With that, Basil swung away and broke away a hunk of ice with each swing. It was rather exhilarating to move his body like this though he could never match the pace of Anise and her Pokemon who were stockpiling on items though he could at least say that he was in better shape than Earl though by a stroke of luck was able to blast through with Cleffa. Well, luck as in they didn't unleash a horde of angry Pokemon though one could say that he was unlucky to find that his reward was a floppy, helpless little red fish.

Basil kept swinging away until he noticed something very... odd.

Before him encased in a wall of ice was a Pokemon older than possibly the region itself. An ancient fish... frozen in the middle of the mountains... away from the bottom of a sea floor.

...This raised so many questions. Just how did a Relicanth of all Pokemon end up frozen in a cave all the way up here? Was Isson once submerged deep beneath the ocean and in some freak movement of tectonic plates and lower ocean levels caused this poor thing to be trapped in some pocket of water during an ice age? But if that was the case then why was there a Magikarp flopping around at Earl's feet.

He wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. It was certainly not a Pokemon that anyone saw everyday and really, he was missing a proper water-type though he was not exactly sure what it did in a battle either. It wasn't like he could leave the poor thing encased in ice though. It had lived for who knows how many centuries, how many millennia encased frozen. It just felt cruel to leave it there like someone who didn't want a toy on the shelf. Worst case scenario is that he could trade it to someone that really wanted one.

Basil released Crocus from his Pokeball and smiled at the creature who in turn chirped back happily "Alright Crocus, I'm gonna dig this Pokemon out of the ice." He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb to the Relicanth. "As soon as I get it out, I want you to use Sleep Powder on it. Not enough to put it to sleep, but enough to calm it down. Got it?"

"Bulba!" Crocus nodded in confirmation.

Turning back, he swung his pick axe to help break the ancient fish out.

@Remram

Basil swung the pickaxe, and the ice crashed! The rocky fish fell out of the ice, hitting the floor, and almost immediately started charging something, seemingly in a panic. That’s when Crocus unleashed a less-than-complete Sleep Powder, dowsing the easy target that wasn’t really trying to dodge anything in the green powder…

… and the Relicanth lost the charge of whatever it was going to do, and then relaxed, now simply an ancient fish lying out of its element in the icy cavern. Crocus had managed exactly what was asked of him with the Sleep Powder move.

What would Basil do now?



Connected areas:
Route 5. Exit the mines and you’ll be right there.
Frozen Cave. The Frozen Cave proper awaits beyond the mine.

That worked out far better than he ever could have hoped.

There was no need for violence. After all, the Relicanth wasn't aggressive. In fact, he doubted that most of the Pokemon behind the walls were acting out of aggression at all. They were merely acting out of adrenaline fueled panic after being freed from the wall of ice and gaining the first bit of awareness since they were frozen. All they needed was just some assistance in calming down.

Basil slowly approached the ancient fish and knelt down with a kind smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to dope you up. I just didn't think fighting would have been the right thing to do," the young noble explained. "You're awfully far away from home. I'd give you a choice about joining me on my journey, but your options are either that or..." He motioned towards their frozen surroundings.

However, he realized exactly how that sounded and quickly added, "Sorry, that wasn't a threat! Just an observation of facts." Basil grabbed a Pokeball from his bag and held it out to the fish. "So, for now, wanna see the world?"

@Remram

Relicanth, standing on his fins that apparently double as feet, looked up at Basil as he spoke. He didn’t show much of a reaction in his somewhat dazed state, but idly looked around as Basil gestured towards the surrounding area. Icy walls, people mining said icy walls, and so on…

Basil gave his somewhat clunky proposition, and, Relicanth took a moment to simply process his current existence. But, in the end…





Connected areas:
Route 5. Exit the mines and you’ll be right there.
Frozen Cave. The Frozen Cave proper awaits beyond the mine.

It had not occurred to him that the Pokemon that lived at the bottom of the sea older than even fossils would not have known what a Pokeball was, or what a person was for that matter. Basil just pressed the Pokeball against its forehead and with no resistance it entered the Pokeball just like that. For the moment, he sent Titus back to Kalmia's lab. At this point the Magikarp wasn't going to be doing any heavy lifting if something were to happen.

"Well, that was unexpected." He glanced around at his companions who seemed to be caught up with their own thing. Well, they made the effort of getting here. He may as well take a few more swing and see what he'd find whether it be Pokemon or an item.

@Remram

Basil decided to mine some more. So did Anise and her team, as well as Earl, this time without Cleffa being helpful. It took some more time, and once again Anise’s crew was making more progress than Basil, but seemingly without finding much this time. Basil, however, could eventually glimpse something small. A couple chops later, and a shiny, sparkling turquoise stone, with what looked like a star in the center of it came loose from the ice…


To his right, he could see Earl having also found a small stone of some kind. Earl held it up to inspect it, and it seemed to be a Leaf Stone.

‘… I hadn’t considered it, but the latent power of Evolution Stones… Is there some way I can use that, other than evolving certain Pokémon? Do these unlock the power of Pokémon, or is the power in the stone?’ Earl contemplated out loud enough for Basil to hear.

Albeit, before he could answer that. On his left.

‘Wait, hold on, everyone! Stop! Stop! STOP!!’ Anise suddenly called out in a bit of a panic, as her very eager Pokémon all suddenly had to come to a stop and look up at what they’d almost freed from the ice. There were some gasps from Mienfoo and Froakie as they leaped back, and Riolu and Meditite dropped their tools to lift step into battle stances against it. There was a large shadow in the ice that they had almost freed…





Connected areas:
Route 5. Exit the mines and you’ll be right there.
Frozen Cave. The Frozen Cave proper awaits beyond the mine.

It was certainly a thought; did the stones carry the energy or was it the Pokemon? Personally, he thought it was more like a lock and key; stones or even corresponding items reacted to Pokemon because they had some components that fit together. The more interesting question though if that were true would be the why. It was likely that the stones themselves had latent power and likely adapted to it in order to draw out the next evolutionary form.

He would not get a chance to share his thoughts. "Anise? What did... you..." Upon rushing to Anise's side he saw that looming over them was another prehistoric creature, except this time it looked far more powerful than the Relicanth that he just obtained. The wall of ice that separated them from the Pokemon was cracking with each splinter branching off with each second.

"If it runs wild, it will damage the mines and who knows what else will be released." Even though he said that, he reflexively stepped back. This was not a Pokemon he could reason with or even bluff his way through like everything else so far. That was a prehistoric Pokemon that will soon regain its senses in who knows how many millennia and just like his Relicanth it will be in a panicked state. There was no guarantee that the same trick would work twice.

"But we need to make a strategic retreat, now." Basil had already returned Crocus to his Pokeball and made a break for it to the nearest hiding spot available to them.

@Remram

The group started moving, to get away from the emerging Armaldo and hide from when it emerged… when suddenly a large, white and green monster of a Pokémon fell from above and slammed into the icy floor next to the frozen Pokémon!



‘ABOMASNOOOW!’ the Pokémon shouted, and it was like ice and snow manifested on their own around the Pokémon. The snowy Pokémon swung its arms around, the snow and ice moving with it, and then flung both arms forward, and in a Blizzard of snow and ice it all slammed into the icy shelf where the Armaldo was about to break free from. The ice and snow gathered in the cracks, healing them, and the maintained blizzard created numerous more layers of ice on top of it. Armaldo was thoroughly sealed once again. A couple Delibirds flew in and started putting down red warning cones around that particular section of ice…

A large man approached Basil, Anise and Earl. He tipped his hat and smiled a friendly smile at them.



‘Hello! I’m Isaac the Hiker, and I work in this mine. That must have been quite a scare! But don’t worry, we always have people watching what’s being mined out of the ice just in case!’

He lost his smile as he looked up at the large creature in the ice.

‘This one, though… Hoo, boy! It looks like a league above what we’re used to around these parts! It may be time to take a trip to Cooldome City and ask for the help of someone strong…’

Anise took a moment to collect herself and then stood up and gave Isaac a proper martial-arts bow. ‘Thank you for your aid.’
Isaac nodded to her with a smile. ‘Hey, mining’s supposed to be fun and productive! It wouldn’t be if things like that threaten our miners. Of course we have to have countermeasures!’ and so he laughed.

Earl, holding onto two Budews and a Cleffa, sighed in relief and just put his Pokémon back down on the cave floor.

What does Basil do?



Connected areas:
Route 5. Exit the mines and you’ll be right there.
Frozen Cave. The Frozen Cave proper awaits beyond the mine.