"Do you think you have enough packed?" Goh asked, seeing Ash's rather large bag.
"We're climbing up a mountain today, you don't have Golurk, and I don't have my dragons. So no, I don't know if I have enough packed, I only hope I do." Ash said pointedly.
While the islands had been a fun change of pace, the lack of transfer systems made preparing for excursions a bit more methodical.
"Says here there was a cable car service to the peak years ago." Chloe said, looking at the brochure.
"You read all of that?" Ash asked.
"I'm a fast reader. Besides one of us had too." Chloe said.
"Hey, if you three are ready, we should get started early. I heard it'll take most of the day to go up and down the mountain." Serena said.
"I'm ready whenever you guys are." Ash said, hefting the bag onto his back.
At the base of the mountain.
"So we're really walking the entire way?" Chloe said in disbelief.
"If we can't do it, we'll turn back." Ash said. "The stairs are the safest way up though."
"Then we should start climbing." Goh said, taking the lead.
A while later
"Brrrrr, I wish I had thought this through, it's getting cold quick." Chloe commented, her breath visible.
"Hold on." Ash said, setting down his bag. "Here's Chloe's, Goh's, and Serena's." Ash said, the fourth bag being his and Pikachu's.
"Let me guess, lucky guess we wouldn't bring them." Goh said.
"Pretty much, we're in a tropical area, I'm just glad you three thought to wear pants and jackets." Ash said, picking up the bag again.
"Ash, how much is in that bag?" Serena asked, looking at the deep indent in the snow.
"Just what we might need." Ash commented. "Did you guys know the lab has funding for us to get equipment like this?"
"How did you know?" Chloe said.
"I asked about it, after we borrowed equipment from Misty." Ash said.
A few minutes later
"Goh, we can't keep stopping like this." Ash said.
"But wild Pokémon!" Goh complained.
"If we stop for you to catch every single one, we won't make it to the peak with enough time to make it back down." Ash said.
"But, my pokedex." Goh whined.
"Fine, we each get one more Pokémon opportunity, we need to keep going though." Ash said.
Further up the mountain
"Which way?" Chloe asked.
The stone steps split into two separate paths, neither looking different from the other.
"I don't know, I didn't think there'd be separate paths." Ash admitted.
"Should we just split into teams?" Goh asked.
"I don't think that'd be a good idea, who knows how bad things would get if we were in that small of groups." Serena said.
"Coin flip." Ash said, pulling up his Poketch. "Heads we go left, tails we go right."
"And what if we go the wrong way?" Chloe said.
"Serena, look in the third pouch down." Ash said.
"What are these?" Serena said holding up a stick.
"Marker flares. We follow the flames back if we get separated or it's a dead end." Ash said. "We're going right."
"How do I start it?" Serena asked.
"Like this." Ash said, snapping the top off. A small pillar of red smoke coming out.
Down the right path
"Well, this is… odd." Serena commented.
They had found themselves at a natural hotspot in the side of the mountain. A lush and full of life area, in the middle of a snowy mountain. After some photography, and marking of the area, the group began heading back towards the flare.
"Oh Ash, I think you have a stowaway." Serena said, seeing his bag shift a bit.
"How, all these pockets are zipped, and latched." Ash said, feeling the movement himself.
Ash set down the bag, opening where the rustling was coming from.
"nom." Snom said, popping his head out.
"Snom? How did you? When did you? What?" Ash said confused.
"I thought you said you didn't have Snom." Goh said, equally confused.
"I don't, Snom, did you sneak on the boat?" Ash asked.
"nom." Snom replied happily.
"Ash, what was in that pocket?" Chloe asked.
"Take a wild guess." Ash said.
"Snom ate our lunches, didn't it." Chloe said defeated.
"Yep, alright Snom, I guess you're stuck with us for now." Ash said, lifting the Pokémon into his hood.
"nom." Snom said, falling asleep quickly.
"There you kids are! Is anyone hurt!" A worker said, running up to them.
"We're fine, why?" Ash asked.
"The signal flare, we saw the smoke, and thought someone had been hurt or lost." The worker said.
"I thought those were marker flares." Ash said surprised.
"There's no such thing as marker flares." The worker said.
"Actually, something happened to our food supplies if there's any available." Chloe commented.
"It's not tasty, but we have some at the helicopter." The worker said.
After a brief and bland lunch, the group began working their way further up.
Finally at the peak
"Hey guys, come and see this." Goh said. He looked inside of the metal box.
"It looks like an old cable car." Chloe said.
"What's it doing in the snow?" Serena asked.
"It probably fell when the cable snapped." Ash commented.
"Cuuuu!"
"Noooo!"
"What in the!" The four trainers turned to see two large birds battling in the air, just up ahead.
"Whose that Pokémon." Ash and Chloe said, pulling up their phones.
'Articuno, The Freeze Pokemon; an Ice and Flying type. It's said that this Pokémon's beautiful blue wings are made of ice. Articuno flies over snowy mountains, it's long tail fluttering along behind it.'
"Articuno, the…'
"Not the time." Ash said, annoyed. Before they could rescan the other bird however, Articuno slammed it into the side of the mountain. Snow began to shake, as piles of it, and rocks began falling.
"EVERYONE IN THE CABLE CAR! NOW!" Ash yelled, as the four trainers dove in, just as it began falling down the mountain.
"So good news, we won't get crushed by falling snow, bad news is who knows how sturdy this metal box is." Goh said with a nervous chuckle.
"Guys, the snows gaining!" Chloe screamed.
"Infernape! Give us a boost! Use Flamethrower!" Ash called out.
Infernape's flames boosted the cable car, giving them a greatly needed speed up.
Back at base camp
"Everyone needs to evacuate immediately." A worker said.
"What's going on?!" Professor Cerise asked.
"There's been an avalanche at the peak, we need to clear the area as protocol." The worker said.
"My daughter and her friends are up there!" Professor Cerise exclaimed.
"We'll send a team as soon as we can, but for now we need you to at least go back to the boat." The worker urged.
"Chloe, be careful." Professor Cerise said, worridley.
"Rock!" Chloe shouted. The four trainers, and Infernape slammed into the side of the car, pushing it away from the closing in rock.
"Other way!" Serena shouted, seeing more rocks coming up.
They leaned out of the way again.
"Guys? How do we make it jump?" Goh panicked seeing a gorge coming up fast.
"We need to get airborne!" Ash said pulling out two pokeballs. "Infernape return! Swellow give us a lift!"
"Swellow won't be enough! Skarmory you help too!" Goh called out.
"Corvisquire help them out!" Chloe said.
"We're not getting up enough!" Serena shouted.
"We need to drop weight!" Ash said. "Pikachu, break a window with Iron Tail!"
Once the window was cleared, Ash threw his bag out, giving them another foot of height.
"Ash! How much did you have in there!" Serena asked.
"Not the time!" Ash said. "Pikachu break the seats with more Iron Tails!"
The four trainers scrambled, getting rid of as much weight as possible, slowly lifting the car.
"We're not gonna make it!" Goh screamed.
Ash moved forward, his eyes glowing as an aura ramp appeared.
"I hope this works!" Ash shouted.
Above the cable car
Swellow's talons had finally given up, they were strong, but this was too much. The sudden change in weight had been too much for Skarmory, as it was launched off, leaving only Corvisquire, working four times harder suddenly to do half the work.
"Swellow?" Ash said surprised to see his Pokémon beside them.
"Skarmory." Goh gulped.
"Cliff!!!!" Chloe screamed.
"Ahhhhhhhh!" All four trainers screamed, bracing for impact.
"Why haven't we gone splat?" Ash said, opening his eyes.
Outside he could see the car was going up, much faster than it had been, then quickly yet smoothly began moving forward.
"We're alive!" Goh exclaimed.
"How!" Chloe commented.
On cue a large black wing filled either side as the car lifted again.
"Maybe it's the Pokémon from the peak?" Ash said, remembering it being a darker color.
After a few still stress filled minutes, the cable car landed in front of a worried Professor Cerise.
"Chloe!" Professor Cerise exclaimed, running to hold his daughter.
"We're all fine too." Ash said, shakily getting out of the car.
"Who was the Pokémon that saved us though?" Serena asked, looking at the top of the cable car.
"Cor!" The large bird Pokémon cried out.
"It couldn't be." Chloe said, pulling out her phone.
'Corvinight, the Raven Pokemon. A Steel and Flying type, and the fully evolved form of Rookidee. With their great intellect and flying skills, these Pokémon very successfully act as the Galar Region's aerial taxi service.'
"Corvinight! You evolved to save us!" Chloe said happily.
"Happy news aside, all four of you need to head to the medical center to be checked on. Just all part of protocol." A worker said.
Later at the med bay
The team had thankfully made it out mostly okay, considering what had happened.
Ash wheeled over to the group. Goh had his arm in a sling with a dislocated shoulder, Chloe had a minor concussion, and Serena had only some cuts and scrapes.
"How'd you make it out worse than the rest of us?" Goh asked, pointing to Ash's broken leg and arm.
"Remember I was in the front. I didn't just put up the aura ramp, I put up one in front of me, so if something happened…". Ash said.
"We should've fell out of the car, shouldn't we?" Chloe realized.
"Yep. I'm guessing I got pinned at one point when we were huddled." Ash said.
"Thanks Ash, you really outdid yourself." Goh said.
"Next big question, how is it Serena made it out almost fine?" Chloe asked.
"I think whatever happened to me in Ultra Space that changed how I look, might have also changed my body's resistance to damage." Serena said. "Just a theory though."
"I just wish I knew what that other Pokémon Articuno was fighting." Ash said. "My Pokédex always seems to give me the wrong Pokémon when two are in frame."
"Knowing your luck, we'll probably see it again." Serena said.
Authors Note
While the name wasn't said in the chapter, sorry but it's hard fitting a "hey we're going to here now" in every chapter. The mountain was Mt Shigeru, for Shigeru Miyamoto the big man at Nintendo himself.