Somewhere
Paws met snow with a light, icy crunch. Wind whipped around a figure as it sped across a narrow bridge and onto a mountaintop of snow, a flapping tail in its wake. Tensed muscles aided in propelling it forward with every step, marking the ice with small shapely holes.
Scuttling ahead ran another figure, its small legs hardly able to maintain a quick pace. Promptly it fell over, skidding through the snow and tumbling until it came to an abrupt stop. Quickly the larger figure closed in, leaping toward the smaller, black pokémon whose fear was embedded into its quivering face.
Promptly the smaller of the two was lifted off the ground, the black ponytail on her head caught between the jaws of the pokémon who now held her in his grasp. She squeaked, calling out with alarm as the hair-like appendage sent bolts of pain to her mind. The pokémon whose teeth held her in place, however, was focused on nothing more than charging on, his legs replacing one another as he stayed in the same spot for no longer than a split second.
In the small black pokémon's distraction, she hardly had time to react in panic to the reappearing form of a monstrous ice type whose burly arms smashed through the wall of a cave she and the pokémon carrying her had just shot from. Her shrill cry spiralled up into the diamond-shaped ears belonging to her carrier, two appendages that flowed from the creature's head flapping about near the smaller one's face. She rocked wildly from side to side as she was carried, the pain from her position drowned out by the intense fear she felt for the pokémon who had newly begun to pursue them.
"Hurry!" she shrieked, and the pokémon carrying her, breathing hard from the effort, narrowed his eyes as a firm brow pressed itself down, his snarling nose rising to meet it. Icy steam escaped his mouth with every puff of forced air, shooting behind him as he continued on and secretly hoped for the air to somehow solidify around the pokémon behind him.
He sped on, trying to push himself harder as ferocious roars escaped the maw of the pokémon in his wake, able to visualise without turning around the enormous pokémon's hideously enraged face with what would appear to be permanent creases of anger upon his scarred face, ploughing through the snow as he dropped to all-fours and charged after them with only one focus in mind: elimination.
"I'm sorry...I'm sorry! I'm sorry," insisted the small psychic type, her tiny voice hardly convincing as her saviour carried on, trudging as fast as he could up a steep, snowy slope, all while knowing that the pokémon behind him was perfectly able to scale the slant with little more than a few leaps.
A growl escaped his muzzle as his green eyes narrowed even further, his back legs aching as his front ones tried to aid them in scrambling along the snow. When he reached the top, he did not dare turn back even for a small glance before he powered on down the side of the hill, taking note of the vast forest laid out before him. He grunted in thought as he mused that his clan was much the same as the acclimatised trees, but did not waste any further thought on stray considerations.
The small pokémon tried to bury her face in her little black hands to rid herself of the image her paranoia was trying to predict; the gigantic icy-white pokémon with permanent icicles on his chin would shoot down the mountainside and catch them in a single paw... Her consistent swinging made trying to cover her face with her hands nearly impossible, and the fact that her eyes were far bigger than her hands prevented such a motion altogether. This would have caused her to feel more frightened, but as she continued to be carried, she began to feel a small pool of hope amass in her somewhere; the glaceon seemed to be escaping.
"I think we're...I think we're getting away," the small pokémon began, wanting to break into a cheer at the same time as desperately feeling the need to be silent. However, as soon as she began to believe that they might have a chance of getting away, the looming figure crested the hill, obscuring the sun for but a second before barrelling down the hill after them. "No!" she shouted, her small voice melting into the snow around her.
The denim-coloured pokémon gripping her tried to ignore her shouts as he continued leaping further away from the beast and toward the vast expanse of snowy trees. Determinedly the pokémon continued to charge forward, gasping as he envisioned the large pokémon behind him gaining on him. He whipped his head around, daring a look just as the massive bear pokémon gave out a roar and lashed forward, swiping a massive paw toward them. The glaceon's eyes widened the instant before the paw missed, and in response, immediately tossed the gothita away. She shrieked as she flew through the air low to the ground and disappeared within a mound of snow, momentarily catching the beartic's attention.
The moment the bear pokémon glanced away, the glaceon shot a thick beam of ice toward him, striking his nose and encasing it in ice. The ice type, suddenly realising what had happened, whipped his head back to the glaceon with eyes blazing and intentions firmly planted—there was no deterring him now.
With what appeared to be a playful flash of a grin, the glaceon whirled back around and rocketed through the air, slamming the ground with his paws once more. The rush of adrenaline that bolted through his body was not unfamiliar to him, and only further pushed him into the trees, dashing between each one and weaving in and out of what was a densely populated area. He knew this, and therefore was also aware that the great bear-like pokémon would have a certain amount of trouble dealing with the congestion. The thought lifted his smile, but he did not let it distract him or boost his confidence to unrealistic levels.
Taking a sharp turn, the small blue ice type dashed off the main path he had been following, momentarily misleading the beartic, only for him to reset himself back on the right track and follow along, brow firmly knotted with anger. The glaceon, beginning to feel the strain of exhaustion, tried to imagine a suitable way to throw the pokémon off track. One such option was to find a cliff and somehow trick the pokémon into falling off, but he was not sure where one was now that he was on solid land, as opposed to the mountaintop he had recently been on. He could not climb trees, and even if he could, that would be out of the question, as he was sure the beartic could. He could not lead him back to his clan, for that would be irresponsible of him, and not at all practical. Keeping this in mind, he found it hard to imagine what could be a suitable solution.
Nevertheless, he continued on, hoping that at some point, he would find something to end the scene and solve his problem once and for all. Quickly glancing about, he realised that he was coming out of the forest. The notion was a little disconcerting, as it meant he would be exposed and without a place to hide. However, as the structure of the land coupled with the arrangement of certain trees and distant views washed over his eyes, the area began to reveal itself as familiar. With wide eyes, he verified that just short of where he loped lay a wide river—one perfect for washing a beartic down. He did not know how possible it was, but it was worth a try.
Testing his ice and blowing a few stray puffs of mist into the ground beside him as he ran, small spires erected in his wake before they were shattered by the charging pokémon tailing him. A savage roar ripped through the area, startling the ice type eeveelution, who again resisted the urge to glance over his shoulder to view the galloping form. He yelped with surprise when a beam of ice shot directly past him, freezing the ground and causing a small wall of ice to build itself on the spot. The quadruped swallowed a glob of dry saliva, dashing to his right as another beam struck to his left, freezing the spot he had just been.
Growling as he realised that the beartic had just made everything painfully difficult, the glaceon darted off in a diagonal path to the river not too far from where they were, having to leap every now and again in case another beam was fired at his paws. To his horror, instead of a freezing beam of ice, a thick, piercing shard shot over his head with a thin whistle. Alarms sounded in his head as he gritted his teeth and changed path again, this time heading directly for the river. Again another shard shot his way, causing him to accidentally miscalculate his jump and trip over his paws, plunging into the ground and rolling through the snow.
Immediately another shard shot his way, and he promptly had to drop his head to lay on his side as the dagger skimmed past, removing some fur from his shoulder. He was shocked by the incident for but a moment before he noticed that he was not hurt, and it was merely the fur that had parted with his skin, as opposed to his skin from his muscle. This, although reliving, was a sure sign that he needed to flee.
As the bear pokémon approached, enormous teeth revealing themselves in a snarl once more, the glaceon sat up, using his front paws to suddenly push off the snow and dart between the great pokémon's legs with a quick attack, accidentally bumping the pokémon as he soared past.
There was a rumble of anger as the pokémon turned around, only to find that his target was nowhere to be seen. Confusedly the pokémon grunted, whirling around again, only to find nothing. He stopped, baffled, while scanning the surrounding areas. He could still smell the punk who had invaded his home, but he was nowhere to be seen. He brought a large paw to his head and scraped his scalp a few times, then snorted and dropped to all-fours again. He felt his most prominent feeling of anger drain from his body and leave him in a state of agitation, but lowered rage, before he blew a puff of mist from his nose, which had unfrozen when he purposely shattered the ice encasing it, and blinked a few times. It was then when it occurred to him how sleepy he was, and began to make his way slowly back to his mountain. However, he made it no more than a few steps before sinking down, his face planting itself into the snow as his rump faced the sky.
The glaceon, who had hidden behind the beartic the whole time, waited a moment to ensure the great ice type was down for the count before cautiously strolling past, eying the pokémon's face as he crept. A bubble hung from the pokémon's nose upon each breath as a promise that he was not getting to his feet anytime soon.
The glaceon sighed; his family was one of the few who had a line of eevee born with the ability to yawn and convey tired feelings to another pokémon, only to put them to sleep a few short heartbeats later. The glaceon was aware that it was not an ability that eevee learn naturally, or glaceon for that matter, and he was one of the few in his clan able to do it. Similarly, others were vessels of moves such as summoning a shooting star to grant a wish and restore energy, or the ability to draw power from a berry and transform it into an attack.
Not dwelling on the thoughts but thankful for the power, the ice type sped past the predator, heading back into the nearby forest. The trees welcomed him with glad whispers and small sprinkles of snow and ice, a few stray pieces wetting his coat before sliding off. He used his nose to scent the air, and although the majority of what he could smell was simple coldness and the scent of frosty flora, he was convinced that he could find the small psychic type he had saved.
Lifting his muzzle as he came to a halt, he closed his eyes and felt the soft wind dance around him. The breeze cradled the appendages hanging from his crest and played with them for a short time before his eyes snapped open, and he was again shooting off in a slightly different direction. The scent carried him only a short while before he spotted her at the foot of a tree, shivering wildly while something shimmered around her, almost looking like a dome of liquid. He was in quiet awe of her ability to control energy how she did, as he has rarely seen anything like it.
He lowered his head and relaxed his gait once she spotted him nearing to try to convey his friendly intent. She was on high alert, as was expected. "Don't be afraid, little one. I have returned."
"I'm not...a kid...you know," she shivered, a sort of hostility in her eyes which he had not previously picked up on. He tried not to appear surprised as he bent his legs and lowered his head.
"If you would come with me—"
"O-of course," she responded a little awkwardly, as if unsure why she was so guarded around her rescuer. "You know how to get out of here..."
The glaceon cast a glance in the beartic's direction and watched as he stirred. "Indeed, but if we want to escape without that gigantic ice type freezing our tails, we must leave now."
The psychic type nodded and hesitantly brought down her shield; she was wary about the glaceon, but only due to the fact that she was worried he would appear unpredictable. She had not seen enough of him to make a solid judgement yet, but based on how he had simply saved her without being asked – aside from her screams and pleas – she was fairly convinced that he was a good-hearted pokémon with no hidden, malicious intent.
Without another word, the glaceon bent his head down and allowed the pokémon to climb up his face, only to sit on the back of his neck and clutch at his short fur. He uttered to her that she might want to secure herself with psychic power, but realised soon after that she was probably quite drained and therefore lacked the ability to secure herself. Instead she simply sat there and hoped she would not fall off, pressing her body against his pelt partly in exhaustion.
He glanced over his shoulder and spotted her, giving her a smile of hope. She tried to smile back, but was beaten by the glaceon's speed as he took off, loping between the high-reaching trees.
ooo
Night had fallen by the time the glaceon had reached his clan and, prepared, he explained to the small black pokémon clinging to his back that there was no chance he would be able to escort her out of the mountains before darkness fell. She had agreed and told him that she believed there was a greater risk of being hunted and killed when there was no light to provide them with the safety of sight. In agreement with her word, the glaceon explained that he could allow her to stay with his clan for one night, and in the morning, they would descend the mountain and meet with its base. From there she could find her way and be on the right track for her home.
She was content with that and although he knew that there might be a sense of hostility from some of the clan members due to the stranger's invasion, he knew that they could say nothing about it. Clan law permitted one outsider to stay with the clan for a single night, and as long as they left at dawn, there would be no further problem. He explained to her that if the outsider was an eevee or glaceon and met the requirements – the details of which he did not expand on – then there was a possibility that they could be inducted into the clan.
"Does that happen often?" wondered the gothita, and the glaceon slowly rocked his head from side to side.
"It has not happened in many years. Most pokémon do not wander through these mountains without a purpose, and therefore most pokémon we see have objectives and no desire to join the clan anyway. It's only by pure chance we might meet a candidate; in fact, it has only happened on two occasions in the history of our clan. My grandfather and grandmother were one of those two times." He took a moment to see if the psychic type had a comment to contribute, but she did not speak. "The other was years ago when I was eight years old."
"Don't worry, I won't be a pain to deal with," the gothita assured, and the glaceon tested a smile, sure that she would stick to her word and confident about her already.
The two arrived at the clan's borders shortly after and came to flat ground littered with snow where a collection of clan members sat and had gathered in groups. Many of them were speaking softly to one another while others simply sat, their minds at east as the blanketing darkness began to slowly encase their surroundings. When some of them saw the two enter, their heads shot up immediately, frowns pressed into their brows and concern on their faces. The pair simply continued on, passing some who got to their paws and others who merely sat and watched suspiciously. The gothita clung to her saviour tightly as he passed through, paying no attention to those around him.
He rounded a jutting cliff face and entered an opening in one side of it, the small psychic type getting a glance at the height of what appeared to be a large rise. The ground, if they were to walk alongside the cliff face, slowly rose up to meet with the higher ground and became evenly levelled. She imagined that the cave they were about to enter would also rise up so there would be hardly anything of a room a few metres in, but to her surprise, the path sloped down.
The surprise also came with the level of darkness that met them when they entered, but it was shortly dispelled when shafts of dim light were spotted shining down through openings in the top of the cave-like habitat. As they entered into a larger room, no longer in the passage that greeted them from the entrance, the psychic pokémon spotted what appeared to be glowing crystals on the walls. She began to shiver more fiercely than before, realising that the temperature was dropping considerably fast. As well as being away from the snow, she figured that the rock encasing them would hold some more warmth than out in the open, but if anything, it felt colder.
"Is it supp-pposed to be so c-c-cold in h-here?" she whispered, noting with something close to shock that the breaths escaping her mouth turned into condensation.
The glaceon turned over his shoulder and was about to answer when another voice chimed in.
"We are ice types."
The gothita tossed her eyes about the room before spotting, to their left, a larger, older glaceon atop a ledge protruding from the wall higher up. It was far higher than she knew the glaceon could leap, but felt a little silly when she noticed smaller stepping-ledges leading up to it, although it still appeared as if one would need to leap between each one with a considerable spring.
Suddenly the small pokémon began to tip forward, and for a moment she was surprised and wondered what was happening before encountering the fact that the glaceon she was riding on had bowed to whom she assumed was his leader. When he was finished, he lifted his top half again by elevating it with his front legs. "Yorrand, I humbly ask your permission to harbour a guest tonight."
The gothita watched as the glaceon, who looked to be at least a few times the younger one's age, pointed his gentle gaze to the glaceon and tilted his head up a fraction. "And who might this guest be?" he questioned, his voice somewhat husky. The way his head was angled caused the glowing ice stuck fast to many parts of the surrounding walls to reflect off his eyes and light a spark of both wisdom and authority. She swallowed, finding herself unquestionably intimidated already.
The glaceon bent down again, and at first the gothita thought he must have been bowing a second time – although for what purpose she did not know – until she slid all the way off, which was when she concluded that he intended to present her for assessment. She held her skirt down with both hands and angled her lavender face up at the other ice type eeveelution.
"This is a young gothita I found on a spontaneous outing today," the glaceon explained simply. When it was clear that the elder desired more information than that, the glaceon continued. "She was exploring a cave, but the cave unfortunately happened to belong to a sleeping beartic. This beartic was...unhappy to receive the sight of a foreign pokémon intruding in his home when he was woken up."
When the elder cast a judgemental glance over the small gothita, the small pokémon flashed a sheepish smile glazed with embarrassment and a degree of shame. However, she did not speak, although she wished to retreat back into the glaceon's fur. "Well, unhappy is an understatement," she piped up, a little shocked at herself that she had spoken. She suddenly noticed both sets of eyes on her, but cleared her voice and continued anyway. Her voice was the only sound in the cave as it bounced off the ice-touched walls. "I-it was more like...furious."
"This news does not surprise me," the elder murmured, and the gothita felt a small amount relieved by the news. She let her shoulders relax as she breathed out some degree of a chuckle. A shiver climbed up her spine, but she quietly ignored it.
"Yes, they are...very aggressive," she agreed.
"No," began the older glaceon, his voice strong and crisp as it rung out through the cavern. The psychic type flinched a little at the abruptness of it and then focused herself on his strong, armoured eyes. "It does not surprise me that an outsider would behave in such a manner. Aggravating the more...wrathful inhabitants of our shared land."
The psychic type stuttered a little while trying to manage an apology, but was interrupted when the elder's face softened.
"Do not fret, little one. I will not harm you." He began to descend the small ledges stuck to the wall; the psychic type expected his legs to suddenly give in each time he landed, but they remained as tough as his demeanour.
The elder, once on the cold stone floor, padded slowly up to her, and it was then that she became fully aware how large he was—nearly twice the size of the one who had saved her. This time she felt like cowering. However, upon seeing the small, relaxed smile of the glaceon beside her, and a separate one on the ice type looming not a metre before her, she felt herself release the tension. There was nothing to be afraid of.
"Tell me, what is your name?" he inquired, and the small psychic type swallowed before glancing to the pokémon who had rescued her. He nodded and blinked once to assure her that she was safe to do so.
She swallowed and turned back. "Mindi."
The elder glaceon gave a single nod. "Mindi, please take into account that we may only harbour one outsider for a single night, as is our custom. I trust you have already been educated on this matter?" He turned his head slowly to the other glaceon.
He looked down in respect and bobbed his head. "I have educated her, yes."
When the elder looked back to the psychic type, she quickly piped up before he could speak. "I will behave myself at all times... I can't hunt for you but perhaps I could...perhaps my psychic abilities might come in handy for something. I'm...I'm not sure how, but I'll find a way," she exclaimed determinedly, as if trying to fight for her place.
The elder seemed pleasantly amused, although not at all mocking. "Have no fear, child; we do not expect anything of you in return. These mountains were built for us, not because of us. We have no right to keep them to ourselves indefinitely. Simultaneously, we must protect it, for it is the only thing we have besides one another, and that is the reason for our law." He paused to ensure everything was clear, and when he deemed it suitable to continue, he did. "I would happily accept you amongst our clan this night," he began graciously, and upon hearing the words, Mindi's entire body breathed a sigh of relief, and her shoulders relaxed. A smile stretched across her lips and in the midst of turning to the younger glaceon, the other began to speak once more. "However...we have one other staying with us already. And as much as I would like to compensate you with safety, it is currently impossible..."
Mindi felt her blood run cold. At first she was confused at why she had not been informed as soon as they set foot into the cave, but then she could only focus on her shaking limbs. She had expected safety this night, and now she was being denied that simple luxury. With fearful eyes, she caught the startled stare of her rescuer.
Yorrand gave a short bow out of respect and apology. "I bid you my sincerest apologies. I cannot grant you an exemption for fear of misbalance. If I allowed one pokémon to be an additional guest staying one night, then it would be expected of me to do so other nights for other friends of my clan, or...it would be expected of me to break other traditions and laws that have been in place with the clan for many years."
With one more flash of an withered diplomatic smile, the elder turned around and met with the wall before bounding up each of the smaller ledges, and reaching the wider, top one. When he did, Mindi watched with her frightened gaze as he sunk into a lying position and watched both her and the other glaceon.
The little psychic pokémon was in shock as she continued to stare, and began to shake her head to match her quivering body. The information processed itself slowly through her little mind, beginning to taunt her about having to find another place, only panicking herself even further. Finally she tore her gaze from the elder and to her saviour, whose brow was knotted with disappointment and traces of sympathy. She began to flick her eyes between both of his, as if in search of an answer that may have been hidden in the fur between them. "But I...there's nowhere for me to go," she breathed, her eyes filling with multiple levels of fear as she glanced over the ice type's face.
He sighed inwardly and lowered himself to the ground, waiting as the gothita did nothing but feel herself panic even further. "Climb on," he instructed softly, and only after another small protest did she eventually lift herself up. Before exiting the cavern, he turned his head to the elder and held his eyes for a moment, giving yet another dip of his head.
As he pulled out of the chamber and back through the slowly-rising passage, he felt his tail droop and his head sink. When they emerged outside, his paws kicked the snow aside and shuffled it away as if annoyed by its attempt at comfort. The little gothita on his neck was not at all convinced that she could find anyplace that was comforting or safe during the night, as was displayed by her small words which were devoid of hope and her face, which the glaceon could not see at present, but could clearly imagine in his mind.
"I am sorry... I shouldn't have gotten your hopes up without checking first," he murmured.
"Where do I go? Where can I stay out here that isn't...beartic territory?" she whimpered, viewing the image of the massive creature and his deadly claws, not to mention his ability to project ice wherever he pleased. Being with a glaceon, much smaller and generally friendlier, was a much more comforting thought. "I couldn't sneak back here... I'd be too afraid to do that."
"No," grunted the glaceon with a slow head-shake. "I would not permit you to do that... It would only make things worse. We must respect clan law and find you a place outside the clan to stay."
"But where...?"
Mindi's small, delicate words hung in the air and weaved in and out of the ice type's ears as he tried to imagine an answer. He wanted to suggest a tree, but if the psychic type could not climb or get down, then there was no sense in responding with that. However, when he put it forward, Mindi responded that it was likely she would be able to get herself up and down from the branches by using her psychic abilities, although she would need to be in the right mindset to be able to do so. Other than that, she mentioned that any tree hollow would be appropriate, and she could deal with staying nestled in a little burrow as well, as long as it did not contain other unwelcoming pokémon.
"Perhaps at the mouth of a burrow, then?" put forward the glaceon, and he felt Mindi shrug on his neck.
"I don't know... We'll just find somewhere and then...see how safe I am."
As they passed directly down the mountain, a voice chimed from his right, and across a small hill came bounding a full-grown copper-coloured eevee with a wide grin across her face. "Brother, brother!" As she came closer, the pearl puffs of fur around her neck bouncing and swaying with each step, her brown eyes became clouded with questions and her brow pressed down a little. "Who...who is that?" she questioned, coming to a stop shortly before she came within two metres of them. She looked cautious of the black pokémon, but more so curious.
The glaceon's face lightened when he saw her, and angled his head over one shoulder. "This is Mindi, a traveller through these mountains. She is a gothita." He narrowed his eyes in playfulness and leaned closer, muttering lowly, "A real psychic type."
"Wow, a real psychic type?" wondered the eevee, her face becoming one of wonder and curiosity.
The gothita cast her a wary glance and slowly nodded, understanding that, for the most part, it was okay to talk to this creature. She was, after all, related to the glaceon who had saved her life. "Yes, I am...a psychic type," she clarified, although she was less than keen to show her any sort of "trick."
"Can you show me something?" she asked, and immediately Mindi cringed. The glaceon caught notice of this and smoothed out his voice.
"Mindi's very tired," he began reasonably, "and we need to find her a place to stay for the night."
"Oh yeah," pondered the eevee, looking to leave the conversation in that moment and allow her thoughts to drift away. "I saw the other pokémon who wanted to stay with us." She pursed her lips, then stretched her mouth into a sort of sly smile. "But you're more interesting," she whispered to the gothita, who blinked in surprise.
"Oh, I'm really not—"
"What was the pokémon?" inquired the glaceon, wondering how his little sister knew when he did not.
The normal type, somewhere distracted, promptly replied, "Just a forest pokémon."
The verification of a pokémon who had taken her place as the clan's only overnight guest deflated Mindi's mood; it was further confirmation that there was no hope for her after all.
"Can I help you look for somewhere to sleep?" asked the normal type with heightened interest, and the glaceon in front of her blew a cloud of mist from his nose as he appeared to consider it. "Please?" she asked, her eyes wide and her smile bright.
"You may," her brother granted, and she grinned as excitement flooded into her.
"Hooray!" she cheered, and bounced a few times. Mindi felt herself cower a little, marginally intimidated by the young pokémon's clusters of energy. She raced directly toward the two pokémon and immediately leapt over her brother's back, tucking her paws in so she avoided clipping the psychic type's head. She was glad for this, but at the same time, did not appreciate the action at all. When the eevee landed, she whirled around instantly and beamed.
"Let's go!" she cried, and the glaceon smiled back, then looked to his guest. Mindi took a breath and nodded, giving him a sort of permission to continue on.
As the eevee began to trot away, Mindi knotted her brow and thought of asking the glaceon where they were headed. Suddenly she realised that she did not know his name, and crept up his neck to murmur, "Um...what is your name?"
He turned his head so that one eye could see the both of hers before he answered, "Kairack."
ooo
"It may not be entirely concealed, but it will do for the night," the glaceon informed from atop a small cliff, looking diagonally down from it and at the back of a wide tree. Lined up against the cliff was a hollow in the tree's trunk, just enough space between the rock and the opening to allow someone small such as a gothita to wedge herself through and remain nestled inside.
She glanced up at him somewhat sadly, her eyes fearful and her appearance completely unsure. "Are you sure this will be safe...?" she questioned with a small voice, and the glaceon kept his eyes on her without answering with anything specific. He wanted to reassure her, as it was fairly concealed and he was sure that not many would bother to check such a spot for prey, but at the same time, it could have been a lie of false hope.
"I can't see you!" shouted a high-pitched voice from the base of the tree, and as Mindi reached her head around the tree, unable to lean out far enough to spy the small form of the eevee, she felt some sense of relief. Not only could the normal type not see her, but she could not gain such a position that would enable her to see the eevee. "You're so hidden; it's like you're not even there!"
Mindi caught a flicker of a smile from the glaceon before he turned back with a face of reasoning and reassurance. His expression was light, and gave the psychic type hope that he was not going to throw anything overly-serious or pressuring onto her. "Tora can't see you," he input, and Mindi gave a brief smile.
"Okay...well then, I guess this is suitable enough," she murmured, pulling herself back through the hole. She swallowed and glanced around, patting one of her feet on the loamy inside of the tree while wondering how there could be a sudden gap in the trunk. She considered that perhaps somebody had purposely made it so for their own inhabitancy, and hoped that an unexpected guest was not going to show their face to her in the middle of the night.
After Kairack ensured that there were no visible predators around, he had hopped off the short cliff that slanted to meet up with the rising hill, and trotted with his sister in the direction they had come. It was the opposite direction to where Mindi was facing, so she could not watch them go, which bothered her. Nevertheless, she tried to keep herself focused on the positive, and sat to one side, unable to see anything out through the hole in the trunk except the hardened face of the side of the cliff.
"I'll be fine... I'll be fine," she muttered to herself in some attempt to press the words into her mind and suddenly make them believable. She gave a final sigh before closing her eyes and hoping that she could get to sleep in the early hours of the night, knowing that when the sun rose, she would likely be allowed back to the clan, where she would seek more guidance from the glaceon who had so kindly walked her through the mountains up until this point.
With the thought in mind, she permitted herself to relax so she could drift off to sleep.
ooo
Upon arriving at clan grounds once more, Kairack made an effort to find out who the guest for the night was. He did not hear it from anybody but the clan elder and Tora, and he knew in the past that the elder had been informed of guests, only to have been misled when the guest was unable to stay. It would have been unfortunate if the case was similar for this night, but the orange illumination blanketing the horizon which shone out onto their land informed the glaceon that it was not yet too dark to retrieve the gothita from her temporary dwelling anyway. However, if he found out when it was too late, he was not going to risk trekking away from the mountain alone, or with the risk of leading anyone or anything back to where Mindi was hiding.
He worked his way through several ice structures which were being patched and refined, and kept an eye open for any glaceon who was aware of the guest they had accepted into their clan for the night.
Eventually he came across someone's den which contained the targeted pokémon, who was a grass type from the nearby forest who, like Mindi, did not want to be in such a vulnerable position during the night. Like himself, the glaceon harbouring the guest acted as a guide, and wished to keep the pokémon safe for longer in the clan grounds. Kairack was content to find that the glaceon was simply being noble and helpful to this stranger, as was his reason for wanting to keep Mindi there overnight.
Tora was still unclear on the reasons behind why only one guest per night was permitted to stay with them, but Kairack, not entirely understanding it himself even under the explanation given by the elder, only told her that she would one day understand.
By the time the sky had darkened, Kairack and Tora had nestled together amongst other glaceon on the floor of Yorrand's cave. Many of the glaceon slept there during the night, mostly members who did not have the time to maintain an ice home – such as the hunters – or for those who simply preferred to stay in the cave. It was a mix of reasons for Kairack, and Tora, as his little sister, rotated between sleeping beside him in the cave and staying in her parents' ice home. Every home surrounded by ice was reinforced with a main structure of wood, which were set up generally by passers-by who had opposable thumbs and the strength to lift. Many of the glaceon feared the destruction of their homes as they were, so they came to the solution of hardening everything with ice so that if it was to melt somewhat over the course of a few days, they could simply freeze it once more and retain the structure. Kairack thought it to be a clever idea, but he himself was not interested in seeking help for an outside pokémon to build him his own little home. He preferred the cave.
"Aren't you meant to be staying with Mother and Father tonight?" the glaceon asked as his sister snuggled up against his side.
She waited until she was comfortable before she raised her eyes to him. "I wanted to stay with you."
The glaceon frowned a little, figuring that his parents would not have a problem with that anyway. "Okay."
"So we can go and visit Mindi!" she exclaimed happily, some glaceon around her who had already settled down glancing to her in mild annoyance.
Kairack met eyes with them and then returned his gaze to the eevee. "Mindi? Yes...we can see her in the morning."
The eevee's expression became scrambled with confusion. "No, we're going to visit her during the night. And go on an adventure!" she declared, excitement racing through her voice.
Kairack was a little confused at how she had drawn that conclusion. Realising that the eevee had developed the assumption based on nothing but speculation, he cleared his voice and attempted to speak informatively. "We cannot break away from the clan during the night. It's too dangerous out there alone."
The eevee, dismayed by the news, felt her ears droop as she took in her brother's information. "But...but that's not fair," she murmured, her eyes clouded with sadness as she peered up at him.
"We can go in the morning. When the sun comes up," he repeated, hoping to somehow excite her with the idea.
However, the eevee was not going to take the bait. She simply frowned and turned away from her brother, then whipped her head back. "I want to go on an adventure! And sneak out," she growled, once more alerting those around her with her loud announcement.
"If you plan to sneak out, you should not be saying it loud enough for others to hear," Kairack grumbled.
"So you will sneak out with me?" questioned the eevee hopefully.
The glaceon sighed. "Go to sleep, Tora."
The normal type recoiled with some degree of surprise, as if she was shocked at his instruction. Blinking multiple times and pulling away, she got to her paws and stared at her brother. "But I wanted...to go on an adventure," she shrieked, this time loud enough to wake anyone who may have been already asleep.
With a rumbling growl, the glaceon shot immediately to his paws and loomed closely over his sister, immediately intimidating her. "Not tonight," he demanded firmly, then glanced to those around him. "You're disturbing these pokémon."
A horrified look of betrayal washed across the eevee's face as she interlocked her small fangs and parted her lips in a sulky snarl, slipping quickly from his grasp and fleeing between the agitated glaceon more concerned with their hours of rest than a squealing eevee throwing a tantrum. Witnessing this, Kairack let another sigh slip and fled from the cave after the eevee, easily catching up and overtaking her. Pivoting, he came to a halt a few paces away from where she was running. She could not stop quickly enough and slid through the snow into her brother's legs, shaking off as her gaze angrily met his.
"It is clear that you don't wish to stay with me tonight, so go to Mother and Father's."
The normal type's eyes clouded with sadness as she slowly shook her head. "No...but I wanted to—"
"You lost your privilege," he grunted, and picked her up by the scruff as he headed in the direction of his parents' home. His sibling whined and shouted in protest, flailing her limbs about and causing him to nearly drop her a number of times. However, he held his jaws firmly clamped and did not plan to let go until she was within the walls of her destination.
ooo
Bitterness coated the little eevee's mind as she lay without the desire to sleep, her mother and father, as well as a number of other relatives, all curled in the small space they called home. Personally Tora preferred the cave, as the house was colder due to its floor of snow and its icy walls. She understood that as an eevee, she needed to get used to cold temperatures before evolving into a glaceon, otherwise she would be ill-equipped for the ice and snow, but sometimes she wished she could have evolved already so that the temperatures were easier to bear.
She was still angry at her brother, and no amount of sleep was going to cure that. She had wanted to go and visit Mindi, but he had been too stubborn to even try. She snarled as she thought about it again. "I'm not afraid of any wild pokémon..." she grunted to herself, her head jiggling up and down as she did so as her jaw pressed into her paws. Her thoughts morphed into those more rebellious, and she frowned as he she realised that she did not need someone else to accompany her. "I'm nearly evolved... I can take care of myself."
The consideration took a moment more to stir and solidify before she lifted her head, glancing around. The other five glaceon in the room had been sleepy when she entered, and now they had all fallen unconscious. She had not been tired at all. Even now, when she assessed their conditions, she knew she was not nearly as tired as they were. No... She was awake.
Carefully treading between the sleeping forms of ice types scattered on the floor, the eevee weaved her way toward the exit, which was sealed with ice. However, this was not the first time she had escaped, and knew exactly how to get out.
ooo
After Kairack had returned to the cave, he discovered that his spot had been taken. The news was hardly surprising, as even if those around him had known he was returning to claim it, they would have happily replaced him. He did not blame them, and figured that a spot on the slope nearest to the entrance would be rather intelligent, as he may have had the need to check up on his sister and ensured she was not giving their parents too much trouble. It was like her to throw tantrums over trivial matters, he thought bitterly, but he thought that she was aware how lucky she was to be granted permission to sleep in the cave for the night. He was almost surprised that he had been let back in, but was thankful nonetheless.
Partway into the night, he found his head shooting up as he awoke to the familiar faint howl of the wind. It channelled through the cave and out through the entrance, meeting with some other current while helping to carry away the bad dreams of the unlucky. However, it was not bad dreams that he had been having. The night had been unrestful, but the first thing that passed through his mind when he woke to a blackened world was his sister, and the manner in which he handled the situation earlier. He assumed the feelings had surfaced while his mind played with ideas in his sleep, finding one so pressing that it disrupted his rest.
Lowering his head onto his front paws, he heaved a sigh and watched a small puff of condensation flow from his nostrils and mingle with the rest of the cave's air. He caught himself staring into the darkness rather than the back of his eyelids and sighed again, giving in to his guilt. He rolled his eyes shot up, leaping out of the entrance. He thought he may have stepped on a tail or two, but thankfully nobody stirred, and he made it out absent commotion.
The night air greeted him with open arms, inviting him further into its depths. He knew better than to trust its calls, however, and ignored them as he took a seat and felt the cool wind brush his fur and sway the long flaps hanging from his forehead. It was chilly but refreshing, and as a glaceon, his body welcomed the extra dosage of coldness. His clan had adapted to the coldness in such a way that they could never be frozen by another pokémon's ice type attacks, and consequently never felt cold.
After spending a few short minutes just thinking to himself, the glaceon figured that, while he was up, he should at least check on his sister. And perhaps, if there was room in the small house, he could sleep there for the night. It was rare that he did, but sometimes sleeping amongst family was a nice change from sleeping with the hunters and the roamers. He raced through the snow, directing himself to the home he knew the position of, which he was thankful for given the darkness of the night and how difficult it was to navigate. The snow pressed between this toes and his footprints were left in the fresh layer that had fallen during the course of the night, which he was sure would become compact once the clan awoke.
Flakes settled upon his nose as he went but quickly flew off in a fleeting rush. He tried to scent the air a few times, but what little there was to smell was masked almost entirely by the crispness of the cold. He was used to this, however, especially at night when the cold was always more powerful.
The glaceon, as he drew closer to his relatives' dwelling, began to sense a strange feeling of misplacement. At first he tried to simply dismiss it, but he had learned before that doing such a thing was almost always foolish; although there was mostly nothing wrong that exceeded the most basic level of caution, he could not help but feel that this time it was different. Anxious, he sped up and trotted faster, eventually breaking into a run.
As the home neared, he felt his jaws tighten. His eyes were fixed on the structure, one of its walls a rock surface on the side of a cliff. He neared it with increasing speed, and soon enough, he was upon it. Slowing to a stop, his abrupt halt threw snow in many directions, only for it to spatter soon after as it connected with the frost-encased ground. He hardly paid it any attention as he noted with a frown that the house seemed to be in fine order. Many of the glaceon in the clan, his parents included, sealed their homes with ice so that no intruders could successfully break through without being detected, and it was a relief to see that there was no such break in any location.
However, at the bottom of one of the ice walls, where snow was meant to cover the ground, a small hole burrowed under the wall. With wide eyes, he zipped closer to inspect it, noting just how narrow it was. With more pressure applied to his teeth, interlocking them further, he acknowledged that the hole was wide enough to fit a small pokémon through—his sister.
His heart thudded hard and fast in his chest. He tossed a stern glance in the direction he assumed his sister had fled, wondering for but a brief moment what would have driven her to escape the warm embrace of her family. It was a second later when he realised that the answer was obvious: Tora had wanted to visit the gothita Kairack rescued earlier, and the glaceon, not wanting her to go, had denied her. He shook his head lowly, knowing that rejecting her plea should have been followed up by a close eye on her; he should never have let her leave the cave.
Knowing he had no time to work on breaking down the ice entrance of the home, he sped off in the direction he could see little eevee pawprints, cursing at both himself and his foolish younger sibling. She clearly did not seem to believe that danger lurked amongst the frost in the darkness, as he knew that she had never ventured out at night with less than a large pack of the clan's members. She was ignorant and naïve, and those were two qualities he often resented in her. She was young, so it was partly not her fault, but he wished she could simply know what not to do.
He bounded through the snow, flicking frost up left and right and felt it trail up his fur in a quick flurry before landing several paces from him, his eyes set on one thing and his body shooting forward as if there was no other possible direction. He made sure to keep an eye on the trail to map out where he was going so he did not venture off-course.
He thought frantically to himself as he tried to consider if she would have taken a shortcut or may have tried to cover her tracks sometime into the trail, but he could still faintly see each mark her paws had made, and realised again that she had little to no experience with such things, and no interest to learn. He was thankful for her youth for that reason, at least, but he feared that was the only exemption.
Flashes of the beartic attack popped into his mind, and for one horrid moment, he imagined that the great beast had perhaps followed the gothita to where she had been stashed for the night, and had a terrifying vision of the ice type settling for Tora instead. Kairack was unsure how she would go in the face of real danger, especially against one that could tear her apart with two swings of his massive paws, and hoped that she would be smart enough to at least hide.
Suddenly his ears pricked up with a sound, alerting him to a hoothoot in a tree nearby. He nearly jumped, and slowed to a walk as he reassessed his position, realising that his fast pace could attract any number of predators, and ones who would likely not show him mercy, similarly to the beartic he encountered earlier.
Briefly he scowled at the flying and normal type and fled again, racing through the snow in the direction he continued to hope his sister had bolted in.
When he was sure he was drawing closer to Mindi's hiding spot, he heard yet another strange sound. This time he could recognise that it was not a hoothoot in a tree, but something else, and something that was probably powerful enough to take down his sister with a single attack. Panic coursed through him as he approached, ramming his paws into the ground as he ascended a hill, and crested it with burning limbs and a determined mind.
The first thing he saw was a set of three figures down on the icy ground below. In his field of view was, peculiarly enough, a pokémon rotating time and again on his wide head; at first he could not even tell what it was, until the creature finally stopped spinning and could be identified as a hitmontop. For one brief moment, he wondered what in the world a hitmontop was doing in the middle of an icy mountain, when suddenly he spotted what he had been looking for: a small, brown eevee. He caught a glimpse of the fear and regret in her face, and could see that she had clearly been battling to the best of her ability. She looked beat, while the hitmontop looked more than ready for more.
Right as he screeched her name and began to dash forwards, he acknowledged the third figure, and at first thought it could have been an oddly-clad tyrogue. However, after a few steps and a moment of realisation, it became clear that what he was staring at was not even a pokémon—it was human.
Fear leapt through his body like a blitzle on the run from a pyroar, and his fur bristled in several places. He was unsure how many pokémon the human carried, as he knew that they often imprisoned pokémon to do their bidding, but he had a suspicion that his sister was the human's target.
"Leave this place!" he yelled as he approached with a rapid run, heading directly for his sister.
Instantly her eyes grew wide with long-awaited hope combined with an abundance of fear and dismay, and without thought, she blurted, "Kairack!"
"I'm coming!" he shouted, almost tumbling over his paws as he descended the hill at a pace nearly too fast for his legs to keep up with.
The human creature kept his eyes on him and did not respond at all to the fear in the glaceon's eyes. The way Kairack saw it, he was the older brother rescuing his sister whose foolish actions had gotten her caught in a tragic situation. The way the human looked to view everything, he was the eevee's backup, and he was merely an obstacle needing to be discarded.
Supporting Kairack's assumption, the human sent his pokémon spinning forward, rapidly moving toward him. Without a second thought, the glaceon sent a current of icy wind forward from within his maw, hoping with desperation that it was powerful enough to encase him in a block of ice. However, it only seemed to lightly lace the pokémon with frost and do nothing more.
The icy wind failed to even hinder the hitmontop, who powered forward and immediately made contact with a solid foot. With a shrill cry, he was knocked back immediately, partly by his own doing in an effort to avoid more of a beating. Kairack had never experienced a battle with this species and was taken by surprise at the measure of power its kick had, feeling dauntingly outmatched.
"What...what are you doing?" he questioned with a hiss, standing his ground a few metres from the hitmontop again, back up the hill. He tried to read the pokémon's intentions, but found himself completely unable as the spinning did not stop. "She's my blood sister!"
Once more the pokémon span forward, but as the snow got deeper, the fighting type became more and more incapable of climbing the hill. As soon as Kairack realised this, he began to back up again, a feeling of excitement beginning to soak his limbs. He knew that all he had to do was get the hitmontop bogged, and he would be in a position of power.
The hitmontop was forced to stop spinning and stood on his two oddly-shaped legs, which gave Kairack the cue he needed. Without giving him a second, the glaceon leapt forward with open jaws, intending to combine a bite with an ice fang. However, the moment before he struck, the hitmontop effortlessly drove his fist upwards, striking Kairack perfectly in the chest and abolishing all attempt to attack. The punch continued through and sent the ice type over his opponent's head, all the way to the bottom of the hill, where he failed to catch himself and crumpled into a heap.
Wounds and aches erupted everywhere on his body, the fear in his mind causing his heart to race far too quickly for his liking. The glaceon tried his hardest to lift himself up again, but the hitmontop used the hill to his advantage when he sped down it on his head, kicking in all directions as he went. The glaceon was too weak to move and, with one last glance to his terrified sister, he hoped to the Legendaries that she would be spared.