Day 15 of the Johto journey. Light rain.
Reiji woke in the Mahogany Town inn and found a light rain falling outside. Lokoko was standing by the window.
"Were you watching all night?" Reiji yawned as he climbed out of bed. Lokoko was still staring outside, though he had no idea what she found so interesting out there.
After a quick wash in the bathroom, Reiji returned to the room, let his Pokémon out, and fed them breakfast. Once they were done, he would be heading for the ravine to search for Pryce's Piloswine.
After breakfast, he checked out of the inn. If he couldn't find Piloswine, he had no reason to stay in Mahogany Town. He would head east next and look for the lake with the crystal.
He had no intention of going north. Lake of Rage was that way, and in the anime, Team Rocket had a secret base there for studying Pokémon gene evolution. The red Gyarados had been created there. Reiji was absolutely not going anywhere near it.
He took Lokoko into town and asked the locals where he could find a waterfall nearby. The answer was: everywhere. There were too many waterfalls around Mahogany Town, so he had no choice but to check them one by one.
Only after leaving town did he dare speak to Lokoko properly. Thanks to her psychic power, he was the only one who could see her. If he started talking to her in the middle of the street, he would look like a lunatic.
"Pidgeot, Pelipper, search the area. We're looking for a huge ravine, probably near a waterfall." Reiji walked through the woods and released both Flying-type Pokémon to help scout.
"Pidge!" Pidgeot spread its wings and shot into the sky. Since it was looking for a ravine, it climbed high enough to get a full view of the land around Mahogany Town.
"Peli, peli." Pelipper had only just taken off when Pidgeot came back. Apparently, Pidgeot had already found something, so Pelipper didn't need to fly after all.
"Pid, Pidgeot!" Pidgeot had found a ravine, all right. It was dark, deep, and impossible to see the bottom. It lay west of Mahogany Town, the same direction Reiji had come from by bus the night before. It had simply been too dark then for him to notice it.
"Pidgeot says there's a ravine that way. A very deep one," Lokoko translated.
"Really? Having you around is convenient." Reiji smiled and patted Pidgeot's wing. He recalled Pelipper, climbed onto Pidgeot's back, and had it take him to the ravine.
Lokoko didn't need him to do anything. Her Poké Ball was with him, so she could simply fly along.
They flew for only a few minutes before the ravine west of Mahogany Town came into view. In truth, he had spotted it almost as soon as they took off. It lay to the northwest, cutting deep into Mt. Mortar, which meant the search area was bigger than he had hoped. He told Pidgeot to take him straight down to the bottom.
As they descended into the ravine, Reiji silently judged the distance. It had to be at least 200 meters deep. No wonder it had looked bottomless from above.
Once they landed at the bottom, he released Spinarak, Gengar, and Toxicroak to scout the area. He wanted them to check whether there were any hollow spaces behind the rock. A few knocks would be enough to tell.
Reiji wandered along the ravine floor with Lokoko while waiting for his Pokémon to report back. A small stream ran through the bottom, and there were even Magikarp swimming in it. Their survival skills really were something else.
There were also a few amphibious Pokémon around. The moment they saw him coming, they all jumped into the stream as if humans were rare down here and terrifying.
He didn't have to wait long. After half an hour of searching, Gengar returned.
Gengar could pass through walls, and it had found a cave underground. Below that was an ice cavern.
"Gen, gar…"
"It says it found a rock cave, and an ice cavern under it. It's very cold inside," Lokoko translated again.
"Good. Call Toxicroak and Spinarak back. If we can't find an entrance, we'll dig one." Reiji shouted into the ravine. His voice echoed far down the rock walls, and Toxicroak and Spinarak soon returned after hearing him. He recalled them into their Poké Balls.
He went to the weak spot Gengar had found and discovered a hidden crack between several huge rocks. Then he released Rhydon and called to the big lug, "There's a cave below. Drill straight down from here."
"Rhy!" Rhydon turned itself into a living drill and bored into the stone beneath the ravine, heading all the way down toward the ice cavern.
Reiji stood by the hole and released Golbat. Golbat carried him down through the tunnel until they reached the cold cave below. He took out his flashlight and swept the beam over the walls. The frozen surfaces reflected the light again and again, brightening the whole cavern.
"Smoo? Smoo?"
"Swi? Swi?"
"Ice Pokémon? That's rare." The moment Reiji's flashlight lit up the cavern, the Ice-type Pokémon inside froze in confusion, then scattered in a panic.
In that brief moment, he saw quite a few of them. There was a whole group of Smoochum, sleeping Swinub and Piloswine, plus Sneasel and Cloyster.
If Piloswine were living here, how was he supposed to find Pryce's? He couldn't speak Pokémon. Was he really going to ask every single one?
Fortunately, he had come prepared. Before leaving, he had found an old competition photo from Pryce's youth. Both Pryce and Piloswine were in the picture, and Reiji had gone to a photo shop to print several copies. If Pryce's Piloswine saw the photo, it should still recognize him.
Reiji breathed out a long white cloud and muttered, "Damn, it's cold…"
He had prepared before coming down and had already put on his coat. It still wasn't enough. He dug out a sweater and pulled it on, then wrapped a scarf around his neck.
Rhydon and Golbat were recalled for now. This frozen underground environment wasn't suited for them. Reiji released Poliwrath instead, letting it handle close protection for the moment.
"Lokoko, I need your help. Ask the Pokémon here if they've seen the Piloswine in this photo." Reiji took out one of the printed pictures and handed it over. He had made several copies, so Lokoko could take one and ask the Smoochum.
"All right." Lokoko glanced at the photo. She didn't recognize the person in it, but she controlled the picture with her psychic power and went looking for the hidden Smoochum group.
That question solved the problem faster than expected. The Smoochum pointed toward the sleeping Piloswine and said Piloswine was over there.
But when Reiji and Lokoko reached the corner where the Piloswine were sleeping, Reiji found more than ten Piloswine there, along with several Swinub. That brought him right back to the same problem: which one was Pryce's?
In the anime, Pryce's Piloswine had been frozen. Reiji didn't see any frozen Piloswine here. Maybe Pryce's Piloswine hadn't been sealed in ice and had only been trapped.
But that didn't make sense either. This ice cavern had to have another exit. Otherwise, with this many wild Ice Pokémon living here, what were they eating? Ice chips?
And if there was an exit, Pryce's Piloswine would have left long ago. This was a Piloswine habitat. There was no way it had spent 40 years here and still failed to find its way home.
Reiji thought it over and decided not to disturb the sleeping Piloswine yet. He would search. If he still couldn't find it, then he could ask the group directly.
When he shone the flashlight into the ice, the clear frozen walls threw back a spray of colored light. The blocks looked like giant crystals. They were actually beautiful.
As he searched, he found Omanyte and Kabuto frozen inside the ice. He had no idea how long these Pokémon had been sealed here, but it was a strange sight.
He had no intention of digging them out. Pokémon like these were rare to outsiders, but he knew there were plenty of living Omanyte elsewhere. If he wanted one, he could go back to the Orange Archipelago and catch it there. There was no need to disturb these Pokémon's sleep.
The deeper he went, the more strange things he saw in the ice: bones from unknown Pokémon, all kinds of shells, turtle shells, dead wood, broken pottery, rusted metal fragments, unfamiliar flowers, and more.
Then his flashlight fell on a pair of massive tusks.
A Mamoswine was frozen inside the ice. When Reiji swept the light farther back, he found more Mamoswine behind it.
And then he saw something else.
A frozen Pokémon stood among the Mamoswine, its body made entirely of angular ice. Yellow dots shone across its body as it stood still in the center of the group, as if the Mamoswine had surrounded it before everything froze.
"What the…" Reiji took two steps back the moment he saw it. If he woke this Pokémon by accident, he might be frozen solid before he could even blink.
No wonder this ice cavern still existed when it wasn't even winter. This thing was the reason. Its presence had shaped the entire underground environment.
The Pokémon was Regice, the Ice-type Legendary and one of the Legendary giants. It had been sealed here for who knew how long, by who knew whom.
Now that was an unexpected find. He had come here looking for Piloswine, and somehow he had stumbled onto Regice instead. If he could get this Legendary, his team's power would rise again.
He had completely broken with Team Rocket now. From here on, it was kill or be killed. He desperately needed high-level combat power, or he wouldn't have come looking for Pryce's Piloswine in the first place. Regice would be even better.
The problem was how to move it.
And even if he did wake it up, could he catch it? Could he control it? If he couldn't, then dragging it outside would be asking for disaster.
Nothing was worse than finding treasure and not being able to take it. Life really enjoyed making things difficult for him.
As he was now, he couldn't suppress a Legendary Pokémon. Even if it was only Regice, who knew how long it had been frozen here? Who knew whether it was Elite Four tier or Champion tier? If he released it and couldn't control it, that would be entirely on him.
After thinking it over, he decided to leave it alone for now. Piloswine came first. If he couldn't find Piloswine, he would seal this place again and return for Regice once he reached Elite Four tier.
He had no idea how Regice had been sealed here in the first place, but one day, it would be his. After all, it was Regice. Brandon at the Battle Pyramid had the three Legendary giants, and another Regice guarded the Tree of Beginning.
This kind of Pokémon came from legends born in the Ice Age, so there were probably more than a few of them in the world. This one might even have been frozen here since the Ice Age.
Reiji forced himself to move the flashlight away and continued searching for Piloswine.
It didn't take long before he found a Piloswine sealed in the ice. He shone the light over its legs, but there were no anklets. That meant it wasn't Pryce's.
Trainer-owned Pokémon that walked on all fours, such as horses, cattle, and Piloswine, were often fitted with anklets when they were used as work Pokémon. The anklets made movement easier and marked them as trained Pokémon. This Piloswine had none, so it was probably wild.
He searched for another two full hours before he finally found a Piloswine with anklets. He still couldn't be sure whether it was Pryce's, but he released Rhydon and had it dig the Piloswine out first.
To avoid waking Regice, Reiji kept the noise as low as possible. He had Rhydon and Magmar use Fire Punch to melt the ice bit by bit, slowly opening a path until they could pull Piloswine free. Then he tried a Poké Ball and confirmed it couldn't be caught.
That made him even more certain this Piloswine already belonged to a Trainer. He had Poliwrath carry it, then recalled Magmar and Rhydon. It was time to leave the ice cavern.
When they reached the tunnel they had dug earlier, Reiji had Golbat carry Piloswine up first. After that, he recalled Poliwrath and had Golbat lift him out as well.
Back at the opening, he released Rhydon and Poliwrath again. He had Poliwrath spray the entrance with Water Gun, then freeze it shut with Ice Beam.
Once that was done, Rhydon brought over a rock, smashed it apart, and used the pieces to disguise the entrance. Then it moved several larger boulders over to block the hole completely.
Reiji hoped no one would discover the ice cavern before he returned. That was where Regice was sleeping, and he had already called dibs. Nobody was allowed to take it from him.
Once he had the strength, he would come back and catch Regice. He would beat it properly first, too. Defeating it was a necessary step if he wanted to catch a Legendary. If he was too weak, there was no way it would accept him unless he had raised it from childhood, like Zapdos.
He recalled Poliwrath, Rhydon, and Golbat, then released Pidgeot and Pelipper. Pidgeot carried Piloswine, while Reiji rode Pelipper, and together they left the bottom of the ravine.
Once they returned to the surface, Reiji ran into another problem: what was he supposed to do with this Piloswine now? The Poké Ball couldn't catch it, and he still wasn't sure whether it was Pryce's.
He decided to wake it first. In the anime, Piloswine had been awakened with Thunderbolt, which meant it had probably only been hibernating. Another electric shock should do the trick.
For Electric-type attacks, his only option seemed to be Magneton. He released it at once and said, "Magneton, use Thunderbolt on this Piloswine. Start with a weak current, then increase it little by little."
Magneton faced Piloswine and released a pale yellow current. The electricity spread across Piloswine's body, slowly growing stronger.
At last, Piloswine groaned.
"Swi… swi…" Stimulated by the electricity, Piloswine's nose twitched. Its sense of smell, sight, and other senses were beginning to return as it adjusted to the world again.
Reiji immediately called out, "Magneton, stop. It's waking up."
"Mag." Magneton cut off the current and floated back to Reiji's side. He recalled it into its Poké Ball.
"Gengar, be ready to restrain it with psychic power in case it panics." Reiji took two steps back and gave Piloswine some distance. He had no desire to be sent flying if it woke up in a frenzy.
"Swi? Swi?" Piloswine had only just awakened. It shook its frozen-stiff body and looked around at the lush greenery.
How had winter turned into spring all at once?
It clearly remembered snow flying everywhere.
"Piloswine, can you hear me?" Reiji took out the photo and held it in front of Piloswine. "Do you remember who your Trainer is?"
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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