The little Cubone struggled as he slowly shuffled across the ice. The frozen surface of the ice was extremely slippery and he had to be careful not to fall on his face, for fear of breaking his precious skull mask. It was just another day on the journey with his trainer to become the very best there ever was.

They had recently acquired a new addition to their little traveling group, a Haunter/Houndoom hybrid, a Hauntdoom as she called herself. The unusual looking Pokemon had decided to tag along after befriending the little ground type while he had been away from his trainer to look for a snack. Sadly, the larger Pokemon had not taken to Sake's trainer as well as she'd taken to Sake. That was alright though, not all Pokemon liked humans. It was nice to have another Pokemon around. Before, it was just Sake and Alex. Which was ok, he loved his trainer very much, but sadly humans can't understand Poketalk so two sided conversations weren't possible. Now though, the little Cubone had someone to talk to, and he couldn't help but smile just thinking about it. Roi was the best friend he could ask for.

Sake looked back over his shoulder to see how his new friend was doing on the ice. It seemed the Hauntdoom wasn't even fazed by the ice, her long claws dug into the pond's surface and kept her perfectly steady as she stepped along. The ground type smiled and giggled as he watched the canine like Pokemon, she was keeping a few feet just behind Alex, snickering as she watched him struggle even worse than Sake was, his shoes were not made for this at all. One of his legs slipped for a moment and he had to try and balance on the other. It was then that Roi looked like she was about to snap at the poor boy's heel. Oy, his poor trainer, if Sake didn't watch out for him, Roi would put him in the hospital one day.

"Hey, Roi!" The Cubone called out just before the Hauntdoom's jaws could snap. "How are you doing back there?"

Roi forgot her trick immediately at the sound of her smaller companion's voice and began wagging her tail. "Sake! I'm good, are you ok? Is the ice making you too cold? You aren't slipping are you? I can knock your pesky human down and turn him into a sled if you want!"

Sake chuckled and waved. "No, no, that's ok. I think I've got i-" He wasn't watching where he was going and accidentally slipped on a small wet patch on the ice. He fell right on his little ground type butt, but otherwise he was perfectly unharmed.

That didn't stop his friend and trainer from being concerned though. Alex looked up from his feet and started to make his way very carefully over to his Pokemon. "Sake! Hang on, lil' buddy, I'm com-" Suddenly the teenager was in the air, but only for a brief moment before he crashed back to the ice, sprawled out on his back. "I SWEAR THAT THING NEEDS A LEASH!"

The over excited Hauntdoom had barreled right past Alex's legs, knocking them out from under him. She was at Sake's side faster than Sake could have said 'ow'. "SakesakesakesakeSAKE! Are you alright? Did you break anything? I can get a berry! I can light your human on fire to warm you up!"

"Calm down, Roi! I'm just fine." The Cubone smiled up at her and wagged his tiny tail to show her he was indeed fine, and not in any need of a roasty toasty trainer. "Please don't light my partner on fire, he likes living," Sake giggled. He tried to stand up again but his feet weren't very secure on ice, being like flat little hooves, so he fell once again.

"How does he know he doesn't like being dead? Has he ever tried it?" Roi smiled innocently. "Don't worry, I got you." She gently took the back of Sake's neck in her maw and lifted him onto her back. The hybrid proudly carried her smaller friend to the other side of the pond and stood at the edge, perfectly at ease, blue flames around her paws keeping them warm. The flame around her head warmed the slightly shivering Cubone as they waited on Alex.

The ebony haired trainer struggled, slipping, sliding, and falling every time he made a move. He tried to claw at the ice, but human nails weren't nearly as good as claws and he landed on his face this time. "Well fuck..." he huffed.

"Uh oh," Sake watched with concern. "I don't think he can get up, I better help!"

"I can help!" Roi grinned wide and lifted her head, mouth wide open and aimed at Alex's feet. With a strong rumble from her chest, she used flamethrower on the ice.

A huge hole instantly opened up under the young trainer and before he realized it he was underwater. Alex kicked and waved his arms every which way, the water was absolutely frigid, colder than anything he'd ever felt. To make matters worse, he'd never learned to swim before either! He tried to grab at the edge of the ice but his frantic struggling had already pushed him too far down.

"Alex, no!" Sake jumped up and dove onto the ice in a panic, sliding on his belly like a penguin across the ice to the hole. He shook his head in his hands as he looked down into the water.

Roi's ears went straight up and she ran right behind the Cubone. "Don't fall in! Don't fall in!"

"We have to go after him!"

"What? Why? Both of us are weak to water, we won't make it! Just let the meathead come back up on his own."

"You don't understand, Roi, Alex can't swim! He won't come back up, he'll drown if we don't do something!" The little ground type felt like his insides melted away and were replaced by a hunk of ice in his chest. His trainer... his friend, the one who was there when he hatched, the one who took him in when his mother couldn't be found, the boy who gave him a home, a family, and made him feel like he was worth more than a whole team of legendaries, wasn't going to come out of that water. He was going to be an orphan, all over again.

The Hauntdoom was about to make a clever joke about the human floating to the top when the ice melted, but after hearing the ache in her friend's voice, decided very much against it. "Sake.." she whined, "I'm sorry, I can't... I can't go get your silly human thing back for you. I didn't know he had had a water weakness too, I'm sorry I didn't mean to sink him. Please don't be sad! Maybe we can find a stick and..." All Roi heard was a splash and when she turned around Sake was gone, his bone club left at the edge of the hole. "Oh no, SAKE!" The hybrid smashed her face against the ice, dragging it around the pond as she searched frantically for her tiny friend.

Suddenly she spotted him, just a few feet away from the hole, he was with his trainer. The human was still struggling when he saw his Pokemon come to rescue him. Alex made a waving gesture, trying to tell Sake to turn back, but the Cubone was having none of it, he grabbed hold of his trainer's pant leg and pulled with all his might! ...They moved! It wasn't much, but they moved. Unfortunately when Sake tried to tug up, it was obvious the boy was too heavy for the small Pokemon to carry any higher than ground level. Sake kept tugging anyway, just in a different direction, and little by little he was dragging Alex along the muddy bottom and towards shore. Alex was fighting to stay conscious and help his faithful Pokemon drag him along, but he didn't have much air left. The ground type had taken enough air before going down, but the water was starting to wear on him, soaking into him. Roi watched her brave little friend in awe as he kept pulling despite the difficulty of his task.

When she realized they weren't far from shore she rushed back to the edge of the pond and blasted another hole through the ice so they would be able to come through. “Come on, Sake, just a few more feet!” They were nearly there when a few Magikarp swam by, momentairly capturing the hybrid's attetion. “FEESH! OMG FEESH! I'VE NEVER HAD FEESH. SAKESAKESAKE GET THE FEESH!”

With a splash and huge gasp of air, Sake's little head popped up through the new hole. “Roi! Little help here please?” He coughed, one hand on the edge of the pond, the other on his now unconscious trainer.

“Oh, right, sorry.” She smiled sheepishly and bit into Alex's shoulder, dragging him, and the little ground type that clung to his arm, up onto the snow covered land. Sake was shivering and the cold air froze him to his Trainer. “I can fix this!” Roi opened her mighty jaw once more.

“NO! No, it's ok, Roi, you still don't have to light him on fire! Let's just get somewhere dry and warm, please?” Sake was shaking harder now, so much so that his mask rattled on his head.

Roi sighed, she was really hoping this was a good reason to use more fire on the flesh bag, but she needed to take care of Sake first. Once more she had Alex by the shoulder and dragged both him and the shivering Cubone.

After they had found a tiny den carved into the side of a small mountain by some previous Pokemon, Roi had gathered wood and built them a nice big fire. Alex and Sake were warmed up and back to normal in no time. Alex would have caught them some fish for dinner, but he didn't want to go anywhere near the water for a while so they had the food he'd packed for the travel instead.

“Oh! Here, I brought this in for you.” Roi dropped Sake's bone club in front of him.

“Ah! When did you get this? I thought I lost it.” The Cubone picked it up and held it close, then he set it gently aside and hugged the Houndoom instead.

Roi's tail blurred happily. “I went and got it when I got the wood for the fire. I still think your silly human thing would have been warmer faster if we put him on the fire instead of next to it.” the Hauntdoom's tail suddenly went limp and she frowned down at the ground. “Sake do you hate me?”

The ground type looked up into the hybrid's eyes very seriously. “Now why would I hate you?”

“Because,” Roi whined, “I almost killed the meat sack.”

“Aww, Roi...” Sake reached up and brought his friend's muzzle closer to him. “You didn't know he couldn't swim, and I know if you had you wouldn't have hurt him on purpose... at least not that bad.” He giggled and kissed her nose. “You also saved us, I couldn't have lifted Alex out of the water without you.You're my very best friend, Roi, I love you, I always will. Promise, ok?”

With a smile and a happy sob, Roi pulled Sake close and curled around him. “I love you too, Sake.” She rested her head next to his and kept him warm and close for the night. Sake had never felt so loved. Not only did he have his trainer looking out for him, but now he had his big strong Hauntdoom too. He never wanted to lose either of them. Roi made him feel so warm inside, warm and happy, like little butterflies were dancing in his tummy.

Alex sleepily eyed the two Pokemon from across the little cave. Maybe it was the fire light, or the fact that his head was probably full of water, but as he drifted off to sleep, he thought they looked kind of cute together. He didn't know why the hybrid stuck around, but he was glad she did... despite all the little side adventures she caused. She kept Sake happy and safe, something he was worried he wouldn't be able to do on his own. Now he wouldn't have to spend his nights worrying about that, instead he'd dream of their next big adventure, or maybe, maybe he'd just settle for dreaming of not being lit on fire.

Art and story © Sake-Loup
Alex and Sake © Sake-Loup
Roi © Kigerwolf