Chapter Twenty-One: Winterland

*Author Note – We play Pokémon Ranch. Watch, actually. And we couldn't help but notice something similar to the story. The Main caretaker, Wasbeer, always - always - has two Charizard flying around her. They look like bodyguards, don't you think? Just for the record, Charmander isn't written this way because of these Charizard. :P

Disclaimer: We don't own Pokémon. It's that simple.

Well, here is Chapter Twenty-One: Winterland

Helping Buneary with the letters turned out to be more pleasant than I expected. At first I was telling Buneary about the codenames and what their meanings were. After my explanation we started analyzing some of the letters.

We were looking at a copy of one of the letter 'The Indigo Gem' sent. I did not like her letters much. And the letters made me dislike the Princess. She was the Princess of the Cloudy Sky Mountain. The Princess was a Misdreavus and she disliked me, too, I think at least. But how would I know? I have never met her in person.

But then Buneary asked me a question, out of the blue that surprised me.

"Are all letters so strangely written?" She frowned. One look at her told me she had looked at those letters many times, already taken in every single detail in them.

The letters were normal to me, since I was used to them. But only now I realized it was not that normal. "The letters are edited. When we write, it has to be formal and peaceful, know what I mean?"

Buneary simply nodded and we kept on working. We went on till the late hours, and I was getting tired already. Buneary was still sifting through letter after letter.

I had now read practically at least one letter from every Princess. All except of course one. It was no surprise to me, but I had to know if even these Pirates knew nothing about her.

"Buneary? Have you ever intercepted a letter from the Yellow Shooting Star? It is The Lightning Hills' Princess." She was a case apart; not that I know many details about her, but she was special.

Buneary frowned and got up without saying a word. She took a notebook from the shelves, and started turning pages. Eventually she snapped it shut and looked back to me.

"For all I know, there is no kingdom in The Lightning Hills. It's just a small country, and since we're not with that many, we couldn't afford to have someone there without a reason," she said. She was not happy with the unknowing.

"The Princess came falling down from the sky. She did not inherit the throne, it was just that she had these amazing skills even the strongest of Pokémon there could not match." Yes, as you are already aware of, Buneary is writing everything I say down.

I continued. "This lady was fairly young, and playful at that. She had not been disciplined as the rest of us Princesses had, and she could not be disciplined with her amazing power. I only realized it after some years, but the letters she wrote were teleported from there to my desk, and the other way," I voiced my thoughts.

Buneary changed the subject quite abruptly. "Well, it's late. Let's get some sleep."

I left it at that.

I had a bad night of sleep. When I woke, there were some black spots on my vision. I felt terrible and did not want to get up. I heard Buneary was still sleeping, and knew that if I did not want to disrupt her, I should leave the room. Her ears hear everything.

So I sneaked out of the room, as usual. It already became a habit.

I felt the cold immediately, and breathed it in with some gratitude. The cold meant winter, although I was not sure if the cold had the same meaning at sea. I looked up only to see the sky filled with dark clouds.

I started to have the chills and had to sneeze. I ran back inside and headed toward the place known to me as Amy's and William's room. Of course, they were still asleep. I was silently panicking about nothing at all, untill I heard a voice.

"Pichu?" Buneary whispered. "Why are you always walking from here to there in the morning?" She shook her head. "Let's go back to my room, there is plenty of time later to walk outside." She was completely calm, and I followed.

"Wait, where are we going now, Buneary?" She had said there would be plenty of time later. She did not mean walking on the ship, that was obvious.

We entered her room. "We're going to a village close to the coast. We need some warm clothes, remember?" she said. I already forgot about it, but it is true. We were headed to the Mountain of Ice.

"I brought an apple for you, to keep you from starving on this ship," Buneary grinned. I took it and started to nibble. It was the time of the day were I could put away my thoughts, and just eat.

I looked through the small window in Buneary's room. I saw we were already nearing the coast. "Does this mean I do not have to stay on the ship?"

Buneary did not even look up. "Of course you don't have to stay on the ship. One, you would escape from Mew in no time at all without having any supervisors. Two, the Captain obviously trusts you more than before," she explained in a normal voice.

"Is there anything else that needs to be done before I can go with you?" I mean, I am still the Princess. Pokémon might recognize me.

"Wear this hat," Buneary said while handing me a straw hat," and you're ready to go." Luckily for me, the hat fit.

Buneary had to go after some minutes, since she was the only one able to wake up the Crew properly. After half an hour, we were ready to go and do some shopping.

I was walking next to William, and made some small talk with him and Amy on William's other side. The Crew was not hesitating in the direction they were headed to; this must be known terrain to them.

The shopping went pretty quick, I did not even see the whole Crew and Pikachirate. We each bought a long coat and some isolating clothes; I only recognized some dresses and the familiar gloves.

The whole 'trip' was over pretty soon. We went back in no time at all.

The past few days are not worth telling about; Buneary's room became my room and I do not know how, but I rarely saw Pikachirate despite the size of the ship. He was good at being evasive. And of course, the temperature went down since we moved away from the warm sun.

Sneasel had said: "We only have to travel one day, and then we will arrive at the Mountain of Ice."

And now I was laying on my bed, staring at the boring ceiling, waiting for those twenty-four hours to be over. It had been a while since I ran through the snow, or dashed through it, or even walked through it.

I was completely worn out of the past few weeks, I really needed a better day pattern. I just could not sleep that well on sea.

I could not help but wonder what my life would have looked like if I had to be married off to Prince Elekid. The landscape there was flat, no trees surrounded the palace. It was only . . . a prison without a view, from what I have heard.

And finally, after the long wait, we were in Winter Wonderland. The snow was already falling when I went to the deck and was grateful for the warm coat I wore. I saw Spheal and Sealeo, Seel and Dewgong swimming in the almost-frozen sea. And, as the sun went down, I saw a Mantine and Remoraid jump out of the water, making it look like swimming was easy.

I looked up, seeing the same dark clouds again. They were not present on the edge - where the sun was - but have been up there since some days.

The snow fell on my gray gloves, making the cold seep through it. Of course I was on the side where most of the snow fell; I turned around and saw what our destination was. I wondered why I had not seen it already, since I should not even miss a mountain. Not only was there a mountain. I could, even from here, see a forest next to the mountain. There was a village on the foot of the mountain and on the left side of the mountain, on the edge of the forest, stood a snowy-white palace. On the other side stood a Cathedral and I noticed the two sides were parted by a river, which could be crossed by one of the many bridges there.

I cleaned my long black coat since I knew nothing else to do.

We arrived after some time, but the ship was not left outside and sailed to somewhere indoor. I did not bother to ask anyone about it, as I would forget it the minute after it.

"All, get off of the ship!" Pikachirate announced. He did not say 'Lightning Shadow', as that would give them away. Buneary tugged on my sleeve as a sign for me to follow her.

We scattered in small groups, going each to a different place. "Buneary? Where are we going?" I questioned.

"To Roselia's," she answered while quickening her pace. I sped up, too.

After walking some yards, we entered a house called an 'inn'. I had no idea what an inn was.

The moment I passed through the door, I saw the Pokémon I had heard a lot about from Sneasel, the one that had changed his heart. She was walking with grace while holding two trays on her roses. She gave us both a warm smile.

We sat down, and Buneary simply waited. I glanced around the room every now and then, and could not help but notice some unknown Pokémon to me were staring at me with a puzzled look. They looked down when I met their gaze.

Two by two, the Crew entered the inn. The last two to arrive were Chansey and Pikachirate. Everyone was still scattered across the room. Only when the last non-Crew Pokémon left the inn, everyone went to the big, oval shaped table in the centre of the room.

Pikachirate started talking in a . . . well, wonderful voice. "As most of you already know, we're going to stay here for around a week, and continue our route after we decide where to go to." Most heads around me were nodding. "we're making this the centre of information." There is no need for you all to stay in the inn the whole week, so you can enjoy of some free time.

"Guys? You could stay here, there is more than enough room for all of you," Roselia offered. "If you share a room with three or four there will be more than enough space."

So groups of around four were made; The Squirtle family stayed together, of course. Sneasel went with Roselia, the two of them after long separation. Mew, Esmeralda and Ditto shared a room. No fourth wanted to join them. Buneary, Chansey and Happiny took me as fourth Pokémon. Chatot, Gengar and Pikachirate were the last group.

Roselia showed me the room I would be staying at. I did not take a look around me. I was the first to go up, and went to sleep the minute I lay on the bed.

*Author Note - Yay! They're in a snowy area! And since I didn't know a better name for the chapter. If you have any suggestions, a feeling, or a direction for the name of it, set it in the review, or send a PM. Please? No single review will bother us . . . And PMs are ways of communication.*