The New Normal - 11-6

The New Normal – 11-6 – An Icy Discovery

The battle started off with a bang as our Pokémon rained down from above, with us joining them.

“Tyrant, show no mercy! Drive them out!”

“Salamence, obliterate them! Make them FEAR you!”

“SLAKINGGG!!” He roared down as he SMASHED down on top of a surprised Glalie, crushing the Ice type beneath his weight. A Froslass immediately prepared an Ice Beam, but Tyrant’s arm lashed forwards like a lance and clutched the Froslass in its iron grip, before launching the Ice type like a bowling ball and sending it crashing into a group of Jynx.

Then the entire cave began to shake violently as Vordt landed next to Tyrant, unleashing a devastating Earthquake that caused huge rocks to fall from the roof. But those fallen rocks were swiftly held in place by Vordt’s geokinesis before being shot towards the wild Pokémon, raining down in a painful hail of stone that crushed many a Pokémon underneath, burying them beneath a tomb of rocks.

Just as that happened, Luna and Klee joined forces with the other Psychic types to form a large protective bubble of Psychic energy around all of us, protecting the trainers from the myriad of collateral damage that we were wreaking through our fight.

“SALAMENCEEEE!!!” Then an enormous beam of blinding light shot through the clearing, leaving a trail of fire in its wake as Salamence unleashed a devastating Draco Beam that burned through the enemy lines. Any Pokémon that were caught in that found themselves screaming and crying in agony before they were quickly knocked out.

A few Ice Beams were shot back in retaliation, but Smough carefully stood in front of Drake’s Salamence as to shield it with his body. The Ice Beams simply bounced off Smough, which did little more than tickle him.

A Mamoswine tried its luck against what it thought was a distracted Smough, but Smough swivelled around with more speed than it expected and crashed a Hammer Arm right to the side of its face. Then Smough lifted Mamoswine off the ground and hurled it like a Rock Throw at his opponents, knocking over a Lapras in the distance as it was preparing a Hydro Pump.

Behind us, Tyrant was tearing through the enemy like a one-man army. He was an unstoppable juggernaut, ignoring all of the attacks being sent his way with dismissive ease as he ripped and tore through anything that stood in his path. The wild Pokémon let out panicked screams as they tried to dive out of the way, to no avail.

A sneaky Weavile that tried to sneak around him found itself catching a Drain Punch to the face, sending it crashing limply into a wall. Another Glaceon tried to form a Blizzard but was interrupted when Tyrant swung a Mamoswine around like a hammer, using its tusks as a makeshift handle, turning the Ice and Ground type into a battering ram and meatshield to bash his foes out of the way.  

And those Hisuian-Avalugg? Which were supposedly famed for their impressive, almost unbreakable physical defenses? Those fared no better in face of Tyrant’s overwhelming might.

At first, the Avalugg remained confident in their endurance; filled with certainty that this bruiser in front of them would stumble and fail to break through their defenses like so many others had done. So they charged into Tyrant with arrogance in their eyes as they believed themselves invincible.

That aura of ‘invincibility’ was very quickly shattered as Tyrant’s fists came colliding into their face like a sledgehammer and they were sent tumbling back with a shocked cry of pain. That shock turned to horror as Tyrant grinned maliciously as his mouth opened wide – and a stream of flames came rushing out and engulfing the terrified Avalugg with a Flamethrower.

The Avalugg flailed painfully on the ground as they desperately tried to put themselves out, but all they could do was roll around helplessly as they were thoroughly scorched by Tyrant’s flames. And, as if to add insult to injury, Tyrant hardly spared the Avalugg a second glance before he returned to brutally pummelling his way through the ranks of wild Pokémon, ignoring them and leaving the newly discovered Ice types to their fate while he drove his knee right into a Lapras’ neck with a powerful Mega Kick that knocked the wind out of it.

Tyrant was unstoppable. A punch that smashed through another’s face. A kick that cracked another’s neck. A gasp of pain as another was slammed into the ground. A cry of surprise as a fleeing Pokémon was sniped down by a hurled rock.

It was a slaughterhouse. And none escaped Tyrant.

Many of our explorer’s Pokémon joined in to help Tyrant, and he found himself quickly supported by a mixture of Infernape, Arcanine, and Luxray as they all blitzed in behind Tyrant. They were careful to allow Tyrant to take up the bulk of the attention while they focused on picking off stragglers that tried desperately to flee from Tyrant’s unstoppable wrath.

And not wanting to be left out of the fighting, the rest of our bruiers that weren’t Tyrant, such as Salamence, Smough, and Vordt rushed forwards in different directions as they too began to unleash a storm of violence and brutality as they tore their way through the undisciplined ranks of Ice type Pokémon.

But while none of them, not even Drake’s Salamence, could match up to the sheer overwhelming power of Tyrant, they were more than enough to scatter all that dared stand in their way, especially as they were supported by the occasional Hydro Pump that sniped any potential counterattacks with precise shots before they could strike back.

In the meanwhile, Drake’s Blastoise and Kingdra were serving as our long range artillery as they stood next to us while firing off volley after volley of oppressive Hydro Pumps that bombarded the scattered wild Pokémon. To make things worse for them, they were receiving multiple Helping Hand boosts from a few of the more supportive Pokémon that we had, empowering their Water attacks to even greater heights.

Even those that would normally resist Water type moves like Walrein were getting blasted back and pinned to the wall by the Hydro Pumps, their defenses were insufficient at enduring past these Helping Hand boosted attacks and the overwhelming tide of water coming their way.

Many of the wild Pokémon did try to retaliate back, but their attacks simply broke and shattered against our defensive bubble of protection from all of our Pokémon. Not that we gave many of them a chance to fight back – standing still was often a death sentence for the wild Pokémon as those that did quickly found themselves blasted into unconsciousness from the bombardment of artillery fire or the rampage of our bruisers.

Then, as we began to break through their ranks, we went for the finisher.

““EARTHQUAKE!!””

In sync, both Drake and my bruisers roars echoed through the caves as they all slammed into the ground, unleashing a rippling Earthquake in synchronised act of destruction that shattered and split the ground in half, actually managing to crack through the dense ice and sending wave after wave of explosive tremors through the ground.

Even us trainers, who were protected in a reinforced bubble of protective Psychic energies, tumbled to the ground from the earth-shattering attack. The very caves rumbled and shook as if it was about to collapse on itself, though I remained confident that our Pokémon would be able to dig us all out even if a cave-in did occur.

The combined Earthquake was what finally shattered what remained of the enemy’s morale. Their numbers, already thinned out by our blitzkrieg of attacks, became inconsequential in the face of the rupturing fissure that snaked through the earth itself.

The wild Pokémon were therefore faced with two choices. Stand their ground and succumb to the Earthquake, or flee in cowardice. But even those that wanted to choose the latter found themselves no longer in a position to choose as the Earthquake ravaged and tore through them indiscriminately.

The ice types wailed and howled in pain, but it didn’t matter their size, or their strength, or their speed. They fell all the same.

As the Earthquake subsided, all that remained was a cave that looked like it was moments away from collapsing on itself, and a sea of unconscious Pokémon. Our Pokémon stood victoriously on top, their injuries quickly patched up by our plethora of support Pokémon, and our assault was an overwhelming success.

“Make sure they’re all down! We don’t want any nasty surprises!” I called out.

“Secure the perimeter! I want trainers watching over every opening to this opening!” Drake shouted, “Our fight must have attracted more Pokémon this way, so make sure we greet them appropriately!”

“Someone keep an eye on the ceiling! Get your Pokémon to reinforce it!” One of the explorers added.

All of us got to work, splitting up as we focused on ensuring that we were as safe as possible and that we weren’t about to be rudely interrupted. Of course, I didn’t forget to catch an Avalugg to gift to Lorelei – since I had permission to do so. The other explorers also made sure to catch a few Avalugg and Bergmite for study.

As soon as we were sure that all of the surrounding wild Pokémon were indeed knocked out, and that the cave wasn’t about to collapse on us, we reconvened to discuss the indescribable feeling of power that we all felt, which seemed to radiate from just below us.

“First things first. Incredible luck we had to discover yet a new Pokémon.” An explorer grinned excitedly, “Did anyone catch its name?”

“Avalugg I think. And I think what I’m guessing is the pre-evolution is called a Bergmite.” Another answered, “Dunno what Type it is other than Ice.”

“Can we save that discussion for later?” Another explorer snapped, “Because unless you guys are all dull, you can all feel that power radiating out from somewhere in this clearing, right? I almost tripped over when I felt it.”

“You’d have to be a fucking idiot to not feel that.” Drake snapped, “I don’t know what the fuck that is, but this has to be the source of the unnatural coldness.”

“…Then why aren’t we freezing to death right now?” Someone pointed out, “If this is the source of the cold, then shouldn’t we already been frozen solid since we’re so close to it? Just like everything else around us?”

We all shared uncomfortable looks at that realisation, because his words made sense. We all looked at each other, silently hoping someone would have an explanation for this unnatural phenomenon, but none did.

Eventually, I broke the silence, “No point standing around here guessing. Better to just dig it up and find out what’s exactly causing this.”

No one was against that, which made sense. They were all explorers and/or archaeologists, and they had made a career of digging things up.

“…Then let’s do this carefully. Who knows what’s going to happen if we accidentally destroy it.” One muttered, and we all agreed.

So we all took turns with our Pokémon to slowly and carefully dig through the ice to hunt down whatever it was that was generating that mysterious aura of power.

And the further we dug down, the harder the ice seemed to grow, having hardened and condensed so much that it took both Luna and Klee working together to even levitate a small block out of it out of the way.

Out of curiosity, I had Smough try to smash that block of ice once it was removed. And while he was successful in doing so, he groaned as he flicked his hand in pain from how tough it was.

Which was both fascinating and alarming in equal measure.

Still, progress continued to be made, slow as it was. But at least we knew that we were on the right track, and had our stronger Pokémon help remove the final few layers of near-indestructible ice. And as the final layer of ice was removed, it revealed a tiny plate of ice, small enough that it was only slightly bigger than my hand.

However, there was a distinct sense of otherworldliness about it. Even though it looked like it was just a plate of ice, which nearly looked identical to the ice surrounding us, there was something that made it impossible to mistake it for anything else. It just radiated with uniqueness and distinctiveness, and there was just something about it that made it stood out from the ice that surrounded it.

Almost by instinct, I instinctively went to grab it, something in the back of my mind guiding my hands as I did so. Despite how it seemed to be the cause of all the unnaturally freezing conditions of these caves, it didn’t feel any colder than your normal chunk of ice to me.

That disconnect between what I expected to feel and what I was actually feeling was jarring.

“Mence!!” Drake’s Salamence actually recoiled as I lifted the plate of ice into the air. And so did the rest of his Dragon types, and they all stepped back in fear as they stared terrified at the small object in my hands.

My Pokémon were doing little better. Though they had not recoiled like Drake’s Dragons did, they still looked uneasy and wary at the icy plate in my hands.

“King…” Tyrant muttered aloud, and I frowned as he mentioned the sheer amount of Ice energy that was radiating out of it. It was like an even more powerful Ice-version of the Magmarizer – a super concentrated of Ice energy formed into a single plate.

“…What the fuck is that?” Drake asked, “Is that small fucking thing the cause of all this cold?”

But the look in the eyes of the Sinnoh explorers were far more revenant.

“…The Icicle Plate.” They almost muttered in sync, “We never could have imagined that it was here all along.”

Drake frowned, “Sorry if I’m sounding like an idiot, but what the fuck is an Icicle Plate? And why are you all staring at it like you’re about to worship it?”

If the Sinnohnians cared about Drake’s lack of respect, then they didn’t show it, “We have books and legends discussing the existence of the Plates.” One of the explorers patiently explained to him, “They are…artifacts of sorts, but are said to be symbols of the very power of the Legends themselves.”

Drake nodded slowly, now understanding its importance, “So what does it do?”

They shrugged, “We haven’t a clue. According to legend, this isn’t the first time a Plate was found, but there are no documents that ever state what they were meant for. As far as we are aware, they are nothing more than a symbol or fragment of a Legends power, nothing more.”

For once, I was also as in the dark as they were; my meta-knowledge didn’t provide me any answers. In different mediums, the Plates performed a different purpose. In most, they were used to switch Arceus’ type depending on which one it held. But the item in front of me was clearly far more than that. Even Drake, who was a little ignorant about the significance of the Plate, could tell that it was no mere object.

The thing radiated with power. It was like holding onto a fragment of a Legendary with our hands. One of the explorers put it best.

“This Icicle Plate is still inert.” He whispered to us with undisguised awe, “…I don’t know how I know…but I can just tell. This is supposed to be part of a bigger whole.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and a suspicion began to form in my mind. If this was supposed to be a fragment of a Legendary, then there was only one Legendary that it could have been – Regice. We were holding onto a piece of Regice.

If so…then it explained why the Plates could be used to awaken Regigigas.

“Hmm…and yet a mere fragment was able to do all this.” Drake gestured to the surrounding ice and frost covering every inch of the opening, “…This Plate proves more mysterious by the minute.”

“…Either way, we shouldn’t linger here for too much longer.” I spoke up, putting my thoughts to the side for a moment. I had no way of confirming my suspicions anyways, only time would tell if I was right, “There’s no telling when these Pokémon will wake up. And we’ve been down in these caves for over a full day now.”

“Agreed.” An explorer nodded, “Now that the adrenaline has faded, I’m starting to really feel tired. We should head back as soon as possible.”

“Are we bringing the Plate?” Another asked.

“We should. Legendary artifact or not, we need to study it.” They confirmed, “And it’s not like it’s doing much by staying buried here.”

“…Cynthia is going to have a heart attack when she hears about this.” I muttered, getting a few chuckles from everyone.

“Then can we leave it to you to tell her?” One of them teased, “After all, a boyfriend should ideally be the one to break the good news to her.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah yeah, very funny. Now let’s get out of here.”

“Chin up, John. It’s not every day that a girl can receive an artifact from the very Legends themselves as a gift.” Drake grinned as we began our ascent, “You can almost say it’s a gift worthy of a Champion. Oh my, what a good boyfriend you are.”

I rolled my eyes at his teasing, “Very funny. But you can tease me later, we still have to get out of here.”

My words just caused Drake to laugh at me, and I kept my grumblings to myself as we made our way back up.

Luckily, we had the fortune of not running into any further problems as we retraced our steps. Instead, the issue came with the Icicle Plate that I held in my hand.

It was slowly freezing up the caves as we ascended, slowly causing frost to spread around the cave systems during our ascent. While this wasn’t exactly a problem now, this would cause problems for when we brought it back to Celestic Town, as we couldn’t store it just like any other object as it would cause everything around it to freeze over.

“That’s something for the eggheads above to solve.” One of the explorers declared, “Our job is just to bring this Plate to them. There’s no need for us to worry about what happens after. Worst case scenario is we bring it back underground again if it does start freezing up the town.”

“Perhaps we can make a specialised storage unit for it?” Someone else suggested, “I know we’ve done it before with other hazardous materials…”

“Cut the chatter. We’re not out of the caves just yet.” Another interrupted, “Shut up and keep moving. We don’t want to get into more fights.”

With that, the rest of our ascent was done in silence as we gradually made our way back to the forward base. We took that time there to relax and to switch out of our heavily insulated clothing that we were wearing, all the while everyone had crowded around to take a better look at the Ice Plate – all of them with awed looks on their faces.

But due to our tiredness and growing fatigue, we kept the discussions short. They could see the Icicle Plate in all of its glory once we had returned it to the surface.

We could have rested and gotten some sleep in the forward base, but everyone wanted to just be out of the damn caves by now and deliver the Plate safely to the Celestic Town Research Centre. So we grit our teeth and powered through the last stretch of the journey upwards, until we saw the bright rays of light shining through the opening to the cave.

As we finally exited the caves, all of us took a moment to simply bath in the warm rays of sunlight that greeted us. After spending hours upon hours in the freezing cold, damp, and claustrophobic caves, the sight of open fields of grass and the bright sun had never been more inviting.

Yet we didn’t let ourselves rest for too long, and we quickly headed into the Research Lab where we deposited our little artifact, to the shock of everyone there.

“…Arceus, what did you uncover?” A scientist asked us, as he carefully leaned forwards to better inspect the Icicle Plate.

“Something we could have never imagined.” An explorer answered gleefully, “It’s not just that too, but we discovered an entirely new Pokémon too. Two, actually.” As he said so, he gestured for everyone to step back before he released the new Avalugg for everyone to see.

“Ava…?” The newly captured Avalugg looked around confusedly. Seeing the horde of scientists and explorers standing curiously at it, its eyes narrowed as it instinctively began to lash out – only to be immediately subdued by double dose of Hypnosis from two Bronzongs waiting in the wings.

“I’ll bet any amount of money that this ‘Avalugg’ is a tank.” One said.

“No bet. Just look at it.” Another shook his head, “Everything about it screams slow and sturdy Pokémon.”

“We need to run some tests for it to confirm its typing.” Someone else piqued up.

“No, the priority is on the Icicle Plate. Just look around you.” I interrupted, gesturing to the small patches of frost that had been slowly spreading around since we began talking, “If we don’t have some way to properly store this Icicle Plate, it’s going to slowly freeze everything around us. THIS needs to be our priority.”

“Agreed.” An explorer said, “We’ll show you the pictures we took of the cave systems later, but EVERYTHING was frozen solid with ice that refused to melt or break. If we didn’t have John or Drake there with us, I doubt any of our Pokémon would have been strong enough to break the ice surrounding the Icicle Plate.”

“…Understood, then we’ll take that as our first priority.” The scientists nodded, “Someone needs to inform Cynthia and Carolina about this. It’s prudent that they know.”

“I’ll do it.” I volunteered, taking out my phone and texting her. “Done, she should be here any moment now.”

“What did you say to her?” Someone asked.

“Just that we found an artifact related to the Legends and that we discovered a new Pokémon. Nothing too surprising.” I grinned.

There was a round of chuckles, “Then knowing Cynthia, she might have just sprinted out of a meeting in excitement.”

I laughed as that was pretty much the reaction I thought Cynthia would have had when I sent out that text.

“Well today was enough excitement from me. I’m heading to bed.” Drake grumbled, “But hey, thanks for letting me be a part of this. I know I’m a grump, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had a proper adventure like this. Brings back good memories.”

“Hey no worries Drake, your assistance was very useful.” We all said, “I doubt things could have gone so smoothly without your help.”

“If you need things blasted to smithereens, then I’m your guy.” He smirked, “Anyways, I’m fucking tired. Good luck on your research. And say Hi to Cynthia for me if she does come around.”

He walked off to his room, retiring from the night. As he did so, a yawned escaped from me – a reminder that I was no less tired than him.

But as much as my bed was inviting me, I remained still. I wanted to be here for when Cynthia arrived to see everything we had discovered over our successful expedition.

I couldn’t wait to see the look on her face.

A.N. Sinnoh is the place of Legends, and I felt that the caves under Snowpoint City were the most suitable place to find the Icicle Plate. I’ve taken a few liberties with what the Plate is, but I’ve done my best to stick to the source material in my interpretation. Also, rest assured that these WILL come into play in the future.

And yes, H-Avalugg has been discovered! Again, I felt that having Avalugg appear near where the Icicle Plate was located just made sense, based on what happened in the games. Hope you enjoyed!