Getting Lucky used to his new form took more effort than expected. Ava had seen how he had moved right after the evolution; with a natural ease and fluidity. But when they picked back up training, he was gangly and unsure of himself.

  He got tired from flying faster, but was able to move quicker on the ground with the development of his legs. His attacks seemed to have gained power, but he took a while to get used to the output and rely on it consistently.

  After a couple of weeks of training alone and with her friends, Lucky was moving around with no problem, and the boost he got from evolving was noticeable. His previous form was much less durable and relied mostly on long distance attacks while evading. With the extra weight, he could now be more physically aggressive and fend off close combat attacks.

  While still relying on seeds and berries, Lucky has been eating double of what he used to. That combined with her recent move in with Amiyra meant she was more strapped for cash. While it was sustainable right now, Ava knew there would be more expenses in the future and didn't want to rely on such a shoe string budget. There was only one way to gain more money as a trainer, and that was to move up in ranks.

  C-Rank missions where you could start making consistently good money. The additional risk of being able to take on missions outside the wall had a much higher profit. The majority of these additional missions were pokemon catching missions. Ava was surprised to hear this at first. She thought trainers would be the only ones who needed extra pokemon, but despite being dangerous, the city still has such a strong dependence on them.

  Pokemon were caught to be used for meat and in other industries like textiles, healthcare, research, and more. That made pokemon catching extremely lucrative. Ava learned that it all worked at economies of scale. Businesses were able to buy poke balls for cheaper in bulk, and trainers were able to make money from catching a lot of pokemon. If a D-Rank tried to catch a pokemon unless they were rare they wouldn’t be able to recoup the cost of a poke ball, let alone if it took multiple poke balls to catch.

  That is of course with the exception of rare pokemon, of which Ava was aiming to capture. Before taking the C-Rank exam, Ava wanted to practice doing what the missions would entail by trying to catch a target pokemon. Making some extra money is just the added bonus of it.

  She hasn’t been the most comfortable leaving the walls yet. Her only two experiences being the ordeal and traveling in a group of three. She needed to get experience being out there on her own and efficiently catching pokemon.

  Her goal this time was to catch an ice type. Winter has officially fallen on the city, and that meant two things. A lot of pokemon have moved into hibernation or migrated to warmer weather making the wild areas slightly safer. The other is that there was a chance that ice type pokemon have come down from the mountain top. It has been consistently snowing for the past two weeks, and she figured this was as good a time as any.

  The pokemon that came down from the mountain were usually weak and were driven from their habitat by stronger predators. So despite her entire team being weak to ice, Ava wasn’t too worried about being injured. Still wanting to make sure her team was at their peak, she joined a training session with Theo and Oliver, so her team was limber before heading out.

  She hasn’t seen Oliver in months since her first mission. Even with Theo as a common denominator, they ran in different circles. It took all her will power to not respond in kind when Oliver gave her an annoyed glare and badly whispered to Theo asking why she was there.

  She responded before Theo could, “I am warming up my team with my friend, you should try to not hog him.”

  Ava could tell he was about to respond with sass before a jab in his side by Theo’s elbow changed his tune. With a strained smile he said, “It’s great to see you again, I’m excited to train with you.”

  Ava rolled her eyes, “Don’t worry, I’m only here to get my team loose. I won’t interrupt you two love birds too much.”

  Theo flipped her off subtly with his hand below his belt, but then they moved to release their pokemon. Theo released his butterfree and poliwhirl while Oliver sent out his teddiursa and charmander. After her evolution stint she learned to look for hints in other pokemon, and she saw some signs from the charmander including a bump on its head for a horn to grow. While she’s looked at photos, seeing a living creature casually on fire was an interesting sight. She hasn’t run into any wild fire types yet.

  After asking to practice against Oliver, the newer opponent, they both chose their starters for the first battle. Battle was a strong word, though, and it was more trading blows. Ava was surprised with how quick the little bear was. It seems like it wouldn’t be able to move that fast, but after faking being cute it sent a barrage of hidden powers at Lucky who was only able to dodge a couple.

  Lucky sent to do a retaliatory aerial ace when Oliver said “Honey protect” and the teddiursa formed a barrier of translucent energy around itself that Lucky ran into with a squawk. Ava called him back to her, signaling the bad of their faux fight with these pokemon as she didn’t want them to get too tired or injured before heading out. She was about to move on before it clicked what he had said.

  “I’m sorry, but you named your teddiursa Honey?” Ava asked, not even trying to hold on her laugh.

  Oliver blushed, “Shut up! That’s the only name he responded to, stop being distracting and fight me!.” He sent out his other pokemon.

  “Awww what’s this one’s name, Daisy?” Ava teased the orange reptile.

  “Her name is Killer,” he said with a confident grin.

  Ava stared at him incredulously as she sent out Snappy. “I can’t believe you're making me say that Honey is the best name on your team.”

  His middle finger matched Theo's previous one and their second tussle commenced. It was very much a ranged fight with Snappy shooting hidden powers and Killer sending a bunch of embers. Ava knew she was in a much more disadvantaged position and was going to call it off as soon as he got hit.

  Surprising even her, he remained nimble and dodged all the attacks, even a more powerful purple flame that got shot towards them. Snappy was able to get a few hits in, which distracted the charmander enough for him to get wrapped up in vines that Snappy had been sending on the ground. Snappy was smart enough to wrap his vines around the charmanders mouth, but forgot about the flames tail, which worked to set the reptile free by burning the vines.

  Ava called it at that point and after a little more structured warm up with Theo went to leave. Theo gave her a hug, “Make sure you stay safe, okay?”

  Ava returned the hug and when released gave an exaggerated flex of her arms. “Don’t worry, and big and strong enough to fight off an ursaring,” she said before leaving the two to their devices.

  After a quick stop at the poke center for a quick heal and to grab some poke balls, she was on her way.

  The north gate was her target this time. The base of the mountains was wheere she would be mostly likely to find an Ice type. There was a slight snowfall but no wind, which led to a peaceful if slightly cold start to the day.

  Ava could see her breath in front of her, and the only sound around was her own feet crunching in the snow and the flap of Lucky’s wings in the air. His goal was to get an aerial view and take them to any movement he saw. Snappy was out besides her as well. She had bought little booties for him to wear to protect his feet from the snow. It might have made him slower, but she couldn’t deny that he looked adorable in them. She made sure to sneak a few photos of it.

  Lucky circled over her, giving a chirp that meant he found something and led her to their prey. Ava was disappointed to find a geodude. Definitely not the pokemon she wanted to see. Getting noticed she fought it off with Snappy and a few hidden powers from Lucky. There was a close moment where Snappy tripped on his own shoes right in the path of a flying rock, but he toughed it out and a few vine whips later and the geodude was down.

  They keep it looking around for their desired ice type. The snow had really driven the pokemon away or inside the mountain because she didn’t run into anything else until lunchtime. The stillness was almost beautiful if her toes werent freezing over while she tried to stay still. Calling it she move away from the trap a bit so her and her team coul eat the sandwich and poke pellets she packed.

  Both of them showed obvious distaste against the meals. “I know you guys don’t like this, but it’s specifically made to keep up your guy's energy while out here, so put up with it, and you’ll get a big dinner, okay?”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  They reluctantly ate the offered food. Ava let them rest a little longer, with Snappy sitting on her shoulder to get off the snowy ground. Once ready, she set him down and packed the little she took out into her pack. She turned back to her team ready to go, but then in the distance she saw something vaguely humanoid against the white backdrop. She raised her hands and squinted to get a better look before her eyes widened in shock. Was that who she thought it was?

  The sharp turn of Lucky's head was the only warning before a large mass slammed into the ground right next to her from the sky. In its mouth, Snappy was captured. There wasn’t even a moment for him to screech before being engulfed in flames spewing from the beast's mouth. It only took a second to do.

  Ava prided herself on being a fighter. She was never one to shy away from conflict and was ready to face off against unknown foes like in her Ordeal. That's why, when in a situation where common sense has failed and there was no time to react, Ava unconsciously responded to her gut instinct.

  She ran.

  There were no thoughts driving decisions, fear and adrenaline laced her veins and made her legs push past their limit to get away from the monster behind them. If she could think, she would have wondered what a charizard was doing so close to the city.

  A roar filled the air behind her, but she didn’t have the luxury to look back. The direction she took was thankfully the right one as she saw a small cave opening. The mountain was all clearings. If she had any chance of survival, she needed to get out of the open.

  Remembering she had another pokemon, she grabbed Lucky’s poke balls and spared a glance towards the sky. She could only hope Lucky had followed and not gotten caught by the charizard. Ava got some relief upon seeing him near her in the sky and quickly returned him thanking any god at all that he was within the poke balls range. In that quick glance though she also saw the orange fire breathing lizard close behind her.

  She reached the cave and threw herself in. It was a smaller opening and in her rush she was sure she scraped her arms across the rocks, but she couldn’t slow down. The tighter opening would make it so the charizard couldn’t come though.

  She saw a parallel opening that was a tighter fit and squeezed herself through it, but was a little too late as flames rocketed through the cave and burned the leg that still hadn’t made it into the crevice.

  Ava screamed before biting the insides of her cheeks, drawing blood. She didn't want to make any noise and give away her position. Her leg hurt badly and while she knew it was a good sign that she could still feel it, all she wished was for the pain to stop.

  She stayed where she was frozen in place. Another burst of flame whizzed past her hiding place. She could feel the searing flames fly past her, but that was all. In her spot, it couldn’t get her. The sounds of frustration from the outside gave her a little comfort, and from the scratches against the cave entrance; it seemed like the wild charizard couldn’t come in.

  Keeping hold of Lucky’s poke ball was all she could do as time passed. Snappy’s empty ball sat on her waist. The place she had shoved herself into was too small to release Lucky, so she sat alone in a dimly lit cave.

  Breath in, breathe out. Forcing herself to keep her breathing deep and steady helped fight against the panic and claustrophobia. The only light was from the entrance of the cave, and the walls pressed her tight. With no room to sit, all she could do was stand.

  There was an occasional blast of fire sent through the cave, letting her know the Charizard was still there. While it was just another reminder that she was still trapped, a small part of her was almost grateful for the fire. It chased away the cold bite creeping into her and lit up the surrounding area briefly.

  Ava could tell time was passing from the light getting dimmer. Now there was barely enough to tell the direction that the entrance lay. She was able to get more space by squirming her backpack from behind her onto her side. This helped with the claustrophobia a little, even if she still couldn’t sit.

  Her arms could move more though and Lucky now sat on her belt and she pulled out a Burn Heal and potion to spray against her leg. In the time it’s taken to get it, her adrenaline has started to wear off and a deep throbbing pain emanated from her right leg. A gentle tug trying to lift her pants told her that that wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t tell if the fabric had melted onto her skin or if she was really sensitive, but being so alone she couldn’t risk ripping it off. It would have to be fine with her fumbling attempts to spray up the opening at the bottom of her pants. She’s sure she wasn’t able to get it all but there was enough to take the edge of her pain.

  When focused, Ava had been counting the time between blasts. The charizard certainly was a persistent bastard. Initially it was only a few minutes between the blasts that slowly extended until it was ten minutes, fifteen, thirty, and now it has almost been an hour since the last attempt. Ava hoped this meant it had left. If possible, she wanted to get out before nightfall. She had never been in the mountain area before and didn’t enjoy the thought of traveling through it at night with a beast hunting her.

  Thirty more minutes. She would wait that long and then try her luck at escaping. Time seemed to slow down and inch by. Around the 20 minute mark, right when she was getting antsy she heard a noise coming from in the cave. From the depths, a geodude emerged and headed for the cave entrance. As it passed her hiding spot, Ava held her breath doing everything in her power to not be discovered. It worked, and the rock moved towards the entrance. She peeked her head out as it got closer. With barely a hand out of the cave, sharp talons slammed on the head from above.

  Ava quickly brought her head back. It was baiting her. Waiting for her to feel comfortable enough to leave so it could attack her. The thirty minute mark was a moot point now, there was nothing she could do. She was trapped. For the first time since she had been chosen to become a trainer, Ava wept, and she made sure to do it silently.

  …

  The cold was the worst part. With no end in sight, it seeped into her bones and made everything seem pointless. After night fell the only light she had was her poke gear which wouldn’t be able to send calls or messages outside the city. It did help her to keep her mind off things, even if just for a little while. She played one of the games downloaded on it and in her more morbid moments wrote a last will and testament, leaving most of her things to her dad and the rest to whoever was able to kill that damned charizard.

  Once she hit 10 percent though she decided to save the rest of the battery for when she desperately needed it. So she was left to sit with her thoughts and slowly numbing body.

  Her training taught her there would be no rescue team. All trainers outside the wall were responsible for themselves. Part of the guard shift at the gates was notating if there was anyone who didn’t make it back to the wall before sundown who was supposed to. This then flagged their account and after 48 hours of no return they were assumed to be dead. She wasn’t a part of an important mission or a valuable asset to the city. As a D-Rank trainer it would be considered an unfortunate but realistic part of their world. The most to be done for her would be showing trainers who left the wall tomorrow her picture so they could be on the lookout for a body.

  The night passed harshly. Ava couldn’t sleep any longer than ten minute increments. The cold began to seep deeper into her body. With her fingers and toes feeling thick. She was well dressed for the cold, however, that didn’t stop the constant shiver that ran through her body. She stood on her bag to add another layer between her and the cold ground.

  She was able to eat the leftover food she had packed. There wasn’t another meal but enough jerky to hold her over and a bar that helped sate her hunger. She also made use of one Ice Heal she had. By spraying it on her skin and sipping it she was able to raise her core temp to fight against the cold.

  Ava was starting to get confused. It’s as if her mind was fighting against her. When she tried to think of game plans they fled from her grasp like she was trying to scoop a river into her hands. More slipped through the cracks of her mind than she could hold. It was during this delirium that she saw the slightest signs of light creep through the cave.

  She couldn’t continue to stay like this. It was either die here in this cave for sure or have a small chance of survival in leaving. At this point even if she died by fire at least she would be warm.

  Stepping out of her hiding spot she grabbed a rock and threw it deeper into the cave. The sound echoed before falling silent. She continued throwing what she could grab her hands on until there was a rumbling noise in response. Quickly shunting herself back in the crevice she froze.

  The pokemon she bothered had its whole top half covered in metal. The lairon seemed annoyed, her plan to wake something up worked. It slowly made its way to the front of the cave past where she lay hidden.

  Ava held her breath as it left and didn’t get attacked. As the pokemon continued to act like there was no large flaming reptile out there, a small smile graced her face. She might be able to get out of here after all.

  The issue now was that the lairon didn’t seem to have any intention of going further or backtracking in the cave. Preparing one of the empty poke balls she had bought for this excursion, she jumped up and ran towards the lairon who had its back turned towards her.

  She tried to get as close as she could but once she made eye contact with the wild pokemon Ava threw the ball which sucked the pokemon in with a red light. Not waiting Ava continued her run and got to the poke ball on its first bounce. She quickly kicked it as hard as she could toward the depths of the cave and sprinted out.

  Fresh air and an open sky awaited her, with no charizard in her immediate sight. The sound of a roar from the cave made sure she didn’t slow down despite her brief relief. Sharp pains were shooting up her feet and legs after not moving them for so long and from the burn she had received. Every step was like walking on nails, but she couldn’t falter. This pain was nothing compared to dying, so she pushed through.

  Ava released her only pokemon left. “Lucky take me home.”

  With a flap of his wings, he shot forward, understanding the urgency. Ava doesn’t remember much of her journey back, just her one singular desire was to keep going. The only way she would stop before she reached the city was if she passed out or was killed.

  The sight of imposing walls comforted her like never before and gave her renewed vigor to keep moving. She slammed her hands against the door when she got there. Teeth chattering she yelled “Please open the doors. My name is Ava Stanton, I was trapped overnight by a pokemon please let me in.”

  The lack of response seemed to take ages. Ava was paranoid she would get snatched away right when she was so close to freedom. Then the walls opened, and she basically fell from trying to shove herself in.

  Standing there panting, she was finally safe.