On the left, the thunder bird whose feathers gleamed like poured gold, crackling with electric sparks: Zapdos.
On the right, the ice bird whose icy-blue plumage seemed the most beautiful thing in the world, every motion exuding frosty allure, its body wreathed in chill: Articuno.
Overhead, the fire bird whose wings burned with fierce, brilliant flames, guarding Lucas's side: Moltres.
They were—without a doubt—the same species as the three legendary birds Lawrence III was trying to capture.
"...Who exactly are you?"
After a brief silence, Lawrence III stared hard at Lucas, as if trying to wring flowers from stone just by looking.
Even if these three birds were decisively weaker than the special trio he was after, the fact remained: they were of the same species.
This man—was he the trainer of the three legendary birds?
Inside the cages, the pained Moltres and Zapdos opened their eyes. Seeing their suddenly appearing kin, shock filled their hearts.
"Why won't you listen to me?" Lucas shrugged and looked at Lawrence III, advising kindly, "Release the Fire God and Thunder God, then go turn yourself in."
Lawrence III snorted. "Why would I turn myself in? Do you take me for a fool?"
Mewtwo, who had been silent, withdrew its gaze from the stone tablet. Its telepathy echoed: "You abducting the three birds is the same as personally triggering the collapse of the world's climate balance. That stele at the center of your airship—did you not decipher it?"
Lawrence III said impassively, "I did. So what?"
"My target isn't them. Once the other party shows up, I can simply return them to the wild. Compared to what I truly want for my collection, they're not particularly precious—just slightly special birds with titles like 'Fire God.'"
"As for you, that was telepathy just now, wasn't it? And you can teleport to ten thousand meters up? I'm very interested. How about becoming part of my collection?"
Lawrence III extended his right hand and directly invited Mewtwo.
"I'll grant you a status in my collection second only to the Sea God."
"I refuse."
Mewtwo looked at Lawrence III like he was an idiot, utterly speechless.
Where did this self-narrating lunatic come from?
Why were there always such arrogant humans in this world—whether it was those Rocket scientists, or Giovanni with his empty promises, or now Lawrence III?
Just seeing them made Mewtwo feel irritable.
Compared to them, Lucas suited Mewtwo's taste far more.
"I'll repeat this one last time. Release the Fire God and Thunder God."
Looking at Lawrence III, Lucas emphasized it one final time.
To him, Lawrence III posed no threat.
What he had to be wary of were the Fire and Thunder Gods who would surely go mad once freed, and the Ice God whose whereabouts were unknown.
How to handle them—he still had no definitive answer.
"Hmm, looks like negotiations have broken down. A pity. I was magnanimous enough to want to invite you uninvited guests to be the audience for my collection of the Sea God. Sigh."
Lawrence III shook his head, turned his back on Lucas, Mewtwo, and the three birds Lucas had released.
Even now, he remained at ease.
"Throw the man out. Capture that Psychic-type Pokémon. As for those three not-so-special birds, take them too—they should fetch a good price to offset expenses."
He issued the order blandly to the control console.
But instead of a response from his loyal AI assistant, what answered him was a massive explosion overhead.
The entire airship lurched. Snow filled the screens, the AI assistant fell silent. The ship itself didn't seem physically damaged, so—
"De-li~!"
At that moment, Delibird flew back, tugging its own tail, starry-eyed at Lucas, face begging for pats, as if asking for praise.
It did well, right? The timing should be perfect~
Lucas patted its head and praised generously, "Well done."
"What... did you do?"
Lawrence III ground his teeth, staring daggers at Lucas.
He had entertained Lucas, Mewtwo, and those three ordinary birds with confidence precisely because not only did the exterior of the airship mount anti-bird cannons, but internal defenses and armaments were also impenetrable—practically a flying fortress.
Anti-Psychic jammers, energy barriers deployed through the seemingly ordinary floor to cover every inch of the interior, and laser weapons concealed beneath the deck to blanket all internal areas...
In short, the instant Lucas entered the ship, he became a turtle in a jar—at Lawrence III's mercy.
Yet things were nothing like he expected. Neither the unresponsive AI assistant nor the signal-dependent weapons systems functioned; all were disrupted by some unknown force.
"Did you really think I'm stupid—charging into your stronghold unprepared?" Lucas looked at Lawrence III oddly, almost laughing. "What exploded above the airship was an EMP bomb—one that just dismantled your tech fortress."
"As for Moltres and the others, they're just here for show. You didn't think they were my trump card, did you?"
Lawrence III flung his right hand, face twisting with denial. "Impossible! I prepared for electromagnetic interference. A conventional EMP can't—"
"Who said it was conventional?"
Lucas smiled slightly and glanced at Mewtwo, whose tail swayed, face calm yet somehow oozing pride.
When they were prepping to depart, once Mewtwo heard from Lucas that Lawrence III had a fortress airship, it used the materials on hand to handcraft a few black-tech EMPs right in front of him.
It was pure technical superiority.
Mewtwo said coolly, "No matter how advanced and precise technology is, it cannot escape its greatest weakness. A slight external perturbation can plunge it into ruin."
"Checkmate, human."
From the deck seams stuffed with high-tech modules, heat buildup and short-circuits spread under the black-tech EMP's influence. Sparks crackled everywhere within the ship.
Without AI control, the engines driving the airship began to fail. It wouldn't be long before this crystallization of human technology plummeted into the vast ocean below—
Trouble never comes alone.
With clattering thuds, the rings binding the Fire and Thunder Gods fell powerlessly to the floor in Lawrence III's wide eyes.
Moltres and Zapdos set down on the deck. Before they could thank Lucas, Mewtwo, Delibird, and their three kin for the rescue—
The impulses suppressed by Lawrence III's magnetic restraint exploded like a long-stifled volcano.
Blood-tinged eyes; reason dragged into the abyss. The Fire and Thunder Gods shrieked, beating their wings skyward.
One spat flame, the other loosed lightning, bursting through the airship's hull.
At that moment, only one thought filled their minds:
Battle! Destroy! Vent their fury!
The overcast sky was lit by fire and lightning. With no AI to control defenses, Lawrence III's airship—almost as if begrudged by the Fire and Thunder Gods—took several brutal hits.
Black smoke billowed as the airship fell faster.
With Mewtwo's Psychic help, Lucas barely stabilized himself. Moltres and the others took flight, exchanging baffled glances.
Why did those special kin Lucas had just freed suddenly go berserk?
This wasn't how you repay kindness.
Elsewhere, Lawrence III, thrown to the floor by the violent shaking and clinging to the railing, was on the verge of madness.
His airship fortress—nearly all his life savings—was about to crash into the sea. Just looking at the Fire and Thunder Gods' "collection room" said enough about the price he paid to build this fortress.
"Tch, so it turned out like this after all? We're pulling out!"
Lucas frowned. He'd anticipated it, but seeing Moltres and Zapdos lose all reason just a second after their eyes had been clear and grateful—he still wanted to rage at this damned plot correction force.
Mewtwo nodded. Psychic power wrapped Lucas, ready to take him and the Delibird in his arms out through the hole torn by the raging birds.
"Save me—"
Lawrence III's pleading voice rang out.
Without the AI, a crash was inevitable. He'd be turned to charcoal in the exploding fireball.
Facing death, Lawrence III promptly threw Lugia to the back of his mind—he just wanted to live.
As long as he lived, there was hope.
Lucas originally didn't plan to care, but Mewtwo sensed a powerful presence rapidly approaching under the sea. Remembering some scenes, Lucas fell silent for a moment. "Mewtwo, take him too."
Mewtwo: ?
Though puzzled, Mewtwo didn't argue. Psychic energy surged, and it dragged Lawrence III out of the airship.
Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno also flew out in turn. Watching the airship trail smoke as it fell, Lucas told them, "Go destroy the cannon-like things."
Moltres acknowledged, and with Zapdos and Articuno, circled the falling airship, demolishing the exposed cannons.
Lucas's reasoning was simple: he remembered the movie, where Lawrence III took a cheap long-range shot at Lugia. To be safe, he wouldn't just deny Lawrence III a chance to control the ship—he'd make sure the ship had no means to strike Lugia, the birds, or himself and Mewtwo.
Everything had to be handled meticulously.
Mewtwo, annoyed by the hassle, knocked Lawrence III out with Psychic. Whether the man would become dull from the shock wasn't Mewtwo's concern.
Holding Lawrence III with telekinesis, Mewtwo frowned. "The Fire and Thunder Gods are gone. Where did they fly off to?"
Within a few kilometers, their auras had completely vanished.
Just as Mewtwo was about to expand its search, Lucas stopped it. He didn't bother to hide it and pointed in a direction, decisive: "They went there. The exact coordinates are—"
Better not waste Mewtwo's Psychic power at a time like this. The system could point the way anyway.
Mewtwo looked deeply at Lucas and said nothing. After Moltres and the others finished the demolition, and they watched the airship crash into the sea and explode into a towering flame—
Mewtwo closed its eyes. Psychic power surged. Space rippled. They vanished from that airspace.
…
At that moment, Lorelei was a bit battered.
If her opponent were only the Ice God, her Pokémon could barely stall one who borrowed nature's power, letting Professor Oak and Ash find a way to soothe it.
But not long ago, the Fire and Thunder Gods appeared out of nowhere. Specializing in Ice- and Water-types, she lost over half her battle power under the trio's assault.
Even the composed, intellectual beauty Lorelei couldn't help cursing, "Damn it, are they trying to kill me?!"
Lapras and Cloyster fell one after another to the Fire and Thunder Gods' cheat-like area attacks. Only her ace Slowbro remained, barely holding off the three birds bolstered by nature.
Just when despair surfaced on Lorelei's face—thinking that if they weren't drawing on nature's power, she might not even lose—searing flame, violent thunder, and frigid currents came crashing down on the overtaxed Slowbro, too late to defend.
Lorelei gritted her teeth, staring at the beams lancing down.
But the expected pain never came. Instead, the three birds shrieked in furious, piercing cries.
Lorelei's vision blurred for an instant. Looking up, she froze.
A surge of Psychic power walled off frost, flame, and lightning. A humanoid Pokémon with a swaying violet tail gazed down at the enraged birds with disdain.
And three birds nearly identical to the trio in the sky were beating their wings, blocking their path.
A man on a Dragonite sat with his back to Lorelei, a Delibird fluttering beside him—along with an adorable Pokémon she'd never seen before.
As for the unconscious Lawrence III? Lorelei ignored him.
"Was it... you who saved me?"
Asking into the sky, Lorelei's voice reached the newcomer.
Lucas, who had just teleported in, turned and found Lorelei battling the birds. Surprise flickered in his eyes but quickly hardened into resolve.
Why was Lorelei here too?
A confident smile tugged at his lips. "You've worked hard, Elite Lorelei. Leave the rest to me."
"Oh, and here's a gift—the mastermind behind all this."
With that, Mewtwo flung Lawrence III to the ice before Lorelei.
That resounding thud must've hurt.
Lorelei: "..."
She felt like she knew this man. Not long ago, she'd discussed him with her colleagues.
She remembered: Chairman Goodshow had specifically gathered them to watch a demonstration battle.
It was a one-sided fight. Even the proud Dragon Master Lance was shocked by the opponent's strength. Critic like Agatha praised that Paldean League had produced a good seedling, and battle-hungry Bruno wanted a chance to fight him.
With that reference, memory rushed back. Lorelei's pupils shrank as she recalled who stood before her.
A champion-tier trainer from far-off Paldea, who crushed Unova Champion Alder with overwhelming force—
Champion Lucas!