"C'mon guys! We can brave through these winds if we just push on!" Ludicolo optimistically declared to the team.
"Right on!" Scampi yelled. "Together we can get through anything!"
"If we have to bear through this cold, can we at least do it without all the yelling?" Tamin asked in an annoyed tone, not reflecting the same optimism.
"I second that," Nidorino agreed with Tamin as the team continued trying to walk against the wind.
"C'mon guys, you have to get into the team spirit!" Ludicolo cold Tamin and Nidorino.
"Yeah!" Scampi cheered on. "Sing with me, everyone! What's gonna work? Team-work! What's gonna work? Team-work-"
"What's gonna work? Team-work!" Ludicolo joined in.
As their singing carried on, Tamin and Nidorino rolled their eyes as hard as one was physically able to do. As their line of sight drew elsewhere, they saw white particles dancing around in the wind. It was a blur, but clearly present.
"Is it snowing out here?" Nidorino asked.
The group stopped to inspect it closer, and with perfect timing, a few of the flakes landed right on their noses. Each of them got to inspect the individual flakes closer, seeing the unique hexagonal patterns on each of them. They then turned their gaze upwards, to see the much more white snow above them and clouds that had turned grey.
"This can't be good..." Tamin said to the group.
An hour after the four first began seeing the snow, Locke, Yuki, and Froslass entered the mountain range. The amplified terrain stood far taller than they did, making them feel feeble in comparison. The mighty natural structures did serve to partially shield them from the gale, but it presented a far different challenge of rough terrain that was harder to climb up and navigate, every slope took exertion to scale. Froslass was the least affected as she levitated over it all, but she was still slowed down by proxy as she had to stay with the other two.
"How far away do you think they are?" Locke asked while pushing on.
"Considering they left several hours before us, it should still be several hours until we find them," Froslass answered.
"It'll be a hard trek for us re-gard-less," Yuki said, walking slightly ahead of Locke and behind Froslass in the marching order.
"Oh yes, this will surely be harder for me than any other mission I do, the trek will be absolutely exhausting," Froslass, speaking in the same sarcastic-esque tone she always did with no difference. "Hey, do you think we'll have any combat in this?"
"I doubt it," Locke said. "Wild pokemon have good instincts, so they wouldn't wander out of their dungeons when it in the middle of a storm. This is the time they're going to stay in where they won't get frozen be."
"Fair enough, I'll trust the wild pokemon to know what wilds are like," Yuki said.
"Hey, excuse me?" Locke asked, offended.
"What? You've shown yourself to be more than savage with how many times you've attacked members of the guild, so it just makes sense that you'd know what your re-le-tives are like," Yuki said while turning her head to look at Locke closer.
"That's not what I am!" he yelled at her.
"Actions speak louder than words, sweet-tie," Yuki said with a sly smile, exactly the kind Hunter would make.
"...I am glad that I didn't expect anything good to come from you," Locke said, exhausted.
"Better watch your words, shinx. I have a leash in my bag and the middle of a snow storm would be an ex-qui-set time to use it. You do have a his-to-ry of getting lost from the group, afterall." Yuki continued.
"Let's not get into a juvenile argument," Froslass interjected. "We've just gotten to the mountains, so we don't want to start hating each other before things start to get truly bad."
"Yes please," Locke said.
"Fair enough," Yuki said. "If we're going to have lighter subjects instead, then I will say that I did manage to do one final supply run for Hunter and I before the snow came. Quite glad I did that, as I don't think the de-part-ments will be easy to access now."
"That's nice, I suppose," Froslass said, not really caring and focusing on navigation.
"Wait, what kind of supplies could you be getting?" Locke questioned, "We're already fed by the guild."
"Oh, Hunter has some sche-ma-tics and plans for alcohol-based bottle rockets that he's been working at for awhile, so I got eve-ry-thing he believes he will need for that," Yuki answered.
"I don't know what that be, but that sounds very dangerous and dumb," Locke stated.
"Oh yeah. But I don't feel particularly inte-re-sted in stopping him," the vulpix said.
Locke gave a strange look, but then turned away, as he didn't have more to add.
The group paced forward for longer, staying mostly silent and only looking around for Tamin and the others. The wind gradually got more intense, the snow got more dense, and the temperature got more frigid. Locke found Sylveon's coat to be a godsend with how warm it managed to keep his chest.
Due to their marching order and Yuki being in front of Locke, whenever he got close she would often take that as an opportunity to brush her tails against his face in a teasing way, and giggle at Locke's reaction to it. She would do that every few minutes, gradually increasing Locke's frustration at this mildly inappropriate act until he began considering biting her tails in retaliation, but he held that desire back and didn't act on it. Locke would instead watch his distance to make sure he wasn't within range of her tails, and wouldn't enter in range if she suddenly slowed down walking.
Minutes turned to hours in the storm, and the whistling of wind between mountain passes drowned out other sounds.
One hour in and they sent off a flare straight into the skies to make them visible in hopes they would be seen by the ones they were rescuing, and they systematically sent off another flare into the white skies every thirty minutes thereafter. The colored light also helped contrast against the monochromatic white that was building up.
An hour and a half in, they did make the decision to clip the leash onto Locke's harness by wiring it down the neck of the coat. While Locke would normally be saddened by such a thing, that was one time where he couldn't be against it, as the idea of getting lost from the group in the middle of the blizzard was a far more concerning one.
Landmarks were few and far between, and the snow made it harder to see the few that did exist. Their only hopes were to stick to the manmade road to keep a sense of direction, but even then, the accumulating snow made that harder to see.
Moral was dropping just as the temperature was. Two-and-a-half hours in, and they were miserable. Inevitably, disagreements would come to them as they could not be prolonged forever.
"Are you sure you don't want me to warm you up, Locke?" Yuki asked.
"Yes Yuki, I'm sure," Locke responded.
"Aww, sure you're sure?" Yuki asked, "I am a fire type, I could eas-il-ly warm you right back up to normal if you just asked."
"Yes! I am absolutely sure," Locke raised his voice.
"What's got you so upset? You are shiv-er-ing, and I'm just reaching out a helping hand, it's nothing more."
"Because I don't need you, and I don't like you," Locke shouted. "You've taken Hunter's side every time, pulled a net from under me, and you're part of the reason I am in a harness! I don't know why you're so insistent to help me, I don't know what trap you- I don't know if you're trying to get me into your debt or something like that, but I'm not allowing it. Just back off."
"Now I think you need to calm down there, pal. This is a team effort, afterall," Yuki said, trying her best to paint herself as the more reasonable among them.
"Yuki's right," Froslass said. "Regardless of personal feuds, we need to get through this together."
"Oh for pete sakes, c'mon…" Locke said in frustration as both of them were against him. Since he could feel he wasn't going to win an argument, he stayed quiet.
By staying silent, the group got to hear the sounds among them more. Like for most of the journey, just the sounds of strong, whistling winds in a seemingly infinite direction was heard. But in this moment where they did not talk, Locke's large ears heard a different sound permeate in the skies above them: the faint sound of an explosion buried in the wind.
"Wait, did anyone- did anyone else here that?" Locke asked.
"Hear what?" Froslass inquired.
"I heard the sound of an explosion, I think it was a flare going off!" Locke said.
"I think I might've heard that as well," Yuki said, backing up Locke's story.
"Yeah, that must be them! Come on, I heard it this way!"
Locke suddenly ran off in the direction he heard it come from, which yanked at the leash and forced Yuki to move with him to avoid losing grip of it. Locke trudged forward, slightly off the beaten path and going up a slope, now at the front of the team.
The slope was a few meters high, and required a decent bit of effort to scale. It was at an angle sharp enough that you'd climb it instead of walk it. Froslass got to the top first, and Locke got up not much later. As they got to the vantage point and could look down from it, they could see familiar faces not too far away. It was Tamin, Nidorino, Scampi, and Ludicolo. They were backtracking down the road to go back in the direction of the guild, and each of them were heavily shivering from being chilled to the bone.
"There they are!" Locke called out, cheerful for the first time on the trip.
The three climbed down from the point and began running as fast as they could to the four. The group also saw them coming, so they began walking towards them as well. Finally, the seven all got together.
"Tamin!" Locke declared.
"L-L-Locke?" Tamin asked, her paws put around her and her teeth chattering from the chill.
"We've come to rescue you from the storm," Locke replied to them.
"Th-th-thanks," Tamin managed to stutter out.
"Yes, we came to ensure you wouldn't be lost," Yuki said while stepping out from behind Locke.
"Oh-oh, y-you c-came as well. G-g-great," Tamin said as her heart dropped at seeing the vulpix. She still managed to be sarcastic despite being so deeply chilled.
"Mhm. Anyways, we brought blankets," Froslass stated.
The seven all stopped at that part in the mountains and began sharing what supplies they had. Tamin, Nidorino, Scampi, and Ludicolo were wrapped up in blankets, which didn't have immediate effect due to being exposed to the cold themselves for a long time, but fire seeds did have immediate affect and provide them with a sense of warmth they had missed for several long hours. Ludicolo was the most affected from the cold, his color had already begun changing from the blizzard, so he was given the most cloth to warm up.
After the reunion, the group of now seven began journeying back to the guildhouse. But the storm did not halt its pace during the time they spent rallying together; it only kept growing worse.
Walking with the wind instead of against the wind made traveling significantly easier, but their conditions weren't improving as they were still exposed to the cold. Goosebumps were across all of their bodies, far more so with the original four that set off. The rescuers remember the objectives Espeon had given them, that they aren't just to return with them but also restore them. Keeping to this command, they looked around for any small cave or alcoves that offered shelter from the windchill and snow. Froslass went further up into the air in spots where she wouldn't be blown away to scout around for such a location.
It took a few minutes of looking around, with their eyes stinging as it felt like the fluids in their eyes were freezing. Just as she considered turning back to the team empty-handed, Froslass was able to spot an area in the hills that was perfect. It was an alcove that went several meters deep into the mountain side, tall enough to house all of them and large enough that someone inside would shelter from 300 degrees around them. The abrasive stone wasn't comforting, but it was better than the pervasive dangers outside. Froslass lit off a flare right outside of it, and not too much later the other six came to her location and saw what she was signaling to.
Tamin, Nidorino, Scampi, and Ludicolo went to the deepest part of the alcove and sat down with their blankets, still badly shivering. Locke, Yuki, and Froslass stood closer in the entrance from them.
"We need to build a fire for them," Locke stated.
"T-That would be nice," Nidorino said.
"There are some roots sticking out from the top of this place," Locke said while pointing towards the ceiling. "Could you grasp those, Froslass?"
"Of course," she said, her tone not making it any less ambiguous on whether she was being sarcastic or not.
She went up to the top of the alcove, grabbed the roots, and pulled at them. It took a few seconds of pulling with her subpar strength and trying to work at it from different angles, but she managed to get the roots out. She came down with them and set them in a pile in front of the four in blankets.
"Alright, good. I'm going out to collect from grass for tinder, I can get a small fire started using that by biting it and shocking it, we can then continue tossing some more grass to build the fire up until the roots-"
Yuki breathed fire on the roots to set them ablaze. The firelight illuminated the alcove more, and a beloved warmth was finally known again.
"Or that…"
They extended their hands out to the fire. Meager as it was, the heat was still priceless to them. For one minute, it was all they focused on, and they could finally stop shivering and hold back their teeth chattering. Still chilled, but with hypothermia put at bay.
"We should gather some more wood for the fire," Froslass commented.
"One second," Nidorino stated.
Nidorino reached into his bags, and from them he withdrew an iron pot. "We can boil some water with this."
"Brilliant idea, no one else would have thought of that," Froslass said, her tone still not making it clear if she was ambiguous or not.
"I know of some herbs that usually grow in these here mountains. If we get those, we could make some light soup for everyone to shwarm up to," Locke said.
"You guys can collect that, I think I'll get the firewood. I have some more body strength than Froslass does," Yuki said.
"I know of those herbs as well, I can easily go around the mountain sides to collect those," Froslass stated.
"Yeah. I can get a little of both," Locke commented.
"Sh-shouldn't you stay here?" Scampi asked.
"Huh?" Locke asked.
"Yeah, there should probably be someone watching them right now, and you're the one that isn't as resistant to the cold as Froslass or I," Yuki stated.
"But-" Locke tried to argue, but couldn't find the words to do so. He didn't want to have to rely on others for tasks such as this, but at the same time, he knew that the four who were deeply chilled were in no condition to be left behind. "...Fine," Locke admitted.
"Well, at least you know the command to stay~" Yuki commented.
Yuki and Froslass split up to leave the alcove, leaving Locke behind with the others. The shinx went closer to the fire and the others.
"Th-thanks for staying, Locke," Tamin said as he sat down.
"Right…" Locke said, still not having the idea of relying on Yuki and Froslass sitting well with him.
"H-hey don't be so c-coldhearted, y-you've got to be more ch-chill about this," Tamin said, her chattering teeth ruining any timing her jokes had.
"I suppose… Well, we're together now."
"Yeah, that's nice. No wait no, I-I meant to say that's cool."
"I'm not sure I'm in the mood for this," Nidorino interjected.
"No wait, n-ice. That actually could be a pun by itself," Tamin said, putting strong emphasis on certain syllables.
"How many hypothermia-wrecked minds does it take to make some kinda bad puns?" Locke asked.
"I like your- your jokes are great, Tamin!" Scampi said.
"It's a trick question, it doesn't take any hypothermia to make those puns."
They talked with each other for longer as Yuki and Froslass scavenged. The flame gradually ran out of fuel and became dimmer, but their spirits became brighter.
"Hey Locke, you still have that leash with you?" Tamin asked him.
"Yeah, why?"
"Hand it to me. I don't believe it's in the rules that the one who has it ever has to give it to someone else, so if I hold it then I'm keeping it away from Yuki," Tamin suggested.
"I like the way you thinking," Locke said as he presented the handle to her.
"We're back," Froslass said as she and Yuki came back to the alcove.
"Oh, hey," Locke said awkwardly.
"Hope you didn't miss us~" Yuki commented.
More wood was added to the bonfire, building it up large enough that it would be considered a hazard if in a town. They scooped up snow into the iron pan and placed it on the fire so it could gradually be heated up until it converted into pure water. Once it was brought to a simmer, the herbs and other ingredients that had were tossed into the pan to make the soup. The soup didn't have too many calories in it, but it was the event that made it so nice. By the top the pot was empty again, they had all been fully restored.
Now done, they gathered their equipment back into the packs and left the alcove. The world outside did not look like the lands that were at the start of the day. A blanket of soft, white snow coated everything, and was deep enough that they would have to trudge through it to return home.
They got back into a single-file line, with Nidorino at the front as his size allowed him to get through the snow easily and leave a path behind for the others to follow. The comfort of the alcove was gone, and the harshness of the elements made its full return.
"Supposedly, cinccino fur is good against extreme temperatures," Tamin said to the group, "so if anyone by chance spots a shiny stone, please tell me."
"I got you Tamin!" Scampi said, "We'll find you that shiny stone!"
"No, let's not get sidetracked for something we have very little chance of finding," Nidorino said."Just grit your teeth and bear through this."
"You know, you don't talk much and save your words for when it counts," Tamin said to Nidorino. "I like that."
"Thanks." Nidorino replied, completely straightforward and thankful.
The group continued to chat as they journeyed, Scampi being the biggest talker there, with Ludicolo being a tad too cold to talk. Locke, Yuki and Froslass talked a normal amount as they largely just responded to Scampi's endless flurry of words as she tried to hold a conversation. Tamin and Nidorino barely talked at all, instead choosing to just passively observe what the others said.
Fifteen minutes after leaving the alcove, the wind kicked up again which made conversations die down. Their pace also slowed as well, as they needed to frequently ensure they were going in the correct direction as navigation was difficult when the clouds covered the sun and it was nothing but white in all directions.
"Do you think we should have stayed in that cave?" Scampi asked, actually sounding low in spirit for once.
"I don't know," Tamin answered.
"Whatever shelter we find first, we'll rest there," Nidorino said.
"Wait a second guys, I see something in the snow," Locke stated as his head looked to his side.
"Well, what is it?" Froslass inquired.
"It's some pokemon. Three figures, and… I think they're coming towards us!"
Locke's statement provoked an instant reaction. They all faced the direction Locke was looking in and readied themselves. Yuki and Locke extended their claws, Tamin pulled out a flare in absence of a proper battle plan or techniques to defend herself, and Nidorino channeled venom to the tips of his claws.
"I do believe you said there wouldn't be any wild pokemon out in this weather, correct?" Yuki sarcastically asked Locke.
"They could be ice types themselves, or the sources of this weather," Locke replied.
"Who said we were wild, now?" the middle of the three figures said, speaking in a clearly feminine voice.
They got close enough so that they could be made out through the dancing snow. They were a trio of absol that were all clad in coats and winter provisions. Eno was at the center of them, her brass pocket watch still drooping down from her neck, and its metal frigid yet the clockwork mechanisms continued moving. To her left was a female absol were a cyan hairpin who was trying to retain a hairstyle that the storm had clearly already ruined, and to Eno's right was a male absol with several bands around his forelegs.
"Who are you?" Scampi asked.
"We saw you being lost in the storm and I knew that you all were from the guild," Eno told them. "So a small party was organized to get you, and here we are,"
"I don't think- I wouldn't exactly say we were 'lost', but we were still a while away from getting back home," Froslass said. "Could you help us out?"
"Yes. The absol colony isn't far from here, we're technically standing right next to it right now, we just need to go up to get to the entrance," the male absol explained. "If you come with us, you can come in and wait out the storm with us. You can spend the night there."
"Really?!" Tamin asked, despair converting into hope at an exponential rate.
"Yes," the same absol responded. "We can provide hospitality for the night, you'll want it from this storm."
"How can we be sure we can trust you?" Locke asked.
"I've been in this guild for a while now, so I can confirm that we are on good terms with this absol colony," Froslass answered Locke. "They lack any reason to make this into a rouse."
"Eh, fair enough."
"Please lead the way." Tamin said to Eno in the most respectful manner she could.
"Come," The female absol on Eno's otherside said.
The three absol turned around, showing their scythe-like tails to the group as they began walking away the way they came. A few glances were exchanged through the guild pokemon before they started following the absol. The group was now composed of ten pokemon. The four that originally headed out in the storm, the three guild members that were sent to get them back and now the three absol.
"How do we know we're going the right way?" Tamin inquired to the absol. "The wind has already covered your paw prints."
"We remember which way the wind and snow was coming from when we left," the male absol said, "We can use that to remember which way we should go to get to the colony."
"Won't the wind directions be constantly changing?" Tamin asked a follow-up question.
"Oh, we can sense all those changes and account for them," Eno answered, she lifted one of her front legs and pointed it at her horn, showing it off for her explanation while she continued walking using three legs. "We can sense quite a bit and keep track of it. We also go in groups so we can check with each other in case one of us is off."
"Oh that's super cool!" Scampi excitedly said, "it must be so neat to be an absol and stuff! I mean, you get a new sense and you can predict everything with the weather and- Oh, it's just so cool!"
"Heh, thanks," the other female absol.
"Well If we are going to talk about Pokemon a-bil-i-ties, then I do believe I'm okay with my multiple tails and internal flame," Yuki said. "I don't really feel en-vi-ous at all about not being an absol."
"Same," Locke followed up in saying. Raising one of his front paws and looking at it while he released some electricity from it.
"And I'm glad that I can- brrr-" Ludicolo tried to speak, but his freezing chlorophyll made him too cold to talk properly.
"The colony is only a few minutes away! Just steel yourselves until then!" The male absol barked in a low and commanding voice.
The group climbed up roads established at the side of a mountain, increasing their altitude as they went forward. With increasing altitude came increasing wind, but they were so close to the end. They could feel that beneath the snow was still a pathway and not natural stone or untouched soil. Every minor mark of civilization bequeathed a moral boost to the guild pokemon and gave a vision of a warm indoors to them on this final stretch.
"Say. can I ask why you are so keen to refer to this as a 'colony'?" Nidorino asked as they climbed the hill, "Is it just the name that you thought sounded the best?"
"Absols usually settle in a new place in the mountains once the previous settlement starts getting too full," Eno explained. "So since we are settling a new area in the mountains: We call it a colony."
"...And why do you like to stay in your own colonies instead of just staying in normal towns?" Nidorino continued to ask.
"Just preferences really," Eno kept answering. "Some of us like to head out and we respect their decision to do so. It also gives us a good reason to be spread out all over the world: if someone needs an absol, we won't be far.
Besides, if we weren't in our own colonies: then we wouldn't be in a good position to rescue lost pokemon from storms like we did with you."
"Fair enough," Nidorino said to end the conversation.
"Anyways! We're only like a minute off from the entrance," the other female absol spoke. "Let's just save it all for when we're out of the cold."
A collective nod and agreement happened throughout the group, followed by them continuing to walk and trudge through the snow.
Not too much time later, the path stopped being too sloped and came to a flat section on the hill. To their side was a weathered wooden wall with a door, sticking out like a sore thumb along the hill. Tamin in particular became a little skeptical and disappointed by the sight of the wall; her imagination made her picture a dusty cave and a mineshaft system behind the door. The reactions of the others were different.
The three absol approached the door and opened it up. They headed inside with the guild pokemon still following. Everything opened up around them when they entered, the inside of it was much larger than they had been expecting, it was a full-fledged carved out lounge; with plenty of offshoot paths coming out of it.
The place was mostly cut out to have sharp and smooth walls, with some exceptions here and there. Stone pillars were present and each spaced a few meters apart to ensure the roof remained above them.
Several absols were already inside the entrance room, with countless more in other of them had some sort of an accessory distinguishing them in the same vein as Eno's pocket watch. Typically a hairpin, bracelet or something around the neck. Each was unique, allowing them to be told apart from each other even though the culture was monospecies.
As they entered, the wind and snow was left behind them. A blast of cold tried to breach into the architecture, but disappeared into the insulated warmth of the colony and was cut off as the door behind them was shut. It was far better conditions than the alcove had provided.
Eno wasted no time in stepping forward, approaching an absol who was decorated with a brooch.
"You found them?" The absol asked.
"Yes. They weren't too far away from the colony at all, so it was an in-and-out mission," Eno responded in the most formal tone she could make, yet it was natural.
"Very good,"
"I brought them here so they can stay the night and wait out the storm in our colony," Eno said to him.
"I will ensure that is arranged then," he said, speaking like a leader would.
"Thank you. Do we have a good room they could rest the night in?"
They talked for a minute longer, with Eno speaking to the brooch absol like he was her superior. Tamin listened in on them, but found nothing of interest in the topic. Rather than following the boring conversation, the guild pokemon turned their attention to the other absol there.
"Y'know, I don't think we've gotten your two guys' names," Locke asked the two absol that were beside Eno.
"Oh, my name's 'Saber'," the male absol with the arm bands said. "I just went out because I wanted a chance to stretch my legs outside, the cold doesn't really bother me."
"Name's 'Sesha', and I'm Eno's sister," the female absol with the hairpin said. "Just wanted to go with my sibling, that's all."
"Oh, I didn't realize you were related," Tamin said. "Are you as well, Saber?"
"Just a family friend," he said.
Sesha chuckled to herself. "He's my boyfriend, we've been dating for two months now."
"You didn't need to mention that," Saber quickly responded, his commanding tone of voice fading away.
"You don't need to hide it, silly," Sesha taid in a teasing voice.
"I'd rather you didn't go around telling everyone about that. Especially guests to the colony," Saber said.
"What? It's not like we kissed in front of them," Sesha asid.
"Still. I'd really really rather this stuff be more private."
"Well, okay. Although now that they already know, wanna kiss? It'll be a little celebration for that successful rescue."
"Sesha!" Saber said, his cheeks now red instead of white.
Eno had finished her conversation with the absol that had the brooch, and shifted her attention over to Eno and Saber. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
"Sesha, Saber, take this elsewhere. For the rest of you, follow me. I'll show you where you can sleep."
"Okay," Multiple members of the guild said in unison.
The other absol stayed back while only Eno led them. Saber and Sesha walked off elsewhere- Saber kept his head low while Sesha smiled. The group was now composed of eight pokemon, only one familiar with the settlement.
"Most ships have 'S.S.' in their name, but this ship's just named 'S.S.'," Tamin quietly said to herself, chuckling right afterwards.
"So are you related to that one with the brooch in anyway?" Yuki asked Eno.
"That was just our leader. I'm not related to him," she answered.
"Anyone else you're related to?" Froslass asked.
"Just Sesha and my parents."
"Anyone you're in a relationship with?" Yuki asked.
Eno's head tilted as she looked towards the ground. She still walked forward, but it was clear that Yuki struck a more personal chord in Eno.
"I'll probably start dating like my sister is one day, but part of me just feels that's not how I'll find him.
I feel like it will be something more. Hanging out for a while for reasons far from love spending a lot of time together and… it… slowly becoming something more.
That's… just what I feel is going to happen, and I can't quite explain why."
"Hmm. I see, then," Yuki ended the conversation.
As the group walked through this new area, they couldn't help but admire the design of the place. It showed signs of being new, about a decade old, it was still well carved out with purpose. Every archway had well-measured angles, and each pillar was placed in alignment with another pillar. Some sections were still natural cave walls, but they were still cleaned up of stalactites, moisture, and mold. Tamin in particular was amazed by the place. Such underground locations were something wondrous she had never seen before, and the level of detail beat the guildhouse's plain design by an unimaginably large margin.
"This place is impressive," Locke said aloud, being vocal about his feelings, unlike Tamin. "Not sure I've seen a place like this anywheres, but it seems nice."
"Yeah," Eno replied. "This place is like halfway in-between a single building and an entire town. Hallways can be like streets and bedrooms can be like apartments, you could spend a year in this complex and not exit it."
"This place is like the guildhouse taken to eleven. No no, more like twelve," Scampi commented. "Everyone's living together with their own rooms and stuff."
"I actually am kind of interested in that guild stuff," Eno said, "Could you tell me more about it?"
"Of course," Froslass said, even still being unclear on whether she was sarcastic or not. "Although it's about as much as you'd expect."
"Are you being sarcastic?" Eno abruptly asked.
"What?"
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"I'm just trying to explain things," Froslass said.
"Could you be more specific, then?" Eno asked.
"Uh- so we just live together in a guildhouse and pick missions of a questboard-"
"-And that guildhouse the place I went into, right?-"
"We use those- yes, I think that's where you went into."
"I only saw one room of that. What's the rest of it like? Anything like this place?"
"Well, it's just one building that we all have one personal room in. The shops and stuff is for the town right outside the place. You've seen it before."
"Ah, I see. So where do the quests come from?"
"I don't exactly know, we just take them from a questboard-"
"Where do the quests come from?" Eno repeated herself.
Froslass began getting confused by Eno's endless supply of questions, but still tried her best to answer.
"We get them from clients going through our guildmaster. They're the ones that pay us-"
"Right, Espeon.
Tell me more about him, I'm curious."
"Wow, you are very intent on getting information," Tamin said to Eno after listening to her talk for a minute.
"I think she is as obsessively investigative as you are obsessively compulsive," Yuki told Tamin.
"Hey," Tamin quickly retorted.
"You tease, but that is an apt description of me, I would say, " Eno said, picking up her pocket watch and checking the time while talking, "After all, we all have our aspirations.
Anyways, we're here."
The group came to another room in the colony, this being an empty stone room with basically no furnishing. Not even carpet atop the grey stone.
"This is where you can sleep tonight," Eno explained. "I'll see if I can fetch some blankets for you.
You can explore the colony if you want: but be careful and anything. It can be hard to tell what is private property and what isn't. Plus there are some absol in here that just might not be comfortable seeing you guys around."
"Alright!" Locke shouted to Eno as she walked off.
The final hours of daylight went away without much transpiring. They did go around a bit to tour this small society, but eventually headed to bed, earlier than they usually did since they were exhausted.
For the entire group, getting sleep after a chaotic day and spending hours in a freezing cold storm was an incredibly good feeling. After they had gotten past the initial uncomfortableness of the hard stone in a foreigh location, they were all stone cold out and sleeping hard.
After night rolled by, the storm finally ended and the sun rose again. The winds were finally calm again.
Yuki was the first to wake up from sleeping, leaving her as the only conscious pokemon in the room.
She looked around in curiosity, trying to spot everyone in the room. Froslass, Scampi, Nidorino and Ludicolo all being easy to find. Locke and Tamin- however- were not easily spotted.
Looking around some more, Yuki saw a lump on the ground that was covered up by blankets and across the room from her. Going to investigate, she walked over to the lump, grabbed the edge of the blankets and lifted it up.
Underneath, she found Locke and Tamin sleeping, both of them hugging each other as they slept with their arms and paws going over the others neck and the rest of their bodies being close together. Tamin also had her tail going over Locke, slightly wrapping around him. Both of them pressed themselves against each other before they went to sleep.
The two slowly woke up and opened their eyes because of the blanket over them being lifted, seeing a vulpix standing over them as they returned to consciousness.
"Well, looks like we got some cute, little love bugs going on right here," Yuki said to them while smiling.
Locke and Tamin immediately snapped awake as Yuki spoke. They pushed each other away and awkwardly got into a sitting position. Both of them had their cheeks slightly red and needed a moment to think about what to say.
"Uhh..." Locke spurted out.
"Wanting to become something more with him? Isn't it still a little early in life to be doing that, sweetie?"
"Oh you little brat!" Tamin said as she got up and curled her hand into a fist, going close to Yuki.
Before any collision could happen, Nidorino put his arm between them to separate them. The talking caused him to wake up, and he came over to prevent them from fighting. When Yuki had the arm come in front of her, she retained her sly grin while looking straight at Tamin.
The smile alone was enough to remind Tamin of the deal she was forced to make with Yuki. Tamin recognized that getting Yuki angry would lead to her revealing her secrets, and thus she stepped back.
"Good girl," Yuki said quietly in a demeaning manner, taking advantage of Tamin's good hearing to make sure only she could hear it.
After that bit of chaos: Tamin, Locke and Yuki looked around them. Seeing that the others were begrudgingly waking up, having been disturbed by what was going on."
"Wh-what's going on?" Scampi asked in a half tired voice.
"Uhh, nothing," Locke said, not quite able to make a proper bluff.
"Some tension, but nothing broke out," Nidorino said.
Tamin gave a sigh before she spoke again. "Let's... let's just start heading back to the guildhouse soon."
A large moan was heard throughout the room, nobody was wanting to get up.
"You know Yuki, you're not only making yourself out to be terrible, but vulpix in general," Locke said while the others started getting up, "Intentional or not, every bad thing you do is just going to make me (and I'm sure plenty of others) just a little bit prejudicial. And you're just going to make me end up disliking (or even hating) vulpix and ninetails as a whole. We're just going to think of you when we see them."
"Huh," Yuki spent a moment thinking about what Locke just said, "That is easily the smartest thing I have heard come out of a wild's mouth.
Too bad it's not the norm. Afterall: if that was the norm, then you would have a ci-vil-ized Pokemon and not a wild one. Like me."
Locke squinted at Yuki in disdain for a moment as his first response.
"Yeah. I definitely think you're just making me hate vulpixes and ninetails because of you," his second response was in a verbal form "If they're spawning brats like you: then screw you all. And screw all the kids I am sure you're messing up as well."
As that entire conversation went down and afterwards: the rest of the group were slowly getting up from their sleeping positions. Groans and yawning and all.
The process of getting out of the absol colony took an hour. Everyone had to get up, grab their stuff, get dressed in their coats and blankets again, as well as motivate themselves enough to go back out into the cold once more.
As they headed out, they got to see Eno in the entry room. He looked at them and prompted a final conversation with them before they left.
"Oh, are you leaving?" Eno asked.
"Yeah. We're getting back to the guild." Nidorino answered.
"Okay, goodbye then! Don't know when we will meet again, might be a while."
"Goodbye!" Scampi cheerfully said, "This place was nice!"
"Wait, one quick question," Locke said.
"What is it?" Eno asked.
"Is there anything we need to know about the upcoming weather?"
"There's not going to be much snowfall for two weeks," Eno said while smiling and tilting her head slightly, "Although don't expect any of the snow that's already there to go away. It will still be pretty brisk."
"Thank you," Tamin said. "Anyways, let's head out."
Leaving the absol colony was much like leaving the alcove the previous day. Having the world be covered in snow was still something they weren't used to. But it was nice to see it no longer falling from the sky as well as the air being still. The temperature was still not preferable, but it was significantly more tolerable than what it was yesterday.
The snow was deeper than what it was when they entered the colony. It hindered their movement further, but it was at least reassuring to the group that it would not get deeper that day.
Without the wind to disorientate or chill them, the journey back was much more merciful. No fights across in the journey either. If anything, the worst part about the journey was just how boring it was.
If there was one time that the guildhouse truly felt like home to Locke and Tamin, it was then. Getting closer to the guildhouse, the group found it near-buried in snow. The storm has been more intense in that area, and snow being blown around naturally gathered itself against flat walls. It wasn't the same building as they had left it. The roof was coated in snow, the balcony was completely buried making it unusable, the treehouse lost branches, and all the entrances were blocked.
For a moment, the group was worried about not being able to make it in. But those worries were destroyed as they saw a rumble in the snow, followed by excadrill triumphantly jumping out of the snow he dug through.
Excadrill gave the group a shy wave before he continued to dig out the rest of the snow blocking the entrance.
After so long: The journey in the storm was over. The seven pokemon marched back into the guildhouse, back into home.
End of chapter 16.