwick, looking into the snow-packed valley. He could distinctly see the trail that he, Warren, and Charlotte had taken to get to the tower. "I was away at the time, somewhere else with my friends, when it happened. I wasn't there to say good-bye to him." A tear appeared under Niko's eye. "I don't know you, or your parent, but I know that losing a parent is one of the hardest things for a child to go through. I get that.
"I'm a Pokémon Trainer now. My Dad wanted me to become one eventually. He always encouraged me to do my best, even when I wanted to quit, or I felt like I couldn't live up to his or my own standards. And here I am, collecting gym badges with my friends and Pokémon as I aspire to challenge the Unova League."
Litwick was now looking up at Niko curiously. Moments later, Niko felt hot wax touching his leg.
"Ow!" He shouted before realizing the Litwick was attempting to hug him. "Oh…hey." He crouched down and pried Litwick off of him before setting the Candle Pokémon in front of him. "I know you miss your parent. I do too. But whatever you want to do with your life, do it. If it's becoming stronger, than do that. If it's living a calm, peaceful life around here, then do that too. But do what makes you happy, because that's what that Chandelure would have wanted. My father wants me to be the best damn Pokémon trainer out there, and that's what I'm going to do."
Litwick nodded, lifting its stubby white hand to Niko. Unsure of what this meant, Niko held out his palm, and Litwick placed the hand in it.
"Pleased to meet you. My name is Niko. This is my friend, Warren. Like I said, we're travelling Unova, meeting and training with all sorts of Pokémon." Then he got an idea. "Say, how would you like to join us? You can meet plenty of new friends, and see the world like we are. If you're comfortable with leaving home, that is."
Litwick looked at Warren, who gave a friendly wave back, before turning to Niko and nodding solemnly. Niko smiled, and reached into his bag to pull out a pokéball.
"Here, it's yours." He placed the pokéball in his palm, and Litwick went up to touch its center. Suddenly, the Candle Pokémon began to glow bright red and went inside. Niko could feel the cold, metallic, red and white pokéball wiggle around in his hand before eventually clicking. "Well then."
"You've got your sixth Pokémon, then." Warren said as Niko stood back up. "C'mon, let's go find Charlotte. She's probably off reading in a pub or something."
Turns out, she was. When Niko and Warren returned back to the village, they found the nearest pub and saw Charlotte sitting in the back with Smeargle to her side and Deerling sitting on the floor drinking some water. She looked up and smiled a half-smile at them. After sitting down, the two relayed their small adventure with the Litwick and the bell on the roof of the tower.
"I'm not surprised. You seem to find Pokémon in rather—err—unconventional ways, Niko." Charlotte said, looking up from her book. "I'm reading about the Nature Preserve. Supposedly it's in a secluded part of the region, with only a mysterious, powerful Pokémon living there alone."
"Interesting." Niko said, leaning over to look at the page she was on. "They don't mention it…what kind of Pokémon do you think lives there?"
"No clue. But if we had any way to get there, I'd love to check it out." She said.
"Same here!" Warren said after ordering a sandwich. "Maybe one day, though."
Charlotte nodded in agreement, and the trio didn't say much else until they left the pub. As they did, Niko looked up to see a small airship heading northwards. He could barely make out a small crest on the side that resembled Team Plasma's.
"Team Plasma…what are they up to?" Niko asked, pointing to the airship.
"No good, that's for sure." Charlotte said.
"We should figure it out!" Warren said, to which both of his friends stared at him in awe. "What?"
"How!?" Niko and Charlotte asked simultaneously.
Warren shrugged. "No idea! But if we had an opportunity to, we should take it!"
"Well, we don't." Charlotte said, frowning a little. "We need to get to Icirrus City!"
"True. Sorry…" Warren said before turning to leave the village with Niko and Charlotte, leaving Celestial Tower in the past as they continued heading north towards Twist Mountain.