Pokemon: Skybound

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At that moment, Lugia emerged from the sea. Despite having severe electrical burns across its body, its condition was relatively stable the injuries were not life-threatening.

Shaking off the excess seawater, Lugia opened its mouth and fired a blazing orange energy beam, striking the wreckage of the crashed airship atop Ice Island's volcano.

BOOM!!

The remnants of the ship exploded violently, erupting into a raging inferno. Clearly, Lugia had not forgotten the iron rings that had previously trapped it this was its vengeful response.

Seeing this, Kai nodded approvingly.

Good With the Collector and Zapdos both neutralized, the battle had once again turned in their favour.

But before Kai could press the attack, a sudden sound interrupted his thoughts—

The deafening roar of helicopter blades.

Kai's eyes snapped upward, spotting a helicopter swaying erratically as it approached Shamouti Island.

Under everyone's watchful gaze, the aircraft began losing altitude rapidly, spiralling out of control until—

CRASH!!

The chopper slammed into a mountainside near the shrine, sending a powerful tremor through the ground.

"What the heck!?" Misty gasped, watching as thick smoke billowed from the crash site. "The weather's still awful why would a helicopter even be flying in these conditions?"

"Something urgent must have happened." Kai narrowed his eyes. He couldn't leave now, but the possibility of casualties meant they had to investigate.

Turning to Sabrina, he instructed,

"I need you to check it out and see if there are any survivors."

"Understood." Sabrina nodded without hesitation and headed toward the crash site.

Seeing this, Misty and Tracey exchanged a glance before deciding to follow. They weren't sure what they could do, but they wanted to help.

With them gone, Kai was now alone with Melody.

Something about the sudden arrival of the helicopter made Kai uneasy. A new variable had entered the equation.

This meant he had to end the battle quickly.

'Moltres, finish off Articuno.'

'Zapdos, Articuno assist Lugia in taking down Moltres!'

With the battle now four against two, Kai had a clear upper hand. But defeating the remaining two legendary birds would still take time.

Minute by minute, the battle raged on.

Until—

From the frozen battlefield, a familiar voice rang out.

"Kai!!"

Looking toward the sound, Kai saw Ash speeding across the ice his Charizard towed him using a makeshift sledge from the shipwreck's debris.

It had only been ten minutes, yet he had already returned from Ice Island. Without the legendary birds hindering him, his journey had been incredibly smooth.

Still mid-air, Ash leapt off Charizard, landing next to Kai.

"I made it back! I got the final treasure! Uh—wait, where's Misty and the others?"

Kai glanced at him before responding, "They went to check on the crashed helicopter."

Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt Sabrina's psychic presence sending him a warning signal.

His expression darkened.

Without hesitation, he issued a command through Gardevoir's telepathy, recalling his legendary birds back to him.

Standing nearby, Ash watched in awe, a complicated expression forming on his face.

After a moment, he muttered, "Kai… when did you even capture them?"

Kai, however, didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he gestured for Ash to stay silent, then turned to Melody.

"Melody, you too. Please keep this a secret."

He was fine revealing his legendary birds to Ash, Misty, and Tracey But he had no intention of exposing them to outsiders.

The more people knew the more risk he took. Even if word eventually got out, he preferred to control the information for now.

Seeing Kai's serious expression, both Ash and Melody nodded without hesitation.

"Got it. We won't tell anyone."

Kai then retrieved his three Poké Balls, recalling Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno.

It was frustrating to withdraw at the brink of victory, but with Ash's back and the final treasure secured, they could end the battle the proper way.

After all, Lugia alone was already holding off Moltres and Articuno just fine. With the legendary birds weakened, there was no more real danger.

At that moment, footsteps echoed from behind.

Kai and Ash turned and saw Sabrina, Misty, and Tracey returning.

But they weren't alone.

Behind them were several unexpected figures:

Delia Ketchum.

Professor Oak.

Professor Ivy.

Along with them were two pilots and a TV crew, their cameras already recording.

Ash's jaw dropped in shock.

"MOM!? PROFESSOR OAK!? PROFESSOR IVY!? What are you guys doing here!?"

Professor Oak shook his head and explained, "Strange weather patterns have been appearing all over Kanto. We traced the cause to here, so Professor Ivy and I flew out to investigate."

That much made sense But what didn't was why Ash's mother was here.

Ash scratched his head in confusion. Even he didn't understand why she had tagged along.

"Mom… why did you come? And wait weren't you guys in that helicopter crash!? Are you okay!?"

Delia smiled warmly, walking up to inspect Ash for injuries. "I'm fine."

She patted his cheek gently and said,

"When Professor Oak mentioned you might be here, I wanted to check on you."

Ash rubbed his head awkwardly. He loved his mom, but sometimes she worried too much.

"Sigh…" Professor Oak let out a deep breath, looking toward the wrecked helicopter.

"It was the strangest thing; everything was fine until we reached Shamouti Island. Then, out of nowhere, we were hit by a sudden blizzard. The storm completely wrecked our instruments, and we lost control."

Ash and the others listened in shock.

Misty and Tracey, however, slowly turned to Kai.

Their expressions clearly said, "This is your fault, isn't it?"

Kai, however, refused to admit anything.

With an absolutely straight face, he casually remarked "Hmm… must've been the legendary birds and Lugia."

"WHAT!?"

Professor Oak, Delia, and Professor Ivy all whipped their heads around.

When they followed Kai's gaze and saw the colossal battle in the sky, their jaws dropped.

The TV crew went nuts, filming as much as they could.

Professor Oak adjusted his glasses, his eyes widening, "Good heavens… The legendary birds… and Lugia!? So they were behind the weather anomalies!"

Just as Ash was about to ask more questions, Kai interrupted him.

"Enough small talk."

He gestured toward the shrine. "Put the final treasure in place."

"The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can stop this chaos."

Realizing his mistake, Ash smacked his forehead. "Oh right! I almost forgot!"

He rushed toward the shrine, pulling out the final treasure.

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Don't forget to drop some Power Stones!

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