A/N: I've always felt that the world of the Pokémon Ranger series was pretty unexplored in fanfiction, so I decided to write this. The idea came to me quite randomly, and it involves a character who I think is one of the more intriguing ones from the three games.
Enjoy.
The midday sun was bright. Supurna used her hand to shade her eyes as she looked up. Vast and cloudless, the sky stretched on in all directions with a uniform blue hue. She swallowed and lowered her head, then faced her right. A delibird, which she had befriended only a few hours ago while climbing the mountain, stood beside her. The two exchanged a glance, she nodded, and it let out a soft caw. They both stepped forwards and peered down at the forested dell that lay before them, which rested between the mountain's western face and the nearby Silver Falls.
They were ready for the change. Ready for the arrival of the dark and the cold.
She began to move in time while the sun beat down, hot and silent. She lifted her flute to her lips and played a short, haunting melody, which had been passed on from each generation to the next since the age of the steelheads. The hairs on her skin stood on end as the sound flowed through the empty air of the valley, almost as if it were following the path of the dried up stream far below.
Once she had stopped playing, she ceased her rhythmic movements. Without a sound, she took a step towards the brink of the ridge. The delibird, meanwhile, narrowed its eyes and focused on the horizon, where the sky touched the shimmering sea. Supurna smiled at her companion's eagerness and closed her eyes.
"I dance," she said as she had done many times before, her words powerful and poetic, "on this summer day, scorched land yearning for your call. The dark skies, may they shadow me now. I wait here for you to fall. Let down your down and grace us once again!"
She waited for the echoes of the final line to fade, and silence fell once more. After about two minutes had passed, she frowned. The air was still hot. It felt like fists were pounding in her head. She looked around, perplexed. Still, the sky was cloudless. She bit her lip and took a step backwards. It had never taken this long before. Ever. Was something wrong? Her face turned pale. It occurred to her that what the Societea had done may have had permanent effects.
Without warning, the delibird squawked. It turned to Supurna and gestured towards something in the sky. She did her best to study where she thought its red flipper was pointing, but she could see nothing. She sighed and sat down next to it. It gave her a look that she assumed was intended to be reassuring, and she petted its soft, white crest feathers, much to its satisfaction. She gazed at the sky again, letting out an anxious and incoherent mutter. She was doubtful, but there was something keeping the delibird there, and she trusted in its intuition.
The sound of wind reached her a mere moment later. She scrambled to her feet and stared down in excitement. A gentle breeze was working its way up the valley, inducing waves of rustling leaves within the woods below. It picked up pace as it grew closer to her, until before long, she was being blasted by streams of cool air. Howling and roaring filled her ears. The trees all around her swayed back and forth in unison. She felt the temperature plummet. Glancing up, she noticed that several dreary, grey clouds had started to converge in the sky, blocking out the sun and shadowing her. She could not help but laugh with delight and relief as she examined where the delibird had gestured once again.
There it was. That magnificent, shining bird.
The sight never failed to amaze her, even after all of these years. The legendary, winged beast that soared towards her possessed plumage that was a marvellous shade of blue. Behind it billowed a long, streamer-like tail, which was even larger than its body, and its head crest comprised three pointed feathers, which were a darker colour than all the rest. Its wingspan was wide enough to envelop a small group of people, and its enormous, grey talons were both intimidating and awe-inspiring.
Soon, Supurna had to crane her neck to watch the creature as it flew overhead. It left a flurry of glistening particles that danced in the wind in its wake. These developed into flakes of snow, which fell like a thousand fine feathers and began to cover the landscape in a blanket of white. She watched, entranced, as they spiralled down towards her, piling up around her and eventually burying her feet.
She was pulled out of her hypnotic state as the delibird tugged on the bottom of her jacket. It beamed as she turned to it. She crouched down and opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped as it began to rummage around in its tail. Bemused, she waited as it pulled out several items of food, including some berries and what appeared to be a stale galette, and placed them on the ground, glimpsing up at her as if it were showing them off. It then took out an assortment of feathers, which were the same pure colour as the snowflakes that continued to fall from the darkened heavens, and handed one of them to her. She took it and regarded it with curiosity. It was simple but very beautiful. She slipped it into her pocket and gave the delibird a grateful hug, prompting it to cry in delight.
A sudden, high-pitched call rang across the mountainside, capturing their attention. They both span around to see that the legendary bird was making its way towards the mountain's snow-capped peak, where Supurna knew that it would make its nest. Soon after, as the delibird began to go about packing its food back into its tail, she lay down on her back. With a smile, she gazed up at the arctic snow that fell on that summer day.
The last summer day.