Radic had made his way pretty far into Johto with only his four Pokémon at his side. While normally this would have given him a disadvantage in battle, it seemed that now Radic's luck had undergone a complete reversal. Much like his earlier days as a trainer in Kanto, he seemed to win each battle he fought. However, he knew this pattern and he knew with definite certainty that when he faced Red again, he would lose, and his luck would change with that loss.

No point in dwelling on the future though, especially when there was a whole new world for him to explore, now that he was relatively unfettered by everything that had weighed him down before. Being able to win again after being defined for so long as the eternal Loser was refreshing, not to mention good for his fantastically low self-esteem, so he was enjoying it while he could.

Many trainers, convinced that the blind boy would be an easy victory, were frustrated at how he used and won with only four Pokémon. Four rather bizarre Pokémon no less. Not that it mattered to Radic either way. He no longer dreaded battle, but it had long since become something he didn't exactly look forward to. It only got harder and harder to force his Pokémon to get injured on his behalf... he relied on them more and more as time went on.

Either way, Radic was beginning to wonder about who the other two members of his team would be. He had seen a great deal of Pokémon with Poe's help, but none of them had awoken that Feeling. It had been almost a month since he had caught Chopan without any new Pokémon at his side. He was beginning to worry.

Radic reached the Ice Caves with a sigh. Always caves. God, he hated caves. Particularly since now he could navigate through them even less effectively than before. He was going to have to rely on Poe's nocturnal vision to help him here. Even though Poe had evolved into a Noctowl over the course of the previous month, the change had not affected his personality. He still remained as hysterical and melodramatic as always, only now he was too large to sit on Radic's shoulder. Instead he often hop-skipped along beside him. He had warmed up to Radic gradually over the time they'd spent together, and he treated him with a bit more civility than the others. Poe did not get along well with Radic's other Pokémon, however, with the odd exception of Chopan. For some reason, those two seemed to get along rather well.

Well, he supposed it fit. The two of them tended to grate on every other Pokémon's nerves... perhaps it was just a case of us against them.

Why were there so many caves? There was no going around it though...Radic had checked. So with a sigh, he put on his thickest jacket, released Poe, and began what he was sure would be a long and tortuous trip through the icy caverns.

He wandered for what felt like forever, just as he suspected he would, and the cold only got sharper the deeper he went. Poe did try his best to help him along, since Radic was in more danger here than in most areas, but it was still rough going. Radic often tripped, banged up his hands and shins on rocks, and he was fairly sure he had torn a hole in his jeans. Great.

After struggling to navigate a path of slippery ice that seemed dead-set on making him go around in circles, Radic decided he'd had enough. He sat down, shivering miserably and rubbing at the most recent bruise on his now exposed shin. He was going to be sore tomorrow, he just knew it. His hands were scraped and raw and nearly numb, and it was starting to hurt to breath the chill air. This was exactly when Kitsune would have been most helpful... her inner furnace could help heat him up. Unfortunately Radic only had one fire Pokémon here, and that one currently wasn't an option. Dmoxinil, now a Quilava, had a tendency to become violent when Radic called him out, and made it no secret that he'd grown to hate him.

Things were never easy. Radic called his other four Pokémon out, hoping at least the company would make him feel a bit better. After some initial chattering amongst themselves, they turned to Radic.

"What do you guys want to eat?" Might as well make this an official break. Radic sure didn't want to get up anytime soon.

"I want something hot," Poe snapped from one side.

"Well, so would we all, but do you see anything in here to use as fuel?" Dipsy said, his tone a bit short. The tiny Wooper now had a pair of small, square glasses that Radic had hooked onto the antennae on the sides of his head. Since Dipsy had no arms, he was constantly tossing his head upwards to adjust his glasses as they slipped. "Be sensible."

Chirin just curled up near Radic and buzzed constantly, apparently not appreciating the cold. She at least provided some welcome warmth.

"I don't know... of course, I am partial to anything sweet, although I'm sure you know that already," Mozart remarked offhandedly.

"You always want something sweet!" Chopan glared at his tail. "Why sweet? Can't we have something different once in a while?"

"I didn't say we always had to have something sweet, I said I would like something sweet. Honestly, you don't listen," Mozart said without energy, either bored or tired of the argument already.

"I do too listen, you just say stupid things!"

"Calm down, calm down." Radic sighed. He was used to this. "I do have some sweet things, but mostly..."

He paused as he heard something oink near him.

"Poe, what is that?"

"AGH!" He heard Poe leap into the air with a loud flap of wings, then crash into the ceiling of the cave and fall back beside him again. "Agh, get it away!"

"For heaven's sake Poe, calm down." Dipsy sighed. He could hear the slap of Dipsy's tail as he hopped his way over near Radic, pausing a bit before speaking again. "It looks like..."

Radic felt the strap of his bag, which was still looped around his wrist, shifting.

"Yes, it looks like a Swinub," Dipsy said. Radic could hear the clop of hooves as Chopan came closer to investigate as well.

"Yeah, it is a Swinub! Hey, he's trying to steal our food!"

"Maybe he's hungry," Mozart said. Chopan turned on his tail again.

"Of course he's hungry, idiot!"

Mozart let out an annoyed huff, but didn't bother to respond.

"A Swinub?" Radic reached out with his hands and felt something soft, round, and furry underneath his fingers. "Can you guys tell what it wants?"

Dipsy sounded amused. "Well, currently it wants our lunch. It's digging into your bag as we speak."

Radic sighed and felt the body of the Swinub again. It didn't seem to even notice with all of its attention focused on getting in his bag. It seemed small enough. Preparing himself in case anything went wrong, he slid his fingers underneath the furry edges of the Swinub's body and lifted it away from his bag.

"Poe? Poe, are you alright?"

"Ow." The Noctowl was standing again, but still seemed rather dizzy. "Ow, um...yeah, I think I'm okay. Ow."

"Can you give me a look at this?"

"Ugh. I guess so." Poe did not sound pleased at all with the idea. With a sudden shift of perspective, Radic was soon looking at himself as he looked at the little Swinub. The shift was faster and a bit sloppier than his previous ones, most likely due to Poe's encounter with the ceiling, but it was enough.

The little furry thing had a small pig-like nose and was a pretty, silvery-blue in color. Roundish with small stripes across its back, the Swinub wriggled its tiny legs in the air while it oinked in distress in Radic's hands.

And then he was back.

"So you're my fifth Pokémon..." He smiled at the wriggling Swinub in his hands. "I never would have guessed."

His other Pokémon were not prepared for this.

"That? That thing? No! No!" Poe was again becoming somewhat hysterical. "No, no, no! It's an ice type! An ice type, Radic! No!"

"What, are you afraid it'll hurt you?" Chopan sneered at the bird. "I wouldn't be scared of that thing if it were ten times its size."

"I don't know, maybe it'd be useful," Mozart remarked offhandedly. "You never know."

Dipsy sighed and sat down.

"Another Pokémon that's bigger than me..."

Chirin finally stopped buzzing near Radic's side and stood up on her tiny feet, moving towards the small pig Pokémon. She buzzed Radic lightly.

"Chirin?"

"I think she wants to talk to it...or something of that nature." Dipsy looked at the Mareep with some confusion. "You don't think it knows Morse code, do you, Chirin?"

Radic shrugged and put the Swinub down. "If she wants to, I trust her. Go ahead, Chirin."

While the Mareep touched noses with the Swinub, it began oinking rather excitedly at her. Chirin in turn blinked and tapped it with her feet, the two of them apparently becoming friends.

"Are Swinub normally that color?" Poe sounded terrified. "It looks kind of weird."

"I don't know." Dipsy, in comparison, sounded deeply interested. "I've only encountered one myself."

"And-"

"It was a brownish color..."

"I think it looks pretty," Mozart said. "It doesn't matter whether that's normal or not. If you ask me, I think it looks nice that color."

"Pfff, you would," Chopan said without much heart.

"Well, Chirin?"

The sheep moved against Radic's leg and buzzed him a message.

"I see. Okay. Well, let me see...Rezna, right?"

The Swinub oinked at him in agreement.

"If you come with us, I promise you'll get lots to eat and lots of rest. And you'll be able to play with Chirin all you want. I'm sure she'd be happy to play with you."

Chirin let off a small burst of electricity that made Poe fly into a huge screaming fit.

The Swinub shuffled its way up to him and nudged his hand. Radic dug out a Pokéball from his bag and Rezna willingly got inside.

With a final ding, the Swinub was caught. With it came a sense of hope.

"Maybe I'll find my final Pokémon after all." Radic smiled.