Pokemon: Johto legendaries

I got a good question today "Why are the legendaries in Johto?" Well, the simple answer would be " 'cause the game takes place in johto!" but I figure, there's a reason for everything

East of Kanto, the locale of Pokemon Red & Blue, is the land of Johto first seen in Gold & Silver.

The legendary trio that appears are...

Suicune of water Entei of Fire Raikou of Thunder

and the legendary duo consists of....

Ho-oh the rainbow winged phoenix Lugia, who slumbers in the ocean

Now, why are these pokemon in Johto? Obviously, yes, they're there because the game makers wanted them, but how do they fit in?

In Gold and Silver, there are locations called the Brass and Tin towers. Generations ago Lugia resided in the Brass tower, said to be the place pokemon awaken, and Ho-oh upon the Tin, which symbolizing a place of rest. but 150 years ago an event lead to their dissapearance.

A lightning bolt struck the Tin tower, causing Lugia to leave. The lightning bolt burned down the tower, killing three pokemon in the process. Before his dissapearance, Ho-oh took pity on the dead pokemon and revived them; they became Raikou, Entei, and Suicine. Raikou is said to represent the lightning bolt that struck the tower, Entei the fire that broke out, and Suicine the rain that put it out.

Interestingly, there is a Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan known as the 'Temple of the Golden Pavilion' which had a counterpart in the 'Temple of the Silver pavilion'. The golden temple has on its roof an icon of a golden phoenix (Ho-oh's name is based on the Japanese pronounciation of phoenix) . This temple had also burned down in the past, but has been restored since.

So the legendaries of Gold and Silver have a historic background, but... when it comes down to it, pokemon is just a game, right?

So there is also a gameplay reason for them being in it!

Think back, what changed from Red & Blue's generations to Gold & Silver? Yes, they added more pokemon, more moves, better graphics, but what gameplay features?

The big was an internal clock allowing for day and night cycles! So Ho-oh's golden light is representative of the sun, and Lugia's cool tones the night. Interestingly the Sun bird resides in the tower of resting, while the Night bird resides in the tower of awakening, perhaps this represents the connected cycle of day and night?

But not just that, a new kind of environment influencing move was also introduced that caused a weather effect! The legendaries that were born with the Brass Tower's destruction Raikou and Suicune possess such a move, Raindance. Lugia can also learn Raindance, and Ho-oh Sunny Day.

So we see that story wise, the legendary pokemon reside in Johto tied to historic places based off of real world locations, and gameplay wise the legendaries represent new gameplay mechanics introduced in the Gold & Silver generation.