“Now this bit up here looks particularly dangerous.” Zac said into the camera as he pointed into the growing darkness. The light from Zappa’s PARABOLIC CHARGE was fading, and the tunnel had changed. Not widened, exactly, but more shattered, with deep fissures crackling up the walls. Zac was pointing to a patch of ice spreading from one of the openings up ahead.
“What is it Zac?” Devin asked, leaning into his years of training as a professional assistant. “Just looks like ice to me.”
“Right you are Dev, and you’re not wrong it is ice. Only one thing: it’s not from the cave. Notice the way it’s formed along the wall, spreading from the opening in a spray pattern? That’s down right indicative of a pokemon den.”
“What pokemon is it?”
“Hard to tell from here Dev. There are some bloody big footprints nearby. See the snow over there?” Zac pointed near the mouth of the cave. “And check this out.” He snuck closer, running his finger around the edge of the footprint. “Just one big toe, almost like a flipper. Which is very odd indeed. In a situation like this I would be expecting most cave dwelling pokemon to have toes. You see, toes provide much needed stability when moving through and over difficult terrain. They help you retain balance, and redistribute weight. A flipper is only good for one thing: swimming. How far down do you reckon we are Devin?”
“We were in the cave for about twenty minutes I think.”
“So much further from the water than any self-respecting sea creature would like to be, which rules the usual cold water suspects. Dewgong, Walrein, Lapras.”
“Carracosta?” Offered Devin.
“Not a bad guess, but on land it likes to get around on its hind legs, which are actually more like stumps than flippers. Tirtouga might be a possibility, but the tracks are too large, and there is no torso drag. Also, they tend to prefer salt water.”
“Then what is it?” Zac looked around, then back at Devin. “I’m at a bit of a loss Dev, to tell you the truth. Best way to find out is to get up close and have a geeze. Keep on our toes, and if you see me running-”
“It’ll make sure to get a shot for the thumbnail.”
“Attaboy.”

Zac approached the opening, with Zappa by his side. Suddenly, there was a scraping of ice on ice, and a bottom-heavy creature of ice and shivering fleshslid out of the cave. It’s upper half was tiny, almost withered, and shivering ferociously, it’s feathered crest sparking sporadically.
An ARCTOZOLT.
It noticed the three of them and, wide eyed, began to waddle away at a frankly embarrassing pace, leaving a trail of large, flipper tracks.
“What in the name of Samuel Oak is that thing?” Zac asked, his face twisted in confusion. “It’s...it’s bloody magnificent! How does it hunt with such slow movement? Is it an ambush predator? Good thing we didn’t get too close. Devin, you gettin a good look at this thing?”
“Yeah Zac, it sure is something else.”
“Somethin’ else and a bag of chips, i’ll give you that. Quick, you’ve got any safari balls on ya? Toss one 'ere?”
Devin handed over one of the three safari balls, and Zac took aim. During this exchange the ARCTOZOLT had waddled barely a few metres away from the group. It looked back at them, eyes wide in fear.

---

Zac Ramsay threw a safari ball at Arctozolt (1/3)

“The ball hardly shook at all Zac, is that thing okay?” Devin asked, as Zac retrieved the safari ball from where it had fallen in the slush. “Oh i’m sure he’s just tip top Devin, did you see the luster of his feathers? And that playful glimmer in his lower scales? If that’s any indicator then ol’ we just snagged a prime specimen.”
“Was it male or female?”
“It’s hard to tell Dev.” Said Zac, inspecting the fissure that Arctozolt had been hiding in. “I don’t see any nest, eggs, or droppings, though to be absolutely truthful I don’t quite know what i’d be looking for. It looked semi-avian, and they’re known for having clearly distinct sexual dimorphism. The same is true for fish, to a lesser extent, but without another point of comparison for fin size and coloration it’s anyone’s guess.”
“Maybe we’ll run into another one.”
“We can only hope so Dev.” Zac said, giving the camera a wink. “So let’s get a move on and see what else is hiding in these incredible crevasses.”

The trio continued on down the main path, skirting the large puddles of slush and fallen boulders. As before, the way was uneven, and Zac as they reached a split in the path, Zac took a quick break to catch his breath. “The going’s tough down here, made all the harder by the chilly air. It may seem refreshing at first, but cold’s one of those things that’ll sneak up on you like a hungry Scyther.” He rubbed his gloves hands together, letting out a big cloud of steamy breath. “Times like this you’ll be twice as happy that you’ve got a fire pokemon in your roster. Come on Dev, I see a bit of open ground up ahead, let's let Helen out and warm up.”

They clambered over the last of the rocky scree, reaching a rare patch of open floor. The ground here was soft and sandy, sloping gently towards one side of the room. “Go on Helen, stretch those legs of yours!” Zac said, sending out his Camerupt. The crag filled with ruddy red light as Helen emerged, thinly crusted magma boiling in her humps. “Now that’s what i’m talking about.” Zac said, and he scooted closer to Helen, enjoying her warmth. “It’s important to remember that too much heat can be just as damaging as too little, and when warming up after a chilly adventure, you want to do so slowly, or else you can shock your body, and potentially cause more harm than good.”

Though in this case it’s pretty hard to resist. Zac thought, taking another step closer. The frosty walls dripped, the water briefly pooling before sinking into the dry, sandy ground. Sure is an odd spot here thought. I didn’t expect any sandy patches. We must have broke through into another strata. Above this was mostly chalk and gypsum, so I wonder what has done this. He bent down, scooping out a little handful of the loose sand. “Everything all right Zac?” Devin asked, but before he could reply Helen let out a startled bray, her red light tipping awkwardly as one of her legs sunk into the sand. The ground shifted underneath them and Zac stumbled against the wall. The sand underneath Helen pulled downwards, buckling underneath her and pulling her leg further into the forming sinkhole. “Helen!” Zac shouted, finding his feet and staggering across the soft sand towards his pokemon as lava spilled down her side, dribbling onto the sand and into the quickly forming sinkhole. As it did, Helen’s leg came free and she staggered back, narrowly avoiding slamming into Zac.

The sinkhole still remained, fizzling with the mixture of writhing sand and slow-flowing lava. Something pushed out of the sand nearby, screeching in pain. It had a bulbous, orb shaped head split horizontally by a jagged line that marked the two halves of it’s rocky beak. Attached at the back of it’s fearsome face, almost stuck on as an afterthought, was a tortoiseoid, shelled lump of a body, far too small for the head it had to carry and stuck with four tiny, stumpy feet.
“Wouldja look at the set of chompers on that one!” Zac crowed in excitement. He turned to the camera, trying to keep the TRAPINCH in his peripherals as he introed it.

“Now this is what every adventurer hopes to find, a glorious little gnasher with guts galore! Just look at him trying to take down a creature that weighs almost fifteen times as much as he does!”
As he talked the Trapinch plodded towards him, one side of its face was covered in terrible burns from Camerupts lava. It screened in pain and annoyance, and Zac took another step away from it. “Now as you can see this poor little guy has bitten off a bit more than he can chew and come away worse for wear. Usually I would demonstrate how these little ankle biters can be rendered immobile just by flipping them over with a strong stick, but at this point any decent ranger should be prioritising the care of their subjects over education, and I want to get this guy the help he needs as quickly as possible. Dev, you got the first aid pack?”
“Right here.” Said Devin, who had already pulled it out and unzipped the top. He threw a Burn Heal to Zac, who caught it careful with both hands. He bent down, medicine in hand, and the Trapinch lunged forward, jaws snapping shut just shy of Zac’s outstretched hand.

“Whoa! Now it’s always a bit risky to treat wild pokemon, and I don’t like the way this one is eyeing me, so i’m going to catch him real quick to calm him down, and then we’ll get to work patching him up.”
Devin tossed him the second of their three Safari Balls, and Zac rolled it across the sand. It bumped into the TRAPINCH and activated, pulling in the wounded creature in a flash of red light.

---

Zac Ramsay threw a Safari Ball at Trapinch (2/3)

This time the ball wriggled, rocking itself a divot in the sand as the TRAPINCH fought. Come on you stubborn little biter. Zac thought. He clenched his fists, watching the battle helplessly. The ball shuffled one last time and fell still. "Howzat!" Zac shouted, rushing over and quickly letting the TRAPINCH back out.

It looked around, blinking its unburnt eye. It looked up at Zac. "There we go. No need to fret little guy." Zac said, his voice low and slow as he knelt down next to the creature. It made no move to bite him, instead just shrinking away slightly from his touch. "It's gonna be okay. Here. Let me sort that out for ya." Zac said, pulling out the Burn Heal. He squeezed some onto the pokemon's face, wiping in the salve with his free hand. The Trapinch relaxed as the cooling gel broke down the scab that had started to form, healing the skin and leeching painkiller into the creature's skin. After a few minutes it's face was a mess of gel and sloughed skin, which Zac wiped away with a towel. Underneath, the burn was gone, leaving only a patch of lightened skin.

"How's that? Better?"
The Trapinch opened its mouth slowly, testing the movement. Evidently feeling better, it screeched happily and tried to bite Zac's leg in thanks. "Whoa there chomper, keep those pearly whites where I can see them!" Laughed Zac, taking a step back from his newest fan. The Trapinch, unperturbed, followed him. "Alright that's enough. Back in ya ball." Zac said, returning him.

His legs safe, Zac turned to the camera. "Now as tempting as it is to let your pokemon love you in their own way, many of them are only used to interacting with their own species and have no concept of the damage they may cause. As cruel as it may have seemed refusing him, accepting a love bite from that lil fella would have snapped my leg clean in two. Grown Trapinch have been known to crush boulders, which should give you an idea of the jaw strength it can bring to bear. Unless he's got some very fine control on those chompers, even a gentle bite is a one way ticket aboard the SS Anaesthetic."

Zac put the tube of Burn Heal and the towel back in the first aid kit. "Speaking of, how about you Helen? Leg all right?"
Helen gave a helpful grumble, and Zac checked her leg out. "Looks like she wasn't bitten, only pulled into the sand trap. Lucky. Alright, well I feel suitably warmed up. How about you Dev? Ready to go?"
"Ready as I'll ever be. What are we going to call him though?"
"Not sure yet. Sometimes names come easy, like with little Archie, but if nothing springs to mind it pays to ruminate. Why, got any ideas?"
"I was thinking that we might leave it up to the viewers." Suggested Devin. "I can set up a poll so they can suggest and vote on the name."
"That sounds like a great idea. I'm already looking forward to hearing what names our viewers come up with for our newest, most dentally inclined member of the group." Zac returned his Camerupt, and they continued deeper into the cave.

---

Forty minutes of icy boulder climbing later, Devin called a break. “Zac...lets...just rest...here for a sec…” He panted, breath coming out in icy plumes. He fell into a heap at the junction of two rocks, both of which were glazed with frost.
“Right you are…” Zac agreed, nodding loosely. He slumping down next to Devin on the chilly boulder. He had withdrawn Zappa shortly after the TRAPINCH encounter. The air was just too cold down here for a reptile. It was just the two of them now. Or so they thought. Something wriggled under Devin’s arm. “Ah!” He shouted, recoiling as the ‘rock’ he had been using as an armrest opened its friendly little eyes and smiled at the pair.

‘Ruma?’ asked the little creature, which was just as round as the stone they had mistaken it for.
“Huh. Wouldja look at that.” Zac said, bemused. “Devin turn on the camera.”
“Bite...me.” Devin panted. “I’m halfway...to passing out..and you...want a selfie?”
“Yeah alright, i’ll do it then.” Zac said. He had trouble getting the selfie angle right so he propped the camera against Devin’s arm and set the timer.
“3, 2, 1, Cherrim!” He said, and the camera went off. Zac checked the picture. “Oh that’s a top shot. Absolutely top hole Dev, you gotta slap that one on the Togetic.”
“Yeah sure...Can we...leave now?”
“One sec, I think there’s something wrong with the setting on your gear mate, this pic has our little friend looking all…” Zac paused, looking down at the little DARUMAKAand only now noticing its green markings. “Well aint you a special little snowball! How about it Ruma, you comin back with us?”
“Ruma ruuuum!”

---

Zac Ramsay befriended Galarian Darumaka (3/3)