The Blizzard

Chapter 1

So this happened to me a while back, I want to say that I was foolish and should've stayed at home. My friends and family had been worried but at least I survived. I may be old for my age, but if it weren't for my primitive instincts and my modern knowledge I wouldn't have made it through the blizzard.

It started off like any other morning on an early spring weekend. I, Tesla Westinghouse, an old mouse pokémon who enjoys the great outdoors. I was born in the wilderness, not here on Faraday Island, but in the faraway region of Kanto. Adjusting to human society was hard, but I did okay. However, I still wanted to maintain that wild connection. On occasion I would leave my former trainer's farm and hiked my way into the wilderness on foot, alone, with no sense of direction whatsoever.

A simple-minded pikachu would take nothing on hiking adventures, but not me. I had a small green backpack, made out of handcrafted leather that was dyed green to match Faraday Island's temperate environment. Inside was bright gray nylon that was stitched into the confines of the backpack, filled with custom-made pouches. It had essential survival tools, like firestarters, a USB rechargeable angled flashlight, first aid kit, protein bars and several multi-tools. It also contained my tablet which was connected to the Island's cellular network. I use it to stay in contact with my family and monitor what is going on back at home. To keep them powered, I had a portable solar panel setup with an 9000mAH energy storage and a USB-powered battery charger for the nickel metal hydrides and 18650 lithium cells. Last but not least, an emergency communicator to signal Mark, his father, and Gizmo to come rescue me if I get myself in a jam.

The hike to my usual stomping grounds wasn't that far. The island's interior was natural forestry compared to the ten kilometer border zone. Almost no development occurs here and food was next to impossible to find. The island's biome is a bit unusual. Here, the weather never gets anywhere above 25 degrees Celsius and the weather always plummets way below zero. Big ancient conifers covered much of the landscape with grasslands and young spruce woods. I could see where the virgin forests end and where saplings began.

The island's denizens had a forest campaign going on for over fifty years. They were taking an array of the island's tree species and were planting them out in what used to be grasslands. The savannas marked the path of ancient volcanic lava flows from Mount Faraday, which had been silent for 500 years since the hotspot had cooled. I for one, had seen better diversity back in my day. I walked along the young shoots of spruce, maple, and oak trees. They were clustered around each other in a neat organized fashion. Smaller shrubbery was planted underneath them to help for nutrients. I could see some berry bushes and some mushrooms, all of which not edible. Viridian Forest had more resources and life, but not this Island. Too cold to grow anything outside of a greenhouse. Whatever vital nutrients there was had to be dug out below the lava flow layer. Faraday City had a specialized vertical agriculture system to feed its growing population, but they kept food stored away in case of hard times. Here, in the forests, environmentalists went to great lengths to cultivate wild fruit berries and plant them here with some success. Though it is frowned upon by the FEPA, due to the risk of invasive species.

Then the Dixierats came, everything changed. This clan of pichus, pikachus, and raichus came in from a freighter and invaded the island. They had evenly distributed themselves around the island, taking residence within the urban zone, mostly around the inner and outer rings of Faraday City. Here, they found themselves into the homes of caring people. Those who prefer to stay free range took residence within the woods, where they somehow gathered up food from the local environment.

Whatever success was gained, the Dixierats and non-chu pokémon benefited. There are at least a dozen clusters of Dixierat communities along with a mixture of smaller pokémon groups. None of them were no bigger than 150cm, not enough food to sustain a creature any larger. There hasn't been much tension between the species, everybody seemed to be getting along. Though the Dixierats tend to eat more than other pokémon, leading to an occasional skirmish. So far I kept an eye on both pokémon groups, I have yet to avert my gaze.