The gray forest howled beneath a ceiling of low clouds. Wind tore through the dead trees, carrying powdery snow that never seemed to land. Somewhere in the distance, the steady creak of wood scraped against frozen ground.
The sound grew louder.
Branches snapped and a low rumble built, then a sled burst through a thicket of brittle brush, scattering snow in its wake.
At its helm, Sleet, a Hisuian Arcanine harnessed to the sled, his pawprints trailing flames that smoldered blue in the cold. Behind him, the sled jostled over uneven ground, carrying crates, ropes, and one snoring Luxray sprawled across the load.
"Rastor," Sleet called over the wind, his tone half amusement, half disbelief. "You're really sleeping right now?"
The Luxray shifted, one paw lazily flopping over his eyes. "Just wake me when we're back home."
Behind them, a sleek orange shape slid down a slope on its belly with a shout of laughter. Zeek the Floatzel, wearing his satchel like a backpack, spun out of the slide and landed upright on the cargo. "Man, if you're this lazy now, I can't imagine what you'll be like when we're back at home!" He dives back into the snow, sliding on his belly like a raft.
"We've been away for sooo looong." Rastor yawns through the rushing sounds of snow. "I just miss my wife, man."
Sleet barked a hearty laugh that sent steam curling into the cold air. "He just misses his bed."
Perched atop Sleet's back, Raiya cut through the chatter with a sharp motion of her paw. The Lucario's blue fur bristled, her eyes widened toward the horizon of trees. "Quiet everyone."
The forest hushed under her command.
Her aura tendrils flared, trembling faintly. The world around her dulled as she focused inward—through snow, through bark, through the still pulse of the land itself.
"...There's something ahead."
Zeek's face straightened, grin fading. "Something like 'something we rescue,' or 'something that's about to kill us'?"
"It looks like a dungeon." Raiya dismounted, landing lightly beside Sleet, running along the way. "Rastor, wake up."
The team's pace quickened as they slid through the forest, their path a clean line to their destination.
When the jagged lip of the dungeon came into view the group slowed. Steam hissed faintly from the chasm's rim, like breath. Zeek and Raiya take a step together and suddenly the air becomes thick and an immense pressure is applied.
Sleet unhitched himself, stretching out his shoulders. "Raiya, what's the call?"
Raiya turned to the sled and, with one sharp kick, jarred Rastor awake. "I said wake up."
The Luxray blinked, yawning wide. "If this is another false alarm, I swear—"
"Eyes." Raiya's tone left no room for complaint.
Grumbling, Rastor rose and slowly opened his eyes. They flared golden with pale electric light. His pupils contracted to pinpoints as his x-ray vision cut through the dungeon walls. "Hmm... there's movement down there. Lower level...." His tail flicked and he blinked, adjusting his vision to the ground below them. "Light signatures are bunched up in a large group, moving at a high speed...and there's a single bright light moving away from it."
Raiya stepped forward, her own sensors humming. "I can see it too. It's...too bright for me to see clearly."
Zeek's whiskers twitched uneasily. "So... do we, uh, not go in that direction? Maybe turn around, pretend we didn't just feel that huge pressure?"
Sleet smirked. "You're the rescue diver, Zeek. Don't tell me you're scared of a little pressure."
"Scared? No. I just prefer my air uncrushed, thanks."
Raiya silenced them with a look. "If there's someone alive down there, we move now."
Zeek threw up his paws talking to himself. "And this is how we all die in an ice cave."
Sleet gave him a nudge that nearly bowled him over. "Orders are orders, pal. Grab the stardust for us."
Grumbling, Zeek pulled a small pouch from the sled. "Fine, fine.." He opened the pouch to reveal its contents. Fine grains of sparkling red dust.
Raiya and Zeek took a pinch of shimmering dust and sprinkled it along their fur. Raiya took an extra pinch, spreading it over Rastor, then another pinch for Sleet. The fine grains melted into their coats, leaving faint trails of warmth that shimmered faintly in the gray light.
Raiya adjusted her gear, eyes narrowing toward the entrance. "Let's move."
They stepped into the dungeon.
Instantly, the air grew heavier than before—thick and cold, pressing against their lungs. Breath came in clouds that hung too long in the stillness. The silence here wasn't empty.
Rastor's fur stood on end. "Feels like we're walking through syrup."
"Pressure's higher," Sleet murmured, nose twitching. "And there's frost rot in the air. Don't breathe too deep."
Zeek's usual grin returned, if only out of nerves. "Great, so death by suffocation or freezing. Pick your poison."
Raiya ignored the banter, focusing her senses forward. The bright thread of aura she'd sensed earlier still prohibited her sight.
They followed the winding tunnels at Rastor's lead until the roar of rushing water grew ahead.
"We've made it to the river. I've pinpointed the way. It's just below us." Rastor yawned without a care.
"Can you tell what we're dealing with, Sleet?" Raiya places a hand on his back, ushering him to the front. He casts his nose to the ground and leads them to the scent of tracks. Small pawprints.
Sleet suddenly stopped, nostrils flaring. "Hold up. I've got something."
Raiya turned to him sharply. "What is it?"
He nodded, muzzle lifting. "A days fresh." He takes a few more sniffs. "These are the pawprints of a Meinshao. It smells like it's still very close."
Rastor's eyes glowed again, scanning through the frozen stone. "He's right. There's a stairway to the next floor close by. It's just past the river bend."
Raiya's pulse quickened. "Prepare to make contact. Zeek, stay with me. Sleet, find this floor's stairs. Rastor, keep tracking the movements below."
Sleet dipped his head. "Copy that."
The team moved into formation, their motions swift and precise.
Somewhere beyond the river, the faint sound of bells can be heard.
The cold screamed.
Yamri ran. Her feet slid across the frost, the long sleeves of her arms trailing like silk banners behind her. The ground was slick, and her breath came in sharp bursts that clouded and vanished in the wind.
The bells. The endless, clashing bells.
Hundreds of Cryogonal drifted through the mist behind her, their crystalline forms spinning, their chains rattling in perfect rhythm. Each one's face shimmered with inner light, eyes glowing a chilling blue.
A lance of Ice Beam carved past her shoulder, missing by inches. Yamri slid low and spun on her heels. Two Cryogonal shot toward her with Rapid Spin, their spinning bodies cutting the air like sawblades.
She dropped to her knees and let her momentum carry her into a glide underneath a fallen pillar of ice. The ground hissed beneath her paws as she slid under the Cryogonal's path, its frost trailing across her fur. The temperature burned. She winced and came up sprinting again, this time skidding on all fours, barely gaining traction like a rodent.
A second Cryogonal emerged from the haze, exhaling a white Mist that blurred everything to nothing. Yamri coughed, squinting through the fog. Her chest tightened. She could hear them, but couldn't see where they would strike next.
She bursted through the mist, spreading her arms like wings as she cleared the way. Upon opening her eyes, she was point blank to a group of Cryogonal, blocking her path.
Yamri felt a desire to dodge the attack as it razed through the air. Suddenly her body screamed to duck—she obeyed, dropping her body to a skidding crawl with the move Detect. A split-second later, a spear of Aurora Beams blasted through the space where her head had been, scattering into prismatic shards against the icy walls.
"Think, Yamri! Think!" she hissed through gritted teeth, running as fast as her new form would allow.
The influence of the Swan kicked at her chest—urging her onward. She drew her sleeve across her forearm, muscles flexing. The movement felt wrong, but somehow right.
She spun. Her sleeve cracked through the air with a whip-like strike, catching one Cryogonal squarely in the core. The unfurling power was a physical shock, a surge of adrenaline tied her senses together into a clear weave. She pulled her arm back, yanking the core straight from its crystalline body. It shrieked and shattered, fragments of ice cascading across the floor.
She blinked. "Did I just—?"
The moment of triumph lasted for only a heartbeat.
The others roared in unison, their bells clanging in fury. The Mist thickened as the hoard began to spin, creating a storm of wind and ice that cut through the air. Blinding beams of color and frost erupted from all sides. Ancient Power boulders of glowing ice burst from the floor, forcing her to weave between them.
Yamri twisted between two hurling boulders, squeezing herself between them. Her long limbs carried her in desperate arcs. Her tummy scraped against the jagged icy rocks, leaving her winded. She was fast, unnaturally fast, but every movement felt just slightly out of sync, as though her mind and body were one step apart.
She ignored the pain in that moment, dropping to all fours and skittering through the corridors. She moves frantically, dodging Ice Shards and Ice Beams along the way. She can see a faint light guiding her, but her mind is racing too fast to follow.
Several Cryogonal shot forward, chains lashing out Bind.
She barely leapt aside using Detect, but the links still scraped her sides and arms. Frost spread instantly along her wounds, biting into her fur.
"Ahh!"
She hit the ground rolling, slammed her arm against a rock, "Augh!", and the ice cracked apart. She barely caught her senses before a Night Slash sliced across her shoulder, she yelped in pain again, then several more streaks of black light whizzed in her direction. She rolls to her side and they slash into the ice behind her, leaving large gashes in the wall.
Panting, Yamri ducked behind a jagged ridge of ice. Her heart pounded so violently she thought it might break free.
"I can't— I can't do this..."
She pressed her back to the wall, trembling. Her breath fogged against her muzzle, freezing into tiny crystals. The warmth in her chest flickered, as if struggling to stay lit.
The hoard reorganized in the air, aligning themselves like a formation of mirrored soldiers. The mist thinned, revealing the full scale of them — a blizzard given form.
It's like they're herding me in.
Yamri looks around her immediate view and sees an opening. For a moment she debates moving another inch, but a potent fuel simmers within her.
She took a deep breath, then bolted again, skidding across the glassy surface, turning hard into a tunnel of frozen stone. For a moment, she thought she'd lost them. Then the air ahead shimmered — Freeze-Dry—and the tunnel erupted in cold blue light and wind.
The blast hit her leg, stopping her in her tracks. Ice crawled up her lower body before she even registered the pain. She stumbled to her side, hitting her waist to the ground and slid to a stop at the end of the passage, her body half-frozen.
At that moment, she remembered the frozen statues.
Tears burned in her eyes. "I can't keep this up. I just want to wake up. Please... just let me wake up."
The Cryogonal surrounded her. Their hollow eyes glowed. Chains clicked. Their freezing mist spread through the air like a breath of death.
She thought of her parents—her mother's smile, her father's voice. We'll go hiking every day, my Melon.
A sob caught in her chest. "You ugly snowflakes...just leave me alone already."
A notable large Cryogonal lowered itself, preparing the final strike. Frost gathered into its core.
She closes her eyes tight, preparing herself for whatever pains may come.
Then the icy world erupted. The wall behind them shattered in an explosion of blue flames.
A massive Hisuian Arcanine burst through the cloud of frost, mane blazing like molten ice. Sleet let out a thunderous roar and released a torrent of Raging Fury, melting through the front line of Cryogonal in a single sweep.
"There's the target!" came a sharp voice, Raiya's aura sensors glowing bright as she leapt from behind Sleet. She struck the ground with a charged Force Palm, sending a ripple of pure energy through the chamber that shattered the Cryogonal's formation.
"Rastor, seal our path!" she commanded.
"I'm too tired for this!" The Luxray's eyes flared gold through the kicked up dust and snow, and arcs of lightning cracked through the maze, his Discharge seals the tunnels with walls of melted stone that instantly refroze into jagged barriers.
Zeek darted across the ice, twin tails spinning. "Dude, that's a lot of Cryogonal!" His cheeks enlarged and he unleashed a surging Hydro Pump that blasts the remaining Cryogonal into the walls. Steam hissed as the freezing mist turned to water, then to vapor again.
In seconds, the hoard was broken up and disarrayed.
Yamri stared, wide-eyed and shaking, barely able to comprehend the organized chaos before her. Her breath catches and the adrenaline wears off. Her eyes struggle open.
Raiya's eyes locked onto her. "She's injured! Sleet, Zeek, get her warm!"
Sleet bounded over, opening his mouth wide and chomping down on the ice encasing Yamri's body. He lets out a sigh fueled by flames and the ice melts slowly but surely. Once completely thawed, Yamri put up little struggle as she was lifted onto the sled.
Zeek rushed over while fishing his bag of stardust from his waist bag, dowsing a handful of it over Yamri's person. Immediately she felt a growing warmth blanketing her.
"Rastor, route us out of here, we're leaving!" Raiya ordered, scanning the maze with her aura.
"Right flank, three exits over," he replied, eyescrackling. "There are more Cryogonal up ahead though."
Zeek rubs his stomach, shaking frost off his belly fur. "Round two, then!"
Raiya stomped her foot down marking the shift of their directive. "Move!"
The team sprinted through the labyrinth, navigating with effortless precision. Their paws struck in rhythm, turns executed without hesitation.
Yamri's consciousness wavered, but her instincts allowed her a spectator's vantage. Raiya hops onto the sled like a captain of a ship. She checks Yamri's body for any more wounds. "You're going to be okay!" She shouts over the winds.
Suddenly, the sound of bells overwhelms their sense. Raiya's focus snaps upward. Hundreds more Cryogonal lay waiting up ahead.
Raiya places her palms together and air pulls towards the center. Then she drops into a wide stance and the light around them seems to wisp its way into a large sphere. She charges it with acute focus and the ball increases in size once and once more. She lifts her hands up overhead and leaps into the clump of Cryogonal that came into her view. They were blindsided by the Aura Sphere and the blast sends them to different corners of the halls like bowling pins.
She lands back on the moving sled with grace, then looks around for the next turn.
Stunned, Yamri watches as Raiya scans her surroundings as if the feat she pulled off was nothing but sport, then she lifts her paw up and points to a hidden incoming crack in the wall. "Right there." She coughed.
Raiya looks at Yamri and tracks the direction of her paw. "There's our way out." She points to a narrow space emitting a faint light. "2 o'clock, Sleet."
With not another word, the sled's course changed on a dime. Sleet's body bursts into flame as he rams himself through the small entryway. His Flare Blitz melted the ice on contact, giving himself plenty more room to evacuate with the sled in tow.
Rastor funneled himself into the opening, followed by Zeek, who slid himself over the ice without a care. As he passes the threshold, he glides over a jagged piece of black ice that stuck out from the ground. "Ah! hhhhsss." Zeek groans.
Raiya looks back, checking to make sure they were outside of danger's reach. "Zeek, are you okay?" she howls.
Zeek, who was behind the crew and content with his work, replies with a pained, "Yes ma'am. All good back here." Paying no mind to his wound.
They progress through the pathway made by Sleet, and finally reach an opening.
Sleet, without showing a single sign of slowing down, rams his head into the last part of the dungeon, demolishing the entryway for his team to follow suit. The sled makes it through with Yamri and Raiya in tow, Rastor makes it through with energy to spare, and finally Zeek makes his way through panting more than he should.
They find themselves free from the grasp of the dungeon and outside in the stale forest air.
Sleet trots himself to a stop, and Raiya hops down from the sled, checking the new addition to their cargo.
Rastor slowly trudges next to the sled and lays down. "Successful rescue number 245, complete." He says with a sigh.
Zeek slides himself close before lifting himself off his stomach with a groan and covering his fur with his paw. He looks down at his side, rubbing it firmly. "Looks like we made it out without dying."
"Good job, everyone." Raiya bends over Yamri to check her status.
Sleet, Rastor, and Zeek huddle around her as well. She lay quietly. Unconscious.
"I guess it's pretty beaten up." Zeek hummed. He pokes Yamri's face.
Raiya swats his paw away, glaring at him.
"Do you think it'll make the trip back to the Cradle?" Rastor asks.
Sleet digs a blanket out of a lidded box strapped to the sled's helm, covering Yamri with it.
Raiya tucks her in, then she breaks off from the rest of her team, gazing up at a pattern of lights in the sky that form a line. "We're only 5 stars away, it should be fine. Let's get ready to go." Without another word, she begins walking into the woods.
Rastor checks the sled for any room to climb aboard, but he groans and wobbles his way along like a sleep walker.
Zeek helps Sleet get his harness loosened before they both catch up. "We're going to have to give a report about this when we get back home." Sleet barked.
"Not it!" Sleet yelped.
"Not it!" Zeek echoed.
"Not-...Ugh." Rastor howled. "Argh, I hate giving reports. I hope it's not Aeska this time, her eyes look so creepy." He shivers at the thought.
"I'll give the report this time." Raiya interjected. "We've been out here for weeks, you all deserve some rest." She looked up at the lights in the sky that were getting dimmed by thick clouds.
"Let's hurry back to the Cradle—I've got a bad feeling." Raiya murmurs.
The group of pokemon pick up their pace, setting their destination to 'Home'.