Chapter 170: You're My First Friend
Regice couldn't remember when it had been born into this world.
It remembered that when it first opened its eyes, it was in an underground cave. The cave was dark and barren, which made it feel afraid and lonely. It sat in place, not daring to move.
It didn't know how much time had passed, but a beautiful little white flower grew out of a crack in the rock. It was so beautiful. To this day, Regice still remembered the color of that flower. It was such a small flower, yet it had struggled to grow out of the rock.
Regice didn't understand anything. It thought the little flower wanted to break free from the rock, so it reached out a hand. But when the flower was frozen into a block of ice and gradually lost its life, for the first time, Regice had a concept of its own existence.
It was a jinx that could never touch another living thing.
The cave once again lost its color. Everything went back to how it was when it had first opened its eyes. Regice was very sad and voluntarily fell into a deep sleep.
It didn't know how long it had slept. It only remembered that when it opened its eyes again, the once-bare cave was now covered in green moss. This was the second time Regice had seen a vibrant color. Green was also very beautiful.
Regice stood in place, not daring to move, afraid it would freeze the moss into ice. But it was all in vain. Even if it stood perfectly still, the cold air that constantly radiated from its body would still freeze all the moss solid.
Regice was very sad, but it was not willing to give up. It walked out of the cave and saw the outside world for the first time. It was a vast grassland, filled with all sorts of small flowers and little creatures chasing each other. A flock of small bird Pokémon flew over, seeming to want to rest on Regice's body. Regice thoughtfully held out its hands to give them a place to land.
However, the moment the little birds touched down, a thin layer of ice immediately formed on their feet. They panicked, flapping their wings and flying away, the pain so intense that they fell to the ground. Their feet were frostbitten.
Regice was filled with self-blame. It wanted to get closer to see if it could help, but it was driven away by the birds. It looked down at its feet. The small grass and flowers around it, without exception, were all frozen solid. It wasn't beautiful at all, because they had all lost their life.
That was the first time Regice had felt despair for itself.
It walked north with its head down, consciously avoiding all living things, until it entered a barren, pure white frozen land. On the snow-white plateau, you couldn't hear anything but the wind, and you couldn't see anything but the white snow. It didn't like it here. But, by staying here, it wouldn't hurt anyone anymore. Although it felt very lonely, if it fell asleep, it could feel a little better.
Today, it had woken up by chance and was just in a daze when four little creatures suddenly appeared, staring at it. This made Regice feel a little at a loss. It didn't know how to respond, so it just stood still, pretending to be a big rock. A long time ago, it had also pretended to be a rock to avoid other little creatures who wanted to touch it.
But who would have thought that these four little ones seemed to know it was a living thing and were slowly approaching. Regice had no choice but to retreat. But that seemed to have ignited the fighting spirit of one of the little ones, who began to chase after it relentlessly.
Regice didn't want to hurt it, so it could only run around clumsily. Since it had become self-aware, this was the first time it had ever been chased by another Pokémon. But honestly, although being chased was a bit strange, it was also quite happy. Because this act of "chasing"... seemed to be an interaction that only "friends" had.
Do I have a friend now?
But reality soon dealt it a heavy blow. When the little creature saw its power, its eyes were filled with fear. That look, Regice knew it all too well. It had seen it more than a hundred, a thousand times.
Sure enough. I am destined to live this life in solitude...
"By the way, can you not control your own power?"
A somewhat cold voice sounded by its ear. Regice was startled and looked around in a panic. The largest of the four little ones had, at some point, walked to within a meter of it. Regice quickly took two steps back.
"My name is Will. Do you have a name? The humans call you Regice."
Regice scratched its head. It didn't seem to have a name. But Regice sounded nice. But what it couldn't figure out was, why did this little creature dare to get so close?
"Regi?" A mechanical sound, laced with static, came out. Will stared at it, unable to figure out what part of its body was even making the sound.
"From the way you were running away, I can tell you're not a bad guy. So, I don't think you'll hurt me, and I'm not afraid of being frozen," Will said, shaking his head. Of course, that wasn't the only reason. The main factor was that he was strong. If the Snover or Snorunt were frozen, they would be seriously injured, or even die. But Will was different. Although he wasn't an Ice-type, his strength was there. Even if he was frozen, the injury wouldn't be too severe. And he had a powerful move like Recover. So, he wasn't really worried about being accidentally hurt.
"Regi..." Regice said sadly. No one dared to be friends with it, and it didn't want to hurt anyone.
"That's why I'm asking. Can you not control your power?" Will said with a shrug. "You don't have to be so sad. I've seen other Regice."
"Regi?!" Regice was immediately excited. In all its long life, it had never seen another of its own kind.
"I'd advise you not to get your hopes up. There probably aren't many of you in the whole world."
"Regi..." Regice was immediately dejected.
"But you can try to learn to control your power. It should be very simple for you," Will said.
"Regi?"
"Control the cold air on your body, contain it within you. That way you won't freeze other Pokémon."
Will gave a rough explanation. He had never been a Regice; he couldn't give a specific solution. But based on its performance in the anime, a normal Regice could indeed control its body's cold.
"Regi?!" Regice's "eyes" widened. It didn't know it could do that.
"Have you never tried?"
"Regi..." Regice scratched its "face" in embarrassment. Come to think of it, no. The first time it discovered its power, it had just gone to sleep. The second time, it had just walked north until it reached this place and gone back to sleep. This was only its third time waking up.
"Just practice hard. If you can control your power, I'm sure you can make friends."
"Regi!"
"By the way, can you get smaller? I think if you shrink, you might be able to reduce the range of your ability," Will suggested.
"Regi?"
"Try it. Just think about controlling your body to shrink."
"Regi."
The lights on Regice's face flashed. Just then, Meowscarada, leading the Snover and Snorunt, came a little closer.
"Well? Do you feel anything?" Will asked, looking at the Regice. Its body hadn't changed at all.
"Regi..."
"Don't be discouraged. Try again."
"Regi."
Regice quietly looked at Will, its lights flashing again. A minute later, it seemed to get the hang of it, and its body began to slowly shrink. Will could feel that although the temperature of the cold air around it hadn't risen, its range of influence had indeed become a little smaller.
"Keep it up! Shrinking your body really does reduce the range of the cold!"
"Regi!" Hearing this, Regice was even more motivated.
Five minutes later, its body had shrunk to about the same size as Will's and then stopped.
"Is that your limit?"
"Regi."
Regice's eyes flashed. Will understood now; flashing its eyes was the equivalent of nodding. At the same time, he also knew that this Regice's level was not very high.
"Have you ever fought another Pokémon?"
"Regi," Regice shook its arms. Fighting is bad. It hurts others.
"That's true. But if someone hurts you, you have to fight back. Only an idiot lets themselves get beaten up," Will said patiently. This Regice was simple-minded. It might have lived for a long time, but it probably hadn't had much contact with other creatures.
"Regi?"
"Emm... sometimes you don't need a reason to help someone," Will said, looking up at the gray sky with a grin. "Me and Meowscarada have received a lot of help from people and Pokémon on our journey. They never expected anything in return. I don't want that kindness to end with me."
"...Regi!" Regice raised both its arms. It wanted to be like Will and help others.
"You should probably solve your own problems first."
"Regi," Regice's fiery passion was instantly extinguished.
"For now, just practice hard. Pull that cold air back into your body."
"Regi, regi?"
"Hm? You want to be my friend? No problem! I'd love to be your friend. Being friends with a big pillar like you would give me a lot of face," Will said with a laugh. That way, he'd be a transmigrator with a Legendary Pokémon friend.
"Regi! Regi! (Great! You're my first friend.)"
"Oh~ then I'm truly honored," Will grinned, but his eyes couldn't help but drift to the distance, and he sighed quietly. His first friend... that was probably the old Scyther. But with its age, it must have passed away not long after he had.
"Regi~" Regice held out its short, stubby arms.
"When you've mastered your ability, then we can hug," Will said, shuddering at the thought. Hugging a Regice... what's the difference between that and hugging a giant block of ice?
"Regi?"
"We're planning to go to Eterna City. You can't come with us."
"Regi..."
"It's okay. We can stay with you here for a few days. If you can control this cold air by then, you can come with us. The weather there should be quite suitable for you," Will smiled. He had originally not wanted to stay in this snowy land for long, but there was no wind around Regice, so it wasn't that cold.
"Regi!" Regice raised its hands and cheered. The giant ice pillar, who had lived for at least a few hundred years, was acting like a six-year-old child.
~~~
Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 5 new reviews = 1 extra chapters
Every 150 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter