What appeared before Tetsuya was absolutely beyond his expectations. What exactly was the matter with these skeletons? Could it be that this canyon had already existed since the glacial era of ancient times? What had been the cause of death of these Mamoswine?
With these questions in mind, Tetsuya continued deeper into the cave.
"Ditto, Transform into Rapidash."
With the help of Rapidash's flames, Tetsuya finally felt slightly warmer. The deeper he went, the lower the temperature became.
Tetsuya felt that his target was getting closer and closer.
A crystalline gleam appeared ahead. Tetsuya became even more cautious, and Ditto, transformed into Rapidash, advanced slowly with the light of its flames.
At the source of the light was a large cavern. The walls and ground of the cavern were completely sealed in ice…
'Piloswine!'
Tetsuya discovered Piloswine frozen within the ice. Clutched in Piloswine's mouth was a medicinal herb used for healing burns.
The entire cavern was in a frozen state, and Piloswine itself was also tightly encased in ice.
This simply did not conform to logic!
Given the bond between Pryce and Piloswine, after obtaining the herb for burns, Piloswine would definitely have tried to leave this place to search for Pryce. How could it possibly be foolish enough to freeze itself?
'There must be some powerful Pokémon here… a Pokémon even Piloswine could not resist, that had frozen Piloswine in place!'
The Eternal Ice within Piloswine's body was sufficient to contend with this force. The skeletons outside might have been victims who lacked the ability to resist this force, or perhaps someone had deliberately created such a frigid environment to lure Ice-type Pokémon here and then kill them.
And what would happen after Ice-type Pokémon died?
The cold aura within their bodies would dissipate into the air. Since this Piloswine of Pryce's could not be killed, it could only be frozen here!
If his speculation was correct, then what kind of mysterious Pokémon was this? Was it still here? If it was, then would he not be in great danger?
But having come this far, with the "prey" right before his eyes… how could he possibly return empty-handed?
Moreover, since this mysterious Pokémon had set such a massive trap, it could be certain that it was inconvenient in movement. Otherwise, possessing such strength, it could have simply gone out to hunt.
Why go to such trouble to set up such a trap?
There was no time to think about that. Extracting the Eternal Ice within this Piloswine was the priority.
"Haunter, use Will-O-Wisp on this Piloswine!"
Upon hearing Tetsuya's command, Haunter emerged from Tetsuya's shadow, and clusters of ghostly blue fireballs were hurled toward Piloswine.
Will-O-Wisp carried the "penetrating" caracteristic of Ghost-type moves. It directly passed through the ice layer and began to scorch Piloswine's body.
After more than ten years of being frozen, Piloswine had long since lost all sensation. That was also the reason Tetsuya dared to act so recklessly. Otherwise, given Piloswine's normal strength, Tetsuya would not survive.
Haunter continuously infused Will-O-Wisp into Piloswine's body. Very quickly, a wisp of white, smoke-like cold aura drifted out from within Piloswine's body.
He had not expected it to proceed so smoothly.
"Come out, Swinub. Absorb that cold aura."
Tetsuya threw Swinub's Poké Ball. Swinub shook its body. Being extremely sensitive to cold aura, Swinub opened its mouth and inhaled forcefully. The stream of cold air began to be continuously absorbed into Swinub's body.
A body scorched by Will-O-Wisp would show obvious burn marks.
The lower half of Piloswine's body was already completely red. It was clear that it had been scorched by Will-O-Wisp. Now only half remained.
---◓---
When Will-O-Wisp had scorched two-thirds of it, only ten minutes had passed. It was evident that Will-O-Wisp was truly the nemesis of this "cold aura".
All the cold aura that overflowed from Piloswine's body was absorbed by Swinub.
Suddenly, Swinub's body emitted a dazzling white light!
In an instant, the temperature seemed to drop sharply.
'…Evolution?'
Swinub's body, stimulated by this cold current, had begun to evolve ahead of schedule.
Tetsuya had not used the Everstone that Pryce had given him. It seemed that with Swinub's physical condition, it could not withstand such Eternal Ice cold aura. Evolution had to take place.
Based on Swinub's level, it was still far from the standard required for evolution. As for the special training and battle experience that would be left behind… they could only be made up later.
And now this Eternal Ice aura had to be completely absorbed!
The white light faded, and what appeared before Tetsuya was a Piloswine that belonged to him.
Only then did Tetsuya place the Everstone into Piloswine's mane, because Piloswine had learned Ancient Power, it could evolve into Mamoswine at any time.
It was obvious that evolving into Piloswine now had been driven by external forces, so its bases had to be reinforced before it could evolve into Mamoswine.
Haste makes waste.
Evolving too early would lead to increased training difficulty and increased difficulty in learning moves, along with a series of other factors. Moreover, the Eternal Ice in his possession had not been completely absorbed. Even if it evolved into Mamoswine, it would not be able to create "Hail weather" anytime and anywhere.
If it could not achieve the fusion of dual Abilities, it would be better to remain in the Piloswine form.
---◓---
'Almost there… almost there!'
Seeing that Pryce's Piloswine was about to be completely scorched and that only the last trace of Eternal Ice cold aura remained within its body. Suddenly, sensing danger to its life, Piloswine abruptly awakened!
With a stomp of its forelegs, the entire cave began to tremble. Tetsuya immediately felt dizzy.
"This is Piloswine's Earthquake! Ay! We cannot be greedy for the last bit of Eternal Ice cold aura. Retreat quickly!"
After speaking, Tetsuya had already mounted Rapidash. Haunter and his own Piloswine followed.
They had just prepared to escape from the cave.
Tetsuya suddenly realized that Piloswine's target was not him. The frenzied Piloswine was using Take Down at a fixed spot in the cave. At this moment, Will-O-Wisp was still scorching Piloswine's body.
Originally, Piloswine had been holding a medicinal herb for healing Burn in its mouth, yet it had not eaten it. It was as if the location in the cave that it was attacking bore some deep-seated hatred toward it.
It must be the mysterious Pokémon that had frozen Piloswine. The reason Piloswine harbored such deep hatred was certainly because this mysterious creature had caused it and Pryce to be separated.
'Why had such a great disturbance still not alerted that mysterious Pokémon? Could it currently be in a dormant state…?'
Just as Tetsuya was puzzled, cracks appeared at the location in the cave that Piloswine was attacking, and then that section of ice layer fell away.
There was another cave inside.
It must have been that mysterious Pokémon deliberately creating this ice cavern to conceal its whereabouts, and the fact that Piloswine knew this location and dared to challenge it showed that with Piloswine's strength, it could defeat that mysterious Pokémon.
Back then, it must have inadvertently entered the Pokémon's territory and suffered a sneak attack.
However, Piloswine's current condition was truly not optimistic. Moreover, the Eternal Ice cold aura within its body had almost been completely absorbed by Tetsuya's Piloswine.