24: Guardians

“Is it just me or is it getting harder to breathe?” Thunder asks.

“It does feel that way…” Virizion agrees. “Might we have gone a bit too high in this palace?”

“That’s definitely not it.” Espeon says. “Altitude sickness starts at around twelve thousand feet. I’d estimate we’re at four or five thousand. Definitely not twelve.”

“What are you guys talking about?” I ask, perplexed. “I’m breathing just fine.”

“You mean you can’t feel that?” Thunder asks. “Is the air getting thinner?”

“No. It’s all just normal to me.”

“That’s strange…”

“How bad is it?”

“Not too bad. It’s a little harder, but I can deal with it.”

“Hey guys?” Dunsparce interrupts. “Look at this. There’s a large room ahead.” We enter the aforementioned room and look around. Off to the right there was another passageway. In front of us was something rather out of place. One round, big stone golem embedded in the wall. And above it, two large snowflake patterns protruding from the ice in the wall. 

“Is… That stone?” I ask, already knowing the answer. “Everything we’ve seen has been ice. Now there’s suddenly stone.”

“That is strange, come to think of it… ” Espeon says. “Glaciers tend to have dirt and stone inside of them. I’d expect more than this, though.”

“Well, very little about this glacier is normal.” I respond. At that moment something catches my eye. A slight movement in one of the golem’s arms. I start backing up cautiously. “Guys… I think it just moved…”

“I didn’t see anything…” Virizion says.

“I swear, it moved. I didn’t touch it. It just moved.” I decide to move in closer to inspect it. Big mistake. Its arm breaks free from the ice and grabs me in a tight grip. “Ach! Hey! Let go!” It simply stays silent, showing no indication that it was listening. Instead, it lifts up its arm and punts me across the room like it was a star quarterback. I crash hard into the wall and fall to the ground, taking a minute to recover from the pain and my scrambled senses. When I come to, I see the golem towering over our team. The two snowflakes had also broken free and were hovering menacingly.

“Alex!” Thunder called back to me. “Are you hurt!?”

“Nothing too bad. But we have bigger issues at the moment. What are we up against?” 

“A Golurk and two Cryogonal.”

“Right. Thunder and I will handle the Golurk. Virizion, Dunsparce, take the Cryogonal.” Everyone moves to take on their assigned targets. “Thunder, take the left. I’ll take the right.”

“Got it.” He strafes to the left of the Golurk, grabbing its attention with a quick shock. It swings its arms in an attempt to crush him. However, it lacks the speed needed to pin Thunder down. Thunder simply sidesteps the strikes. Taking the opportunity I start conjuring a leaf tornado, a new move I learned before we left. The vortex of wind grows from atop my tail leaf, smaller razor sharp leaves tumble in the powerful gusts. 

I whip my tail in the Golurk’s direction, sending the whirling vortex right at it. The winds disorient it and the leaves imbed themselves into the stone body. It is vulnerable to attack. In spite of its condition it manages to deal a shadow punch on Thunder. Thankfully he’s unharmed. Mostly. 

A retaliatory electro ball later and the Golurk is down for the count. With the Golurk down, we put our attention to the rest of the opposition, the two Cryogonal. Thankfully, Virizion and Dunsparce had done a good job weakening them. A few hits later and they are down for the count.

“Why the heck did they attack us?” I ask.

“Maybe they were guarding something.” Thunder replies. “The question is, what?”

“Guess there’s only one way to find out.”

“I can’t… I can’t breathe…” Espeon pants.

“Ugh… I think I’m going to pass out…” Thunder states.

“What on earth is going on? Why am I unaffected?” I ask, confused. It appears that the air has gotten even thinner for them. To the point where they simply can’t get enough air in their lungs. One by one, they begin to pass out. “Guys?! What’s happening! Wake up!” I try to shake them awake, to no avail. 

A roar echoes in the distance. “What in the-” suddenly, an almost literal wall of frigid air slams into me, blasting me, and the unconscious forms of my teammates, back into the room with the guardians. Now with more air to use, my friends start coming to. 

“Alex?” Thunder asks. “What happened? Why are we back here?”

“I don’t know.” I respond. “There was this wind and-” I get cut short by the sound of something big falling behind me. A giant, gray, bipedal dragon creature wearing an incomplete set of armor made out of ice. 

“Identify yourselves.” Its loud voice echoes across the room.

“Uh…” I hesitate. What does it want? Is it another guardian? Is it going to try and kill us? Well… Maybe if we are tactful we can sort things out without bloodshed. “I’m… Alex… This is Thunder, Dunsparce, Virizion, Umbreon, and Espeon. We are together known as Team New Hope. What’s your name?”

“New Hope? Intriguing name…” I swear, I can feel my bones rattling with every word it speaks. It’s nothing if not intimidating. “I am Kyurem. Protector of the Glacier Palace. It appears you have already met my first line of defense.” 

“Yeah. Sorry about that. We were just defending ourselves.”

“You are fortunate to have encountered me in a good mood. Tell me. What is your purpose for being here?”

“Exploration, research, and personal.” Umbreon replies.

“I’m afraid your exploration must end here, however. Proceeding any further will lead to your untimely demise. Tell me, what research are you doing?”

“We’re searching for the Great Crystal. Since we can’t continue searching for it, though, can you confirm if it’s here? My sister and I will accept simply knowing it’s here if we can’t actually get to it.”

“The Great Crystal is here, yes.”

“Yes!” Espeon quietly yells. “Thank you, Kyurem.”

“One last thing…” Virizion interjects. “Has a Pokemon by the name of Keldeo passed by here before?

“Keldeo…” Kyurem says to himself before returning attention back to Virizion. “I have no recollection of a ‘Keldeo.'”

“I… I see…thanks anyway.”

“Now you all must leave. However…” Kyurem then turns around and pulls a chunk of the wall off, revealing a secret room. Inside was a blue, icy chest. “You may take the contents of this chest as a reward for making it this far.”

“Really?” Thunder cheers. “Thanks, Kyurem!” We make our way to the chest and open it up. Inside is a massive amount of Poké. Just gold coins everywhere. “I’ve never seen this much money in one place before…” Thunder says, awestruck.

“Well… We’re never going to be able to carry this thing out of here.” I say. “There’s just too much. Everyone grab as much as you think you can carry. We’ll leave the rest here. And thanks again, Kyurem.”

“I pray that you make good use of it. Farewell.”