Frost crunched under her bootsoles as the so-called Detective Glasgow rocked back on her heels, sucking in her breath. Before her yawned the mouth of the cave, framed by winter branches and packed with large, vaguely familiar footprints.

“The trail leads here? Are you sure?”

Childhood dread creeping up on her, Chryssa again looked over the set of tracks leading towards the cave. She shook her head, not liking what she saw. “It's an Abomasnow den... I think,” she said lightly, but she knew. No school ski trip back in Sinnoh had been complete without a cautionary How-To pamphlet about recognizing Ursaring and Abomasnow signs and how to avoid them. She'd never gone on those ski trips, but the knowledge was still there. 

She sighed--this did not bode well--then turned back to Priam. Remembering herself, she dropped back into character. “Ah, yes. Reports say the victims are all blonde, long-legged women,” Chryssa said somberly, chin propped up on one hand. Was there any more to this case? “Except for the ones with black hair, and the middle-aged man, and the literal child. Hmm! Curious...”

(The answer was “waste precious minutes.”)

A bright, confident smile erased any troubles on her face and Chryssa rubbed her gloved hands together, glancing back at the cave entrance. “Well, shall we stick to the tried-and-true, bait-and-switch? One of us causes a distraction to lure the beast outside, then the other slips into the den to save the missing blondes. Persons.” She didn’t recall any information about wild Abomasnow keeping prisoners, but there was a chance. The alternative was... well, not very befitting of a heroic detective story.

"Ah, an expert!" Chryssa exclaimed, throwing her shoulders back "Precisely what we need on our side. It's like we were meant for this job, Detective Priam. I'll let you handle the distraction, then." With Auld's convenient ability to teleport her out of danger she wasn't too concerned, but she did want to see what was inside. 

Especially if there was treasure.

...Did Abomasnow hoard treasure? It wasn't something she knew about, but she suddenly, badly wanted it to be true. "Oh, yes." Her tone dropped, low and sonorous. "Treasures like you've never seen. Gold, forged in ice instead of fire. The first snow of ancient winters. Perhaps even the Plates of the Creator, squirreled away beneath the mountain until He returns." 

A second passed. She straightened up, the strange look in her eyes fading. "...But anyway, I'm going to hide until you give the signal. When the Abomasnow comes out, I'll teleport into the cave."

As she had numerous times while walking up the mountain on the trail of the missing persons, Chryssa sent out her Claydol. The massive, levitating Pokemon appeared with its multitude of yellow eyes half-lidded. Why does it look so tired? she wondered, hardly considering that teleporting a person every five to ten minutes up a mountain slope might be mentally draining. The alternative for her was actually hiking, however, and unfortunately-- as Priam had realized-- that was not a viable option.

Concealing herself and the psychic-type behind a tree, she gave Priam an obscure-looking hand signal, then a thumbs-up. "I'll teleport right back if I find any treasure so we can go together!"

At the distant Fire Blast, clearly visible despite the trees, Chryssa took a deep breath. Time to go. She turned back towards Auld, floating mute and imposing behind her, and placed one hand on the center of its chest. "Teleport us in," she said, and the chalked symbols around her hand glowed beneath her touch. The world blurred, stretching vertically, and then stabilized into darkness.  

"We're in," Chryssa whispered like a successful burglar, unable to help herself. Fortunately, the cave had no answer-- as Priam's had from the entrance, it merely echoed from the walls. That's good. No surprise second Abomasnow waiting inside.

So where was she? She tested her footing and began to walk forward, holding her hands out blindly to feel for the walls.The ground felt soft and rustled beneath her feet, as if it had been lined with dry grasses. Is this... a bed? A nest, rather? Her toe bumped into something cold in the dark and Chryssa stopped, reaching down to feel it over. It felt like a block of solid ice.

Treasure, perhaps? Growing more excited, Chryssa beckoned her Claydol closer. "A little light, please! Psychic Terrain."

A ripple of color burst out with Auld as the center and rimmed the cavern with psychic energy, creating a faint aura of pink around the walls, floor, and nest itself. Oh my god, it's a body. Chryssa fell back as it also outlined a human shape curled up on the ground in front of her like an insect in amber, entirely encased in ice.

"They're frozen," she murmured, heart racing as she picked herself up in obvious pain and crawled over to look more closely. It was one of the blondes. There was no blood, no obvious injuries. Her eyes were even closed, as if sleeping. "Preserved in ice. Was it storing them up for winter?" She looked around the nest, counting the similar shapes illuminated by the psychic ambiance. Are they all here? How many missing person posters did Priam have, again?

She heard a roar from the entrance of the cave and spun around.

Too soon-- far too soon-- the Abomasnow was coming back. 

The Abomasnow was returning, and Chryssa was looking at the literal evidence of what it would do to her if it caught her. Frozen. Stored to be eaten later. Of all the dramatic ways Chryssa imagined she might die, being turned into a living popsicle and slowly nibbled on throughout the winter wasn't her favorite. 

Determined to recover whatever she could before she made her escape, Chryssa pushed Auld over to hover above the first block of ice. "Teleport this one outside, then come back for the others," she managed. She saw the Claydol glow, then both it and the frozen body warped out of the cavern. 

With it vanished what little light remained from Psychic Terrain, and she was plunged into darkness. Chryssa backed away from the entrance, breathing hard now. The roar of the monster shook the walls of the cave as snow and hail tore past her, the temperature plunging further. 

Blessedly, Priam's voice carried down the tunnel. He was back. "Thank goodness," Chryssa breathed, lips numb from the cold. She slumped against a wall as she heard the Arcanine and Abomasnow fighting, scattering cherry-red sparks down the rocky passage. Behind her, Auld flickered in and out of being, floating over to body after body and disappearing again with each in tow. 

What if it runs out of Teleports? Chryssa wondered, thoughts moving slowly. The below-freezing temperatures were rising again, but it was hard to focus. The cave walls and ceiling were shaking from the force of the explosions and she lost her footing, falling into the grass-lined nest like a sacrificial maiden. 

What if she couldn't get out? Would she become one of those stories used to scare Sinnoh children about wild Abomasnow, or would she just become another Missing Person poster?

Would anyone remember her?

“Oh, I think it’s fine,” Chryssa said, managing to prop herself up on her elbows where she lay in the Abomasnow’s nest. The light of Priam’s phone screen in the darkness was surprisingly comforting in its simplicity— mundane and familiar, it was like a reminder of the real world. “I found the missing people, though. I think—”

Another warping sound and Auld reappeared, its yellow eyes shining in the darkness like a multitude of computer monitors. It drifted over to another pair of frozen people and Teleported with them again. She wondered how many were outside now.  

We might need to make a sleigh to get them back down the mountain, Chryssa thought. Whether they were dead or could be thawed out safely, she and Priam would need to find a way to transport the missing people. But that was a future problem. 

“—It seems we’ve got most of them. Do you see any treasure?” Chryssa tried to change the subject. With Priam’s Arcanine making short work of the Abomasnow, her panic felt foolish—like a little girl afraid of a boogeyman in the dark.

Maybe she wasn’t cut out for detective work. Or rescue work. Or maybe it was the fact that yet another childhood myth turned out to be mortal—dangerous, deadly, but not all-powerful. Not unkillable.

She tossed a Pokeball down the cave to catch the defeated Abomasnow, assuming Priam didn’t want it. Maybe the people of the village would want to bring it to justice and punish it, if it had killed their loved ones. Maybe the police would want it for evidence.

Or maybe Chryssa would never say anything at all, and keep it for a special day when she wanted to be reminded what it felt like to be helpless, alone in the dark. 

“Case closed, Detective Priam.” she said lightly.