Chapter 52; Ecutreak city shenanigans part 2; Awakening at burned tower
Sonic completed his morning jog, while also grabbing coffee and a donut for each of his friends. They were going to have a quick breakfast.
He then met his friends at their rendezvous point, the central Square of Ecutreak city. As they quickly had their breakfast while also gave each of their pokemon 2 berries for breakfast, it was painfully obvious Knuckles couldn't contain his excitement.
"Knuckles cool down buddy we'll be there before you realize" Sonic tried to get him to relax but it was a lost cause.
"I can't. Burned tower is the most significant locations in all of Johto lore".
"What's so special about a burned tower anyway" Tails asked while eating.
"Oh you have no idea. And best of all it's directly linked with Ho-oh".
"Ho-oh again? Is Lugia in any of the Johtonian legends? And if not shouldn't we really call it an orange island Pokemon?" Sonic inquired as he finished his donut.
"Lugia is just as important as Ho-oh but moreso for the people of Johto leaving by the coast. You know guardian of the seas and all" Knuckles explained.
"That's a valid point" Sonic agreed "so why did the tower burn down? Did Ho-oh burn it?"
"This couldn't be further from the truth" Knuckles responded with a smile of eagerness "I'll tell you the tower's story when we are in".
"Are you sure we won't get in trouble? Breaking into a power plant like we did back in Kanto is one thing but breaking into a national landmark of Johto is in a league of its own" Tails voiced his concerns.
"Oh come on. That's exactly why we need to get in there! To not only learn about the history of the tower but witness it up close".
"But there's nothing inside right?" Sonic asked Knuckles.
"Correct. But still. We come all this way and we won't go in?"
"Heh you make a fair point" Sonic shrugged.
"Ok. But let's try to not draw and attention on ourselves ok?" Tails suggested while chewing the last bite of his donut.
"No worries. We go in and out. Twenty minute business" Knuckles said confidently.
Wrapping up their breakfast and recalling their pokemon, the three friends made for the burned tower.
The sight was both magnificent and grim at the same time. Unlike the bell tower which stood grand and majestic, perfectly maintained against the test of time, the burned tower was left to rot. That was to be expected but not to this extent.
The path to the burned tower was guarded by a small barrier. On the barrier was a sign. Knuckles read the sign.
"Restricted area. Do not enter. Danger/death".
"Danger/death? What in the world?" Tails said totally crept out.
"What kind of danger could lurk in there?" Sonic asked Knuckles "it looks like a regular abandoned run down building… only it's a tower".
Knuckles however noticed something else. The sign was handwritten. And the handwriting seemed very familiar.
No. Not just familiar.
"Is that my handwriting?" he thought crept out as well.
"Knuckles?" Sonic shook him to bring him back to the present.
"What?... Oh right, inside. Yeah I can't seem to think of something other than, the tower is on the brink of collapsing so we'll need to be very careful once we're in".
Sonic and Tails agreed. Team Sonic proceeded to jump over the barrier and walk up to the stairs leading to the entrance of the tower.
As they slowly walked up the stairs they found them to be surprisingly sturdy. Considering the warning from before they found it very strange.
Getting to the entrance and looking inside without entering, they saw just what they expected; burned debris.
And yet there was something mysterious about the tower. As if there was a secret in there. A secret waiting for team Sonic specifically to be revealed.
"You have the same weird feeling I have?" Tails asked Sonic while carefully inspecting the inside of the tower's ground floor.
"Like there's something here waiting to be found? Yes but it doesn't make any sense. The tower is totally burned and barely standing" Sonic commented.
"Although" he continued "that very fact makes this the perfect place to hide a secret. But what kind of secret though? What do you think Knuckles? Knuckles?"
Knuckles hadn't walked into the room yet. Sonic and Tails went back to the entrance and found him staring at a weird symbol, carved into the wood by the door.
"Knuckles everything ok?"
Knuckles didn't answer. He looked like he had gotten into a trance.
"Hey" Sonic snapped his fingers in front of Knuckles to get him back to the present again "you with us?"
"I am. It's just…" Knuckles muttered looking back at the symbol "this symbol".
"What about it?"
"My parents used to draw that symbol. My mother specifically. She drew it when she was a kid out of her imagination. It became almost like a signature for her. My father also adopted this symbol when they met. So why is it here?"
"Strange indeed" Sonic said intrigued "maybe your parents visited the tower and left it as proof they were here?"
"Yeah people do it all the time when they conquer mount Everest" Tails added.
"Possibly" Knuckles said without taking his eyes off the symbol "but I don't think it to be highly probable. Not the visiting the tower part but the carving the symbol part. It's not like the tower is a hard place to get to. There's just little to no reason for them to carve the symbol".
Tails agreed with the logic.
"What it the symbol was here before they visited? Actually can we even determine when it was carved?" he asked referring to Tails.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm smart but I'm no computer. And certainly I'm not an expert on this kind of subject".
"What are you three thugs doing here?" a male voice called out to them.
Team Sonic turned to the direction of the voice. They came face to face with a man dressed in a purple outfit along with a small white cape, completed with a red ribbon holding the cape over his shoulders. Sonic roughly made him out to be in his mid thirties.
"Answer the question! Who are you who defile this sacred ground?!"
"Sacred ground?" Tails wondered aloud "what do you mean?"
"He is referring to the legend of the burned tower. The legend of the beasts" Knuckles said without a hint of surprise or second thought.
"The what?" Sonic looked at his friend in question.
The man looked straight at Knuckles.
"You know?"
"Of course I do".
"Could somebody please fill us in here?" Tails asked trying to make sense of what they were talking about.
The man sized up the three friends individually and then answered in a calmer demeanor.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot. Forgive my earlier words. I am Eusine".
"I'm Knuckles the echidna" the red echidna introduced himself "and these are my friends, Miles Prower and Sonic the hedgehog".
"Ah yes. The legendary hero of Kanto. And unless i'm wrong the chosen one of Moltres correct?"
"What do you mean by calling this tower sacred ground?" Sonic asked back. He was tired of answering this question, having to explain that his war with team rocket was just him doing what he believed was right.
"Let's walk inside. I'll tell you the story".
As Eusine walked in, the three friends followed him. Once all 3 were inside he began narrating.
"This tower alongside it's twin, the tower known as Bell Tower, were built 700 years ago, as a symbol of friendship between humans and pokemon. The legendary Ho-oh perched on top of the bell tower while the legendary pokemon Lugia, which correct me if I'm wrong, you'very met before?" he inquired referring to Sonic.
"Yes at the orange islands".
Eusine nodded and continued.
"The legendary Lugia used to perch on the top of this tower".
"Wait it did?" Sonic said not expecting this.
"Knuckles did you know about this?" Tails asked his friend.
"This detail? I did, but I didn't mention it because I was going to tell you guys about the legend of the beasts today myself and Lugia has nothing to do with this legend. I wanted the focus to be on Ho-oh".
"As I was saying" Eusine shifted their attention back to himself "Long before this tower was burnt to the ground both pokemon left. They sensed the relationship between humans and pokemon was changing for the worse. For that reason they flew away, never to return to this day".
"Wow. To live so close to 2 pokemon that are basically minor deities" Tails said in amazement "but where did Lugia go after?"
"Rumor has it it has made its home on a small complex of uninhabited islands in the bay of the region. They are called the Whirl islands".
"That's nice and all but you said this place was sacred ground because of the legend of the beasts" Sonic said to Eusine, eager to learn more about that legend.
"Yes. And that legend begins 150 years ago, long after Lugia left. It's a day the Johto region will never forget. The clouds had converged high in the sky. A storm was brewing. But then something truly bizzare happened. A lightning bolt struck the tower setting it on fire. The fire spread throughout the tower before anyone even realized the tower was on fire. The townsfolk immediately rushed to save the tower but it was already too late. The rain came eventually but at that point half the tower had already collapsed… and three unnamed pokemon had already been trapped inside".
Tails gasped in shock not anticipating this development. Knuckles was calm, as he obviously already knew of that legend.
"After the storm passed however, a rainbow appeared on the sky. And I think you all know what follows a rainbow".
"Ho-oh" Knuckles answered.
"Exactly. Ho-oh arrived, angry at the unfair death of the three pokemon. Unwilling to let them suffer such an unfair fate, it used the miraculous ash that it expelled every time it uses a fire move, to ressurect the three pokemon".
"Ressurect?! As in bring them back to life?" Sonic exclaimed in shock.
"Exactly".
Sonic could barely process this info. Ho-oh could ressurect pokemon?
"Where was it when Jolty died?" a small part of him thought in anger "if there's any pokemon that suffered an unfair death it's Jolty".
"But Ho-oh didn't just ressurect them. It changed them, made them better stronger, faster, more elegant and more perfect than anything this world has ever seen" Eusine narrated with an obvious passion in his voice.
"Those pokemon" Knuckles suddenly said having an odd but powerful feeling that he had to speak that part of the legend "became known as Raikou the thunder pokemon, Entei the volcano pokemon and Suicune the aurora pokemon".
Sonic and Tails were captivated.
"The townsfolk bore witness to their resurrection. And they didn't react well" Eusine said with sadness in his voice.
"They became afraid of the pokemon that had manipulated life as well as the pokemon that were affected by said manipulation" Knuckles said as he wiped some ash of the floor, clearly referring to Ho-oh "they turned against the three beasts. They however didn't fight back. Instead they left the city as well, never to return".
"I believe I'm telling the story, Knuckles is it?"
"Chill out pal, I'm not stealing any more of your thunder. That's the end of the story. The only thing left to add is that the beasts are out there in the wilderness of Johto, racing through the land and sea, waiting for the day were humans will be trustworthy enough for them to reveal themselves again".
"You're right" Eusine said with a gloating smile "you won't steal more of my thunder. Because that is not the end of the story".
"Say what?"
"The beasts did indeed roam the land of the Johto region for a long time. But what has not been revealed… is that they have been missing for 40 years".
"What?!" Knuckles exclaimed in absolute shock.
"Yes indeed. Suicune and its two brethren were last spotted here, in this city 40 years ago, heading for this very tower. But that's the thing. Everyone saw them head for the tower. Noone, I repeat, NOONE" Eusine emphasised on that last word "saw them enter the tower or leave the city. They simply disappeared. And haven't been seen since".
Team Sonic looked at each other trying to make sense of this. Knuckles himself was particularly perplexed.
Why would the Johtonians hide that part of the legend?
"Well, that's our time" Eusine suddenly said "you heard the legend and you have visited the tower. It's time to leave now. We shouldn't disturb this sacred place any longer".
As Eusine made for the exit, team Sonic who had spread throughout the room looking around, started to follow.
Suddenly the old floor gave away under Sonic's feet.
"Aaaaahh!" could be heard along with a thud.
"Sonic!" Tails screamed as be rushed to the opening on the floor "Sonic are you ok?!"
"I'm fine" Sonic's voice echoed from the absolute darkness "a little roughed up but ok".
"Knuckles get a rope quick!" Tails turned to him.
Knuckles was about to take off his huge backpack and take out a rope but Eusine stopped him.
"Not a good idea. If we all converge on that part of the floor to pull him up it could give away and send us all down".
"Then what are you suggesting? Cause we're not leaving Sonic behind" Knuckles countered determined.
Tails looked at them and then back inside the pit.
"Sonic we're gonna get you out just hang in there".
"Don't really have much of a choice now do I?" Sonic joked despite the predicament.
Tails took a good look around the room hoping to find anything to help Sonic. And he did find something; A ladder leading to the next floor.
"Here!" he yelled rushing to the ladder "help me move this ladder!"
Eusine came to his side and together they started pulling to uproot the ladder from the wall.
Knuckles on the other hand while beginning to move at the same moment as Eusine to get to Tails stopped midway when he noticed something on the wall; his parents' symbol.
Moving slowly as if he had entered a trance, he made his way to the symbol.
"Knuckles what are you doing?! Come give us a hand!"
Meanwhile Sonic, whose eyes had begun getting used to the darkness, looked around trying to find anything to help him. His eyes fell on a massive shadowy object.
No. Not an object. That shadow could only belong to something alive.
"Uh… guys?" he said trying to remain calm "there's something big down here. Like minivan big".
Tails was frightened by that.
"Pull harder!" he practically screamed into Eusine's face as he put his back into getting that ladder.
Knuckles at the same time was transfixed by the symbol.
Carving it once to prove they were here maybe. Carving it twice? No way.
"Could they be… clues?"
Looking around him, he saw something that verified his hunch; a trapdoor.
Knuckles took the trapdoor's handle and pulled with all his strength. Dust and ash were raised like a cloud as a set of stairs heading down was revealed.
Sonic from his end could see the small amount of light entering, illuminating the first stairs.
"I found a way down!" Knuckles called out to Tails and Eusine who were halfway there uprooting the ladder from the wall.
As they gathered and headed down, they finally met up with Sonic.
"You ok?" Tails immediately asked him.
"I'm ok but what are those?" he pointed to the now three massive shadows in the end of the room.
Tails instinctively backstepped. Knuckles immediately took out a powerful and big flashlight and illuminated the darkness.
On the end of the room there were 3 large statues of 3 huge quadruped creatures. Each of the 3 had a big mane on their back.
"No way!" Eusine whispered in surprise "the legendary beasts!"
"The beasts?" Sonic repeated in surprise as well "those are Raikou, Entei and Suicune?"
Eusine waved negatively.
"No. This is what they looked like. Before they disappeared".
Sonic looked back at the beasts' statues. They looked magnificent indeed. One could only imagine how magnificent the real ones would be.
"But why are their statues down here?" Tails questioned the situation.
"Maybe they were secretly built by the locals" Eusine guessed "in this very room as a monument to them after they disappeared".
Knuckles however knew that wasn't possible. The room was sealed. And his parents' symbol was right over the trapdoor leading down here.
"That doesn't make any sense" he countered still unsure but trusting his gut "if the locals wanted to make statues for the beasts, why not put them in the city's central Square so that everyone could pay their respect? Down here makes absolutely no sense".
"Knuckles makes a valid point" Sonic agreed "why build statues down here and then seal the exit?"
Knuckles took a few steps closer until he was standing right in front of one of the middle statue.
"Is this Suicune?" he asked Eusine.
"Yes. The leader of the three. And the most elegant of the three. It is said that Suicune travels the land at incredible speeds and possesses the ability to purify polluted waters. Suicune is also believed to represent the rainfall that ended the fire that burned this tower".
Knuckles nodded. He knew of those facts about Suicune but wasn't aware of what it looked like which was why he asked. Turning back to the statue, he went to touch the statue out of curiosity.
The moment he made contact with the statue however something truly unexpected occurred.
A crack was created from the point Knuckles touched Suicune's statue. The crack then started expanding all over the statue. Through the cracks a blue glow was being emitted.
Knuckles stepped back in shock, terrified at what he had triggered. Sonic and Tails rushed to his sides, standing opposite the statues.
The moment they reached Knuckles cracks appeared on Entei and Raikou's statues. A red and yellow glow was emitted from the cracks on the respective statues.
"What have you done?! What is happening?!" Eusine shouted at team Sonic in anger and terror.
The cracks continued to expand on the statues and the glow got brighter as that happened. At the same time the statues started shaking.
Eventually the whole statues were covered in cracks and looked like they would blow up. Team Sonic having no time to run simply closed their eyes and covered their faces fully expecting to get blown back by the explosion. Eusine on the other hand couldn't take his eyes off the crumbling statues.
A loud bang echoed in the tower as if the explosion had occurred but no force was applied on anyone.
Team Sonic could tell even though their eyes we're closed that something bright had entered the room. And then three loud roars. Magnificent, elegant roars.
Team Sonic opened their eyes. Opposite them stood the legendary beasts, Raikou, Entei and Suicune, roaring as loudly as they could as if they had been waiting for this moment for 40 years.
The beasts stopped roaring after a while and each proceeded to lock eyes with a member of team Sonic.
Raikou with Tails.
Entei with Sonic.
Suicune with Knuckles.
The beasts roared once again and then charged, jumped over team Sonic and Eusine, to escape the tower heading for the exit.
The beasts exited the tower feeling the blinding light and the heat of the sun for the first time in 40 years. They then climbed to the top of the tower and roared once more, attracting the attention of everyone in the city, including Ash and his friends.
An elder who was stationed on the bell tower's bell witnessed the return of the beasts and proceeded to ring the bell.
Team Sonic along with Eusine exited the tower as well, only to see the beasts split up and leave town, each going its own way.
"What… just happened?" Tails muttered in utter shock.
"You!" Eusine shouted getting into Knuckles' face "how did you know those were the real beasts trapped in statues?!"
"Are you kidding me? I didn't know" Knuckles countered visibly as shocked as his 2 friends.
Eusine wasn't fully convinced but let it slide when he realized the bell was ringing.
"Follow me" he said quickly not explaining why they should. When he noticed they weren't following but merely standing there he barked a quick "Now!" which got them to follow.
Gym leader Morty was in the process of healing his pokemon after another battle when he heard the bell ring. He rushed outside looking towards Bell Tower.
"The bell! It's ringing! That must mean Ho-oh is returning to the city!" he said amazed.
"Not quite Morty" Eusine said arriving at that very moment with team Sonic.
"Eusine! What do you mean?!"
"I mean that it's Suicune that returned. Not just it but its two brethren as well!"
"What?!" Morty shouted in disbelief "they finally returned?! After 40 years?!"
"They never left. They were in the burned tower all along".
"What?!" Morty exclaimed "that's not possible. I went there many times since then. They were not there".
"Didn't you ever check the basement of the tower?" Eusine asked confused.
"The basement? The door was sealed. No one even knows where it is".
"This one found it" Eusine pointed at Knuckles "to save this one who fell through the floor" he pointed to Sonic next.
Morty looked at Sonic and Knuckles for a few moments before identifying them as the trainers from the previous day.
"How did you find them?" he finally asked Knuckles.
Knuckles hesitated to answer. The answer to that question was just another question.
Who had carved that symbol? Who had led him to free the beasts?
At that moment, Ash and co. also arrived to ask Morty about the ringing of the bell. Ash especially wanted to know if Ho-oh really was returning as he wanted to meet it again ever since seeing on the day his journey began. He also wanted to ask about the three magnificent pokemon he saw on the burned tower from afar before they fled.
Morty, fully overwhelmed by the rapid development shoved everyone back inside his gym and took them to his quarters on the back of the gym.
Once there, he asked all of them to keep quiet while he narrated the tale of the beasts and then would ask questions to team Sonic about it. Ash tried to ask about the beasts but Morty shushed him so he could begin.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were giving each other looks of question as they waited for the narration to end.
"And that is all we knew" Morty explained in the end "Raikou, Entei and Suicune have not been seen for 40 years. And you 3 newcomers" he said turning to face team Sonic "found them not only by sneaking into the burned tower which is strictly prohibited…"
"I know. We shouldn't have ignored your sign" Tails apologized.
"What sign?"
"The one outside the tower. The one that said danger/death".
"… I didn't write this message. It was there from the day the beasts disappeared".
Sonic and Tails were shocked. Knuckles on the other hand felt dizzy.
If it was not Morty who wrote that message then who?
Someone clearly strung him along with those symbols. Someone who knew him. Not only knew him but knew him well enough to know he would ignore the sign and go in.
"And also knowing the symbol my own mother once drew" Knuckles thought as his mind was shifting into maximum overdrive trying to find a reasonable answer.
"So wait" Ash interjected "you mean to tell me that these legendary pokemon were inside that tower?"
"Yes" Eusine answered "in a sealed basement. And you" he said referring to Knuckles "still have not answered. How did you know how to find them?! And most importantly, why did Suicune seem to acknowledge you before it fled?!"
Knuckles remained silent.
"I can't answer those questions. Because I myself don't know why or how they were down there. As for what you call acknowledgement from Suicune… we just locked eyes momentarily. How is that acknowledgement?"
Eusine couldn't help but feel Knuckles wasn't telling him everything.
"Your touch literally freed Suicune and the others from those forms. I know you're not telling us everything".
Knuckles had started becoming annoyed with him.
"You're right. I am not telling you everything".
Sonic and Tails looked at him as they gasped. Was he really lying the whole time? Ash and his friends were also waiting holding their breath in anxiety.
"I'm telling you only everything I know" Knuckles said in the end disappointing everyone who was expecting some grand reveal.
But both Sonic and Tails knew that he really was not telling them everything; he wasn't telling them about the symbol. Or at least his suspicions about it.
"It still doesn't add up entirely" Morty suddenly spoke agreeing with Eusine albeit with less aggression in his voice "One day you arrive in town and the next day you unlock a 40-year old mystery that no one in the Johto region has even been able to even begin to unravel. What is so special about the three of you?"
"Sonic is…" Ash began to say but was stopped by Eusine.
"We know of your friend's title as the hero of Kanto kid. But that title is insignificant here" Eusine stopped Ash.
"Hey Sonic went through hell to earn that title!" Tails snapped at the apparent downplay of his friend's actions.
"We are aware of this" Morty reassured Tails "but Eusine also makes a valid point. Whatever caused the beasts to awaken from that statue form if that is indeed what happened, it couldn't have possibly had anything to do with your friend Sonic's title".
"But if not that then what?" Brock asked after being silent during the whole conversation.
No one answered. And it was understandable.
All they had was questions. And no answers for any of those questions.
Eventually the meeting was dismissed as it was painfully obvious all they would achieve was perpetuate the existing questions. Morty asked both Ash and Sonic's teams to not leave town for a couple more days in case anything new turned up. Both teams agreed though team Sonic was a tad bit annoyed that it had to come to this.
At the end of the day team Sonic once again found room at a pokemon center. Ash and his friends also found room at the same center. When both teams realized that they all converged in team Sonic's room to talk it over more. Knuckles ended up revealing what had led him to discovering and accidentally freeing the beasts. Brock then assumed Knuckles' parents had something to do with it. Not in an accusing way of course.
He further explained his theory that it was entirely possible Knuckles' parents had been approached by the beasts 40 years ago and asked for their help to go in hiding.
Throughout the explanation Knuckles was very uncomfortable, both dodging the questions about his parents and even shutting down the entire theory hard by stating it was not possible for his parents to have met the beasts since 40 years ago they would have both been around 5 years old.
The two teams continued conversing until late at night, during which time oddly, Pikachu didn't try at all to goad Raichu into a battle. Sonic guessed it and Ash were just similar in that regard. Ash being hyped to battle Sonic in turn hyped Pikachu into fighting Raichu.
Eventually the two teams called it a day. Team Sonic went to bed totally exhausted though one of their members couldn't get any sleep.
He wondered just how long it would be until he had to confess the truth to his two friends.