Disclaimer: This is a
disclaimer. Do you know what that means? Yes, it means I disclaim owning any of
this stuff, whether I wrote it or not. Now shoo, I don’t want to be reminded of
the fact that I don’t own my own story (even if I did blatantly nick the whole
universe it plays in).
But in all seriousness, this story and all the places,
names, and characters appearing in it, are entirely fictional and ripped from
various aspects of the Pokémon anime. All original characters appearing in this
story were created by me, and will not be used without my permission. Taking
things without permission is stealing. Stealing is bad. Don’t do it.
Category: Other
Rating: PG (I don’t know…
does being frozen solid equal death?)
AN: This
is a one-shot, based off of yet another entry for the Guess the Author
competition. I say ‘based off’ because this one was never completed nor entered and was left to rot on my hard drive. That is,
until today, because I felt like finishing it. As for any remarks on plot or
other things; these little one-shots are merely meant to show your style of
writing. Of course they have to follow a certain subject, but other than that
it can be about anything. Having a plot is just a nice extra, so this’ll have
to do. It’s merely a spur-of-the-moment type of thing. Anyway, I’m keeping you
from reading, so go read now.
**********
LOST and FOUND
By WeirdDutchGuy
**********
Lost…
After seeing the same tree for the nth time I finally admitted I was
thoroughly lost in this ridiculously large forest. There seemed to be no end to
the trees. What was that saying? Can’t see the forest because of the trees – or
was it the other way around? That saying seemed pretty appropriate now. I
shouldn’t have gone off the path; I shouldn’t have tried to find a shortcut.
But it’s always easy to be the judge after the deed is done. It was my fault I
got lost, and I would be the one to find my way out.
Problem was, this was a mountainous forest, as
in high in the mountains with lots of snow. And cold, of
course. I played with the thought of releasing my recently caught Delibird and have him find civilization, but dismissed it
as the chance of him just flying off and not returning was too great. After
all, he had only been added to my lineup about half an hour ago. At least
something good had come from all this. I paused for a second to think and I was
surprised to hear nothing. The forest had gone dead silent.
Suddenly a breeze started up, an icy cold gust, intensifying by the
second. After a minute or so I took shelter behind one of the larger trees, but
the wind just blew around it and chilled me to the bone. As the minutes ticked
by and the shivering got worse, I reached for Charmeleon’s Pokéball.
But, just as I reached it and tried to close my hand around it, I found that I
had cooled down much faster than I thought. I could’ve sworn my hand wouldn’t
move, or if it did I certainly didn’t feel it. Quickly, I willed it in front of
my face. A cloud of breath escaped my mouth when I sighed in relief after
seeing my hand was still attached. Still, I could feel the air getting even
colder. And that hand was a very peculiar shade of… blue. Fear kicked in. I
could very well die here, in the middle of nowhere in some godforsaken forest
just because I just had to go off the path! Stupid me and my stupid shortcuts!
If I still had feelings in my legs I’d have kicked myself, but as it was all I
could really do is sit tight and hope for a miracle.
And so the minutes turned to hours…
Suddenly, the blizzard lifted and a bright blue light shone down from
above. An unfamiliar cry made me shift my now unsteady, hazy gaze up and what I
saw made me hold my breath. A large icy blue bird hovered just above the
snow-covered tips of the trees. If I could still move my hands I would’ve
pointed my Pokédex at it, but as things were I was
completely immobile. I could only watch as the bird flapped its mighty wings,
sending sparkling snow crystals in all directions. It cried out again before a
bright flash of light knocked me out…
**********
I bolt upright and look around. Everything’s white. I take a closer
look and conclude I’m either in a Pokécenter or in
hospital. As the memories return to me I reflect on what I can only assume to
be what happened. A nurse comes in and does a quick checkup, asking me how I
feel among other things. I don’t tell her of the bird; she wouldn’t believe me
anyway. She says I was brought in three days ago, suffering from serious
hypothermia. It appears I’m lucky to have all my limbs still attached. Three
days… I find it hard to believe I’ve been out that long, yet it’s what they
tell me. After the checkup my belongings are returned to me and I’m discharged,
free to get lost again. As I walk down the street of the quiet mountain village
I can only wonder what that creature was up there. I turn my head to the
forest, slightly above and beside the town, when something on the top of the
mountain catches my eye. A bright shining bird flies over the top and
disappears behind the slope.
**********
Found...
I had moved on since the incident on the mountain. Unlike most trainers, who would, probably, immediately run back up the slope to try and catch that bird, I walked away. It wasn’t meant to be caught anyway, at least not by me, who couldn’t even beat the mountain. And I was certain that catching the bird would be harder. Sure, I had been excited at first, telling my friends back home and of course, telling the good Professor. He’d done some research based on what I saw before blacking out, and came up with the conclusion that I had seen an Articuno. Very rare and considered legendary by most, it had only been seen on a handful of occasions, and never had one been caught. An impressive feat in today’s world.
I myself wasn’t that lucky. I should’ve known they would find out eventually. My friends hadn’t been able to keep their mouths shut, and it had cost me. Team Rocket, dreaded throughout Kanto and Johto, had found me. Using a Hypno they’d hypnotized me and found out everything including the smallest of details. I couldn’t resist as the Pokémon broke down all my defenses. Though I doubted I’d get out alive my thoughts wandered to Articuno. Would it be able to escape Team Rocket’s grasp? Well, if it was always on the move it should, but I wasn’t too certain about me. Only time would tell.
**********
“Today is a glorious day for Team Rocket! We will accomplish what no man has ever done before; catch an Articuno!” Blared the Team Rocket Admin in charge. As his grunts listened intently, he explained how it wasn’t a legend, and how one had been localized by a ‘willing’ informant. And now they would set out to catch it. Not to try, but to succeed; after all, trying is for wimps. Not long after the speech they were told to march up the snowy mountain and search for anything that might be related to the bird, or perhaps even disclose its current location.
Just as the first Rocket boot crossed the snowline a blizzard started up, and the further they went, the more intense it got. Any sensible person would turn back, but the Admin only took it as a sign that clearly said they were getting closer to their quarry. He was right. But the question was, would they find the legendary Ice type before they were all frozen solid? As they searched on their numbers started to lessen. Several grunts had already turned back after showing signs of frostbite; others were less tough and chickened out before any signs showed at all. But the Admin would not give up and spurred the remainder of his men on to keep going.
After what seemed like hours of searching they reached a clearing in the forest. Surprisingly, the wind was not blowing faster here, but not blowing altogether. Like time had stopped. It was not the only thing surprising about the clearing. Smack bang in the center stood a massive tree, coated head to toe in ice. Needless to say, there was not one leaf or needle on it. In the very top was a nest-like structure, and resting in it was Articuno.
The Admin gasped, temporarily stumped by the view, but regained his senses and snapped at his men to get going. Hurriedly they stumbled forward through the thick snow, preparing to release their Fire type Pokémon. Pokémon they had been given especially for this mission. Just as they reached the tree a swift gust of wind came past. It was not a blizzard, for it carried no snow at all, but instead, it carried sheer cold. All the grunts were instantly turned into ice cubes, much to the shock of the Admin. Articuno rose from its nest and lowered itself to the ground to face the foolish human that had come to challenge it. Slowly but surely the Admin started to reach for his Pokéballs, hoping to catch the bird off-guard.
He was interrupted by a cry and looked up to see a second Articuno touch down on the nest. ‘Another one… they must be breeding! That must be why it’s been in the same place for such a long time! Excellent, if I catch them both the Boss will shower me with rewards!’ His hopes were dashed as they were formed, for the Articuno on the ground had noticed the human’s distraction and chose to end it then and there. Another wave of Sheer Cold passed over the clearing, freezing the Rocket just as he clasped his hand around his Pokébelt, a mad grin on his face. The bird seemed to scoff at the human’s pitiful attempt before lifting off to join its partner… and their chick.
**********
I still wasn’t
sure what exactly had happened, but I sure was glad it did. They were about to
kill me for not telling them there were in fact two Articunos,
but a sudden rumble had stopped them in their tracks. The next thing I knew was
being blown aside as the base almost blew up in its entirety. I got a glimpse
of something flying off through the sky – some blue streak of light – before
passing out. I seem to pass out a lot lately, but when I woke up this time it
was in a police station. I was again bombarded with questions, which I answered
to the best of my abilities, but I was left with some questions of my own. I
had been able to deduce from their foiled murder attempt that they hadn’t
caught the bird, but I swore I heard them say there were two of them. And I
couldn’t help but wonder what that blue light had been. Had Articuno
helped me again, or was something else involved here? Either way, I was fine
now and no legends had been caught, so all was well. Playing with the idea to
go back to the mountain and see if there was another Articuno,
I stepped outside. I found myself to be in
**********
The End.
**********
AN: And thus it ends. I hope you found it enjoyable. I know it has no epic
battle between good and evil, but let’s face it, Articuno shouldn’t be a push-over no matter the opponent.
Besides, it had other things to worry about so it ended the ‘fight’ quickly.
I’m afraid that is the best explanation I
can come up with right now. My mind hasn’t been working very well recently.
Might be the insomnia… nah.
WeirdDutchGuy