"Yukari… There's a disturbance in the timelines… are we under attack?"
No, no. It's just an Observer, leave them be."
"An Observer? What are they observing?"
"The origins... The origins of the Legendaries. Articuno to be exact. 'll go ahead and keep an eye on them, so don't worry. All they can do is observe, so there's no harm in letting them learn some history."
"If you say so…"
Articuno
It was a bitterly freezing day, and any normal Pokémon or human would have quickly succumbed to the unforgiving cold. But for a pure Ice type such as Articuno, this was perfect weather!
He was soaring many kilometres above land, and even the ragged mountain peaks looked miniscule at this height. With a shrill cry he swiftly swooped up higher into the air, a small smirk crossing his face as the earth disappeared below him in the haze of clouds. Even his brethren Zapdos and Moltres would begin to suffocate at this height, and he was proud in knowing this fact. Zapdos and Moltres always beat him at everything they tried, so knowing he was good at just one thing made his heart swell with confidence.
The thick blanket of clouds stretched out below him, like a vast plain of fluffy cotton. Despite their inviting appearance, Articuno was well aware that below that inviting façade lay a furiously raging snowstorm. Somewhere down in that whirling chaos were Zapdos, Moltres and their master, Lugia.
Today Lugia had purposely brought them there in that weather, spouting some nonsense about learning how to battle in adverse conditions. No one knew, but Articuno didn't like fighting, in fact, he hated it. Nevertheless, he couldn't explain that to his family, a group of battle fanatics. So in defiance, he snuck away whenever Lugia would start a training them.
The peaceful silence was a refreshing change from the usual arguing his brothers made him endure. For just a moment, he closed his eyes and listened to the soundless melody that the sky gently played.
"Articuno? Articuno! Where are you going? Why did you fly off in the middle of training again?"
A loud but lenient voice shattered the peace and made him wince in irritation. He had forgotten Lugia could fly this high as well. Despite his best efforts of mentally blocking him out, Lugia was soon soaring right beside him. He gave a kind but nervous smile to his subordinate as they both flew quietly. The only sound that could be heard was the roaring of air as it rushed under Lugia's great wings.
Even though he didn't admit it, he loved his master just like anyone would love their father. Lugia had always taken care of him from birth, and made him everything he was now. Even so, both he and his brothers hated being seen around with him. Even though Lugia was a powerful and respectable legendary, he was very careless and rather clumsy, always making an embarrassing scene wherever his big feet took him.
"Are you feeling okay, Articuno? If you're sick then we can train another da-"
"I'm not sick." Articuno interrupted, making Lugia flinch at the blunt response. Both he and Lugia were very relaxed and friendly by their very nature, so it was unusual to be spoken to like that.
"Well, are you tired? We can-"
"I'm not tired either, master. Can't you just let me fly by myself in peace?" He sighed in dissatisfaction. Lugia wouldn't understand.
"But you need to practise, Articuno! You want to get stronger than your brothers and beat them in battle, right?"
The icy bird shook his head in disagreement. "I want to get stronger, yes. But I don't want to fight! At all!" He squawked, flapping his wings angrily. Lugia gave no response and flew on in silence. The lack of sound had previously been lovely, but now it was simply uncomfortable.
"Master…When you found me, Zapdos and Moltres, what did you think? What were your goals? Your ambitions for us? Why did you take care of us?" He asked uneasily. He knew Lugia had taken them under his wing when they were just hatchlings, but even thirty years later he knew not the reason.
With a sigh, Lugia spoke. "I had no goals, and no ambitions either. When I came across you, all I saw were three young babies who didn't have a guardian and needed help. As I took you in, you all started following me around, so you just grew onto me I guess…" He mused in nostalgia at those days passed. Without either bird being aware, they slowly began to descend towards the earth.
"After a while you got rather big, and since every bird needs to learn how to survive, I thought I'd teach you fellas you to fight to survive! That's why we need to train." He continued.
Articuno waited until they had passed through the clouds before responding. The heavy snow shrieked and lashed at the two of them, but both were well suited to adverse conditions.
"But I don't want to fight! I can live peacefully on my own, far from where anyone can hurt me!" Articuno argued. Lugia shook his big head in disagreement.
"There will come a time where you must fight. Articuno, I have flown right around the world and met countless Pokémon, both normal and legendary. I have even glimpsed the great Rayquaza on my travels. But nowhere in the world have I ever seen another of your species, or Zapdos' or Moltres' for that matter. You three are completely unique, and no one should have the right to take your life."
Articuno clacked his beak in frustration; he knew Lugia was truthful, but he still didn't want to admit it. By now, they had descended lower and had to gently move aside from the hulking mountains either side. He went to give a dismissive answer, but a sudden noise made him stop to listen.
"What's wrong?" Lugia asked in concern, but Articuno gave no response. Without warning he suddenly dove downwards, plummeting out of the sky to the mountainside below. In panic, Lugia hurriedly pursued.
"What are you doing?! Articuno stop!" He cried, but the blue bird carried on.
"Someone is in danger!" He cried back to his master, urgency ringing through his voice. As they began to skim along the snowy ground, he could see a faint orange glow flickering in the distance. Behind him, Lugia could now hear the noise that made Articuno come.
"HEEEEEELLLP! PLEASE HELP US! SOMEONE HEELP!" A young voice screamed out in desperation. It was barely inaudible over the sound of the whipping snow, so Lugia was amazed Articuno was able to hear it.
As the birds came closer, they could understand the situation. The owner of the frantic voice was a young Charmander, his little tail flame flickering dully under the force of the snow. He had thrown his body over something half buried in the snow. Strangely, it was being dragged through the snow, leaving an indentation that was swiftly being filled back up. As Articuno came closer, he could see that it was a human boy, lying limply.
As the Charmander looked up at the birds, he wailed pitifully. "Please help my trainer! That bad lady is taking him away!"
Articuno leapt forward to save the unconscious blow, but grunted in pain as a sharp of ice smacked into his feathery chest. He flew backwards with frightening force until Lugia could reach out and catch him.
"This human is mine, leave us be!" An icy, female voice hissed. The owner of the voice stepped forward menacingly, revealing herself to be a Jynx. She had one arm gripping the boy tightly, and her yellow hair whipped furiously in the gale. Though the blur of hair, she glared at the birds with murderous intent.
"Ah, a Jynx. They always use their psychic powers to kidnap human boys and drag them up here and do Arceus-knows-what." Lugia growled lowly.
Without speaking Articuno dashed forward and sent a volley of ice shards speeding towards the kidnapper. With a flick of her hair she smacked them all aside and sent an Ice Punch shooting towards the unsteady bird. With a smack he was sent reeling backwards, the whole world spun dizzily as he struggled to get back up. As the Jynx advanced to finish him off, she was beaten back by a powerful Aeroblast. With a thud Lugia brought down his foot, and spread his wings to shield the battered Articuno.
"I'll take care of this, just observe." He said, in a disturbingly calm way. The Jynx leapt up furiously, screeching a stream of profanities at Lugia. As he came up, Lugia grabbed her by the hair and slammed her down onto a nearby form formation. As she rebounded cruelly off the hard rock, he sent her flying into the distance with a well charged Aeroblast.
Lugia glanced up at the empty sky for just a moment before returning a serious gaze to Articuno. "This is why you need to battle! You didn't even stand a-"
Articuno pushed past Lugia and knelt down to examine the human boy. With the scared sniffle the Charmander glanced at the bird.
"Is he going to be okay?" He whimpered, licking the boys hand in fear. Articuno placed his head against the boy's limp form.
"His heart still beats, and his body contains warmth. If we hurry we can save him."
"Well let's go!" The Charmander cried, flicking his flaming tail. With that, Articuno grasped both him and the boy with his talons, and leapt up into the sky. He could hear Lugia yelling behind him, but he had no times to spare.
As they surmounted a ridge he plummeted down, deftly dashing left and right to dodge towering crags of rock and ice. As they left the mountainous region and approached the lowlands, a series of little lights could be seen through the thick snow. Charmander was screaming with unabated terror, but Articuno wasn't concerned. Behind him, Lugia was fast approaching.
"You're not going to the human village are you? You can't do that!" He cried, but his words were ignored. Articuno slowly descended until individual buildings came into view. If he squinted, he might have been able to see some humans scurrying about in their homes.
"Stop Articuno! You can't reveal yourself to the humans! If they found out about you they'll never stop chasing you!"
"A life is more important than my freedom, master!" He cried back angrily. Lugia paused at his words, but pursued him nonetheless.
With a soft thump Articuno landed in what looked like a heavily populated part of the town. One flap of his wings sent a huge spray of snow everywhere, pelting all of the houses. He let out a loud squawking cry as he flapped his wings, causing as much commotion as possible. As expected of humans, they came running out of their houses to investigate this debacle.
"Dammit Articuno! We need to leave! Now!" Lugia roared, adding to the noise. Seeing that the humans could help the boy, Articuno complied and flew off into the air. Charmander waved goodbye, and the humans held up small boxes that made intermittent flashes. It wasn't long before Articuno had already sailed away from the human settlement, leaving the boy's welfare up to the other humans.
"That was incredibly dangerous, Articuno! What if they caught you in an Apricorn? What would we do then?"
Articuno sat quietly at the peak of the mountain, thinking hard about what to say. The blizzard had somewhat subsided, making it easy to see the stern glare on Lugia's face. It wasn't normal for Lugia to act seriously, so it was making Articuno very uncomfortable.
"I couldn't have just left him to die, master!" He pleaded. Lugia sighed.
"Is one human life really worth yours?" Lugia asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Of course it is! If I was lying there would you expose yourself to save my life?"
"Most certainly! But there are differences in the scenarios. Firstly, you are important to me, whereas one human is not. Secondly, you are a one-of-a-kind Pokémon! If you die, that's the end. There are millions of humans on this planet, one death does not matter."
"What are you talking about, master? A life is a life! Whether it's mine, yours, a human's or a Caterpie's, it still has the same value! I'm a little shocked to know my master does not care about the death of a human!"
Lugia shook his head angrily and waved his wing in annoyance. "I care! I care about human life! But I care more about your life, Articuno! Sometimes we have to sacrifice things for the benefit of greater things!"
"Value my life as much as you want, I will still protect those who need help, even if it costs me my life."
Lugia's silence ensured the only noise was the hollow wind ripping through the broken shards of rock.
"Articuno…"
"If fact, that's what I want to do with my life. I don't care about being strong or beating Zapdos or Moltres anymore! I'll stay here and save anyone who gets lost on this mountain range. I won't let you stop me!" He squawked, spreading his wings in defiance.
Lugia slumped his head in defeat, before looking up with a huge grin on his face.
"You know what, Articuno? I'm proud of you. I still don't like this at all, but seeing you willing to sacrifice your life for total strangers… It does my heart good. I feel like taking you in and raising you has payed off…"
Upon hearing these words, Articuno relaxed. Was Lugia going to agree with him?
"So you'll let me do this then?" He asked anxiously. Lugia waggled a big feathery finger.
"Not yet. That Jynx was rather weak, yet it took you down without any effort. If you want to help people, you're going to have to get a lot tougher. But once you've proven yourself strong enough, I will let you do as you please."
"Ahaha, I guess that means training, right?" Articuno couldn't help but chuckle in relief. He had never expected Lugia to back down like that. "Well, I'll be more than happy to train if it helps me reach my desire!" He continued.
"Oh, so pansy boy wants to be a hero, huh?"
"Heh, that's sooo typical for him!"
Two voices began laughing at Articuno from behind. He whirled about to see Zapdos and Moltres looking down on him.
"Yeah, I do! Got a problem with that?" He asked, flashing his wings in mock hostility. Moltres waved him off indifferently.
"Nah, go ahead pansy boy." Zapdos nodded in agreement with Moltres.
"Go ahead, lil' bro." He chuckled. Hearing that, Articuno stomped his talon indignantly.
"We are triplets! We are born of equal age! Stop calling me that!" He squawked. Despite being annoyed, he couldn't help but let out a chuckle at his brother's nonsense.
Zapdos waved his spiky yellow wing in mirth. "Meh, when you beat me in a fight I'll stop, okay?"
"Ahh, that's good. We are just about to restart training!" Lugia grinned, winking at his little blue subordinate.
"Yeah, sorry about leaving earlier, I'm ready to get straight so business this time!" He cried happily.
And with that, all four birds soared off into the darkening sky, preparing for their long lives ahead.
Next Time… Mewtwo!
A/N: Articuno isn't very popular, so I'm glad he was first. It feels good to give an unloved character like him a deeper personality.
Please take note that 'origins' does not specifically mean I will write about their birth, as this chapter can testify. Instead, it may be about how they came to be who or where they are now.
Mewtwo is coming up next, but I must warn you that his origins aren't particularly… pleasant.