"Come on! We're only about thirty minutes to Snowpoint!"
Hi. My name is Collete. I'm a seventeen-year old Pokémon Trainer.
"B-But it's s-s-s-so cold!"
And behind me is my friend Alex. He's twenty-two and also a Pokémon Trainer. A way better one than me.
"Well, that's what you get for not wearing more layers," I smiled without turning around. "Think about it this way. At least there aren't any wild Pokémon out in the blizzard portion of Route 217."
"Well, this is my first time up here, you know," Alex protested, sneezing to emphasis how cold he really was.
"Not my problem," I stated coldly. "You said you were coming to the Christmas party this year, and I'm going to make sure you get there!"
He muttered something along the lines of "shouldn't have been talked into this" as he kept on trudging through the snow.
Oh great. Now I felt bad. It was a personality quirk of mine. I'm not really sure whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, but if I'm doing the funnest thing in the world to me, and my friend right next to me isn't having fun (or worse, is sad) I'm not having fun.
"H-Hey, you'll enjoy the party. And once you get this place logged into your Pokétch, you'll be able to fly here easy!" I said, turning around and trying to cheer him up.
"Yeah. You're right," he smiled. Well, that was easy.
"Besides, if we get lost, someone will find us since we're wearing black trench-coats-"
"Do not, I repeat, do not tell me we're going to get lost, Collete," he said with his eyes widening. Well, that was easily undone.
"D-Don't worry," I smiled (cue giant anime sweatdrop thing), "I know this area well, even with such low visibility."
"I-I'm trusting you," he looked up to me with a smile before we started walking again.
Truthfully, it was a hard journey. Route 217 was unforgiving if you were not prepared. But I promised myself I would give Alex an awesome Christmas. And what better way then to force him to go to the Christmas party we held each year? Throughout the years, I met many interesting Trainers. One in particular decided to try and invite as many friends to Jubilife for a party as possible. Most of his friends being Trainers, most were unavailable, but those who came quickly developed lasting friendships.
Every year since, we held a Christmas party in Snowpoint City. Even Candice joined in last year since she knew many of us from our journeys.
"We're almost out of the blizzard," I informed Alex as I noticed a clearing in the distance, a landmark I made sure to remember if I ever had to cross the frozen tundra again.
Alex was one of the friends I met in our little circle. At first, he seemed somewhat shy, yet still talked to everyone. Determined to break that sky attitude, I started to talk to him a lot more. Of course, I can't change people's personalities, and it kinda grew on me how shy yet caring he was. Nothing romantic, mind you, I was far to busy for that nonsense (I'm lying to myself, but there were other guys, none of which I've met).
The thing about Alex, though, was that he didn't celebrate holidays. Well. That was going to change. I even had to hunt him down to even get the chance to invite him. Hunt. Him. Down.
"Finally! We're out of that nightmare!" Alex cheered as the blizzard started to die down. He took of the black trench-coat hood to reveal short dark brown hair. I did the same, unfurling my long blonde hair. As I was getting my hair out into the air, though, I accidentally loosened the blue scarf I was wearing. One gust of wind later, and it flew off.
"Arecus, why do you hate me?" I facepalmed as I ran off to catch my scarf. Alex ran ahead of me right as it was about to fly into a tree.
"It's just out of reach!" he shouted as the scarf flew straight up. I was right next to him as he jumped, when I heard the one thing I was hoping not to hear.
"Abomasnow!" the "tree" shouted. Alex was in the air. There was no time to dodge as the Frost Tree Pokémon inhaled deeply, signaling it was about to use Icy Wind. A direct hit from Icy Wind would devastate a human!
There was no choice. I quickly pushed Alex to the side, tumbling both of us out of the way. A sharp pain, like instant frostbite, covered most of my right torso. As we landed in the snow, we scrambled up.
Actually, he scrambled up. I tried to prop myself off of the ground with both arms, but when I realized my right arm wasn't moving, I actually decided to look at it. Frozen. My right side of frozen from my shoulder to my waist. A thud alerted me to look to my left. The block of ice that was once my favorite scarf had just landed.
I couldn't even roll over off of my face-down position due to the ice. I wasn't going to risk cracking the ice. Ice breaking with Colette's arm in it equals bad. Very very very bad.
"I've had a really long day..." I heard Alex say calmly behind me, as I struggled to spin around and see what was happening. When I finally got turned around to a point where I wasn't staring just snow, I saw that Alex had already released his Lucario.
"Abomasnow!" The Pokémon shouted again.
"Yeah, we're in your territory," Alex kept his calm voice, "That's mostly your fault for disguising yourself as a tree."
The Abomasnow, naturally not listening to its invaders words, inhaled deeply again.
"It's also mostly your fault that one of my best friends is face-down in the snow frozen," he said, his voice raising slightly.
Just as it opened its mouth, Alex ordered "Aura Sphere!" The attack hit the wild Pokémon right in the mouth, causing it to stumble back and fall. Lucario then followed up by jumping on top of the downed Pokémon.
"Finish it with a Drain Punch while its down," Alex ordered. His Lucario complied, punching his enemy square in the stomach with visible energy traveling back towards him. Silence filled the air as Lucario apprehensively backed up, making sure the Abomasnow was down. A few moments later, Alex withdrew his Lucario, the battle being won.
"I-It really hurts to prop my head up like this," I winced, breaking the silence. I mean, it wasn't like your head was meant to be propped up without much arm support. Yeah, I didn't have much of that at the moment.
Alex ran over to me with a worried expression.
"J-Just help me get up to my feet," I told him. "Don't touch my arm. It just needs to thaw out naturally next to a fire or something."
"R-Right," he said, back to his shy demeanor. "Thanks for saving me, by the way."
"That's my line, sir," I replied with a small giggle as he helped me up with my free arm. "It over there on the ground and not in front of me to finish me off. I'd say you did your job well."
"Thanks," he grinned happily.
"Let's get going," I said as I started walking back towards Snowpoint. "I need to get this dead weight thawed out."
~The next day~
"W-What the hell happened to you, Colette?"
"You piss of an Abomasnow on the way here or something?"
Multiple alarms when off for anyone paying attention as I walked in the multi-floored cabin we rented. I assured the others I was fine, telling them the ice around my arm was twice as thick last night. After briefly chatting with a few other people, I went to go find Alex. I told him to go on without me, since I'd take a bit more time getting clothes on with my frozen arm, and that I'd meet him at the party.
I wandered from room to room, seeing many familiar and friendly faces. In one room, I saw my friend Anna, somehow simultaneously holding a conversation with a certain black haired teenage boy (usually the quiet type, but Anna had her ways of making people talk) and at the same time teasing my friend Emma, calling her a younger age then she was already.
In another room, I saw another group of teens playing video games. Well, one was playing and the others were watching. I couldn't help but giggle as the guy playing was able to quote every single special attack the main character did. As I left the room, I heard the triumphant shout of "Savage Wolf Fury!"
Finally, though, I found Alex in a room chatting with friends. It was a particular group of friends. One that I'd been fairly close to, yet rarely chatted with anymore. I contemplated entering the room, but decided against it.
That was my motto. If they're happy, I'm happy. I smiled as I walked down the hallway into the main room and sat by the fireplace, chatting with a few people around it. Just then, I remembered something important. I forgot to get a present for Alex. I asked around until I could get a piece of paper and a pen, smiled at my ambidextrous writing skills, and got to work writing.
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This is mainly a holiday-fic for my friend Red on the Mountaintop, though I did make a few references to the totally epic and awesome people of the totally epic and awesome forum "This is Not a Forum". Also, this was not-beta'd. Yeah, that's my apology for any speeling errors you found.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year's, and Happy Holidays, everyone.