Chapter 3-Snow Continues to Fall

Xuě Zeraora’s POV

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Snowflakes danced in the sky, as the chilly winds spreaded them far. Nevertheless, they were fated to come crashing down, their performance unimpressive until they piled up high enough. Only once you felt the brisk air, and stepped into the frozen ground then you truly understood the seasons’ change.

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Wei Tundra Mystery Dungeon. It’s frost chilled my bones, and the wind tore my fur. But this is what we’ve searched for.

For the past five years. For five long years my Expedition Team and I tried to make a name for ourselves, researching mana away from the Leagues and other organizations. With my power and status I knew I had to pull my weight. Especially after the Disruption.

It’s been five long years since Master Zeze had spoken to me on good terms. I’ve finally grown to their height. And my confidence skyrocketed too. They were still stronger than me by a longshot, but I stood a pretty good chance if we had to battle. Unfortunately we Zeraoras still didn’t see eye to eye.

It’s all because of the Disruption that struck our Celestial Hemisphere five years ago, weeks after those five Pokemon from the League rescued me. All Pokémon could no longer evolve, their moves and bodies got weaker, and most importantly we lost the sacred elemental key and lock mana artifacts. 

This could have been prevented if those Leagues, Guilds, and other organizations across the Hemisphere were more vigilant. They needed to guard over wherever the key and lock artifacts were.

The Keepers and Sentinels who were supposed to be in charge of them didn’t value their roles enough. Pokemon in numerous organizations slowly caused enough chaos in the land to take the majority of the keys and locks of mana and misuse them. Thankfully not all of them had been ruined, some were warped away by Lady Mewtwo, Lord Mew, Leader Magearna, and even the Guardian Tapus.

 

But I never blamed the average Pokemon, they weren’t strong enough, and the enemy couldn’t be stopped alone. They barely even knew where a quarter of the artifacts were reported to be located in the first place. It was not easy for non-Mythical Pokemon, especially when they shackled their true power instead of embracing it. But it’s fair that they did that, they don’t understand the power they use fully. 

 

That Disruption was caused by Wicked Blow and other ruffians, who sought out not just power, but perhaps someone. 

 

Master wanted everyone they considered ‘guilty’ to be punished, this included too many victims of injustice…. I just couldn’t have allowed it. I’ve found my own way. I still had that metal scroll with the gears after all.

Our own way. My Expedition Society and I were out in the North of the Wei Tundra doing research on Ether. Well, regular Pokemon and all the League folk called it Mana instead.

Mana was the energy in this Celestial Hemisphere that allowed Pokemon to use their moves and evolve… Back when I was still young and unsure of the uses of my power it was disrupted. But now I knew, my power was needed to stop this from happening. I kept the scroll safe.

 

This Disruption harmed Keepers and Sentinels alike but not Myths and  Legends. My team had two Keepers and three Sentinels so I couldn’t have forgotten about them. But something was special about the Sentinels of my team, they were just like that Riolu and that Froakie. I felt a strange energy from them.

That stupid Disruption prevented and in some recent cases undid evolution, and weakened elemental attacks of all. Especially for the Keepers that were permanently harmed. And all this just happened because the mana of the Hemisphere had been tampered with. But how did that happen?

I mean those bastards in Wicked Blow were behind it, or at least claimed to do it! Who could have allowed it!? Was no one watching their actions? Couldn’t the Pokemon in this Hemisphere have prevented this? Is this really tied to those stupid key and lock artifacts?

My expedition crew and I along with lots of other Pokemon across our five Continents searched constantly for a way to return the Hemisphere to the way it used to be. 

 

Earlier today our team braved through the hailstorms of a Tundra Mystery Dungeon not to reach the other side but to find something hidden amidst the snow. The six of us sat on the highest balcony of a dilapidated, old building made of rich dark wood. This was a rooftop exit of it, there were numerous other wide pointed roofs, reaching towards the awning below like a staircase.

This wooden building was an ancient Mana Temple, one that was dedicated to that Legendary Pokemon Glastrier. At one point it held an object that both the Leagues and Wicked Blow still fight over; an elemental key and lock of mana.

Ones specifically of ice used to sit on a decorated pedestal in the center of a small prayer chamber. Used to being the key word, Pokemon in Wicked Blow had stolen it. I’m not sure why they think they could have more power without a hitch, but I had to ask. But there’s something or someone else out there I need to find before we go back.

“Xuě, this Mystery Dungeon run and exploration was a dead-end waste of time!” Passimian swatted my shoulder, and brought me back from my thoughts.

My nose twitched suddenly and I couldn’t help but sneeze. Snow, my namesake, fell around all of us. “Guys, this expedition wasn’t a bust,” I replied with a growl. 

“What’s a bust?” Pangoro stuffed a bun ration into their maw, rolling up the map before them. “This place wasn’t on the map by the way.”

“It’s a bust because we couldn’t find the key and lock artifacts here though!” Cramorant shrieked into their wing. 

 

Lurantis shivered and moved closer to me. “There aren’t any fresh traces of Pokemon here either!” Their leaves had started to lighten a bit with how little sunlight we were getting these last couple of days.

I stood up and stretched, taking a moment to peer below us. In the snow-covered ground there used to be clear imprints of our tracks, I barely noticed them now. 

 

“All we found was this abandoned temple, and glyphs of ice and snow inside,” Sandaconda hissed slowly, coiling her body even further. “And it’s getting colder.” 

 

A chill blasted against my muzzle and I shielded my eyes. “Dangit! This stupid snowstorm is approaching faster than I expected, and there’s still something really freaking odd about this area.”

“Wherever you go we’ll follow,” Pangoro shoved a bun ration in my face.

I ripped off the wrapper and then stuffed the food into my mouth. “Let’s go back down,” I grumbled through bites, glancing at the massive structure of the Temple. It had a wide expansive sweeping roof, long shingles stemmed from the center, flaring like wings.

Soon we made our way outside on the ground level, all the Pokemon vulnerable to the brisk temperatures huddled beside the rest of us together. “Okay, now first we need to get out of this Mystery Dungeon, then I need to find whatever’s bugging me,” I said.

“Sounds good to me!” Cramorant squawked, picking up Sandaconda and carrying her off the ground.

I stood still as there was a break in the wind, my whiskers twitching as I felt an odd pulsing of darkness and the essence of fighting spirit. Not sure who that is. It can be dealt with later. We trudged through the arctic flatland for what felt like an hour or so. Mon it’s so fricking cold out here!

Eventually, as I was close to calling it quits getting out of the path of the blizzard I found something. My paw pads pressed up against an awfully hard bump in the snow. Suspicious.I swept the surface as clean as I could and noticed a square stone tile. One with a gear pattern! Noticing my efforts, Pangoro, Lurantis, and Sandaconda helped me clear the surrounding area.

“There is something alluring about this slightly visible stone path in between the snow,” I rubbed my chin as the sky’s clouds started to darken. “Where did it lead?”

“That’s a good question,” Lurantis chirped.

“Is it another Pokemon, one with strength rivaling my own, trying to lure me? Or maybe it is the land itself?”

“Only time shall tell, we must continue our search,” Cramorant reminded me.

I scratched my ears with a mareepish grin. “Right.”

The thin line of the stone tiles wasn’t easy to follow, everymon of the Expedition Team had to act as a snowplow so we didn’t lose the trail.

“S-so what are we looking for Xuě?” Sandaconda hissed, spitting out a pile of sand. “I’m kinda freezing my tail off here if you haven’t noticed.” 

I watched as her sand spread into the air and then fumbled with my bag. “There should be another mystical building hidden around here, Master told me.”

“What did they say Xuě?” Passimian asked.

“They mentioned something that might be nearby one of those Mana Temples, another building made by the Ancients, the chance of some clue of how to solve the Disruption inside.”

Lurantis rubbed their claws together with a sigh. “Something that’s not finding enough elemental keys and locks and restoring them?”

“I dunno, hopefully.”

After a while of trudging blindly along a small stone pathway through the Winterland, all of our hard work came to fruition. There was an outline of a tall building in the frosty mist! “Guys look!” I pointed.

“Wooo!” Passimian cheered. “We did it!”

The expedition team and I  scoured the ruins of the stony building.

“It looks like a chapel.” Lurantis pointed at the remains of a few pews. Snow and the elements buried its former glory, just like the rest of the building’s wreckage.

Sandaconda dusted off a layer of flurries of large bell, one that sat cracked next to a dilapidated wooden platform. “I dunno, it looks more like a shrine to me.”

Honestly I don’t care, it’s just really cool! Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side, the snowstorm grew to insurmountable heights. Winds tore across the land, flakes of ice coating everything in its path. We poked and prodded at more old pieces of the structure, high and low but didn’t find much. More and more snow fell around us with each passing moment, not that’d stop me.

“Woah, there were sections of the stone walls, and ceiling that are somehow still up!” I yelled, pointing at the ancient foundation and structure of the building.

“Xuě that’s great but we need to get to some shelter!” Pangoro grabbed my shoulder. “The hail storm is taking Sandaconda and Lurantis out!”

Shoot! “I need to get them warm with my power!” I gasped, my breath forming into mist instantly. I slammed my claws to the ground and tried to draw in enough power. The two Pokemon weak to ice shivered next to me and my ears folded down. Damnit!

The bleak white torrent consumed us in the gale and hail. Crap it’s too much for them! All of a sudden as I channeled my electricity into heat the Earth itself attacked us for our transgressions. I felt my teeth chatter once the ground shook, the raw elemental energy easily overpowering me.

There was a loud rumbling as the stone circular area we stood on sank slowly towards the unknown. Then there was a soft whirring noise, and the ground below us was smooth and snow-free, warm too. Not sure what happened but okay. In the darkness I saw odd guidelines and designs sprawled out across the floor and along what could only be walls.

“Where are we?” Pangoro questioned, their voice echoing out.

“I don’t know,” Sandaconda huffed. “But this place is way warmer than outside and that’s for sure!”

With an eerie flicker, blue and purple colored lights began to turn on, illuminating the building in select pieces. Once enough of the lights turned it revealed an interesting sight.

There were gear symbols and markings of odd claw shapes on the far black walls, and the main room sat on a platform with a deep pit on the borders, towards the wall. 

“This is way better than that empty Mana Temple!” I pumped my fist, racing towards the first wall in our way. I placed my head against it and heard the slow pulse of electricity inside along with a faint tick. 

We walked forward through the dark granite maze and eventually found a gate resting near the ceiling up before us. 

“Well that’s interesting,” Passimian tried to pull and prod at the bottom of the gate. 

Off to the side, a large ceramic ball was sitting inside a huge bowl. It had faded green and red lights pulsating slowly.

“We better write this all down!” Cramorant pointed their wing at the oddities. “Isn’t this something that can help with the Disruption?”

“Yeah,” I sighed, taking out my notepad and charcoal pencil. In another room there was a large tall diamond shaped switch that sat slanted, it had a dull green and red beam of light coming off of it like the ball. “Doesn’t it feel like we aren’t the first ones who’ve been here?”

“Maybe.” Passimian rubbed their head, placing her hand on the wall. “All the puzzles or whatever are already completed for us.”

In the last room there was a blue and purple stained glass wall. “A Mystery, ooo. Oh and I guess that’s the exit huh,” Lurantis chirped, their antennae drooping. 

In front of us was a set of stairs, similar to a Mystery Dungeons. The glass surrounded a statue of the strangest-looking Pokemon I’ve ever seen, like a Ryhdon and a Kangaskhan. When I, because the others were too scared, touched the surface with my claw the barrier instantly shattered. 

  Small electric shards of now red and green glass flew into the air past me, and the statue’s eyes flickered for a moment. Out came four small teardrop-shaped gems, their exterior a cloudy crystal. Cyan, Magenta, Green, and Red were each of the jewels colors, or maybe used to be. I wonder what type of mana artifacts these are?

“Uh…,” I questioned as they floated into my claws as a door opened up in the wall. It led outside, where it wasn’t completely white but there was still snow. “What just happened?”

Pangoro placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me close, “Don’t know but we better hold onto those, maybe they could get their old shiny colors back!”

“Yeah, maybe first we could go back to Wei Tundra Township and go to the sauna or anywhere warm?” Sandaconda slapped me with her tail.

With a laugh, I flinched as the four gems seemed to phase directly into my body. “I don’t really know where we are but the weather is better now so we should be fine. Pangoro, can I see the map?” I asked, reaching out my paw. They handed it to me and we set out.

So it seemed we are near the base of one of the tallest mountains in the Region, not really sure if this terrain counts as a Tundra but whatever. We only had about an hour of heading southeast to get out of the wildlands. I don’t mind hanging around the stray Pokemon out here but my Expedition Team needed to rest after all our hard work. They aren’t Mythical Pokemon like me so of course, they couldn’t go for days without modern comforts in this harsh climate easily.

Suddenly as we made our way up the icy mountain’s base the snow started to slide. “Uh, is there a battle going on near the top or something?” Sandaconda asked, tongue thrashing about.

“N-no,” Cramorant replied, taking to the skies in a panic. “I think something else is shaking the mountain!”

“Xuě! What should we do?” Pangoro shook my shoulder.

Lurantis sharpened their blades. “What is this a Volcano or something?” 

“Xuě wouldn’t take us to one of those so no,” Passimian answered with a chuckle.

More clumps of snow crashed onto the ledge in front of us, my whiskers twitching in anticipation. Then the rumbling began. Shit. “It’s an Avalanche!” I screamed, turning around at the path behind us. “We need to head towards the bottom, quickly!”

I forgot what happened but as we were running I saw a large piece of mountain encased in the snow, that rolled towards us. And my body just flew. A fusillade of electricity launched out of me and I channeled it into fighting energy and boom.

A sea of snow and rocks engulfed me, covering me in white darkness as I fell. It cleared and below me, I saw the figures of the five members of my Expedition Society on the mountain. Phew, all of my Team had been kept safe. A sharp burst of pain brought my attention back to what was happening and my eyes shot open. I fell off the mountainside! I took a glance down to notice the forest of trees below me. “Okay, we can nail this landing,” I hyped myself up, as I took in a quick breath before slamming my forepaws out.

I pulled the energy of Aura Sphere out and a flash of teal lit up the area as I ripped through all the trees in my way. I crashed into the snow with a thud, sliding for a couple meters, taking down everything in my descent. Then I finally stopped. Ugh, I need to get out of here. I struggled upright against an almost fallen tree, my knees and thighs wobbling.Deep breaths and shallow breaths were the only sounds I heard besides the drumming of my heartbeat as I tried to reorient myself.

Something else crashed into me, and forced my eyes to shoot open and my claws to slide out; the feeling of another Mythical Pokemon nearby. A Spectral and Fighting presence… but from where? The saturation of trees covered the land in thick darkness, one I could barely pierce with my power, let alone make heads or tails of. If anything the elevation started to rise in the south so I’ll go that way.

After a couple of minutes of walking, accidentally scaring away some Cetoddle, Bergmite, and white Vulpix strays I noticed something strange. There was an oddly dark shadow that seemed to follow me.

My whiskers twitched and I somersaulted to the left on instinct, dodging the oncoming ball of what appeared to be a Focus Blast. It tore through almost a dozen trees and melted away the snow, scorching the grass below. Okay, now I know a Pokemon was after me, and they’re powerful too! I needed to be on guard and try to find out who this is.

My whiskers twitched again as I saw a flash of something dart out in front of me. “Augh!” I shouted, a strong attack nailing me in the belly. In the searing pain of the ghost-type attack I retaliated with a move I inherited from my Master, Plasma Fists. Take that! I punched back.

 

“Fuck!” my target yelled, their form becoming visible as electricity crackled. The Pokemon was a small ghost-fighting type, one of the only ones; Marshadow. They keeled over into the snow and hunched down in agony.

Sparks! That hurt! I sank to the floor but willed myself to stand, panting as the aftershocks of the attack battered my body.

Eventually, the Marshadow staggered forward, clutching the burn mark representing their wound. I remained doubled over, slowly trying to get up. They noticed my struggle and their orange eyes narrowed.

“H-how’d you like my Spectral Thief Zeraora?!” Marshadow mocked me, sticking out their tongue and blowing a razzberry. “I’d gloat about how pitiful you look Zeraora, but I have something I need you to do.”

I barely held myself up. I think that Marshadow jerk broke something! “The name’s Xuě!” I growled, my ears flat against my skull.

“Yeah yeah whatever, let me cut to the chase,” Marshadow reached down towards the scroll on my side.

“Back off!” I jumped up and pushed them away with Brutal Swing. “You can’t have this scroll!”

Their arms shot up to block the attack with a Drain Punch, my vitality sapped away on impact “Why’s that!?”

“My Master entrusted it to me, they said it could help Pokemon!” I yelled.

They then rushed forward. “Don’t you know we shouldn’t infer with Keepers and Sentinels and their fight over the Mana Artifacts and Gears of Mana!?” Marshadow disappeared, dipping into the ground to attack with the Spectral Thief again. 

Like a flash of light, they reemerged right under me. Marshadow tried to strike again.“Give me all the artifacts you hold! Stop intermingling with destiny!”

“Never!” I punched down with my Plasma Fists, blocking the attack and catching them off guard. “Get out of my way!”

“Those Pokemon deserve to get out of their own mess, they did this to try and achieve our power!” Marshadow ordered, swinging their fist forward.

The Drain Punch hit me in the side and I went flying, crashing through a couple trees and then into a clearing. I managed to crawl off the ground and my ears twitched. There was a loud roar as the wind whipped up. Oh no, another attack! There was a shadow that darted around in front of me. Marshadow! I front-flipped and channeled darkness energy in my arms to use Brutal Swing, swinging and deflecting another Spectral Thief attack from Marshadow.

“Why are you so defiant!?” they yelled standing between me and the clearing. Wait! That clearing led to a cliff, it’s right into that blizzard, but more importantly the Wei Tundra Township. “Answer me!” Marshadow fumed, the top of their head and neck wisp-collar turning dark green as their fighting spirit flared up in a Zenith of power.  My eyes scanned the area behind Marshadow as they came at me one last time.

“I’m not like you, I’ve seen what those Pokemon are also capable of, they saved my life!”I placed my front paws on the ground and took in a deep breath. Then I jumped. Once released my electrical power produced a shock wave and a bright yellow hue, sending me soaring past Marshadow and into the abyss. A storm of snow blinded me as I barreled through the air. 

How long was I going to fall for? Was this what Master would have done? Alone with my thoughts and the freezing blizzard, I finally crashed toward Earth. Instead of the pain of my bones breaking I found myself buried in a stalwart hill of snow, my injuries only mild after my cushioned slide across the ground.

“Ugh, what am I going to do?” I asked myself with a groan, climbing out of the pile of snow just to fall in again muzzle first. My arms and legs didn’t move the way I wanted them to.

Maybe I should just take a quick rest out here? Everything will be fine. Fatigue from today’s exploration and combat had hit me hard, I tried to get up but couldn’t.

As the ways of sleep dared to take me under a bright light came from the metal scroll slung across my front. Energy flooded into me like a spark of hope and I sat upright, pulling the object into my claws.“Wait, the real question is: what would those League Pokemon do?”