Chapter 2 | Icy Cave

The following morning was filled with a great deal of hustle and bustle, as the duo ate an early brunch with gusto and packed up their camp. With a little of their remaining wood, they boiled some hot water to drink throughout the day. They'd have to depend on their respective thermoses to keep the heat from escaping.

The two quickly packed everything up and put out the fire, briefly collecting the rapidly cooling coals to use for another fire before embarking on their climb again. This time, it was in silence, as they tried to focus on not slipping on some unexpected patch of ice. Around a third of the way to the peak, Miyamoto finally breaks the silence between them.

"Bren~! I think that this mountain will definitely be the one! We'll find Mew, and then maybe Team Rocket can end the war!"

"Yeah… I'll just hope that's the case."

About thirty minutes later, the climbers realized that their shadows were slowly becoming discrete. An oncoming mass of dark, heavy clouds gradually snuffed out the sun's light, filling the hearts of the climbers with dread.

"Bren." Miyamoto says in an unexpectedly serious tone, "We're going to have to find a cave somewhere close. There's a blizzard coming."

"Got it. Noivern is ready to go, but she still can't fare well in the cold for very long - even after this long on these mountains."

Miyamoto nods, "Let's make it quick, then."

"The cave could be occupied by a native Pokemon. We should probably search further up the mountain to decrease the chances of having a life-or-death battle with so little food left."

"Food won't matter if we freeze to death. I'd rather fight an angry Pokemon than a raging blizzard."

"What about any injuries we could get? All I'm saying is that we should climb higher up before searching for a cave. Then we'd have a higher chance of finding a vacant cave to stay in. Besides, it's not even snowing yet."

Miyamoto reluctantly nodded at the logic, before continuing the climb with her partner. The climb became arduous rather quickly, as the winds picked up midway through.

It quickly became a test of commitment to progress, the chilling wind finding the smallest cracks in their insulated clothes to enter. Actually, the two had to adjust their facemask, goggles, and hoods several times because of the cold.

Brenton almost missed the first snowflake landing on his icy goggles. Upon registering the thin, crystalline structure, he reached for a Pokeball on his belt.

"Noivern! Find us some shelter! Pronto!" The male agent yelled, tossing Noivern's Pokéball into the air.

"Noi!" The drake exclaimed once she came out. She shivered for a second and then started to swivel her ears in different directions, making quiet clicking sounds. The air was distorted from the visible pressure she exerted with her echolocation.

After a while, she stopped and shook her head. "N-noivern…"

Brenton's heart sank as the snow started to pick up. Noivern trembled even more in the cold, and Brenton almost didn't have the heart to keep her out. Unfortunately, they needed to find shelter at any cost.

"Noivern! What about at the peak of the mountain?"

Noivern swiveled her head upwards, using her echolocation again, this time directing all of it towards the mountain's peak in a smaller range, increasing her sensory capabilities.

"Noi! Noi!" She exclaimed after a few seconds, nodding vigorously.

"Thanks, Noivern. I'll get you warmed up the next time we make a fire. You deserve it." Brenton said, recalling Noivern.

The following thirty minutes felt like an entire day of misery. To keep from getting lost or hurt in the strengthening winds or snowfall, the two connected each other with their respective climbing ropes. They shouted over the howls of the wind about anything necessary for their survival.

Within minutes, the snowfall went from a typical snowfall to that of a swirling white vortex. Even when they used their free hands to scrape off the snow persistently clinging to their goggles, visibility gradually declined.

It felt like for each step up the mountain, the wind, snow, thin air, difficult terrain, hunger, and gravity fought them fiercely. Despite their best efforts, they needed to walk slowly to be able to test the ground before them, using their crampon-fitted heavy boots to do so.

"Th-there! It's the peak of the m-mountain! Th-That cave should be nearby." Brenton exclaimed, pointing to the portion of the mountain that was above all others.

"I think I see it! That small crevice at the side of the cliff. It looks like we could just s-slip in."

The two wedged themselves into the crevice and slipped through the snow and rock to get in. Thankfully, their clothes were waterproof - a very important component in traveling in below-freezing temperatures.

They were greeted with the sight of an open space with a pile of icy rocks and soft, pillowy snow covering the ground of the cave. Two passageways made themselves apparent, branching off the main space. Glancing around, Brenton's eyes suddenly snapped back to a certain place he'd scanned over. 'Wait! Those are-'

"An Ice Stone hoard," Miyamoto exclaimed joyfully, "We're going to be rich when we trade these in!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Look at that," said Brenton as he pointed towards a bluish-white egg that seemed to have also rolled into the crevice. "Tell me that's the egg of a regular animal."

The female agent grinned at the 'challenge', "That's th-"

"Not listening," he responded, quickly covering the area where his ears would be through his neon orange coat's hood.

"Why'd you want me to say it, then~?"

"Fuck you."

"And whatever happened to there being fewer Pokemon up here?"

"...fuck me."

The two laughed, their cheerful mirth causing the cave to feel warmer despite the swirling blizzard outside. Underlying their mirth, a general sense of unease gnawed at the back of their minds. Being this high up the mountain, there could be a strong set of parents that could be somewhere nearby.

The snowstorm kept raging on throughout the morning, causing the duo to have to stay in the cave with the egg. To be cautious, Brenton sent out Noivern again to scan the cave for anything moving.

Fortunately, he came up with nothing, but that didn't mean that the parent couldn't be outside or in a dormant state. To play it safe, the two begrudgingly sent out one of their Pokemon each - Brenton's Prinplup and Miyamoto's Scizor.

"Well, now we have nothing better to do than to look around the cave," Brenton stated, unwrapping himself from the arrangement of blankets he'd made. "Want to get to it, Miya?"

"I was just thinking the same thing. Let's do it!"

Brenton and Miyamoto split up to search the left and right passages within the cave, keeping all of their pokéballs easily accessible inside their coat pockets in case there were any other Pokémon present. They'd left the Ice Stones and the egg alone for now, just in case they needed to plead innocence to an angry parent Pokémon.

At the thought of confronting such a Pokemon, Brenton compulsively performed another check of his belongings. 'The potions and berries are frozen, and we don't have enough supplies to feed all of our Pokémon and make it down the mountain.

…someone needs to make an extreme life-proof thermos for hyper potions and full restores. I'd buy that with my salary in a heartbeat.'

Just to be safe, Brenton opened his thermos, filled a quarter of the way with hot water, and tossed in a few Lum and Oran Berries before continuing his walk along the cave passageway.

Brenton and Prinplup marveled at the massive icicles and pure white snow. The walls of the cave's passage seemed to shrink the further he went inside, but it was of no inconvenience.

Though the cave's floor was covered in snow, only a small portion of it was disturbed by only very few footsteps. A small quadrupedal set of footsteps could be seen alongside several human ones, but unfortunately, that was all that could be seen.

'It would be nice if we could find more loot. I remember that's possible to find a nevermelt ice in areas where there's ice-type legendary Pokémon, like where Articuno, Regice, and Kyurem make their homes.'

Deeper into the cave, the amount of light decreased until they couldn't see a thing. The snow on the ground gradually gave way to rock, causing footsteps to resound against the walls as they traversed through the passage.