---I always hated the sound a rusty chair made as it snapped back and forth. It was an annoying reminder of a person’s inability to sit still. Maybe I’m only like this because I was agitated to begin with. Slade’s orders had me in the middle of damn tundra looking for a rare gem stone. Add that to the fact that I’m here now starring at this park ranger who is looking to me for some kind of pay-off. This mission has become more annoying every minute.” Dash thought to himself as he had to watch the officer stuff down another bear claw pastry. The heavy set man talked with his mouth open which drove Dash crazy.
“ts like I said kid, road ways are shut down right now. “The man leaned back in his chair letting out another rusty screech. He then pulled back the blinds with the chocolate bear claw still in hand.
“ ohever, wit you being an employee of Devon maybe we can make an acceptation.” He grinned. He then turned back around letting the screeching noise fill the air once more. He dipped the donut into his coffee looking up to see what he could get away with. “So let’s talk about what Devon has sent us to help keep the parks running smoothly.”

---“People could be such tools. It was so much easier to work with technology than deal with this crap. How did I get volunteered for this? The Sinnoh branches of Devon were almost as corrupt as the Hoenn branches.” Dash takes off his backpack pulling out a medium sized box with three small devices in it. He scoots the chair back carefully so he can stand up. He showed off each device one at a time. “This first piece was hand crafted by our best techs.” Dash holds up the shiny chrome tinted box that was no bigger than the pokedex. “This device can track the use of poke balls within a certain area. Some of it’s more advanced features that could include tracking the make and model numbers of the each ball. It uses the balls energy signal to track it. This is Safari Zone technology used for stopping poaching or theft.” Dash put the piece down carefully, picking up little electronic patches. “These can be attached to antennas to give you a wider range for tracking.” Dash switched to the other two. “Maybe you were interested in this piece?” Dash holds up some sort of gun. “Believe it or not this thing was built to collect data, it comes with the tech needed to analyze the date but requires you be at certain distance to get the implant to stay...” He puts it down picking up the little network device. “The Credit Transfer machine is very illegal piece of technology it comes with the specs needed to get it set up right away. This device follows the card around. Anywhere that the scanned card you will be able to take small amounts from it, the skimming process is fairly easy. The part that makes this machine excellent, it can’t be traced back to you or us. The machine goes through the each purchase and uses the next place they shop to take a little. It only works within the towns surrounding the Park Range. “ Dash closes the box and hands it over.

---“Disgusting.” He thought to himself as he turned to walk out. Dash didn’t think he would ever be able to wash that feeling of sleeve off himself. The ranger followed leading him to the nearby ATV. “This is our best model. The GPS is already programed to take you to the cave structure, just be wary though hardly anyone has found the stone you’re looking for.. Seeya around kid.” Dash climbed onto the ATV. Looking back for a moment, he wanted to say something to the guy, but felt it was pointless. “Seeya.” He coughed out. He didn’t always need to indulge people’s stupidity. As he looked ahead he zipped up his coat and made sure his hat and goggles were fascinated tightly. The ranger ran back in giving Dash the time to adjust the GPS. After a few minutes and some creative wiring Download now had control of the machines functions and GPS. Dash looked down at the little Porygon moving around on the screen. The falling snow made the image blurry but the audio to his ear piece was still working.
*Sir, I’ve uploaded the gps signal and I have accurate reading on where the stone is.* The signal grew worse as Dash moved further into the mountain pass. The ATV had no problem clearing a path right to the final point on GPS. Once their Dash checked his gear and tightened the straps on his bag. He also took out the climbing gear that he ordered. “Well, we’re either going to disappear in here to never be heard from again or we are going to emerge with one of the world’s rarest stones. I’m crossing my fingers for the ladder of the two.” Dash began his hike towards the entrance. With Download 2 signal being a little shaky because of the weather. Dash had to rely on a flash light and quick thinking to make it through the dark pathway. Dash never purposefully went into a situation he was not prepared for. Using the maps he had access he created a master map. It was composed of maps made by hikers who had gone through before. He had memorized most of the cave.

---The beam from Dash’s flashlight scattered and began to amplify in the cloud of particles creating a light haze all around him. This new haze made Dash feel almost as if he were in a dream. He cautiously moved through the bitter coldness making sure to step lightly. *Sir…S…New case not..further..upgrade…* DL2 spoke out before going silent again for a little while. It looks like it’s just going to be me now, time to find my way through this haze and recover this damn rock. Dash said to himself as he tried to bury his right hand deeper into his pocket. As Dash pressed deeper into the ice cave he noticed the cave walls sparkled from the compressed frozen rock and ice. To keep his mind off the cold Dash thought about Courtney and there weekends together. One memory that stood out was a rare camping trip Dash had been invited to by Courtney’s family. The two of them rented a canoe and just paddled till their arms burned. They sat there in the canoe just watching the setting suns reflection of the rippling waves in the water. The memory felt warm to him.

---Twenty minutes passed before Dash had finally reached a point where the stone should be located. Dash was a genius when it came to distance and how things worked. Understanding numbers and timing had come very natural to him. He had been great with understanding everything functions and place with in a group. Once he found the right location. He started searching, with the help of the DL unit. The flickering Porygon appeared again this time the image stayed more stable. Once the scan was started it only took moments to locate the stone would have most likely formed. Dash pulled out a pick axe and followed the bleeps on the DL unit. With the Axe in his right hand and the Flashlight in the light he moved carefully until the point where he saw it. The beautiful Aries Gem sparkled as the light passed through it.
“ Beautiful…” Dash spoke his words now drifting away in the frigid air. “DL2, We found it. Is it capable of doing what Slade said?” A few moments past.
*Im getting incredible power rating resonating from that stone, sir. This piece is so rare that we are among a hand full of living beings to ever see it. With all the maps we studied finding it this easy was perplexing.* Porygon said trying to scan the surroundings once more. Dash nodded taking a few steps towards is. “ We weren’t sent to ask questions. We can study it further once we get out of here.” Dash stepped forward lifting the pick axe and made a movement to break it free. A sharp pain shot through the ankle causing Dash to drop the axe. He turned round quickly pointing the flash light all around. When he couldn’t find anything in view he bent over checking his ankle out to see what had happened. Because of the heavy layers he was wearing he was untouched. He was a little confused why he was in pain, but just went back to work. He picked up the axe and made the motion to swing again. This time the pain came in the opposite ankle. Dash held on to the axe quickly turning around. Download chuckled a little.
*Sir, while it is funny seeing you jump around, it’s not going to get us out of here anytime soon. I’ll run a scan of the area if you hold still* Porygon’s hologram shifted around. Dash was not a hot head and after a deep breath he stopped.
“Alright, do what you got to do.”

----*To state the obvious there is a pokemon in here with us. It appears to be using the icy floor to swoop in and out of here. I can’t fully scan the area because the signal is getting bounced around in here. Its only logical to assume that this creature is watching our every movement right now. It appears to be protecting that gem.* Porygon said trying to give its best assessment of the situation. Dash paused for a moment trying to figure what to do. The creature seemed to attack at the just the right moment each time, which meant that he or she was watching right now. Dash pointed out the flash light but only got the lights refraction bouncing off the icy walls. “So it’s got to be close enough now but it waits until Im bending over.” Dash said to himself as he turned around to focus on the gem again.

---“ It’s going to come down to who is quicker.” He said taking the first few steps forward. Dash made his move lifting up the axe once more he pretended to swing. He planted his feet and during the fake swing he dropped the axe forward and pivoted back around. As he did that he extended his arms trying to grasp onto what it was. When he felt the cold smooth fur of the little pokemon he grabbed ahold of it falling onto the ground. The flashlight hit the ground and rolled a couple of feet away. With the flashlight pointing in the opposite direction Dash couldn’t see what was now squirming in his arms. “DL, a little help here.” The little unit turned on and the hologram light up. The bright light finally revealed a little penguin type called Piplup. As soon as the light switched on the frantic little pokemon began to struggle and broke free form Dash’s grip, then it let out a bubble attack hitting Dash in the face. The sound of laugher echoed through the cave as DL had no problems pointing out Dash’s errors.

---Dash rolled over annoyed. He pushed himself back to his feet. Once up he noticed the little creature was gone. “I should have uploaded a different personality than that of Max’s Upgrade unit..” Dash grumbled in response to the sarcastic Porygon. This time he was just going for it. He bent over picking up the pick axe and swung as hard as he could. The impact form the swing was heard throughout the cave. Dash paused watching the ice all around him start to show signs of cracking.
*Sir, perhaps its best to not kill us all. We’re going to need to remove it very careful….* DL paused floating around.
* It appears as if we have company. * Dash lifted up the flash light and noticed a man standing there. “Would you point that thing someplace else kid.” The man said covering his eyes. Dash put down the light realizing that it was the park ranger. That sick feeling from before crept up on him. The ranger had been following him. As he dropped the light he sighed. The man lifted something in the air. The shiny chrome finish made it easy to see the shot gun in his hand. “You’re a smart kid, so theres really no point to explain why I’m here. The stone you just found is extremely rare so rare infact that in only appears in the cave once every 4 or 5 years. The cave is constantly changing because of ice patterns, when the weather gets warmer there are a lot of mud slides that leak into the cave. To make matters worse ther stone is protected by the pokemon who inhabit this cave! They cover the walls in mud in the summer and it freezes during the winter. You can imagine how annoying that is. So I waited for the right sucker to come along to figure this out for me.” He laughed point the gun.

---“Lets make this easy, Im going to take the stone and you are going to walk away and just tell people you didn’t have any luck.” The man paused taking out a shake and tossed it over. “Place the stone in there carefully, I wouldn’t want my finger to..” The man called out in pain. “Slippppp” he whaled as he fell to the ground shooting the cave ceiling. Dash froze up for a second as the angry man got back up holding the gun tightly in his direction.
“See that’s what Im talking about. These dam pokemon are always getting in the way.” He pointed the shotgun in the direction the Piplup went and fired blindly into the dark. Dash knew what was coming next. The sound of cracking grew louder and louder as the ice started to break. Dash turned around to face the stone the wall above starting to break apart. He looked over on the other side noticing the ice falling down around where the Piplup had gone.
“I could just grab it right now…DL we could have the rarest stone on the planet…” The smile slipped away from his face as he turned around an quickly went for the pokemon. Dash lifted the little guy up protecting it from the falling ice. He turned back around and watches as the stone was buried once again. “ DL show me the best possible route out of here.” Dash rushed over helping the dazed park ranger up. The man was to out of it to put up a fight and just let Dash help him to the main floor of the cave. “It’s on you to get out of here..” Dash said angrily as he dropped the man against a wall safe from the falling ice. Dash walked out of the cave.

----Piplup looked up at the Dash with a weak smile. The injured pokemon knew that Dash had left the stone and choose him. The two exchange a look of understanding. Then Piplup shot him in the face with a bubbles. As are story fades out the only thing that could be heard was the laughed or sarcastic Porgyon.
* Im really going to like this pokemon!*