The cold winds swirling around Glaseado Mountain nipped at Hassel's nose. Snow was beginning to fall but he did not worry. The activities of the many ice-type Pokémon that lived on the mountain made snowfall a common occurrence and more often than not, they were little more than passing flurries that lasted only a few minutes. But more than that, he had Baxcalibur by his side to help keep him safe.
The hardy Pokémon was as good a companion as Hassel could have hoped for on the mountain. The cold did not bother the Pokémon in the slightest. His muscular legs packed the snow firm beneath him with, claws tore through ice, and his tail effortlessly shoved snow aside for Hassel to follow in his sure footsteps. Furthermore, the fearsome sight of Baxcalibur was more than enough to keep wild Pokémon away, even ones as territorial as Beartic.
However, not all of Hassel's partners were as well adapted for the cold and, with the snow picking up, he decided that it was for the best that he recall his other Pokémon he had been searching with. He whistled a trilling note and listened. The shrill cry of a Noivern responded, her call piercing through the smothering quiet of the snowfall. A moment later and he could see the dark silhouette of her body against the grey sky. Noivern circled him once and then glided down towards him, her wings scattering the powdery snow as she landed.
"Did you notice anything unusual?" he asked as he reached out and scratched the ruffle of fur around her neck.
"Noioo," she grumbled and lowered her head.
Hassel wasn't surprised Noivern hadn't found anything. Not only was Glassedo Mountain an enormous amount of ground to cover, but the way that snow dampened sound was affecting Noivern's sensitive hearing.
"Don't worry," he said, "we'll try again when the storm clears. Here."
From his pack, Hassel grabbed an aspear berry and held it out to her. He hoped the berry's medicinal properties would warm the Pokémon from the inside. Noivern snapped the sour berry up, taking care not to bite her trainer's fingers, and devoured it one bite. When she had finished, Hassel recalled her to her Pokéball.
Immediately, he felt a nudge at his upper arm.
"You don't need one," Hassel said as he pushed Baxcalibur's snout away from his pack, "she wasn't meant for the cold like you are."
"Baaaaah," Baxcalibur let out a dramatic whine.
"I have treats for you too. Later though, when we rest for the night."
A snort was Baxcalibur's response as he turned and continued to trundle up the mountain.
The snow continued to fall gently but steadily. Baxcalibur continued to lead the way, using the bulk of his body to shield his trainer from the winds that blew down from the mountain. Soon however the wind began to pick up they turned their searching towards a cluster of pine trees to further try to keep out of it. Even still, Hassel was beginning to feel the chill and was considering calling the search concluded for the day. The sun had left its peak hours ago and Hassel had no intention of spending the night out in the wilderness, not when a warm bed and hot meal were so close at Montenevera.
Hassel ran his fingers over Dragonite's Pokéball at his hip. Unlike Noivern, he had kept Dragonite in his Pokéball so that he would have all his energy to carry him off the mountain at the end of the day or in case they had to make a hasty retreat. He was about to call on the dragon-type when he heard Baxcalibur give a bark of concern and lurch forward with several powerful steps.
"What is it?" Hassel asked the Pokémon as he hurried after him.
Baxcalibur was leaning down, looking intently at one of the pine trees that grew in the cluster. His golden eyes narrowed and he sniffed something on the tree; claw marks. The marks appeared to be etched into the bark in a pattern, implying that these were carved with intent rather than a Pokémon simply sharpening its claws. Baxcalibur let out a low growl.
"Weavile markings," Hassel said, "that could be a problem."
Though Baxcalibur's presence was enough to scare off most Pokémon, Weavile was not a Pokémon known for being intimidated by a size difference. It was well documented that packs of cunning Weavile will hunt together to bring down prey many times their size and strength.
"We will need to be cautious."
As soon as the words left Hassel's mouth, they heard the sound of snow crunching under steps behind them. Baxcalibur's head snapped in the direction of the sound and let out a rumbling growl as he stepped between Hassel and the snow bank the sound was coming from.
"Burrrr. . . "
Hassel fixed his gaze on the snow bank and saw several distinctly shaped horns poking out over the top of it. He relaxed.
"Hello there," he called out to the hiding Pokémon, a smile crossing his lips, "you don't need to hide. We're not going to hurt you."
Three plant-like Pokémon shuffled out from behind the snow bank, their bodies covered in a coarse bark like skin and white and green fir.
"Snowow?"
"They're just Snover," Hassel said, patting the side of his partner, "they're nothing you need to worry about."
Baxcalibur righted his posture and allowed Hassel to move in front of him but he kept his eyes narrowed and focused on the new Pokémon. He let out annoyed "bah!," that froze the water in air with his grunt as a warning to the Snover that he was ready to fight at a moment's notice. But if the Snover noticed Baxcalibur's warning, they did not let it show and waddled towards Hassel without a care.
Hassel crouched down to be eye level with the Pokémon. Though he was by no means an ice-type specialist, he found Snover to be quite the charming Pokémon. Snover showed almost no fear towards humans and in the winter it was not uncommon for them to descend Glaseado and play with the children who lived around the mountain's base. They were playful, social Pokémon that were bold in their inquisitiveness and in that way, they reminded him of his dear students.
The trio of Snover, two males and a female, their sexes distinguishable from how thickly their fir grew, chirped with squeaks of "owo" as they approached. They paid no mind to Baxcalibur, a fact that seemed to annoy the larger Pokémon. He did not approve of how close they were getting to his trainer. So when they were an arm's length away, he decided that was plenty close enough and stamped his foot on the ground.
"Bac!" he snapped.
The Snover practically tripped over each other as they turned and scurried back towards the snowbank.
"Nononono!" the chirped in alarm as they fled.
"Baxcalibur," Hassel scolded, "that wasn't necessary."
Hassel turned back to the Snover to try and coax them close again, when he noticed something he hadn't before. The larger of the two males had a burn mark on his shoulder. Being both an ice-type and a grass-type, Snover were especially vulnerable to fire-type attacks. Even if it were only a glancing attack the Snover took, the burn he received from it looked quite painful. Concern for the little Pokémon furrows his brow.
He wondered how it was that the Snover got burned. Pyroar and Scovillain were the most likely suspects as they could be found in the foothills around Glaseado, but this time of year Snover didn't venture down the mountain far enough for their territories to overlap. It wasn't cold enough. Likewise, it was also not yet warm enough for Salandit to leave the caverns underneath the mountain; something they only did during the warmth of the summer months. As he puzzled, he recalled the burn on Anna's Dragonair and a thought came to him.
"I need you to behave," Hassel said as he looked up at Baxcalibur, "I need to get closer to that Snover and for that to happen, you can't scare them off. If you can't relax, I'm going to need have to put you back in your Pokéball. Will you do that for me, please?"
Baxcalibur swished his tail in a brief show of annoyance, but nodded in agreement.
"Thank you."
Again Hassel returned his attention to the Snover. He held out his hand.
"Come here," he coaxed, "Baxcalibur won't hurt you. He's just very protective of me."
The Snover peered out from behind the snowbank and muttered as they cast glances between Hassel and Baxcalibur.
"You're hurt," Hassel continued, "I have something that can help with that."
The injured Snover took a step forward.
Snow," he said, tilting his head to the side, "ver-brr?"
Hassel opened the medicine pouch on his backpack and placed a full restore down in the snow. The wound didn't look so serious that that grade of medicine was needed, but he wanted to take care of the burn and any other injuries in one go. The spray medicines could sting and for a wild Pokémon that wasn't expecting that, it could scare it right off. Using the full restore would be costly, but he knew it would be worth it, especially if, as he hoped, a grateful Snover would lead him to where he was injured. Now he just had to entice it over.
"I also have this," Hassel said as he pulled a second thing from his bag.
A big blue oran berry glistened in his outstretched hand. Hassel had yet to meet a Pokémon that didn't enjoy an occasional oran berry. Their balanced flavor seemed to hold universal appeal for Pokémon and humans alike.
The Snover's eyes lit up at the sight of the berry.
Wow." the Snover squeaked as he inched closer to Hassel.
However it stopped when it go to the point where Baxcalibur had snapped at it before and looked cautiously up at the larger Pokémon. Hassel gave Baxcalibur a small nudge in the side.
"You're still scaring it," Hassel whispered, "you need to relax."
"AAaaahhhhAAAAxxe. . . "
The dragon gave an exaggerated sigh. He crouched down next to Hassel, relaxed the spines on his wrists, and lowered his head to be eye level with the Snover.
"Thank you," Hassel said.
He scooped up and handful of snow and sprinkled it onto his partner's head, something he would do to play with him back when he was a Frigibax. Baxcalibur shook it off with a huff.
"See Snover," he reassured, "Baxcalibur won't hurt you."
The Snover gave a final glance at Baxcalibur then made a daring dash to Hassel. Green paws plucked the berry from his hands and the Snover made an excited "wow" before bringing the berry to its small mouth-like structure hidden beneath its white fir.
While the Snover was distracted, Hassel sprayed the full restore over the burn.
"Oww!" Snover squeaked in surprise.
He dashed away back towards the others but before he reached them he stopped. The Snover blinked, furrowed its brow in thought, and then slowly raised the arm where the medicine was sprayed. He gave it a cautionary stretch. He stretched up and down, left and right, and even spun it around in a circle. His eyes widened at the realization. The pain was gone!
"That's better, isn't it?" Hassel asked with a smile.
"Ver!" the Snover replied with a nod.
The other two Snover approached the first and each examined his shoulder in turn. The group then huddled, the tops of their caps bumping together, and whispered amongst themselves. Hassel gave Baxcalibur a curious glance, wordlessly asking if he knew what the other Pokémon were doing. Baxcalibur shook his shoulders side to side in a movement that Hassel understood was that Pokémon's equivalent of a shrug. Then, in unison, the Snover snapped back upright and turned to Hassel. Before the trainer could figure out what they were doing, the trio rushed him and surrounded him.
"Snow! Snow! Snow!"
They all grabbed onto Hassel however they could and pushed and pulled him in the direction they came from.
"Bac!" Baxcalibur snarled, "Bac, bac!"
This time however, the Snover did not flee from the larger Pokémon. If before the Snover's boldness annoyed Baxcalibur, now it angered him with its brazenness. He shoved them back with his snout, showing more restraint then he wanted. He understood that Hassel did not want to hurt the Snover, but he still struck them with enough force that he hoped to deter them from their course of action. It was not. His frustration boiled over and Baxcalibur reared up to his full height.
"Baxcalibur!" he roared.
He snatched up the smallest Snover, effortlessly pulling it from Hassel. The Snover kicked and flailed, his arms still outstretched towards the human, and whined in protest.
"Snow! Ow-ow-ow-ow!"
For several seconds, chaos reigned and then Hassel's voice rose above the confusion.
"Baxcalibur, Snover, stop!" he said in his teacher voice, "Everyone, calm down."
Mercifully, they all did. Baxcalibur put the Snover back down and all the Snover stopped their frantic pulling.
"That's better," Hassel continued, still not letting his teacher tone drop, "now we're all going to remain calm while I figure out what's going on. Can we all agree on that?"
All the Pokémon responded with sounds of agreement.
"Thank you."
Hassel felt a tug on his left arm. The female Snover still held his wrist, though her grip had loosened. With her other paw she tried to pry free the full restore that he still held.
"This is what I used on your friend," Hassel explained, "it's empty now."
Noover," she said in a low whine and did not let up in her attempt to take the bottle.
Another tug, this time at his front, and Hassel looked down to see the Snover he had healed looking up him with pleading eyes.
"Snow-owo," he cried, his green eyes refusing to break contact with the human, "Snover snow ow-ver."
Hassel could not understand what it was exactly the Pokémon was saying, but he could feel its intent. He looked to the Pokémon he understood better.
"They're asking for help, aren't they Baxcalibur?"
Baxcalibur sighed, his long, deep breath creating a puff of frozen, sparkling air. In contrast to how long his sigh was, he nodded quickly and confirmed Hassel's assertion. A thought came to Hassel as he laid out everything he knew in his mind. The mysterious Pokémon knew fire-types moves and was exceedingly aggressive, only one of the Snover had a burn and even that appeared to be from a glancing attack, they seemed to connect that the full restore was what cured the burn, and they were desperate to bring Hassel deeper into the mountain with them. It was painting a concerning picture.
"We should help them."
Again Baxcalibur nodded.
Hassel placed a hand on the back of the Snover before him just as though he were comforting a child. The wild Pokémon did not pull away from his gentle touch.
"We will help you," Hassel assured, "take us to your injured friend."
The Snover's eyes shone with gratitude. He nodded, turned around, and began marching with a purpose. He looked back briefly to wave his arm in a beckoning motion and bark out a single cry of "Snow!" Hassel and the other Pokémon followed after him. He couldn't shake the feeling that this chance encounter was about to lead him to his next clue.