CHAPTER 81 – SAVING THE ARCHIPELAGO

In the previous chapter we can see how our heroes talk to Fleura about the problem she has, determined to help her, our heroes follow her to the sanctuary where the respective spheres are which serves to maintain order in the different islands where the legendary birds live, but after glimpsing the suspect and following him, he tells them that he is a Pokémon hunter who wants to catch the three birds and sell them in the black market and the eggs he stole from them, which angered them, now the villain flew out in his gigantic ship, while Ash and Verity are responsible for following him.

...

With Ash.

"Verity, we need to sneak up and destroy the plane from within, we can't destroy it from the outside and even if we could, we can't because we have to retrieve the eggs!" – I explained.

"I agree! but where do we come in?" - asked Verity.

"No idea, but for now, let's check it out!" – I replied.

We quickly tried to find an entrance and actually found it, otherwise it was because it was sealed by a huge thick metal gate.

"It looks like it's an entrance or something, but it's completely sealed, what do we do now?" - asked Verity.

"Let's all attack the door together, Charizard use Flamethrower, Pikachu use Thunderbolt, Latias use Dragon Pulse and Mew use Shadow Ball" – I ordered.

I figured he would need all the help we could get, so I pulled Mew out of his Pokéball.

"Latios use Dragon Pulse, Shaymin use Air Slash if you can!" – that was Verity.

All the attacks hit the door destroying it instantly and leaving a huge hole.

"Come on, it's our chance!" – I said.

I quickly returned my Pokémon, with the exception of Pikachu and Latias to their Pokéballs and we entered the interior of the ship.

Verity also returned Latios to his Pokéball, leaving us with Shaymin, Latias, and Pikachu as the only Pokémon outside of their Pokéball.

Back to the topic, the ship was considerably large and currently it seemed that we were in a kind of hangar because there were some small ships inside.

"What do we do now?"- asked Verity.

"We have no choice but to search all over the place and try find anything" - I replied.

We quickly left the hangar and started looking all over the ship, but it was so big, we didn't even know where to start, so we ran in multiple directions with the intention of finding something, come on, now i need the luck of the protagonist.

We continued searching for a while until, at last, luck played a role in this whole affair and we found a strange room, in it there were as kind of containers made entirely of glass that were now empty with the exception of...

"The eggs Ash, I've found them!" - exclaimed Verity in amazement.

I quickly went to see and sure enough, there were exactly 3 containers with one egg each, one of them was completely yellow with black stripes, another was completely red with orange stripes and the last...

"Verity... isn't that the same egg that Nurse Joy gave you in Rock Town?" – I asked in surprise looking at the egg.

Verity looked at him curiously, but then seemed to realize that what he was saying was true.

"Don't tell me that the trainer who gave the egg to Nurse Joy bought it on the black market, does that mean the one I have in my backpack is a stolen egg, that they have taken it from her mother?" – Verity asked confused.

That's right, since he gave it to us, the egg had shown no signs of opening, so we assumed it would take a while because occasionally, very occasionally, it moved slightly, so it was obvious that there was something inside, but now we know why it did not hatch or at least a rough idea about it.

"Since this egg is an Articuno's egg, it is very possible that it was stolen, so when all this is over I will return it to this Articuno, so at least, it will hatch" - Verity said.

"Are you sure about that?" – I asked.

"Yes, I have already decided, it is cruel that he grows up without a mother, especially having been stolen from his mother and since I cannot know where his biological mother is, he can grow up with this Articuno as his mother" - she nodded.

"If that's your decision then I respect it, but for now, we must break these crystals and take the eggs," I said.

Then I gave a small punch to the glass to see if it was fragile or not, but the truth is that it was a reinforced glass.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt against glass, Latias use Dragon Pulse!" – I said.

"Shaymin use Air Slash!" - said Verity.

The three attacks targeted the crystal and although it seemed to hold on for a few seconds, in the end the crystal cracked and shattered.

"Perfect, let's pick up the eggs and get out of here!" – I exclaimed.

We quickly broke all the glass and took the 3 eggs from the place, then we ran to the hangar with the intention of escaping from the place, which was quite easy because not even the hunter found out... Or so I thought but just as we were already outside, a voice resounded through speakers located outside the ship.

"Damn kids! Do you think you can steal my eggs and walk away as if nothing had happened? Give me back those eggs or face the consequences!" – said the man through the loudspeaker.

"Charizard I choose you!" – I said pulling out Charizard's Pokéball.

"I see, with that is your answer, then you leave me no choice" – said the man.

"Exactly, that's our answer, we won't let someone like you get away with it, so now we'll destroy your ship!" – Verity shouted.

"Destroy my ship? How funny, let's see if you can, arms out, liquidate those impertinent and nosy brats!" – said the man.

Then numerous cannons came out of the ship and began firing what appeared to be energy lasers at us.

"Destroy the cannons while dodging the shots, scatter!" – I said.

Quickly everyone dispersed and began to attack the cannons with their attacks, but it was almost useless as they had received practically no damage.

"Hahaha, you won't get anything with such useless attacks, my cannons are extremely tough and can resist attacks from that birds too!" – said the man.

"But they are not unbreakable, concentrate your attacks, let's see what it can do against 6 attacks at the same time!" – I said.

They all followed my orders and launched their attacks at the same time at the cannon, destroying it completely.

"It can't be, even against 6 attacks they should be able to resist! Who are you?" – said the surprised man.

"Those who will defeat you and bring you to justice!" – we both said.

"I won't be caught by you, weapons at maximum power!" – said the man.

Then the shots started to be more frequent, but my Pokémon and Verity's, as well as Shaymin were very fast and could dodge attacks very easily.

"Now, tear everything apart!" – I said.

The Pokémon concentrated their attacks and destroyed the cannons one after another, until in the end, there were none left.

"Surrender, you have no weapons left!" – I said.

"Fuck, you fucking brats, I'll retire for now, but I'll be back!" – said the man.

And his ship began to back up.

Damn, we have to destroy the ship and catch that scoundrel or he will come back and this time he will make him more angry and aggressive.

"We can't let you leave, launch attacks indiscriminately towards the ship, we will have to rely on luck this time!" – I said.

"Well, I just hope we manage to take her down, let's go Latios!" – said Verity.

Then numerous attacks began to hit the ship that was gradually leaving, at first it did not seem to work, as the ship barely received scratches, but then, a Charizard's Flamethrower hit the side of the ship causing something to explode and the ship fell to the ground, causing a large explosion.

"You're great Charizard, the best, come on guys, we have to stop it!" – I said with a happy expression.

With great speed we headed towards the ground, where we immediately saw that the man tried to escape, but of course he only tried because he was unsuccessful.

"Now you will come with us, scoundrel!" – exclaimed Verity.

"Damn, i was so close..." – said the man.

Then we went to the center of the island which is where Fleura and Nancy were, who were in the sanctuary, worried, ah, I forgot to mention that Officer Jenny was also there.

"Ash, Verity!" – said the girls.

"Hello girls, as promised, we bring the eggs and the scoundrel" – I said while pointing at the man.

Verity, Charizard and Latias carried the eggs.

"Perfect but do not worry I will take care of him" said Officer Jenny handcuffing the man.

Then, after thanking us, she went with the man.

"Hmph, I hope he doesn't get out of jail for a while" - Nancy said.

"I agree, all Pokemon hunters should be in jail" - Fleura nodded.

Me and Verity felt the same way, not to mention Latias, Pikachu and Charizard.

I was going to say something else but suddenly, another huge tremor shook the whole island.

"Quickly, we have to return all the eggs to their mothers!" said Fleura.

"But how do we do it? It will be very difficult to get close without being noticed" - Koharu said.

"Do not worry, just take the respective spheres and they will not attack you or at least they will hesitate to do so, at that time you must give them the eggs, if everything goes well, they will leave without creating any other problems" – said Fleura.

"What if it goes wrong?" – I asked.

"That's why you will need Latias and Latios, to flee if that happens, they are very fast Pokémon, they can escape without much trouble" – she answered.

Unconvinced, but with no other alternative, we headed towards the three legendary birds, which were creating chaos nearby.

With astonishing speed, we walked past her as I, Verity, and Nancy showed off their eggs.

And apparently it worked because they began to chase us like crazy, the good thing is that Latias and Latios were much faster than birds, so we could dodge their attacks more easily than we thought, but since the plan was to return the eggs, when we had already some distance, we descended to the ground while we took the spheres out of our pockets.

Seeing us descend, the legendary birds rushed to follow us, but just as we were about to land, they noticed the spheres we were carrying and hesitated a little to attack.

"Listen, our goal is not to steal your eggs, in fact, we rescued them from the person who stole them, now e will return them to you, so please don't attack us!" – I shouted.

Quickly and carefully, the three of us lay the eggs on the ground.

Seeing that we were returning their eggs, the three birds rushed to grab them, then looked at us attentively and bowed their heads a little.

"Zap!" - said Zapdos.

"Molt!" - said Moltress.

"Artic!" - said Articuno.

Zapdos and Moltress collected their eggs, but before Articuno left, Verity approached.

"Wait a minute, Articuno, I have something for you!" - said Verity.

Articuno did not take off and instead looked at Verity with pure curiosity, who took Articuno's egg out of her backpack.

"This egg was given to me, but when I found out that it was probably taken from its mother and since I have no chance of finding it, I want you to take it too!" – said Verity placing the egg on the ground.

Articuno saw the egg and walked over curiously, then smelled it and raised his head.

"Artic!" – denied Articuno.

"What do you mean, that he won't be born?" - asked Verity, worried.

"Artic!" – she denied again.

"I think what she means is that she can't raise him" - I said.

"Artic!" – Articuno nodded.

"Why not? I mean, you're an Articuno, you should be able to raise one more" - Verity said.

"Artic!" – denied Articuno.

But before Verity could say anything else, Articuno plucked off one of her feathers and dropped it into the egg.

Suddenly, the egg flashed with blinding light and began to crack.

When the egg broke completely, a small Articuno, no bigger than my hand, hatched.

Little Articuno looked at the adult Articuno, but quickly looked away and fixed it on Verity.

Upon seeing her, little Articuno tried to flap his wings and fly towards her, but without success, so he walked towards her as best as he could, which picked him up from the ground and rubbed her head affectionately while little Articuno curled up in her arms.

"I see... I guess he only recognizes the one who hatched the egg, since he was separated from his mother and that trainer, the one who incubated the egg the longest time after them was Verity, so he recognizes her as his mother and not the adult Articuno" – Nancy explained.

It makes sense.

"Artic!" - said Articuno.

And then he flew back to his island while taking his egg.