The moment they got to their destination—the cold winds were howling and coming down on them both; and while his Absol shivered, he knew that there was but one answer to all of this—

Fire.

Swapping his Gardevoir’s Pokéball out for another one, he then threw forward the one that contained his hot-headed Incineroar, Bas, before sliding off the back of his Absol because he knew he was going to need her help through all this.

“Go help them!” he shouted, crouching down as a cold wind came rippling through the area where they were located—the Incineroar unleashed a Flamethrower attack to dissipate the cold; while the Absol, reckless as she was charged forward with a Night Slash while aiming at the power spot that was glowing rather ominously—like ticking time bomb ready to explode.

“Get out of range! It looks ready to—” he trailed off before a sudden explosion of light shook the area.

“Ettie, get down!” he yelled as he made a flying leap towards her in an attempt to shield her from harm.

His Incineroar and Absol were still standing despite the explosion of light that had temporarily blinded them—

The Absol came crashing in with another Night Slash on the Froslass, before the Incineroar came in riding high with a Darkest Lariat attack to knock the Froslass down and out!

+ Ettie
+ Work with a partner(s) and utilize pokémon moves with a base power equal to 350 (Flamethrower 90, Night Slash 70)
+ Damage the power spot that’s enhancing the Froslass’ power. (attacking the power spot with above-mentioned Flamethrower and Night Slash)
+ Pacify or knock out the Froslass and pass the last hurdle.

He looked in the direction where Ettie was pointing—if he squinted close enough, it looked like…

“The answer could be up there,” he nodded quietly as he squared his shoulders and prepared himself for the inevitable battle that would come.

As if highlighting that this was their way ‘out’ of the maze, he looked up at the skies above them and saw something—hmm, that was unusual.

With Hoenn’s locations in the tropical band of the world, this shouldn’t be possible—how was it that there was an aurora borealis leading them towards where they had to go, like a beacon?

But then again, this was Hoenn, so… anything could possibly happen at any time.

“Are you ready to fight our way out, in case we need to?” he asked her; hoping she wasn’t nervous or anything.

+ Ettie
+ prompt: ❄️ Use the word ‘aurora borealis’ in a post.

Thankfully, Ettie takes to his suggestion—because where else can they go but to find the source of the avalanche than to follow the snowfall tiself?

“Don’t go too far ahead,” he called out from his Absol’s back, making sure to keep up—what if things happened and he got lost?

(No, he did not want to wind up like that kid in that Unovan movie… what was it… Home Alone, or something—or was it the sequel Home Alone 2: lost in Castelia New York?)

“Do you see anything?” he called from his position as the rearguard.

+ Ettie
+ prompt: ❄️ Reference a ‘Holiday movie title’ in a post.

The Absol that was lounging on the thick branch nodded their companion’s way, and Jack waved from where he was hanging onto not too long afterward.

“Yeah, I’m alright!” he confirmed, watching and waiting until all the snow had finally stopped slushing down… which would take a while, all things considered.

Eventually, the snow would come to a stop and it would be safe enough for them to climb down from the tree; his Absol taking a leap and then landing among the white. Thankfully she had a horn, so it was easy to spot where she was amidst the snow…

I wish we could find answers on how to get out of here! he thought to himself as he followed down afterward, gauging the distance to be close enough when he jumped down from where he was hanging on.

“You think, if we follow this snow, we’ll find answers?” he asked her once he was on the back of his own Absol. No way was he going to trudge through the deep!

+ Ettie
+ prompt: ❄️ Make a wish.

Thankfully Ettie was quick on her feet—and wow, how did she manage to do that, climb like a simian up the tree as quickly as possible?!

His Absol was not too far behind, having clambered on a branch up above him that was hanging thick with icicles that were ready to snap off if too much weight was applied on them—

“Are you okay?!” he called out Ettie’s way. “Are you hurt or anything?”

He couldn’t help but look over at her Pokémon in silent wonder because how in the hell did they manage to do that?! Dang, they were good climbers, too!

+ Ettie
+ prompt: ❄️ Reference ‘icicles’ in your post.

Now see, the funny thing about this was—Jack was one of those few people who didn’t own a phone, mostly because well—who would contact him?

Otherwise, the grin was still on his face as he took the paper that had the number scrawled down on it; at least he’d be able to find her again later once he’d scrounged up a Wooloo that wouldn’t get so attached to his herd!

He then let out another cackle, before he realized—in the chaos that happened, they’d clean forgotten to introduce themselves; since their Pokémon (well, his mostly) had taken the spotlight!

“Oop, there we go,” he chuckled at last as he shook her hand back.

“My name’s Jack, and you already know the names of all my little herd,” he bantered back.

+ @maoja
+ the proper introductions are done at last! XD

“Nice to meet you, Ettie,” he nodded before watching her take the candy that he’d found. In exchange he got a piece of—

“Ooh, nice, I won’t turn down a piece of jerky,” he perked up, quickly grabbing the piece of dried meat and taking a bite out of it. Oh, that hit the spot!

It wouldn’t take too long before Ettie would point out they had to get moving; and he would nod once he’d finished off the piece of jerky. “Let’s go and try to find—”

His words were cut off by a sudden rumbling—where was that loud noise coming from?!

“WHOA!” he helped, as his Absol suddenly sprung up from her position and leapt forward, because where did that avalanche of snow suddenly come from?! This was no Mount Lanakila!

Thankfully, there were trees nearby, and he hoped she could run fast—

“Ettie, how fast can you climb a tree?!” he exclaimed as his Absol scooped him and made a run for it towards the nearest tree; however the snow was catching up fast to them and he realized—

Time to try out the new shiny toy they’d gotten.

(And no, it wasn’t the Mega Evolution thingie.)

A pop later, and his Absol suddenly had a funny-looking ‘hat’ of balloons, before she bellowed and unleashed a powered-up Night Slash towards the nearest snow drift that was about to swallow his companion!

“Run! Climb the nearest tree as fast as you can!” he barked; hopefully she would be fast enough as his Absol had to turn back around and make up for lost ground before he spotted a nearby tree trunk and made to stop, before attempting to help her climb up first—before he would follow afterward.

“Don’t look down, climb!” he called from his current position as he felt the slush of snow plow into the tree—which creaked ominously as it swayed…

+ Ettie
+ prompt: ❄️ Receive help from another character in the maze. [Dec. 24 prompt] (received food in exchange from Ettie!)
+ Work with a partner to escape the avalanche (e.g. flying or discovering shelter); running towards trees and climbing them
+ Utilize Terastallization to overcome this hurdle [Absol; Tera-type: Flying]
+ Withstand the avalanche by holding onto your surroundings. (climbing a tree time!)

“I’ve been walking around a while,” he sighed as he then made himself comfortable, while his Absol then lay down on her belly, crossing her paws one over the other before setting her head down atop them.

“I keep passing the same tree back there,” he added as he pointg a thumb behind him; indicating a spindly-looking, skeletal tree that seemingly had a ‘face’ pattern on its trunk. Like it was mocking them.

He then began searching in his pockets before finding something—wait, what was that—and then pulled out a piece of candy, before holding it out to her.

“You want it?” he offered, before realizing he hadn’t introduced himself to her yet.

“My name’s Jack.”

+ Ettie
+ prompt: ❄️ Reference ‘candy’ in some way.

He’d actually recalled his Gardevoir while making their getaway from the twisted malevolent forces that wanted to leech them of their energy, and so he was surprised to see that… he wasn’t alone.

“Oh, thank goodness,” he breathed out, a sigh of relief escaping him. “I never thought I’d be able to find someone else in this maze!”

His Absol then saw her Lucario, before inclining her head to one side in welcome. Her own quiet little way of acknowledging the other’s presence.

“Have you found a way out of here?” he would ask her so far, taking their offer to sit down and catch their breath. After everything that happened so far, he definitely needed a danged break!

Dangit, why did he feel like having some hot chocolate right about now would do for a good morale boost?!

+ Ettie
+ prompt: ❄️ Reference any ‘hot’ or ‘warm’ beverage or food.

“Naw, they don’t hold grudges. Well, it takes time for Ger over here to warm up to someone else that’s not any of my Pokémon,” he reassured her, waving his hand like it was nothing.

Wain then booped his sibling on the nose once he’d come to a stop—and it was a few moments before the grumpiest of his Wooloo sighed and booped his sibling back.

“Leaving all of them alone without a Pokémon guard, chaos surely follows them. Trust me, I know,” he chuckled. It was like leaving one of the four alone in a house, kind of like… Home Alone…

“I’m sure your Frank will be more than enough to keep an eye on any Wooloo that you’ll own,” he followed up a few moments afterward.

+ @maoja
+ awww, Ger

“Oh, come on!” he whined quietly as he realized that he’d seen the same rickety little tree for the third… fourth… was it fifth, sixth time now?

Was he lost?!

Yikes…

And then there were several rogue spirits that looked like twisted zombies were chasing after him!

“Really?!” he yelped as he threw out two Pokéballs; relieved to see his Absol and Gardevoir emerge from the beams of red light; the Gardevoir immediately opening fire with a Dazzling Gleam; while the Absol then peered into the Future, taking Sight of what was going to happen—

All the while the specters were still chasing them through the mess of a maze!

“Let’s go!” he shouted, as the Absol then threw out a Sucker Punch to help distract the specters that were chasing them as they went deeper into the maze…

+ @tag
+ prompt: ❄️ Get lost in the maze. (Dec. 21 prompt)
+ Utilize pokémon moves that will equal to a base power of 250 (80 Dazzling Gleam, 120 Future Sight, 70 Sucker Punch)
+ Utilize pokémon with a type advantage against the vengeful spirits (ghost types); Absol [Dark-type]
+ Pacify the spirits with a pokémon move or distract them long enough to escape

Finally, fucking finally, his quest would come to an end as he—

“There you are,” he breathed out—and right then and there he heard his stomach rumble… shit, why was he hungry?

He was hungry for some milk and cookies the moment he approached the Lapras—with his Absol trailing behind him in silent wonder.

The wonder was suddenly cut short the moment the Lapras squinted at the Absol before suddenly opening fire with Ice Shards, multiple of them, and like—

“Oh, come on!” he exclaimed; as his Absol then charged forward with a Night Slash and dodging the attack as it came barreling towards them.

“Alright, do it!” he exclaimed as he dodged out of the way and the Lapras suddenly Body Slammed the Absol; before the two exchanged blows for a few minutes.

It was one final Psycho Cut that did the Lapras in, before he threw the last Safari Ball he had.

+ @tag
+ safari trip leggo | catch attempt on lapras!