Stuff that the readers said in the reviews:

And I was wondering, how would you handle pokemon that evolve through trading?

Evolution by trade was only created as a marketing device so Nintendo could sell link cables and promote connectivity between games. For the sake of "realism" in my take of the pokemon universe, pokemon that evolved from trading in the games would evolve by "leveling up." However, the concept of "leveling" is also stupid, since it would normally be more abstract like growth normally is. So essentially, when Laurence's Machop evolves into a Machoke someday, that Machoke will eventually evolve into a Machamp when he gets enough experience or reaches a certain age/growth point.

I love how he summarized his backstory with no drama, and basically stayed in character. No character breaking for his dramatic backstory! YEE!

That was what I was going for. I didn't want to make him so likeable, but at least draw enough sympathy for his cause.

Thanks again to MagikarpMaster.

Cody: Bastion(Squirtle), Mars (Diglett), Colossal (Larvitar), Antonia (Skarmory), Elesa (Blitzle)

Heather: Somnos (Poliwhirl), Feathers (Pidgeotto), Nadine (Nidoran [F]), Oddish (Bella)

Jared: Charmeleon, Servine, Croconaw, Fearow, Onix, Jolteon

Chapter 15: Knight of the Winter

November had arrived, and it had brought an early winter cold with it. Luckily, Cody had a winter jacket stored in his PC for the occasion, but he knew it wouldn't help him forever given the trials that winter was going to bring.

"Anyone else feel like hibernating through this?" Heather asked as she rubbed her hands together for warmth. Cody nodded, but Jared laughed.

"If you can't handle this temperature, you might want to consider packing it up and going home," he joked. "It's not going to be fun out here when the snow sets in. However, if Cody is as good with the map as he says he is, we shouldn't have any problems getting to towns as often as we can to re-supply, meaning we get to sleep in real beds then too."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm already on that," Cody said, taking another bite of the beef jerky strip he was working on. He wasn't very fond of jerky, but it was a good source of protein when there weren't any fast food joints around. After swallowing the next bit of jerky, he tore off another piece and held it out for Antonia, who was walking with him. She had reached five feet now, making her the biggest pokemon on his team, and the red flying feathers under her wings had grown in, even though they didn't have any steel fibers in them yet. These growths now made it possible for her to fly, though her flight was still limited by her youth. To help Antonia learn to fly, Cody let her spend time with Feathers (who was a Pidgeotto now), which gave time for her to imitate her fellow bird. She had yet to start growing armor, but now that winter was beginning, the process wouldn't be so far from starting.

"So, how far until we reach the next town?" Heather asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon, I think," Cody replied. "We just have to keep heading southward and we'll get there soon."

"Okay, but can we stop for a bit? My feet hurt," Heather whined.

"Come on, really?" Jared groaned. "We took a break two hours ago!"

"Please?" Heather begged. She did the lip thing and broke Jared's attempts to keep going in one simple action. He sighed, defeated.

"Fine, fine, Cody, do you mind?" he asked.

"Sure, I'm okay with it," Cody chuckled before imitating the sound of whip cracking. Jared glared, but said nothing, since he wasn't able to find a good comeback to such a true statement. The group sat down on a nearby log and relaxed in what little sunlight was still poking through the thin layer of clouds. Cody let Colossal out of his pokeball to get some air, but the little lizard didn't seem that fond of the cold air. He shivered and hugged the lower half of Cody's leg for warmth.

"He's such a mama's boy," Heather giggled at Colossal. "It's kind of cute actually."
"Hey, in his defense, he's a reptile," Cody pointed out. "Reptiles don't like the cold."

"Cody, he may be a lizard, but he's also a mountain pokemon and a pseudo-dragon, "Jared pointed out. "He's not going to be the Tyranitar you think he'll be if you keep babying him like this. His species was meant to endure the cold like this."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," Cody said, waving him off. As much as he hated to admit it, Jared was right again. Colossal had improved immensely in battle, but in order to carry himself in higher competition, he would need to be able to stand on his own without Cody supporting him at all times. But now wasn't the time to think about that. He pat the Larvitar on the head and held out another piece of jerky for his Skarmory, who nipped it out of his hand in seconds, her beak getting dangerously close to taking off one of his fingers as well.

The group had only been seated for about a minute before another trainer walked through on the pathway. The teenage boy stopped as he noticed the trio snacking and waved awkwardly. Cody cheerfully waved back before taking another bite of jerky. He kept observing the new trainer who looked as though he wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to do so. Cody mentally laughed at the boy. At one point or another, every trainer had been in that awkward position where they wanted to ask another trainer for a battle, but the other trainer was looked like they were busy doing something else, making the act of asking seem imposing. After a half a minute, the boy finally spoke up.

"Um… hey…" he said.

"Hey," Cody, Heather, and Jared casually replied.

"So… um… do you any of you… you know… want to… want to…"

"Sure, I'm down," Cody answered before the question was even asked. He stood up and Colossal trailed as his feet, ready for battle. "How many badges do you have?"

"Um… I don't have any yet. I just started a month ago…" his cheeks reddened in humiliation.

"Oh, well I have one, and I've been at this for almost four months… I don't think it would be a fair fight- Antonia, stop that!" the Skarmory chick was pecking at his foot. It was this pecking that gave him an idea. "Actually, do you want to fight my Skarmory here? She's still really young and inexperienced."

The boy stared at Antonia in disbelief. "That's a Skarmory? It looks like a mutated dinosaur or something. Besides, why doesn't it have any armor?"

"Her armor hasn't grown in yet, but she's able to fight against younger pokemon," Cody explained. "I've only battled with her a few times and she needs some experience. You up for that?"

"Um, okay, let's do this!" The two trainers decided on a wager for the one versus one battle and then moved to opposite sides of the clearing for the battle.

"Oh, and one more thing," Cody said before the battle began. "Antonia here isn't fully trained yet. I've only used her against wild pokemon so far, so she doesn't exactly know when to quit when it comes to battles. If she beats your pokemon, you better return it right away because she will try to eat it."

The other trainer had a mortified look on his face, but he shook it off. "Okay then, we just won't lose then. Let's go Mel!" The boy threw a pokeball onto the field and a little monkey pokemon emerged from the flash. It hand a round little body and head, and a piggish nose.

"Your first trainer battle, Antonia. Make me proud!" The armorless chick ran into the clearing. She dwarfed the pig-monkey pokemon in size, but the Mankey looked much more experienced. It would be difficult for her to make the transition from fighting wild pokemon to fighting trained ones.

"Mel, Focus Energy!" Instead of focusing up like most fighting pokemon would, the Mankey got energized by screeching, jumping around, and pounding the ground beneath him.

"Antonia, peck him out!" Cody shouted, but Antonia turned her head and gave him a look as if to say 'How dare you tell me what to do!' Instead of attacking, she just continued to leer at the frantic monkey. Surprisingly enough, this worked, as the Mankey slowly stopped getting worked up and just looked at the bird in sheer terror. Even so, it was embarrassing that she wouldn't listen to him after all this time. "Okay, peck him out now?"

Antonia squawked a reply as she ran up to jab the Mankey with her sharp beak. The simian looked terrified, but it managed to roll out of the way and was ordered to use Low Kick. It delivered a kick to the back of the chick's left leg, causing her to topple over.

"Fury Swipes now that she's down!" The Mankey hopped on Antonia's back and began to scratch and tear at her with its hands. She retaliated by pecking the monkey's round body, forcing it off her back. She then took the opportunity to do some running slashes at it with her open wings. Even though the Wing Attack wouldn't be as strong until her armor grew in, her wings were still sturdy enough to knock the Mankey over and give it a bloody nose. This only enraged the pig-monkey even further as fire burned in his eyes. It sprang back up and began another wild assault directed at the bird. However, it became apparent that Antonia wasn't going to win this battle by fighting on the ground with an agile pokemon like a Mankey. To win this fight, she would need to take flight, even though she was still pretty awkward at flying.

"Antonia, you need to fly!" Cody called out. The bird ignored him and continued to stab at the Mankey with her beak, though the simian was easily dodging these predictable attacks. "Get up in the air and use Fury Attack!"

"Mel, get on its neck while it's still on the ground!" The Mankey jumped straight up onto the Skarmory's neck and tried to choke her into submission. This was effective for a moment until Antonia managed to shake the monkey off before returning to the exact same pecking strategy as before.

"I said fly, damn it!" Cody shouted angrily, only to be ignored again. None of his pokemon had ever been this belligerent. It wasn't as though Antonia didn't know what the word "fly" meant since Cody had been training her to the action ever since she first lifted off the ground. Yet she continued to do what she wanted to do rather than listen to her trainer. Finally, after watching his pokemon get beat up even more, Cody's blood was completely boiled, causing him to yell, "Fly now, or I'll kick you!"

This command actually worked. Antonia let out a screech and began to rapidly flap her wings, allowing her to pick up a few feet of altitude. Sure, she was struggling to keep airborne, being young and all, but she still managed to escape from the Mankey's wrath by flying away. She made a wide curve and scooped up a clump of dirt to toss in the Mankey's eye.

"Nice Sand-Attack! Now use a Fury Attack liked we practiced before!" Cody was stunned to see that Antonia actually listened to him this time. Maybe after taking his advice about flying, she was beginning to see that he had some idea of what he was doing. She flew up to the Mankey and began to slash at it with her talons, sharp beak, and wings. The monkey tried to fight back, but since he had been blinded by the dirt, he failed miserably and continued to get slashed up by the baby Skarmory. After the enemy monkey staggered backwards in pain, Antonia flapped her wings and created a blast of wind that cut into the Mankey like a knife. The Air Cutter had been executed perfectly. As the pig-monkey plopped over, Antonia landed on top of him and raised her beak, ready to jab it down into the Mankey's brain and begin eating. Luckily, the opposing trainer saw this coming and returned his pokemon before Antonia could kill it. Cody's pokemon looked furious at this. She obviously felt robbed since she wasn't allowed to eat the pokemon that she defeated.

"Good work Antoni-" Cody began, but he was cut off by his bird's screech directed at the opposing trainer. The boy looked terrified and began to back away against a tree. Antonia slowly began her approach, but stopped when a little flame appeared in front of her face. "NO! Bad!" Cody scolded as he held the lighter in front of the bird's beak. This shut her up, but she gave Cody a glare of death. "Sorry about that," he said to the other trainer. "She's still a little bit-"
"INSANE!" the opponent screamed. "Your bird almost killed me! Take your goddamn money and buy that thing a leash or something!" He threw a wad of money on the ground and ran off.

Antonia made a sound that almost sounded as though she was cackling at the trainer's expense, but Cody shot her a dirty look that shut her up. "Well, that could have gone worse," he sighed.

"Well… you won," Heather stated as she, Jared, and Colossal came up to where Cody was standing.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything," Cody groaned. "Antonia is still pretty untame. I don't know how Eagle or anybody else for that matter manages to raise these things from hatchlings."

"Still… she listened to you near the end. I mean, she must have recognized that you knew what you were doing."

"Yeah, I'll give her that," Cody admitted, "but I can't keep threatening to kick her every time she acts up. I need to figure out how to get her to listen to me and fast, because it's not going to be easy restraining her once she's my height and covered in steel."

"Yeah… No offense Cody," Jared began, "but the violence thing isn't really working with her anymore. It was good when she was young, but now that she's older… well, if you treat a pokemon like a monster, they'll become a monster."

"I know, you're right, Jared… You better savor that, because I'll never say it again," he added. Cody looked into his Skarmory's eyes and saw what looked to be a raging fire. It reminded him of the monstrous Houndoom that those thugs set on him when he was a young trainer. He couldn't let Antonia become like that. As his eyes drifted to the sky, he noticed that quite a few dark clouds were moving in. "Let's find some shelter soon. It looks like it's going to storm, and you know how I hate being out in the rain."

This caused Heather to burst into laughter for what seemed to be no apparent reason.

"Is there something funny?" Jared asked, confused.

"Yes," Heather giggled, "it's hilarious that Cody's last name is 'Storm' and yet he hates… storms…" At the end of her sentence, her face suddenly fell as she realized that what she had realized was not very funny at all.

"You know," Cody said, breaking the silence, "this is why there aren't many women comedians."

"I don't think those are storm clouds, Heather," Jared mumbled. "It's November. I don't think it's going to start thundering anytime soon."

"Then if those aren't storm clouds, then what are they?" she asked. No sooner did the words come out of her mouth, the clouds above her seemed to answer the question. A lone snowflake floated among them from the heavens and landed on Larvitar's horn. Seconds later, numerous snowflakes followed.

"I think that answers your question," Jared laughed.

Cody suddenly found that he was unconcerned with Heather's failed attempt at humor and was more concerned with what the arrival of winter really meant. He looked down at Antonia, who returned his gaze with her own. It was as if she also understood what was going to happen.

"It's time."

The trio of trainers had set up camp in a cluster of trees where the snow would be blocked by the trunks and branches. After pitching the tents and starting a fire, Heather and Jared began to talk as Cody began to cook a can of Swedish meatballs. He had already fed his pokemon, and only Antonia was out of her pokeball, since he didn't want the others to catch a cold. Tonight and the many nights that would follow it would just be the two of them.

"Hey Cody, you better pitch your tent soon," Jared recommended. "It won't be fun setting it up in the dark."

"I'm not sleeping here tonight, so I'm not going to bother," he replied blankly, not shifting his attention from his food.

"Then where are you going to sleep, outside?" he joked.

"Yes," Cody answered.

"Are… are you serious?" Jared asked, even though Cody answered the question with the most serious look he could muster.

"You've been really stoic since that battle earlier," Heather commented. "What's up with you?"

Cody sighed. He knew he would have to tell them eventually, even though he didn't want to make either of them worry. "You remember when I was reading about Skarmory in the handbook? You know, about how the ones who are weak die off in the winter?"

"Yeah?" she said. "You said something about how Antonia would have to do the same, but what did you mean by that?"

"Well, as I said before, the harsh wind chill and snow is what starts a Skarmory's armor growth. Wild Skarmory chicks live up in the mountains, such as St. Anthony's, and they are exposed to the harsh winter. When they're out there every night, the ones who are strong eventually grow armor." Cody paused as a lone snowflake that had made it through the branches was melted by the fire. "Since it's snowing now, it's cold enough for us to begin. I'm going to take her out every night and we're going to endure the cold together. It will be necessary if I want her to develop properly."

"But why do you have to go with her?" Heather asked. "You could just -"
"What? Send her out there by herself where she'll be a nice meal whatever sees a lonely little bird out in the open?" "Cody shook his head. "No. Skarmory chicks always have their mothers to watch over them during this time in their lives, so I'm going to be there with her. She needs me. And besides, this might solve all my problems. The professionals say that this is the time when a Skarmory and her trainer will form a strong bond, because I have to be as tough as she is to stand by her through this. Maybe when this is all done, she'll listen to me and respect me. It's something that all good Skarmory trainers have to do with their hatchlings, and therefore, I'm going it too."

"But Cody, it's danger-"
"Heather," Jared cut in, "he obviously knew this from the moment he decided to drag us along on his crazy Skarmory mission. If he wants to go out and freeze to death, let him."
"Thank you Jared… I think." Cody couldn't tell if Jared was supporting him or condemning him, but he decided to take what he could get. He put on a wool hat and a thick pair of gloves. "I'll be back in the morning. Wish me luck." With those last words out, he and Skarmory left through the cluster of trees.

After several minutes of walking, the two came to a small hill where he sat down at, since the chilling wind was blowing intensely at that spot. Cody was not looking forward to these next few months, since the Skitrexian winters were as harsh as the summers were hot, but it would need to be done. Skarmory stood proudly as she let the wind hit her lightly feathered body. It must have been instinct that drove her to do this since the frostbite she would be suffering would not be pleasant.

One hour later… Cody was really feeling numb now. He was huddled up in a ball trying to keep warm, but he still shivered. Sleep wasn't going to come easy for him in the chilling conditions. Antonia was still standing by his side, enduing the cold without flinching. Neither of the two looked at each other throughout the first hour, but it wasn't as though they needed to. Neither of them was about to give up and leave.

Two hours later… Rubbing his glove covered hands together no longer seemed to produce any heat. They felt as numb as his face, which he had now buried between his knees in an attempt to block the wind. Antonia was now sitting down with him, too tired to try to stand against the bone-chilling gale. She no longer wore a proud look but an uncomfortable one. But still, her resolve was as strong as steel.

Three hours later…Staying awake had grown painful, but sleep wouldn't come easy in the cold air when he was in a sitting position. Drowsy from exhaustion, he turned his head again to look at Antonia. Her head was now lying on the ground, and many of her soft, downy feathers had fallen off and her skin was blackened due to frostbite. This was all a part of what needed to happen though, since in order to heal themselves, a young, frostbitten Skarmory's body creates a special iron compound that would never rust. This compound would eventually build up to form the Skarmory's armor. An unpleasant process, but every Skarmory went through it to become the powerful beasts that they were known as.

Antonia noticed that Cody was looking at her, and she stared at him in wonder. Why was he doing this? There was no reason for a human to stand out in the cold like she was. Why had the human who had captured her, fought with her, and struggled with her for dominance now enduring the cold with her? Did he not wish for her to suffer alone? She pushed her forehead against his shoulder in an attempt to feel warm. She felt his hand stroking the length of her neck. Sunrise could not come soon enough.

"Oh look, another shitty motel room. Ain't that just grand?" Cody asked Bastion as he fell back onto one of the beds with the Squirtle in his arms. The turtle grunted a response and withdrew into his shell for a nap. "That seems like the right idea." He'd take a crappy motel room over kneeling out in the snow any day. But right now, he had the comfort of the room to himself and Bastion since his other pokemon were in the town's pokemon center, and Jared and Heather were still there as well.

The first night of "armor building" was more horrendous than he thought it would be. He only got about two hours of sleep in total, and it would only get worse from here on out, with little time to sleep during the day. His joints were weak and sore, and his skin felt rough and brittle, just like his throat.

"I need a shower," he grumbled to himself. It was hard to sleep when he didn't feel clean. Putting Bastion on the pillow, he stumbled over to the bathroom and began to undress. After taking his shirt off, he looked on with disgust at his body. He looked slightly stronger with all the hiking he was doing, but another word he would use to describe his appearance was lanky. He was a lot thinner than when he began since his ribs were bulging out of his sides. To make matters worse, most of the scrapes that Antonia had left in their skirmishes were still there. Some were still healing, but many that remained were destined to be scars. He used to think that having scars would make him look cool, but now that he had them, they looked disgusting in his eyes. He was glad that none of the scratches that she left on his face were permanent. I can't wait till mom sees these. She'll have a heart attack… Then again, maybe it's better that she never sees them. His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the door behind him.

"Oh, sorry," Heather apologized, closing the door almost all the way so she could still talk through the crack. "I didn't know you were-"

"Relax, I'm wearing pants and you've see me shirtless before. You kinda had to so you could rub me down with Neosporin." He turned all the way around to see Heather peeking through the door now. She slowly entered, and began staring at his torso. It didn't bother him so much since just about all modesty between group members was pretty much out the window, though he did feel self conscious about the scars.

"Wow… are these ever going to heal?" Heather asked bluntly.

"Some of them, yes. Others…" his voice trailed off since it was obvious what he would have said next.

"I can see why you're so serious about Antonia, after putting up with all of this and everything…" she extended her hand and touched one of the scars near his left ribs. This was all beginning to cross out of Cody's comfort zone.

"Uh, yeah… sure… very serious," he stammered.

"How are you going to get enough sleep doing this?" she asked. "I mean, we won't be able to stop a lot for naps."

"I'll manage. Plus, I only need to go out with Antonia five times a week minimum. Otherwise, I'm keeping her outside of her pokeball for good measure. I'll find time to sleep otherwise.'

"Okay. I just worry about you, you know. Sometimes I think you're insane," she laughed.

"Already halfway there," he joined in. "Um, can you-"

"Right, I'll leave," she said, and exited the bathroom.

Well that was semi-awkward. Locking the door after Heather left, Cody turned on the shower and let it heat up. Sometimes, it was so hard to be alone when he wanted to be. Lately, he seemed to be growing more interested in pokemon than people, almost as if he were becoming more like his brother. He knew he couldn't let that happen, but sometimes, the thought was enough to scare him.

I'll have to enjoy my alone time now, because it will end again tonight.

The second night was worse than the first. Even after the warm shower and nap, Cody already went into it exhausted and sore, knowing it could only get worse. Antonia was also showing residual signs of the previous night. Her skin was still frostbitten, and it still wasn't building up iron yet, but maybe it would at a later date? He didn't know… All he knew was that he was suffering and it was only day two.

"Maybe this was a mistake," he whispered to his Skarmory. "Maybe I'm not ready for this kind of commitment. Maybe I shouldn't have taken on the task of raising a Skarmory as a rookie trainer." But there was absolutely no way he could quit now. He couldn't take her back to the mountains, because he wouldn't be able to find her mother and she would be too accustomed to humans, making her a danger to mountain travelers. If he were to stop with these nightly freeze outs, she wouldn't develop her armor properly and would be crippled among her kind. If worse came to worse, he could find another, more experienced trainer to give her to who could handle the responsibility. If he couldn't find a local trainer who wanted the task, there were probably trainers all across the world on the GTS who would be willing to buy or trade for a Skarmory. However, he couldn't run the risk of giving Antonia to a trainer that wouldn't do what was necessary for her to grow properly.

Then he thought of the scars that Antonia had left on him and the few that he had left on her. Even if he were to find a way out of this situation, the scars that the Skarmory left would always remind him that he had failed and that they were all for nothing. Any self-respecting trainer wouldn't be able to live with himself with that sort of reminder. For that reason, he wouldn't quit. Not just yet.

Twisting his head around, he saw how bright the distant town they were staying it was glowing. It looked warm and inviting, but he looked away. The longer he stared, the more tempted he would feel to give up and go back to the motel. He suddenly felt something pushing against his chest. It was Antonia, who was prodding at him with her head.

"What do you want?" he asked in a shivering whisper as he stood up. Antonia looked at the town and then looked at him. Then, she went back to pushing him. What was she trying to tell him?

"No, I'm not going back and leaving you here," he stated. "I'm going to see this through." He gave Antonia a soft pat on the head and sat down again next to her. It was strange that Antonia, who had always been selfish in the past, was suddenly showing that maybe she actually cared about him. Who knew? Maybe the icy therapy was working faster than he thought it would.

"Hey Cody, wake up," Heather said gently as she gave him a light shake. "We made soup."

Cody rubbed his eyes and sat up. He pulled out his phone to see what time it was. The display read 9:06 PM. He had been sleeping for the past two hours. "What kind of soup?" he questioned.

"Crushed Seedot. His Onix crushed it, and we threw in a can of smashed tomatoes. It smells pretty good."

"That does sound good," he mumbled. Then, his eyes grew wide in panic. "Oh shit! I forgot to feed my pokemon! I-"
"Don't worry, Jared and I took care of that already," she said in an attempt to calm him down, but he would have none of it.

"Don't worry? I can't let them go hungry! That's irresponsible!" he shouted. His voice echoed in the mountain cave where they were residing.

"Just chill, your pokemon aren't that hard to feed. Your Larvitar eats rocks and your Diglett digs up roots, both of which are all around us. Don't worry about it. We know you've been swamped with training and hiking during the day, and the Skarmory thing you do at night, so we thought we'd help."

"But I shouldn't need your help," he replied with anger and frustration directed at himself. "They're my responsibility. You all have your own pokemon to look after, and I shouldn't be bothering you with mine."
"But Cody-"

" 'Fraid he's right Heather," Jared jumped in. He was busy minding the fire and soup. "He should have fed his pokemon before he fell asleep."

"That's what I said already…" Cody agreed. He stood up and approached the fire where Jared was. As he sat down next to the flames, he was joined by Colossal and Antonia, who had been resting out of their pokeballs near one of the cave walls. He smiled weakly at both of them before partaking in the soup with the two other trainers. It was so nice to be warm again, though it wouldn't last long. "Well kids, on to night number five," he announced. "I'm going to be right outside of this cave, so I won't go far."

"Cody," Heather began to plead again, "maybe you should take the night off and get some proper rest."

"No, I need to go out again," he replied with a bit of animosity in his tone. "Just one more night, and the first five are done. I'll be able to take the next two days off before I'll need to go out with her again."

"But-"

"Just shut up Heather!" he shouted. Everybody in the cave flinched at the sound and its echo. It dawned on him that he had just been way too overly dramatic. "Sorry… that's the lack of sleep talking… I need to go." He got up and walked back to his things and gathered up his gloves and hat before rushing out of the cave in embarrassment. "I'll see you all in the morning."

The wind and snow in the mountains seemed twice as cold as it did in the flatland. To make the matter more torturous, Cody looked back at a leftward angle to see the firelight coming from the cave, which was mere meters away. I can't look back there anymore. If I do, I'll go back in for sure. Just one more night. Just one more night…

Time seemed to move so slowly, it was almost as if it was moving backwards. But it had only been two hours. All the while he sat on the cliff with Antonia, he had some time to reflect on his actions and the things he had said. He felt truly awful about how he had yelled at Heather, and he hoped that she could forgive him, considering that she was the only human traveling companion that he could tolerate.

"This is killing me," he muttered to himself. "How the hell am I going to survive this? How does anybody survive this?" At the very words, a gust of wind blew into him and knocked him backwards into the snow that covered the path. He tried to sit up, but he felt too weak. Closing his eyes and trying to regain his composure, he told himself that he would sit back up on the count of three. But when he reached three, his effort was ineffective. His exhaustion had finally caught up with him. Am I going to die?

Dragging. Something was dragging him. He forced his eyes open and realized that Antonia was pulling him by his shoe. "What… what are you doing?" Cody asked in a tired voice. The bird didn't answer, but continued to pull him. She finally reached the cave, where she left him next to the fire. After dropping his leg, she turned around to exit the cave. Cody sat back up, feeling energized after being warmed up by the fire. He made an attempt to follow Antonia back outside, but she turned around and stared at him. It wasn't a malicious stare like the ones she normally gave him, but one of compassion. She took a step towards him and pushed him back into a sitting position with her head before turning around and heading back into the snow as her instincts demanded. As she walked back out, Colossal, who was near where Cody was dropped, stood up and followed Antonia outside.

"What the hell just happened?" Cody asked himself.

"Looks like all of your nights together are paying off, pal," Jared answered. Cody snapped back to reality as he noticed Jared, who was on watch at the hour.

"What do you mean?"
"Well, she obviously realized that you were cold, so she dragged you back inside."

"Really?" Cody asked in doubt, even though it had just happened. "That almost seems… I don't know… human of her." He wasn't even aware that pokemon of her species were even capable of empathy.

"Well, that's what you wanted, right?" Jared asked. "A smart pokemon that likes you?"

"Yeah, but…" Cody stuttered in distraction, "shouldn't I be out there with her?"
"I don't think you need to worry," Jared replied thoughtfully. "I think she legitimately cares about you, or she wouldn't have helped you."

"I don't know… I should be out there with her if I want her to see me as dominant and-"
"Cody," Jared interrupted, holding up his hand, "being dominant with her was necessary when she was young and bitchy. But now…" He paused so he could find the right words. "Now, I think she views you as her equal. That's how it should be. Pokemon are supposed to be your partners, not your underlings," he explained. "That bond you were talking about; I think it's beginning to form."

"Yeah, I knew that, I forgot. I keep thinking that she wants to kill me, so…" He touched his head in pain. It was as though he was having a brain freeze after being outside in the snow this long. "Hey Jared, I'll take this watch if you want. I still feel kind of awake from this heat."

"Sure, wake Heather up in a few hours then if you want a break." The older boy went over to his sleeping bag.

"Okay," he mumbled in return. After Jared passed out, Cody walked over to the mouth of the cave and looked out at his two pokemon that were sitting on the cliff. Even without her armor, Antonia looked so much more grown up as she stood among the howling wind. Colossal stood by her side, trying to look as sturdy as she did. The Larvitar's trainer was curious about why the little lizard was doing this, but he decided not to bring the little pokemon in. Maybe the mama's boy of a Larvitar was just trying to make himself stronger. Showing such commitment made him look more strapping already.

"I won't be gone forever Antonia," Cody whispered to her as if she were in earshot. "I won't let you go through with this alone." Even so, he realized that he did need this night off. After all, one of the things that he was teaching his pokemon was the ability to stand on their own. Maybe this way, Antonia would become stronger. Stronger than he could ever imagine.

And so, another chapter has come to an end. Review, tell your friends, and enjoy the remainder of your summer. Unfortunately, I have volunteer work this week, so who knows if I can get another chapter out soon. So peace out trainers!