Chapter Thirty-Four – Flames of Hope

'Mol . . . tres . . .' I took a step towards where the legendary fire pokémon lay still on the frozen surface.

'Wake up!' Leon shouted. 'You think I came all this way to find you passed out!? Get on your feet, you so-called legend!'

'Leon!' said Taylor. 'How could you speak to the legendary fire bird like that, especially when she's in this state? She needs our help!'

'How can a legend need any help!? She's the one who's meant to be so great! She's the one who's meant to have so much power! If this is what we call a legend, this world is even more screwed up than I thought!'

'Magma . . .'

I blinked. That voice . . . no, not a voice at all. What I had heard just that had been the sound of sizzling flames. Flames that had almost died out, but as they crackled weakly, I could hear their message. They were speaking to me, to all of us.

'Magma . . .'

'Is that . . . Moltres talking?' Cam asked slowly.

My eyes were fixed on the fire bird. Although her body was still, there were still small movements on her feathers. On the plumage of her head, wings and tail, the last remnants of moribund flames burned. And it was through the flickering of these flames that I could hear what she was saying to us.

'Magma . . .'

'Team Magma?' Taylor asked slowly.

'No,' I said. The ninetales turned and looked at me, as if unimpressed that I had so quickly dismissed his theory of what the legendary pokémon had meant. 'The magma of the volcano.'

I gestured down below us. Below the ice floor, there remained that distinct orange glow. It was hard to see through the distortions caused by the thick frozen surface, but the more I squinted and stared at it, the more I thought I could see something bubbling, smouldering.

People had said that Mount Cinder was a dormant volcano. But they were wrong. This volcano was active, and that was exactly why Moltres had come here.

'That's what I read when we were researching legendary pokémon,' I said. 'It's believed that when Moltres is injured, she flies to a volcano to heal herself in the magma.'

'Hmph,' said Leon. 'What would human research know about Moltres?'

'Well it got us here, didn't it!' I said, frustrated at his continued selfishness in front of the injured Moltres. 'And it may be the only way we can help her! We've got to melt through this ice and get her into the magma!'

'All right,' said Taylor slowly. I blinked; even in the desperation of the situation, I was shocked that he was agreeing with me. But then, I knew that it was exactly because of the desperate situation that he was agreeing with me. He knew that Moltres was in trouble, and unlike Leon, Taylor valued the great fire bird enough to forget his petty arguments for the sake of helping her. 'Let's all concentrate our fire attacks on the area around Moltres.'

'That's ridiculous!' said Leon. 'If that stupid bird is a so-called legend, it doesn't need magma to heal itself! And if it really needs the help of a bunch of weaklings to fight against Articuno, it doesn't deserve to call itself a legend!' He turned and pointed a claw at Connor. 'You! Is this really the legend that blesses the kings of fire-types? Is this deflated pile of feathers really what we're supposed to look up to as some kind of god!?'

'I told you . . .' said Connor, his body remaining still by Ralts's psychic hold. 'My pack doesn't know anything about Moltres. We don't even have a true "king" . . . the pack chooses its leaders, not passes the title down through blood.'

'That's a lie! Nobody in their right mind would choose a pathetic wimp like you as their leader!'

'I never thought I was a good choice for their prince either . . . but I love my pack, and I have a responsibility to do my best to live up to their expectations.'

'We don't have time for your arguments, Leon!' said Taylor, before the charmeleon could retaliate. 'Moltres needs our help! Ralts! Let Connor go! It's Leon you should be restraining!'

'I . . .' Ralts bit her paw uncertainly, glancing from Connor to Leon.

'Don't even think about it!' said Leon, and Ralts drew back.

'Ralts!' I said. 'Why are you listening to him? I know you're not a fire-type, but surely you can see that Moltres is in trouble! Are you just gonna let her die!?'

'Taylor and Kit are right, Ralts,' said Elsie. 'You don't need to listen to him. It's one thing to work together, but no pokémon should let themselves become a mind slave to either a human or another pokémon. You have a right to make your own decisions, and you don't have to do what he tells you.'

'You do so have to listen to me, unless you wanna feel a Slash or a Flamethrower!'

Ralts cringed.

'Those threats should mean nothing to you!' I said. 'Ralts, we've seen your psychic powers! If you can put all of us to sleep with one Hypnosis, I know you can easily restrain Leon! Don't let him control you!'

Ralts's eyes suddenly grew wide from under her large green cap. A slight glow emanated from her body.

'N—no . . . you . . . can't . . . do . . . th . . .'

There was a thump as Leon fell to the floor, fast asleep. Ralts hung her head.

'I'm sorry Leon,' she said.

Connor stepped towards the small psychic pokémon and nudged her with his snout.

'I know it's hard, but you did the right thing,' he said. 'Thank you for releasing me, Ralts. Acting on your own for the good of all is truly honourable.'

'I . . . will that bird be OK?' Ralts asked timidly.

'I hope so,' said Taylor. 'Come on, we've stalled long enough. Let's melt this ice.'

I couldn't help glaring at him. Even though we'd been putting our arguments aside to focus on Moltres, he still thought he was the leader. I'd been the one who'd realised that Moltres needed to get into the magma to heal herself, and I'd been the one who'd suggested we melt the ice, yet there he was acting like he was in charge of the operation.

Then I saw the fallen body of Moltres, her chest slowly moving as she drew in desperate breaths, the flames on her feathers steadily waning. I ignored Taylor's attitude, and he and I walked towards the legendary pokémon. Elsie and Connor approached from their own sides, and the four of us stood around Moltres in a square. Without another word, we all began using our attacks on the ice: Taylor's Flamethrower beam, my Ember fireballs, Elsie's Hidden Power energy. Connor, who I had never seen battle before, breathed small blue flames that I recognised from my battle research as Will-O-Wisp.

The thickness of the ice meant that would take a lot of heat before it melted. I fired my Ember attack continuously, but my flames only began getting smaller and smaller. The longer I stood there shivering in this ice cavern, the harder it became to gather the heat inside of me. I felt my energy slipping away as the frost continued to grow colder. Before long I would surely be too weak to even stand, let alone to continue kindling my fire attacks.

I glanced around at the others. Taylor was standing firm, breathing his Flamethrower attack in one constant stream of fire. Elsie was still, her eyes closed as she concentrated her glowing hidden energy to heat the air and melt the ice around her. And even Connor, the gentle prince who hated to battle, was consistently puffing out his small flames to fight for Moltres.

I wasn't going to give up. I had relied too many times on others to get me out of my messes because I was too weak to do anything on my own. I hadn't even been able to learn to breathe fire without the help of Katashi, some trainer who'd only wanted to use me for battle.

But that wasn't all I'd discovered while I'd been the captive of that boy. I'd learnt that I was more than I'd always thought I was. I'd realised that I was a pokémon. And as a pokémon, I knew I had unbelievable powers, if I only figured out how to master them. It wasn't just legendary pokémon who had amazing abilities. Even the smallest, the most common of pokémon could utilise incredible skills. And now, a legendary pokémon was relying on the help of those small, common pokémon as her only chance of survival. And I was not going to let her down.

I'll save you, Moltres. And I'll save you, Ho-Oh. I don't know if any of this is my fault, or if it was all out of my control. But I'll do everything I can to put it in my control now, and set things right.

With my renewed passion sparking my internal flame to life, I took a deep breath, pushed my head down towards the icy floor, and launched my fire attack with all my might.

The flames that appeared were not the small balls of fire I'd mastered while training with Katashi. They were a longer, fiercer attack, projected forward in a flowing beam of scorching heat.

But I didn't have time to gloat about teaching myself Flamethrower. Because my personal goals were not important anymore. I had to concentrate on using my abilities for the good of all. Just like my friends had, and just like Ralts had. I had long been frustrated at Leon's selfishness, but now I saw that what I really had to do was look past my own selfishness to help Moltres.

Within a few more minutes, the glacial sheet below Moltres began weakening, sinking down. Just a little bit more . . . I narrowed my eyes, focussing my heat on the flames that were pouring from my jaws. Then I felt the pressure at the end of the Flamethrower begin to ease up, as if slipping away.

'Thank . . . you . . .' I heard distant flames whispering.

I looked ahead to see that our attacks had successfully melted the four corners of the square around Moltres, and the sides were steadily melting away as well. Then, as the last section of the ice sunk, the sheet upon which the bird lay fell.

I stared down into the gaping hole we had created, and saw the ice plunge into the magma below, sizzling and evaporating instantly. Then, the great fire bird herself hit the bubbling mass. I watched the magma seep over her feathers, pulling her down into its heat, till she was gone.

I fell down on the ice, puffing. As fuelled up as I had been while using my new Flamethrower attack, it had still taken a lot of energy out of me. I shut my eyes and breathed in the heat that was rising up from the magma below. The warmth felt refreshing. If this was what the air heated by the magma did for my own body, imagine how soothing the magma sauna itself must be for the legendary fire bird. I smiled, feeling my body relax.

'Now what happens?' I heard Cam's voice as he came over and peered over the edge of the hole. 'Is that magma really going to heal her like Eustacia does?'

'Definitely,' said Taylor. 'Even its heat is giving our bodies strength. I'm sure being in that magma will heal Moltres completely.'

I swallowed, eyeing him. That was almost exactly what I'd just been thinking. As infuriating as it had been arguing with him all the time, it felt so uncomfortable for him to be thinking like me. . . . Or was I the one who was thinking like him?

I didn't have time to consider it too much longer, because a distinct rumbling sound suddenly arose, and the cavern around us began to shake.

Was the volcano . . . erupting? I felt my heart racing. It was one thing for the magma to have healing properties for the legendary fire bird, but a volcanic eruption was something completely different. Surely none of us could survive that, even us fire-types.

The ice coating the volcano's walls began to melt, the stalagmites on the floor sizzled into pools of water, and before I knew what was happening, a crack ran through the ice below us, and split it in two.

We all cried out as we fell towards the bubbling heat below. This couldn't be it . . . could it? This couldn't be how it ended. We had tried so hard, come so far, done so much, only to be finally defeated by fire, the one ally we'd been able to rely on all this time?

There was a triumphant screech, and my body jolted. I felt something wrap around my body, and suddenly I wasn't falling anymore. I was flying back up to the surface. I looked around quickly, and saw that I was being carried in huge grey talons. Beside me, holding onto the same claws, were Cam, Ralts, and Elsie. And opposite us, an identical set of talons, holding Connor, Taylor, and a charmeleon who didn't look very pleased to have just been snapped awake.

Then I looked above us, and I saw that the talons were attached to the legs of one large, orange and yellow bird. Flames burning wildly on her head, wings and tail, she looked down at us and smiled with her crimson beak.

'Hold on, my friends,' Moltres spoke through her sizzling fire. 'Our flames of hope are not extinguished yet.'