— — — — — —
"Charizard, use Flamethrower to melt this part—carefully! Try to avoid the people and Pokémon trapped below."
Lance immediately summoned his Charizard and pointed to a spot roughly three meters away from where Vicious and the others were frozen, issuing his command.
"Magmar, let's help too! Be careful!"
Blaine also released his Magmar to assist.
As soon as the two Fire-type Pokémon came out, they were visibly uncomfortable.
Way too cold!
Clearly, the lingering effects of Eevee's Blizzard and Articuno's Sheer Cold were still present.
But the Trainers had given their orders, and despite the extreme cold, the Pokémon gritted their teeth and got to work.
It took them over ten minutes and most of their stamina just to melt through a roundabout path, finally breaking into the massive ice chamber where Eevee and the others had been earlier.
And once they were in... they finally saw what had happened to Vicious and his crew.
"Hiss~!"
Both Lance and Blaine gasped in shock.
"This... this couldn't have just been caused by ice attacks, right?"
"They're bleeding from every hole! What the hell happened in just a few minutes?"
Lance was stunned, mumbling in disbelief.
Blaine had the same thought.
They quickly scanned the cave again, alert and cautious. Once they confirmed no other living beings were present, they finally relaxed a little.
"Vicious, Ariana, and Hunter J are still alive. So is Drapion. But the rest of these people are already dead," Lance reported, after sending out his Dragonite to check their life force.
"Doesn't matter—we need to get the survivors out first. Even those who didn't make it... their Pokémon might still be alive inside their Poké Balls," Blaine added.
Luckily, the Poké Balls had insulated most of the ice damage.
"Alright!"
They got back to work carefully, taking another ten minutes to fully dig the survivors out and assess their condition.
Lance frowned. "Dragonite says all three of them suffered devastating psychic-type attacks. Their minds are shattered. They're brain-dead."
"...WHAT?!" Blaine was stunned into silence.
You've gotta be kidding me... Brain-dead? That's basically being reduced to a vegetable!
Who the hell went this hard on them?
Is this still a favor Giovanni can cash in on?
Lance fell silent for a long time before finally saying, "Looks like there was someone—or some Pokémon—here before we arrived. They helped Articuno."
"No way that bird could've pulled off something like this on its own."
"Dragonite says from the leftover psychic energy, even a champion-level psychic-type wouldn't be able to pull off an attack this terrifying."
"Vicious and his group are totally done for. Even Drapion's severely affected. Its mind's messed up bad, and its potential is basically gone now."
"Tch."
It was brutal. Absolutely devastating.
Lance couldn't help but feel a little rattled.
He'd had quite a few run-ins with those three in the past.
And now, in just one unexpected encounter, they were all taken out in a single blow.
"Moral of the story: don't mess with legendary Pokémon unless you've got a death wish," Lance thought to himself.
After that, Lance and Blaine called in more League members to help transport Vicious and the others out.
...
News of what happened spread quickly among the League's top brass.
And of course, Giovanni heard about it too.
No—he actually heard about it even earlier than most.
He'd received the news directly from Blaine.
"Mind shattered? No way... What kind of Pokémon could do that? Those three weren't weak by any means!"
Giovanni was in disbelief the moment he got the report.
"I'm not really sure," Blaine replied with a shake of his head. "But according to Lance, it looked like a high-level—possibly beyond champion-level—psychic-type Pokémon attacked them. Their minds were instantly broken."
"Plus, they'd already taken two devastating ice-type hits beforehand. Even Drapion's Protect couldn't shield them completely."
"That ice attack… it's beyond anything I expected. Are you sure this is the same Articuno you guys said was heavily injured and recovering from laying eggs?"
"Even in its prime, could it really pull off something that terrifying?"
Three top-tier Elite-level trainers were wiped out in an instant — they didn't even have time to react.
Giovanni let out a cold snort. "It's obvious someone else was helping Articuno. No way it could've pulled this off on its own."
"And it feels way too calculated — like Vicious and the others walked right into a trap. There's no way a Legendary Pokémon would be that devious."
"Only humans can be that sneaky."
Pokémon, by nature, tend to be straightforward. Even the trickier ones don't scheme the way humans do.
"Highly likely," Blaine nodded, then shook his head. "But whoever it was, they left zero traces behind. The scene was completely cleaned up."
"Talking about it now won't change much. Sooner or later, someone's gonna slip up," Giovanni muttered with a dark look. "Anyway, you should come help out again. We're almost done with the Mewtwo project."
"As for Vicious and the others, I'll handle it. You don't need to get involved."
The Mewtwo project was what really mattered.
"Oh? You actually think there's a way to fix them?" Blaine asked, sounding a bit surprised.
"Who knows?" Giovanni shrugged. "Can't just sit back and do nothing — gotta keep morale up, after all. Heh…"
He gave a cryptic smile, like this whole disaster had nothing to do with him.
...
After ending the video call, Giovanni walked to the window and looked down at the lab below. In the center of the room, inside a transparent tank, a small embryo was slowly taking shape.
"A Psychic-type stronger than Champion level, huh…"
"I wonder if Mewtwo might be the key for me right now…"
It wasn't just Giovanni and his group who were shaken.
The Pokémon League back in Indigo Plateau was just as rattled.
The leader there took the news seriously the moment he heard it and even traveled to the Seafoam Islands to investigate the scene himself.
But he didn't find anything useful.
He even ordered a full check on everyone who had been in and out of Cinnabar Island over the past week.
That didn't turn up much either.
He did spot Sabrina's family and Cynthia in the area, but didn't think much of it.
At this point, those girls probably didn't have the power to pull off something like this — yet.
---
Meanwhile, back when Eevee teleported away with Articuno and the others, they arrived at a remote, uninhabited part of the Seafoam Islands.
"Kuu!" (Thanks so much this time, Eevee!)
Articuno chirped gratefully, looking around to confirm it was safe.
"No need to be so formal! We're all Pokémon, right? Helping each other's just the natural thing to do," Eevee replied with a cheerful grin.
Articuno shook its head, though. "Kuu Kuu!!" (Still, a promise is a promise — your reward's not something I can skip out on!)
With a flash of light, a single glowing feather separated from Articuno's body and floated over to Eevee.
Its aura dropped sharply — that feather was part of its life force.
Eevee panicked. "Hey! What the heck are you doing?! That's your life feather! Don't go hurting yourself like that! Sure, I healed your injuries, but your core's still weak after laying an egg. You seriously wanna risk your life for this?! Take it back, now!"
"Kuu …" (It's fine. Please, take it. It'll help you break past your limits.)
Articuno remained firm, pushing the life feather toward Eevee.
Then it added, "Kuu!" (Also, feel free to pick any three items from my treasure hoard!)
With a mental command, Articuno opened up its hidden stash and scattered a bunch of rare items in front of them.
Finally, it turned to Eevee and said: "Kuu Kuuuuu!" (If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to entrust the little one to you and your friends for now. I think you guys are the best chance at helping it grow strong — would that be okay?)
"Chirp!"
As it spoke, Articuno released the restraint on its chick, who immediately ran up to Eevee and affectionately rubbed its head against Eevee's leg.
No doubt about it — the little guy had already decided who it trusted most, Daddy Eevee.
Seeing that, Articuno simply smiled. A warm, relieved smile.
.
.
.