Pokémon PrismGold

Chapter Thirty-One: "Winter Rangers"

Sean clung to the saddle as Suzie tilted in the air to keep blasting the cloud of snow that was rumbling down the mountain. Sean could barely see with all the heavy snowflakes slamming into his face, but trusted that Suzie understood what he had been instructing her to do. Mark screamed faintly over the noise, drawing Sean's attention to the ground. Stampeding up from the town, the herd of Aurorus headed straight toward the rapidly approaching wall snow. Siochain had to dash around their long legs to avoid them, because they were not watching her. Their eyes were on the avalanche. While some turned to let the wall of snow slam into their bodies to slow the snows decent, others began to open their mouths and blast the base with their ice beams to freeze the wall solid. Suzie continued to melt down what she could to help get rid of the bulk of it. Sean shivered but held on tight as Suzie twisted and turned in the sky. The Aurorus that had turned to block the snow with their body were practically buried by the wall, but their bodies had stopped parts of the avalanche.

The only thing that could be seen of them was their long necks. They bellowed in distress, their bodies shifting slightly against the weight pushing against them. Their bellows cued Suzie over to melt lines up the mountain to lessen the pressure off them. Sean briefly spotted the Winter Rangers riding to the scene on Mamoswine or soaring toward them on reanimated rare flying types. The Winter Rangers were what most people called island security. They were not normal trainers. None of the pokemon were their own. They befriended wild pokemon to help them in emergencies from natural disasters to calming aggressive pokemon. All three islands had their own set of Rangers, but Sean knew none of them personally. They didn't always get along with other trainers. So, they tended to stay out of the way unless needed. One of the many Rangers soared over Sean on an Aerodactyl, their white fur trimmed uniforms with blue stripes and the large blue Mystic Articuno on their back standing out. They wore goggles to protect their eyes from the snow and wore a headset that they used to talk to each other.

The Aerodactyl let out a fierce cry, then swooped down to unleash a jetstream of fire from its slender carnivore jaws. Across the way, another Aerodactyl opened its jaws and shot out a beam of ice. Sean gawked at them. He hadn't known they could do that. The Rangers were crouched on their saddles, leaning with the Aerodactyl's as they swooped and glided through the air like they had rehearsed it. Over the nearest town, a group of Rangers were flying around on birds and blaring an emergency alarm to evacuate it. Other Rangers on the ground were directing and helping people out quickly. Sean couldn't find Mark or Siochain. There was so much going on. Too many people rushing around and flying about. Sean held on tighter as Suzie growled at an Aerodactyl that had barely missed clipping her. The Ranger on the Aerodactyl hovered close, trying to yell something to him about handling things but Sean could barely hear him. The wind was muffling his voice. Sean waved a hand by his ear, yelling back. "I can't hear you!" The Ranger dropped a bit to hover lower, starting to try again, when his eyes widened in horror.

The Ranger rushed into a dive and Sean turned to look up to see what he had seen. Bursting from the white cloudy snow covered sky, a dark colored Articuno was diving straight down toward them. Letting out an aggressive and haunting echo call, Articuno blasted the Rangers from the sky with its ice beam. The Rangers scattered, trying to circle back to attack it. One shot a jetstream of fire at Articuno but Articuno attacked back with its ice beam. The beams collided, causing a burst of steam, before Articuno's beam overpowered Aerodactyl's fire and froze him solid! The Ranger screamed as its Aerodactyl fell from the sky. The attack didn't even slow Articuno down from its dive. The air around Articuno whistled at a shrill pitch as its speed grew. Suzie turned to fly away, but it wasn't enough. Articuno reached the center of their group, jerking to a sudden stop as it raised its glossy dark purple wings. As it did, a burst of snow shot out from it in all directions. Sean screamed as the wall of gusty snow slammed into them.