[X] My Assistant

[Master Houndoom]

Meiko had flushed when Pan had slyly spoken of her "new desires". Before she could protest, or at least flick sand at the girl for being right, Pan had acquiesced to Chi-Chi and Eggheart's pleading (not that Meiko would have been strong enough to say no) and agreed to carry Chi-Chi on her head. Meiko looked at Eggheart, staring after Chi-Chi in puppyish desire, wondering, no doubt, why her playmate had abandoned her. Meiko smiled, stroking the little happiny's hairtuft.

"OK, you can go. But you stay with Chompwater! If you get separated, it will not be good. OK?" Turning to the feraligatr, who had a look of longsuffering on her face, she stroked Chompwater's snout. "Keep her safe, sweety. I trust you that much."

With that, she donned her gear, strapped on the tanks, and dove.

She loved the water. It was warm here, and so clear that she could see for meters. As she descended, she spotted a shape, containing smaller shapes, deeper in. She went down to investigate.

There, in a glass-like tube, was a group of four boys, one of which would have been instantly recognizable to her anywhere. She grinned, careful not to break the seal between her mouth and the scuba tank's mouthpiece, and then, having gotten his attention, waved, then performed a figure eight before vamping for him, one hand behind her head, the other on her hip.

He thinks you have amazing legs... came a voice with a mental giggle. Meiko's eyes widened, and she felt her face heating in the already warm water. But the next mental words, provided by Jaima's kirlia, Mercury, were sent with a soft feeling of warmth. He also just called you a sea angel, in front of everyone. Meiko grinned again, and waved before swimming off.

She felt the wake behind her, and looked over her shoulder. Chompwater was pacing her, and she nearly flew into an underwater rage enough to rival a gyarados, until she noticed the gigantic bubble containing Eggheart, clapping and laughing (it seemed). She worried, yes, Chompwater's look of near teenage exasperation convinced her to try to trust her first and oldest pokemon.

They made their way to the center of the area, and saw Iko and Pan racing to the bottom. Something distracted Pan, and Meiko followed Pan's gaze, seeing the large cave. Intrigued, and not overly worried about the blastoise around it (after all, Kanto starters were inferior to johto starters on nearly all levels, she joked to herself), she made her way to join Pan.

[kingbirdy]

As Iko races toward the bottom, he saw Pan slip off someplace, then suddenly dissapear behind a curtain of aquatic plants. Thinking it might be a ploy, he carried on to the bottom, breifly tochung down near a pair of restling Blastoise before heading back to look for her. Hopefully she didn't get swallowed by a wild Gyrados or something. As he swam, he blinked his eyes so he could keep looking and still not have his eyes sting to bad from the salty water. After a moment of swimming, he and Giga pulled through the plant veil, into a giant cave. As he swam some more, his head suddenly broke the surface, he looked around and realized that they must be in a grotto of some sort. He swam around the surface until he came across a small beach. He drew himself up onto the sand, and sat with Giga.

"Thanks alot, Giga!"

"Squir," he replied. Iko took this to be 'no problem', but that wasn't quite right.

*****

As Iko congradulated him, Giga replied with a belated, "Well what else was I gonna do?" He still really disliked this kid. Maybe a little less, but only marginally.

[Toogee]

Pan surfaced inside the underwater cave to find a cozy nook. In the back, there was dry land and an underwater staircase leading up to it. On the dry portion of the cave, there was a table with steaming cups of coffee waiting for the guests. Towels were provided on nearby racks, while a partially revealed hidden staircase allowed a dry exit to the top should anyone desire. The area provided a nice break from the underwater adventure to allow for mingling and rest.

As Pan drew closer to the area, the water became shallower, revealing more of her body to the air. It was then that she realized what the coffee cups were for: to her wet skin, the air was freezing!

“Cold Cold Cold Cold…!”

As if repeating the sensation would somehow dull the feeling, Pan dashed onto the land, quickly taking off her diving equipment and throwing it aside. She practically sprinted to the coffee cups and grabbed one. She then retreated back into the water, sitting on the steps as she indulged in the warm beverage.

“Warm…” she said with a long sigh.

Pan then turned to Iko, who was sitting on the sand with his squirtle.

“Hey, good thinking using your squirtle. Guess I didn’t have the race in the bag after all,” she smiled.

[Master Houndoom]

The blastoise didn't attack, and Meiko relaxed. Chompwater did not. She, for one thing, was getting a bit of a headache from Eggheart dancing on her head. For another, any time four powerful pokemon stood around something and didn't attack anyone and everyone approaching it, they were either docile, or springing a trap.

Meiko never used to understand this, but Chompwater had protected the girl from her fair share of traps.

She surfaced, the squeals and cries of Eggheart becoming loud and clear as the bubble popped, and Meiko turned and stroked the feraligatr's nose before going to get a hot beverage. "Mmm... Hot chocolate!"

Meiko smiled into her cup. "So, do you think this cave goes on?"

[Toogee]

Pan looked behind to see if she could spot any hidden entrances. Aside from the staircase leading up, she could find none. On the other hand, Pan looked from the comfort of the water, not getting very close to the back wall.

“I don’t see anything,” Pan replied, “though it wouldn’t surprise me if it did.”

While not catching anything peculiar about the cave, Pan did spot the long white scar on Meiko’s leg. Certainly there was a story behind that; all scars led to stories. Perhaps they would get some conversation started.

“Hey, that’s a nice scar you got there,” she said to Meiko. “Get over here; we’ll share stories.” She smiled, inviting the girl to the “poolside”.

Yeah, I haven’t thought of anything else inside. If you have any ideas, feel free to use them.

[kingbirdy]

After getting a brief respite, Pan came up beside him, grabbing some coffee he hadn't noticed before. While that was all nice and warm, he didn't much like the stuff, so he stayed where he was. He'd rather have Nova any time. But he didn't want to kill the guy, and he had lost his pokéball long ago. So he just sat there, warming up. After a moment, Pan congratulated him on his ingenuity. "Thanks," he replied. After a moment, Meiko came and joined the party. I hope Nova's alright up there, on his own with Oshi and Flare. He thought. He didn't want his best friend hurt. After a minute, he broke off this train of though, realizing it would get him nowhere. Instead, he went over and sat in the pool with Pan and Meiko. "Hey guys. Or gals. Whichever. So what do you think is up with this cave?" he asked.

[Master Houndoom]

Meiko's stunned look was followed by a sheepish smile. "Wow," she said, sitting next to Pan in the pool, cupping her hot chocolate. "You're pretty observant. I sometimes forget about this."

Leaning back against the rock edge of the pool, leaning her head back against Chompwater, who was laying on her stomach behind Meiko, the young woman closed her eyes. Her brow furrowed at the memory, still, evidently, clear and frightning, but Eggheart's climbing onto the top of her head relaxed her face into a smile.

"I had just captured Ramhorn, my heracross, and traded for Desertdancer, my sandshrew. My boyfriend at the time," at the mention of this, Meiko's face had set into an unconscious scowl, "had given me Rockclaw, who..." the memory of the pokemon seemed to cause her some upset, but she shook it off, managing to say the words through gritted teeth, "was a corphish I've since sent to my mother. I don't like the practice of being gifted pokemon," she said, her tone and face relaxing again, "but I was infatuated, and I thought it was a nice gesture. So I had six in my team. I'd sent my main three out to gather supplies and food to camp for the night, and let my other three out to get to know them better. Rockclaw," her voice became wry and strained again, "lead them away. A pokerevolt, I guess." She chuckled and stretched her arms above her head, causing Eggheart to giggle.

Meiko's face clouded. "Well, I went looking for them, of course. Ilex Forest can be dangerous, and we were in a part that a lot of people hardly ever go, so there wasn't much in the way of paths. You'd think a pokemon as large as Ramhorn would be easy to spot, but no. I found out the hard way they can hide pretty well."

With a sigh, she sat up, opening her eyes again. "I heard the cry of a golbat in the distance, and then Desertdancer's call, and I ran in that direction until I found them. They were up against a copse of trees. Ramhorn was hurt pretty badly, but still fightning, and Desertdancer and Rockclaw weren't having much luck. There was a golbat fighting them, and I saw a dark shape plummeting toward Ramhorn and tried to get between him and it. Turns out, it was a murkrow, and... well... he slashed my leg pretty bad."

Meiko was silent for a moment, her hand under the water running fingers along the white, thin scar. "I tell people it's a badge of honor when they notice it, but being where it is, not many do. I had to get stitches, and it kept me from travelling for a couple of weeks." She actually laughed. "Mom tried to make me come home, but of course I said no..."

Meiko's face clouded, but after a few second she smiled again, if a little sadly. "Anyway, that's my story."

When Iko asked about the cave, Meiko looked around. "You know, I'm wondering the same thing. They have coffee and hot chocolate here... I doubt they're diving to get it here... think there's a secret tunnel?" she asked, eyes sparkling in excitement.

[Toogee]

As Meiko finished her story, Pan smiled. Though the pokerevolt and the murkrow attack were interesting enough, the mention of another boyfriend was even more so. Her reflexive scowl only piqued Pan’s curiosity more.

“Another boyfriend? Someone’s been busy,” Pan giggled, teasing Meiko about her past. She then moved on to her own story, moving her hair to reveal a small white gash on the left side of her forehead. She pointed to the mark for easy viewing.

“See that? I got that when I was 12. I was climbing up a tree back in Celadon, trying to get a good look at a pidgey nest. Well, one of the branches broke under my weight and I fell a good distance. Another branch caught me right here,” she traced her finger over the scar to reinact the event.

“Another inch and I could have had a big gash on the side of my face! Lucky me, right? That is, if you call getting a broken arm instead luck. Fortunately, Turnip was with me and he dragged me back home. Literally. Over every rock and bump in the road. He’s very loyal, but sometimes he doesn’t think before he acts.”

As Pan conversed with the others, she failed to notice the abra helping itself to one of the hot chocolate cups. It merely sat on the ground as it silently sipped the hot beverage, watching the humans enjoy themselves.

[Master Houndoom]

At the words "Someone's been busy," Meiko's eyes narrowed dangerously at Pan. "I've had two in my entire life. And one was such a jerk-cake that I almost didn't!" She leaned back, crossing her arms. The words had been muttered more than spat, and she instantly felt bad about them. "Sorry. A little over-sensitive..."

She listened to Pan's story with interest, her smile growing. Another girl, who didn't just sit around and do the girly things because she was expected to. She wanted to crow with delight!

Eggheart toddled up to the abra. <<Hi! I eggheawt! Wanna pway?!>>

[Toogee]

Pan knew she overstepped upon Meiko’s reaction to boyfriends past. She figured she would change the subject and get back to her story. After she was finished, however, Pan felt a little guilty about bringing it up.

“Hey, sorry about earlier. If it’s any consolation, I’ve dated my share of bad eggs. Heh, one was so bad, Darryn ended up punching him out!” Pan eagerly awaited Pan’s reaction, hoping their mutual friend didn’t share all of her stories.

Meanwhile, the abra looked down at the happiny. Loving an audience for his antics, he summoned a spoon off the nearby table. The abra showed of his telekinetic abilities by having the utensil float around Eggheart, just out of her reach. The spoon then floated to his hand and the abra scooped up a spoonful of sand. He put a finger over his mouth to signal to Eggheart to stay quiet. Then, he bent the spoon back and took aim at a target.

He didn’t want to alert the humans of his presence (not yet at least), nor did he want to anger the giant feraligatr. That left Iko's squirtle as the primary target of the abra’s antics. He launched the “sandball” directly into the back of the turtle pokemon’s head, using his psychic powers to keep the sand in a snowball formation. He awaited the other’s reaction, ready to teleport should a human turn their gaze towards him.

[Master Houndoom]

Meiko blushed at Pan's apology, waving a hand and smiling. She felt as if a large drop of sweat were sliding down the back of her head, and she put her hand on the back of her neck. "Daijoubu, daijoubu! Like I said, I overreacted." Meiko sighed, still smiling, wryly. "Wasn't the first time."

Then Meiko remembered something. "Right! Darryn. Dish! You and he dated?! What was that like?"

Eggheart giggled and laughed at the sand ball hitting the boy's squirtle's head. Such fun! The squirtle was confused, of course, and just turning when Eggheart put up her two arms. <<I twy, I twy!>> Waving her two arms side to side in a rhythm and chanting "pi ny pi ny pi ny!" she flashed with power, and a large chunk of sand rose from the tiny beach and landed on the tiny turtle pokemon, covering it so that only it's head was visible.

Meiko gave a start and turned at Eggheart's squeals of delight, blinking. She could have sworn there was a flash of yellow... no, that was silly. "Eggheart," she moaned, "what did you do?"

[Toogee]

“Right, Darryn,” Pan started, “That’s a pretty funny story…”

“We were in high school at the time. I was messing with things in my locker when Darryn came up to me, rather randomly, and asked me out. He seemed rather nervous at the time. Little did I know….” Pan smiled, enjoying the trip down Memory Lane.

“So the next night, he took me to this overly fancy restaurant, dressed way nicer than I was. And his hair! Do you have any idea what he does to get it that way?! He still refuses to share it with me, probably to this day.” Realizing that she was going off subject, Pan regained her composure and continued.

“He was very polite and everything, but, for some reason, we didn’t connect, as if something was on his mind. Aside from some chat about the restaurant and the food, it was a very quiet dinner. That is, until this guy with really tight pants passed our table. Darryn must have stared at this guy for…well, too long. As if it wasn’t obvious, he came out of the closet. Oh, did I mention that this was my first date?” Pan smiled again, waiting for the reaction from the listening audience.

Soon after, both girls looked over to see Iko’s squirtle up to his chin in sand. “How did she do that?” she asked as she grabbed a pokeball off her belt. Emerging on to the sandy land, the baltoy Pivot turned to Pan for further instruction.

“Don’t worry, we got this,” Pan assured the group. “Pivot, could you help Giga out of that sand? Try rapid spin.”

The baltoy obliged, quickly levitating towards the surprised turtle pokemon. Like an out-of-control blender, Pivot’s rapidly spinning arms rotated around the sand pile, flinging sand all over the cave.

“Not that rapid! Not that rapid!” Pan shouted, blocking sand from getting into her eyes. Pivot slowed itself soon after, having rid the squirtle of most of the sand pile. Pan cleaned herself of the coat of sand by simply diving under the water. When she came back up, she turned back to her friends.

“Heh, Sorry about that,” she said, rubbing the back of her head.

[Master Houndoom]

At the telling of the first date experience, Meiko giggled, until the words "Oh, did I mention that it was my first date?" came out. Then Meiko's face fell into shock. She reached over and touched Pan's arm.

"Well, that stinks," she muttered, looking sympathetic. It wasn't as if she had a lot of experience with dates, but her first was memorable and nice and romantic...

And wasted she thought.

The experience with the squirtle effectively derailed that train of thought. Covering her face and laughing during Pivot's demonstration of why it's not a good idea to leave the top off of a blender. The cries of Eggheart made her look up, however.

"Aww, Eggheart, did you get sand in your eye? Come here, sweety..." She picked up the happiny and looked, but the poor dear was sniffling by now. "Well, I don't see anything. Are you OK? Were you scared?"

<<Where did my fwiend go,>> whimpered the little happiny. <<He showed me the sand baww, but now I do'd it an he go bye bye!>> Unfortunately for the trainers, neither of them understood pokemon language, so all they heard was "pi hap pi ni pi hap hap!"

"So," Meiko said, turning around and smiling at Pan, "what do you think is up with this cave?" She nodded to Iko as she asked, acknowledging (finally!) his question.

[kingbirdy]

As Giga was sitting, taking a break, he felt something hit the back of his head. Wondering what it was, he turned quickly, just in time to hear a Happiny apologizing and and then get another one in his face. Slightly mad, he threw a handful of sand back at the Happiny, seeing a flash of yellow out of the corner of his eye, while one of the trainers turned around, scolding the Happiny. Then, another trainer turned around, and a Baltoy came up and spun all the sand off him.

"Thanks," Giga said to the Baltoy.

*****

Iko sat, listening to the conversation about first dates. He had nothing he was willing to share, so he stayed quiet, listening to tales about different romances. After a moment, everyone turned to see that Giga was covered in sand, and the Happiny was crying. Before Iko could help out Giga, Pan's Baltoy was already to the rescue. Unfortunately, Giga's rescue didn't do a lot of good for everyone else, as they were drenched in sand. Patting himself off, he went over to Giga, asking, "you alright, buddy?" To which he got a short, "squir." Iko saw that Giga was trying to talk to the Baltoy, so he left them alone, going back to the pool where Meiko returned to the subject of the strange cave.

"Yeah, there has to be some sort of entrance they used to smuggle all this stuff in here. Cause somehow I doubt coffee and hot coco can magically stay in mugs all the way here, and then stay warm for who know how many hours. There's probably an entrance around here somewhere. Wanna look for it?"

[Toogee]

When I said that I had no idea what was in the cave and you guys can add something, I meant it. No matter, I’ll do something.

Pivot merely tilted back and forth, signifying a nod to the squirtle. This was the only form of the communication it could partake in. It seemed the “organic” beings seemed to enjoy such interaction. Such behavior interested the baltoy; it had for a very long time.

Meanwhile, Pan took in her friends’ questions about the secrets of the cave. While she did get a chance to look around, she did it in the comfort of the water. Pan knew all too well that to find any sort of hidden secrets, she would have to take a closer look. Eventually, her curiosity about the cave was enough to pull her out of the pool.

“You would think of all the things to put down here, towels would be top on the list,” Pan said, folding her arms over her chest to keep warm.

The first thing she did was head for the half-open door, supposedly leading back to the beach area. Pan immediately pushed the sliding door all the way to fully reveal the exit to the top.

“Well, I guess they must have went through here,” Pan said to Meiko and Iko. She leaned back against the back wall, looking up to the ceiling for more clues. Suddenly, there was a loud clicking noise that came from behind Pan. She quickly stepped away from her resting spot as the wall moved outward and up, revealing a hidden tunnel. Though fairly dark, it was big enough to comfortably walk through. One could hear the sound of a torrential downpour ringing through the passageway, perhaps coming from a waterfall. The humid, warm air rushed into the cave, warming up the cave to a comfortable temperature.

“Or they went through here,” Pan added, grabbing one of her pokeballs. In a red flash of light, Chi-Chi reappeared, though not too happy her oceanic adventure was cut short. Her displeasure was cut short upon facing the mysterious tunnel. Various pokemon calls were now entering the cave, enticing the curious to go deeper.

“Chi-Chi, you think you can help us get through this tunnel?” Pan asked the Pachirisu. Chi-Chi obliged and quickly took position on top of Pan’s head. Like headlights cutting through the night, the pachirisu’s cheeks beamed with light, allowing everyone to clearly see through the dark passageway. Pan went ahead and took the lead, hoping the others would follow.

You guys can go ahead and start describing stuff. The snow cone stand is also nearby.

[Master Houndoom]

With Chichi on Pan's head, the cavern was more visible. It was as if the girl was wearing a miner's headlamp, the image of which gave Meiko a chuckle.

She felt the happiny move before she realized what was going on, and by then Eggheart was balanced on her head, babbling at Chi-Chi and squinching her eyes shut, trying to make her own cheek spots glow. This was less than successful, because unlike Chi-Chi's, her cheek spots had no other function than to make her look cute. Which they did quite well, actually.

"Pi! Pi ny pi hap!" With an excited cry of pi pi ny pi hap, Eggheart leapt from the top of Meiko's head, bounced once, and began toddling to the wall. There she lifted a small stone, which was round in shape, over her head and cheered, dancing from one foot to the other. Meiko smiled and knelt near the little pokemon. "Oh! You found an egg!" Eggheart blinked at her, then danced more, giggling happily. She put the stone in the front of her bottom pouch and spread her arms, grinning. "What a big girl! OK, come on up. We still have time to go." As she lifted the happiny, she cooed. "Maybe we'll as Mr. Vonmoto if you can keep this!"

Meiko sighed, looking at Pan and Iko. "I guess she'll evolve soon." She looked down at Eggheart. "I know it's what she wants, but sometimes, I wish I could keep her little for a bit longer."

Little did she know, little did anyone know, that one of Mr. Vonmoto's sons, years ago, had found an everstone for his caterpie, and polished it until it was as smooth and in the same shape of an egg. When the caterpie seemed down, the boy realized his mistake, and let him evolve, throwing the stone into the hallway he was in.

So long as Eggheart had that stone, she would never, ever evolve.

* * * * *

They hadn't been walking much longer when they came across the snow cone maker. The trio stopped, looking at it, and it was Meiko who suggested they get one. "After all, there was coffee and hot chocolate just when it seemed it would be cold for us... if this is here, what if something's coming up that'll be hot?" The delibird at the machine happily supplied them with their favorite flavors.

Her instincts proved likely. As they walked up the tunnel-way, there was a definite rise in heat. However, there was also a door. On the front of the door was a sign that looked like it was carved from one piece of wood. It read "Greenhouse. Please Return All Fire Type Pokemon."

Once this was done, Meiko pushed the door open.

It was as if they'd passed from a cavern into a lush jungle. The ceilings were vaulted, letting the sky in from high above. Through the large palm trees and lush ferns sang cries of many different pokemon, mostly grass types, and mostly smaller ones at that.

She nearly ate her words when the large head of a tropius speared through the trees, looked down, and then grabbed some leaves from a nearby patch of grass. Another long neck, belonging to a meganium, joined the first.

Meiko smiled, looking about at all the foliage, from different regions, preserved here. The plants were arranged in disguised rows: While there was an order to the arrangement, it was broken up just enough to seem like it was a natural occurrence.

[Toogee]

Upon hearing Meiko’s comment on Eggheart’s eventual evolution, Pan chimed in her disagreement.

“You really think she wants to evolve? I don’t know about any of you, but I’d love to have stayed a kid forever!” She smiled, pondering whether she would have done anything different in Furoh had she been a bit younger. Her younger self would have probably taken more risks and with them, more mistakes. Whether those mistakes would have led to more discoveries, she’d never know. Nonetheless, Pan would try to keep her inner child alive without causing Turnip too much grief.

Pan rejected the offer for snow cones. She was still a bit chilled from the water; the dark dank cavern did not really help her warm up. Chi-Chi, however, gladly accepted the treat, pointing towards the yellow bottle of banana-flavored syrup. As the pachirisu enjoyed her poke-sized dessert, Pan was hoping Meiko was right; she could use a bit of a warm-up.

The greenhouse was just the thing that Pan needed.

The warm air brushed against her skin, leaving only a memory of the cold. Pan looked on in wonder as the tropius-meganium pair looked down upon the visitors. She kept turning around to look around: the entire room was filled with all kinds of flora. Towering palms reached up to the glass roof, tempering the sunlight seeping into the room. A pair of butterfree flew through the canopy, playing a game of tag as a troop of aipom cheered them on. Pan looked down: a brigade of oddish marched between her legs. Fascinated by the walking little radishes, Chi-Chi jumped off of Pan’s head, following them around the greenhouse. The pachirisu mimicked the upright stature of the little grass pokemon around the greenhouse.

“OddOddOddOdd…”
“PaPaPaPa…” Chi-Chi repeated the chant, trying to mimic the accent, though it came out quite dopey.

As Pan smiled at the pachirisu, grabbed a pokeball off her belt.

“I know who would enjoy this,” Pan said releasing her ivysaur.

Turnip looked around, his expression appeared pleasantly surprised. It hadn’t been that long since they encountered a forest, but it was always nice to visit another. The ivysaur felt more at home here than at any other place. He lay flat on his belly, spreading out his legs to absorb as much sunlight as possible. Pan knelt down to scratch behind his head, causing Turnip to make a big grin.

“Saaaaauuuuurrrr…” It was turning out to be a good day after all.

[kingbirdy]

As Iko ran to catch up with his friends, he saw them getting snow cones. Yummy! As he walked down the hall, he noticed a sign asking people to return all fire types. "Well Flare's in his ball, but what am I going to do with you, Nova?"

"Char, char man!" Nova replied.

"Yeah, you're right, well just tough it out." With that, Iko stepped up and got a Pina Colada snow cone from the Delibird. The taste sent a shiver down his spine. Not so much from cold as from the fact that Pina Colada was his favorite and he hadn't had any in ages. While he was munching on that, Giga and Oshi wandered out into the Greenhouse. Then Iko turned to his new found friends and said, "sorry about that, I had to get my friends," nodding to Nova. "Well this looks nice. I wonder how they manage to grow the plants with the snow and lack of light. Heat bulbs, I guess."

[Toogee]

"Maybe, though I bet the sunroof helps," Pan said to Iko, pointing to the glass ceiling above.

As everyone was enjoying the scenery, the sound of thunder echoed from far away, getting closer and closer.

“Sounds like a storm’s coming,” Pan thought aloud. It wasn’t that weird; they were in a rainforest after all. It was then that she realized that they weren’t in a rainforest, not to mention that the thunder was more akin to an incoming train than to weather. Suddenly, the ground beneath the group began to shake. The leaves among the plants started to quiver as the frantic calls of pokemon filled the room with panic. Chi-Chi quickly climbed back up to Pan’s shoulder, while Turnip snapped out of his dreamy gaze to face the approaching threat. At this point, Pan moved closer to Meiko and Iko; should something happen, she didn’t want to lose sight of her new friends.

Sure enough, an enormous crash caused Pan to grab onto a nearby tree, bracing herself for the worst. Darkness soon enveloped everyone inside, causing more panicked shrieks from several bird pokemon. Only when the emergency lights activated did the room revert to silence. As Pan looked around, nothing appeared out of place except for the pokemon, whom were all staring upward, towards the skylight. The glass ceiling was pitch black, save for one silver line in the middle.

Pan was only half listening to Lonnie’s annoncement as she watched that silver crack grow and branch out to other windowpanes. As the glass ceiling started to buckle, pieces of white fluff started drifting downwards, foreshadowing a deluge of their brethren.

“Guys, I think we need to head back to the cave,” Pan warned, quickly backing away. Turnip was already thinking ahead: his vines grasped his human’s hand, dragging her back into the shelter of the cavern. As Pivot swiftly levitated into the corridor, Pan kept the door open for Meiko and Iko to follow. She did not know that they only had seconds to react.

The sound of glass breaking signaled the coming of the ice storm to the tranquil mini rainforest. Several pokemon were able to move out of the way. Others weren’t so lucky.

The tropius took the brunt of the blow, giving a defiant roar as the weight of the snow buried the creature. Much of the landscape was covered in snow, quite a shock to the residents. The group of oddish huddled together for warmth, following the behavior of a flock of chatot.

The question was, what happened to the humans?

[Master Houndoom]

Meiko did not question Pan's suggestion. She didn't even take it as a suggestion. The rumbling had made her edgy. The crash had scared her. But the crack in the window had given her focus that she only knew in really, really close gym battles.

She dashed for the the door, pushing Iko in front of her, Eggheart held firmly, if not too tightly, in one of her arms. No thought other than getting through that door passed through her mind at all. She was focused.

She got through the door, but was hit from behind by a wall of snow, tumbling head over heels into Iko, then Pan. She felt a pop and wondered, briefly, if it was her leg breaking before a strong arm was wrapped around her, and the snow stopped.

It took her a moment to get her bearings, and shen she did she realized two things. There was a foot of snow on the ground of the cave, and she was hanging, upside down, over a very scaley arm.

"Chompwater," she said, shivering. "Remind me to get you some seaking filets when we get out of here.

Chompwater grunted, watching the ice encasing the doorway, to be sure it wouldn't break and bury them after all.