Pokémon HGSS#27: Ascending The Bell Tower
“If Team Rocket is here, then we need to hurry,” Jonathan said. “We can’t let them get Ho-Oh.”
“Agreed. My Sisters have already gone ahead to engage with them at the front of the tower,” Zuki said. “I’m just glad you got here when you did.”
“Yeah we had a little help from a friend,” Beatrice said as she looked back into the woods but Suicune was nowhere to be seen.
“Zuki, tell us everything,” Jonathan said.
“Right. Right. Let’s walk and talk,” Zuki replied.
All three began running across Ecruteak City toward The Bell Tower which still shimmered with rainbow light.
“When did this start?” Jonathan asked.
“It started this morning. Pokémon started acting strange in the nearby woods. It was like a large storm was brewing but the sky was clear. Then Morty showed up at the Dance Studio saying that his Gengar had led him to the Brass Tower,” Zuki explained.
Zuki continued.
“Once we realized Ho-Oh had returned, we made our way to The Bell Tower. However we were intercepted by Team Rocket. They blocked us from the front door and a battle broke out.”
“Team Rocket? That doesn’t make sense. We defeated them at the Goldenrod Tower,” Jonathan said. “Looker was going to find the rest of them.”
“Well this Looker guy missed a few because they are here and they are trying to get to Ho-Oh,” Zuki said.
“We’ll stop them,” Beatrice said.
“Definitely,” Zuki said.
“Ok let’s get ready for a fight,” Jonathan said as he pulled a Pokéball from his belt.
“Go, Scizor!” Jonathan lifted the Pokéball to the air and there was a red flash.
Standing beside him was the human-sized, metallic bug with large metallic pincers.
“Scizor!” It said as it spread its wings and stretched its arms.
“Let’s go, Umbreon!” Zuki said as she held out her Pokémon.
With another flash of red light, there stood the Midnight Black. Fox-Like Pokémon with yellow rings on its body.
“Brrrr.” Umbreon said as it stretched its legs.
“Come on out, Marill!” Beatrice pulled out her Pokéball.
A third flash and standing beside Beatrice was her trustworthy, water mouse, Marill.
“Marill! Marill!” Marill squeaked with joy.
“Let’s go give my sisters some back-up,” Zuki said as all three continued running with their Pokémon running beside.
It was only a quick run across town to the entrance of The Bell Tower. Out front there was a battle going on. On one side stood four of Zuki’s sisters with their Pokémon as well as the Gym-Leader Morty and his Gengar.
“Gengar, Shadow Ball!” Morty shouted as the Purple Ghost unleashed a ball of dark energy which slammed into one of Team Rocket’s Pokémon.
“Weezing! Smog!” Team Rocket yelled as their Pokémon unleashed a cloud of black, dirty smog.
“Scizor, get in there! Use Bullet Punch!” Jonathan shouted.
“Marill, use Bubblebeam!” Beatrice commanded.
“Umbreon, use Quick Attack,” Zuki shouted.
Scizor, Marill, and Umbreon all entered the fray against the Team Rocket members and their Pokémon.
“More brats!” One Team Rocket member sneered.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Jonathan said. “Scizor, use X-Scissor.”
Scizor used its powerful claws and slashed out in an x-shape, dispersing the smog cloud. Scizor then stood there in the center of the battlefield. Both sides looked warned down from the battle.
“Looks like we got here just in time,” Jonathan said.
Gengar drifted through the air and stood next to Scizor, a big smile on it’s face.
“Gengar!” It laughed.
“We’ve held them off this long,” Morty said. “But I’m happy to see you made it.”
“Is everyone alright?” Zuki asked as she checked in with her sisters.
“They are truly relentless,” Miki said as she placed a hand on her Jolteon.
“They keep on poisoning our precious Pokémon,” Kuni wrapped her arms around her Vaporeon.
“You all need to fall back and let us handle this,” Beatrice said.
“We can’t just leave,” Sayo said.
“Nonsense. We’re here now,” Zuki said. “Get to Ho-Oh and we’ll meet you up there.”
Zuki’s sisters were hesitant at first, but seeing the condition of their Pokémon, they agreed. They gathered up their Eeveelutions and hurriedly entered the Bell Tower leaving Beatrice, Jonathan, Morty, and Zuki.
The three Team Rocket members recovered and stood up.
“You won’t stop Team Rocket!” One shouted.
“We already did,” Jonathan said. “I took down your executives at The Goldenrod Tower. Team Rocket is no more.”
“Nonsense! One mission has failed but Team Rocket will return. We shall capture Ho-Oh and that shall signal that Team Rocket is at full power.”
“Ho-Oh is not for yours to capture,” Morty said. “We will not let that happen.”
“Enough stalling. We’ll fight our way in,” Another team rocket member shouted.
Three Weezings rose from the ground and began leaking toxic gas from its body.
“Let’s end this quickly,” Jonathan said and the rest nodded.
Then Jonathan held out a red, glass like marble which he had received from Bugsy. It glowed with power as a similar necklace around his neck glowed.
“Mega evolve, Scizor!”
Scizor began to glow with Mega energy. His armor began to grow and his metal claws extended.
“Scizor!” It clacked its large metal claws together.
“Good idea, Jonathan,” Morty said as he held out his own mega stone. “Let’s go, Gengar. Mega evolve!”
Morty’s Gengar began to glow with Mega energy. Its body grew as large spikes of ghostly energy came from its body.
“Gengar!” The large poisonous ghost had a huge grin on its face.
“Mega evolution? That’s not fair! We can’t do that,” The Team Rocket members complained.
“You try to steal Pokémon and you complain about things not being fair,” Jonathan rolled his eyes.
“You should have thought harder about challenging us and threatening Ho-Oh,” Morty said. “Now we’ll show you the power of two mega evolved Pokémon.”
“Gengar! Use Shadow Ball!” Morty shouted.
“Scizor, use X-Scissor!” Jonathan followed it up with the command.
Gengar unleashed a large ball of shadow energy and Scizor slashed with its large metal claws. Both attacks struck Team Rocket’s Weezings and knocked them back. The Pokémon slammed into the Team Rocket members knocking them to the ground.
“Bullseye!” Beatrice cheered.
The Team Rocket members quickly scrambled to their feet as their feinted Pokémon laid at their feet.
“We need to get out of here!” One shouted.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
The third turned back toward Jonathan and Morty before running off.
“This isn’t the last time you’ve heard from Team Rocket. We’ll be back,” They said.
“Just get lost!” Zuki yelled and they ran off into the woods.
“Should we run after them?” Beatrice asked.
Morty looked up toward The Bell Tower.
“I think we need to get up there and see what’s going on with Ho-Oh,” He said. “Team Rocket can wait.”
“Ok let’s head inside,” Zuki said.
The four of them quickly made their way inside where the rest of the Kimono Girls were resting with their Pokémon.
“Did you take care of them?” Sayo asked.
“Yeah, Sis. They’re gone,” Zuki said. “Jonathan and Morty took them out with their Mega Pokémon.”
“Impressive,” Sayo replied.
“We need to get to the top of the tower,” Jonathan said.
Sayo nodded.
“The central pillar there has a staircase that wraps around it. You can take it to the very top where the bells are. According to legends, that is where Ho-Oh rested and it seems like they are back.”
Jonathan nodded before turning to the group.
“Bea, you’re coming right?” He asked.
“Of course,” She said.
“And Morty?”
“I’ll be right there beside you,” Morty replied.
“Zuki?”
“Honestly I think I’ll stay down here with my sisters. Make sure everyone is alright. If those Team Rocket members come back looking for a fight, I”ll give them one,” Zuki said.
“Umbreon!” Umbreon agreed.
“Alright. Just the three of us. Let’s go,” Jonathan said.
Jonathan, Beatrice, and Morty ran up the stairs which circled the central pillar of the tower. Gengar and Scizor floated beside their trainers and Maril hopped up the stairs behind them.
“Maril!” Maril cried out as Beatrice picked them up and carried them.
“Come on,” Beatrice said.
The three of them rapidly climbed the stairs and got to a large landing which had large open windows and a wooden roof. As they made it to the top, they were almost blinded by the rainbow light.
“Ho-Oh!” The large, rainbow Bird Pokémon let out a call.
“Ho-Oh! It’s ok, we’re here to help,” Jonathan took a step forward as he shielded his eyes.
“Jonathan! Stay back!” Beatrice called out to him.
“Ho-Oh seems like it’s in distress,” Morty said. “We need to calm it down.”
“How are we going to do that?” Beatrice asked Morty.
“I’m not sure,” Morty said. “But maybe our Pokémon can help.”
“Ho-Oh!” Ho-Oh let out another screech as it flapped its powerful wings and kicked up strong winds. Jonathan almost fell backwards but Scizor caught him in their arms.
“Scizor!” Scizor said as it grabbed Jonathan.
“Thanks, buddy!” Jonathan replied.
“We need to think of something quick before Ho-Oh takes out the entire tower,” Morty said.
“Are we going to fight it?” Jonathan asked.
“I don’t want to hurt Ho-Oh,” Beatrice said.
“Me neither,” Morty nodded. “But maybe there’s another way for our Pokémon to communicate with Ho-Oh.”
Morty turned toward his Gengar.
“Gengar, I want you to communicate with Ho-Oh. Tell them we mean no harm.”
“Gengar!” Gengar gave a large grin and then nodded.
Gengar quickly sank into the ground and disappeared like a shadow across the floor. Then it reappeared right next to Ho-Oh.
Ho-Oh turned to look at the Ghost Pokémon and halted its flapping.
“You can help too, Marill,” Beatrice said as she placed Maril at her feet.
“Marill! Marill!” Marill quickly ran across the room to get close to Ho-Oh.
“See what you can do, Scizor,” Jonathan said.
Scizor let Jonathan down and then flew over to stand beside Marill and Gengar.
“Scizor!”
“Ho-ooooh,” Ho-Oh let out this long cry, similar to Suicune’s howl.
The four Pokémon began to converse amongst themselves and the rainbow light of Ho-Oh became a bit dimmer as it calmed down a bit. The three trainers stood by just looking at each other, unsure what the Pokémon were talking about, but they could tell it was an important and very serious conversation.
“Is it working?” Beatrice asked.
“I’m not sure,” Jonathan said, unable to take his eyes off Ho-Oh.
“I believe it is,” Morty said.
Then the Pokémon stopped and all turned toward their trainers.
“Ho-Oh,” The legendary Pokémon stretched its wings again and the trainers braced for the strong winds.
However Ho-Oh did not whip up the strong winds again. This time the feather’s on Ho-Oh’s wings glowed with a soft, rainbow light.
“I think Ho-Oh is trying to tell us something,” Morty said.
The rainbow light seemed to hang in the air for a moment, looking like a rainbow, but then the colors began to shift. The colors swirled around become two different shapes. One a beast of red, brown, and silver and another beast of yellow, black, and purple.
“Those are two of the legendary beasts, Entei and Raikou. I’m sure of it,” Morty said.
“That makes sense,” Beatrice added. “Legends say that Ho-Oh created all three legendary beasts.”
Then the colors swirled and both breasts started to change. The shape representing Entei became covered in a sandy brown with small specks of black. The shape representing Raikou became trapped in what looked like swirling blues and purples.
“What does this mean?” Jonathan asked.
“Ho-Ooooooh,” Ho-Oh let out a large cry and the two colorful beasts began to glow brighter.
“These Pokémon, Entei and Raikou. Are they ok? Are they in danger?” Beatrice asked Ho-Oh.
At the sound of the word danger, Ho-Oh let out a small cry and nodded its head.
“They’re in danger,” Jonathan said. “Did you come here to warn us? So we could go help them?”
Again Ho-Oh nodded and looked at Jonathan.
The group stood for a moment, taking a deep breath. Ho-Oh seemed to be calmer, but there was still a small glow of rainbow light coming from its feathers.
“Marill! Marill!” Marill said as it looked up at the large, legendary bird.
Ho-Oh looked down at the small, water mouse and seemed to nod its head. Then Marill hopped up and grabbed hold of one of Ho-Oh’s feathers, pulling free one, single feather. Marill quickly took the feather and ran over to Jonathan.
“For me?” Jonathan asked as Marill and Ho-Oh nodded in unison.
“Maybe it will help you find the legendary beasts,” Morty said.
Jonathan looked over at Beatrice, who met his eyes and gave a smile.
“Ready for another adventure?” Jonathan asked Beatrice.
Beatrice’s smile grew larger. She stepped up and grabbed Jonathan’s hand, squeezing it softly.
“Of course,” Beatrice said.
Header Photo Credit to Bulbapedia
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Ho-Oh_(anime)
All photos of Pokemon and related content used were taken from Bulbapedia
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page
Allen The Writer 