Pokemon Sable: Red Snow

## Prologue: Sable's story (skip to red snow if impatient)

The boy turned on the TV. It was a rerun of last year's championship battle. He turns off the TV, he had seen it before. Hell, he had seen all of them, he was a Pokémon battle fanatic. Most kids got their first Pokémon at age 10, but due to his overprotective "school comes first" mother, he was 15 and still without Pokémon. They had a pet Lillipup, but the boy had no partner Pokémon. After brushing his teeth, he walks downstairs to see his mother making breakfast. Blaziken eggs with pancakes and Mago berry juice. He tried not to think too hard about the Blaziken eggs (as the process of making them was probably gross) and finished breakfast. Before he can head to the door, his mother calls for him. "Don't forget your nametag, sweetie!". He was glad for that, as he was about to walk out the door without it. As popular as he was with the old people at the Pokemart, they always forgot his name. He clips the nametag onto his blue work uniform. "Sable", it read. He liked the name, but he never really understood why he was given such a name. According to his mother, he was named after her favorite shade of black, but to Sable, all shades of black looked the same.

Sable makes his way to the Pokemart and checks in. Working at the Pokemart wasn't that bad. You get paid minimum wage, but he was 15, and it's not like he does anything but hand people items and take their money. After directing the same old man to the yogurt isle for the 15th time, Sable's shift was over, and he began to head home. School just recently got out, and summer had begun. Sable was probably going to spend most of it sleeping and working at the Pokemart, which he didn't mind. Sable stepped into his house, only to find it completely dark. In search of a light switch, he moved his hand along the wall, until suddenly... **\*click\***

The lights come back on, revealing his mother at the dining room table with a brown bag and a sneaky expression on her face. "Mom?" Sable asked. "What's in the bag?". "Come see for yourself!" she replied. Sable checked the bag and gasped. Inside, he found 3 Pokeballs and a Pokedex. "Suprise!" his mother exclaimed. Sable stared into the bag in wonder. "Listen" His mother started. "I know I've been hard on you about the whole Pokémon Trainer thing, but it was for your own good. Most kids your age that went into training Pokémon at 10 can't even tell me 3 elements off of the periodic table! But I think you're ready now, Sable. It's gonna hurt saying goodbye to you, so check back in on me every now and then, ok?". Sable looks at his mother for a while, and then runs over to hug her.

"I promise".

After formally quitting his job (he would make money off of battles now, plus his mom gave him 700,00 Pokedollars before leaving, which sounds like a lot, but is only about $500.), Sable bought some new clothes. A black jacket, with grey sweatpants, a beanie, and a red scarf. Afterwards, Sable decided the most logical first step would be to catch a Pokémon, so he made his way into the woods. After searching for a while, Sable couldn't find any Pokémon he wanted to catch. He didn't like normal or bug-types, so this probably wasn't the place for him to be looking. He was about to turn back when he saw a flash of light followed by the cries of multiple Pokémon. Running to the origin of the disruption, Sable remembers that he has no Pokémon. "It doesn't matter" he thought to himself. "If I ever get into danger, there's nothing a good old punch to the face... or muzzle can't solve".

After running for what felt like forever, Sable made it into a clearing where he saw... people? Upon further inspection, it turns out it was only team rocket. Sable sighed with relief. "WAIT, TEAM ROCKET!?" Sable almost yelled out loud. He ducked behind a bush and watched. It looked like they were capturing Pokémon by the dozen again. They seemed to have no regard for their impact on the environment. They had Pokémon crowded together in nets like they were Magikarp. In a fit of rage, Sable began to run towards the middle of the clearing when a voice stopped him. "s-stop" it said. "What was that?" Sable thought. "look at net" the voice said. It was communicating telepathically, and seemed to struggle with putting sentences together, like a child. Sable looked at the net and saw a Ralts staring at him from within the net. Sable jumped. When he calmed down, he tried looking at the Ralts again, but it was gone.

"behind" said the voice. Sable turned around and the Ralts was behind him. Team rocket must have not expected such a low-level Pokémon to know teleport. "help" said the Ralts. Sable then realized how in over his head he was, but he couldn't just let Team Rocket get away with this. Sable checked the clearing again. Two grunts, each with one Pokeball. It must not be a very important mission. Sable lets out a sigh. "Ralts" thinks Sable. "I can't do this without you". Sable holds up one of his three Pokeballs, and Ralts places his head on it gently, going into the Pokeball.

Sable then begins to silently sprint towards the two grunts (they were about to take off). "HEY!" yells Sable. One of the grunts turns around and receives a fist right in the jaw. Unfortunately, Sable was 15, and this grunt was pretty huge up-close. Unflinching, he taps his buddy on the shoulder. The other grunt turns around now, tall and lanky. "You got a problem, kid?" says the lanky one. "shit... um... release those Pokémon!" responds Sable, holding up his singular Pokeball. The grunts smirk. "We aint had a battle in weeks, kid!" says the big one. "You just made our day" the smirk becoming a sinister smile. Sable sends out Ralts, while the lanky grunt sends out Durant. Reading Sable's thoughts, Ralts knows most of Durant's attacks are Super effective. "Ready?" Sable has a plan. "Set..." Ralts understands. "GO!"

"Ralts! Use Teleport!". Suddenly, the grunts were in the net while all the Pokémon were out free. Sable looks over at his successful plan in both disbelief and amusement. Amusement because his plan was so ridiculous, that it's hilarious that it worked. Sable looked at Ralts and smiled. Ralts smiled back.

All the Pokémon had left the clearing and Sable was about to take Ralts to his house when he noticed the big grunt's Pokeball shaking. Out of the Pokeball sprang an Eevee, which began running towards the two. "Ralts, use psychic". Eevee was frozen in place. Now that he looked a bit closer, Sable notices the Eevee wasn't trying to hurt him. "Ralts, stop". The Eevee continues it's sprint towards Sable and hides behind his legs, shaking. The Eevee is dirty, and unkempt. Apparently, some Team Rocket members don't even care about their *own* Pokémon. Sable pick up the Eevee, and begins to walk back home, but stops again. "Ralts, use confusion". Now Sable begins making his way back home to the sound of a Team Rocket grunt reduced to clucking like a chicken.

When he arrives home, Sable and his mother bathe the Eevee, feed it, groom it, and let it sleep. The next morning, Sable wakes up with the Eevee on his bed with his second Pokeball. Smiling, Sable accepts Eevee's offer, and captures her. Sable then leaves home (for real this time) to get some gym badges. After leaving his town, Sable heads down one of the many Routes leading to new places. As he's walking, he is suddenly knocked down by a floating object flying in to block his path. When he gets back up, Sable realizes that it was a Shedinja.

"What is a Shedinja doing out here?" Sable asks himself. The Shedinja gestures towards Sable's Pokeballs. Sable releases one of them. It's Ralts. "morning" thought Ralts. "Good morning" thought Sable. "What does this Shedinja want?" thought Sable. Ralts looked at the Shedinja, occasionally nodding as if they were speaking. "shedinja saw fight" explained Ralts. "very happy you save his friends". Sable looks at the Shedinja. "Well, are you here to thank me?". Ralts seems to talk to Shedinja again. "shedinja wants ball" says Ralts. "Oh wow," said Sable. "If I had a nickel for every time a Pokémon said it wanted me to catch it... Well, I'd have three nickels, but still".

And so, with his first three Pokémon in tow, Sable would begin his journey to becoming a great Pokémon Trainer.

until it is cut short...

## Red Snow

After a couple of months of defeating trainers, gyms and Rocket grunts. Sable and his Pokémon are in high spirits. Most of the party members sable gains come and go, but Ralts, Eevee, and Shedinja were always there, which is why there are the only ones not in a PC right now. You see, there was a power surge recently, and almost everything that requires electricity is out. Sable didn't dare use the PC. He had read a news article about some guy losing his Charizard through a faulty trade, and he didn't want that to happen to him.

Bored, Sable decides to check in back home. When he arrives to his hometown, he notices a black hot-air-balloon floating past. There was no "R" on it, but Sable was pretty sure who the balloon belonged to. He releases Ralts. "Use teleport".

They end up on the far side of the aircraft, which upon closer inspection seems to be some sort of balloon aircraft. Sable sneaks into one of the rooms to find two grunts standing in front of a monitor with a shadowy figure on it. "We're sorry, boss, but we don't understand what you're so upset about." The shadowed figure slams their fist. "I specifically told you two not to go that route! I ordered you to go the other way!". "But boss, this is the most efficient route!" The figure sighs and leans forward slightly. "If you continue the way you are going, you will pass over the region that we don't want *anyone* finding out about, and if they do find out because of you two *imbeciles,* I will have your ***heads*** on a silver platter." The call hangs up, and the grunts seem to relax. "I told you we should've taken the long way!" "Well how was I supposed to know about this "*mystery region"* bullcrap?" "Wait" interrupts the other grunt. "You don't know?" "Nah, what's the big deal?"

The grunt sits down and sighs. "Listen, I know we're the "bad guys", but everything that happened over at that region can only be described with 'evil'"

The other grunt looks concerned. "Jesus, that bad?" "Yeah..." "What did they do?" The regretful grunt begins to explain:

"A long time ago, too long to remember, Team Rocket was in its infancy. Hell, it was barely more than a big gang with airships. But once we found that region, we hit it big. It was completely unprotected land because it was undiscovered, and it was teeming with all kinds of life." The grunt adjusted his seat and sighed once more. "We... we-uh... We took everything. Everything we could get our hands on. Berries, wood, rare Pokémon, elusive minerals, everything. Everything, until there was nothing left." The concerned grunt looked shocked now. "Jesus, Everything? All of it?" What happened to the Pokémon?". The regretful grunt sat up. "Bossman won't tell us, but he's hellbent on making sure nobody outside of Team Rocket finds out, so I think it's better we don't know." Concerned grunt stands up. "Okay, enough chatting. Someone needs to steer this thing". The grunt gets up and leaves, right past Sable's hiding spot, where he heard everything. "UHH, HEY, MAURICE?" the concerned grunt yells from outside of the room. "Don't call me that, CONNOR" replies the regretful grunt. "THIS IS SERIOUS, MAURICE" he yells. the grunt gets up and leaves the room in a slight panic. Sable slips out behind them and sees something terrifying.

A humongous storm cloud was coming right towards the ship. "Dammit, if we wasn't chattin up a storm earlier, we wouldn't have gotten caught up in *this* storm!" says grunt Connor. Sable suddenly realizes how far away he must be from his region right now and begins panicking. All of this is interrupted when an earth-shattering lightning bolt just barely misses the airship. The storm has begun. "You know what, Maurice?" says Grunt Connor. "Screw whatever is on this ship! I'm getting in one of the emergency vehicles and I'm gettin' outta here!" "I agree, I'm not risking my life for this" agrees Grunt Maurice. They both head down a set of stairs, and the faint sound of vehicles being released, and the distant splash of water can be heard. Sable is now alone on a ship destined to crash. He is frozen in fear and cannot move. Eventually, lightning hits one of the ship's balloons, and it begins descending. Before impact, Sable releases Ralts. **"TELEPORT!"**

Sable wakes up covered in snow. It must have softened his fall. He notices Ralts standing next to him. Sable smiles. "We really do save each other a lot, don't we?" he jokes. Sable turns, and far away, he sees the wreckage of the airship. Luckily, they didn't land in a Forest or else there would have been a fire. It was very cold, but Sable's new clothes were perfect for that kind of weather. "Alright" begins Sable. "Roll call". Sable releases Eevee and Shedinja. They are perfectly fine, but Ralts appears to be a little bruised. "Let's find you some berries, little buddy".

...

Hours of searching have passed. Everyone is hungry now (except Shedinja, they don't eat), and shelter is becoming harder to find. After a day passes, Sable starts to become a little loony. His thoughts are scattered to the point where Ralts cannot read them, and he starts to keep to himself more. "I am *so* damn hungry" Sable thinks. "I haven't eaten in forever, and neither have my Pokémon. I'm desperate. I would do anything-"

Sable stops. For the first time in a while, his thinking becomes clear. "I would do... *anything"* he repeats. Sable's eyes widen, he's made a horrible realization. He's figured out what Team Rocket had done to this region. By stripping this place of all its resources, the Pokémon must resort to desperate measures. That explains why some earlier Pokémon encounters had been so violent. They were being hunted by *every single creature in the region.* Sable gathers up all his Pokémon into their balls. It won't keep them warm for long, but it would keep wild Pokémon from seeing them. Sable decided the best course of action would be to find a high point and try to signal for help.

...

Another couple of hours have passed. It is nighttime, and visibility is low, but Sable can't give up. He trudges through the snow and pushes back against the wind until he reaches a spot where he can take a break. A bear's cave. Now, it sounds like a horrible idea, but Sable checked inside, and the cave was totally clean. No sign of any dead Pokémon or berries. Either the cave was unoccupied, or the previous owner had died long ago. Sable releases his three Pokémon, and they huddle for warmth and fall asleep.

...

Heavy breathing. Distant, but heavy breathing. Less distant now. Less, and less, and less, and...

Sable wakes up to a deranged-looking Beartic staring at him and his party. His heart drops. The reason the cave was so clean was because they Beartic never found any food at all... To the Beartic, Sable was probably a delicious entree, while his Pokémon were savory snacks. The first it would ever eat in God-knows-how-long. Careful not to rile it up, Sable slowly moves away from the Beartic and returns his Pokémon. Sable realizes that the only way out is to knock out or kill this Beartic before it can hurt anyone. He sends out Ralts. "Use teleport". Ralts did nothing. "Dammit, teleport is out of PP... Use Confusion!" Nothing happened, but Sables pokedex buzzed and said, "The opposing Beartic is already confused". "Dammit, dammit, dammit". Sable is panicking. The Beartic takes a step forward, still processing the fact that it can finally feast after such a long time. "Ralts, use Psychic!". Ralts musters up some psychic energy and lobs it at Beartic, hitting it square in the face.

The Beartic looks back up at Ralts, bloodlusted. Sable notices this too late, the Beartic is already on Sable's side of the cave, swinging its huge claws around, looking to kill anything that breathes. "Ralts, use Play Rough!". Ralts runs up to the Beartic, ready to attack, but is beheaded by one of Beartic's huge claws. Sable watches in horror as this happens. He remembers saving Ralts from Team Rocket, all their adventures, Ralts' strange aversion to evolution. All those fond memories came back to him. Everything. Sable finds himself holding the bottom half of his best friend. He turns around to face the Beartic, still wearing that blank, hungry expression. He hated it. He hated that Beartic. He hated this region. He was going to *kill this Beartic.*

In a blind rage, Sable charges the Beartic and attacks it with no regard for his own safety. "Close Combat". It was Super effective. The Beartic, in tremendous pain, retaliates by swinging its paw at Sable, launching him backwards, and probably breaking a rib. Terrified for her owner, Eevee escapes her Pokeball and tries to engage Beartic. Sable cannot speak. He cannot move. He wants to tell Eevee to stop, to run, but he is powerless. Eevee lands a Quick Attack, and another, and another, dealing low but consistent damage. Beartic can't keep up with her speed. Eventually, Beartic's hunger takes full control of it, and it begins thrashing about the cave in frustration, knocking Eevee off-balance, and onto the cold floor. Beartic grabs Eevee, claws slowly piercing her skin, her muscle, her organs. The life fades from Eevee's eyes... and Sable is forced to watch.

Rejoicing, Beartic prepares for his first meal in ages, lifting Eevee's carcass to his mouth. But before he can eat, he takes a Shadow Ball to the face. It appeared to come from nowhere, so Beartic assumed it was Sable. Tired of Sable interfering, Beartic uses its brain for the first time in ages to snap an icicle off of its beard and hurl it at Sable. Sable, after seeing his friends mauled in front of him, is ready to join them. He closes his eyes and waits for the icicle to hit. The pokedex buzzes: "Shedinja's wonder guard: Its mysterious power only lets supereffective moves hit the Pokémon."

Shedinja appears in front of Sable. They blocked the icicle with wonder guard, of course! "SHEDINJA!" Sable yells. "SHADOW BALL, NOW!". The impact of the Shadow Ball knocks Beartic onto the ground. It throws more ice. No damage. It tries to claw through Shedinja. No damage. While the Pokémon fight, Sable quietly grabs his friends' bodies, then Shedinja, and runs out of the cave.

For an animal that hasn't eaten, the Beartic was very fast. but it couldn't hurt them anyways. Sable just didn't want to watch the Beartic eat his friends. While they're running, Shedinja lands another good Shadow Ball on Beartic, knocking it back down. Beartic is barely hanging on to life. "Finish it, Shedinja" says Sable, his voice filled with hatred. Before Sable can give the final command, though, the pokedex buzzes again: Weather Warning!: Major Hailstorm In Your Area!

"no..."

Without any warning, a baseball sized piece of hail falls out of the sky and crushes Shedinja's skull in. His final friend is gone. Sable falls to his knees, also being pummeled by the abnormally large hail.

Beartic, however, is unaffected by the hail.

Recovered, Beartic gets up and approaches Sable, who looks up at him. They stare at each other with nothing but hate. Despite its hunger, Beartic decides to play with its food out of that same hate, killing Sable and then beginning to mangle his body. Tearing up his skin, ripping his hand off, ripping his leg off. Beartic decides to give in to the hunger again, and feasts.

...

oh?

Shedinja is evolving?

**To be continued**