Nature is cruel.
All wild Pokémon living in the wilderness must obey the law of survival of the fittest.
Within clan-based Pokémon groups, the strong replacing the weak is only natural.
The Fearow had once imagined that one day—when it grew old—someone from within the flock would rise up to challenge its position as leader.
But it never imagined that while still at the peak of its strength, it would be betrayed and assassinated by its own subordinates.
To have its leadership stolen in such a despicable way was something it could never accept—especially when it still had a child to protect.
That made the resentment even harder to bear.
But resentment changed nothing.
So many things in life were simply beyond its control.
Feeling the despair, sorrow, unwillingness, and pain radiating from Fearow through Aura, Ash's face was filled with grief.
Just as Fearow had said—
A powerful toxin had already spread throughout its body. Its lungs could barely contract anymore, on the verge of total failure.
And there was that fatal wound to the abdomen.
The Fearow called Scar-Eye had used Drill Peck, piercing straight through its belly.
A hole as thick as a wrist—its intestines already spilling out.
Fearow's life force was draining away rapidly.
Even Ash… could do nothing.
"Ga… cough… Ash… I'm about to die…"
Fearow coughed up blood, looking at Ash with pleading eyes.
"Can I… ask you for one thing… cough…"
"Say it," Ash replied softly, his heart aching at the intense maternal love in Fearow's gaze.
"Ga… The fact that my eldest can follow a Trainer like you… puts my heart at ease…"
"The only thing I can't let go of… is the second child."
"I beg you, Ash… after I die… please help take care of my second child…
This poor baby… who will have no mother from now on…"
"Cough!!"
"Don't talk," Ash said urgently.
"I promise you. I promise. I'll take good care of Pidgeotto and Spearow."
Then Ash turned and shouted,
"Pidgeotto! Spearow! Come here—quickly!"
Sensing Fearow's life slipping away, Ash called out anxiously.
"Jie—!"
"Pidge—!"
Pidgeotto and Spearow immediately understood something was terribly wrong and rushed over.
"Jie—Mom, are you okay? Don't scare me…"
Spearrow ran to her, rubbing her head against Fearow, her voice breaking into sobs.
Pidgeotto didn't speak—but his eyes were filled with sorrow as he looked at his mother lying in a pool of blood.
"Ga… Don't cry… Mom's fine… Mom's fine…"
Fearow struggled to lift a wing and gently patted Spearow's back.
Then she looked up at her eldest son—now evolved into Pidgeotto.
"Ga… Eldest… Mom is sorry to you."
"When you lived in the flock… I didn't protect you. You were bullied endlessly."
"Later, to keep my position as leader… when Scar-Eye pressured me, I coldly drove you away."
"Mom is sorry… truly sorry. And now I'm leaving without ever making it up to you…"
"Can you… forgive me?"
Fearow's eyes were filled with sorrow, regret, and deep maternal love.
"Pidge…"
Meeting those eyes, the walls around Pidgeotto's heart finally shattered.
Tears streamed down his face.
"Pidge… You don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong."
"If not for you, I would've been swallowed whole by an Ekans long ago."
"But because of me, you and my brother were ostracized by the flock."
"If not for me… perhaps Scar-Eye's rebellion would never have happened."
"This is all because of me."
"I'm a bad omen… a curse."
"Ga—Shut up!!"
Fearow suddenly snapped, eyes blazing.
"I won't allow you to say that about yourself!"
"You are my child. I hatched you from an egg. I watched you grow."
"You did nothing wrong."
"The ones at fault are Scar-Eye, Crooked-Leg, and those traitors!"
"I don't care whether you're a Pidgey, a Spearow, or a Pidgeotto—
You are my child. And my child can never be wrong."
"Remember that… cough…"
"Pidge… Yes. I'll remember… Mom."
After a brief hesitation, Pidgeotto finally spoke the word he had never dared to say before.
"Ga… You finally called me 'Mom'…"
"Eldest… Mom is running out of time."
"Promise me—you'll take good care of your younger brother."
"And listen to Ash. He's a kind human, and a Trainer with limitless potential."
"You want to grow stronger, don't you? Follow him… and you'll achieve your dreams."
"Pidge… Don't worry, Mom. I'll take care of my brother."
SMACK!
"Ow!! Mom, why did you hit me?!"
Spearrow, who had thrown herself onto Fearow, was swatted away with a wing.
"Ga—Eldest, if your brother doesn't listen, beat him properly."
"This brat won't behave unless he's beaten."
"And you—Second!"
"Listen to your brother from now on!"
"Don't think nobody can discipline you after I'm gone!"
"Jie—Mom, I know! I'll listen to my brother!"
Spearrow shrank her neck, clearly terrified of her hot-tempered mother.
Even the grief of impending death was momentarily overshadowed by fear of her authority.
"Ga… I've entrusted you both to Ash."
"From now on, he's not just your brother's Trainer—he's yours too."
"Listen to him well."
"Jie—Mom, I understand."
Seeing her daughter finally behave, Fearow softened.
She looked at her two sons with tear-filled eyes, unwilling—so unwilling—to leave them.
Her gaze drifted to the clearing behind them—
The traitors reduced to charcoal by lightning, Scar-Eye lying broken-winged on the ground.
Hatred surged in her eyes.
If not for those traitors… how could she be torn apart from her children like this?
Being struck dead by lightning was too easy for them.
"Ga… Eldest. Second."
"After I die—tear those traitors apart and bury them with me."
"I want them all to—to die with me."
"Ga—Bring Scar-Eye to me."
"I won't be satisfied unless I kill him myself."
With a last burst of strength, Fearow's eyes burned with hatred.
Pidgeotto, tears streaming, flew over and dragged the struggling Scar-Eye back, throwing him before his mother.
"Ga—Leader! Leader! I was wrong! I beg you—spare me—!"
Scar-Eye trembled uncontrollably, begging for mercy under Fearow's icy gaze.
"Ga… Eldest. Second…"
"Mom can't protect you anymore."
"Take care of yourselves… live well… okay?"
Two blood-red tears slid down Fearow's face.
"Jie—Mom—wahhh—!!"
"Pidge… Mom…"
"My precious children…"
"I won't get to watch you grow up…"
"I'm… so unwilling…"
Then—
Her gaze turned savage.
"Ga—Damn you, Scar-Eye! Damn you traitors!"
"Die!!"
SPLASH!!
Fearow plunged her sword-like beak downward—
Straight into Scar-Eye's remaining eye.
The eyeball burst.
The socket shattered.
The skull was pierced through.
That Drill Peck carried not only hatred—
But all her unwillingness to die.
Her children weren't grown.
She owed her eldest so much.
She hadn't repaid him yet…
And now—she was dying.
"Ga—!! I'm not willing—!!"
Pulling her beak free from Scar-Eye's shattered skull, Fearow lifted her head to the sky, blood and tears streaming as she released her final cry.
Then—
She fell silent.
"Jie—Mom—!!"
"Pidge… Mom…"
Spearrow wailed in heartbreak.
Pidgeotto wept in silent despair.
Watching from behind, Ash's eyes reddened.
Holding Pikachu, standing beside Frogadier, he said nothing.
In his past life, he was an orphan.
In this life, he lived with only his mother.
To Ash—
A mother was an entire family.
Maternal love was the very definition of home.
Feeling Fearow's boundless love…
Hearing her unwilling final cry…
Ash finally broke.
Tears poured freely down his face, carving two clear trails across his cheeks.
The forest remained silent—
Bearing witness to a mother's last roar against fate.
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