Chen Ming clearly remembered the way back, leaving no possibility of getting lost, but this was not something everyone could manage.
In a world of sheer white, apart from the recognizable outlines of snow-covered mountains, there were practically no identifiable landmarks, and even the traces of their footsteps had been camouflaged by the falling snow.
The snow grew heavier and more urgent by the minute. Having no other choice, Toi placed one hand against his forehead to shield his eyes and asked Chen Ming:
"A-Ming, are you sure we're going the right way?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I won't remember it wrong."
The clear sky from earlier had turned gloomy in an instant. If morale were to break now, there was no telling what might happen.
In his heart, Chen Ming continuously calculated the distance and observed the trend of the falling blizzard.
This was looking terrible. Setting aside environmental factors, just walking back would take far too much time.
Judging by the speed at which the snowflakes were falling, it would soon escalate into a full blizzard, at which point even their lives would be in danger!
He glanced at Toi behind him, who was still shielding his brow, and then at the snowy horizon ahead. The sense of powerlessness brought on by nature made Chen Ming clench his fists.
It was all his fault. If he hadn't come, Professor Oak would have turned down this invitation, and Toi wouldn't have gone out of his way to accompany him today.
Even if he had come, if he had only stopped Toi from running so far away from the base, this danger wouldn't exist either.
Chen Ming closed his eyes tightly. Unless he resorted to his final measure, there was simply no other way out of this...
"A-Ming, don't just stay quiet. It's all my fault for bringing you out here. Don't worry, I'll definitely get you back safe!"
Toi patted Chen Ming gently on the shoulder. His words were full of self-reproach, comfort, and a sun-like conviction.
As if jolted awake, Chen Ming cast out all the negative energy in his mind.
Ha, had he stayed in comfort for too long? Even emotions he used to disdain had started creeping back.
The rational Chen Ming was back. There was not a trace of worry left on his face. With his dull expression and deadpan eyes, Toi stared at him, completely dumbfounded.
Setting aside his ultimate backup plan—transforming into Mewtwo to resolve the situation—from the current perspective, they had covered less than half the distance, and this intensifying blizzard would engulf them in moments.
Since the direct breakthrough route was blocked off, he had to take a detour and draw out the timeline.
A blizzard would eventually stop. The moment it did, the problem would be easily solved.
In this vast icy wasteland, to avoid being buried by the blizzard and freezing to death, they needed a cave to take shelter in!
With this thought in mind, ignoring the drain on his mental energy, he swept his awareness across a radius of several miles in an instant. It didn't need to be too detailed—just a rough idea of the terrain would do.
Chen Ming grabbed Toi and bolted toward a path skewed slightly to the left of their designated route. "Found one! Toi, follow me!"
"Hey, A-Ming! Where are we going?"
Being dragged along, Toi didn't resist; he simply didn't understand what Chen Ming was trying to do.
Running as he spoke, Chen Ming explained, "I observed the other terrain on our way here. If I remember correctly, there should be a cave over there."
Within the range of his mental detection, he had actually found more than one spot—a dozen or so caves of varying sizes. Eliminating the small ones and those choked with massive drifts of snow, only three remained.
The direction Chen Ming was leading Toi toward was the slightly further one of the three, because he sensed a temperature difference within that cave. If his guess was correct, there had to be a hot spring inside.
The water from the hot spring might not be drinkable, but what Chen Ming needed was enough warmth to keep them from freezing to death before the blizzard stopped.
By the time they reached the cave entrance, the wind was howling with ferocious intensity, its violent tearing sound particularly terrifying.
The two of them were freezing cold from head to toe, weighed down and drenched by all the snow they had gathered.
They stripped off their coats; keeping water-soaked clothing on any longer might well give them a cold.
Perhaps because two children had entered the cave, the Pokémon taking refuge inside poked their heads out one by one, looking at them with curious eyes.
Chen Ming let out a long breath. As long as Pokémon were here, it was fine—seeking fortune and avoiding danger was the instinct of every living creature. If there had been not a shred of life upon arriving here, it would have been a far more terrifying predicament.
Toi laid down his damp coat, rubbed his hands together for warmth, and said with a smile:
"That's amazing, A-Ming! You actually spotted a cave from that far away, and you even remembered it. That's just unbelievable."
"Before we came, Professor Oak asked me about some emergency survival methods, so I happened to remember them."
Even though they were just kids, it was better not to let word get out about his own special traits.
"However, we can't lower our guard yet. If the blizzard lasts for a very long time, staying blindly in here means we'll definitely freeze to death."
"Look at the rock surface here—it's not completely covered by ice and snow, so the temperature inside must be higher than outside. For conditions like this to form, the possibility of a hot spring inside is very high."
"Do you want to come take a look with me?"
Chen Ming went to great lengths with his explanation precisely to bring Toi along. Leaving him alone at the cave entrance was something he simply couldn't bring himself to do.
Toi naturally agreed. Given the current situation, if A-Ming hadn't pulled him along, wandering outside in that blizzard would have meant saying his final goodbyes to his father.
Walking to the very back, Chen Ming's deduction proved entirely correct. There really was a hot spring, and quite a large one at that—almost the entire center of the cave was covered by hot spring water.
Beside the hot spring sat an eye-catching, enormous boulder—or rather, nothing else around could compare to its size.
Approaching it, the two discovered that the area surrounding the boulder was completely dry, untouched by dripping snowmelt or soaking hot spring water.
Most importantly, right beside it sat a pile of dry firewood.
It seemed that previous Trainers had also passed through here. Generally speaking, once the wind and snow stopped, they would choose to leave, and as for the few supplies they left behind, they simply gifted them to those who came after.
This pile of firewood was just that.
The two pressed their palms together and silently gave thanks in their hearts for the gift left by their predecessors.
Any Trainer who had yet to set out on a journey would be taught this; school teachers practically always told their students about it. After all, who never ran into a dangerous situation?
The area beside the giant boulder was relatively dry, making it the perfect spot to start a fire right there.
They didn't have any Pokémon with them, so they had to rely entirely on themselves.
Chen Ming gathered some stones to build a ring, picked out the best-suited pieces from the firewood, and set straight to work making fire with the bow-drill method.
Toi had only ever heard of it and had never tried it himself, so he could only watch Chen Ming's operation from the side.
Fortunately, the heavens weren't entirely heartless. Just as the palms of Chen Ming's hands were rubbed raw, a tiny spark emerged.
Next came the familiar Bear Grylls routine: gently blowing on those sparks to coax them into flames.
"Toi, take off your soaked clothes and press them against the rock to dry them with the heat of the fire."
Seeing the fire rise, Chen Ming finally managed to put down the worry in his heart.
The two of them sat around the fire on the ground, smiling and looking at each other.
To pass the time and dispel the boredom, Toi asked Chen Ming to tell him stories about Pokémon, allowing them to pick up right where they had been interrupted earlier.
Listening and listening, Toi leaned against the giant boulder and drifted off to sleep.
Staring at the soundly sleeping Toi, Chen Ming lowered his voice significantly, much like someone telling a fairy tale to lull a child to sleep.
Chen Ming couldn't afford to sleep. Judging by the sounds at the cave entrance, the blizzard showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. If the fire went out now, Toi might never wake up again.
The moment the fire flared up, quite a few Pokémon hiding in the dark actually gathered around, all drawn to the warmth.
Honestly, what is the deal with you Ice-type Pokémon cozying up next to a fire?
With just a silent internal complaint, he continued with his grand enterprise of adding wood to the fire.
The camera he carried with him wasn't damaged, but it was a shame about his sketchbook—the marks on it had clearly been smudged by snowmelt, ruining a large portion of the drawings.
Toi unconsciously curled his legs inward, shivering slightly as a blast of cold wind swept in.
He glanced at the firewood.
Sure enough, the temperature outside had drawn all these Ice-type Pokémon over; the heat provided by the fire alone simply wasn't enough.
Confirming that Toi was fast asleep, Chen Ming reverted to his half-transformed state.
From the outside, it looked as though he retained a human face, but atop his head had sprouted an excessively cute pair of ears, his hands had reverted to soft, marshmallow-like paw pads, and a long purple tail trailed out from behind him.
Turning slightly sideways to keep his tail concealed in the shadows, he slowly released his telekinesis.
He used his telekinesis to form an invisible protective barrier, keeping the drafts from disturbing the space inside the energy shield—though the ambient cold of the air remained impossible to block entirely.
After a moment's thought, Chen Ming opened his panel and found Fire Punch among a stack of skills.
He spent 97 energy points to learn it, and then came the process of controlling it.
At first, because the energy gathered in his fists was difficult to manage, it kept dissipating right away.
With repeated attempts, he finally managed to gather the fire energy without letting it scatter.
*Whoosh—*
After resting for a moment, his three-fingered paws balled into fists, and the temperature in his hands shot up instantly.
One wasn't enough, so he employed the other hand as well. The temperature here rose a notch instantly, and the tense, shivering look on Toi's face relaxed considerably.
The surrounding Pokémon crowded around Chen Ming with great curiosity. They hadn't gathered here at first just for the warmth—after all, no matter how cold it was outside, it wouldn't be enough to cost them their lives.
Mainly, Chen Ming had been exuding a familiar aura when he entered. Now they knew what it was: the kid was actually a Pokémon too.
Before long, they were chirping and chattering away, seeming overjoyed to have made a new friend.
Chen Ming softened his gaze and gestured for them to keep it down. They were remarkably obedient and quieted down instantly.
However, all of them moved away from the campfire. Those who could manage to hug Chen Ming's tail did so, while the rest leaned against his side, his back, and his arms.
It seemed they wanted to keep him warm.
The moment his tail was hugged, Chen Ming felt as though an ice cube had touched a sensitive spot. Whether the blush on his face was caused by the sudden drop in temperature or strange embarrassment was impossible to tell.
After adapting slightly, the awkwardness vanished. Even though Ice-type Pokémon weren't exactly warm, with so many little cuties crowding around him, Chen Ming's heart was practically melting.
He only regretted that he hadn't trained his tail; if he had, he would have loved to try using it to pet some of them—the feeling must have been amazing.
When the time was right, Chen Ming stopped. Maintaining the skill continuously took a massive toll and put his mental fortitude to a severe test. In an environment as dangerous as this, preserving some stamina was the best way to handle whatever came next.
Fortunately, their clothes had dried out as well. He gently piled his own and Toi's garments on top of Toi.
The moment they were covered, even in his sleep, a smile bloomed across Toi's face. It seemed he was truly warm now.
Remaining in this half-transformed state, his resistance to the cold skyrocketed. As long as he didn't revert fully, he wouldn't freeze.
He could finally focus all his attention on the Pokémon around him.
He pulled the two Snover in his arms a bit tighter, burying his face into their straw-hat-like soft fur with an expression of utter, blissful satisfaction.
The two Snover asked him simultaneously:
"Ooh-leh, what's wrong with you?"
"Yeah, yeah, are you sick?"
Chen Ming awkwardly scratched the back of his head and casually pulled together an excuse to explain.
Snover's fur wasn't cold; it was even a little warm. Truly wonderful.
Good things always came in pairs. The sound of tiny, pattering footsteps echoed from the cave entrance, sounding like something walking on four legs.
Slightly releasing the Snover, Chen Ming looked toward the cave mouth.
His cautious nature prompted him to revert to his human form. The Pokémon hugging his tail tumbled down softly, looking completely bewildered. *Where did my soft, slippery body pillow go?*
Seeming somewhat dissatisfied, they crawled over and nudged Chen Ming's back.
Chen Ming patted each of their heads a few times with a smile. "Relax, thanks for keeping me company, but I'm more comfortable this way."
Comfortable, my foot. Without his cold resistance active, his whole body was shivering straight through.
Pulling himself together, he looked at the newly arrived Pokémon at the entrance.
To his surprise, it was an Alolan Ninetales, accompanied by a much shorter Alolan Vulpix.
How incredibly lucky could he get? He hurriedly pulled out his camera and snapped several pictures.