Chapter 1 – A Final Message
Another howling breeze shook the peak of Mt. Silver as snow and ice pelted down from above. The skies seemed to remain an eternal grey as the clouds beckoned an unrelenting scream of wind and pain. A single figure remained unfathomed as he stood there facing the world below. The lights of numerous cities glistened back before the oncoming fog blinded them from sight.
Giovanni looked down at the numb world below as his skin began to turn blue from the cold. Ignoring it completely, he knew that his final moments were approaching. His greying hair flickering the wind, eyes bloodshot and ruined clothes, the days of his hiding were over and now Giovanni had no other escape than into infinite darkness. Mt. Silver was no longer safe and the hidden secrets of his past were at risk of becoming set loose.
Moving away from the cliffs edge, Giovanni fell to his knees breathing heavily with blood now trickling from his arms, the frostbite settling in steadily. He had spent twenty years hidden away since the fall of Team Rocket, the nearby cave remained littered with past ornaments of a life disbanded and lost.
Flicking his hair to one side, Giovanni coughed, the sound echoing into nothingness due to the wind, as he placed a small black bag onto the frozen ground. The snow falling already began to bury it into the ground as the former Team Rocket leader helped it, growing desperate. His hands grew even more numb as he eventually fell back, screaming in pain as the wind began to increase speed. The bag had now vanished as the snow grew thicker, but Giovanni couldn't risk it further.
Grabbing a single Pokéball from his charred pocket, he gripped it muttering. "This is our last moment together…you need to remain…you have to protect what is within."
The ball shivered in his hand, as if acknowledging his words, as Giovanni shattered the ball, the metallic structure exploding in all directions as a blue light emitted from within. The energy was powerful with a large creature forming a few steps away – Giovanni's Nidoking.
The purple scaling body had begun to fray, revealing a greyish blue layer due to its age. Now fully released from its trainer at last it growled angrily, falling to one knee as it buffeted against the oncoming blizzard. Giovanni looked up at his old friend and called again. "You have to protect this, Nidoking. You have seen the power, the danger…you are my last hope.
Nidoking roared loudly, stomping the ground heavily where the bag had vanished in the snow, understanding its former trainer. Their attitudes for each other had grown ignorant over the past decade, their aging years not leading on well from the Team Rocket days of destruction and chaos.
Their eyes met for one last time as Giovanni breathed a sigh of relief, gazing back at the spot where the small black bag had laid. Walking away from the Drill Pokémon, Giovanni returned to the edge of the cliff and gazed down at the vertical drop. He stood there as memories of his past began to flicker to the front of his mind.
Nidoking watched on from behind as it growled again, a final message to its once trainer. Giovanni did not look back, he did not hesitate and without a further second of thought the mountain vanished behind him as he stepped into the abyss…
…
Years later.
"Houndoom, use Flamethrower! Find it. Destroy everything!"
The Dark Pokémon roared loudly as it unleashed a jet of fire from its mouth, its entire body lighting up as a result. Its tail whipped to the ground as it continued to burn through the walls of ice ahead, illuminating the entire cave as Zubat fluttered away in fear. Flamethrower after Flamethrower, the fire continued to melt the ice to no avail as the walls began to hold steady.
The group of cloaked figures looked on in dismay, their Pokémon unable to penetrate the glacial ice ahead of them. One stepped forward as their Houndoom prepared to launch another attack, muttering. "This is definitely the place…Giovanni must have spent years blocking the way."
"Giovanni knew we would come." A female voice echoed from behind the pack of individuals. They cleared a path instantly, each bowing their hooded faces down slightly as her footsteps echoed in the vast cavern behind them. Mt. Silver had taken them nearly a week to scale, even with their Pokémon and various technologies, Giovanni had hidden his secret so deep within it was impossible to access by air. She removed her hood to reveal slick dark hair, dampened by the dripping icicles above them, her piercing blue eyes reflected the remaining embers. "People had been chasing him for years for his prize. Our Leader will not accept failure. We must locate it."
Houndoom screeched loudly, whipping its tail back down as it unleashed another heated Flamethrower at the wall of ice at it steadily melted again. Its trainer removed his hood, a bald head appearing from within as he muttered in response. "Lady Red, we don't even know what we are looking for. This could be false."
"The Leader knows all. It is best we do not question him. Trust me."
The group heard the fear in her voice as she turned towards them, revealing a thick scar on her right cheek as she nodded and placed her hood back on. Immediately she took a step back, letting her group move ahead to reveal Pokéballs from their robes as they released them into the cavern.
Multiple Pokémon appeared from more Houndoom to Absol with the final Cranidos roaring into existence. More of the inner cave-dwelling Pokémon scattered away in fear as they all launched repeated attacks against the walls of blue ice ahead. Shards of ice began to appear, falling to the ground as they finally began to make progress.
Lady Red watched from behind, smirking slightly as her team began to move forward through the glacier of ice. The Leader would reward them for this find, and soon his plan would be set into motion. Absol unleashed a powerful Night Slash attack, its slanted horn cracking through another layer before Lady Red called for a halt.
Something glistened from inside as she moved forward, grabbing a flashlight from her side belt and shining it ahead. The Pokémon all seemed to stop as silence descended upon them as their trainers all gasped at what they had found.
Lady Red bent down, feeling the sheer cold ice with her gloves as the flashlight illuminated the skeleton of a Pokémon…