By December, the river's surface had already frozen over with a thick sheet of ice.
From atop the ice, one could clearly see plump fish swimming beneath the frozen layer.
Ryan and the others couldn't wait any longer. After a night's brief rest, they had come to the riverbank early the next morning.
"Hah!"
Rubbing his frostbitten red hands together, Ryan shouted, "Brothers, hold on tight—we'll be drinking fresh fish soup tonight!"
The knights around him cheered.
They took up their weapons and began hacking a hole in the ice.
Before long, fish short on oxygen started gathering near the opening.
"A big haul today!"
Ryan's face lit up with the joy of harvest as he eyed the pile of fish.
He quickly ordered several men to grab tools and start fishing.
Perhaps the fish had lingered too long under the ice, because they seemed sluggish. Ryan and his men easily caught basket after basket of fat, wriggling fish.
Only once they were dumped into the baskets did the fish thrash about in protest.
Ryan couldn't stop grinning at the sight of their bounty.
But then his gaze caught on a peculiar fish among the pile—its entire body crimson, two long whiskers drooping like a catfish's, and dorsal and ventral fins shaped like a crown.
"What the hell? How'd this guy get in here?!"
Ryan scowled, yanking the Magikarp up and, with a disgusted grunt, booted it straight back into the river.
With a loud splash, the rejected Magikarp hit the water and vanished.
"Sir Ryan, why did you throw that one away?" a trainee knight asked in confusion.
"That thing's nothing but bones, skin, and scales—useless for eating. Unless you've got some twisted hobby of gnawing bones, it's no good," Ryan sneered.
As he spoke, his eyes caught sight of someone standing behind him.
They lit up as he turned, waving excitedly while showing off his catch. "Your Highness Raven! We'll be eating fish tonight!"
Raven, who had watched the whole thing, fell silent.
Poor Magikarp… despised even in ancient times.
"Well done," Raven praised after a pause. But his eyes shifted to the river ice. "In the future, if you catch another one of those, don't go kicking it."
Ryan scratched his head. "Why not?"
Because if a Magikarp got angry enough to evolve into Gyarados, they'd be doomed, Raven thought.
"…Just do as I say," he said aloud.
Ryan and the knights didn't understand, but as knights, they knew to obey their prince's orders without question.
Some of the commoners carried the baskets of fish back to camp.
Ryan and the others prepared to continue exploring the plains and forest around the settlement.
"Your Highness Raven, aren't you coming back?"
"I have something to do here. You all go ahead," Raven said.
They were close to camp, and the knights had already scouted this area. With no dangerous Pokémon nearby, it was safe enough.
Which made it the perfect spot for Raven to test Dratini's moves.
"Dratini." Raven patted his chest.
The little dragon peeked its head out of his coat. "Drii?"
"Come on, show me your Twister. I'll make you fish soup tonight."
"Drii…"
The cold outside clearly daunted it. But the promise of tasty food made Dratini summon its courage, and it slipped free of the wool coat.
"Dratini, use Twister!" Raven ordered.
"Drii—drii!"
At his command, purple Dragon-type energy gathered in Dratini's mouth, compressing as it spun. Then it burst forth in a raging whirlwind.
Boom!
The Twister slammed into the ice. Though Dratini was still weak, the move easily shattered the frozen layer.
Raven's eyes gleamed with thought.
Judging by this, Twister's power wasn't bad at all.
So this was the strength of Pokémon?
What surprised him even more was how naturally Dratini had understood his command—no training, no hesitation.
How did it know "Twister" meant Twister?
Was this some built-in setting, placed there by Arceus at creation? Raven couldn't help but wonder.
Off to the side, Ryan stared wide-eyed.
What had he just seen?H-His Highness… had commanded a beast?!
"No need to show Wrap or Leer," Raven muttered. "At Dratini's level, Wrap's too weak to matter."
Twister, though—that was its strongest move for now.
"All right, Dratini, that's enough. Come back."
Shivering from the cold, Dratini darted back into Raven's arms.
Raven turned to head for the tents—only to find a group of knights staring at him, mouths agape.
He raised an eyebrow. "What are you gawking at?"
Ryan finally snapped out of it. "Y-Your Highness Raven, just now… were you commanding that beast?"
"Yes." Raven smiled faintly. "What? Are you interested in learning too?"
The knights shook their heads so fast they looked like rattles.
Interested? Hardly!Beasts were terrifying, lethal creatures. Too many had died at their hands. They wouldn't dare get close.
But what shocked them was how obedient that little one had been to Raven's words…
Their reaction was exactly what Raven had expected.
He wasn't surprised.
If he suddenly declared, "Pokémon aren't dangerous. They can be family and partners," none of them would believe him.
Still…
From the looks on their faces, Raven knew a seed had been planted today. A seed of curiosity.
—Could humans really command beasts?
Night fell, draping the land in shadow.
After a long day, people huddled with their families inside tents, warming themselves by the fire, eating coarse black bread and hot fish soup.
For those who had been lost in the snowstorm for over a month, it was warmth and happiness long missed.
But alongside it came confusion about the future, and fear of the unknown.
Could they really survive this winter?Food was limited, firewood running low, and temperatures kept dropping. At any moment, another blizzard could tear across the land.
Their flimsy tents could never withstand such a storm.
And even if the blizzard didn't come, once the firewood was gone, they'd freeze to death in this icy wasteland.
(End of Chapter)