I'll be honest with y'all… School is a bitch. I've been writing essays so much that writing for fun has become a chore. But I finally have an update! Expect more in the coming months!

Reviews:

Im a lil surprised that jared didnt make a "Cody is finally coming out of the closet" remark... then again, Jared isnt that funny.

Really? You want me to make the most cliché joke in the book? Come on, I'm not that predictable… am I?

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

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

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

Chapter 23: Thin Ice

Cody couldn't help but notice how attractive the nurse working at the desk of the pokemon center was. Judging by her appearance, she looked like she was about twenty or so, so she probably was only an intern. But neither her age nor her status had any effect made no difference to the adolescent boy who had to be around Heather and Jared all day, and he felt exceptionally starved. As he approached the counter, he noticed her silver name tag spelled out "Sydney."

"So, Sydney," he said suavely as he leaned his elbow on the counter, "how are my champions doing?"

"Sir, I don't know your name," the woman said, not responding in the slightest to his tone, essentially killing any mood that Cody had been trying to set up. She swept a loose strand of dark hair out of her face and focused on his face. "Name?"

"Cody Storm. I just got a message on my phone saying that my pokemon were-"

"Okay, Storm, here you are," the nurse said as she pulled a container with his six pokeballs out. She then looked at the head nurse's report attached to the box. "According to this, they're all healthy, and your Litwick is registered. Anything you want to know specifically?"

"Actually, I have a few questions," Cody began. "First of all, my Larvitar wasn't moving when I last had him out of his pokeball. I applied a paralyze heal, but it had no effect, so I was worried-"

"He's evolving," Sydney responded, disinterest plaguing her voice.

"Evolving?" Cody asked in disbelief. For some reason, the news was like a punch to the face. "But I don't understand. Don't pokemon normally burst with light when they evolve, due to the massive cell multiplica-"

"Leave the biology to us," the nurse said, looking slightly annoyed. "Larvitar pupate when they evolve, so they build up a thicker, bluish skin, that covers their bodies. In about a week or so, he'll be a Pupitar. Until then though, you ought to keep him from battling so he can pupate properly. After that…" She looked back at her report and began to scan it, her eyes drifting from left to right at each line. "If you take care of him and give him proper nutrition, he can complete his evolution in as early as two years from now, give or take a few months. Congratulations." Her last word seemed a bit too dry to be a sincere congratulation.

"Wow, I can hardly believe that…" Cody mumbled to himself as the smile returned to his face. Two years seemed like a long way away, but he hardly ever thought about Colossal evolving. But the mention of it excited him.

"Anything else?" Sydney asked, looking like she really wanted to be somewhere else.

"Uh, yeah, one more thing," Cody said. "Can I get the report on my Litwick's registration? I just want to know the basics. Male or female, diet,-"

"It's a male, they eat life energy, and he's about twenty years old," she stated blankly, reading straight from the report. "So he'll live for another 180 years or so before his spirit burns out. You'll have this one for awhile."

"Okay…" Cody said, contemplating what he had just learned. It felt weird having a pokemon that was not only older than him, but would probably outlive him, especially since all of the monsters he owned were young when he caught them.

"Oh, and he's a gold-type Litwick," she added. "I'm not sure what that means, so you'll have to look that up on your own. I would, but I'm supposed to be off my shift. I'm only here because my relief still isn't…" She paused as she realized that by complaining, she was being unprofessional. "Look, here are your pokemon. Happy training or something."

"Thank you," Cody said as he took the pokeballs off the tray, ignoring the woman's indifference. The past few days had been rough, thanks to his issues with Jared, but his newly acquired ghost-pokemon made him feel like he was on top of the world. Though it was only a matter of time before things between him and the older boy got messy again. Their relationship was like a ticking time bomb, ready to blow at any moment.

I'll just need to make sure I'm ready. Whether it's him or one of life's many distractions.

"I love these night walks," Cody commented cheerily as the trio and their pokemon walked along the lonesome path. It would be a day or so before they reached the next town, but even the bareness of the wilderness, combined with the cold temperatures and the tension between him and Jared couldn't get him down. All because he had a Litwick with him and the outdoors no longer felt so cold, especially when he had to stay out with Antonia.

"Speak for yourself," Jared grumbled, as he normally did. Of course, the group was still traveling at night because of the fear of the masked man who had been following them, but neither him nor his Venonat had made an appearance, so for the time being, their group had a sense of security. "Then again, you seem to be way too positive as of late for a guy who's housing a soul eating spirit."

"Hey, be nice, he's right here!" Cody couldn't actually see his Litwick, but the candle was sitting on top of his head, humming an eerie little tune as they walked. He counterbalanced the chilling song by providing his trainer with warmth. Most of the body's heat is lost through the head, so allowing the fire-ghost to sit on his skull was a nice deal. "He can understand you, you know."

"I know, and that's one of the many things that makes him a creepy little bastard," Jared muttered indignantly.

It was true. Two of the most difficult parts of training pokemon were gaining their trust and getting them to understand how to react to vocal commands. Eventually, a pokemon would come to gain a general understanding of what their trainer wanted them to do in a battle, but the build-up to that stage was tedious. Not with the Litwick however. Ghost pokemon typically had human level intelligence and this little ghost pokemon didn't seem to require any vocal training. The first time Cody told him to use Ember, he performed the move instantly. Even more intricate battle commands came extremely easy to the ghost too, making his training run a bit too smoothly. He had asked a nurse at one of the pokemon centers about why this was the case and she told him that it may have had to do with the Litwick's past life. Litwick were born as invisible, soulless spirits until they found a piece soul to manifest. The soul that he absorbed when he was a spiritling may have been that of a trained pokemon, or even a trainer. It was a spooky thought, but cool nonetheless.

However, having a pokemon with that much intelligence posed its problems. Ghost pokemon that weren't psychotic (such as the Spiritomb in the old haunted house) still had a stereotype for being pranksters, and this Litwick was not proving this stereotype wrong at all. Whether it was stealing food, hiding belongings, or just plain scaring the trainers and their pokemon, Cody always had to keep his eye on his newest pokemon, because the little bastard was always up to something. Granted, none of his pranks were ever extremely harmful, but they didn't improve Jared's impression.

"Just remember to call that thing back if you start feeling abnormally drowsy. It'll feed off anybody, you know."

"Oh, that's not true, is it little guy?" Cody asked as he held his hand up so the little candle-ghost could hop onto it. Looking into the Litwick's blue eyes, he couldn't help but feel at ease. How could such an adorable pokemon be dangerous? He gently pat the off gold colored wax, careful not to touch the orange flame.

"By the way," Heather began curiously as she glanced over at the pair, "I remember you saying that that nurse said that this Litwick is a 'gold-type' Litwick or something like that. Did you ever figure out what that means?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that to you guys," Cody started to say, his eyes lighting up. "I asked one of the doctors at the last Center, and he had a good information. Normally, when Litwick evolve into Lampent and then later, Chandelure, their bodies usually take on a black or copper color. But occasionally, a gold-type Litwick is born. Nobody quite knows why, since it's not connected to their genetics, but-"

"Wait, ghosts have genetics?"

"Yes Heather, I don't know how that works. Ask a biologist or a medium or somebody else that knows better." He lifted his hand back to his head so the Litwick could hop back on top. The ghost could have just as easily floated there, but he decided to speed up the process. "Anyway, the theory is that a gold-type Litwick is formed when a Litwick spiritling attaches itself to…" He paused for dramatic effect before announcing in a creepy voice. "A piece of a soul of a person or pokemon that has willingly given up its life."

"Wheehehehehehehe!" The Litwick let out a shriek of giggles as it flew off his trainer's head and spiraled around gleefully, as if on cue. The trio of trainers had stopped while Heather and Jared just stared at the teen and his pokemon as if they had just told some sort of sick joke.

"Wonderful, just when I thought that that thing couldn't get any creepier…" Jared finally said, his disgust quite obvious.

"Relax, it's just a theory," Cody scoffed. "It's not like they can actually can actually test that… Well, they could, but it wouldn't be ethical." Ignoring his friends' disapproval, he looked up as high as his eyes would allow him, though he was unable to see the giggling ghost that was perched on his head. "Still, if it is true, I wonder who he was in his past life. Why did he give up his life? It's like a big mystery that-"

"Do you realize how morbid you're being right now?" Jared interrupted loudly in a shout. The vein in his temple was throbbing, but after a few seconds of deep breathing, he calmed down. "You know what? Never mind. Let's just stop for lunch or something. I really need to… need to stop." Stopping for lunch was basically the group's term for stopping at night for a quick bite, rather than an afternoon meal. The moment it was suggested, Jared set his pack down next to a tree and wandered off into the brush, his Charmeleon behind him.

"Was it something I said?" This only brought a disgusted look out of Heather.

"You are a complete moron," she groaned, clutching her forehead in the palm of her hand.

"Yeah, I've been getting that a lot lately," he sighed in reply. Heather's actions finally made him see what he had done wrong. "Look, I really wasn't trying to-"

"Just stop talking about the ghost!" Her voice was only a few decibels above her normal speaking, but that was obvious enough to get her point across. "Look, I know you like this thing, but just stop talking about it! We've been over this a million times, and it's not going to be get better with him. You know how he is."

"Yup, stubborn as a Numel," he answered. Heather had already briefed him about Jared's problem with ghosts, much to the older boy's dislike. It made the older trainer's back-story seem twice as tragic. "I still feel bad about what I said at the haunted house," he admitted sullenly. "I really wish there is something I could do."

"There isn't," Heather stated flatly. Her expression was serious and screamed 'get that through your thick skull!' Cody hung his head in disappointment.

"Wheeeheee!" The little Litwick cheered as he shot off Cody's head like a firework and began to spin around between the two trainers. The energy in his flight was enough to bring a sense of joy and wonderment back into the two trainers, despite the dire conversation they just had. Even though the two had seen the little ghost act this way before, it was still a mood lifter. Cody could see the evidence of this in Heather as well, as she grinned from ear to ear at the candle's antics. This grin soon turned to laughter.

"He is cute though, I'll him that," she giggled. "Have you thought of a good name for him yet?"

"Hmm… nickname." He had been considering the prospect for awhile and he had come up with a few ideas, but he still wasn't completely sure. But being on the spot made began to rush the progress forward. "I've been running a few ideas through my head… El Dorado, Cortez, Midas, Doubloon-"

"Those are all gold names," Heather interrupted, picking out the pattern before his friend could finish. "You're really running with this gold thing, aren't you?"

"Well yeah, I mean, look at him," Cody gestured towards the floating candle, which was now hovering around the trees near where Antonia was perched. The young bird did not like the newest addition to the team, and she gave an angry squawk at the ghost that carelessly floated nearby. "He's a rare breed, and I- well, what would you call him?"

"Well, I like Cortez," she answered right away, sounding very sure of herself in her response. "That's a Pirates of the Caribbean thing, right?"

"Well, yeah, but that's not where it's originally from, but… sure." He didn't know enough about pirate history to explain it to her. "Look, I'm going to take a walk, okay? Gotta clear my head of all this crap."

"Sure, but don't be long. I really don't want to keep Jared waiting any longer than we have to. I'll let him know."

"Good, just make sure he doesn't run off without me, okay?" Cody laughed, though that touch of uncertainty in his voice gave away the belief that running away was a possibility that Jared could easily take. She's wrong though. There is something I can do. I just need to find it.

It began to snow again as the lazy flakes drifted from the dark sky above to the earth below. It felt nice to break away from the group from time to time and just bask in the vast solitude that was nature, even though he was never truly alone. Six pokemon and two badges… Cody surely had jumped a lot of hurdles to make it this far. With all of the scary dreams, creepy old ladies, masked stalkers, and dysfunctional companions, nothing came easy. But maybe it would get easier soon. The nurses had told him that by early March, Antonia's armor would be battle ready, and then she would be ready for competitive battling. All the scars she had gave him in their fights would eventually pay off.

"Skreee!" The armored bird flew like a dart at a lone Rattata near the base of a tree, whose grey, winter coat had deceived Cody, as he had not seen the tiny rodent among the snow. But Antonia's eyes were much sharper than his. The tiny rat barely had any time to react before the Skarmory picked it up with its razor sharp talons. Once she landed, she held the struggling rat with her foot before reaching down with her long neck, clamping her beak around its neck, and crushing the rodent's spine with one crushing bite. Once the Rattata ended its struggling, Antonia hoisted the twitching body into the air before gulping it down in one bite. "Skreee!"

"Skreee!" Cody had been trying to imitate Antonia's call, but his voice still couldn't match the sound correctly. It did however get a shrill chuckle out of the Litwick, who spun around above his trainer's head.

"Skreee!" Antonia took to the air again and flew off into a deeper part of the woods to find more food.

I just hope she gets back soon. I really don't need Jared riding my ass about slacking. But he was still daydreaming of what he could do to improve their relationship. If it weren't for Heather, he would have split from the guy a long time ago… How strange it was that he was more whipped by her than Jared was.

"Heh! Heh heh heh!" Laughter burst from the thicket, but it sounded so husky and unfamiliar. Cody turned his head towards the Litwick to see that the candle looked just as baffled as he did. Unless this was another trick, the candle was clueless, and Cody could see it in the ghost's eyes.

"You- you heard that too, right?" Cody asked nervously. The candle replied with a nod before floating in front of his trainer, letting out a high pitched yell to assert his dominance over whatever was stalking them.

"Hreeee!"

"Heh! Heh heh heh heh!" In the blink of an eye, a strange and cryptic gas of purple hue blew through the thicket and in front of Cody and his ghost. The young trainer felt that familiar fear that he knew from the haunted house when he battled the Spiritomb, but the Litwick was unafraid, his flame burning brighter in retaliation with this new being. Finally in the purple gas, a black sphere emerged and opened its eyes. A toothy and devious grin spread across the anomaly's face and it began to cackle again.

A Gastly. The pokemon from the evolutionary line that all children feared when there was only darkness. Just the sight of a wild Gastly was enough to inspire fear, which only made it more powerful, since that was what they fed on. But while Cody began to shiver, his Litwick did not falter. Not waiting for the enemy ghost to attack, the little candle pokemon blew a flare of embers at the gaseous ghost. The Gatsly screamed in agony before turning the center of its body completely into gas and charging straight through the Litwick and Cody, knocking them both to the ground. The candle ghost pulled himself back to the air almost immediately and sent a Night Shade at the purple ghost, who parried the blast with a Night Shade of its own

Meanwhile, Cody was busy rubbing his eyes, but they still burned from the Gastly's embrace. Damn it, purple haze is in my eyes… Shit! Why can't I think of these one liners when there are people around to hear them? He finally recovered his vision and stood up to look on at the ghostly battle that continued in stalemate as the two ghosts kept blasting Nightshades at each other, though none of the darkening shades of black seemed to be making their mark. This Gastly was holding its own quite well. A bit too well.

"Litwick, enough with the Nightshade! That thing is reading you like a book! Try a Flame Burst!" It was a risky tactic to try, since the candle took a Nightshade head on during his approach, but it flew straight into the Gastly's cloud and exploded with flames. The noxious gasses reacted violently to the fire, creating a small explosion. The fire didn't hurt the Litwick, being a pokemon of enchanted fire, but it was enough to send the Gastly swaying in bewilderment.

"Finish it with a Hex! The burns-" Before his trainer could finish, the Litwick cut him off by chanting a small verse in some forgotten language. An eerie red light appeared in the Gastly's core, and it screamed as its burns intensified. But in an instant, its husky voice fell silent as its core dissipated in the purple gas that remained. Did… did I kill it? No… that's just its fainted form. Most wild pokemon would run away when they were no match to win, but here was a tough ghost pokemon sitting (or floating rather) right in front of him. By instinct, Cody took an empty pokeball from his backpack and threw it straight into the cloud's center point. The ball opened up and sucked the gas in like a vacuum before falling to the ground, wiggling once, and then sealing shut. He had just captured his seventh pokemon.

"Excellent work, Litwick." He pat the candle right below the flame, producing a tiny, tired giggle from the ghost, who seemed so happy to have pleased his master. Cody knelt down and picked up the pokeball, but for some reason, he felt a strange pleasure flow through his veins. He was technically breaking the law by having seven battling pokemon in his possession at once. Most countries had a six pokemon limit for trainers. Apparently, it was a crime deterrent, but he wasn't sure the exact reasoning behind it. Probably just to keep people from being too dangerous. However, since trainers caught pokemon all the time while having six in their party, there was a grace period for them to bring their new members in to be registered.

"Another team member. Looks like you're no longer my only ghost," Cody chuckled, stroking the Litwick's waxy hide. The candle made a huffy-looking face at this comment and grunted. Apparently, he didn't like his uniqueness being stripped from him.

"Oh come now, you're still special to me," Cody pleaded, though the Litwick still looked like he was going to cry burning tears. "It was right there! I had to catch it! I'm not just going to not use it! Gengar are wickedly tough and-" He caught his tongue mid-sentence as a thought had jumped in the middle of his mind. Perhaps this Gastly would solve one of his many problems. A smile emerged on his face, and he began to walk, motioning for the pouty Litwick to follow him. "Never mind buddy. Let's find Antonia. I need to do something before I change my mind."

"It's about time you got back. That was an abnormally long time for going for a walk." Jared was in a mood as bitter as chocolate from the cold and from Cody, and these little deterrents were not helping. When announcing his displeasure, he caught a pleading look from Heather that screamed "please don't make this into a big deal." If weren't for her, he would never have spent more than a minute with that little douche bag. His girlfriend really was the glue that held the group together.

"Sorry bro, you know Antonia. She needs a lot of food, and these woods don't have a lot of rodents in them." His Skarmory landed at her trainer's side and let out a squawk. She was near enough for Jared to smell her bloodstained breath. The little Litwick sat on its trainer's head, looking innocent as he always did. He didn't buy it for one second.

"Whatever. And I'm not your bro," Jared reminded the blond. Just stop talking. His Charmeleon was looking indignantly at Cody now. It seemed that it had taken a similar opinion of the boy that his trainer had.

"Okay, okay," Cody sighed, though he had an obnoxiously eager grin on his face. "Hey, I was thinking: I never got you a Christmas present, so I got you something I think you might like."

Is it a restraining order? "Cody," Jared started in a tired tone that matched the night, "what could you possibly find in the woods that I would like?"

"This." The younger trainer handed Jared a pokeball. "I caught you a pokemon."

"You… you caught me a pokemon…" Tired disbelief was evident in his voice. It was way too late for this game. "Why… what did you catch?"

"Open it and see." Suddenly, Cody's face grew more serious. "But before you yell at me for what I caught, I want to explain myself, alright?"

"Explain yourself? What- what the hell did you catch that would make me yell at you?" Jared questioned with obvious suspicion. "Is this some kind of joke? Did you catch me a dead Magikarp or something?"

"No, I'm not that heartless. Just open it." Cody's tone had shifted into nervousness as he put his hands in his pockets. Whatever was in the pokeball was making him very uncomfortable. Disclaimers from Cody were never good. Taking a deep breath, he opened the ball into the clearing. From the flash of light, a strange purple cloud formed, a black orb floating in its center. The orb opened its big eyes and fanged mouth and let out a deep voiced laugh that seemed to make the winter air even colder.

"You caught him a… a Gastly?" Heather asked in fear as she embraced for the oncoming shouts.

"You caught…" In an intense few seconds, Jared felt as if all the blood in his body flowed to his head as he opened his mouth to shout. "What the hell, Cody! You know I hate that Litwick of yours! I hate ghosts! Why would I want a Gastly, you idiot!"

"Look, I thought it might help!" Cody pleaded. "I know you don't like ghosts, so-"

"So why in God's name did you bring me one!" Jared roared.

"I wanted to help!" Cody answered honestly. "I wanted to make up for all the trouble I caused and I thought maybe having a ghost pokemon would help you get over-"

"Maybe I don't want to get over my problems!" Jared interjected in a rage comparable to that of a Gyarados. "You ever think of that, you asshole? Do you ever think at all, for that matter!"

The silence in the air was thick as the three teens just stared at each other with varying expressions: Cody looking distraught, Heather looking hopeless, and Jared holding an expression that was mixed between hatred and disgust. All their pokemon looked concerned, as if they had a general idea about the conversation… except for the Ghastly, who just chuckled. It didn't seem to care whatsoever.

"Fine…" Cody finally said, breaking the awkward silence. "If you don't want it, then release it. Or trade it or sell it on the GTS. I just wanted to make things better… I'm sorry-"

"Too late! I'm done with you! Have fun becoming a champion, you insensitive little-"

"Jared! Please-" Heather piped in, though her voice was drowned out immediately.

"Come on, Heather. Forget this loser. I'm sick of him holding me back," he demanded. "We don't need him."

"Jared, I know you're mad now, but I don't want to leave-"

"Then stay with him! It's either him or me Heather! Who's it gonna be?" Jared started up again, his voice returning to the shout he had been using.

"Jared-"

"Who!"

"Fuck off Jared, don't yell at her!" Cody jumped in the shouts. "She didn't do anything. If you want to pick a fight, I'm right here!"

"You know what, that's the smartest thing you've said all night." Jared dropped his pack and faced off against Cody, calling the attention of both Antonia and Litwick as they looked at your aggressor. "Call your pokemon back, and we'll settle this right now!"

"Fine by me," Cody replied, smirking. "I thought you'd never ask." He pulled Antonia's pokeball from his belt, but he was stopped as Heather stood between the two boys.

"Stop it!" She turned to Jared. "Can we talk? Now?"

"Give me a minute. Two minutes tops. I need to settle-"

"Now!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him over into the trees, making sure to shoot a look at Cody that said "Stay." Once the group was separated, she turned back to her boyfriend. "This is pointless, Jared."

"Yes, this is! Let me go back and show that little twerp how I really feel about his scrawny, little-"

"No Jared, you're not going to fight him! That won't prove anything! Can't you just-"

"Oh my God, who's side are you in!" he roared. "He knows that I hate ghosts, yet he brings one to me! He's an idiot!"

"Yes, he is," Heather agreed, not avoiding the truth. "But in his own stupid way, he was just trying to help. Can't you just-"

"No! Why should I? He's so damn insensitive! I don't want his help! I've never wanted his help!"

"So you want to remain afraid of ghosts?" Heather asked, her voice quiet enough that nobody but the two of them could hear.

"No… I don't want to…" Jared reasoned, nervously touching his forehead as he tried to construct a logical answer. "But I don't want a Gastly, and I don't want Cody's help."

"But why?"

"Because… look, I don't want to talk about this. I hate that he feels like he has to save me or whatever! I wish he'd just leave me alone! You don't see me getting up in his business about his older brother, or his parents or anything like that-"

"Shut up, he can hear you!" Heather hissed, though Cody didn't seem that shaken. Obviously, the younger boy had already accepted that Jared's family issues surpassed his own in complexity, so the mention of them didn't bother him.

"I don't care if he hears me!" Jared shot back in a softer, but still striking voice. "I don't care about him at all!"

"Well, that's too bad," Heather replied sadly, "because he obviously cares about you."

Silence. Heather looked on as Jared's facial expressions contorted from anger to sadness to confusion as he processed what she had said. Finally, he questioned it.

"How do you figure?" he asked intently.

"Jared, he caught that Gastly in an attempt to help you, not harm you. It was a dumb move on his part, but he had good intentions. So can't you just accept that he was trying to be nice? If you don't want the Gastly, just trade it for something on the GTS. It's yours now anyway. You don't have to train it…"

Jared glanced over at Cody and sighed. You moron… why am I know longer mad at you as I should be? I don't get it… Then he looked over at his Gastly and cringed. The gassy ghost had a creepy smile as it stared back at him. He would have loved to just leave it there, but a pokemon was a pokemon, and somebody would want it, even if it wasn't him. It was like leaving a hundred dollar bill on the ground.

"Cody," Jared said as he walked up to the blond trainer, "we've done some talking, and we've come to a decision: you're an idiot."

"Well I kind of already figured that you thought that about-"

"Shut up," Jared shot, immediately silencing the younger trainer. "Because Heather likes you so much, I forgive you... Again. I guess I will accept this Gastly from you, but I'm trading it for something less creepy once we get to the next town."

"Okay, that's fair. It's your-"

"Don't think this means we're cool, because we're not," Jared whispered low enough so that Heather couldn't hear. His face seemed so absent of emotion as he warned Cody, which was rare for him. "This is your last chance. And if you blow it, I'm leaving this group, whether Heather comes with me or not. Understood?"

"Yes," Cody replied coldly. He handed the Gastly's pokeball to the older trainer and forced an awkward smile on face.

"Good. Let's get going. We've wasted too much time here." Jared called the Gastly back to its pokeball, and the three trainers and their pokemon left for the road again. For some reason though, Jared was already beginning to regret his decision to travel with Heather and Cody. After stating that Cody was holding him back, the words erupted a million thoughts about his traveling companions. Are they… no, he… is he holding me back? Maybe I should leave. I like Heather, but I'm not out here for a relationship. There are things that are more important. Remember why you came out here. Dina needs me. He glared at Cody, who was trying to avoid eye contact with him at the moment, and for good reason. Your intentions may be good, but you're walking on thin ice, Cody Storm. And the metaphorical ice would only get thinner as the real ice began to disappear.

[Couldn't we have been stationed somewhere else? Like Orre? I bet it's warm there. These mountains suck.] Isaac shivered as his trainer and him got off the bus. The temperature of the mountains had made him miss the mainland. It was the middle of the day, and it must have been ten degrees Fahrenheit below zero.

"You don't want to live in Orre. That place is a lawless cesspool," Frank answered as he looked around the streets that he stepped on. The people of Firnborn City were all bundled up like eskimos, and he felt a little bit naked in comparison, only wearing a brown overcoat and scarf. Also, his head was freezing where his hair was shaven off. I need a hat. "Welcome to the Frostscar mountains. The next step of our adventure!" he announced, though his enthusiasm fell on deaf ears.

[Whatever. If that Regice isn't here, I swear to Arceus that somebody is going to die a slow and painful-]

"I really hope you didn't just transmit that thought to everybody," Frank warned gravely in an out of character voice. "This is top secret."

[Relax, my IQ is far beyond yours, human.] Isaac scoffed. [Can we get some coffee? I need a fix, badly.]

"I knew I should never had introduced you to caffeine," Frank sighed. "We'll find a Starbucks or something and then you'll be relieved, you big baby."

[Damn right, you better find a Starbucks!] the mime replied, frustration ensuing in his thoughts. [Let's go. My ass is getting a freezer burn.]

"Fine, fine." The two began to walk and Frank looked out between the gaps at the mountain range around them. Skitrex had many beautiful mountain ranges, but this one had quickly became his favorite. The icy blue peaks reflected the sun, making them glitter, even at a distance. Somewhere in these mountains, a lonely Arcticuno was flying, but if Father Ezekiel was correct, another rare pokemon resided here. Why they needed it? He was unsure. But life was just one big puzzle that he had the intention to solve. Maybe the Father's new world would repay him kindly for his efforts.

One can only dream… until it is reality.

Another character development chapter. I feel very rusty with this story right now, but it will be getting juicier soon… I hope. R&R peeps! If you do, answer this question: What aspect of this story is most appealing to you right now? The character development of the main group, the battles, the adventure, the nightmares, the organization, or something else? Let me know. Until then… farewell.