Shout Outs...
Infinite Freedom: I'm half surprised myself. ^_^;;
ian25rebel: Not yet, as said I want to stick to gens 1 – 4 for now. It's what I started the story on, so I plan to carry it on as such.
D.J. Scales: She is a girl, 100%. Even if she doesn't look it.
0-0
Ah, summer! A time when most pokémon trainers starting out on their journey head out with their first pokémon to travel! Sinnoh in particular waits for the summer to send young trainers out, as being further north then most regions it's winters are longer, harsher and colder! Such is life.
Our heroes fell asleep, leaving behind them a bright, sunny day and warm, calm night. However what they woke up to was something very unusual for this time of year...
"Mmmm..." Jay let off, squirming a bit in his sleeping back, eyes blinking as he heard the noise his watch made, it's alarm alerting him it was time to awaken. Yawning he shivered softly, putting it off to the nightmare he had the night before.
Him and his little sister, walking down the street, hand in hand as she excitedly told him about her day at school. He always went to meet her at her school, walking home with her. Pulling her hand free to make gestures to empathize her words. Then an explosion of dark, blue light, barring down on them. An action; pushing her aside and then...
Gone from his world...
He shook his head and tried to put the thoughts aside as he dressed. It didn't do him any good to dwell. He missed his sister, his mother and his father. He missed his grandmothers and grandfathers and more. But he had to push that all aside now...
He was here. He was stuck here. And he just had to live with it.
Omni had stirred as he dressed, shivering for a moment. Jay finally unzipped his tent stepping outside and looking over the fields that the other day was covered with flowers before stopping and letting his jaw drop.
As far as the eye could see, from the fields to the hills to the treetops was snow. A layer of snow, two inches thick, covering the tents, the camp, the grass and more. The edges of a nearby stream was covered in ice as a pack of shivering Budews ran by, trying to find shelter.
From the sky more and more flakes of white powder came down in gentle layers to coat the ground in more and more snow.
"What in the world is going on here...?" He let off Omni moving to stand next to him, gawking himself.
For it seems this year the snowfall had come early to Sinnoh. Very early.
0-0
"What in the world is this!?" Sami let off, looking about her. She and Jay were in their normal clothes and just broke camp, although Jay had pulled a winter jacket out, a blue thing with yellow trim.
"I have no idea..." Dawn admitted. Unlike them she changed into a warm, red jacket that dropped to the level her skirt would have, a pair of white tights under them and a white scarf around her neck. "Sinnoh is known for it's winter season, sure, but it's still May! This shouldn't be happening!" She let off, Jay frowning and lifting up his pokétch, accessing the phone function and dialing in Rowan's personal number. It wasn't long until the elder man's face was seen on the small screen.
"Good morning!" Rowan let off cheerfully, sipping on a mug of coffee. "What brings you calling so early."
"This." Jay said, taking the watch off in order to hold it up to let the camera capture the view of the snow filled area. "This is Route Two-O-Four right now."
"Wh-what!?" Rowan let off, almost dropping his mug. "Impossible! Winter is months away! We shouldn't be seeing snow until October at the earliest!"
"Well something's going on." Sami let off, leaning it to look at the watch. "Ideas?"
"Hold on." Rowan let off, moving to a nearby laptop, tapping at it's keyboard. "I'm accessing a satellite image of the area..."
"The ones you use to track migrations of pokémon?" Dawn asked, looking at the watch/phone as well. "It can track weather?"
"No, but by pulling back the image enough we can see how much is covered... Hmm, this is odd..." Rowan let off, rubbing his chin. "Jay, Dawn, Sami. The snow... It's in a perfect circle!"
"WHAT!?" The three trainers let off.
"What does that mean, Professor?" Dawn asked him.
"It means that whatever is causing this, it's local to your area. The snow seems to cover about a radius of five miles. And I see... something in the middle. A blue light of some kind. I imagine whatever is causing this, that is where it is." He let off, thinking. "The center is south of Floaroma Town, and off the road on the west side. On a tall hill."
Jay looked about, squinting his eyes. After a long moment he could see something in the distance; a blue light that was muted by the snow and sky. "I see it. Barley." He said, pointing the pokétch to it. "We can get there fairly quickly."
"Understood. Investigate and be careful about it. I'm not sure if that object is controlling the weather, or if something else is causing this... I'll call the authorities in Town, they should send someone to assist, however if you can resolve the situation, do so. Many of Sinnoh's grass types call those fields home, and they are unprepared for a sudden cold snap! Who knows how distressed they and all the other pokémon will be getting."
"Leave it to us!" Sami let off, the three starting to move to the light, Jay re-donning his watch.
0-0
"The device is working?" The figure on the screen asked, the man in the room looking to it and nodding. He was a man who had a somewhat thick body. Somewhat short with silver hair that held a dull, purple hue. He wore black, ribbed pants, a lab coat and gray shirt with black at the shoulders and collar. In the center of that shirt was the symbol of Team Galactic.
"Indeed. We have summoned a legendary pokémon; although one I did not expect." The man mused, adjusting his rose-tinned glasses. "It's unusual, but the proof of concept has been proven. I've yet to see how well the pokémon can be controlled by the device, if at all. Still, for Operation: Clay World, this should do what we need it to, once I work out how to adjust the energy frequency to summon what we want."
"How long would that take, Charon?" The man on the screen asked, his figure obscured in shadow.
"I have no idea, Leader. We are in uncharted territory right now with this research." Charon admitted, moving to look at a screen displaying data. Said room he was in was a small lab with various devices, tubes of chemicals and even a Croagunk on the table, it's dissected body under a white sheet. "I do not think, however, we'll be put behind our current schedule. However, this would be easier if I had that data."
"Obtaining the data has proven more difficult then anticipated." The man only called 'Leader' said. "The local authorities are more alert after our last failed attempts. However we will gain Professor Rowan's data. It is only a matter of time."
"Yes, yes." Charon said, moving to look at the other screen to see the goings on in his test area. "If you'll permit me, I must return to my work."
"Of course."
0-0
"It's getting colder..." Dawn noted, able to see her own breath in the air as the trio proceed onwards towards the light they saw.
"Yeah. Man, what caused this?" Jay wondered, looking about. The snow here was coming down faster; more of the powdery substance in the air and coating the ground. The snow on the ground was thick enough that he was kicking inches of the snow with each step. Omni was leading the way, having turned into a Glaceon to take point. "At least the wind isn't picking up speed."
"Can't be much further... What in the..." Sami let off, looking up, Jay, Omni and Dawn turning their gazes to match.
Above them something in the sky was moving; blue like the light and like the sky so it was hard to see at first. To jay it looked like a giant blue bird... However the reason it was spotted was the trail of falling snow in it's wake. Soon however the creature dipped down and flew closer to them, diving down before coming into better view, hovering over and ahead of them. It's eyes glowed with a bright blue aura, a crest of three darker blue feathers on it's head over a sharp looking beak and matching tail feathers as long as it's body. It had a sharp looking beak and a pale blue underside.
"What is this?" Jay said, pulling out his pokédex for a scan.
[This pokémon is not in the database. Beginning entry creation.]
"Huh!?" He and Dawn let off as Sami only gawked.
[Scanning records for probable match.]
"No way... It can't be..." Sami let off, backing up as Jay saw an image of the bird pokémon in the upper right of the pokédex's screen, various documents, carved images, blurry photos and more going back in the other three segments on the screen.
[Likely match found. Estimated probability, 92.6%.]
[Articuno, the legendary freeze bird pokémon. Legends state it appears to people freezing to death in the mountains. The flapping of it's wings is said to chill the air, causing snow to fall.]
"What's it doing here!?" Sami screamed out, jay and Dawn looking at him. "It's one of Kanto's three legendary bird pokémon! What is it doing here?"
"I have no idea? Migration?" Jay suggested, gritting his teeth.
From what Rowan told him the so called 'legendary' pokémon were a big, big deal. No one knew if each one were part of a species or one, lone pokémon of it's type. No one knew if they could breed or were immortal. Some of them, like Mew and Jirachi only had legends and tall tales of them told; no one knew if they even existed at all; there was no proof. Others like Dialga or Suicune had been spotted before on rare occasions, with he odd photo here and there of them, but few people if anyone had ever gotten close to them.
"What is it doing though...?" Dawn let off, biting her lip nervously.
"Better yet, what's with it's eyes?" Jay asked, turning to look at Sami, hoping for answers.
"I don't know... I've never heard of any of the three legendary bird pokémon having glowing eyes..." Sami said, shivering more. "In fact, I've heard a tale last hear of Articuno leading a lost hiker to safety. He said it had 'kind, brown eyes', nothing about them glowing..."
"Maybe it's because of that light..." Jay let off. Closer now they could see it was attached to a structure, not unlike a radio tower made of metal pipes and slightly wider at the base then the top. At it's base was some sort of building; Jay would refer to it as a 'large shack' really. "Maybe if we stop that light we can stop this thing from- ARGGG!"
"YAAAHHHHHH!" Sami and Dawn added as the bird pokémon sent what felt like a massive, burst of cold, snowy air to them.
0-0
"Hmm? That's odd." Charon let off, moving to look at his screen. "The subject is no longer moving..." He let off, moving to look at his feed. Adjusting the remote camera he frowned. "Bah. Interlopers..." He let off, seeing the three children. He moved to a microphone and pressed a button. "Articuno, attack with Ice Beam." He commanded. Watching the scene through the screen all that happened was the legendary bird send a burst of cold air at them. "Use Drill Peck! Wait, does it even know that move? Eh, use Gust!" He let off, seeing the bird only respond with more cold air. "Attack!" He demanded after a moment.
"Sir?" One of his assistants asked.
"Hng, seems I have less control then anticipated. Very well then." He let off, grabbing a dial and turning it up. "There are other means to get a result. Also, let the operative at the test site know to expect possible company."
0-0
"CUUUNOOOOOO!" The icy bird bellowed out, the aura of it's eyes and the light on the tower turning a harsh red.
"What's going on!?" Dawn asked as power collected in it's mouth. "MOVE!" She tried out, everyone diving to the side as a beam of frozen energy blasted a line across the snow, in the middle of where they once stood. The energy moved across the ground as the bird seemed to erratically.
"It's gone berserk! Run!" Jay called out, starting to dash. "To the tower! We have to stop it!" He called out, Jay and Sami chasing after him.
The large bird simply turned about, firing it's attack off seemingly at random. "Gla! Ceon!" Omni cried out, leading the pack towards the tower.
0-0
RING~RING! RING~RING! RING~RI-
"Hello?" Someone said, picking up the phone as he leaned back in his chair. The man yawned, pulling his feet off the desk as he napped. "Sub-Commander... Ugh, Uranus here..." He said. Jimmy Crosshammer was not happy with his designation. Uranus? Uranus? Of all the planetary bodies why did he get named after the one that sounded like a body part? And one located there of all places? Uranus himself was a large man, in terms of height and width. About 6'6 and weighing in at around four hundred and sixty pounds he wore a customized Team Galactic Uniform; same pants and shoes as usual, but the top was a thick white jacket with black trim and a hood. His scraggly. Dark brown beard hid half the 'G' on the front of that same jacket, some of his hair long enough to block his eyes from view.
"Sub-Commander Uranus! I have a report!" The female voice said over the line. Uranus sighed. It was Venus...
"What is it?" He let off, yawning as he rolled his neck, working out a kink. Damn woman. Real ladder climber that one. She had the ambition to be a full Commander, but only thought that she had the brains. Not that she was dumb by any means, but she wasn't bright either. Couldn't she just be like he was, learn to relax and coast by at an okay enough rank? Sub-Commander was a viable rank, right?
"Three children are running towards your location! It seems the Articuno is giving chase!"
"So, what's the problem?" Uranus said, yawning once more. "Let the damn bird take care of it."
"Uranus! Protocol states that risk to equipment and property of Team Galactic equipment must be dealt with as soon as able!"
"Uh huh..." Uranus said, scratching his chin through his beard. "The bird will handle it, stop fussing."
"URANUS! This is a direct order from Chief Charon! You are to engage them! Immediately!"
"Ugh, fine..." He let off as he hung up, slowly standing, stretching with another yawn. "I'll just expand my nap later..." He said before moving to the door. He opened it up, stepping out and pulling a pokéball from his waist. "Come on Piloswine. We gotta work." He said tossing the ball, letting out a three foot tall mass of brown fur with tusks and a pink, pig-like nose. It squealed softly and followed Uranus as he yawned once more. "Huh?"
He'd only gotten fifteen feet from the shack as he saw the three kids get closer. "Huh. Already here." He said, seeing the kids dive to the side. "Hmm?" He let off, seeing an Ice Beam cut along the ground. He watched it, the cold stream going by his right side, coming within a foot of him without flinching. "Man."
Piloswine snorted softly, moving ahead of him.
"Okay you brats... Make this easy on me and leave, okay?" Uranus said, yawning once more as the children looked up at him, one pointing a device at his pokémon.
[Piloswine, the swine pokémon. Although its legs are short, its rugged hooves prevent it from slipping, even on icy ground. With its excellent sense of smell, it's even able to find mushrooms that are buried under frozen ground.]
"Team Galactic!?" Dawn let off, looking up at the huge man. "You're the ones behind this!?"
"Yeah. Name's Sub-Commander... Ugh... Uranus..."
"I bet your the butt of all the jokes, huh?" Jay let off, the Sub-Commander face-palming.
"This is why I wanted the name Titan..." Uranus groaned out. "Piloswine. Deal with them..." He said as two of the children grabbed pokéballs, throwing them out.
"Tauros! Let's go!"
"Piplup, I choose you!"
Uranus grunted as the other boy (From his point of view, at least) sent out a bull-like pokémon, and the girl sent out the local water starter, The first boy simply stuck with his already out Glaceon.
Around them beams of cold struck the ground, the kids and their pokémon yelping and looking at the solid ice left in the wake of the legendary's attack. Uranus and his pokémon didn't even flinch. Jay let off a short growl of frustration.
"Omni! Ice Beam!"
"Piplup! Bubblebeam!" Dawn let off, the two pokémon firing their attacks off at the same time. The two attacks intertwined with each other, slamming the opposing pokémon with solid ice, although it didn't budge a bit from the rapid hits as the ice shattered on it's skull.
"Tauros, Take Down!" Sami let off, the bull pokémon charging as it whipped itself with it's tails, roaring out as it lowered it's head.
"Take Down." Uranus yawned out, his pokémon charging with a level of speed most wouldn't expect. The swine and bull pokémons met in a head on collision, with the bull pokémon being thrown back from the impact, the Piloswine snorting softly, not even moving back from the impact.
"Tauros!" Sami let off as the bull slammed down into the snow with a hard thud, rolling over several times before stopping.
"It tanked all that!?" Jay let off, Uranus sighing.
"I prefer sleeping… So I'll put you all to sleep too. Piloswine, Ice Fang." Uranus let off, his pokémon's tusks growing larger, becoming covered with ice before charging.
"Omni! Flamethrower!" Jay called out.
"Eh?" Uranus let off the Glaceon glowed brightly before shifting into a furry creature that shot fire out of it's mouth at his pokémon. Waves of fire washed over it… Until it slammed into the Flareon.
"What!?" Jay let off, the Piloswine shaking itself out and tossing away loose embers of burnt fur as Omni hit the ground hard, rolling before laying on it's side.
"Humf. Canceled Ice Fang with that..." Uranus let off. "Super Eevee huh? … Better not capture it. If I did, I'd get promoted..."
"Piplup, use Ice Beam!" Dawn let off, her penguin pokémon firing an attack at the swine pokémon, hitting it dead on, covering it with ice and frost. It's response was to shake itself quickly, said frozen water shaking off of it. "Oh no!" She let off, the Articuno's own Ice Beam drawing a line between the two sides.
"That thing is tough..." Jay let off, Omni and Tauros getting up before looking to the Piloswine, it's trainer… And past them. "Sami! Don't worry about them! Remember what we came to do!"
"Right! Tauros! Use Hyper Beam on the tower!"
"Eh!?" Uranus let off as the Bull pokémon charged it's attack before firing… Above the heads of Piloswine and Uranus.
"Tauros can't move right away after using it, but..." She let off, as a blast of energy shot off from the bull and into the tower, blasting it apart near the base, the whole thing toppling over to the side. The orb from which the light came from slammed to the ground with a mighty impact; the orb flickering before going out.
"…. Awww, shucks..." Uranus let off, looking up to the legendary bird pokémon. It's eyes were no longer glowing… And it was looking down at him with a distinct glare. "Piloswine… Time to go..." He let off, the two turning and running.
"CUUUUNOOOO!" The ice bird let off, firing off an Ice Beam right at the man who jumped onto his pokémon's back, clutching it as he rode away on it.
"We need to g- Nuts!" He let off, seeing flashing car lights ahead of them. Piloswine turned to the side, running away as a woman and Growlithe on a motorcycle with sidecar turned to give chase.
"It's over..." Dawn said, noting the snow had stopped falling.
"Guys!" Sami let off, yelping with a bit of a grin as she dug into her pockets.
"Huh?" Jay let off as a soft thump sounded nearby, Omni turning back to it's usual form.
Six feet before him, the Articuno landed on the ground, looking at him. He also thought it was smiling to him, somehow.
Sami took out a cell phone and moved to take a video capture; couldn't risk the flash of a camera.
Trainer and legendary looked at one another eye to eye, Dawn looking between the two. Soon Jay took the first steps, walking over to the five foot seven bird pokémon and slowly reaching out a hand.
The pokémon slightly dipped it's head.
Almost in awe of the creature Jay started to pet it's head, softly rubbing it as the bird leaned into the hand, cooing gently. For several, long, drawn out seconds Jay simply petted it before giving a soft smile, the legend allowing it and enjoying it.
Then the sirens became audible from where they were, the bird jerking it's head about to look. With one last coo it took flight, a burst of chilled air, but not a harsh cold, in it's wake before turning and flaying away quickly. As soon as it left the air warmed considerably around them.
"I..." Dawn let off before grinning widely, running up to Jay, who still looked a bit amazed. "That was amazing! You touched an Articuno! You petted a legendary pokémon! No one's ever done that!"
"And I got it all on video!" Sami let off, still recording everything with the phone. "All on video! I'll be the talk of the poké-journalist community for this!"
"Kind of amazed myself..." Jay let off, holding up a shaky hand that he petted the bird with. "Huh?" After a moment he plucked something from the wrist of his jacket. A single, three inch, blue feather.
"And you have a feather too! Amazing!" Sami let off, squealing.
"This is the police! Don't move!" They all hear, the cars finally arriving on site.
0-0
"I see. A Team Galactic Sub-Commander..." The police chief, a woman named Ruby Roxawallguri (A name Jay didn't envy spelling) after speaking with the three children. "Professor Rowan contacted us about this, but until we drove into snow I hardly believed it myself." She was a tall woman, maybe ix foot tall, with bright red hair cropped short save a long, braided cowlick over her left eye. She wore a trench-coat, bare legs showing under it suggesting a skit or shorts were under it.
They had rode with the officers back to the police department in Floaroma Town, went to the police station, answered some questions and recounted events. The video Sami took was copied by the police, but she wasn't sure how helpful it would be to them.
"Sorry we couldn't catch him." Jay said, sighing softly as Ruby shook her head.
"Don't be. You did what you could. If not we would have had a berserk, ice type legendary to worry about too." She said, moving around the desk to the door opening it. "I'll escort you out. Oh, it's late, but welcome to Floaroma Town." She said, guiding them down the hall as another woman, one with long, teal hair in a police offer's uniform and brown eyes came up to her, saluting.
"Chief Roxiwallgari, I-"
"Roxawallguri."
"I was unable to apprehend the prep! I'm sorry!"
"Officer Jenny!?" Jay, Dawn and Sami let off, looking at her.
"Weren't you in Jubilife!?" Jay asked, Omni nodding on his shoulder.
"Jubilife? I don't work there, I haven't been there in..." Jenny began before snapping her fingers. "Oh, I see. You mixed me up for my older half sister, Officer Henrietta Jenny!"
"...huh…?" The three kids let off.
"...vee…?" Omni added before Jenny opened a door to her own office that they were near, pointing to a picture hanging on the inside of the door. In the image, before a police academy there were twenty four Jennys in four rows of seven, each saluting. All of them looked as identical as the last.
"...This seems like the same thing with all the Joys..." Dawn let off.
"Oh yeah, our families are really close!" Officer Jenny said, beaming proudly as Sami leaned in, pointing to another woman in the image. She looked the same as the Jennys, but in a black business suit, glasses and her hair in a bun. Unlike the saluting Jennys she was off to the side, leaning into a building.
"Who's that?" Sami asked.
"Oh, her?" Jenny said, her smile fading softly. "My fifth cousin, thrice removed Camilla Jenny. She's a lawyer." She said sighing. "She's a good woman, but… I honestly can't believe she represent criminals in court..."
"I see..." Jay let off, chuckling nervously. 'It's another government conspiracy! It has to be! A conspiracy to… to… Keep the streets clean of criminals by upholding the law..? … Honestly, if this is a conspiracy, then this world has the most honest, helpful Illuminati ever...' He sighed. Just another strange thing in a strange world.
Despite the escape of the lazy, but powerful, Team Galactic Sub-Commander Uranus the day is saved! By the end of the day most of the snow will have melted away from Route Two-O-Four, the local pokémon returning and while not fully comfortable yet on the chilled land, by the next morning they will return to normalcy!
But what evil is Team Galactic up to? What is Operation: Clay World? What are the aims of the mysterious Charon and his Leader? And what will our heroes have to face from them?
For now, however, what awaits isn't fighting the grunts and agents of a criminal empire with unknown technology but a Pokémon Contest! Will Dawn be able to win her second ribbon? Or will she find a rival ready to best her under the spotlight! Stay tuned to find out!