Cold Infinity

Disclaimer: Some of the cutscenes post-Bittercold have not been included here. Only ones relevant to this story remain. And as always, spoilers early on if you have not played all the way through the Glacier Palace's Great Spire yet.

Starters:

Axe (Axew). Moves: Dragon Claw, Scratch, Dragon Dance, Dual Chop

Ashes (Tepig). Moves: Flame Charge, Flamethrower, Assurance, Rollout

This story begins as the protagonist, Axe the Axew, faces off against the Bittercold, inside the Glacier Palace

As Ashes watched on helpless, Axe faced off against the Bittercold, An inhuman entity, it stood there, a single snowflake in the vast emptiness. The former human wondered what to do, while all hope was draining away.

Then, he felt it. The hope of all his friends back in Post Town. The hope that his team, the Vennom, had left, was all converging within him. He could now feel it – he was stronger. Strong enough to take on all entities. Including the Bittercold.

Fierce waves of energy battered Axe, but he battled on, determined to fight for his friends. Dual Chop after Dual Chop, Dragon Claw after Dragon Claw, but the mysterious entity stayed intact, unflinching.

Finally, with one last blow, one critical Dual Chop, it was over. The snowflake cracked, crumbled, vanished. The fight was over, the Bittercold was defeated. The Rainbows of Hope sparkled once more, and brighter than ever. Light was brought back where the Bittercold had once vanquished it.

This was no time to celebrate however, as the Glacier Palace itself, the grand structure, began to crack itself. Slowly but surely, the structure began to fracture, and fall apart. There was no time to use Entercards, no hope of running, nowhere to jump and hope, no exit in sight.

Minutes later

Axe and Ashes awoke in a strange space. Kyurem, defender of the Bittercold, was in front of them, surprising Ashes no end. 'You… you saved us, did you?' 'Indeed. You changed the future, the fate of the universe, I should be eternally thankful. You did what I refused to believe was possible. Therefore I had to repay you.'

'You did that by saving us. But… what happened to Emolga? And Virizion. And Espeon and Umbreon. Are they ok?' Kyurem bowed his head. 'I have no way of knowing this. I can see the future, just not now. The future is still deciding it's new course. Until that is decided, I cannot see in.'

'So there's nothing you can do?' 'No. The most I can do is return you to your home. There the future will peel out for itself.' 'Where is this exactly?' 'This could best be described as a safe zone, between dimensions. You are safe from the crumbling now.' 'And you? What do you do now?'

Kyurem bowed again. 'I wait. To see what my future holds. And I follow it. Time is running out – if you wish to be returned to your home, it must be done now.' 'One last thing Kyurem.' 'One last thing.' 'Thank you.' Ashes and Axe then vanished, as Kyurem watched on. 'Ashes, Axe, once you see your future, you will be glad for my misinformation.'

Back in Post Town

Ashes and Axe materialised in the centre of the crossroads. Taking a moment to soak in the fresh air and vibe of peace which had returned, the moment was brief before Emolga and the others walked in on them. 'Axe, Ashes, you're safe!'

'So are you! You managed to use the Entercards?' Keldeo shook his head. 'No. There wasn't enough time, regardless of whether or not Espeon's theory was correct.' Espeon then explained. 'We would have been in big trouble, but we blacked out, and then the next we knew, we were back in Paradise. How did you escape?'

'It was… erm...' Espeon then smiled. 'Don't be embarrassed if it was the same as us. You don't have to be superheroes all the time.' 'Thanks everyone.' Everyone then went back to Paradise, ready to continue working the next morning.

The next day

While Ashes and the others were asleep, Axe sneaked off to look at the Rainbows of Hope. As he got there, Hydreigon appeared. 'Axe.' 'Hydreigon.' 'I need to speak to you.' 'What about?' 'It's about you. You remember you were a human, do you?' 'Yes. You're not saying...'

Hydreigon then nodded, eyes closed to hold back any tears. 'Your presence in the Pokemon universe is causing a distortion. Therefore you cannot stay here. It pains me to say this, but today is your final day as a Pokemon. Tomorrow you must return to your own world.'

Axe then looked around, and thought of Ashes and everyone else counting on him. He then turned to Hydreigon again. 'I don't want any of my team to know. Or anybody in Post Town.' The embodiment of the voices of life seemed surprised at this idea, before understanding.

'I see.' 'I made a promise to Ashes. To never leave. I'm going to let him down, I'm going to let everyone down. The last thing I want for them is to see me go.' 'This may be of comfort, it may not, but once you leave this world, your actions do as well. Nobody will remember you.'

'Nobody… at all?' 'Nobody at all. It will be just like you never existed in this world. I will be eternally grateful for your help, but you must leave.' 'And there is no other way?' 'If there was, I would look into it. I have grown rather attached to you in the short time we have known each other.'

The next morning, before dawn.

Axe went up to the hill again, knowing that nobody else would be up before him. 'Hydreigon, I'm here.' The tri-headed Dragon then materialised from nowhere, Axe not flinching this time. 'Let's do this.' 'Now? 'No point in delaying.' Hydreigon then bowed his heads.

'As the Voices of Life, I can come with you for some of your journey. But just as you must remain in the Human world, I must remain here. I must not cross over.' A gold orb then surrounded Axe, and he started floating.

As they floated, there was still one final request. 'Before I go.' 'Yes?' 'I want to see Paradise one final time.' 'Your friends will have forgotten you by now.' 'I don't care – I want to see them.' The orb then floated to the west, and Axe looked down. All his friends were looking up, but Axe didn't react.

'They're probably just looking up at the light.' 'I can confirm they cannot see you up here. To them it is merely a light shower.' As they continued to look up, the orb floated away, and ascended into the sky. 'I'm pretty high up now – it doesn't feel like it even took long.'

Hydreigon then flew in front of him. 'This is as far as we go – you will shortly vanish into lights, and float into the human world.' 'Thank you Hydreigon.' His final companion then teared up. 'You are very welcome. And thank you.'

As Axe vanished, his last sight of the Pokemon world was Ashes, Umbreon, and Espeon laughing and joking as if he had never existed. 'One day… you won't forget about me.' He then dissipated completely into lights, with a thin red light following.

Several weeks later

Life was still going on as usual, just without Axe. One day, a routine visit to rescue a trapped Wingull from the Mountain Pass. Just Ashes and Espeon were there, with Umbreon and Keldeo conducting a joint investigation into Entercards.

The journey through the pass was relatively easy, with both team members working well together. Finally, floor 6 where Wingull was. As they battled through more and more enemies, Espeon was concerned.

'Ashes, I think we should get going from here as soon as possible.' 'What's concerning you?' 'I just have this bad feeling about being here. There's an abnormal amount of enemies here, a lot denser than normal.' 'It will be fine. Just need to find Wingull and then leave.'

Finally, they found Wingull. As they approached the gull, she cried out for help. 'Thank goodness you came! I've been trapped here for a long time, nobody was interested in helping.' Espeon then wandered over. 'What's that you have in your bag?'

'It's a Warp Seed. I was too scared to use it, just in case I got into even more difficulty.' 'Well it's a good job we're here to rescue you, it looks like this route is getting nasty.' 'Thank you so much.' Ashes then walked over with the team badge. Just as he was about to get the three of them out of the dungeon though, Wingull through the Warp Seed at Espeon, who vanished. Ashes and Wingull then left.

After Wingull paid Ashes 250 Poke and left, Ashes suddenly realised Espeon was missing. Figuring she was going on an exploration of her own, he decided to wait until the morning. But as morning came, there was still no sign.

As Ashes came out of his house, Umbreon was waiting for him. 'Morning Umbreon. Still no sign?' 'No. It's unusual this – Espeon never usually splits up from me unless she's in big trouble. And you say it was a Warp Seed?'

'Yeah – that Wingull we saw yesterday threw it and she vanished.' 'She should still be in the dungeon somewhere then. I'm going to look.' 'Umbreon' 'Come if you want to. But we're not doing any requests – we're only going there to find Espeon.'

Meanwhile, in an unknown location

After several hours of wandering, trying to find her way back to Paradise, Espeon had set up a rudimentary camp to protect herself overnight. 'I wonder why Wingull threw that Warp Seed at me. And why did it seemingly warp me to a different area? I hope Umbreon's ok...'

The next morning

Espeon got up early, determined to find where she was and find her way out. After several floors of climbing, she came to an outside area, and suddenly realised where she was. 'This… this is the Midnight Forest! How did I get here?' She then heard a voice. 'Espeon.' 'Who is it?' 'Espeon, is that you?'

'Yes, it is.' 'Please, I need to see you!' She then recognised the voice, and her eyes lit up. 'Axe, is that your voice?' 'Yes, it is. I'm stuck at the clearing at the end of the dungeon, I can't get out… I'm too weakened.' 'I'm coming!'

The Psychic-type Eeveeolution then came marauding through, battling through Toxicroak after Toxicroak, Serperior after Serperior, until eventually she reached the clearing, after 29F.

As she walked through, she could barely believe her eyes as stood there was Axe, the very same Axew who she had allied with and battled with over and over again. And now he had returned, and she could only smile.

'Axe… how did you get here?' 'Espeon, I… I've been waiting… for you!' She then cocked her head, looking at her friend, confused. 'What exactly do you mean by that? I thought you were hurt?' Axe then opened his mouth and smiled.

'I lied. Because I needed to see you.' 'What's going on – something seems different about you.' 'The truth, is, when I came back here, I was given a new gift.' 'I don't' 'I was given the ultimate gift. Within me resides… the Bittercold.'

Espeon could hardly believe her ears at this. 'The… Bittercold?' 'Yes. I was chosen by it. I accepted the gift, it promised me ultimate power over the entire Pokemon world in return. It is now in me. Effectively, I am the Bittercold.'

Before Espon could react, Axe moved closer to her, and his red eyes burned deep into Espeon's eyes, with her wincing. 'Espeon, join me. Join me and accept the Bittercold's influence.' 'No, never, I… we worked too hard to get rid of that.'

Meanwhile, in The Cape at the Edge…

Umbreon and Virizion were together, forming a search party for Espeon. 'I know she could be here – this is always where me and Espeon go if we're ever hurt or separated.' 'What about when that gang were chasing you?'

'We couldn't rsk it then – we have a lot of hidden supplies there.' Umbreon then got a pulsating feeling through his body. 'Umbreon, what is it?' 'I don't' know where she is, but it's Espeon – I can feel her pain.' 'Is she in trouble?' 'This… is mental… pain. Like she's never felt before. We need to hurry.'

Back in the forest

Espeon resisted as Axe tried to persuade her, by any means possible. 'Espeon, you won't resist me much longer.' 'Sure… sure I will. You won't break me. Never!' Axe's eyes kept burning in though, the dark red pulsating and getting deeper and deeper in. 'You do realise if I fall here, Umbreon and the rest fo them will get you.'

No energy left to resist, Espeon looked up, and instantly started to fall under the spell. ' Espeon, you're strong. But now you will fight for me. The Bittercold wants you to protect it, and you will do exactly as it says.'

Espeon's deep eyes then started fading. 'I will do as you say.' 'Hail me.' 'All hail the Bittercold, the Bittercold is now my master.' 'Follow me to our base.' 'Yes… I must follow now. Follow the Bittercold.'

End of Chapter 1