novelhk Chapter 251 Marshadow and the Burnt Tower
Chapter 251 Marshadow and the Burnt Tower
Chapter 251 Marshadow and the Burnt Tower
After a tense journey, Ash and his friends finally arrived at the gates of Ecruteak City that night.
But to their surprise, the city gate entrance was tightly closed. Ash quickly flew up into the sky to check the situation.
This city is a famous metropolis, but it seems to have very few high-rise buildings; everywhere you look there are one- or two-story classical buildings.
Moreover, it was only 9 p.m., but the entire city was already completely dark.
It seems that the people of Enoki City don't have a nightlife; they all go to bed early.
"Even the lights at the Pokémon Center were off."
Even if Ash manages to climb in, it won't make much difference. It seems they'll have to camp outside for the night.
Xiaoxia was very sad when she heard the news that Xiaozhi had returned from his scouting mission. She had thought she would be able to sleep in her soft, big bed tonight.
"But upon closer inspection, this gate looks quite old and has a strong sense of history." Xiaoxia reluctantly came to the gate to examine it carefully and was immediately attracted by the exquisite patterns on it.
"After all, Enoki City is a famous ancient metropolis with the longest history in the Johto region, so many of its buildings can be considered cultural relics."
"But Ash, now that we're in the city, could you please take the dog leash off my neck?"
"This is so embarrassing!" Xiao Gang had mostly recovered by this time and was now struggling fiercely with the dog leash around his neck.
Unfortunately, this was a high-end dog leash that Xiaozhi bought in the system store, and no matter how hard Xiaogang pulled, he couldn't break it.
"That won't do. Who knows if you'll start lying on the ground pretending to be a corpse again as soon as you take off your necklace?" At this moment, Xiao Zhi's mischievous sense of humor also came to the fore.
"Oh no, how could this be?"
Faced with Ash's relentless pressure, Brock had no choice but to admit defeat, since even his Pokémon wouldn't help him.
Xiao Gang really went too far by lying on the roadside before; with Xiao Zhi by his side, at least he could stand up.
However, thanks to Brock's presence, although they were locked out tonight, their meals were much more plentiful than at the Pokémon Center, with Ash and Brock cooking together.
The dinner that day was a feast for the eyes and the palate. Xiao Gang channeled his grief and anger into motivation, and the way he gritted his teeth while chopping vegetables was quite frightening to watch.
After enjoying a delicious and satisfying meal, they asked a few nocturnal Pokémon to keep watch at night.
After a day's journey, the people and their Pokémon soon drifted off to sleep to the sound of cooing in the forest.
Everything was so peaceful and beautiful.
Aside from one strange thing that happened that night, Ash actually had a dream.
It's well known that legendary muscle men have excellent sleep quality; they often only need four hours of sleep to maintain their energy for the entire day.
Especially when I exercise during the day, I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I've never experienced anything like having dreams that affect my sleep quality before.
But tonight, Xiao Zhi had a strange dream.
In his dream, he came to a strange white space, and opposite him was a humanoid little guy that Ash had never seen before.
"This must be a Pokémon," Ash said curiously, looking at the little guy opposite him, who was also staring at him.
Strangely, Ash can feel that he is dreaming, but the sensations around him are so real.
The unknown Pokémon appeared to be shrouded in smoke, its surface seemingly composed of gray shadows of smoke, and the area around its face resembled a helmet.
It has a smoking collar around its neck and a shadow on each foot, which looks quite cute.
"Hello, who are you?"
In the dream, the little guy remained silent in the face of Ash's question; it simply stared calmly at Ash with its eyes that shone like candlelight.
Then suddenly the smoke around it will burn like purple flames, and its eyes will start to glow.
"Mah!" The little guy suddenly launched an attack on Ash.
Although small in size, its attacks are extremely fierce, like a master of martial arts who has been immersed in martial arts for many years.
"This move is a absorption punch!"
Having narrowly dodged an attack thanks to his beast-like instincts, Ash burst into laughter.
"Haha, so you've come to challenge me!"
Now Ash understood, and immediately swung his big fist to fight back.
It slammed the opponent into the wall of the space in one go, but the little guy seemed to be quite resilient.
It immediately pulled itself out of the wall and rushed towards Ash to attack again.
The two people and their Pokémon engaged in a fierce battle in the space, fighting until the very main road was obliterated.
The next morning, Xiao Zhi woke up and stretched comfortably, glancing at Xiao Xia beside him and Xiao Gang, who was talking in his sleep and shouting "Big Sister" not far away.
"Hmm, last night was definitely a dream. Could it be because I've been overtraining lately—"
Ash dreamt of battling a very strong little guy. Although the memory is a bit blurry now, he can still vaguely remember having a great time.
"It seems I need to pay more attention to the allocation of training volume in the next few days."
Xiao Zhi assumed he was just too tired to have a dream, so he stopped worrying about what happened last night and quickly got up.
After greeting the night owl and beaked bat on night watch, I began my daily morning exercise routine.
Meanwhile, in Ash's shadow, in a space unnoticed by anyone.
An anxious little figure was pounding on a transparent barrier.
If Ash were here, he would definitely recognize it as the unknown Pokémon he battled last night.
"Ma, Ma~" (How could this be~)
The little guy was so tired from banging that he could only sit helplessly on the ground, waving his little arms in frustration.
Marshall, a major crisis!
It was the Pokémon chosen by Ho-Oh to test and guide the Rainbow Warriors, how could it have fallen to such a state?
Despite possessing the ability to infiltrate into any shadow, he is now trapped inside and unable to escape.
If my colleagues found out, they'd laugh at me to death.
Marshall is able to slip into the shadows of others, mimicking their movements and strength, and gradually understanding their feelings in the process.
And because it never appears in front of people, no one discovered it for a long time.
Marshadow was simply resting in the shadows of the forest near Ecruteak City when he was suddenly drawn to Ash's Rainbow Wing.
At the time, it was happy, thinking that there hadn't been a new Rainbow Warrior for many years, and this one was a very powerful one at that.
It immediately jumped up and down, determined to fulfill its duty this time.
Following the usual practice, he immediately slipped into Ash's shadow.
Even last night, Marshadow specifically challenged Ash to a battle in his dream.
Then, to everyone's surprise, they discovered that this new rainbow warrior was incredibly strong, practically a monster.
Marshadow had to use every trick in the book to barely hold his own against Ash.
Even so, it was only because of Marshadow's home advantage in the dream space that he was able to battle Ash for so long.
However, in those intense physical collisions, Marshadow could feel Ash's domineering spirit beneath Ash's fists.
Ash's burgeoning masculine energy almost overwhelmed Marshadow.
Marcia is very satisfied with this new rainbow hero.
I'm planning to keep creating little surprises for Ash during our trip, like messing with his Pokémon during his battles and deliberately letting him lose to test his character.
When Ash is feeling down, give him a little extra encouragement to toughen him up.
In daily life, they often do good deeds such as secretly throwing away things that Ash values, or subtly provoking arguments between Ash and his friends.
Finally, when Ash was guided to meet Ho-Oh, Marshadow was already eager to try.
But unexpectedly, there's no need for Marcia to create any small surprises anymore; it has already run into big problems on its own.
Once inside Ash's shadow, it was as if it were locked up and couldn't get out at all. The little guy was so anxious that he almost cried.
"Ma, Ma!" (Ho-Oh, come save me!)
After waiting for a while, the gates of Ecruteak City finally opened, and Ash and his friends happily entered the city.
The people here are inexplicably punctual, and they absolutely refuse to open the door early.
In keeping with the city's ancient atmosphere, the people on the street were dressed in a classic style, as if they were in a period drama.
Locals walk on the street with a steady and silent demeanor, exuding an inexplicable elegance in their every move.
As soon as Xiao Gang entered the city, he completely let loose and didn't care about the necklace around his neck anymore.
"Wow, there are so many beautiful ladies in kimonos here!"
All I can say is that Xiao Gang is indeed Xiao Gang; he's too strong. He managed to harass four mature women in kimonos who were passing by in just ten seconds.
Even if they look down on me, I can still shamelessly ask for their contact information.
"Actually, he must be secretly pleased to be looked down upon. I was worried about him for nothing."
Finally, Xiao Zhi couldn't stand it anymore, so he quickly apologized to the older girls while grabbing Xiao Gang's ear and dragging him away.
He quickly removed the collar from his neck, not wanting anyone to discover that he was in cahoots with him.
"Xiaogang, are you no longer thinking about Xiaoxue?"
"Sigh, Ash, you're still too young. How can a man keep dwelling on the past forever!"
"We should always look forward to life!"
Look towards the beautiful women!
Someone who was lying on the roadside saying they wanted to become a paramecium has the nerve to say that.
However, seeing that Brock had finally recovered and was fully healed, Ash and Misty were finally relieved.
"Xiao Zhi, you could have easily lured him away with just a magazine featuring mature women, right?"
"Judging from this situation, it should be—"
Then Xiao Gang took them to see the famous Five Sisters of Yuanzhu City perform classical dance. Xiao Gang's eyes widened when he saw the beautiful women in ancient style appearing in the audience.
Those five sisters aren't actually as pretty as Xiaoxia, but they have a great aura.
Every time one of the five sisters appeared, Xiao Gang's heart would skip a beat.
Except for the last one, Xiao Gang immediately reverted to a state of sage-like composure.
Although the last one was equally cute, Xiaogang was able to keenly judge, "No, this person is younger than me, I don't like them."
"So that's how you figured it out!" Xiao Zhi couldn't possibly tell their ages from their heavy makeup.
"That's because you don't understand, Xiao Zhi!" Xiao Gang is the kind of person who would insist on choosing a larger bullet even if he were to be executed.
He simply wouldn't accept anyone who wasn't older than him; his "older sister radar" had already reached its peak.
At this point, Xiao Gang wanted to stay and watch the older girls perform, and even planned to harass, or rather, comfort, them after the performance.
Ash, on the other hand, was more focused on Ecruteak Gym, and he genuinely couldn't appreciate the slow, deliberate dance.
They agreed to meet at the Pokémon Center later, and Ash and Misty went ahead first.
Along the way, the scenery of Einju City, so different from that of traditional metropolises, was quite pleasing to the eye.
However, when they passed through another ancient gate and arrived at the dojo, they were a little dumbfounded.
What appeared ahead was the ruins of a dilapidated tower, which looked as if it had been burned down by something.
Marshadow, which was in Ash's shadow, suddenly perked up because it sensed Ho-Oh's presence.
"Is this a gym?" Ash looked at the map back and forth, still a little incredulous.
"Is Xiaoxia's book reliable? Are you sure we haven't come to the wrong place?"
"Although Sakura-nee gave us a guidebook from ten years ago, Edo Tenka City is known for remaining unchanged from ancient times to the present, so the location of the gym should not have changed either."
Xiaoxia lacked confidence when speaking to her unreliable older sisters.
However, it was indeed a rather large tower. Since he was already there, there was nothing he could do, so Ash decided to go inside and check the situation first.
It's hard to say whether the dojo owner has some strange fetish and deliberately decorated the dojo like this.
Moreover, the surrounding buildings are in good condition, and even the forest next to the tower shows obvious signs of careful maintenance.
This tower is the only one that remains dilapidated, which suggests that it might hold a great secret.
Ash's curiosity was instantly piqued, and he had to go in and find out what was going on.
As soon as they entered, the gate suddenly closed automatically, and then the area around the tower immediately began to burn fiercely.
"Ah, what's going on?" Xiaoxia was so frightened that she hid next to Xiaozhi.
Ash quickly released Crocodile and Squirtle to use the water gun.
Surprisingly, the water gun didn't seem to have much effect on the flames.
"It's really weird." Ash reached out and touched it; the flames had no temperature.
He immediately used his waveguide perception to scan the area, and sure enough, there were several very unusual waveguide fluctuations scattered around.
"These fluctuations are familiar—" Ash was certain that he had experienced this situation more than once.
Suddenly an idea came to mind: "Xiaoxia, don't be afraid, these fires aren't real."
"It's you I choose! Night Hawk, use Insight!"
Under the red light wave released from Noctowl's large eyes, all the Ghost-type Pokémon around it revealed their true forms.
"It really is Gastly, Haunter and the others."
"It seems that this tower is usually deserted and always in shadow."
"That's why these Pokémon are attracted here and make this place their nest."
The hallucination we just experienced was just something those pranksters used to play on Satoshi and Misty.
Gastly and Gastly were surprised to see that Ash wasn't scared away by them. Instead, they became interested and began to surround Ash and his friends in large numbers.
"Oh ho, instead of running away, they're surrounding me?"
Ash was overjoyed to discover such a large group of Pokémon and immediately became excited.
"Then use your experience to nourish my Pokémon!" Ash waved his hand and entered battle mode.
"Pikachu, Noctowl, prepare for battle!"
"Pikachu!"
"Coo coo!"
Just as Ash was about to start his rampage, a voice suddenly came down the stairs.
"Please wait a moment."
A young man wearing a sports bandana and blue clothes slowly walked down the stairs.
"These children meant no harm, and you were the ones who broke into their home first, so let's just let it go."
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"Please stop disturbing the Ghost-type Pokémon that inhabit this place."
The young man spoke gently, and a Gengar was with him. At his command, the Gastly and Haunter around him immediately vanished without a trace.
"Also, because this is the original Bell Tower, now the Tower of Repentance, I don't want it to be damaged again because of Pokémon battles."
"A bell tower?"
"Yes, the tower where Ho-Oh once lived."