They finally made it down to the lowest cavern, whether Quinn knew it or not, but the sight was dazzling. The floors, cave walls, ceiling, every rock glittered with a layer of ice, and the ice seemed to spread her lanterns light further than it should, lighting up the whole cavern. She saw Zubat and Golbat flock out of the cave to darker places. Even in this icy place, where her very breath clouded, they lived here. Interesting. She assumed they must come down here during low tide for something, and she would do her best to find out what it was. If she could find what it was, she could learn what made it special, and maybe it could help Team Rocket and their pokemon be stronger.

Absol was standing nearby, looking about for pokemon that might get in their way, though for now, most either were keeping to themselves, or fled at the sight of them. Though Quinn was visibly shaking, the cold didn't seem to bother Absol, or at least she didn't let on that it was effecting her. Quinn couldn't tell.

After a moment of note taking, noting the pokemon she had seen here, and what the environment was like, she began walking, with Absol close by. Eventually, she found a small pool of water in this frozen place, and though she thought it odd, she noticed that water seemed to be slowly streaming in from all over, probably through tiny tunnels she didn't see. Her time was running out, so she had to hurry up.

She was determined to at least see a little more of the cave before the water began forming large pools, and so they kept going for some time, with her taking more notes about the cave, and the pokemon that were keeping their distance. That was, until she came upon a strange dusting of what she thought was first sand, but after a quick taste, revealed it was salt. It tasted unusual, but as she was tasting it, the Pokemon around them began to call out and come closer to her. Quinn and Absol looked about, with Absol looking agitated, and Quinn knew that they might be in trouble.

She stood up, and looked about, and though most pokemon still kept their distance despite their protests, one pokemon approached them. A Sealeo, and an angry looking one from what Quinn could tell. Well, then this salt was special to them. She would need to collect a sample and send it back to HQ for study, but in the meantime, they had to teach these pokemon not to interfere with Team Rockets business. Perhaps if she could beat this Sealeo, the other pokemon would back down.

The Sealeo wasted no time, calling out, and causing the cave to begin hailing down on them. Quinn held her notebook over her head to protect herself, though it did still hurt her arms when they got hit. Absol, however, did not have any protection from the hail, and had to bear it. She called out through the Hail, "Psycho Cut!" and Absol obliged, leaping in the air, and forming the psychic energy around its horn, before swinging her head and launching it as a blade, and connecting fairly quickly. The Sealeo, though obviously hurt by the attack, did not stop, and instead sent Blizzard winds at Absol as she landed.

Frost built up on Absol, but she resisted the freezing effects. Quinn quickly called out "Future Sight!" Hopefully it would be useful in this battle. Absol obeyed, closing her eyes, trying to ignore the freezing cold, and form the psychic energy, before throwing it to the future. When Absol opened her eyes, she was hit with another gust of Blizzard winds, collecting more frost and ice on her fur. Though she wasn't frozen, she was moving slower, and rushed to the Sealeo to Slash at it, but missed, the Sealeo rolling away from the swipe.

It hit Absol with another Blizzard wind, and finally Absol was frozen in place. She knew this was bad, so before Absol could take another hit, she pulled out another pokeball, and let out Lileep. As quickly as Lileep arrived, she pointed at the Sealeo, and called out "Wring Out! Quick!" And though the Lileep looked confused for only a moment, it looked to the pokemon, and quickly grabbed hold and began wringing it out. When the Sealeo managed to get out of the grasp of Lileep, it floudered away and hid behind some large jutting ice, and began to fall asleep. It had used Rest, it seems.

She called out to Lileep, "Use Giga Drain on it, while its down!" And Lileep did, extending its tendrils to it, and began to drain it of its life energy. Lileep was bouncing about happily, as even though it was unharmed, it still felt good to get a big dose of energy to it. When Lileep was done, the Sealeo was suddenly sent flying by an unseen force. It must have been Absol's Future Sight.

With the Sealeo defeated, Quinn ran to Absol and began to hit the ice covering Absol, and Lileep tried to help by squeezing parts of the ice as well. They eventually got it off, and Absol broke free of it. Absol was clearly not as ok as she tried to seem, so after a quick hug, Quinn returned her to her pokeball, instead deciding to leave Lileep out. She crouched down, and let Lileep slowly crawl onto her back, and cling on, with her head poking over one shoulder or the other. She proceeded to collect two small jars of the salt to send back to the labs at HQ for testing.


By this time, water was really flooding in much faster than before, Quinn could even see the waters edge moving. She had to get going soon, or else she might drown in here. She finished her collecting, and began making her way out of the icy depths of Shoal Cave.

They made it as far as the exit of the icy cave, when a large, snowy tree blocked their path. Quinn found it very odd, seeing as there were no trees down here, let alone one blocking the path out, but before she could think more on it, the tree swung at her, and sent her flying across the icy floor, with Lileep grabbing onto the nearest rock to stop them both from sliding more than halfway back in. Quinn got up slowly, and now the tree was walking towards them, and it was only now that she realized what it was. This was not going to be an easy exit it seemed...

Lileep crawled off Quinn, and slowly moved in front of Quinn, ready to defend. The Abomasnow towered over them as it approached, and seemed to say something to them, before stomping once. Quinn had no idea what it said, but thought perhaps it was pissed that they had beaten the Sealeo and took their salt. If the Sealeo was their champion, then this was their king, and he was not letting them leave without a fight. It didn't help that many other pokemon encircled them all, though the size of the circle was considerable, probably to allow the Abomasnow room to rampage. Well, they would have to get rid of him, then it seemed.

She only said two words, hoping to end this quickly, "Wring Out," and Lileep, expecting this, extended its tendrils as quickly as it could, gripping as much of the hulking thing as it could get its tentacles on, and squeezing, twisting as best as it could. Quinn could hear the snapping of branches, and the groan of bark as Lileep did its best to weaken and overpower the creature, but it was clearly not enough, for it did not move much, and was pulling Lileep as much as Lileep was pulling at it. If it wasn't for her strong grip on the group, Lileep would no doubt have been tossed around by now. This might not be a fight Lileep could win.

The Abomasnow, still tangled with Lileep, opened its mouth, and let out a bellow, filled with frigid cold and ice particles, bombarding Lileeps head and body, quickly freezing it over. Lileep let go, and tried to break the ice on itself with what tendrils it had out, but those were quickly frozen as well as it bellowed again.

Quinn wasn't about to lose Lileep to this thing, so before it could do any more, she returned it to Lileeps pokeball. The Abomasnow turned to Quinn and began walking towards her, and she knew it was time for the big guns. She let out Aeordactyl, who didn't even touch the ground, already flying in quick, tight circles near the ceiling. It let out a bellowing roar of its own, which dispersed the encircling pokemon, while the Abomasnow remained, though it looked less confident.

Quinn pointed and called out, "Sky Drop!" And Aerodactyl was quickly on the Abomasnow, faster than it expected, and it carried the snowy beast up to almost the ceiling, clinging onto it with its claws digging into its shoulders. Quinn pointed where she wanted it dropped, the other side of the chamber, where the water was thickest, and Aerodactyl obliged, diving then tossing him into the water, swerving at the last minute to avoid the frigid waters itself.

Aerodactyl flew over to Quinn and let out a low noise, as Quinn hugged and rubbed the terrifying beasts head. Though their victory was short lived, as the Abomasnow erupted from the water, and rushed them with one of its arms raised, with seemingly more wood than before. Quinn, in an instance of panic, she called out "Hyper Beam!" And Aerodactyl obliged, taking only a moment to gather the tremendous amount of energy required, and releasing it all at once.

The Abomasnow was perhaps six feet away from them before it was hit with the blast, but once it was struck, it as hard to know where it was exactly, though at the end of the new tunnel bored through the thick icy wall as a good bet. Water pooled into the new tunnel, but no sound of the abomasnow came from it.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to the now panting pokemon next to her. She rarely stood right next to Aerodactyl when she used Hyper Beam, and now she knew why. The sheer force of the shockwave it created nearby was enough to knock most people over. She gave her another hug, and waited a minute or two, before climbing up onto her back, and directing her where to fly to get them out of there. She couldn't keep pushing her luck in here, and with two small jars of the precious salt, her job was more than done.

It took them only a short time to get out, with Aerodactyl recovering on their way out. They proceeded to fly back to their base, flying high up in the clouds to avoid detection. She made a mental note to treat all her pokemon to their favorite foods later on for their hard work.