POKEMON The Golden Sun Series

Aspendragon

Part Sixteen- The Unexpected Legend of Ice #2

"What in the world is that?" Coco asked Peppermint, Peppermint ran up to it but did not touch it.

"Pika pika pi chu!" (I think it’s the thing Arcticuno is so sad about!) She squealed. Coco looked a little confused for a moment. But thought it over and picked it up. The blue light gleamed upon her upper body. The light continued dancing in the clear glass ball.

"Charmeleon!" (Look over here!) Firestorm growled, shining her tail upon a dirt wall. Coco and Peppermint looked up at it. It was covered in a strange writing. But the writing seemed more like small pictures then words.

"Cavemen writing?" Coco guessed. Firestorm puffed out a small black puff of smoke.

"Char," (Doubt it,) Firestorm looked at the orb, then at the wall, thinking deeply.

"Pikachu?" (Human?) Peppermint suggested. Coco and Firestorm sweatdropped.

"We would have suggested that if I could have read it Pepper," Coco said quickly. Peppermint instantly burst into other suggestions.

"Pika pikaish!"

"Whoa! What did you say?"

"Pianish," Firestorm stared at her, as well as Coco.

"Phat pare pou paring pat?" Peppermint asked. Coco pinched herself.

"Ouch! Well that proves it. I am not dreaming," she said. Firestorm chuckled.

"What?" Peppermint asked much more clearly.

"You can speak english," Coco told her.

"Human?" she asked, Coco nodded. Firestorm nodded, the orb glowed an eerie blue.

"It’s because of the orb," Firestorm said. Coco and Peppermint stared at her.

"You too?" Coco said in disbelief. She sighed.

"The orb must grant the holder of…well, a wish to you," Firestorm said weakly. "You must really like pokemon to get such a wish too mind you," Peppermint stared again at the wall.

"Why me?" Coco asked. Firestorm pondered a bit.

"I have a theory, but it’s likely. Maybe because Golden Sun guides you, Golden Sun is your Guardian that might be why, because not everyone can receive a gift from such magical objects…"Firestorm suggested Coco simply nodded, thinking the same way.

"I know I’m still about two months but…I have a theory too," Peppermint said, the two looked at her now. "Arcticuno must be looking for Golden Sun’s human, I mean, she came here and Arcticuno too couldn’t have been a coincidence can it?"

"You might have a point there Peppermint," Coco agreed. "It couldn’t have been a coincidence, Peppermint, what made you come here?"

"I had this strong…urr…feeling that I should run far from the Pokemon Center and run until I thought I was in the right place," Peppermint said.

"Well then, we’re going to have to stay here, that gives us plenty of time to figure out what this is all about," Coco said, looking out the entrance.

"Oh come on Nurse Joy, our friend is out there," Bayline groaned, Nurse Joy and Chansey stood in front of the door. Squall and Bayline had finished their food an hour ago, but took sixty minutes to get ready for the cold.

"Absolutely not!" Nurse Joy shouted, "I am not letting a few young people walk out in that blizzard. There hasn’t been one like it since three years ago!" Bayline sighed, Squall stepped forward.

"Please Nurse Joy, Coco is out there with Peppermint, we have to find her," Squall pleaded. Nurse Joy sighed.

"Let me call Officer Jenny first, I want to know what she thinks we should do, then we’ll do it all right," Nurse Joy growled, "And don’t take a step outside, or better yet, you won’t be able to, Chansey."

"Chansey chansey chansey!" Chansey sang as she went to the counter and pushed a button somewhere on the computer keyboard. Metal shields went over the doors, windows, they even heard another door shut.

"Now, wait here," Nurse Joy said as she went to the counter.

"Whatever," Squall said, as he swore under his breath. Bayline sighed.

BUZZ! BUZZ! The lights flickered on and off. Finally turned off. The electricity went out. Squall and Bayline looked around.

"Bad news," Nurse Joy said, as she came into view with Chansey holding a candle beside her.

"The electricity went out," Squall growled, Nurse Joy stared at him.

"Yes, that leaves me unable to call anyone and unlock all the doors, thank heavens that I don’t have any injured pokemon…" she finished. Squall growled, as Bayline said they might as well train then.

"But we have no light, our pokemon need some light to see where they’re going," Squall growled angrily at her.

"We’ll battle by candle light," Bayline said, pointing at the candle Chansey was holding. Nurse Joy said she would be the referee.

"All right! Go! Granite!" Squall shouted, releasing his ground mole pokemon.

"Sannnddd!" Granite squealed.

As the battles went on, time passed. It was slowly becoming night. Even though nobody could see it through the thick whiteness of snow. One thing was for sure. No one was going to see the moon or stars tonight…

"Mornin’," Coco yawned. As she stretched. She was happy that she had her pack with her, or she would have to have slept against the wall in a ball. Peppermint slept beside her as Firestorm slept inside her poke’ball.

"Come on out Firestorm," Coco said, taking her poke’ball out of the pack and releasing her charmeleon. From the brightness of the flash, Peppermint woke up.

"Pi," Peppermint yawned as she too stretched. Firestorm quickly went over to the cave writings and began thinking to herself as Coco packed up her sleeping bag.

"Char…" Firestorm closed her eyes.

"Moyia!" Firestorm called out in the stormy mist of her mind. She folded her arms in patience. She began tapping her foot as a few seconds went by, she didn’t want Coco to worry about her again.

"Moyia!" she cried out again. No answer. Firestorm started growling.

"MOYIA!" She yelled even louder.

"Oooooooooooo!" a shrill cry echoed. Firestorm backed up a bit.

‘What in the world was that?’ Firestorm thought to herself. As she stirred awake.

"…so…do you think this orb will help?" Coco asked. Firestorm opened her eyes and looked at Coco. Peppermint rested on her shoulder comfortably as she stared at the mystical orb.

"I don’t know how to work it," Firestorm said as she pondered about the strange absence of Moyia.

"Oh, okay, let me see…" Coco tapped the ball. Nothing happened. She said nonsense words under her breath. Which Firestorm heard and rolled her eyes with a few giggles. After a few more tries, Coco became desperate enough to see if rolling it on the ground would do any good. Peppermint found many of these attempts entertaining and was laughing at every one of them.

"Maybe something more creative," Firestorm said at last, snapping out of her mind. While Coco tried to figure the orb out, she called constantly for Moyia. No answers except high screeches.

"All right there Fire?" Coco asked, noticing her closed eyes.

"Fine! Fine…" Firestorm stuttered quickly. Coco’s eyes lay again upon the orb.

"I don’t know if its true, but, it sounds like the storm is getting stronger!" Peppermint cried as she pulled on Coco’s sleeve. Coco looked at the hole that was quickly packed with snow due to the cold winds that came in. Unfortunately, the snow that was packed was brought into the cave earlier, making them all stand and sit in the snow.

"Hmmm," Coco mumbled as she shoved the orb into her pack and walked towards the hole. She poked a hole into the snow all the way to the other side. When she looked through it, she just found bright red eyes staring back…

"Beat you twenty times in a row!" Squall shouted with joy as he gave Fruity and Granite a high-five each. While Bayline rushed her two pokemon quickly to Nurse Joy, Nurse Joy ran off to heal them with a stock of Super Potions as Bayline turned towards Squall.

"GO! JENTA!" se shouted, throwing her metopod’s ball. Squall sighed but sent Fruity out.

"Since I have one pokemon left, we’ll make this a one-on-one match! Fine with you!" she screeched as she saw Squall chuckle to himself softly.

"Okay okay! Sheesh! Fruity! Razor Leaf!" Squall commanded. Fruity swung her leaf arms forwards, releasing several sharp leaves at Jenta.

"HARDEN!" Bayline yelled out quickly. Jenta glowed a marvelous green, making Fruity flinch from the light. When the light faded, she was gleaming with hardness. The leaves sped up towards Jenta, but made no effect whatsoever when it hit her outer shell. They crumbled as they hit the ground.

"Oh boy," Squall muttered, "this is going to take longer then I thought…"

"Ahhhhh!" Coco screamed as she jumped five feet away from the hole and landed with a loud Thump! The red eyes vanished as the snow was blown away as a strong wind blasted its way in.

"Arrrcccctttiiiccc!" Coco jumped out of the hole. The storm was the same, but she didn’t lose her balance. Peppermint jumped out and leaped up to her shoulder. Firestorm joined them.

"I know you’re out there Arcticuno!" Coco shouted out in the storm, but all she heard were echoes.

"Ooooooooo!" the familiar cry echoed back. It sounded nearer, but with the strong storm, it was impossible to tell.

"Flamethrower!" Firestorm roared, releasing a blast of fire. Like a searchlight, the flamethrower moved everywhere in the sky.

"What are you doing Firestorm?" Peppermint asked.

"Searching for Arcticuno!" Firetsorm said. Coco and Peppermint exchanged confused glances. How was Flamethrower going to help find her. Maybe melt a few snowflakes but maybe that’s it-

"Arrrcccc!"

"Got her!" Firestorm gladly growled, as she stopped her attack as they saw Arcticuno soar above them. Showing a bright red mark on her left wing. She landed several yards away from where they were. The storm died a little, making it clear enough to spot the ice bird. Coco and the pokemon ran towards her. When Arcticuno noticed, a tall ice barrier surrounded her.

"Arrrrrr!" the ice barrier vanished into the ground, leaving no sign of Arcticuno on the snow. They all ran up to the spot to where she was. They only spotted a few, small blood stains on the snow.

"Where could she have gone?" Coco asked. Peppermint began digging.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make that double!"

"To rid the world from happy endings!" a familiar female voice sang.

"To kill the weak and caring!" another familiar voice sang.

"To stretch our reach to the blackened sky above!"

"To hide ourselves and get what we want by lies!"

"Claudia!" a woman appeared.

"Syji!" a man appeared next to his partner.

"Team Rocket sneaking in and out all day and night!"

"Give up to us now and we’ll leave you unharmed all right!"

"TEAM ROCKET!" Coco shouted, Firestorm fired a Flamethrower at them. But an ice barrier surrounded them.

"What the heck!" Coco yelled, Claudia and Syji laughed as the thing below them rose. Inside Arcticuno was jerking terribly, blue sparks sparked around her.

"Like our new toy?" Syji asked.

"This robot sucks the powers out of its victims and uses them just the same!" Claudia laughed. Coco and Firestorm growled. The screeches Arcticuno tried to make were soundless.

"Oh, and one more thing! Once its bored! It kills its victims with a special gas, let’s say, Nerve Gas!" Coco gasped.

"That’s illegal to use you slimeballs!" Coco roared.

"Do you really think we care?" Syji asked. The storm was dying quickly now.

"I would’ve thought such a large organization would have a honor code!" Coco screamed, Peppermint sparked.

"Me and Firestorm could attack at the same time," Peppermint suggested.

"No, Arcticuno is a legendary pokemon, her powers should almost be unstoppable," Coco said, Firestorm agreed. Syji and Claudia stared.

"Has she lost it or is she faking us out?" Claudia asked. All they heard were pokemon noises. ("Pi pika pi pi pikachu," Coco had said earlier.)

"I think her brain turned into spaggheti," Syji answered in a dull tone. Coco looked back at them. They goggled at her.

"SLEEP POWDER!" someone ordered.

"Be frrreeeee!" a small green butterfree saored over Team Rocket, blue powder escaped its wings and fell towards TR.

"Whirlwind!" Claudia growled, pressing a button on a remote. Around them, a circular space opened and strong winds shot upward. Sending the powder back to the user. The butterfree must’ve gotten a whiff of it and slowly fell to the ground where someone caught it.

"Bayline!" Coco yelled, it was Bayline. She was quickly reviving the butterfree with Awakening.

"Hi Coco!" she called back as the butterfree fluttered around her.

"Who’s that?" Coco asked, pointing at the butterfree.

"Jenta, she evolved in an earlier battle," Squall expalined who came beside Bayline. Granite already out of his ball.

"Cool! But anyway! Team Rocket has Arcticuno!" Coco shouted. Squall’s and Bayline’s eyes widened as they saw the struggling bird inside the machine.

"How low can you go!" Squall asked loudly.

"Lower," Clauida said, the storm was completely gone now.

DING! DING! Claudia pulled out a black walkie-talkie. She put it up to her ear.

"Yes sir, we have her sir, all right sir, be right there sir, good-bye sir," she said, then she snapped it back to her belt. "The boss wants the bird, we have to go now," Syji nodded, they both vanished behind a thick layer of snow that came out of nowhere.

"Great," Squall growled, Coco looked around where the machine was before.

"Hey! I found something!" Firestorm growled. She ran back to Coco and handed her a piece of paper. Coco skimmed through it.

"What is it?" Bayline asked, as Granite was returned to his ball.

"Guys, time we go back to Pallet," Coco said at last.

To be continued…