The blizzard subsided after the Rocket left, and Sasha managed to get herself loose from the String Shot, twisting and losing a bit of skin in the process. Kirby tugged out a few bandages from their first aid kit and helped wrap them around the peeled-raw parts of Sasha's arm, whining low in his throat. "Glacee," he said apologetically, patting down the bandage with a paw.
"It's not your fault," Sasha said quietly. Taz glared at the door and gave a low screech like she wanted to hunt the Rocket down herself. "And we can't go after them. We don't know what other leverage they might have, and he had us outnumbered, remember?"
Returning sunlight streamed through the stained glass windows and painted Kirby rainbow; it glinted off Taz's feathers and pulled out the sparkles in her foliage, too, lighting her yellow crest up in gold. Taz was the only shiny Pokemon that Sasha had ever kept- the first one she'd ever met, even, and the inspiration for her whole career. Meeting her just after running away with a baby Eevee had been a stroke of luck so intense it had changed the course of Sasha's life.
Sasha caught Kirby's eye and mouthed, scan for bugs, and Kirby started to slink around where the man and his Pokemon had stood, glancing under pews and between thick stone tiles. He shook his fur and sent a fine layer of snow over everything near him to obscure it just in case, then trotted back to Sasha and chirped, "Cee ceon?"
Sasha shivered at the cold touch- Ice-type body temperatures were rarely more than lukewarm. "Don't worry," she said. "We'll just have to find some other way out of it." Except she didn't know where her daughter- not her daughter, just a child who'd come from her and who she hadn't wanted to give up, a child she'd only ever seen once- was. "I'll have to ask around and see who knows that Rocket. He had to be an admin at least, with Pokemon that strong."
Sasha had encountered Team Rocket before; they had approached her mentor just before his death, and whatever they'd been asking him to do had been dangerous. Sasha didn't know if it had been their commission that had killed him.
For both of their sakes, she really hoped not.
"All right," she started. Her voice shook. "The crux of the blackmail revolves around my daughter, who I've never met in person. At all. Getting out of it would involve ensuring her safety somehow, and doing that would mean knowing where she actually is. The other half of what we have to do right now is figure out what the Rocket even meant by saying 'Legendary Pokemon' so we can start this job on a solid footing. If we get the weakest legends first-" Taz's eyes sharpened- "We'll be more likely to survive. And… maybe the environmental effects won't be as bad as they might be otherwise."
The only other time she'd heard of someone actively capturing Legendary Pokemon, instead of just trying to harness their power or befriend them for personal gain, was when a Pokemon collector had tried to capture Moltres and had thrown off weather patterns in the Kanto-Johto area. There had been rumors of Team Galactic capturing Azelf or Mesprit or Uxie, once, but Sasha had never confirmed them.
She tensed a little; even the thought of Moltres trapped made her heart clench in her chest. "Where do you think he wants us to start? Do you think it matters?" She pulled out the business card he'd left behind and stared at the contact information. "I suppose we could call and ask."
"Glaceon glacee," Kirby hissed, going on his hind legs like he wanted to snatch the card out of her hand, and Sasha pocketed it before he could try.
"It's all right. I won't yet," she told him. The air still felt frighteningly cold. "Taz, could you return for now? I think we might as well try to find that Snover before we leave the area."
Taz bowed her head, and Sasha called her back in a flash of light. Kirby pinned back his ears and gave her a look, but went out into the snow ahead of her nonetheless. Sasha pulled her face-mask back on and put on her non-reflective goggles before she tramped out into the snow.
She'd think about her Rocket problem after she finished this job.
Shiny Snover didn't look that different from regular; even if they did, Sasha would have had no chance of finding them alone when they were young. Lots of Pokemon species would abandon shiny young for the sparkly target they presented, but Abomasnow had no such qualms. They were the top predators in their areas, fiercely protective of their young, and any Pokemon who went after a baby Snover would find its work cut out for it- shiny or not. The Snowpoint trainer school even made a point of telling students how to approach Abomasnow: Namely, don't.
Sasha's client had first heard whispers of a shiny Snover outside of Snowpoint last year, and had hired Sasha to find it in its second spring, when it would be independent from its Abomasnow parent and able to care for itself. That was good for two reasons: the Snover wouldn't be taken from its family too young but would instead be close to adult, for one, and for two... well, Sasha and her Pokemon wouldn't be mauled to death by an angry mother. Sasha was in favor of any course of action that led to less disembowelment.
The next complications were natural to Ice-type Pokemon: they didn't leave much in the way of tracks in the snow, they often lived in remote or hard-to-reach areas, and they blended into the terrain much better than a human ever could. Sasha was lucky that Snover were curious creatures; it meant the alpine Pokemon might come to her.
She moved away from the church and into the wilderness, treading lightly to avoid the attention of predators. The trek to Snover sighting points was long and arduous, and from just one of the higher peaks in the area, part of the same mountain chain as Mt Coronet, she could see half the route. This was as good a place as any to attract possible quarries. Sasha's feet sank almost knee-deep into the snow.
"Get ready for company," she told Kirby. She pulled an incense out from her bag and lit it, filling the air with artificial Sweet Scent. Then she moved behind a snowdrift, digging in a little to hide herself from prying eyes before settling in to wait. Kirby sat beside her and cooled the air around her to disguise her thermal signature in case of unexpected Pokemon. Weavile were vicious this time of year.
A parade of Pokemon started wandering by, investigating the incense and then leaving when nothing else happened. Kirby had to chase more than a few normal Snover away before they stole the incense for themselves and had to cut a Sneasel a little for getting too close to Sasha. A few Swinub snuffled around the incense, too, eyesight so bad that they didn't realize it wasn't food; Kirby threw clumps of snow at them until they went away to cluster around their Piloswine mother.
Snow worked as a weapon against baby Swinub because it wouldn't hurt them at all, and because a Piloswine would never see little clumps of snow as a threat. That was Kirby's argument, at least- Sasha would rather have left the Swinub to their business so they'd be less likely to be trampled.
Kirby never listened to her about these things.
Two more Sneasel, a solicitous Delibird who handed Kirby a berry and wouldn't leave until he ate it- and finally a familiar sparkle caught Sasha's eye. She tensed and called Kirby back to her with a low whistle, watching carefully. That sparkle was way too high to belong to a Snover.
A giant white creature lumbered up to the incense and snatched it up, sticking it in its face and shaking it around with a curious growl. It used one of its dark teal hands to dunk the incense in the snow, and made a grunting sound when the fire went out. Then it crushed the incense in its hands and let the pieces fall to the ground.
Sasha was frozen where she sat; beside her, quivering with something between terror and anticipation, Kirby whined low in his throat. The shiny Abomasnow looked up sharply at the sound, rumbling, and the skies started to cloud over with snow. So the Snover had evolved, Sasha thought. That was good for it. It meant it could get food more easily and could probably start to try attracting a mate. And then it could produce shiny Snover, or more likely Snover with the potential for a shiny Pokemon in their genomes, and Sasha could come back in a year or two and catch one of those.
She was not prepared to face an Abomasnow. For that she'd need a net, and and probably Taz, or her client would have to lend her a Pokemon- that happened sometimes, when she didn't have an advantage over her quarry. It was times like this that she really missed her mentor's Breloom.
Status bombs, to cause paralysis or sleep or poisoning- she'd definitely need those, and to keep up her master's ethics she'd have to challenge the Abomasnow two-on-one and use the excuse that she and Kirby's strength together only barely matched that of a single Abomasnow. And then she'd have to choose the terrain carefully, and would have to have Taz above them ready for a quick rescue if things went south…
Her mentor had trained her for a year, until just after she'd turned fifteen. He had given Sasha her new name, claiming she was his niece, and had provided her with fake IDs, fake trainer passports, and everything else she could have possibly needed. After his death had passed his contacts and clients on to her, it had only been natural that she continue his business. Now, in certain circles, she was known as one of the best in her trade- and as the successor of the best.
She wouldn't ever catch a Pokemon that didn't want to be captured, though; like her mentor before her, she only took jobs to catch a certain species shiny. An exact Pokemon could never be guaranteed.
Looking at the Abomasnow, who had started sniffing the air and glaring around like he could sense their presence, Sasha was glad of that. She would be within the bounds of her contract as long as she made sure to catch a shiny Snover. This specific former Snover would not be necessary.
She mouthed at Kirby, circle around and distract him, then disappear and meet me at the bottom of the hill. We'll take Taz back to town. Kirby nodded, a human mannerism that Sasha had taught him, and left her side.
A faint flash of light, barely visible over the snow, and a Hyper Beam shot straight into the air. The Abomasnow turned with a monstrous snarl, snow falling fast and thick as its ability kicked in, and Sasha took the opportunity to run. Time to hold up her end of the bargain.
Sasha sprinted for the forest, kicking up snow in her wake. If she could get to the trees, she could find a place to hide until she got to the bottom of the mountain, or she could let it slow the Abomasnow down-
A rain of ice shards cut into the snow around her and sliced through her jacket into skin. Sasha gasped in pain, stumbling to the ground, and only barely dodged the Abomasnow's splintery arm as it crashed down beside her. Kirby's distraction hadn't lasted long, then. Damn.
The Abomasnow glared and roared, raising its arm again, and Sasha scrambled back to her feet and dashed sideways into the forest. For a long moment, she thought the Abomasnow had given up; then she heard its heavy footsteps thudding into the ground behind her, and she saw the trees bend-
She reached an old hollow log, half-smothered with snow, and crawled into it, packing the entrance behind her. It smelled like rotting and frozen things, and the decaying wood sent splinters deep into her skin. She kept as still as she could. Maybe if she got far enough and released Taz… no, Flying was weak against Ice. One Blizzard from the shiny Abomasnow and Taz would be finished, maybe even killed. Sasha wouldn't be responsible for that.
Hail fell fast and hard, hitting the roof of the log and sinking audibly into the snow that coated it. Sasha squeezed her eyes shut as the Abomasnow's footsteps approached and prayed to Articuno to be hidden as well as it was from unwelcome eyes. The air grew colder, freezing Sasha's blood against her skin, and she nearly cried out from the chill. Her fingers ached; it was so cold for a moment that it felt like burning.
Then the moment passed, she heard the Abomasnow's footsteps move away, and feeling started to seep back into her toes. She tried to open her eyes and discovered that her lashes had been frozen to her skin.
Sasha stumbled into her hotel room, shivering violently, and hung her parka over the bathroom door to dry. Pokemon as large as Pidgeot weren't allowed out anywhere but the ground floor, so she kept Taz in her ball and put a blanket over her lap so Kirby could curl up beside her.
The heating was on full force, but she still felt dangerously cold. "We'll have to go back out tomorrow. Our client won't wait much longer, and now that we've actually sighted a shiny..." Her back felt like it had been stabbed by a thousand tiny daggers; as the feeling came back to her skin she had to bite back a cry of pain. "We'll have to go back tomorrow."
Kirby growled and sank his teeth into her sleeve, pulling until she stood up before leading her into the bathroom. Then he pawed at the bathtub until she gave in and filled it with hot water. When she sank into the bath it felt like a sea of fire, but Kirby snarled and blocked her way when she tried to pull herself out. "Glacee," he hissed, and she subsided, gasping as her body warmed. "Ceon glaceon."
"It has been a long time since I messed up that badly, hasn't it?" Sasha asked weakly. "I think I'll have to go to the hospital tomorrow before I continue the hunt." For frostbite, if for nothing else; she had to be sure that her extremities recovered fully.
Kirby's expression said clearly: You'd better. He leaped up on the edge of the bathtub and touched his nose to Sasha's face, then settled onto the toilet lid to watch her carefully.
"We need a more solid plan," Sasha said through chattering teeth. "Get more Pokemon, definitely, and train, and get more supplies- maybe scour the Internet for sightings, or see if our new employer wouldn't mind sharing whatever information he has so far. I mean, we need it if we're going to do our job, don't we?"
"Glaceon," Kirby agreed cautiously. "Cee-cee?"
"Where should we start?" Sasha got the feeling that some of the ice shards that had been left in her back were melting away with the heat: the sharpness in her back was receding, bit by bit, and leaving a raw, wounded-flesh pain behind it. She wondered if she'd need stitches. Definitely hospital-worthy, then. She wouldn't risk infection when healthcare was so readily available. "Not with anything too strong, but we're probably on a time limit. I get the feeling they'll expect results."
Kirby regarded her for a moment, then circled on the toilet lid and pointed his tail at himself. Sasha squinted and said cautiously, "Something your size?" Nod. "I'm not going after Mew."
"Glaceon."
"That's not a legendary Pokemon- no, no, I know what you mean!" She managed to raise a hand to fend off the water Kirby had flicked in her direction. "Isn't that hot for you, too? All right." Her heart felt lighter, and suddenly she felt an almost ferocious warmth toward her Pokemon. Hers, and she would not fail him- wouldn't fail either of them. Kirby and Taz were all she had. She wouldn't let them die on this job. "We'll have to go after Victini, then, not Celebi- Manaphy?" Another nod. "Manaphy, then. We're headed to the coast."
And she'd have to call the Rocket to ask for a loaner Pokemon to help her hunt underwater- maybe even one to keep, if she were brave enough. And she'd have to start researching, looking everywhere she could think of for sightings and clues, and they'd have to train…
Sasha just hoped that it would be enough.