Always make sure to bring toilet paper when traveling. Just sayin'. We've all been there.
"When are you going to evolve that bird of yours?"
In a far off land that was the very words of very far-off woman, who specialized in a particular type of Pokemon that he also was quite the expert with. Bird Pokemon, to be exact. It's no surprise that they'd share similar likes, such as preferring graceful moves that their Bird Pokemon execute so perfectly, and even both liking the same pleasant shade of ligh-blue, for it reminded them of the boundless skies.
But she did not understand why he refused to evolve his Pidgeotto, whom he fondly names Zephyr. Of course he knew exactly why, and he decided to ask her a question instead:
"If somebody, let's say your leader, asked you to change who you were and what you are into something else, and you didn't want to, would you change anyway?"
The woman, being very head-strong as she was elegant, replied rather coolly:
"Of course not, I'll change when I want to."
"There you go, then. Question answered."
She offered a friendly little chuckle, while he kept a stern look on her gentle eyes. That was nearly two months ago, when he decided to go out traveling. Although he lost to the Gym leader known as Winona, it did not lower his spirits and faith in his Pokemon. But he was having second thoughts about being complacent with his position at the moment. He was beginning to dislike challenging people to battles. He wasn't too fond of people anyway, if he was honest with himself. Spanning his memories even further back, he decided that he never wanted to be a human ever since he was a child. He wanted to be a Pidgeotto, or a Fearow, soaring across the skies with wings wide open. Free. He personally didn't even want to ride planes, or helicopters. They were too loud. And hand-gliders were too large, and bulky.
A pair of perfect, beautiful feathered wings. That's the way to really go. He thought to himself, smiling lightly as Pidgeotto perched lightly on his shoulder, playfully nibbling on a strand of his hair. He offered a quiet laugh and lifted a hand to stroke the side of his Pokemon's head. It cooed and nuzzled his fingers.
"So! Are you ready?" Out popped the leader of their little expedition; Belinda, a stocky woman with curling grey hairs along with a shade of lighter brown. It took a moment for Falkner to focus his eyes onto her. It appears that he's been pondering a little too much for the past few days. A shred of concern crossed Belinda's face, but Falkner quickly cleared his throat, and stretched his arms out to show how loosened up he was about the trip.
"Sure am, ma'am." He confirmed with a confident grin, and Pidgeotto backed him up with a loud bell-like chirp. A few others emerged from the Pokemon Center nearby at the foot of Mount Silver; An older man who was having trouble setting up his tracker, and another woman who appeared to be trying to help him out.
"Ah, there we go. Oh, this thing will lead us straight to it!" The older man, who's name tag simply read "Mack" held back the urge to hop with utter glee, as his female assistant, Min, shook her head and placed her hands on hips.
"You better watch out, old timer. Mount Silver could get so cold that trackers like those could go way-wire. Hey, do you sure you have enough clothes on?" Belinda eyed the tracker curiously, before turning back to Falkner. The Gym leader gestured to his heavy-coat with a furred hood.
"Seems like it." He replied.
"You may also want to return your Pidgeotto back into it's Pokeball. It may be snowing peacefully now, but that could quickly change. And bird type Pokemon don't do too well around ice."
Falkner felt a small spark of impatience, and he spoke up.
"Ma'am, I know what I'm doing, thank you." He gave her another sugar-coated polite smile, and Belinda quickly softened up on him.
"Well, alright. Mack, the tracker says that it's still at that Mountain, right?" She asked a little gruffly, turning to the man who's face was down, glued to the tracker.
"Yes, yes, it's all set up and well. Min, do you have everything with you?" He swished his hand curtly at Belinda.
"Yeh."
Falkner blinked at Min's first words. Well, word. She sounded like she was a man pretending to be a woman, with a deep voice like that. He held back a laugh.
As soon as they all agreed, Belinda began to lead them all into the entrance of Mount Silver.
Zephyr ruffled it's feathers in discomfort as they entered the cave.
"Sshh, it's alright."
The Gym leader began to stroke the bird Pokemon's red crest, and began to whistle gently to calm his Pokemon. With a small coo, the Pidgeotto nestled closer into it's master's neck, and remained still. He had to agree with his Pokemon. Mount Silver's caves were not something of comfort. Water would drop from the ceiling of the caves, and the walls were covered in old green moss, that was strangely a little too bright.
The thing that really got Falkner to shiver wasn't how dark the caves were, making Min the woman—man... Thing, raise a lantern to brighten things up. No, the thing that crept him out was the silent echoes that rebounded across the walls of the cave walls, whispering its way into his ears. The deeper they entered the caves, the louder and more audible the whispers were.
Falkner glanced all around him, half-assuming that one of his other group members were just pranking him and whispering things into his ear, but as he observed each of his group members, it almost seems as if they weren't hearing a single thing.
"Do you all hear that?" He asked aloud, his voice was carried out across the cave, repeating his sentence in echoes.
Hear that... Hear that... Hear that...
Even his own echo gave him a slight chill. There was something wrong with this mountain, he knew that much. Anybody who'd stay out here long enough surly must go insane at the shear eeriness of it all.
"What, the sound of snow outside of these caves?" Belinda asked, climbing over a rocky ledge. Everybody else followed her example to get past.
"The winds are rising, according to my tracker. And our special Pokemon seems to be making it's way up higher, and higher. Oh, looks like a snow-storm is coming up." Mack stared into his tracker, that also offered a bright light to illuminate the cave.
"Of course the weather gets worse as soon as we enter the caves, that's just so typical of the bi-polar weather. Well, at least we're safe inside these caves, they're connected to the summit as well, anyway." Belinda shook her head, her bright-mood was quickly turning for the worse on hearing the bad news.
"Excellent, that's where it's heading for as well." Despite being near his elderly-ages, he was still quite the bouncy, optimistic- or at least, oblivious man who didn't seem to care what dangers lurked everywhere. Falkner had swerve around a few times as he thought he heard a Pokemon approach them. He wasn't only just a visitor here, but he was also the one who was to protect them as they made their way across, seeing he was the only Trainer out of everybody here.
"So you all don't hear that?" He asked a little more quietly so he wouldn't have to hear his own echo again.
"Hear what?" Belinda asked, turning back to him curiously why marching onwards.
"Those whispers."
As soon as he answered, everybody went dead-silent. They tilted their heads and faced their ears in all-directions in hopes to hear anything to do with a whisper.
"Either I'm going deaf, your hearing is very sensitive, or you're just hearing things." Mack decided to speak out first. Even though he was aiming to reassure his fellow group member, Falkner ended up just feeling even more irritated at how they'd easily pass a seemingly trifling matter like that. He knew he shouldn't worry about it, and he wasn't sure why he was feeling so iffy and spooked. Perhaps it was because they weren't out in the open. He never liked being unable to see the skies.
Pidgeotto twitched it's wings, and suddenly cocked it's head, looking all over the place.
Do you hear it too, buddy? Falkner took a glance to his bird Pokemon, who huddled a little closer to Falkner's head, it's feathers poking into his blue hair.
"Yeah, I don't hear anything." Belinda eventually said, shaking her head. "What about you, Min?"
"Nah." The man-woman replied dully, ignoring her- or his surroundings, focusing fully on just carrying all of the equipment and the lantern. Falkner had to admit, he/she was good at keeping things at a perspective, not letting the cave or the sound of the howling wind outside get to him even a little.
Suddenly there was a small little "Beep" on Mack's tracker, and he instantly jumped, holding back a little squeal.
"We're so close!" Falkner shook his head, chuckling quietly.
Let's see here, we have an androgynous person with a girly name, and an old-ish man who seems to have the reactions of a five year old girl. Well, at least Belinda seemed normal enough.
"What exactly do you plan to do to that winged mirage thing, anyway? Roast it and eat it?" Belinda queried Mack, who was glancing around in hopes to see if the Ice-Blue bird would somehow reach them first.
I spoke too soon. Falkner stifled another little chuckle.
"We can't cook the bird of ice, you silly woman!" The old man almost gasped at the ridiculous idea of Belinda's, who rolled her eyes.
"We're going to capture it and observe it in a safe environment, and figure out how it freezes as it does." He sounded righteous and noble, as if it was the most heroic thing to do to capture a Pokemon from their natural environment and observe it like a bunch of stalkers. Falkner's irritation nearly made his grit his teeth.
"You're not going to stuff it in a cage, surly?" Falkner asked, keeping his politeness up to the best of his abilities.
"Oh no, a confined area, where it can still fly around freely."
"As long as it's in that area. So it would be trapped, still." Falkner replied sharply. His voice contained a kind of hardness like a Pidgeot's beak after it's been sharpened over a rock. Mack blinked, his excitement momentarily disabled.
"No need to be so pedantic, young man. It will be released as soon as we find out useful information about it." He said, giving the Gym leader a cautious look. Falkner replied back with a hard stare, even though he kept the illusion of a polite smile. Mack almost didn't know how to react on this strange spectacle.
"Fair enough." Falkner said brightly, and quickly turned around as he realized his illusion broke fro a fraction of a second.
"It's alright to be nervous, everyone. This is a Legendary Pokemon we're heading for, after all." Belinda spoke up, looking over to Falkner, then to Mack, making sure they weren't about to start a fight.
"Nervous? I'm ecstatic! I've always dreamed of glimpsing any Legendary Pokemon, and now we're able to! One that belongs to Kanto, nonetheless! How strange how it's away from it's original home. Something is definitely up." He went on staring at his tracker, the bright dots and lines only made sense to him, it seemed.
Falkner pondered on the topic of Legendary Pokemon. He's never seen any before. But he'd hear tales that his father would tell him of his great adventures, out traveling the world. He hasn't heard from his father in a long time now, but he was still waiting on that next mail, whatever it may be. His father described the bird of ice to him:
"It's a ice-blue bird with a sparkling long tail. If it's blazing-red eyes wont freeze you on the spot, it's ice-beam will. Don't go looking for trouble on this tough old Legend, it only defends itself."
"Hey dad, have you ever fought it?"
"Me? Are you kidding? I'd be here with frost-bite if I ever dared touch it! It can freeze the very air, you know, the particles of water that's in the air around it. But I did watch it fly. Boy, I'll never forget the way it flies. It's like some kind of icy angel. Cold. Calculating. Deadly."
Falkner smiled in fond memories of the stories his father would tell him as a child. He missed those days, but like anything, he could replace those lost memories with new memories that he could think back on with happiness.
