Three days later, Feng Che arrived in Mahogany Town clad in heavy cold-weather gear. Mahogany Town was perpetually shrouded in snow and biting winds, a landscape dotted with busy Swinub rooting through the frost for food.
Feng Che didn't head to the Lake of Rage immediately. He needed to gauge the situation first—and more importantly, keep an eye out for the hidden titan, Pryce.
Pryce's heart twisted the day his Lapras and Mamoswine disappeared. Even though I don't know his exact progress in capturing Lugia and Ho-Oh yet, if he's cleaned out the Lake of Rage base, I'm just going to report it to Giovanni and leave. Until my team is fully grown, I am not crossing paths with the "Ice Demon".
"The Mahogany Gym is closed," Feng Che noted. "Good, that means Pryce is out roaming. Wait... if he's not in town, where is he? Did he already raid the base?"
A bad premonition tugged at him. "Go, Corvisquire! Take me to the lake."
Lake of Rage Base
"Hmph. These Rocket 'Elites' are nothing but trash. All frozen like statues," a masked figure—Pryce in his Masked Man persona—muttered as he tossed aside a research file. "And the League is just as incompetent. They let these rats escape their custody, only for them to scurry back here. If the League hadn't tipped me off, I wouldn't have known this nest existed."
He turned to a massive machine in the center of the lab. "So this is the Evolution Induction Ray? It forces Magikarp to evolve through radio waves? Ingenious. Dr. Sebastian, you have a fine mind."
Pryce looked at the frozen figure of a balding middle-aged scientist—Dr. Sebastian—who had been caught mid-rant.
"Delibird, put this machine into your parcel."
Behind the Masked Man stood rows of Rocket grunts and two high-ranking Elites, all encased in thick, unbreakable ice.
Feng Che arrived at the coordinates. A thick, bone-chilling white mist clung to the ground around the base's entrance.
"Go, Litten! Flamethrower!"
The kitten unleashed a searing white flame, but as the mist cleared, it revealed rows of jagged ice pillars that refused to melt under the heat. Pryce's Swinub is terrifying, Feng Che thought.
He realized the fire had just acted as a flare, alerting the master of the mist. He turned to leave, but the fog expanded rapidly.
Thump. Thump.
"My, what have we here? A little mouse," a voice drawled from the mist. A man in a mask emerged, looking at Feng Che with amusement. "League or Rocket?"
"I really didn't want to fight you today," Feng Che muttered under his own smiling-face mask.
"You're here, which makes you prey. Delibird, go."
The Delibird stepped forward with a swaggering, arrogant gait.
[Delibird: Sigh, more work. Why is my life so tragic? Maybe I'll just shank the trainer directly.]
An ice shard manifested under Delibird's wing, radiating an intense, killing frost. Pryce usually used his non-primary Pokémon to hide his identity, but his Delibird was a constant companion.
"Fire Fang!"
"Useless," the Masked Man laughed. "My Delibird's ice is specially tempered. Normal flames cannot touch it."
But as the ice shard met Litten's white-hot fangs, it vanished into a cloud of steam instantly. Delibird shrieked, its wing scorched. It quickly used Icy Wind on its own limb to numb the pain.
"What kind of Pokémon is that? Such output..." The Masked Man's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "No matter. Houndour, Ariados, end this. Don't make too much noise."
Suddenly, a nearby forest shrine began to glow with a soft green light.
"Finally!" The Masked Man turned abruptly, ignoring Feng Che. "Deal with him, quickly!" He rushed toward the shrine with Delibird.
The Ariados hissed, and the Houndour bared its teeth.
"If Pryce were here, I'd be worried. But without him, you're just fodder. Litten, Flamethrower!"
The white flame blasted Ariados, sending it flying into the lake to save itself from being turned into a crisp. Houndour tried a sneak attack with a dark flame, but Litten countered with a Fire Blast that lit up the forest. Terrified, the Houndour followed Ariados's lead and dove into the water.
The resulting explosion of steam and water created a massive boom that echoed through the trees. The green light at the shrine flickered and died.
"I told them to be quiet!" Pryce's voice roared from the distance. "Waste of an opportunity... I'll get Celebi next time."
By the time Pryce returned to the lake, Feng Che was gone and his Pokémon were defeated. Which League trainer is this strong? he wondered before vanishing back into the mist.
Feng Che slipped into the now-vacant base. He saw the frozen Rocket Elites and the missing machinery.
Pryce took the Evolution Induction Ray, he noted. He took photos of the frozen Dr. Sebastian and the scene, then sent the report to Rocket HQ.
Giovanni was livid. "Frozen?! Who did this? Find out why the base was exposed. Tell Feng Che to stay in Johto and investigate. I want to know how the League found us."
"Investigation? It was obviously Lance," Feng Che muttered to himself. "And if it wasn't him, I'll pin it on him anyway. He won't bother denying it."
Feng Che decided to head to Goldenrod City. He needed a high-quality Miltank. His supply of Moomoo Milk powder was gone, and he needed a fresh source for his growing Pokémon.
Goldenrod Breeding Center
"Do you have any Miltank for sale?" Feng Che asked the elderly shopkeeper, slipping her an anonymous credit card.
"We don't keep them in stock, young man. Miltank are a League-regulated resource," the old woman whispered, her eyes twinkling. "But... we have 'channels' to get you one."
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