Disclaimer: Minna-san; I don't own Pokemon. Not even close. Please review
and enjoy!
As usual, Sailor Lupus proof-read this. Please read her fics!
White Snowflakes
By Becca-Chan
"Aw man, Pokemon centres are depressing in the holiday season." Ash said morosely, slipping lower down in the cushy Centre sofa.
Misty raised her eyebrows in surprise over the top of her book. The normally insatiably-enthusiastic young trainer seemed uncharacteristically down at the moment.
"Why?" She asked him. Sighing inwardly and sensing that Ash would just sink lower and lower until he actually hit the floor of the Pokemon Centre save someone got to the bottom of it, she slipped the bookmark inside the leafy pages and laid it down beside her.
She couldn't understand his attitude. She thought winter was wonderfully romantic. The way the evergreen trees stood out against the bareness of the forests, even the exotic Orange Islands. The way the brightly-lit houses looking so cosy reflected in the enchanting ice. The way the sun looked so watery, hidden behind a thin layer of mist, coated the Islands in a greyish white wash that gave it such a mysterious air.
Trying to tell this to Ash, of course, was as futile as her Psyduck ever getting a clue.
"Misty, the fog stopped us from getting from the one Centre to the other in under five hours." Ash countered flatly. Then sarcastically, "Yep. Really mysterious. So mysterious that the correct path eluded us for about six hours-"
His comment was cut short as something hard and metal connected sharply with him, and he was left rubbing his nose.
Satisfied he was dealt with for the moment, Misty turned to face the window.
"But the snow is the most beautiful, the way the whirling snowflakes just . . . float from the sky and land on the ground. Remember how the green grass was carpeted in pristine white snowflakes?"
"Yep. You slipped about three times on the 'enchanting ice', Tracey's still nursing that bruise where he tripped in the 'pristine snow' and I almost drowned when I got a mouthful of the stuff. Yes, yes, all very-"
He stopped at the expression on Misty's face. And decided it would be prudent to make a quick exit.
He jumped over the back of sofa and bolted from the room, chased by what any ordinary observer would have mistaken for a bunch of stampeding Tauros.
Said observer would have been sorely mistaken, as it was indeed the familiar phenomenon known as Misty pissed (A/N: And I don't mean drunk).
Pikachu, along with the rest of Ash and Misty's Pokemon entourage, were having a little fun of their own in the Pokemon Centre's back garden.
Pikachu surveyed the scene. Well, it looked like it would work anyway. And Pikapi (Ash) said that whatever they did was okay, so long as they wouldn't need Nurse Joy after they were done. The fact that they were staying in a Pokemon Centre and thus medical assistance was near by was no excuse.
Pikachu waved to the Chansey standing on hand. "Pikachu pi chu kachuu!!!" She called enthusiastically.
The Chansey waved back, fully decked out in Pokemon Nurse regalia, with an added pink knitted shawl to brave the chilly temperatures of an Orange Islands winter.
"Pi." She muttered. Right, that was medical standby taken care of. Pikapi had said Nurse Joy. Nothing about the Chanseys, so Pikachu had decided to use that loophole to her utmost advantage.
All the Pokemon, from the mighty Charizard to Chikorita were aligned according to height order, except Chikorita who was standing on Charizard's shoulder.
Balanced neatly, albeit precariously, along the heads and backs of the Pokemon was a huge long red board, tilted at a relatively sharp angle.
"Chikoriiiiiiii!" Chikorita yelled from the top of the board, grinning and waggling her extended vines in Pikachu's direction.
Pikachu gave a thumb's up, then scampered up to where Chikorita was standing.
She climbed to the very edge of the board, looking down the long slide it created, before launching herself down with a mighty squeal of,
"PIIKAAAAAAAAA!"
There was a muffled thump as she impacted in a huge snowdrift at the bottom.
The Pokemon laughed and cheered, almost dropping the board as Chikorita was sliding down it.
Blissfully unaware of the wild antics, Tracey was huddled low behind a small snow-covered mound, wrapped in a warm red coat and watching, still as a rock, a frosty-looking Nidoran slowly gathering berries to feed it's family.
He absently brushed some snowflakes off his sketching pad, chewing the end of his pencil thoughtfully. Deciding on his next move, he shaded expertly the paws gathering the ripe fruit, frozen forever on his paper.
He didn't notice it when it started snowing again, the crystals settling onto his red bandanna and hair. So lost was he in his sketching, he wondered only briefly what Ash and Misty were doing.
As long as one of them didn't end up with concussion later, it was fine. Although, he thought morosely, the odds of that not happening were pretty slim. . .
There was a sharp crack as Tracey accidentally chewed too hard and the top snapped off.
The Nidoran sat up, the pink hairs on the end of his ears quivering, looking around in fright before darting into the safety of the undergrowth.
Tracey cursed softly, sat back on his haunches and let out an exasperated breath. The sketch was only half finished, and the Nidoran was lacking legs and tail.
He sat up, shook off the settled snow and stretched. He decided that making his way back tot he Pokemon Centre was a good idea, as his stomach was telling him dinner was soon.
However, a soft cooing sound behind him stopped him, and he slowly turned around.
Nestled on the branch were a pair of Pidgey's, snuggled together companionably in a small, brown nest. A branch forked into two, and inside the crook of it lay the nest. The rest of the branches shone in the late evening light, the pale glow of the sun reflected in the ice coating it.
All thoughts of dinner fluttered from his mind as he flicked to a new page, and settled again to sketch.
"Right." Misty's tone was full of decisiveness. "We are going for a walk."
Ash, who was sprawled spread-eagled of the lower bunk half-heartedly flicking through is Pokedex, was startled.
"Wuh?" He poked his head out from underneath.
Misty was already pulling on her red jacket. "If I can't tell you how beautiful winter really is, then we are going for a walk. I'll show you. Plus, you've been holed up in this place for the whole day doing nothing so you are also getting some fresh air."
"Ahahah." Ash's laugh was very sardonic. "I don't think so."
However, when Misty had made her mind up on something, a herd of loco Rapidash's couldn't stop her.
Minutes later, Ash was bundled in his hideous orange and black jumper/sweater, mittens were forced onto his hands, his trainers/sneakers on his feet and the infamous hat on his head.
"Misty. . ." But his protests were feeble. He sighed, resigning himself to fate.
Walking out of the Pokemon Centre, leaving the warm, fire lit room with trainers staying for the season, Ash wished that he hadn't.
"Mist, at least let me get Pikachu first," He started, but Misty grabbed his arm and pulled him onwards. She had spotted the Pokemon and the Poke- Slide in the back garden and the last thing that she needed was Ash to be distracted by such a sight.
"Ash, how many times do I need to tell you. They are fine. Unlike some boring people, Pokemon can see the fun side of winter."
Ash missed the edge of the comment aimed at him, and obligingly trudged onwards.
Fifteen minutes later, Tracey was satisfied with his drawing. The Pidgey's were also getting tired of being sketched and apparently of each other, as soon as he laid down the last stroke they erupted into a mass of flying feathers and mad squawks before disappearing into the depths of the bare forest.
Tracey shook his head at them and rolled his eyes.
Deciding it was definitely time for dinner, Tracey returned his sketchpad to his backpack, shook off yet more settled snow (he would have to do something about that; he must have looked like the freakin' abominable snowman) and began back to the direction of the Pokemon Centre, rallying himself to prise Misty off Ash if leaving them alone together had proved more volatile than first anticipated.
Pikachu rolled over, almost spastic in her fits of laughter, watching as Bulbasaur was sliding down the Poke-Slide, as it had been affectionately dubbed, screaming all the way.
As Squirtle was running up the heads of Pokemon for his turn, Pikachu managed to compose herself and stood up straight. She was bounding to take her place under the Poke-Slide when suddenly a flash of red caught her eye.
She stopped mid-gallop, skidding in the snow and turned to face the entrance of the Pokemon Centre, just as Pikapi and Chupi (Misty) were emerging. Both were wrapped fully in winter gear, and looked ready for a long walk.
*And he forgot about us?* Pikachu thought worriedly. Her cute brow creased in annoyance and she started to run towards the white fence separating the yard from the Centre.
She hopped up, balancing skilfully in the frosty white fence rail. She cupped her paws to her mouth and was about to holler, but then something stopped her.
A mental image of Kachupi (Brock. A/N: You have NO idea how difficult it is to find different combinations of the syllables; 'Pi' 'Ka' 'Chu' so bear with me.) suddenly appeared in her head, and something made her stop.
"Okay, Pikachu. You know Ash and Misty. . .right?" He drawled suggestively the 'right'. Pikachu nodded. "Right, well, if, you know, they look like they might, you know, heh, you know? The right situation came up for, you know."
She didn't know.
But as watched the two disappear into the forest, she felt. . .like she maybe did.
A soft smile touched her face, as brief as the snowflake that settled on the black tip of her ear, for just a second.
Then she jumped off the fence nimbly and scampered back to add her strength to the Poke-Slide.
*After all,* she thought. *Pikapi and Chupi in the woods together?* She laughed out loud.
Yeah, like anything was gonna happen.
It had begun to snow.
Ash scowled up at the sky, cursing whatever deity above that was clearly having a slow day, and so had decided to victimise a poor, defenceless Pokemon trainer at the hands of a fiery red-head who *claimed* to be his friend.
He gazed at the aforementioned girl. She marched briskly along, despite the snow that had settled in the past few days. She had a cheerful look on her face, eyebrows high and innocent, firmly enjoying the torture that she knew Ash was going through.
"Come on, Ash! It's winter! It's snowing! In the tropics! Rare occasion!" she exclaimed, turning around to face him.
"It looks the same in Pallet Town." He muttered, just audible enough for her to hear.
She shook her head exasperatedly. "Well, we'll be back there in a few days. Ferry leaves on Thursday, right?"
The happiest expression Misty had seen on him all day brightened his face. "Light at the end of the tunnel!"
They resumed walking.
Ash watched enviously the trainers, pink-faced and happy, passing them in the opposite direction, headed back to the Pokemon Centre for a good supper and the night.
"Aw, come on Misty," He began, whining slightly. "Yes, yes, it's lovely. The whole.white icing thing. But I'm hungry, you're hungry. Do we have to do this *tonight*?"
"Come on, Ash!" Misty merely called back cheerfully, as airy as if she hadn't heard him.
Damn, he was beginning to annoy her. He'd been moping around the entire day, acting as if Winter was a personal insult to him. He hadn't done a thing since they arrived at the Pokemon Centre to wait out for the ferry, let alone training. Tracey was of course the complete opposite. He was in absolute rapture at Winter and all it's ability to transform the world.
But of course that meant that Tracey was out of the Centre al the time to, and that left her with the boring Ash.
At first she had worried that it was some deep psychological problem, like clinical depression or whatever. She tried to talk it out of him, like those crappy counselling soaps she'd always seen on television.
But then she realised that it was Ash. The Ash that wore that sodding hat, day in, day out. The one that would gladly charge into the Safari Zone, waking up a heard of Tauros all for the sake of a Rattata or something. The one that shot his mouth off and very nearly got something else shot off. This was not the Ash that had deep psycho problems.
So, he was just being lazy. And he required a big kick up the ass instead.
She looked up at the sky, and smiled. A pristine white snowflake landed on her nose, and she enjoyed the brief freezing sensation of it melting, and then dripping away. She was aware of hundreds of them landing in her hair, turning to water almost instantly.
Her breath came out in short, foggy bursts, disappearing as instantly as they came. She walked along briskly, satisfied with the heavy plodding sound Ash made, indicating he was following her.
They rounded a corner, at Misty's order, turning off the ferny path that was leading to the Pokemon Centre. Ash let out a great huff of annoyance, wishing that at least Pikachu had come so he'd have someone to complain to.
The whole of the valley stretched out before them. Blanketed with shining white snow, it had an almost orange appearance as the sun was getting low on the horizon. Fog was slowly descending from the Island's disused volcano.
Misty raised her head, breathing in deeply the wonderfully clear air, enjoying the sound of Pidgey's and Spearows and other Pokemon making their way back to their nests for the night. She saw many shadows flit in and out of the frosty bushes, heard a sharp rustling as something chased something.
"Hey Ash! Can you honestly say this isn't beautiful?" She called over her shoulder.
There was a sullen reply that when reached Misty's ears, made her livid.
She reached down angrily, cupping a fistful of snow into her hand and balling it up forcefully.
Ash recognised that motion from that infamous last winter
"No wait Misty don't. . . !"
But it was too late. There was a huge whooshing sound in Ash's ear followed by muffled thump a something about the size of shape of a Pokeball went whizzing through the air to impact on his left cheek.
He heard Misty laughing as he bent over, wiping it off with the sleeve of his jacket.
Right, that meant war.
He scooped up some snow, packed it into a sphere and relished her squeal as it exploded wonderfully, landing on her head.
"ASH KEEETCHUM!" Came the indignant shriek, echoing in the valley as both sped off into the thicket of trees.
Changing into some warm dry clothes, Tracey was hugely surprised to find not a trace of Ash or Misty in the Centre.
This struck him as odd. When he had left just after breakfast, Misty was locked into a book and Ash had firmly decided that he would not be doing anything that required physical effort. He was expecting to find them in a exactly the same way, or perhaps fighting.
He went past the front desk, finding Nurse Joy looking bored, chewing a biro and fiddling with one of her bright pink hair loops.
"Hey, are you Tracey Sketchit?" She burst out of her boredom-induced haze, and called after him.
He turned. "Yeah?"
"Um, there was a Pikachu in here about half an hour ago asking after you. I think she said. . ." Nurse Joy's cute face screwed up and she touched a finger to her lips, trying to remember. "'Pikapi and Chupi were going for walk along in the woods' or something like that."
Tracey spoke a rather limited amount of Pika-speak, and usually left the translating to Ash. However, from travelling with them for a while, he managed to figure out Pika-speak for Ash and Misty.
He thanked Nurse Joy, wandering into the yard, thinking vaguely of going to find out what happened to all the Pokemon.
*A walk in the woods, huh?* He thought to himself. *This could be interesting. . .*
When both of them were severely short of breath and soaked from head to toe, Ash and Misty called a temporary truce.
"Hey Mist, maybe Winter isn't so bad after all!" Ash said, grinning brightly, wringing out his very wet gloves.
Misty wheezed, leaning on her knees for support. Hiking through Kanto and the Orange Islands would keep one pretty fit, but charging though the snow covered undergrowth of the Island dodging errant speeding snowballs just wasn't the same as ambling through grasslands and towns amicably.
At Ash's comment, Misty merely hurled another bunch of snow at him. It landed on his back, soaking him further and then slid slowly back to the ground.
"Let's call it even." She suggested. Ash raised his eyebrows in surprise, before she added, "Even though I clearly won!"
Ash was about to argue, but she cut him off.
"Anyway, come on, let's get back to the 'Centre. Tracey's probably going wondering where we are and we should get going if we wanna catch supper."
Ash nodded, and gestured for her to take the lead.
Misty turned, intending to face the path hat she thought they had run down . . .
And saw nothing but trees.
Not a problem, though. Ash was the one who had picked up the map from the last Centre, so he should still have it.
"But you have the map."
Ash raised his eyebrows at her. "Um, no. You dragged us out here, I thought you had it."
Light dawned on the both of them as the last of the sun disappeared and the Island was plunged into twilight.
Ash voiced it first.
"Hey Mist. . .we're lost, aren't we?"
A/N: Think that's it for this chapter. *Sigh* And thus, Britain is plunged back into the depths of Winter, inspiring this fic and forcing me to wear the hideous school coat. . .
Thanks to Fraz and Sailor Lupus for the incentive to write another one. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed my last fic.
~ Becca-Chan
As usual, Sailor Lupus proof-read this. Please read her fics!
White Snowflakes
By Becca-Chan
"Aw man, Pokemon centres are depressing in the holiday season." Ash said morosely, slipping lower down in the cushy Centre sofa.
Misty raised her eyebrows in surprise over the top of her book. The normally insatiably-enthusiastic young trainer seemed uncharacteristically down at the moment.
"Why?" She asked him. Sighing inwardly and sensing that Ash would just sink lower and lower until he actually hit the floor of the Pokemon Centre save someone got to the bottom of it, she slipped the bookmark inside the leafy pages and laid it down beside her.
She couldn't understand his attitude. She thought winter was wonderfully romantic. The way the evergreen trees stood out against the bareness of the forests, even the exotic Orange Islands. The way the brightly-lit houses looking so cosy reflected in the enchanting ice. The way the sun looked so watery, hidden behind a thin layer of mist, coated the Islands in a greyish white wash that gave it such a mysterious air.
Trying to tell this to Ash, of course, was as futile as her Psyduck ever getting a clue.
"Misty, the fog stopped us from getting from the one Centre to the other in under five hours." Ash countered flatly. Then sarcastically, "Yep. Really mysterious. So mysterious that the correct path eluded us for about six hours-"
His comment was cut short as something hard and metal connected sharply with him, and he was left rubbing his nose.
Satisfied he was dealt with for the moment, Misty turned to face the window.
"But the snow is the most beautiful, the way the whirling snowflakes just . . . float from the sky and land on the ground. Remember how the green grass was carpeted in pristine white snowflakes?"
"Yep. You slipped about three times on the 'enchanting ice', Tracey's still nursing that bruise where he tripped in the 'pristine snow' and I almost drowned when I got a mouthful of the stuff. Yes, yes, all very-"
He stopped at the expression on Misty's face. And decided it would be prudent to make a quick exit.
He jumped over the back of sofa and bolted from the room, chased by what any ordinary observer would have mistaken for a bunch of stampeding Tauros.
Said observer would have been sorely mistaken, as it was indeed the familiar phenomenon known as Misty pissed (A/N: And I don't mean drunk).
Pikachu, along with the rest of Ash and Misty's Pokemon entourage, were having a little fun of their own in the Pokemon Centre's back garden.
Pikachu surveyed the scene. Well, it looked like it would work anyway. And Pikapi (Ash) said that whatever they did was okay, so long as they wouldn't need Nurse Joy after they were done. The fact that they were staying in a Pokemon Centre and thus medical assistance was near by was no excuse.
Pikachu waved to the Chansey standing on hand. "Pikachu pi chu kachuu!!!" She called enthusiastically.
The Chansey waved back, fully decked out in Pokemon Nurse regalia, with an added pink knitted shawl to brave the chilly temperatures of an Orange Islands winter.
"Pi." She muttered. Right, that was medical standby taken care of. Pikapi had said Nurse Joy. Nothing about the Chanseys, so Pikachu had decided to use that loophole to her utmost advantage.
All the Pokemon, from the mighty Charizard to Chikorita were aligned according to height order, except Chikorita who was standing on Charizard's shoulder.
Balanced neatly, albeit precariously, along the heads and backs of the Pokemon was a huge long red board, tilted at a relatively sharp angle.
"Chikoriiiiiiii!" Chikorita yelled from the top of the board, grinning and waggling her extended vines in Pikachu's direction.
Pikachu gave a thumb's up, then scampered up to where Chikorita was standing.
She climbed to the very edge of the board, looking down the long slide it created, before launching herself down with a mighty squeal of,
"PIIKAAAAAAAAA!"
There was a muffled thump as she impacted in a huge snowdrift at the bottom.
The Pokemon laughed and cheered, almost dropping the board as Chikorita was sliding down it.
Blissfully unaware of the wild antics, Tracey was huddled low behind a small snow-covered mound, wrapped in a warm red coat and watching, still as a rock, a frosty-looking Nidoran slowly gathering berries to feed it's family.
He absently brushed some snowflakes off his sketching pad, chewing the end of his pencil thoughtfully. Deciding on his next move, he shaded expertly the paws gathering the ripe fruit, frozen forever on his paper.
He didn't notice it when it started snowing again, the crystals settling onto his red bandanna and hair. So lost was he in his sketching, he wondered only briefly what Ash and Misty were doing.
As long as one of them didn't end up with concussion later, it was fine. Although, he thought morosely, the odds of that not happening were pretty slim. . .
There was a sharp crack as Tracey accidentally chewed too hard and the top snapped off.
The Nidoran sat up, the pink hairs on the end of his ears quivering, looking around in fright before darting into the safety of the undergrowth.
Tracey cursed softly, sat back on his haunches and let out an exasperated breath. The sketch was only half finished, and the Nidoran was lacking legs and tail.
He sat up, shook off the settled snow and stretched. He decided that making his way back tot he Pokemon Centre was a good idea, as his stomach was telling him dinner was soon.
However, a soft cooing sound behind him stopped him, and he slowly turned around.
Nestled on the branch were a pair of Pidgey's, snuggled together companionably in a small, brown nest. A branch forked into two, and inside the crook of it lay the nest. The rest of the branches shone in the late evening light, the pale glow of the sun reflected in the ice coating it.
All thoughts of dinner fluttered from his mind as he flicked to a new page, and settled again to sketch.
"Right." Misty's tone was full of decisiveness. "We are going for a walk."
Ash, who was sprawled spread-eagled of the lower bunk half-heartedly flicking through is Pokedex, was startled.
"Wuh?" He poked his head out from underneath.
Misty was already pulling on her red jacket. "If I can't tell you how beautiful winter really is, then we are going for a walk. I'll show you. Plus, you've been holed up in this place for the whole day doing nothing so you are also getting some fresh air."
"Ahahah." Ash's laugh was very sardonic. "I don't think so."
However, when Misty had made her mind up on something, a herd of loco Rapidash's couldn't stop her.
Minutes later, Ash was bundled in his hideous orange and black jumper/sweater, mittens were forced onto his hands, his trainers/sneakers on his feet and the infamous hat on his head.
"Misty. . ." But his protests were feeble. He sighed, resigning himself to fate.
Walking out of the Pokemon Centre, leaving the warm, fire lit room with trainers staying for the season, Ash wished that he hadn't.
"Mist, at least let me get Pikachu first," He started, but Misty grabbed his arm and pulled him onwards. She had spotted the Pokemon and the Poke- Slide in the back garden and the last thing that she needed was Ash to be distracted by such a sight.
"Ash, how many times do I need to tell you. They are fine. Unlike some boring people, Pokemon can see the fun side of winter."
Ash missed the edge of the comment aimed at him, and obligingly trudged onwards.
Fifteen minutes later, Tracey was satisfied with his drawing. The Pidgey's were also getting tired of being sketched and apparently of each other, as soon as he laid down the last stroke they erupted into a mass of flying feathers and mad squawks before disappearing into the depths of the bare forest.
Tracey shook his head at them and rolled his eyes.
Deciding it was definitely time for dinner, Tracey returned his sketchpad to his backpack, shook off yet more settled snow (he would have to do something about that; he must have looked like the freakin' abominable snowman) and began back to the direction of the Pokemon Centre, rallying himself to prise Misty off Ash if leaving them alone together had proved more volatile than first anticipated.
Pikachu rolled over, almost spastic in her fits of laughter, watching as Bulbasaur was sliding down the Poke-Slide, as it had been affectionately dubbed, screaming all the way.
As Squirtle was running up the heads of Pokemon for his turn, Pikachu managed to compose herself and stood up straight. She was bounding to take her place under the Poke-Slide when suddenly a flash of red caught her eye.
She stopped mid-gallop, skidding in the snow and turned to face the entrance of the Pokemon Centre, just as Pikapi and Chupi (Misty) were emerging. Both were wrapped fully in winter gear, and looked ready for a long walk.
*And he forgot about us?* Pikachu thought worriedly. Her cute brow creased in annoyance and she started to run towards the white fence separating the yard from the Centre.
She hopped up, balancing skilfully in the frosty white fence rail. She cupped her paws to her mouth and was about to holler, but then something stopped her.
A mental image of Kachupi (Brock. A/N: You have NO idea how difficult it is to find different combinations of the syllables; 'Pi' 'Ka' 'Chu' so bear with me.) suddenly appeared in her head, and something made her stop.
"Okay, Pikachu. You know Ash and Misty. . .right?" He drawled suggestively the 'right'. Pikachu nodded. "Right, well, if, you know, they look like they might, you know, heh, you know? The right situation came up for, you know."
She didn't know.
But as watched the two disappear into the forest, she felt. . .like she maybe did.
A soft smile touched her face, as brief as the snowflake that settled on the black tip of her ear, for just a second.
Then she jumped off the fence nimbly and scampered back to add her strength to the Poke-Slide.
*After all,* she thought. *Pikapi and Chupi in the woods together?* She laughed out loud.
Yeah, like anything was gonna happen.
It had begun to snow.
Ash scowled up at the sky, cursing whatever deity above that was clearly having a slow day, and so had decided to victimise a poor, defenceless Pokemon trainer at the hands of a fiery red-head who *claimed* to be his friend.
He gazed at the aforementioned girl. She marched briskly along, despite the snow that had settled in the past few days. She had a cheerful look on her face, eyebrows high and innocent, firmly enjoying the torture that she knew Ash was going through.
"Come on, Ash! It's winter! It's snowing! In the tropics! Rare occasion!" she exclaimed, turning around to face him.
"It looks the same in Pallet Town." He muttered, just audible enough for her to hear.
She shook her head exasperatedly. "Well, we'll be back there in a few days. Ferry leaves on Thursday, right?"
The happiest expression Misty had seen on him all day brightened his face. "Light at the end of the tunnel!"
They resumed walking.
Ash watched enviously the trainers, pink-faced and happy, passing them in the opposite direction, headed back to the Pokemon Centre for a good supper and the night.
"Aw, come on Misty," He began, whining slightly. "Yes, yes, it's lovely. The whole.white icing thing. But I'm hungry, you're hungry. Do we have to do this *tonight*?"
"Come on, Ash!" Misty merely called back cheerfully, as airy as if she hadn't heard him.
Damn, he was beginning to annoy her. He'd been moping around the entire day, acting as if Winter was a personal insult to him. He hadn't done a thing since they arrived at the Pokemon Centre to wait out for the ferry, let alone training. Tracey was of course the complete opposite. He was in absolute rapture at Winter and all it's ability to transform the world.
But of course that meant that Tracey was out of the Centre al the time to, and that left her with the boring Ash.
At first she had worried that it was some deep psychological problem, like clinical depression or whatever. She tried to talk it out of him, like those crappy counselling soaps she'd always seen on television.
But then she realised that it was Ash. The Ash that wore that sodding hat, day in, day out. The one that would gladly charge into the Safari Zone, waking up a heard of Tauros all for the sake of a Rattata or something. The one that shot his mouth off and very nearly got something else shot off. This was not the Ash that had deep psycho problems.
So, he was just being lazy. And he required a big kick up the ass instead.
She looked up at the sky, and smiled. A pristine white snowflake landed on her nose, and she enjoyed the brief freezing sensation of it melting, and then dripping away. She was aware of hundreds of them landing in her hair, turning to water almost instantly.
Her breath came out in short, foggy bursts, disappearing as instantly as they came. She walked along briskly, satisfied with the heavy plodding sound Ash made, indicating he was following her.
They rounded a corner, at Misty's order, turning off the ferny path that was leading to the Pokemon Centre. Ash let out a great huff of annoyance, wishing that at least Pikachu had come so he'd have someone to complain to.
The whole of the valley stretched out before them. Blanketed with shining white snow, it had an almost orange appearance as the sun was getting low on the horizon. Fog was slowly descending from the Island's disused volcano.
Misty raised her head, breathing in deeply the wonderfully clear air, enjoying the sound of Pidgey's and Spearows and other Pokemon making their way back to their nests for the night. She saw many shadows flit in and out of the frosty bushes, heard a sharp rustling as something chased something.
"Hey Ash! Can you honestly say this isn't beautiful?" She called over her shoulder.
There was a sullen reply that when reached Misty's ears, made her livid.
She reached down angrily, cupping a fistful of snow into her hand and balling it up forcefully.
Ash recognised that motion from that infamous last winter
"No wait Misty don't. . . !"
But it was too late. There was a huge whooshing sound in Ash's ear followed by muffled thump a something about the size of shape of a Pokeball went whizzing through the air to impact on his left cheek.
He heard Misty laughing as he bent over, wiping it off with the sleeve of his jacket.
Right, that meant war.
He scooped up some snow, packed it into a sphere and relished her squeal as it exploded wonderfully, landing on her head.
"ASH KEEETCHUM!" Came the indignant shriek, echoing in the valley as both sped off into the thicket of trees.
Changing into some warm dry clothes, Tracey was hugely surprised to find not a trace of Ash or Misty in the Centre.
This struck him as odd. When he had left just after breakfast, Misty was locked into a book and Ash had firmly decided that he would not be doing anything that required physical effort. He was expecting to find them in a exactly the same way, or perhaps fighting.
He went past the front desk, finding Nurse Joy looking bored, chewing a biro and fiddling with one of her bright pink hair loops.
"Hey, are you Tracey Sketchit?" She burst out of her boredom-induced haze, and called after him.
He turned. "Yeah?"
"Um, there was a Pikachu in here about half an hour ago asking after you. I think she said. . ." Nurse Joy's cute face screwed up and she touched a finger to her lips, trying to remember. "'Pikapi and Chupi were going for walk along in the woods' or something like that."
Tracey spoke a rather limited amount of Pika-speak, and usually left the translating to Ash. However, from travelling with them for a while, he managed to figure out Pika-speak for Ash and Misty.
He thanked Nurse Joy, wandering into the yard, thinking vaguely of going to find out what happened to all the Pokemon.
*A walk in the woods, huh?* He thought to himself. *This could be interesting. . .*
When both of them were severely short of breath and soaked from head to toe, Ash and Misty called a temporary truce.
"Hey Mist, maybe Winter isn't so bad after all!" Ash said, grinning brightly, wringing out his very wet gloves.
Misty wheezed, leaning on her knees for support. Hiking through Kanto and the Orange Islands would keep one pretty fit, but charging though the snow covered undergrowth of the Island dodging errant speeding snowballs just wasn't the same as ambling through grasslands and towns amicably.
At Ash's comment, Misty merely hurled another bunch of snow at him. It landed on his back, soaking him further and then slid slowly back to the ground.
"Let's call it even." She suggested. Ash raised his eyebrows in surprise, before she added, "Even though I clearly won!"
Ash was about to argue, but she cut him off.
"Anyway, come on, let's get back to the 'Centre. Tracey's probably going wondering where we are and we should get going if we wanna catch supper."
Ash nodded, and gestured for her to take the lead.
Misty turned, intending to face the path hat she thought they had run down . . .
And saw nothing but trees.
Not a problem, though. Ash was the one who had picked up the map from the last Centre, so he should still have it.
"But you have the map."
Ash raised his eyebrows at her. "Um, no. You dragged us out here, I thought you had it."
Light dawned on the both of them as the last of the sun disappeared and the Island was plunged into twilight.
Ash voiced it first.
"Hey Mist. . .we're lost, aren't we?"
A/N: Think that's it for this chapter. *Sigh* And thus, Britain is plunged back into the depths of Winter, inspiring this fic and forcing me to wear the hideous school coat. . .
Thanks to Fraz and Sailor Lupus for the incentive to write another one. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed my last fic.
~ Becca-Chan