["WWWHHHHAAAAAAAAA~AAAAAAAA!"]

Due to stupidity, three Pokémons were currently sliding down an solid icy tunnel. Their screams vibrated against it, creating echoes that only seem to pound against their skulls. Two of them were the same height, but clearly polar opposites. Ataro the Aipom and Sneasel. As for the third Pokémon, he was currently being embraced by the monkey-like creature, he went by the name K, however for now Ataro decided to refer to him as Zuku, the Zubat. A thought enter the mind of the purple creature. ["H-h-heeyy! Sneasel! If we don't slow down somehow, won't this be the same as falling off a cliff?!"]

Sneasel snapped open his eyes. He can hear the fear and dread in his companion's voice. It was true, they only seem to speed up the more they fall due to the ice. And since there was only a tiny slant to the slide, they were practically falling downwards with the occasional ice scrap to their bums here and there. Sneasel quickly scanned around, the walls were ice solid he could tell. But did that mean that the ground itself was ice? Whatever the case may be, he didn't have time to focus on that, right now he needed to find a way to slow them down.

He knew how… and yet…

-Just as he did, he caught a solid look at his right claw, all dented, chipped, bloody.-

He just couldn't bring himself to do that again. Ataro couldn't see his ice type companion grip his broken claw tighter in fear. He was too focus on making sure the Zubat whimpering in his arms wasn't expose to the ice much. He knew the cliff was high, but he also knew that he been sliding for quite some time now. Meaning they didn't have much longer to find a way to slow down. Sneasel widen his eyes, wind had just brushed against his fur, a different kind of wind. Knitting his eyebrow together, Sneasel changed his position, letting both claws be pushed by the fall, his legs were parted into a way where he was ready to land.

Ataro was too busy screaming to notice this, and Zuku was too busy trying to muffle the other sounds with his own screaming. ["AAAAA! WE'RE GONNA DIE!"] Sneasel shut his eyes at these words and gambled everything on his whacked up sense. Ataro screamed out in pure terror, squeezing his eyes shut, not being able to help himself otherwise.

A pure white light suddenly burst into their vision, by the time Ataro and Sneasel had opened their eyes again, they were falling once more. ["WAAAAA!"] Only this time Ataro had let go of Zuku by accident, though the Zubat himself secretly preferred this. Sneasel's eyes widen harshly, despite the chipped ice scrapping his face. Now that he thought about it, he was never really a good gambler.

The three of them were only nano seconds away from slamming into the solid ground below. Due to body weight, the first one to ram against their death was-

-Three Pokéballs.

The weight they collected while falling had broke the icy surface, causing the three Pokéballs to sink into water. There was only small hole in the icy surface, the rest was just one endless horizon of pale blue ice. Mist steaming off the surface. No ripples could be seen from when the Pokeballs fell. Still silence was the only thing that could be seen and heard though out the frozen lake.

For minutes, as the ripples from the drop calm down into zero movements, nothing else was seen throughout the icy horizon.

The winds of the blizzard breezed around the field, making gentle noises here and there. Soon, after what seem like hours, there was muffle sounds.

All coming from under the ice, the waters. These muffle sounds were becoming more louder, becoming intensified. Almost as if there was just being making sounds underneath the waters. That's when the small opening on the ground started quaking, as ripples started pooling. Soon there was splashing, and yet nothing emerged from the waters.

Plop….. Plop…. Plop…!

["BUWAAH!"] With intense gasping, a tall light brown furred bear came splashing out of the water, shattering the icy surface around him. More ice broke into bits as another gasping was heard, this one was much more feminine than the bear. It was an overgrown sea horse. Not long after did the entire horizon in sight cracked and split apart as a long, enormous red water snake came bursting out of the water, roaring with rage as he did so.

The cracks spread throughout the line of sight of the three creatures that had emerged. The cracks split apart but calmed once it reached towards a snowy terrain. There was a long distance from where the three creatures were at, and to where land was located. On the snow, there was a tiny circular shadow, when one raise their gaze higher, they would see a little girl with a kimono floating above the ground slightly. Her back was turned, but it was clear she was staring out to where the three creatures were at.

A soft half chuckle escaped her lips, she sounded much older than she looked. The mist around her body made it difficult to make out the details of the little girl. However, one thing that was visible; the ghostly smile that laced on her lips. The mist around the female suddenly became more dim, more thick. Leaving no trace of the female anywhere, expect a faint smile of darkness.

["You ask a lot of questions. Are you aware of that?"]

["Funny you're saying that."]

Snowflake, the exotic eeveevolution who's rather sassy so to say and has been raining the poor dark type next to her with questions he either; One, will not answer. Or Two, wasn't paying attention enough to hear the question. So yes, it was rather funny she would accused him of asking a lot of questions when she's asked twice as much. The dark type was a Murkrow, hovering next to the ice type that was suppose to lead him to the bodies of his decreased tamer and his friend. He sighed, repeating his question again. ["Where are we heading?"]

The Glaceon did not answer. At this, Murkrow looked over to her, taking a good look at her appearance. The more he did so, the more he couldn't understand what was she doing here. What was her role? Why was she like this? He's never seen an eevee stage like this before, but even so he can tell her coloring wasn't right. She was not scared of him, if anything he was rather intimidated by her. He figured the reason why she picked him was because she would be able to take him down if anything happens. Or maybe she was lying about the bodies? What did it matter answer? They were all going to die in this place sooner or later. Figuring out the Glaceon's motive was pointless. In the end it wouldn't matter.

Then again, the way she was dressed bothered him on a level. It was just so odd and… quirky. Familiar. He was going to die, but did he really want his death to be by this girl? He needed some way to make sure she didn't attempt to end his life, he rather die by the blizzard than this female who dressed so oddly. ["… You know I can curse you right?"] Murkrow look straight ahead, trying to be as serious as he can about the bluff.

["Refrain from telling me lies."] Snowflake didn't look at him, she didn't waver. This made Murkrow just a tad more pissed off than he already was. Did she know everything or something?!

Murkrow tried not to react, he wanted to make his bluff as real as possible. ["What makes you think I can't?"]

He felt like he witnessed something he wasn't suppose to. She halted her walking so quickly that her hair had covered her face for a second, her locks being startled by the sudden halt. She turned around rapidly and yet was looking at the snow, she did it gracefully. He froze in his tracks the moment she scoffed, the next thing he understood was that she was getting closer to his face. She was glaring at him, one that could even make Silver intimidated. Her glare vanished and she smirked deviously. She turned around slower but didn't keep walking.

… what was that just now?

*

["Uhh…"] Murkrow looked at her back, she didn't move and she didn't seem like she was listening to him like before. He noticed her ear twitched very slightly. Her tail had stopped flickering as well, instead it went sharply between her legs as her leg joints bent down a bit. As if the ground was shaking and she was trying to root herself. Murkrow was confused, why was she going into this position? Didn't it mean she felt threatened by something?

He shook his head, why should he care? She was the enemy here. …. But he still couldn't leave it be, it's not it mattered anyways, he was gonna die within the matter of hours. Murkrow sighed out and slowly let his talons hit the ground one before the other. That's when he felt it, the ground was trembling. It was very subtle, but he was a Flying Type, he could clearly feel the tremble on the ground.

Murkrow was more interested in the Glaceon however. He noticed how her tail flicked every time there was a low rumble, it was almost as if her tail was trying to locate where the source was. ["What are you doing?"] The black bird flapped his wings again, not wanting to let his talons freeze from the snow.

Her tail went back to swaying, flickering every now and then. Her legs had went back to their graceful pose and lightly stepped on the snow. ["Being cautious."] She spat, walking forward again. Murkrow cringed in mockery and followed after her. The field ahead was clear and wide, but it did not stretch towards the horizon. There was trees, pine trees with dark leaves, but the mist around them made them seem more teal if anything. They seem to get shorter the farther you look, Murkrow assumed they were on a hill at this point. She really was taking him below the cliff. Moving his eyes towards her without letting his head move, Murkrow sent a little glare. He was confused, he was sure she was leading him into a trap. Why was she helping him? What did she want?

-["I wouldn't have it any other way."]-

What did she mean by that? Did she really not want his Master dead? Did she really not want to kill him?

-["They would soon freeze to death in this ice wasteland."]-

What did she mean by this? He knows what he saw, no human could recover from that. No human could remain living in a condition like that. Why did she think they were alive? Did she get their tamers mixed up with other humans? Murkrow shook his head, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere asking himself questions he didn't know and followed the Glaceon quietly.

Though, he couldn't shake off the feeling he was being watched. The ice type was in front of him, and never looked back unless it was to mock him. With a quick glance, the bird looked around the field. There was no trees nearby, and places to hide. Yet, why did he still feel like he was being watched?

["Given up so quickly?"] Snowflake asked, she used that certain tone that made him feel like a captive. He gave her a look of confusion, not understanding what she was asking. When the Glaceon glanced back slightly after getting silence as her replied, she chuckled vilely. With a short friendly glare, she turned back to face forward. ["Forget it."]

Everything about her really did irk him.

Heh, she's probably thinking the same very thing.

As the two kept walking, making their ways over white field. The rumbles on the ground were traced back to the source. Not that far behind them was a giant shadow standing and looking at the two Pokémons walk further. His back was turned, but it was clear this shadow had claws for hands and was as big as a pine tree. Possibly even taller. His breathing was heavy and there was a low grovel growl coming from his throat. ["Broken rules and betrayal. Not tolerated, not tolerated. Much punish, must punish."]

The growls became more murderous sounding. The claws had clenched and the scout figure had taken a step. Making the ground beneath him rumble slightly from his weight. ["Broken rules… must punish… unacceptable… not tolerated… must… denied…"]

Which was one a memory? Which one was the present? He couldn't tell, not at all. All he heard was agonizing screams, wailing, pure utter pain. But the question was, which one of the two wailings did he need to confront and mend? Or at least try to do something, anything. Actually, which one of the wailings wanted his help?

["RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCKKK!"]

"Aaaahhaaaaahh! AaaaAAAaaa haaaaaaAAAHHhhh!"

Which one?

Was a memory?

And which one…

… was the present?

Feraligatr gasped sharply, he took a step back as his brain felt like something had just erupted. In front of him was his young Master, his arms was folded together and his head was locked inside of them. His red locks were sprawled all over his shoulders and a few stances on the sorry excuse for a bed. He was on his knees, wearing the same attire he always wears. Black leather jacket, white cargo pants. Around him was all the other members of the Knight Fall Brigade. They all had the same expression as him, concern, shock, fear, confusion.

Feraligatr gasped sharply, he took a step back as his brain felt like something had just erupted. In front of him was his main Rival, his front paws were clenching his head, placing it in a lock. His fire collar were spiked up and was spewing out heat waves all around his shoulders. Spreading to the sorry excuse for a forest making the snow melt and leaves crumble. He was on his knees, eyes shut tightly. Around him was white snow, up in front near his rival was a forest like area. He was shocked, concern, a bit terrified and utterly confused.

The water type looked to the side, seeing Murkrow with an even more shocked expression.

The water type looked to the side, seeing the horizon empty and covered with snow.

He looked at the entrance, hoping that there was another human would come in and help.

He looked at the entrance, hoping that there was another Pokémon would come in and help.

Explotaro yanked his head up, roaring into the skies. His paws removed themselves from gripping his head, and were now forcefully trying to straighten themselves. He only got louder each nano second he roared. His back was arched as his head kept getting push down by the pressure of his screams.

Silver yanked his head up, wailing into the wooden ceiling. His hands gripped the blankets tightly, stretching out, shaking as they struggle to keep their grip. He only got more desperate each nano second he wailed. His back had arched as his head kept getting push down by the pressure of his shouts.

They were in pain, pain he couldn't understand. Pain that he didn't want to understand. There wasn't anything he could to do help, the water type didn't even know why they were behaving like this. Feraligatr shook his head, he was so confused, more so than he should be. He was looking at two scenes happening, they kept crossing over each other, almost as if it was happening at the same time. But he knew they weren't, for starters, the beings in pain were two different species.

All the big jaw Pokémon did was take a step back, letting his eyes flicker back and fourth, trying to make out which was the real scene and which was the memory. From the distance, in the forest not that far from where the Lava Pokémon was cringing at. There was acid droplets falling into the snow, burning small little holes on instant impact. These acid droplets came from large three fingered hands. They weren't connected to a body at all, but a few inches above the hands there was a dark smile of malice. ["Well…"] The hands clapped together once. ["This ought to be interesting."]

"Hey… Sneasel. Do you think… do you think maybe I'm being punished?"

He never did reply to his Master that day. Sneasel didn't even get to apologize for never answering. He wasn't sure of that himself, and he wasn't sure if his Master would hear him correctly. Ever since they took their freedom back, Silver stopped being able to understand him. Sneasel wondered if he was being punished too, having the only person he could talk to not be able to understand him anymore. Seemed like a punishment to him.

… and the same thing was happening with his Master. There was no way to comfort him, the one person he could talk to. The one person his Master actually wanted to talk to, to be embraced by. To fall asleep with, to be understood with. The one person he cared for with his entire heart… was taken away from him. So yes, it did seem like a punishment, but what did his Master ever do to deserve it?

Everything his Master ever done was to survive, he did not ask for the life he was given. He shouldn't be punished for something that was out of his control, for doing things that would have been done to him. Sneasel shook his head, no, many more horrible things had happened to his Master. Wasn't that punishment enough? Why was the only source of comfort taken away from him? Without a single warning…

The memory playing in his mind somehow absorb his consciousness. Sneasel slowly gave into the feeling, reliving the memory he was thinking about.

The blackish grayish weasel looked in front of him. His Master, was sitting against a tree with one leg soaking in the lake and the other resting on the grass. His red locks were blocking his parts of his face. Whenever the wind blew, it covered his eyes, making him seem like he was sleeping peacefully. Whenever the breezes stopped flowing, his eyes looked distant. As if he was admiring the view of the lake being shimmered by the sun. but Sneasel knew his Master, Silver knew that distant look meant he was suffering. Meant that the pain in his sealed up heart was aching.

Unfortunately, he knew exactly with what, and why. The dark type slowly walked up to his Master, his legs slumped and his ears down. As if he had just done something he regretted. When he was next to the boy's stretched out legs, he noticed the grey white silk fabric in his Master's left hand. It had his name sewed in with a shiny grey color. The boy in front of him was named Silver, he had an odd red colored hair that was long towards his shoulders. His bangs were messy and sprawled all over his face. In fact all his hair was very messy. He never really did learn how to comb his hair correctly.

The dark type nudged against his Master at the ribs. Silver moved his head lazily down, his skull never disconnecting with the tree thump. "…Hey."

Sneasel locked his claws around his Master's left arm and rubbed his cheeks against it. He did that for a minute until Silver placed his naked palm on his head. Soon after, the redhead let his hand fall, as if not having the strength to give him a decent pat. The dark type looked up, seeing his Master looked so defeated. Being swallowed by his own self-inflicted despair. His Master was only seven years old, was he really expected to deal with all this alone?

The grass crunched, only Sneasel turned around to look who was approaching them. Lexie and Bull, the pink with blue dots dog-like Pokémon that Blue owned. And the light blue and black lion-like Pokémon that Cyan owned. They were currently in Silver's ownership, though he never really did take them out in self-given missions. Lexie had jumped over Silver's legs and curled up against his hip. Bull remained on the left side, letting himself lean against the redhead's left foot. Even then, his Master still looked lonely.

The redhead wasn't wearing his normal leather jacket. He had the same white cargo pants, but wore a black wife beater top. He was most likely training before this session started. "Hey… Sneasel?" Despite not being called on, the other two looked up at the redhead. The dark type tiled his head, letting his Master know he was listening to him.

Silver sighed, letting his eyes wonder back to the lake. "Do you think… do think maybe I'm being punished?"

This caught the ice type off guard, punished? Why would his master be punished? Bull and Lexie had looked down, secretly glad they weren't called on to answer that. Sneasel thought about it, there was nothing his Master did that deserved to be punished for and if he was, what part of this did his Master considered punishment? "She isn't here yet…"

His blood flow came to a halt. Lexie was rather confused, Bull pretended not to hear anything. Sneasel looked down, not wanting his to risk his Master seeing the shock and fear on his expression. It was a whisper, but they all clearly heard him. Right after, Silver shifted, brining up his foot from the water and bending both legs towards his chest. He didn't notice the subtle fall Bull took when he did, or the slight frown when he removed his arms from Lexie's side and moved it around his knees. "I think I am…"

Sneasel watched his young Master drop his head in the body hole he made. His legs were pressed against his torso and his arms kept it from breaking out. His back had curled in the process and his lengthy hair kept any skin on his face from showing. The words his young Master uttered next made the dark type wish nothing could be heard from the redhead when in this position. "I'll be better…"

The redhead always said the words of his heart when in this position. The words in the back of his mind. All Sneasel could do was stay by his side, hoping that his young Master didn't feel as lonely as he usually did. "I'll try to be more good…"

"I won't complain…"

"… I'll go back if you want me too…"

"I'll be better…"

"I don't want to feel like this anymore…"

"Hey…"

"Sneasel?"

"Do you think…"

"Do you think I'm being punished?"

["Wake! Up!"] Sneasel took a harsh quick breath. His eyes snapped opened and his whole body twitched. The voice he heard just now, telling him to wake up, it belonged to… Ataro? The dark type quickly got up, sleep still drowsing his mind. His vision was still a bit blurry, but he saw snow.

Lots of it, on the ground and on the trees. His consciousness regain control, reminding the dark type of the events that lead up to here. That's right, he was in the White Leaves Forest. His heart clenched when he was reminded that his young Master was dying somewhere only Ho-oh knew where. He shook his head, secretly glad that he was right. While they were falling from that icy slide, he felt a blizzardrly wind run through his fur. He was half sure that what awaited them was ground hopefully covered in snow. He was never a good gambler, but it seems he used up his luck and landed safely on piles of snow.

Ataro looked was clearly relived, but still surprised. He glanced around his surroundings, there was heavy snow everywhere and a forest just a bit on the horizon line. Behind them was the cliff they had fallen.. Slide down from. The same cliff their tamers had been pushed off from. Sneasel frowned and shook his head again, ridding the trail of thoughts and pain that came with it before it actually arrived. This time though, feeling the agonizing stabbing pain shooting up and down his right claw. ["Gackk!"] With his working claw, he gripped his bad shoulder.

Ataro widen his eyes and took a step closer, only to wince himself. His tail was really aching which made his spine flicker every now and then, which only compromise his ability to walk just a tad. Zuku was hovering between the two of them, it was clear the cold was getting to him and the major overtime his wings was working. The only thing heard from him was panting and wheezes every now and then. ["Sneasel? Are you okay?"] he ask the Sneasel who held his bloodied claw in agony.

Glancing at the Ataro, Sneasel smothered all his whimpers and pain within and mentally tried to shake it off. ["You scream to much."] he calmly replied.

The Aipom raised an eyebrow at this, clearly not amused with the reply. ["Well I don't think you talk enough!"] He spat back, then shook his head when he remembered what the dark type had been doing just before. ["Sincerely though, are you okay?"]

Sneasel decided to ignore the question. He might as well start explaining why not talking as much as certain babbling idiots, wasn't a bad thing. The dark type started walking ahead, wanting to get out of this snow as soon as possible. ["Honestl-"]

Swish.

The dark type eye's widen in a sharp matter. With his left arm, he spun around swiftly and rammed it against the normal type, successfully shoving him back down to the snow. As he did so, he conjured a tiny blizzard, to throw off the Zubat off it's hovering spot and move higher into the freezing air. Sneasel in his turn only arched his back in the slightest, smothering the whimper that crawled into his throat when he felt some sharp just barely nick him. Sneasel squinted his eyes in a sharp threatening shot. -Much too close…-

Whatever he barely dodged had rammed against the mountain wall behind them, creating an explosion of powder snow to erupt behind them and cover their field of vision. Ataro groaned and sat up, covering his eyes as the snow threaten to pull off his ears. Zuku had bashed against Ataro right after and clung to him as the winds tried to carried him off. Sneasel made no movements after getting into that certain stance. Claws dangling, right foot outright, left foot supporting his weight, and back arched with his red feathered ear twitching, trying to locate where the attack had came from.

The powder snow slowly started clearing, leaving behind the same type of fog back up at the cliff cave. Sneasel's cleft claw clenched when he saw a shadow start to get larger. Closer. Metal clacking was heard, as if armor was being shuffled around a bag. The three could hardly make out the outlines of the shadow that stopped right before it was able to be in view. They heard a sinister chuckling, the fog clearing up more. In a painfully slow pace did the fog reveal the attacker.

["Well… seems like we have some indecent guests."]