"Alright," Margaret replied. "I might go wander around town for a little bit, maybe look for the pokemart and stock up on things."

"Better hurry up, then," Aleron muttered. "Everything will be closing soon." She yawned again and curled up on her side. "Night."

"Right," Margaret replied. Recalling her pokemon, she left the building. The town was quiet, even though it was only just dark. She wandered around a bit before coming to an old, decorated building.

"I'm sorry," an old sage said, "but I'm afraid I cannot let anyone through with fewer than six gym badges."

"What is this place?" Margaret asked, already reaching for her badge case.

"This is Bell Tower," the sage replied.

"Bell Tower?"

"Yes. It is told that a magnificent, rainbow-feathered pokemon roosts here from time to time. Ordinarily, I would only require four badges for entrance, but something seems to have stirred up the pokemon in the tower lately," the sage explained.

"Sounds like Sprout Tower in Violet City," Margaret murmured. She opened her badge case to show him. "Ten badges. May I go through?" The sage nodded, and moved aside.

Aleron stayed at the pokemon center, falling asleep quickly. She had no idea what Margaret was up to.

Margaret went through the gatehouse and walked through the old path that led up to Bell Tower. The whole place seemed much too quiet, like Sprout Tower had been. She went into the tower as quietly as she could, not wanting to disturb anything.

As she got close to the top of the tower, she found herself hopping across the rafters to get to the ladders leading upwards. Something up above her seemed to be shimmering, and she wanted to see what it was.

She regretted her curiosity.

She found herself face-to-face with the angriest bird pokemon she'd ever seen.

Aleron remained asleep, though her pokemon woke up and started to get nervous.

The giant shimmering bird glared down at Margaret. She stayed down near the floor, trembling.

'Don't kill me, don't kill me...'

The bird shrieked at her and spread its great wings. It took off in a flurry of shimmering feathers. Once it was gone, Margaret managed to gather her wits about her and scramble back down the tower. She didn't even stop to talk to the sage again, she just went straight back to the pokemon center. She didn't notice the rainbow-colored feather clinging to her braid.

Aleron woke up when her pokemon started moving around, obviously nervous and agitated. She sat up and blinked a few times. "What's the matter, sweets?" she asked, looking at Vulpix.

"Aleron!" Margaret rushed over to her friend, nearly tripping herself in the process.

"Margaret? What happened?" Aleron sat up all the way, getting worried.

"Climbed Bell Tower," Margaret said, sitting down next to Aleron's cot. "Tower was way too quiet, should have known better. Almost died, again."

Aleron looked at her with wide eyes. "Uh oh. Did you meet Ho-oh?"

"Big monster rainbow bird?" Margaret asked. "Yeah. Whatever it was. I honestly thought I was going to die, for the second time this week."

"Yeah, you saw Ho-oh." Aleron pulled the rainbow feather out of Margaret's hair. "Okay, time to sit down and take deep breaths."

Margaret tried to take a few calming breaths, but she was still shaking.

"What was it?" she asked. "I've never seen anything quite like it. It was massive... And it was absolutely furious."

"One of the two legendary birds of this area," Aleron said, examining the feather. "It rises from its own ashes, so it never truly dies."

"It was terrifying," Margaret said. "If I had known what it was, I wouldn't have climbed Bell Tower." She shuddered. "That's the second legendary this week. Something has to be setting them off."

"That's what I was thinking," Aleron agreed. "Normally you're lucky to see one. Now we've seen, well I've seen three and you've seen four, in less than a week? Definitely not normal."

"Something definitely isn't right," Margaret mused. "I want to know what."

"Well we can't exactly just ask them, so we'll have to find some other way to find out." Aleron sighed and scrubbed her scalp. "I wonder if the legendaries in Kanto are being like this too."

"I don't know," Margaret murmured. "I didn't hear anything before I left, but that doesn't mean anything. Saffron is a huge city, I doubt any pokemon this wild would go anywhere near it."

"Agreed," Aleron said. "I think we should go see if anything's happening up near Blackthorn after we're done here. There's dragon pokemon up there, so they'd likely react to whatever this is."

"Sounds like a plan," Margaret replied. She kind of wished she could get back to Saffron and see if she could ask Sabrina. If anyone would know what was going on in the region, it would be the psychic master.

Aleron nodded and yawned briefly. "You want to eat or are you still too shaken?"

"I think I'm okay," Margaret replied. Oddly, it wasn't as terrifying for so long the second time.