86: Chapter 86 Ice Bird Caught in the Net, Stealing a Sheep Along the Way

The frozen crater on the Seafoam Islands was pierced by the first silver light blast.

The rock wall cracked open like a giant maw, sending shattered ice and black stones tumbling down the mountainside. Cold mist sprayed from the fissure, coiling around half the island like a white serpent. The transport plane was parked on the distant ice, its underbelly coated in thick frost. The soldiers huddled behind steel plates, their fingers frozen purple, their rifle bolts covered in white ice.

Lynn leaned on his metal cane, standing behind a temporary barrier.

The soles of his boots had frozen hard, and his breath, landing on his scarf, instantly turned into ice crystals. The adjutant wanted to drape a thick cloak over him, but was waved away.

"Chain Team in position."

"Thermal ore box in position."

"dark ball reinforcement box in position."

The red projection of Porygon-Z flickered on the cabin screen. This time, it was only responsible for monitoring the temperature, the ocean currents, and the transport plane. Last time, the Cinnabar Island triple furnaces had burned it too severely, leaving a gap at the edge of its projection.

In the distance, Mewtwo hovered above the fissure.

It raised its hand calmly.

The second silver light blast descended.

Boom!

The frozen crater collapsed. The thing sleeping in the depths was thoroughly awakened.

A sharp screech pierced the sea breeze.

Articuno rose from the fissure.

Its wings unfurled, covering half the sky. The feathers on its chest were scorched, and its blue eyes were filled with rage. For thousands of years, no one had dared to fire cannons in its nest. Today, a group of Black Flag Soldiers, a silver monster, and a cane-wielding human had blasted through its mountain and stood on the ice, waiting for it to wake.

A cold wave pressed down from the sky.

The sea surface froze first, followed by the gun barrels on the shore, the transport plane's fuselage, and the soldiers' eyelashes. Someone just opened their mouth to shout, but frost hung from the tip of their tongue, and they froze in place. A medic rushed over and stuffed a hot cloth into their mouth, their palm sticking to the soldier's face on the spot.

"Shields!" the adjutant roared.

The first row of soldiers pushed up their black steel shields. The white ice wind struck the shield surface, emitting a harsh, piercing sound. The soldiers behind the shields were pushed backward, their boots carving deep grooves into the ice. The third soldier's knees buckled, and he nearly fell to his knees, but the person behind him propped up his back and pushed him back into position.

Lynn looked at the sky.

"Suppress it."

Mewtwo raised its hand.

Blue light pushed out from its fingertips, colliding with the overwhelming cold wave. The white ice wave stopped in mid-air, forcibly squeezed into thin sheets. The next moment, the entire ice wave exploded, turning into thousands of ice blades that recoiled back.

Articuno was knocked backward, a section of its magnificent tail feathers broken, and blood fell onto the ice, immediately freezing into red granules.

"Skeletal Aerodactyl."

A gray-white bone shadow dove down from the clouds. It had circled to high altitude long ago, waiting precisely for this moment. Its bone claws hooked into the base of Articuno's left wing, its teeth biting through the feather shafts. Articuno's body tilted, its ice wind veering toward the sea, freezing two empty dinghies into blocks of ice.

Articuno struggled, trying to take flight.

Mewtwo's eyes lit up.

Heavy pressure descended.

Articuno, along with the Skeletal Aerodactyl, plummeted toward the ice field. The bone dragon released its grip in time and flipped away, while Articuno crashed heavily into the edge of the rift, smashing a circle of spiderweb-like cracks.

"Chain Team, move!"

Twenty veterans charged out from behind the shields. They carried thick chains on their backs, thermal ore packs hanging from their waists, their boot soles studded with steel spikes. As the first group approached the ice pit, Articuno opened its beak and sprayed cold light. The lead veteran threw a thermal ore pack in front of the bird's beak.

The thermal ore pack exploded, red mineral powder and white frost scattering together.

The cold light veered by half a foot, grazing the veteran's shoulder and freezing half his hand a purplish-black. He didn't even cry out, kneeling to hammer the iron stake into the ice.

The second group followed up.

The third group circled around from the side.

Thick chains were swung out, looping around Articuno's wings. The iron chains frosted over as soon as they touched the feathers, and several soldiers had the skin of their palms stick to the chains, tearing off a layer of flesh. No one let go.

Articuno raised its head, about to spray cold light again.

Mewtwo landed in front of it, its palm pressing against the bird's beak.

Blue light pressed down.

The beak was forced back into the ice pit.

Lynn walked to the edge of the pit, his black trench coat flapping loudly in the cold wind. He took out a dark ball. The surface of the sphere was wrapped in dark red patterns, from which came a low sound of metal grinding.

"You are very angry." Lynn looked down at it. "Very good. Anger is always more useful than dying here."

Pride ignited in Articuno's eyes, and its wing roots shuddered violently. Two iron stakes were pulled out, sending five soldiers flying toward the rift.

The Skeletal Aerodactyl swooped over, its bone wings sweeping horizontally, knocking three people back onto the ice, then using its tail bone to hook the belts of the last two. Its own shoulder blade was sliced open by the ice light, cold smoke rising from the gray-white bone seams.

Lynn threw the dark ball.

The sphere struck Articuno's forehead, exploding in a circle of black light. Dozens of barbed chains extended from the ball, first wrapping around its wings, then hooking into the layer of feathers on its chest. Articuno screamed, and the entire ice field shook in response.

It flapped its wings desperately, overturning two iron stakes, and a dozen soldiers rolled into a snowdrift. Mewtwo's eyes turned cold, and it stomped down.

The ice pit went silent.

The black chains tightened, and Articuno's massive body was dragged into the ball bit by bit. When the last tail feather disappeared, the ball fell to the ice, swayed only once, and then the black locking patterns lit up.

Caught.

Lynn bent down to pick up the ball, his palm instantly frosting over. He stuffed the ball into the reinforcement box, snapped the lid shut, and violent banging sounds immediately came from inside.

"Send the frostbitten back to the cabin. Record the merits for those who lost fingers. Promote the few in the Chain Team by half a rank."

Only then did the soldiers dare to catch their breath.

The veteran was missing two fingers, his face pale, yet he still protected the merit badge in his arms.

"If we go back alive, how much grain can we exchange for?" he asked.

The adjutant looked at Lynn.

Lynn said: "Exchange it for a room with a stove, plus a spot for your son in the military academy."

The veteran laughed, but halfway through, he gasped in pain.

At the other end of the cabin, the Skeletal Aerodactyl lay on the fixed rack, cold smoke still rising from the crack in its shoulder blade. Blaine was on a remote connection, directing a mechanical arm to stuff thermal ore powder into the fissure. The bone dragon flicked its tail irritably, nearly sweeping a crate of ammunition into the sea.

Mewtwo sat on the edge of the cabin roof, quietly watching all of this.

It could hold down Articuno with one hand, and it could overturn the transport plane with a single thought. But frostbite, severed fingers, medicinal powder, and bandages—all of these had to be handled slowly by ordinary people.

The reinforcement box banged again, white frost forming on its surface.

"It hates you," Mewtwo said.

"Hate can still fire cannons."

"Sooner or later, it will bite back."

Lynn patted the lid.

"Let it bite the Indigo Plateau first."

When the transport plane took off, a muffled cracking sound came from beneath the Seafoam Islands. The iceberg shattered into several sections, slowly drifting toward the open sea. In the distance, several fishing boats were pushed sideways by turbulent waves, and the crew knelt on the deck, kowtowing toward the Seafoam Islands.

Porygon-Z projected the image in front of Lynn.

"Ocean currents are changing direction. The southeastern line will be chaotic. Coastal fishing villages need to withdraw their boats."

Lynn glanced at it.

"Issue a warning. Have the boats return to port, and let the fishermen collect supplemental grain."

"Use Cinnabar grain?" the adjutant asked.

"Use it."

He withdrew his gaze.

"Once the sea is in chaos, the infamy will fall on us first. Feed the people first, then let them curse."

The Sea God was still sleeping in the distance.

The first pillar had already fallen.

When the transport plane landed back on Cinnabar Island, everyone at the port saw that black reinforcement box. Cold air leaked from the cracks in the box, crawling along the ground to form a layer of white frost. A few porters took a step closer, and ice crystals hung from their eyebrows.

Blaine personally led people to deliver the box into the volcanic prison.

The prison was built above a lava channel, with black steel plates on all four sides and red magma flowing beneath the floor. When Articuno was released, its first reaction was to flap its wings and charge toward the ceiling. It had just risen ten meters when Mewtwo extended a finger from the shadows of the ceiling.

Bang.

Articuno was smashed back to the bottom of the prison.

Lynn stood outside the safety wall.

"From today on, you stay here during the day and listen to the training horn at night. On the day of Indigo Plateau, I will let you out. You can unleash all your rage on the Alliance."

Articuno raised its head and shrieked, the ice wind blowing cracks into the safety glass.

Lynn turned to leave.

"Not a bad sound."

Blaine followed behind him, rubbing his hands excitedly.

"Use it to pave an ice road for the fleet?"

"Pave roads, blockade ports, disrupt enemy air forces. And by the way, tell the Indigo Plateau that legends can also be packed into boxes."

In the prison cell, Articuno's shriek still echoed.

The people of Cinnabar Island understood for the first time that the war Lynn spoke of had moved from Gyms and Elite Four to the doorstep of legends.

That night, everyone in the port tavern was talking about that ice bird. Some said it could freeze half the sea with one flap of its wings, others said it was pressed back to the prison floor by a single finger from Mewtwo. As the stories spread, only one straightforward sentence remained: Legends can also bleed, and they can also be put into balls.

This sentence caused the morale of Cinnabar to skyrocket. The soldiers began to believe that the holy land of Indigo Plateau, which had been hyped for decades, might likewise fall.

Three shifts of guards were added outside the volcanic prison. Every time the guards changed shifts, they had to listen to Articuno banging against the walls inside. The sound was like a bell, reminding them of what Cinnabar held in its hands, and also reminding them that if they let go, they would be frozen into corpses first.

The guards gave the prison a crude name: the Ice Stove.

Freezing people to death above, burning them to death below—it fit Cinnabar's appetite perfectly.

The next day, Lynn had the footage of Articuno's capture edited into a short clip and sent to all channels that the Indigo Plateau could receive. The footage removed the fancy commentary, leaving only Articuno falling to the ground, the veteran's severed finger, the dark ball closing, and the volcanic prison doors shutting.

The last line of text was very short.

The next snowfall will land on your heads.

After the Indigo Plateau received the footage, the three watchtowers sounded their alarms simultaneously.

On the Cinnabar Island side, the fleet began loading anti-cold medicine, ice-claw boots, and lava bombs. The factory worked through the night to produce black steel chains, and the porridge stalls added meat for the Chain Team. The veteran missing two fingers sat by the stove, watching his son receive a spot in the military academy, unable to speak for a long time.

Lynn stood outside the volcanic prison, listening to Articuno banging against the wall. Every sound was like a bell tolling before the collapse of the Indigo Plateau.

After the short clip was sent out, the reaction from the Indigo Plateau was faster than Lynn had anticipated.

That night, three rows of anti-aircraft lights were added to the southern slope of the Indigo Plateau. Patrolling Dragonites lowered their altitude back and forth, and even the villages at the foot of the mountain could hear the flapping of dragon wings. The Alliance propaganda department urgently issued a notice stating that the abnormal ocean currents at the Seafoam Islands were a natural disaster, and that the Black Flag had forged the footage during the chaos, attempting to create panic.

But the footage could not deceive the soldiers. The blood on Articuno's chest, the severed finger of the Chain Team veteran, the dull thud of the dark ball closing—all of it was too real. The defenders of the Indigo Plateau watched the clip in private, becoming quieter the more they watched. Someone paused the footage at the moment the volcanic prison door closed, stared at it for a long time, and finally cursed.

"If legends can be caught, what are we?"

This remark reached the officers' ears, and three soldiers were dragged out to be whipped. But the louder the whipping sound, the faster the fear spread.

The situation on the Cinnabar side was the exact opposite.

On the morning of the third day, the Chain Team veteran went to the training ground in a wheelchair. He was missing two fingers, his wrist bandaged like a wooden mallet, yet he insisted on watching the new recruits practice with the chains. The new recruits swung the thick chains at the wooden posts, always missing. He raised his foot and kicked one of them over.

"The Ice Bird struggles harder than your daddy's coffin lid. If your hands go soft, just wait to be dragged into the rift."

The kicked recruit scrambled up and swung the chain again. Half the training ground could hear the sound of iron chains smashing against wood.

In the port warehouse, anti-cold medicine was being moved onto ships crate by crate. The side effects brought by Articuno also began to appear. The nearby sea was abnormally cold, two water pipes burst during the night, and the porridge stalls had queues lasting half the night. Lynn directly posted a public notice: The bird capture caused the ocean currents to turn cold; affected residents should go to the East Warehouse to collect coal and thick cloth. You can curse the Black Flag, but do it after you've collected your supplies.

After this notice was posted, there was actually more laughter in the streets. An old fisherman carrying a coal bag stood before the notice and spat.

"Curse all you want, the coal is quite heavy."

Public grievances were suppressed by coal bags, and morale was lifted by the Ice Bird. A strange atmosphere began to emerge on Cinnabar Island: everyone knew Lynn had caused even bigger trouble, yet everyone felt this trouble could be exchanged for a chance at victory.

In the volcanic prison, Articuno banged against the walls three times a day. The first time was in the early morning, the second in the afternoon, and the third when the night training horn sounded. The guards were afraid at first, but later they treated the banging sound as a shift-change bell. When the bell rang, they would check the chains, check the lava channel, and check the suppression marks left by Mewtwo.

Mewtwo would come to the volcanic prison once every other night.

It didn't speak, just stood outside the glass wall watching Articuno. Articuno also watched it, the hatred in its eyes almost solidifying into ice. The two legends stared at each other across the wall, and the guards even softened their breathing.

Lynn also came occasionally.

He watched Articuno's wounds heal, watched its feathers grow back, and watched the force of its wall-banging grow stronger. Blaine was as excited each time as if he were watching a new cannon test-fire.

"At this rate of recovery, it will be able to take to the sky before the final assault on Indigo Plateau."

"Starve it for two meals before it takes to the sky," Lynn said.

"Afraid it won't listen?"

"Let it remember the prison door, and also remember the person who lets it out."

Blaine rubbed his hands.

"A person like you, even calculating debts with a bird."

Lynn looked at those ice-blue eyes at the bottom of the prison.

"In war, only things that can settle accounts are reliable."

On the seventh day, Articuno finally stopped banging against the wall.

It stood above the lava channel, wings folded, looking coldly at Lynn behind the safety wall. That gaze still carried hatred, but it now held an additional meaning: it had remembered this cane-wielding human.

Lynn stuck a map of the Indigo Plateau's air defenses onto the glass.

"Choose who you want to freeze yourself."

Articuno's gaze fell on the main peak of the Indigo Plateau.

The temperature in the prison plummeted.

Frost on the safety wall crawled all the way to the center of that map.