Chapter Sixteen: The Tale of Team Treasure Hunters

"You teach me, and I'll teach you." - Pokémon: Gotta Catch 'em All

I came into this world alone. I stepped out of my shell, fresh blue scales dripping with pink. I looked around. There was no one. I was sheltered under a green tree, and there were bushes all around me. Sunlight shone through the canopy, and though I didn't have the word for it at the time, I felt exposed. I made a sound. I stumbled around on shaky legs, crying out in an infant's voice. I cried for someone. For anyone. But nobody came.

I had an unpleasant feeling in my stomach, and in my throat, but I didn't know what to do about it. What I did know was that the smell coming from beyond the bushes was pleasing, so I waddled towards it. Round blue berries were hanging up on a cliff. Oran Berries, I would later learn to call them. One had fallen to the ground. I felt my jaw tingle and knew I wanted to put them in my mouth.

The bushes exploded and a green creature came shooting out. He landed between me and the berries, hissing, spitting hot stinging water into my face. Without thinking, I turned and ran. I tried to find the warm, dark egg I had come from, but I had already lost my way. I sat back against a tree. My eyes felt warm and wet. I felt an unpleasant muggy feeling in my chest, and wished I hadn't run from that creature. But what else could I have done?

I felt something deeper, something I couldn't even feel in my body. There was something missing, something I should have done, some instinct I hadn't unlocked yet. Something important.

I found enough food and water to survive. But in the beginning, I honestly could not recount for how long, I ran from everything. Every creature I saw, every rustling in the bushes, every shifting shadow. And every time I did, I felt that feeling in my chest, rising to the back of my throat. I didn't know what it was. I didn't yet have the word for "shame".

Most of the land I walked was steep. The plantlife around me was green. The gravel and earth and rocks were purple. There was energy flowing through the ground at all times. I never even really noticed it before I left the mountain and suddenly it was gone.

I had ventured down a path I'd never been before. The food in my area had either dried up or been claimed by bigger, stronger creatures, so on I walked. I didn't make it far before the blue creature saw me. He had two pointy fangs, three grey ridges running down his head, and bright, purple eyes. There was a half-second where we registered one another, then his gaze hardened, and he lowered his head, moving into a fighting stance, ready to charge. I ran. I heard a hard thunk against the cliff wall behind me. I tripped on a root, and by the time I'd gotten up he was there, head lowered yet again. I looked left and right, but I'd backed myself right into a corner. The creature kicked at the ground. I covered my face and wailed.

"Hey…" came a voice. "Are you crying?"

I peeked out behind my fingers. The creature was looking at me, head tilted. His eyes had turned soft again.

"Don't you want to fight?" he asked.

I gulped. "I don't know how." It was the first thing I'd ever said to another living being.

The creature's eyes widened. "Didn't your parents teach you?"

"What are parents?" I asked.

He sat down on a rock next to me. We were roughly the same height in stature, but I was looking up at him, as he explained to me what parents are.

"Parents are people who take of you when you're little," he said. "They teach you how to look after yourself, how to find food and water and shelter and stuff, and how to fight. They teach you about things like good and bad, like, it's good to help other people in need, and it's bad to steal and lie and eat dad's special mushrooms. They teach you what love is, and how we're meant to take care of each other, and when we do those people take care of us. My parents taught me everything I know. Without them, I don't know how I'd still be alive."

"But… I don't have any."

He looked up the sky.

"Do you need parents?" I asked.

"I hope not," he said, "mine are dead."

"Oh." As a toddler, grief counselling was not yet a strong suite of mine.

"Nah," he said after a moment, "I don't think anyone needs parents. But everyone needs someone to teach them."

I sat there next to this strange creature, wondering who would teach me, and what. Then we heard a cry from above above.

"Oh no."

The creature jumped down, looked up at the cliff. Then he took off.

"Hey!" I called. "Wait!"

I'd never run after a creature in my life. But I raced like my life depending on it, over the rocks and up a hill and through a grove of trees, until we came to a clearing next the lip of the cliff. A cream-coloured creature with bits of gold in her ears stood on four legs, backed into a corner by three others: a green creature that looked like he was floating off the ground, one with grey and yellow scales, and another blue one with black fur and red wounds around his collar. The cream creature raised her hackles and hissed, and her fur stood up like needles.

"Get away from her!" the blue creature yelled.

The three attackers laughed at him.

The blue creature spat, and an ember escaped his mouth. "Only weak Pokémon have gang up on people three-on-one."

Pokémon? Was that what we were?

The green Pokémon turned. "Lucky there's three of you, then."

The blue Pokémon looked at me. "He's got nothing to do with this. If you want a fair fight," he lowered his head, "I'm all you need."

Blue charged right into him. Green didn't move an inch, but somehow Blue had run right through her body, and she was standing behind him, laughing. Grey glared at Cream, who shivered, taking another step back, dangerously close to the cliff edge. Then Black came charging at me, head lowered. He hit me square in the mouth and I rolled went rolling through the dust.

I looked to Blue for help. I recoiled in disgust as horrible little bugs crawled all over him, biting all over his skin; Green's hands were buried in the grass that rustled as the insects spewed forth. Cream let out a Growl that made Grey flinch, but the scaled Pokémon screwed up her eyes and charged, tackling her, pinning her to the ground.

Black charged again, this time I managed to run. Sobs escaped, and I heard laughter.

"Tackle him back!" Blue called, ignoring his own pain. "Give him a taste of his own medicine!"

I had no idea what "medicine" was, but the rest I could figure out. I lowered my head and charged. Black came to meet me, and for a moment we were locked in contest. I felt my feet slip backwards. Black flicked his head up and tossed me to the ground.

Then I heard a whoosh and saw embers burning through the bugs crawling across Blue's body. It must have hurt to be burned my his own fire, but he didn't even flinch. Now Cream was standing on her hind legs, gold objects held between her nubby paws. She swung both arms out wide, and each object hit Grey's face with a thud.

Green floated over the ground, jaws wide open, ready to bite down on Blue's arm. But he snatched it away just in time and returned the attack, sinking his fangs into her side. Black looked from one friend to the other. I took the chance to kick him in the head and scramble back onto my feet.

"Get away from my friends!" Black barked. Then a small glowing creature with two wings and a tail crawled from his mouth, and came flying towards me, screeching. I covered my face and screamed.

There was a deep roar, and I peeked out from between my fingers to see two glowing dragons locked into combat, biting and tearing at one another, wrestling in mid-air. Black started to back away, right into Cream, whose claws were waiting to deliver the final blow. With a red backside Black ran away with the others, choking back sobs.

The dragons in the air faded into blue orbs of light, floating up into the sky.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I flinched and pulled away, but it was Blue, it was my… I think the black one had called it a "friend".

"Are you okay?" my friend asked.

I looked down at the bite marks on my foot. "It hurts, but I'm okay."

He smiled. "I thought you were a coward a couple minutes ago, but you're actually pretty hardy."

"Hardy?"

"It means you're tough! You just didn't know how to fight, that's all."

"I thought all Pokémon knew how to fight as soon as they hatched," Cream said.

"Everyone is born with different gifts," Blue said, "that's what Papa told me. Mama said it's cause if everyone got everything they wanted before they hatched, what's the point in coming outta the shell?"

"Does that mean I'll never be able to fight?" I said.

"You just did, kiddo," said Cream.

"Yeah!" Blue agreed. "You might not know right away, but that doesn't mean you can't learn! That's how most things work!"

"But if everyone else already knows how to, does that maybe mean I'm not meant to fight?" I asked.

"Aw, heck," said Cream, "no one's meant to do anything, kiddo, that's how I see it. A Bagon and a Meowth maybe ain't meant to be best friends, but the two of us sure are! You wanna learn to fight, you will."

"Can you two teach me?"

Blue blinked. "Us? Wow, kid, I…"

I lowered my eyes again. What a stupid idea. How could I think creatures as strong as them would take an interest—

"Okay!" he said, and my heart leapt. "I don't really know what kinds of moves Gible can learn, but I'll try my best."

I tilted my head, the way I saw the two of them do. "Gible?"

His eyes widened again, just for a moment. "Yeah, that's what you are. A Gible." He put a hand to his chest. "I'm a Bagon, and my name's Atlanta. This is Paige, she's a Meowth!"

I nodded. They were waiting for something more but I didn't know what.

"You got a name of your own, kid?" Paige asked.

I shook my head. They both looked shocked. "Scandalised", would be the word I'd have used had it been at my disposal. I teared up again. I lowered my head in shame. Everyone else seemed to have so much I didn't even know I was supposed to have, too.

"It's okay," Atlanta said. "I know a good one. It was my dad's, but he's gone now, so he doesn't need it anymore. Do you want it?"

I nodded vigorously.

"Okay! From now on, your name will be—"

TSUMETAI

MAIGO

IKANAIDE

IIIKAAANNNAAAIIIDDDEEE

Paige slammed her paws on the table. It shook slightly under her weight; it was made for a smaller Pokémon. In fact everything in our hut felt too small for us now, a small wooden building with a leaking thatched roof, rough wood furniture, walls decorated with only one thing: a painting of the tree of us, done as a thank you for saving a Grafaiai's life in Ricin Shrub. We had to make our home look as plain as possible, so no one would suspect the mountain of treasure Paige was hoarding beneath our Mareep-wool carpet.

Sprawled across the rickety table was a sheet of yellow parchment browning at the corners; Paige ran her paws along the edges in a vain attempt to smooth them out. It was a map of Northern Itori, although it was so old there wasn't a single settlement on the page. Or else whoever drew it didn't think they were important.

"Mystical powers," she said, voice rumbling with tension.

"Go on," Atlanta said.

"Ancient tombs."

"I'm listening," I said.

"Ferocious Guardian Pokémon the size of sequoia trees!"

"Now we're talking!" Atlanta exclaimed, slamming his forelegs down. The painting swung on its hook. Since he'd evolved, every step he took felt like a mini earthquake. Paige and I were still unevolved, and there was a period where we were all adjusting to our friend's newfound strength. The Shelgon grimaced. "Sorry."

"Apology accepted, but probably for the last time," Paige said, "do that again and you're sleeping outside."

"Where did you learn about all this?" I asked, reaching up over the edge of the table to stare at the map.

"Late night conversations at the Isbert encampment," she winked at me, "it pays to be nocturnal, you know. We're looking for a place called Tungsten Tunnel," she continued, running a paw bean up the paper, "seventy miles north-east. Our location," she tapped on a grey part of the map, "right here."

"Hold up, hold up," Atlanta said, "the Glacier Region?"

Paige cocked and eyebrow. "You're suddenly scared of a little danger?"

"It's not me I'm worried about."

I puffed up my still unimpressive chest, indignant. "I'm not afraid of a few ice-types, we've faced worse before."

"You're sure about that? Have you been anywhere like this in your life?"

"You clearly haven't," Paige said. "The Glacier Region is primarily home to steel-types, so if anything, I'm the one in danger."

"And for what, exactly?" Atlanta asked.

"A gemstone that's supposed to be unrivalled in any magical substance, one carved by the hands of a God."

Paige always did know how to stir up our excitement, no matter our doubts. She leaned in, eyes afire.

"They call it Soul Sapphire."

…

The cave was inside of a glacier, walls and ceilings like churning waves frozen in time. The light from the sun met the blue of the sea and between both the rich colour was captured in the ice. It was mid-summer, and a low mist hung in the air from the slowly melting ice. As such the walls were slippery, but that hardly softened the blow when you were being flung into a hard point full-force.

The Duraludon banged her hands together, an a piercing metallic sound bounced off the walls of the cave. Energy formed in her palms. I got ready to dodge.

We'd never faced Pokémon like them before. They didn't fight like intelligent beings, carefully aiming, calculating, conserving energy; they were berserk, throwing attacks around wildly, throwing themselves into the fray, battling on until they were too bruised and battered to stand. Those that didn't cowered in strange openings in the walls, with no better hiding place to turn too.

I had to stop my opponent from moving somehow. I spread my feet wide, placed the tips of my fingers on the ground, trying to trigger the earth to move. But it was a ground-type attack, and everything around us was ice.

I saw the flash of a glowing blue tail a second before it smacked me across the face and shoulder, ricocheting me off the wall. I felt a searing pain across my cheek. I saw the scales on my shoulder humming a navy colour. The Duraludon put her hands together and twisted them. An excruciating sound pierced the air and I clamped my hands hard over my ears. The wild Pokémon came stomping over; I tried to run but I could feel the metallic sound twanging the bones in my legs and I couldn't—

There was a loud clunk, and the Duraludon's eyes grew wide. She collapsed to the ground. A Shelgon stood behind her, the ridges across his body glowing white.

"You know you really should have a fighting-type move in your arsenal," he said.

Paige dropped a Perrserker on the ground and went back to inspecting the wall at the end of the corridor.

"Then the next thing you know," the Meowth said, "we'll be fighting fairy-types, and he'll be suggesting you learn a steel-type move."

"Hey, I'm the Combat Coach, you're the Exploration Leader. How's that last part going, by the way?"

"It would help if we weren't lookin for sapphires in deep-blue walls."

"Well look for like… clues or something."

"Oh, clues! I'd never thought of that!"

We followed her deeper into the glacier. We walked in silence, breathing a sigh of relief every time we turned a corner and there were no wild Pokémon there to attack us, and at the same time growing increasingly anxious as to where they could have gone. We'd faced a seemingly endless wall of frenzied opponents, and all of a sudden our footsteps were echoing in silence.

We came to corridor lit by carefully-placed lamps holding fluorescent coral.

"What the hell…?" Paige muttered.

Then we heard the sound of metal clashing, and followed it to a wide open room, where three dozen ice-type Pokémon were lined up systematically along the walls, tapping away at the walls with picks. In the centre of the room was a large bucket, filled with all kinds of different items. A Mr. Rime dressed in uniforms of white, cyan, and navy marched down the procession, barking orders.

"This must be why we saw all those dug-out openings in the walls," she whispered.

Atlanta's eyes narrowed. "Which explains why the wild Pokémon here have gone berserk…"

A Spheal gave a startled cry. Something blue gleamed in the walls. Other Pokémon rushed over, including the Mr. Rime. They tapped slowly at the walls. A Wonder Orb fell out. The Pokémon sighed and shook their head, returning to their stations. The Spheal forlornly tossed the Orb into a large bucket in the centre of the room.

"What are they looking for?" Paige wondered aloud.

"Come on," Atlanta said, backing away, "we'd better go before they see us."

It was a long, well-lit walk. I joked that I'd never before become more disturbed by an area being brighter.

Paige chuckled. "You've clearly never been to Thundra Tundra."

"Oooh, let's go there next!" said Atlanta.

We came to a fork in the road. We took a left. Up ahead, a Vanillish with a clunky mechanical eye piece was investigate the wall. He turned to us, took in our matching blue scarves patterned with red dots, evidently realised we were not wild, and dashed off in the other direction. Atlanta's Dragon Pulse swiftly took care of him. He tried to push (levitate? float?) himself back up, but Paige was on his back on all fours in the space of two seconds.

I'd always felt so useless next to the pair of them. By that point I'd been travelling with them for three years, learning new things every single day. But I felt I never had anything to teach them. I hadn't even had the courage to undergo evolution, despite being long ready for it.

Atlanta bit down on the tip of the Vanillish's cone and dragged him away, while Paige covered his mouth. We dragged him down a dark narrow corridor, evidently one that hadn't been co-opted yet. Paige and I propped him against the wall while Atlanta readied another Brick Break.

"Start talking," said the Shelgon.

The Icy Snow Pokémon laughed. "We've got guards doing rounds through this whole area. When they find I'm not at my station, they'll alert our leaders. You can run if you want, but we've got Pokémon hidden in the walls all the way from here to the only entrance, ready to close you off. You three are done for."

Atlanta and Paige shared a worried look. They both opened their mouths, but from neither came a plan of any kind.

"Why would you need a guard when you guys are already lined up along the walls?" I asked.

The Icy Snow Pokémon sneered at me. "Why do you care?"

"Are they there to make sure you're okay?"

He laughed. "Please, they're there to whip is into shape the moment they catch us slacking. We never even know when, keeps us working no matter what."

"That's awful!" I said. "You don't even get a break?"

His eyes widened. "Right?! And you know what, we would be a lot more productive if we did get to rest, our bodies and minds need it, it's science, there have been studies. Let me tell you-"

That went on for a while. Evidently, the guards didn't make their rounds all that often.

"So… why do you still work for them?"

He swallowed.

"I… I lost my home a few years ago. The Skarsgards have been expanding settlement territory, and they've decided to make their mark on the Polar Region. We used to have a home there, one that survived the Battle of Ice and Fire, if you're old enough to remember. Then King Wilhelm happened, and we lost that too. We're just trying to build a new home for ourselves. We're not the bad guys. Really, we're not."

It's long been my belief that no "good guy" in history has ever said the words "we're not the bad guys" unprompted.

"I hope you guys can make a new home," I said instead.

"Yeah. Me too, kid."

The tension had melted from the room before any of us had even know it. The Vanillish cleared his throat.

"Look, you seem decent. I know you probably have your own reasons for being here, but Team Arctic have claimed this territory, and if you're not part of us, you're going to have to leave."

"Do you realise—" Atlanta began.

I held up my hand. I knew exactly what he was going to say, and knew it would only make this harder.

"We don't want to disturb you," I said. "It seems like what you're doing is really important, and like you said, we're just kids. We only came down here because we heard there was an Evolution Spring nearby."

"You two dragon-types came to the Glacier Region for that? Did you seriously have no better options?"

"We used to live right next to one," I answered, "but we had to leave our home, too."

Suddenly, my sympathy was mirrored on his face.

"And you're just wondering through wild areas on your own? Where are your parents?"

Silence.

"Oh Kyurem. I don't get paid enough for this."

"We promise we'll leave without causing you any trouble, sir," I said.

"Well you're not getting to the Springs with those guards wondering around." He blew out a puff of icy air. "Fine. Follow me. Do anything stupid, or get your sorry asses caught, and you're on your own."

We followed him down the corridor. He ordered us to wait where we were as he floated back around the corner. We held our breaths as an Abomasnow stomped by.

"Vincent!"

The Vanillish snapped to attention.

"Why the hell aren't you at your post?" the Frost Tree Pokémon boomed. He leaned around to look down the corridor.

"I've already surveyed the area, sir," Vincent said quickly, "no results, thought I'd take the initiative and start searching down there, so far, no good."

The guard stepped in to tower over his subordinate.

"You won't get any results if you don't search properly," then he said, very slowly, "do… you… understand?

A dewdrop dripped down Vincent's forehead. "Yes, sir. I'll get back to my post and I'll- I'll make sure I survey each section thoroughly from now on."

"See that you bloody do."

The Abomasnow stomped away, shaking the ground beneath him.

Vincent hissed: "Go."

We sprinted down the corridor. Internally I prepared myself for another fight, but the halls were empty.

"There's no one here!" Atlanta exclaimed, disappointed.

"They must have left the wild Pokémon near the entrance as guards," I said.

Paige gave me a look I'd never seen before. "You know, you're actually quite a smart kid."

I blushed. "Ahah, come on, don't tease me."

"She's not!" Atlanta said. "You've got some real good negation skills there."

"We've probably never noticed since you tend to strike before anyone can say a word," Paige teased.

"What can I say, that's my strength. Talking's the kid's."

I covered my head with my hands. "Guys, come on…" But I was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"We'd be goners by now if you hadn't stepped up back there," Paige continued.

I shook my head, refusing.

"Just take the compliment kid."

"I'm trying to be modest," I said. I felt a soft paw on my back.

"Real friends don't ask for modesty," she said.

Her jet-black eyes were crinkled up in a smile. I looked from her to Atlanta. By that point we could communicate a lot of things non-verbally, including: "What do we do now?"

"I think Paige looks tired of guiding our stupid asses through this place," Atlanta said, before yawning, "and I think I've had enough of playing the look-out." He nodded down the dark corridor. "You can take this one, kiddo."

My mouth hung open. I saw their confident smiles, the trust in their eyes, and I felt a rush of heat from my chest to my cheeks. It was the flip side of the feeling I'd had when I'd run from that Dreepy. And I had the word for it this time. It was "pride".

For the first time in my life, I led the way.

…

Lupins sprouted through the cracks in the silver walls of Pewter Springs. Light rippled along its curves. Without words, it asked a question. Without words, I accepted. My body knew what to do before I did, taking me to the lip of the Spring. I had the urge to look back at my friends, my mentors.

No, I thought to myself, keeping my gaze firmly locked ahead of me. I'm never going to learn just by following. I need to take charge of my own destiny.

I stepped into the silver light. I felt it first along my back, how it grew, like I was reaching up to the sun, but just kept stretching and stretching and stretching. I felt my fingers pull themselves together, merge, harden into two sharp claws. The lower ends of my jaw stretched away to become my neck. My tail grew, my hips widened, and I felt my scales harden. But most of all I felt myself taking up space, so much more than I ever had before.

I felt myself lowered to the ground. I stepped out of the light; it was remarkable how natural these new longer legs felt to me. My friends ran to hug me, and suddenly I had arms wide enough to reach around them. They rested on the back of Atlanta's body and wrapped all the way around Paige.

"Aaaaah I can't hung you anymore!" Atlanta slammed his forefeet on the ground, making us both jump.

"I'll hug him for the both of us!" Paige cried, squeezing me even tighter. "Ow, son of a bitch! I always forget about that rough skin."

"I'm sorry we couldn't find any treasure, Paige," I said.

She waved her paws dismissively. "We'll look for treasure again another day. Right now, here's to you, kid."

"Maybe the real treasure was the lessons were learned along the way," said Atlanta.

I looked down at my new claws, clicking them together.

"How do you feel?" asked the Meowth.

"Different. Like, physically, I… aha, I actually feel a little high."

"Well of course you do, you just doubled in height!"

"Yes. That is what I meant, yes."

Atlanta's eyes widened as he mouthed: "Shut up."

"I just didn't expect… I didn't expect to feel the same. Different, but the same."

"You're still the same person, kiddo," said the Shelgon. "A Caterpie may change into a Butterfree…"

But the heart that beats inside remains the same.

I wondered then if there was any point in evolving at all. If I was just going to be the same person, no matter what, no matter how much I changed…

That was until Atlanta got his wings.

…

We stood atop a cliff just beyond Kingdra Canyon, three miles from the village that would someday be Emerald Town, staring out across the sea.

His final evolution hadn't gone as planned. We'd been exploring Pink Rose Woods, a fairy-type Mystery Dungeon. This time it had been his folly; Atlanta had wanted us to be able to take on any opponent, especially our greatest threats. The wild Pokémon there had beaten him half to death. We'd had to rush him to Carnation Springs as they advanced on us. We'd practically tossed him into the stream. It wasn't supposed to be like this, we both knew. His final evolution was supposed to be the greatest day of his life, not a desperate battle for it. But Atlanta came out rejuvenated, roaring fire. We won the battle, we escaped. But exhausted, battered, and out of food. We could have flown to the closest settlement, but Atlanta had wanted his first flight to be special, and we wanted that for him as well.

He assured us the whole way there that he wasn't upset, that there had been nothing we could have done, that he wouldn't have been able to evolve at all had he been dead. And our lives were more important to him anyhow. But our guilt was so great that when he'd come to us the next morning with one of the dumbest ideas we'd ever heard, we couldn't find the strength between us to say no.

"Does it really have to be over choppy waves in the middle of winter?" Paige asked, wincing as the spray pattered across her face, making the red gem on her forehead gleam. "You know how dangerous the southern sea is, don't you?"

Atlanta stared straight ahead. "This is the greatest challenge I could possibly have found for myself. I'm in a strange land, the wind is howling, there are deadly waves beneath me, ready to beat me to death against the rocks. I've never used these wings, and they still feel strange on my body. I'm a whole new person, in a situation no version of me has ever experienced."

We waited.

"If I can do this… I'll never once doubt that I can fly. I'll never have to second-guess myself, wonder if I'm perverting nature, if I was born to be live and die on the ground. If I take flight today…" he stepped up to the edge. "I'll never be bound to the earth. Never again."

"Does it have to be today?" I asked. "Can't you wait until you're a bit more ready?"

He shook his head.

"So much of my life has passed dreaming of this. I can't get into that habit, always waiting for the next thing to come along, the right moment, some magic sign from the heavens that I can finally have the life I've always wanted. Please understand. I need to do this. I can't let myself hang in limbo any longer. I want to live."

There was nothing we could say. There was nothing we could do to stop him. And even though we knew the risks, I don't think either of us wanted to. We wanted to see him fly.

The Salamence stepped up to the edge. For the first few moments he couldn't even open his eyes.

"Maybe it's best if you don't look down," Paige said.

Atlanta looked down.

"Oh fuck," he gasped.

I wanted to go to him, but Paige shook her head. Atlanta stared down at the spitting waves, breathing heavily. He did a little test flap with his wings. He moved one foot forward, lurched it back. There was a moment where I was sure (and I later heard Paige felt the same way) that he wasn't going to do it. Then he dropped.

We both screamed and ran to the edge, claws gripping the grass. Atlanta was barreling down to towards the sharp rocks. He was seconds away from hitting them. He waited until the last second, or maybe it'd taken him a moment to react. Then he threw out his wings and swooped down, crumbling the tips of the rocks with the sweep of his underbelly and stirring the waves, before rising up into the air. He shot over our heads. We gazed up in awe.

Speaking truthfully, he wasn't a spectacular flier at first. All right, he was pretty bad. He had to beat his wings hard against the wind, tilting like our rickety table back home. He even ended up in a bit of a tailspin, and it looked like he would hit the waves after all, but he managed to correct himself. With a few more laborious flaps he climbed back up, soaring over the cliffs, turning back out across the blue. Then the winds changed. They pushed him back down, violently, towards the sea. We called out, but there was nothing we could do.

A great roar of defiance filled the air. Atlanta bucked, using the downward momentum to push himself up, higher, higher, higher. Krabby were blowing bubbles along the cliff edge. He danced through them, spectrums of light flashing across his scales. He held himself steady, a hundred feet into the air, and unleashed a mighty pillar of fire.

There were tears in Paige's eyes. "He's really done it… I almost can't believe it. Can you?"

Atlanta set the sky ablaze. The wind tried to grab at him but with each beat of his wings he let nature know it wasn't the boss of him.

"Of course I do," I said.

…

It was the worst mistake of my life.

We'd finally found a lead. Reports of a mine, a group of Pokémon sending out excavation missions into a Mystery Dungeon, searching for a powerful artefact knows as the Sapphire Eye. The description rang a bell. From our modest hut in the Clifflands Region, we flew the length of Itori towards Frostbite Icecap.

FROSTBITE

ICE

FROSTBITE

FROST

We never should have gone there.

WE NEVER SHOULD HAVE GONE THERE

NEVER

NEVER SHOULD HAVE

NEVER

NEVER

GONE

White, white, endless infinite white. No sound but the screaming of the wind and the crunch of snow beneath our feet. I'd never realised I could feel the cold in the fleshy bits beneath my claws before, in my gums, in my eyes. The stabbing feeling in my lungs began before we were an hour up. It didn't stop.

We walked single-file, myself in the back, Atlanta five feet ahead of me, Paige taking the front. For a moment her fur blurred into the white, and I cried in out, afraid we'd lost her.

"Paige!"

Atlanta stopped and turned his head. My voice was so weak only he heard me.

"Paige," his deep voice rumbled through the wind. "Let's stop for a moment."

"Never stop on a hill," she said, still walking, "don't think you can get away with it just because you have wings now."

"Paige!" he snapped.

Her footsteps stopped. My vision went blurry, and the next moment they were both beside me, Paige snuggling up to me, Atlanta holding a flame in his mouth. We sat cuddled in a blissful moment of peace, in the warmth of his fire.

The wind snuffed it out.

The peaks rose up all around us. I was so close to giving up, to telling them I couldn't take another step, that we had to turn back, that whatever was ahead of us wasn't worth it. So close. We'd fought all the way to the summit. There were few wild Pokémon, but those that were left were vicious, more rabid than any we'd ever met before. There was death in the red veins of their eyes.

Atlanta wore a Persim Band around his front right ankle. Paige wore X-Ray Specs. I wore a Friend Bow. It did nothing for the cold. All we had left in our items bag were two Reviver Seeds, two Geo Pebbles, a lump of Grimy Food, and an Escape Orb. That fucking Escape Orb. The dark-blue spires of rock and their white coats climbed fifty feet above us, but they were nothing more than swords jutting into the air. The final platform was just ahead. Our journey was over.

We lined up along the edge. Somehow it was covered in only a light dusting of snow, smooth blue rock flecked with white that stretched some twenty feet across. On the other side, the Sapphire Eye stared at us from atop a stone pedestal.

"At last," Atlanta breathed.

Paige gave a sigh of relief. She crouched down, ready to sprint across the platform.

"Wait," I croaked. "Why is it just sitting there?"

"He's right," Atlanta said. "I don't like it either."

"We are not just leaving it here," Paige retorted.

"I'm not saying that," he turned his attention back to the platform, then raised his head to the spires above us. Now they were hidden by a layer of fog. "I'm saying we need to watch our backs."

Paige padded slowly onto the platform. She got to around the middle when Atlanta made to follow her. Then she stopped.

"Paige?" Atlanta said.

I wanted to call out to them both, to beg for them to come back with me, but the words were frozen in my mouth.

Paige said: "I think there's someone behind the pedestal."

Atlanta's Fire Blast cut through the blizzard. A Protect shield rose up around the eye and absorbed it. Mist rose into the air. Three Pokémon stepped out: a Hooked Sandslash, cradling an Igloo Sandshrew wearing a whistle around his neck, and a Keokeo Ninetales with his tales wrapped around them. We'd heard stories of Ninetales guiding people off mountains so they can hurry up and leave. I saw both of my friends deflate a little. Fine, the Eye belonged to them. It wasn't worth a battle in a place like this. And if these two were parents, they wouldn't want to risk anything with their child in the way. It would all be okay. We would apologise, and then we would leave.

Then I saw something dangling from the Fox Pokémon's neck. A scale. Around the Sandslash's, a claw. Both made of sapphire. My friends' bodies tensed up again. The Sapphire Eye stared down at us from the pedestal, somehow the only clear object in the miasma of white.

"Any chance you're not using that thing?" Paige asked.

The Ninetales smiled. "I'm afraid not," he said softly. A single tail gently brushed the snow off the Sandshrew's head.

Atlanta took a few cautious steps closer to Paige. I followed. None of the ice-types moved. The child's baleful black eyes flicked between all three of us as he suckled on his claw.

"Something's stirring…" I said.

The Sandslash shifted her foot across the floor. The ground lurched as spears of ice ten feet tall shot up behind us, walling us in.

"Fuck this." Paige reached into her items back and tossed an Escape Orb to the ground. It cracked open and let out a hiss of pale-grey smoke. Metallic parts clattered to the floor.

The wind grew stronger. I was being pushed backwards towards the wall of ice. Jack came padding towards us, sure footed even in the gale.

"Just let us leave!" I cried. "We won't hurt you, we won't take anything from you, we'll leave this mountain and never come back!"

Nine white-tipped tails blending into the flurry, delicate paws padding closer.

"You don't want to do this in front of your family!"

He stopped. His face turned to one of pity.

"I'm sorry," he said, gravely, "but there's nothing you can do to talk me out of what I have to do."

"Then we'll fight our way out," said Atlanta.

Before I could say another word his Fire Blast ripped through the blizzard towards our opponent. The Ninetails' eyes flashed green. Atlanta's attack died in his throat. A great wall of flame was buffeted by the blizzard until nothing but a scattering of embers fell across the ice-and-fairy-type's face. He brushed them off with one his tails.

Ice Beam came faster than I could have imagined. It struck Atlanta in the heart, and he gasped without sound.

COLD

"I truly am sorry," the Ninetales said. "This is not a personal vindication, it's nothing more than a desperate fight to save my home. Maybe wherever you end up you will see the good we are doing."

"A three-on-three fight," Atlanta croaked, stepping into battle position, "is that what you want?"

"Oh, child, no," Jack's tilted head and tranquil smile stood out clearly in the mist. "This is three-on-one."

He gestured for the Sandslash to step back. Wife and child hid behind the pedestal, shielded behind the Sapphire Eye.

"Get this over with quickly, Jack," she hissed, "your child is hungry."

"This will only take a moment, dear."

"He's right, dear," Atlanta sneered, "it will."

Then he spread his wings and shot into the sky. Paige stalked around the outside of the platform, focus looked immovably from Jack's casual gaze. A smile spread across her face, skin pulled taught across her forehead and behind her eyes as she formed her Nasty Plot. That left me to strike from the front. I would distract him for a moment, just a moment, and they would Pinsir-move him.

A flash of blue and I was on the ground, the world reduced to a blur. A golden column of light surrounded me, and sickeningly I realised one Reviver Seed was already gone. I got back to my feet. Atlanta and Paige were wavering back and forth, waiting for their cue to strike. I had half a second to think. Flamethrower would be Disabled, and I would need it. I slammed my foot to the ground and twisted. Beneath the Ninetales' feet the ground began to sink. His feet danced deftly across the turning sand, and he dodged.

Paige's Shadow Ball was fast, but Ice Beam was faster. It ripped straight through and struck Paige on the right side of her face. However that left no time to escape Atlanta's aerial strike, and the heavier Pokémon crashed down on top of him. Then there was a dazzling burst of pink light. Atlanta roared in pain, scrabbled desperately away, and I heard the sicking popping sound as his scales were cracked and broken. He collapsed to the ground. The second Reviver Seed glowed.

Paige came running, and from the way her tail flicked I saw she was ready to Play Rough. The Ninetales span and struck her with all nine of his tail. She landed hard, sliding across the slick ground. I ran, and the tails on my scale hardened into iron. Jack turned his green eyes on me, took a simple tail strike on the shoulder. Meanwhile, Atlanta spread his wings and lifted. Seconds later, he was pushed back down to the ground, making the it shake at the exact moment Paige made to leap at Jack. Her paws slipped, but his stayed firm, and he swiped his claws at the soft spot on her neck. Paige yowled. I had my Flamethrower ready to fire, but our opponent leapt backwards, disappearing into the white.

I used the flames to heat the area, to melt the snow concealing him. Mist rose into the air, but it was thin. Even fire did little in that unbearable cold. And by the time the Ninetales was revealed, it was too late. Two purple orbs danced their way towards me, sinking into my temples and spreading blackness across my eyes EYES EYES EYES EYES

I remember Atlanta finally managing to take flight. I remember Paige trying to draw Jack away, of him ducking and diving deftly around her, at one point of him hopping gleefully over her back. Of her letting out a frustrated howl and firing a wild Pay Day at him, of coins hitting his side and clattering to the ground. Of him batting the rest away with his nine tails, each one moving as if they had lives of their own. I scrabbled at the ice with my claws. I managed to half-stand, to stumble two zig-zagging steps forward, before falling hard on my left arm. I remember hearing it snap, but I also remember feeling nothing, just a wave of nausea, and lights dancing in front of my eyes.

But with the shock came the clarity. Atlanta battling the ferocious winds, tail blending into the whiteness. He was readying a Brick Break attack, but I knew this time he was the diversion. All I could see of Paige was the red of her gem, close to the ground. She was ready to strike from behind. Jack looked up as the wind roared, announcing the Salamence's strike. Then suddenly there was nothing but empty air in his place, and Atlanta's tail struck the ground, sending rubble flying. Jack weaved his way through the rocks and and fired an Ice Beam at Paige, a perfect shot to the right side of her face. The ice covered her body in the space of a second. Icicles stabbed out from the behind like a Sandslash's spikes, she had frozen so fast.

Atlanta's roar shook the spires above our heads. Outrage shone through the mist, twisting its way towards Jack. He stood there smugly, perhaps thinking we'd mistaken him for a pure-ice-type, until the leviathan dived at the last second, striking the ground instead. The next swam in a figure-of-eight in front of Jack's face, distracting him until Atlanta's Brick Break was swinging towards him. I gave a cry of joy, relief, and pride. The Ninetales went rolling, slipping across the ground. He ended in a puff of powdered snow, coughing, wincing at the pain. Atlanta came stomping towards him, tail flicking. Jack poised himself for the fight.

Atlanta was in the air faster than the Ninetales could follow. His mouth hung agape as Fire Blast came roaring down from the sky. The ice-and-fairy-type's face twisted into a snarl, then it was back into the white he went. But now there were pools of water dotted all around, and when I heard splashing, I called to Atlanta and pointed with my functional arm. Another mighty roar echoed down the mountain. Jack's eyes went wide. Fire Blast struck the side of the spear, cracking it, sending mist into the air. Embers scattered down across the Ninetales' back. Atlanta had missed.

Jack threw back his head and laughed as icy air was sucked into his throat. Atlanta battled against the winds, fighting just to get closer. I saw the fire burning in his chest, but he was too slow. It was just too cold.

Ice Beam struck him in the heart. It turned the scales on his body pale blue, and I heard them crack and break. His last roar turned to a desperate choke as he came crashing to the ground. He wasn't frozen, but he wasn't moving. White snowflakes coated his back. I called his name. I called for Paige. The ice around her should have melted by now, surely—-

The block of ice had grown. She was almost invisible in the pale-blue.

"Atlanta, Paige, wake up! Please! Wake up! He's going to kill you! WAKE UP!" WAKE UP

Jack approached Atlanta. The scale around his neck glowed. The Sandslash walked out from behind the pedestal, towards Paige, holding the little Sandshrew's hand. The claw shone.

"You can't take them from me!" I slammed my unbroken arm on the ground. "They're my family!"

Jack looked up, and said: "I understand. You would do anything to protect your family, wouldn't you?"

"Anything," I said, fire warming my chest.

"So would I."

Ice Beam struck my in my right shoulder. I used Flamethrower. It was weak from the nausea and the shock, but it was enough to make Jack hiss and pull back. He fixed his gaze on me. The Sapphire Eye stared down from its pedestal, and though I might have imagined it, I believe to this day it was already glowing.

"It's almost like you want to die, boy," the Ninetales sneered. He was heading my way, and I saw the ice particles shine in the air.

I looked at Atlanta. I looked at Paige.

My broken arm. My useless attacks. What could I have done?

DONE DONE NOTHING DONE DONE NOTHING USELESS DONE

I rolled away in time to dodge the next beam. Atlanta had slowed him down, and I owe him my life for that. I felt a paw pressing down on my chest. Jack's fur began to gleam. As he looked down at me there was no joy in his eyes, no victory, no anger. Just pure resignation to his fate. This was the way it was, and there was no changing it.

But I refused.

I jabbed my claw into the soft part of his throat and ripped the flesh away. A cry of pain was garbled by bubbling blood.

"Jack!"

"Daddy!"

I threw him off of me and pushed myself up. The two others were running towards us. Icicles crashed down around me. I rolled to the side. I dug my claw into side of one of the icicles and pulled myself up. An blue ball whizzed past my head as I leapt heaved myself onto the top of the wall and jumped. I landed hard on my knees, and my arm gasped in pain.

"I don't want to die," I said out loud, to myself, as I ran. "I want to live. I want to live. I want to live! I want to live!"

Hours, it must have taken. I fell in the snow countless times. Every few minutes, when my broken arm rattled or my lungs threatened to explode, I said to myself: "I want to live."

I WANT TO LIVE

I WANT TO LIVE

WANT

WANT

WANT

LIVE

I found myself on a dry strip of red earth. The Mountain Range Region was a few miles ahead, I could see it clearly. But there were subshrubs growing there, which meant we were still in the Polar Region.

"The ice really is melting," I said. But there was no one around to hear it.

I collapsed to the ground. I was found some time later by a Frosmoth named Sven, the Sheriff of the nearby fishing town, Ice Floe Village. He took me to a healer, who put my arm in a cast. He kept me safe for a week until I couldn't bare the sight of Mt. Permafrost in the distance, and I started walking. I couldn't stop thinking about them, couldn't stop seeing them, every single second, even in my sleep.

Just him, and her, frozen in the ice.

Lifeless white shapes.