"Pokémon Endless Journey - Volume 1: Red, Green, Blue and Yellow - The First Legend"

Chapter 21 – Bird of Blizzards:

Viridian City was quickly evacuated after the explosion occurred. Only very few exceptions stayed, these being a few stubborn citizens and the staff of the Poké Center and Poké Mart.

After Red healed up his Pokémon, he returned to Pallet Town, finding a certain trio of Gym Leaders besides Blaine.

"Brock? Misty? Erika? What are you doing here?"

"Blaine called us." Brock clarified. "He told us about Giovanni and what happened."

"We would've gotten here faster if Erika hadn't dozed off."

"I didn't mean to…" Erika's eyes closed slowly and a very light snore sounded, infuriating Misty.

"How can you be sleeping now of all times?!"

"C-Calm down, Misty!" Brock held Misty back, foreseeing a fight if not.

"There's no time for that. Giovanni mentioned that he would use Legendary Pokémon for his plan. This must mean that he plans to take a hold of the Legendary Birds."

"Legendary Birds?" Blue wondered, having heard about the subject only once before.

"Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres. To prevent this, we'll split up. Team Number 1 will consist of Brock, Misty and Erika, in addition to Blue. You'll take care of Articuno in the Seafoam Islands."

"Fine by me. But I sure hope there's some sort of reward…"

Green simply ignored the statement with a sigh.

"Team Number 2 is already on its post. Surge, Koga and Sabrina are already waiting for their last member to join them at the Power Plant. That job goes for you, Green. Your team is in charge of Zapdos."

Responding with a simple nod, Green opened a Poké Ball, letting out his Pidgeot and he climbed onto her back, soaring up into the sky in order to partake part in the mission.

"Team Number 3 will be just me, Red and Yellow. We'll be responsible for Moltres."

"Alright." Red agreed, somewhat determined. Yellow nodded as well.

Blue and her team surfed towards the Seafoam Islands with the use of Blastoise, Nidoqueen, and Misty's Golduck, a Pokémon she apparentlywas already in the possession of previously.

Since the small archipelago wasn't far from Cinnabar Island, it didn't take long for the group of Trainers to arrive.

It was, however hard to navigate through. The cave in itself was beautiful, crystalline and icy. The temperature wasn't cold enough for Misty, a girl whose main outfit she sported was a two-piece swimsuit, to feel any more than a slight chilly breeze at times.

"Onix!"

"Starmie!"

"Vileplume!"

The three Gym Leaders sent out their main Pokémon for protection. While Blue withdrew Nidoqueen, she decided to keep Blastoise by her side, outside the Poké Ball.

"This place is huge…" Misty pointed out, trying to figure out a way to find their respective Legendary Bird.

However, it didn't take as long as expected to come across it. But they weren't the first to reach it.

"Wow. Our researchers sure are smart. I mean, they managed to create this nifty little thing."

"Who's there?!"

"Hm?" A man, wearing a black Team Rocket uniform, similar to the one Proton wore at the top of the Pokémon Tower, sporting weird purple hair and black simple eyes. "Oh! Gym Leaders and one of the brats Proton talked about."

"B-Brat?!"

"You heard me, the great Petrel, didn0t you?" The man finished pressing a couple of buttons in a machine that seemed to fit inside a suitcase, and the Pokémon standing behind him, with red glaring eyes, spreading its wings and chirping loudly its cry.

"That's Articuno?" Erika wondered, as Blue drew out her Pokédex.

'Articuno, the Freeze Pokémon. Articuno is a legendary bird Pokémon that can control ice. The flapping of its wings chills the air. As a result, it is said that when this Pokémon flies, snow will fall.'

"Is he controlling Articuno?" Brock wondered, noticing that the red eyes didn't match those of the picture in Blue's Pokédex.

"You're clever as well." Petrel pointed out. "This device here we developed with the technology we snagged from Silph Co., we're able to control Pokémon without the need of catching them. Articuno, get rid of them."

"CUNO!" Articuno opened its beak, creating a large chunk of ice in front of it and fired the irregular piece of solid ice towards the opposing Trainers.

"Onix, block it!"

"Oniix!" Onix curled around the three remaining Pokémon, taking the hit so the others wouldn't get damaged.

"Hydro Pump!" Misty and Blue yelled in unison. Blastoise and Starmie jumped onto Onix's body and aimed their respective cannons and core at Articuno, firing a powerful water jet from them.

"TICUNO!" Artcuno flapped its wings rapidly and released a Blizzard from them, freezing the Hydro Pumps with ease. It then opened its mouth and released a thin beam of blue energy, which hit Starmie and froze it.

"No!"

"Vileplume, use Sunny Day!"

"Vile!" Vileplume's flower began to glow brightly and then launched up a fiery ball towards the ceiling of the cave illuminating with harsh sunlight, which showed to be slowly thawing out Starmie.

"Now Solar Beam!"

"Onix, Dragon Breath!"

Vileplume fired a golden beam, the solar energy being much faster than usual due to the sunlight, from the center of her flower, while Onix opened his mouth and released a stream of air, both hitting Articuno but performing little damage.

"ARTI!" Articuno's body began to glow and it came off, swirling into the shape of a rocky orb and it fired it down to its opponents.

"Blastoise, block it with Rapid Spin!"

"Blas!" Blastoise pulled in her head, limbs and canon, started spinning like a frisbee, and collided against the Ancient Power, making her slam against th ground, despite being able to deflect it.

In the meantime, Starmie managed to break free from the ice.

"Thunderbolt!"

Starmie spun on a single leg and its body became surrounded in yellow electricity and released a thunderbolt from its body.

"Solar Beam!"

"Dragon Breath!"

"Hydro Pump!"

Vileplume, Onix and Blastoise repeated previous attacks as well, and the four beams hit Articuno's wings, which it used as a shield, but did little damage.

"What the-?!"

"So this is the power of a Legendary Pokémon…" Erika noted. "Vileplume, use Sludge Bomb!"

"Onix, Stone Edge!"

"Starmie, Psybeam!"

"Flareon, come on out!" Blue let out her Flareon to the battlefield. "Flamethrower!"

"Flareon!" Flareon released a stream of fire from her mouth.

As Vileplume shurled an orb of toxic sludge, Onix fired multiple sharp stones he created, and Starmie fired multiple orbs of psychic power, the attacks traveled through and they all hit Articuno, who appeared to be glowing gray. The attacks did some effect, but it wasn't enough to stop Articuno.

Then, an eye appeared on the forehead of all five Pokémon.

"What the heck? Is that…"

"It's Mind Reader!" Brock had seen the move in action once before.

"ARTI… CUUNOOOO!" Articuno's body erradiated a light blue aura, which blinded the Trainers.

When they managed to open their eyes again, not only were their Pokémon all fainted, frozen in solid ice as an effect of Sheer Cold, but Petrel and Articuno were also missing.

"They ran away…" Brock pointed out, leaving a feeling of loss in the throat's of every Trainer present. Misty even kicked a shard of ice.

Blue looked up towards the ceiling of the cavern with a wishful and desperate expression. "Green… I know you'll be able to do it."

Pokémon of the Day:

Articuno - When Articuno flaps its wings, it can chill the moisture in the air around it, making snow fall. It flies from icy mountain to icy mountain. According to legend, it appears before doomed travelers lost in icy regions. As seen in the anime, Articuno sometimes aids travelers and guides them to safety.