"Bye-bye!" I yelled out behind me as we walked out of the Thrift Megamart. "I love you!" I called out watching as Gengar, Haunter and Mimi-Big all waved goodbye at me, Acerola standing beside them waving with Mimikins.

"I'm kinda surprised." Papa spoke as we trotted off on the Stoutlands.

"About what?" I asked, still looking behind me and waving.

"You didn't capture that Haunter. You seemed to get along well."

"Oh." I went silent and I felt my smile get a little brittle. "Yeah."

"Vicky?"

"He's one of the Totem helpers… He helps take care of things. He's got a job. All official like. Acerola mentioned it. Haunter is… Kinda wild, but kinda a Kahuna pokemon. It's complicated. Apparently the Gengar belonged to one of the Kahuna, and helps out with stuff here."

"Huh. Sort of like an old Gym pokemon. They sometimes are set out to control wild pokemon that can be dangerous."

"Yeah." I sighed.

"Would you have captured him?"

"He was cute." I admitted as I reset myself to the front of the Stoutland.

"So yes." Papa said laughing, and I just shrugged.

I already had a lot of pokemon at the moment. Between my original team, and my babies, and not even counting the dozens of Milotic, and all the Goomy.

But… It'd have certainly been fun. But I shook it off.

"It doesn't matter. He had his job, helping Gengar, and… He's comfortable where he is. Come on!" I shouted urging Stoutland on grinning as we sped past Papa for a moment before once again the Stoutlands proved themselves to be traitors and Papa soon caught up as Stoutland started slowing down purposefully.

"You're the worst." I told the big dog, but his tail was wagging as Papa spoke to both dogs telling them what good boys they were.

Evil!

Finally leaving the Thrifty Megamart long behind we once more came to the crossroads, and I hurried north.

"C'mon Papa! We gotta explore the whole mountain!"

"I don't think we'll get a whole mountain done today, but we can check it out, no need to rush!" He yelled back at me, but I was urging Stoutland on as we raced up the road, which very quickly turned into a dirt path, and then barely a path at all. Up we went, up a path that wound back and forth climbing up the mountain, until, suddenly we were in the snow.

"Stout!" The dogs barked at each other happily at the cool snow on their paws but Papa and I were already starting to shiver.

"Hold here Stoutland." I called out as I slipped off and shivered at the ice around my feet, I opened up my back, and started pulling out my winter clothes. Pants went on first, right over my alolan summer clothes. Then I had a heavier shirt, and a jacket, and even had my big clunky boots instead of my flip flops.

Papa was slipping into his clothes too, and soon some cold weather adventurers were here!

"Ready?"

"Yeah, let's tackle this mountain! Hahaha!" He laughed pointing forward and the Stoutlands both danced around like happy dogs at Papa's command.

And then we continued on, climbing atop Stoutlands and making much slower time as the snow started picking up. The paths up the mountain grew wider, I noticed, but even more full of snow. This was supposed to be the actual road, but I didn't see any actual roads. I wonder if they even bothered with cars to get up to the top.

Wasn't there an observatory at the top?

"What is that!?" Papa suddenly cried out and the Stoutland both shifted ready to start charging at Papa's words, which was doubly funny, since what had caused the shout was just a Sandshrew.

"Alolan Sandshrew, instead of being a Ground type, it's an Ice and Steel Type!" I explained, even as the Sandshrew heard Papa's shout, and seeing two big Stoutland staring at it, like they were ready to hunt, and squeaked cutely and charged back into the snow digging away from the danger.

"It looked weird. Wait, Steel and Ice?"

"Yep! Its armor is as hard as steel, they actually can't roll up like Kanto Sandshrew! I wonder if they still try, and if it looks cute, I bet it does!"

"Heh. Can't roll up? That's Sandshrew's best trick."

"Well, with tougher armor, I guess it doesn't need it."

"Maybe." Papa offered, but unlike me, who thought they were super cute, he didn't sound very impressed.

I just rolled my eyes and continued on, as Papa caught up. "Alolan Sandshrew, that's so strange."

"They have Exeggutors as well, They're super tall, and Dragon-Grass types."

"Weird!" He laughed as he must have imagined them.

But that was a good point. I kept my head on a swivel and kept looking around. Would I get super duper mega main character energy lucky, and find a Glaceon too, that could lead me to the Ice Stone?

Probably not. But I wasn't going to miss it by not looking around!

As we headed further and further up the mountain, we spotted a few more cute pokemon.

First a group of Snorunts gathering snow balls for whatever they had planned. They noticed us through the trees and just gathered up the snow balls they'd collected and started rolling them off, until we were out of sight.

Then as we came up to a curved section through the rock, spiraling around the mountain, a group of Sneasel were hanging out along the ridge. Poking their head out and watching us move past. I had a feeling if we were less strong looking with two Stoutland carrying us up, they might try and jump us.

But we made it past that group, and then on the mountain paths.

Snow covered everything and it was fairly chilly, but the Alolan sun was still strong, so any time we were in the sun, my jacket would heat up almost uncomfortably before we'd pass through some trees, or around a bend, and cool down again.

Continued around, and yet…

While there were plenty of rocky sections on the mountain, and even some pine forests, we hadn't seen any actual caves.

"I don't see anything." I finally mentioned as we stopped for a break to let the dogs get some water and snacks while Papa and I stretched.

"It's a big mountain."

"Yeah but… No caves at all? I know they're here."

"Hmm. Maybe the trails avoid them. Caves tend to have Pokemon in them, especially in a place like this." Papa said, and the more I tinkered with that, the more likely it seemed.

"Then, we need to go off the trail." I decided and Papa just shrugged.

"Sure." His acceptance was a relief, and once the dogs were ready to move out, we turned away from the trail and out into the deeper snow.

Working together the two Stoutland pushed through the snow, switching front position from time to time, as there were places of really thick snow, but we passed through forests, and mountain climbs. While there were plenty of pokemon around. It wasn't nearly as dense as it felt in the Jungle.

Most pokemon we found were in groups, and disappeared, or watched us pass without breaking eye sight.

But then along the cliff face we found it.

A large cave sank deep into the mountain, and I shot a look at Papa who looked just as excited as we stepped off the Stoutland.

"You boys should stay here." Papa offered, but instead both dogs shook their heads and nudged up to Papa and… I guess we were going to have company. Papa just laughed, reaching out and giving both dogs pets with each hand. "Alright, you can come with, who knows we may end up leaving the mountain through another exit. So you'll be a big help."

"Stout!" One barked, puffing up proudly, while the other was still nudging Papa's hand for more.

They were cute.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

But soon Papa got them ordered up. Mimikyu still on my shoulder, and Rockruff for Papa, we headed deep into the cave, and I actually had to stop for a moment to get my flashlight out, only for the first shift in the tunnel to end up in an already lit room.

"It's beautiful." I whispered, there was an almost icy moss that covered the walls, the entire cave glowed white.

"Yeah… You got your camera?"

"Oh sure." I pulled it out of my bag and handed it to Papa, but he grinned and dragged me closer before shifting the camera in front of us and after a moment snapping a photo. "A selfie?"

"Selfie? I just want a pic for your Mama. She was teasing me about all the interesting spots she saw on your adventure, but now I got a really neat one to tease her with!" Papa was grinning like a loon, and all I could do was just roll my eyes. Of course.

"I'll take that back, thank you." I grumbled taking my camera and putting it back in my bag.

"C'mon lets look around. You said you wanted to find this Ice Rock, right?"

"Yeah. If it exists, it'll be somewhere on this mountain. Probably inside it." I muttered, looking around. The tunnel led to this cave, and it was big. I could see different sections of the cave from here, and it spread rather wide. It even had walls of ice on some parts of this room, which meant there could be rooms hidden behind the ice…

"Well, we can spend the day, but we aren't going to be here all night, so let's get moving. It's chilly down here." Papa decided and I nodded.

We headed out. Our four pokemon kept an eye out, as we moved deeper into the cave, mostly just picking a random direction, although Papa stopped and had Rockruff scrape along the walls as we walked, giving both a scent and visual trail for us.

"That's really smart."

"It's something you learn while traveling through Mt. Moon… Or it should be." He said, sending me a judging look.

"I went through a mountain! It looks like a giant skull! It was full of Goo and stuff!"

"Mhmm." He said judgementally, and I puffed up and glared at him.

"It was a cool mountain!"

"Sigh, my daughter, missing out on cultural touchstones. What am I going to do with her?" He said, even literally saying 'sigh' just to hammer it home.

"Oh excuse me for being the smart one and going over the mountain full of Zubats ready to attack anyone that disturbs them!"

"It builds character! Back in my day we went through Mt. Moon both ways!"

"Pfft. No you didn't." I scoffed and Papa sent me an amused look.

"We could have!"

"Didn't." I sing songed, but then stopped. "What is that?" I asked, looking at the wall, there scratched deep into the stone, was three cuts, a claw mark that trailed deeply into the stone.

What the heck made that?

"Pokemon move, you don't recognize it?"

"No, I don't think there's anything on the mountain that would make a mark like that." I whispered. Of course I only vaguely at best recalled the game, but… Sneasel, and Absol? Maybe a Sandslash? That was about all you could find on the mountain that would leave anything like this, but none of them had three claws. Sandslash and Sneasel only had two. Absol one…

I shook it off. A cut that deep wasn't something I'd want my baby team to face, but… I looked at Papa.

There were two of us, and we had pokemon including the Stoutland… Not that they were battle pokemon. On top of that, Papa did have Lucario. I don't think there was much down here that Lucario couldn't beat up.

"I think we keep going. If we run into anything bad, we'll jump on the Stoutland and run away." Papa said confidently, and I nodded showing him I totally agreed.

I wanted to find this Ice Rock. No matter what pokemon were down here.

We moved on. Mimikyu kept a good eye out from atop my head. We followed a mostly flat path, up and down. It split off from time to time, sometimes the path would open up and show a large cave, but we'd be high up from the ground floor of that one.

Pokemon were down here too. I saw a lot of Sandshrew, Zubat as well. Papa always walked real quietly past when we spotted them.

And then the path we were on opened up fully, coming up into another large cave, this one was cold. Massive pillars of ice that glittered and seemed to amplify the light from the glowing moss filled the room.

"What a place." Papa said looking around, and even the Stoutland and Rockruff were looking around as they took in the view.

But I was focusing less on how beautiful it looked, despite wanting to take a picture, but on the scratches along the ice.

More of those massive three clawed scratches, but much more. Something was grinding against the ice pillars, like sandpaper on ice, scratching it up into a white blur. Alwаys rеаd аt thе sоurсе—

Pokemon used this room, and often by the looks of it.

I took just a few steps towards one of the ice pillars when my foot didn't quite come down correctly and I nearly ate shit on the icy ground.

"Vicky?"

"I'm alright. I groaned, my foot had slipped out from under me, and I was half way through a splits. I shifted until my feet were stable again. There in the ground, in the ice, which was actually hard to make out in the light of the cave was an imprint.

Wait I recognized this I think? A big round imprint in the snow with a weird print in the center… What Pokemon did this?

"Huh what is that?"

"I'm not sure, it's right on the tip of my tongue though." I muttered, staring at the weird print in the ice and rock.

Then we heard it. A strange noise in the air that echoed around the cave strangely, a constant high pitched noise that also…

"Huh. Is there something grinding up ice?" Papa asked, and I blinked as I finally managed to place the noise, something grinding up against ice, rapidly. Like a saw cutting through ice.

"Let's find out." I decided and Papa nodded as we moved on ahead, passing around the pillars and through sections of the cave that literally had no floor, just ice spread out across an expanse from one side of a cave to the other, with a massive split going through the rock in the center.

But the ice was more than thick enough to support us all.

Then I started seeing it, spraying ice all over the place, and as we got closer, the light finally let us see.

"Oh it's Sandshrew." I muttered, they were literally grinding up against the ice using Rapid Spin, literally spinning up to get speed and power before hitting the ice pillars and grinding them down.

What were they doing though? There were a dozen Sandshrew, each of them picking a pillar and grinding up against it, seemingly over and over.

Papa and I hung back, even as Rockruff was down nearly on his belly looking ready to charge in but waiting, the two Stoutland just watched from behind us.

Mimikyu was where I got the warning. I felt him jump off as the noise of a cracking stone and something blurred out of the rock beside us, intercepted and beaten back.

"Sand! Slash!" The evolved Alolan Sandslash squeaked out a warning as it regained its feet from Mimikyu's Blow knocking it back.

"Whoa, whoa." I said even as Papa moved to attack. "We aren't here to fight. We won't bother you, or your family." I explained, but Sandslash wasn't listening, its claws were raised and gleaming.

"Rockruff!"

"Ruff!"

"Slash!" There was definitely a battle.

"I'll leave it to you then Papa. I'll watch our back." I called out and did just that. Keeping an eye on the battle, as Papa called out for a Rock Throw and the battle began.

Ugh.

Some pokemon didn't want to listen, especially since we were so close to their… Family? Pack?

What was a group of Mouse called?

I shook off the silly thought and focused up. Mimikyu was already jumping back onto my head to keep an eye out, and multiple Sandshrew were already moving over. Their cute little waddle as they couldn't roll up was super adorable.

But I stood in their way.

"Easy. Easy. We aren't gonna hurt your friend." A crack of Rock on Ice echoed out behind me… Probably didn't sound truthful… "We're just gonna battle them, until they calm down."

My words unfortunately didn't seem to be working. The Sandshrew squeaked at each other and readied for a battle.

Three Sandshrew had approached, and now it was three on one. Ugh. If I had my big boys this wouldn't even be an issue.

"Mimikyu, stick to evasion, and Shadow Claw. Only use Wood Hammer if you have to, I don't want you getting too injured."

"KuKkkuk!" He agreed and leapt forward right as the Sandshrew did, they spun up into Rapid Spin, but..

Normal type move.

Mimikyu basically ignored them, just slipping around the attack and smashing them around with Shadow Claw.

Then seemingly realizing their move wasn't working, they each jumped back, and inhaled.

"Shreeew!" They shouted in unison, and a wall of snow seemed to surge forward.

Mimikyu leapt, dodging, bouncing out of the walls of snow, but three attacks was a lot to dodge, and as he shifted, they did too.

Powder Snow, the move shifted up and Mimikyu cried out in irritation as his Milotic disguise was slammed into, and as he landed…

Some of the scales were covered in ice, and the Disguise looked a little rough.

"KUkKUku!" He shouted angrily and then charged in.

Oh he mad.

They tried it again, but this time he darted past them, and even as they turned, slightly hitting each other with Powder Snow, he just used their bodies as shields and soon all three Sandshrew were laying on the ground squeaking.

"Slash!" I turned. Papa and Rockruff weren't doing quite so well. Rockruff was young, and Sandslash was strong.

But the Stoutland had stepped in, and Sandslash looked less willing to fight both of them…

Which meant it noticed me knocking around the Sandshrew, and suddenly jumped away from Papa's battle.

"Vicky!"

"I see it. Go!" I shouted out, instead of calling on Mimikyu, Riolu popped out. "Vacuum Wave!" I called, and Riolu acted as the large pokemon was charging at her. She was getting better.

There was no charging period, she simply pushed out both paws and the wave of energy and wind blasted out and into the leaping Sandslash knocking it back and sending it skittering.

"Good hit!" I called out, and the Sandslash must have thought so as well, it was super weak to fighting type moves after all.

"Okay let's all calm down. See." I offered, reaching into my bag and pulling out some Oran berries. I let it see what I was holding before gently dropping the berries near the Sandshrew. "We aren't here to fight you." I said again, softly, showing that I had no interest in a fight, or in them.

And slowly the Sandslash shifted from me to Papa back to me, and then instead of fighting it started shuffling sideways.

I realized what it was doing and moved along with it, away from the Sandshrew that were waking up groaning, and towards Papa, as we switched places, leaving the Sandslash in between me and the Sandshrew. Riolu looked ready to keep fighting, seemingly pleased at the strength of her hit, but I reached out and tugged her along which she did follow.

"See. No need for a fight." I continued and its claws jerked a bit, but it wasn't looking aggressive as it definitely wanted us away from its… Kids?

Who knows.

"Alright. Let's just check out wounds, and move on." Papa decided and I nodded, not taking my eyes off the Sandslash as I backed up until I was fully away. Riolu looked super happy when Papa reached out and patted her between the ears though.

"Okay I have some potions and stuff, no worries. How's Rockruff."

"A little beaten up. He fought well though. Didn't he?" Papa asked, and Rockruff looking a little more scuffed and favoring a paw perked up at Papa's words. His tail even started to wag.

It didn't take long to spray his wounds, down, yet despite his full heal he still gave Papa big puppy eyes and looked injured until Papa picked him up and then he manically snuggled into Papa rubbing into him, which probably was a little painful for Papa, but it was obvious Rockruff loved papa. As he was rapidly trying to lick his face, and rub against him.

"Ow. Ow. Blegh, that was my mouth. Ow." Papa repeated as Rockruff wiggled against him. "Do you have to do that?" He asked the pup.

"Actually yeah. Rockruff rub up against things they like. The more they like you, the harder they rub."

"That checks, ow, out." Papa confirmed and I just laughed a bit.

"Rio. Riolu." Riolu grumbled, as she was shooting looks like she wanted to be picked up too.

I just rolled my eyes at her, and reached out, patting her on the head just like Papa.

"Good job."

"Rio." She scoffed, but didn't move away I noticed.

"We should keep moving, maybe move past the Sandslash so we don't bother them anymore." Papa said suddenly, I looked up and noticed the Sandlash was still looking at us, locked on and ready to defend.

"Yeah let's go."