Pokémon: Who let him leave Pallet Town?

Chapter 175 Firebird (1600 monthly votes)

The trainers who followed Ash only managed to cover about a quarter of the second half of the journey.

In the end, only Ash and Natsume remained on the entire Fire Link track.

"Satoshi, good luck! Maybe Aunt Hanako is watching you on TV right now."

Natsume took a step forward and stood in front of Ash.

"Don't worry, Natsume-nii, I'll be fine!"

Outside the stadium, Shigeru held Pikachu, staring at the giant screen in the sky with a look of utter despair.

The two of them couldn't keep going in the first half and were forced to leave.

"Xiao Mao, what are you thinking about?" Xiao Xia asked curiously.

Xiao Mao is dressed as a thinker, contemplating life:
"I'm wondering how I managed to beat him when we were kids."

"Mr. Natsume, you should make that... Pokémon stop."

The ambulance arrived beside Natsume, the window rolled down, and Joey's worried voice rang out.

Ahead of them, Zapdos had exhausted its strength, moving so slowly it was like walking, its body swaying as if it might collapse at any moment.

There were only a few kilometers left in the course, but Zapdos had reached its limit.

Natsume looked at the Zapdos ahead and shook his head slightly.

He had suggested stopping long ago, but the other party refused each time.

"Should we stop?" Natsume shouted again.

Ahead, Zapdos stretched out its long neck, its head close to the ground, sweat dripping down its long beak and forming a wet trail.

Ahead, Ash seemed to have also realized that Zapdos had reached its limit. Holding a torch, he approached with some concern, standing in front of it to break the wind for it.

"Mr. Natsume, this Pokémon should have feathers and not be good at running, right?"

Joy glanced at Zapdos's bare body and immediately deduced.

"Yes."

Natsume nodded, offering no further explanation.

His telekinesis was focused around Zapdos, constantly monitoring its physical condition.

Actually, an hour earlier, Natsume had already sensed that the Zapdos's body had reached its limit.

At that time, the other person didn't even have the strength to drink water, and was in a dazed state.

The fact that it has been able to hold on until now is entirely due to Zapdos's own will, except for Natsume manipulating the water flow to automatically pour into the other's body.

"Gah-"

A sound like a broken bellows came from Zapdos's throat.

Xiao Zhi felt that the other person seemed to have glanced at him intentionally or unintentionally.

"Natsume-nii, what's wrong with it?"

Ash turned around and looked at Natsume.

"It says it will rely on itself and doesn't need you to break the wind."

Natsume translated it accurately.

"I understand."

Ash nodded seriously, sped up, and disappeared from Natsume's sight.

A moment later, Naruto's shout rang out from the sky:

"My goodness, 32 hours! It only took 32 hours! This year's torch relay speed has set a new record!"

"Let's see Natsume-san's last Pokémon on the track!"

Naruto looked at Natsume flying in mid-air, and in a moment of surprise, he quickly changed his mind. The director also zoomed in on the camera and focused on Zapdos.

Realizing it had become the center of attention, Zapdos suddenly looked up, its eyes wide and bright red from being constantly looking down and congested with blood.

We can't lose face! We can't lose face!
"Wow, it looks so pitiful, meow."

At the competition venue, Meowth rode on Kojiro's head, its eyes glued to the large screen above.

"That's strange, when did Natsume catch this Pokémon, meow?"

"What's so strange about you? Come down and sell souvenirs!"

Kojiro grabbed the cat and pulled it off.

"Hey, hey, hey, our target is Moltres, meow! Is it really okay to just sell souvenirs here like this?"

Meow Meow rubbed its head, looking somewhat unconvinced.

"Well, this is such a great deal."

Musashi walked over, carrying a large pile of small badges.

A piece of iron that costs less than a few dollars to produce can be printed with anything and sold for thousands of times the price, making an incredible profit.

"That little devil is about to shoot the Olympic flame into the Bird's Nest, Meow!"

Meowth pointed to the opposite platform, where Ash had already drawn his bow and aimed at a building in the distance that resembled a bird's nest.

The sacred flame burns fiercely on the arrow, reflecting the unwilling face of the cat.

"Damn it, you two are a disgrace to Team Rocket—"

"How much is it?"

"Five hundred for one, eight hundred for two, meow!"

"It has begun! The sacred flame returns to its nest, and the firebird will appear!"

Narutosuke's voice began to become passionate, and the scene in the video changed to Ash drawing his bow and nocking an arrow.

Natsume looked up at the screen above, where an arrow carrying the sacred flame shot into the bird's nest-shaped building.

There was clearly nothing flammable inside, yet the flames flared up dramatically after the arrow was shot in!

"Gah-"

A bright and enthusiastic cry rang out from the sky, and a large bird engulfed in flames flew over.

"It's a Moltres!"

Ash was overjoyed. "Pikachu!"

The man with the middle parting suddenly looked up, and the next second, his eyes were filled with disappointment.

"Pikachu—" That's pointless.

The girl with the middle parting hid in the arms of the proud man, feeling sullen.

"It has appeared! The sacred bird has returned to its nest!"

As Narusuke's voice rang out, the screen in the sky froze on the flying firebird and the slowly burning flames of the arena.

The mollusk returned to its nest, a hint of surprise shining in its eyes.

It turned its head to look at Ash, flapped its wings, and a fiery feather fell into Ash's hand.

It took off immediately, the competitive flames in the Bird's Nest seemingly merging with the flames on its body, like a giant fireball, soaring into the sky.

Everyone stared at the scene in a daze, except for Natsume, who yawned out of boredom.

This is just an ordinary Moltres.

“Gana—”

Zapdos looked up and glared angrily at the sky.

"What, do you feel like your limelight has been stolen?"

Natsume looked at Zapdos with a half-smile, the huge fireball shooting into the sky reflected in Zapdos's pupils.

But soon, another, stronger flame suppressed it.

Zapdos roared angrily and miraculously started running again.

"what?"

Natsume looked at the other person in surprise.

My body has been completely drained.
Damn it, if only the middle-part hairstyle had half its will!

Unfortunately, this was just a brief outburst.

Several hundred meters away from the red line at the entrance of the venue, Zapdos stood shakily in place.

Its legs were shaking uncontrollably, and large beads of sweat dripped down, quickly rising up with the evaporated moisture.

It swayed, no longer moving forward, as if it would collapse if it took another step.

"Everyone's attention isn't on this, nobody cares about your victory, you can try giving up."

Natsume followed behind, offering words of advice.

Sometimes being too stubborn is not a good thing; a balance between tension and relaxation is the best approach.

Zapdos didn't move; it just stared intently at the huge fireball in the sky.

As if it regarded the other as a competitor, it shakily raised its leg and took a step forward.

In the sky, the firebird, fueled by the flames of competition, seemed to have noticed something and glanced in Natsume's direction.

"Gah?"

It paused for a moment upon seeing Zapdos.

But Moltres didn't make much of a move; it simply glanced at Moltres and then turned its head away.

Suddenly, the Moltres abruptly lowered its head.

Beneath it, a wisp of the competitive flames that had been swept up by it and ascended into the air actually fell down.

Moreover, no matter how it tried to ignite it, that wisp of competitive fire remained motionless, plummeting straight downwards.

what happened?

A hint of bewilderment was visible in Moltres's clear eyes.

There's only one Moltres here!
Is it because the competitive spirit this year is too intense, and it can't control it?

"What is that! Could it be that there's another being blessed by Moltres this year?!"

The camera immediately switched to the falling flame.

The flames fell to a certain height, then suddenly turned and sped off in a certain direction, disappearing from sight.

"Ok?"

Natsume was stunned. With his telekinetic powers fully activated, he could clearly sense that the vanished sacred fire was heading in his direction.

"Disappeared! Which contestant is also going to receive the blessing of the Moltres?!"

Narusuke's excited voice rang out.

However, Natsume knew that this was definitely not a blessing.

Because this burning sacred fire, in a sense, belongs to that divine firebird.

For Ash, this ordinary Moltres only gave him its own feathers.

With a whoosh, the flame swept past Natsume and landed squarely on Zapdos.

In an instant, as if a spark had fallen into a haystack, the flame suddenly grew larger and began to burn fiercely.

"Gana!!!"

Zapdos was in excruciating pain and collapsed to the ground uncontrollably.

Its head, however, was firmly propped up by the bird's beak, tilted to the side, staring intently at the firebird in the sky.

The molten bird frowned, turned around, and flew away.

“Gana—”

Lightning erupted uncontrollably within his body, engulfing flames and flowing like magma across his charred body.

In a daze, Natsume saw Zapdos's pupils collapse into ashes.

not good!

Natsume realized what was happening and stepped forward, intending to use his telekinesis to rescue Zapdos from the flames of the competition.

The next second, burning lightning exploded in the cracks of the bones, and lightning and fire intertwined to form wings. When the lightning bird burned through the air, it had already turned into a surging wreckage.

It staggered, tearing the finish line with the tip of its beak.

(End of this chapter)