As Cain expected, he felt the familiar sensation of being watched during their afternoon break. This time, he was prepared and let Slowpoke mark the bottle of milk, which would enable it to channel Teleport to sense the location of the mark within a ten-kilometer radius.
Cain left the bottle of milk on the ground and observed from a distance with Slowpoke and the rest of his team. They didn't have to wait for long as the Pokemon appeared soon after they had left.
The Pokemon had apparently developed a sweet tooth for the milk, which made it all the more easier for Cain and his team. Cain removed the weight from Murkrow to make it easier for the bird to keep up with the shadowy Pokemon, and even if they lost track of the Pokemon due to the terrain, they could still estimate its rough location. Slowpoke could then use that information to precisely locate the Pokemon.
After forty minutes, Murkrow returned to Cain with some useful information. Its speed had increased significantly, allowing it to keep up with the Pokemon, with the help of the wind. But Cain did not want to take any chances. He didn't want to alert the Pokemon to their presence, so he had Murkrow return to him immediately after the Pokemon stopped moving.
Murkrow led the way, and Cain and the rest of his team followed slowly and cautiously. They were now very close to the ice mountain, and Cain could feel the chill creeping up on him. His body trembled uncontrollably, and he could see his breath turn into a white mist in front of him.
Cain quickly put on his thick clothes he had prepared in advance, which helped him feel a bit warmer. He couldn't help but marvel at how different human and Pokemon anatomy was. The temperature change seemed to have no effect on Murkrow and the others, but it had a significant impact on him.
Cain turned to Slowpoke and asked, "Can you sense it?"
Slowpoke's eyes glowed with a blue light as it used its psychic energy to sense the mark it had left on the glass bottle. It nodded, indicating that it could sense the mark's location.
Cain and his team tried to avoid any battles with Pokemon they encountered on their way to avoid being delayed in their pursuit.
As they got closer, Slowpoke's sense of the mark became clearer and clearer, pointing them in the direction they needed to go, without needing to stop and sense carefully.
It was clear that the Pokemon had stopped moving, and if Cain and his team moved quickly, they could find it before it changed its location.
As Cain approached the location of the glass bottle, he couldn't help but wonder if it was really the Pokemon he had guessed. If it was, and its aptitude wasn't too low, he admitted that he was a little tempted.
Ten minutes later, Cain arrived at the foot of the ice mountain. Although it was called an ice mountain, it was actually a huge mountain of rocks. The mountainside was covered with thick snow, giving the impression that it was an ice mountain.
However, upon closer inspection, one could see that part of the mountain was covered with trees, revealing the massive pile of rocks beneath.
At the foot of the mountain, there were countless cracks and small caves. According to Slowpoke's psychic sense, the coordinates of the mark led to one of the caves.
As Cain approached the entrance of the cave, a gust of cold wind blew in his face, making him shiver. He tightened the clothes on his body to keep warm.
Cain was now even more convinced that the black shadow he had seen earlier was the Pokemon he was thinking about. As he walked deeper into the cave, the air became colder and colder. Each breath felt like a mouthful of ice cubes, and his nose was starting to feel numb.
Although Cain had prepared with due diligence, he was surprised by the extreme coldness of the cave under the ice mountain. Even Murkrow and the others seemed to be affected by it.
The passage was narrow and the ground was covered with a layer of ice, making it quite slippery and dangerous to walk on. Luckily, Cain had boots that were specifically designed to provide good traction on icy surfaces.
Miltank had no choice but to rely on Slowpoke's Confusion, which created a thin layer of psychic film under her feet and helped ease her difficulties.
As they delved deeper into the cave, the area gradually expanded, and the layer of ice on the ground became thinner, revealing some underlying rock.
The narrow passage was responsible for the air's rapid flow, resulting in a chilly draft that kept the ground at the cave's entrance icy all year. However, upon entering the cave, the draft gradually dissipated, and the temperature became increasingly comfortable.
Following Slowpoke's lead, Cain meticulously moderated the sound of his footsteps as they progressed further into the cave. Eventually, they caught sight of the Pokemon that had been covertly observing them, with a special fondness for Miltank's milk.
The Pokemon was only about one meter tall, and most of its body was covered in black fur. However, one of its ears on the top of its head and its tail, which was facing away from Cain, were adorned with red hair, while the tips of its limbs were white.
Upon seeing the appearance of the Pokemon, Cain couldn't help but exclaim in his heart, "Damn, I'm lucky!"
The Pokemon in front of him was a Sneasel, one of the rarer Pokemon in the Johto region. It was a dual attribute Pokemon of the dark and ice-type.
Despite its popularity, Sneasel's attribute combination wasn't very good. The combination of dark and ice-type made it vulnerable to many Pokemon, and it was often in a passive position during battles.
It had a 4X weakness against fighting-type Pokemon, and could be easily defeated if it was hit by one of their moves. Additionally, it had a 2X weakness against rock, bug, steel, fire, and fairy-types.
Sneasel was a challenging Pokemon to use in battle, however, it also had a lot of advantages that made it worth considering.