“Not really, I’m not a huge fan of contests.”
“You’re missing out man.”
“Well, I’ll watch the finals with my family and all.”
“Oh, which region do you guys watch?”
“Hoenn. My sister is a huge Wallace fangirl.”
“Heh, yeah. My little sisters are the same, I’m more of a Sinnoh guy myself.”
“Fantina?”
“Fantinaaaaa!”
The grunts excitedly pointed finger guns at each other.
“Yeah she’s pretty hot, but in a scary way.”
“What? How’s she scary?”
“Man she’s a ghost type trainer, my cousin’s got a thing for crazy chicks and ninety percent of them were ghost type trainers. They look pretty but they were all hiding some crazy personality issues.”
“I dunno man, I’ve known a few ghost type trainers and they were pretty normal. I think it’s just the type of girls your cous is into.”
"Yeah maybe. I guess I might be a bit biased."
While the Team Flare grunts casually talked, we took out all their Pokemon under the cover of Winnie’s illusions. The illusion fox was pretty smug about the grunts being none the wiser as their allies were knocked out by Glados sniping them with a modified Zap Cannon, starting with their Grumpig to prevent the psychic type from having any chance to detect us.
We could’ve taken them out close up, but Winnie didn’t want to risk us being detected since his illusions weren’t dark type like a Unovan Zoroark’s. And Glados was pretty eager to look cool as hell with its wise glasses. Rotom was all over the AI while it took its shots, but I had to warn it not to upload any pictures it took.
Banette and her crew pilfered all of the grunt’s Pokeballs once the Pokemon had been returned.
Once the puppet ghost gave us the all clear signal, Haunter and a Ghastly floated out of each grunt’s shadow and used Hypnosis. It only took a few seconds for the grunts to topple over, fast asleep. One of them began loudly snoring.
“Sweet dreams good sirs.” Haunter cackled as he began helping Mismagius drag the grunts into the cave. “And for the record, Fantina ain’t shit compared to Elesa.”
Winnie rolled his eyes as he used Icy Wind to freeze the grunts to the inner wall of the cave. We didn’t really have anything to tie them up with, and I wasn’t gonna waste my camping ropes on them.
Mismagius placed a few smaller ice boulders around them to prevent them from being spotted and attacked by wild Pokemon. Winnie then froze their Pokeballs to the tops of those boulders, so the rangers would spot them when they came by.
Winnie dusted his paws off, “good work everyone.”
We quietly continued into Frost Cavern. The entry room was massive, as in bigger than two football fields, and taller than a gymnasium.
The walls were a deep glacier blue that shifted in values as we walked, and fitting with the cavern’s name, every surface was covered in a layer of frost. Interestingly enough, instead of creating an artificial pathway out of wood or gravel, the ice floor was textured in a way that reduced chances of slipping.
The ceiling was a thick forest of icicles that had been cut down so that any falling ones would only cause a concussion rather than shish-kabobing or squishing anyone that they might fall on.
I stared at the vague silhouettes of Pokemon frozen deep in the ice. I couldn’t make out any of them very clearly, but I was pretty sure most of them were Relicanth.
There were a few tunnels leading out of the cavern, the main ones being a side room with a massive ice stone, a path that went back outside and onto the Scenic Trail, and the Frost Cavern Path.
Glados flew ahead of us and scanned the floor. “REPORT. EIGHT. RECENT. SETS. OF. FOOTPRINTS. ONE. OLDER. SET. WITH. ABNORMALLY. LARGE. SHOES.”
“So there’s nine people.” I stated, looking at where Glados had just scanned. I couldn’t make out any footprints the AI was pointing out but the layers of frost that had built up on the walls had recently been disturbed and some parts were melted.
Winnie sharply exhaled and wrinkled his nose as we entered the Frost Cavern Path, “number nine is uh, really pungent. whoever they are, they really need a shower.”
“I’ll take your word for that.” I replied. It sure is nice not having a super good sense of smell.
The tunnel path was pretty straightforward, and everything was clearly labelled. We followed Glados and eventually came to a fork in the road with a big worn-down DO NOT ENTER sign with a skull symbol hanging above the left path. There was a small pile of cut caution tape littering the ground.
Of course the footprints lead down the scary looking path.
The trail began gently sloping downwards, we passed through another chamber, and like, a hundred more DO NOT ENTER and GO BACK signs, accompanied by even more skulls and grim reapers.
“How charming.” Mismagius commented.
We briefly stopped when Glados caught sight of something bright orange around the bend of the tunnel. Turns out they were people. Dead people. The two frozen Team Flare grunts had their arms up, faces a mask of fear as they tried to shield themselves from something.
Whomever had placed them in front of the ornately carved doorway in the side of the tunnel had created icy accessories for the grunts, for what reason, I could not care less.
Winnie’s hackles rose, “there’s some leftover ghost type energy here. whoever did this is really powerful.”
Banette flew over to examine the statues. “Yeah, it’s giving me the heebie jeebies.” She tapped one of them, making a soft glass ringing sound.
“Well that’s our cue to leave.” I replied. Winnie and I quickened our paces and I grabbed Banette’s arm to get her to keep moving with us.
“Must be the Froslass the ranger warned us about.” Mismagius muttered, keeping close to us.
“Who else could it be? A Spheal?” Haunter asked, speeding in front of everyone and casting a nervous glance around. “Why can’t one of our trips be free of overpowered and dangerous mons?”
Same sentiment here.
The temperature dropped and razor sharp icicles crystallized from the walls and floor in front of us with a quiet *shing*, completely blocking out path.
Fuck, here we go again.
A breezy voice with a thick french accent sighed, “They are nice aren't they? My collection certainly needed some orange, but I am not a big fan of their fashion sense.”
The air around us rippled and Winnie flinched as his illusion was rapidly and skillfully taken apart. Glados’s body and wings spun aggressively as it registered something dangerous, “PoRrRrRRrr-EEEE–”
My skin broke out in goosebumps as I slowly turned around and saw a Froslass floating in front of the doorway. The ice ghost then asks as she polishes a spot on one of the grunts head, “What do you think?”
A swarm of Cryogonal streamed out from the doorway, quickly filling up the hallway on both sides. There was a distinct pressure, or presence, something similar to the one I felt around the Mountain Lord.
“Oh shi–” Haunter began to say before he was shoved into my shadow by Mismagius. The witch ghost also pulled Banette back into my shadow.
Winnie’s hackles rose even more, making him look a bit like a ruffled dandelion. I smoothed down his hackles and pulled Glados down a bit by its tail to try to calm it as I replied as politely as I could, “They’re nice, but perhaps you could try a different shade of orange.”
The ice ghost floated closer to us, and my eardrums began thrumming with pain. Froslass’s eyes being focused on me made me feel like I was balancing on a tight and fraying sewing string above a gorge that dropped into a pit of ice spikes. This was honestly even worse than being on the wrong end of the Mountain Lord’s claws.
Winnie growled, and I lightly winced at that sound of aggression.
The ice ghost paused, and then laughed, covering her mouth like she was a medieval noble lady, “Awwww, are you worried I might turn you into ice statues?”
She waved that notion away and said with a glint in her eyes, “Worry not, I still have some manners left. I shall not harm another coven master’s property without good reason.”
Faster than I could register it, I was grabbed by the face and dragged forward like a ragdoll. Glados beeped, electricity crackled in the space between its body parts. Winnie jumped and tried to grab me back, but both he and Glados were blocked by the Cryogonal. The Froslass didn’t pay them any mind.
Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit.
I flailed my arms a bit as I struggled to regain my balance. The Cryogonal parted to let me rejoin Winnie and Glados.
“Whom gave you the ability to speak to our kind? They certainly aren’t from the land of fairies, there is no master here who is that skilled in the art of curses.”
Froslass let me go, and I scrambled a few steps back. It would certainly help if you remembered your manners about personal space.
“Uhh, I was given the ability by a coven master in Unova. He’s a Trevenant.” I replied, rubbing my very cold cheeks.
“You must be the famous Isolde.” I did my best polite bow, “I’m Azalea, this is Winnie. We are honored to be in your presence.”
The ice ghost smiled rather unnervingly and eagerly nodded, “Yes, I am the famous Isolde.” She giggled, “My~ It has been a long time since anyone has bowed to me.”
The Cryogonal moved aside as she looked at Winnie, “Hmm, now that I think about it, it has also been a long time since I’ve seen a child of the icelands. I thought your kind went extinct.”
Winnie gritted his teeth into a grin, “my kind is doing just fine these days away from the eyes of humans.”
Isolde hummed and tapped a finger on her chin, “It must be so boring for you all with no humans around. I’d certainly be bored, making ice statues out of Pokemon is only fun for a short while,” Her eyes narrowed and her smile morphed into this creepy psycho grin, “human statues are where the real fun is at.”
Then her face went back into a normal smile, and she cheerily asked, “Speaking of, are you here to view my gallery? I would be so happy to show you around~”
I bowed again and shook my head, “I apologize, but we’re here on other business today, and it’s a bit urgent. Perhaps we can do so next time.”
Isolde sighed, “Ahh, I see. If I may ask, what is this urgent business that must take you away from me?”
“We’re here to deal with some bad people who’ve entered the caverns.” I replied, head still slightly bowed, “We’re not sure what their goal is yet, but they’ve already caused a lot of trouble outside of the caverns.”
The icy ghost tilted her head, “Hmmm, and who might these bad people be? I don’t think we’ve come across anyone shady.”
One of the cryogonal floated closer to her and quietly clattered.
Isolde covered her mouth, “Ooohh,” She pointed at the popsicled Team Flare grunts, “Do you mean these guys?”
I nodded.
“Really?” Isolde scratched the side of her head, “I thought they were just humans with a poor sense of fashion.”
“they’re bad humans with a poor sense of fashion.” Winnie curtly added.
Isolde chuckled, “Yes, there is a difference. I must not get that wrong.”
I then attempted to steer things back on track, “I apologize Miss Isolde, but we really need to get going. We can’t wait or else the criminals will get away.”
The Cryogonal from before clattered in agreement and Froslass sighed, “Of course.”
Thank you, random Cryogonal.
With a wave of a hand from Isolde, the icicles blocking the hallway disappeared, and the Cryogonal cleared a path for us to walk through.
I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Well, she’s definitely unhinged, but she’s not as crazy as the rangers described her as. Bro just seems chronically lonely considering all she has to talk to are frozen dead people and living ice crystals.
“If you may satisfy my curiosity,” Isolde said, “what crimes have these people committed?”
“Uhh well, they attacked some trainers who wanted to enter Frost Cavern, and stopped people from entering.
“Hmm, that must be why traffic is slow today.” Isolde noted.
“Yep.” I said as I backed away, “Well, I wish you a g–”
I almost tripped and had to take a moment to regain my balance. My shoes had been frozen to the ground. There was a heavy clunk from Glados’s frozen parts clattering to the ground.
“hey!” Winnie snarled and tried to break free of the ice that had coated his legs, but a single wave from Isolde basically pressed a pause button on him. Banette was in a similar state, just completely unable to move aside from her eyes looked around in a panic.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“That is not all.” Isolde stated with a hint of impatience, “They must've done more for an apostle of the god of distortion to be after them.” She smiled again with a look that could give an ice type frostbite, “Please tell me, I will not keep you long.” The airiness from her voice had been replaced by an emotionless monotone.
Why do I always encounter the crazy ones?
I nervously smiled, “Oh, apologies, I…uh, I wasn’t aware that you were interested.”
I covertly tried to tug my feet free of the ice, but it didn’t even budge. “These people we’re after are part of an organization called Team Flare. If you’ve heard about similar organizations like Team Rocket, Team Magma, or Team Aqua, these guys are the Kalos variant.” I nervously chuckled.
“I see, I wasn’t aware there was such a rotten apple in my region.” Isolde frowned, there was another slight drop in the temperature. “What is their goal, Azalea?”
“Uh they plan to use this thing called the Ultimate Weapo—”
The caverns shook, I would’ve fallen over if my feet weren’t stuck to the ground. A malignant aura began flowing out of Isolde, permeating the area and making the temperature plummet until it was intolerably cold. I began to shiver.
All the Cryogonal dropped to the ground like sacks of stones and the entire mountain groaned like a house creaking in a wild storm. It was a struggle to stay standing as gravity pressed down on me, my eardrums felt like they were going to rupture from the pressure.
Uhhhhhh, shitshitshitshitshit.
Isolde’s pupils had narrowed into pinpricks as she spat, “The ultimate weapon?” The venom in her voice was enough to put a Garbodor into toxic shock.
There was a resounding BOOM! One minute the wall on the right was there, the next it was gone. Completely obliterated by a single swing from Isolde. Countess pieces of frozen pieces of the Team Flare grunts gruesomely littered the floor.
Ice climbed its way up my legs and breathing was made almost impossible by the cold, every breath of air felt like millions of tiny frozen cactus needles were stabbing into my lungs.
There was a rush of wind so strong that it would’ve blown me over if I wasn’t frozen to the floor.
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK MAN!?
A furious banshee screech tore free from Isolde’s throat and static began creeping into my vision as Isolde kept on smashing her surroundings into bits.
“THEY MUST BE AFTER THAT MISERABLE OLD FOOL AND HIS STUPID, STUPID KEY!!! HE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO DIE, BUT I SHOULD’VE TORN THAT KEY FROM HIS NECK AND SMASHED IT INTO A MILLION PIECES WHEN HE DARED SHOW HIS FACE HERE!”
She whirled around and got within a few centimeters of my face which instantly went numb. “Which wretched human plans to use that disgusting machine?”
“Schl…” It took a moment for me to figure out how to speak while my face was being frozen at the same time. My face muscles just weren’t moving right.
“WHO?!?” Isolde roared, my vision turned black for a moment.
Bro I’m having a stroke here give me a moment
“Ly-sandre.” I managed to choke out.
Isolde straightened herself and said in a calmer voice, “Lysandre? And where does he stay?”
“Schp…”
The lifesaver of a Cryogonal from before urgently clattered. The ice ghost flicked a finger, defrosting my face, and making the air a breathable temperature.
I took a deep breath of air, coughing and spluttering, it took a moment before I could wheeze out an answer, “Lumiose City…” I coughed, “it’s under a restaurant called Lysandre Cafe.” More coughing. My lungs were killing me.
“Then perhaps it is time for me to visit Lumiose again. If the humans cannot clean up their city, then I shall do so.”
Hell naw. That is about the worst thing you can do. It would be an absolute disaster to have a Psycho like Isolde to come in and terrorize the city as she tried to hunt down Lysandre, especially so soon after the catacombs incident. Plus he might not even be in the city right now.
I quickly cleared my throat and grabbed Isolde’s arm to get her attention (not recommended), my already numb fingers began feeling like they were on fire, “We’ll take care of them. There’s reason why Lord Giratina himself sent us here.”
“Yes, of course.” The breeziness was back in Isolde’s voice.
The pressure instantly disappeared, and the temperature rose back to a normal winter temperature. I withdrew my hand as fast as I could. Fuck, my fingers aren’t fingering.
Whatever force that was holding Winnie and Banette released them, and they both dropped into heaps on the floor. The puppet ghost groaned as she crawled into my shadow.
The ice that had coated over Glados and the lower half of my body in place disappears in sparkles. I collapsed to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Glados let out a wheezy buzz and sluggishly returned to my watch.
I’m never complaining about the cold again.
Winnie recovered the fastest, hopping back up after a short moment and leaping over to place himself between Isolde and I, but he made sure to try to stay as non aggressive as possible.
The ice ghost gave us a disarmingly friendly smile, “I should enjoy my retirement and leave it up to the younger generation, I’ve already had to deal with that once already, no need to do it twice.”
She glanced down the tunnel, “And I would rather not have to see his pathetic face again.” Her momentarily eyes narrowed and she muttered, “The audacity.”
Isolde rubbed the sides of her face and sighed to herself, “No need to think about those things, anger isn’t good for your health. You wouldn’t want to get wrinkles from being too angry~”
With a bit of feeling returning to my limbs, I crawled back to my feet. My nerves were frayed from almost being turned into a popsicle, so I was hesitant to say anything.
Thankfully the Cryogonal who spoke earlier spoke instead, clattering like a set of wind chimes. Isolde looked at the snowflake Pokemon and nodded, “Right, Perhaps I shouldn’t be that harsh. Afterall, thanks to A-Z, my subjects are now all safe in ice where I can protect them~”
She looked to the right, past the remains of the wall that she had destroyed. I hadn’t noticed earlier, but behind the wall was a hall bigger than the entrance cavern. It was packed with countless people frozen in ice, ranging from people from modern day to people from medieval Kalos, all of them perfectly preserved.
“What would I do without you Reginald?” Isolde sighed, and with a wave of her hand, the wall rebuilt itself. All the areas that she destroyed was fixed within a few minutes as the ice healed itself.
Yep. That’s a certified psycho. Capital P, Psycho. Batshit crazy just like the ranger said. If the mountain lord had a few screws loose, this ghost has no screws left.
And…she talks like she was around during the Kalos war. But that was like, a really long time ago.
“Reginald, take them to the Abomasnow caves. That’s where the fools in red have gone.” Isolde ordered.
The Cryogonal, Reginald, clattered, and the rest of the Cryogonal streamed back into Froslass’s ‘gallery’.
“So they’re uh, after A-Z and his key?” I tentatively asked.
Froslass nodded, “Oh yes, but he should be long gone by now. One would think a smelly nine foot tall man would be easy to find, but that old geezer is as cunning as a Theivul. You do learn a few tricks after living for more than three thousand years.”
“Yeahh…” I said.
Cryogonal then impatiently clattered, I looked at it and nodded, “Well uh, yeah we should probably go now, don’t want to keep Team Flare waiting.” I nervously chuckled as I bowed once more to Isolde, “Have a good day.”
“Hmmm, farewell. I do hope you all will stop by again.” Froslass replied, coyly waving as Winnie and I followed Reginald.
Haha, no. I am never coming back here again. I’m fucking done dealing with crazy ghosts. Can I get a normal, chill ghost boss like Trevenant again?
The ice blue walls darkened to a deep sea blue as we descended into the mountain’s underbelly.
As soon as we were a good distance away from Froslass, I checked my hands, arms, and feet. They weren’t numb anymore, but my skin was all itchy and red in most places, and there were even signs of some parts beginning to blister.
We had to pause for a second so I could spray it all affected areas with an ice heal and a potion, which thankfully worked in soothing the irritation and redness. It was still gonna take some time to heal.
It was a good idea to return those three. Sahara has a four times weakness to ice, and if Thoron was out he probably would’ve been turned into a frozen chicken nugget.
Everyone else in the party was either extremely cold resistant like Winnie, or just couldn’t get frostbite/be permanently damaged by the cold like the ghosts and Glados. Though the cold snap might’ve damaged my phone and watch. I needed to check those later.
“do you find it…weirdly quiet?” Winnie asked, his ears rotated around as he tried to hear anything.
“Uhh, now that you mention it. Yeah.” The caverns weren’t exactly filled with life like a forest, but there had been this certain hum of life to it before that was completely absent now. It was like everything was hiding.
“Everyone probably got scared off by Isolde.”
“hmm, yeah.”
It took around twenty minutes of twists and turns from one tunnel into the next until we got to the end of a tunnel that opened up into a massive room similar to the entrance cave.
Reginald stopped right before entering and tilted towards us in a polite nod before floating back in the direction we came from.
“Thanks.” I said before we lost sight of the snowflake Pokemon. I wasn’t really a huge fan of Cryogonal after the Icelands expedition, but Reginald was a pretty nice Cryogonal.
The air shimmered around Winnie as he put on a Lucario disguise and reset the invisibility. I checked my watch but the battery was dead, and Glados wasn’t responding. Shit it was at full battery before we entered the caverns…
“Mismagius, how’s everyone feeling?” I quietly asked as I peeked around the corner to get a better look inside the room.
The witch ghost flew out of my shadow and reported, “Haunter and I are good, Banette’s gonna need some rest, and everyone else is too scared to come out.”
“combat power shouldn’t be an issue for us.” Winnie said, “get an aspear berry for banette, it’ll help.”
I looked back at them, “Uhh, I don’t think we’ll need to fight anyone.” I gestured to the room for them to look.
There were six people and around twenty Pokemon sprawled out around the room, all of them had been knocked out. It looked like they were in the middle of a battle when they all suddenly fainted.
Five of the six humans were in Team Flare Uniforms, the sixth was a Ranger. All of the Pokemon were fire types, probably Team Flare’s aside from a Luxray with a Ranger bandanna tied around its neck.
The cave looked like it had been through a war, which I guess it kinda had. There were fallen icicles scattered all around, melted and refrozen ice, and sear marks everywhere.
The strong stench of iron made me wrinkle my nose as I went further into the room. There was a puddle of frozen blood with an icicle as thick as a tree trunk stuck in the middle of it. The clothes on the limbs sticking out from underneath the icicle were that of a Team Flare Grunts.
Oof, what a way to die.
“did Isolde do this just by getting angry?” Winnie asked with a bit of horror.
“I guess.” I pointed at the hopefully still alive Team Flare grunts, “Mismagius, return those Pokemon and confiscate their Pokeballs asap. Haunter, you’re in charge of using Hypnosis to keep these guys unconscious. I’m gonna make sure the ranger is still alive.”
Honestly, I was pretty glad I wouldn’t have to fight these guys after having to deal with Isolde.
I went over to the ranger and shook his shoulder. No reaction. Well he was breathing and didn’t look injured. I shook him a little harder and the ranger groaned. Then he jerked away and sprang up with a panicked look in his eyes.
I took a few steps back, “Woah there!”
It took a few seconds for the guy to collect himself, “Umm…”
I waved and gave him a thumbs up, “How are you feeling?”
The ranger looked at me, still confused, “Fine. I’m feeling fine. What happened?”
“Uh, Isolde happened.”
“Of course it’s Isolde.” The ranger accepted that explanation pretty easily. He dusted himself off and walked over to Luxray, eyeing the fallen Team Flare grunts and the stack of Pokeballs that Mismagius had made.
The ranger roughly pat the feline’s side and then took a big step back. Luxray’s eyes shoot open and it leapt to its feet just like how its trainer did, except it had electricity crackling around it.
“Everything’s fine Lux,” The ranger said, holding out a hand to the electric type. Luxray looked relieved and aggressively rubbed its mane against its trainers hand and then leg like a housecat. There were a few pops of static electricity but the ranger didn’t even flinch. He patted Luxray’s head, “I need you to go tell the captain we need to help transporting these guys back up to the surface.”
He glanced at an icicle that had bits of a shattered ranger comm around it and scowled, giving the unconscious grunts a glare.
Luxray nodded and took a good long look at Winnie and I (especially Winnie) before dashing off into a tunnel leading out of the cavern opposite of the one we came in from.
The ranger then took out a bunch of zip ties from his waist satchel and tossed a bunch to me and Mismagius, “Help me tie these guys up.”
Once we were done securing the grunts, we covered the dead guy in a tarp. Then the ranger finally thought to introduce himself, his name was Gerard.
He wasn’t very sure what Team Flare was after, but they had been tracking someone using their Houndooms. He’d been down here recording the weights on the newly hatched Snover when these guys barged in and demanded to know about the “ancient king.” Gerard obviously didn’t know what the hell they were talking about, he thought they were poachers.
When they attacked, and he had the Abomasnow he was friends with retreat further into the cavern while he held Team Flare off. Then they all felt this pressure and the temperature plummeted and then they all fainted.
We waited twenty or so minutes for backup to get here. Six rangers arrived with Gerard’s Luxray leading them. They got here faster than he expected because they were already on their way down after having dealt with the Team Flare guys standing guard at the other entrance.
The ranger in lead, an older man with a lumberjack beard and a special looking badge, immediately took charge and gave out instructions on how to get Team Flare out of the caverns, and what to do with the confiscated Pokeballs.
Then he checked in on Gerard, who assured him that he was fine. The ranger gestured to me, “I probably would’ve been toast if she hadn’t come here and got me up before those guys woke up.”
Frankly, I would’ve left this issue to the rangers to deal with if Olympia hadn’t said all her prophetic shit to me back in Anistar.
The older ranger nodded and we shook hands, “Captain Dean. Thank you for assisting Gerard.”
“Azalea.” I replied.
“What happened?” The captain asked.
Gerard explained what he knew of the situation.
“I see.” Dean said, then he turned to me, “Did you enter the caverns before these guys blocked the other entrance off?”
I shook my head, “Nah, I had Haunter use Hypnosis on them and their Pokemon so I could get in.”
Then one of Gerard’s colleagues piped up, “And which one of you pissed off Isolde? There’s a fucking massive blizzard raging outside! One of the juniors fainted because of her!”
Gerard put his hands up, “Wasn’t me, I never went near her territory.”
Dean and Gerard then looked at me, the captain sternly asked, “Was it you?”
I gave him a slightly guilty smile and nodded, “Yeahhhhh, I didn’t know she was the uh, volatile type. Sorry.”
The captain frowned and opened his mouth to say something before he seemed to connect the dots. There was a pause before he spoke, “Kid, did you talk to Isolde?”
“Uhhh…” I gave him a weak thumbs up, “Yeahhhh.”
“You actually talked to her?!” The captain exclaimed, he pinched the bridge of his nose and asked incredulously, “Kid, how the hell are you alive?”
I shrugged, “I dunno. Reginald kinda helped…”
“Reginald the Cryogonal?” The captain asked, one eyebrow arched high enough to touch the moon. I nodded. There was another a pause before the captain replied, “Well if that’s the case you’re the luckiest person alive.” He sighed and mutters something about “kids these days.”
Dean seemed like he wants to say more, but he let it go, “You helped one of my guys out so I won’t say any more,” He pointed a very stern finger at Winnie and I, “but leave things to the professionals next time. I don’t need kids trying to play hero and getting hurt because of that.”
He turned to one of the junior rangers who was idling nearby (probably to watch the drama), “Xander, get her out of here.” He looked back at me, “Where you heading?”
“Dendemille.”
The captain turned back to the junior ranger, “Go to the police station in Dendemille and inform them on the situation, I want them ready to take these guys in, and they’ll need a witness report from you Azalea” He tossed Xander a worn down Pokeball, “You can borrow Charizard.”
“Yessir.” The junior ranger said, gesturing for us to follow him.
The moment we were out of earshot of the others, the junior ranger turned around with a big grin, “Duude, you got off lucky. The cap usually isn’t so nice towards people who go down Isolde’s tunnel, well, if they survive anyways.”
He saw the look I gave him and put his hands up, “Not that we get a ton of people who are stupid enough to go past all the ‘you will die if you go down here’ signs.”
I nodded, “I see.”
“I can’t remember the last time we had something this big happen,” Xander continued, “probably because I haven’t been on the job as long as some of the others, but for once I’m glad I’m on the bottom of the totem pole. All the higher ups are gonna be drowning in paperwork.” He grinned cheekily.
“Yeah, I’m surprised Frost Cavern doesn’t have more incidents.” I said, vaguely gesturing behind us, “You guys literally have a batshit crazy and super powerful ghost living here.”
The junior ranger shrugged, “Eh, that’s just an everyday hazard. It’s like working in a chemical lab, things are safe as long as you follow the rules, and the rule here is: You don’t get frozen as long as you don’t go down Isolde’s tunnel.”
“I guess that makes sense.” I replied.
It took two good hours to get out of Frost Cavern, so I just let the junior ranger talk. Boy was he talkative, and there indeed was a raging blizzard outside, just like his colleague said. It was hard to believe that the weather was so nice before we entered Frost Cavern.
The ride to Dendemille was miserable. Xander had proper riding gear on, but I just had to use my heaviest winter clothing and ski goggles and just deal with it. Winnie had the luxury of jumping into my shadow with the other ghosts, but I had to deal with getting blasted with snow. And Xander and his Talonflame were having the time of their lives riding the bad weather.
At least I wasn’t cold. The captain’s Charizard generated enough heat to keep me warm, albeit not dry, but it was like there was some sort of shield around the fire type. Xander’s Talonflame seemed to use a similar technique, perhaps it was some sort of combination of moves that the rangers here developed to deal with the cold.
The instant change from a blizzard to warm spring-summer temperatures was a bit of a shock, but at least I was able to get somewhat dry. I was glad when we finally arrived at the police station on Dendemille cause I needed a warm shower and a change of clothes because my soggy socks were making my ankles itchy.
Xander explained everything and left soon after with a bunch of police officers while I got to do the exciting task of filling out a ton of forms.
“Put some more weight into it Sahara! Don’t forget your technique, it’s gonna matter more than brute strength!” I shouted as Sahara took another swing at Kaiju, who caught her Dragon Claw with a double Ice Fang. “Yot got this Kaiju! Stay focused!”
I was watching Sahara and Kaiju’s sparring session from the patio of one of Dendemille’s Pokemon centers. It was a bit late, but I wasn’t feeling super tired, even after a hot shower. Everyone was still a bit too high strung from today’s events to go to sleep just yet.
It was kinda of surprising to see Sahara not dominating a sparring match against Kaiju for once. She had the entire power set equipped to her, so she was massively debuffed, but the landshark seemed to really be enjoying the challenge.
Thorondor was diligently training with Glados. The AI was in a bad mood for a while because it wasn’t able to do anything against Isolde, but it seemed to be feeling better now. At least it felt good enough to let Thoron guilt trip it into training with him.
The eaglet was not at all upset that he missed out on today’s adventure. He was able to feel Isolde’s anger and power even from inside his Pokeball.
Winnie didn’t seem as bothered about today’s events as I thought he would be. He was working hard with Mismagius to learn Curse. They’d picked a bunch of daisies earlier to use as practice dummies.
I sighed as I went through today’s events again. I didn’t really know where to start with taking down Team Flare, even with Olympia basically telling me that I had to do something. I mean, how the hell is a ragtag group of ghosts, an AI, and two dragons lead by a teenage girl going to foil the plans of an evil organization run by a millionaire? If only things were as easy as it was in the games.
I’m gonna have to get the contact info of Cofagrigus’s interpol friend. There was no way I had the resources to take down an entire organization. I had no idea what Interpol was up to at the moment, but they would probably like to know about the stuff I forgot to put into the initial set of info they got from me about all the villain organizations.
Banette popped up next to me, “What are you thinking?” Seems like she and Haunter were back from giving the younger ghosts some training exercises.
“I need a way to recruit a heck ton of Sableye.” I replied.
“Sableye?” The puppet ghost made a face, “What the hell would you want to do with an army of those gremlins?”
“I need their help to destroy something that’s around the same size as…uh” I tapped the armrest on my chair, “something as big as the Anistar Sundial.”
“Well, I can ask around but Dendemille doesn’t have a lot of ghost Pokemon around.” Banette said, “I know there’s a cave in the region that has a ton of them, but I think that’s in western Kalos.”
I nodded, “Yeah, Reflection Cave. The world’s largest colony of Carbink live there, and Sableye prey on them. The issue isn’t finding them but getting them to listen to me.”
Haunter floated over from where Winnie and Mismagius were practicing curses. “Hey, didn’t Justine mention something about a coven on route six with a friendly coven master? That’s kind of to the west, maybe we can ask them for help.”
Banette shuddered, “I dunno Haunter. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’ve had enough of crazy ghosts for a lifetime. First Hiname, then Coraline, and then Isolde, I don’t need another name on that list.”
“Hey,” Haunter put his hands up, “Hiname wasn’t that bad compared to the other two.”
Banette didn’t look convinced, “Why don’t you go ask the person who almost got killed by her?” She pointed a thumb at me.
“That might be a good place to start.” I said, ignoring Banette’s statement, “I haven’t heard anything from Justine or Fabian on the ghost hunting trip though, they’ve been pretty busy. I’ll send Justine a text since she’s the one organizing it.”
“And what are we gonna do with the info those creepy birds gave us?” Banette asked, crossing her arms.
I vaguely waved a hand, “Oh I already figured it out. We’re gonna need to head to Hoenn next, but I’ll need a way to contact Cofagrigus’s friend before we go.”
“Hoenn huh?” Haunter said with an excited look in his eyes, “Well at least there aren’t any evil organizations there that we have to deal with. Those uhh, Magma and Aqua guys all got taken out last year didn’t they?”
Banette nodded, “Yeah. They did a whole crazy thing summoning Kyogre and Groudon to fight each other.”
While the two were talking about Hoenn, I tried coaxing Rotom out of my bag so I could text Justine. It had been sulking there ever since the encounter with Froslass because the cold snap damaged its battery (and my watch’s battery too).
The promise of getting it a new battery tomorrow was enough to convince it to let me send Justine a quick text asking about our plans for the ghost hunting trip and a request to get a call with Cofagrigus when they were free.
We all jumped as we heard a shriek from Sahara. Kaiju had latched onto her tail like a tick and was hanging on like his life depended on it while Sahara tried to fling him off.
I pulled out Kaiju’s dusk ball and returned him. “Okay. That’s enough for today everyone. Let’s pack up head for bed.”
Hisuan Zoroark – Winnie:
Normal-Ghost | Male
Nature: Jolly (+Speed/-Sp. Attack)
Abilities: Illusion
Held Item(s): Ghost Tag, Bright Powder
Moves:
- (Utility) Detect, Agility, Torment, Will-O-Wisp, Confuse Ray, Taunt, Leer, Fake Tears, Hone Claws, Substitute, Protect, Calm Mind
- (Atk) Slash, Phantom Force, Foul Play, Dig, Shadow Claw, Low Kick, Low Sweep, Crunch
- (Sp. Atk) Bitter Malice, Psychic, Hex, Shadow Ball, Night Shade, Dark Pulse, Snarl, Icy Wind, Hyper Beam
Garchomp – Sahara:
Dragon-Ground | Female | Ultra Ball
Nature: Lonely (+Attack/-Defense)
Abilities: Sand Veil, Rough Skin
Held Item(s): Muscle Band, Soft Sand, Garchompite
Moves:
- (Utility) Scary Face, Sandstorm, Swords Dance, Protect, Spikes
- (Atk) Metal Claw, Dragon Rush, Bite, Slash, Dragon Claw, Dragon Tail, Dig, Rock Tomb, Outrage, Brick Break, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Iron Head, Crunch
- (Sp. Atk) Twister, Dragon Pulse, Sand Tomb, Hyper Beam, Flamethrower, Mud Shot
Zweilous – Kaiju:
Dark-Dragon | Male | Dusk Ball
Nature: Rash (+Sp. Attack/-Sp. Def)
Abilities: Hustle
Held Item(s): Wise Glasses, Dark Glasses
Moves:
- (Utility) Work Up, Scary Face, Screech, Taunt, Nasty Plot, Roar, Protect, Thunder Wave, Endure
- (Atk) Crunch, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Ice Fang, Head Smash, Astonish, Body Slam, Dragon Rush, Outrage
- (Sp. Atk) Hyper Voice, Dragon Breath, Dragon Pulse, Dragon Rage, Draco Meteor, Dark Pulse, Snarl
Porygon-Z – Glados:
Normal
Nature: Mild (+Sp. Attack/-Def)
Abilities: Adaptability, Download, Analytic
Held Item(s): Wise Glasses, Magnet
Moves:
- (Utility) Conversion, Conversion 2, Defense Curl, Magnet Rise, Nasty Plot, Recycle, Agility, Recover, Lock-on, Charge, Protect, Gravity, Magic Coat, Thunder Wave
- (Atk) Giga Impact, Zen Headbutt
- (Sp. Atk) Discharge, Zap Cannon, Psybeam, Tri-Attack, Hyper Beam, Swift, Psychic, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Electro Web, Thunder
Rufflet – Thorondor:
Normal-Flying | Male
Nature: Brave (+Atk/-Speed)
Abilities: Keen Eye, Sheer Force, Hustle
Held Item(s): Soothe Bell, Focus Sash
Moves:
- (Utility) Agility, Leer, Roost, Tailwind, Protect
- (Atk) Zen Headbutt, Peck, Wing Attack, Crush Claw
- (Sp. Atk) Air Slash, Air Cutter
Rotom
Banette: Spell Tag, Quick Claw x3, Razor Claw x3
Haunter: Spell Tag, Reaper Cloth
Mismagius: Spell Tag x2