Note: See Update at the bottom.
And now, another extremely delayed chapter from Sir Pudding! Sorry everyone, a couple things got in the way. You know, Metroid Prime 2, school, the holidays, Metroid Prime 2…and the fact that I can settle myself down to actual work.
Ri2, the 'weirdo' was a shiny Exploud. I should have made that clearer.
Now, this chapter doesn't include as much humor as the last two, so be warned. Not that that's bad, but still.
Oh, and because I haven't yet figured out how to make the italicization work, I'll just put /these/ around words I would normally italicize. Anyone who can help with that, please does.
Enjoy the third chapter of The Legendary Gathering!
The little town of Ecruteak had not always been known as the 'little town of Ecruteak'. Back in the days when Lugia still presided in his wooden tower, Ecruteak was the capitol of Johto. Sprawling far beyond today's city limits, the city dwarfed even the huge Mossdeep of Hoenn.
But, seeing as that's not what we're here to discuss, let's move on.
Out of the many Pokémon in the huge city, three of them are our focus for this tale.
First, we have Scorch. Unlike your average Fire Pokémon, Scorch was actually quite calm. The Growlithe belonged to a middle-class family near the center of town. This was before the days of Pokéballs and training, mind you, so Scorch was proficient at other things than battling. Did you know, for instance, that fire is actually effective at removing stains from plates?
But I digress. Our next character is Muddy, a Manetric. Muddy was only his nickname, which he earned from his older brother. Muddy was what humans consider 'wild'. He lived in a tree out the outskirts of town, but often ventured into the town for no particular reason. He didn't know Scorch, but that probably had to do with the fact that he was considerably younger than Scorch, so they wouldn't go to the same events or places anyway.
Our third and final member of the trio is Amy. Amy was very important to Ecruteak, because of whom she worked for. She was one of Lugia's many disciples/servants, and so went to many of the negotiations, filed many of the documents, and ejected many of the intruders from the Wooden Tower. She wasn't as high up as some people (such as the advisors), but she had more influence on city happenings than most in it. We are going to focus on Amy for this part of the story at least; it is partly because of her that it happens.
On this particular day, Amy was leading a diplomatic mission of sorts. The island of Cianwood, in its nature separated from the Johto mainland, had a reputation of being less than blindingly loyal. At least, it was that way with some of the rowdier citizens there. She wasn't leading the mission, that honor belonged to Edward, a slightly elder Rhydon. She wasn't that important yet. In fact, Lugia and Ho-oh themselves would have come, but Orre's army had just finished conquering another small kingdom, and had finally attracted the world's attention. So, Amy and a few others of Lugia's disciples were sent to deal with Cianwood.
While it typically took the average traveler a few days (longer if the traveler was a human), a couple 'shortcuts' got the group to Cianwood in about twelve hours or so. The beginning of the negotiations was scheduled to begin on the day of their arrival, so there was no rest for the weary. Amy did her best not to look tired as they trudged into the large building the directions that had been given to them said to enter.
The building was mainly used a gym or dojo of sorts, but today it had been cleared out and shined up to be used as a sort of meeting hall. Amy could see a couple boulders 'hidden' under large cloths, and noticed that strangely the area that had been set up for the negotiations appeared to be a large fighting ring. White lines marked a square in the sandy floor of the building, and a small box on the side facing the entrance. On the opposite side from that, two statues of some Pokémon she didn't recognize stood.
They were not the kind, thankfully, whose eyes followed you everywhere, but more the kind that their blank, forward-facing stare unnerved you if you watched for too long.
In the middle of the ring was a large, circular table. Seated at this table was a well-dressed Machoke (something that was not commonly come upon), all alone by himself.
"Are you the negotiating party from the mainland?" He said, breaking the short-lived silence. A couple of the negotiators hadn't noticed him, and they swirled around when they heard his voice.
The leader managed a response. "Er, yes?" If Amy was right, he was wondering why there wasn't a bigger party to greet them…were the rebels this disrespectful?
"The rest of my colleagues haven't arrived yet…I'm sorry for the delay. I think they were going out to visit the Whirl Islands…"
Apparently not. The Whirl Islands were a place of worship, as many important things had happened there (not the least of which being Lugia's birth). If the rebels had visited that sacred place, how bad could they be?
After a short wait, in which the Machoke told them a bit about Cianwood, the rest of the 'rebels' came in. There were quite a few Machoke in the crowd (Cianwood was quite a popular place for their species), some assorted water Pokémon, and even a few humans. Amy noticed an Alakazam, and a large and strong-looking Poliwrath that seemed to be directing the small group. As the rest of the group sat down, he and the Alakazam bowed before taking their places.
"Sorry for the delay. Some of us-" The Poliwrath made a point of looking towards one of the humans, who seemed to shrink "get a little jumpy around water."
"I was jus-" she started to defend herself, but the Alakazam hushed her before she could finish. He nodded at the Poliwrath, indicating he should continue.
He obliged. "It's Chuck, by the way."
"Edward." The Rhydon said as they shook hands.
Chuck became more serious. "Well, I think we all know why we're here…"
Another human spoke up. "We can't start yet/They're/ not here yet."
"What?" Chuck looked confused. "Oh, yes…er, are their Highnesses attending this meeting as planned, or…?"
Amy spoke up. "Well, they would have liked to, but with Orre acting up again, they had to calm them down. They said they were sorry about it."
The human who had interrupted earlier interjected himself again. "So we're not as important, are we?"
Chuck angrily shouted at the offending human. "Shut up, you id-"
"No! If we're even as important as some little problem, then why are we even bothering with this!"
Now somewhat annoyed, Amy answered his question. "It's no /little/ problem…and neither are you." She corrected herself. "Orre could vary well declare war on Johto, which, I may remind you, Cianwood is a part of! No matter how much you dislike us, it would be very bad for you if the rest of Johto were to be conquered by a crazy desert kingdom!"
And the whole thing basically went downhill from there. It was obvious some of the persons there were trying to get to an agreement, but so many people were so indignant that Edward's party had to leave before a conflict broke out. Not willing to travel the same twelve-hour trip twice in one day, they stopped at a small island on the way and slept there.
After a surprisingly refreshing night (most of the party had grown living in good conditions, and hadn't been expecting to enjoy sleeping outside of 'civilization'), the party set out again.
"Lugia's not going to like this, I can tell you that much," Edward warned the group when they reached the forest that surrounded Ecruteak. "I think the least we can do is be perfectly honest with him, and hopefully he'll see our side." Lugia wasn't exactly a cruel leader, but he tended to have high expectations of those who worked for him. However, as soon as they saw the great city, they knew (or at least thought) that a little rebellious island would be the least of his and the Lady's problems.
Ecruteak was in complete chaos and anarchy. Much of the city was burning, and battle cries could be heard in the distance. People and Pokémon alike were darting in and out of their houses, some looking frightened while others were unreadable.
One the party members had enough sense to ask a passerby 'what in hell' was going on. The Growlithe replied that he had no idea, but that it had started as a riot.
"Have Lugia and Ho-oh gotten back yet?" Amy asked the fire Pokémon, who had introduced himself as Scorch.
Scorch shook his head.
Edward swore under his breath. "Alright, we'd best find out what this all's about. Maybe restore a little order around here. Scorch, you better get back to your family or whatnot and find somewhere safe-"
"I've made sure of that, sir. But we've got a friend who lives in the part of the city we think is on fire, so I'm supposed to go look for him."
Seeing as that was where the group was going, Edward reluctantly allowed him to follow along. It so happened that the path they took had been rather untouched, if you didn't count the large pile of /something/ on one side of the street. Needless to say, everyone stepped around that with extreme caution.
However, all good things come to an end, and so eventually they reached the main square of town. Inside it was a large group of Pokémon, which seemed about evenly divided into two groups. A Manetric was standing ahead of one of the groups, and was speaking loudly to the other group.
"Look, I don't know what problem you've got with the King and Queen, and for all I know it may be perfectly legitimate, but surely these good people have nothing to do with it?" Amy suddenly remembered something.
"Scorch, this isn't your friend, is it?" The Growlithe shook his head, so Amy continued to listen.
"So why don't you just let them mind their business, and go wreck some statue or something?"
One human stood forward from the group. Amy thought he looked a little familiar. "You don't understand! These fools work for those-they worship them! They've just sat by as those damned birds take advantage of everyone! Isn't that as bad as outright helping them!" Of course! He was the human from the meeting/But how did he get here…/
"These people have been brought up like that! Not that I'm agreeing with you, but even if you were right they haven't been exposed to anything different! Besides, more than half of them are children! You can't honestly expect I'm going to stand by and watch you murder them all! Isn't that like what you just said!"
"Move out of the way or we'll be forced to kill you too!"
At this point Edward had become quite enraged. "All this because you're displeased about the way your little island is treated! These people had nothing to do with it! If you want to get someone responsible, try and kill me you lousy-"
At this point, the violent rioters gladly obliged. The all charged at Edward, blood in their sights. A fair number of them, however, ran right past the furious Rhydon and right into the crowd of civilians the Manetric had argued to protect. The canine and the rest of Edward's party, who knew he could handle himself, came to defend to poor innocent bystanders.
The majority of the negotiators however, were no fighters, Only Scorch, the Manetric, and a Quaqsire that had gone along more for protection than actual input into the talks were able to have much influence on the battle. The most of Amy could do was simply run into things, so she helped get some of the more defenseless citizens back into the safer part of town. By the time she had calmed all the children down and came back to the square, the battle was over.
The rioters had been driven off, and it didn't actually seem like anyone had been killed. Edward's horn was cracked and his armor severely dented, and there were a few people on the ground moaning, but for the most part it seemed like everyone would live.
"We'd best get to the tower…" the Quaqsire gasped. "I saw a fair amount of those…" he paused again. "…Run for them…"
"That seems like a good idea." The Manetric agreed. "Although someone should stay back and make sure these people are all alright."
"I'll do it. I'd just slow you young'uns down." Edward spoke up. "What your name, anyway? That was pretty brave of you."
"It's Muddy, sir." The Rhydon smirked at this. "Uh, yeah…anyway, we'd better go."
So Amy, Muddy, Scorch, and the Quaqsire ran for their King's tower. What they saw would be all most people would ever remember of this day for many years to come.
Lugia's tower, his perch, his very home, was ablaze. Compared to his horrible bonfire, the rest of the fires in town were but sparks. The heat was unbearable, the light was blinding, and Amy could see her and the Quaqsire's skin slightly steaming.
"Holy…those…" the Quaqsire's voice trailed off.
"Wait a minute…" Amy remembered something Lugia had once told her about the tower. "The tower…it's built over a geyser! An old geyser!"
"Oh yeah! If we could open it up again, we could stop the fire!"
"So they committed the act that would take their lives." Rayqauza said.
"Well, finish the story!" Jirachi, who had become interested, said excitedly.
"Well, they tried to open up the geyser, but before they could…well, it wasn't smart to go in a fire, we'll just say that. When the two birds got back and found their city in ruins, they found Amy, Muddy, and Scorch's body. Out of respect and to honor their sacrifice, they gave them new lives. Amy became the spirit of the north wind-" He pointed to Suicune "Scorch the embodiment of flame-" he indicated Entie-"and Muddy the chaneller of lightning." Rayquaza pointed at Raiku.
"But what happened to-"
"The Quaqsire? Never found his body. There's a shrine for him in the remains of the tower, but no one can see it anymore…it's a shame, really…"
Jirachi looked at the three dogs, a new respect in his eyes.
I think that doubled the length of my story. Depending on how you look at it, that's either cool or really sad.
Next chapter, we get back to the funny as I answer Metafire's question! Remember to review!
Okay, while I doubt anyone will notice this update, I've corrected a few mistakes I made…the stupid computer changed Lugia into Lugia a couple times, and I forgot to mention Amy was a Vaporeon. Boy, do I feel stupid. I'll mention this next chapter, but hopefully someone will notice it. And, I have to mention, all the people who said Lugia never had a tower, I say you're wrong. When I first played through G/S/C, I got the distinct notion that Lugia's tower was the burnt tower. I'm aware that the show disagrees with me, but I really don't think they put much thought into that part.
