34. Rotten Apples and Frozen Bonds

"Finally, I was afraid we would never find a Pokémon center." Danny said as he ran towards the red/white building in the middle of the route.

Janine sighed which made Richard laugh.

"Let the guy call his crush," Richard dared to say after making sure Danny couldn't hear him anymore.

Janine had to chuckle. "Yeah, you're probably right."

As they followed Danny inside the building, Richard couldn't help but notice that the weather had grown grim and dark clouds gathered in the sky. Janine noticed it too.

"I think it's best we stay here for the night," she said.

Richard nodded and both walked into the Pokémon center, where Danny had already claimed the phone.

"Wait, that isn't Maisie?" Janine said confused. She was right, Danny had called Professor Oak instead.

"Well hello Danny. How are you doing?" Oak asked.

"I'm doing great. Did you receive Mankey?"

Oak laughed and nodded. "Yes of course I did. I wonder if any of you trainers ever stop asking if everything went alright. You know me, it always goes the right way."

"You could have known that Danny would call for his Pokémon first." Richard laughed.

On the screen of the phone, Mankey climbed onto Oak.

"Hey, stop it you!" Oak said.

Danny started to laugh.

"Hi there Mankey! How are you doing?"

Mankey waved and made happy noises.

Then, a second Pokémon flew into screen.

"Beedrill! You can fly again!?" Danny shouted from excitement.

"Ahh yes, your Beedrill. I have to say, it is a fighter."

"So I could use it again?" Danny asked, immediately realizing the dilemma that was forming itself, but Oak shook his head.

"His wings have been damaged too much. I don't think you'll be able to battle with Beedrill until the Indigo League begins in the spring."

Danny was shocked. "That long! Well if it's necessary…."

In the meantime, Charmeleon and Kadabra had started chatting with Beedrill and Weepinbell was showing off his new power. Something Nurse Joy wasn't too fond off.

"Trainer, you need to keep your Pokémon in check or I'll have to ask to return them to their Pokéballs" she said angrily.

Danny nodded politely and gave Weepinbell a sermon, which made Beedrill laugh.

"Anyway Danny, where exactly are you right now?"

"Ehh." He quickly looked at the map. "We are on Route 17."

"Okay. You best stay inside for now, forecast said that a big snowstorm was building up near Celadon and you might get hit as well."

Danny looked confused. "A snowstorm?"

Oak nodded. "Stay save."

"We will, bye!"

As Danny closed off, he looked at Richard and Janine. "Apparently there's a snowstorm building up around here."

Richard and Janine shared a look. "So those dark clouds are filled with snow…."

"Now, could you guys go with Richard and Janine?" Danny asked his team as he took a small piece of paper out of his pocket. "I have another call to make."

A few hours later

Richard looked in terror as he viewed through the room of the main hall. Over the past few hours, the gentle falling of snowflakes had made place for a real snowstorm. It had also become a bit darker, due to this it was almost impossible to see anyone coming. And still some trainers found their way to the center, praising their lucky stars that they did.

"It's getting really rough out there." Danny commented as he walked up to Richard.

"Yeah, I'm glad we made it here on time."

"This ain't no real snowstorm maties. A real snowstorm is way worse." The old, cracked voice came from behind the two boys, who quickly turned around.

They saw an elderly man standing behind them. He had gray hair hanging over his shoulders and his cloths where torn down. He had rain boots on and a black patch over his left eye. When he talked again they could see teeth missing. All with all he looked quite like a pirate. A retired pirate at that.

"I have seen a real snowstorm. A real killer. This ain't comparison."

"Was it really that much worse than this snowstorm?" Danny asked hesitant.

"Aye. It could rip through houses and ships alike. It wasn't just the storm, but the cold. So cold that ya snot would freeze up in ya nose."

Richard, a little disgusted by the metaphor, didn't believe the man. "I think he makes it all up."

The man looked at Richard with a mean grin.

"You are young matie, you haven't seen the world as I have. Haven't experienced it as I have. I've spend cold nights out on the middle of the ocean with nothing to warm me but meself. And believe me, I've had it a lot colder than this storm can give it to me."

"So how did you survive?" Danny was intrigued by the tail of the pirate.

"Ya don't want to know" he answered as started to laugh.

Danny turned to face the window again.

"I wonder if anyone could have a battle in this storm."

The pirate walked forward until he was standing next to Danny.

"A person? Never. But a Pokémon? Aye, a Pokémon could battle in this storm." He said, rubbing a blue-colored Pokéball that was hanging on a cord from his neck.

"Some Pokémon can battle in the fiercest of weathers. Me Cloyster loves it out there."

"Cloyster. That's an Ice type. No wonder it likes the snow" Richard said.

"But could other Pokémon fight in this storm too?" Danny asked.

The sailor thought about it a bit. "Maybe, but not without practice. I could teach ya Pokémon how to survive in a storm, might help ya out. But I want something in return."

"And what is that?"

"I love meself an apple, but I am but an old man and apples grow high in the tree. If ya could go out and get me one, I'll teach ya all I know."

Danny looked outside. "Are you out of your mind? I'm not going out there to get you an apple!"

"Well how do you plan to battle if your Pokémon are out there and you aren't? And why should your Pokémon be outside if y' aren't willing to do the same for them?"

"Don't do it Danny!" Richard tried to stop his friends, but Danny had decided already.

"Fine." He picked up his coat from the coat rack and walked outside.

"No!" Richard ran after him.

"Stay inside! I got this!" Danny had to scream to overpower the sound of the storm. "Where are the trees with the apples?"

"Right ahead of ya matie." The sailor reacted.

Danny turned around and started walking. He could barely see anything, but he hoped he would be able to recognize a tree.

Step by step he felt his face growing colder and colder. He started to question his sanity and realized going back might be just as hard. Suddenly, his foot hit something and he fell face forward into a pile of snow.

"Damn that's cold!" He muttered as he got up.

His hands were practically frozen, that's how they felt anyway. His coat wasn't working either, nor where his pants or shoes. Everything felt like it could stop working any second.

"All of a sudden, he saw a tree appear ahead of him. With newly gained hope he ran forward through piles of snow. When he reached the tree, he started climbing, but he directly fell back down. He tried to warm up his hands a bit but nothing seemed to be working, so he just tried again.

"If he dies out there I'll make sure they'll put you in jail for it." Richard raged against the old pirate.

"Me? I didn't force him to go out there. I offered something and asked for something in return. That he went out there, that be his choice."

Richard was ready to hit him when three people entered the main hall of the Pokémon Centre.

"Nurse Joy! This boy is extremely cold. I need to blankets quickly!" The person that came in first, a middle-aged woman, screamed. Following her was the almost frozen boy, carried by not a person, but a Pokémon. A Jynx to be precise.

"Danny!"

Richard ran forward to help his cold friend to a warmer spot. Danny didn't move at all. His lips were blue and his brown hair was covered in snow. His cloths too.

Nurse Joy and her Chansey came running towards them with blankets while the woman, Jynx and Richard placed Danny near the closest heater. They made sure all the snow was gone from his body before wrapping him in with blankets.

"That was a close one" the woman said. "Why was your friend out there with this storm?"

Richard turned towards the sailor with an angry face. "Because that man ordered him to get him an apple."

"I-I didn't g-g-g-get him an a-a-a-pple." Danny managed to say weakly.

The woman turned to the man.

"What kind of man sends out a kid to get him fruit in this storm? It's a good thing I have the authority to arrest you. So hereby you stand under arrest."

The pirate laughed. "And who are you?"

"I am Lorelei of the Elite 4." She said firmly.

"Lorelei of the Elite 4. Wow, I don't get to beat an Elite 4 member every day. Ain't that right Cloyster?" The pirate took the Pokéball of his neck and opened it up, releasing his Cloyster.

"I don't have time for this. Jynx, could you keep these two in place with Psychic?"

Jynx nodded and hereyes started to glow pink as the sailor and his Cloyster stopped moving.

"Bloody hell, what is this?"

Lorelei started to laugh. "It's only temporally. You'll be in a nice prison cell soon."

"We have a room that can be locked up, we could put him in there" Nurse Joy suggested.

Richard released Machoke from his Great Ball. "Could you help put him away?" Richard asked and Machoke nodded. He lifted the sailor up while his Cloyster was still under Jynx' control. Machoke had no trouble lifting the man and silently followed Nurse Joy to the room.

In the meantime, Lorelei had taken the blue Pokéball and had returned the Cloyster back into its ball.

"Such waste of a Dive Ball." She sighed.

During all those events, Janine had arrived in the main hall after taking a shower and was completely shocked when she saw Danny.

"What the hell happened?"

Richard filled Janine in with the events while Lorelei tried to keep Danny awake by talking to him. Meanwhile, the storm was getting worse.

"Come on Danny, stay with me." Lorelei tried. "Does any of you guys have a Fire type?"

"Danny has." Richard quickly ran towards his friend and found Charmeleon's Pokéball on his belt. He let the Fire type out and was happy to see that the cold hadn't affected him.

"Charmeleon, you need to warm up your trainer. Can you sync?"

Charmeleon had no idea what Lorelei was talking about and neither did Richard.

"What's sync?"

"If the bond between a trainer and his Pokémon is strong enough they can sync. It will let them share emotions and in this case warm each other up, especially if one of the two is a fire type."

"I don't know if they can, I've never heard of it before."

"It is quite rare. I'm afraid they might not have spend enough time together to be able to sync. Anyway, can you warm him up another way?"

Charmeleon nodded furiously and tried to transport his warmth to Danny by warming up his paws and holding them against Danny's face.

"You might want to put one paw on his chest, it's important that his heart stays warm."

Charmeleon nodded and followed up the Elite 4's advice.

"Now, we need to keep this place isolated. Nurse Joy, get every single blanket you can find." Lorelei ordered. "This storm isn't on its peak yet."

"We'll help!" Richard and Janine said in unison and they and their Pokémon quickly followed Nurse Joy.

The other trainers that had found their way to the Pokémon center followed too, one of them being Lester, who just saw what happened to Danny.

He hurried towards the frozen trainer and looked in shock.

"Are you also one of his friends?" Lorelei asked.

"Uhm, not really. I met him in Celadon City, he helped free the gym there."

"I see, quite the fighter."

Lester nodded and quickly ran off to help find blankets.

Meanwhile, the old pirate had been locked up.

"Damn, why did that wench have to be an Elite 4?" He sighed, as he sat down on the ground. He felt his old bones crack.

The snow kept coming down harder and the warmth in the Pokémon center wasn't going to last. The walls couldn't keep out the cold and everyone inside was shivering.

Lorelei, who was used to fighting in the cold, didn't feel that cold, but even she had trouble keeping warm.

"Everyone, release all your Pokémon from their balls and let's hurl together, it's our best shot at survival." The Elite 4 member ordered.

Pokémon, ranging from small cute Pikachu's to larger Graveler's and Victreebel's, cuddled together with their trainers. Wild Pokémon that had made their way to the center joined as well.

Only the sailor was alone in his cell, which everyone had forgotten about. He realized he had never been this cold before and he couldn't feel anything. The walls seemed to be frozen and the few teeth he had in his mouth, which had been chattering, had stopped to conserve energy. He knew that he wouldn't survive this if he wouldn't get warm quick.

His mind drifted to the boy he had send out in the storm, was he dead already? Probably not, they would do anything to save the kid. Not the old sailor, no, but the kid would live. He started to hate the kid.

And so they stayed all night, while the cold winds blew around the Pokémon center and snow kept falling.

When Danny woke up, he saw a lot of people around him, all cuddled in. Closest to him where his Pokémon and his friend. He coughed.

"What's going on?" He asked.

Slowly, everyone woke up, all still a bit sleepy.

Danny looked at Richard. "Did something happen that I should know about?"

Richard shook his head. "It got extremely cold so we all had to cuddle together to stay warm and survive the night. Besides, you were practically freezing so we needed to keep you as warm as possible."

Lorelei had also awoken.

"I'm glad to see you have gotten better" she said with a smile.

Danny nodded. "I don't think I've ever been this cold."

Richard directly took over. "How could you be so stupid? Going out in the snow like that?"

Danny scratched the back of his head. "I have no idea to be honest. I might be a little naïve."

"A little?"

Janine laid her hand on Richard's shoulder. "Calm down, for starters your not his dad and besides, he has been punished enough."

"I guess so." Richard answered. "But you can't just follow the first guy you see. Especially one like that pirate."

"Shoot, that guy is still in locked up." Lorelei said with shock, as she ran towards the locked up room, followed by Nurse Joy and our main heroes.

As they opened the door they saw a smiling pirate sitting towards them, completely frozen.

"He's still alive, just completely frozen." Nurse Joy couldn't believe what she saw.

"How is that even possible?" Danny asked.

Lorelei shook her head. "It isn't….. Unless, no way. This creep must be in sync with his Cloyster, so instead of dying of hypothermia he gets completely frozen but thrives."

"So he can survive like this?" Richard asked.

Lorelei was thinking. "To be honest, I have no idea."

"I'll take my changes." Richard said as he punched the guy straight in the face. The frozen pirate fell backwards onto the ground, but the ice had no scratch.

"He deserved that." Richard said though while waving with his fist.

"That hurt didn't it?" Janine whispered in his ear.

"Yep." Richard let out, making Janine grin.

"I'll put the radiator on high, he should be warmed up in a few hours." Nurse Joy said.

They had to stay in the Pokémon Center for almost a week. After three days the snow had started to slow down and eventually, they could open the doors again.

"So Danny, you still want to battle in the snow?" Lorelei asked.

Danny nodded.

"I can teach you for free." Lorelei said.

"Let's go than!" Danny said enthusiastically and the two went outside.

The snow was still falling down, but not long as hard as it used to. Sight was much better, but it was still freezing.

Lorelei let out her Jynx.

"The first thing you need to learn is to trust the eyes of your Pokémon. You are too far away from the action to actually know what's happening, let them do the battling."

Danny was confused. "Than what is my purpose?"

"You need to order moves to use whenever your Pokémon has its target in sight. Most Pokémon that train with humans have the weakness that they have trouble deciding where to hit and with what move." Lorelei explained. "Are you ready?"

Danny looked towards Charmeleon and gave the 'ok' sign when Charmeleon nodded.

"Let's get out there then."

"Charmeleon, this is all you buddy, I'll only give orders for moves, so you'll have to focus."

The fire type nodded.

"Okay than, get in there and use Flamethrower on that Jynx as soon as you see it."

Charmeleon growled and stormed away, due to the snow he was quickly becoming a vague shape.

Danny couldn't see anything, until a orange flare was visible in the distance.

"I can't even see if he hit it." Danny mumbled. "If you have eyes on Jynx, use Metal Claw!" He screamed as hard as he could.

A loud growl was heard.

Danny had no idea what he was doing. He couldn't see, he didn't even know if Charmeleon had even hit Jynx or was hit.

He knew he wasn't allowed on the battlefield, but how could he find out what was happening?

"Charmeleon, if you can hear me. Flamethrower onto Jynx!"

His order was followed by a growl and seconds later the orange flare lit up again.

"Keep using Flamethrower, it's the only way I can see you!"

Danny tried to think of something and his head started to hurt.

All of a sudden, for a second, he saw Jynx in front of him. He was shocked and fell backwards into the snow.

"What… how…?"

He tried to recreate it by thinking about Charmeleon a lot, up until he got a headache and there it was again, Jynx had apparently taken a hit, it was shaking its head and stepped back, before using a move.

Danny had no idea what was happening and rolled to the side, trying to avoid the hit, but when he opened his eyes there was no Jynx and no trace from the hit.

"Wait, how do we even know when the battle is over?" He asked himself.

"It is over." Lorelei came walking towards him, followed by her Jynx who was carrying Charmeleon by Psychic.

"That hit…." Danny mumbled.

"What is that?"

"For a second, I saw Jynx before me, preparing to hit me."

Lorelei looked at him intensely. "Are you sure? Maybe you are still a little light in the head?"

Danny shook his head. "No I'm sure."

"Maybe you synced there for a second, that could explain why you saw Jynx. You looked through Charmeleon's eyes. You could have seen a hit that came towards Charmeleon."

"Do you really think I might have synced?"

Lorelei slowly nodded. "I think that might have been the case, but I'm not sure. Anyway, as you can see it is extremely difficult to battle in these kinds of weathers. It isn't something you need to be good at, but something your Pokémon needs to be good at."

Danny understood. "So I need to train my Pokémon without telling them where to look, so they really learn how to look for themselves better?"

Lorelei nodded. "Indeed, but that doesn't mean they don't benefit from an extra pair of eyes, they just need to learn to focus their hearing and eyes in battle too. Anyway, I have to go. I stayed far too long and the Elite 4 businesses don't stop. Maybe we'll meet again someday."

"Hopefully I can beat you next time." Danny said with a smile.

They shook hands as she walked down the road.

"Did you win?" Richard asked as Danny entered the Pokémon Center.

Danny held up Charmeleon's Pokéball and shook his head. "But I do think I synced with Charmeleon for a second." He gave the Pokéball to Nurse Joy, who took it away to do a check-up.

"Do you feel strong enough to travel?" Janine asked.

Danny nodded. "I'm ready. He took a look at the map. It seems like we have to take a left somewhere tomorrow and we should be in Fuchsia in no time."

Richard nodded, but Janine decided to say nothing. She didn't feel to fondly about going to Fuchsia.

Meanwhile, Lester came running towards them.

"Are you guys going towards Fuchsia City?"

"That is the plan" Danny answered.

"Do you mind if I tag along? I'm heading that way too."

The trio looked at each other and all nodded. "Sure why not. The more the merrier" Richard said with a smile.

"Your Charmeleon is completely healthy" Nurse Joy said.

The fire type came running towards his trainer, who happily hugged it.

"That was a whole new experience, wasn't it? We'll train on it. But I would love some food first" Danny said with a wide grin. "I would love an apple. Richard?"