Chapter Nine – An Ice Surprise
Once again, a bleary Emolga finds herself waking up somewhere strange and unexpected. Her eyes slowly flicker open, and instantly she feels almost blinded by the sheer concentration of bright invading them.
"Ugh…" she grunts, shakily raising an arm to shield her eyes from the brightness of her surroundings. Having no idea of how she got here, Sparky is even more surprised when she deduces that the walls in the room look like they're made of ice of all things. Yet the room itself isn't cold…
Translucent enough to look like walls, yet colourless and sparkly like giant chunks of ice, these walls – while pretty – only perplex Sparky.
'Why would someone want to live in ice?' she mumbles inwardly, further inspecting her surroundings. Fashioned in any icy motif yet somehow warm, Sparky then finds out that she's resting on a rather large stack of assorted cushions. Soft and squishy, she is at first wary, having remembered her time trapped inside of the crate. Soft and squishy scarves were the reason she couldn't escape, at least as far as she's concerned. Speaking of scarves, she's surprised to find a long blue one draped around her neck. Perhaps even one of the ones from the crate itself.
'Maybe that's why I'm not cold…' she thinks, stroking the scarf around her neck for the gentle, fuzzy feel it creates. However, the novelty of her new scarf is all but forgotten when Sparky notices what's in front of her.
At first she thinks she's hallucinating, wondering how she didn't see these first. But a rub of her eyes tells her that there definitely is a bowl full of berries in front of her!
Piled high with assorted berries of all flavours, Sparky practically bounds forwards at the sight, sniffing merrily at the thought of finally eating something!
Her stomach gurgles happily in response, and Sparky's all but ready to devour the bowl's contents when:
"Oh, finally! About time you picked up!"
That voice stops Sparky cold. Eyes dilating with fear at the sound of a human voice, she drops the Oran berry she was holding and dashes back into the pile of cushions. "Who's there?!" she squeaks, terrified.
"Don't try and kid me with the 'I was busy' gag, dude. I know you've got plenty of spare time right now!" the voice continues to echo through the spacious room, "Anyway, you'll never guess what I found!"
Although the voice is female, and of a soft, friendly sounding tone, Sparky can't help but fear the voice because of her last experiences with humans. She shivers in panic from inside of the mound of cushions, with a small hole in front of her to serve as a lookout, and lets out another petrified shriek when another face peers into it!
"Oh, you're awake!" this pokémon says, its cold blue eyes sparkling with a surprising warmth as it greets her. This pokémon is mostly blue in colour, varying in shade by location, with three large squares of darker blue on its forehead that somewhat resemble ice crystals.
"Wh-wh-wh-wh-who are you?!" Sparky squeaks, not wanting to come out of her cushion fortress, "Where am I? What is this? Why?!"
All the while, the human voice in the background continues talking; "Aww c'mon! You could at least guess once! Where's the fun if ya don't guess?"
From the corner of her 'spyhole' amidst the cushions, Sparky can finally put a face to the voice. Casually strolling into the main room, with a cell phone practically glued to her right ear, a young girl – perhaps in her late teens – makes her presence known. She has long black hair that has been dragged back into twin braids on opposing sides of her head, however a stray curl of fringe drapes over one of her coffee brown eyes, having evaded her hands when she plaited her hair this morning.
"Ugh, you're so boring…" she groans into her cell phone, dragging her simple black and white trainers across the floor. Long, blue and white horizontally striped knee socks meet up with a brown pleated skirt, and her blue sweater is tied around her waist, over a plain white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to elbow length. A blue bow carefully attached to her chest completes the picture, and the raven haired teen giggles into her cell phone; "Yes you are! You won't even make one guess! Here's a hint – it's your specialty!"
"Who's… that?" Sparky gulps quietly, still making a point of refusing to leave her cushions.
"Oh, that's Miss Candice!" the strange, light blue pokémon in front of her explains softly, "You don't need to be afraid of her! Miss Candice is very nice and friendly! Look, she left you these tasty berries!"
The pokémon backs out of Sparky's little hidey hole, and gestures to the bowl full of berries that Sparky nearly devoured earlier.
"She… she did?" Sparky asks slowly, an angry gurgle from her impatient stomach luring her out of the cushions once again.
"Yes indeed!" the bluish pokémon smiles. Now that Sparky can see all of it, the pokémon is revealed to walk on four legs, with more splashes of darker blue on its feet, back, ears and tail, the latter of which appear almost… sharp. As if they are made from icicles.
"Now you eat these tasty berries, and I shall fetch Miss Candice for you!" the Glaceon chimes happily, slowly meandering off towards the young girl on the cell phone.
"Fine, since you're so boring, I'll have to tell you Volk." She sighs into the cell phone, playfully rolling her eyes all the while, "I found an Emolga, OK? All the way out here in Snowpoint!"
Once again, Sparky is stopped cold by Candice's voice.
'…why is she talking about me?!' She panics inwardly, again dropping the berries in her hands and retreating back into her cushions. "I-I don't like the sound of that…" Sparky mumbles quietly, shivering in fear once again also.
"Yeah, I figured I'd ask you seeing as you actually know somethin' about Electric-types," Candice chuckles awkwardly into her phone. Glaceon approaches her quietly however, and Candice says "Yeah, the poor thing was on the brink of death! Good thing I found it huh? Oh, hold on a sec, Glace wants something."
She places her other hand over her phone and kneels down to consult her Glaceon, "What's up, Glace?"
Glaceon spins around and gestures in the direction of the cushions by 'pointing' with its muzzle, and Candice surmises, "Oh, it's awake?!"
Jamming her phone back to her ear, she cries "It's just woken up! I'll talk to you later Volk!" and hangs up, before rushing excitedly over towards the cushions, "W-where is it, Glace?"
Her Glaceon 'points' towards the little hole amidst the cushions, where a terrified Emolga hides, and Candice bends down to get a closer look, "Oh, there you are!"
Sparky pushes herself further back still from this strange human with her unknown motives, far from trusting her in spite of her offering of food.
"Aww, what's wrong?" Candice asks, having the sense not to put her hand in there and try to drag the pokémon out, "Come on out, you silly thing! Candice isn't gonna hurt you!"
Still Sparky stays, buried in her mound of cushions, shaking with fear at the sight of this human. In spite of Candice's good intents, the petrified little Emolga simply does not want to budge.
"T-the food's a trap, I know it!" she squeaks quietly to herself. After what's happened to her recently, it's no wonder that she's mistrustful. If it weren't for humans, she would still be at her old house, with Socks and Higgle, and her trainer Holly would still be there to comfort her during times like this…
"…Miss Holly," she sniffs, her eyes watering as she buries her head into the cushion below her. Meanwhile, an exasperated Candice simply sighs.
"You might have better luck than me, Glace." She smiles to her Glaceon, standing up and backing away a few feet, "I'll… just stay here."
Slowly, Candice sits down again, crossing her legs and extracting her phone from somewhere. She flips it open and starts dialling up a number – one that seems second nature to her – while Sparky's limited vision is invaded by her Glaceon for the second time today.
"…please come out?" It requests bashfully, "Miss Candice really is nice, I promise!"
"…C'mon dude, I know you're there." Candice groans into her cellphone in the background, "Pick up already."
"B-but you'll do nasty things to me if I come out!" Sparky squeaks, daring to make eye contact with the – in her mind – obnoxiously 'friendly' Glaceon, "Like, you're gonna sell me or somethin', I just know it!"
"S-sell you?" Glace asks, confused, "Why do you think that, friend?"
"Your human, she's talking about me!" Sparky cries, "Why else would she be talking about me?!"
"Ohhhhh!" Glace understands, biting back the urge to chuckle at what this naïve little Emolga just stated, "Nooo, not at all! Please, come out here and eat some tasty berries, and I shall explain everything!"
"Yeah, and the moment I do someone's gonna jump out with a net and trap me?!" Sparky accuses, "Nuh-uh! Not buyin' it!"
"Please, calm down!" Glace appeals, sympathy shining in its eyes in spite of Sparky's brutal insults towards its trainer, "If we were to capture and sell you, why would we give you these comfy cushions?"
"…T-to trick me!" Sparky hesitates, drumming up an irrational excuse, "Like, you'll be nice to me, try and make me trust you, and then you'll-"
"FINALLY!" Candice gasps in the background, "I was wondering how many rings it'd take! Heh, I guess Candice's willpower finally won you over, huh Volk?!"
"If we wanted to hurt you, we would have tried already!" Glace pleads, its face dropping slightly from disappointment, "Miss Candice is only talking about you because she is confused!"
"C…confused?" Sparky questions, "B-but humans are smart! Why would she be confused over me?"
"…yeah, it's like you predicted, Volk. It doesn't trust me." Candice sighs in the background, and Glace continues to explain, "Miss Candice likes Ice pokémon, like me! B-but you are not an Ice pokémon, and that's what has her confused. So she is asking a friend of hers for help... I think!"
"Y-you think?" Sparky mumbles, "Why do you only think?"
"You see the thingy she is holding?" Glace explains, "Miss Candice talks to it whenever she needs help, and it says words back! I don't know how, but it seems to help her whenever she gets lost or confused! That's why I think she needs help with you, because she doesn't know much about pokémon that aren't Ice pokémon!"
"Th-that does kinda make sense…" Sparky nods, a tone of rationalisation finally creeping into her voice, "and the scarf's kinda nice too, I guess. But what if-"
"Yeah, that's why I've been asking you Volk." Candice continues to jabber into her phone, now lying down on her front with her feet in the air, "It doesn't trust me, so I figured I'd ask you for help, cause you know how they work…"
"Eek!"
For the second time today, Sparky the Emolga drops her berries in fright and dashes back into the mound of cushions, "Y-you heard that! She's gonna make me work! L-like some kinda torture or something!"
Glace literally buries its head in the cushions from exasperation, and sighs, "Noo, don't be silly. Miss Candice does not wish to hurt you, understand?"
"B-but then why does she wanna make me work?!" Sparky squeaks back, terrified, "I-I can't work! I'm too little, and I wouldn't be any good! Don't they have humans for that sorta thing anyway?!"
"Hey, heyyy…" Glace soothes, attempting to calm Sparky down yet again, while Candice nods into her phone in the background, "Uh-huh, so they like places where they can get a lot of exercise, and high energy food? Gotcha."
"See, do you hear that?" Glace says softly, peering into the hole in the cushions once again, "Miss Candice is just trying to learn what will make you happy, that's all!"
"…I'm sorry." Sparky eventually admits, shuffling forwards back out of the cushions yet again, "I-I've just had a few bad days, that's all…"
"Did you want to… come out here and talk about it?" Glace asks, keeping its voice as soft and disarming as possible, "Miss Candice really is nice, I promise?"
"…A-alright." Sparky mumbles, tumbling out of the mound of cushions and mentally preparing herself to discuss her last few days. Grabbing a couple of fresh berries from the pile, she sighs deeply, and says "where do I start…?"
"S-so yeah, af'fa we… loss, Miss Horry," Sparky sniffles, her mouth bulging with berries as a result of comfort eating. She swallows, and says "W-we were a little confused on what to do at first, because... it's your trainer's job to keep you safe, y'know? But Higgle, he was really smart, and found a way we could grow our own food, and everything was starting to look up! B-but then some evil humans took us away in a big metal machine... and we were dumped in some kinda prison!"
"Oh nooo!" Glace squeaks, literally shivering from the thought, "H-how did you escape from there?!"
"You remember my friend Socks?" Sparky mumbles, holding an Oran Berry between her little paws, "She managed to squeeze through the bars, hide from the watching boxes, and steal their keys. All without getting caught!"
"Wow, that's amazing!" Glace cries, astonished, "She must be really clever!"
"Uh-huh." Sparky nods sadly, "S-she's a lot smarter than she thinks she is. Higgle's smarter, though. He's the smartest pokémon I know…"
"B-but you seem pretty clever too?" Glace says earnestly, trying to inspire some confidence in her, "I mean-"
"No." Sparky deadpans, her face dropping into a sullen glower, "I-I'm not smart at all. I'm the reason we got separated, and I was dumb enough to get chased by bad pokémon when I got lost. I was even dumb enough to think my trainer could fly…"
Sparky turns away from the Glaceon, and retires to gently sniffling into the mound of cushions once again.
"Oh…" Glace deflates, what little spirit she had ebbing away at the sight of the distraught young Emolga, "But, but…"
Glace tries to think up something comforting to say, but the words dissolve before it can bring them to a tangible form. Instead of cheering Sparky up, Glace's actions have only made things worse, it would seem. Not wanting to risk worsening things still, the Glaceon just remains quiet. Its intentions are ultimately fruitless, however;
"Hey you two!" Candice yells, bursting out of seemingly nowhere and startling them both, "Are you guys great friends now?"
Glace's eyes shine at the sight of its owner, but Sparky the Emolga isn't so enthusiastic, barely mustering up the energy to lift her head from the cushions and look up at the mysterious young human in front of her.
"Aww, not so hot huh?" Candice surmises, carefully kneeling down and looking the tiny Emolga in the eye, who flinches from the even minimal contact, "Well you're in luck, little one. Because Candice has a friend coming to see you soon, and he'll be able to take great care of you, OK?!"
Sparky the Emolga looks towards Glace nervously, and Glace responds with a simple nod of the head.
"Can I… can I hold you?" Candice asks warily, trying to maintain eye contact with the tiny Emolga.
Still unsure with her decision, Sparky turns her gaze back towards Candice, and toddles forwards with her arms stretched out.
"Please be nice, please be nice, please be niiiice…" she mumbles insecurely, before two giant hands enclose around her waist, and suddenly everything is terrifying!
"Eyaaaaaagh!" Sparky shrieks, loosing massive bolts of static electricity and spooking not only Glace, but Candice too!
"Oh crud!" Candice yelps, wincing from pain and pulling the Emolga to her chest in a frantic attempt to calm the poor thing down, "It's OK, It's OK!"
Still releasing bursts of static electricity, the petrified Emolga thrashes in Candice's arms, but the young girl – either out of bravery or stubbornness – maintains her grip. "Y-you can do it." She winces.
Glace has backed far away from the scene now, knowing that there is nothing it can do to help. Its trainer is in danger, but Glace is just wise enough to understand how important it is for Sparky to regain her trust in humans. So it does what it can; get out of the way.
"Uuuuuugh!" Sparky whimpers, furious sparks of electricity still flaring across her tiny body. Candice knows that she's doing all she can, so she just has to endure the pain until the little Emolga calms down.
Her mind wracked with grief and suffering, her manic thoughts jump through her mind;
'Will I ever see Socks and Higgle again?'
'Can I really trust this person?'
'What is that thumping sound?!'
Sparky listens closely to try and discern the alien noise, only to find that it isn't strange in the slightest. In fact, this sound is perfectly natural.
'thump-thump-thump-thump-thump'
The soft, steady thumping that Sparky can hear is merely a heartbeat. Now that she's stopped to think about it, she's noticed that she's resting against Candice's chest, and the warmth of her arms, combined with the steady – albeit elevated – heartbeat somehow has her calming down, against all odds.
Her electricity slowly dissipates, and the tiny Emolga just sits there, listening to the heartbeat. The soft, natural rhythm of life.
"Oh, good job!" A massively relieved Candice gasps, her hair on end and her clothes a little singed from Sparky's electricity, "You did so well!"
"Thank you…" Sparky mumbles quietly, her eyes slowly closing from exhaustion.
"Let's... go make you some more friends, huh?" Candice suggests, shaking her hair back into place. Her footfalls unsteady from her shocking experiences, the raven-haired teenager carefully carries the tiny Emolga away, with her Glaceon slowly meandering behind. Sparky may not know what the future holds for her, but right now things are… steady. And she's OK with that.
Author's note:
Hey there everyone. Did you all have a fun Halloween?
I'm sorry updates are taking so long. I lack motivation recently.
I AM SORRY FOR BEING WEAK. D:
However, I do hope that this one doesn't disappoint. Those who correctly guessed Candice in the previous chapter win a free waffle!
…just as soon as you can steal it from Kirby here:
-_ (3'o')3#
(He's running)
Anyways. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated, particularly thoughts on whether you think I did well with Candice's character, and what you think will happen next. Over and out.
