"Look at that Joy. We're almost there." I pointed towards the horizon, prompting Joy to look upwards warily to see the island that was steadily growing larger.
"Finally..." She breathed out in relief, though we still had a ways to go yet.
"How you holding up?" I asked Aerodactyl this time.
"Dya!" He cried out, though I could tell he was borderline exhausted from the long flight, especially with two passengers on his back. Though I'm pretty sure he's having a much easier time than if he would have had to carry both Lucario and I.
As we got closer I took in the appearance of One Island, discernable by the massive volcanic mountain that dominated the north side of the island, Mt. Ember. Unlike the volcano that Blaine made into his Gym on Cinnabar Island, this one seemed to stretch up to the heavens themselves. Additionally, there appeared to be several streams of lava actively flowing down the side of the mountain into the ocean, which was producing the clouds of steam that helped to obscure the mountain peak.
"Amazing...." Joy uttered in awe, her dislike of flying apparently briefly forgotten as we steadily approached the island.
"It is..." I said softly in agreement, but for an entirely different reason as I ran my eyes over the mountain.
Unlike the mountain Articuno roosted upon, which was a long dormant volcano, Mt. Ember seemed more like a bomb that was ready to blow at any given moment, held in only by the power of Moltres. If the Legendary bird ever decided to abandon it's current home for whatever reason, I had no doubt that all of One Island would be destroyed in the ensuing eruption.
Here's hoping that doesn't happen anytime soon.
Potential future disasters aside, the mountain truly was beautiful as the mists shrouded it and the glowing lava flowed down it's side. The only question was, how to get inside?
"Do you see anything?!" I called out to Lucario.
"Not yet!" He answered, as we both flew closer to the mountain to get a better look.
The heat radiating from the mountain was intense, so much so that Charizard was the only one able to fly close enough to actually look for a way further inside.
"Over here!" Lucario called out eventually, and as we flew closer to him and Charizard I saw a cave open up around one of the lava flows.
"I REALLY wish I had a Slugma or something..." I groaned while looking at the small space, which would only give Aerodactyl a couple feet to move and fly above the burning hot lava.
"Char char, chaaaaaaar." Charizard sneered at Aerodactyl suddenly.
"..."
"💢💢💢"
Incited by Charizard's remark, Aerodactyl tucked his wings and aimed for the small cavern without a second thought, bringing Joy and I along with him for the ride as we entered what felt like an oven.
"Yeah.... Fuck this." I stated irritably while channeling the power of Articuno throughout my entire body. It was slight, but there was a notable change in the air around Joy and I as Aerodactyl continued flying through the tunnel, Charizard and Lucario behind us.
"CHEATER!" Lucario yelled up at me.
"AND PROUD OF IT!" I yelled back at him, smirking as I did so.
I had the vauge impression Lucario was flipping me off after I said that, but I wasn't sure...
We continued through this oven for what felt like forever, with my icy aura only BARELY making it bearable for Joy and I, until FINALLY we came out into a massive cavern, one which housed a certain bird that I had come all this way to meet.
"Moooooooooool?" Moltres cooed as it looked up in our direction, it's fiery eyes narrowing at our intrusion.
"Hello Moltres. Remember me?" I called to it, though that only seemed to irritate it even more.
I quickly located a stone outcropping and leapt onto it from Aerodactyl's back, who quickly flew up and away from Moltres with Joy still riding on him while Charizard and Lucario joined me.
"Moltreeeeee." The Legendary bird growled at me, stating that the only reason it was tolerating my presence was because of my part in freeing Articuno from Team Rocket's control.
"I just wanted to come say hi. I mean, I already visited both Zapdos and Articuno, so it only felt right that I visit you as well." I told it while trying to act placatingly.
"Moltres mol. Tre mol Moltres!" It declared angrily, prompting a cold line of sweat to run down the back of my neck.
Basically, aside from a human intruding in it's home, Moltres was pissed that I visited it 'last'. Not because it wanted me to visit, but because it felt like I considered it not as important as Zapdos and Articuno.
"Its nothing like that Moltres. I only visited them first because of the route that I was taking on my journey, Thunder Ridge while I was in Lavender town, and the Seafoam Islands while I was on my way here. If anything, I went out of my way to come and visit YOU." I stated, pointing out that the One Island wasn't even in my travel plans.
"Mol?"
"Its true." Lucario spoke up. "My partner even punched Zapdos in the face when they met since it was going to attack us for intruding on it's nest."
"?!?"
Moltres looked VERY interested when Lucario mentioned THAT. So, I had Rotom come out and play the footage.
"Really boss? First it was freezing, now I'm overheating...." Rotom complained, but it still played the footage of me punching Zapdos in the face, as well as when I called it a stupid electric turkey.
"Moltres mol?" It asked, trying to keep the humor out of it's voice from watching the video.
"After that it listened as I explained that I had a connection to Arceus, and then it gave me it's blessing." I told Moltres, who seemed amused as I recounted the story.
"Moltres?"
"What's a turkey? Its just a certain type of bird. I called Zapdos that to make fun of it basically. Why? Do you want a nickname too?" I asked it curiously.
"Tres?"
"Ok then..." I murmured while thinking before asking, "How about the Spicy Dodo?"
"Moltres?"
"Yes. It is VERY cool." I lied through my teeth to the god that turn me to ash at the slightest provocation, and Lucario struggled not to laugh beside me.
Part of me felt like I was one of those stupid bloggers that played 'pranks' on people in public.
...
"Hello everyone! I'm Ace Ketchum, and welcome back to another exciting episode of Name That Legendary!"
"Today, we're going to be naming the Legendary Moltres, and you won't believe what I've come up with! Spicy Dodo!"
"Its a play on the fire typing Moltres has, as well as how stupid it is like a dodo bird! This has got to be one of my better names yet, up there with Electric Turkey and Stupid Alpaca!
"Time is up! I'll see you all next time in That Time I was Reincarnated to Name Gods in Another World!"
...
I shook the brain rot out of my head as Moltres seemed to finish contemplating my nickname for it, and puffed it's chest out with pride.
"So I take it you like the name?"
"Moltres!"
"Well that's good." I said, wondering if it may ever find out that dodos were a type of bird that literally were called such and went extinct due to their own stupidity...
I hope not...
But then again, there was no real way for Moltres to find out unless I or Arceus told it, which I doubt would happen anytime soon.
"Tres." Moltres cooed as it leaned towards me pointedly, stopping just before impaling me with it's beak.
"Thank you." I said as I reached out to feel it's hot feathers, which felt like liquid sunlight as I ran my finger through them.
After admiring Moltres's feathers for a moment, I extended my aura towards it and synchronized with it like I had Zapdos and Articuno.
I could feel myself flying under the sun, drinking it's warmth with my body. I could feel the power of the volcano beneath, threatening to blow at any given second should I will it. With a single flap of my wings I could summon fire storms plunge entire regions into droughts or the heat of summer instantly, and no amount of cold or rain would ever be able to dampen my flames.
When I opened my eyes I could feel a shift within my self once again, and the environment within the volcano had also become significantly more bearable. Hell, it was actually almost comfortable now, similarly to how Articuno's blessing heightened my resistance to the extreme cold.
"Thank you." I said once more, channeling the aura of Moltres into my hand to create a small ball of flames that licked and tickled my fingers harmlessly.
"Moltres." The Legendary bird trilled in response, pulling it's head back to it's original position.
"You know." Lucario spoke up suddenly, now that I already had it's blessing.
"We've also had a battle of some kind with both Zapdos and Articuno."
"!?!"
I gave my partner a pointed look as he continued with a smirk.
"I fought against Zapdos after it blessed my partner, and then there was the battle against Articuno on the SS. Anne. So far, you're the only Legendary bird we haven't fought against in some way."
I shook my head as a competitive gleam shone in Moltres's eyes, making it obvious what was gonna happen next.
"How about it?" I asked Charizard, the most obvious choice for a battle against Moltres. One was a Legendary spicy dodo, the other was a starter that was blessed by Ho-Oh.
"CHAAAAAAAAAR!" Charizard immediately roared, accepting the challenge as he took to the skies, flying to the opening in the volcano above us while Moltres followed. I wonder if it could feel the power of Ho-Oh in Charizard?
Lucario and I gave chase by quickly climbing up the cliff-face with whatever foothold we could find, taking us to the rim of the volcano where Joy was waiting with Aerodactyl.
"Did everything go well?" Joy asked worriedly as Charizard and Moltres began their battle, which I started recording with Rotom.
"Pretty well I think." I told her, even as we watched the two pokemon duke it out in the sky above us.
"Then why are they fighting?"
"Becuase SOMEONE told Moltres that we had battled against both Zapdos and Articuno, and so it couldn't stand being the odd one out." I explained to her while looking at Lucario pointedly, which seemed to cause her expression to cramp up slightly.
"Oh, if you think that's bad, just wait until you hear about the nicknames." I told her while rolling my eyes.
"Nicknames?"
"Yeah, like what I've called Arceus and Zapdos." I told her, before something I hadn't expected happened. Two of my pokeballs opened on their own.
""Beep beep beep.""
I blinked as BOTH Regirock and Regice, who I brought with as potential extra muscle, appeared on their own, staring intently at me as they made their wishes clear.
"You...both want nicknames as well?" I asked them hesitantly.
""Bop.""
I fought back the urge to facepalm at their request, which was ridiculous since the nicknames I gave to the other Legendary pokemon were all insults to begin with.
"Fine then..." I sighed while looking Regirock and Regice up and down.
"You can be Boulder Breath." I said while pointing at Regirock. "And you can be Ice for Brains." I concluded with Regice.
""...""
The two Legendary pokemon looked at me, then at each other, then back to me.
""Beep!""
Surprisingly, they both liked their insulting nicknames.
"Do Legendary pokemon....just like being insulted?" Joy asked curiously while looking at the two of them, as well as Moltres above us.
"I don't think so... Or rather, I didn't." I replied.
"I believe that, rather than being 'insulted', it is merely the feeling of closeness that Legendary pokemon do not feel with other humans and pokemon. Should any of us try such a thing, I have no doubt that it may be the last thing any of us ever do. My partner however, is not within the realm of the norm. He is the exception."
"What he said." I stated while pointing at Lucario, who just gave me a blank look after his lovely speech.
"In all seriousness, though I don't really treat them like Legendary pokemon." I muttered while thinking on what Lucario said, and realizing the truth in it. After all, Zapdos had completely changed his tune after I punch him in the face, and then revealed my relation with Arceus.
"So, I guess instead of 'gotta catch them all', its 'gotta name them all'?" I asked with a wry smile.
"Do your best Ace!" Joy stated as she apparently tried to pump me up to give the most insulting nicknames possible.
We all then watched Charizard try to battle against Moltres, which to be fair he DID manage to put up a decent fight thanks to his Flash Fire ability nullifying a good portion of the damage he would have otherwise received from the Legendary bird's, excuse me, Spicy Dodo's attacks. A 'decent' fight didn't mean he didn't get absolutely creamed though when Mltres decided to actually take a LITTLE bit seriously.
Once that was over, with the sun going down, we found a relatively safe and sheltered spot on the mountainside to set up the Capsules as we prepared for dinner and bed, of course Moltres stuck around for the former out of curiosity. And it seemed to really enjoy the bits of dinner we shared with it.
It returned to the volcano when night began to fall, and we all began to prepare for bed. Before we could go to sleep though, Joy and I were treated to an amazing show.
"Wow..." Joy uttered, as we both looked up to see the night sky lit up with what looked like northern lights.
"They're so beautiful..."
"They're a phenomenon of the Sevii Islands." I told her as we both laid down on a blanket I pulled out from my bag.
"No one knows why they happen, but they have appeared nightly for longer than humans have been living on these islands." I told her, recalling what little I remembered from a special about them that I watched on tv once.
We continued watching for a while, until I felt Joy fall asleep as she snuggled up to my side. At that point I gently scooped her up into my arms, and carried her into the house to put her to bed properly before dozing off myself.