Single post in Life of a trainer

Chapter 22 – Caught in a blizzard A figure could be seen trudging through the snow. The howling wind made the snow fly through the air almost horizontally. Dressed in a long, brown coat, Andy briefly looked up, before pulling his shoulders up again and putting his arms more tightly around his chest, keeping his hands in his armpits. “Who’s bright idea was it to go over the mountains instead of around?” Andy grumbled to himself. “Seriously, this will be the last time I’ll do this. I don’t care how long it’ll take, the next time I’m walking trough it, around it or use some kind of transportation.” Cursing some more, mainly at the weather, Andy was going forward, just going one step at the time. He had pulled the brown cap of the coat over his head, to keep him warm and his hair dry. A layer of snow was building up on his back, camouflaging the brown colour of the fabric under it’s own white colour. He couldn’t help but think about Henry and how he was doing. Surely Henry would be in a better position then he was. He also thought about his home on Rhando Island. The only high place on the islands was a volcano, nothing like the ice and wind he had encountered on this mountain. Even though it was cold and wet up here, there was no way he would turn back. No-one ever accomplished anything by going back. Besides, he was already more then half way, or at least he should be. It was difficult to tell with the blizzard and all. Andy decided that turning back would only make the travel longer, so he wouldn’t do that. As suddenly as the blizzard had begun it died out again. Andy blinked, surprised by this sudden but very welcome change. He straightened his back, brushed the snow from his shoulders and moved on with renewed energy. There was no sign of life around here, if there had been any tracks they were covered under a new layer of snow. It was almost a shame to walk through the smooth layer of snow and leave a set of footprints, but it was cold enough to not feel guilty about that for more then a few seconds. As he walked he looked up at the sky to see that the grey clouds were still in the air, but on a few places in the sky sunlight was peering through the clouds. A very welcome sight and it lifted his spirit even more. He took his time to admire the landscape now, the grey rocks covered by snow. “This is really something. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all,” Andy said to himself, as there was no-one else around who could hear him. Sure, it was cold, his breath was visible with every exhale, but the rough grey and white terrain was a spectacular sight. He looked up again and stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth fell open and he stared at the clouds. A ray of sunlight shone through an opening in the clouds and illuminated a blue bird with a long blue tail. Articuno. There was no doubt, Andy was sure this was the legendary icebird. With trembling hands from excitement Andy grabbed his camera and quickly took a few pictures. Then he realised something else and he took his Poké Balls. “Guys, you’ve got to see this!” Seconds later his four Pokémon were standing in the snow. His Primeape, Furret, Noctowl and Butterfree were looking around to see what there was to see. His Butterfree shivered and Andy partly unzipped his jacket. “Come here, Benny.” The other three had protection from the could with their fur and feathers, Benny had no such protection. Benny flew to Andy and nestled in his half open jacket. Then Andy pointed to the sky. “Look over there, it’s Articuno.” They all looked in the direction Andy was pointing and silently observed the flying Pokémon calmly fly away. “Free,” Benny sighed and Andy smiled. He remembered how he had been bragging he’d capture Articuno during a picnic with Henry, just moments before he noticed a certain Caterpie eating from his honey sandwich. And Benny had been with him ever since. “Alright,” he said after a while. “I’ll better move along. You’ll better go back into your Poké Balls. Benny nodded as he shivered slightly, but Kim shook her head, holding on to his legs. “You want to stay out? Alright. Bear? Merlin? Do you want to stay out as well?” They both shook their heads and Andy dug up the three Poké Balls to return them one at the time. When he put the Poké Balls safely away again he looked down at his Furret and winked. “Now it’s just you and me, princess. Let’s go, I’m getting mighty cold up here.” Kim lightly walked next to him on all four legs, glad to be out. She made big steps, struggling a bit with the snow, but she managed. They walked for another hour through the snowy landscape when another blizzard caught them by surprise. Andy raised his arm to shield his face from the snow and Kim moved her head to the right to shield a part of her face from the snow. “You’ll better go into your Poké Ball now,” Andy said, but Kim shook her head. “This is no time to be hard headed, we’re in a blizzard. Go back in your Poké Ball.” Andy held it in his hand and aimed it at his Furret. Again Kim shook her head and Andy let out a sigh, dropping the Poké Ball. “Alright, fine. If you prefer to struggle in the snow with me you can, but if I see this is taking you too much trouble you will go in your Poké Ball. Understood?” Kim nodded and continued to walk, she kept her head low to the ground and narrowed her eyes a bit to deal with the snow that was falling down and the wind that howled around them. Together they struggled forward through the snow. In a way it was comforting he wasn’t alone, but another part of him was worried about his Pokémon. Still, Andy had to admit she was doing well. Time passed by and Andy walked on, but the exhaustion and cold caught up with him. He struggled to keep standing on his feet in the wind and snow, but was unable to keep going and fell on his knees. Kim turned around and let out worried noises when she noticed Andy sitting in the snow like that. Andy could hear her, but the sounds seemed to come from far. He fell forward in the snow, exhausted. Kim jumped forward and stood next to him, shaking him with her paws while calling him. As her fear for Andy’s situation grew, her voice got louder and higher. She cried out for help, but her voice disappeared in the howling wind around them. She cried out again, as loud as she could, hoping someone would hear her. As she cried for help the third time a figure appeared in the blizzard. The shade of two wings and a body appeared and it came closer, until finally Articuno landed. The ice-bird had little trouble flying through the blizzard and landed close to Andy, standing majestically, and looked down at the Furret and Human. As soon as Articuno had landed, Kim had jumped up to hide behind Andy. Now, she carefully looked at the blue bird from behind him. “Why are you calling for help?” Articuno asked majestically, keeping his head up as he spoke. “I-it’s Andy. H-he just c-collapesed,” Kim stuttered, looking cautiously up at the legendary bird-pokémon. “Please help me, I-I don’t know what to do.” Articuno’s eyes focused on the motionless Andy, who was lying with his eyes closed in the snow. “And what makes this human so special that he must be saved?” “Because he has always been good fur us!” Kim said as she put her paws on Andy’s back in a protective manner, forgetting about her earlier fear for the legendary Pokémon. “He’s kind and sweet, he took care of me when I was injured. Please, oh please just help him!” The Articuno, standing tall and majestically, slowly spread his wings, lifted his head and opened his beak to let out a loud and penetrating cry, a call carried by the wind of the blizzard. In a cave nearby several Jinx were sitting together when they heard the cry. “That is Articuno,” one of them said. “We must go and help.” One after another the Jinx left the cave and walked through the blizzard, guided to the place where Andy was lying by Articuno’s cries. When the Jinx appeared at the scene Articuno looked at them with a slightly tilted head. “Take care of them,” he commanded. He spread his wings and flew up. The Jinx quickly gathered around Andy as the Articuno flew away. “Oh my, he’s exhausted.” “And cold.” “Let’s bring him to our cave.” Several Jinx picked the unconscious Andy up from the snow and carried him away to their cave. A worried Kim walked next to them, looking worriedly in Andy’s direction. “Will he be alright?” Kim asked. “Please tell me he’ll be alright.” “Don’t worry,” one of the Jinx said with a warm, motherly voice. “Your friend will be alright.” The Jinx walked back to their cave with Andy and Kim followed them. In the entrance she shook her fur to rid it of the snow, before rushing in and hurrying to Andy, who was laid down on some dry hay by the Jinx. She sniffed his pale face and touched his cheek with her paw. “He feels so cold!” she exclaimed. “Don’t worry, we’ll get him warm soon enough.” None of the Jinx seemed to worry. One of them started a fire close to Andy, two others removed his jacket and a forth one came with a blanket and wrapped him in it with one of the other Jinx, as one of them walked away with his jacket. Kim watched the Jinx work and then turned her attention to the pockets of Andy’s trousers. She took the Poké Balls of Benny, Bear and Merlin out, placed them on the ground and tapped each of them with her paw. “Come out quickly!” Seconds later the three Pokémon were standing on the cavern floor and looked around. “What’s wrong, Kim?” Merlin asked calmly, but as soon as the sentence was finished, Benny had already spotted Andy. “Oh no! Andy!” He flew up and landed on Andy’s chest, looking worried at his wet hair, pale skin and closed eyes. “What happened?” “He suddenly collapsed while walking and Articuno came and then these Jinx came and-” “Calm down,” Merlin interrupted Kim. “Start from the beginning, but slowly.” Kim took in a deep breath and told the others what had happened, how Andy collapsed in the snow, how she called for help and that Articuno had come, how he had warned the Jinx, who had brought Andy to the cave they were now. “That fool,” Merlin sighed. “Why did he choose that route? Does he ever think before he acts?” “You only say that because you’re worried,” Benny said. “It was bad luck, I’m sure that if the blizzard hadn’t come he would have made it across.” Bear rolled his eyes. “Why are you looking so worried?” he asked the others. “He just needs some rest and he’ll be fine. He’s way to awesome to let something trivial as a blizzard stop him.” Merlin looked in Bear’s direction. “Your misplaced optimism won’t help. This is a very serious situation.” “You’re just too pessimistic,” Bear retorted. “He’ll be fine,” Benny said determined, looking at the Primeape and Noctowl. “That, he will,” one of the Jinx said, coming closer with a pillow in her hands. “Don’t worry, give him some time to rest and get warm.” She gently placed the pillow under Andy’s head and turned to the four Pokémon. “Now, who’s up for some soup? We learned to make it from a Human who lives a couple miles away.” “It’s not the first time we’ve taken care of people or Pokémon who get lost in a blizzard,” another Jinx added. Meanwhile, Articuno landed in front of a wooden house and called the owner inside. Inside, a broad man with black curled hair and a black beard was standing next to his stove, adding some more coal to it to keep the fire burning. He looked up when he heard the cry and rushed through the living room to open the door. There he stared at Articuno. “What…” Articuno drew with his claw a cave, a Jinx and a Human in the snow. “There is a Human with the Jynx in need of help?” Articuno nodded and flew away. “Articuno, wait!” It was no use, Articuno left. The man, named Boris, returned in his house, put some supplies in a backpack, grabbed a coat and a walking stick and left the house. He looked at the sky with an elevated arm to shield his face from the elements. “The blizzard will die out soon,” he muttered to himself. Boris started walking towards the cave, making slow progress at first because of the blizzard, but as he had predicted the blizzard died out soon after and he picked up the pace. After a while, Andy slowly woke up. First he opened his eyes, trying to figure out where he was, how he got there and what had happened. The last thing he recalled was feeling unbelievably cold and tired. Slowly he got in an upright position, the blanket slipped down and into his lap. He didn’t have time to look around, white and brown fur rushed to him, jumped up and landing on his lap, nudging his face. “Furret, furret, furret, furret, furret,” Kim said, just rubbing her face against his cheek. “I made you worried, didn’t I, princess?” Andy said, smiling softly as he gently stroke her fur. “Sorry about that.” “Freeee!” Benny said, flying towards him and landing against his chest, where Andy put an arm around him. “And you too? I’m alright now.” Next Merlin landed next to him and Bear was standing next to Merlin. Merlin tilted his head slightly and examined him. Bear was enthusiastically hopping from one leg to the other and when he finally stopped his raised his arms in the sky, his equivalent of a thumbs up. Andy grinned and put his thumb up to show he was alright. Then he noticed the Jinx who were standing a bit further, one of them came towards him with a bowl of soup. “Ah, that smells delicious… Kim, try not to rub a hole in my cheek, will you?” Andy said with a smile to his Furret. “Jynx, jynx,” the Jynx calmly said and both Benny and Kim took some distance, so Andy had his arms free for the soup. “Thank you.” Andy took the soup from the Jynx and held it in his hands for a moment, enjoying the warm feeling it gave. After bringing a spoonful of soup to his mouth he turned to the Jynx. “Delicious! You sure know how to take care of a traveller.” After he finished his soup Andy lay down again. Kim came lying next to him, resting her head on his chest. Bear came sitting on the other side, firmly patting his shoulder. A Jynx came closer to put the blanket properly and carefully lifted his head to reposition the pillow. “Ah, the service of a four-star hotel,” Andy sighed. “Five-star,” a voice coming from the entrance of the cave said and Andy looked up. “Five-star, of course. Sorry ladies, I didn’t mean to derogate your excellent service.” The man walked into the cave, after kicking some snow from his boots. He walked towards Andy and Kim jumped up to hide behind Bear, who was glaring at the newcomer and let out a low growl. Boris raised his hands. “Don’t worry, I’m just here to help.” The expression Bear had on his face changed to a happy one and he nodded. Andy shook his head, smiling a bit and looked at the black-haired man in front of him. “I’m Boris. Articuno came to let me know you were here.” “Seriously? Articuno came to you? That’s amazing!” “Don’t think I have some kind of bond with Articuno,” Boris said with a smile. “Today was the third time in my life I’ve seen him, the last time was over three years ago. The encounters never last longer then a minute. The Jynx here are another story, I’ve spent many hours in this cave with them, hiding for a storm or just to see of they’re alright.” Boris sat down on the cave floor, placing his walking stick next to him. “Usually one of them comes to me if they have a stranded traveller, but with the blizzard Articuno apparently decided to get me himself. Now, that’s about me. How about you? How did you get here?” “I have no idea,” Andy said, almost cheerfully. “I was unconscious. Walking in a blizzard is tougher then you might think.” Boris laughed. “Oh, I know all about that. The first time I met these lovely ladies was in a storm much like today, although snow did come early this year. Anyway, I was barely conscious when I noticed figures approach. The picked me up and the next thing I remember is waking up in this cave.” Andy nodded and looked at his Furret. “Well, I had Kim out, so I suppose she either looked for help…” Kim shook her head. “She... called for help.” Kim nodded. “And then the Jynx came?” Kim shook her head and Merlin spread his wings. Andy looked at that gesture with a frown. “Articuno then?” he asked, as Boris had mentioned Articuno as well. Kim nodded to show he was correct. “Wow,” Andy muttered, it was a shame he had missed that. “And after that the Jynx came and they brought me here,” Andy concluded and Kim confirmed the last part with a nod of her head. Boris looked at Andy and nodded slowly. “If you feel well enough to walk again, you can come over to my house and spent the night there. You can continue your journey in the morning.” “And miss out on the fine treatment of these beautiful ladies?” Andy asked, pointing towards the Jinx who seemed to enjoy the flattering. “I have bacon and eggs,” Boris said with a grin. Andy blinked, looked at Boris and got up. “Ladies, it was lovely meeting you, the soup was delicious, the treatment superb, but I really should be going. This man had found a way to my heart. And with that I mean stomach. Although I think he’s just jealous.” Boris burst out in laughter and shook his head. “If you can joke like that, you’re fine. Let’s go then.” Andy nodded and took his jacket from one of the Jynx, thanked her for the jacket and the good care and put it on, followed by his backpack. They all left the cave, Boris, Andy, his four Pokémon and the Jynx. But outside both Andy and Boris stopped. Just a few feet away was Articuno, standing in the snow. Articuno silently looked at Andy, who was in awe by seeing the majestic bird standing so close to him. Benny flew towards Andy, made a few sounds and landed on his backpack, which he unzipped to take out the camera. “Oh, good idea, Benny.” Andy took the camera, hoping the ice-bird wouldn’t fly away. Surprisingly it stayed where it was and Andy took some pictures. When that was done Andy lowered his camera and showed Articuno a grin. “I heard I have you to thank for my rescue. So thanks. I really appreciate it.” Articuno nodded slightly, barely noticeable, but it was a nod. Then the took off and Boris and Andy watched Articuno fly away. Kim came standing next to Andy and waved, shouting something to Articuno. A short reply could be heard from high up in the sky. “You gave him your thanks as well?” Andy asked his Furret, who nodded. “I’m glad you were with me, but you’re all going back in your Poké Balls now. I have Boris to look after me.” One for one he called them back to their Poké Balls, until it was just Boris and the Jynx with him. “Thanks again for your help,” Andy said to the Jynx. “Jynx, Jynx,” the first one replied, nodding her head and the others started waving goodbye. Andy turned around and walked with Boris through the white landscape. Now the blizzard was gone it was a walk he could enjoy and even though it had been a difficult journey so far, he wouldn’t have it any other way. Not with all he had seen now. “Only few people were lucky enough to see Articuno,” Boris said. “And even fewer were lucky enough to see him from so close. You can feel blessed for that experience.” “Trust me, I feel blessed.” A grin appeared on Andy’s face. He couldn’t wait to tell Henry he had actually seen Articuno. Andy spend the night at Boris’ place and they exchanged stories next to the burning stove and while eating some bacon, eggs and bread, accompanied with warm tea. The next day, Boris walked with Andy, leading him through the pass and down to the first village. There they said their goodbye’s and each went their own way again, Andy continued the road towards Kanto and Boris walked back up the mountain.