Chapter 11: Mastery of Ice

Snow and ice continued to fall from the ceiling of the seafoam caverns as Red ran as fast as he could to get out.

"I'm..nearly…there" he thought as he saw light ahead of him.

With all his strength, Red and lunged towards the light and tumbled outside, a pink pokemon still wrestling in his arms.

"I…I…made it" he was panting so hard that he could barely breathe.

Behind him, the entire cave collapsed and boulders of snow and ice now blocked the entrance.

Jigglypuff immediately jumped out of his arms and started trying to dig the snow away from the entrance with its stubby arms.

Red, meanwhile, collapsed to his knees as the image of Leaf getting crushed kept playing in his head constantly "What have I done?" he shouted "I've sent her to her death…" He punched the ground with all his force as tears streamed from his eyes "….it's all my fault…." Red cried, but was brought to attention by a slap to the face.

He looked up to see jigglypuff in front of him also in tears. It tapped his arm rapidly and motioned to the caved in entrance.

Red bit his lip as he tried to explain "Jigglypuff….you know she's…."

But Jigglypuff shook its head as it ran over to the pile of snow and continued trying to dig through it.

Red wiped his eyes, the pokemons determination inspired him "Y..you're right jigglypuff, we should still try to find her…but we're going to need help.."

He reached behind him to grab a pokeball from his bag, but nothing was there. Red went wide eyed as realization set in "All my pokemon were in my bag….and my bag's…with Leaf!"

With no way to get off the island he brought his PokeNav to his mouth and sharply ordered. "PokeNav! Patch me through to the Viridian Gym immediately! This is an emergency!"

Meanwhile, deep within the seafoam caverns, Leaf lied unconscious on the ground, a blanket of snow and ice covering her.

As she lied there, her mind started to wander and visions started to play through her head.

In the vision, Leaf was flying through a dreary looking forest until she came to an old run down mansion.

Like magic the mansion changed from run down to brand new and two shadowy individuals appeared in front of her.

"Who….who are you?" Leaf called out.

"Leaf…you cannot give up" One replied

"You're strong, remember what we told you…." The other reassured her as the images began to fade away.

"Wait! Come back!" she tried to reach out, but the images faded away and all she could hear was a voice calling her name "Leaf….Leaf"

She looked around trying to see where the voice was coming from "Where are you?"

The voice kept calling out "Leaf….Leaf….Leika!"

Leaf was confused "Huh?"

"Pika!" the voice called out to her.

Suddenly, Leafs body felt numb all over "Pik..a..chu" she muttered as she regained consciousness

"I…I'm so cold…I can barely move" she thought as she opened her eyes and tried to lift her head

"Pika!" it called out again, but she couldn't see anything, it was pitch black

"Pikachu! I can't see you!" she tried to shout out.

All of a sudden, she saw a small spark of electricity in the distance and listened as tiny footsteps made their way to her "Pika!" it shouted as it gave her a reassuring pat on the head

"I…I'm glad you're here…" she said with relief in her voice.

Pikachu then jumped onto Leafs back and started rummaging through Reds bag until it found what it needed. It then rolled what felt like a pokeball up to Leafs hand and with all her strength she released the pokemon inside.

Out of the pokeball came charizard, whose flames immediately melted all the snow and ice around her and illumined the area.

"Charizard!" she shouted as she struggled to get up. Her entire body ached from head to toe, but the warmth from the dragon pokemon gave her strength

"Come on Leaf! Push through the pain!" She thought as she finally got to her feet.

Remembering that they were still in seafoam caverns, Leaf looked around for an exit, but everywhere was caved in.

"We're blocked on both sides, we'll just have to pick a route and stick with it!"

Leaf motioned to one of the snow blocked pathways "Charizard! Use your flames and melt that ice!"

Just as charizard started to rear its head back and make a move, the surface they were standing on began to crack.

Leaf quickly looked down "What the?" she gasped as the ground beneath them gave way and crumbled.

Leaf quickly grabbed Pikachu and screamed as she fell down, only to be swiftly picked up charizard. "Nice save charizard!" she complemented and charizard roared as they proceeded to the depths of the cavern.

Outside, Blue arrived as quickly as he could and was currently talking to Red, trying to figure out exactly what happened.

Blaine also showed up after he heard reports of a tremor in the area.

"Red, I'm so sorry!" Blaine apologized "This island is right on the fault line…but there hasn't been a tremor here in years"

Blaine summoned his magmortar "Magmortar can use its flames to melt our way into the cavern!" he stated

Blue looked at him and nodded "Ok do your best!" he then turned to Red who was sitting on the ground with jigglypuff exhausted "Red! What happened! Are you alright!" he said with concern in his voice.

Red was panting furiously; he and jigglypuff had been digging with their bare hands for hours

"Leaf…she's…dead" he choked out.

Blue grabbed Reds shoulders in shock "WHAT!"

"She…she was crushed by an ice boulder that fell from the ceiling"

Blue just stared at him, he was at a loss for words "Holy ****" Blue thought to himself.

He looked down at Red who was pale as a ghost. "I…I couldn't do anything to stop it…." Red whispered.

Blue remembered all too well how depressed Red got when his mom passed on and he couldn't bear to see his friend go through that again.

"Hey! Red!" Blue tapped his shoulder "Stay with me buddy! It'll be okay….she'll be fine"

Red looked up at him hopelessly and Blue reassured him "I promise! We'll find her!" He then looked over his shoulder and yelled out "Blaine! How are you coming along over there?"

Blaine shook his head "It's no good! The caves so cold, as soon as we melt the snow it freezes on us!"

Red ran up to him "What can we do Blaine?" he asked.

"I'll call and arrange for a digger to be brought here" Blaine explained as he ran to his boat and rummaged around "In the meantime…" he tossed a shovel to Red and Blue "We do this manually!"

Red nodded and started digging the snow away as fast as he could.

Down in the depths of the seafoam caverns, Leaf looked around, shocked to see that there was another level to it.

"We'll land over there charizard" she commanded as they descended to the bottom.

As she dismounted, Leaf took a minute to observe her surroundings.

Her eyes widened as she saw a giant winding stream; it was the same stream her and Red had been looking for.

"The stream….it was below us the entire time!"

She walked over to the edge of the water and sat down, contemplating what to do next

"I really should focus on finding a way out…..but this may be our only chance…" She then reached into Reds bag, pulled out all of his pokemon and summoned them. Leaf also reached into her pocket and summoned clefable.

"Everyone! I'm going to need your help!" she shouted as they all looked towards her

"Look guys" She started "I know right now I should be focusing on finding a way out of this place…..but" She looked down "And I…know this might sound selfish…but Reds dream has been to capture the legendary birds and with everything caved in, this may be the only chance we've got to capture articuno!" she started to shake "I know you're not my pokemon….so if you don't want to…."

She stopped talking as she noticed venasaur had wrapped a vine around her waist and proceeded to place her on top of lapras. Pikachu then jumped into her arms and they all roared in approval.

"You guys…" she smiled "Alright! We'll do it together!" she stated as they made their way down the stream.

After a few minutes of traveling, Leaf saw it, the majestic ice bird of legend, fast asleep on a frozen rock.

"It's….it's really articuno…the legend…"

Articuno was sound asleep and didn't stir as Leaf and the other pokemon walked towards it.

Leaf hesitated as she pulled out one of the few pokeballs she had left in her pocket.

"Here goes nothing!" Leaf thought as she threw the ball at the sleeping legend.

The ball barely closed as articuno broke feel and screeched out loud.

"I…think I just made it angry… "Leaf claimed as she backed up in fear.

Articuno spread its wings and started to ascend into the air.

As she watched the legendary bird fly up, it was like a fire lit in Leafs heart; she had to stare fear in the eye and began to shout out

"Creature of legend awaken! Hear my words and feel my wrath for I am pokemon trainer Leaf Green: Shadow Thief!" She pointed at it "And today I will capture you!"

Articuno screeched in response as Leaf looked around at her comrades "EVERYONE ATTACK!"

The sun was setting outside as Red, Blue and Blaine continued to dig their way into the cavern.

The digger had shown up and the men were currently setting it up.

"It's getting late" Blaine stated as he looked up to the sky "I need to head back to the gym"

He looked over at Red and Blue "You two should go home too! Let the workers handle this"

Blue looked over to see Red still digging as hard as he could. "Come on buddy, you need some rest!" he said patting his shoulder.

Red just continued to shovel "No! I can't…not till I find Leaf and my pokemon…"

"Red! You keep going like this and you're not going to be alive to see them!" Blue yelled

Blaine walked over to him "Red, I promise, you'll be the first one contacted when the diggers find her ok" he reassured.

Red sighed as he dropped his shovel "…okay" he muttered.

Blue put his arm around his friend "Come on…I'll take you home" He pulled a pokeball out of his pocket and summon his pidgeot "Pidgeot, you don't mind a few more passengers right?" he asked.

Pidgeot spread its wings in response and Blue turned to his friend "Let's get something to eat before I take you back, alright?"

Red wasn't very hungry, but he looked down at jigglypuff, who was looking very weak and decided it would be best. "Okay…only if you let me pay" Red replied and the two ascended to the sky.

The battle within the caverns raged on and Leaf was shouting out orders to every pokemon as fast as she could.

Despite having 7 pokemon on her side, articuno was holding its own no problem

"Charizard use flamethrower! Lapras use hydro pump!" she ordered.

The two pokemon attacked with all their might, but articuno swiftly dodged both of their attacks.

"Damn, this things good! " Leaf thought as she continued to shout orders

"Venasaur use lead storm! Clefable use thunderbolt!"

No matter how many attacks she ordered, articuno dodged them and it started to dive towards her.

"Look out everyone! Here it comes!" Leaf ducked as articuno passed over them and used mist try to impede their vision.

Leaf covered her eyes "Blastoise! Rapid Spin!"

As soon as the mist cleared, Leaf saw that articuno was charging right at them and Leaf quickly responded "Pikachu use volt tackle!"

Pikachu charged full force towards the mystic bird, making contact with it, paralyzing it and making it fall to the ground.

Leaf grabbed a pokeball from her pocket "Here we go!" She threw the pokeball at the legendary bird and it enclosed around it.

Leafs heart was pounding as the ball shook a few times on the ground "…this is it!" she said triumphantly.

But all of a sudden, the ball was forced open and articuno broke out, falling to the ground in the process.

Leaf had to admire articunos persistence "It…still wants to fight…I can't believe it!" She watched as it desperately tried to fly in the air

"I've got to bring it down! And the only way to do that…is to corner it!" she thought and looked to her comrades

"Ok! Snorlax, clefable and lapras attack to articunos left; blastoise, venasaur and pikachu attack to its right" she commanded

They did as they were told and since it was so damaged it couldn't get away and was trapped between their attacks.

"Now charizard! Use blast burn and finish it!" Charizard cloaked itself in a veil of flame and smashed into articuno, finally bringing it down.

Leaf grabbed her last pokeball "It's all or nothing right here!" she thought and threw the ball at her adversary.

It encapsulated articuno and Leaf watched as the ball shook 1-2-3 times and then stopped.

There was no reaction and all the pokemon stared in silence as Leaf cautiously walked up to the ball and nudged it with her foot

"It's….in there"

She quietly picked up the pokeball and showed it to the pokemon "Guys look! We did it!"

Everyone roared happily and Leaf hugged them all "You guys are amazing!"

She ran her hand through her hair and sighed "…wow" she gasped as she brought the pokeball to her face

"Well…lets meet our new companion!"

Leaf released the giant ice bird and took the time to heal it from battle.

"There!" she stated "Good as new!"

Articuno stretched its wings as it looked down at the girl who bested it.

"Hi…my names Leaf and these are my friends…it's an honor to meet you" she greeted "Articuno, I have a friend who's spent most of his life wanting to meet you and I'd really like if you could come with me and make his dream come true" she asked the legendary bird

Articuno nodded in approval

Leaf smiled and looked to her comrades "Only thing is, the entrance of the cave is blocked and my friends and I have been trapped here ever since. Would you know another way out?"

Articuno turned its body and motioned down the stream.

Leaf couldn't contain her excitement "Y..you'll show me the way!" She pulled out several pokeballs "Ok! Everyone return! We're going to get out of here!"

She grabbed pikachu, hopped on charizard and they took off with articuno leading the way.

As Leaf continued to follow Articuno through various passages and caves it felt as if the air was changing.

"Is…it getting hot in here or is it just me?"

Leaf looked down to see that the stream of water had changed to a stream of lava "Are we under a volcano?!"

As they continued to fly through the cavern Leaf noticed articuno suddenly flew upwards towards a hole in the ceiling.

Leaf held on tight as charizard quickly followed it and within seconds they were outside.

Leaf looked around; they had just escaped through the volcano near Cinnabar Island

"We made it!" she happily stated as she petted charizard "Can we land over there for a second charizard?" she motioned to a small island "I just need to catch my breath."

As they touched down, Leaf rolled off of charizards back and just lied on the ground breathing heavily

"Another near death escape by the great shadow thief….and I didn't even steal anything" She thought to herself as charizard, pikachu and articuno looked at her concerned

"It's…ok…guys…I just need a minute" she stated as she struggled to get up and looked at her PokeNav

"I need to call Red and let him know I'm ok!" she stated

She was just about to turn on the PokeNav when an idea popped in her head

"On second thought…." She evilly smiled "I've got a better idea!"

It was very late when Blue dropped Red off at his house.

Before he left, Blue reassured him that Leaf would be alright and to try and to try and get some sleep.

Red tried his best to fall asleep, but it just wasn't happening.

As he made his way downstairs, he saw that jigglypuff was having the same problem as him. "You can't sleep either jigglypuff?" he asked as he walked towards the pokemon

"…..jiggly" it sadly replied as it jumped into his arms.

He carried the pink pokemon onto the porch and the two sat down and looked at the stars.

"You and Leaf have been partners for a long time" Red stated and jigglypuff looked down "You must really miss her….I know I do…"

He looked up at the stars "When mom passed away, I didn't want to live in this house anymore cause it reminded me too much of her" he said as he started to stroke the pokemons head "But, when you and Leaf came to live with me…. I didn't feel so alone….it gave me a new found hope…"

He looked down at his feet as his eyes watered "and…and now she's…" He couldn't hold it in anymore and started crying "How could I have let this happen?!" he continued to sob.

Suddenly, something jumped on his shoulder and patted his head "Pika…" it said with concern.

Red waved his hand in its direction "Thanks for trying to comfort me pikachu…you're the bes-"

Reds eyes suddenly shot open as he looked over his shoulder "PIKACHU!" he cried in joy as he hugged his old friend "H..How did you get here…last I saw you were with…."

Before Red could finish, a head emerged over the roof of the porch surprising him

"Hi there!" it greeted.

Red fell out of his chair in shock "L-L-L-L" he stuttered trying to say her name, but the words wouldn't come out

"That's right! The great shadow thief herself: Leaf Green in the flesh!" Leaf responded.

Red immediately ran onto the lawn to see Leaf standing on the roof with her hands on her hips

"Seriously Mr. EX Champion! You should know, it would take more than some frozen water to take out the great shadow thief!"

Red looked confused as he pointed at her "How… and why are you on the roof?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?!" Leaf winked as she jumped off and jigglypuff happily leaped into her arms

"Hey partner! Did you miss me?" Leaf asked as she hugged her pokemon.

Red cautiously walked over to her "It's…really…you" his hand shook as he brushed her hair away from her face and caressed her cheek "But….I saw you get crushed by that boulder of ice!"

"Crushed?" Leaf replied and tapped his forehead with her finger "Red, I think you need to get your eyes checked! I got hit in the back of the head, not crushed!"

Leaf waited for a response, but Red just stared at her

"What? No snappy comeback!" she teased "What's happened to you since I've been gone? I'm dissapoin-"

Red suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around her and started crying "I…thought…you…were…gone" he sobbed.

Leaf patted his back "…hey…it's….ok..I'm here…"

As he held her, Red noticed that her shirt was completely soaked "You're freezing…" he stated

"Well…I was trapped in an ice cavern for the entire day with only a skirt and tanktop on"

Red chuckled and squeezed her tighter "Please don't ever leave me again…" he pleaded.

The two just stood there hugging in silence for a few minutes before Leaf finally broke it

"Ok! Before we get too ahead of ourselves, there's something I need to show you!"

Red looked confused "Ookay…"

"What could she possibly show me?" He thought as he watched her skip around with glee

"I'm so excited! It feels like I've just made a big heist!"

Leaf raised her hands in the air "Oh! We need to do this the formal way! Close your eyes!" she excitedly said.

Red raised his eyebrow "Seriously Leaf?"

Leaf pointed at him "CLOSE YOUR EYES!" she demanded.

Red did as he was told and Leaf reached into her pocket "Now don't peek! No peeking!"

She summoned articuno from its pokeball and called out "OK! OPEN YOUR EYES!"

Red opened his eyes and nearly fell over at the sight before him

"TA-DA! Isn 't it great?!" Leaf yelled unable to contain her excitement.

Red didn't know what to say, he just stood there with his mouth wide open as he laid eyes on the ice bird of legend he had spent years searching for "Art…ic…uno" he slowly spoke out as he looked over at Leaf

"You….how?"

Leaf shook her head "Oh, it's a long story, believe me!" she said looking up at articuno "Isn't it beautiful?"

Red took a few steps back and ran into the house.

A few seconds later he ran back out holding his pokedex and like magic, the pokedex lit up as information poured on the screen

"This…is…incredible" he whispered

As Red continued to admire articuno, Leaf quietly walked up to him holding its pokeball.

"Here" she placed the ball in his hands "This is what you've been searching for your whole life right? I hope you take good care of it"

Red stared at the legendary birds pokeball for a few seconds before placing it back in Leafs hand and closing it around the ball

"You…caught articuno….not me"

Leafs eyes went wide at the idea "What! Articuno should be with a veteran trainer! Not….someone…like me"

Red shook his head "Fine, we'll settle this the easy way" he chuckled.

Red then turned to articuno and asked "Articuno, who do you want to be your trainer?"

Articuno walked between the both of them, bent down and started nuzzling Leafs face

"Hey! Hey! Me? You're crazy articuno!" she laughed.

The two looked at one another "Alright! I promise I'll do everything I can to be the best trainer for you!"

Red smiled as he walked over to the two new partners "Leaf, you've gotta tell me about the capture…and how you managed to escape!"

Leaf put her finger over his mouth as she reached behind her "Well, I can tell you one thing for sure…." Leaf said handing him his bag "If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been able to do it and I can't thank them enough!"

Red looked at his bag and smiled "Guys…."

Leaf looked down at herself and laughed "Before I tell you the rest, I'm going to change out of these wet clothes and get a hot shower ok?"

Red smiled at her "I think you've earned it!" He watched her walk up to the door and called out "Hey Leaf!"

She turned around "…yeah?"

"I…don't know how to I can thank you enough for all this"

She shook her head "It's the least I could do….and it's still not thanks enough for how you've changed my life!" she giggled and ran inside with pikachu and jigglypuff following her in.

Red reached into his bag and summoned all his pokemon who were happy to see him.

"Thank you for watching over her guys! You're really amazing!" he complemented as he brought out his PokeNav "I guess I'd better call the rescue crew and explain that Leafs ok!"

As he brought his PokeNav to his mouth Red heard a *CRASH* come from upstairs

"Oh boy! Here for a few minutes and she's already wrecking the place!" he laughed to himself as walked towards the door.

His expression quickly changed as pikachu and jigglypuff ran to the door in a panic and we're motioning him upstairs.

Red immediately ran inside and nothing could prepare him for what he saw when he ascended those stairs.

Leaf was lying motionless on the floor; face down, with a broken vase shattered around her.

Red looked with horror at the sight before him "Oh my god!"

Without thinking, he ran up to her and tapped the floor trying to get her attention

"Leaf! LEAF! CAN YOU HEAR ME!" he cried out, but she was unresponsive.

Red looked over as he saw pikachu and jigglypuff come up the stairs and he yelled out to them "Guys! Don't touch her! I need to call an ambulance!"

As Red brought his PokeNav to his mouth he had so many thoughts running through his head, but one thing was for sure:

Things had just turned from bad to worse!