A new day, I wake up refreshed warm and happy I have my little murder fish in the bowl next to me.

  “Good morning Sparky”

  “Time to eat?”

  “Yes soon. Soon my precioussss.”

  The girls wake and we head to the breakfast buffet. Food, wonderful human food. Far better than what I'm getting anywhere else on this planet that’s for sure.

  Why won’t I eat the slop you ask or even try it. .. … .. Well would you eat dog food even if you haven’t had it before? Go on.. I dare you. Yeah.. didn’t think so.

  “So when are we going to blow this joint?”

  I consider Sparky words and decide to answer her ignorance. “Do you like living in fear of dying every day??”

  She instantly responds “We'll no, not really.”

  “Okay, so do you like human food more than raw mons you have to battle and kill to eat?”

  She pauses and thinks for a while. I'm surprised her answer isn’t instant this time.

  “Hmmm, I guess so? I do love battling to the death though as long as I'm not the one that is going to die.”

  Okay maybe not the best to ask a battle maniac if they enjoy death fights.

  My favourite dish so far this morning has got to be the Wishiwashi fritters. With our breakfast finished and no flipped bowls today, everybody is happy.

  So what’s the plan? Fighting, getting my trainer levels… hell yeah.

  The girls approach the battle arena however today there's a change in plans.

  Kabu “I know how important it is to take some time to recover and you have done so well in the last few weeks so today I want you to relax.”

  So….. apparently we have a day off.

  With no need to workout or train and already stuffed full of food I wonder what exactly we can do to pass the time.

  The girls decide to do something I'd only expect old men to enjoy. Yes, we are going to go fishing as today we have broken past the ice and are again in open water.

  Why we need to go fishing when they have THREE aquatic Pokemon I don’t quite understand, but whatever.. Where's the beer?

  Hours pass in absolute boredom on deck as the girls continuously pull in shitty boring Magikarp, Wishiwashi and Arrokuda.

  Well that is until something rather large seems to have grabbed the bait. So large in fact that Anna needs to drop her line just to help Jess reel it in.

  After what seems like an eternity, but was likely only twenty minutes, an absolutely huge Magikarp looking thing is pulled up on board. I call it a thing since its colouration is wrong and its eyes are blood red. Additionally it’s longer in length than a normal fish. I’d describe it as a sea snake or serpent, technically closer to a mini Gyrados than anything else really with purple and green stripes along its black body.

  “Holy shit Jess, what a great catch! We should totally make this a Pokémon for us.”

  “Good idea! Let's do it! Seel beat it up for me!”

  I proceed to do exactly as instructed, however this thing is like a bloody tank. Although it can’t really fight back being stuck on the line and out of the water it can take hits like the best of them.

  I can see it is getting more and more angry and eventually it releases a loud ROAR which although loud seems to do nothing else. I continue to wear it down with tackles and headbutts and it won’t be long now until Jess gets her legitimate first Pokémon.

  We continue to battle and all fail to notice the many bubbles appearing off the starboard bow.

  That is until the water beneath the deck starts to churn as large snake-like things start to circle the deck and crash against the side of the boat.

  All trainers are quickly on deck to see what the commotion is.

  I’m not sure what those massive things are but they don’t seem very happy. The boat continues to get slammed from multiple sides as more and more bodies surround the ship.

  I finally get a glimpse of one of the beasts as it rears out from the water and seems to be staring directly at us.

  Red eyes - check, long body- check, Purple and black stripes… check.

  Whatever that thing is, I'm pretty sure he or she is related to our most recent catch.

  The boat continues to be slammed violently and even the girls realise that maybe this won’t be an ideal time to make a capture.

  “Jess, we need to let it go!”

  The girls quickly cut the fishing line and punt the little guy off the boat and into the water below. However, the family of giant serpents don’t seem satisfied and want their pound of flesh.

  More of the beasts rear out from the water and the trainers are forced to have their Pokémon fire all they have towards them before the ship gets destroyed.

  Kabu shouts instructions to target the one closest to our position and I continue to fire off PHYSIC blasts at it. Fire, electricity, poison, rocks… so many different abilities are hurled from the boat until enough damage is apparently done for the beasts to decide that they have had enough and submerge back underneath the surface and quickly vanish into the depths.

  We congratulate ourselves on a hard fought battle and the researchers ask the girls for their time to try to describe this as of yet unknown Pokémon.

  The TV crew is amazed and also visibly shaken by the event.

  I am relieved nothing worse happened. .. .. BOOM crack. Spoke too soon. The hull is broken as one of the serpents attacks the boat from underneath.

  A large Lapras is summoned by gym leader Candice and it slides into the water to chase away the creature before it does any further damage.

  A quick report indicates that there has been significant damage to the boat and we will be forced to find a spot to conduct repairs.

  With no clear map it is decided that we will head back to the ice flow and attempt to find a secluded cove to dock the SS Ketchum.

  ======================

  Hours later

  The SS Ketchum finally arrives at a secluded cove with the help of a handful of larger aquatic trainers Pokemon pulling the ship along with rope. The Avian patrol scouts the sky looking for any tell-tale signs of large beasts in the water’s depths.

  There have been multiple additional encounters with the serpents who seem to have entered into a blood feud with our crew. Clearly they are not going to forgive us for trying to abduct one of their own.

  Almost touching if they weren’t threatening to remove my source of yummy food.

  The girls and I have been put on lockdown since we seem to be the source of most of the mayhem that is caused for the members of the expedition. I personally think that is unfair, I'm sure they have gotten into their fair share of trouble but were able to manage it better… right?

  So our intended day of “relaxation” has been cut short and it’s back to the training field.

  Kabu is on patrol ensuring that the beasts are kept at bay so today we are greeted by the Ice type gym leader Candice. She seems very interested in me since I'm supposed to be an ice type pokemon. Since I don’t have any ice type moves her plan is to train our abilities.

  Now this is something I can get on board with. Better yet she presents Jess with a metallic disk. This is the first I have seen in this world and what I can only assume to be a ?.

  “Okay little girls, this is a move that I want your Seel and Piplup to learn. For whichever is able to properly master this move by the end of this week will be given a special additional ? by yours truly of your own choice.

  I’m so excited I might poop my breeches. Jess loads the ? up onto a machine and a beam of light is directed directly at my head. After a few seconds the ? crumbles into dust and I have apparently acquired a move. Only… I don’t see any notification nor any form of so-called enlightenment.

  The same is done for the Piplup and I'm glad to see the little chicken isn’t summoning shards of ice or snow either. Clearly there is more to this than just shining a light in our face.

  “Okay girls now I want you to get your pokemon to watch my Mammoswine use powdered snow. It is better if they stand and try to get a feel of the elemental power when it is being harnessed.”

  So with that I decide that I'm going to … cheat. Since powdered snow is technically just a form of blizzard I should be immune to it due to my special ability. Additionally I have something that the stupid penguin doesn’t. Two things, A) A human intellect and B) Focus Energy.

  As the Mammoth prepares to use his ability I use focus energy to see what is happening around and inside of him. He takes on a more subtle glow and the air also gains a subtle glow as small pieces of snowflakes form. As time goes on more and more pieces form from the air until there is a snowstorm the likes of which prevents any good visibility for more then two metres.

  I slowly closed my eyes and visualised the light blue mana that was emanating around the Mammoth, I imagined being in a snowdrift, the cold. I opened my eyes to… nothing.

  Okay let's try this again. I visualise the cold between the stars, the icy abyss, the beginning and end of all things. Slowly I gain a feel for some type of sensation that is not the same as my Physic type.

  I continue to focus as hard as I can on the sensation. However the colour isn’t pale blue. It is more like I would describe a diamond to be. I latch onto the energy and imagine it forming into snowflakes around me. Not hard to do at all to be honest, maybe that was the help of the ? in play?

  I slowly open my eyes with a smile on my face, I know what I will see. A snowstorm! And…. nope this isn’t your typical snowstorm. I watch in fascination as the transparent but reflective ice forms and then continues to grow in size as I feed it with more energy.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The shard becomes too hungry for mana and I feel more and more of my reserves continue to be depleted. Eventually I run dry and I pant for breath exhausted.

  I look in front of me and Candice just stares at my creation slack jawed. I drag myself over to inspect what I have created. I reel back when I get too close, it’s freezing, absolutely freezing and packed with energy. I feel the hum of the energy from here. I watch as cracks begin to form on its surface and imagine what would happen if that energy is released all at once.

  ….

  ….

  OH FUCK!!!!

  I quickly take aim and hope this won’t end up with me dying or losing my tail and with the last of my MP fire off a Rock Bullet and punt the ice cube into the distance like one of the best golfers you have ever seen. Like seriously, tiger woods style. You take -50 HP recoil damage from Rock Bullet.

  At the height of the throw the shard of ice splinters apart and a loud boom is heard as sharp shrapnel rains down into the water from above.

  *DING - Explosive Ice Shards learned - MP 200 - Cause unstable ice to rain terror upon those who threaten your way of life - Damage is AOE and can harm the user/allies*

  If Candice was stunned before, now she just looks at between me and where the explosion occurred and then back to me, then to Jess.

  “You have one hell of a monster Pokémon there Jess. If you ever want to trade him I will give you literally anything I have.”

  Jess just runs up to me and smothers me in hugs. She then turns to Candice. “Thanks for the offer but I'm never doing that. He’s my starter!”

  Anna looks towards the two and then asks the most important question.

  “So what exactly was that ? that you gave Seel? I’ve never seen that move before?!”

  Candice frowns and double checks her backpack. Yeah just the regular ? for Powdered Snow that my Mammoswine was using. The ? was created literally from his own technique so I'm not too sure what happened. It is not unheard of for Pokémon to gain different skills from a ? as it’s just imparting knowledge or a feel for a skill for what our research indicates.”

  Her frown deepens “However, I have never seen or heard of a move like the one your Pokémon just used. I’d love to run some tests later to check exactly how strong the move is compared to something like an Aurora beam because that thing certainly packs a punch. And looking at how exhausted your Seel currently is i’d say it requires far more energy to use than powdered snow.

  Additionally I don’t think it’s a good idea to use your current ? prize from me for this Pokémon as I feel like the resulting move might just end the world or blow up our ship.

  How about I suggest you gift him a held item that can boost his attacks or defensive moves?

  Jess giggles and nods in the affirmative as she continues to suffocate me with her love.

  Although there is more to the day and Candice turns her attention to trying to help Sparky and Piplup develop their moves I just can’t keep my eyes open anymore and REST whilst in Jess’s arms.

  STATUS

  TRAINER SEEL: LVL 6

  Slots: 2/2

  AVAILABLE MOVES: CAST 100MP, RECALL 100MP, CAPTURE 0 MP requires spare Pokémon slot and Pokémon to be injured enough to capture

  Items: 6 x Potion's, 1 x Super Potion

  Caught Pokémon: 2

  Bonded Pokémon: 2

  STATUS

  [SEEL - LVL 16]

  [PSYCHIC/???]

  [HP 260/310 MP 0/310]

  STATUS: Normal

  [CARVANHA - BLACK ZONE VARIANT - LVL 16]

  Carvanha's strongly developed jaws and its sharply pointed fangs pack the destructive power to rip out boat hulls. Many boats have been attacked and sunk by this Pokémon.

  [WATER/ELECTRIC]

  HP 220/220 MP 220/220