The air in Ecruteak City was heavier than Kael imagined.
Not oppressive, not suffocating — just ancient. As if every gust of wind carried the breath of something long dead but never silent. The city was beautiful in a somber kind of way: stone paths winding through bonsai gardens, shrines nestled between old shops, and the constant scent of incense and rain.
Echo padded beside him, quiet but alert. The closer they got to the Burned Tower, the more she reacted — ears twitching, tail low, eyes wide.
"Do you feel it too?" Kael murmured.
She nodded.
The tower stood at the northern edge of the city, its charred frame rising like blackened ribs against the sky. Where the Bell Tower to the east gleamed with golden panels and melodic chimes, the Burned Tower whispered only silence.
Its timbers were fractured, its stones scorched. Lightning had struck it centuries ago, but the damage hadn't stopped at the physical. Stories spoke of three Pokémon who had died in the fire — and were reborn into legend.
Kael paused at the entrance, heart thudding. "Morty's in here. Somewhere."
He stepped inside.
The interior was dim, lit only by slivers of light filtering through cracks in the ruined roof. Kael walked carefully over fallen beams and warped floorboards. Ash still clung to the walls in places, as if the fire had never fully left.
Echo stopped suddenly, ears flattened.
Then Kael heard it too.
A voice — faint, echoing through the charred halls.
"Kael…"
His blood ran cold.
"Dad?" he whispered.
He turned sharply toward the sound, but no one was there.
Another whisper — softer this time.
"Not all who vanish are gone…"
Kael spun again, stumbling into a collapsed support beam.
Then the shadows moved.
From the smoke-stained air, a figure stepped forward. Long lavender robes. Pale eyes that shimmered like distant starlight.
Morty.
"You heard him, didn't you?" the Gym Leader asked.
Kael swallowed hard. "Was that… was it real?"
Morty gave a slow nod. "You're attuned. Your bond with Echo opens doors most can't see. It's not unusual that your father's echo would reach you here — this tower is where voices linger."
Kael stepped forward. "You said his final transmission was found. Why now, after seven years?"
Morty gestured for Kael to follow. "Because the tower is waking."
They climbed a fractured staircase to a wide chamber near the top. There, nestled in a ring of ash and stone, lay a Pokégear—cracked, singed, but still pulsing faintly with energy.
"I couldn't trace the signal for years," Morty said. "But two weeks ago, the tower shifted. A surge of spectral energy burst through the veil. This… was left behind."
Kael approached the device slowly. It was his father's, no doubt. The same cracked casing. The same old silver League emblem sticker he used to peel at the corners.
Morty knelt beside it and tapped a small runed device of his own. A recording played.
"—contact has been made. She's bonded to it. The symbol leads to the eye. If you find this, Kael—"
Static.
Kael's hands clenched. His father had been reaching out to him. Even then.
"He was talking about Echo," Kael whispered. "She must've been the 'she'."
Morty nodded. "There's more."
He stood and pointed toward the blackened floor beneath them.
"This tower… it isn't just a ruin. It's a seal. When the fire happened, centuries ago, it wasn't just an accident. It was meant to trap something — a force that corrupted souls and twisted Pokémon."
Kael's eyes widened. "What kind of force?"
Morty's voice dropped. "A shadow of memory. An echo given hunger. The monks once called it Amaranth—a spirit that feeds on lingering emotion. Grief, regret, guilt. Your father was researching ancient Pokémon spirits when he came too close to this one. I believe it tried to use him to break free."
Kael's skin prickled. "Is that what's happening now?"
Morty looked out the cracked window, eyes distant. "The seal weakens. And the connection between you and Echo—your shared resonance—it draws attention."
He turned back. "Kael, this isn't just about finding your father. This is about what he was trying to stop."
Kael's breath caught. "You think he's… still out there?"
Morty hesitated. "Not alive, maybe. But not fully gone. If his final thoughts were strong enough to imprint on this place… he may yet exist between."
Kael stared at the Pokégear again.
The jagged mark on Echo's fur glowed faintly in the gloom.
"Then what do I do?" he asked.
Morty walked to a small shrine tucked into the far wall. He lifted a cloth, revealing a pendant—a silver charm shaped like the crescent eye.
"I've kept this safe," he said. "Your father entrusted it to me before he left for Mt. Silver. He believed it could counter Amaranth's influence. But only if wielded by someone whose bond is pure."
He placed it in Kael's hand.
It pulsed warm against his skin.
Echo stepped closer, her fur glowing in harmony with the charm.
"She's your anchor," Morty said. "Just as you are hers. The next step lies north, through the pass into the mountains."
Kael looked toward the distant peak beyond the city — Mt. Silver.
Morty nodded solemnly. "There, the final seal waits. And what sleeps beneath the summit may hold the truth about your father… and about what Echo is becoming."
Kael left the tower in silence, heart heavy but clear.
As night fell over Ecruteak, he and Echo sat beneath a lantern-lit tree outside the Pokémon Center. The pendant glowed faintly in his palm. The moon rose above the Bell Tower, casting silver light across the city.
He didn't know what waited on Mt. Silver.
But for the first time in years, he felt closer than ever.
Not just to his father.
But to himself.
To his story.
And whatever end it was building toward.