Quill and Aamira had just returned from a tiring trip to Ignis to stop the rampaging Gastrodon from attempting to kill the volcano. Being a source of heat and a valuable source of minerals once the lava cooled, it would have been devastating if Gastrodon had gotten away with it. This particular outlaw was an S rank outlaw, one that most teams would have trouble with.
Aamira and Quill both collapsed onto the couch in the main room of their Treehouse. Hunting down an outlaw and traveling over half of the world twice in three days had been just as tiring as one might imagine it to be and by the time they finally got back, the two of them were exhausted.
"I'm ready for a nice long vacation after a mission like that…" Aamira was thinking longingly of her hammock up in her bedroom, but was too tired to move from the couch. She would sleep there tonight if she couldn't will herself to get up.
Quill yawned. "I know what you mean. It's not just Gastrodon; it seems like we've been getting nothing like missions like this lately. I don't know how much more of this we can take. I hear Team Overgrow and Team Sky are equally as busy."
It had seemed like for the longest time, the two of them had had nothing but dangerous and difficult missions like this. At times it seemed like all kindness had gone from the world. Just when things seemed to be taking a turn for the better, everything had suddenly fallen to pieces.
Eventually the two of them managed to fall asleep right where they were, curled together on the couch. It was somehow reassuring to be so close during all that was happening. If the world really did fall apart, the two of them would at least be able to hold onto the other.
Aamira woke up sometime later that night to a chilling wind that rocked the whole Treehouse and the sound of the wind howling through the branches of the tree. She looked over to her left towards the window and, trying to contain her astonishment, immediately shook Quill awake.
"What's up?" He asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.
Aamira pointed towards the window. "Look for yourself!" At first, it seemed as if their fear of the world falling apart had been something more than just a grim and implausible nightmare. It looked as if there was nothing left to the world outside their Treehouse; everything was white and there didn't seem to be anything left. It took them a while to realize that it was really a raging blizzard.
"But how is that possible?" Quill asked. "Sylva doesn't usually get snow, and even if we do it's usually no more than a light dusting. The last time I saw this much snow was when we were in Glacies."
Over the howling winds outside, they could just barely make out the sound of flapping wings. Outside the window was a Delibird who was desperately trying to get in. He finally managed to fight the blizzard and came tumbling through the window.
"All of this snow… It's too much for even us Delibird!" He shook the snow off of his feathers and hopped a few paces towards them. "Noctowl has asked me to deliver a summons to you. It's most likely on account of this blizzard. He wants you two to meet him outside of Town Hall."
Quill stretched and stood up. "Right, we're on our way."
"Why don't you stay here and rest for a while?" Aamira asked. "Just until this snowstorm calms down."
Delibird nodded and sat down next to the table by the window. "Yes, I think I'll do just that. Thank you."
Getting to town hall might have been difficult in a blizzard, but in this monster of a storm, they had trouble even finding it. What was normally a ten minute walk at the most felt like it had taken hours, though it most likely hadn't taken that long.
Inside Town Hall, they found Noctowl with his feathers fluffed up, obviously trying to keep warm and Roserade who was sitting on a couch and shivering. Her leaves had started to turn brown at the edges and her petals had started to curl up. It was hard to believe that this was the same beautiful Roserade that they had met once before.
"Oh good, you're finally here." Noctowl said. "I wasn't sure if you would be able to find your way here. Unfortunately, I can't fly out in this weather."
"So what's going on with this weather anyway?" Aamira asked.
"It's not a natural occurrence, that I know for sure. I asked Roserade when this storm first started to use her Sunny Day to make it stop, but unfortunately it didn't work. It's most likely a pokemon that's causing this storm, and a powerful one at that." Noctowl walked over to a desk and picked up a piece of paper. "This was delivered to me by Castform from the newspaper as a special news bulletin some time ago. According to his weather report, this storm isn't the worst part of it. The epicenter of this storm is somewhere in Glacies and it's starting to spread in all directions."
Roserade sneezed over on the couch and started to shiver worse than before.
"As you can see, grass types are being majorly affected by this storm." Noctowl said. "On top of that, Espeon and the other teachers are stuck in their classrooms with their students and Dragonite and Shedinja are trapped underground. I know the two of you just recently got back from a tasking mission, but you are the only team available at the moment."
"We understand." Quill said. "So what is it that we have to do?"
"Go to Glacies and find the one called the Delibird Boss. She has a nasty temper from what I hear, but if anyone would know what's going on right now it would be her. She's the leader of all of the Delibird and makes a special kind of delivery around this time of year."
"You expect us to go to Glacies in this weather?" Aamira said. "You must be joking! Of course we want to help, but getting there in this weather just isn't possible!"
"I agree…" Quill said. "We have to get to Glacies before all of Sylva is encased in ice, but I just don't see how it would be possible…"
Noctowl pointed towards the stairs behind him. "Alakazam is meditating upstairs. Go up to meet him and he'll teleport you there. Even though he's been meditating in preparation for teleporting the two of you there, this blizzard will make it difficult and there will be no way for him to send you all the way to Crystal, though he will get you as close as possible."
They wished that they could at least get some items before they left. Unfortunately, all of the shops would have been closed anyway. The two of them walked up to meet with Alakazam, who spoke with them briefly before teleporting them to Glacies. Before even realizing that they had been teleported, they found themselves in the middle of a blizzard once again. The only thing that told them that they were close to Crystal was the sudden increase in the blizzard's intensity.
The two of them had no idea which way they were supposed to go, but they figured that they would be facing the right direction since Alakazam teleported them facing that direction. The two of them kept walking but soon found themselves hopelessly lost in the snow. They felt cold to the bone and Quill couldn't even manage a small spark when he tried to warm them up with his fire.
Eventually the two of them collapsed in the snow. They were just about to fall unconscious when they saw something in front of them. They couldn't make out what it was that they were seeing through the raging blizzard, but it was glowing and seemed to be warming them up in some way. The two of them had just fallen out as the figure was about to come in sight of them and the last thing they felt was the mystery pokemon's arms as it picked them up and started to carry them.
Aamira heard the sound of a crying pokemon somewhere nearby, but couldn't will herself to get up. Wherever she was, it was a lot warmer and quieter than it had been in the blizzard, though it was still extremely cold.
"There, there; I'm sure your papa will be back any minute now." The voice was a female, though louder more coarse than would normally be expected.
"Yea, I'm sure there's nothing you have to worry about." It was Quill's voice. Thank goodness he was alright.
Aamira finally managed to sit up, though her limbs all felt strangely heavy and she was aching from the fatigue from fighting against that blizzard.
"Oh! You're awake!" Quill said. "That's good. You were starting to worry me. But how lucky is this? We're at the Delibird Boss's house!"
"We are?" Aamira looked around and saw a bunch of Delibird flying in and out of windows in the enormous igloo they were in. In the back of the room was a giant Delibird about three times the size of a normal Delibird. She looked old, but strong too. At her feet was an Azuril who was crying and burying its face in Delibird's feathers.
"It's alright, Azuril." She was saying in the most soothing voice she could muster.
"But… Papa's been gone all day! And then there's this blizzard…" Azuril started crying harder than before.
"So what's going on here?" Aamira asked.
This was the first time that Delibird seemed to have noticed that she was there. "Ah, finally awake, are you? This little one's dad is just running a little late. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."
"Well if you're sure about that…" Aamira said uncertainly. "Noctowl sent us from Vine City to ask you about the blizzard."
"Yes, I know. Your Cyndaquil friend told me all about it. Unfortunately, I have no idea how this blizzard was caused." She turned to a group of nine Shaymin who were huddling together for warmth. "These nine have been training all year in order to pull the sleigh full of presents. They're able to withstand the cold climate of Glacies and transform into their sky forms here and even in the dark, but unfortunately this blizzard is just too much for even these Shaymin."
"Wait, you lost me." Aamira said. "What do you mean by a sleigh full of presents? Is that something that Delibird normally do?"
Quill interrupted at the confused stare of the Delibird Boss. "Aamira developed a bad case of amnesia a while back, so she doesn't know much about any of this."
"Oh I see!" Delibird said. "That explains why I don't have any information on her before she became an Investigation Team member. Well, let me explain. When I was much younger, I was the leader of an Investigation Team. Jobs were often difficult for us and we seldom got rewarded the way you might expect. We toughed it out and eventually we all retired at a ripe old age. I wanted to do something to help other Investigation Teams in trouble and to give something to show them that they're appreciated, so I started to deliver presents to all of the teams that have been around for more than a year. Someone eventually wrote a song about my deeds called 'My Starry Night' which was at some point misheard as 'Mystery Night' which became the name of the holiday."
"So you deliver presents to Investigation Teams on Mystery Night?" Aamira asked. "That seems vaguely familiar, somehow. So how do the Shaymin fit in to all of this?"
"Delibird are used to delivering presents, but we're not very speedy. To deliver presents in a single night, I've enlisted the help of the eight best Shaymin from Desolo. In return of their services, the gratitude of Investigation teams reach the Shaymin in Desolo in the form of energy to keep all of the Shaymin nice and healthy."
"I've counted nine Shaymin though." Quill said.
It was true. Eight Shaymin were all huddled around a ninth that was using Sunny Day in an attempt to keep the others warm. The ninth Shaymin was a different color from the other eight and the pedals on its flowers were glowing a bright red from its Sunny Day.
"That Shaymin is special." Delibird said. "His name is Rudy. In order for the Shaymin to transform at night, a ninth lead Shaymin who very few people know about uses Sunny Day to keep the conditions warm and bright enough for them. It's been Rudy's dream for a long time to lead the team like his father had before him. He was often made fun of because of the odd color of his leaves, but he trained his Sunny Day relentlessly so that when he was chosen there were none who could disagree with the selection. This year was going to be his first year as the team leader, but in this blizzard even Rudy's Sunny Day can't do much."
"Just one more question." Aamira said. "How did we get here? The last thing I remember was being stranded out in the middle of the blizzard. Were you the one who carried us?"
"Carried you?" Delibird asked. "No, a couple of Delibird found you collapsed right in front of the door. I have no idea who could have brought you here."
"That's too bad." Quill said. "I really wanted to thank whoever it was that saved us."
The Shaymin who were huddled together started to giggle and small flowers started to bud on their backs. They slowly started to stand up and walked off to find a warmer place to stay.
"The two of you gave them enough energy to stand up with your gratitude towards this mystery pokemon who rescued you. If only everyone was able to show their gratitude, even this blizzard wouldn't be a match for them." Delibird said.
By now the little Azuril was calmed down, though was obviously still worried about his dad. While thinking about how to proceed with their investigation of the blizzard, Quill decided to talk to the Azuril.
"You told me earlier when I first woke up that you and your dad were an Investigation Team. Is there anything you're hoping to get for Mystery Night?" Quill asked.
Azuril's face lit up. "Yea! I want a Teddiursa doll! I've collected dolls of every type of pokemon from Glacies except for Teddiursa, which is a really rare collectors item. I'm only one doll away from finishing my collection!"
"Wow, that's awesome." Quill said. "I don't know a single kid who hasn't collected pokemon dolls at some point in their life, myself included, but I was never able to get even close to the entire Sylvan set before. Although I did manage to collect all of the dolls of the famous Investigation Teams from Sylva."
"Wow, that's cool, Mr. Quill!" Azuril said and then was quiet for a while. "I hope my papa gets back soon. We were on a dangerous mission together and he told me to wait here."
"What kind of dangerous mission?" Aamira asked.
"We were chasing a rogue Investigation Team member named Sneasel." Azuril said. "Sneasel was the member of a pretty famous Investigation Team in Crystal until he tried stealing from a client and was kicked out. He's been going on a thieving rampage ever since and our Team Snowflake was asked to stop him since all of the other teams are busy right now. He ran into the Ice Temple and my papa told me to wait here and followed him."
"And he hasn't come back yet…" Aamira had been awake for some time now and Azuril's papa had been gone even before then.
"He has been taking a while, but my papa is really strong!" Azuril said. "I know he'll come back okay, though I still couldn't keep from worrying when the blizzard started up."
"Wait, so the blizzard started after they went to the Ice Temple?" Just as Aamira asked this, a couple of Delibird came in through the door carrying an injured Azumaril between them.
"We've got another one, Boss!" One of the Delibird said as they gently laid the injured Azumaril down on the ground.
"Papa!" Azuril ran over to Azumaril, now with fresh tears in his eyes. "Papa! What happened!"
"I'm sorry." Azumaril said. "I tried to stop Sneasel, but he was just too strong for me."
"Never mind that, you're hurt!" Aamira said.
"No, listen. This is important." Azumaril said. "I followed Sneasel to the top of the temple where I saw an unbelievable sight. By the time I got there, Regice was down on the ground and Sneasel was trying to steal one of the Ice Bells!"
"Steal one of the Ice Bells?" Delibird said. "Doesn't he know that it's bad luck to try to steal one of Articuno's beloved bells!"
"Maybe, maybe not. He took one of the ice bells and the other bells started ringing like crazy all on their own accord. Regice seemed to suddenly become reenergized and frantically and in vain tried to stop the bells. The sky grew dark and a blizzard started howling down the mountain. I followed Sneasel into Icy Grove, but I was no match for him. He knocked me out and by the time I came to, Sneasel was gone so I tried to make it back here to tell everyone what had happened."
"And that's when the Delibird found you outside." Quill said. "That Sneasel! This is unforgiveable! He caused the blizzard by stealing the bell and now it's causing trouble for everyone! How greedy can one pokemon get?"
"We have to stop him and get the bell back!" Aamira said. "If we get the bell back to the Ice Temple, the blizzard might stop, so we have to try!"
"I agree." Quill said.
"You two…" Azumaril said. "You're that Team Sleuth I've heard so much about recently. Please, stop Sneasel before the damage of this blizzard becomes irreversible. I challenged him around the center of Icy Grove, so he's probably on his way to the farthest part of the dungeon by now. Icy Grove is to the northwest of the Ice Temple."
"Don't you worry." Aamira said. "We'll stop Sneasel and this blizzard for sure!"
The two of them ran towards the door but were stopped at the last second by the Delibird Boss.
"Now hold on you two." She said. "The blizzard is still raging out there; you'll never make it."
"What do you suggest we do then?" Quill asked.
Delibird stood up and started digging through a giant treasure chest hidden behind her chair. She pulled out a couple of items that looked like a scarf and goggles combo. "Consider this an early and unofficial Mystery Night present from me to you. Take these Weather Bands and the raging blizzard will feel like a mild winter day."
"Really? Awesome! Thanks a lot!" Aamira said.
The two of them put on the weather bands and ran outside into the raging blizzard. The goggles were a lot of help now that they could see where they were going. They were so well made that the snow just melted and slid right off so they didn't have to clear them of built up snowflakes. The abnormally long scarves also kept them really warm. They even seemed to be flame proof since Quill was able to use his attacks without burning it.
They reached the midpoint of the dungeon fairly easily. All around them, the ice-covered trees were covered in scratch marks, and piles of ice from frozen water type attacks covered the area. In the snow were numerous footprints belonging to Azumaril and Sneasel. They had obviously been battling for a long time and it had been one fierce battle at that.
The two of them continued on their way, wondering exactly how strong Sneasel was and if they would be able to beat him in a battle. They both had a type advantage, which normally would have assured their victory, but even if the blizzard wasn't affecting them with their Weather Bands, Sneasel would definitely have the advantage in this type of weather.
They finally found Sneasel in the deepest part of the dungeon, panting and trying to rest with his arms around a giant silver bell coated in ice.
"Sneasel!" Aamira shouted. "Give the bell back!"
Sneasel was suddenly on alert and stepped in front of the bell with his claws raised to the side. "No way! This bell is mine! It's not fair that Articuno would get such an amazing bell just for being a legendary pokemon! She has more than one too, so why would she miss it?"
"That doesn't matter!" Quill said. "The point is that the bell you took doesn't belong to you and because you took it, this blizzard is raging all over Glacies and is starting to spread!"
"I don't care!" Sneasel shouted. "This bell is mine now and you can't have it back!"
Sneasel attacked them with Shadow Ball and ran up to them with incredible speed. It then attacked them with Fury Swipes and hit them with Blizzard just as they were about to counter attack. The battle had already started and already it was obvious that Sneasel was the most vicious pokemon they had battled in a long time.
Aamira used Aura Sphere and Quill used Flamethrower, and somehow Sneasel had managed to dodge both attacks. He attacked them with Blizzard again and ran over stand protectively between the two of them and his precious stolen bell. Quill used Flame Wheel, but Sneasel managed to dodge by jumping over. Aamira tried to use Force Palm, but Sneasel quickly dodged to the side and attacked with a close range Shadow ball.
Quill dug beneath the snow and came up behind Sneasel. Sneasel was just barely able to dodge Quill's Flamethrower, but by dodging to the side by jumping, it left him vulnerable and unable to change direction in the air. Aamira used Drain Punch and managed to knock him into a tree some distance away.
Aamira rain towards the bell, but Sneasel knocked her away from it with another Blizzard. Sneasel stood up and attacked Quill with Fury Swipes and managed to dodge out of the way when he attempted to counter with Flamethrower. The two of them were injured and Sneasel was back on his feet after Aamira's drain punch. They were back to square one again.
The problem was obvious from the moment this fight started; the raging blizzard was increasing Sneasel's speed and there was no way for Aamira and Quill to keep up. From that point on the battle had been incredibly one sided and it didn't seem like Quill and Aamira had much of a chance to win. Normally their types would have assured an easy victory, but that was only if their attacks managed to hit, which was impossible with Sneasel's increased speed.
From a combo of Flame Wheel and Aura Sphere, Aamira managed to corner Sneasel. She used force palm, but Sneasel managed to dodge out of the way and hit Aamira in the back with Focus Punch. Aamira fell to the ground, cringing from the pain of the attack.
Sneasel ran back towards the bell which was nearly covered in snow by now, but Quill managed to keep him away for the time being with Dig. Aamira stood up while the two of them fought over the bell and ran towards Sneasel and attacked with Force Palm.
Aamira was suddenly so fast that Sneasel didn't have time to dodge. Force palm hit and Sneasel fell to the ground. He attacked the two of them with Shadow Ball again. Quill was just barely grazed by it and Aamira was able to dodge it all together and attacked with Aura Sphere, knocking Sneasel into the tree right next to the bell.
"I bet you didn't count on Aamira's Steadfast ability!" Quill said. "Just give up and give us the bell; we've already won!"
"Sneasel, please listen to reason." Aamira said. "We don't want to keep fighting like this. This blizzard is causing problems for everyone. Just give the bell back so that it will stop."
"The blizzard is causing problems for everyone, you say?" Sneasel asked. "Well, for your information, I happen to like the blizzard!"
"But Sylva and other countries will freeze over at this rate!" Quill said. "And the Shaymin who are supposed to deliver the presents to Investigation Teams on Mystery Night are freezing."
"Oh like I care!" Sneasel said. "Why should I care about Mystery Night when I'm not in an Investigation Team anymore!"
"Wait, is that what this is all about?" Aamira asked. "You're upset that you were kicked off of your team and you're not getting a present as a result? That's so selfish! Delibird delivers gifts to Investigation Teams to show her appreciation to them or to give them items that they might desperately need!"
Sneasel waved his claws towards them menacingly "I don't care! It's of no benefit to me, so I don't care! Let the Shaymin freeze! I'm not giving this bell back!"
"You've already lost." Quill said. "Just give it back to us peacefully and end all of this fighting! Even if you wanted to battle us for it, you don't stand a chance in the condition you're in now. We don't want to hurt you anymore than we already have, but we will if you force us to!"
"No way! If I can't have this bell then… then no one, not even the mighty Articuno, can have it!"
Before they could stop him, Sneasel used Focus Punch on the bell and it shattered into tiny pieces. The two of them shouted and took a step back. Sneasel might have been getting desperate, though he hadn't shown any signs of it before now, but this was going overboard.
They heard the bells starting to ring more ferociously in the distance and the blizzard suddenly picked up. Sneasel ran off using the storm for cover and was soon out of their sight.
"What do we do now?" Quill asked.
"I don't know…" Aamira said. "I think we should go to the top of the Ice Temple where the other bells are. I'm not sure what exactly we could do, but we have to try something."
Quill nodded and followed Aamira back out of the dungeon and the two of them headed towards the temple.
Sneasel sat in the hollowed out side of a cliff right next to a frozen lake where he was treating his injuries. Azumaril had been no big deal, but Team Sleuth had been a lot stronger and he hadn't known a thing about Riolu's special ability. He sat against the back of the small cave and watched the blizzard raging outside. It really was beautiful to him; it reminded him of when he was younger and when he was first found by his parents.
Sneasel had never known his real parents, but a Sneasel's instincts were so strong, even at birth, that living alone had never been a big deal to him. It was in a blizzard much like this that his parents found him. He had been attacked and gravely injured by a rampaging Mamoswine and had lost his way in the storm. It was then that he was found by a ferocious looking Ursaring. Sneasel had started screaming and crying, knowing full well that no one cared about him enough to come to his rescue.
"Calm down, kiddo. I ain't gonna hurt ya." The Ursaring said in his rough voice. Sneasel had grown up knowing not to trust anyone, so he didn't take his eyes off of the ferocious Ursaring for even a second.
"What was that, Ursaring?" a female voice somewhere in the distance shouted. "Did you find some berries?"
"No! There's a kid over here!" Ursaring shouted back at her.
"What? A kid in a blizzard like this?" A Furret wearing a red and green scarf appeared through the snow, jumping towards them in a way that showed how well adapted she was to deep snow.
"Oh you poor thing." Furret wiped the tears off of Sneasel's face by rubbing her cheek against his. Sneasel's face had turned red. No one had ever been so concerned for him before or had been so nice. "Why don't you come home with us? It's a lot warmer than being out here in this blizzard. Even if you're an ice type, you must be getting cold in weather like this."
Sneasel wiped away the rest of his tears and nodded, then followed Ursaring and Furret back home. They lived in a cave that was big enough for Ursaring to live in. Furret had a small nest at the back of the cave with two eggs in it. Based on the pattern, it was obvious that one would hatch into a Sentret and the other into a Teddiursa. Sneasel had never been shown kindness before and had to fight against his instincts to steal the two eggs in the nest. It was even more difficult for him once Furret suggested he sleep in the nest to keep warm.
Sneasel wasn't sure about it at first, but eventually laid in the nest between the two eggs. It was then that Furret did something he hadn't expected her to do. She ran over to the nest and curled up around Sneasel and her two eggs to keep them warm. Sneasel loved her warm fur, even though he was an ice type. It was the first time he ever felt a mother's warmth and, after he told them he had no parents of his own, it wouldn't be the last.
A group of Sneasel had once broken into their nest and tried to steal the two eggs, but Sneasel fought them off, much to his new parents delight. He was now considered a disgrace among Sneasel, but he didn't care. A short time later, Sentret and Teddiursa hatched and Sneasel helped to take care of his two baby sisters.
When he finally decided to move out into the world, Furret gave him the scarf that she had been wearing the day they found him stranded out in the blizzard. Even though he was never able to feel his mother's warmth again, he still had her scarf to help keep him warm at night. He treasured his mother's scarf more than his own life. It was only a short time later though that the group of Sneasel who had tried to steal the eggs, and who had by this time evolved into Weavile, attacked him and stole his precious scarf. Sneasel had never been the same since.
"What are you doing in this lonely place?"
"Mom!" Sneasel looked around confused. He had completely spaced out and for a second had thought he heard his mother's voice. He laid back against the wall of the cave, sure he must have imagined it, then a small voice started to laugh at him.
"Mom? I used to be adored by children, but none of them had ever called me that before." A Froslass appeared at the entrance to the cave. She was wearing a large brown bag over her shoulder and was holding her famed Icy Flute.
"Oh, it's just Froslass." Sneasel said. "What are you doing here?"
"I was on my way to Crystal to play My Starry Night as I usually do on Mystery Night when I heard some sobbing from across the lake."
"Sobbing?" Sneasel wiped his eyes. Sure enough, he had been crying and hadn't even noticed. His battle with Team Sleuth had brought up all of these old memories of that battle with Mamoswine and how his parents had found him and he didn't even realize it.
"Care to tell me what's wrong?" Froslass asked. Of course. She had a home somewhere in the mountains and only came to Crystal at certain times a year. She wouldn't have known that Sneasel was a thief, even if the whole city was talking about him now.
"I got kicked off of my Investigation Team right before Mystery Night! How's that for cruel!" He shouted.
"Is that all?" Froslass asked. "That's nothing to be this upset about. At least, not so upset that you would anger Articuno by stealing and destroying on of her bells."
So she did know. Sneasel got up, ready to fight if he had to, but lowered his guard when Froslass started laughing again.
"Calm down, I'm not going to turn you in. I just want to know why you did it, that's all. I'm here to listen to what you have to say."
"I was kicked off of my team, like I said! It was for some really stupid reason too!"
"I heard that you tried to steal something from a client during a mission. Is that true? If so, I doubt it was for some stupid reason, as you put it."
"You don't understand." Sneasel said. "Our client was a Weavile. I had never held a grudge against all Weavile for what happened, so I didn't think anything of it. But when we went into the dungeon to rescue him, he was wearing my mom's scarf! He was the one that stole it from me!"
"Oh, so that's it!" Froslass said. "So this Weavile stole your scarf and you tried to steal it back. Did you tell your teammates about what had happened?"
Sneasel remained silent. It was true that he hadn't and he had been kicked off of their team because of trying to steal from Weavile. "They wouldn't have understood!" he snapped at Froslass.
"You really think so?" She asked kindly. "I didn't understand until you explained it to me. Your mother gave you that scarf, so of course you would want to get it back. But never mind all of these unhappy things, isn't the blizzard beautiful?"
"I thought it was causing problems for everyone." Sneasel said. "You like blizzards too?"
"Strangely enough. You like them because they remind you of something or someone special, right? Well for me it's the same way. You see, I wasn't always a pokemon, I was once human."
"What, human!" Sneasel jumped up and backed away from Froslass.
"Must you do that?" She asked. "But yes, I was once human. Back in my world I had a role similar to the one that Delibird decided to take on. In a nearby city there was an orphanage filled with children, all of whom had barely enough toys between them. I started going to that village every year to deliver gifts to them. One year, I got word that a little girl had become sick and they didn't think she would make it through the night, so even though I knew that a blizzard was coming, I decided to leave a day early. I got lost in the snowstorm and eventually froze. It was then that I heard the voice of Articuno. She said that because of my kindness and the unpleasant turn of events, she wouldn't want her snow to be my demise. It was then that I came to this world miraculously transformed into a Froslass. The only item I had with me was the present I was going to bring to that sick little girl."
"So you were a kind human who delivered presents… to orphans?" Sneasel asked.
"That's right." She said. "Many of those children never knew a parents love, so it was the best I could do for them."
"But what did they ever do for you?" Sneasel asked. "You nearly died because of those kids! Why help them when they had nothing to do with you! Why… why would my mom have adopted me when she knew full well that there was a possibility that I would steal her real children before they hatched!"
"You can't say I didn't get anything in return." Froslass said. "I got their smiles. That was enough for me. Their gratitude was all I needed and it was all I really had. It wasn't the sort of gratitude that came from material possessions either; that sort of gratitude was genuine. The reason being because I gave them what they needed and wanted the most. It's something that couldn't be sewn together and stuffed in less than a week or wrapped up in a box. They never asked for it, but I knew it's what they wanted the most, because I had once been in their situation."
"What's that?" Sneasel asked. "What could you give them that couldn't be wrapped up? What's so important that you would nearly die to give to those kids?"
Froslass smiled. "Love, of course. To know that they weren't forgotten, to know that there was someone out in the big cruel world who cared about them, that's what they wanted most, even if they couldn't think of how to ask for it. And I can guarantee that when your mother adopted you, she could tell that you wanted the same thing and that she never wanted anything in return aside from your gratitude and a smile." Froslass took her bag off of her shoulder and handed it to Sneasel. "I know what you've been through and I know you're not a coldhearted criminal. Inside this bag is the toy I made for the little girl who had gotten sick. I know it's no replacement for your mother's scarf, but please take it. It's the least I could do for you."
Sneasel opened the bag, somewhat reluctantly after all that Froslass has said, and inside he found a Teddiursa Doll. He immediately thought of his two little sisters and his mother and father. What would they think if they saw him acting the way he was? If they knew that he had become a greedy thief?
Sneasel put the doll back in the bag, put the bag around his shoulder, and got up to leave.
"Where are you going?" Froslass asked.
"There's something that I have to do to make things right. It's something I have to do alone, so don't try to help me.
Froslass nodded. "I understand.
Quill and Aamira were trying desperately to keep the bells from ringing along with the help of the Delibird Boss, Azuril, Azumaril, and Regice the temple guardian. The bells seemed to have a mind of their own and no matter what they did they couldn't calm the bells. Aamira pulled desperately on the ribbon of the bell she was trying to stop, but the cold conditions there at the center of the blizzard was making it difficult. She lost her grip on the ribbon and fell backwards, almost falling down the side of the mountain.
Quill let go of the ribbon on his bell and ran to Aamira to try to pull her up. The wind was becoming more violent by the second and was about to push both of them off of the mountain when a familiar pokemon appeared and pulled them to safety. Sneasel stood in front of them trying to catch his breath. Behind him was a crudely cut bell made of ice.
"Sneasel!" Aamira said. "What are you doing here?"
"I know it's no replacement for the real thing, but…" Sneasel picked up the ice bell. "It's the thought that counts, right? It took me twelve tries to get the sound right. If you don't mind, I'd like to hang it myself."
Quill and Aamira glanced at each other and smiled.
Quill nodded. "Yea, of course! There's no reason why you shouldn't."
"Thank you." Sneasel said with a smile and ran over to the other bells.
Quill and Aamira continued in their attempt to keep the other bells from ringing while Sneasel climbed up the side of the frame that the bells were hanging on. The replacement he had carved out of ice with his claws was obviously a lot heavier than the original and he was having trouble carrying it.
"Do you need us to help you?" Aamira shouted over the wind.
"No! I have to do this myself!" Sneasel shouted back.
He dug his claws into the side of the frame and eventually managed to climb onto the top. He reached down and just as he was about to attach the bell to the hook that held it in place, the wind picked up and Sneasel fell off. Sneasel shouted and grabbed the ribbon that was tied to the hook with his left paw while still holding the heavy bell with the claws on his right paw.
"Are you okay?" Quill asked. "Sneasel, let us help you!"
"No! Just keep the bells still so they don't knock me off!" He shouted. "I can do this myself. I have to do this myself since I'm the one that broke it to begin with." Sneasel lifted the heavy bell up to the hook, making it more difficult to hang on to the slick silk ribbon. If he fell from that height he could be seriously injured and yet he insisted on replacing the bell on his own. "I have to do this! Because I'm grateful to my parents for everything they've done for me, even though I was never able to tell them how much I loved them. They don't deserve to have no good criminal like myself for a son!"
Sneasel managed to get the bell on the hook and at that moment lost his grip on the ribbon and fell. He was falling too fast for anyone to have reached him in time. At that moment a glowing light game from the storm clouds above them and a Shaymin in its sky form with shiny blue leaves and a vivid red flower. He ran through the air as if he was running through the snow and caught Sneasel on his back just before he hit the ground.
Rudy landed on the ground and let Sneasel off of his back. "That's pretty impressive, Sneasel. Your gratitude was so strong that I was able to turn into my sky form even in this howling blizzard!"
"That was amazing!" Delibird said. "You flew all the way from Crystal that quickly?"
"Well, to tell you the truth, I decided to help everyone, so I started climbing the mountain on my own. Then I heard Sneasel shouting about his parents and his feeling of gratitude was so overwhelming that all of my flowers started to bloom. I took out my Gracidea flower, turned into sky form and flew up here just in time to see Sneasel falling."
Sneasel looked up at his replacement bell. He hadn't noticed before just how high up he was. He was horrified for a minute that he had fallen from such a height. Slowly the bells stopped ringing and the blizzard calmed down a little, though it didn't stop entirely.
"I hope the other Shaymin could feel Sneasel's gratitude also." Delibird said. "The blizzard is noticeably weaker now, but it's not about to stop any time soon."
Rudy nodded. "I'm sure they could."
"I'm really sorry about all of this…" Sneasel said. "I'm going to give back all of the things I took, I promise. I know I won't be forgiven just for giving everyone's stuff back. It was wrong, I shouldn't have done it to begin with, and I deserve whatever punishment I get for it."
Delibird, who was much bigger than Sneasel, walked up to him. She looked mad and Sneasel was shaking, but he didn't run away. Aamira and Quill were afraid that they were about to witness the Delibird Boss's infamous temper.
Delibird knelt down so she was closer to Sneasel's level. "You're good at finding items, aren't you? Even really rare ones?" she asked.
"I-I guess so…" Sneasel stammered.
"Then let's make a deal. If you give back all of the things that you stole, I can keep the police from putting you on the outlaw's list. That doesn't mean that anyone would be willing to forgive you, as you said. So for the next year you'll work for me, hunting for items to give to Investigation Team members. If you manage to find all of the items I ask you to find, I'll make sure that no one bothers you. Is that acceptable?"
"I guess so." Sneasel repeated.
"Then get going!" Delibird shouted at him. "Give everyone their stuff back and go apologize to that little Azuril who had been forced to worry about his papa the whole time you were battling with him!"
"R-Right!" Sneasel ran off through the Ice Temple and back to Crystal.
Aamira and Quill had no idea why Sneasel had come back or why he had decided to go through all of the trouble of making a replacement for the bell he stole. What mattered was that by the time they got back to Crystal, Sneasel was running around with a bag full of items that he had stolen, trying to give them all back to the people he had stolen from. They had noticed that he had been wearing that bag when he showed up with the bell, but had no idea where he got it.
Azuril and Azumaril were standing by the sleigh and watching as Delibird helped each of the Shaymin into the harnesses to pull the sleigh. Rudy looked incredibly excited, as if it had suddenly donned on him for the first time that he was really going to lead the team just like he had always dreamed.
"I'm sorry to bother you…" They all turned around to see Sneasel standing there with his claws wrapped protectively around the small bag that he had been carrying around. Azuril screamed and hid behind his dad.
"No, please don't be scared!" Sneasel said. "Really, I'm sorry to have caused you both so much trouble. I really hurt your papa in our battle, didn't I?"
"The doctor said it's nothing too serious; just some bruises and scratches." Azumaril said.
Sneasel sighed. "I'm really glad to hear that. Listen, kid. I know I couldn't expect you to forgive me just for apologizing but I really do regret what I've done. I know this wouldn't exactly make up for it, but I want you to have something. A really nice pokemon gave it to me."
Sneasel held out his bag and Azuril walked towards him hesitantly. He grabbed the bag in his mouth and dragged it back over to where Azumaril was standing. Sneasel would never forget the look on Azuril's face when he opened the bag. Azuril pulled out the Teddiursa doll that was in the bag and put it on top of his head.
"Look, Papa!" Azuril shouted excitedly. "It's the Teddiursa doll I was looking for! I finally got it!" Azuril sat the doll on the ground and ran back over to Sneasel. "Thank you, Mr. Sneasel. It was the only one I was missing for my collection!"
"You're welcome… I guess…" Sneasel said. Gratitude really did feel good like Froslass had said, but was Azuril really going to forgive him so easily? He remembered his mom had told him once when he had gotten into a fight with Teddiursa that kids were smarter than most people realize and they could tell often time what a person was like just by looking into their eyes. Azuril could tell that Sneasel had changed, and for that, not for the doll, he was willing to forgive him.
"Stand back, everyone!" Delibird said as she climbed into the back of the sleigh. "I don't want anyone getting hurt when we take off."
Aamira, Quill, Sneasel, and everyone else all stood back with the rest of the crowd that had gathered. At that moment Froslass came forward to talk to Delibird.
"You play that flute of yours nice and loud so we can find our way back home in this blizzard, you hear?" Delibird said.
Froslass nodded. "Thanks for going easy on Sneasel. He's a good kid if you get to know him."
"You always did like children, even as a human." Delibird said. "Is that why you rescued Aamira and Quill when they first arrived here? Because you saw how young they were?"
"That's part of it, I suppose." Froslass said. "But you know, aside from her amnesia, there's another reason you've never heard of Aamira."
"Right. I could tell from when I first saw her that she's not an ordinary pokemon. She was a human at one point too, wasn't she?"
"Or so I've heard." Froslass clutched her Icy Flute a little tighter. "It made me think, maybe that girl didn't die that night after all. Maybe she pulled through."
Delibird smiled at her hopeless friend. "You told me about that when we first became an Investigation Team."
"What about it?" Froslass asked, even though she knew the answer well enough.
"If that human girl that you mentioned was still alive even now, she'd have to be over three hundred years old."
Froslass smiled. "You're right." She stepped back and raised her flute to her lips. "I'll be playing My Starry Night for you and the Shaymin nonstop until you return. Don't you dare get lost in this blizzard!"
Delibird smiled and nodded and turned to the Shaymin. "Alright, gang! We've got a job to do, so let's get going!"
Rudy lifted his head and his red flower at his neck started to glow from Sunny Day. The Shaymin all started to run at the same time and flew off into the air, pulling the sleigh behind them. The results of their year of training had been revealed to everyone by how easily they were able to pull the sleigh. Everyone cheered and Froslass started to play her flute just as the sleigh turned to the south.
Aamira and Quill started the long journey back home, taking a shortcut through the mountains which they had neglected on their first trip to Glacies. They managed to get back about an hour before dawn.
Back inside their Treehouse they found a couple of presents on the table with a note from Delibird.
Dear Quill and Aamira,
Thank you both for your help with Sneasel. Even though you might not feel like you personally did anything, I'm sure that your battle with him was what helped to thaw that icy heart of his. He told me so shortly after I got back to Crystal from the Ice Temple that your battle reminded him of a time he was attacked during a blizzard. I'm not sure what Froslass said to him, but he's definitely a changed pokemon now. I've chosen a couple of presents for the two of you to remind you of what happened tonight. Don't ever forget why Mystery Night exists and promise never to become greedy. If you do become greedy, I promise the next present won't be a pleasant one!
Sincerely,
The Delibird Boss
Inside of the boxes, they found that Delibird had given them a couple of Soothe Bells. Aamira and Quill smiled and headed up to bed. This was definitely one Mystery Night that they wouldn't forget. Just as Aamira was about to fall asleep, she jumped at the sound of a loud explosion and a scream from Machop's room next to hers. She laughed as she realized what Noctowl had meant about Delibird's temper, rang the Soothe Bell a couple of time, and fell into the most relaxing sleep that she had gotten in days.