Chapter 31:  Cold and Warm Hearts (Part A) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

After a long trek, we finally arrived in Delft Town, home of one of the new 
Gyms, the town was located at the bottom of a valley surrounded by cold 
mountains.  

The first thing we did was visit the Pokémon Centre, put the Pokémon in for a 
refresh and went straight to bed.  
It was so nice sleeping in a warm bed, we’d spent too many nights outside.  

The next day, our Pokémon were all healthy and ready for food, the food for 
them was free but people had to pay for their own.  
I noticed Scott feeding his newest Pokémon, the huge Snorlax, outside the 
Centre.  
Nurse Joy sighed and carried the third basket of Pokéchow.  
“Um, Scott? I think you’re taking advantage of our generous offer.” she said 
between nervously and firmly.  
Scott glimpsed at her for a moment and just grinned.  
A smile came to my face, Scott could be so sneaky sometimes, and I could never 
get a straight answer from him, if anything, but now he was willing to talk, 
but he was still mysterious and mean towards strangers or unfamiliar people.  

I decided to trade, Abby was alone as always, except her Pokémon were nearby, 
the little ones were around the sofa innocently munching their food and trying 
to be close to Abby, the other three were quiet and gruff and sat on their own 
not paying much attention to the world, except for the Magikarp, it was 
swimming slowly in a small fish tank.  
She only had six Pokémon and I don’t think she had a sponsor, or else she would 
have caught more Pokémon by now, she had a lot of talents as a trainer, so 
something was keeping her from building up her team.  

“Tetsubo, its been a while, how are you?” said Blossom pleasantly.  
“Oh I’m fine Blossom, I’ve got five Gym Badges and I’m about to go get my 
sixth.”  
“Any new Pokémon?”  
“Not since Spectre, but my Pokémon have been growing and evolving, but you’ve 
probably seen any that have.”  
“What about you Tetsubo?”  
“Oh I’m fine, Abby’s been getting more comfortable with me, and we travelled 
with Chad for a bit, and now Scott’s with us.” I said turning the screen to 
him, he was currently trading Pokémon with his sponsor.  
“Isn’t that the one you said that-”  
“Took money from kids, yes, but he’s a compassionate trainer, he cares for his 
Pokémon if not about people, and I’m sure he takes money for a valid reason.”  
“So long as you trust him.”  
“I do.”  
“And what of Emily, have you heard from her?”  
“I’m afraid not, I don’t think she’ll forgive me for lying to her, even if I 
thought I was protecting her by doing so.  She cut off our Pokédex link so I 
don’t even know what she’s facing.”  
“Speaking of the Pokédex...”  
“A hundred and eight, so far.”  
“Keep it up Tetsubo, its really helping my research.”  
“I’d like to trade Psychot for Pollen.  This looks like an Ice-type Gym, but 
Ice-type moves are also common in Water-types, so I just want to be prepared.”  
“Of course, just put Psychot’s Pokéball in the trade machine...”  
It took a few moments and I soon received Pollen’s Pokéball.  
“Gloom!” he squealed upon being released from his ball, and he sat in my lap 
and swayed to the sides happily, I suppose it had been a while since we were 
together.  
“Heh heh, hey watch it...  Okay Blossom, I’ll call you after the Gym Battle.”  
“Good luck Tetsubo.”  

We all went to the Gym, a building that was covered by snow and ice, the 
doorway was practically frozen, we had to chip away at the ice to get through.  
“Hello?...  Is anyone there?...  We’d like a Gym Match.” I called out.  
“Oh dear, oh dear.” we heard someone say.  
“We must close the Gym, why aren’t people willing to risk a little danger to 
help out Miss Prima?”  
“Hello?” I asked as we peered around the corner, and two men were preparing 
mountaineering equipment and dressed in woolly clothes, one was short and wore 
yellow, the other was tall and in green.  
“Are you Gym Leaders or do you just work here?” asked Scott.  
“Are you trainers? Are you here to challenge Miss Prima?” asked the short one.  
“I suppose so.” I replied.  
“Then you’ll help us, won’t you?” asked the other.  
“What’s the problem?” I asked.  
“Our Mistress, Miss Prima went up to the mountains to train her Pokémon and she 
hasn’t come back, there was an avalanche you see, and we’re very worried about 
her.  We tried to get assistance, but no one’s crazy enough to help us, but 
they should be, Miss Prima has done a lot for this town.” explained the one in 
green.  
“You have agile, strong Pokémon, I’m sure.” said the one in yellow.  
“I guess so.” replied Scott.  
“Then please.” pleaded the tall one, “Help us to find Miss Prima and you’ll get 
your Gym Battles, if not from her then from one of us.”  
“Are you sure you need all three of us?” I asked, more concerned for Abby.  
“Well, its a three man thing, I’m sure, so I suppose if two of you help out, 
one of you could stay and have their Gym Battle.” explained the taller one.  
“Abby, I think you’re should stay here, your Pokémon are either small or not 
suited for this task.” I explained, trying not to patronise her.  
“But I’ll feel like I’m not doing my part.” she replied, “Take Armour.” she 
said, and released him from his ball and gave it to me.  
“Rhhhyyy...”  
“He’s weak against Water and Ice-type attacks, so I probably wouldn’t use him 
for the Gym Battle anyway.”  
She kneeled down to Armour, “Now Armour, I want you to go with them and protect 
them from danger, just as you would with me, they’re friends.”  
“Rhhhyyy...” he snorted.  
“I mean it, protect them...” she said firmly, “Especially Tetsubo.” she 
whispered.  
“So which of us should stay behind?” asked the short one.  
“You should.” replied the tall one, “Mountaineering’s always been a problem for 
you.”  
“You do you mean?”  
“You’re vertically challenged, Bjorn!”  
“Oh...” sighed Bjorn.  
“Shall we be off then?...  Oh where are my manners? I’m Benny, and that is my 
brother Bjorn.”  
“I’m Tetsubo, this is Scott and that’s Abby.”  
“Now that that’s sorted out, shall we be on our way?...”  

The climb was steeper than I thought, I wasn’t usually afraid of heights, only 
when there was a chance of falling.  
“Just a little further!” shouted Benny from above, “Just over this cliff 
face!”  
“You said that two cliff faces ago!” I shouted back, “How are you holding up 
Scott?...  Scott?!...”  
“OOONNN!!!” screamed Shard bursting out the mountain a little way away from me, 
rising a little and then burrowing into the mountain again, Scott gripped onto 
its tail so that he could ride his Onix while avoiding any damage from the 
debris that he made, he gave me a confident smirk and disappeared.  
“I hate him sometimes...” I groaned, and continued to climb upwards, the rock 
suddenly plummeted and I quickly threw a Pokéball.  
“Twinkill!...”  
“Staryu!”  
It spun down and wedged itself into the mountain with me between two of its 
points.  
“Thanks Twinkill, I owe you my life.”  
“Star...” it said lovingly.  
I remembered when I had nearly lost Twinkill to Cletus’s Arbok and Scyther.  
“Actually, I guess we’re even.”  
“Star...”  

We all soon reached the top, I was last of course, I didn’t have any powerful 
rock tunnelling Pokémon or mountaineering skills.  
“I guess I’d better put you to good use, its not everyday Abby lets me borrow a 
Pokémon...” I said releasing Armour.  
I thought about Flutter, the Butterfree that Abby gave me, and suddenly that 
statement didn’t seem as convincing as I’d made it out to be.  
“Rhy...” it mumbled, and lowered itself down.  
“Anyone want a lift?” I asked, but the Rhyhorn turned away from Scott and Benny 
and turned to me.  
“Never mind.” I said getting on, why did it only want me to ride? Was I that 
much more special to Abby? Maybe...  
“Don’t need it.” said Scott and released his Onix which he helped Benny onto.  
On the Rock/ Ground Pokémon, we charged through the windy snowstorm towards the 
avalanche site that Benny had mentioned.  
“Dew Gong gong gong!” called out a Dewgong, and we noticed a huge lake that was 
practically frozen over, except for a few holes, in which Dewgong were poking 
out.  
“How cute.” I commented, before they lowered their horns and started shooting 
Aurora and Ice Beams towards us.  
“I’d say they’re more...  Brutish.” commented Scott.  
“What could have made them so mad?! Dewgong aren’t supposed to be like this!” I 
shouted.  
“I don’t understand either, our mistress often comes up here to visit the 
Dewgong, they’re peaceful.” shouted Benny.  
“Well something has spooked them pretty good.” said Scott.  
Suddenly the ground crumbled as a powerful booming sound filled the air, all of 
us plummeted into a frozen lake and through the ice.  
“Mmmmpphh!!! Twinkill! Shockwave!” I shouted through the freezing water as I 
threw two Pokéballs.  
“Sta!”  
“Brrrrzzz!!!”  
They didn’t need orders to react to the situation, Twinkill rammed against me 
so that I’d be between the points, it could fly around in water or air, but not 
really with people, so it was tough on it, I’d released Shockwave to save 
Armour, Shockwave’s powerful arms might help it swim back up with the heavy 
Pokémon.  
I could barely see Scott and Benny, his Snorlax was under the Onix and his huge 
blubbery weight caused him to rise up even when supporting the weight of the 
Onix, Benny and Scott were on a blue snake-like Pokémon that I couldn’t see 
clearly, probably one of Benny’s Pokémon.  
We all rose up and breathed in desperately, the snake-like Pokémon had already 
been recalled and Scott was petting his Onix’s face as it seemed weakened.  
“Armour! Armour, are you okay?” I asked, Abby would probably kill me if 
anything happened to this Pokémon.  
“Rhhhyyy...” it groaned.  
“Return.” I said shooting the reversal beam from the Pokéball, but it used what 
strength it had left to leap to the side and snort at me.  
“What’s up with you?” I asked and then I heard laughter from inside a machine, 
a huge Seel-shaped robot that broke the ice, literally.  

“We strike during day or night!”  
“We attack, with all our might!”  
“Don’t mess with us, or we shall fight!”  
“We’re pretty good at our rhyme.”  
“The masterminds, of crime.”  
“We always succeed, every time.”  
“Cletus!”  
“Cassie!”  
“Claus!”  
“If y’all got valuables, yuh’d better block it!”  
“We put Pokémon in our pocket!”  
“We’re the best, so don’t knock it!”  
“We are... Elite Rocket!”  

“You again!” I shouted.  
“They must have caused the cliffs to crumble.” explained Benny.  
“That’s right.” said Claus, “We were minding our own business, blowing up some 
caves to steal some arctic Pokémon, its just misfortunate that you came 
along.”  
“And how do you figure that?” I asked.  
“Because we’re gonna have ta do away wit’ ya!” shouted Cletus, and the tusks on 
the robot opened to reveal torpedo tubes.  

“Twerps sighted at One o’ clock.” said Cassie.  
“Dat means we missed dinner!” moaned Cletus.  
“Oh shut up.” groaned Cassie.  

“Fire!” shouted Claus, and the missiles went flying.  
“Shockwave! Light Screen! Twinkill! Try your Ice Beam!”  
“Bllllllrrrzzz!!!”  
“Sta!”  
The ice blast froze one of the missiles and it fell into the cold water, the 
other exploded around Shockwave’s shield and threw him back.  
I gasped, “Shockwave, Return.”  
“Yuh don’t stan’ a chance, Turquoise!” yelled Cletus.  
“Scott, how’s your Onix?” I questioned hastily.  
“He’s... fainted...” panicked Scott.  
“Return it to its ball, we’ll get him to the Pokémon Centre soon enough.” I 
said loudly.  
Scott frowned, “Shard, Return.”  
“Ana’der couple o’ missiles comin’ yer way!” screamed Cletus.  
We gasped, and then the Pokémon took action.  
Twinkill froze another missile and it landed in the soft snow, the second 
missile flew towards Benny and Scott, but Scott’s Snorlax, Bob, leapt forward 
and held its arms out.  
“Bob! Don’t!” shouted Scott.  
His body glowed gold, he was using Harden to raise his defenses, but that move 
was usually to block Pokémon attack moves.  
The missile exploded on him but didn’t get past him to harm the two, but it 
weakened him a little and he fell back.  
“Snor...” it groaned.  
“That was crazy Bob...  But you did good, you’ll get a good meal tonight.” said 
Scott recalling it.  
“Don’t celebrate yet.” smiled Cassie.  
“We’ve got a whole lot more missiles in here.” added Claus.  
“Twinkill! Use your Thunderbolt attack on that sub!”  
“Uh uh uh!” said Cassie, “You don’t want to do that, we’ve got a lot of 
innocent Pokémon in here.”  
Suddenly we could hear Seel cries from inside, the Elites made the point of 
letting us know that.  
“So unless you want to hurt them...” added Claus.  
We were in trouble, we were sitting ducks and quickly running out of Pokémon to 
defend.  
“We’ve had it...” I groaned, and then a large foot came down on the ground next 
to me.  
“Rhhhyyy...”  
“Armour, what are you...”  
It charged forward and then I realised what it was aiming for, the frozen 
missile.  
“Its too dangerous!” I shouted, “Pull back!”  
It wouldn’t stop, the missile didn’t go off, but flew into the air, it was when 
it collided with the front of the sub that it exploded.  

“Arrrgghh!!!” screamed the Elites, bracing the quake.  
“Damage report!” ordered Claus.  
“One of the torpedo cannons have been destroyed, and the right side of the sub 
has become damaged.” stated Cassie.  
“Jus’ fire da torpedoes and we’re sure ta get ‘em eventually!” yelled Cletus.  

They didn’t get the chance, the torpedo that everyone had forgotten about, the 
one in the water had crept up on them and soon exploded, ripping a large hole 
in the side of the sub and throwing it into the air.  
“We have to save those Seel!” I shouted, and we chased after the sub which 
hadn’t been thrown too far.  

There we found the Seel all over the place, but safe, the explosion had made an 
exit for them, while the Elites were dazed.  
“Ah told yuh we shouldn’t have made ‘em so powerful...” groaned Cletus.  
“No you didn’t! You were the one that wanted strong artillery!” argued Cassie.  
“Stop fighting, without the Seels, there’s no reason for Turquoise and Blue to 
hold back!”  
“That’s right.” said Scott releasing his Raichu.  
“Raiiiichhaaaa!!!” it screamed blasting the sub with electricity.  
He stopped after a while and the sub was still intact.  
“Ha ha hah!” laughed Cletus, “It’ll take more dan dat to destroy dis sub!...”  
“Quiet down...” said Benny, “This place is too full of mountains for this much 
noise...”  
“You quiet down!” countered Claus, “Fire another missile!”  
“Twinkill! Ice Beam!”  
“Sta!” it shouted, shooting it towards the sub and freezing the missile there 
before it could be fired.  

All the Elites looked at each other in terror as the missile exploded and 
ripped through the sub...  

“... Yup...  Dat’ll do it...” sighed Cletus.  
“That wasn’t very ‘ice...” moaned Cassie.  
“Elite Rocket’s...  ACHOO!” sneezed Claus, and the three disappeared into the 
distance.  

“Elite Rocket has sunk to a whole new level.” I joked with a serious tone, but 
Benny wasn’t looking any braver.  
“That explosion, its sure to cause an...”  
He didn’t need to finish his sentence, a large sheet of ice was tumbling down 
one of the mountains.  
“AVALANCHE!!!” he screamed and we recalled all the Pokémon and ran, along with 
the Seels.  

It was an unfeasible feat for us to outrun it, and the unforgiving snow 
inevitably caught up with us and buried us under...  

End of Chapter 31A  

Back to Chapter 30B
Chapter 31B
Back to Story List #21 - #40
Back to the Pokézone