As Matthew Hazner walked outside the frost covered door, he noticed two things: the Sawsbuck were mostly frozen solid and it didn't feel like summer anymore. Within the span of about 2 hours, the climate around Route 6 has jumped to below freezing. The Season Research Lab had various thermometers and weather analyzing gear sporadically around the premises--each validating that the weather and climate suddenly shifted almost 30 degrees Celsius in an abnormal stretch of time. The lab was also known for its abundance of Sawsbuck that migrate there for the summer to raise their young before winter. Unnaturally, the weather dramatically spiked down to where it is now, and unfortunately it seemed to getting worse.

The head scientist took a few steps out from the inside of the door and immediately his feet sunk into the snow, easily soaking his boots and the bottom hem of his white laboratory coat. He frowned, trying to ignore that some snow entered his soaked footwear. Taking larger steps, the scientist eventually managed to get over to the nearest Sawsbuck, who seemed to be the head male of the group. He was on the ground, his horns frozen solid to the ground. Ice started to cocoon around his legs and hooves as small whimpers seemed to come from his muzzle. He clearly was in pain, and, at this very point, there wasn't much they could do for him.

"How is he, Flynn?" The head scientist asked the young researcher, who was leaning right by the herd leader.

He seemed startled by the sudden appearance. "What the--Matt! Don't do that!"

Matt took a few steps closer to the Sawsbuck.

Upon noticing the crunching of the snow in the Season Pokemon's blind spot, the herd leader began breathing more sporadically, but didn't seem to have the strength to move his body. When Matt stopped moving, he sunk deeper into the snow, which in that particular spot was up to his knees.

The head scientist frowned. "Is there anything we can do for him and his herd?"

Flynn, who had most of his attention directly towards the whimpering Pokemon, finally noticed that Matt was talking. "Matt, listen. We are trying everything we can. Nothing is working... At this rate, we could have already lost half the herd to this weather shift."

Matt closed his eyes as he exhaled a cold breath of air.

"Shouldn't the Sawsbuck have adapted to this weather change by now?"

Matt and Flynn turn their gaze quickly to a young pair of trainers, who were making their way through Route 6. The pair were 2 boys probably not older than 11 or 12 each. One kid stepped a few inches closer, trying to see what the scientist and researcher were surrounding.

Flynn turned his gaze back to the Sawsbuck as he spoke loudly enough for their visitors to hear. "Unfortunately, no. The weather changed too quickly. They will adapt, but until we can get them warm for a small period of time, they'll likely--"

"--Not make it, right?" The youngest trainer looked down at the whimpering Sawsbuck. The trainer turned his head up to the older one, a sad look in his eyes. "Can't we help them? You have your Heatmor, right?"

The older trainer's eyes widened. "That's right!" He grabbed his Pokeball and immediately threw it in the air, releasing his Heatmor in the process.

Upon release, the Anteater Pokemon breathed a small stream of fire from its small tube-like mouth. It's body immediately melted the snow upon contact. 

"Mor...?" The Pokemon looked strangely at its trainer, who motioned for it to get closer to the Sawsbuck.

Within a few steps, the Heatmor was sitting about 3 or so feet away from Sawsbuck. Gradually, the snow around the Anteater Pokemon started to melt, thawing out some nearby bushes and started to steadily warm up Sawsbuck's antlers. Flynn was about to yell at the duo until he noticed the ice melting as well.

"...Thank you. Genuinely." Flynn seemed more relaxed as he turned his gaze back to the trainers with a grateful, quick grin before focusing his attention back to the Sawsbuck.

"Where did you two boys come from?" Matt asked, looking back towards the two trainers.

The oldest frowned slightly. "We just barely got out of Driftveil City."

That perked Flynn's interest, but he didn't turn to face them. "...What do you mean by 'barely got out' of the city? Is something going on?"

The youngest trainer turned to his older companion. "Team Plasma took over parts of the city and are now doing something in the southern end. Where did you say they were at again? I can't remember..." The young boy looked down at his feet, which seemed to sink down lower than what he was aware of. He took a few steps out of the tracks and onto furmer snow.

"I believe the locals said something about the Cold Storage." The older trainer began, looking back towards his Heatmor. "Apparently something is there that they want. No one seems to have any idea what it is."

Matt's eyes widened as a small smirk appeared on his face. "If my theory is correct, then Team Plasma might have something to do with this widespread cold climate. Maybe if we could find a way to stop it--"

Flynn looked up to Matt with a quick, cold glare. "Matt, no! Did you not hear what these two said?! They said that Team Plasma is inside the city. It's not safe!"

Matt brushed off Flynn's remark. "Don't worry, I got this! Besides, you should stay here and tend to the Sawsbuck. These two can help you..."

Flynn seemed to try his hardest not to yell, thus ending up huffing in annoyance. "...Don't get yourself killed, OK..?"

Matt grinned from ear to ear, knowing he won. "No problem! I'll be back before you can say chlorophyll!" The head scientist reached into his front pocket on his laboratory coat and pulled out a Pokeball. He waddled through the snow and managed to get onto the main trail.

"That better not be that new Deerling that was just hatched!" Matt heard Flynn yelling from behind him.

Matt stopped for a split second to register what was said. "...Yeah? Listen, worrywart: everything will be fine!" He resumed walking as he waved over his back to Flynn. "What's the worst that can happen?"

❄❄❄

"Um, I think that this is probably the worst that can happen..."

Here Matt was, hiding behind some huge, steel storage containers. He was fortunate to get through Driftveil City undetected, but it became increasingly harder the further he went through the Cold Storage south of the main city. Matt assumed he and his young Deerling, who was outside her Pokeball, were safe until another Cryogonal floated by. Unfortunately for them, these Cryogonal didn't seem to be friendly--they were almost like a personal set of sky patrollers for Team Plasma. When the Cryogonal passed directly above them, the duo held still until they knew that it was gone. Matt peaked around the corner, just to see a grunt with a Beartic rounding the nearby corner. The grunt and his Beartic were heading right in their direction, but it didn't seem like they noticed the duo yet. Matt winded around quickly, immediately looking towards his Deerling, who was surprised by the quick action.

"Do you think you could take out a Beartic?" Matt whispered as quietly crept closer to the other end of the storage container. Deerling seemed to ignore his comment as she kept her pace in tie with Matt. "I hope you know I'm kidding..."

As soon as the duo ducked and shifted close to the corner of the storage container, a wild Ice Beam shot and almost hit them. Matt and Deerling jumped out of the way, unfortunately into the middle of the path. When they looked up, they noticed one of the Cryogonal patrollers found them. It let out a cry, which alerted the grunts nearby. Before Matt and Deerling were able to run off, they heard speaking nearby.

"Well, well, well... Where do you think you're going?"

The duo turned and noticed the grunt walking over. His black full piece under-uniform with a white tabard wasn't hard to miss--especially with the Team Plasma crest in plain sight. The light blue boots and gloves seemed a little weird with the color scheme, but that was something Matt could yell about later. Before Matt could process the situation entirely, he noticed that the Beartic was charging the duo.

"Get out of the way!" Matt dove, grabbing the small Deerling in his arms as he slammed into the ground a few feet away. The duo rolled out of the way before the Beartic was able to land Icicle Crash.

The grunt laughed, his eyes lowering towards Matt. "I know you aren't a trainer. And that's a good thing, my friend. So, to save some of the trouble, why don't you hand over that Pokemon you have there?"

Matt's eyes widened. "Why the hell would I do that?!"

"I'm guessing you didn't hear me." The grunt pointed his hand at Matt. Upon doing so, his Beartic began charging up an Ice Beam. "Hand it over."

Matt stood frozen, much like Deerling, who was watching the scene in horror. She knew that Matt was in trouble. She could sense it. Within the span of a second or two, she shook out of Matt's grasp and stood in front of Matt, an angry look in her brown eyes.

"Deerling, don't!" As soon as Matt moved to get Deerling, the Beartic released an Ice Beam. Matt closed his eyes, expecting to be frozen solid. Instead, he opened his eyes to Beartic on the ground and the grunt backing off a few steps to avoid a huge cloud of smoke. "What the--!"

When Matt finally could see everything to his sides, his grey eyes widened. Directly to his right was a young woman, who definitely seemed to be a trainer. She held a Pokeball tightly in her hand. From a glance and to an eventual stare, he noticed the faint reflection the light gave to her blue eyes. The shading from her pink-rimmed white hat gave it more detail. Or maybe it was the long, dark brown hair tied back into its ponytail. He wasn't sure, but the one thing he did realize: she saved his life.

"That seems awfully hypocritical, don't you think?" The woman scoffed. "Threatening this scientist here for his Pokemon when you use your own for power."

"L-Lies!" The grunt angrily butted in. "We are saving the Pokemon from trainers like him! Those who want to use that little Pokemon as a weapon."

"But I-!" Matt grew angry at the exclaim and was about to butt in as well, but the woman immediately jumped in.

"It doesn't look like that from where I'm standing..." The woman sighed, adjusting her hat and smoothing down her hair ever so slightly. "If I wouldn't have stepped in, you would have taken his Pokemon. How is using your Beartic against a basic defenseless man any less of a weapon than this little one trying to defend its trainer? It's just cruel!"

The grunt paused, then narrowed his eyes. "I will always follow my King's message, and that is to liberate Pokemon from the weak men who enslave them in Pokeballs. You people will never change!" During his message, his Beartic slowly began standing again. "Beartic, finish them! Use Icicle Crash!"

The woman frowned, looking straight at the Freezing Pokemon and the grunt. "Victini, use Searing Shot!"

Before Beartic could release its attack, Victini hit the Freezing Pokemon straight in the chest, sending the ice type into a nearby storage container. When the small amount of smoke cleared, Beartic was almost like a permanent fixture in the container itself--fainted and clearly not moving. The steel was formed around the Freezing Pokemon's body--enough that upon fainting, its body was completely supported from falling to the ground.

The grunt stood horrified. "I-I lost... " He grabbed his Pokeball and returned his fainted Beartic. 'You may have defeated me, but you will never defeat our King!" Before either Matt or the woman could respond, the grunt fled.

Matt stood up, brushing off his dirty laboratory coat. Deerling, who was curious about the woman, walked over and nuzzled the woman's leg. The woman, who was now attending to her Pokemon (she called Victini), looked down with a small grin.

"Hello there, little one." She giggled slightly, stroking the young fawn's head. Deerling nuzzled closer to her hand. "You were certainly brave against that mean Beartic."

"Deer-ling-ling!" She nuzzled slightly closer to the woman, most likely as a sign of thank you.

"She seems to like you." Matt proposed, looking at the two. "I'm happy to see that, considering she's still a new hatching and-"

The woman immediately turned her head to the head scientist and glared in his direction. "What do you mean 'she's still a new hatching?' Are you crazy?! Taking on Team Plasma on your own with a newly hatched Pokemon..."

"Um, yeah? Your point...?" Matt frowned, slightly confused about the woman's sudden outburst.

The woman shook her head in disbelief. "You are so lucky I saved your ass, dude. Because if I didn't come around, you probably wouldn't be standing here."

"Honestly, I think you're overreacting a-"

"Overreacting?!" The woman completely snapped at him. "Do you even KNOW what they've done to people? Team Plasma is not to be trusted and especially not to be doubted. They may look stupid and incompetent, but they are strong in numbers."

"Right... Honestly, I just wanted to get the cold to stop spreading. I wasn't really interested in dealing with a bunch of people." Matt pondered. "But I am thankful you showed up when you did."

The annoyed woman decided to ignore him, pointing her Pokeball at her Pokemon. "Victini, return for now. Thank you very much."

"Here, Deerling. We're heading back now." Matt gestured towards the young Season Pokemon, to which she pranced over in a bubbly mood.

Once Deerling left the woman's side, she started to walk off. Matt noticed this and his eyes widened. "Wait! Hang on a minute! Where are you going?"

"I'm dealing with Team Plasma, unlike you."

Matt froze, surprised and slightly annoyed about the comment. "What was that about?!"

The woman paused, her back still facing the scientist. "Unlike you, I have things I have to do that don't involve getting myself needlessly killed. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to...and it doesn't involve you."

Matt grew angrier. "Honestly, that's pretty hypocritical yourself...."

"How?" The woman pressured.

"Well, if you were so worried about dealing with Team Plasma, why are you doing it alone? 'Cause, after all, you said that they were 'stronger in numbers.'" Matt grinned to himself. "In a way, that's putting yourself in direct contact with Team Plasma with no support."

"You don't know me and you don't know my motivations." The woman lowered her voice in annoyance. "You have no clue what I've been through, nor do you seem to care."

"I mean, you're not wrong..." Matt thought out loud.

The woman clenched her fists together. "How about this: until you actually have a functioning brain that can tell the difference between stupidity and imbecility, then you can judge my character.."

Matt froze, his mouth held agape. He couldn't think of any responses.

"..Until then, don't bother." The woman began walking again. "Move on with your life, you idiot. And do yourself a favor: grow up."