I had finally started my journey, I was INSIDE mt. coronet, on my own, no less.
I couldn't help but wonder if Matt was going to go to spear pillar today, I mean, he had just evolved, I'm not sure a body can take so much in one day.
I had heard all of the elder's legends, I was prepared, I was well stocked and I was motivated, now is the best time for me to do this.
as I traveled through the cave, I couldn't help but notice how maze-like it was, my map really didn't do it justice, there was no telling where I would end up, but, then again, I didn't care.
There were several trainers littering the area with their presence, they initially showed interest in me, but quickly lost interest when I told them I had no pokemon.
One trainer in particular asked me "how do you plan on going anywhere, or even, leaving this cave unharmed?"
I only had one response to this.
"With my own strength..."
the other trainers watched me as I traveled, I didn't mind really, maybe they could be the first people who could see my dream in action.
As if on cue, a wild pokemon who intended to fight me appeared, a graveler.
he was mad, I had no idea why, but he didn't intend to let me pass,"grav-el!" he shouted, firmly planting his feet in the ground.
"you really want to do this huh? well I won't decline" as I took my fighting stance, I could see the graveler be shocked by this.
"gra-grav?" he started, clearly wondering if I was serious.
"another dissenter then? well, if you don't want to fight, I won't hold it against you..."
the graveler was shocked, but, he realised he started this confrontation, he wasn't going to back down.
"grav!" he shouted at me, before hefting a rock and throwing it at me, I quickly dodged the improvised projectile before taunting.
"you're moving in slow-motion to me!" clearly, my training had paid off, I was never this fast before, but now was no the time to hesitate.
I launcehd myself to the graveler, dlivering a firm kick to his arm, I didn't expect it to do much, after all, He WAS an animate boulder, but, strangely, he seemed to really feel this.
I thought to myself "is he flinching!? How strong did I get?" When the graveler looked at me again, he saw a determintion in my eyes the likes of which, he had never seen before.
"gra-grav-ler" he said, wincing from my only attack, soon backing down.
Another trainer was standing nearby as it happened, he couldn't help but blurt out "YOU defeated that GRAVELER, a ROCK-type, in one hit? that was amazing!"
upon hearing this I got embarrased, replying " I guess so, I wasn't expecting it to be so easy, by the way, do you know the way to the closest exit?"
I had been in the cave for about 2 hours now, it was about 10 a.m. and I hadn't eaten since last night, but I wasn't going to eat in the cave, that would attract too much unwanted attention.
"yeah, you see the stairs behind me, take them up, and go straight, you'll see an opening, that'll lead you to route 217"
when he said this, I couldn't help but notice the trainers attire, he was dressed in an outfit that suggested extreme climates. I had to ask
"route 217 huh? is it covered in snow or something?"
"yeah, I don't know why, but it seems like it's a perpetual winter there"
this concept interested me beyond all else, Could a place like that really exist?
"perpetual winter huh? sounds migthy interesting..."
"if you're going there, watch out for team galcatic, they've been snooping around lake Acuity lately"
team galactic, again? dammit, these guys just keep popping up.
"okay" I asked "what do the members look like?"
"they all sport cyan bowl cuts and wear strange silver uniforms, you could spot one from miles away"
upon hearing this is chuckled a little "did you just say 'cyan bowl cuts?'"
"yes I did, but believe me, they're dangerous"
I understood, but, visualizing a person fitting that description still seemed hilarious to me.
"okay, I'll keep that in mind, but as you saw earlier, I can handle myself"
"well, maybe I'll see you again someday?" the trainer asked.
"sure, what's your name?"
"Thomas Ross"
"well, I'm Lucas West, it's good to meet you tom." I said, offering a handshake to the trainer
"good to meet you too Lucas" tom replied, shaking my hand.
"well, I guess I'll be heading to route 217 then, see ya around" I said, before moving through to the stairs.
the next room was more like a hallway than anything else, and at the end, I saw the opening, and sure enough, snow was seeping in.
"well, I'm not going to achieve my dreams by just standing around" I said as i started through the opening.
A chill wind hit me as I left the cave, I felt like I had entered a new land altogether, and it felt good.
as I traveled along route 217, taking in the new sights and pokemon, I saw something up ahead that made my heart stop for a moment, a sneasel was sitting slumped in the snow over a slightly larger figure, a weavile.
As I got closer I realized, the weavile wasn't moving, when I got closer, I noticed, it wasn't blinking, and, When I was right behind the sneasel, I realized, it wasn't breathing.

It was dead.

This sight made my blood boil "WHO. DID. THIS." I said, not really expecting a response, the sneasel, looked back at me, trying to hold in its tears, before pointing north, towards a large section of trees that parted in the middle.
without thinking, I ran straight through after the attacker, little did I realize, when the sneasel saw me run off, it slowly got up and started following me from a distance. trying to remain hidden.
I soon reached the Acuity lakefront, to see a man fitting tom's description saying to himself "so, this is where the boss said one of the key components are"
I stood behind him, silently, and when he turned around, he saw me. "what the, hey kid, get out of my way!"
he shouted, but he got no response from me "hey! are you stupid, you don't know who you're messing with kid!"
this time I responded. "did you kill that Weavile!?" I shouted looking at him through rage-filled eyes.
"it tried to stop me from entering the lakefront, I did what was necessary"
"SINCE WHEN IS DEATH NECESSARY!" I interrupted, trying my hardest not to attack him right then and there.
"a time like now kid, a time like now" he said before reaching for 2 pokeballs, releasing their contents, I saw he had a glameow and a stunky, but, there was something wrong, they had tears in their eyes, their heads were slumped, and when they turned their heads up to look at me, the slumped their heads again, as if welcoming death at this point.
"what did you do to them?" I said, rage subsiding slightly, these pokemon appeared to be suffering.
"I made them fight the Weavile, and when I gave the order to kill it, they questioned my authority over them, so, I had to threaten them to make them listen to me"
"unforgivable!" I shouted, while staring the grunt square in the eyes.
"I don't care" he said smirking at me,
'Well, you seem to be the only one" I responded, pointing out that his pokemon have lost the will to fight.
"what!? stunky, glameow, You WILL attack this kid, NOW!" he shouted at his pokemon
"stun-ky stun" the stunky responded, looking at him through tear-filled eyes.
"that's it!" he shouted, he went to kick the glameow, the stunky, upon seeing this jumped in front of his foot.
when I saw this, I ran straight at him. grabbing him by the throat.
it was then that he saw my eyes up close, but he saw something that I couldn't, my eyes were glowing with rage.
"who...are you!?" he shouted at me through laboured breaths
"I'm the man who's going to make a difference".
"stunky,...Glameow, help me!" he shouted as I clenched my hand around his throat
"please,stand back" I said, looking back at them "I have no quarrel with you"
they were taken aback at this, someone was harming their trainer, but they didn't care at this point.
I took my free hand, before saying "as long as I live and breathe, You won't get your way"I then clenched my hand into a fist and punched him square in the mouth.
"gah!" the grunt shouted before being knocked to the ground. he was knocked out, despite how enraged I was, I could never bring myself to take someone's life. I took this opportunity to snatch the pokeballs off his waist and bind his arms and legs together, the police will deal with him... the Stunky and Glameow couldn't take their eyes off this man who, seemingly came out of no-where to help them, they couldn't stand team galactic, and regretted always the day they were caught.
"it's okay, I'm setting you free" I said as I brought the pokeballs to the ground and smashed them with my foot,"it is done"
the stunky and glameow didn't flee like I thought they would, instead tears started to form, pleading forgiveness for what they had done. I looked around and saw the small sneasel, who had seemingly been watching this entire display,
"can you bring me back to the body of the weavile, I'm going to bury it..." I said, with a sombre tone to my voice. Turning to the now freed pair of pokemon, I said "If you truly regret your actions, come with me."
upon hearing this they moved closer to me, as if to say "all right", the little sneasel wasted no time and brought me to the weavile's body, I couldn't help but notice. the shape of the body, the legth of the ears. it was female, it must have been the sneasel's mother.
But, this is not the point, I started to dig a hole in the snow bare-handed, the stunky started to mimic my actions to help me I looked back to the glameow, and noticed, She was pregnant that would explain the protective nature of the stunky, the sneasel was digging too, soon, we had a sizable hole, enough for the weavile. I slowly placed the weavile in the hole, then the sneasel jumped in and snapped a nail off the weaviles hand, I didn't question this, It must have been traditional.
the three of us then filled in the hole with snow, then, I felt around my pockets for a pecha berry seed, this would help us remember where the grave was. i planted the seed at the head of the grave and stood back.
the stunky and glameow were sitting huddled together at the foot of the grave and the sneasel was standing beside me, I felt I should say something.
"Weavile, though I never knew you in life, I shall remember you in death eternal." I said sombrely, not moving, as if, praying. the stunky and glameow said their piece, which I couldn't understand, but, then again, I'm not so sure they wanted me hearing it in the first place. then, ashamed of their actions, they started to leave, I turned to them and said.
"if you want to atone for this, stay here, and protect this grave, so that Weavile shall be remembered.
they nodded in agreement, and headed around to the small bushy area behind the grave.
The sneasel started speaking, still trying to hold back it's tears, I turned and saw this and said "this is no sign of strength, to constrict one's emotions, if you feel like crying, you should..."
as I said this I knelt down beside the sneasel, who suddenly started bawling. "It's okay" I said "you never have to be alone again" as I offered my hand to the sneasel. The sneasel, still crying saw this and wrapped it's arms around my neck, hugging me.
"shh, shh... It'll be alright" I said as I returned the embrace, trying my best to comfort the little pokemon "I'll protect you, always..."
we stayed at the grave for two hours, still trying to absorb what had happenedafter the sneasel had calmed down, we headed away from the grave, I suddenly realised, I hadn't even introduced myself "I'm Lucas, Lucas west, do you have a name?"
the sneasel responded by nodding and using one of it's claws to write a name in the snow
S-E-E-N-A, there was no doubt now, the sneasel was female.
"so, your name is Seena? well, it's a beautiful name." I said, the sneasel blushed ever so slightly at this compliment "come on, there's a city nearby, we'll stay there" I said, pulling out my map and pointing to Snowpoint city.
I lead Seena to snowpoint city, and headed straight to the pokemon center.
When I walked in, I was greeted by an always familiar face, Nurse Joy "hello there young man" she said to me, smiling warmly.
"hello" I responded simply before following with "my little friend here needs a checkup" before motioning Seena over to nurse joy, Seena looked confused and scared, so I said "it's okay, this is a safe place, and I'll be waiting for you here.
Upon hearing this Seena relaxed and walked over to Nurse Joy, After 10 minutes I saw Seena walk back out, and she came and sat on the chair beside me, noticing that I had pulled out some food for her, a small assortment of berries in a small bowl. "go ahead Seena, eat whatever you want" I said before casually walking up to the counter.
"is Seena okay?" I asked, looking back when I said her name to signify to nurse joy that the sneasel was named Seena.
"well, apart from emotional issues, everything is fine" she said, curious about the nature of the emotional scarring.
"Seena's mother, from what I've gathered, was killed in front of her" I said in a sombre tone, answering the nurse's unvoiced questions.
"oh my, that's terrible..."
"I know, that reminds me, can you send some police to the Acuity lakefront? I've heard that Team Galactic is planning something there, and also, the aggressor of the aforementioned crime should be there"
the nurse was suprised, what would they want with the lake? "Okay, I'll call the station and have some officers dispatched"
"thank you, it really means a lot to me, also, do you have any spare rooms avaliable?"
"we don't get many visitors up here that stay, they usually head to the gym and leave, or pass through to the battle frontier so, there's almost always rooms avaliable to the public" Nurse Joy said before beckoning me to follow her.
"okay, just let me grab my things" I said as I moved over to where Seena was sitting, picking up my large backpack and taking Seena's hand, and following nurse joy to the room.
"thank you nurse" I said smiling as I entered the room.
"you're more than welcome here, anytime" nurse joy responded, returning my smile.
when I closed the door, I turned to Seena and asked "do you like this room?"
Seena responded by simply nodding, whilst eating some berries that I had picked in celestic town not even a full day ago.

It was 4:30 p.m. when we arrived, my stomach reminding me that I hadn't eaten anything today, but I didn't complain, Seena had been through so much today, I was far more concerned about her.
when I turned on the television in the room, a news report was playing, I could see that grunt I knocked out was being arrested, while shouting out "I'm gonna get that kid!"
I thought to myself "wow. they sure worked fast" while pointing at the tv for seena to turn her attention to the screen, when I turned to Seena, I couldn't help but notice she was staring at me.
"what's wrong Seena? is it my scars?"
Seena cocked her head slightly
I had been covered in light scars ever since I met matt, he was pretty rough when it came to training, but, the results shall speak for themselves "well" I explained," I got these scars up to 3 years ago, when I started my training" they didn't bother me, they almost seemed to represent my willpower to become stronger.
"no...? is there something on my face then?"
as if she had just snapped back to reality Seena just noticed she was staring at me before looking away, embarassed.
"is something wrong Seena?" I asked, curious as to what just happened.
she shook her head, looking down at the nail she took from her mother.
"is...that a...razor claw?" I always wondered where they came from
Seena responded by nodding, she was pretty quiet, I noticed
"are you going to use that, now?
she shook her head and put it in my bag.
"well, okay, just tell me when you want it"
she nodded in response.
"well, I'm gonna make some dinner" I said and headed over to the kitchenette and pulled out some meat, vegetables and noodles, before realising I was cooking for two, so I pulled out an extra portion of each.
Seena saw this and was wondering why I didn't just eat it raw.
"it'll taste better when it's cooked" I said, looking over to her, sitting on one of the beds, she was watching me intently, while I was cooking, I asked "you know Ice punch, correct?"
Seena nodded in response. "you think you could teach me how to do it?" I asked, those moves always interested me, and why shouldn't I be able to learn it?
she looked at me thinking it was impossible, but she still agreed to try.
the smell of the meal wafted through the room "it seems dinner is ready" I grabbed out two plastic bowls from my bag, and served the food, bringing a bowl over to Seena, she smelled the food curiously before trying some, it did taste really good.
"hah, I thought you might like that" I said chuckling lightly while eating my own.
then she did something I wasn't expecting, she hugged me in thanks.
"hey, it's good to know you enjoyed the food." I said, before raising a question " I was wondering, did you ever know your father?"
hearing this, Seena looked like she went deep into thought, before simply shaking her head.
"I asked, because, you don't have to stay with me, I know weaviles and sneasels hunt in groups, is there anyone else you could stay with?"
when Seena heard this, tears started to form in her eyes, she hugged me and held me tightly, as if to say she didn't want to leave MY side.
"I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry, I just meant, if you didn't want to stay with me, you don't have to."
she looked back at me, sniffling, as if to say" why would I want to leave."
then I realized, I promised to protect her, and I'm a man of my word.
"this is just a formality, but, would you mind if I... caught... you? it will stop other people from catching you and taking you away." I said, fully aware of my, and her, fears : separation.
she heard me and understood, she went over to my bag and pulled out one of the 3 pokeballs I had in my bag, I never kept many on me, if a pokemon is to join me, it's their decision not mine, so I knew I wouldn't need many.
she held the ball aloft and pushed the activator on the front, she disappeared in a red light inside the red and white orb, the ball didn't shake at all, showing that the pokemon inside wasn't fighting back the ball clicked, so I went to pick it up and release Seena.
she reappeared in front of me, smiling, "well, that's done" I said, smiling lightly "now, it's about 7:30 and I was wondering, if you could show me how you use the ice punch?"
Seena didn't like to show off, but she already agreed to this, so, she held her hands to her chest and closed her eyes.
"are you trying to show me that I have to start by imagining the element in question in my mind?"
without opening her eyes, Seena nodded, and a light-blue aura started to emanate from her right hand.
"woah, that's really cool" I said, suddenly noticing I had made a terrible pun, "uhh...pun not intended" I followed with.
the aura grew larger, I could feel the temperature drop slightly, even though I had moved to the other side of the room.
the aura started freezing small crystals in the air, moisture was freezing and dropping to the ground, but, they were so small, they quickly melted.
then, Seena launched a punch, to me, this would be the easiest step to imitate, the others, not so much...
I spent the next two hours trying to imagine freezing crystals in my mind, I could swear that I could feel the ice itself, but, I merely thought it was psychosomatic.
it was now 9:30 p.m. and I was getting tired, the TV had just finished playing a movie about two boys walking along a railroad, I didn't really watch it, I was too busy trying to concentrate on my goal.
"Seena, I'm going to turn in for the night" I said, turning the tv off," you know where everything is, don't hesitate to wake me if you need anything" I said, before retiring to one of the two avaliable beds.Chapter End Notes:this is MUCH longer than chapter one, if you recall, chapter one is more of a prologue
Edit: something strange has happened... it's cut the end of my chapter off, I'll upload it as the start of chapter 3... sorry about this..