Boy resolutely followed Elite Lorelei through Icefall Cave. Millie was still sleeping, having been injected with a strong sedative back at Viridian City. Professor Oak's alakazam was using Telekinesis to transport her along, and a part of Boy was impressed by that, but the current urgent situation dominated his mind and his actions.
He was grateful to Erina for saving her from Master after the attack, and vowed to himself to thank her properly once this was all over. He was certain that her quick thinking had given Millie a second chance at life, and he was determined to not let it go to waste.
The group had come upon a part of the cave which contained a large lake that had completely frozen over. Lorelei pointed at an opening on the other side, then began traversing the ice. Boy followed, with Millie and the alakazam close behind.
They had nearly reached the other end when there was a sudden thunderous snap, and a huge, odious stalactite came down upon them. It wedged itself in the ice with a deafening crash, and the ice sheet gave way. The whole floor shook violently, and Boy crouched in order to maintain his balance.
Boy heard Erina scream behind him, but when he turned around she had already fallen. With his heart in his mouth, he slid slowly towards the hole, realising that the Professor and his clefairy had fallen, too. Lorelei left her jynx, Millie and the alakazam safely at the crevice, and came over. They peered down into the dark together.
"Are you alright down there?" Boy shouted nervously.
"Uh, y-y-yeah, we're okay! Professor Oak has sprained his ankle, though!" Erina shouted back.
Boy was relieved. "What should we do?" he asked, and Lorelei answered by yelling into the void:
"Teleport back to the Pokémon Center!"
That was smart. They had rushed over here in their bid to save Millie, and were ill-prepared for any sort of spelunking. In a way, they were tempting fate, and Boy counted them lucky that no-one was seriously hurt. Erina and the Professor would be safe back at the Pokémon Center, so there was nothing to worry about.
He waited for them to call out that they were leaving. Instead, Professor Oak yelled:
"It appears Teleport has no effect here! We'll make our way out, you keep going!"
Oh, no. They were trapped! But Boy was conflicted about the situation. He needed to save Millie, and time was precious. On the other hand, he could not just leave Erina, an injured Oak, and his clefairy stuck in a hole in freezing temperatures. He gave Lorelei a searching look, but he'd already decided they were going down there. Lorelei nodded, and replied:
"What? Why? Stay right there, we'll come get you!"
"No, no! We don't have time! The lapras is in a critical condition, you need to find the cavern with True Ice! Just keep going!"
Boy and Lorelei shared another look, weighing their options again. The more time they spent here, the less time they had to look for this cavern.
"Okay! Just please be careful!"
They would continue on, and hope that the rest of their group would make it out to safety.
Lorelei's jynx was widening the crevice by digging through the ice, and it had gouged out quite a large hole in the wall. Boy's group went through it one at a time, and entered the next chamber.
The layout of this chamber appeared strange to Boy, with its low, flat ceiling and lack of stalagmites. There was a body of water stretching out to one side, with uniformly-shaped round rocks jutting out in what seemed to be a pattern. By the looks of it, it was the least cave-like of the ones they had travelled through so far, but Lorelei did not seem phased by it.
"Ah, this place brings back memories," she smiled. "I met Kanna, my lapras, here when I was just a child. She was a calf, the youngest in her family pod."
Boy stayed silent, wisps of memory tugging at him.
"I didn't immediately capture her," Lorelei continued. "She was extremely energetic, and got into all sorts of trouble with her parents. The pod accepted me quickly, and I'd like to think it was because I had kept Kanna out of the worst of it. This little grotto is where the lapras pod of the Sevii Islands would train their young, which is why those rocks look different."
Boy gazed at Millie, and placed his hand gently on her snout. He'd had his own adventures with her growing up, and they'd forged a bond whose origin was similar to the one Lorelei was recounting. Millie was still so young though, and having gone through something so dreadful without having Boy there to protect her... the guilt twisted up his insides, and it was becoming more difficult to keep his emotions in check. He sagged a little at the weight of the responsibility he bore, and stared out at the water, sighing deeply.
He came to realise that Lorelei was trying to keep him calm by talking about herself and her history. It was true that they both had similar stories about each of their lapras, but it seemed odd at first since Lorelei had an air of aloofness about her, and was known for her logical, calculated, and cool battling style.
Being the first of the Elite Four, many trainers had to give up on their dreams of becoming Champion because they had made the grave mistake of underestimating her. She was indomitable, unapologetic about being the first test, and stoic in appearance. So her warm conversation surprised Boy, but it did in fact help him keep his composure.
Lorelei walked over to the water and pointed. "Ordinarily, one could get out of Icefall Cave through here. Just follow the rocks, and you'd end up at a secluded cove. But here," she turned and advanced to the opposite end. "There's a sheer drop that goes deeper into Icefall Cave. If this cavern of True Ice exists, then it must be down there."
Boy examined the cliff and shuddered. It looked like a long, long way down. How were they supposed to get down there without any equipment?
Lorelei readied herself and instructed her jynx to use Ice Beam again, forging makeshift ledges that the group used to descend into the icy depths.
Down they went, and the thermometer that was Boy's body tumbled to new lows. He shivered as the cold seeped through his jacket and past his shirt, into his very bones. The shaft made of ice glowed eerily, its dim light casting strange shadows. Boy thought that the spooky nature of this tunnel would frighten him, but he felt emboldened instead – as if the challenge itself provided him with the impulse to conquer it.
The vertical path angled a bit before becoming horizontal, and he took the opportunity to check on Millie, confirming that she was still breathing.
"I named my lapras Millie," he said suddenly.
Lorelei, who had bent down to check on her jynx, straightened up. "That's a beautiful name."
Boy wasn't expecting to say anything, being so focused on his goal, but Lorelei's story had played on his mind on the way down, so he wanted to contribute to their conversation. Being unplanned, his cheeks reddened, and he quickly led the march through the tunnel again. He was glad that Lorelei didn't seem to be the pushy type, so he told himself to relax.
"She's still wild," he muttered shyly.
"I thought she was your starter?"
Boy tittered. "The pokédex just assumed she was."
"Hmmm."
Boy stopped at another steep ridge, and the jynx got to work making steps again.
"I've known her nearly all her life," Boy continued, as they climbed down. "She's probably the warmest, most gentle pokémon you'll ever meet."
His voice turned quiet as he neared the end of those words, each one tinged with sadness.
"You know what I think? I think Millie was your starter long before you got that pokédex and became an official pokémon trainer."
Boy was so surprised he turned his head up to look at Lorelei. He'd never thought of that before.
A starter wasn't the first pokémon that a trainer caught with a pokéball. It wasn't the first complete entry in a trainer's pokédex. A starter was the first pokémon that a trainer had forged a lasting friendship with, and Millie fit that description perfectly.
Emotion welled up within him as he remembered their first meeting at the Seafoam Islands, and her subsequent appearances whenever Boy found himself near the ocean. He quickly rubbed his eyes before any tears escaped, and smiled.
"What about Kanna? Where is she?"
"Oh, she's caring for her own family pod now. Mother to three baby lapras." Lorelei beamed, as proud as a mother of her starter.
"That's great," Boy said. He pushed ahead with renewed hope for Millie, wanting her to live on and have her own family pod.
The tunnel flattened again, and the group quietly trudged through. Lorelei trotted up next to Boy, and they walked together. She seemed pensive, but Boy stayed quiet. Eventually, she spoke:
"Boy, what happened to Millie?"
Boy trembled unintentionally. He did not want to get into it right now, but he had roped Lorelei, a member of the Elite Four, into this, so he did feel like she was owed an explanation. He collected his thoughts, wanting to give her a good summary of the events of the past hour.
"It's just that Professor Oak was sketchy on the details, he mentioned someone named 'Master', who is that?" Lorelei prodded.
A rising sense of dread began to crawl through Boy, scattering his deliberation. "He runs the pokémon school I attended. He... he attacked Millie. Look, I wasn't there when it happened..."
Boy defended himself, even though he knew what sort of attack Master had used. It was savage and violent, and an ill temper slowly rose up, replacing the fear. Boy felt responsible for what had happened, but as the previous events ruminated in the back of his mind, a growing comprehension pushed itself to the fore.
Master had attacked Millie. Master was directly responsible for harming Millie, and she was completely innocent. Boy wanted justice – no, revenge. He wanted Master to pay for what he had done.
"Master is a pokémon," he declared, with emerging bravado. "He has been systematically kidnapping children and indoctrinating them. He has this Grand Design and plans to use the children to take over all of Kanto. It has been going on for years."
Boy expected Elite Lorelei to gasp or exclaim in shock, but she simply bowed her head, deep in thought.
"Once Millie is healed, I'm going after him," Boy murmured bitterly, the heat from his temper spilling out.
"No, don't do that," Lorelei replied coolly. "Boy, right now we need to focus on Millie, but after this I would like for you to tell me and my friends more about this 'Master' and his Grand Design. I think you'd be able to answer many of our questions and fill in the gaps in our understanding with regard to this dangerous plot. If what you say is true, then this is bigger than we thought."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Boy was taken aback. It sounded like Lorelei and some others had some idea of Master's plan. Maybe he hadn't been as meticulous in hiding as he had prided himself on.
Boy considered whether it would be better to have some help in taking him on. Master was powerful and dangerous, and Boy barely had a pokémon to aid him. Lorelei was a member of the Elite Four, so it was likely they all knew about this and would be a major help in bringing Master down. But the numbers were not in their favour, and Boy worried that they would not be enough.
Lorelei was right though, Millie came first. They would deal with everything else later. Boy nodded in assent and looked ahead, steeling himself.
Another sheer drop presented itself to the group, but this one was different.
Peering down, it was brighter and shinier than either of them expected. As they climbed down, Boy shaved off a piece of the ice and examined it. It had the quality of crystal and refracted the light in the colours of the rainbow. The chamber they had entered was surrounded by the high walls of this new, vivid ice, and the ambient light that was illumiating it seemed to be a broad, all-encompassing, glimmering white.
Boy clambered down to the floor and stepped to the center of the cave. He stared at the shimmering walls as he spun slowly around. The shape of it was a near-perfect spiral.
Lorelei joined him, the radiance dancing in her eyes. Boy looked to her and said excitedly: "I think we found it!"
Lorelei seemed skeptical. "I don't think so. This place is beautiful, but it's not a cavern, and the folklore was pretty clear, especially about the properties of True Ice. The ice has a blue glow, and is supposed to be indestructible."
Boy wasn't listening. He was busy gathering more of the ice and had a collected a sizable amount in his arms. But as he made his way over to Millie, the entire heap fell apart, melting into slush and water. The mess dripped onto the floor and Boy's legs shook, more in disappointment than in the cold. Lorelei patted him on his back in sympathy.
"I'm sorry Boy, I don't think this is it."
Boy took a deep breath, holding back his dejection. He raised his head, determined to find this mystical cavern and save Millie. He had no time to wallow in his malcontent.
As he focused his attention on the wall directly across from him, he noticed a tunnel beyond it. He shook off some stray water droplets as he strode to the wall. This part of the ice was thin enough to look through. Squinting, he realized it wasn't an illusion, there really was a path beyond the barrier.
The ice here was extremely fragile, it was deposited in flaky layers and, once dislodged, didn't stay ice for very long, but there was no denying its unique crystal structure and ability to reflect and refract light. It must have been made from water of high purity, and flash-frozen by a natural phenomenon. Boy wondered if it was some sort of incomplete version of True Ice, and if the real deal was possibly nearby.
"This isn't it, but we're close," he said. He wasn't sure why he'd expressed that statement with such confidence. It might have been his abject hope, but he just had a feeling that there was something important past the glasslike partition.
Boy curled his hand into a fist and wound it up, aiming at a spot on the ice. He took in a sharp breath and punched the wall.
Lorelei shouted out in shock, but he did it again and again, pounding the barrier even as blood began dripping from his clenched fist. A tiny crack appeared, and chips of ice broke off and melted before reaching the ground. Boy grimaced and jerked his bloody hand to and fro, trying to shake off the numbness. He bit his lip, enduring the pain. He was driven to get through to the other side.
He grunted through another flurry of punches, and the crack multiplied and extended. Boy's mouth curled up into a smile and he wound up for a focused punch. He glanced at Lorelei, concern lining her face, and at Millie, still sound asleep, and willed his entire strength into his arm. Boy yelled as he slammed his fist into the wall, and a large sheet of ice broke off, his arm travelling a few inches into the barrier, but not all the way through.
Boy retracted his arm. At first, nothing happened. Then the sound of splintering ice reverberated loudly in the chamber, and Boy and Lorelei exchanged nervous looks. They realised the ice was calving right beside them.
The cracks Boy had created had become gashes, and they ruptured violently as Boy and the rest of his group ducked instinctively to protect themselves from falling debris. The wall collapsed and the cave rumbled. The air whooshed, as if a great pocket had been set free. The rumbling stopped and the air cleared, and where the wall once was, there was now a passage.
The group stood frozen for a few seconds. The fallen ice melted into puddles and small ice floes.
"That was extremely dangerous, Boy!" chastised Lorelei.
"I know, it's kind-of ridiculous that it worked!" Boy laughed.
Lorelei looked miffed, but Boy was too excited and made his way into the new passageway. Interestingly, the walls of the tunnel had the same spiral pattern as the cave they had just left. Boy wondered what natural phenomenon could have made these oddly uniform shapes. He could smell salt in the air, which was strange, and he was afraid that they would end up at another exit out of Icefall Cave, without discovering the cavern of True Ice. He held out hope though, that they had come this far and would be rewarded. It had to be here, he knew it.
The tunnel snaked this way and that, and there were relatively small burrows shooting off the main path that became dead ends. Boy noticed the faint gleams take on a blue tinge that became more pronounced as they continued, and finally, he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
They exited the tunnel and stood together at the top of a cliff face. Lorelei gasped beside him as they took in the view in front of them.
They found themselves in a truly massive cavern. There was so much light, much more than in the previous chamber, illuminating the place almost like it was daytime. They had come out near a giant pillar of blue ice, and there were more just like it encircling the cavern. Boy observed a multitude of blue shards all over, their glimmer looking more like a flame that was alive. He looked down, wanting to find a good spot for his group, and saw a large, annular pool of water at the bottom, sparkling crystal in the light.
They had found it, the fabled cavern of True Ice, and it was mesmerising.
"Hey, Boy! Elite Lorelei! Hey! We're up here!" someone shouted above them, and Boy's group looked up. Erina was waving her arms with much exuberance, along with Oak's clefairy, and the Professor himself smiled down on them.
"Erina! Professor Oak! This is amazing! Hey, look! Meet us over there!" Boy yelled, indicating an area above them that would be fairly easy to climb to.
Boy's group made their way up via a natural ramp, ascending to a relatively flat section that contained an abundance of True Ice crystals strewn about. With the entire group reunited, Boy felt as bouyant as Erina, who had animatedly greeted them as if meeting them after a long absence.
Boy began collecting the shards of True Ice, which spurred on the rest of them to help. They made a crude bed for Millie, and as Boy set down another pile of the ice, he noticed the injury on his hand was gone. The ice was bitingly cold, but he didn't feel anything else while it worked its magic. He rubbed his knuckles clean, wiping away the blood, and confirmed that there wasn't even a scar. True Ice really did have restorative powers!
"Alakazam, quick! Please put Millie down here, over the ice! Gently now... That's perfect, thank you!" Boy said excitedly.
Professor Oak's alakazam broke the Telekinesis, and Millie moaned softly. The sedative had worn off and she was waking up.
The rest of the group were gathered around the Professor, which gave Boy the chance to be alone with his starter for a little bit. He went up to her and rubbed her neck gently.
"Hi, Millie," Boy whispered. "Don't worry, we're here. We made it, and we're going to heal you right now."
Boy checked that the True Ice was covering Millie's wounds, and discovered that grisly red and swollen tissue was peeking out of the bandages that Nurse Joy had applied. The once-white gauze and dressing were saturated in red, and blood was dripping over the ice and onto the floor. Boy suppressed the onset of nausea, looking away momentarily to take in a big breath of air.
The True Ice was not reacting. The shards were the same, a continuous glowing light but nothing more. Millie's body shifted slightly, she moaned again, and Boy turned to look at her. The lapras's long neck had dropped low and was hanging limply.
"What's happening?” he asked, panic entering his voice. "Why isn't it working?" He put his ear to her body, and listened to her heartbeat. "Oh, no. No no no," he whispered in alarm.
The legends were true, this ice had amazing healing properties, so why wasn't it working? Boy's thoughts dithered as he grasped at the first thing that seemed likeliest: she needed more since her wounds were so severe. Frantically, he set about retrieving more True Ice. His hands were probably frost-bitten by this point, but he didn't care – Millie needed to be saved.
"She's fading, I can barely hear her heart, guys please help me find more True Ice, quickly!" he pleaded.
The rest of the group just stood there, and an acute anger rose up within Boy. This was no time to just stand around! Millie needed their help!
"Erina, please!" he implored, digging out more pieces and hurrying back to Millie.
He hurled his load at the makeshift bed, and it clattered loudly as it made contact. This seemed to galvanize all of them into action, including the pokémon. They gathered almost all of the True Ice around the area, and it was fully covering Millie's bottom half, but none of it was responding to her at all.
Then Millie whimpered and slumped completely onto the floor, the accumulated shards scattering all over as her considerable mass succumbed to the force of gravity. Boy felt his heart break, and all of the emotion he was holding back broke through.
"No!" he screamed, aghast, his tears falling freely. He fell next to her, and tried to support her neck and head, to no avail. She wasn't breathing, and her pallor had faded to a sickly grey-blue.
Down below, the previously serene pool of water at the bottom of the cavern began gurgling ominously, becoming louder and more agitated by the second. The water sloshed and churned, spinning round in an angry whirlpool. Some of the cold water splashed up to the group, and they all stopped to look in apprehension. The pokémon trembled in fear, hiding behind Professor Oak and Lorelei.
Boy blinked in a panic. Something was coming, something dangerous, but he stayed put.
The sound ended abruptly, and a few seconds later an enormous body of water rushed skywards, almost touching the cavern's high ceiling. Boy didn't bother protecting himself, he held onto Millie. He fully expected the water to rain down on him, but it didn't happen and he was too panic-stricken to question it. His eyes were shut tight, but he could still perceive the resounding wingbeats of two tremendous creatures in the air above them.
"The gods of Johto," Professor Oak whispered.
Boy raised his head and looked up, and it was true. Lugia and Ho-oh had appeared. The pressure they were exerting was beyond anything he had experienced.
He couldn't help but feel like they were both staring directly at him, accusatory gazes that made him shudder and tremble. He wanted to defend himself, he wanted to tell them about Master and his awful actions, but in the presence of such awesome power, he felt miniscule. There was nothing he could say, even if they did understand him. A smouldering guilt took hold of him. He sighed bitterly and shook his head, tears squeezing out of his eyes again.
"Alakazam, Barrier!" yelled Professor Oak, fully expecting an attack. The alakazam stepped in front of them and raised its arms. Its eyes glowed white and a semi-transparent rectangle appeared above them.
A cold blast of air hit the group. Lugia had swung its wing, breaking the barrier as if it wasn't there and causing a whirlwind to form. Boy tried to hold on, but the force of the blast was too strong. He braced himself as it swung its other wing, and another wave of air joined the first, combining in power. Boy felt his body lift off the ground; the entire group was airborne!
Lugia beat both of its wings, creating a large vortex as the whirlwind gained momentum. Confused screaming reached Boy as they were battered on all sides by a polar blast. Erina and Professor Oak fell to the ground, followed by Lorelei. Boy could not see their pokémon anywhere.
The force of the wind proved too much and Boy's arms gave out, his hands slipping off Millie's neck. He tried in vain to grab hold again, but caught nothing except empty air.
Boy realised that Lugia was targeting Millie. He tumbled roughly onto the ground, but recovered quickly and looked up at his starter. She hovered in mid-air, held aloft by the spinning air currents. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, but before he could cry out, Lugia dispatched another attack.
The Guardian of the Seas commanded the cold air, forming an icy white sphere in front of it that Boy could actually see. It reminded him of the imperfect True Ice they had found in the previous chamber. The Diving Pokémon pulled up water from the whirlpool below, and the liquid spun in trails as Lugia performed what Boy thought looked like Feather Dance. A handful of silver feathers, glimmering in the chaos, joined the sphere.
Ho-oh let out a cry and performed its own Feather Dance, and red-and-gold feathers were added to what was becoming a ritual that no-one had ever witnessed before. The feathers each paired off with its counterpart, silver rotating with red-and-gold in the air around the icy ball.
The giant creatures moved into position, across from Millie.
Boy briefly hoped that these gods were demonstrating an act of mercy, and his entire group were pinned down by their immense pressure because, went his justification, the gods did not want them to interfere.
But the Rainbow Pokémon began to glow, and a wave of immense heat struck Boy and his group.
"Sacred Fire!" the Professor yelled.
Boy was shocked. The second stage of the attack began, and great orange flames encircled Ho-oh before advancing towards Millie, going right through the feathers and the sphere. The Guardian of the Skies launched an instant beam of fire, and as soon as it made contact with Millie, the lapras howled in pain, the multiple pairs of feathers burned, and Lugia's sphere enlargened to consume each one.
Boy cried out in confusion, it was all happening so fast.
Lugia too began to glow, and the sphere grew even larger.
"Boy!" Erina called, sensing the danger.
"It's Aeroblast, take cover!" the Professor shouted, but Boy had no time to react.
Lugia cried out, and with almighty beats of its wings, it created a massive vortex of air that pushed the sphere towards Millie, through Ho-oh's flames.
The sheer magnitude of the attacks blew Boy and his group back, Boy himself hitting his head against the wall with extraordinary force. Trying to shake the dizziness away, he looked up but could not see clearly. It was all a hellish mix of red and orange and white and blue, hammering waves of fire and ice, all punctuated by Millie's continued cries of agony.
Then, Millie's screams just stopped. Boy blinked away the tears, and as his vision cleared he noticed that the two gods had halted their attacks. They hovered in place, flapping their wings lightly.
There was a loud crash as Millie fell back to the ground. He looked to his pokémon, and his mouth fell open, slow to comprehend what he was seeing.
Millie was frozen. She was encased in a large, glowing, blue orb of True Ice, her head tilted up to the sky. The expression on her face was fixed, with her eyes shut and her mouth set in a scream. It frightened Boy, and his thoughts drifted in a morbid direction.
The orb looked like a coffin. Millie was dead.
"No. Oh, no..." Boy scrambled to his feet, crying. He sobbed fitfully as he reached for his starter, clawing at the air as his exhausted legs carried him towards her.
But he would not get to her. Lugia and Ho-oh both cawed loudly, they moved so swiftly that Boy could perceive nothing, and then a splash. Before he knew it, Lugia, Ho-oh, and the interred lapras were gone.
In the cavern of True Ice underneath Icefall Cave, Boy fell to his knees and wailed.