The world on the other side of the next door of light, the door under Wartortle, was cold. Extremely cold. That was the first impression Light got as his vision adjusted to the new world around them. It was far colder than even the desert at night. Light clutched his paws around his body, feeling his yellow fur stiffen from the cold.
His second impression of the world was not a positive one. Once his vision cleared, he saw himself in an enclosed room of ice, locked up behind pure blue bars in front of him. Fennix was there with him, examining the room just as Light was, but he didn't see the rest of his allies. There was also no sign of any other enemies in the icy hallway beyond the bars.
"Wha…where are we?!" Light yelled.
"I…don't know," Fennix responded. "A-are we…in jail?"
"…That's what it looks like."
Light's ears perked up when he heard that voice coming from his right. Light walked over to the right wall and put his ears up to it. He was sure of it, he heard Lilac's voice.
"Espurr, you're here too?" Light asked.
"So are Ampharos and Mawile," Lilac assured him. "They're in the cells to my right."
"Fear not, young Light!" Ampharos called. "We are most certainly fine!"
Light took a quick breath as he heard almost everyone's voice. "I don't know if we're really 'fine,' but it's nice to hear that you guys are all here. But where exactly are we?"
"We're in your past Light," Lilac reminded him. "If you don't know where you are, then we don't know any better than you."
"Oh, right."
Light took a deep breath and once again looked around the area. The fact that the cell was made of pure ice was familiar to Light, he had to admit that. Just like when he first looked around in the illusion of Kalah Port, Light could tell that he was here before at one point in time. But this time, Light couldn't quite place the exact location of where he was, nor why he would have been there in the past. He still kept an eye out, but he quickly conveyed the information to the rest of his allies.
"So, you don't know either," Mawile mused. "Your familiar with the location, at least, but less so on the events."
Light rubbed the back of his head. "S-sorry. Maybe I just need more time? I'll be sure to figure things out eventually."
"Until then, let's focus on getting out of here!" Fennix said. "After all, we're in a cell of ice. They were pretty stupid leaving a Fire-type in a cell of ice!"
"I'm going to guess that, if Puriah was there with Light back in the past, they probably had some sort of plan regarding Fire-types," Lilac mentioned, however a sigh soon came from her direction. "But knowing you, that won't stop you."
"You bet it won't! Now stand back, Light!"
Light rolled his eyes but leaned against the back of the cell as he waited for Fennix to do her thing. With a large smirk, Fennix breathed out a large blast of flames on the cell bars. It was so powerful that Light instantly felt the heat contrast with the cold air around them. Unfortunately, despite how much fire was blasted, the bars remained. Not only that, but none of the ice melted either.
"What?!" Fennix yelled as she took a couple of steps back. "B-but how?"
"Never-Melt Ice in large quantities, most likely," Mawile said calmly. "As the name suggests, Never-Melt Ice can't be melted, even by the strongest of Fire-type attacks. In fact, it actively repels heat. You won't be able to merely melt your way out of this one."
"Is it possible to break Never-Melt Ice?" Lilac asked.
"If we give it enough pressure over time, though I imagine that would alert our attempts to break out to our captors in the first place. I think our best course of action right now is to wait for our captors to come and explain themselves. Unless Light remembers something about our situation and can give us further insight."
Light crossed his arms and closed his eyes while leaning against the wall as he thought. "I'll try and think of something. This place is so cold and so…different from other things I've seen that I should remember it soon. I…hope."
So everyone waited silently in the cold for whoever captured them to explain their intentions. It took a while for anything eventful to happen, though, so much that Light and Fennix ended up sitting next to each other to warm up. As they were doing so, though, Light remembered that Lilac was alone in her cell.
"Lilac, are you doing okay?" Light asked.
"I-I'm fine. Well…okay, I am cold. But you can't do anything to help me anyways, so don't worry about me. I'll survive."
"That's it!" Fennix growled as she stood up. "We've waited long enough! I'm going to knock these bars down!"
Light stood up as well and placed a paw firmly on her left shoulder. "Fennix, we shouldn't. We don't know anything about our situation, and if we try and bust out of here ourselves, we might make things worse for us."
"What else are we supposed to do?!" Fennix growled. "We can't just wait here!"
"Calm down you two," Lilac said calmly. "I hear steps coming from the right. I think some Pokémon are coming. Let's wait and see what they do before we act."
Fennix groaned. "Fine."
After a few more seconds, Light himself heard the footsteps coming their way. Light walked up to the bars and looked to the right to see the arriving Pokémon the moment they entered his field of vision. And it wasn't more than a few seconds later when he did. And what Light saw nearly knocked him off his paws.
The group was eight Pokémon. On both the left and right sides were two abomasnow, two beartic, and two avalugg. In the center was a weavile and the Legendary Pokémon Articuno. Articuno dwarfed the rest of the crew by her mere presence and status as a Legendary Pokémon and seeing her made Light's heart sink a little.
"I…don't think we're going to be able to break out of here," Light whispered to Fennix. "Even if you have an advantage."
"Great."
The Pokémon all continued until they reached the jail cells. There, only Articuno and the weavile moved to face the jailed crew; the rest of the Pokémon faced the same direction they walked and didn't acknowledge the proceedings.
After examining the crew, Articuno spoke. "So you are the Pokémon that are going up against Dark Matter, aren't you?"
Light heard nobody say anything for a while. He waited to, for somebody like Mawile or Lilac to respond, before Articuno started looking impatient. At that point, Light realized they were waiting for him to talk, since his words were technically what was needed.
Great, no pressure, Light snarked to himself. Just gotta act exactly in a way I don't remember. How hard could that be?
"Y-yes, we are," Light finally admitted. "Why did you lock us up?"
"…I have a choice to make. A terrible choice. And I made it. I decided to give you over to Dark Matter."
"WHAT?!" both Lilac and Fennix yelled.
"You do realize that Dark Matter plans the destruction of this world, don't you?" Mawile asked. Light breathed a quick sigh of relief when he heard her speak, knowing he wasn't going to try and convince Articuno himself.
"Do you have any proof of that?" Articuno asked. "I am well aware of the activities of Dark Matter's minions. Many of my subjects were also turned to stone from their attack. However, they don't seek complete devastation. They would die themselves, and many of them seek power. Power is pointless if you aren't alive to exert it."
"But Dark Matter is!" Fennix yelled.
Light tried to remain calm and think of a way to prove their point. "Dark Matter's minions must be doing something more here. That's why you locked us up and made that decision, isn't it?"
"You are perceptive," Articuno stated calmly. "I'm sure you and your crew noticed on the way into my domain. A kingdom made of snow and ice for all Ice-types to live peacefully, being slowly defrosted. The snow is melting. Snow has never melted here before. This is a clear curse from Dark Matter itself."
As Articuno spoke, Light realized exactly where her problem came from. "That's not some sort of curse. Dark Matter is slowly pulling this planet towards the sun, which is why the world is getting hotter."
"As Light said, it's not some sort of curse, and siding with Dark Matter will not bring your snow back," Mawile continued calmly. "In fact, if we don't stop Dark Matter now, not only will your kingdom of ice melt, but the whole planet will be destroyed. Yet, even as I say this, I imagine you won't be convinced by mere words."
"You assume correctly. Can I really believe that this world is being pulled into the sun? That such a feat, one not even us Legendary Pokémon could accomplish, is happening?"
"Just look up at the sun!" Fennix yelled. "Geez, it's not that hard!"
"Actually, that won't work. And I'm telling this to both of you, just so you know too Light. Mawile telepathically told me that the changes in the sun weren't even that noticeable for a while despite the increase in heat. There were slight changes, but those weren't really noticeable without staring directly into the sun. Jirachi only noticed through a telescope with a lens that allowed one to safely look at the sun. I can't imagine a Pokémon from this time being able to do the same feat."
"Crap. You're kidding, right?" Light asked.
"Nope. This isn't something I'd joke about."
"But enough chatter," Articuno stated, bringing attention back at her. "I mean no ill will towards you. Unlike other Legendary Pokémon, I don't care whether one of you is human or not. But I have to think of the Pokémon I rule, and we can't live if everything melts. I'm truly sorry."
"What do you intend to do with us?" Light asked. "Are you just going to keep us here until we get turned to stone, or something?"
Articuno shook her head. "I cannot say. My role was to capture you, nothing more. I already have proof of your capture. Dark Matter will now merely send one of its minions to remove the heat curse upon my Glacier Palace. If something happens to you afterwards…I apologize. I'm sure you were well aware of this possibility when you started."
And with that final word, Articuno and her guards left.
"Well gee, that sucks," Fennix groaned. "What do we do now?"
The sound of Lilac's paw tapping the ground could be heard. "Honestly, it's hard to say. My first guess would be for us to just try and break out, but that comes with its own obvious dangers. Perhaps Articuno, after hearing the truth of what's happening, will check on it and let us out herself."
"But that would also require the crew back in the ancient past knowing about what Dark Matter planned to do to the world," Mawile reminded them. "There's also…something else that worries me from that conversation. Light, I hesitate to ask, but do you have any recollection of when Mew learned that Dark Matter would pull the planet into the sun?"
However, Light was lost in his own thoughts, just barely paying attention to the conversations going on around him. He heard the words, but none of them registered in his head. It wasn't until Fennix slapped Light's check with her tail that Light noticed something was going on around him.
"Huh, what?" Light asked as he got away from his daze.
"Something on your mind?" Fennix asked.
"Y-yeah. Mawile, Articuno said Glacier Palace, right?"
Mawile was silent for a few seconds. "So Light, you've heard of the Glacier Palace too?"
"You have?" Fennix examined Light's face curiously. "I've never heard of it, though."
"Then that only confirms my suspicions." There was a hint of fear in Mawile's normally calm voice. "Light, what exactly do you remember about the Glacier Palace?"
"Nothing entirely concrete," Light answered, his body physically shaking. "But…fear. Pain. A sort of choking sensation. Something…something terrible is going to happen. I can't remember what, but I know that for sure! Guys, we need to get out of here!"
"Yes, we should. Espurr, did you notice any keys on the guards as they passed by?"
"Pfft." Lilac gave a soft but hearty laugh for a few seconds. "Not only did I notice the keys, but I stole one from off the guard while we were talking. Figured I'd keep it around, just in case."
"Good going Espurr!" Fennix praised. "Now let's get out of here!"
A few moments later, Light heard a click then the sound of bars opening from his right. A few seconds later, Lilac appeared in front of his jail cell a large smile on her face and keys twirling in the air with Psychic power. She quickly placed the keys in Light's cell before opening it up and letting the two Pokémon out. When out, Light looked around the area while Lilac let Ampharos and Mawile out of their cell.
"Hmm…nothing's looking too familiar here," Light mused. "I'm not sure which way we should go."
"It would be prudent for us to go the opposite way of the guards, at the very least," Mawile mentioned. Light turned to see herself and Ampharos were also looking around the place. "If the guards see us here, they will likely attempt to capture us once again. I can't imagine we would last that long against the large procession that's following Articuno, along with her herself."
"I know you might not agree with me, but I actually think we should follow them," Lilac suggested. Light and Fennix both looked at her like she was insane, both their mouths gaping at the mere suggestion of what she was thinking. "Geez, you don't have to act like it's that surprising."
"I for one, actually agree with young Espurr," Ampharos said with a smile. "Though I don't discount your fears, Light, we must remember that we're not in the past, but rather a trial of the past Puriah set up. Therefore, we should act as the team from the past would act, and you were tasked with stopping any Dark Matter related incident, were you not?"
Light shivered slightly at the thought. "I…really feel like we should get out of here, but you're right. Let's be careful, though. I'm not kidding when I say something terrible is about to happen here."
"Pfft, if we could've done it in the past, we can do it now!" Fennix cheered with her face lit up. "What's the worst that could possibly happen?"
Lilac turned her attention towards Mawile. "Mawile, you seemed to have an idea of why Light feels how he does. Do you know what's going on here?"
Mawile looked gravely off in the direction that Articuno went. "There's the possibility that it's not what I'm thinking of, but Glacier Palace was mentioned in news in the Mist Continent a few years back." She turned her attention back towards Light. "Light, this is important. Do you remember the name 'Bittercold?'"
AN: And the Gates' references keep on coming. Anyways, apologies for the other long break. I am going to do my best to have this story finished soon enough. I'm fairly close anyways, I have the rough drafts, all I need to do is self-edit.