"A sight so precious, we'll reach the bent heavens for a glimpse of it."
Two curious individuals plan a trip to catch a look at what they believe to be a new species of pokemon. Written for A Stellar Adventure, a Pokemon SV DLC zine.
“Hmmmm…”
“Mhm?”
“Hm!”
The chitter and chatter that wafted through the courtyard of Naranja Academy left Briar with a striking feeling of normalcy, even though this would likely be the last time she’d come here for a long while. Of course, she still needed some of the books in the academy to finish up her report on the expedition, but she could have those mailed. There wasn’t a need for this long journey anymore.
Ah, how lovely the journey was compared to the destination…if she could fill her report up by spending weeks in Area Zero, then she’d take that overー
“Waugh!”
Though she’d only faintly registered the hemming and hawing of a certain photographer, the realization that said person was mere inches away from her came too late as Briar stumbled right into a blue-haired woman, sending the pair to the ground. The hard, concrete ground.
The sprawled mess of limbs and bruised thighs they became attracted the laughter of some passing students. Luckily, the blue-haired woman only laughed as she worked to untangle herself from underneath Briar, moving to sit while the other victim of this incident rubbed dirt out of her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention!” Once she opened her eyes, Perrin went to check her camera, feeling the surface over for bumps and scratches.
“Oh, it’s alright.” Briar laughed in reassurance before she got back to her feet, offering Perrin a hand that she took only once she was certain her precious camera was all right. At least the students who made a ruckus before cleared the way for the two as they walked off to the side. “Are you a student here?”
“Do I look like one?” Perrin stopped and gestured at her clothes, a gesture that got a snort out of Briar.
“Good point, indeed. I’m only here as a visitor, so I admit I’m not entirely familiar with how Paldean students generally appear.”
The sun nearby dipped beneath the horizon moment by moment, caking the area in a cool breeze that brought comfort after the intense heat of the day. The lights flickered on, deepening the shadows.
“Yeah, I get it. But I’m just here to get information on the dragon!”
“...”
Huh.
“The dragon?” Briar asked. Perrin grinned and raised her camera, though she didn’t take a photo (even if there was a finger on the trigger, itching for one surprise snapshot).
“I’ve been preparing this past week for an expedition up Glaseado Mountain. I only really swung by for a job to take pictures of the school, but I heard some students talking about how they spotted a big, scary dragon while hiking up the mountain!”
“I see…” Briar wondered if her face was plastered with barely hidden surprise, a thought which ended up confirmed when Perrin actually snapped a photo. Flash off, luckily.
“You’re curious too, right? Wonder what kind of pokemon it is一if it’s something no one’s ever seen before, I gotta take the first picture of it! I mean, between my actual work, but…but this is important too!” Perrin’s face flushed as she looked up towards the rising moon. “My photo could end up in a pokedex one day!”
Briar laughed, raising a hand to put on Perrin’s shoulder. “Who am I to quash the spirit of discovery? In fact, I’ll gladly support you in your expedition!”
Perrin let her camera fall to her side again, before she moved to put it in her bag. “Woah, really?”
“Yes, of course!”
Briar removed her hand, instead clapping them both together. “Chasing after your dreams and discovering new thingsーit’s what makes life special! What do you need? Supplies? Oooh, or a travel buddy? I’ve already discovered one new pokemon. What’s one more?”
Perrin’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’ve discovered a pokemon?”
“Hah, now that’s quite the story. Perhaps, if you’ll accept me as a traveling partner, I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Hmmmm…you make a convincing offer. As long as you can keep up, I’m game!”
The two struck their deal, their path to discovery laid out for them. Yet, as the cold grew stronger over the infamous icy mountains, it all but ensured their journey would not be an easy one.
Perrin never imagined she’d be huddled so close to another woman close to the peak of a mountain, but life has a way of surprising you like that. At first, reliance on their thick winter coats and a hearty supply of heating pads were all they needed to retain heat. As the hours ticked by, though, and the sun dipped, an unexpected factor threw a wrench in their plans: a delicate blanket of snowfall that called for more extreme measures.
Winding their jackets together, though, helped for about twenty minutes before Briar was the one to break the ice: “I think I see a cave up there! I know we wanted to reach the peak tonight, but…may it be wiser to set up camp under a roof and start a fire?”
“Hmmmm, well. No complaints here!” Perrin shivered, nodding in agreement as the pair rushed to the cave. A few Lycanrocs took shelter deeper in the cave, so Briar resolved that they both sprayed some repel near the front to create a safe haven from the territorial behavior of their pack.
“You sure came prepared, didn’t you?” While Briar rolled out sleeping beds and sprayed the edges of ‘camp’, Perrin shuffled through Briar’s pack, retrieving the dry branches set aside for an emergency fire. As she laid them out, she let Growlithe out of the ball to light the fire, sending him back to the safety of his ball after the fact.
“There’s never a thing such as being too prepared on an icy mountain,” Briar replied, punctuating her words with a laugh before she sat close to the fire. “So! Before we sleep, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“Yeah?” Perrin began to check her camera, all to make sure it still functioned under these extreme temperatures, but Briar’s words made her pause.
“You must tell me—what’s the most exciting pokemon you’ve caught a picture of?”
Perrin breathed out a puff of white that melded back into the cold. As she soothed the numb pinpricks on her fingertips by rubbing them against one another, she searched through her memories.
One encounter came to mind. One she hadn’t had the chance to share with anyone recently.
“I dunno if you’ll believe me,” she said as she leaned in, shadows cast across her face from the dimming fire, “but I took a photo in a dream once.”
“Is that so?” Briar offered no judgment nor any early comments. Nothing but listening ears.
“Yep!” Perrin looked up to the roof. “Y’see, I took a nap under a tree once. Something about it felt weird, but I didn’t think about it too much until I opened my eyes and found myself in this weird world. Almost like it was made to be a dream, y’know?”
She reached a hand out. “And flying around, I saw this big, pink blur. Dream me grabbed her camera and took a picture—then I woke up. Holding my camera in real life. You know what happened when I looked at the camera roll?”
Briar’s eyes widened, and she leaned in as Perrin presented her with the photo: the very same one she took within the dream, brought back to the waking world.
“It might’ve been a Munna,” Perrin said, punctuated with a sigh, “or maybe it was something more.”
“Incredible,” Briar breathed. “I hope you don’t mind if I assert that it was most certainly something more.”
“I don’t mind,” she replied. “I wanna believe that too.”
The fire wavered, and flickered, providing only a scant few seconds more of light before it went out and left their hopes in the darkness.
As soon as the sun rose, the two packed up and stepped out of the cave. However, their misled assumptions ended up casting them into one of their most precious memories. For the light Perrin woke Briar up to chase was not the sun…
But something much more brilliant.
Rainbows bathed their surroundings, a palette of colors smeared across the mountain snow until it enchanted the gaze of everyone who approached, layering a haze of glory and appreciation for nature that none dared resisted. As Perrin and Briar emerged from the cave, a couple Lycanrocs trailed behind, gazes similarly trapped between shock and awe at the creature gliding above them.
For the wing spread touched each end of the planet— the multicolored coat attracted all glory, the mere presence of this pokemon rang within the hearts of all familiar with the recreations of its visage.
“Ho-oh,” Briar muttered, before a realization hit her almost as strongly as the dazzling light of the legendary pokemon’s feathers. “Could this be the ‘dragon’ we’ve been chasing?”
Perrin, camera pulled up as she captured as many pictures as her storage space allowed, turned away for a moment. A sheepish smile crossed her face before she went back to work. “Guess that makes more sense than a wholly undiscovered pokemon. But, y’know…”
Briar laughed. “I know, don’t worry.”
“I knew you would.”
Nothing else needed to be said. For their shared goal, their shared passion for the unknown, they were granted a once in a lifetime sight of something truly extraordinary. And perhaps, by the blessing of the rainbow, there’d be many more to come before their final days.