At nearly any time of year, Mt. Coronet and its snow-razed environment presents one of the toughest challenges that the Pokémon world has to offer. What could our heroes be doing here, of all places?

A blizzard razes the top of one of the highest peaks in the world, Sinnoh's own Mt. Coronet. Three figures are seen braving the harsh weather.

"I s-still can't believe we're doing this..." The brunette, Carly, said, her teeth chattering.

"I still can't believe people actually wear these giant straight jackets..." The blonde of the group, Sam, shot a glare at the black-haired boy, Freddie.

"They're keeping you alive, aren't they? Anyway, based on what Professor Rowan said, we should be getting close to the camp by now..."

For a while, little noise was heard other than the pounding of their footsteps and the falling hail. Then the distant growls started.

Carly was the first to pick up on them. "W-what was that?!"

Freddie heard it, too. "We're far from the only thing on this mountain. We need to hurry."

Against the will of their own bodies, the group picked up speed. However, the noises only became louder and more distinguishable as time went on...

Dread lined the male's next statement. "Sam, tell me you brought your Houndour and Chimchar along..."

The blonde herself found it surprisingly hard to hide her own fear. "Yeah... Why?"

The steady snow suddenly picked up to the point of near whiteout conditions. The noise was so loud, in fact, that Carly's terrified scream was barely audible over it.

The whiteout faded as soon as it started, leaving them surrounded by very unwelcome guests. Pokémon reminiscent of living frosted trees, Snover, and its bigger evolved form, Abomasnow, or rather, a group of them, were sizing the trio up.

The next minute or so was a blur for everyone involved, but Sam just barely managed to get her two fire Pokémon out and order them to use Ember to push them back. Their double weakness to Fire did increase the harm done to the group of adversaries, but the bigger ones became all the more enraged.

Roaring, one of them actually charged at the trio with its verdant fist cloaked in ice.

Reacting fast, Carly and Freddie dove for cover while the other girl followed suit, only for her Houndour to leap over her with a move of its own: Fire Fang.

The Abomasnow angrily shrugged off the blow and its enemy along with it.

By now, Freddie had long taken the hint, sending out his Magnemite and struggling to order forth Mirror Shot attacks amidst the ever-overbearing blizzard.

Not having anything resembling the Pokémon necessary to deal with the situation, the brunette had to try to stay out of the fight as attacks flew around her.

It didn't take long for the three humans to exhaust themselves and all of their options, however, and something began happening all the while that made hearts sink.

Sam had to be the one to voice it.

"Is it m-me, or are their M-more of them than when we started...?"

Panic was obvious in Carly's voice. "H-how far are we from base camp?!"

Freddie might have commented on this...if he were conscious.

Picking up on this right away, the non-combatant rushed to tend to her friend, even as tiredness started to wear on her.

Sadly, she passed out before she could do too much heavy lifting.

Sam did register the worsening circumstances, but was too busy running through her remaining options and trying to stay awake herself. Strangely, the Snover and their evolutions seemed to be distracted by something.

She looked around. Squinting yielded something purple amidst the whiteout, and what sounded like a voice, but she didn't get far in that line of thought before darkness took her kicking and screaming.

The first thing Carly realized upon regaining consciousness was that she was warm.

How could that be? The last thing she remembered...

Opening her eyes a crack, she learned that a roaring fire lay before her makeshift bed, which was actually a couch.

She attempted to stand up, only to get a good look at her feet.

They'd been wrapped in rags as she slept, and they weren't the only thing she had been given by her guests: she now wore a slightly oversized white robe. Her clothes hung high above it, drying.

"W-where...?"

Her mumbled question would be answered quickly.

"Litwick... Lit, Lit, Litwick!"

Carly almost jumped out of her skin as the ghostly wail of a Pokémon permeated the previously silent air.

Out of thin air, a white candle-like creature bearing a purple flame appeared, greeting her with cheerfulness in its yellow eyes.

"Litwick!"

The girl couldn't suppress a chuckle, though that might have been due to her still coming down from her near heart attack.

"You must be Litwick, right? Spencer mentioned something about you, but I don't think we've ever met..."

She recalled that her brother had been hired to sculpt a new bell for Unova's Celestial Tower a while ago and that he had "acquired" a passenger that wouldn't stop following him along the way. In the end, he caved and brought it with him.

Floating around her merrily one last time, it flew off, and it wasn't long before Carly would be greeted by someone else entirely. Or rather, two "someones".

In fact, "greeted" probably wasn't the proper word for the near choke hold of a hug she was pretty much tackled into. Carly could barely catch a glimpse of her male friend waving in the background

"Spencer...too...tight...!"

"Baby Sister!"

Eventually, he got off of her. "You won't BELIEVE how worried I was! The Professor called me and said you were heading out here."

"You mean you dropped what you were doing at Pewter just to fly out here?"

The young man looked around awkwardly. "Er... Let's just say I worked something out for now..."

Back at the Museum of Science, a certain Ditto sat posing as a Graveler. Every now and again, when people would leave, the Pokémon would fall out of its disguise, only to reassume it whenever it heard footsteps. Every hour or so, a new one would swap places so that the last one could get some rest. Thusly the process would continue...

"Are they gonna be okay?" Carly asked, concerned.

"Don't worry. It's what they do."

The girl looked over to Freddie. "Have you seen Sam?"

"Yeah. She's asleep."

"She's the blonde girl, right?"

"Uh-huh." the teens said in unison.

The elder brother chuckled nervously. "Tried to wake her up..."

Freddie cringed. "Inadvisable."

"I know that now... She almost knocked me out."

"Figures."

"Oh, good. You're finally awake."

The unfamiliar voice, it turned out, belonged to an elderly woman now standing in the doorway along with her husband. Despite their advanced age, there was a certain hardiness to their features that one might expect for those living in such a brutal, unforgiving climate.

"You...you guys were the ones that rescued us?"

"Indeed," the woman replied. "Of course we did have more than a little help from this young man." She directed a glance at Spencer.

The old man spoke up. "This place is a little too cramped for talking, so why don't we stroll on over to the living room to continue our chat? We'll whip something up for you and your Pokémon as well."

Later, the entire group, including a now-awake Sam were piled into the room listening to Spencer's tale of how he rescued the streamers from certain doom.

The man, named Wayne, was cracking up.

"Well, that's one way to scare off the Snover and Abomasnow..."

Freddie smiled at that. "An illusion of a Heatran? I kinda hope we get to see one in person one day..."

The woman, Wilie's, countenance turned more serious. "You may want to avoid it for now... Stark Mountain, its home, is closed to the public. Something about Team Rocket..."

Carly's eyes darted to Sam, who had seemingly gone pale for just a second before putting on a look approximating disinterest.

Freddie raised an eyebrow. "What would they want with Stark Mountain?"

"I don't know, but the amount of activity from them lately is worrisome, to say the least."

Sam added in her thoughts, You have no idea.Luckily for her, they moved on from the topic, making small talk for a while.

The group agreed to stay the night while their attackers moved on and the snowstorm calmed down. They would call it an expedition for now and come back one day when they were a bit more prepared.

During the night, the blonde would quietly release Houndour from its Ball.

It yawned irritably.

"Yeah, yeah. I know it's late, but I needed someone to talk to. Anyway, I think the Rockets are planning something big.

"I remember hearing that red-headed witch say something like that, and then there's what happened in Hearthome, and now Stark Mountain. Do you think I'm just being paranoid?"

Houndour whimpered quietly.

"Yeah, maybe I am a little..." Sam petted her longtime partner on its back.

Laughing nervously, she continued. "I was kind of hoping that we would be able to fly under the radar, you know..."

As much as she wanted to believe that, she knew she was kidding herself. The Grunts of the organization may have been one thing, but she could name at least one person who would want revenge on her, and not only her, but Carly as well.

Realizing how cowardly she sounded, she quickly changed her tune. "N-not that I'm scared of a fight with them or anything... It's just that...Carly wouldn't make it through another encounter with them. You've seen her, she barely even knows how to fight, and as for that kid...

She made it a point to choose her words carefully.

"He's smart, I'll give him that, but he'd never survive what those guys do to their enemies."

Some time passed as the two looked out a nearby window at the now gentle snowfall.

Finding herself no closer to a solution after what felt like forever, she looked back at Houndour to find it snoring away.

"Of course..." Sam got out her Pokémon's ball and returned it. Looking at the red orb, she recalled the nights where she would sneak into Storage (a room housing Pokémon that her particular branch of Team Rocket had acquired for use) just to talk to it.

Unlike humans, Pokémon didn't judge you based on whether your parents wanted you, or perpetually boss you around because they're "higher on the pecking order", or weren't complete idiots who get beat up by 11 year olds on a regular basis.

Yup, she'd never regret leaving those clowns.

Laying back on her bed, she fell into a dreamless sleep.

The trio left early in the morning, while the weather was still calm. They weren't far from base camp, and Freddie was easily able to trace a route back to where they came from.

"Thank you for sheltering us," Freddie said, bowing politely to the couple as they were standing by the door. Carly followed suit, while Sam mumbled something approaching it while looking away.

They did the same with Spencer saving them as he said his good-byes outside.

"Well, this is it, kiddo," He said to his sister specifically before turning to them all. "Gotta give the Ditto a break, and hope that the guys that own the museum don't realize I've been gone so long and kill me..."

The black haired boy waved. "See ya, Spencer."

Sam's interaction with the elder Shay was much more awkward considering that they barely knew each other. "Bye, I guess."

"Um, bye."

Taking a Ball from his bag, he tossed out a Fearow, the brown, feathered, and large-beaked bird letting out a cry that echoed throughout the mountain. Attaching a specialized harness to himself and it, he took off, waving at them the whole way until they were out of sight.

As Carly, Sam, and Freddie began the trek home, The brunette swiftly pulled the blonde aside, who was more than a little irritated at this.

"What?"

"I can't lie to them. I don't know how much Freddie knows about..."

"Don't tell him."

"Spencer's my brother!"

Sam whispered her next words. "He doesn't need to know about that. Besides, do you really think he'd let you hang around with me if he knew I was a Rocket?"

Carly didn't have an answer for that.

"Look, I'll figure out a way to tell them somehow, okay?"

"Alright," she mumbled, satisfied for the moment.

And hopefully Spencer won't become a target, Sam added in her head.

"Um, Girls?"

Freddie had stopped, staring at the duo in confusion.

Shocked, Carly quickly conjured up an excuse. "We were just talking about...girl things."

"Y-yeah," Sam threw in, shooting a glare at him. "Eyes on the road, Fredrick."

Looking at them hard for a moment, he shrugged, sighed, and then turned around.

"Come on, then."

The two did so, rushing to keep up with him as the snow continued to lightly fall...

As fruitless as this trip might have been in one sense, it did yield some interesting revelations. One can only wonder how long Sam can hide what she knows of Team Rocket. After all, the truth often has a funny way of getting out. Regardless, we'll be there to see it all...as the journey continues...
TO BE CONTINUED...