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Summer of the Articuno

Ten years old was far too young to get your first Pokémon. Whoever came up with that idea obviously never had a rambunctious little sister, especially one who had always been far too adventurous for her own good. Ever since the moment Alaska first learned what a Pokémon was, she was determined to become the best trainer there had ever been.

Well, no actually. First she wanted to be a Pokémon. It didn't help that our own mother encouraged this behavior, convinced that it would expand her imagination. That was probably a reasonable assumption, but I think she let it go on for too long. The other kids at school, who knew how silly of an idea it was, made sure to crush her dreams at the first opportunity. She moped around for weeks until she learned what a Pokémon trainer was. Then she wanted to be one of those.

Still I loved her like any older brother should. But she was annoying.

Mother and I managed to hold her back for another few years after she got her first Pokémon from Professor Oak. By that time she had gotten some common sense, but still wasn't ready to go out on her own.

Alaska had picked Squirtle, a water-type Pokémon. It was the closest thing they had to an ice-type, she told me. Ice-types had always been her favorite, and conveniently they were amongst the hardest to find in this part of Kanto. I was quick, perhaps a bit too quick, to inform her that if she wanted to catch ice-types that she'd have been better off picking Charmander, the fire-type, since ice was weak to fire.

The moment I finished, she started making plans to return her Squirtle to Professor Oak in exchange for a Charmander. I felt bad for the little guy; he was right there behind her when she said it, all primed to begin his own journey. He had given her the biggest puppy-dog eyes expression I'd ever seen, and that really got to her. She decided to keep him.

That was the right choice. I'm really too hard on her sometimes. She's a fantastic trainer, great with all sorts of Pokémon, and far more determined to accomplish her dreams than I could ever picture myself being.

That being said, she was still naïve.

Growing up in Viridian, a city in the southern portion of the Kanto region, we were used to mild weather near year round. Being close to the sea, we occasionally got some intense thunderstorms, but that was about it. That's why this summer had been so bizarre.

Snow covered the ground in the middle of July. And it wasn't just a dusting; there must have been several inches of the powdery stuff. Schools all over the city were cancelled, and several of the local businesses closed shop. I think they _could_have stayed open if they really wanted to. It was less a decision out of the threat of accidents than it was one of "Let's enjoy this while it lasts!"

I was one of the few my age that was concerned by the sudden change in weather. Sure I had some fun out in the wet stuff, but the fact that the local weather forecasters had no reasonable explanation was worrisome. Even some of the most prominent scientists around the region couldn't pinpoint a cause.

Of course Alaska welcomed the brisk winds and chilly air with open arms. From the moment the first snowflake stuck to our front window, she insisted on going out and freezing herself to death. Not literally of course, but our family didn't own any winter clothes. Within a day she managed to catch a cold.

But that didn't stop her from going off on her own little adventure, nor did mother's insistence that she stay in bed until her fever went down. She snuck out in the middle of the night with all her Pokémon. She did leave a note telling us she'd gone up to the mountains to look for ice-type Pokémon, but I'm fairly certain that didn't make mother feel any better about it.

If I didn't volunteer to go find her first, I'm sure she would have gone to great lengths to get the whole town up on that mountain searching for her. I insisted that Alaska was the stubborn type that might hide if she saw a lot of people searching for her. I'd been up on that mountain camping a few years back, and I'd travelled to the Indigo Plateau.

I didn't go there to challenge the Elite Four, I only had two badges after all; it was for a school trip. I was a decent trainer, but I preferred studying in the library to battles. Mother always said I'd make a great professor someday.

After several minutes of heated discussion, I convinced her to let me go on my own. I pointed out that I wouldn't really be alone since I'd have my Pokémon with me, and that I worked better solo anyway. She only reluctantly agreed, and insisted that if I wasn't back within a day that she'd notify the police.

The farther up the mountain I got, the harsher the conditions got. The small amount of snowfall we got back in the city didn't compare what was on the mountain. I was lucky that Alaska's footprints hadn't yet gotten covered up by fresh precipitation. That was another reason why I had wanted to go alone. If the police were notified, they would have taken ages to set up a plan of action.

I saw quite a few wild Pokémon that I'd only ever seen in pictures before. Alaska was right in assuming that the snow would bring out the ice-types. There were a few Snorunt around, some Swinub, and even a Glaceon. I made eye contact with the latter, but the two of us silently agreed that there were more important things to do than battle.

It was only when I saw the gaping mouth of a cavern that I started to hear the voice.

Help me, Dakota!

The voice sounded like Alaska's, only it was distorted slightly, as if there were two of her speaking simultaneously. I thought at first that it was the echo from the cave walls that was making it sound like that, but reverberations seemed too close to one another for that to be the case. I could figure that out later; finding her was more important.

The moment I stepped into the mouth, I felt the extraordinarily odd feeling of having my mind opened. That's the best way I can describe it. I suddenly felt open to new possibilities, but wasn't sure what those possibilities were. I moved onwards.

The floor of the cave wasn't covered in snow, but it was icy in some places, and I had to take care not to slip and fall. Breaking my leg wasn't going to make finding her any easier.

I'm here, Dakota! Hurry!

I raised a hand to my forehead. That time the voice really shot through me. I couldn't explain how I knew it, but her voice seemed to be projecting directly into my mind, bypassing the process of going through my ears. Normally I would have considered that thought ludicrous, but I felt strangely accepting of it, as if it were just a pointless detail that could be overlooked. After all, finding my sister was more important.

Dakota!

I entered through a small archway. Her voice was getting louder. I was getting closer.

The following room was larger than what I had gone through already. Icicles hung from the ceiling, but they didn't drip at all. It was too cold for that. They almost seemed frozen in time. But I didn't ponder on their beauty for long. On the far side of the room stood Alaska.

I breathed out a sigh of relief. She looked to be fine. No broken bones, no obvious injuries from a wild Pokémon attack. I hurried over towards her.

I got about halfway there before I was forced to slide to a halt. A large avian Pokémon swooped down from the shadowy ceiling and landed between me and Alaska. It had light blue feathers covering most of its body and wings, and the down across its chest was a pure, snowy white. On its forehead was a crest made up of three dark blue, rhombus-shaped feathers. Its crimson red eyes bore into mine.

Articuno.

I'd read about them of course, but the books didn't do her beauty justice. I knew she was a female by this point, but couldn't explain how. Nor could I explain why I was infatuated by her. I was never overly fond of bird Pokémon; their beaks always seemed sharp and unfriendly, so why couldn't I keep my mind off admiring her features?

Her long, elegant streamer-like tail swished upwards into an arching, resting position. For a moment I broke eye contact, and looked past her towards Alaska. Her normally blue eyes were the same shade of crimson as the Articuno's. I opened my mouth to call out to her, but she beat me to it.

"So this is your brother, Alaska?"

My mouth hung agape for a moment. What an odd thing for her to say. Of course I was her brother. Then I realized it. She wasn't the one talking - the Articuno was.

"I prefer the females of your species to the males. Your bodies are shaped un-elegantly."

"But I think you're beautiful!" I blurted out. I have no idea what possessed me to say that. Out of all the things that could have come out of my mouth right then, it had to be that. I told myself to stop thinking about the Articuno, and focus on why I'd come here, but that was hard.

"Of course you do. After all, you came all the way here just to be with me."

Yes, that's why I came here, I thought. I needed to impress her somehow, to prove that I was an exception to her idea about our kind. The Articuno lowered its head into an aggressive pose, and advanced on me, her tail brushing Alaska's face along the way. I hesitantly took a step back.

What was I thinking? This bird was holding my sister captive, and was winning. I couldn't let that happen. I reached down towards my belt where my three trusty Pokémon were stationed.

"Stop."

I stopped.

She had given me an order. I couldn't just ignore that. It might upset her, and I couldn't risk upsetting her. Our gazes locked again, and my arm moved away from my belt. Part of me wanted to force it back down and call out one of my companions, but another part told me that I needed to apologize. That part won.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Good boy," Alaska, well, Articuno cooed. "Now get on your knees."

I did so. She raised one of her wings and Alaska walked over to where she was positioned under it, then she lowered it around her in a protective embrace. "Now watch your brother repent for his sins."

Alaska's eyes returned to their normal, river-blue state. She looked down at me, and almost immediately began to panic. "Big brother, you have to run! Run away!"

Articuno didn't bother glancing down at the struggling little girl tucked under her wing, and nor did I. She wasn't important. All the mattered now was that I keep staring into Articuno's eyes. My body started to feel numb. I wasn't sure if that was from the cold finally getting to me, or something she was causing.

The most I felt was tingling sensation at the lower portion of my back, and some prickling on my arms and legs. I couldn't look away to see what was happening, but I could tell my body was changing. I heard my shoes rip apart as did the arms of my jacket. I saw out of the corner of my eye long blue feathers where my hands normally were.

The strangest sensation was having a tail. The rest of my body was still numb, and I couldn't look at it yet, but I knew there was a tail there. It was identical in shape to Articuno's own, just more suited for my size. I just started to feel my talons when Articuno spoke, using Alaska as her puppet once more.

"Forget them."

So I forgot them. She didn't actually specify what it was that I was to forget, but I somehow knew what she meant, almost like there was a bit of a mental connection between the two of us. I forgot my family, my friends, my life, and everything else that I held dear. I just crumbled it up like a piece of scratch paper and tossed it away.

I wasn't sure what to make of the alien thoughts that Articuno was replacing my old memories with. They were cold, harsh, and unforgiving, just like the winter that my savior had created. I wasn't an Articuno. One name wasn't enough to sum _us_up, after all. I was the snow, the sleet, the hail, the frigid wind that turned the autumn leaves to dust.

Articuno was satisfied by my transformation, and turned her attention to Alaska, still tucked neatly under her wing. Her eyes burned with crimson heat once more. The Articuno repopulation process continued.