Chapter 1

One Too Many

The young, pale blue Pokemon trudged along behind her Coordinator, her ears and tail hanging low, her head hanging, staring at her Coordinator's shoes as she trotted along to keep pace with his brisk walk. She could tell, just by staring at his shoes, and noticing the stiff, tense stride he had at the moment, that she was in trouble...again.

The Glaceon had really tried to get it right this time...she really had. But as always, the young Pokemon seemed to lose her focus at the wrong moment, or else, as was the case today, fail to execute an appeal as fully as she had expected, losing marks from the Contest judges in the process. She had tried her heart out, and because she had lost focus for one, critical moment, they had failed to pass the Appeals Round of their latest Contest. Once again, her nervousness had gotten the better of her...and now, as always, her Coordinator was winding himself up to remind her of her constant failings.

Finally, after following her Coordinator for several minutes, worrying endlessly about what he was going to say...or possibly do to her, he lead her out of the human settlement the latest Contest had taken place in, heading into a wooded hillside, somewhere off the beaten track. She expected him to stop, to turn and rant at her at any moment...but he never did. He just kept on walking.

As the minutes turned to hours, and the sun crept lower and lower towards the horizon, the Glaceon struggled to keep up with her master, fighting the urge to whimper in complaint of her sore feet. Her Coordinator was obviously not in the mood for her to start acting like a crybaby, so she just stayed silent, continuing to follow her Coordinator in fearful silence.

Finally, as the sky started to fade into the warm orange glow of dusk, the sun seeming to almost touch the horizon, the Glaceon's Coordinator finally came to a stop in a small, grassy clearing, ignoring her entirely as she sat down behind him, staring at her front paws, her ears and tail still low, waiting for whatever punishment he saw fit to hand out...judging by how far he had taken her away from civilisation, he was really angry with her this time.

She waited for what felt like hours, but in reality must have been less than a minute, before she heard her Coordinator finally speak up, in a voice that literally shook with suppressed rage. "Lapilla..."

It was just one word, her own name, but even those three syllables caused the Glaceon to cringe slightly, fully aware of what she believed was coming. He was really angry this time...angrier than he had ever been at her before.

Because she was still looking at her paws, Lapilla did not notice her Coordinator approach her until she felt his hands grasp her around the middle, a startled, scared yelp escaping her muzzle as she was hoisted roughly off the ground, raised up so her face was level with that of the human that controlled her, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

Instantly, she realised she was wrong. One look in his eyes told Lapilla that her Coordinator was not angry at her...he was furious. She had this confirmed a second later when he shook her roughly, causing her head to spin as she tried to focus on his words, ranting at her as he shook her around like a rag doll.

"What is wrong with you? Huh! Why do you keep holding back on me? Every Contest, it's the same thing! You always screw up at one key moment, every Arceus-damned time we do this!" As he finished, he let his grip on her sides release, causing Lapilla to drop suddenly and unexpectedly to the ground, crying out as her hip and ribs on one side took the brunt of the impact, sending pain flashing through her body.

As she lay on the ground, her eyes screwed shut with the lingering pain of her poor landing, she heard his voice roaring again, clearly not done. "Do you enjoy this, Lapilla? Do you find it funny to watch me screw up time after time, constantly the laughing stock of the judges? Well, do you? Answer me!"

His last two words were spat out with such ferocity that Lapilla actually cringed from her curled-up position, frightened of actions to back up the Coordinator's enraged words. Knowing she'd better give him some kind of sign that she understood, she shakily got to her paws again, ignoring the stinging pain in her side, before shaking her head. "No," she said quietly, knowing her Coordinator would not understand her, but hoping the vocalisation would add emphasis to her honest denial.

"You don't huh?" the Coordinator spat, his tone putting on a good sense of disbelief. "Well, if you don't find it funny, then you're simply just too stupid to fix your constant mistakes. Is that it?" He was no longer yelling, but Lapilla could hear the continued rage in his voice, which somehow made it even scarier than when he was shouting.

But she could not bring herself to answer this time, knowing that denying both statements would just make him angrier still. "I...I'm trying, I really am..." she said shakily, still aware that her Coordinator could not understand, but praying that, perhaps this time, he would.

Upon her vocalisation, however, the Coordinator simply snorted. "You're pathetic, Lapilla," he spat, causing the Glaceon to cringe...such insults often felt like physical slaps to the muzzle for her. "I give you a home, food, and all the comforts you could ask for, and I only ask one thing in return. But you're that useless that you can't even give me this one, simple repayment."

Lapilla just hung her head at his. In a strange, twisted sense, she knew it was true, and that's what hurt the most. He gave her a home, a life, and all he asked in return was that she participate in these Pokemon Contests, and show herself off...but try as she might, she never could control her nerves on stage. Part of it was a sense of stage-fright, but part of it she knew was fear of what her Coordinator would do if she she failed again. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, her fear of failure causing said failure, and it was a trait that left her partially ashamed of herself, even if her shame was simply because her Coordinator hated her failures so much.

But Lapilla knew the worst was yet to come...she just had no idea how bad it was. "Well I've had enough, Lapilla," he growled, causing the Glaceon to freeze, fear gripping her as her mind whirled with scenarios of what he was about to do to her. "I am sick to death of your continued failure, despite my attempts to train you, and now I'm going to do something about it." The final part was said with a finality that scared Lapilla to her very core. She knew her Coordinator was harsh, but surely he would not resort to killing her as a punishment, surely?

She actually backed away from him a couple of steps as he reached into the pockets of his jacket with both hands. But could not help the sigh of relief that escaped her muzzle when he simply produced a small red-and-white ball, and a red device. His PokeDex, and the PokeBall he kept her contained in. By the looks of it, he was simply going to keep her confined in the Pokemon storage sphere for an extended period of time. Not exactly enjoyable, particularly when contained for long stretches, but she had endured worse from him...and considering she had thought he was about to kill her for a moment, this seemed lenient in comparison.

But her relief vanished when her Coordinator caught onto her expression...and responded by smirking, instead of starting a fresh rant. "You think I'm letting you off easy? Hardly..." he drawled, before flipping open the PokeDex, tapping a few buttons on the handheld computer-like device, Lapilla unable to suppress her curiosity at what he was doing.

Her curiosity turned to pure dread, however, when the PokeDex spoke up in it's electronic voice. "Confirmation requested: Pokemon 471-G0165, nickname; Lapilla, is to be released. Confirm?" She did not understand what the sequence of numbers and letters meant, but she knew what the rest meant all too well...her Coordinator was going to send her into the wild, on her own, with no preparation!

But her Coordinator, in a nasty act of cruelty, paused, his finger hovering over the confirmation button, looking down at Lapilla with what appeared to be a satisfied look on his face. "Yes, you know what I'm doing, don't you? Like I said, Lapilla, my patience has run out. I've given you chance after chance, but no, you just keep on screwing up. I was going to sell you, but my buyer had no interest in you, so this'll have to do."

Lapilla barely understood anything he said, panic clouding her mind. She was not ready to be released. Ever since she had hatched, she had been in the possession of various humans, never alone, never having to fend for herself. What truly terrified her was that she had gotten used to her life, and had never learned the skills she knew she would need to survive in the wild...she did not have a clue what to do out here!

Looking up at her Coordinator, his hand still hovering over the button, she knew she must look a pathetic sight, feeling her eyes watering up in desperation as she looked up at him pleadingly. "Please," she begged, not caring if he understood or not, doing everything she could think of to get him to change his mind. "Please, no. Don't leave me out here. I can't do it."

The Coordinator, for his part, widened his smirk, almost seeming to understand what she was saying. "You don't want to be released, do you?" he asked, getting a desperate nod from Lapilla. "You've never been in the wild, alone, have you?" Yet another nod from Lapilla. He seemed to pause at this moment, thinking things over. As the seconds ticket by, Lapilla began to hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd change his mind, that he'd cancel the release process and give her another chance.

But his next words sealed Lapilla's worst nightmare as reality. "Well, tough!" he spat, causing Lapilla to jump back, startled by his sudden return to shouting. "I have given you chance after chance after chance! And you gave me nothing but more failures! I don't have the time or patience to deal with you any more, so you're out! It's time you learned to get by on your own anyway...it may even toughen you up a bit."

Knowing what was coming, Lapilla reached a paw up towards his hand desperately, a strangled cry of "No!" escaping her. But it was useless, Lapilla forced to watch in horror as he pressed the button, the PokeDex beeping confirmation, before the PokeBall that she was contained in gave a pull ping of its own, signalling its disconnection to Lapilla, and the final confirmation she needed...she was now officially a wild Pokemon.

Lapilla just sat there, frozen in horror. She was being kicked out, send into the wild without having a clue how to survive out here. Her pale body began to shake as the full realisation of what was happening dawned on her. This was why her Coordinator had taken her all the way out here, she realised.

Knowing she was in no way prepared for life in the wild, she turned as her Coordinator walked past her, obviously leaving her there. "No, please! Wait!" she cried, chasing after him, maybe he would at least let her follow him back to town, where some human would help her find a new home, and a new human to care for her.

She expected him to try and stop her, but his method of doing so caught her completely off-guard. In a flash, he spun around, a PokeBall in his hand, snapping open as he glared at her, releasing another of his Pokemon, a white bodied humanoid with green across its upper half, and red spiked protrustions sticking out of its chest and back. It was the Coordinator's Gallade.

Before Lapilla could so much as blink at the unexpected introduction of the Gallade, the blade-like extension of its right elbow extended to its full length at the same time as the Pokemon lashed out with it. The blunt edge of the bladed elbow extension caught Lapilla viciously across her already-sore side, striking her with enough force to knock her off her feet, her vision almost blacking out as her head struck a small rock upon landing, stunning her.

Semi-conscious, she still had enough awareness to hear her now-former Coordinator as he spoke up again. "You really think I'd let you follow me back?" he asked, before snorting as he returned the Gallade to it's PokeBall, Lapilla watching with darkened vision as he turned to leave again. "No, your actions got yourself here, now you can learn to live with it. So long Lapilla...enjoy he rest of your life...or what's left of it."

Still dazed, and fast losing consciousness from the head impact, Lapilla could only watch as the human left, in a move that Lapilla knew, without a miracle, was going to condemn her to death. But before she could even begin to think of how to get out of this mess, her aching, dazed body finally gave in the blackness creeping at the edges of her vision, as she allowed herself to slip into unconsciousness, her lasts, frightened thoughs wondering how she was going to last more than two days out here.

Author's Notes:

Well, here we are! After nearly a WHOLE YEAR of inactivity, I've finally returned to some writing form, and started my first Pokemon fan fiction! Hopefully I can get a frequent run of updates going, but considering my history, there are no guarantees whatsoever. That said, I'm really liking what I have planned for this story so far, and new ideas are constantly springing up, so we should see updates coming pretty well for the next month or two at the very least.

In any case, welcome to Burning Ice, and hopefully I've perked your interest! What's going to happen to poor Lapilla now? I'll get the answers in the second chapter as soon as I can!

Also, while I'm here, I have to give a huge amount of credit to Diamond Girl400. This idea first came to me as a result of a Pokemon RolePlay the two of us were working on, and as such, she has kindly allowed me to use not only a few plot elements from the RP, but a few of her characters, as well, which I will credit more specifically when they enter this story.