I was surprised to see that Cynthia had a house here, but after we both settled down at the kitchen table, her setting a cup of hot cocoa in front of me, she clarified that every Champion had a house in every city of their region. That way, if they had to travel and stay overnight, they always had a place to call home. Of course, their main home was still at the Pokémon League, but at least they had a place to stay.
After we had exchanged pleasantries, I got down to business. "So what was that storm back there?" I asked.
Her smile disappeared quickly. "Let me start at the beginning. A month ago, the ship in the Snowpoint Harbor that normally transports passengers and cargo, left on its two-week journey to the Fight Area. Normally, the ship, the S.S. Spiral, takes two-weeks to travel to the Fight Area, a day to unload and reload all of its cargo and passengers, and then two more weeks to get back to Snowpoint, spending a day in the city, and then repeating its cycle once again. But the ship has been gone for a month now, with no sign of it. The people of Snowpoint, without a Gym Leader to turn to since Candice is now the Guardian of the Snowpoint Temple and is not, according to her own rules, allowed to leave the Temple, turned to me. I flew to the Fight Area, and the residents there said that the ship arrived and left on schedule. They hadn't heard or seen anything since.
"So I, with the help of Aaron, the Bug Elite-Four member, combed the seas between the Fight Area and Snowpoint City. There was no sign of the S.S. Spiral. Only open waters, and glaciers spotted the waters.
"Around the time that the ship was supposed to arrive back in Snowpoint, a snowstorm blew in. The people of Snowpoint were used to this, and went on with life as normal. But this snowstorm was different. It came, but it never left, and only got worse as the days progressed. It didn't take long before the storm became so thick that no one was able to approach the city by sea or by sky. The only way was to make the trek on land, and even then only a few supply caravans made it through with their mamoswines and avaluggs. Eventually, even land transport became so difficult, that no one attempted it any more. And thus, the city of Snowpoint was completely isolated from the rest of the world.
"I was living in the city full time at that point, wanting to make the most impact I could on the citizens, and hoping to stop this snowstorm from destroying the town. A full-power Sunny Day from my Roserade, couldn't even break a cloud in the storm. Neither could a Rain Dance from my Milotic, or a Sandstorm from Garchomp. Nothing is working, and we're running out of supplies. That's why I decided that Snowpoint City needed a new Gym Leader. After Candice resigned, I decided to set up a new ground-type Gym in Sandgem Town. But now…I can live with nine Official Gyms. After all, Iris and Alder have ten in Unova. I filtered through the internet and searched every cranny I could to find the best ice-type specialist available. And I found you. Luckily, you were up for the job, and actually searching yourself for a specialist position in the Pokémon League. I'm glad you found it. I was planning on getting you into the city by using my Spiritomb to Teleport just outside of the Acuity Lakefront and picking you up there. Unfortunately, Teleport is extremely spotty when traveling through snowstorms, and I wasn't sure how it would go. We could try as many times as needed though, and I was sure that at some point it would work.
"But the day that I was planning on picking you up, today in fact, the snowstorm got unexpectedly worse, as if it knew that you were supposed to arrive. I took my Glaceon out into the Acuity Lakefront, hoping to lessen the storm. Luckily, you arrived right in time, but I was thinking that the storm might suddenly shift and you would be in the line of fire. That's why I got all huffy with you, but to tell the truth, I can see that you can handle yourself fine."
As Cynthia laid out her tale, I could tell that there was more to the story than she was letting on. When she finished the story, I leaned forward. "So what's the part that you're not telling me?"
She pursed her lips and sat back in her chair. "I knew there was a reason I liked you so much. You see with crystal clarity. There's not going to be any fooling you. The part that I'm not telling you is that I'm pretty sure what's causing the storm. And it's not pretty. Not at all."
I leaned even further forward in my seat. "What is it?"
Cynthia took a deep breath. "It's Kyurem."