Pokemon Indigo League stories

Battling in the Freezing Raid

" Project Mew challengers are only allowed three pokemon each for the raid battle. A video recording will now begin."

Articuno swooped up..... with someone on its back.

Ash sighed. "Great." he muttered.

Then he looked up and crossed his arms. " What are you doing here?"

The person shot him a smirk. " Why would I NOT be here? It's that time of year, remember?"

Ash sighed deeply. " I know, I know. But can't you delay it one day? The guys need to battle your bird."

Wisty pretended to think. " Hmm.... No. Remeber what happened that year when I delayed us for just ONE day?"

Ash rubbed his temples. " Chaos. Right. Never mind. Okay, how about a few hours?"

" Five minutes."

Ash's eyes bungled. " Five minutes?! We can't have a raid battle in five minutes!"

Wisty shrugged. " Not my fault nature calls."

Ash closed his eyes, feeling a massive headache on the way. " Ten minutes."

" One minute."

" Nine minutes."

" One second."

Ash's patience was wearing thin as the negotiation spiraled out of control. He could practically feel the seconds ticking away as Wisty's proposed timeframe kept shrinking.

"One nanosecond," Wisty declared triumphantly, a smug smile on her face.

"Wisty, really?" Ash asked, throwing his arms up in exasperation.

Wisty's smile softened, and she leaned forward slightly from her perch on Articuno's back. "Alright, alright, fine. Chill out, Ash. You'll get to see Articuno in, oh... five months. So relax, nothing's gonna happen without you."

Ash huffed, muttering something under his breath about stubborn siblings. Wisty caught the tail end of it and chuckled.

"Anyway," she continued, "it's been fun, but nature waits for no one. Adios, big brother! I'll catch you in two days!" She gave Articuno a quick pat, and the legendary bird responded with a powerful flap of its wings, sending a gust of icy wind swirling around the gathered trainers.

Ash watched as Wisty and Articuno ascended rapidly, vanishing into the clouds with a shimmer of frost in their wake. A deep sigh escaped him as he turned back to the anxious-looking Project Mew challengers. "Alright, everyone... looks like we're going to have to come back for that raid. It's postponed."

Gary, who had been watching the exchange with his arms crossed, smirked. "Looks like Wisty got you good. Again."

Ash shot him a glare, but his eyes held a resigned acceptance. "Yeah, yeah. She always does. Let's just regroup and plan for the next chance in five months."

Horace, standing nearby, let out a relieved breath. "I guess we'll have plenty of time to prepare now."

"Plenty," Ash agreed, his voice carrying the weight of both annoyance and fondness. Despite everything, he couldn't help but smile. Wisty always did have a knack for turning everything into her own game, and no matter how many times she outwitted him, she'd always be his little sister—the one who rode legendary Pokémon as casually as others would ride a bicycle.

As they began to walk out of the cave, Ash found himself muttering, "Two days, huh?" He shook his head with a grin. "What a handful..."