“Gawk!”
The freed Lightning Bird released all the electricity within its body. Several bolts of lightning descended from the thundercloud, striking the crystal with force.
Boom!!
The crystal shattered into dust.
The Lightning Bird descended from the sky, landing not far from Xiaomou, its eyes fixed on the malfunctioning robot with malice.
While imprisoned, the Lightning Bird had witnessed the events outside and knew Xiaomou had come to rescue it.
Xiaomou looked at the Lightning Bird. It was his first close encounter with a Legendary Pokémon, and he couldn't help but feel a little excited.
However, now was not the time for excitement. He needed to deal with Team Rocket first.
"Langyan, what should we do?" Ma Yuan immediately asked.
"Surrender," Langyan said calmly.
Going outside would surely result in being attacked by the Lightning Bird. Staying inside the cockpit was safer. Even if they were captured, there was still a chance to escape.
Team Rocket members could escape from prison, but it depended on their loyalty to Chairman Plank. As long as they were loyal enough, even if their abilities were lacking, Chairman Plank would protect them.
Though the Chairman Plank in the anime was incompetent, he was very lenient towards his subordinates. He would always take care of those loyal to him.
However, the Chairman Plank in the Special Edition manga was very cruel. Team Rocket was dispensable to him, and he didn't value his subordinates' lives. He even disbanded Team Rocket at will.
"Gawk!"
The Lightning Bird let out an angry cry, trying to unleash an electric attack. However, it had exhausted too much energy and was heavily injured. It couldn't release the electricity and fainted.
"It fainted?"
Xiaomou was confused. Such a Legendary Pokémon was right in front of him; not catching it would be a huge loss.
"Whatever, let's put it in a Poké Ball first. If the Lightning Bird wants to run, let it run. I've earned the achievement of capturing a Legendary Pokémon," Xiaomou said, taking out a Premier Ball and throwing it at the Lightning Bird.
The Premier Ball hit the Lightning Bird and absorbed it. It didn't shake on the ground but directly indicated that the capture was successful.
【Ding! Mission released: Capture the Three Legendary Birds / Reward: Each captured Legendary Bird rewards a Golden Crown X1; Capture all three Legendary Birds, reward a Divine King Crown (for Pokémon below the top god potential, Potential level +1) X1! Master Miracle Candy (for Pokémon below level 90, level +1) X10!】
【Ding! Lightning Bird captured, reward delivered to your Space Backpack.】
Xiaomou was stunned by the system's sudden prompt.
He hadn't expected that capturing a Legendary Pokémon would activate a system mission. But this mission was quite difficult, requiring him to capture the Three Legendary Birds.
He might have a chance to find Moltres, but Articuno was much harder to find. They all flew all over the world, but Articuno preferred cold places and mostly acted at night. It would be quite difficult to capture it.
Xiaomou decided to leave this mission to fate. He wasn't that interested in capturing Legendary Pokémon. Six or seven in a lifetime would be enough for him.
Xiaomou immediately picked up the Premier Ball and checked the Lightning Bird's stats.
【Pokémon: Lightning Bird】
【Type: Electric, Flying】
【Level: 50】
【Potential: Champion】
【Ability: Intimidate (Exerts immense pressure on opponents, causing them to expend more energy when using skills.)】
【Moves: Peck, Thunder Shock, Quick Attack, Magnetic Field Control, Charge, Light Screen, Drill Peck, Roost, Discharge, Rain Dance, Thunder】
【Friendship: 160 (Max value 255)】
"Its Friendship is so high!"
Xiaomou was surprised.
He thought the Lightning Bird's Friendship would be around 100 or so, but it was 160, which was quite high. It was enough for Xiaomou to command this Lightning Bird.
Moreover, the Intimidate ability was different from what he knew.
In the game, the Intimidate ability reduced the opponent's move PP. For example, a move with 5 uses would only have 3 uses against an opponent with the Intimidate ability, which would be a big disadvantage.
But the real-world Intimidate ability made opponents expend more energy when using skills, which was similar. Once a Pokémon's energy was depleted, it wouldn't be able to use any more skills.
For instance, Electric-type Pokémon couldn't use Electric-type moves if their electricity ran out. The same applied to other Pokémon.
"Should I raise its Friendship?" Xiaomou pondered.
The Lightning Bird had 160 Friendship with Xiaomou. Xiaomou had 10 Master Miracle Candies, which could increase Friendship by 5 points for every level a Pokémon gained.
Using all 10 Master Miracle Candies would increase Friendship by 50 points, making it 210.
Xiaomou knew the Lightning Bird could learn Thunder and Signal Beam.
Teaching a move could increase Friendship by 10 points, so two moves would mean 20 points, which would be 230 Friendship. This was already very high, enough for the Lightning Bird to recognize Xiaomou as its Trainer.
"You bastard! You actually captured the Lightning Bird yourself!"
"Damn it! The Lightning Bird was supposed to be ours!"
As Xiaomou was considering whether to use the system's reward to increase its Friendship, voices came from the robot.
Ma Yuan and Langyan were furious.
Their original plan was to drain the Lightning Bird's electricity and then capture it themselves, but Xiaomou had taken advantage of their negligence. They were incredibly angry.
"Do you think you're safe hiding in that robot?" Xiaomou glared at the robot.
Ma Yuan and Langyan, hiding in the cockpit, were terrified. They were completely defenseless now. The robot was broken, and their Pokémon couldn't fight.
All they could think about was... Don't come over here!!
"Xiaomou, everyone has been transferred." Just then, Nessa appeared beside Xiaomou.
Xiaomou was surprised. He thought Nessa had arrived too late. He had already taken care of everything.
Nessa also looked around at the situation. Seeing the shattered robot and the broken cage, she asked in confusion, "You solved everything?"
"Yeah, everything is solved. But the two Team Rocket elites are still in the robot's cockpit," Xiaomou said.
"Should we take care of them?" Nessa asked.
"Leave them to the police."
Xiaomou didn't want to kill anyone. He trusted the police to handle them. After all, these two had committed serious crimes. Even Chairman Plank wouldn't be able to get them out.
Xiaomou took out his phone but found no signal. He looked up at the weather, and the sky was still covered with clouds. It seemed he had to dispel those clouds.
"Lightning Bird, come out."
Xiaomou released the Lightning Bird.
"You... you captured the Lightning Bird!" Nessa was surprised. She hadn't seen the Lightning Bird when she arrived and thought it had run away. She didn't expect Xiaomou to have captured it.
"The Lightning Bird is severely injured and needs treatment, so I'm going to put it in a Poké Ball and take it to the Pokémon Center for treatment," Xiaomou explained.