Another chapter here! Don't own Pokemon, enjoy the story!

Chapter 30: Snow Way Outta Here

As Ash and his friends continue on their journey and down a dirt path toward Cinnabar Island, they figure their future is favorable. But the foursome and Pikachu are about to find a fateful fork.

"So, which way?" Angelina asked, looking from one road to another. She was now joining Ash on his journey by foot, her bike had gotten a flat and she was thinking about walking until approaching the next town to fix it.

"Hmm, let's see," Brock took out his map and read over it.

"I say we go that way!" Ash pointed to the right path.

"No way!" Brock exclaimed. "That trail heads straight up a mountain!"

"What! I don't wanna go mountain climbing!" Misty protested, holding her arm up.

"Awe, what's a little molehill," Ash grinned and turned to his Pokemon. "C'mon, Pikachu."

"All right, but I hope you know what you're doing." Misty said regretfully, she ran to catch up with Ash while Brock and Angelina followed behind.

No sooner had they kept walking, they arrived at the beginning slope of a snow covered mountain.

"Ahh!" Misty stared in shock. "This isn't a hill, we need a ski-lift to get up this thing, Ash!"

"I think we better just turn around and go the other way," Brock suggested.

"Yeah, Brock's right," Angelina agreed. "Can we please take the other path?"

"A Pokemon Master stays on course no matter what the challenge." Ash encouraged. "I'm not gonna let a little pile of snow stop me."

An hour passed and still no trail that exited the mountains.

"It's s-so c-cold…." Angelina said, shivering. She rubbed her bare arms with her hands, desperately trying to get warm.

"Here…. take this…." Brock said softly, handing Angelina a blanket. "The higher we go, the colder it's going to get, so I might as well take one too.…"

Angelina had seen Misty take out a mint green blanket from her bag and wrapped herself in it earlier; she watched Brock take another blanket out of his backpack and wrap it around himself.

"You want one too, Ash?"

Ash gazed at the blanket with a tremendous longing, but shook his head. "This weather is good for training, I'll just have to get used to it…. that ice field can get pretty cold, you know, heh, heh…."

Brock looked like he was about to protest, but just shrugged his shoulders as he put the third blanket away.

"I'm freezing!" Misty complained. "How much further till we have to get over this thing?!"

Brock pulls out his map. "According to the map, we should be pretty close to the top." he said. Suddenly he looked down at the small metal compass in his hand. "Whoa, that's weird."

Ash turned around to face Brock. "What's weird?" he asked, his eyes widening.

"The compass went crazy!" Brock replied, staring at the needle spinning out of control. "This mountain must have so much iron that it's thrown the needle off."

Ash and Misty loudly gasped.

"If the compass doesn't work, how are we gonna find our way!" Angelina asked, panicking.

"Ahh, now don't panic." Brock assured her, smiling. "If the sun's up there about three o'clock, according to my calculations that means..." he paused, still keeping his friends in suspense.

"What, what does it mean?!" Ash, Misty, and Angelina screamed together.

"We're lost." Brock said, almost triumphantly.

The younger kids crashed to the ground in face fault.

"All right, Ash!" Misty yelled. "You made this mountain into a molehill. Now get us off it!"

"Uh…." Ash suddenly lifted his head. "I know! Pidgeotto, I choose you!" He threw the pokéball and waited for the bird to come out. "All right, go find us a trail that'll lead us off the mountain!"

Pidgeotto obeyed and flew away over the trees, using its sharp eye to scan the land. It soon returned quickly.

"Did you find us a way to go down?" Ash asked, Pidgeotto squawked and nodded. "Good work, Pidgeotto!" he turned to his friends with a smile. "See, no sweat!"

Awhile later and still walking, Ash and friends reach the top of a snow covered path but it wasn't the top of the mountain though.

"Brr," Brock shivered through his blanket. "We've been walking all day and we're not at the top yet!"

Angelina was about to open her mouth to say something, when a large, wet snowflake landed on her nose.

"Hey…. it's snowing…." Ash whispered.

Angelina really wasn't the snow-loving type, but she knew up here in the mountains, it was so…. beautiful, she couldn't take her eyes away from it…. not like she could anyway, the snow was everywhere….

"Oh no, it was clear just a second ago." Misty said worriedly.

"The weather in these mountains is totally unpredictable." Brock commented.

"We better get moving fast before the sun goes down," Ash insisted. "Come on!" With that, Ash started walking with Pikachu perched on his shoulders and his friends following behind.

The more they kept walking, the thicker the heavy snow fell.

"Let's just keep looking!" Ash exclaimed, Pikachu buried warmly in Ash's vest jacket.

"I'm too frozen to go any further!" Angelina cried.

"I think we better stop and set up camp for the night!" Brock called.

"Huh?" Ash turned to him. "But that trails gotta be close!"

"Come on Ash, there's no way we'll find anything in this blizzard!" Brock reasoned.

"I'm not scared of the snow," Ash said. "Let's keep going!"

"No way, Ash!" Brock refused. "When a storm gets bad, it's best to dig in and let it blow over. And besides, the sun's gonna set soon."

Even through the thick snow, Angelina could see Ash was pouting.

"Come-on, Ash…." Misty pleaded.

"Not even the bravest Pokémon Master would wander around in a snow storm in the dark." Brock stated in a convincing voice.

"I guess you're right…." Ash said, giving in.

"Good, let's start digging a cave in the snow!" Brock suggested.

"Okay," Ash nodded.

They were just about to go find a good place to built a snow cave when a sudden wind knocked Ash over and Pikachu was swept right out of his arms. Pikachu was blown away, tumbling across the snow.

"Pikachu!" Ash got to his feet and tore off through the blizzard.

"Wait!" Misty called out after him, her voice lost to the howling wind. She was about to run after Ash, but Brock pulled her back.

"Stay here. You'll just get lost out there!" Brock warned. "We have to find shelter or we'll freeze…."

"What happened to Ash?" Misty asked. Brock pointed out into a direction where they saw Ash.

"It looks like he's using Bulbasaur for something, but he's too far down that on that cliff ledge for us to get to him. I'm sure he'll be okay until tomorrow morning." Brock stated. "But for now, we HAVE to do something to get out of this storm."

Angelina and Misty walked with Brock somewhere off to the right and came across a large pile of snow.

"Onix go!" Brock yelled, throwing out a Pokéball. The giant rock Pokemon appeared from the bright light and roared in greeting. "Dig through this snow to make a snow cave!"

Onix drilled its large head straight into the snow and kept going deeper and deeper. After a short time, Onix came out and Brock returned it to the Pokeball. The trio descended into the underground snowcave and were amazed to find it nice and warm, especially when they realized the small pools of water were hotsprings.

"Hey, we're pretty lucky. We don't have to spend the night in the cold!" Brock said. "Thanks to Onix, we can all relax while we wait until the storm blows over."

"Yeah, I think we'll be just fine here tonight." Misty agreed.

The rest of their night consisted of dinner from some cans of food that Brock had in his backpack and being lulled to sleep by the steam rising from the hotsprings. They awoke the next morning and had a quick breakfast while Brock took out his Onix to help them search for Ash. They sat on Onix's back and got a ride back up to the surface. Angelina looked around once they got to the opening. Everything was covered in a thick white frosting. When she looked to her right, what she saw surprised her.

"Look, Team Rocket's balloon!" Angelina pointed.

"You're right, that's it! I'm sure it'll be helpful later on." Brock hopped off and pulled the deflated Meowth head onto Onix's back, and the Pokemon slid through the snow as the trio called out for their lost companion. "Hey, I think I see Ash up ahead!" he pointed down below the cliff that Angelina had seen last night.

Onix stopped at the edge of the cliff, Brock and the girls hopped off and saw Ash and all of his Pokemon emerge from somewhere.

"Ash!" Misty yelled. "Up here!"

Ash turned around, looking up and seeing his friends. "It's great to see you!" he smiled.

With Onix's help, Ash and his Pokemon were rejoined with Brock and the girls. All the Pokemon (except for Ash's Pikachu, of course) were returned to their Pokeballs.

"Ash, how'd you get through that storm?" Misty asked.

"We dug a snow cave, just like Brock said!" Ash replied.

"Ha! Lucky for us, we didn't freeze in the one I dug!" Brock said.

"Yeah, Onix dug into an underground hot spring! You wouldn't believe how nice and comfy we were!" Misty said happily.

"Waa! I wasn't comfy, that's for sure!" Ash exclaimed.

"And take a look what the storm blew in…." Brock said pointing behind him.

"That's Team Rocket's balloon!" Ash exclaimed. "Wonder how they lost it."

"Finders keepers!" Angelina smirked.

"It's out if fuel, but I know how we can fix that. Go Vulpix!" Brock said throwing a Pokeball. "Vulpix, Flamethrower now!"

Vulpix blew fire into the balloon, and it began to rise. A few minutes later, the four trainers and Pikachu were sailing high above the trees as they left the snowy mountain top. Three voices were heard in the distance.

"Hey, did you guys hear what I just heard?" Ash asked, thinking he had heard Team Rocket.

"Huh? I didn't hear anything." Misty replied, looking at him funny-like.

"Hey look!" Brock said.

Angelina turned her head and looked at the horizon. Not far ahead was a town.

"It's a town!" Ash exclaimed.

"We made it!" Misty cried in relief.

"And about time, too!" Angelina smiled.

So Ash and his friends have survived the snow and now soar onto their next exciting adventure.

§To Be Continued§

*Angelina travels with Ash and gange by foot until her bike is fixed.
*They travel up a mountain and get caught in a blizzard, Ash gets separated from the group.
*Brock uses his Onix to dig/make a cave for him and the girls; they discover an underground hot spring and spend the night until the storm blows over.
*Angelina, Brock, and Misty finds Team Rocket's air balloon and use it to fly over the mountain.

*This chapter is based from the episode "Snow Way Out"

*The title pun for the episode: No Way Out
*Misty quoted that Ash "made this mountain in to a mole hill" is referenced to the saying "Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill"

Hope you like, thanks for reading! Reviews welcomed! Chapter 31 will be up soon!