This is the one hundred forty-third chapter in Pokemon Heroes. We have now reached the ending of this arc. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the songs.


(Opening song)

It gave a loud screech, shaking the clouds that it was flying through.

The air was moistening around it, causing the cold to send snow down to earth with every flap of its icy wings.

Its blue, streamer-like tail that was longer than its body moved in many directions as the winds moved it to and fro.

It gave out another screech, causing Pokemon that were flying in its direction to move out of the way before it collided with them.

This beautiful creature was Articuno.

It was a large avian Pokemon with predominantly blue plumage. Its head crest consisted of three, darker blue rhombus-shaped feathers on its forehead. It had circular red eyes. It had a short gray beak, and long thin legs that were gray.

It was heading in one direction.

It was heading toward a mountain that it used to rest in during certain times of the year. This helped it replenish its mobility, allowing it to go out and explore the world some more.

What it didn't know though was that there were battles happening on that mountain that he rested in. It would be heading toward a battle that was about it, and it still wouldn't know.

The snow continued to fall, and it finally saw the mountain in the distance.

It gave one last screech and sped up.

Beauty of Ice


Ash and his friends, after sustaining a lot of damage after their fight with Demyx and then getting KO'D by Larxene, still continued on, no matter how much their bodies ached with every movement.

The night had passed, and the kids found a cave to rest in. Even though they rested, they weren't complete healed.

When they woke up first thing in the morning, they immediately went out to continue searching. Their searching had led them to travel higher on the mountain. They were on snow, and snow slowly fell on them.

"Are you sure we'll be able to find it in time?" asked Dawn worriedly. "They might actually get to Articuno before we do. We have no clue where it is."

"We'll find it first," said Ash as he looked straight ahead. "I know we will."

"Where's the closest spot to where it could be resting?" asked May as she turned to Brendan.

"A spot not too far from here," answered Brendan "We should check that one out first."

They then heard a screech.

They stopped all together, staying close just in case it was an enemy. They heard the screech again, and then they started feeling more snow get placed on them.

May looked up at the sky, and then a shadow of a large flying-type Pokemon flew over their heads within the clouds that were building up.

"That's...Articuno?" asked Dawn.

"It must be!" exclaimed Brendan. "It's flying way too close to the ground. That means it must be heading toward a spot near here."

"Is that the spot you were talking about?" asked May.

"Hell yeah," said Brendan. "We're lucky it's the first one, or else we'd be up this mountain for days."

"We've got a lead," said Ash. "If we saw it, that bitch saw it too. We better get the hell over there before them. You're ready, Pikachu?"

"Pikapi!"

With their determination renewed, they set off toward Articuno's icy home.


"W-Was that just Articuno?" asked Demyx as he looked around in a frenzy after hearing such a loud screech. He looked over at Larxene and could tell how surprised she was.

That surprise was immediately replaced with a smirk.

"You heard it!" she said as she started running at an extreme speed. "It's close by! It's nest must be somewhere around here!"

"W-Wait for me!" called out Demyx as he tried to give chase.

Within a few minutes, Larxene stopped after feeling the ground shake. She could tell that it was slippery. She looked around, and then stomped on the ground so hard that it could crush a cinder-block.

The ice beneath her feet did not break, nor did it have a small crack.

"Unbreakable ice..." she thought. "That could only mean..."

Where she was, the snow had gotten much more intense, so it was hard to see through the blizzard.

But through the blizzard, as she squinted just a little bit to see, she saw a giant structure in the distance.

That was Articuno's nest.

"Good. Now..."

"I thought I told you to wait for me!"

She turned back and saw Demyx running toward her. As soon as he got on the ice, he tripped and started swirling away. Larxene watched him go until he suddenly stopped.

"What the hell is this?" she heard him say.

Then she realized a trap was set up.

"Don't fucking tou-"

Large, icy hands broke through the ground. The sudden movement made Demyx screech and crawl behind Larxene.

Larxene watched as five more large hands broke though the snow on the ground, and out came large golems as they forced themselves out of the ground.

Larxene noticed though that their bodies were not made out of rocks. Instead, these things were made out of ice.

Larxene sighed.

"You know, you should really LISTEN more!"

Her Knives materialized in her hands. The golems got free from the ground, and they roared as they pounded their chests, eager for a fight. Larxene could already deduce that Articuno set these traps up for when someone actually gets here and either tries disturbing its rest or they were trying to search around its nest.

The golems now noticed them, and they started coming. They were at least three times larger than Larxene's height, but she had no problems with it.

A smirk was only present on her face.

She looked down at Demyx, who was just cowering by her feet.

"C'mon!" she yelled. "Don't be a wuss! Fight these things!"

"You know, my back kind of hurts after getting into that fight with the Aura Guardian. I think I might just sit this one out. You can fight for me if you want."

"Maybe I should first deal with you!"

Before she could say anything, she suddenly took Demyx by the hood and jumped out of the way as an Aura Sphere struck the spot she was on. She landed on the ground as Demyx's face got buried within the snow.

She looked back and already guessed who it was.

"Get back over here and fight me!" yelled Ash as another Aura Sphere was already in his two hands. His friends were close behind him.

"So they were alive," thought Larxene. She looked toward the golems, and then smirked.

"Thanks for covering for me," said Larxene as she did a salute. "Have fun!"

She then took Demyx by the leg and started running away, removing Demyx's head from the snow while dragging him along.

"Get over here!" yelled Ash as he prepared to throw an Aura Sphere, but Brendan successfully pushed him out of the way before a golem's fist crashed down on the spot where he was.

"What are these?" asked Dawn as she watched the other four ice golems turn their attention to the kids.

"They must be a trap that was activated before we got here," said Brendan. "Those bastards must've left us to fight them."

"I don't have time for that," said Ash as he tired getting up. "I-"

He quickly rolled to the side before a golem's foot crashed down on him. He shot out an Aura Breath at it, pushing it back. While it was distracted, he jumped and kicked it with an aura covered foot.

"These things are fucking annoying!" said Ash as the golem went down, and he saw two more heading to him. The one he knocked down was getting back up.

"We'll be wasting out time, but in order to get through, we have to fight!" thought Brendan.

A golem that was heading for him and the girls threw its fists down at him. His eyes turned emerald green, and using Mightyena's speed, moved out of the way, using Shiftry's power, grabbed onto its arm and held it up, spun around and then tossed it.

"You two take care of that last one," said Brendan as he used Pelipper's power to jump into the air, and using Aggron's power he crashed his fist against the golem's chest to break it apart.

Instead, an intense pain coursed throughout his entire body, and he fell back while holding his hand.

"Are these things indestructible?" he thought.

Dawn took a glance at Brendan, and then looked toward Ash to check if he was okay.

Ash was sending out whips of aura that struck the three golems that were around him, pushing them back and knocking them to the ground.

Dawn and May sweat dropped.

"He's fine," said May. They felt the ground shake, and they saw the golem heading toward them. They both took out their Pokeballs. May threw out Combusken while Dawn released Cyndaquil.

"Combusken, Flamethrower!"

Combusken shot out the hot flames from its mouth, and it engulfed the golem. They thought it was going to melt, but instead, it just brushed the attack off and continued running to them.

"What?" said Dawn. "Cyndaquil, Flamethrower!"

"Do another one, Combusken!"

The two fire-type starters each shot out Flamethrowers. The attacks fused together and struck the golem head on, but once again, it had no effect at all.

"Isn't ice supposed to melt after given heat, or did I miss something!?" yelled Dawn.

The golem then jumped into the air, cupped its hands together while putting it over its head and came down on the girls. Combusken was able to move them both away from a direct hit, and Cyndaquil followed. But the golem came in too fast, and it crashed into the ground near them, sending snow over them that then crashed onto their bodies.

"Dawn! May!" yelled Brendan.

In his distraction, the ice golem he was fighting took him in its hands and then tossed the boy away. He went for Ash's direction, and they collided with each other and then they fell to the ground with Brendan with his back on top of Ash.

"Watch where you're going!" yelled Ash as he pulled his face out of the snow while he lay on the bottom.

"Tell that golem to throw me to something more worthy of me crashing into next time, then!"

Their bickering gave a golem a chance to stand over them, raise its foot, and send it down on them.

Brendan luckily, and after quickly making his arms as strong as an Aggron's body, crossed them as he took the stomp, pushing more to the ground as Ash was buried deeper into the snow.

"Goddammit, Brendan!" Ash yelled, and then he launched an Aura Breath on the ground that then launched up into the air, pushing the golem to the ground.

They were in midair, and then Ash took Brendan's foot, spun him around, and then launched him down toward another golem.

Brendan's iron hard fist crashed on its head, sending them both to the ground.

Once again, even though the ice was hit hard, not even a crack was present.

"What the hell are these things made of?" asked Brendan as he moved back. Ash got to the ground and they stood with their backs against each other.

May and Dawn popped out of the snow with their Pokemon, and they watched the golem run toward them.

"They won't even melt by fire," said Dawn. "They must be made of a special ice."

Brendan clenched his teeth, and then he noticed Ash breathing heavily behind him.

"That fight we had yesterday still has a toll on our bodies," he thought. "If we don't beat these things fast enough, we'll die just for being exhausted."


Articuno screeched once again, doing it as a message to the Pokemon in the area that it had returned. It noticed the golems it created moving about in the distance. It chose to investigate, but first it looked down at the large icy structure that had an opening that led to its chambers.

Before descending anymore though, it noticed something on top of it, or more precisely it was a someone.

"Welcome back," said Larxene as she smirked. "We've been expecting you."

Immediately and without warning, one of Larxene's Knives were thrown at it. It moved out of the way quick enough to dodge the attack. That sudden act already showed Articuno that this person wasn't good.

It flapped its wings hard, sending a large gust of wind to strike Larxene and make her fall toward the ground. While she was falling, her smirk got even more sinister.

"You've made this way easier for me, you know," said Larxene as she rammed one of her Knives on the icy structure, causing her to stop falling. "Now I can really let loose."

Her body got covered in electricity, and she charged at Articuno. The bird quickly moved out of the way before it got hit. It then sent an Ice Beam at her. She created a small wave of electricity that acted as a shield in front of her to block the attack, but the force still pushed her back.

"Don't just stand there!" yelled Larxene. "Help out or else I'll remove your guts from your body!"

"But I like my guts though," said Demyx as he hid under the snow. He then forced himself out, and his Sitar materialized in his hand.

"Of all the missions Roman had to send me on."

He then played a note, and pillars of water with sharp ends burst out from the ground and headed for Articuno. Articuno flapped its wings, and the water that was heading for it froze in mid-air. Demyx watched amazed, and Larxene saw this as an opportunity.

"Fighting back doesn't do shit for you!"

It turned, and Larxene had already crashed her body against its body. They headed for the ground. With one great flap of its wings, it blew Larxene away and straightened itself before it collided with the ground.

"We should work together more often, Larxene. It's more fun when we're kicking ass together!"

He played a note, and water surrounded Articuno's entire body. It realized that the water was forming around it, and then it saw that it was now trapped within a ball made of water.

It screeched, knowing that this move was already futile.

It just gave a simple flap of its wings, and the water around it instantly froze. It used its wings to break it apart.

When it got through though, it saw as many as hundreds of Larxene's Knives surrounding it. Larxene was on the ground, and after giving off a snicker, she snapped her fingers, and just like always, she activated her KO move by creating electric currents between the Knives, therefore creating a whole wall of electricity around it.

"This should put you to sleep now!"

The wall of electricity then shot out electric bolts at Articuno.

This whole time though, Articuno didn't even express a single ounce of worry. It simply created a ball of ice around its body, and this helped it block out the attacks of the electric bolts.

After a while of unsuccessfully hitting it, the wall of electricity diminished. Articuno broke free from the ball of ice, and then looked down at Larxene angrily. It looked toward Demyx, too, making the Dark Signer wary.

"I think we pissed it off," said Demyx.

Articuno let out an ear piecing screech. Its eyes turned completely blue, and a blue outline started to form around its body. The cold air got even colder, and the already harsh snow just got harsher.

"What the hell..." said Demyx in disbelief at the phenomenon.

Larxene smirked.

"It's acknowledging us," she said. "It's going full force now. It's activating Sheer Cold, the most powerful Ice-Type move. That move would surely kill us in an instant."

Demyx's mouth hanged off of his face. Not only was he surprised that Articuno was done playing games, but he was even more surprised how Larxene could just smirk in the face of certain death.

"Then let's get the fuck away from here!" yelled Demyx. "We're gonna die for Arceus's sake!"

"Don't be such a wuss."

"A wuss? That'll kill us for sure, and you think now is a perfect time to start calling me names?! Mission failed! Boo-hoo! Let's all cry about it later! Let's just go back and tell Saix we failed. I always tell Said I fail, and I'm still alive now! There's no shame!"

"This isn't a mission that I was given to by Saix though," said Larxene as she reached into her pocket. "I'm doing this...on my own accord!"

Out of her pocket came the small blue ball that illuminated a blue light.

Larxene stole this thing for this special occasion.

When it was near Articuno, it caused the Pokemon's power to decrease at an alarming rate.

Slowly, the winds started to die down, and Articuno's eyes returned to normal. When everything was calm, it looked down in horror at the item in Larxene's hand.

"Now then...everything's fair, let's wrap this up!"

Larxene then covered herself in lightning and charged at Articuno, With four of the Knives that she materialized into her hands, she dug them into the Pokemon's gut. Blood flew out of the wound, and Articuno's expression was filled with pain and shock,

Larxene was just laughing her ass off.


Ash threw an aura covered fist at the ice golem in front of him. It collided with its face. It was pushed to the ground, and it struggled to get back up.

"Pikachu!"

A powerful Thunder attack struck it. It stopped moving, but then it started struggling once again to get up.

Brendan, fighting his ice golem, just got out of the way from an attack. He took its arm and prepared to start throwing it.

"Ash!"

"Alright!"

Ash took his ice golem by its foot, and the boys tossed the golems at each other. They collided, fell down, and just proceeded to get up once again.

That was now another plan that had failed.

"Combusken, use Sky Uppercut!"

"Buneary, use Low Kick!"

Combusken and Buneary ran toward the ice golem, and Combusken uppercutted it with a powerful attack using its claws while Buneary collided its feet on the golem's chest area. The attack did push it back a little, but once it had recovered from the attacks, it took both Pokemon in its hands and rammed them against each other.

The Pokemon screamed in pain and were tossed to the ground. The girls ran to their Pokemon to check if they were okay. They could already barely stand.

"I think one of us has to get through and help out Articuno over there," said Dawn. "We don't have much time to waste here!"

"No!" yelled Brendan. "If one of us leaves, it'll just bring more stress to the others."

"I know, but-"

They then heard the loud, painful screech of Articuno in the distance. They heard electricity cracking, and they heard powerful hits being delivered one by one at the beautiful bird.

They had heard Articuno arriving a while ago. The icy structure where the battle was at was far from them, so they really couldn't see what was going on completely.

All they did know though was that Articuno was fighting a losing battle.

Hearing the screams and feeling the pain the Pokemon was feeling right now made Ash's teeth grind.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!"

Aura violently surrounded him as his anger rose. He felt powerless hearing the Pokemon get beaten up. Three of the ice golems were coming at him.

"Come and get me assholes! Once I finish with you, I'll get to kick that bitch's ass to next week!"

They ran at him, and the closest to him extended its hand to grab the boy.

But then, its fingers broke off.

The kids were wide-eyed at what they saw.

The golems they were trying so hard to destroy suddenly started breaking apart.

"Did I do that?" asked Ash.

"No," said Brendan. "I don't think so."

They didn't understand, but during Larxene's fight with Articuno, when she took out the small blue ball, it had the ability to lessen its power.

That meant that because its power had lessened, all of its power coursing through anything would diminish. And since it was the one who gave power to the ice golems, the ice golems were losing their power as well, losing their ability to have unbreakable ice slowly. They started to become so breakable that just the shockwaves of Ash's aura took off its fingers.

Ash smirked.

"Doesn't matter..."

Aura covered his fists and he charged at the ice golem.

"LET'S KEEP ON BRINGING ON THE HURT!"

His fist collided with the ice golem, breaking its face into many pieces of ice.

"Hell yeah!" exclaimed Brendan, and he saw another ice golem and jumped up high, and then kicked it with his powered up knee using Aggron's power to break its face away.

"Pikapi!"

Pikachu ran toward another and used Volt Tackle, breaking through the golem's chest, and then it broke apart into pieces right after that.

"Combusken, use Flamethrower!"

Combusken got up and shot out its most powerful move. The attack engulfed the golem, and what didn't happen before happened now. Its body melted instantly into drops of water, and when the attack ended, there was nothing left.

All of the ice golems were beaten now.

The kids were exhausted, breathing heavily after the tough fight.

May and Dawn congratulated their Pokemon before returning them. Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder, and they gave each other a high five.

Ash's gaze then turned to Articuno's location.

They still had one last thing to do.

"Let's go!" he said, and they all started running.


Larxene's fist collided with Articuno's face, ramming it onto the ground.

Larxene laughed excessively. Articuno was breathing heavily. Its body was bruised up, especially on its face. Blood fell from its beak, and stab wounds were easily seen on its beautiful body.

Blood was turning that snow's color to red.

Demyx watched in the background, not even daring to ask a question. But this had been going on for a long time, so he decided to say something.

"Um...do you plan to kill it?"

"Of course not, dumbass!"

"Then...shouldn't you be capturing it now? If you keep doing that, you'll definitely kill it. You're just wasting time."

A snicker escaped her mouth.

"Because why not," she said. "Pain. Just pain! Seeing this makes my blood boil! It makes me extremely anxious to see blood all over!"

A foot crashed against Articuno's face.

"Especially against something as beautiful as this! When I'm done, I'll be making this piece of shit the ugliest thing in the world! Do you hear me?"

"A-Aye," said Demyx from far away, running away during Larxene's rage.

Larxene kicked Articuno some more, and then she started laughing again. More blood was on the snow, and Articuno was breathing much more heavily.

Larxene walked away, and then turned around after she was far enough. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a small, black ball, and clicked a button that enlarged it.

This was a Shadow Pokeball.

Anything that was captured within this Pokeball would have their hearts seeped with darkness, turning them into a Shadow Pokemon.

Only those with completely pure hearts could escape the Pokeball, but with Articuno's state now, it had to be more worried about staying alive rather than being calm and focused.

"Play time is over," said Larxene. "Now I get the prize."

She tossed the Pokeball at it. It got closer, and closer, and closer, and Articuno was just staring at it coming to him. Now was the last time it would see the light of day as a Pokemon, because right after this, its vision would be clouded with darkness.

But then, an aura covered fist destroyed the Pokeball before it touched its face.

It looked at the back of its savior, who was looking toward Larxene.

"You fucking brat!"

"I came here to protect Articuno, and I won't allow you to hurt it!"

Ash's aura blazed around him. Demyx watched in awe, and then he noticed Brendan, Dawn, and May running toward them from behind. Larxene's fists were clenching while shaking.

"I won't let them get any closer," said Ash, directing his voice to Articuno. "You go hide somewhere and try staying alive. When I'm done with this asshole, we'll try healing you up, alright?"

Articuno could feel at ease for some reason at Ash's presence.

It nodded, and then painfully flapped its wings and flew into the icy structure, where a tunnel led to its chambers.

Larxene watched it go with grim eyes.

"I was gonna let you go...but now, I'm gonna butcher you to pieces!"

"Bring it!"

The Dark Signers and the kids were now in one spot.

Their battle has now reached its climax.

(Ending song)


Next Time on Pokemon Heroes: With the battle to protect Articuno had its highest yet, The Dark Signers are now going all out against Ash and his friends. Being exhausted and weak, they may not have a chance against a Dark Signer who only sees pain as the greatest feeling in the world. But that girl's cry for help may change everything. How will this battle turn out, and who will be the one to protect them all? Next Time: Become the Hero.


That was that chapter. Everything is set into place for a final battle, and the next two chapters will be the end of this arc. I've done this whole arc for a reason, because at the end of it, it'll have a gratifying ending, which is actually something I've wanted to do since the middle of last season. Now that I've fixed the update schedule, next two chapters should be out by Monday or Tuesday, just like always. See you next chapter!

Read and Review please :-)

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