A/N: Thank you, Kyanide, I hope that this story remains interesting to you as it goes on. I Must have missed that error when I was going through some last minute changes but I went back and fixed it.
I will also be attempting to upload a new chapter once every week, just as a heads-up. Thank you for taking the time to read, everyone.
Luke woke, hearing his name and beginning to make out a feminine figure standing over him. He squinted, despite it doing nothing to ail him of his cloudy vision. He managed to push one word ,slowly, past his lips: "Frida?"
The womanly figure appeared to shake her head. Her hands, which had previously been cupping each other and were placed over her mouth, separated. She rested one hand on Luke's arm, which was cold to the touch. To him, however, it felt like the most comforting warmth he had ever felt. He blinked several times in a more successful attempt to clear the fog in his eyes. "It's Valerie," she spoke while holding back tears. "Luke, I can't believe you made it out okay."
"W-Where...?"
Valerie answered quickly to save him the trouble of speaking. "You're in the hospital, back in Eterna."
Luke lay in the hospital bed, confused. What happened? Made it out of what? Why's my sister here? The questions that were racing in his mind collided with each other and formed more questions, but the one that stuck out the most was, where are Phil and Frida? Suddenly, he felt a chill travel up his spine and flashes of his last memories flooded his mind. Images of his friends being frozen and shrieking; the imposing statue come to life; the chilling ice that froze past the skin and straight to the bone.
Valerie could tell what he was thinking without him saying a word. "I'm really sorry, Luke. They didn't make it." Her brother's fists gripped the hospital bedsheets in frustration, albeit not very tightly due to his body barely recovering. He squeezed his eyes shut to block the tears but they began to well up at the corners of his eyes. His sister knelt down onto the bed, wrapped her arms around her brother who tensed immediately, but remained quiet as he was put at ease.
She sat with Luke, allowing him to lean on her as she would when they were younger. It was a bittersweet thought, to think of how she was able to comfort him when he would fall and scrape his leg; and yet there she was, attempting to do the same thing when the unthinkable had happened. Valerie was unable to find any words that would help him. No it'll be okay, everything happens for a reason, nothing she could think of would do any good.
She tenderly held the necklace that had rested on her chest, watching as the overhead light bounced off its many faces. She clung to it tighter and moved it closer to her face in a gentle fist. I really wish you were here, Mom. You would know what to do.
After some time passed with nothing but silence, Valerie spoke up. "The nurses say you should be ready to leave in a couple days or so, depending how your body recovers." She pauses, giving him time to speak. He doesn't. She understands and continues: "I'll go get us something to eat. For now, I want you to rest." She shifts to stand up, but before her feet touch the floor she feels a hand tug on her arm. She looks back to her brother, who is still hiding his face. Valerie's lips form the slightest of smiles as she scoots back over to him and moves his head to her shoulder. "That's okay," she mutters. "I won't go anywhere."
Strong gusts of air picked up crumbs of snow and carried it across the roads of Snowpoint. Its residents had grown accustomed to it; however, even while sporting brand new winter clothes, Hilda was not pleased one bit. Her teeth clacked together, which she could not hear over the wind when it made itself present.
The path ahead of her led out of the city and toward Lake Acuity. She mulled over her plan in her head, of how she would travel around the north end of Mt Coronet, between it and the lake, and travel south until she reached the entrance that had been blocked off. After considering the possible danger she could be facing, be it from a Regice or some other threat, she thought it best to release one of her teammates from its capsule to travel alongside her. She smiled as she unlatched and tossed one of the Poke-Balls from her belt and watched as it popped open mid-air.
Proudly before her stood a towering Beartic, whose enlarged forepaws refused to sway in the increasing winter winds. The ball fell backward into Hilda's palm, who then hooked it back onto her belt. "Feel right at home, big guy?"
The Beartic, who had its trainer beat in height by an entire meter, nuzzled her and decided to walk alongside her on all four of its legs.
As she approached the edge of the city, she noticed a pair of eyes watching her from a short distance away. The gaze made her feel uneasy rather than afraid. She turned and her eyes met those of a middle aged woman. Hilda noticed that there were two children with her: a young girl who hid behind one of her mother's legs, and a boy of similar age whose hand was being held above his head by the mother. His eyes were wide with curiosity, likely for the enormous ice-type across the road.
Hilda raised a hand shoulder height to wave to the family, but the mother had already decided to drag her children away. The Unovan lowered her hand slowly, feeling confused and somewhat defeated. She looked to her partner, who stood on all of its legs looking mildly confused itself. Hilda decided not to worry about the encounter for the moment, and patted the Beartic to let it know that they should get going. Her small footsteps were matched with pothole-sized pawprints in the snow that sprayed snow back into the wind as they matched pace with each other.
Rays of light found their way through the ceiling of treetops, just enough for basic visibility along the main path of the forest. Two figures walked that path: one man, the other a scaly, bipedal Pokemon. The latter was coated in rounded, colorful scales that would clatter as it moved. It was proud of its mane and tail, either of which it would shake to express emotions with the sounds its scales made. The former was a young man who appeared to be beyond the age of his first-time Pokemon journey, and sported a slightly oversized red, open-zipper hoodie. The rest of his dress was very casual: a simple tee shirt and jeans, accompanied by a running shoes and a black cap which rested over his medium length auburn hair.
The pair walked through the forest rather leisurely and listened to the sounds of the forest. Pokemon were heard chirping and hooting at each other, possibly communicating with their mates or searching for food. The man smiled as he and the Pokemon at his side continued down the path before them. "It's not quite the climate we're used to, but this place kinda reminds me of home," he thought aloud. He then watched a pair of Buneary hop out of a patch of tall grass a few meters away and make their way up a tree. "It looks like the locals aren't used to our kind, either, Kommo-o." The man's scaled partner rattled its tail, as if to clang in agreement.
The Kommo-o and its trainer continued along their path until they came across a diverging walkway. To the left, part of a building could be seen through the brush. Straight ahead was a narrow path that seemed brighter the farther they looked. That looks like the edge of the forest, the trainer thought. He looked to the Pokemon at his side, who seemed more curious about the house than the exit. The young man shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and proceeded toward the mysterious building. "Might as well, huh?"
The Kommo-o gave a slight nod, which caused its mane to jingle. After swiping branches and large leaves out of their way, they noticed their steps had changed from crunching leaves to tapping on cracked stone. The Pokemon and its trainer focused their attention to the front of the building that stood before them.
It seemed to be two stories tall, perhaps twice as wide as a traditional home if not more so. Overgrown grass had sprouted all around the building, yet the eerie, violet stained glass windows refused to hide behind the plant life. The building itself seemed abandoned, aside from the glow of the windows.
The more the young man stared at the building, the more he began to see that perhaps the windows really were glowing rather than being stained glass. Strangely enough, despite growing uneasy, he found himself and his partner being drawn to the house and walking toward it.
In what feels like the time it took to blink, he realized he had walked all the way up to the double wooden doors and had begun moving his closed fist forward to knock. He snapped out of it in time and recoiled before he felt the rough, peeling wood of the door. Somehow the door creaked open by a few inches, which at the time was possibly the loudest sound he had ever heard.
A chill ran up his spine as the trainer looked to his companion, who had also grown increasingly wary but nodded once again to let him know that they had each other's back.
Upon pushing the partially open door all the way, and gritting his teeth at the sound of the creak of the door, the trainer checked his surroundings. The inside was not glowing at all, and even the windows only provided a tinted view of the forest outside. A chandelier swayed uneasily above the two visitors, yet seemed to glow faintly despite none of its candles being lit.
The portraits on the walls depicted people of various ages, yet wore formal clothing that told the trainer that those people were of a much older time. He felt their eyes follow him across the room as he walked away, and aside from feeling another chilling breeze, thought it better to assume that the artist was very talented and that there could be no abnormal presence in the room.
That hopeful assumption was stomped immediately, however. He saw a shadow by the railing on the second floor and whipped his head in its direction just as it turned and faded away. "Who's there?" he called out, but to no avail. He dashed toward the stairs to give chase, but stopped as the room glowed orange from the ceiling. Kommo-o's scales vibrated against each other as it clenched its fists while staring down the now flaming chandelier. A spirit seemed to emerge from the chandelier but it took a similar shape, with blue flames instead. The spirit's flames on each of its arms became pillars of fire that attempted to intimidate the opposing dragon-type. Kommo-o challenged its opponent by stomping its feet and clanging its scales together, creating a sound akin to glass shattering which caused the floating chandelier spirit to lower its defenses and try to regain its balance. The dragon's trainer covered his ears to protect them from the sound waves, and looked up the stairs once more to see the figure had not returned. He hurried back down the steps and focused on the battle at hand.
"Dragon Pulse, while its guard is down!" he shouted. His partner planted its feet firmly on the ground and opened its maw to release a powerful stream of flaming energy toward its foe. The ghostly being took the hit and was pushed back, but thrusted its flames and propelled itself away from the attack. It continued to propel itself toward the ground, yet before it would crash into the wooden floor its body became translucent and it disappeared into the ground.
The man grit his teeth. Where's that Chandelure gonna pop up next? he thought. He and Kommo-o stood still and examined their surroundings, checking for any signs of a ghost passing through the floor or a wall. A faint glow above him alerted him to the position of their enemy. Quickly, he shouted, "Above you, Dragon Tail!"
Without hesitation, Kommo-o lowered itself onto all four limbs and lifted one leg to swing its mighty tail - which resembled a mace - into the flaming ghost that had launched itself toward its target. A loud cracking sound filled the room upon contact, and the Chandelure was flung to the ground and rolled into the wall on the other side of the room. The dragon regained its footing once more while its trainer breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to his partner and patted the scales on its back. "You did great, buddy."
The celebration did not last long. The Chandelure began to float once more and turned to the duo before sinking through the floor once more, this time much more slowly. The pair stood firm, waiting for another attack, but the ghost-type did not return. Instead, a loud thud echoed from a distant part of the house. Then, a door upstairs slammed shut. Lights began to flash throughout the building, and the sounds of doors swinging open and shut joined those of furniture slamming into walls.
It was at this point that the pair realized that they likely were not prepared to fight whatever other force may be present in the house, and decided to turn and leave in a hurry. The door behind them slammed shut just as they turned, but they were not going to take that as an answer. The two of them ran toward the double wooden doors and rammed the door shoulder-first. The doors swung open upon contact, part of which chipped and broke away and fell to the ground outside.
The trainer and his partner retreated to the brush just before the fork in the road, and looked back quickly to see that nothing was chasing them, and that the doors were once again shut.