they continue to wander. at one point, maki's shieldon slips on a patch of ice and goes skating forward, falling on its face. thanks to its heavily armored head, though, it doesn't hurt itself, and gets back up immediately after. maki flicks some snow off its brow before their trek is resumed.

all is silent. and then there's a metallic clang, in the distance but approaching rapidly. it sounds like something big is coming their way, so maki hastily hides behind a snowdrift, pulling the shieldon alongside her. after a few breaths that crystallize in the air, a metang appears. it looks around, noticing the footprints maki didn't have the time to cover up. thankfully, it seems uninterested, and continues moving. she waits until it's gone to come out.

if it had been a better type matchup, she might have fought it. but shieldon doesn't have any attacks that will do much damage against another steel type, and the metang was bigger and stronger.

they'll have to seek easier prey. onward they go!

the next pokemon that appears is an errant probopass. it's wandering the area, as if searching for something. it doesn't appear aggressive, but seeing the chance to give shieldon some battle experience, maki doesn't hesitate to challenge it. though it's another steel type, the rock type added to it will make it more vulnerable to steel type attacks.

she orders shieldon to use iron defense. it hardens its body, preparing itself for the probopass's attack. the enemy uses rock throw, which thuds off shieldon's armor, barely even scratching it. the probopass stares, surprised. maki's next command is to use iron head, and the shieldon charges forward, head lowered like a battering ram. the much larger and heavier pokemon is unable to avoid it, though the attack doesn't seem to do a lot of damage.

gathering itself again, the probopass launches an electric attack at shieldon. the attack bypasses shieldon's iron defense by virtue of being a special attack type, and shieldon's body courses with painful electricity. maki's next command is to use metal sound, so shieldon lets out a painful shriek that is fueled by its pain. the probopass shudders, falling back, looking more haggard... but does not fall. maki isn't sure shieldon can take another zap cannon, so she swaps it out with houndoom.

the next zap cannon hits houndoom, but it shakes it off and releases a powerful flamethrower that ends the battle. maki returns the pokemon to its ball and continues onward, leaving the probopass behind.

it's some time before they encounter another pokemon. maki's houndoom hears it first, ears perking up as it stares off into the distance. maki steps behind a chunk of ice, still containing a frozen, deceased pokemon, and waits there. she hears it before she sees it; something flopping and sliding on the ground, using its body rather than legs to gain momentum and keep moving.

it's a dewgong, coming up to them, seeming awfully out of place considering there isn't really any water here. maki pulls houndoom back into its ball, and sends out aurorus instead. the massive fossil pokemon startles the dewgong, and maki orders it to use freeze dry. the aurorus breathes out a mist so cold that it does double damage to the water/ice type, and the dewgong is left floundering. panicking, it hits aurorus with an aurora beam, but the attack isn't very effective. next, aurorus uses stone edge, a massive piece of rock jutting out of the ground from beneath the dewgong sending it flying into the air.

maki throws a pokeball next. it wiggles and then settles in. even if this isn't a pokemon she'll use, she's sure someone can find some use for it. it's better to not leave this place empty handed.