Ash cycled as fast as he could, unable to believe how stubborn and arrogant the birds were. He felt scared. He swore that once he got stronger, he would return with Pikachu to show these birds what happens when they mess with the wrong person. He was furious. All he wanted was to defeat them so thoroughly that they would forget who they were. He began to imagine the joy he would feel from beating them.
As he pedalled away, he heard the chirping of various birds behind him. He turned his neck slowly, hoping it was not what he feared. When he looked back, his heart stopped for a moment. He felt horrified and could barely catch his breath. A strange sensation gripped his chest, and a headache hit him. He started sweating profusely.
The birds were closing in on him. For a moment, Ash was unable to react or comprehend anything; his body froze, paralysed. He stopped pedalling, and his voice caught in his throat. He couldn't respond at all.
The birds, too, were surprised. Why had this human stopped? Were they really foolish? They had heard that humans could be cunning—was he planning a trap to capture them? Did he have a surprise in store?
Though confused, the birds did not stop flying. Suddenly, they saw the human take a deep breath, his chest expanding. The birds became anxious. What was he doing? Various scenarios raced through their tiny minds. What if the human exhaled fire, shouting something like "MADARA UCHIHA STYLE: MAJESTIC DESTROYER FLAME"? Would he destroy the entire forest? But only Pokémon had such powers—not humans, right?
Soon, they witnessed their worst nightmare—or what they thought was a worst-daydream—become reality. The human opened his mouth wide and seemed ready to exhale. Expecting a great fire, the birds froze in place, terrified. But instead of flames, they heard a scream, reminiscent of a goat's cry: "Aaaaaaaaaah!" The birds were so frightened that they felt as if their hearts nearly leapt from their chests. As soon as they heard the scream, they all screamed back as loudly as they could.
The entire forest likely heard their collective scream. After shouting until they strained their vocal cords and ran out of air, all the birds landed and looked at each other, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Once they grasped the situation, they were left dumbfounded, staring at one another as if to say, "bruh."
Purple was momentarily stunned. All of them stared at each other, trying to remember what had just happened moments ago. Both Purple and the birds recalled what they had been doing. The birds began to reposition themselves for flight, while Purple, wasting no time, hopped back onto Misty's bicycle.
Without looking back, Purple held up his fingers to signal a countdown:
"3...
2...
1...
GO!"
And the chase began anew.
Meanwhile, Misty dialled Nurse Joy of Viridian City. She yelled into the phone, "THERE IS AN EMERGENCY! THE SPEAROWS HAVE GONE WILD AGAIN AND ATTACKED A NEW TRAINER. HIS PIKACHU IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION, AND THE BOY IS WOUNDED. THEY ARE HEADING TOWARDS VIRIDIAN AND ARE BEING CHASED BY THE SPEAROW!"
Nurse Joy nearly fell back in her chair as she heard the loud commotion through the phone, but she quickly regained her composure. "Thank you for informing us. We will take all necessary steps to rescue the trainer and save his Pokémon. Once again, thank you very much, and please take care of yourself in the wild." With that, she ended the call.
As Misty hung up, she heard an ear-splitting scream coming from the direction where the trainer with Pikachu had fled. She was momentarily shocked. "Wh… What was that?" she wondered.
Initially, she thought an Exploud or Loudred might have appeared out of nowhere, but she quickly realised that those Pokémon do not inhabit the Kanto region, right?
On the other hand, Purple was cycling as fast as he could. He was already exhausted, breathing heavily and struggling to catch his breath. His clothes were completely soaked with sweat, and despite the pain all over his body, he somehow managed to keep his legs moving. His muscles were aching, and the excess lactic acid had built up in his thighs and calves. Soon, he felt a cramp in both his thighs and calves. The pain was unbearable, and he had to stretch his legs, cursing aloud in agony. He could no longer cycle; his muscles had cramped badly, and he was roaring in pain.
Meanwhile, the Spearows began to dive down, pecking at Purple. Already in so much pain, he found it torturous to endure their attacks. Tears streamed down his face as the agony became unbearable.
Just moments earlier, Pikachu had regained consciousness. He felt weak and struggled with his injuries, initially feeling dizzy. But soon he remembered what had happened before he was knocked out. He saw that he was tucked inside a jacket. It was completely soaked and smelled terrible. Yuck! Anyone else would be knocked out by the stench.
Pikachu poked his head out of the jacket and realised that Ash was riding the bicycle, with the Spearows still pursuing them from behind. His heart ached for his trainer, who was barely holding on to life and in grave danger, all to protect a rebellious, selfish, disobedient Pokémon. Tears filled Pikachu's eyes; no one had ever shown him such generosity except for Mama Kangaskhan.
Horrified, Pikachu watched as Ash roared in pain, being attacked by the Spearows. A surge of anger washed over him—not just towards the Spearows, but also at himself. He was too weak to move and felt helpless, risking his trainer's life because of his inability to fight back. Pikachu was filled with rage yet felt utterly powerless at the same time.
Suddenly, Ash lost his balance, and the bicycle collided straight into a tree. Ash was thrown to the ground but managed to move Pikachu to the side to keep him safe from harm.
In tremendous pain, Ash could barely move. He covered Pikachu with what little strength he had left by lying over him, absorbing the pecks from the Spearows. He was ready to sacrifice himself, no longer afraid of death. He thought, "Is this really the end? I have no regrets in my life. I was just a failure, unable to protect myself and Pikachu, and I didn't make good use of this life. In the end, I was just like a frog meant to live in a well, who decided to swim across the ocean." Purple chuckled, even as he vomited blood and struggled to breathe.