In Pokémon Crystal and Generation IV, the player won't be able to challenge the Ecruteak Gym when they first arrive in Ecruteak City. An elderly man will force the player out of the Gym, telling the player that Morty is with Eusine at the Burned Tower, searching for signs of the Legendary beasts. As soon as the player has awakened Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, Morty will return to the Gym, allowing it to be challenged. The elderly man will then assume his normal position outside the Burned Tower.
Generation II
Ecruteak City Pokémon Gym Leader: Morty
The Mystic Seer of the Future
In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, the Ecruteak Gym has an invisible floor which can cause many problems for someone who doesn't know what they are doing. The body of Morty's Gym is a dark pit. If a challenger steps in the wrong place, they will be sent back to the beginning of the path. Trainers appear to float in the air, standing on an invisible floor. A challenger able to navigate along the invisible floor using trial and error can safely reach Morty and challenge him.
Ecruteak City Pokémon Gym Leader: Morty
The Mystic Seer of the Future
In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the Ecruteak Gym has changed significantly. Flames light up some dim patches within the Gym. While there is still one path to Morty, sections are lit up, revealing Trainers that must be battled in order to reach the Gym Leader. In addition, when a Trainer is defeated, the lights will go out at the section where the player is standing on, forcing them to navigate through the dark patch with the help of their memory.
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
Trainers with a telephone symbol by their names will give their Pokégear number to the player, and may call or be called for a rematch with higher-level Pokémon.
The Ecruteak Gym first appeared in From Ghost to Ghost, where Morty was seen teaching a group of children about Ghost-type Pokémon before his Gym battle with Ash. Mostly thanks to his Noctowl's Foresight and newly learned Confusion, Ash was able to defeat Morty and earn himself the Fog Badge.
The Gym reappeared in For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll!, where Morty and his friend Eusine told Ash and his friends the legend of the Legendary beasts. When Ash mentioned that he had seen Suicune before, Eusine accused him of lying and challenged him to a battle. However, the battle was interrupted before it could even properly begin, due to a large number of Bug-type Pokémon attacking the city out of anger of Team Rocket having accidentally broken one of the Crystal Bells they had stolen.
Morty sent out his Gastly as the first Pokémon he used in his match against Ash. Ash started with Noctowl, using Foresight to make Gastly vulnerable to physical attacks, but switched for Pikachu shortly afterwards. Gastly defeated Pikachu easily, but was then defeated by Ash's Cyndaquil.
Haunter was the second Pokémon Morty used against Ash. It used Mean Look to force Ash to stick with Cyndaquil, and with Hypnosis and Lick, it won the round. Ash now had only Noctowl left to battle with. Things looked bad for Ash when Haunter managed to confuse Noctowl with its Confuse Ray, and was ready to finish it with Night Shade, but then Noctowl learned how to use Confusion, and beat Haunter with one try.
Gengar is always out of its Poké Ball and hiding in the shadows, always coming out whenever Morty needs it. It loves to play tricks on people, especially on those who enter the Burned Tower. When Team Rocket tried to steal Ash's Pikachu as usual, Morty used Gengar to blast them away with a powerful Shadow Ball attack.
Morty used Gengar in the Gym battle against Ash in From Ghost to Ghost. Gengar was shown to be a formidable battler. It is able to attack opponents even when it is invisible, making it almost impossible for its opponents to find it. Ash's Noctowl was able to reveal Gengar's location by using Confusion through the whole building and then using Foresight to keep Gengar visible. It then finished Gengar off with a Tackle attack and Ash got the Fog Badge.
Ecruteak Gym first appeared in Hello, Lickitung and Really Remoraid, where Lt. Surge arrived at the Gym to ask Morty's help to locate Gold and Silver, who had gone missing after their battle against the Masked Man at the Lake of Rage. Using Gold's cap and goggles and Silver's boot, which the two Pokédex holders had lost during the battle, Morty was able to use his special power to locate Gold and Silver on one of the Whirl Islands.
Ecruteak Gym appeared again in this chapter, where Gold visited the Gym to ask Morty help to find Lance, who was missing after he had been attacked by Petrel on his way to the Pokéathlon Dome. Morty was able to draw a crude image of what he saw, later leading Gold to the Ruins of Alph, where Lance was hiding. Silver also arrived at the Gym to ask Morty's help to find the 13 remaining Plates. At the Gym, he was confronted by Falkner, Bugsy, and Chuck, who were protecting the Gym per Morty's request. At first, they were suspicious towards him, but when Silver revealed that Blue had entrusted him with the Rhyperior he had helped Blue to evolve, they allowed him to enter. Before Silver could ask Morty anything, however, Arceus appeared and blasted the Gym, destroying it. Despite being weakened by the attack, Morty was able to use his last remaining strength to mark the locations of the Plates on a map, allowing Silver and his Weavile to track them down across the region.
Ecruteak Gym first appeared in A Promise Given to Miltank, where Gold tried to enter the Gym in order to challenge Morty. However, since he only had two Badges, Morty refused to let him in. When Gold later returned to the Gym after having received the Plain Badge from Whitney, he was dismayed to learn that since Morty was going to the grand reopening of the Moomoo Farm and then to a month-lasting conference in Kanto, he was unable to accept Gold's challenge. Because of this, and for having seen Gold's true strength already, Morty chose to give Gold a free Fog Badge, telling him to keep it at least until he would be able to battle him to see if he could earn it for good.
In the TCG
The following is a list of cards mentioning or featuring Ecruteak City Gym in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Ecruteak Gym Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
