(A few minutes later...)

Luke returned from the nearby forest to the cliffs, bringing with him his handkerchief wrapping a handful of berries for Theo, who was still waiting for him in the nest.

"Here you go," Luke said, placing the bag in front of the birdie.

"Thank you," Theo responded and proceeded to eat the berries.

Luke also ate some berries, but seeing that Theo was eating eagerly, he remembered that he had spent a whole day alone, so he decided to eat a little, to let him regain his energy... even if it means he goes without eating a little.

"Where were your parents going?" Luke asked him, "We could catch up with them."

"I don't know…" Theo responded timidly, still showing that he was hiding something.

"Theo, you're not telling me everything."

The birdie showed his scared face, but he took a deep breath before answering:

"I got separated on purpose…"

"That? But why?" Luke asked, surprised.

"I don't want to be the future guide of our flock, I wanted to travel around the world, help others... like the old rescue teams, like you did with me"

"But your parents must want you to do that for them, right?"

"I don't want to always be going from one place to another, I want to live adventures, have you ever felt that you want to do other things, but your parents want you to do other things?"

Luke empathized with the birdie: his parents had also forced him to study to become an engineer or doctor. However, the day a Pokémon had gone to attack his school, his brother had seen him transform and, after that, had told him that he should not be what others wanted, he should be himself. On the other hand, he also felt at that moment responsibility for the birdie, although she was not his father, his older brother had always taught him to help others above schoolwork. However, he was running out of time to search for the keystone.

"Sir, do you really think I should return to my parents?" Theo asked.

"Well…" Luke said, a little worried. But at that moment he couldn't: the cold wind formed a somewhat dense fog and, unless the sun shone, it would be like flying blind... how could a flock navigate in such a messy weather? "I will try to do what I can... Brrr, is it getting colder or is it my imagination?"

It wasn't Luke's imagination: the wind was beginning to change, becoming colder and... sinister. Besides that, Luke was able to sense something else: they were not alone. Before he could imagine what enemy, he was, an Ice Beam fell very close to the cliff, shaking the entire nest and freezing the other ledges.

"Oh!" Theo shouted, covering himself with his little wings.

Luke looked in the direction from which the attack had been launched: a vague shadow was moving through the storm.

"A child and birdie…" said a voice that had to tremble just by hearing it, "…it seems unbelievable that you are so dangerous."

The figure descended: the stranger had pale arms frozen at the forearm, her abdomen was wrapped in a blue-gray ribbon with a bow at the back, and she possessed a pair of ice crystals on her head. For a moment, her appearance reminded him of a woman in a white kimono, but with her mere presence he sensed a cold, dark air...almost as if it came from her own soul. There was no doubt that she was a Hybrid.

"A Froslass Hybrid…" Luke said to himself, "Damn it, Ice is my weakness, but…"

He turned to look at Theo: being barely a birdie, it was logical that he would be scared.

"...I must keep him safe," he added.

"Ice Shard!"

The new enemy attacked, launching a shower of ice crystals. Luke quickly grabbed Theo, carried him on his back and dodged the crystals heading to the top with the intention of returning to the woods. However, both were hit by an invisible blow, falling to the ground before advancing even a meter.

"That was Shadow Punch …" Luke guessed, "Damn… I'm so weak… I barely ate much…"

"Are you okay, sir?" Theo asked him.

"Yes, I'm fine... listen, get somewhere safe. I'm going to fight this enemy."

"But..."

"If we tried to escape, she would kill both of us. I'll distract her while you escape. I'll keep you safe, I promise."

"Okay…" Theo responded, walking away a little.

"You're done?" Froslass asked him, "This is getting too easy."

"As long as you don't mess with the little guy, you'll have my full attention... now get ready to fight... Tornado!"

Luke shook his wings causing a strong typhoon, but the Hybrid didn't seem fazed in the slightest. The chosen boy hit the spot...he was an ice type after all: his heart was colder than that. Other than that, he didn't have much energy.

"That was it?" sneered the Hybrid, "This is real freezing air…Blizzard!"

The enemy launched a powerful blizzard, which Luke had to dodge as best he could. However, she managed to freeze the tips of his wings.

"That was close… too close" he thought when he had a moment of respite.

"Do you really believe it?" the enemy asked behind his back to Luke's surprise.

Just by hearing it, Luke felt his feathers freeze and an atrocious cold ran through his nerves. However, he did not use a freezing attack.

"Dark Pulse!"

Luke was pushed by that dark energy and thrown against a ledge. However, he managed to stop despite the pain and little energy.

"Well... I never thought it would be so easy," the Froslass sneered again, "It's time I put an end to…"

"No!" Theo's voice shouted.

Suddenly, little Theo came from above, and got close enough to the Froslass to scratch its face with his claws. The Hybrid screamed and hit him with one of her bow-like ears. And throwing it to the bottom of the cliff.

"Theo!" Luke shouted, diving.

Even though he was injured, he managed to focus his wings to gain more speed in the dive and catch Theo, but from behind the Froslass attacked the chosen one with a Blizzard, causing both of them to crash into a rock that stuck out of the water.

Theo had been undefeated, because Luke had put his entire body to cover him. The latter was leaning against the rock, with half his body in the water and at the limit of his resistance.

"Mr. Luke..." Theo told him.

"I promised to take care of you... didn't I?" Luke told him, "And keeping that promise…"

Saying this, the chosen boy sank into the water because he was too tired.

"Well, that was enough…" the Hybrid said to herself.

Luke felt like he was drowning, but in his mind, he remembered what his older brother had told him: he shouldn't do what others wanted him to do, he should choose his own path, choose what he wanted to do. At that time, he wanted to help others, especially Theo.

Suddenly, something flashed in the water: Luke's emblem was shining, and from the outside it could be seen as a light at the bottom. In the same way, from the nest where Theo was, something also began to shine and the keystone emerged from it, which was submerged looking for the emblem.

The next minute, an unparalleled brilliance was seen at the bottom and a powerful whirlwind of wind and water emerged from the ocean.

"Unfezant Mega Evolves into... Mega Unfezant!"

The whirlwind broke and out of it emerged Luke with the new Mega form of him. The boy now felt refreshed, as if he had eaten and rested... he felt fabulous. In addition to the grandiose evolution of his protector, Theo noticed that storm clouds and fog were spreading through the glow of the emblem Luke carried.

For its part, the Hybrid wasn't so worried: he still had the advantage because he was an ice type.

"I had been warned about that…" she told him, boasting even more superiorly, "But that's why they gave me ice-type DNA, to specifically take down a flying type… Ice Beam!"

Luke covered himself with his wings and the attack hit him squarely, but it had no effect despite being an ice type. The Hybrid couldn't believe it, it must have caused a fatal blow.

"Damn… Ice Shard!"

Likewise, the ice crystals impacted, but shattered upon contact... it would not be effective either. However, he was still faster, using that he quickly positioned himself behind Luke, although... he was no longer in that position.

"Where…?" he asked himself.

"Were you looking for someone?" Luke asked him. He was incredibly fast: he had arrived on top of her without her realizing, "Celestial Slash!"

He flapped his wings again causing a strong blizzard, but this time it was combined with a successive attack of aerial slashes.

"Light screen!" the enemy defended itself. However, this shield was shattered and the attack hit its target.

The Hybrid was thrown against the rocks without believing that she had been overtaken.

"I refuse to lose... Shadow Fist!" she attacked, lunging at her enemy.

"Mega Wing!" Luke countered.

Luke crossed the sky with a powerful wing attack, the Froslass was sure that it would be impossible for her to hit her since she was a ghost type too... until she felt a lethal slash on her body: it seemed impossible, but the chosen boy had hit her... However, it did not stop: this blow was followed by three more and each one was a fatal blow.

"Damn… you…" she muttered and fell sinking into the sea. The next second, there was an explosion within the water, signaling that she had been defeated.

Luke breathed easy. Just as he descended, Theo flew directly towards him, hugging him.

"Thank you very much sir!" he told him happily.

"You're welcome... are you okay?" Luke asked.

"Yes, I'm fine..."

"Theo!" shouted a couple of voices in the distance.

Now, with the storm and fog dissipated, the sun was beginning to shine and the wind was calmer... like the first day of spring. In the distance, getting closer and closer, two adults Unfezant approached and it was not very difficult to guess who they were.

"Mom!" Theo shouted, flying towards them, "Dad!"

Luke was happy to see how the birdie was reunited with his family.

(Later...)

The sun was setting as Luke said goodbye to Theo and his parents. After listening to his son, the father told him.

"I'm sorry, Theo. Sorry that I have committed you to something you don't want, you can be a rescuer, but when you grow up a little more: you are still very young."

"Ok dad. Thank you so much"

Then both parents looked at their little one's protector.

"We thank you for taking care of our little one," his mother told him, "You are a hero."

"If you want, you can come with our flock," the father told him, "There is a peaceful island where we can be until things are resolved."

"I like the offer, but I have to help fix things instead of staying safe," Luke replied, "And I have my friends I have to help."

"Will we meet again, Mr. Luke?" Theo asked.

"This time I can't promise you... just have faith that it will happen" Luke told him.

"Well... but if we do it, this time I promise you that I will have evolved by then."

Luke laughed at the birdie's impetus and, turning around and taking flight, he returned towards the West, in the direction of one of the old places he visited a year ago: Paradise.