A/N: This chapter was written many years ago, and it has many issues. Once I finish writing this fic, I will go back and edit it during one of my Rewrite Months (Februaries).

"Thunder, is something wrong?"

I roused from my deep thoughts and peered down the Roosting Tree to the speaker's nest. Sky the flock deputy looked up at me. "You seem to be tossing and turning a lot in your nest," she chirped.

Sky was a small female Pidgeotto whose plumes seemed to turn silver in the moonlight. Her plumes were silvery now, as the full moon gazed down onto the silent Viridian Forest. Sky was second in command in our flock – one rank lower than me, who was Flock Leader. I had met her on the first day of my leadership, and we had been great friends ever since.

I sighed, stepped out of my nest, and stretched my aching wings out. "Yes," I admitted as I scanned the Roosting Tree. "Can we please talk in private?"

Sky knew that, whenever I asked to talk to her in private, that it was about something serious. She yawned, stretched, flew onto my branch, and perched delicately next to me.

"So?" she asked, looking up at me. "What's wrong?"

I took a deep breath and muttered two words: "Ash Ketchum."

Sky drew back in surprise. "Didn't he leave you here a year ago?"

"That's the point!" I hissed. I gazed up at the moon. "Ash Ketchum PROMISED to come back for me as soon as he retrieved Professor Ivy's Pokeball for Professor Oak! It's been a year since he made that promise – far too long for a task like that."

Sky nodded slowly. "I see," she murmured. "But what about the Orange Islands? If I remember correctly, Ash was interested in traveling to the Orange Islands. Perhaps he's still having lots of adventures there."

"Perhaps," I answered. "But the Orange Archipelago is a pretty small region of the Pokemon World. It doesn't take a whole long year to explore them."

"So… what do you want to do about Ash?"

"I am going to find him and ask him why he broke his promise."

"What? But… but… what about me? What about the flock? We need your protection!"

I shook my head. "Remember how we saved the Spearows' leader from a ferocious Onix? The Spearow are our friends now." Memories of the rescue flooded back to me – a once-fierce Fearow, desperately struggling to get out of the grip of a giant Onix. I had come across our old enemy while hunting and decided that, even though this Fearow was an enemy, that no Pokemon deserved to get squeezed to the near-death. Therefore, I had called my flock to attack the Onix. It had been a brutal fight, but the Onix had run away, and the Spearow had been our friends ever since.

Sky dipped her head. "Oh, yes, I somehow managed to forget." She held her head high. "So I'll be Flock Leader while you are gone?"

"Yes" I chirped. Perhaps you'll be Flock Leader forever, I thought, knowing that that fate would befall Sky if Ash decided to keep me. I shook away the thought. I wasn't going to tell Sky now. "I think I will start my search tomorrow," I chirped confidently. Then I looked down at my feet. "But where am I supposed to start? I have no idea where Ash may be!"

Sky closed her eyes, thinking. For a while I thought she wasn't going to answer, but she finally said, "I think you should go see Lightning."

"Lightning? Do you mean the famous one, Falkner's Pidgeot?" I asked incredulously. Sky couldn't possibly be advising me to visit a celebrity among the bird Pokemon!

"Yes, I am serious, and I am referring to Falkner's Pidgeot."

"But-but-but how? I can't talk to a Pokemon that famous? And how am I supposed to find Lightning?"

Sky put her wing on my shoulder. "Just wait around the Violet City gym," she whispered. "Falkner and Lightning will turn up sooner or later."

I nodded slowly and sighed. "Thanks for the advice, Sky," I chirped. "I'll announce my decision to the flock tomorrow morning. But right now, I'm going back to sleep."

Sky yawned loudly and turned to leave. But before she could take a step, we both heard something. We cocked our heads – could it really be? Was the sound we heard really what we thought it was? Yes – from the stillness of the night resonated a long, drawn-out call –

Ooooooooooooo Ohhhhhhhhhh Aaaaaaaa….

I gasped and looked up at the moon, and there it was – the source of the cry. Sky saw it too. There, flying over the moon, was the great legendary bird Articuno, with feathers that sparkled and shimmered, feathers so blue they looked as if they were covered with ice. We watched, breathless, as Articuno, with its strong, powerful wings and long, flowing tail, disappeared into the distance and vanished from sight.

"Articuno," I whispered. "This must mean good luck." I dipped my head to Sky and settled in my nest. Within moments, I was fast asleep.

To be continued…