Glory's Long Road: Episode #03 "Icy Greetings"

A long train wound its way through a freshly defrosted boreal forest. The 
lead locomotive blasted its loud air horn. The sudden noise scattered 
various pokemon of the forest, sending a flock of hued Poppos into the air 
before resettling in the evergreen trees. Sandopan peered out a window of 
the train car, head eagerly twitching back and forth, attempting to see 
every needle on the trees, as if they would soon vanish. Lulled by the 
rhythmic clacking and gentle bobbing, Erik slept up right on the leather 
covered seat. Turning to Erik, Sandopan nudged at his trainer from across 
the table in between the two bench seats. He tried once more, nudging 
slightly harder and crying his name in an excited manner. This time, 
Sandopan was successful in his attempt to rouse Erik from his sleep. 
Groggily, Erik looked toward Sandopan. The pokemon spoke its name twice more 
as it pointed out the window. A smile appeared across Erik's face. 
'Sandopan, you're always curious about new things.' Erik thought to himself 
as he glanced out the window as well.

'But this is also the first time I've seen this. Why am I not as interested 
in the scenery?' An image of his young sister came to mind, leaving Erik 
with an understanding of why. He, despite his age, was homesick. Nearly a 
week and a half into his journey, Erik found himself several hundred 
kilometres from a home he has never left before. He shakes it off. He knew 
that this day would arrive. Erik would have had to leave in order to pursue 
his dream, and promise, to become a true master at the art of training and 
raising pokemon. "Pan." Instead of its usual encouraging, voice Sandopan 
spoke in a tone hinting toward amazement. Erik looked toward his pokemon's 
pointing. In the distance, about 50 or so kilometres away, an ore refinery 
towered over the trees, releasing billowing clouds from smoke stacks. 
"That's what they call the Wabush Ore Refinery." Sandopan nodded, 
acknowledging the fact that those words hold significance, despite not 
actually understanding that significance.

Erik, however, knew the significance of that refinery. The iron ore refinery 
was located in the city of Wabush, were his next challenge lay. From his 
pocket, Erik took out a small index card Guy had written up for him during 
the trip from Sydney to Halifax. Semi-neatly written on the card were the 
locations of every gym, all eight of them in the Canadian division of the 
Blue League. One, the Turquoise badge, was checked off. Erik's sights were 
set on checking off another badge, the Oxide badge.

His eyes looked up from the card, to Sandopan. This was his first and only 
pokemon. Although he served Erik well, there was a need for more. In a 
decade, Sandopan had trained himself very hard for this. But Erik knew it 
was just too much to ask for, to have a lone pokemon bear the entirety of 
battles. The higher up tournaments would eventually wear him down, despite 
Sandopan's endurance and fighting skills. From his belt, Erik unclipped a 
shrunken down pokeball, one of which this aunt Teresa gave him before 
leaving. He rolled the tiny white and red orb in his palm. Possible pokemon 
he could capture with a single capture ball flood his mind as another horn 
blast disrupts the placid forest.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

The train disembarked from the station back to Halifax from where it came. 
Erik and Sandopan watched from a hill as it slowly pulled away. Shivering, 
Erik zipped his coat up. Springtime did not necessarily mean warm 
temperatures in the Labrador interior. Sandopan looked up, as if to ask, 
"You're cold for what reason?" Erik got up from the rock. "Shall we go?" An 
eager nod was his reply. The two started to walk into the forest, but not 
before hearing a fluttering of wings behind them. They turn around to see a 
Poppo, feeding on a patch of partridge berries by the rock. The bird's 
striking white and pale blue plumage signify it as the Arctic sub-species.

Not needing any encouragement, Sandopan darted after its quarry. The Poppo 
takes flight in time to avoid a claw swipe. Quickly, it gained altitude. 
Tucking wings in, the Poppo darted down, dive bombing into Sandopan, who was 
expecting a more docile foe. "Give it a Sand Attack." Complying with the 
orders, Sandopan breathed out a cloud of dust. With a flapping of wings, 
Poppo dispersed the dust, only to reveal a Sandopan in mid-air, claw drawn 
back. Sandopan swung its left claw around, connecting with Poppo across the 
chest. The small bird was knocked back, but quickly regained control of its 
flight. Sandopan made several more jumping swipes, but wisely, the Poppo 
kept altitude between itself and the slashing pokemon.

"Swift it down." Touching claws together, Sandopan deployed a volley of 
stars. A graceful barrel roll moved Poppo out of the Swift's path. Going 
from that roll, the bird pokemon banked, zipped over Sandopan's head, and 
stopped in mid-air as it performed a hairpin turn. Before Sandopan can turn 
around to face the Poppo, the bird had already begun to flap its wings at a 
high velocity, forming a swirling mass of artificial snow and ice.

To caught up in generating a localized flurry, the Poppo failed to notice a 
rapidly descending stick, until it struck. Immediately, the snow cyclone 
subsided, showing Sandopan lightly dusted with ice, holding a long stick in 
its claws. Realizing it was in over its head, the Poppo made a break for the 
woods. Sandopan rushed ahead of the injured Poppo and jumped into a tree. 
Using the tree like a springboard, Sandopan kicked off of it, gaining 
further height. Bringing the stick down like a sword, Sandopan connected 
once again.

Erik took a pokeball of his belt, enlarged the ball and threw it at Poppo. 
Both Sandopan and the pokeball land on the ground at the same time. A single 
dong resounded from the ball, indicating a successful capture. Sandopan 
picked up the ball, and carried it over to Erik. "Thanks." Erik reached 
down, took the ball, and attached it to his belt. "Good job." Sandopan 
looked back with his usual exuberant glint in his eye.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

A small camp fire illuminated a freshly set up camp site. Erik sat by the 
fire, simply holding a pokeball, watching its reflection from the fire 
light. Sandopan sat nearby, pruning its quills. In the distance, the 
nighttime howling of Lupus pierce through the cold night air. Erik released 
the newly captured Poppo onto his shoulder. The small bird stretched out a 
wing before chirping loudly. Erik held up a small blueberry to Poppo. Now 
calmed down, Poppo gently took the berry from Erik's fingers. Another Lupus 
howl split the night, scaring each of the three to some degree. Sandopan 
turned to the woods, claws held to the side in a usual intimidation pose.

"Easy there Sandopan. Those wolves won't come around here." Sandopan made a 
hurried pointing motion to the edge of the forest. Erik turned around to see 
ice wolves enter in from the shadows, led by an equally large female. "Oh 
dammit." The female shook her head once to the right and once to the left, 
ordering the two to spread out. Sandopan jumped in front of Erik, claws 
drawn across his face and quills fully flared. The female bared fangs and 
lunges. A quick sidestep avoided the attack, as Sandopan batted the wolf 
across the muzzle with the back of a claw. Again the Lupus lunged at 
Sandopan, this time with her front paws raised. The strike knocked Sandopan 
over, but a tuck and roll saved Erik's pokemon from being caught under the 
female Lupus. Uncurling from this ball, Sandopan rose back to his feet and 
rushed back to attack.

Meanwhile, the two males slowly made their way toward Erik, eyes half open 
and white canines exposed. Poppo took off from Erik's shoulder, hovering 
behind him. Quickly, she generated a dust could around Erik. He felt a tug 
at his hair from Poppo. Erik stepped out of the dust cloud, leaving the 
charging hounds free to blindly run into each other.

As the two wolves got back up, Poppo landed a half metre from the campfire. 
She held out her right wing in front of her, flicking the primary feathers 
several times, inviting the wolves to attack first. One readily acceptted 
the invite, and charges toward Poppo. With a hard opening and shutting of 
her wings, the snow Poppo laid down a thin sheet of ice in front of her. 
Using a burst of agility, Poppo got out of the Lupus' path. The ice hound 
attempted to sharply turn, however slipped on the slick ice, directly into 
the fire. Several painful yelps resound from the wolf before it rolled out 
of the fire, and retreated back into the woods.

The other male Lupus stared down at Poppo before firing an Ice Beam. The 
bird took to the air, and pulled back her wings. Small ice crystals form on 
the four outer most feathers. Quickly, she brought her wings forward, 
releasing eight thin ice needles. The fast moving daggers grazed by the 
male's face, save for one, which embedded itself in the right eye. The Lupus 
recoils in pain from the disabling wound. Poppo repeated the attack, landing 
each needle in the wolf's side. It too disappeared back into the woods.

With the tides now turned, the female slunk back as Sandopan and Poppo edge 
closer. The Lupus drew her lips back into a snarl, front teeth showing a 
coat of frost. Shifting weight to the hind legs and driving forward, the 
frost wolf lunged in a desperate strike. In a hasty defense, Sandopan 
covered its face using his right arm. Cold canine teeth knife through flesh. 
Though grimacing, Sandopan stabbed at Lupus' muzzle. Still the grip 
remained.

Poppo dropped down into the foray, right onto the snout of the wolf, 
beginning to bat at the eyes. Distracted by the bird, Lupus released its 
bite to snap at Poppo. Only sheer speed prevented the snow bird from being 
eaten. Turning, Lupus took another snap at the fluttering bird.

Turning a bind eye proved to be a costly error. Sandopan rushed toward 
Lupus, shoulder down low. Striking side on, Sandopan knocked the wolf off 
her feet. Laboured, the female attempted to stand up. Before she can do so, 
Erik took a pokeball off his belt, and pitched it at the struggling wolf. It 
hit and entrapped her. The small orb landed on the ground, rocked a few 
times. Then, stopped.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Erik picked up the pokeball. However, his 
attention was drawn to Sandopan. On his right arm were a pair of bleeding 
puncture wounds, one on top and one on the bottom. Erik searched through his 
nearby pack, pulling out a small first aid kit. "You did a good job there." 
Erik said to his two pokemon as he tended to Sandopan's injuries. After 
wrapping a layer of gauze around Sandopan's arm, Erik looked down to the 
city below the hill. 'Tomorrow, I'll have another badge, and be one step 
closer to the Blue League.'


End Episode #03

Pokemon Report
*-----*-----*-----*
Pokemon Sub-Species
When certain species of organisms live in two different environments for a 
very prolonged period of time, they tend to show adaptations which allow 
them to survive in the environment better. Should a population of Poppo be 
placed in a cold environment, over many generations, this population will 
have adapted to suit the climate. Thus sub-species are created.

Snow (Or Arctic) Poppo
Found mainly in the high arctic regions, the Snow Poppo carries an aspect of 
Ice. Snow Poppos have all the same attacks and stats of normal Poppos, 
except for the fact that they learn low level ice moves and have the same 
strengths/ weakness of the ice element.

Lupus
Another pokemon of the high arctic. Generally similar in appearance to 
real-life wolves. Live mainly in packs and are very territorial. Melee 
combat skills are refined, and can be deadly. Type: Ice/ Devil

Ice Needle
The Snow Poppo special move. Four thin slivers of ice are shot from the 
feather tips on each wing. Fast and painful.

Translations
Poppo = Pidgey