Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long-I've been busy. Or I just procrastinate. A lot. Go figure.
Anyway, thanks to all my reviewers, and metafire, all the legendaries are going to be there. And then some.
And here's chapter two!
Insertrandomborderstuffhere.
Getting to Sky Pillar had taken Jirachi a while longer than he had expected, mostly because it took him a while to notice that the map had north on top. Didn't everybody know that East was supposed to be on top? And then it took him longer to notice that the reason the strange blue oval-shaped, white-spotted islands were not on the map was because they, in fact, were gigantic Pokémon by the name of Wailord.
Things, apparently, had changed.
Eventually, despite these obstacles, Jirachi finally made it to the 'Sky Pillar'. It fit its name quite well- the thing ascended into the clouds and beyond (presumably). While it wasn't easily accessible from a land route, Jirachi easily made his way up the steep rock cliff that separated the plateau on the island from the ocean. Gathered around the tower's base were at least fifty Pokémon, all of varying shapes and sizes.
Soon after he made it to the large crowd, a loud voice brought the chatter to a close. A large Pokémon, about five feet tall, jumped onto a rock protruding from the ground. Jirachi noticed quite a few of the Pokémon around him begin to wince as the gray and yellow Pokémon began to speak. As it did so, it's jaw unhinged so much as to actually hit it's feet, and what looked like tubes sticking out of it began to emit a strange whistling noise. This augmented the already piercing voice's...piercability.
"Friends! From afar, or, as I can attest, from very close, we have all come, to celebrate! To celebrate those that stand above, those that stand out, and those that stand alone. We are the unique members of our vast race that contribute without equal! As I am sure you all remember, we gathered a year ago at Moltres' abode-"
A large, blue bird perched next to Jirachi grumbled something under his breath at this comment. As many more of the Pokémon began to grumble as well, the speaker began again.
"But really, who can blame him? How many of us can predict that our homes are about to explode? Even so, we have decided to find a slightly less...active...place for our reunion this year, and Rayquaza has gladly volunteered the grounds around his tower for us."
Much of the crowd cheered, knowing the island before them had gone dead when its occupant was but an egg. The subject in question was a large serpent-like Pokémon that was coiled up in one corner of the room, who grinned at the mention of his name. Jirachi, remembering his name from the letter, made a mental note to thank him for the invitation.
"And, I have been informed with have with us two new arrivals! Will misters Deoxys and Jirachi come to the, er...rock, please?"
A surprised Jirachi got up, and an orange-and-green Pokémon followed him. The two had to keep themselves from wincing from the speaker's voice, as it was so loud from up close that a thirty-foot radius was visible between the vocalizing Pokémon and the nearest Gathering-goers.
"May we welcome our newest members!"
Considerable applause erupted, and those who used this wording winced in memory of last year's Gathering.
Jirachi and Deoxys went back to their places, and (to the relief of many a Pokémon) the speaker finally wrapped up.
"And now, the seven-hundred-fifty-sixth-and-a-half Legendary Gathering begins!"
As the crowd began to move around, Jirachi made his way over to Rayqauza. A couple Pokémon nodded at him as he passed.
"You are Rayquaza, right?"
"Huh?" Rayquaza confusedly looked around. Being at least twenty feet long, most people would call him 'big', and the fact that Jirachi himself was about, oh, .5 percent of that really did not help. The Wish Pokémon cleared his throat and spoke a little louder.
"Excuse me!"
Finally hearing him, the large green behemoth looked down. "Oh! Hello!"
"Hi. Uh, I'm Jirachi, the guy you sent the letter to?"
"Glad to see you here! Have you met anyone else yet?" Rayquaza asked.
"Not really..." Jirachi mumbled. He remembered a question that had popped up in his head earlier. "Say, could you tell me whatever happened last year? I'm just kind of curious, because that guy brought it up."
The dragon seemed to wince. "Oh...that. Right. Well, last year, it was Moltres's turn-he's sort of a phoenix-to host the gathering. You see, Moltres lives, or lived, in a dormant volcano. Well, it was going pretty well, until Entei-another fire Pokémon that controls volcanoes or something-started choking on something and coughing, which got the volcano started up."
Jirachi spoke up. "I think I can get it from there."
"Yeah...Moltres doesn't like bringing it up. He's the youngest of three brothers, and they've been pestering him about it lately. Mostly cause they got burned." Rayquaza looked off into the crowd. "They're at it again..."
Jirachi followed the dragon's eyes, until he saw what he meant. A trio of birds seemed to be arguing over something.
First, Jirachi noticed the large blue bird that had been standing next to him during the speech. According to Rayquaza, this was Articuno, the oldest of the three. His feathers, strangely, resembled carved chunks of blue ice sticking out at odd angles. He had two long, gray tails that swooshed behind him like a robe, which gave him a slight air of authority whenever he moved around. He seemed to Jirachi like a mediator. Perhaps he had forgiven his little brother?
He didn't seem to be annoying Moltres nearly as much, at least, as the bird Rayquaza called Zapdos, who seemed like the person you didn't want to mess with. His yellow and black feathers jutted out at seemingly random angles, and strongly resembled lightning bolts. He kept moving around, and hopping from one foot to the other.
On the other side of the debate, apparently, was Moltres. The majority of his orange feathers were short and close to his body. The rest of his feathers so greatly resembled flame that at first Jirachi had thought that one of his siblings had set him alight. He was arguing with Zapdos over something, and doing so quite feverently.
"Are they always like that?"
"Yeah, most of the time." Rayquaza replied "Zapdos was usually okay before the incident, but...well, let's just say all of feathers were yellow before last year's Gathering."
"Oh..."
"Ooh! There's Entei I was telling you about!" Rayquaza gestured towards a large red dog that had a huge puff of what looked like smoke coming off of him. Next to him were two somewhat similar other dogs.
"Wait a minute!" Jirachi started. "Another set of siblings?"
"Well...not really. See, as close as they look, those three are actually completely unrelated. In fact, in their past lives they outright hated each other."
"Past...lives?" Jirachi asked, remembering a past experience where he had woken up only to find his cave 'infested' with ghosts. It had take quite some doing indeed to get that many unexpected guests out, especially when they couldn't decide between possessing or worshipping him.
"Sort of. It's kind of a long story."
Jirachi's curiosity had gotten the better of him. "I've got time."
"Okay, if you're sure..."
Youknowifyou'reactuallyreadingthisitcan'tbegoodforhealth
Yeah, I realize that wasn't much for how long it took for me to post this. I'll try and get the next chapter faster. And you might (or might not) have noticed that I changed the category thingy for this story. I've decided more of what could, possibly, under extreme circumstances, be considered a plot. Shocking, no?
Oh, and if anybody names the book I made a reference to (or atleast, the one I noticed) in this chapter I'll...well, just do it anyway!
Please review!
