Nona felt a cold breeze brush over her skin, making her feel strangely bare, yet still not wholly cold, as if she were kept warm by an invisible coat.

Light stung at her eyelids, which opened to reveal a gloomy sky above her, draped with a blanket of grey clouds, with sunlight being only a faint, dreary glow somewhere in the mass of white. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes, and she felt her body for the first time since she woke up. It was frozen and numbed by the cold surface beneath her.

Her whole body was numb- her hands being the only thing that she could really feel. It must have been for the best, though. Her hands stung with thousands of invisible wounds, each caused by the freezing air whipping around them.

Nona lay face up on the ground, unsure of how she got there. All she did know was that wherever she was now- it was cold, really cold.

Lifting herself up to peer at the world around her, her eyes were met with a sprawling body of water on all sides of her, a frozen lake lined with bright green trees of pine, partly sprinkled with snow, protecting the pine needle brush beneath them. Nona's gaze drifted downwards, and her eyes followed the line of a deep crack in the ice, meeting up with another as it grew closer and closer to her. Hundreds of cracks spiderwebbed from the main vein; the ice beneath her was just short of shattering under her weight, and with each slight turn, it whined and squealed with the effort of staying in one piece.

Where am I? Nona thought to herself, panic turning her nerves hard as packed ice. Her fretting consciousness blew through all of the memories she had, asking her question over and over again: how did she get here? And where was here?

There was nothing, no memory of how she had gotten there, but no memory of where she was either, or. . . now that she thought about it, no memories of where she lived, of who she was, or even what she was doing before she fell unconscious there.

Fear pumped through her body, making her shake more feverishly. The terror made her even more aware of how much her back and rump stung, the last bit of heat they may have stored being sucked out into the icy pond below.

Without opening her eyes, Nona raised herself into a kneel. Why does my head feel so heavy? With a deep breath, she tried to stand. Her legs felt like rubber as she struggled to keep her balance, swinging her arms out at her sides. It wasn't enough though.

Nona tumbled forward, her body slamming hard against the ice below. Water trickled out from the cracks around her as the ice around her depressed from the impact.

Through her panic, Nona managed to turn her head to look down at the feet that had just betrayed her, her face going white as a ghost when instead of a pair of human legs, Nona saw a pair of blue hind legs that looked more akin to that of an animal. She turned forward once more. Her hands, or what she thought would be her hands, were replaced with blue legs as well.

Something was drooping down into her vision from just above her. She saw that it was a light blue. . . fin? She reached up her front leg, finding that its digits were able to be bent as she prodded the fin hanging into her vision. Was it hers? It must have been hers- not like there would be many fish around on the top of a frozen pond.

The ice on her belly was just starting to sting, and she rolled over slowly onto her back, rubbing her front with her front legs to try to warm it up.

Daring another look down, Nona lifted her head up, and this time spotted a fin-like tail protruding from her rump. Somehow, her body knew how to control it, and she flicked it side to side, testing her foreign appendage.

This was wrong. This was so wrong. This was the body of a Mudkip, and Nona wasn't a Mudkip- She was a human! That was the one thing she was sure of amongst all of the things her mind had discarded, she was not a pokemon.

The Mudkip's breath began to grow short, panting in and out, the cold air stinging her throat. Her heart was a drum thundering in her chest, her eyes a darkening tunnel as the panic teased out tears.

Hold it together, Nona. I know that, right? My name- It's Nona. I know that I was a human named Nona. I'm sure of it. Her mind, though still an avalanche of doubt and fear, was calmed when she heard her name. In all of her confusion, there was something she could be sure of. It was the best solace she could find.

Her name and who she was was something that was hers- something that her amnesia wasn't able to take away.

Rolling back onto her belly, Nona slid all four of her limbs beneath her, feeling the ice slide across her smooth amphibian skin as she felt the power beneath them. In one quick movement, Nona was standing up, this time on all four of her feet.

Now she was getting somewhere. Feeling her four feet beneath her, no matter how foreign, was grounding, soothing. Nona squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to imagine just how flimsy the surface beneath her was.

The water type's mind was already beginning to swim hundreds of different ways she could find a way to reach shore. She was a water pokemon- and water pokemon could swim, right? Maybe, but in this temperature, the water would no doubt send her into shock.

Ugh, no that won't work-

The ice beneath her cracked once more, and she could feel the space beneath her feet shift under her weight and body heat, the frozen mass squealing under the stress. Whatever she did, she would have to do it soon.

Could she walk across? Maybe if her steps were light enough-

squeak-

CRACK

Her back right foot plunged into the icy water, sending a shock up into the rest of her body like she had been stabbed with a live wire. Nona held her composure, slowly bringing it out of the water and placing it slightly forward, her teeth gritting together with the pain.

That definitely wouldn't be happening. If the Mudkip's weight was enough to break through just by standing, walking would prove to be one way ticket into the freezing water. If she was going to be getting out of here, she wouldn't be able to do it alone.

Lost and without any other options, she raised her head into the air and screamed for help.

"Do you have the delivery?"

"Mhm! I grabbed it just before we left the house. I got an oran berry in here somewhere. . ."

Ronan shoved is hand into the bag slung over his shoulder, pushing around too vigorously and sending a yellow and black doll falling down onto the ground below.

Cinder turned to him, a look of disapproval on her face.

"You brought your toys with you again?" She tapped her foot.

"Well, yeah, I thought that maybe we would have time to play when we were done with work! I thought you could be Charizard this time! Since I know I took her yesterday. . ."

Ronan knelt down and carefully placed his soft, fabric Ampharos back in his bag, nestling the Wandering Adventurer carefully next to his Charizard doll before giving him a little pat on the head.

The Cyndaquil sighed. "I would love to play with you when we get home, but you can't bring your toys with you on deliveries. Don't you remember last week when you lost your Grovyle when we were making that delivery for Thatcher?"

"Yeah. . . I remember. . ." The Cubone let his head hang as his hands fiddled with his club.

The air went silent for a few moments, as Cinder took a deep breath. She knew how much her brother liked having his dolls with him, especially when they had to go out and work, but Cinder also knew that he definitely wouldn't like it if he lost any of them, perhaps even for good.

"I'm sorry, Ronan, but I just want to make sure that you don't lose 'em. Charizard's your favorite, right? You don't wanna lose her, do you?" The duo stopped walking. Cinder placed her hands on her younger brother's shoulders and leaned a bit forward to try to try to meet his eye.

Ronan shook his head, allowing it to hang for a few seconds more before lifting it quickly to meet the Cyndaquil's gaze. "But we can still play when we get home, right?"

"You kidding? Of course," Cinder chuckled, pulling Ronan into a brief hug, "now we should really get that delivery done. I wanna hear about how Charizard does in his battle against- . . . Wait, hold on, do you hear that?"

Ronan looked up and squinted into the pine trees surrounding them. "Hear what?"

"Shh- just listen."

Sure enough, a noise danced through the trees. It was incredibly faint, almost inaudible. To Ronan, it almost sounded like a bird call, or just the whistle of the wind, but to Cinder, she heard something much more troubling- a cry for help.

Cinder turned back to her brother, a look of urgency on her face."You hear that don't you?"

"Hear what? That bird?"

"What? No- it's not a bird. It's someone calling for help!"

Ronan's eyes went wide, his head turning around even quicker now, desperately trying to see the source of the crying.

"Do you think someone's in trouble? Do you think they might-"

Before Cinder could finish speaking, Ronan grabbed her arm, dragging her into the woods in the direction that he thought he heard the sound.

The group ran through the woods, brushing aside low hanging branches of pine needles and ignoring the poking of the pine needles beneath their feet. Eventually, they reached a clearing in the woods, split apart by a small pond, seemingly just feeling the beginning of the winter's freeze, as it was topped with a crown of ice.

Cinder was the first to notice the cracking, her eyes tracing along a deep gash until she saw it- a pokemon standing at the center of the squealing deathtrap, raising its head up and crying out hoarsely for anyone who would listen, desperate for a savior.

"Hey! Are you alright?"

A voice called to Nona from the shore, a Cyndaquil, with a Cubone standing in front of them, a look of genuine concern evident behind his skull

Nona shook her head vigorously. Her voice refused to work. She set aside the confusion of how other pokemon were talking to her- she would gladly address that when he life wasn't in immediate danger.

Ronan threw down his bag and bone club, lowering himself into a sprint towards the frozen pond, but just as his foot was about to fall down upon the frail ice below, Cinder's benevolent grip wrapped itself around his arm, pulling him back and out of danger.

"You can't just run out there, Ronan! Look at the ice! A single wrong step, and you'd be sleeping with the Barboach!" Though she scolded him, she wrapped her other arm around him, bringing her younger brother into a partial hug.

Ronan pulled himself free from her grasp and ran to the edge of the water, standing at the bank and staring off at the pokemon in need.

"Well what are we gonna do then? She could fall in any minute!"

Cinder put her hands on her head and stared off into the snow below, wracking her brain for any means of rescue. The pokemon was in danger, and she knew that her hesitance was dangerous, but she couldn't bring herself to move.

Ronan looked at her, disappointment choking up the back of his throat. This pokemon was in danger, and Cinder was nailed to the spot by fear. He wanted to help her, to hold her and tell her that it was ok, to slowly guide her out of the pit she had dug herself in, but time was of the essence, and every moment he spent on that shore was another moment closer the Mudkip was to falling into the ice cold water.

"S-Screw it! I'm on my way!" Ronan bellowed, walking backwards away from the water, preparing himself to make a mad dash for the center. He bolted, his feet pounding on the frozen dirt beneath him, his heart beating furiously with adrenaline and fear.

Then he saw it.

His dug his heels into the ground, paralyzed with fear as his eyes were glued to the other side of the pond.

At the opposite bank, towering dozens of feet above them, stood an Abomasnow, but Ronan knew that it wasn't just any Abomasnow. The beast's eyes were glazed over and empty, a burning red furnace as bright and as terrifying as a wildfire, its face glowing a sickening hue of purple, its expression slack jawed and mindless as its eyes focused only on its prey, the Mudkip.

"Cinder!" Ronan's voice cracked.

The Cyndaquil raised her head, her face turning white as her head turned upwards to see the lumbering mass of ice and pine.

"N-No, not now. . . No! Ronan, it has the drift- It'll kill her!"

The Abomasnow slowly raised its head, howling up to the clouds above and summoning a suffocating snowfall- Snow warning. Now, with its eyes fully set on the Mudkip, it stomped forward onto the ice, its legs crushing the thin layer and sinking into the water below with no trouble, sending thousands of sprawling cracks over the ice, each one threatening to shatter, sending her plummeting into the inky black abyss beneath her.

Nona turned to the other two pokemon, tears of fear pulling at the edge of her eyes. She cried out, but her voice betrayed her, coming out as only a squeaking, crackly squeal rather than a cry for help.

Each second, the monster grew closer, shoving ice out of its way without a second thought as to the consequence, each step pushing the sheet of ice Nona was precariously placed on back and forth, leaving her helpless to the shifting mass beneath her, her only option to wait for her doom to arrive in its icy form to crush her into the waters below.

In that moment, all Nona could feel was her thundering heart, her pained breath, and her frozen feet as she was left with the horrifying thought that this was where her life would end.