Cogita couldn't rember the last ti she'd felt this awful.
Not only was Elias missing, but a full-on blizzard had overtaken the Pure White Tundra.
Even the Pearl Clan, long accustod to such severe weather, had been forced to retreat to the outskirts for shelter.
Under these conditions—
If Elias really had gone into the tundra to capture a Pokémon as planned, Cogita didn't even want to imagine what might've happened to him.
"Braviary, can you contact Tornadus right now?"
Gritting her teeth, she turned to the Pokémon beside her.
Braviary shook its head.
She didn't have a close enough bond with Tornadus to call on him at will—especially now, when the creature seed to have fallen into a frenzy.
"Then take in. I'm going to look for him."
Seeing there was no other way, Cogita clenched her fists and issued the command.
No matter how gifted Elias was, he was still human. If he was out there without a single Pokémon at his side, his psychic powers alone wouldn't be enough to survive a blizzard like this.
And Cogita couldn't just sit around waiting for the storm to pass.
To her, Elias was the only family she had left.
Protecting him—helping him grow strong—was the most important purpose she had now, even more than her long-standing mission of capturing legendary Pokémon.
So even if it ant putting herself at risk, she had to try.
Who knows… maybe I'll run into him by chance.
"I—I want to go too."
Irida stepped forward, her voice timid but resolute.
She didn't fully understand what was going on, but she knew one thing—Elias was missing.
No context needed. Elias going missing was, in itself, a disaster of earth-shaking scale.
So she wanted to help.
Unfortunately…
At the sound of her request, Cogita rely gave her a brief, indifferent glance before mounting Braviary and taking off without a word.
She wasn't about to bring along extra baggage.
Besides, the question of whether Elias had actually left with Irida in the first place remained unanswered.
As Cogita flew away without hesitation, Irida bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
But worry quickly overtook her frustration.
"Elias… please be safe…"
He was the only friend she had left.
---
anwhile—
Elias, accompanied by Zoroark and Lucario, had made his way to the snow-capped mountain.
The air here was even colder, visibility reduced to a blur of white.
Peering down from the ridge, Elias could just barely make out what looked like a small lake below.
At these temperatures, it had likely frozen over with a thick layer of ice.
"Elias, look over there."
Zoroark tugged on his sleeve and whispered.
Elias followed the direction she pointed.
Using his psychic sense, he could faintly make out sothing twisting violently through the snowfall—like a miniature tornado darting across the snowfield.
The snowflakes that had already settled on the ground were being lifted back into the air by the vortex's force.
His instincts told him that this little storm was the very Pokémon they were looking for—Tornadus.
"That's probably him."
Elias rolled his shoulders and prepared to give Lucario and Zoroark the order to engage.
There wasn't any special strategy needed for this fight.
With Lucario and Zoroark's combined strength, as long as they coordinated properly, taking down Tornadus shouldn't be difficult.
But just as Elias was about to speak, the words caught in his throat.
Because—unbelievably—there was another human near Tornadus.
The snow made it hard to see clearly, but he could just make out long hair whipping wildly in the wind—definitely a woman, or rather… a girl?
Yes—Elias could just barely tell that she was around his own height. She had to be a child.
And Tornadus? It was already locked in combat with a Pokémon.
Bursts of fire lit up the snowfield, sending flurries exploding in every direction. Through the gale, the echo of a dragon's roar could be heard.
Elias exchanged a glance with Lucario and Zoroark—each of them stunned.
…Did we just get scooped?
---
On the other side of the battlefield—
Clutching her oversized coat tighter around her body, Cynthia gave instructions to her Garchomp as it fought off the Pokémon before her.
At that mont, she was absolutely fuming.
As the Champion of the Sinnoh region and one of the most formidable Trainers in the world, she was rarely ever this disheveled.
But today...
While exploring an ancient ruin—as she often did, indulging her fascination with ancient civilizations—one of the engraved tiles before her had suddenly warped.
Her well-trained instincts scread that sothing was wrong, but by the ti she moved to retreat, it was too late.
Darkness swallowed her—and she woke up in a frozen land she'd never seen before.
The worst part? Her body had changed.
Cynthia could hardly believe it—she had sohow reverted to her seven- or eight-year-old self.
Her clothes, once well-fitted, now hung off her like a heavy robe.
This kind of age-reversal wasn't just bizarre—it was sothing not even she, with all her knowledge and experience, had ever heard of.
And before she could make sense of it, a grotesque green Pokémon had descended in front of her.
Snarling like a beast, it had whipped the entire tundra into a frenzy.
Just thinking about it made Cynthia's blood boil again.
If Garchomp hadn't been dragged into this world with her...
That very first blast of wind would've buried her small, helpless body beneath the snow for good.
"Raaaah!"
Garchomp let out a furious roar, unleashing [Fire Fang] before pulling back to Cynthia's side.
It growled lowly, eyes fixed on Tornadus even as it stood protectively in front of her.
Their years of shared battle experience ant Cynthia understood its ssage instantly.
Run.
Cynthia's expression darkened.
This Pokémon might not be stronger than her Garchomp in raw power.
But real battles were never fought in a vacuum. Terrain and weather mattered—and a blizzard was the worst possible environnt for a Dragon/Ground-type like Garchomp.
Tornadus's mastery of wind and ice gave it an overwhelming natural advantage.
Garchomp holding out this long was already a miracle.
But… how were they supposed to escape?
Cynthia glanced behind her—toward the cliff edge—and swallowed hard.
With her body in this condition, she wouldn't survive any kind of high-intensity maneuver…
---
T/N: OOOOOOOOOOUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH CYNTHIA!
User Comments
0 comments from readers