Lesson #1

Nakaharu looked ahead through the cave, there was not much of a sign of the other side. It was probably pretty big. "Well... yeah... whatever was hidden like that must be neat. I think it'd be worth the view." Nakaharu was wondering if he'd be able to handle the temperature deeper in. It was most likely colder at that point. He didn't really worry for himself, he was hoping that Vulpix wouldn't be harmed by this. But like Kita said, it was most likely trying to keep him warm. Either way, they were both worried about each other.

Vulpix made a chirping sound, digging a bit more into his arms. It wasn't looking for warmth, it was trying to keep Nakaharu warm. It also made sure to keep the thought of it going back into its pokeball out of Nakaharu's head.

Kita's breath could be seen in the air around them, goosebumps rising up across the exposed skin on her arms and legs. "Let's do this..." She said bravely, not knowing how deep the cave was and knowing they were risking hypothermia if they couldn't stay warm enough. Senses, don't fail me now... was all she thought as she began to walk deeper into the cave. She honestly hoped it was a straight shot with as few turns as possible. The last thing they needed was to be lost in there.

She turned back to Nakaharu, "Coming?" she asked before turning around and walking some more. Ella and Umber glanced to Nakaharu, their eyes and Ella's gem glimmering from the reflections of light. They turned their attention forward, and walked forward one or two paces behind Kita.

"Yeah," Nakaharu said, starting to follow them deeper. Then a large icicle dropped straight between Nakaharu and Kita. It speared through the ice floor, and around it were cracks due to the pressure on the rest of the ice. Nakaharu fell back, holding Vulpix close to keep it safe. "Oof.. what...?" Nakaharu looked up. There were not really any signs of icicles, it all look completely flat. There wasn't even a sign of the one that had fallen. "I don't get it... what just happened?"

Nakaharu got back up again. He walked around the icicle to Kita. Just when he passed it, the icicle fell even deeper, to another level of the cave, taking along with it the only path to get out. "This place goes deeper?!" Nakaharu stared, any chance of going back that way was gone now. Vulpix made a small chirp.

Kita flinched when she heard the crash, falling to her knees from the vibration and clasping her hands over her ears from the loud sound. After a moment she glanced back to see the icicle, Nakaharu walking around it. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she glanced up to the cave roof to look for more, but she couldn't see anything. "Where...did it come from?" she asked quietly before she heard the cracking in the ice.

She quickly shifted, scooting back as quickly as she could when the crack in the ice chased her a bit before giving way, the icicle falling through the floor. She just sat there, wide eyed and heart pounding as her panting could be seen clearly in both her chest and the vapor released from her mouth. "N...no way back..." she stuttered. If she'd known, odds were she would have avoided the cave. Then again, she didn't often take into consideration too many risks before jumping into dangerous situations.

Ella and Umber comforted her, nudging her with their noses on either side. "Thank you..." she said, eyes softening at the two. She shifted, and pushed herself back up so she could easily stand. She readjusted her skirt, then looked to Nakaharu. "I suggest we keep moving. We don't know how deep the cave goes and...we can't go back the way we came," she said, seemingly calm as she turned and headed deeper into the cave.

Nakaharu still stared for a few minutes. From the top of the cave to the floor. He couldn't figure out any way that could have logically happened. "Er... right.." Nakaharu says, trying to keep up with Kita. "What do you think is happening?" Nakaharu asks, "First, the entrance to this place was hidden by some illusion, then that happened out of nowhere." Nakaharu shifted Vulpix in his arms when he felt he might drop her.

Nakaharu noticed that the trail ahead was much steeper than where they were. This was a hall of ice, steepness would not be their friend here. "Uh... Kita.." He says, He predicted Kita would notice before he did, but he still felt the need to give a forewarning to her.

"Maybe it's some sort of governmental experiment, and we triggered a booby trap or something," Kita replied as she kept walking. There were many possibilities, but it was easy enough to pin it on the government for now. "Maybe if we uncover whatever's going on here we can become famous detectives!" she half joked, approaching the steep walk ahead. She saw it, alright but she hadn't wanted to worry Nakaharu.

She paused for a moment and looked to her boots, then to Nakaharu's shoes. "Well...I know how to walk on ice, and my boots will help with traction," she said pulling out two pokeballs. "I don't want you two to get frost bite or cuts from sliding..." two red beams shot out, absorbing Ella and Umber into the balls. "I'll let you two back out when it seems safer..." She quietly tucked the balls safely in her bag before turning back to Nakaharu. "Now the trick is for you with traction..." she pulled out a clasp and rope from her bag and tossed one end to Nakaharu. "Clip this on you, it will help keep us together. Hopefully it will stop you from sliding off..." she said, though in her mind she was only thinking about how him slipping might drag them both down. "Vulpix, in your ball just in case...please?"

Nakaharu took out the Pokéball that belonged to Vulpix. "Please go in here for a while, Vulpix." Nakaharu said. The Vulpix went straight inside the pokeball when it was tapped with the pokeball's button. Nakaharu caught the end of the rope that was tossed to him. "Clip it to myself... hey what if I slip? I might be more weight than you can handle."

Nakaharu did rather be self sufficient, though he did know when he would need some assistance. But still... "I am not able to let you get hurt trying to help me... I wouldn't know how to do anything to help you if that happened to occur." He didn't know what to do. If she got hurt over him, he probably wouldn't be able to look at himself for quite a while.

"Oh shut up and clip the damn thing to you already," Kita said with a rather demanding voice. There was the possibility that he'd take her down with him, but if he slipped and she didn't even have the opportunity to catch him she'd feel terrible. She would especially feel so while knowing full well that she had some basic climbing gear in her pack. Unfortunately, she didn't have her pick or spikes with her. "Good job, Kita. The first time they'd actually come in handy and you have nothing..." she mutters to herself as she secures her end of the rope.

"Just do it. We'll be fine if we stay close and move carefully," she said, looking sharply to Nakaharu with her red eyes. They had to rely on each other now, and if they were to get separated in the icy cave then their chances of survival would dwindle into the single digits. Instead of waiting however, Kita walked over and forced the clip onto Nakaharu. She figured he probably wasn't all too familiar with the gear, anyway. "Let's move," she said, giving him enough slack to be at least 2 feet away so they weren't tripping over each other.

"Uh-- Er... all right..." Nakaharu says to Kita, though he still worried a little. He could see there was no going back on this. He readied himself. Nakaharu would be starting a bit behind Kita. 'Stay close together... and walk carefully... but still, how do you walk on a sheet of ice like this?' He thought to himself.

Nakaharu rubbed his hands together. It didn't help a thing that his gloves were fingerless. He dropped his hands back to his sides.

Kita carefully positioned her feet at a 45 degree angle, lining up the tread on her boots diagonally upward. She figured it would be similar to a gecko climbing a wall, albeit a bit more difficult. "Alright, we have to move carefully, try to use the more rugged ice patches to your advantage," she says, taking a few careful steps up the incline. "So far so good..." she said, taking a few more, the third at which her footing slipped. However, it was only on one foot so she was able to regain balance without losing ground. Her heart was racing, as she kept attempting to slowly climb. It was their only hope now.

Nakaharu watched at first as Kita was in front of him. He tried to mimic what Kita did as she got higher. Nakaharu's shoes weren't exactly built for climbing, so he tripped a foot a few times. And when he was high enough, it was as if the ice was becoming softer. Then his feet sunk in, like he was suddenly walking in snow. The ice got into his socks, and he cringed from the bitter cold. "What type of ice is this?" Nakaharu says, his shoes now seeming wet. He sneaked the thought that his ankles were going to freeze from this.

Kita felt the *crunch* under her boots, and the new traction felt beneath them. "Snow...?" she wondered aloud as she glanced to the ground. "We should be able to move a little faster now, Nakaharu..." Kita said, glancing back to see him cringing at the cold. Neither of them were properly dressed for the cold, but at least she had boots on. "The faster we get through, the faster we can find warmth," she said, turning forward once more. "Be careful and aware though, there might still be slick patches. Watch your footing as we go deeper..." Kita continued trudging onward, searching for a change of scenery and hopefully an exit or answer to what was going on in there.

Nakaharu thought of the word faster as a friend right now. This surely wasn't his favourite part about the mountain... really this place hasn't shown him any places to like. Nakaharu looked up, noticing there wasn't so much more to go. At the top of this steep incline, there was a small pokemon frozen in ice. It looked as if there was a star attached to its head. On each of the prongs, there was a blue ribbon hanging. The pokemon's eyes are closed and unconscious.

Kita looked up, her hands were balled up and shoved under the opposing arm to try keeping them warm. Last thing she wanted to do was lose her fingers over this little impulsive expedition. She trudged further up the path, staring into the ground most of the time and only glancing up occasionally. The breeze coming from the deepest part of the cave seemed stronger now, and was chilling her to the bone.

Finally, she glanced up to see the large block of ice, a form trapped inside. "What the..." she said, glancing to her waist and detaching the safety rope from her end. She figured with the new traction, Nakaharu would be okay on his own now. She rushed up closer to the ice block to see the figure more clearly. It seemed so strange, yet familiar in a way as well. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like this...is it...a Pokemon?" she asked, trying to imagine in her head where she'd seen it before.

She closed her eyes, mind racing as it analyzed and searched through her memories. The best she could come up with was in a "Book of Legends" she'd once read as a small child. A story about a meteor that rarely appears, and the Pokemon that can absorb the mystical powers of it. That's where she'd seen the Pokemon before! "Jirachi!"

Nakaharu put his hand to his forehead. There wasn't any sweat, but this was the first time he had done anything like this. He took a deep breath and walked over to where Kita was standing. "What? JIRACHI?!" Nakaharu says, rather dramatically. "I don't think I've heard of it." He admits. "...though how'd it get here? Was this Pokemon causing all this to happen?"

The path they had used to get up there suddenly crumbled and fell about to the same level that the icicle that had broke their exit had fallen. "Happy to not still be climbing that," Nakaharu says. Around that same time, a crack appeared in the middle of the ice that the Jirachi was frozen in. The ice split in half, and the small pokemon was broke away from the icy confinement, collapsing down toward Kita. It was still unconscious and appeared weak.

Behind where the Jirachi was frozen, there is a path to another area. Whether it was out of the cave or another section would not be known from looking at it. However, the path was very small, and a person would have to crawl in order to advance through.

Kita glanced back at Nakaharu when he said he'd never heard of Jirachi. She quickly dismissed it though, between not many people reading into Pokemon Mythology, and the ice channel collapsing a second time. "This cave is almost acting like it's pushing us forward but...I don't think Jirachi is the one causing this. Not from what I remember from the myth, anyway," she said turning back to the large black of ice just before it cracked.

She watched the crack run across the surface, splitting with an eerie sound echoing through the cavern. Finally, it chipped off running out of room and off the edge of the block. Just then, it shattered and Kita brought her arms up to protect her face, ducking a bit as the structure collapsed. When it was quiet again, she looked back up shocked to see that the Jirachi was not only real, but still alive!

"It must have been in a fight!" she said, thinking about it for a moment. It was the only thing that made sense to her. "A strong ice beam or blizzard attack has been known to occasionally freeze opposing Pokemon in battle. It looks like that's what happened here..." she said, lifting the weakened creature to her face as she listened to its heart beat. "It's very weak...but I don't have any potions. We should get out of here and get it to a Pokemon Center as quickly as possible..." she trailed off, looking around. She didn't know if they were even going to make it out of the cave themselves after the way back had collapsed not once, but twice.

"It looks like the only way forward is there," she said, holding Jirachi carefully and pointing to the hole in the wall. "We'll have to crawl, but it's better than waiting around here uselessly..." Kita shifted, slipping her bag off her shoulders and setting it carefully on the ground. She rearranged her clothing in there, and gently set Jirachi in the bag with its head still sticking out like a baby carrier. She tightened it lightly so that Jirachi wouldn't fall out before picking it back up. "Let's keep moving..."

"A fight... one heck of a fight to have gone this far. I wonder what had the power to freeze this whole entire cave, though?" Nakaharu says, though those words were more to himself than directed to Kita. Nakaharu walked up to the hole where he would have to crawl through. It was a rather long trail. Hopefully this would lead them out somehow. He hoped crawling through here would be quick, they're going to be crawling on pure ice after all.

Nakaharu got onto his hands and knees. He could already feel the sheer cold of ice. Nakaharu acknowledged that Kita was now carrying a pokemon in need of help. ".. I'll go first this time," he says, not waiting for any response before just starting.

The thought had also crossed Kita's mind, What on earth could have frozen not only Jirachi, but the whole cavern as well? However, she had to focus on other things right now, like staying alive and getting the hell out of the mysterious ice cave. She could ask questions later when they were safe, priorities needed to be taken at the moment.

She looked over to Nakaharu as he took the lead, which seemed almost out of character for what she'd seen of him thus far. Maybe the realization of danger, or the Pokemon's life had caused the reaction. Regardless, Kita nodded and knelt to the ground to follow. As soon as her knees and elbows hit the ice, she felt the burning sting of them. They were risking frostbite if they didn't hurry. She hissed a bit, inhaling as she tried to adjust to the feeling. "Just hurry Nakaharu..." she whispered as she began following him on her hands and knees through the small path, carefully holding the bag with Jirachi off the ground.

Nakaharu heard Kita's voice, but he didn't respond. Instead, he tried to hasten his pace at least a bit. However, with all the ice, it was hard to crawl with the cold threatening to sap all the warmth in his hand. He tried hard not to cringe from it. Every few paces, though, he noticed that he had started feeling a bit weaker since the time he first entered this cave. He was luckily still able to keep up his pasta.

This tunnel was at least fairly short compared to the rest of the places in this cave. He could see the light from the outside of the cave becoming brighter and brighter, until he could finally see what was out there. He crawled out from the hole, his eyes adjusting. He looking around, he saw snow, and then the fact that they were actually very high up on a mountain. They weren't at the top, but they weren't very close to the bottom.

Nakaharu got to his feet once again, looking around the newer terrain that they were on. This definitely wasn't at the Pokemon Centre. It looked like they were higher up than before... of course, they did go up an incline. But now they were on top of the mountain. What now?

Kita gritted her teeth as she kept crawling forward, her knees were bare and starting to burn from the cold icy pressure on them, as was the hand she was using to guide her forward. She hissed a bit as she could feel her skin tighten, a burning sensation from the ice beginning to get to her. However, she didn't have a choice. She bit down, and kept going with Jirachi and her items carefully tucked under her arm.

She had been so busy staring at the ground as she crawled that when her hand sunk into a good depth of snow with a hearty crunch, she looked up to see daylight. Had there not been snow on the ground, she might have just rolled onto her back and laid there to absorb the sunlight. At least they weren't trapped inside anymore, but they were far from out of trouble based on their new surroundings.

Kita quickly got to her feet, tucking her iced hand under her opposing arm and the satchel to help it warm up. She didn't feel like losing any of her fingers today, so she knew she had to warm them up some. "Nakaharu...where are we? I didn't see anything like this on the map before..." Kita said, taking a few steps out and glancing downward. "I didn't think we climbed that much..." she muttered to herself, a bit queasy at the height.

Nakaharu scratched his head. "Where are we... I can't really say, I've never actually been here... this certainly isn't a place I'd just stroll into." He looked around, studying what is there for any sign. Then the whole ground vibrates, sending a shower of snow over to the group. It was followed by the roars and screeches of pokemon, most likely a battle between the two.

One of the pokemon had the appearance of a large blue bird, and the other looked like a tall frozen-over dragon. Their battle was dangerously close to the mountain. "I... think I know what the crumbling ice was from..." Nakaharu says. The dragon-like pokemon tries an ice beam toward the bird pokemon, but it misfired, just barely missing Nakaharu, freezing some of his hair.

Nakaharu's reaction was to fall back. If that were iat him, that would be it for him. Though it was only his hair, it was still ice, and it was pretty cold. "What..." he says, getting back to his feet, his body now a bit wobbly. "How do you suppose we get out of this?!" Nakaharu asks.

Kita felt the rumble, the screeching Pokemon roars crashing through the sky like thunder. She fell back, landing on her rear in the snow, clutching onto Jirachi closely with both arms as she stared at the spectacle before her. She'd studied many Pokemon extensively, but never in her wildest dreams would this have happened.

"I've studied Pokemon; Legendary and not; of four different regions, yet never have I seen anything like that dragon..." she said quietly as she stared in awe. "The bird though..." Yes, she recognized this one. "It's...Articuno..." She couldn't tell if the chills running across her body were from the cold, or the once in a lifetime happening before her. "From what I've studied, my best guess is that they're both dual-typed Ice Pokemon...and from how extreme this battle seems, I'm gonna go ahead and say it's of Legendary proportions..."

She pulled out her pokedex carefully from around Jirachi, holding it out to face the Pokemon. She seemed to get a constant spinning circle as it attempted to scan the creature. "Launching Satellite Communications Link for automatic Pokedex Update," the dex said as three bars appeared, downloading new information before it binged.

"Kyurem, the Boundary Pokemon. Kyurem generates a powerful, freezing energy inside itself, but its body became frozen when the energy leaked out." The Pokedex informed. Kita flipped the dex closed, as though that useless information had somehow settled her mind on something.

She was torn between running and staying to watch. However, she knew such a battle could never end well for her or the Pokemon. "The question is; What's Articuno doing so far away from Ice Island?" Not to mention; Where the hell did this other Pokemon come from?! she added mentally. She pushed herself to her feet, staring at the two fighting Pokemon and gathering her courage. Someone had to do something to stop it.

Without really thinking too well about it, Kita began to shout at the giants, "Hey! Stop this fighting! No good will come of this kind of violence!" she started, only repeating what she had said thus far. "You're ruining the environment and driving Pokemon out of their natural habitats! You're causing the mountain to shake and the inner caves to collapse on themselves because of this quarrel!!" Her heart was pounding heavily and rapidly, taking deep breaths as she opened her eyes again and watched the two, while now also thinking of possible repercussions of her actions.

When Kita shouted to the two pokemon in the sky, Nakaharu looked at Kita and looked at the pokemon an odd quick way. The Articuno had seemed to notice Kita's voice, for it stared straight their way when she said those words. The Dragon Pokemon, Kyurem, took advantage of this distraction and used a clean-on slash attack on the ice bird Pokemon. The Articuno, taking the unexpected attack, was knocked straight into the mountain. It caused a shower of snow to come over the group, and then the Articuno fell at their feet. The Articuno rose its wings, angrily eyeing the Kyurem. It let a loud screech, and flapped its wings, sending wind, as well as more snow at the group. The Articuno started to the Kyurem, and stopped without going far.

Nakaharu looked again to Kita. "...What would you think started this?" Nakaharu asks, not really able to figure out what words to say. After all, he had never seen anything like this... ever. "What do you think we should do?"

Kita froze, her heart jumping into her throat and breath catching as the Articuno turned its attention to the group. She could have endangered them all, and hadn't even thought twice before yelling at the epic Pokemon. However, when she saw the gleam in Kyurem's eye as he went in for the attack, Kita screamed again, "Articuno, look out!" She took a step forward, then fell to her knees when the Pokemon collided with the side of the mountain, dumping mounds of snow on them. Kita tucked Jirachi close to her body, doing her best to keep it safe.

She dug herself free, though was now very cold and shivering. Her lips had turned a pale shade of violet as her skin tightened over her body with goosebumps. She chattered her teeth a bit, standing once more and looking out to the battle. Her eyes watched harshly, her brain racking itself for a solution. When none came, she broke down a bit. She'd led them down this path, and had now trapped them both in the cold watching a battle that they merely couldn't stop.

She fell once again to her knees, craddling the Jirachi close to her face as a few tears fell down, running across its face. "I'm sorry...I can't...I just can't..." she said, as her sobbing picked up a bit. She had never felt so helpless in her life. Her father had prepared her for almost anything, besides such circumstances. "I wish I could help...I wish I knew what to do..." she said, rocking the small star Pokemon a bit before raising her tear filled eyes back to the battle.

Standing, she sniffed, wiping her tears away with one arm as she walked to Nakaharu, handing him the bag with Jirachi and her Pokemon's pokeballs inside. "You need to get out of here. Take care of them, I have to stop this and...I have to know they're safe..." she said, both fear and courage showing in her eyes. She turned back to the battle once more, "This has to stop..." she muttered, before running off, rushing to the edge of the cliff, a blue aura showing around her feet as she leapt. Mother, father...please guide me... she asked mentally, closing her eyes as she aimed to land on the back of Articuno, or at least catch their attention, before a bright light enveloped her, a hidden background taking its first form.

Nakaharu grabbed the bag before Kita let go, astonished from what she was saying. "But ki... ta...." But she was already off. She had jumped straight onto the back of the Articuno. What are you doing, Kita? He asked mentally. There was nothing he could do though. She told him to take the pokemon out of there. What would Kita think of him if he stayed and something happened to the Pokemon? But then the Pokemon, if they found out their trainer was missing, and the first thing they see is him, what will they think of him? He felt helpless in such a situation. Nakaharu looked around, from what he saw, the only way out of there was down the mountain side... and that didn't exactly look like a gentle ramp. He could go back the way he came, but that would be a dead end. Nakaharu noticed at the end of his eye that there was a light. When he looked at the source, he could depict it more clearly to be a blue light. It was pretty bright and noticeable. Amazingly, the source of all that light was Kita. How was this possible?

The Articuno dropped a little bit, not expecting anything to just land on top of it. It picked itself back up at the original altitude. It gave a shriek, then the light from Kita had completely caught its attention, though it didn't have 360⁰ neck turn ability, so it was craned around to see.

The Kyurem across the sky didn't miss the light that came from Kita. Though it didn't seem to do much besides watch a few minutes. Both Articuno and Kyurem were locked in a contest of stares for a few minutes. The Kyurem drew a in a deep breath and seemed to unleash an Ice Beam in Articuno's, and Kita's, direction. The Articuno was still looking at the light.

Nakaharu could see what was about to happen, the trail of the ice beam. "K- Ki... Look out!" He felt himself involuntarily shout. The Articuno then snapped its attention properly to the Kyurem, and with enough reaction time, the Articuno swayed to the left, letting the ice beam trail under its wing. It then screeched, looking back, trying to see if Kita was okay.

The Kyurem closed in its distance between itself and the mountain. It came with high speed, digging its claws on the side, above where the ground where Nakaharu was. It then dropped down, beside him, with the sound of its mass making impact with the ground. It brought its head down to Nakaharu's level. One thing was certain: It didn't look happy.

This is it... I've doomed us further... Nakaharu thinks. He cringed, unable to think of any way out of this situation. What could he do? A mighty dragon, more than double his size, standing right over him, with its icy breath sent all throughout his body. I'm sorry Kita, I failed. Nakaharu opened his eyes, trying to avert his attention, looking to Kita. What was she thinking of such a stubborn person as him? He didn't leave as he was told to, instead he brought more danger.