(XXXV) The Burned Tower

"It's too late to add anyone to your roster now! They won't be anywhere near ready to participate!" One of the disciples laughed as he tapped the arm of the one next to him.

"It won't be! I won't be long! Stay with Dragonite, I'll be back soon!" Isaac said as he looked down the hill to Ecruteak City. The large eastern-inspired buildings broke the skyline of the wooded mountainous area.

Both disciples shook their heads as they joked at Isaac's expense as he descended the hill into Ecruteak. Isaac immediately followed signs that led to the Bell Tower quickly skipping past the massive amount of tourists waiting their turn to climb the tower in hopes of seeing the Legendary Ho-Oh.

Isaac quickly strolled to his destination, the nearby destroyed Burned Tower. He stood at the bottom of the hill leading to the ruins of the once-massive structure. A few of the higher floors were charred and exposed to the outside world.

He approached and tried to enter but the doors were locked. He pushed the doors once again and shook them but they would not open. He slammed his fist against the door and groaned in frustration. He turned and began to walk down the hill when he heard the rustle of chains behind him and turned around as the door opened and a bald monk poked his head out.

"Who are you?" The man said, furrowing his brow as the six dots on his forehead scrunched together.

"I'm Isaac, I was wondering if I could explore the burned tower!" Isaac said, approaching and extending his hand.

The monk looked at Isaac's hand and back at him before opening the door slightly further, "What for?"

"I heard there were many Pokémon who lost their lives here and would like to pay my respects." Isaac said with a fake smile plastered across his face.

The monk stared into Isaac's eyes intensely before nodding and opening the door wide and stepping out of the way allowing him to enter. He closed the door behind the young man and placed his hand on his back and held the other out leading him to the makeshift shrine.

"You have heard of the story of the Burned and Bell Towers?" The monk asked and Isaac nodded, "Some of it, I heard that it was burned down a little over 140 years ago when it was Lugia's home."

"Yes, that is correct! We pray here to ease the suffering of the souls of everyone who lost their lives in the fire that night." The monk said, handing him a long set of wooden prayer beads before he took his pair and knelt in front of the shrine, and began praying.

Isaac looked around at the charred remains of the building. It was large and there was burnt debris scattered everywhere. The stairs leading to the upper floors were badly destroyed. Rays of sunlight pierced through the cracks in the floorboards above, letting in ample light while also giving off an air of mysticism.

Isaac stepped toward the shrine and knelt as the floorboards creaked underneath him. He held the prayer beads between his two hands as he closed his eyes.

His eyes shot open as the planks below him began creaking louder and in the next instance, the floor gave way underneath him as the monk stumbled backward and peeked over the edge of the newly formed hole.

"You okay!" He shouted into the hole.

Isaac had fallen to the basement below and was lying on top of the broken floorboards that had broken. He stood up and dusted himself off coughing as he fanned the smoke away and looked up.

"Yeah! How do I get out of here!?" Isaac cupped his hands over his mouth shouting up to the Monk.

"Hold on! I'll go get a rope!" The monk shouted back and ran off.

Isaac turned around the cave he found himself trapped in and began to wander around curiously, 'I wonder if I could run into Raikou, Entei, and Suicune here!' He thought giddy at the prospect of seeing a Legendary Pokémon for the first time.

He wandered around until he finally saw all three of them. The statues were centered around the deepest part of the cavern below the Burned Tower. Raikou, Entei, and Suicune were all frozen in stone.

Floating above the trio was a small Ghost Pokémon which vanished as Isaac got closer. He gasped in amazement as he stood next to the massive Dog-like Pokémon who were larger than he was.

From behind one of the support pillars, a dark bluish-green, ghost-like Pokémon poked her head out, observing Isaac from a distance. He traced his fingers along the stone of Suicune as he walked around and lightly touched all three.

'Hmmm... They immediately awoke when Gold encountered them, will they not awake for me..?' He thought to himself as he circled them for a moment longer and clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"Damn!" He exclaimed to himself and shook his head looking at the ground frustrated about the turn of events.

The Ghost-Pokémon poked her head out further, revealing her large, red eyes and long, flowing lilac-tipped hair. The lower half had several small appendages that resembled a ruffled dress and had several round red gems around its neck, which looked like a necklace.

Isaac turned around and began walking back to the hole to wait for the rope when he spotted Misdreavus, "You're no Ghastly but you will do nicely!" He said as he pulled his visor down and inspected her information.

『Species: Misdreavus ♀』

『Type: Ghost』

『Ability: Levitate』

『Nature: Modest』

『Item: None』

『Potential: Silver』

『Gene: <N/A>』

『Level: 13』

『HP: Blue』

『ATK: Green』

『DEF: Green』

『SpA: Purple』

『SpD: Green』

『SPD: Blue』

『Normal Moves: Confusion [U], Growl [U], Spite [U], Astonish [U]

Innate Moves: Nasty Plot [U], Imprison [U]』

Isaac threw out Hanzō's pokéball and brought him out, "Misdreavus! Join my team!" He shouted and turned to Hanzō, "Quick, flush her out and bring her out to the open!"

Hanzō nodded and quickly moved around the cavern and caught up to her behind the pole and shot bubbles at her, sending her recoiling through the air, tumbling around until she balanced herself when her eyes lit up a bright blue as Hanzō landed on the ground nearby.

He was unable to avoid the attack as he looked around quickly seeing duplicates of everything around him as he became confused.

"Hit her with a lick!" Isaac shouted as Froakie jumped around looking at the numerous Misdreavus floating above him as jumped trying to land on the pillar to shoot his tongue at her as he missed and hurt himself rolling around on the ground before he stood up and stumbled shooting bubbles at Misdreavus and missing each attack.

"Shake it off Hanzō! Quick get behind her and use lick!" Isaac shouted as Hanzō smacked both sides of his face with his hands and shook it as he fought through the confusion and quickly bounced around Misdreavus who was unable to keep up.

He quickly appeared behind her and launched his tongue which smacked against her knocking her down to the ground. Isaac took this moment as he threw the pokéball and it bounced off her as the red laser quickly sucked her in.

"HEEEEY!" The monk shouted loudly as he dropped the rope and it tumbled down close to his position.

"BE RIGHT UP!" Isaac shouted as he ran over the shaking pokéball. He heard a loud noise as the stars and sparkles appeared above and he picked it up and smiled, "Welcome to the team, Morgana!" He said placing her pokéball on his belt and returning Hanzō as he began climbing the rope.

At the top, he explained what he found in the basement and quickly left before he fell through any other floors. He ran up the hill where the two disciples and Dragonite were awaiting.

"Get what you were looking for?" One goaded as Isaac smirked and held up Morgana's pokéball and hopped on Dragonite's back as the trio took off once more and flew to Goldenrod City where Isaac stopped only in the Department Store for half an hour before they departed for the last time and made their way to Olivine City.

Isaac followed them as they landed and the disciples took Dragonite and their Pokémon away and put them to rest as Isaac ran up to the registration desk where a young woman sat.

"Welcome to the Annual Johto Little Cup! Are you planning to participate?" She said with a cheerful smile.

"Yes I am!" Isaac said, panting as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Perfect! Hand me your Trainer Card and fill this out!" She said as she took his card and handed him a clipboard with dozens of forms to fill out.

———

Daily Chapter 2 of 2!

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