Fan Fiction: The Legendary Articuno

Submitted by Chansey7

CHAPTER ONE

Ash and his friends continue on their journey, not knowing exactly what their next destination would be. Tired, yet excited from their last “fiery” encounter with the legendary fire-bird named Moltres, they talked endlessly about what had happened.

“You really saved those people! Without your help, that angry Moltres would have made them all toast in five minutes!” Brock said.

The conversation had gone on for days, for they were miles away from Torch, but even so, there were still more compliments to be said for Ash’s heroic action. Nobody else would have climbed a volcano, risking their life to make it erupt, trapping an extremely dangerous Pokemon inside. But then again, this was Ash they were talking about. Ash, the trainer often underestimated. Ash, the soon to be Pokemon Master.

“Hey, don’t forget about me! I’m the one who saved his butt from being roasted,” Misty reminded them. Misty had ridden on Rapidash, perhaps the only means of saving his life. Now, she held a Polaroid picture in her hand, tilting in the sunlight to make out the detail. It was a picture of Ash, her, Brock and Pikachu, right after saving the tiny town of Torch. Good thing the photographer had snapped a few of them, even Brock wanted a small souvenir so he could remember what had happened.

Now the group headed toward a place much colder then the town of Torch. A hefty 70 degrees colder. They were about to set foot in the town of Glacier, also conveniently named for its location. Just as Torch had been named because it was located between a volcano and a mountain, Glacier had been named because it was located on an island of ice, glaciers looming high around the city, like a barrier, something to protect it from harm. Around the island was the ocean, deadly cold and filled with icebergs. There was a very long bridge, extending high over the ice, which had sealed around its huge supports. The bridge led to the mainland, where there were even bigger cities, and much warmer temperatures.

Ash and his friends were nearing the end of the long bridge, bundled in warm winter coats, hardly an inch of bare skin showing. Ash’s nose was numb, and even Pikachu who sat in his warm coat pocket, padded with fur of some sort, was cold. “I hope I find some great water and ice Pokemon here!” Misty’s voice was a bit muffled from the facemask that covered most of her mouth. To a person living on the mainland, the three would have looked like robbers wearing ski masks ready to break into a bank. It was quite funny actually.

“Maybe we’ll see the legendary Articuno here!” Brock said.

“No. The answer is no. Look what happened last time we tried to do that,” Ash had lost his excitement to find the rare and powerful Pokemon after his run in with Moltres.

Brock and Misty laughed. Ash knew he would eventually have to catch Articuno, but the thought of having to play “hero” again made him feel much colder.

Finally they reached the end of the bridge. Climbing atop a mound of snow, Ash gazed down at the town before him. And it was beautiful.

“Wow! I’ve never seen anything so beautiful before!” Misty said. The town sparkled with frost and ice, icicles hanging from every windowsill, every overhang. It seemed as if the whole town was made of nothing but ice! In the center of town was a detailed ice carving of Articuno, one of the three legendary birds. A man stood near it taking pictures of it.

The group progressed down the hill of snow and came to stand next to the man taking pictures. He was obviously a professional photographer, for he kept moving his tripod to different angles, and frequently zoomed in and out with his camera. Finally, after getting the right pose he wanted, he quickly snapped some pictures. He groaned as he reached his last picture on the roll of film. He gazed around trying to find something to waste the last shot on when he noticed Ash, Brock, Misty and Pikachu.

“Would you mind if I took a picture of you four in front of this here statue?” he asked politely.

Ash looked at him stupidly before he realized the guy meant to take a picture of him and his friends.

“Us?” he asked just to make sure.

“Yeah, do you mind?”

Ash gazed at his friends who just shrugged. “Sure, you can take a picture of us!”

They stood in front of the huge statue in various poses. The picture was taken and the man thanked them.

“Is this your first time here at Glacier?”

“Yes sir,” Misty said.

“Would you like to join me for lunch, we have some nice hot meals prepared if you want? But it you don’t want to…”

Ash realized that the man knew how cold they were, and was kindly inviting them for lunch so that they could warm up a bit.

“Is that okay with you guys because it sounds good to me” he said.

Misty and Brock readily agreed, after all, anything warm sounded good at that moment. They followed the man, who introduced himself as Scott, to a restaurant down one of the sparkling streets. Iceberg Buffet it was called.

The buffet was sure a relief from the cold, and it was Misty who first spotted the “All you can eat!” sign. They sat on stools at the front counter where a kind man asked them what they wanted to drink.

It was minutes before each of them had huge plates of warm food in front of them. The manager even let Brock into the back kitchen to make some of his famous rice balls. Finally a conversation started, the topic being Articuno.

“Do you know anything about Articuno?” Scott asked them.

“Well, my Pokedex tells me…” Ash began.

“Forget your Pokedex! Do you know the real legends?” Scott rubbed his chin waiting for an answer.

“The real legends? All we’ve heard is that Articuno appears to those doomed in the mountains,” Ash told him.

“That’s all? You haven’t heard anything! First of all, that isn’t completely true,” Scott was leading them to something, Ash could tell.

“Not completely true? What’s that supposed to mean?” Misty was getting annoyed with this guy. Who was he to tell them that?

“Have you heard of Crystal Cave?” When everyone shook their head he continued. “People go to Crystal Cave, tourists mostly, to find Articuno and capture it. However, they don’t know what they’re getting into. Crystal Cave is a natural maze…just like Viridian Forest. People get lost in there for weeks and weeks, and only the strongest survive.”

“Only the strongest survive?” Brock repeated.

“Yeah. That’s right. The ones that get through the maze, are given one chance to catch Articuno. At least, that’s what the survivors have said.” Scott was really getting on Misty’s nerves now. She knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to make them go into that cave, and get themselves killed. Instead of getting mad, she just asked, “Have you ever gone in the cave?”

“Um…no….” Scott replied.

“Then how do I know that your not just trying to lure us in there so we’ll get ourselves killed?” Misty asked narrowing her eyes.

“Misty!?” Ash was getting embarrassed.

“Uh…maybe we’d better get going,” Brock got up and grabbed Misty by the collar of her coat, dragging her outside.

“Thanks for lunch!” Ash yelled as they walked outside to the frosty air.

“No problem! Anytime!” Scott yelled back. He had obviously taken no offense to what Misty had said.

Brock dropped Misty to lay on the cold cobblestone road.

“What did you think you were doing in there?” Ash shouted.

Misty got up angrily. “Trying to keep you from making some dumb decision.”

“Pika chu, pika pika pikapi!” Pikachu said. (We’ll never know what that meant!)

Ash sighed. “Well it didn’t work, because I’m going into that cave, whether you come with me or not!”

“Ash are you crazy? You’ve really topped yourself this time!” Misty could hardly speak, her breath was stolen by the freezing wind.

Ash smiled. “Maybe I am.”