"Of course that's what this is, it's a Beartic in a snowstorm!" A man nervously laughed as he clutched onto the steering wheel with all of his strength. He looked to the left and right out of his car's mirrors, only to see a snowstorm thrashing the car from the outside. "I can barely see two meters outside of the car… at this rate, I'm gonna make it home in a body bag! So this is the day I die, huh? The driver laughed out loud, obviously not in the best state of mind.

"Some Christmas this is, eh? They send me home early, and in this snowstorm too! Say they can't pay me overtime, and I can't stay in the office for the night… it's not my fault I can't afford to live right in the city like they can! Arceus, I need to pull over…" he mumbled while scanning the road, trying to figure out how close to the edge he was. The man applied his brakes as he took his eyes off of the road. He looked out of the right windows, hoping for a dirt patch or… something he could pull over onto. "I swear, if it's just a ditch on the side of the road…" the loud blaring of a horn in front of him snapped the man's head forwards. About ten meters ahead, the man saw the blinding lights of a transport truck in front of him. Whether it was in his lane, or he was in its lane… the man couldn't tell. What he could tell though, was that he was going to end up as a human pancake if he didn't do anything. The man twisted the steering wheel to the right, hoping to swerve out of the way before the truck squashed him flatter than a Stunfisk. He quickly managed to turn the car slightly, veering to the right and towards the edge of the road.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough.

The truck slammed right in between the front and rear doors, right behind the man on the driver's side. The truck wasn't moving fast enough to destroy the car, but it certainly had some momentum behind it. The man's car went spinning, in which direction the driver couldn't tell. He wrestled with the steering wheel for control, but it was of no use. The driver clenched his eyes as tight as he could, his only hope that he landed in something soft. The small vehicle continued to spin out of control until it hit something hard. The last thing the man felt was his face smashing into the steering wheel before he blacked out.

Some time later…

A lone figure walked along the side of a deserted road, an arm bent in front of its head to block out the torrential snowfall. It trudged through the knee-deep snow, eyes set forwards but with no destination in mind…

The figure huffed, and made a half-hearted attempt to wipe the snow from its fur. It felt a rumbling from its stomach, and rubbed its thin abdomen. "Arceus, I'm so hungry… hopefully there's a town up ahead soon." Starting to feel lightheaded, the figure rubbed its forehead. "If I don't eat something soon…" the figure stopped again, finally noticing how cold it was. It clenched its fists and concentrated, eventually feeling a warmness course through its body. "I might be a fire-type" the creature mumbled to itself, "but I'm not sure if I'll have the energy to do that much more."

"Why do humans have to build cities so far away from each other, anyway? Can't everything just be close so they don't have to use cars?" the Pokémon asked nobody in particular, while raising its arm and the cloak-like fur on it to block out the snow from its eyes. It squinted and tried to look as far down the road as possible, but could only see a few meters in front of itself. Something out of the corner of its eye caught the creature's attention, as a glint of red stuck out on the right side of the road.

"Is that a… car? Oh Arceus, did somebody crash?" The Pokémon trudged through the snow, over to the vehicle. "Right into the ditch and the rocks in it, huh? The ditch is only a couple of meters deep though, but the front looks so crushed… it must been going fast, or was hit hard enough to send it into here that hard…"

The creature finally made it to the car and got a closer look at it. "The side looks like it'd been hit hard by something, probably another vehicle. Sent it flying and… must've smashed straight on into the rocks here". The whole front was crushed into the rocks, but the passenger compartment seemed miraculously intact, ignoring the smashed-in door and rocks pressing against the probably-broken windshield. Wading through the snow, the Pokémon made its way to the passenger door and pulled on the handle with all of its strength. Its hand slipped from the icy handle, and a headrush tore through the creature's skull. "I just… don't have the energy to do this. But do I have enough psychic energy…" the Pokémon asked itself, while pulling a small, foot and-a-half long stick from its red, cloak-like fur.

It tried to clear its tired and blurry mind, pointing the stick at the car. "Just like a battle. Imagine moving the object, and concentrate your energy…" the Pokémon flicked its stick-wielding wrist. The car rocked a bit, some snow falling off of the roof.

"I can't do this… I'm useless in battles, not strong enough to open a door… no. Somebody in there needs my help… they're relying on me!" The Delphox pointed its stick at the door, closed its eyes, and concentrated with all of its might. "I can do this, I can do this, I can do this" it murmured to itself, words coming out in ragged, tired huffs. With a scream it yelled "I CAN DO THIS!" and thrust the stick upwards. The door came off of its hinges and dislodged with a creak, flying several feet in the air before landing in front of the Pokémon. "If I had any liquid in me to sweat I'd be wiping it away right now, I bet."

A furry head peeked inside of the car, taking a look at its interior. "Glass everywhere, the rocks really smashed that windshield in. The driver's side doors are bent in, but this side seems fine. It's so cold in here too, almost as cold as it is outside..." Looking towards the driver's seat, the Delphox noticed a twisted body. He couldn't have been much older than twenty years old, his head bent to the right and an airbag deflated in his lap. A hand reached towards the human, and pressed two clawed fingers against his neck. "Heart still beating and…" it reached up to its mouth, hand hovering just outside of the human's open jaw. "Thank Arceus, still breathing. If he doesn't get some heat soon though, he definitely won't be living for very long..." The Pokémon twisted its lithe body and squeezed into the passenger seat. Feeling something at its feet, it groped below the seat and pulled a metal box onto its lap. With deft and curious fingers the box's clasps were undone, and the Delphox opened the container to a stash of leftover food. "I promise I'll help you in just a second… but really think I'll pass out if I don't eat something soon." The Pokémon said to the body beside her. "Apple core, chip bag… ah, a candy bar! My Master never let me have one of these…" the Pokémon unwrapped the half-eaten sweet, and looked over to the unconscious man beside her. "I'm sorry…" she mumbled, "but I don't think you're really going to need this in your state." The candy was quickly eaten, and washed down with a quarter-full thermos of coffee. "Okay then… now I think I have the energy to do this."

Its energy restored, if only barely, the Pokémon reattached the door with telekinesis and started to rummage through the man's pockets. "I'll get you some help, I promise. Humans usually carry phones, don't they? I'm sure this one… ah!" Grasping a small rectangular device, the Pokémon flipped it open. "Seems older but… as long as it works."

Her old master had used a device like this before. The Pokémon had watched him use it enough that she had the general idea of how it worked, and what he had used it for. "Hadn't he used it to get help one time?" She vaguely remembered that someone had stolen something from him, money, or some petty object. "What where those numbers he called… 199? No, 911? I hope so." More intelligent than most Pokémon, the Delphox quickly read the keys and punched in the numbers.

Ring, ring, ring, ring…

"Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up…

Ring, ring, ring, ring…

Click!

"911, what's the address of the emergency?" a feminine voice answered on the other side of the phone.

With freezing hands the Delphox fumbled with the phone, putting it against her ear. "Please, I found this car crashed on the side of the road, you need to send help! We're both freezing in here, and I don't think we'll last much longer!"

Of course, this only came out as a series of 'del', 'phox', and 'delphox' cries.

"Is this some kind of joke? Who is this? Is there a human with you?" the operator answered.

"Of course they can't understand me. I can't see them and don't know them, so I can't make a mental link… okay. Please look!" the Pokémon cried into the receiver. "I know you can't tell what I'm saying, but you need to understand that we need help! P-please, if you have any…" the Delphox was interrupted by the operator clearing their throat into the phone.

"Look, I can't understand what you're saying. I need you to try and answer a question for me, somehow. Do you or your trainer need any assistance? Give me… one tap, or bang, or one something for a 'yes', and two for 'no'.

Starting to feel the cold engulf her body again, and her mind become clouded, the Delphox smashed one fist on the twisted dashboard. "Yes! Of course we need help! I'm this human's only chance, I won't fail another one again!"

"I see…" the Operator began. "So if you do need help… can you tell me where you are right now? One noise for yes, two for no."

"Of course not, you moron!" she screamed into the cellphone, smashing down twice on the dashboard in succession for a 'no'. "Of course I can't tell you where we are! How in Arceus' name do you think I'll be able to explain that, if I can't even tell you that we need help?"

"So a no… well, okey. Please hold."

Mind beginning to feeling woozy, the Delphox grabbed her forehead. "Please, you incompetent…"

"DARRYL!" the operator yelled out, their phone obviously still being held close to their mouth. "Can you get a fix on this call's location? I think we might have to dispatch a… yes? You've got it? Where is it, then…" the clicking of a keyboard could be heard from the phone. "You're sure? All the way out… in the middle of nowhere? Well yeah, that's the road between… of course, get them on the line! And send a… yes, of course!" The Delphox heard a muffled sound from the phone, one she imagined being from the Operator putting the phone back to their ear.

"Thank you for holding, we have people on their way right now. Have a uh… merry Christmas" the connection was cut with a 'click', and the car's only conscious occupant sat in silence for a moment. A chill went through the Delphox's spine, and she rubbed her hands together to warm them up. A clawed hand wandered to the man's face, which she gently pressed her palm against.

"He's freezing, and I'm starting to get cold too…" the hand went to the heating controls. The knob made clicks as it turned, but nothing happened. She flicked the controls for the overhead light, but to the same effect. "Powers out, of course" she coughed violently for a few seconds. The Pokémon raised its arm to wipe the spittle away from her mouth, but was met with another dizzy spell. "I guess I'm not doing so well either. I've been walking all day and…" she rubbed her sore eyes. "I'm just so tired. Help is on it way and I guess…" the Delphox glanced over to the man beside her. "And I guess I just need to keep up both alive until they get here."

Dizziness began to overtake the Pokémon again. "I'm not going to make it much longer, if I don't find a way to heat us now… we're both going to be popsicles before anyone else is even close to here. There's got to be a way, what if I…"

The fire type began to concentrate her remaining energy. "I'm gonna pass out soon, but if I can heat the car enough that won't matter." The Delphox grabbed the man's shoulder and thigh, and started to push him over. Eventually, she managed to press him against the door, with enough room to fit a Delphox beside him. "Sorry about this, but you're going to need all the heat you can get. I have a feeling you wouldn't mind, not that you could anyway…" she said while squeezing in the beside the man. Snuggling up close to the driver, the Pokémon clenched her fists, closed her eyes, and cleared her mind.

Slowly, the car began to heat up, and up, and up, as the Delphox's vision had begun to get darker, and darker, and darker…

Howdy there, Moose here! I decided to take a little break from my other fic, A Dance Through Fire. Thought I'd take a little change of pace, get the creative juices flowing, if ya get what I mean. Made this over the course of the day, and I only have plans for another chapter or two. This'll probably turn into smut down the road so... just a heads up there, I guess. If you're waiting for A Dance Through Fire... don't worry! I'm almost through the next chapter, and it should hopefully be up within the next few weeks.