If there's one thing Siffa had learned in her long years of training was that cold did not mesh well together with an open wound.
Alcohol didn't either, it seemed, though that was something she only learned a few minutes ago. The Synod had never let her taste even a tiny drop, worried that it might skew her judgment and make her job difficult.
"I turn around for five minutes…"
The tired, run on words of her friend made her flinch with something akin to shame, as her crafty hands worked on the blood soaked skin of her arm. Shadi stared at the wound intently, her thin lips pursed together and eyebrows forming a small bridge in the middle of her forehead. She couldn't make head or tails of the fact her fingers weren't shaking under the cold, especially since she was the one sitting on the snow covered part of the cave they were trapped in.
Between them was a familiar creature, sleeping on top of the freezing stone as if it were nothing. Her flaming, scale covered tail was the only thing preventing them from freezing to death, the only reason the Charmeleon was out in such harsh conditions.
Not wishing to listen to the roaring maelstrom of wind and snow outside, she decided to speak.
"It should be obvious by now that I need to be under constant supervision," she said, forming a lopsided smile.
"You're telling me. I'm starting to think I should have you tied to me by a rope."
"A rope, eh?" she wiggled her eyebrows. "Didn't know you were into that, Shadi."
The next prickle of the needle was a bit more painful as punishment, its cold metal replaced by the softness of cloth as Shadi tried her best to close her wound. Pain was something she'd learned to ignore long ago, in ways she liked better forgotten.
Her friend's nose crinkled, and she could almost hear the upcoming words before they came out of her mouth.
I still can't believe…
"I still can't believe you actually pulled a knife on them," she scoffed, shaking her head ever so slightly. "Guess I shouldn't have expected you to know the proper etiquette for bar fights."
She shrugged, "Where I come from there's only one rule: If you start a fight you better be willing to leave it as a corpse."
"Yes, and we both agreed that's horrible and not something you should be proud of," Shadi chastised her, the mellow tone of her voice rising slightly. "You're a trainer now, not an assassin. Trainers don't kill people."
"I never said I was proud of it," Siffa pouted, cheeks turning red due to something other than the cold. "Thanks for getting me out of there. When the sixth guy jumped in I became unsure if I could win."
"We're lucky this happened in Snowpoint, otherwise we'd be on the news already." She stuck her tongue out as she concentrated, three uniform lines forming above her eyebrows. "Maybe coming here for our second badge wasn't as good of an idea as I thought."
Siffa stared at the oval shaped exit of the cave, leading towards Route 217. It was impossible to see more than a few inches outside, what with the intense blizzard raging like a Tauros.
"You think they're still looking for us?"
Shadi stopped for a moment, raising her chin with a look of Yeah no shit. The muddy green of her eyes made her feel a lot worse than she would've otherwise.
"You mean the group of sailors accustomed to the cold, draped from head to toe in protective clothing and in possession of a bunch of Magmar?" she raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I do believe they might still be looking for us."
"It does sound stupid when you put it that way," she smiled.
"Everything you do sounds stupid even without my help."
Next came the difficult question, and Siffa had to drag it from its feet until it finally clawed its way out of her throat. A shy little thing, that one, not unlike her when it came to making her friend mad.
"Are you still m…
"No, I'm not mad at you," Shadi interrupted her, not missing a beat. "Now stop talking and let me think how we're going get out of this, while also closing up your wound."
Siffa pressed her free hand against her chest, exhaling an exaggerated sigh of admiration.
"My heroine…"
"I never claimed to be humble. Now shut up."
While silence was bothersome, Siffa didn't waste the opportunity to stare at her friend's pale face as the cogs of her mind spun and turned and did all the things they tended to do. It reflected in all of her too, and she loved it. Even the shapeless, muddy mist of her eyes seemed to clear for a while once she started thinking, machinating. She was good at that, about as good as Siffa was when it came to things like using a knife or her fists or just about any part of her body that could prove lethal.
After what felt like hours (but probably was just a few minutes), Shadi opened her eyes slightly in that way she did when an idea struck her, and once again she could hear her words before she spoke them.
Okay so here's…
"Okay so here's the plan," she said. "We send Ludwig out to distract them, and once we're far enough he'll teleport to us and we'll avoid being beaten to death."
She furrowed her brow, "Why can't he just teleport us out?"
"That's not how it works; a Kadabra can only teleport himself to its trainer or anywhere in sight; which in this heavy of a blizzard would only be a few feet ahead."
Deciding by herself that the plan was good enough, Shadi finished patching her arm up and got to her feet, returning Midir to her Pokeball.
"I hope you're in good enough shape to go out there," she said, an unmistakable hint of concern in her voice.
"Please, I could get through this blizzard with both my arms injured," she smiled as she stood up. "Though… maybe you're right and I need a good night's sleep, perhaps cuddling with someone as to share body warmth?" she raised an eyebrow suggestively, pursing her lips up.
"We'd freeze to death, Siffa."
Her shoulders dropped as she sighed, "You're no fun."
She grabbed her friend by the hand, with a familiarity only capable of two people very close to each other, as headed out into the blizzard together.