Chapter 23 - Icefall

The eevee darted through the empty streets with incredible speed, but somehow Celeste managed to keep up. Her lungs burned, the freezing wind whipped the cut on her cheek, and her legs felt numb. However, none of these compared to the tightness in her chest.

"Eeev," Aria called, before sliding down a ledge. Celeste, with as much care as her panicking mind allowed, followed her pokémon along and soon, they both stood by a small lake that sat beside a cave.

Aria gestured to the muddy ground by the lake where a mess of paw prints were still fresh. The eevee put her own paw over one of them, displaying a perfect fit.

Celeste leaned down to examine the ground. She saw other sets of prints around, one of them similar to Aria's, but not quite the same. "You were here… and so was Powder?" she asked.

Aria nodded, but drew Celeste's attention to yet another set of prints. Slightly larger than her eevee's, with the tips sunken deep in the mud and arranged in pairs rather than sets of fours. A biped with claws? Way too many pokémon fell down into this category. There was no time for guessing.

"What else can you tell me?"

Aria let out a stream of exasperated cries while swiftly jumping to her battle stance. Celeste understood that there was a battle, but what happened next? Her eyes followed Aria, who was now gesturing to the faint mud tracks leading to the cave.

"Was Powder taken inside?" the trainer asked worriedly. Aria shook her head negatively, causing Celeste's heart to sink even more. "Did she go along with some pokémon?"

With her ears down, the eevee nodded before leading Celeste into the cave. The area was large, open and several degrees colder than the outside. Towards the opposite part of the chamber, there were three openings. Three options to where Powder and the other pokémon could have gone. Aria must have lost them here…

"Its okay. We will find her," Celeste said, forcing herself to smile. For a moment, she looked around, trying to find some trace left behind by her pokémon, but, on the lack of that, she simply declared. "Let's take the left path."

—*—*—

"Left again," Celeste said, climbing over a rock to get to the leftmost path, which this time led to a large chamber with an opening to a small ledge facing the ocean. There were some wooper sunbathing there and some small twisted berry trees growing from the mountainside. "Well, maybe turning left all the time wasn't the best strategy…"

With a heavy sigh, the girl decided to seize the opportunity to take care of one of her pokémon, at least. She carefully took a berry from the tree, and, trying not to disturb the wooper, plopped herself behind a rock while offering it to her eevee.

For some time, the trainer and her partner sat in silence. If she wasn't so worried, Celeste would really enjoy this moment. It was chilly, and the air was salty. The wooper seemed to be singing and, on any other day, she would revel in the idea of adventuring inside a cave, like most seasoned trainers often did. Pity this wasn't any other day.

"Do you think I should call mom and dad once we get back to the pokémon centre?" Celeste said quietly, while contemplating the sky.

The eevee lifted her head, letting the berry she was eating roll down a few inches away from them. "Vee," she nodded decisively.

The trainer chuckled, but her laugh was distant, and she soon dropped her shoulders in defeat. "Not dancing around the issue, huh?"

"Eeev, ve vee?" the pokémon asked. Her eyes had a glint of worry, but also reproach.

"The problem is that I'm scared to call them. Heck, I'm scared to even open my emails." Celeste looked down at the berry that had rolled away closer to the wooper. "I'm scared they will ask me to come back… Do you think they were sad when I left?"

"Vee," Aria said in a gentle tone. Of course they were sad… Celeste didn't even know why she asked this. Aria, however, seemed to have more opinions on the matter. "Evee evee vevee."

For a second, the trainer thought she could pretend she didn't understand her pokémon. That wouldn't be good for anyone, however. Aria thought she was projecting her issues with Powder to her issues with her parents. Honestly? She was absolutely right. Only now she was the parent who was letting her child down. "Relationships are hard, Aria."

The eevee nuzzled her trainer's leg gently. Celeste wasn't sure if this meant that she agreed with her. Either way, she was happy to have her partner with her right now… Dealing with that alone would be too much. Maybe she should let Pat out as well? She thought, while suddenly noticing the wooper stopped singing.

Almost on cue, a pokémon walked over to Aria's berry. It was a very short creature, even though it stood straight over its two legs. Its sleek back fur covered its whole body and contrasted with the bright pink feathers on its tail and left ear. It wasn't the asymmetry of this pokémon that made most people uneasy, though. It was the piercing red glare and razor-sharp claws.

That was it. Celeste's eyes widened, and Aria let out a loud cry. "Did this sneasel take Powder?" the girl asked with urgency. The eevee shook her head in a negative, but she still seemed alert. "But it was a sneasel, wasn't it?"

With confirmation from her pokémon, the girl sprung into action. Do sneasel live in packs? She wasn't sure, but that was her best lead so far. Before Aria could stop her, Celeste had already run to the ice type with a smile on her face.

"Hey there," she said, picking another berry and handing it over to the pokémon. The sneasel looked at her suspiciously, but picked it up anyway. With her lips pressed into a small smile, she continued. "I'm looking for another one of your kind. Do you think you can help me out?"

The pokémon frowned, and, after a moment, it shrugged and moved towards the tree to pick more berries. Celeste stepped forward, thinking that if she helped the short pokémon out, it might be more friendly. However, as soon as she moved, she saw the pokémon's eyes glint as it turned back to scratch her.

Celeste put her arms up and threw herself back, which resulted in her falling down, while avoiding another cut. She heard the swooshing sound the very sharp claws made when they almost hit her, however. Somehow, she didn't think she would manage to be friendly with this pokémon.

"Aria!" the trainer yelled, before the dark type could attack her again, but her eevee didn't even need a command. Before she took another breath, Aria's swift attack hurled the sneasel back.

After the initial relief passed, Celeste sprung up again. It was time to come up with a plan B, after all.

"Hold it back for as long as you can," she commanded the eevee while simultaneously releasing her slowpoke. "Pat, I need you to use Yawn, quick."

The slowpoke stared emptily at the sneasel, who was deflecting the Swift with its claws. He blinked only once at the pokémon before using his Yawn move. As soon as the move hit it, Aria stopped her attack. She kept it for longer this time, but she was exhausted. Their opponent didn't seem phased in the slightest, however. Not that it mattered. Celeste wasn't playing to win. She needed information, and she hoped this pokémon would be as wild as it looked.

Seeing the sneasel getting ready to jump on them again, Celeste smirked as convincingly as she could. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

All pokémon looked at the girl in confusion, but she simply picked up one of her empty pokéballs, enlarged it, and pointed to their opponent.

Just keep looking confident.

"You are going to fall asleep soon, sneasel," Celeste said, hoping her demeanour was convincing. "As soon as you do, I'm putting you on this ball."

The pokémon's eyes widened. Perfect. She had a feeling it wouldn't want to be captured and figured she could capitalise on that.

"I'm in a bit of hurry to find that other sneasel I mentioned, though…" she continued, a little too aware of all her movements. "So if you talk fast, I might leave before you even get drowsy."

The sneasel took a step back, considering its options, and the girl stayed stiff as a rock, while still forcing herself to look confident. The pokémon yawned, and, realising it was out of time, started talking. Its words were fast, as if trying to convey as much information as possible in the least amount of time, but Aria's sharp look showed understanding.

Once it finally stopped speaking, to let out another panicked yawn, the trainer scowled at it. "Whatever you told us better be right." She extended her hand with the pokéball. "Or else…"

Celeste glanced at Aria, who seemed to know where to go now. She recalled her slowpoke, and they quickly made their way to the frosty cavern. As soon as they were out of view, the girl sigh heavily while laughing.

"Can't believe that actually worked."

—*—*—

Apparently, the sneasel had told Aria to follow some smell. Or at least that was the only explanation Celeste could come up with, considering her pokémon constantly sniffing the air. Not being on the lead, however, meant she was left to keep track of the way, which she was failing miserably to do. It was that or examining her thoughts and feelings, which… just no.

Luckily, after another hour of walking and climbing down on an uneven path that kept getting colder, the pair arrived at a large chamber with an underground lake—no, not a lake. The water continued through a large opening opposite to Celeste and the air now was extremely salty. This had to be a sea cave.

Before the girl could muse anymore about the place they were in, a shrill cry that made her heart stop interrupted her. "Piiix," she heard Powder's unmistakable voice, which was followed by a loud thump.

In a heartbeat, both Celeste and Aria followed the sound. Nearby, behind a rock, Powder, with her messy fur and heavy pants, made a rather impressive ice shard and threw it over to an X carved out on the rock. The sneasel behind, whose feather was in the right ear, encouraged the vulpix, but Powder didn't appear to be satisfied. She marched towards her target and pointed right to the middle, as if to say she still didn't get it right.

When the pokémon turned back, however, she froze like a child being caught by her parent. Celeste was just standing in the middle of the cave, staring at the whole situation. As soon as Powder's eyes met her trainer's, her tail and ears slumped and no one said a word.

The oppressive silence didn't last long, however. Before Celeste could even sort out her thoughts, the sneasel shouted something and threw a large piece of ice in the girl's direction. Powder yelled, but it was Aria who came to the save by taking the hit instead. She seemed way too eager to beat a sneasel today.

"Don't fight, Aria," Celeste said, standing in the way of her pokémon. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Powder was trying to stop the dark type from attacking again as well. That had to be a good sign…

Slowly and afraid, Celeste turned to the vulpix. "I'm sorry," she said, taking a tentative step forward. The sneasel wasn't attacking, so the girl kneeled not too far from both pokémon. "You spent the day training with this sneasel, huh?"

Powder gave a small nod and glanced at the cut on her trainer's cheek.

Almost unconsciously, Celeste brought her hands up to the injury and offered a gentle smile. "Don't worry about this. It was just an accident. This will heal in a few days."

"Pix…" the pokémon muttered with her ears down, but soon turned to the human with a determination in her eyes. "Vulpix!" Powder yelled before turning to the target X in the wall again. This time, her ice shard hit the spot perfectly.

The sneasel raised its fist and then crossed her arms with a snort. Yet, somehow Powder still seemed to find faults with her move. She gestured once more to the cut in Celeste's cheek and barked something at the other pokémon.

It wasn't hard to understand the problem. Powder wanted to perfect the move so that there wouldn't be any more accidents. At least, she seemed to tell herself that. Of course, before any of this, when they were training in Olga's freezer, the vulpix seemed adamant about perfecting temperature control too.

"Hey Powder, that was pretty great." Celeste started carefully. "I'm really sorry I haven't been listening to you properly…"

The pokémon stared at her trainer with worry.

"I will stand by my opinion that you need rest and food to learn and grow strong in a healthy way, but before… Olga was right, too." Celeste was serious. She had been babying Powder, who seemed to want none of that. "I was annoyed at her and uncomfortable with the cold. I wasn't taking what you wanted into account when I told you to stop training… I told myself stopping was best for you…"

Celeste bit her lips. While she had been training Aria and Pat for battle, she taught Powder Tail Whip. When she finally sent the vulpix into battle, she got terrified and recalled her almost immediately. She kept talking about entering a beauty competition instead of the tournament and when someone offered help training, she left as soon as she could. How many of those things were actually best for Powder?

"My parents did that a lot too, you know? You must have been so frustrated with me lately… Can…" Celeste took a deep breath. "Can you forgive me?"

Powder didn't say a word and Aria and the sneasel were looking at her as expectantly as the trainer. After what felt like an eternity, however, the little vulpix jumped over to the girl with teary eyes and nuzzled her face. Also teary-eyed, Celeste hugged her pokémon back.

"I can't promise I'll always do things right," she said through the puffs in her pokémon's head. "But I promise I'll always listen to you."

Powder licked Celeste's cheek, and Aria tackled them both to let them know she wanted in the hug. Finally… things were right again.

Well… at least to Celeste and her pokémon, they were.

The sneasel, however, hissed loudly, and took what looked like a battle stance.

—*—*—

The sneasel lunged at Celeste with a snarl, its glimmering claws cutting through the air with a piercing sound. Instinctively, Celeste clutched her pokémon protectively. Yes, she was not supposed to do that anymore, but in the heat of battle, old habits died hard.

The cold metal claws ripped through the girl's flesh, and she cried out in pain. Before the sneasel could do any more damage, however, Aria and Powder sprang into action, pinning the dark type to the ground.

Powder growled and yelled at the sneasel with a potent mix of anger and sadness in her voice, while Aria glanced from the enemy to Celeste worriedly. The sneasel didn't seem to care about any of that, and as soon as Aria's attention turned away, it bit her hard, causing the eevee to fall back.

Only having to deal with Powder, the sneasel got itself free, but didn't attack right away. Instead, it extended a hand towards the vulpix, speaking to her in a low voice that caused her to shake her head and back away. The sneasel persisted, gesturing towards the target on the wall and then to Celeste, its hissing voice growing more insistent.

As the sneasel drew closer to Powder, Celeste watched with nervous breathing and her heart racing. But Powder's reaction surprised her. Despite the sneasel's gentle touch, the vulpix's eyes grew icy, and she turned away, muttering a curt "Pix."

Oh. Short and to the point, Celeste noted, but soon tensed as the sneasel grabbed Powder's face, its claws digging into her skin. The temperature plummeted, and, on the side, Aria growled with anger, ready to attack. But then something unexpected happened: a faint pinkish glow enveloped Powder's body, causing the sneasel to wince and release its grip.

Not satisfied, the sneasel took a few steps back towards the water and lifted some of the water that soon turned to ice chunks and got hurled into the vulpix direction. Powder, still enveloped by the pink glow, dodged some of the ice, but the dark type seemed relentless and kept the attack going. Before Aria got into the battle, Celeste commanded, "Counter it with Powder Snow, the wind will help decrease the damage of the ice shards."

This was Powder's battle, and Celeste was her trainer. It was time she did her vulpix justice. Aria looked at the girl in surprise, but barked in support.

With a fierce "Vuuul," the pokémon unleashed her attack. The pink glow disappeared as she did that. The Powder Snow gust was powerful, deflecting most of the smaller ice shards, much to the sneasel's frustration.

The dark type retaliated with a Quick Attack, causing Powder to stagger. But then, as Powder puffed and recovered, the pink glow returned. The sneasel didn't relent. Just as soon as the Quick Attack was done, its claws were glimmering again.

The aching pain in Celeste's back told her an ice type would not fare with Metal Claw any better than she was. "Use Ice Shard, keep your distance."

The first ice shard hit the sneasel right on the face, making the pokémon stop for a moment. As the second ice shard approached, however, the dark type smirked and cut it clean in half. Still smug, it lunged forward, not even bothering to dodge anymore.

Powder would not be able to keep away. That pink energy, and the sneasel's reaction to it… This was their best bet.

"Use that pink aura surrounding you," Celeste yelled. Her chest tightened as she watched her pokémon look at her, confused. They didn't have time. "Use your instincts, just do it!"

As the sneasel was about to jump onto the vulpix, the pink blinding light exploded from the ice type's body until Celeste could see nothing.

When the glow faded, Powder was standing proudly, but her opponent had fallen down unconscious.

"You did it!" Both Celeste and Aria ran towards the vulpix who wagged her tail and jumped over to her trainer's arms. "I think that was a fairy move you used there, by the way. Or the beginning of one. You are amazing."

Despite so much going wrong, training with Powder today had been surprisingly productive. Celeste was proud of her pokémon.

"This was much better than that mess you made against Rey's larvesta." A familiar voice spoke from the back, cutting their celebration short. Lorelei, who was casually sitting on top of her lapras on the water, had an amused look on her face. "By the way, do you always try to get hurt during battles? I thought we would need to save you again."

A/N:

Happy easter! And sorry it I skipped a week in posting. Between deadlines and a small trip over the holidays I didn't find time to finish editing the chapter. :D

NEXT CHAPTER: Smooched