Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.
December 25 2019.
Somewhere on the middle of the clear snowy mountains. Moderate snow falls. Gabriel is adventuring alone with his pokemon, holding Quilava on his surrounding arms in order to keep himself warm. He struggles to move forward walking on the thick snow.
He moves, and moves more towards the north. As each minute was passing forward, Gabriel looks up as he notices the sky getting cloudy, as well the weather intensifies more the further Gabriel goes.
Suddenly, dense fog starts to grow, creeping slowly near Gabriel's surroundings, inflicting a chilling sense of suspicion and vulnerability on both Gabriel and Quilava. Chilling winds starts to blow violently in front of their faces.
"Let's return back Quilava. This isn't safe..." Gabriel said, which Quilava agreed on.
Gabriel starts to run back a considerable distance and attempts to backtrack to the direction he had traveled. He then traces his steps in attempt to escape the harsh environment. Unfortunately, Gabriel realizes it's not effective. The surrounding fog thickens even more as his emotions strongly intensify as he was feeling lost, no longer to help himself or contain his emotions. His breathing deepens. A harsh and foggy blizzard traps Gabriel and Quilava on the middle of the mountains.
"Help!" Gabriel screams as a last resort, but shortly realizes he's all alone with his pokemon. Quilava then slips down from Gabriel's arms and heads a bit forward. Quilava's head raised slightly upward, as he was looking at something from the sky.
"Do you see something, Quilava?" Gabriel asks Quilava, as he worries in strong fear.
Quilava doesn't respond to Gabriel's question as he kept staring at something; it seems like he was focusing his eyes sharply on a fixed point.
Shortly but suddenly, they both hear a loud shrieking sound that seems to come from a bird. Gabriel and Quilava then sees a blue blob in the air barely appearing from the fog, which seems to be approaching rather slowly towards them. As it moves closer, it becomes larger and clearer to the point that it was easier to tell. It was blue, large, and shaped like a bird.
"Is that... Articuno?" Gabriel wonders.
Articuno appears clearly from the fog, simply flapping its wings on the air and not appearing hostile. Quilava starts to feel heavily threatened from the the large bird's presence, to the point that he charges a fireball out from his mouth.
"Quilava, no!" Gabriel shouts, but it was too late. Quilava shoots the fireball directly towards the Articuno.
Articuno swiftly dodges the fireball that Quilava had casted, provoking the Articuno. Witnessing this, Gabriel's emotions spikes in intensity, as well with Quilava, full with fear and trauma. Articuno quickly charges its attack, as it prepares to use ice beam.
Both Gabriel and Quilava are further frightened from the menacing legendary bird, as they both attempt to run away fast as possible, but there was no hope. Articuno finally shoots very powerful ice beams targeting both Gabriel and Quilava. Gabriel turns his back, witnessing the ice beam, realizing there's nothing to do other than flinch. One of the ice beams hit Gabriel's chest, instantly freezing him solid. Gabriel's vision instantly turns pitch black, as well as his hearing silences. Gabriel passed out.
8:34 AM.
A short period of time has passed, and Gabriel wakes up in the morning breathing heavily. He opens his eyes, suddenly gets up from his bed in sitting position and sees his room, and the door open. Gabriel is shocked, realizing it was only a dream. He takes a moment to determine if his current surroundings are real, ensuring he is still not dreaming at this point.
Gabriel hears very soft footsteps that seems to be heard outside his room. Gabriel gets a bit scared of the footstep sounds, still thinking if whether if he's either still on a trance state, or if he's seeing reality, but as it turns out, it's Lexi the Herdier peeking in Gabriel's Room making those footstep noises, with her tongue sticking out in excited expression.
"Lexi!" Gabriel yelled in excitement.
Lexi, seeing Gabriel on the room, she runs straight to Gabriel and pounces towards him in excitement, nuzzling and licking Gabriel's cheek on joy. Gabriel holds and cuddles Lexi as he felt much more in relief from the nightmare that just he had experienced.
"That's enough Lexi. I know you miss me a lot, and so do I." Gabriel said and chuckled, yet turning his head away from Lexi as Lexi kept licking Gabriel's cheek more. Out of annoyance and discomfort, Gabriel pushes Lexi off his head and to the floor with a slight force.
Lexi looks at Gabriel with a disappointed expression, as her eyes started to tear up.
"Awh, I'm sorry. Don't cry." Gabriel said, as he carries Lexi onto his lap, and gently pets her head, calming Lexi down.
Gabriel hears a loud ringing sound coming out from his phone, as he quickly grabs it from the small table beside the bed. The screen displaying an incoming video call coming from Rick, one of Gabriel's friends, Gabriel accepts the video call.
"Uhh, hey pal. Remember what I've said before in text. And uh... I'm already on the lakes at the north as you can see here. You- you coming right?" Rick said, showing the surroundings around the frozen lakes.
"Of course, but I just woke up, I need to eat breakfast then pack up my stuff first." Gabriel said.
"Okay. Uh, just don't come too late." Rick said.
"Why, and what if I come late?" Gabriel said.
"Uh, never mind, just take your time. I'll be uh, waiting for you." Rick said.
"Sure, sure, cya there." Gabriel said, as he shortly ends the call as he fully gets ready to wake up.
"Good morning Gabriel! Come for breakfast, there's pancakes on the table." Ellie said, peeking into Gabriel's room.
"Just a moment Mom." Gabriel said, heading to his drawer as he changes into usual house clothes.
"Lexi, let's head downstairs for some breakfast." Gabriel said, as he rushes downstairs to the dining table, along with Lexi following Gabriel.
Gabriel arrives at the dining table, seeing Ellie already eating her breakfast, the table and the pancakes and the other food all prepared. Gabriel sits down on one of the chairs, and immediately rushes eating his breakfast meal.
"Woah, slow down your eating habits Gabe. You're going to get sick." Ellie said, worrying about Gabriel.
"Sorry Mom. And please don't call me with that nickname." Gabriel said
"I'm just teasing with you, but eat slowly." Ellie said.
"Fine Mom." Gabriel said, sighing mildly as he slows down his eating pace.
"Did you have a good sleep?" Ellie said.
"Not really. I had a nightmare of me and Quilava getting lost somewhere on the mountains, then Articuno, you know, one of the legendary birds, appeared out of nowhere and froze us. I woke up shocked" Gabriel said.
"Well that seemed really bad, I mean I have similar nightmares like this too, and I just brush it off most of the time. I get it can be a little disturbing at some times, but you had a straight sleep, right?" Ellie said.
"I did fortunately." Gabriel said.
"That's good, your Dad's left to work early that's why he isn't here." Ellie said.
"Oh, I know. I'll have to train my pokemon for several days till the new year, I seriously want to beat my first gym leader before the new year starts. Just to let you know, I am leaving right after breakfast, and maybe I could come back here in the new year if I manage to successfully beat the first gym leader and earn my badge." Gabriel said.
"I just have one question. Where are you going to train your pokemon at?" Ellie said.
"Well I'll be at the frozen lakes at the north, where I'll meet up my friend there and finally, I'll be at Eugene Town just two days before the new year starts, which is at the northern-east of the region. That's where I'll battle my first gym leader, since all the gyms will close at both the 31st, and New Years Day." Gabriel said.
"Well, we'll wish you good luck on your adventure." Ellie said, as she leaves a smile.
"Thanks for supporting me all along." Gabriel said.
The time forwards as Gabriel finishes his breakfast, taking his last sip of water. Breakfast is finished, and Gabriel heads upstairs to his room and changes to his usual trainer outfit, grabbing his zangoose themed jacket, brown leather pants, water-proof rubber shoes, and finally, his pokeball-holding belt. Gabriel packs up more of his essential stuff into his backpack, then walks downstairs, as he heads near the house entrance door.
"Wait, there's one more thing you need to pack." Ellie said behind Gabriel, as she quickly heads inside the laundering room.
Gabriel sighs and whistles about, waiting briefly beside the house entrance door. Shortly, Gabriel sees Ellie back into the living room holding something as she approaches him.
"These are your extra clothes, and I bought a brand new green winter jacket for you just in case something bad happens to your outfit, or if you lose one of your clothes. Keep them during your adventure, you'll need them sometime." Ellie said, handing over the clothes to Gabriel.
"Thanks, you're such a good mother." Gabriel said, nodding his head as he packs his extra clothes into his backpack, one by one.
"Anytime. Did you bring your map on your bag?" Ellie said.
"Oh, yeah I have the maps, Including the regional map. I always keep them just in case my phone dies." Gabriel said.
"Great. Well, enjoy your adventure!" Ellie said.
"Well, cya until new years I guess." Gabriel said.
"Good luck, I'll miss you. Keep yourself safe!" Ellie said, bringing Gabriel close to her arms, hugging him tightly. Ellie finally pecks Gabriel in the cheek, as she wishes her son goodbye.
Gabriel walks out of the house, waving his mother goodbye as he traveled away to his destination, leaving the suburban area. Time passes as he walks past the district of Blizardon Town. Heading to the north, Gabriel is now outside town, as he walks at the direction of the wide dirt trail heading north, surrounded with tall pine trees. One of Gabriel's pokeball barely shakes on his belt, as Quilava escapes from the pokeball and casually walks by the trail with Gabriel.
"Oh. What's up Quilava, you on to enjoy the scenery?" Gabriel said.
"Qui, qui." Quilava said with a happy and confident expression on his face.
"Same here. It's cold, I hope you're comfortable walking around the snow." Gabriel said.
"Qui." Quilava said, seeming to be not bothered by the environment.
Several minutes of both Gabriel and Quilava traveling, Quilava suddenly stops walking forward as he seems to smell something by within his nose.
"Uh. What's wrong Quilava?" Gabriel said, showing a bit of concern of Quilava's behavior.
Quilava breathes faster, with an excited expression on his face, Quilava suddenly runs with a burst of energy heading way forward at the trail, leaving Gabriel behind.
"Quilava wait!" Gabriel shouted.
Quilava continues running as he ignored Gabriel, pretending his trainer didn't say anything. As Gabriel was completely ignored, he runs as fast as he can, trying to catch up Quilava's speed. Quilava noticing his trainer trying to catch up, Quilava runs even faster, therefore leaving Gabriel far more behind.
"Quilava! Come back!" Gabriel kept shouting to no avail as Quilava was already far from Gabriel.
Shortly, Gabriel comes up with a solution. He removes Quilava's pokeball from his belt as he aims the pokeball pointing at the running Quilava. Gabriel then fires the laser rapidly in attempt to catch Quilava back into his pokeball. Unfortunately, his solution didn't work as Quilava was too far to be caught, and Gabriel's aim was bad, leaving Gabriel in worry.
"Quilava!" Gabriel shouted one last time.
Gabriel eventually gets exhausted as he completely stops running. Now losing Quilava on his sight, he stands there on the middle of the trail panting in panic, in fear that he might lose Quilava permanently.
"Man. I should've been more responsible. Hope when I get to the lakes, he's there safe." Gabriel said as anxiety leaves his heart pounding in worry.
Gabriel tries his best to brush his worries away. He continues to walk at the trail, walking at a faster pace. Gabriel doing this, he accidentally slips and falls on a small rock that was on the way of the trail, hitting his forehead on the ground.
"Ugh. Screw this." Gabriel reacted in mild pain, as he manages to quickly get back on his feet. He presses his forehead in concern, which fortunately seemed to produce no pain at all. Gabriel shakes his pants to get rid of the dirt and simply goes back to rushing at the lakes.
Moments later, Gabriel's phone rings. Gabriel quickly grabs his phone from his pocket, as it seems it's the same person calling him again. Gabriel accepts the call.
"Hello?" Gabriel said.
"Uhh... There was a squirrel or weasel that was uh, running... I think it seems to act exactly like your sta-" Rick said.
"Wait. You mean Quilava? Did you really see him around there around the lakes?" Gabriel said in a surprised tone, cutting Rick off.
"Uh... Yeah I saw him running and uh, he just passed by the lakes. Oh... now he's running back to where he came. I don't know why he uhm, did that." Rick said as he observes the Quilava.
"I think that Quilava must be mine! Thanks for telling me that, I was desperate looking for him." Gabriel said.
"Oh. That's cool... And uh, you're welcome." Rick said.
"Yeah, cool." Gabriel said.
"Anyway... Uh, see you in the lakes." Rick said, ending the call shortly.
Gabriel sighs in relief, as he continues walking towards his destination. Shortly, he sees Quilava on the trail running back towards Gabriel. Gabriel immediately runs towards Quilava as well.
"Quilava!" Gabriel said.
"Qui!" Quilava said.
Gabriel sighs. "Please don't run without me telling you to do so. You could've been lost yourself." Gabriel said, as he frowns, intimidating Quilava.
"Return to your pokeball." Gabriel said, as he aims and fires the pokeball towards the intimidated Quilava.
Gabriel sighs again in relief, as he continues walking to his destination as normal.
Thirty minutes forward... Gabriel passes through the obstructing pine trees and finally sees the frozen lakes from a far on his peripheral vision, at both sides of the trail. Walking nearer, he finally arrives at the frozen lakes. Gabriel pauses, unsure which direction to take. Gabriel sees his friend Rick standing at his back around the lakes at the left direction and instantly heads to that direction.
"Uh. Hey! You're uhh, heading to the wrong direction! Turn around!" A barely heard but shouting voice was heard, coming from Rick from the opposite direction.
Gabriel hearing a familiar voice, he turns around and runs to the right direction approaching Rick.
"Oh man. I thought that was you on the left side." Gabriel said.
"Haha. Uhh wait what? You saw me on the left side. Huh. Maybe there's a Zoroark somewhere fooling you around." Rick said as both Rick and Gabriel nervously laughed.
"Better not mess with the Zoroark." Gabriel said in a jokingly manner.
"Anyway uh, good that you came dude. I saw a lot of ice and other types of pokemon around here that you can catch. Uh you'll see them later. And also, uhh, you're here to battle and train your pokemons right, since you wanted to beat some gym leader? I want to strengthen my pokemon as well." Rick said.
"That's right. And sure, why not a three by three pokemon battle? I gotta practice for the gym leader. Let's go!" Gabriel said.
"Uhh. Three by three pokemon battle? Seems like a good idea, I guess. Uhh, I'm on it." Rick said.
The duo finds a plain open spot clear of obstacles. Both Gabriel and Rick separate a distance from each other as they prepare themselves, initiating a battle.
"Butterfree." Rick said, as Butterfree sends herself out of one of Rick's pokeball.
"Free~." Butterfree said.
"Quilava, let's battle!" Gabriel said, taking out his pokeball as he hurls his pokeball into the battlefield, sending out Quilava.
"You go first!" Rick shouted.
"Alright. Quilava use flame wheel." Gabriel said.
Quilava curls himself to a ball surrounded with blazing fire, melting the snow around as he charges quickly towards the Butterfree.
"Butterfree, uhh, fly up." Rick said.
Butterfree hovers up high on the sky as she avoided Quilava's attack by ease. Quilava continues rolling forward after clearly missing Butterfree, not aware as he charges towards Rick instead of Butterfree, Rick hardly manages to dodge Quilava's attack.
"Woah!" Rick shouted, as he was startled by Quilava's attack.
"Quilava! Abort!" Gabriel shouted to the top of his lungs.
Quilava unfortunately was unable to hear Gabriel, as he continues rolling further.
BANG! Quilava eventually collides into a large pine tree, triggering a large explosion that covers much of the surrounding pine trees, destroying the surrounding trees and melting the snow around, as well chunks of snow launches into Gabriel, Butterfree and Rick from the shockwave.
"Quilava!" Gabriel said as he sees his Quilava completely injured, thus unable to fight nor get up. Gabriel runs towards the injured Quilava as the smoke from the explosion slowly fades.
"Man, uhh, at least this didn't cause a uh, forest fire. Rick said.
"Quilava, return!" Gabriel said, aiming and firing his pokeball to the injured Quilava back into his pokeball.
"Nice try Quilava, you did good." Gabriel said, rubbing Quilava's pokeball with his hand as he attaches it into his belt.
"Man this was a bad start." Gabriel said, with a mild disappointed expression on his face.
"Uhh no, that's not bad. I mean, you're a new trainer." Rick said.
"Yeah but." Gabriel said.
"Uhh, let's go back to battle, we can heal Quilava later." Rick said, cutting Gabriel off.
"Fine." Gabriel said, with a slight frown on his face.
Gabriel and Rick got back to battling as normal, as Gabriel prepares to send his newly caught pokemon.
Gabriel sighs in shame, as he briefly thinks about his previous move.
"Alright Snover, get ready for battle!" Gabriel said, as he hurls his second pokeball, sending out a Snover.
Hail started pouring over the battlefield on Snover's presence. Small chunks of hard ice hit Butterfree's wings as she struggles to fly.
"Uhh Butterfree, hold on tight now." Rick said.
"Alright Snover, show me your moves against that Butterfree." Gabriel said.
Snover nodded his head as a yes as he prepares his move. He forms a large glowing ball of thick ice using his hands as he violently throws his attack towards Rick's Butterfree.
"That's an ice shard move, right Snover?" Gabriel said.
Snover nods his head as a yes, briefly looking at Gabriel.
"Oh no. Uhh try to dodge it and uhh, wait what was I saying? Okay, use psybeam!" Rick said.
Butterfree kept struggling to fly in the hail. Miraculously, she gracefully dodges Snover's ice shard attack hovering by the side despite the hail hitting her wings. Butterfree charges her attack, forming an energy psychic ball at her head as she fires a vibrant yet powerful psybeam, directly hitting Gabriel's Snover. Snover is knocked off the ground at a distance from the psybeam, leaving him injured.
"Snover! Can you stand up?" Gabriel said.
Snover struggles as he tries his best to get back on his feet. He looks already exhausted, but he manages to stand up and shortly recover from the attack.
"Butterfree, uhh, I think you can sedate the Snover using your powder." Rick said.
"Snover, use ice shard against that Butterfree again!" Gabriel said.
Snover charges his attack as he forms a glowing ice ball rather weakly from the injury. Butterfree quickly hovers towards Snover as she flaps her wings rather quickly, releasing bits of green and orange dust towards the Snover. Snover fires his ice shard move, blasting and freezing much of the dust as some of the ice fragments critically hit one of Butterfree's wings and body, freezing half of her wing as a result as she falls down towards the ground.
"Great job Snover!" Gabriel said as he cheered up.
"Butterfree! No!" Rick shouted, as he points his pokeball to the injured Butterfree. About to fire his pokeball, however, he sees Butterfree managing to break the ice as she hovers back up to the air.
"Oh phew. Thank Arceus." Rick said in relief.
"Wow, that Butterfree must be really strong. Any moves you can show off Snover?" Gabriel said.
Snover fails to respond. His eyes were closing as he looked tired; it looks like some of the powder dust managed to hit Snover despite countering it, sinking Gabriel's Snover into a deep sleep.
"Snover, you good?" Gabriel said.
"Ooh. Uhh looks like Snover's asleep now. Butterfree, use uhh... Maybe a psybeam again." Rick said.
Butterfree charges a psybeam again, forming an energetic ball at her head. Just before she releases her attack, a big ice cube from the hail directly hits her head, canceling the attack as she falls down to the ground unconscious.
"What? Uhh no this can't be! Butterfree, uh, return!" Rick said as he fires his pokeball to the injured Butterfree back into the pokeball.
"Snover. Can you respond?" Gabriel said, desperately attempting to wake up Snover.
"Scyther." Rick said, sending his second pokemon out.
"Snover, wake up!" Gabriel shouted, as he desperately kept trying to wake up his Snover. Still in a deep sleep with little to no movement at all despite Gabriel's shouting.
"Uhh, Scyther, finish that snow dude off right over there with a slash!" Rick said as he points his finger towards the Snover.
Scyther dashes quickly right towards the sleeping Snover. He brutally swings his scythes with a violent slash, knocking out Snover off the ground. The unconscious Snover slams and lifelessly tumbles back onto the ground at a distance, leaving Gabriel shocked by Scyther's capability and power.
"Holy crap! Snover return!" Gabriel said, firing his pokeball towards the injured Snover back inside.
The hail suddenly stops, calming down the battlefield.
"So, you don't have uhh, any pokemon to battle left?" Rick said.
"I just have one more pokemon. Snorunt, come on out!" Gabriel said as he hurls his third pokeball, sending his last pokemon out.
Snorunt appears from the pokeball as she aggressively roars her cry.
"Oh boy. That was loud." Gabriel said as he was startled by Snorunt's cry.
"Uhh Scyther, use uh, slash again?" Rick said.
Scyther dashes forward again as he prepares his attack, quickly towards the small weak looking Snorunt.
"Snorunt! He's coming! What moves can you use? Quick!" Gabriel said as he panics over the menacing Scyther.
Snorunt appears to be just standing there, as she locks her eyes at the charging Scyther. Scyther closely approaches Snorunt and prepares to strike her with his blades. Scyther performs one quick stroke, but Snorunt quickly jumps up, dodging the attack as she makes duplicate copies of itself surrounding the Scyther, leaving Scyther trapped and stressed surrounded by a circle of Snorunt.
"Uhh, oh no. Scyther, try hitting the original one!" Rick said.
Scyther proceeds to hit the original Snorunt, but it turned out it was one of the duplicates leaving Scyther further confused. He then proceeds to attack all of the duplicates by recklessly spinning his blades.
"Scyther! Uhh, watch out, behind you!" Rick said.
Scyther turns around, he sees a Snorunt in the distance casting a glowing light blue energy ball towards the Scyther. It turns out it's the original Snorunt. Scyther attempts to charge forward and attack the Snorunt. Snorunt observes the charging Scyther as she quickly releases her move, hurling powerful ice shards towards the Scyther. Scyther suddenly stops his move in fear, as he flinches with his arms as the ice shards pierce his body, knocking Scyther off in sheer coldness.
"Uhh, what? Scyther, no!" Rick shouted as he sees his Scyther laying down injured, barely moving on the middle of the snow.
"Wow! Double team and ice shard combination! That was impressive!" Gabriel said, impressed by Snorunt's execution of moves and strategy.
"I got you uhh, bud. Scyther, return." Rick said, aiming and firing his pokeball towards Scyther back inside.
"My, uh, this was a big mistake challenging type advantages as a bug user." Rick said through his mind.
Rick takes a deep breath, as he gets ready sending his third pokemon.
"Dustox." Rick said as he sends his third pokemon out.
"Get ready now, Snorunt!" Gabriel said as the feisty Snorunt confidently shouts her cry as she tries to appear with a threatening stance.
"Uhh Dustox, use silver wind!" Rick said, pointing at the Snorunt.
Dustox violently flaps his wings, creating and hurling gusts of dicing powder towards the Snorunt.
"Snorunt! Double team!" Gabriel said.
Snorunt confidently obeyed Gabriel's commands, as she makes duplicates of herself creating an army of Snorunts scattered around the battlefield. The gusts cuts through all the duplicates as Snorunt ultimately fails her counter move towards the gusts. And thus, the original Snorunt eventually is hit by the ravaging gusts as bits of slashing powder leaves small cuts all over her body, leaving Snorunt groaning on pain.
"No! That was not effective! Sorry Snorunt!" Gabriel said.
Snorunt turns at Gabriel, showing an irritated expression on her face.
"Sorry I made a mistake, please don't get mad." Gabriel said as he felt threatened towards the Snorunt, thinking she was going to attack him.
"I think we uh, did good with that one. Poison the Snorunt using your uhh, poison powder." Rick said.
Dustox hovers nearer heading towards the Snorunt as he prepares to release his poison powder.
"Ice shard, fast!" Gabriel shouted.
Snorunt creates a glowing light blue ball, charging her attack. She quickly fires multiple ice shards towards the approaching Dustox. Dustox quickly dodges the ice shards as he agilely flies around the air zig zag up down in an unpredictable manner around the battlefield, able to avoid all the ice shards in a quick succession. Snorunt exhausts all of her energy on the attack as Dustox sprays poison powder towards the Snorunt, exhausting her further.
"Snorunt!" Gabriel shouted.
"Uhh, that was some good dodging Dustox." Rick said.
Snorunt both exhausted and poisoned, she finally collapses on the battlefield.
"Snorunt! No! Return!" Gabriel shouted again, covering his mouth in worry. He aims and fire his pokeball towards the Snorunt.
"You did a fine job Snorunt." Gabriel said, rubbing Snorunt's pokeball while slightly discouraged himself.
"Uh good game. Dustox return." Rick said as he aims and fires his pokeball returning Dustox inside.
"Uhh, that was a good battle. Don't worry, uhh I think I have some revives in my bag." Rick said, taking out his bag as he digs up his items finding for his revival items.
"Oh really? All I have is potions I guess." Gabriel said.
"Yeah hold on, I'm still uh, looking for it..." Rick said as he kept digging up the items from his bag.
"Uh I think I uhh, I ran out. I'm sorry, I have to uhh buy those again." Rick said.
Gabriel sighs in disappointment. "You have any kind of other items that can revive pokemon?" Gabriel said.
"Uhh, oh! Oh, uh wait... Unfortunately, no.." Rick said.
"You guys having fun?" A stranger's voice of a man was heard.
"Uhh, what was that?" Rick said.
"Well, I thi-." Gabriel said.
"Shh, sh sh." Rick whispered, cutting Gabriel off.
"Something wrong? It's just a man walking on the trail." Gabriel said as he looks at the stranger.
"Yes!" Gabriel confidently shouted.
"I told you be quiet!" Rick loudly whispers in madness.
"If you head to the further northern-east section there's a short path that leads to a small village that includes hotels and a pokemon center, and it basically has almost everything a pokemon trainer needs. Good luck." The stranger said, smiling, briefly waving his hand at the duo as he passes by the trail.
"Finally. A nearby village to stay in and train. Thanks!" Gabriel said.
"Uhm, should you really trust that guy? I mean he could lead us to something uhh, dangerous." Rick said with a skeptical expression.
"Well yeah, I mean at least you have your pokemon to protect us." Gabriel said.
"Uhh yeah but my pokemon aren't experienced enough, and the way he said it sounds uhh kinda suspicious." Rick said.
"How was that suspicious?" Gabriel said.
"Uhh I don't know, I just think that uh, he will lead us to the wr-." Rick said.
"Come on, let's just go and follow over what he said." Gabriel said, cutting Rick off as he quickly heads to the northern-east direction.
Rick sighs. "... Fine." Rick said in a worried expression, as he eventually follows along Gabriel towards the northern-east.
"That way!" Gabriel said, pointing his finger as he sees the dirt path obscured by the trees and snow.
Gabriel and Rick both proceed to follow the path, passing through trees and overgrown roots on the pathway. Despite the path being hard to navigate, they both manage to make it through.
The obscure view clears as they finally see the village.
"See, that wasn't that bad." Gabriel said.
"Phew, I mean you're not wrong. Uhh, you should learn not to follow or trust strangers." Rick said.
"I know that. But most people are trustworthy." Gabriel said.
"Well uh, true but uh, not always the case. We're lucky at least, good thing he didn't uhh trick us in a way." Rick said.
"Whatever." Gabriel said, shrugging his arms.
The duo enters the village entrance. Shortly, a large, tall fellow villager approaches from the entrance and confronts the duo, seeing them as suspicious people.
"Well hello there, you guys just entered Q's Village. May I kindly ask who are you boys, and what made you came here?" She said.
"Oh Arceus." Rick said with a paranoid expression as his heart pounds loudly, his mouth closed as he clenches his teeth.
"Well, for your concern, we're pokemon trainers that came from the frozen lakes and we're willing to stay here. Someone told us that there's a hotel and a pokemon center on the village, is that true?" Gabriel said
"Yes, yes. We do have a pokemon center and some few hotels, but they're very small and each only have a few rooms. I'm not sure where they are exactly located but there are signs and maps around the village that tell you where you are. Your names please?" She said.
"I'm Gabriel." Gabriel said.
"Uhh, my names Rick." Rick said, trying to suppress his worriedness.
"You're free to stay here anytime. Welcome! Feel free to explore around the village, and if you have any questions to ask, you can ask any of the citizens here. Have a good one!" She said with open arms.
"Alright! Thank you, ma'am!" Gabriel said.
Rick sighs in relief, as they both enter inside the village. The environment seemed quiet, consisting of wooden houses scattered widely and seldom activity. It seemed almost like a rural environment. Gabriel looks at Rick as he still seems to look worried.
"Man, what are you so worried about?" Gabriel said.
"Well uhh. I just umm, don't know, I just find most of the people here suspicious." Rick said.
"You act like this literally all the time, not to be rude but, how about you tr-." Gabriel said, close to snapping to Rick.
"Okay I don't want to start an uhh, argument of this. Uhh, let's just keep it together and stroll around. Rick said cutting Gabriel off.
Gabriel sighs in a pissed off expression. "Sorry." Gabriel said.
Gabriel gets his phone from his pocket, looking at the map on his screen as he gathers information of the village.
"Ah, so the pokemon center is located around the east. And the hotels are just a few blocks at around near the south edge of the town. Rick, do me a favor and book us a room at a hotel?" Gabriel said.
"Oh, uhm. I have to heal my pokemon as well I guess first. Then we do that." Rick said.
"That's fine. Guess you'll follow me instead." Gabriel said.
Gabriel and Rick navigate the paths around the village as they both rush towards the pokemon center heading to the east. Just a few blocks away, they see the pokemon center as they arrive inside.
"Howdy! You seem like first timers here. How may I help you?" A voice from a nurse said.
"Hello there, nurse, heal my pokemon please?" Gabriel said as he approaches the nurse counter, as he hands all his pokeballs to the nurse.
"Uhhh, mine too please? Thanks." Rick said, also approaching the counter handing some of his pokeballs to the nurse.
"As you please." The nurse said as she takes their pokeballs and places them at the healing device. Gabriel and Rick's pokemon are perfectly healed in a matter of seconds.
"There you go, your pokemon are as brand new. I hope you have a good day you two." The nurse said, handing back the pokeballs back to Gabriel and Rick.
"Thank you nurse. Let's go Rick." Gabriel said as Gabriel and Rick both leave the pokemon center.
"Yeah. Maybe this village isn't that bad than expected." Rick said.
Heading to the south edge of the town... Gabriel and Rick both approach near the hotel areas.
"Wow. They all look uh smaller than the hotels I've been in my lifetime." Rick said.
"Yeah, that's what the woman told us earlier." Gabriel said.
Gabriel and Rick enter inside one of the hotels. Small, compact but organized with fancy Christmas decorations.
"Hi, welcome!" The receptionist said, greeting them at the entry.
"Hello. How much for a room for two?" Gabriel said.
"A hundred cash a day for two people. Trainers pay only twenty-five cash a day for each, so that would be fifty cash daily if both of you have trainer cards. How long are you staying?" The receptionist said.
"Maybe five days. We're both trainers." Gabriel said.
"Hmm, five days... Uhh I think I can handle that. Uh, but how about we make it a bit uh shorter." Rick said.
"Shorter? Nah, I just want to train here with you for five days straight to make sure that I can beat the first gym leader, which is a water type. It would be tedious but it is worth it." Gabriel said.
"I dunno, maybe you could uhh, hunt for more pokemon that can counter water pokemon efficiently, such as electric or grass, or maybe you can umm, look for someone that can teach strongly effective moves against that gym leader." Rick said.
"I never seen an electric type pokemon in the wild... But maybe I prefer this way because this is the most fun way to train my pokemon." Gabriel said.
"Uhh, well okay have it your way then. But uh, I'm just telling you uh, different methods that would work best for you." Rick said.
"Okay know-it-all dude." Gabriel said as he pouted.
"Five days. So that will be two-hundred-fifty cash on check out. May you hand me your trainer cards please?" The receptionist said.
Gabriel and Rick both hand their trainer cards to the receptionist, as she scans them using a device.
"Alright, you're good to go. Your room is number 103 right at the hallway to the right. Here's your room key." The receptionist said, returning back the trainer cards to Gabriel and Rick as she hands out the key to the room.
"Thanks." Gabriel said.
"Enjoy your time sir." The receptionist said.
"Wow. That hallway looks really thin to get through." Gabriel said, looking at the hallway.
Rick softly chuckled. "Yeah, what kind of hallway is this? I don't know uhh, how could a bigger person can easily fit through that." Rick said, grinning.
"This is a weirdly made hotel." Gabriel said as they both grin and chuckle at each other.
The duo heads to the hallway just at the right beside the lobby as the walls squeeze them, leaving them a with bit of a struggle to go through.
"Oh damn, I can barely fit through this hallway. I'm pretty sure all the hotels here are built like this." Gabriel said, struggling to walk through the hallway.
"Uh, I guess so... Maybe uhh, it's not a big deal at all. Uhh, for me at least." Rick said.
Shortly, both see and approach the door entry of the room despite the tight struggle.
"Alright, found the room. Room 103." Gabriel said, reading the sign of the door as he unlocks the doorknob with his key. Gabriel opens the door as they enter in, seeing the room clean and organized. Gabriel and Rick both do a brief exploration around the room.
"Bedroom, television, a bathroom, kitchen and some shelves. Guess that's all we need." Gabriel said.
"Man, the egg that I was carrying around was tiring me." Gabriel said, sighing as Gabriel and Rick unpacks some of their stuff around the room, including the egg.
"Egg?" Rick said.
"The egg that I got from a Christmas present." Gabriel said.
"Oh... And uhh, who's gonna mind the egg if it hatches and nobody minds over it. Better to keep it on your bag." Rick said.
"Don't worry much. I think that egg will hatch just in a few days." Gabriel said.
"You'll never know." Rick said as he shrugs.
"We're going back to uhh, battle at the frozen lakes after unpacking stuff, right?" Rick said.
"Sure, sure." Gabriel said, nodding his head.
"Uhh, great." Rick said.
"Wait! I think there must be an open field somewhere nearby around this village where we could battle." Gabriel said, grabbing his phone from his pocket as he swipes around his screen, looking around the map of the village.
"Hmm." Rick hummed.
"Nice, I knew it! It's just a few blocks away from here near the hotel, even near the pokemon center. Let's go." Gabriel said.
"Oh, uh that's cool, I'm coming." Rick said.
Gabriel and Rick finally finished unpacking stuff as they both leave the room locked. Returning back to the tight hallway as they struggle walking through.
"Man, that was tough." Gabriel said, massaging his aching shoulder that he squeezed from the hallway walls as they both walk past through the hallway.
"Uhh don't worry about it." Rick said.
Exiting the hotel as they went outside, they navigate around near the central area of the village, buildings were getting slightly more abundant and larger as they enter near the central area. Gabriel and Rick both take a lengthy while to stroll around the central area while looking for the field.
"I think this is it, this must be the field." Gabriel said as he shortly sees a large plain clear area entirely covered by snow and surrounded by trees at the edges of the area.
"What are you talking about, this IS the field." Rick said, grinning as both Gabriel and Rick laughed.
"Yeah! You ready?" Gabriel said, confidently.
"Uhh of course, I'm ready." Rick said.
Both enter the field, as they split up from a far getting ready for battle.
"Alright Quilava! Let's battle!" Gabriel confidently said as he throws his pokeball far away, sending out a confident Quilava.
"Qui!" Quilava said, looking ready to battle.
"I think I might uhh, use my strongest pokemon. Dustox!" Rick said, calling Dustox out from his pokeball.
"Quilava, use ember towards Dustox!" Gabriel shouted.
Quilava proceeds to charge his attack, he runs forward a distance as he shoots a blazing fireball out of his mouth.
"Dodge it now." Rick shouted.
As the fireball travels upward heading towards Dustox, Dustox manages to dodge it quickly in a very close timing, as the ember barely hits his wings. A small burning flame starts to sear through one of Dustox's wings, making him struggle to fly as he flies in random directions in pain.
"Oh uhh, flap it off, flap it off." Rick shouted.
Dustox quickly flaps his wings as fast as he could trying to get rid of the fire. He did so with ease as the fire burns out very quick plus with the help of his shield dust ability. Despite leaving a tiny burn mark, Dustox manages to quickly recover as normal.
"Aaand, use uhh, psybeam to weaken the Quilava." Rick said.
Dustox casts a glowing ball at the front of his head, slowly growing as he charges his attack.
"Okay Quilava, he must be charging an atta-." Gabriel said.
Vibrant energy was shot coming from the sky as a loud psychic boom directly blasts Quilava off in a distance. Gabriel immediately sees Dustox suddenly released his attack, cutting Gabriel off in a surprise before he attempted complete his sentence.
"Quilava!" Gabriel shouted, turning his head looking around for his Quilava in worry.
Gabriel turns around, he found his Quilava behind on the left in the distance barely trying to stand up.
"Quilava can you stand?" Gabriel said, closely approaching the struggling Quilava.
"Hmm, looks weakened enough. Dustox, uhh fly closer to the Quilava and use your poison powder." Rick said.
Dustox hovers closer towards Quilava as he prepares to use his poison powder towards Quilava.
Quilava finally stands up, but in a slightly odd posture. He wobbles his head back and forth, seemingly dizzy from the attack.
"Quilava, stay focused now. Use ember again!" Gabriel shouted.
Quilava tries to focus despite his dizziness distracting him. Seeing an idling Dustox sitting on top of a pine tree from a far distance, he manages to cast his attack, hurling a fireball towards the tip of the pine tree.
"Quilava! What are you doing?! Dustox is way over there!" Gabriel said, pointing at the actual Dustox at the sky.
Quilava was confused, as he thought he successfully had hit the Dustox at the pine tree as it disappeared from his point of view.
"Look out!" Gabriel shouted.
Quilava was still confused, he then slowly looks up to the sky and sees no Dustox.
"You're looking at the wrong direction! Look the other way!" Gabriel said.
Moments later, Dustox sprays poison powder directly to Quilava's face as Gabriel steps out a distance to keep safe, leaving Quilava both poisoned and confused.
"Oh no, Arceus! What do I do?" Gabriel said in great worry as he thinks of a strategy, seeing Quilava suffering on the middle of the field.
"Finally. Uhh, use venoshock!" Rick said.
Dustox releases purple toxic gunk from his mouth, soaking the poor Quilava, and finally finishing Quilava off.
"Good one." Rick said.
"Wow, too harsh and too brutal. Quilava, return!" Gabriel said, witnessing the terrifying moment as he fires his pokeball returning back Quilava.
"Okay. Snover, get ready for battle!" Gabriel said as he throws his pokeball at a distance, sending his second pokemon Snover.
Hail starts to pour over the battlefield once again. Dustox getting hit by the small ice cubes as he seems to not be bothered by it.
"That Dustox looks tough." Gabriel said, staring at the Dustox in awe.
Dustox aggressively hovers towards the Snover as he charges an attack, using his wings.
"Uhh, wait Dustox! I think he's not ready yet." Rick said as Dustox suddenly aborts his attack, hovering back to where he came from.
"Alright Snover! Use ice shard!" Gabriel said.
Snover raises his hands upward as he creates a glowing ice ball with his hands charging his attack at a moment. Shortly, he throws the ice ball upwards towards Dustox.
"Dodge, quick!" Rick shouted.
Dustox dodges the ice ball with ease, but in an odd way as he is shortly hit by overwhelming hail chips causing Dustox to hover around to the right and towards Snover in unstable movements as he flies up and down unpredictably, struggling with the hail.
"Oh.. That was a good try." Gabriel said.
"Uhh, uh oh, uh Dustox, can you keep up with the uh hail?" Rick said.
The hailstorm gradually calms down Dustox quickly recovers from the hail, flying back to normal.
"Uhh, good. Dustox. Fire at him with uhh, psybeam." Rick said.
Dustox charges his attack as the same glowing ball grows at his head.
"I think he's using psybeam again. Try to dodge it when he fires!" Gabriel said, staring at Dustox's attack.
Snover focuses his eyes at Dustox, he braces himself for the attack in worry, preparing to dodge.
A short moment, Dustox fires his psybeam, instantly hitting and blasting Snover directly off to the air. Failing to dodge, Snover roughly lands to the ground unconscious as the hail suddenly stops, calming down the battlefield.
"Snover! No!" Gabriel shouted in worry as he returns Snover with his pokeball, looking down in disappointment.
"That looks like uh, um, a critical hit!" Rick said, grinning in satisfaction and confidence.
Gabriel pauses a moment as he takes one deep breath. He takes and fires his last pokeball to the ground not in a confident but in a tired manner, sending Snorunt out.
Once again, Snorunt emits an explosive cry in a confident stance, echoing over the battlefield.
"Way to go Snorunt!" Gabriel said, hearing the cry as his mood elevates in confidence.
"Alright Snorunt. What other moves can you show off?" Gabriel said.
Snorunt, looking at Dustox aggressively. Her eyes glow red as she continually stares at Dustox, scaring Dustox into vulnerability.
"What is that move?" Gabriel said, curious as he saw Dustox frightened from her stare.
"Dustox, don't fall for its uhh, leer! Use psybeam again!" Rick shouted.
"Leer? That's what I heard. Sounds like a scary move you have Snorunt." Gabriel said.
Still scared, Dustox repeats the same move. He quickly fires the attack, firing the psybeam at Snorunt. Snorunt hops off the ground at a distance by reflex, dodging the move at a perfect timing as the psybeam blasts the ground.
"W-what?" Rick said, opening his mouth in a shocked expression.
"Wow! Great dodge Snorunt!" Gabriel said, impressed.
Snorunt looks at Gabriel aggressively but confidently, as she showed appreciation of her trainer.
"Yeah! Snorunt, is that all you got? Show me your other moves!" Gabriel said.
Snorunt inhales, as she explosively shouts in an eerie way. The sound waves hit Dustox, further scaring him as he flies a distance away from Snorunt in fear.
"Uhh, I think that's an astonish move. Ignore the screams and use uh, psybeam again!" Rick said.
"Use double team fast!" Gabriel said as he observes Dustox charging his attack.
Snorunt quickly creates multiple duplicates of herself, puzzling Dustox. Taking a short moment, Dustox releases his attack, directly blasting one of the duplicates. The all of the duplicates disappeared as it turns out, the real Snorunt got hit from the psybeam.
"Uhh, what a very lucky hit." Rick said as his eyes opens widely in surprise.
"Huh?! There's no way! Snorunt, return!" Gabriel said, terrified as he fires his pokeball at Snorunt back inside.
"Uh, that was fun, but umm, sorry man. I got a bit hard on you... Maybe I could go easier on you I guess." Rick said, approaching Gabriel.
"Hmm. I don't know, but I think I prefer this way. Because I can see my pokemon getting stronger." Gabriel said.
"Oh, uhh but the thing is… Maybe you'll lose too much and your pokemon may start to hate you for it, I mean uh, too much battling isn't fun for them. Its um, better to bond with your uh pokemon rather than just... Uhh, harshly training them." Rick said.
"Makes sense. I sometimes bond with my pokemon, but I just want to beat the first gym leader, that's all, and that's the first step to become a champion." Gabriel said.
"Yeah... But you know uh, you should try to balance bonding and training." Rick said.
"Hey, we traveled here to train and battle, right?" Gabriel said.
"Yeah but… Maybe we can train but not too harsh, just uhh moderate training works. I mean, battling people is a good way to train but uhh y'know... There's uhh, countless of ways to train your pokemon rather than just battling. But yeah, uhh you get the point. That's what uh, most trainers do." Rick said.
"Yeah I understand... I think you make sense and I agree. Back to the pokemon center we go." Gabriel said as he sighed.
"Uh cool, I'll follow ya." Rick said.
Gabriel and Rick both leave the field as they rush towards to the pokemon center.
"Your Dedenne is perfectly fine now. Have a good day sir." The nurse said.
"Thank you so much nurse!" A trainer said, as he walks out of the pokemon center.
"Hi again." Gabriel said, slowly walking in tiredness to the nurse counter along with Rick.
"Howdy! You boys need healing again?" The nurse kindly said.
"I do, heal my pokemon please!" Gabriel said, handing out his pokeballs to the nurse
"As you please, kind sir." The nurse said, taking his pokeballs and placing them at the healer. In a short moment once again, Gabriel's pokemon are healed in perfect condition.
"Your pokemon are now healed. Have a good day sir." The nurse said, handing the pokeballs back to Gabriel.
"Thanks, you too. Come on Rick, let's go back to the field." Gabriel said, leaving the pokemon center.
Gabriel and Rick exited the pokemon center as they jog back and straight to the field.
"Remember what I told you, uhh balance training between bonding. Heck, I need to remember this myself too." Rick said.
"Yeah, I'll remember." Gabriel said.
"This time, instead of battling. We should uhhh, practice dodging our attacks." Rick said.
"Sure, sure." Gabriel said, nodding his head.
"Aw man. Wait." Rick said, slowing down as he pants heavily in tiredness.
"What? Step up dude." Gabriel said, looking at Rick in a slight worry.
"Can't you see... Uhh, I'm tired..." Rick said, panting in an irritated tone.
"Sorry!" Gabriel said as he sighs.
"It's fine... It's fine... You can go, uhh and I will catch up." Rick said, still panting in tiredness.
"Sure, sure." Gabriel said, looking at Rick as he walks straight to the field, without Rick beside him.
Moments passed as Gabriel arrives at the field, patiently waiting for Rick. He contemplates at the cold breezing winds, the mildly swinging leaves of the pine trees and the dull skies.
"Are you ready?" Rick shouted as he slowly appears at the field in a far distance.
To be continued.