On the far off islands to the south known as Seafoam, the legendary freezing bird, Articuno, hovers above the island's twin mountains and slowly descends towards its resting place in the frozen caves. Out on the rocky cliffs, Team Rocket members spot the legendary creature and hurries to trail after it.

Red is struggling hard to cling onto Misty's Gyarados while the sea dragon takes him across the waters to the Seafoam Islands. Misty sits on her spinning Starmie and laughs at the boy's hideous moves. Red gets embarrassed and says he would get the hinge of things soon. He lets go of one hand but quickly realizes they are about to crash onto the island shore. He yells for Gyarados to stop but ends up giving his orders too late and plunges into the sand head on with the pokemon. Misty laughs even more and remarks that the boy should learn to be aware of the things around him. Red pulls himself out of the sand and the gymleader tells him that the Seafoam Islands are known to be the home of the legendary bird, Articuno. She then says that Surf is a very important technique for travelling on waters and suggests Red take her Gyarados with him as the HM03 has been damaged. She adds that she has sufficiently tamed the Gyarados since their last encounter and that he seems to bond with the pokemon quite well. The gymleader says she has to go back to the gym and trades the sea dragon to Red in exchange for his Krabby, Kra, before taking off on her Starmie. The boy watches her slowly disappear on her spinning star-shaped pokemon and wonders why she is in such a hurry. Misty takes a look back at the island and silently apologizes to Red, adding that it is important that he collects all the badges as soon as possible.

Later, Red is wandering around the island and searching for Articuno while a few TR members are spying on him. The boy feels the air getting colder and colder and sees most of the trees and plants withered. He releases Pika, Poli, Saur, Lax and Eevee, which he named Vee, then decides to introduce his new party member to them. Gyarados pops out from a pokeball and Pika, Poli and Saur immediately stiffen and step back. The boy realizes they must have had not so good an impression of the atrocious pokemon from their encounter before. He is about to think of a way to solve the problem when a Muk suddenly leaps out from the bushes to attack him. Pika immediately jumps to the rescue but Gyarados cuts in quicker and slams the poison pokemon away. Red orders his pokemons to assist in the fight, but Pika, Poli and Saur feel a little uncertain of themselves in front of their mighty new companion and hesitate to move. The boy gets frustrated and orders his Gyarados to fire another attack. Just then, a metallic ninja star narrowly misses him and the gang of TR members emerge from the rocks. The gang leader states that he would not let him interfere with their plan to capture Articuno, and it is only then that the boy sees a huge block of ice next to the him with the silhouette of a giant bird inside.

The gang leader explains that the legendary Articuno has very acute senses and freezes itself everytime it detects the presence of enemies, but adds that it would not thwart their work as they plan to snag the bird away together with the ice. The man orders his Muk to wrap itself around the frozen Articuno and Red immediately tells Gyarados to stop the sludge pokemon. But to his shock, the sea dragon has a atrocious expression on its face and starts thrashing about frantically. The boy recognizes the look as the one it had during their first encounter near Mt. Moon and realizes the pokemon must be suffering from a traumatic syndrome that reminds it of the horrifying experience in the TR lab everytime it encounters members of the evil organization. The gang leader orders Muk to attack Gyarados and the two end up crashing into the ice block of Articuno, freeing the bird from its constraints. The legendary pokemon starts to fly away and the TR members instantly sprint after it.

As Muk continues its assault on the frantic Gyarados, Red gets deperate and falls to his knees to beg his hesitant pokemons to render help. Vee runs up to its trainer with a determined look and Red knows that the little Eevee must feel Gyarados's pain as it has gone through the same nightmare before. Pika, Poli, Saur and Lax exchange looks with each other and decide to help their new friend. Pika shocks Muk with a thunderbolt while Lax delivers a mega punch to it, temporarily freeing the sea dragon from its attacker. Meanwhile, the TR members have caught up with Articuno and the bird turns around to flap its blue wings, creating a massive hail storm towards the men. Muk breaks free of Red's pokemons and once again charges towards Gyarados. Articuno sees this and freezes the poison pokemon just in time. Red is surprised that the legendary pokemon came to his rescue but gets delighted as the look on Gyarados's face returns to normal.

Articuno lifts off and the TR members once again give chase. Red watches the men disappear into the mountains and wishes that the legendary bird would escape from its pursuers. He then turns around to thank his pokemons for helping Gyarados. Poli, Saur and Lax return the compliment with a grin while Pika and Vee look up to smile at the big sea dragon. Red is glad that his pokemons have finally accepted Gyarados as their new companion and they all cheer for the new addition as the sun slowly disappears into the horizon...

Thanks To Coronis For Writing this for us and doing the pictures