Ice Climbers' Adventures

Episode 1: Lost Climb

This story takes place in the beginning of December, in the winter.

It was a peaceful day for the Ice Climbers, until…

The machine that they had gotten from someone anonymously began to beep. The word "MESSAGE" was in big letters on its screen. "Look!" said Nana, pointing at it, "There's a message on the machine!"

Before Popo could say anything, someone was shown on the screen. He looked kind of like Popo and Nana, but he wore green. "Hello, Ice Climbers!" he said. "I'm Professor Glacier! I have to talk to you about a mission. Do you think you can take it?"

"Sure!" said Popo.

"We always like missions!" said Nana. They did like missions, especially when they involved what they were best at-climbing.

"Okay," said Prof. Glacier, pointing to a picture of a tall snow-topped mountain. "Your mission is to see what's on the top of Mt. Toughawe." Mt. Toughawe was just like any other mountain in the spring, summer, and fall, but in winter it was said to have the harshest climate of all mountains.

"You can count on us!" the Ice Climbers said. They went to where they kept their mallets and took them in their hands. They each put on a small badge they could use to talk to Prof. Glacier. Nana picked up a map they had gotten with the machine, and Popo picked up a small pack with straps on it.

"Here's everything we'll need!" he said, holding it up proudly. He always kept things they would need on adventures in it.

Outside, they walked around a little in the new-fallen snow, until Nana said, "According to the map, Mt. Toughawe is just over there!" "Here we are!" she said soon after, and they looked up at the mountain. They knew they could handle this mission. They began to run up the mountain, not knowing the danger they would find soon…

"Whew! This is a long climb!" Nana stopped for a moment to catch her breath.

"Don't worry," said Popo. "we're almost there! At the top, we'll read the advice." Prof. Glacier had written some advice for them on the other side of the map. When they got to the top, Popo looked at the advice. This is what it said:

"Advice for Mt. Toughawe

To Ice Climbers-

1. Don't stay too long and bring enough supplies. During the winter, food and building materials are hard to find, and water is only found in the snow, so bring your own.

2. Be careful not to get hurt. Injuries will be hard to treat when no one else is around.

3. Always breathe deeply when you're at the top. If you don't, you may get dizzy because there is not much air at the top.

-From Prof. Glacier"

Of course, Popo and Nana already knew to do these things, but they also knew they had to be more careful about these things on Mt. Toughawe than on other mountains.

"That doesn't sound too hard," said Popo, "Let's look around!" So the two of them began to look around. But they did not find anything.

"All I see up here is snow." said Nana.

But Popo saw something else. "Hey! There are two houses up there!" he called.

Popo and Nana went to look at the houses. They were both made of wood and very old.

They had no door and had holes in the walls and floor. One house was empty except for a fireplace in the corner, and the other was empty except for hay that covered the whole floor. "There's no one here-this house is falling apart!" Popo exclaimed.

"There's not much here…" said Nana as she looked around the room.

Beep beep! It was Popo's badge. "Hi!" A familiar voice came from the badge. "It's Prof. Glacier! How's everything going?"

"Everything's fine," Popo answered him, "We found the top, but the only thing here is two old houses."

"All right," said Prof. Glacier. "Goodbye."

"Bye." said Popo.

Now Popo and Nana were ready to leave while they had the chance. "Let's go home now." said Popo as they walked out of the house.

But then, snowflakes started to drift through the sky. "Look! It's starting to snow!" said Nana, and they stopped for a moment to admire the snow.

But more snowflakes fell. And more. "Oh, no! Now it's snowing hard!" said Popo. Soon, it was snowing so much that Popo and Nana had no choice but to get back in the old house. They jumped into the entrance and landed on the hard wooden floor. "Are you all right?" Popo asked Nana.

"I'm fine." said Nana.

They quickly moved over and sat by the wall in the back of the house. "I guess we'll have to stay here until the storm is over." sighed Popo as he took the pack of supplies off his back. And there they waited.

That night, the snow hadn't changed at all. "The storm is still going on!" said Nana.

"And the Professor must wonder where we are!" said Popo, looking at his badge.

Just then, thoughts reached their minds, things they hadn't thought of earlier, since they hadn't expected this to happen. These thoughts worried them. "I only brought enough supplies for about a day!" exclaimed Popo. "We'll have to save them somehow…"

"Where are we going to sleep?" said Nana.

They decided to sleep in the other house. They went to the hay, Nana by the wall and Popo closer to the entrance. "How long do we have to stay here?" said Nana. She didn't like this place much.

"Not long, I'm sure," Popo reassured her, "Don't worry." Soon, they both fell asleep.

The next morning, Nana woke up and found that Popo was not in the house. But then she saw that he was outside by a fire he had made. Her stomach grumbled, and she sat up. "I forgot…" she said, "we had so much excitement…I haven't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon!"

But she would not let hunger stop her. She got up and went over to Popo. "Hey, good morning!" said Popo. "How was last night?"

"I think we both fell asleep right away!" Nana said, laughing a little. Then, she noticed that the sky was clear. "The snowstorm is over!" she said happily.

Popo sighed. "But the snow is too deep for us to leave!" he said.

Meanwhile, an orange creature native to Mt. Toughawe called Icepur was walking around, enjoying the snow. She stopped when she saw Nana sitting there sadly in one of the old houses, alone. Popo had gone to see if he could find a way out of Mt. Toughawe.

She looks sad… thought Icepur when she noticed Nana, I know what to do!

She ran off to a small tree, called a snowberry tree. It was a unique tree that grew small vines with white berries called snowberries on them. It only grew berries in the winter. Icepur took one vine off the tree and ran back to the old house. It's an Icepur! thought Nana when she saw her. She was surprised to see a Creature living on the mountain.

Icepur walked right up to her. She stopped in front of her and dropped the snowberry vine into her hands. Nana was confused by this, but she smiled. I know I've seen these before! Somewhere… she thought. "Thank you, Icepur!" she said, petting the cat-like Creature's head.

Later, Popo had found a snowberry tree too. But before he could do anything, he saw something in the distance running toward him. What's that? he thought, It must be an enemy! He raised his mallet up in the air, ready to strike. I'll defeat it! he thought.

"Ice?" Icepur popped up nearby.

"No!" cried Nana from behind Popo.

Popo turned around. "Why not?" he said.

"That's an Icepur, and she helped me," said Nana, "Don't hurt her!"

Popo looked back at the frightened Icepur, who was shivering slightly. "Hey, I'm sorry, Icepur," he said softly, petting Icepur, "Don't worry." Icepur smiled and looked up at him innocently.

That evening, after Icepur left, Popo and Nana sat outside by the fire, in front of the old houses. "I guess there's one good thing about being stuck here," said Nana.

"What's that?" said Popo.

"We have a new friend!" said Nana.

And they had found a new friend in Icepur. They didn't know it, but their adventures were only beginning!

End of Episode 1

(The original story was made with drawings by me and was made on August 28-31, 2010)