— — — — — —
"Kuu?" (Huh?)
Articuno tilted its head, obviously confused."Kuu, Kuu, Kuu!" (Brave words! But for an average Pokémon to break past their species limit? That's nearly impossible! If you were an Ice-type, maybe I could've helped you. But too bad…)
"Oh?"
Eevee's ears perked up, eyes sparkling with interest. "So you're saying… if it's an Ice-type Pokémon, you do have a way to help them break past their species limit and maybe even reach the level of a Legendary?"
Articuno gave a serious nod.
And then, the next moment—it froze in shock.
A bright light flared from Eevee's body, forcing the little Articuno chick to back off a few steps. When the glow faded, a full-fledged Glaceon now stood in front of both big and little Articuno.
Articuno: "???!!!"
What the hell!?
Did it just freely evolve like flipping a switch?!
This Eevee… was anything but normal.
The little Articuno tilted its head, staring at Glaceon, then sniffed it curiously. (Why does Papa look and smell totally different now?)
(But... I like this version of Papa too!)
Thinking that, the chick happily waddled over and rubbed its tiny head against Eevee's leg, clearly thrilled.
Articuno: "....."
Did this brat just ditch her mom?
Aren't you gonna be close to your mama anymore?
Articuno looked at Eevee like a heartbroken mother who'd just had her child stolen away, eyes filled with complex emotion.
"Ahahaha…"
Eevee let out an awkward laugh.
Seriously, this isn't my fault!
Thankfully, Articuno was just being dramatic. It quickly pulled itself together and spoke again.
"Kuu, Kuu... Kuu…" (Didn't expect you to be this special. That works. But let's wait until we've dealt with the enemies and made sure me and my daughter are safe. Then we'll talk.)
"Hm?"
Eevee frowned slightly. "You're not planning to use a move that damages your own life force, are you? If it's something like that, then forget it. Either you or the chick can let me analyze your ability—I'll figure it out myself."
"After all, you've probably realized by now... I'm not just some regular Eevee. My goal is way beyond this."
"Eventually, I'll become a Super Legendary. I, Arcevee, will one day make even Arceus call me boss."
"Hmph!"
Articuno blinked, then said, "Kuu... Kuu... Kuu..." (Since you put it that way, I'll agree. On top of that, I'll also give you a special gift. And you can pick three treasures from my hoard as your reward for saving us—and for helping us from here on out.)
As for all that "Super Legendary" stuff, Articuno didn't really buy it.
Crossing tiers at the divine level? It wasn't that easy—especially not between Legendaries.
"Well then, thank you kindly."
Eevee nodded and continued, "For now, let's plan our strategy. Cynthia, come over here too."
"Alright, so here's the plan…"
— — —
A couple hours later…
Vicious, Ariana, and Hunter J dropped down through the hole they'd dug.
"Now!" Eevee's voice rang out telepathically.
"Articuno—Sheer Cold!"
"Cynthia—Milotic, Ice Beam!"
Already lying in wait, Eevee gave the signal to Articuno and Cynthia.
At the same time, Eevee fused Ice-type energy with Rest-type magic, unleashing a devastating move: "Super Blizzard!!"
Vicious and the others had just landed and didn't even have time to react.
All three devastating Ice-type attacks hit them dead-on in the blink of an eye.
An unimaginable cold swept through their bodies, rising through the cave above them.
The combo of Sheer Cold (Absolute Zero) and Super Blizzard froze everything it touched.
In less than a second, they—and all the small fry with them—were turned into statues, frozen solid in thick ice.
The cave's temperature plummeted rapidly. The ice layers thickened.
Even Cynthia nearly got caught in the blast radius.
The space was only semi-open. While it was big, Eevee's Super Blizzard was waytoo overpowered. The sheer area it covered was insane.
Fortunately, Eevee had already prepped plenty of defensive measures for Cynthia. Right as the blast hit, she was instantly protected by an energy shield.
Milotic also quickly retreated into its Pokéball.
As for Articuno, the chick, and Eevee? They were totally fine—actually, they looked like they were having a great time.
Crack! Crack!
But just when they thought it was over, the sound of shattering ice rang out.
Both Eevee and Articuno focused their attention.
And that's when they saw it—
At the very last second, the Pokémon Drapion had burst out of its Pokéball and used 'Protect' to block most of the damage for Vicious and the others.
Still, the Protect barrier couldn't hold.
Under the onslaught of those three devastating attacks, it shattered.
And although the move had shielded them from the worst of it, Vicious and his group were still badly injured—parts of their bodies frozen and severely frostbitten.
At that moment, Drapion was already working to break through the ice, trying to free the others and release more Pokémon.
"Like hell I'm letting you pull that off!"
Eevee let out a cold snort and immediately began gathering energy for another attack. At the same time, it sent a message to Articuno: "Articuno, hit it again! Sheer Cold!!"
Catching on instantly, Articuno unleashed another blast of freezing air toward the cracked ice, sealing it up once more in a thick coat of frost.
Meanwhile, Eevee switched forms into its Psychic evolution, Espeon. Its eyes lit up with a crimson glow as it unleashed a powerful psychic attack it had developed itself.
"Max Mindstorm!!"
In the blink of an eye, a terrifying psychic wave erupted from the center of Eevee's forehead, crossing over ten meters in an instant and slamming into Drapion, Vicious, Ariana, and Hunter J.
BOOM!
"AAAHHHH!!!"
"DRAAA!!"
All three of them, along with the Drapion, screamed in agony. Their eyes rolled back as they collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.
Drapion was just knocked out, spinning cartoon-style swirls in its eyes.
But Vicious, Ariana, and Hunter J? Their minds were shattered. Blood leaked from all seven orifices, their mental space torn to pieces by the sheer force of the attack. They were done for—brain-dead.
Vegetative state. Zero recovery chance.
Articuno, sensing something was off with the three humans, turned to Eevee and softly chirped, "Kuuuuuuuuu..." (That move was terrifying! Please... use it carefully next time!)
It was way too powerful—especially against regular humans with weak mental defenses.
"No worries," Eevee replied with a nod. "If they weren't part of some ruthless dark organization or Pokémon hunters who hurt you and your daughter, I wouldn't have gone so far."
"They totally deserved it."
"Now that they're done for, lots of innocent Pokémon and kind humans won't have to suffer anymore."
These three had committed crimes too horrific to list. As for those Rocket Grunts? Yeah, they weren't so lucky.
Without Drapion to protect them, they'd been completely frozen solid by the first wave of cold—turned into lifeless ice statues on the spot.
"All right. Once I clean this up a bit, let's get out of here. Looks like the League's people are on their way. I'd rather not run into them, even if they aren't necessarily bad guys."
Eevee used telepathy to tell Articuno.
Then it quickly scanned the minds of the Rocket Grunts, Drapion, and the now-brain-dead trio to check for any memories about Cynthia.
When it confirmed there was nothing that could expose her, it relaxed.
It then asked Articuno and Cynthia to grab hold of it so it could teleport everyone out of there.
"Kuu!" (Got it! Sorry to trouble you again!)
Articuno chirped softly, then scooped up the baby Articuno in one claw and flew over to perch on Eevee's back.
Cynthia immediately dismissed her energy shield and ran over, wrapping her arms around Eevee's neck.
The next second, Espeon's eyes lit up with a red psychic glow—and just like that, everyone vanished from the underground ice cavern.
...
"Right up ahead! Move! And be careful!"
Above the cavern, Dragon-type Trainer Lance and veteran Fire-type Trainer Blaine charged toward the scene with their Pokémon.
Soon, they reached the end of the tunnel and looked down to see the cavern sealed in thick ice again. Through the frosty layers, they could barely make out several figures.
Lance and Blaine both sucked in a breath at the sight.
"What the hell happened here?" Lance muttered, visibly shaken. "It's all frozen again? Is that… Vicious and the others down there?"
"Was this… Articuno's doing?" Blaine's eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Don't tell me Vicious and the others got one-shotted?"
They'd expected a fierce battle—but this? A complete wipeout?
"What now? Do we dig them out?" Lance turned to Blaine, looking for his opinion.
Blaine was a veteran after all, and Lance wanted to hear what he had to say.
"Dig," Blaine replied without hesitation. "Whatever the case, they're still people—some are Pokémon too. We can't just leave them there to die."
"…But once we dig them out, we can arrest them too."
Silently, Blaine muttered to himself, "Giovanni, oh Giovanni… you owe me a huge favor for this. And you three down there—Vicious, Ariana, J—you do too."
Honestly, for him, this was a win.
.
.
.