Snow on Mount Silver

Chapter Two: Death

   Gold struggled on, hugging himself tighter. His entire body shivered, and the ever-present cold practically sent him mad, wrapping its frigid embrace around what felt like every area of his body. He wanted to escape it—he wanted the whirling wind and snow to end, but it wouldn't. He could not escape it, not now. Perhaps not ever. But no. He wasn't going to give up. He carried on, shaking, coughing, and vaguely panicking, but trying to maintain his bravery and determination, nevertheless.

    He coughed into his quivering elbow, stopping in his tread for a moment. The white world around him continued to press against him, sending gust after gust of wind at him. He felt every single one of them, nearly tipping over once or twice, but he didn't let himself. Rubbing his stiff hands together, he decided it was probably best if he checked on his Pokémon. After all, Pidgeot had seemed cold and miserable the last time he'd taken it out. He had to be sure the others were alright. However, he would not release them, for fear of exposing them to the wicked blizzard.

    As he went through the Poké balls, everything seemed to be alright, minus each of them being quite cold to the touch. However, when he reached one in particular, he discovered it had a thick layer of frost over it. Frowning deeply, he tossed it and out came Typhlosion. Immediately, Gold seized up, his frost-bitten face growing even whiter than before. Typhlosion's call rang out, but it was nothing like it usually sounded. It was broken and stilted, simply full of pain as it rang through the air, nearly silencing the howl of the wind.

    "Ty...Typhlosion?" Gold said, his own voice rough and quavering. The poor thing trembled from head to toe, the lighter part of its skin now a sickly, dull color, somewhere between blue and grey. A few gashes and holes littered its body, as if it were decaying. And of course, frost layered parts of it, clearly causing the discoloration and injury. It bowed its head, giving a small whimper-like sound. "No." He shook his head, stepping closer. "Oh, buddy, I'm so sorry." He pressed a hand to the Pokémon's frozen nose. The action hurt him, as his hands had progressively become tenser and more frozen. Typhlosion leaned into his touch, making another distressed noise. Overcome with sympathy and horror, he hugged it. It was cold against his shuddering body, yet he felt the faintest flicker of warmth beneath its hard skin. Perhaps this was its flame abilities, just the smallest piece of warmth keeping the poor thing alive.

    "I'll get us out of this," he murmured, stiffening against the biting wind. Typhlosion rested its head on his. He shut his eyes, grinding his teeth against the horrid cold that continued to plague him. "I-I...I have to go on. I can't let you or me die, not any of us. I-I have to go on." He drew away, then made Typhlosion return to its Poké ball. He figured it needed all the warmth it could get; he'd rather it stay there, than be out in the furious blizzard.

    After briefly checking on his other Pokémon, Gold struggled on. It seemed no matter how far he went, though, there were no signs of the summit, nor any civilization. He didn't think Mount Silver had any towns or abandoned houses, but he began to hope he saw something of that sort—just any form of shelter in general, which he could use to escape the cold. But, out in the whipping wind like this, he didn't know if there would ever be an escape. He could not give up hope, though.

    Not yet...

    Gold's anxiety became worse the longer he travelled. The incident with Typhlosion left him rattled, so much so that he found himself constantly checking on the Poké balls, just to make sure none of the others had frost on them. So far, all seemed to be well. Only Typhlosion's was like that, which Gold made sure to occasionally take out and rub or keep hugged to himself, in hopes of warming Typhlosion. He didn't know if it was helping, seeing he himself was freezing, but it made him feel better about the situation, anyway.