Chapter 226: Lorelei's Ace
By the time Lorelei ran into the ice cave carrying Will, Will was completely stunned.
His level was too low, only Lv. 5. His strength was about the same as Lorelei's, this little pipsqueak. Lorelei held him in a death grip. No matter how Will struggled, she wouldn't let go.
By the time the two little ones stumbled into the cave, they were both exhausted, collapsing to the ground and panting.
"Are you trying to get us killed?" Will thought, gasping for breath.
He looked around. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all ice-blue. It was a cave made entirely of ice. The warm wind from outside didn't make it more than a few meters before it turned into a bone-chilling cold.
"Heehee! Let's go, Piplup~ I can already smell Pokémon!"
Lorelei recovered quickly. She sat on the ground for just a minute or two before jumping up, full of energy. Her little nose was red with cold, but she didn't complain.
"No! We're going home now!" Will thought. He didn't hesitate. He grabbed Lorelei's clothes and tried to drag her back outside.
"No! If you want to go back, go back yourself! Go tattle to Mom, you traitor, Piplup! And I liked you so much!"
Lorelei was stubborn as a mule. She just marched forward. Will, pulling on her clothes from behind, was just getting dragged along. His feet were too flat; they were like ice skates on the smooth ice.
"Nooo!!"
Five minutes later.
"Piplup! Piplup~~"
Will was now being carried by Lorelei, yelling at the top of his lungs.
It was useless to try and go back now. Because they were lost.
Based on Will's many years of wilderness experience, the airflow in the cave meant there had to be another exit from Icefall Cave.
What Will was doing now was betting on two things.
First, that they could find the other exit. Four Island was tiny. You could walk from the east end to the west end in three hours. A small cave on the island couldn't be that big.
Second, that they would run into an adult trainer in the cave.
Icefall Cave almost never had fewer than 30 trainers in it. This was because the cave not only had many Ice-type Pokémon, but also a massive Ice Stone vein. Ice Stones were extremely rare in this world. Even today, there were only a few Ice Stone veins, and most were owned by the League. It was very hard for normal people to get one. If you found even one, you'd be set for a year.
So the people here weren't just trainers, but also miners and treasure hunters. As long as they wandered around, they would definitely meet another human within a day.
Of course, there was one condition: that Lorelei didn't run off into some weird side-passage, and just stayed on this top level...
"Piplup! Look, there's a hole here! It looks like a slide. Let's go down and see!"
"Huh? AAAAAHHH!!"
Five minutes later.
"It's over. We're really going to die here."
Will lay limply in Lorelei's arms, his penguin-self having lost all will to live.
"Piplup, do you hear something?"
"The sound of death..." Will replied weakly. If he ever got out of this, he would make sure to tell Lorelei's mom to get her daughter one of those kid-tracker watches. A "genius" like this would be dead in a week without one.
"There really is a sound! I've heard it before. It's the sound of a Lapras!"
"...What?"
Will froze, then his eyes shot wide open! A Pokémon like Lapras couldn't have come in from the land entrance. That meant the river it was in led to another exit! If they found that Lapras, it could take them out!
And Will remembered... Lorelei's future ace was a Lapras. And she met it when she got lost in Icefall Cave as a child.
"Out of the way! I'll find it!"
Will struggled hard in Lorelei's arms and slipped free. He expanded his Aura sense as wide as he could. The range was still only a few meters, but it was enough to pinpoint the source of the sound.
"This way!"
Will confirmed the direction and ran for it.
"Piplup!" Lorelei quickly chased after him.
Will led Lorelei deeper into the cave. Even though they were getting further from the entrance, his mood was improving.
Because he could hear the sound of water!
There was a flowing river in Icefall Cave, and a Lapras. That meant this river had to connect to the ocean.
"Meee~"
The Lapras's call was close. A few more steps and they entered an open cavern with a large, semi-circular lake. The water was clear, and ripples flowed across its surface.
A smallish Lapras was by the shore, crying pitifully. It was a cry for help.
"Meee~" Seeing humans, the Lapras stretched its neck, begging for help.
In the old days, a Lapras would have hidden from humans. But times had changed. Nowadays, the Lapras clan taught their young to ask humans for help if they were in danger.
"Piplup, look at this Lapras! Her flipper is hurt!" Lorelei ran to the edge, her eyes immediately spotting the injury.
"Mm, probably attacked by a Tentacool or Tentacruel," Will thought, nodding. After thirty years of traveling the world, his survival experience was vast. He could tell from the wound.
The Lapras's rear-left flipper was punctured. The wound was purple and bleeding purple blood. It was clearly poisoned and very painful. In the Kanto and Johto seas, the only culprits for this were Tentacool and Tentacruel.
Come to think of it, last life, he and Meowscarada had saved a little Lapras from a bunch of Tentacool. And... this Lapras, just like that one, was female.
"Oh no, what do we do? I didn't bring any medicine!" Lorelei was panicking. In her rush to trick Will into coming, she hadn't brought her little bag.
"Wouldn't matter if you did," Will thought. "The problem is the poison, not the wound."
He waddled over, used Pound to break off some ice shards from the wall, and carried them back, pressing them against the Lapras's flipper.
"Meee~!" The Lapras cried out in pain, flinching its flipper. Tears welled up in its big eyes.
"Hold still!" Will thought, glaring. The little Lapras froze, intimidated. The ice would help slow the poison.
"Poor little Lapras..." Lorelei came over and stroked its long neck.
"Is the Pokémon that hurt you still out there? Is it blocking the way?" Will asked in his mind.
"Meee." The Lapras shook its head. It had fled into the sea cave after being attacked. It didn't know if the jellyfish were still outside.
"Can you still swim?"
"Meee..." The Lapras hesitated, then nodded. It could swim, but it hurt.
"Take us out the way you came. We have to treat that poison. We can't wait here," Will insisted, pointing to the water. They were probably at the lowest level of the cave. The land route was no longer an option.
"Meee."
"How many were there?"
"Meee." (Just one.)
"One shouldn't be a problem. I'll take care of it if I have to," Will "said," trying to reassure the scared Lapras. He had waited for a bit. The poison was spreading incredibly slowly. That meant the attacker must be very low-level. Probably a Tentacool under Lv. 10.
This little Lapras, despite its size, should be at least Lv. 15. The Lapras clan disliked fighting. The little Lapras probably just fled instead of fighting back.
After Will's "persuasion," the Lapras finally agreed.
"Let's go!" Will hopped onto the Lapras's shell.
"? Piplup, what did you two talk about? Where are we going?" Lorelei, who had been watching, was completely lost.
"Less talk, more climb," Will thought, waving a flipper.
"Oh." Lorelei expertly hopped on. She was no stranger to Lapras; her dad had one. The little Lapras was 2 meters long, more than enough to carry a 0.3-meter Piplup and a 1.3-meter human child.
"Let's go!"
"Meee."
The Lapras turned and swam up the river. The current was gentle, so it wasn't too difficult.
About ten minutes later, Will and Lorelei finally saw daylight. There were no Tentacool outside. They must have left.
"Head that way." Will, seeing the Lapras was looking pale, pointed toward the town... and then pulled the stolen Poké Ball from Lorelei's clothes.
"Piplup? No! We have to be honorable! We can't take advantage of it when it's weak!"
Lorelei instantly understood Will's plan. She quickly grabbed his head to stop him.
"Are you crazy? She's about to die! Take her to the Pokémon Center first!"
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