My Pokémon Anime Journey | BOOK ONE: KANTO

Snow Way Out!

If Team Rocket could be applauded for anything, it was persistence. They were already back to training the twerps; this time, through a chilling mountainous path.
"Why'd they come the cold way? I feel like a cat-sickle," Meowth warbled.
James indicated Jessie. "I think she's enjoying it."
Indeed, Jessie was singing and dancing in the snow. Perhaps she had finally snapped.
"Jessie, you don't actually like this frozen fluff?" James said.
"I love snow!" Exclaimed Jessie. "It brings back delicious memories!"
"The snow's making her flaky," Meowth whispered.
"I'm serious!" Whatever the snow had inspired in Jessie, it hadn't rendered her deaf. "Some of the few cherished memories of my wretched childhood are the meals of snow!"
Jessie remembered her mother calling inside, having assembled a banquet in their dingy home; snow loaf, snow sauce, sushi snow rolls, and snow pudding for dessert. Such feasts were a favourite part of her childhood.
Then her mother had vanished working for Team Rocket, and Jessie had wound up in the orphanage. She had tasted snow whenever she could, every swallow a taste of simpler times...
"I can't believe what I'm hearing," said James.
"Your mother actually made meals from snow." Meowth was in disbelief.
"We had to make due," Jessie said. "Snow food is low in fat and helped me maintain my fabulous figure. Of course, only fresh snow would do."
James highly doubted there was anything nutritional about Jessie's snow diet, but decided not to ruin Jessie's happiness by breaking her delusion.
Besides, they soon had bigger problems: the wind picked up, and their balloon, containing all their supplies, blew away. The twerps and snow meals forgotten, the trio chased after it.

Ari, Misty, and Brock had a problem of their own: they were completely lost.
"We've been walking all day, and we're not even at the top!" Brock said. "The weather here is totally unpredictable."
"We better get moving before the sun goes down," Ari said, pulling Eevee off her head to instead hold her tightly in her arms.
Misty tried to speak through chattering teeth. "I t-think I'm too frozen t-to go on."
Brock's sigh rose as mist. "We should stay and set up camp."
Ari peered into the snowfall. "I'm sure we can still find that trail." Why risk a night when they could escape the conditions altogether?
Brock put his foot down. "No way. When a storm gets bad, it's best to dig in and let it blow over."
"You're right," Ari admitted.
"Good! Let's start digging."
Ari set Eevee down to help Brock and Misty. The wind intensified, the cold burying itself in Ari. She was knocked flat on her back.
"Vaahhh!"
Ari whipped around. "Eevee?" Nothing. There was a line in a snow.
Her partner had been dragged away by the wind.
"Eevee!" That was all Ari got out before her throat closed up. Her mind shut down. The only thing that functioned were her legs, because she had to use them, had to run, had to find Eevee-
"Stay here! We'll get lost out there!" Brock's plea landed on deaf ears.

Ari's shoulders sagged. Her legs were surely wearing away.
The snow beneath her was exactly like the fluff of a pillow. Couldn't she just curl up in snow, and wake up with Eevee besides her?
Then, she heard it.
"Eevee?" Ari called out.
"Ee!" Her Pokémon returned.
Ari ran foward, the earth seeming to lurch from her haste. The ledge she was standing on broke.
Ari tumbled down the small cliff. Slowing to a stop upon hitting a ledge, Ari saw Eevee handing onto the steep edge for dear life.
"Eevee!" Ari reached for her Pokémon - but Eevee fell.
No. Ari threw herself to the edge of her platform. Before she could dive off, she saw Eevee had taken refuge on an unstable ledge.
"Hang on, Eevee." Almost fumbling the frozen Poké Ball, Ari summoned Bulbasaur. The Seed Pokémon offered his vines. Eevee held our her paw-
-and slipped.
Bulbasaur extended his vines faster than Ari knew was possible, wrapping Eevee up tightly. He delicately pulled her up to him and Ari.
"Oh, Eevee!" Ari swaddled her Pokémon, protecting Eevee from the chill. She'd always protect Eevee.
Ari kept saying she'd stop taking risks. She kept letting herself down. Perhaps it was simply in her nature. She swore her Pokémon would never pay the price again.
Yet she wasn't out of this predicament yet. It was too risky to try and scale the cliff in these conditions, even with Bulbasaur's help.
"Brock? Misty?"
No response.
She'd have to find shelter.
Not wanting her hands to suffer frostbite, Ari commanded Charmeleon to blast through the snow. Charmeleon, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle worked together to dig out a small cave and seal it from the elements. It took them at least an hour, but they were finally sheltered.
Likely, they would spend the night here.
Charmeleon immediately took the most comfortable patch of rock and intensified his tail flame, acting as a campfire proxy.

Similarly, Team Rocket designed an igloo to wait out the storm. Their heat was provided by a candle James had on hand - a collector's edition. His tears weren't entirely due to cold.
"We're doomed," he dramatically announced.
"This candle's our last bit of heat," said Meowth.
On cue, the flame was extinguished. Meowth needed to learn that words held power. He planted his face in the snow, his scream muffled.
Jessie entered cheerily. "Dinner time! Mum's secret recipe snow rolls!" She was holding a tray of snow rolls with soy sauce.
"I'm not in the mood for frozen food," said a forlorn James.
Meowth took a snow roll and tried to imagine it as a lit lantern. He had a source of heat in his hands... expect, he didn't. He was simply a deluded cat trying not to lose his mind.
"This is useless!" Meowth swatted the snow rolls from Jessie's hand. "Your snow rolls aren't making us any warmer, and they won't get our supplies back, either!"
Meowth folded his arms and lay down. He hadn't realised how tired he was. Perhaps he should sleep out the storm...
"Stay awake, or you'll freeze."
Meowth flinched at the sound of Jessie's voice - yet her tone was tender, not sulphurous.
Meowth realised that Jessie had far more experience than him or James with surviving cold nights.
Yet his eyes fluttered shut...
"Wake up!" Jessie slapped him. "Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP! You can't fall asleep." She hit Meowth and James, the pain keeping their eyes open.
Resorting to physical violence out of kindness - Jessie wasn't acting as out of character as Meowth initially thought.

The wind still snaked into Ari's cave. She noticed Charmeleon's flame shrink, even if just slightly. She was focused on that flame with her entire being; it was her salvation. Every time its withering processed, Ari's heart sank lower, closer to the void. Eevee, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur had gone pale.
"Charmeleon, you're going to use your tail flame up," said Ari. "Get back in your Poké Ball and rest."
Charmeleon turned up his nose, his most haughty gesture since Ari had started deflating his ego.
"Come on, you have to conserve your energy."
"Cha-leon." Charmeleon turned away, firmly shaking his head. His tail became a fraction brighter and he tilted it closer to Ari.
"You're going in your Poké Balls." Bulbasaur and Squirtle pulled themselves out the path of their Poké Ball's beams. Two jets of light shot from Ari's other Poké Balls; Clefairy and Dratini appeared. Despite the whiplash from the cold, they stayed calm.
"You all have to go in!" Ari mustered more authority than ever before. "You'll be warmer inside your Poké Balls"
Eevee angrily pounced on Ari and cuddled up to her.
Ari understood at last. "You want to keep me warm."
The others followed Eevee's example. Clefairy nuzzled up to Ari. Bulbasaur strode fowards, settled down next to Clefairy, and used his vines to cushion Clefairy. Dratini slithered onto Ari's shoulders, keeping her neck warm. Even that prankster Squirtle, always caught up in himself, joined the huddle.
Ari couldn't articulate words. She used her actions, pulling her Pokémon closer. Eevee's fluffy texture placed Ari at ease. Tears caressed Ari's cheeks, like the hands of a parent, before splattering against the icy floor...
Drip... drip... drip...
Was Ari seven again, using the fantasies of her future Eevee like a lullaby to carry her through the stormy night? Or was she ten, hearing the sounds of melting ice?
"Ari!"
Ari wasn't sure when she lost consciousness. Her name acted as a stimulant: she was as charged as a Raichu struck by lightning.
"Down here!" There was no fierce gale to whisk her words away.
The rockslide which happened in response was actually Brock's Onix, bearing Brock and Misty on his back.
The weight in Ari's chest dissolved. "It's so great to see you!"
Misty fussed over Ari. "How'd you get through that storm?"
"We made a cave, like Brock said."
Misty seemed skeptical Ari would put so much effort in, but Brock nodded.
"Luckily, we didn't have to freeze in ours," Brock said, not without sympathy.
"What do you mean?"
"Onix dug into an underground hot spring! You wouldn't believe how comfy we were," boasted Misty.
"We weren't comfy, that's for sure," Ari grumbled. Yet her pride at her survival snuffed out her annoyance. "I wouldn't mind getting refreshed in those hot springs before we carry on."
Brock and Misty escorted Ari and her Pokémon to the hot spring hole. There was a familiar trio revelling in the hot waters.
"We should find our balloon," Jessie said.
James said, "But it's too cold to get out."
"And too hot to stay in."
Meowth leaned back, his face rosy with pleasure. "I'm gonna wind up with hot feet and a head cold, but at least I'll be spiritually cleansed." He wiggled his little cat tows.
Lost for words, Ari, Misty, and Brock backed silently away from the hole.