Breaking the Ice

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

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That night the Pewter City gym leader, Brock, let us stay the night in the extra room inside his gym, on the condition that we would battle him the next day. I wasn't really sure if Monique wanted to or not, but I guess that was for us to find out.

Unfortunately for us, this rock-type gymleader had a very, very strong passion for, well, rocks. We ended up sleeping uncomfortably on a pile of rocks. Doesn't sound very appealing, eh? Don't try this at home, kids.

"Screw these rocks!" I shouted, shifting on my pile to get more comfortable.

"Well, hey, its better than the storm out there." Monique pointed out, pointing out the rain-stained window. Lightning flashed and more rain poured from the clouds.

"Honestly, I would rather sleep soaking wet than on a pile of rocks." I moaned. Flopping helplessly on my back, letting my arms hand drape over the side of the pile. Glaceon, who was curled up elegantly on a big, smooth rock opened an eye and peered up at me. "At least you're comfortable over there, your highness." I told her sarcastically. She turned her head.

"Glacee." She said, going back to sleep.

"This is hopeless." Monique said finally, after what seemed like hours. "Lets just go outside." I gladly jumped up and rushed to the door.

"At last!" I cried, running into the storm. Oh well. I let the rain water soak my skin, the crisp clear droplets freezing at my touch. "This feels WAY better than those rocks." Monique snorted, clouds of steam developing where the rain touched her skin. After a while, Glaceon joined us, looking tired and irritated.

"Glad you could join us." I said to her playfully. She glared at me. Lightning continued to flash, and thunder boomed. Glaceon jumped and burrowed into my jacket, trembling with fear.

"So the princess is afraid of thunder, huh?" I joked. Glaceon bit me. "Hey!" I yelped in protest. Monique laughed, and I joined her. We both abruptly stopped after we heard a sound.

"What was that?" Monique whispered. We were silent, taking in the surroundings more carefully. It was dark, (obviously) and rain was pouring down (obviously) but something was different, now that we noticed. The lights of all the houses were out, and nobody was stirring. No sounds of wild Pidgey or such, which was different.

"Is there gonna be a twister or something?" Monique asked. There was a slight breeze... usually there is no wind at all before a twister.

"I don't think so." I said thoughtfully. "Maybe a..." We both suddenly froze and stared at each other. Glaceon tensed from in my jacket. We could feel a static gaze on us. We slowly turned around to watch as the biggest Pokemon I had ever seen opened its mouth and either attempted to eat, or screech at us.

"RUUUUUNNNN!" I screamed. We pelted off into the busy town, the giant yellow bird Pokemon following close behind.

"We're toast!" Monique said beside me. Glaceon's graceful strides allowed her small body to keep up with us. I was sprinting as hard as I could.

"What is that thing?" I screamed at no one in particular.

"I don't know!" Monique screamed. "Does a big, yellow, intimidating Pokemon trying to eat us sum it up for you?"

"Yeah, pretty much!" I ducked as the Pokemon lunged at me. I fell to the ground, the impact knocking the breath from my lungs.

"Keep running!" I called to Monique and Glaceon, who glanced nervously back at me. They nodded and kept sprinting. Turns out, to my surprise, there were 3 bird Pokemon chasing us. Oh, goody goody gumdrops. Why does this stuff always happen to me, like every day?

The big yellow bird and a new, blue bird (still just as big) were flying full speed at my friends. They saved the best for me. Of course, I got the big, fire bird. Just my luck. It screeched loudly and attacked me with a flamethrower attack.

"Oh, no you didn't!" I yelled at it. Running wouldn't be enough to get away, so I had an estimated 3 seconds to come up with a new plan. The ground around me started to freeze as I nervously got to my feet as fast as I could.

Thats it! Ice! I could ice skate to safety! Arceus knows how great an ice skater I am. I froze the ground in front of me as the fire bird shot at me again. I scrambled and slipped with no traction, then turned my sneakers to ice skates. Literally. Skates made of ice. Get it? Oh, never mind.

I skated with great elegance (thats a first) to almost catch up with Monique and Glaceon, who were dots against the sky a moment ago. Ice skating gets you along fast.

"Ellie!" Monique called, not looking back at me. She didn't have to. I was already lapping her pace.

"All limbs accounted for!" I reported. Glaceon jumped onto my shoulder.

"Decided to forgive me, eh?" I told her. She stuck her tongue out at me.

All 3 birds were gaining on Monique now, who was nearly out of breath and struggling to keep running. I slipped behind her without another thought and pushed her along the ice. She flashed me a grateful glance as we slid along.

We were well into the Viridian Forest again, when we fell into a hole unexpectedly.

"Well crap." Monique noted, panting. "So this is how it ends. We die in a hole!" All 3 birds were hovering angrily above us.

"Can you TRY to communicate with them?" I whispered to Glaceon, wobbling on my unbalanced ice skates. The ground was freezing below my feet and crawling up the sides of the ditch.

"Glacee...Glaceon?" Glaceon tried bravely. The ice one screeched in her face and she stepped back timidly.

Suddenly, I remembered something very important to our survival. There used to be legends about 3 birds like these, birds of electricity, ice and fire. Their names... aha! Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres! If only I had brought my pokedex and we would've known this earlier.

"Articuno," I counted, pointing at the ice bird. "Zapdos," then at the electric bird "Moltres." They looked surprised, but only for a moment. The fire bird, Moltres, shot a flamethrower at me and I fell, my leg burning with pain.

"Ellie!" Monique cried, then quickly shut up as Zapdos stared at her evilly. I suddenly saw a resemblance. Articuno represented me, the one of ice, Moltres represented Monique, the one of fire, and so Zapdos... someone was missing. "There's a third one like us!" I yelled.

"That's right, Ellie Thompson." Said a familiar voice above the three birds. "I always knew you were smart. You figured it out." The person moved into my sight, revealing the speaker. I was left staring into the eyes of my old ally, Orange Oak.