Chapter 5

The Legend of Articuno

Ice Mountain, Seafoam Islands-

            If cold was skating across the ice on Lapras on their way into the Seafoam Islands, Blue didn’t know what this was called.  It pierced through every inch of her clothing, even her double-socked feet through her shoes had no effect.  I could kill for a Fire-type Pokémon, she thought.

            They had tried to stop a couple of hours after they had left Tony’s village, but they couldn’t sleep because of the shaking.  For once she agreed with Red that they had to keep going to keep the blood flowing through them so it wouldn’t freeze.  The sooner they got this little adventure over with, the better. 

            Red led the group of three trainers, well, if Tony could really be called a trainer.  Blue followed second.  She had tried to let out Venusaur and ride it up the mountain, but the huge Grass/Poison-type Pokémon was hindered by the cold more so than its Trainer as its flower petals dropped lifelessly and every step seemed to take minutes.  Venusaur was her strongest Pokémon, but in the cold and cloudy weather, it might as well have been her weakest.

            Every step they climbed, Blue felt herself getting colder and colder.  They were halfway up the mountain by now, and the fresh-powdered snow had turned into a glacier of ice that may have forced the three companions to turn back, if not for Blue’s idea.  She had sent out her little Poliwag, a tiny cute tadpole with a spiral pattern on its belly.  She had instructed Poliwag to use a Water Gun attack at the ice in front of them.  The ice was so cold that even the chilly water that Poliwag sprayed was enough to raise the temperature for it to crack. 

            Red’s Wartortle and Tony’s Golduck followed suit.  With the three Water-type Pokémon softening and cracking the ice in front of them, Red had also sent out his Machoke to break and clear the broken ice away out of their path.  Of course, this was going uphill and they had to move fast (this lead to sore calves, which Blue was convinced would look like a man’s legs when they finally returned from whatever it was they were doing).  The broken ice and trickling water would immediately freeze behind the Trainers if they didn’t keep up in the exact spot.  Going uphill was tough and tiring.  Going back down Ice Mountain was going to be deadly.

            Blue could tell that the cold was beginning to get to Red, too.  He was shivering, but Tony behind her just seemed to keep up his spirits and walk without the slightest care.

            “Fat Tony, ha!” he said as he laughed.  “Look who’s laughing now.  It looks like my Thick Fat ability keeps me warm an insulated.  I’m willing to give some to you guys if you want it.”

            “No thanks,” said Blue with a smile.  Traveling was hard, but she had met many new friends on her journey and she loved all of her new Pokémon dearly.  Even Snorlax, who could be difficult at times (all the time), was really quite jolly once you got to know it.  Yet her biggest fear was if and when her journey came to a close, she would be so hungry that she might just develop her own Thick Fat ability from lack of walking all the time. 

            “War! Tortle!” Red’s funny and furry eared Wartortle was standing on a boulder and beckoning for its Trainer to look at what it had found up ahead.  A little cave in the mountain, devoid of ice and snow. 

            “Good job, buddy!” Red smiled and scratched his blue turtle Pokémon behind the ear.  Let’s get there and finish strong! We can rest up for a while!”

            With the end in sight, Golduck and even little Poliwag picked up their pace.  Blue almost slipped when she saw Machoke toss giant chunks of ice backwards, but laughed when she saw how it tossed them so high the people in Tony’s village must have seen them falling from down the mountain. 

            They were almost to the cave when Blue thought she saw the darkness in the cave move.  She could have sworn she glimpsed a hint of blue eyes, but it must have been the reflection of flying ice playing tricks on her.  When they arrived at the cave’s entrance, it seemed a little warmer, thankfully.

            The three Trainer’s got settled in.  Blue took some granola bars out of her bag and passed them around as she fed some to Poliwag as a reward for helping clear the ice. Tony and Golduck broke theirs into pieces and were tossing them to each other to see who could catch the most with their mouths.  Blue laughed when she saw that Tony was hanging in with Golduck’s quick reflexes and large duck bill. 

            Red had decided to send Pidgeotto out to bring some sticks for firewood when Blue stopped him.  “There’s some right here!” she pointed at a large pile of charred wood that looked like it had been used recently, and another stack of logs that had not been used yet. 

            “Oh, wow it’s our lucky day!” cried Red as he released Pikachu to spark the logs on fire.

            Blue thought back to the shadow she might have seen move in the cave earlier.  Maybe it wasn’t just a mirage, she worried.  “Hang on, Red. Can you have Scyther cut a torch out of one of those logs?”

            Red had a confused look on his face, but eventually let out his green mantis Pokémon with swords for arms.  It expertly sliced a log into three long, smooth sticks.  He even took an extra ten seconds to carve a little handle for Red’s torch. 

            “Hahaha, good job, Scyther,” said Red as his large Bug-type Pokémon clanged its sword-like arms together in pride.  “Even if I never become the Champion, I can become the world’s richest carpenter!”  He turned to face Blue.  “Why do we need these? Isn’t the firewood enough?”

            Blue shook her head as she knelt down so Pikachu could spark her torch’s tip on fire.  “I don’t think we’re alone in this cave.”

            Tony spun away from Golduck and didn’t seem to feel the piece of granola bar plop down on top of his head.  “Does that mean that I can’t have a third granola bar?”

            “You’ve had two already?” Red whined hungrily.

            “Quiet you two!” Blue whispered unquietly.  She walked deeper into the cave away from the entrance.  Her torch cast a little light around her as she walked into the darkness.  Ten steps.  Twenty.  Fifty steps into the back of the cave.  “This is no cave,” she said to the boys.  “This is a tunnel.”

            She heard the steps behind her as Red and Tony’s torches caught up to them.  The light from all three lit up the cave’s walls and Blue was marveled at what she saw. 

            Drawings, thousands upon thousands of cave drawings that must have been countless years old.  The largest was a strange shape that Blue had never seen before.  Then when she focused on the right half of it, she realized it was a map. 

            “Red, this is the Kanto region!” she exclaimed.  The map was crude, but she could make out the shape of the land mass and colors of forest and mountain.  The familiar shape of Mt. Moon was in the north, as well as the smoking Volcano on Cinnabar Island in the south.  Blue could see where they were now: the Seafoam Islands, with an ancient drawing of a blue bird hovering over it.  A strange language she couldn’t read was spotted around various areas. 

            “Whoa” said Red.  “Look, they drew little ninjas around Fuchsia City!” he laughed as Tony walked over to the left side of the map. 

            “I didn’t know Kanto was this big,” he said as he and Golduck examined the map.

            Blue followed him and shone her light closer to Tony’s side.  “That must be Johto,” she said.  Tony looked at her questioningly.  He really must have lived his whole life on an island.  “It’s another region to the west of Kanto.  They’re always having problems over they’re because their country isn’t really as rich as ours.  But someone who made a painting this long ago really shouldn’t have knowledge of somewhere so far away...  I remember in our history books from school the Kanto and Johto civilizations developed separately and finally met at Tohjo Falls only a thousand years ago.  This painting looks much older.”

            “I know who made this,” said Red in wonder.  Blue looked at him with curiosity.

            “Aliens,” he said, dead sure of himself.  Tony and Golduck let out a collective “ooooh,” and turned to examine the map more closely. 

            Blue slapped him across the face.  “I said history books not History Channel.”

            “That really hurt! You should let me know next time!” Red said loudly, forgetting what Blue had told him about the fact that they may not be alone in this cave.  And then her suspicions were concerned. 

            Blue thought she heard swift falling footsteps in the dark.  She immediately released Nidorina.  Red followed suit as he heard them as well and called out Wartortle.  Golduck looked away from the ancient map and stood next to the two Pokémon, ready to defend its trainer against whatever may come up out of the darkness.

            Flickering lights came next until they got closer and brighter and hotter.  Wartortle and Golduck each shot their own Water Gun attacks into the direction of the approaching lights as Nidorina bounded into the darkness.

            “Nidorina, be careful!” said Blue as she ran after her.  She heard Red running after her with Wartortle, and Tony’s slow bounding farther back.

            When she finally rounded a corner and came to see what had cast the lights, she saw the most magnificent Pokémon she had ever seen.  A six-foot tall red canine Pokémon with black stripes was growling at her little Nidorina, who stared it right in the eye. 

            “Whoa! That’s an Arcanine!” said Red as soon as he stopped beside Blue. 

            “You’re right, young man!”  Blue didn’t even see the man jump off of Arcanine’s back.  He was bald with a funny white mustache and he wore a white lab coat.  “Arcanine’s ears picked up a sound and took me back towards the entrance to the cave before I could say otherwise.  And look what he found! Three young Pokémon Trainers, and I daresay darn good ones, too, if you were able to make it up this treacherous Mountain.”

            “Who are you?” asked Blue suspiciously.  Was this man the shadow she had seen before they entered the cave?

            “Do you want my last granola bar?” mumbled Tony, not forgetting his manners.

            The bald man was opening his mouth to speak when Red interrupted.  “I know him!” Blue felt her face about to blush in embarrassment.  He’s obviously not an alien.  “He’s Blaine, the Cinnabar Island Gym Leader!” Blue did a double-take.

            “Very good, young man! How did you know?” asked that old man as he brushed his majestic Pokemon’s beautiful fur.

            “I saw you on TV the day I started on my journey from Pallet Town!  It was the day your lab exploded.  Sorry about that…”  Wartortle smiled in the torchlight, understanding that this man would be Red’s next opponent in a Gym Battle.  Arcanine caught the turtle Pokemon’s eye seemed to laugh as Wartortle punched its hands and beat its shell.  Intimidating a Pokémon at least ten times your own size didn’t usually work. 

            Blue noticed Blaine’s hand stop and shake as snapped his head around.  “Yes… That was most unfortunate.  Natural Gas explosions around a volcano can be unpredictable.”

            “So what is a Gym Leader doing on an Island experiencing a suspicious weather pattern?” asked Blue. 

            Blaine laughed and snapped his fingers.  Arcanine shot an intense fireball back through the cave behind the three young Trainers.  Blue watched in awe as the fireball lit up the cave and disappeared behind them.  “If you suspect I had something to do with this freak weather change, think again.  I wish I had the power to change the weather.  That would be pretty neat wouldn’t it? Alas, I would make the weather warmer.  I am a Fire-type trainer after all.” 

            Blue backed off a little bit.  “So… why are you here?”

            “To test my hypothesis,” said Blaine as he led Arcanine back towards the entrance of the tunnel from where Blue and the others had come from.  “You see, I’m not only a Gym Leader.  I’m Kanto’s second leading Pokémon researcher.  Professor Oak is first, of course, and a good friend of mine.  I can tell he found some excellent talent in you two judging by the fact he gave you Pokedexes.” 

            “Even he could tell how good I was,” said Red proudly.  Blue punched his shoulder. 

            “A granola bar, young man,” Blaine reached out and Tony grudgingly handed the scientist his last granola bar.  “Thank you, and that’s a mighty fine Golduck you have there.”  Golduck gave Blaine its signature thumbs up.

            “How did you know Professor Oak sent us off on our journey?” asked Blue.

            Blaine smiled as he chewed and said with his mouth full, “I saw you on TV, during the press conference after Team Rocket was defeated in Saffron City.  Good work you guys did there.” He swallowed.  “Somebody had to get rid of those monsters.”

            They had finally arrived back at the big map.  “Ah,” said Blaine.  “This is the reason why I came here.  Do you see the blue bird drawn over the Seafoam Islands?  That is Articuno, a legendary Ice/Flying-type Pokémon.  It and its brothers supposedly migrated here to Kanto thousands of years ago.  Look!”  He pointed up in the northeast of Kanto at another drawing of a spiky, yellow bird, and down by Cinnabar Island of a bird on fire.  Blue, Red, and even Tony with his short attention span were interested in this legend. 

            “Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres were or are legendary birds with extraordinary powers.  Articuno is said to bring the winter with its wings; Zapdos, storms; and Moltres, the summer.  I took up residence on Cinnabar Island, not only with my skills as a Pokémon Trainer, but to search for Moltres, the legendary bird of Fire.  You see, since I was a little boy I have always been interested in Pokémon mythology.”

            “So,” said Red, “Did you find Moltres?”

            Blaine shook his head.  “No, and I’m afraid my search has come up empty here as well…  It seems that the storm and blizzard that hit this island was the result of a once in a lifetime collision between two normally separate air masses.”  Somehow, something in Blaine’s voice made Blue suspicious about how actually empty his findings were here in the cave of Ice on the Seafoam Islands. 

            Tony spoke up.  “How did you get up here without battling the elders?”

            Blaine looked at him unsure at first, but then he laughed.  I sailed by boat right up to Ice.  I didn’t even know I had to battle anyways.”

            Blue had a ray of hope, maybe she wouldn’t have to go all the way back to the village to get off this frozen tropical island. “Where is your boat?”

            Blaine led them back to the cave’s entrance and pointed down at a little speck that could be seen right down the mountain in a little, icy cove. 

            “How do we get down there?” asked Red.  Blue noticed the way down was incredibly steep and rocky, too dangerous to climb. 

            Blaine jumped on Arcanine.  “Why yes, I would be happy to lead you guys to my boat.” He held up two more Poke-balls.  “You ride these!”

Out of his three Poke-balls came the beautiful Rapidash, a Fire-type horse Pokémon with a horn on its head and a mane of flame.  Tony and Golduck timidly climbed on its back.  Second was Ninetales, a nine tailed-golden fox just large enough for Red to sit as he recalled Wartortle.  Blaine offered his hand to Blue and helped her up on Arcanine.  Its body was warm and its fur soft. 

            “To the boat, everybody! Let’s go home!” commanded Blaine.  Blue felt herself lurch as Arcanine bounded down the slope.  The ice had no effect on it as Arcanine would swiftly melt the slippery slope with little fireballs before its paw struck the earth.  The ride lasted less than five minutes, and soon, the slope of the mountain gave way to a large, flat beach where a young man with a portable computer sat waiting. 

            “You might win this, time!” Blaine coached Arcanine, who let out a bark of excitement as the boat neared in the distance.  Blue heard a whinny of a horse behind her and turned to find Rapidash burning like a comet as it was gaining ground.

            Blue noticed that the big, strong, Arcanine had the advantage going down the mountain, but on flat land there was nothing as fast as Rapidash, the flaming unicorn Pokémon.  Arcanine barked twice and its speed picked and knocked Blue back as she had to hold on tighter. She couldn’t ever remember having this much fun.  It seemed warmer now, and the sun was even out.  Finally, Blue thought.

            Tony and Rapidash were almost side by side with them now.  She her head around and saw gold tails streaming behind Ninetales farther back.  Red was missing out on the race.  More like losing, she smiled. 

            Eventually Arcanine skidded to a halt right in front of the boat, and less than a second later, Rapidash followed suit.  Tony was thrown into the sand by the sudden stop and Golduck quacked a laugh.  Blaine got off and helped Blue off as he went around and congratulated Arcanine.  “It’s the first time he’s beaten Rapidash.  The unicorn moved its forelegs up and down in anger. 

            Blue giggled.  “I think it wants a rematch.”

            It wasn’t long until Red arrived on Ninetales and they climbed onto the boat.  The young man (who Blue deduced, must be Blaine’s assistant) came last and started the engine on the boat.  It was a big boat, and Blaine explained its features: a private bedroom/study and six small bunk beds below deck.  Red went down to take a short nap.

            Suddenly, Blue turned to Tony.  “Aren’t you going to go back to your village?” 

            “Granola bars are too expensive there,” he said.  Blue laughed and followed Red below deck.  She found him putting his bag down on one of the bottom bunks and strangely staring at the door to the master suite.

            “Red, what’s up?” she asked, curious.

            “Look what’s laying there outside the door,” he whispered and pointed. 

            Folded on the floor was a big, dirty grey cloak which sat next to a pair of old black leather boots and gloves.  It was the black bandana that confirmed her suspicion.  

            She and Red quietly snuck back on deck.  Tony and Golduck were admiring the engine and propeller at the back of the boat.  The icy sea may have been breaking up already, and the black ring of storm clouds was nowhere to be seen on the horizon.  Blue stared at Blaine and Arcanine, gazing across the water as the boat sped off towards the west.

            “Red,” Blue whispered.  “I think the Phantom is Blaine.”

            “When I get to Cinnabar Island, I’ll call Lance,” said Red.  Blue nodded in agreement.  “After I win his badge, of course.”  Blue punched his shoulder but smiled and eventually agreed.

Celadon City-

            They had all gathered at Erika’s Gym in her private apartment.  Lance, Lorelei, Agatha, Bruno, and even Sabrina sat on Erika’s couch as Erika turned on her big video screen.  Erika said she had found some video that Lance would be interested in. 

            “Maybe it’s surveillance tape of the airport, and which direction the plane went,” he told Lorelei and Bruno.  Agatha and Sabrina waited patiently for Erika to find and load the footage.

            “No, Lance,” said Agatha smiling.  “I can tell that this is something that will intrigue you much more than the Rocket Boss’s escape.”

            “I hope it’s not a bunch of Meowth on YouTube,” said Bruno.  Lance appreciated the effort, but he had no time for fun and games anymore.  As long as the Rocket Boss was at large, it was his responsibility to find him and end the threat of Team Rocket once and for all.  Just like I was responsible for letting him escape, he thought.  Lance was still kicking himself.  If he could have rescued those people from the burning builder faster, then surely the Rocket Boss would be in his custody now. 

            “Here we go,” Erika broke the silence.  The video screen had turned on, and instead of Celadon City’s airport, it was a short clip off of somebody’s camera phone of the Celadon skyline.  “This was the day that we found Team Rocket’s hideout here in Celadon City.”

            The room was quiet as the Elite Four and two Gym Leaders studied how fast the clouds rolled in.  Lance hadn’t forgotten about how the lightning fell like rain that day outside the Pokémon Center. The lightning flashed and the citizens could be heard crying out at something they saw.  Erika slowed down the video to play frame by frame.

            Lance’s mouth opened in amazement as he saw three distinct frames showing what appeared to be a large, yellow bird with spiky feathers and a long beak.  On a later frame, the bird was just a blur of yellow, but Lance noticed a human-shaped figure dropping from where the big bird Pokémon was previously. 

            “Technology these days,” remarked Agatha.  “In the palm of our hands.  Look, Lance, you can even make out the eyes.”  Piercing, blue eyes.

            “Before I called you all here,” continued Erika, “I called Surge in Vermillion City.  As a Gym Leader of the Electric-type, he said the storms and bird were interesting. He said recently his Electric-type Pokémon have been staring towards the south across the bay, and that was more interesting to him.”

            “Speaking of which,” Sabrina spoke up. 

Lance looked at her suspiciously. She helped us find where the Rocket Boss went after Saffron, but is she really on our side? Agatha seems to think so…

“The day of the press conference after Team Rocket was defeated,” Sabrina went on, “Lance chased after that hooded thing.  I’ve heard reports in Saffron saying that a man with a similar description flew towards the south on a big yellow Bird Pokémon.”

“And let’s not forget almost the exact same lightning storm happened during the fight against Team Rocket,” Lorelei added. 

“I was watching the news this morning,” they all turned to look at Bruno. 

Lance knew that his best friend Bruno was a formidable battler, but he always preferred muscle over mind.  Please stay on topic, bud, he thought to himself.  He had no time for things that didn’t matter.  The Rocket Boss was still loose and so was the Phantom, apparently.

Bruno spoke on “The weatherman said that the big lightning storm and unseasonably cold weather around the Seafoam islands was starting turn back to normal.”

“Excellent pick up, Bruno,” said Agatha.  “It seems whenever strange weather strikes, the Phantom is not far behind.  Let’s not forget the fact that the Phantom may have been chasing Team Rocket as well.  The Rocket Boss may not leave a trace behind, but heavy duty storms and weather changes is something that can’t be covered up so easily.”

Lance immediately stood up and hurriedly went towards the door. 

“Lance, what are you-” Lorelei was interrupted by Lance’s urgent response.

“I let the Rocket Boss get away, Lorelei.” Lance clenched his fist.  “I can’t let this Phantom get away too.  I’m going to the Seafoam Islands to find him and when I do, I might just find the Rocket Boss as well.”