“Eeeeek! A Snorunt!” Michi shrilled, completely distracted by the cone-headed Pokemon who had just appeared. They are so pointy, it may hurt if I fall on it... When she was a child, one time she had fallen onto a Snorunt while skiing and afterwards she had carried the bruise for a week! She had never forgotten the traumatic experience— much less all the local legends about the little ice demons that her grandmother used to tell. What was one doing in an ice cave?!

“Poturtle, please be careful!” The little woman cried, summoning all her courage to hurry forward and interpose herself between the massive Torterra and the little conical Pokemon shambling its way across the passage, minding its own business. It seemed to have barely noticed them. “Please, wait a moment! Then it will pass, and it is OK to continue.” 

Michi’s shoulders slumped as soon as the pointy creature was gone and she let out a sigh of relief. She already felt discouraged— perhaps this was not such a good place for Poturtle to sleep after all.

The Torterra yawned, the cold all around it making its movements sluggish. The many berry trees growing on its back sapped a lot of the grass-type’s strength, and now that she’d eaten most of Michi’s apples, she could stand to hibernate for a little while. But first, Michi had to find the perfect place... and then she could plant the delicious carrot seeds, too!

^{SKIPPING SNORUNT}

The cavern cleared of pointy-headed Pokemon, Michi was able to find a comfortable place for her Torterra to settle. The earth-tortoise sank to its knees, massive head drowsing until it reached the cave floor with a deep, resounding thud. “Yes-yes, you are safe now,” Michi said to it soothingly, patting the spiked head. 

To tell the truth, she was relieved. Torterra was such a big Pokemon, sometimes Michi didn’t know what to do with her. When she had been hibernating over the winter in the berry patch it had been no problem, but the seasons were changing. Soon, it would be Zac’s turn to take care of Poturtle— and Michi had to finish growing her special vegetables before then.

She tossed her grappling hook, feeling it wrap around the lower branches of Poturtle’s tree. Tugging securely on the line, Michi set one foot on the side of Poturtle’s shell. She worked her way up, holding tightly to the line, until she found a place near one of the pointed stones which decorated the giant turtle’s back. Berry bushes sprouted here as well, meticulously planted the previous autumn.

It was here she would plant her carrot seeds.  

But she had a problem— the ground was too hard. The moist earth had frozen solid inside Shoal Cave, and Michi hadn’t thought to bring a spade. “Ah... what am I going to do...” she whispered, looking around herself. Could she use the end of her grappling hook, perhaps...?

<Bone...> A little voice surprised her as she was kneeling down with the seeds in her hands. A little Cubone peeked out from behind one of the pointed stones. It scraped at the hard-packed, frosty earth with the tip of its club, making a questioning sound. Michi clapped her hands together, looking thrilled to see the bone-masked character. “Oh! It is perfect. Please if you will help, I can plant this seed...”

Working together with the ground-type Pokemon, they scraped a deep furrow in the earth of the sleeping Torterra’s shell. Hardly daring to breathe, Michi lowered the seeds down into the earth— then, on her hands and knees, she covered them gently back over. “Sleep, little seeds. Sleep, little Poturtle!” She sang to herself, quietly. “Soon, your season will come.”

^{BEFRIENDING CUBONE}