In which the editor returns to her less serious title choices.
Lucas's father did worry, after all. He was just much less open about it.
"When I said that the Pokedex would give you opportunities, I never would have expected you to have to save Sinnoh."
"Come on, Dad," Lucas said, attempting to joke with him. "You were the one who signed me up for it."
The scientist didn't have much to say to that, but Lucas's little sister did. "Why don't the grown-ups get stuck on the stupid Pokedex journey?" she complained. "The Champion isn't getting involved here! They're supposed to help their home region, right?"
"The Champion and the Elite Four are doing what they can," Lucas's father promised. "It's just that Dawn and Lucas seem to be doing a much better job at it."
"Looker and Cynthia, at least, chose this for themselves," Dawn chimed in, and the nine-year-old girl stared at her in alarm. "But whatever 'this' is, it decided to play a cruel joke and choose Lucas and me." She gave her the most reassuring smile she could manage. "Don't worry too much. Even if your brother dies, he'll still be around in some form for you, your father and your grandfather."
The girl's jaw dropped. Lucas facepalmed. His father shook his head, and his grandfather pulled the young girl away.
"I'm sorry about that," they heard the old man say. "I didn't know Lucas went for Hex Maniacs."
"I was trying to help!" Dawn complained, not even trying to deny the couple thing anymore. She patted the bag where her father's journals were. "My dad's still with me in the form of books. Maybe Lucas would be able to communicate with you through dreams or something. That's how I plan to contact my mom, if Plan A...that is, surviving, doesn't go through."
"Dawn," Lucas finally managed, his voice finally returning. "Stop talking."
Dawn shut her mouth, and Lucas stepped in to calm the girl's worries. "Dawn's special already, and I'm her good luck charm. We're not going to die, I promise. Besides, her friend Barry's coming with us. There's three of us and two commanders left. Do you really think we can't take them?"
"But Dad said Professor Rowan told him that you lost to the redhead at the lake."
Lucas glared at his father, who held his hands up in self-defense. "I was telling your grandfather. It's not my fault she overheard."
Lucas rolled his eyes theatrically, but this time, he spoke to his whole family. "I'm not going to die," he repeated. "We're going to stop this."
"And what if you're wrong?" the girl challenged.
Lucas grinned. "Have I ever let you down when it's important?"
She had no response to that, but the old man gave them a small map.
"It's of the path to Snowpoint City through Mt. Coronet," he explained. "It's not the whole mountain, but it will get you there. And, Dawn, was it?" She nodded. "You might want to go home and pack some trousers."
That didn't sound promising, but Dawn had no time for pants. She'd deal with whatever happened.
They needed to get to Celestic Town to get there, but fortunately, Alakazam could still Teleport - the restrictions said only the last Pokémon Center a trainer went to was legal, but they figured they could always get the professor to back them up if they ran into trouble with the law, and Cynthia and Looker would likely provide a nice cover.
Besides, how would the cops be able to tell if the last Pokémon Center they visited wasn't Celestic Town?
"We're doing this right, aren't we?" Dawn asked, nibbling on a chocolate bar she'd stocked up on at the Center. "Your grandpa didn't make this map himself, did he?"
"He did, actually," Lucas admitted, "but it's slowly getting colder, so I think we're on the right track."
Dawn grumbled something that Lucas didn't quite catch. He wasn't going to try.
"You can ride Chowder, if you want to," he suggested instead, but Dawn disagreed.
"No. Chowder's weak to Ice-types, and I'm sure Graveler can legally learn Ice Punch. I can carry him for a while." Dawn shuffled her feet as she followed Lucas, struggling to decide if riding Rapidash was too much. He didn't have anything to carry him across land, and there might not be enough room for them both.
And maybe it would have been a good idea after all, because without warning, a thick fog rolled in. Again, Dawn said something so softly Lucas missed it, as she waved her hand in front of her face.
Lucas had come prepared, though. "Gyarados, dissolve the fog with Rain Dance."
Rain inside a cave was hardly better, but at least the weather had changed. After returning Gyarados, the kids ran as fast as they could to the other side of the cave, climbed up some stairs, and leaned against the wall, hoping for the best.
It wasn't the end of their adventure through Mt. Coronet, but at least they learned that they didn't have to use Strength when using Gallade and Alakazam's psychic powers would work just as well.
Cold. So very, very cold.
The kids were only up to their ankles in snow, but the biting wind cut against Dawn's exposed legs, even through her nice, warm socks. She shivered, releasing Rapidash just to hold on to as they stumbled through the thick white route, letting the unicorn-like Pokémon warm her up. Lucas scooted closer to the other side of Rapidash, and Dawn had no problem sharing her.
"How much longer do we have to do this?" she asked, and Lucas managed to open the map again. Dawn saw him grimace only seconds later.
"You're going to love this," he said in a voice that made her positive that she would definitely not love whatever was coming out of his mouth next. "Lake Acuity is even farther north, where it's even colder. Then, still in the northern area, there's Snowpoint City. There's a Gym there, but judging by the location and the fact that the Gym Leader's name is Candice...spelled with an I and not an A...we're going to be in the snow for a very long time."
Dawn's scream of frustration echoed off the mountains, nearly hurting Rapidash, and Lucas saw a pair of eyes looking from behind a large rock. He was about to throw himself protectively in front of Dawn, in case it was a Froslass come to collect them as trophies or whatever it was they did in legends, but instead of a Ghost-type, the creature that stepped into view was a small, tree-like Pokémon, with brown legs and torso, a white head, and green hands.
"What's that?" Dawn asked, forgetting to complain for a moment, as she pulled out her Pokedex to scan this moving tree over Rapidash's back. The Pokedex said it was a Snover, a male judging by the gender difference app that Lucas's father had installed, and other than that she wasn't sure about anything, not even if it was friendly.
Lucas didn't seem to care about taking chances. "I'll bet you're wondering what happened here, aren't you?" he asked it, and the Snover looked up, confused. "You just want to help out, right?"
The Snover made an agreeing sound. Rapidash asked something else, and whatever it was, it got the Snover thinking.
"What did Rapidash ask him?" Dawn whispered to Lucas, forgetting that he couldn't understand Pokémon any more than she could.
Lucas answered anyway. "I think she wanted to know if he knew a shortcut to Lake Acuity," he said, "but I could be wrong."
The Snover's eyes flickered between the two humans, before he wandered up to Dawn and pointed. Dawn cringed.
"Yes, I know humans are weak to cold. Trust me, I'm feeling it right now. Why do you think we want a shortcut?"
Snover shook his head sadly, and wandered up to Lucas this time, pointing ahead. "You know I can't understand what you're getting at, right?" Lucas asked uncertainly. Snover facepalmed, before he made a gesture that seemed to indicate somebody throwing a Pokeball.
"You want to be caught?" Dawn asked, and Snover stared at her for a long while, before holding up his hands in surrender. Lucas picked a ball from his bag and held it out for him, and Snover poked the opening button enough to be let inside. The ball moved a little in Lucas's hand, before clicking shut.
Dawn spoke first. "Well, that happened. Let's go find that lake before Team Galactic does."
From the ball, the newly-caught Snover nearly bashed his head against the inside. "That's what I was warning you about! Why are humans so dumb..."
The lake was blocked off, of course. Dawn had figured as much when Lucas had told her that they were almost where the map said the lake was. By the look on his face, he had not expected anything of the sort, and stared at the rocks sticking out of the cliff as if he was still trying to wrap his head around it.
"Let's face it, Lucas," Dawn said, cutting into his thinking time. "If we're following fate, fate wants us to get the badge from Candice before we do anything else. If we're not following fate, I'm too cold to wait out here until something moves. Let's just go to Snowpoint City already."
"And what makes you think that you can get up there once you beat her?"
Dawn shrugged. "Call it a hunch, but let's be honest here: the Psyduck swarm apparently couldn't recover from those headaches on their own, and Cynthia didn't magically appear to give you the potion until I beat Crasher Wake. We couldn't get the bicycles for Cycling Road without saving the guy, and we only found out about his kidnapping after I defeated Gardenia. And let's not forget the restricted use of Hidden Machines." She clung more tightly to her Rapidash. "Let's check back after I have that badge. Rapidash should make an Ice-type Gym go fast."
Lucas was about to comment, but looking back, it did seem that something, call it fate, chance or a god at work, had set a path for them and was now dead-sent on having them follow that path. "Well, then," he decided, "if that's what you want, we'll stop at the Gym first. Who knows, maybe you're right for a change."