Prologue

The raging winds howled as it swirled the snow into a blizzard of stinging frost. Amid the snow storm, a lone figure wandered. The young boy, wrapped in a woolen jacket, lowered his head against the snow, his brown hair quickly turning white as ice began to imbed itself into his curls.

The young boy cursed himself. His family vacation to the snowy region of Snowpoint had quickly turned into a frightening and mortal situation. He knew he was in trouble when he had chased after a Snover after arriving at the lodge his family had reserved just for them. He had caught sight of the pokemon as his mom and dad were unpacking. He began to give chase to the tree-like creature. The Snover, sensing that it was being threatened, began to flee. The boy kept up with it for a while until, suddenly, the winds picked up and the snow began to envelop him, disorienting the boy and leaving him completely clueless as to where he was and what direction the lodge lay in. The boy wandered aimlessly for what seemed like hours, having only his jacket to keep him warm.

Now here he was, alone, miserable, and cold. The boy stumbled upon the entrance to a cave, the gaping mouth appearing so suddenly that the boy walked straight into a rough, rocky wall. The boy rubbed his head in pain, looking around. Stalagmites jutted out of the ground and stalactites hung from the ceiling. Water trickled slowly toward the ground from the stalactites and dripped down, creating small puddles. The boy ventured further into the cave. He had not gone fifty feet in, however, when he tripped on a jutting rock. He landed with a thud and a grunt as he fell onto his arms, then his body. Groaning from the pain that coursed through his body due to the hard ground, he struggled to his knees and hands and looked up, his nose coming mere inches away from the skull of a small creature. Startled by the gruesome spectacle, the boy leapt back, stepping on a brittle object that cracked loudly beneath his feet. He looked down and saw he had stepped on several small bones. He pulled his foot away quickly and scanned the ground around him. Dozens of small bones and some larger ones littered the cave floor.

A low growl emanated from deeper into the cave. The boy froze, then slowly turned his head toward the sound, his eyes wide with terror, his heart beating so furiously against his chest he was afraid it would pop out at any moment. His gaze stopped at the pair of yellow eyes that glared at him with rage and hunger. The padded footsteps of the beast were clearly audible in the silence that had fallen on the cave. Slowly, the creature inched forward, closer to the fresh meat that had blundered into its home. It opened its mouth, showing a mouthful of teeth, their needle-like tips glinting wickedly. It let out another growl as it sniffed the air. It sensed terror from the thing that stood frozen in front of it. The beast was in its element, and knew it. It continued its slow pace toward the boy, who still had not budged. The monster was close enough to the boy for him to see that it was an Ursaring that was staring at him, so hungrily, so evilly. A bead of sweat ran down the boy's face. He began to back up slowly, keeping in pace with the Ursaring. This continued on for a few more moments when the great bear realized that it should seize the chance of slaying the child before he was close enough to the cave entrance to start running.

As if knowing what the bear was thinking, the boy broke into a sprint, racing to the entrance as fast as his muscles would allow. The bear let out a roar and gave chase. The boy had made it a few yards from the cave when the bear caught up with him, sending him sprawling with a bump from its head. The boy skidded through the snow, finally stopping a good twenty feet from the spot the Ursaring had knocked into him. The bear padded up to the still form, flipping the child over so that he was facing up. The boy was on the brink of unconsciousness. The bear raised its paw to strike the fatal blow when the boy saw a flash and black fur and white claws, and the roar of the bear as it was slashed across its face filled his ears as he drifted into darkness.