The current status of my situation was, in a nutshell, a wreck.

As I found that I couldn't stand there forever and wait for the snowstorm to go away while magically being able to make it in time for the holidays with Lance, I refused to let anything else control my plans for the last days of this year. If my initial holiday plans were ruined by the snowstorm, fine. So be it. If that was the way it was going, I was going to do something else on my own watch, something that I chose to do and take charge of, and that nothing else would stop me. I refused to let something else screw up my plans; I was going to control the final days of this year, my year, and make it worthwhile. It was my way of cheering myself up. So I made the decision to take the last express train to Snowpoint City.

Of course, I did this while furiously muttering to myself on my way out of the Twinleaf Hotel. While having a hasty phone conversation with my grandmother, who reassured me that I still had time to catch the last express, and that I'd make it to her and the rest of the family in time, I had ordered the hotel staff to clear my room of my things and book me a ticket on the express to Snowpoint.

"It's no big deal, right? No big deal! Ahahaha," I mumbled incoherently, deliriously, my heart crestfallen all the meantime. "They said it was the biggest snowstorm in a century, a century! And that transportation might not happen for a week, a week! You might as well ruin all of my plans with Lance! Our one-year anniversary must be a joke at this point!"

"Miss Cynthia?" The bellboy eyed me with concern, his voice slightly wary as he carried my duffel bag.

"Ah, I apologize for my behavior as of now." I turned my face to him with an uncomfortably tight smile, trying to control my anxiety. "As you can see, I get anxious and upset when my plans don't go as I want them to. Please excuse me as I am trying not to physically explode."

He merely nodded, understanding that another attempt at conversation with me was useless and would quite possibly end him up out the window by my own hands.


Later, after having calmed down, I finally acknowledged to myself that I was sitting on the express to Snowpoint. It began with me slowly paying attention to the tiny details of the train – it was a two-story train, something to be expected of all the express trains running in Sinnoh to help occupy all of the passengers, with rather pleasant leather seats; every two rows of seats were faced squarely to each other, a table placed in between. The lights were dim, probably because the conductors were doing their best to conserve energy for the train; one had to consider the blizzard that they were trudging through.

Naturally, I called Lance immediately after having gained full acceptance of my dilemma. It took him a few rings before he could pick up.

"Cynthia," Lance greeted me with a slightly irritated tone, "Kind of a bad time to talk now. Aren't I seeing you later on tonight anyway?"

"That's the problem, Lance," I said with a sigh, my eyes drifting to the scene outside the window. "There won't be a 'later on' tonight. You know about the big snowstorm that's happening in Sinnoh right now. Apparently, all of the region-to-region and international flights and ferries are cancelled. There's no way for me to get to Kanto at this point. To top it all off, they said that there might not be any transportation for a week after the storm, so it ruins our plans we were going to have together."

Lance grunted from the other end of the phone; it sounded like he was moving something heavy. "Oh. Well, that's a shame. It'll work out though. Do you think you and your Garchomp can fly here once this is over? That might save the situation."

I felt my throat constrain; did he seriously just suggest I use my Pokemon to come to Kanto in the blistering cold? "I'm not making any of my Pokemon fly out even after this snowstorm ends – it's freezing out there and I will end up killing them if I make them do that."

Lance sighed. "Listen, I know this is hard, but things like these happen in life." He paused momentarily, and then, "We'll do another Christmas at Saffron. We'll reserve another cottage at the Mt. Silver Resort next year after. Don't worry."

Yeah, things like these do happen, but there's gotta be some way around it... I thought sadly. And another Christmas means waiting for another 365 days...

"Yeah," I agreed with a forced tone of hope. "There is always a next year anyway."

There was some silence between us temporarily, and then Lance grunted again.

"What's going on over there?"

"I'm trying to help move around a gigantic red ornament to one of the stage displays here on a street," he answered. "I'm going to have to hang up soon. I'm getting busier and busier. Even with my Pokemon's help, it's hard to finish everything. Look, are you going to be fine? Are you going anywhere else?"

"Yeah." I straightened myself up, wanting to reciprocate his apparent progressive attitude. "I'm actually on the express train to Snowpoint to spend my holidays with my family." Here, I lowered my voice, carefully shifting my eyes around the room as if I were casually observing my surroundings. "I'm stuck here with a bunch of random strangers and I don't know if any of them are secretly part of the media. You know how TV reporters and cameramen like to go around in disguises now and pounce on random people for their TV shows."

Lance seemed indifferent, but I must have not minded his impassivity. "You know how to handle it. I'm sure you'll be fine. Call me when you get to Snowpoint, alright?"

"I'll do that," I said. After, we exchanged goodbyes, and he hung up. I stared at my phone for some time before the obnoxious disconnect tone started looping itself.

Since Lance was my boyfriend, the one and only Lance, I knew he had a difficult schedule to sort out, so his life was essentially a jumble of fame, money and never-ending activity. Yes, Lance was basically perfect; I could not spot a single flaw about him. But even perfect people like him weren't immune to life's struggles. This, I could empathize with, and I always gave him a break because of it. Sure, this was Christmas, but I could stomach it, I could endure it. He was right, after all; we could always do another Christmas together at the Saffron Christmas Gala next year.

Besides, Lance once admitted to me in one of our dates that out of all the girls he had dated, he appreciated me the most for being able to understand his position. In return, I felt that he finally got it, he finally understood how I felt. To a degree, I felt better about myself around him because we were both in the same position, we were both struggling together against the same problems. It was nice to know I wasn't the only one fighting against the troubles of the world. So when he was busy moving a gigantic red ornament to some display at a street in Saffron for the Saffron Christmas Gala, I couldn't blame him. No other girl, no other woman would understand, but I would. This accounted for all of the problems that arose between us from time to time. The Saffron Christmas Gala was no exception.

Plus, I think he liked being seen with me. After our first few dates together, the paparazzi (as expected) were eagerly flashing their steely cameras towards us outside the restaurant, and he didn't seem to mind showing me off. Yes, I was uncomfortable and uneasy, as I was someone unaccustomed to showing off myself to the public in regards to personal life. At the same time, he was kind and considerate enough to restrain himself from flaunting us off as a couple to the highest point where we'd make out in front of the press. Still, I think I ended up being grateful to him in the end, because if he liked being seen with me, I felt good about myself... It wasn't just that our public images benefited each others' in the end. It was because I had value, and I was glad to finally mean something significant to someone, especially Lance. Our public images benefited each others' in the end as well.

I sighed, leaned my head against the cold train window, and watched the snowflakes growing bigger and heavier while the sky grew darker; the snow must have been half a meter by now and the sun must have already set down. It felt as if the snow and dark sky was trying to enclose me into a small space – a genuine Sinnohnian experience. For the first time in a long while, I felt true loneliness seep into me again.

To be sure, loneliness was no stranger to me. In all of my life, I never had a stable social circle (my Pokemon, I concluded, didn't count and neither did my loving family), let alone a stable romantic partner. "Friends" came and gone, and infatuations and little crushes, whether I had them or the other party did, I never bothered to advance after. Lance was my first boyfriend, my first romantic partner in general. But now that we couldn't see each other for the holiday season – a season you were supposed to spend your time with loved ones in the first place – I felt alone. This year, I knew I had desperately wanted to spend the holidays with someone else other than my Pokemon and my family. I wanted to establish a deep connection with someone else, Lance, and it was all ruined.

Accepting this fate, I ended up staring out the window for the next two hours, seeing the falling snow, the dark sky and feeling my old friend called loneliness wrap me in its loving embrace.


You could imagine my boredom on the train. I tried to read some of my books – I had three of them with me, but each and every book I picked up, I failed to get into. Reading probably wasn't going to be in the best of my interest anyway; at one point, with the dark winter sky outside and the dim lights of the train, it would've been difficult to read, and I didn't feel like pulling out my reading glasses.

I could have possibly called my family and check in on everyone, including my little sister, who I had promised I would talk to. Yet, like my attempt with reading, I wasn't in the mood. I felt slightly guilty; my little sister loved me, and I loved her equally back as well, but trying to attempt a conversation with her in an unhappy mood was something I felt even guiltier about. It was better to save it until I saw her at Snowpoint. Then we could bake all the Christmas cookies, watch all of the episodes of Cresselia & Friends and Sinnoh Contest Makeovers and battle with our Pokemon in the snow as much as we wanted to. I simply couldn't deal with the moment that my plans, for the first time in years, were destroyed and completely off course.

Therefore, staring out the window for the next two hours just seeing the blizzard and the dark sky can only do so much before you start realizing you're hungry. Conveniently, a crew member of the train started going around all of the cars of the train with a packed minibar, and when he arrived to my seat, I ordered a lot of food. You might as well have called me a Pachirisu getting ready for hibernation: two small pizzas, a bag of BBQ Tamato chips, a bag of gingerbread cookies (yes, really), and one tall bottle of Pecha juice. To be clear, I did not know whether or not I was going to finish it all, but somehow, disappointment and anger makes me eat like there's no tomorrow. Besides, it seemed smart to stock up on food now. When it came to big snowstorms like this one, you couldn't tell what was going to happen next, so it was better to be prepared than never.

By the time I finished my first pizza, I started noting the snowstorm severity. It had gotten far worse, with the train shaking from the tenacious winds, which refused to quiet down. Looking out the window, I saw that the snow was getting harder and faster, swirling around with the winds as it beat against the windows of the train. It was dizzying up my vision with white bombarded all over the sight. In turn, I felt the train start to slow down even more. At this point, I wondered how far to Snowpoint exactly this express had gone.

As I began opening my bag of gingerbread cookies, I heard someone started entering from one of the car doors behind me. I didn't give much thought to the individual until he paused next to my table. Looking up, I saw a tall and fit youth, probably in his early 20s; judging from his outer appearance, and a rather meticulously theatrical one at that, he was most likely a contest coordinator. His figure seemed vaguely familiar; perhaps I had seen him on TV a few times on the Sinnoh Contest TV Channel.

"Hi there," he greeted, almost hesitantly, as if he were careful in choosing his next words to say. "Is it alright if I sit here?"

I looked around me, searching to see if there were any other available seats. There weren't any, as every other seat was occupied by another person or their bag. Shrugging my shoulders offhandedly, I replied, "It's fine. I won't mind."

"Great, thanks." He sat down across from me.

I observed him carefully, wondering if he was going to pull any strange tricks and ruin anything else along my way this holiday season. However, the kid seemed honest, and it seemed he just wanted someone to talk to. I found myself pitying him.

"Where are you headed?" he asked. A conversation seemed only right to start.

"To my family. I was supposed to meet my boyfriend in Kanto but there was a change of plans." I nodded out to the snowstorm.

"Ah, yeah. The snowstorm." He half-chuckled. "It's funny. I was supposed to meet my girlfriend in Snowpoint, but I'm a little worried the train won't make it there."

I tried not to cringe at listening to his words. "At this point, everything that's going on now is pretty much unpredictable. All we can do is hope for the best."

"Yeah," he agreed, his expression sullen. Suddenly, he forced himself out of his gloominess, faced me squarely and reached out his hand. "Pardon me, I never introduced myself properly. I'm Aidan. Pleasure to meet you."

"Cindy," I said in response, shaking my hand with his. For privacy reasons, as you might have imagined, I never gave out my real name in front of random people. Had I told him Cynthia instead, he would have deduced I was the Champion; my long blond hair was not easy to hide in spite of the dark train that hid my distinct facial features, the hat atop my head, and the fact that I had swept my hair to the side in a ponytail.

"So, it looks like you're a trainer, right?"

I smiled, not sure if I was liking where this was going. "I am."

"Are you in contest coordinating?"

"No, actually. I'm just a trainer who participates in battles."

"Oh, I see. You struck me as a kind of—"

His sentence was cut off by the sound of the car door flying open, and what followed was a string of piercing, girlishly high squeals — reminiscent of the cliched High School Musical drama. At this, Aidan and I turned around to find a bratty troupe of twenty divas (yes, I counted) wearing flashy jewelry and thick bright-pink winter dresses, each with a gem-studded belt of Pokeballs attached to their waists. The scent of their girly, floral perfume was strong; it nearly made me want to choke from the amount of man-made chemicals entering my lungs. Instantly, I could see they were contest coordinators.

Seriously? I thought, my face frowning irritably. Why, for the love of everything holy and sacred, WHY?

Now, you must give me some credit. I am an adult, a Master Champion, the Master Champion of the Sinnoh Region. I am expected to handle every problem in my way with sincere maturity and intelligence. However, the exception begins when your day is getting crappier by each minute that's passing, and that there are certain primal triggers from your past that are pushed which can make you quite a nasty fellow. In this case, immature "popular" wannabe-star-contest-coordinators were absolutely no help to my day; I could feel their immaturity rubbing off onto me, which only made everything worse.

The divas instantly clattered around the poor crewman with the minibar like ants, screaming "Oh my gawd! I'm starving!" every second or so. Some rudely began sitting on the tables of other passengers, causing them to look at the divas in utter disgust and contempt.

Aidan, in the meantime, had slouched down into his seat, attempting to cover his face with a hand. I figured he must have come here as an endeavor to escape him; his day must have been crappy as well. First, there was the chance that he couldn't get to his girlfriend (and he was pretty disheartened when letting me know), and now the whole ensemble of spoiled divas made the night even more unpleasant.

"All of the food here has carbs!" one complained. Hearing that made my skin twitch.

"Well, duh! Train food is always gonna be disgusting anyway!" another said loudly.

"I thought at least there'd, like, be something decent, you know!"

I looked at the crewman to see how well he was doing; he looked more or less like he was going to explode out of crankiness. (I couldn't blame him; when he had served me my food, he already seemed like he was in an ill mood. I gave him a rather heavy tip, which seemed to relieve him somewhat, but now I could see that all of my efforts to cheer him up were in vain.)

Then, some of the divas turned to us. Actually, they just turned to Aidan. "Oh my gawd! Aidan! You're, like, here!"

He smiled more weakly than politely. "Hello, haha..."

"This is such a terrible night! I mean, have you even seen the snow outside? Isn't everything such a mess right now?"

Aidan half-looked at me and whispered, "She asked me that a few minutes ago in the other car."

I suppressed a laugh. This diva was reaaally smart.

Nonetheless, the divas continued to clamor around Aidan, one even shoving her way next to me. Apparently, she couldn't seem to focus on the fact that I was far older than her, and that her sense of respect was nonexistent.

"Isn't it?" Arceus, she was persistent.

Aidan nodded nicely. "Yes, it is."

"I know, right? Like, we were all supposed to go to Hearthome for a holiday party, but like, we got on the wrong train, so, like, now we're all stuck here!"

Oh. How lovely.

The diva started paying attention to me when she noticed that Aidan was still paying attention to me. Cheekily, she pointed an index finger to my face. "Who are you?"

"Ah, this is Cindy," Aidan filled in for me. I smiled to him in thanks; I would have rather not talked to the diva anyway.

She introduced herself as Lizzy, and then the names of all the other divas rattled off. I must have yawned all the way through — up to now, even as I'm telling you this story, I can't remember any other name but hers.

When all of the names were introduced, Lizzy started leaning against Aidan, desperate for his attention. More divas started clamoring around us now, and many started hinting quite urgently for me to give up my seat for them; by now, all of them were on this side of the car, a third of them on their phones texting, a third of them munching on food, and a third of them all crowded around Aidan and me.

Despite everything, I decided to sit still like a stone and give them the silent treatment. In spite of their immaturity, I would not budge an inch unless some really horrific catastrophe made me do otherwise.

But just as I was beginning to brace myself, the train suddenly halted, making everyone (quite literally) fly off of our seats. The wheels screeched painfully, deafening our ears as the luggage in the racks above us fell to our ground. Everyone, regardless if they were sitting on a seat or not, fell to the floor, with

me on top of some divas, who screamed pathetically. Food and drinks splattered all over the place, spilling onto others. Somehow, I was fortunate enough not to have my own food stain my clothing, but to my amusement, my second pizza landed directly face front to Lizzy's dress.

At the same time, the lights suddenly jerked forward brightly and remained that way for a good few seconds. Aidan looked up at me to see if I was okay, I presumed, before his eyes widened and he realized who was right before him.

"Wait... You're Cynthia! The Champion of Sinnoh!"

Yes, that was exactly what I needed.

At this abrupt declaration, everyone, including the divas, glanced up at me, and before my eyes, I saw everyone's expression melt into surprise and hysteria.

"OHMYGAWD THE SINNOH CHAMPION IS HERE!"

"IT'S ACTUALLY CYNTHIA?"

To which a bunch of screams of divas followed next. I looked at Aidan painfully, as if to say, "Why, dear Arceus? Why?"

I had to be extremely physical at this point, pushing my shoulders against them to get out of my way. There was no way I was going to be able to sit in my seat anymore. Abandoning my food (scattered all over the floor now), I went to stand up, though just as I had, the lights immediately turned off.

"It's pitch black in here!" a diva complained. "I can't even see what's in front of me!"

The intercom sputtered slowly to life, and a nervous conductor started speaking. Surprisingly, everyone managed to stay quiet for this, aside from a few "SSSHHH!"s from other irritated passengers to the divas.

"Uh, good evening ladies and gents, haha... As you can see, we're having difficulty maneuvering this train in this blasted weather. Right now, we're only an hour and a half away from Snowpoint, as we've landed pretty close to Aulighte Town. We've contacted the emergency team, so hopefully, they might do something. In the meantime, however, the snow won't stop until tomorrow.. We're probably gonna be stuck here all night folks."

I looked out the window for any sign of civilization. In the near distance, I saw what looked like a warmly-glowing building against the snow, its front entrance labeled as Samir's Grill. This looked like a familiar place, and it reassured me that what the conductor had said was right.

"We're also sorry to announce, that um, we're going to cut down the heat to save some energy. This train will get cold in the meantime. So if anyone has any blankets or anything, we are asking that you share it with others."

"You know what," I muttered to myself, "this is getting me nowhere. I'm better off getting out of this train and finding a place in Aulighte."

With everyone's suitcases dumped to the floor, it was easy to feel which duffel bag was mine. Grabbing it quickly, I struggled through the mass of fallen food and cluttered suitcases. This decision was going to be worthwhile, it had to be. I would have liked to think that Lance would be proud of me for making this choice anyhow.

And thus, I stormed my way out of the car, forcing myself to open the icy car door. The metal steps outside were frozen with ice, but I managed to walk down them without slipping. I landed squarely in the snow, the snow itself reaching a little over my knees.

Then, I saw one of the conductors walking along in the snow with a lantern from the corner of my eye, and she seemed to notice that I was one of the train's passengers. "Wait, you're leaving?"

I turned my head to her and attempted to smile. "I'm sorry, I can't deal with this right now. I'm heading over there," I said to her, pointing to Samir's Grill. "Thanks for everything."

With that, I continued plodding through the snow, ignoring the conductor's reply, ignoring the diva's screams that were becoming more apparent even as I kept walking, ignoring everything behind me.