Ash and Akari made their way to the upper part of the mountain, just north of the Pearl Settlement as they scanned the snowy area for the Flying-type Pokemon they had been tasked with finding. Since they knew Rufflet had white feathers, they were watching the area carefully just in case they were hiding amongst the snow.

"So we need to find a Rufflet." Akari commented as she scanned the area with her eyes.

"Right. Their white feathers will blend into all this snow so we have to be careful." Ash reminded her.

"You're certainly right about that. We don't want to accidentally wander into their territory and end up in the middle of a surprise attack." She agreed, shuddering at the thought.

"No kidding. I know how aggressive they can be." He nodded. They continued their trek upwards, finding themselves on the shores of what Ash had to assume was Lake Acuity. He sighed and was about to tell Akari they had to head back down when she cut him off by grabbing his arm excitedly.

"Ash! Over there!" she exclaimed, pointing out over the water. Ash followed her gesture and was shocked to see a flock of Rufflet flying over the lake water, trying to catch the Basculin below for their lunch.

"Whoa!" he gasped.

"We found the jackpot!" she grinned.

"Then let's go get one!" he said as he ran to the banks of the lake. Akari nodded and ran after him, stopping once they reached the water's edge. One of the Rufflet in the flock had his attention drawn by their footsteps in the snow and looked over to see what was going on. When he saw the humans in his flock's territory, he glared angrily at them.

"Ruff!" he squawked as he broke away from his flock and charged over to attack.

"Alright Pikachu, use Electro Web!" Ash called.

"Right!" Pikachu nodded as he jumped off Ash's shoulder. He fired a web of electricity from his tail directly at Rufflet, attempting to trap him inside. However, Rufflet was too fast and managed to dodge the attack before swooping in and hitting Pikachu with Wing Attack. "Ack!"

"Pikachu!" Ash gasped. Pikachu gritted his teeth and managed to straighten himself out, landing on one of the floating icebergs rather than in the water. Rufflet wasn't giving him a break though as he moved in quickly for a Peck attack. "Quick dodge it!"

"Yikes!" Pikachu yelped as he quickly jumped out of the way of Rufflet's attack, managing to land on another nearby iceberg. Rufflet chirped angrily and flew upwards, planning on circling back around for another attack.

"Pikachu watch his movements and then use Electro Web!" Ash called out. Pikachu nodded and watched Rufflet carefully. The Eaglet Pokemon completed his loop and swooped in for another Wing Attack. Seeing his opportunity, Pikachu leaped into the air and fired off Electro Web again, this time landing the hit and shocking Rufflet with serious power. Rufflet cried out in pain as electricity coursed through his body. "Way to go Pikachu!"

"Thanks-" but the conversation was cut off when Rufflet began to struggle and to everyone's surprise, managed to break free of Pikachu's Electro Web. "Huh?!"

"He broke free?!" Akari gasped.

"Wow. Now that's spunk!" Ash smiled, igniting his battling spirit a bit more. Rufflet, even though he was clearly injured from the previous attack, still began to charge toward Pikachu with a Peck attack. "Alright, Pikachu let's use Thunderbolt!"

"On it!" Pikachu nodded as he fired Thunderbolt at Rufflet, shocking the Flying-type with even more power than the previous attack. Once Pikachu stopped his attack, they found that Rufflet was panting, but still remained in the air despite all the damage he had taken.

"No way…after all that he still wants to battle?" Akari marveled.

"That's awesome! I love a Pokemon with real fighting spirit!" Ash grinned, getting more into the battle as it progressed. As quickly as he could, Rufflet moved in for another Wing Attack, but Ash was ready. "Iron Tail now!"

"Take this!" Pikachu yelled as he used Iron Tail, nailing Rufflet right in the chest. Unfortunately, both he and Ash were too caught up in the battle to realize how much power they put into that attack and Rufflet was sent flying before he collided with one of the rocky walls that surrounded the lake's edge.

"Oh shoot!" Ash gasped, realizing what they'd done.

"Whoops..." Pikachu mumbled.

"Oh no! You guys that was way too much!" Akari scolded them.

"My bad..." Ash sweatdropped.

"Hurry! Ash use the pokéball before he hits the ground!" Akari yelled, pointing at Rufflet who was falling towards the water, barely conscious after the battle.

"Oh no!" he gasped as he quickly got an empty ball from his bag and threw it at Rufflet. The ball managed to hit its target and it sent Rufflet inside just before it plopped into the water. The ball shook a few times before it sent a firework into the sky, signaling a successful capture. "Alright!"

"Thank goodness…" Akari sighed in relief. Pikachu floated over on his iceberg and scooped the pokeball out of the water before jumping back over to Ash and Akari on the lake's banks. The two took a moment to move away from the rest of the flock before they were noticed, and once they were a safer distance away, Ash brought out Rufflet, who was panting hard and still suffering from his injuries.

"Ruff...ruff..." he panted. Akari dug through her bag and took out some of her potion gel.

"Here. This should help him feel better." She said, handing the jar to Ash.

"Thanks, Akari." Ash smiled as he gently applied the gel to Rufflet's injuries. Rufflet winced in pain, the gel stinging as it came into contact with some of the more open wounds. "Sorry..."

"Rufflet Ruff let let." He chirped back at Ash. The trainer gave a small smile as he finished treating Rufflet's injuries. He handed the medicine back to Akari as Rufflet shook out his feathers, seemingly relieved of all his pain. "Ruff!"

"Glad you're feeling better." Ash congratulated him, which earned a shared smile between the two. "Rufflet we need your help to save Lord Avalugg. Are you willing to come with us?"

"Let ruff!" the Flying type nodded confidently.

"Wow. You two are a lot alike." Akari marveled, earning a confused stare from Ash and Rufflet.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. Let's focus on finding Sabi now that we have Rufflet's help." She said, quickly changing the topic.

"Right." He nodded before turning back towards Rufflet. "Rufflet we have to find someone quickly. She's wearing the color blue and is hiding somewhere in the area."

"Let? Rufflet!" the small Pokemon nodded before flying up into the air and scanning the area. It took a moment, but his sharp eyes suddenly seemed to spot something as he quickly took off in a specific direction.

"Think he spotted her?" Ash wondered.

"Let's follow him and find out." Akari suggested as she ran after Rufflet alongside Ash. Rufflet flew quickly toward a large mountain and headed up to the top.

"Looks like we're mountain climbing." Ash sighed as they arrived at the base of the steep cliffs.

"Looks that way." Akari nodded as she let out her Sneasler. He let out his Weavile as well and with their Pokemon's help, Akari and Ash managed to scale the cliffs with relative ease even in spite of the snow and ice that threatened to try and throw them back down to the ground. Finally, they all reached the top where they found Ash's Rufflet flying next to Sabi, who was smiling at them with Noble Braviary at her side.

"Ruff ruff!" Rufflet announced, pointing at Sabi proudly.

"Not bad guys! This Rufflet is a clever one!" the young Warden giggled.

"Thanks. Nice work Rufflet." Ash smiled at his new friend.

"Ruff!"

"Now Sabi about that harn-"

"Next chase! Ready go!" Sabi announced as she jumped off the cliff and landed on Noble Braviary, flying off again across the snow-covered lands.

"Huh?!" Akari gasped.

"That's just great..." Ash groaned.

"Well, at least from up here we can see where she's going. It looks like she's headed for that temple atop that other hill. The one that was near the lake we were at." She pointed out, catching Ash's attention.

"A temple?"

"You didn't see it earlier?" she asked with a tilt of the head.

"Guess I was too focused on catching Rufflet…" he admitted sheepishly, making Akari smile softly to herself. Gosh, he could be cute sometimes.

"Well anyway, I think it's called the Snowpoint Temple." She continued explaining, which caught Ash's attention even further.

"That's the Snowpoint Temple?!" he gasped. He was stunned that the broken-down ruins he saw back in his time were once a building so grand that he could see the architectural detail from miles away.

"You've heard of it?" Akari wondered, surprised.

"Uh…" he stammered as he tried to come up with a plausible excuse. "I um, heard some of the other Survey Corps members talking about it back in the village."

"Oh. Well, I guess we'd better start moving again if we want her to help us." She sighed.

"You're right. Rufflet you go on ahead ok?" he instructed his new partner.

"Ruff!" Rufflet nodded as he flew off towards the Temple. Ash and Akari ran back to their climbing Pokemon and began their descent down the cliffs so they could follow on foot.

After their climb down the mountains and a sizable dash across the cold area, Ash and Akari managed to find their way back to the Snowpoint Temple. Ash was even more stunned by the structure's beauty up close, but when he saw Sabi waiting at the Temple entrance with Braviary, he turned his focus completely to her. He had to get that harness so he could finish this mission.

"Good job!" she cheered for them.

"Enough playing around Sabi. We need that harness." Ash said, trying to be firmer with her.

"Sorry! But we gotta do one more chase! Then it's all yours!" she giggled before disappearing into the Temple.

"You gotta be kidding me..." Ash growled under his breath.

"Is everything ok Ash?" Akari asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You've been kinda…irritable today."

"I'm fine. Let's just get this over with." He groaned in response as he ran into the Temple after Sabi with Rufflet flying next to him. Akari sighed and followed them inside the cavernous room. Up ahead they saw Sabi run around a corner down into a nearby hallway. Seeing this Ash sped up and ran after her, but when he and Akari rounded the corner all they found was a dead-end hallway and no sign of Sabi or of Noble Braviary.

"Huh?!" Akari gasped.

"What in the?! How did she...?!" Ash stammered.

"I have no idea..." she answered, stunned and confused. As the two trainers tried to figure out what happened, their attention was grabbed by the incessant chirping of Ash's Rufflet, making them turn back around towards him.

"Ru let let ruff!" he squawked.

"What is it Rufflet? Did you find something?" Ash wondered. Rufflet flew over to a statue holding a panel and pointed at it with his wing.

"Ruff!"

"Huh?" Ash asked as he walked over and looked at it curiously. The panel the statue was holding seemed to have a symbol on it.

"Ash there are others too." Pikachu pointed out two more statues behind this one that they had run past before in order to try and catch up with Sabi. The other two statues were also holding panels, but with different symbols on them.

"Hey look." Akari noticed, still standing by the wall herself. "Those same symbols are on the wall."

"Interesting..." Ash said, looking between the door and the statues. "Maybe there's a pattern to this that we can use to open a hidden door or something."

"Then let's try to find the pattern. Maybe it's the order in which we passed them. So if it's by statues then..." Akari carefully presses the buttons on the wall in the correct order, and a clicking noise echoed out across the hollowed halls. Both trainers were stunned when the wall suddenly began opening up. "Whoa!"

"Let's keep moving!" Ash called to everyone as he ran through the now-open wall. Akari and Rufflet followed him into the next chamber of the Temple, where they soon came across more statues holding panels. Akari made notes of each statue as they walked and Rufflet perched on Ash's shoulder opposite Pikachu. Once they came to another dead end, Akari relayed the pattern to Ash who pressed the buttons and opened the next door. They continued down yet another chamber and Ash sighed to himself. "How many times are we going to do this…?!"

"Ash calm down…" Akari said as gently as she could. "I'm sure we're almost there…"

"We better be…" he grumbled.

"Rufflet!" Rufflet agreed from his shoulder. Akari sighed as she wrote down the last statue icons and relayed them to Ash, who followed her instructions and opened the hidden door in front of them. Instead of a new hallway, however, they found themselves face to face with Sabi standing in a large open chamber.

"Hi, you guys!" Sabi grinned as she waved them over. Sighing in relief, Ash ran over to her and Akari followed him. "You guys did great! Thanks for playing!"

"Enough Sabi! We're done with your game of yours!" Ash growled at the young girl.

"We almost are I promise. I just need someone to battle with my Pokémon." She explained, seemingly not phased at all by Ash's growly attitude.

"Fine! I'll take you on!" he yelled.

"Yay! Go Rhyperior!" she cheered, prompting the hulking Rock-type to enter into the room from the platform behind Sabi.

"Rhy!" he roared loudly. However before Ash could select a pokeball from his bag, Rufflet suddenly squawked loudly and charged into the battle on his own.

"Rufflet?!" Ash gasped.

"Ruff! Let!" Rufflet yelled as he hit Rhyperior with a Wing Attack. However, his attack seemed to do virtually nothing to his opponent.

"Rock Blast!" Sabi giggled. Rhyperior suddenly formed a rock in his hands and then hits Rufflet with Rock Blast, sending the little Pokemon flying.

"Ruff!"

"Rufflet!" Ash called out as Rufflet landed on the ground near his feet.

"Oh no!" Pikachu gasped. Rufflet gritted his teeth and struggled to get up, managing to stand on his talons.

"Ruff…let!" he cawed as he managed to get himself airborne once again.

"One more time dear Rhyperior! Rock Blast!" Sabi ordered her partner, who promptly fired another Rock Blast. This time however Rufflet was able to fly out of the way of the flying rock.

"Let!" he confidently taunted Rhyperior. Rhyperior roared angrily and continued firing rocks at Rufflet. Rufflet was able to keep dodging the attacks for a while, but Ash noticed that the dodging was subtly bringing Rufflet closer to Rhyperior with each movement.

"Rufflet no! Get out of there!" he tried to warn his Pokemon, but Rhyperior was faster than his call and he managed to grab Rufflet out of the air in his massive arm.

"Ru ruff!" Rufflet cried in pain. He tried using Peck on Rhyperior's hand, but just like his previous Wing Attack, the move seemed to do little, if anything, to Rhyperior's hard-as-a-stone body.

"Bummer. Oh well. Rhyperior finish with Rock Wrecker!" Sabi commanded. Rhyperior formed a large bolder with his free hand and swung it, hitting Rufflet at close range with a powerful Rock Wrecker.

"Oh no!" Akari gasped.

"Rufflet!" Ash screamed. Rufflet collapsed to the ground, struggling to even move with bits of rock scattered in his feathers.

"Pika..." Pikachu said worriedly.

"He's trying so hard..." Akari commented with the same concern in her voice.

"And that's the kind of burning battle spirit I'm looking for! We're going to win it together Rufflet!" Ash called, suddenly bursting into a grin.

"R-Rufflet…!" Rufflet squawked in agreement, forcing his body to get back up again, surprising everyone.

"Wow! Still such new partners and yet so close! You all are amazing!" Sabi cheered happily.

"You haven't seen anything yet! Rufflet Wing Attack with everything you got!" Ash called. Rufflet nodded and flew towards Rhyperior at full speed, landing another Wing Attack against the Rock type. And while it did make him stumble this time, it still did very little.

"Our turn! Rhyperior use Rock Throw!" Sabi commanded, which Rhyperior obeyed in one quick motion.

"Dodge it and use Wing Attack again!" Ash quickly countered, giving Rufflet just enough time to dodge and land another Wing Attack, though still not doing much damage. "Alright, Rufflet! Now let's show them what you can really do!"

"Ruff…Rufflet!" Rufflet screamed in defiance as his entire body suddenly started glowing.

"Rufflet?!" Ash gasped.

"He's evolving already?!" Akari asked with equal shock.

"Amazing!" Sabi marveled. Rufflet's entire form began to change as his body and wings grew much larger. As the light faded, a Braviary flapped his much more powerful wings and he let out a powerful screech.

"Brav!"

"Whoa! It's Braviary!" Ash grinned. Braviary gave him a confident smile before suddenly flying in towards Rhyperior with much more speed than before. With his wings glowing a metallic color, he struck Rhyperior hard, sending him careening backward after taking massive damage. "Awesome! That's a Steel Wing!"

"Cool! But we're not out yet! Rhyperior use Rock Wrecker!" Sabi called, prompting Rhyperior to start gathering energy in his hands that slowly grew into a massive boulder.

"Not this time! Let's go Braviary!" Ash called. Spurred on by Ash's strength, Braviary's Psychic energy in his feathers glowed with more power. That power gathered in his wings and turned them a brilliant purple color. Braviary flew in quickly and collided his attack with Rhyperior before he could throw his boulder. Rhyperior cried out in pain and crashed into the side of the wall where he fainted. "Whoa!"

"Ash I think that was Esper Wing!" Akari gasped.

"Alright, Braviary! Way to go!" Ash cheered.

"Brav!" Braviary grinned proudly.

"That was amazing!" Sabi smiled, running over to them after she finished healing her Rhyperior. "Your Braviary is definitely ready to become a ridable Pokémon!"

"Finally! That's great!" Ash smiled back.

"Come on out here and we'll get you set up!" Sabi giggled as she walked out to the balcony from which her Rhyperior had come. Ash and Akari were quick to follow them, both silently happy that Sabi's game had finally come to an end.

To be Continued...