I wake up in the morning feeling refreshed and lazy. I know I should move on to Marn, but I just want to lay here and soak in the sunlight coming in from the window. My stomach, on the other hand, has a different idea, growling loud enough to wake Winter and Eve. I sit up and go get ready for the day in the bathroom. An upside to having really short hair, I don't use nearly half as much shampoo. I bet one big bottle will last me over a month now! When I get back, Winter is staring at me with sad eyes.
"What?" I ask.
"Eve told me about what happened. You, child, have had far too much sadness in your life." She rubs up against my legs and I pick her up, giving her a hug.
"It's fine Winter," I say, close to tears, "I just have to move on, and continue my dream. I know my parents would probably want me to keep going forward anyway." I give her one last squeeze and even hug Tikeri and Eve for good measure before opening the door. My team and I head down to the kitchen in the Center which is full of other trainers now. I grab sweet and spicy and dry food for my team, having already asked what food Winter preferred. I grab some eggs out of the fridge and make cheesy scrambled eggs with ham. That's one thing I love about the Pokémon Centers here in Alamar, the kitchen and other facilities are open for anyone to use. I bring the food and dishes back to a booth in the corner of the large cafeteria. My friends dig in and I pick at my eggs. I am in the midst of swallowing when I hear a voice yell from across the room.
"Oh my gosh! Is that really a Crysat?! Oh my Arceus!" I choke on my eggs in surprise as the girl whom the voice belongs to rushes up to my table and begins hugging and cuddling with Winter. Behind her are two pokémon. A Skarmory and the same type of creature that I saw at the beginning of my journey. I'm surprised she has her Skarmory out, since being both a steel type and a flying type, they don't exactly enjoy the cold air. I look at the girl hugging Winter and study her as I try to clear my lungs of any excess eggs. She's looks a good half a foot taller than my five foot two inches. Her hair is boyishly short and pure white with silver flashing at the edges, and she has light grey eyes. Her outfit is well suited for the cold. Dark blue jeans with a light blue, zip-up sweater with navy blue accents and a long scarf and a blue winter hat. Except she's wearing sneakers, and that is never a good idea for snow. I see Winter's face, pleading me to help her out as she squirms for freedom. I smile, but then see her retractable claws come out.
"Um, you might want to put her down." I warn, "I wouldn't be too sure of your face staying intact if you keep squeezing her like that." The girl just makes a confused face, but stops squeezing her. I grab Winter out of her arms and set her back down next to her unfinished meal. She glares at the over-excited girl and turns up her nose before eating the rest of her food.
"Oh, I'm sorry! It's just, I've been looking for a Crysat for like, forever and I have yet to find one." She rambles off, "So you can see why I got so excited seeing yours. I'm Kasha by the way, Kasha Altru! And these two are Current and Shade." she holds out her hand and I shake it.
"I'm Ri-Reena, Reena Frost. Although you can call me Rin. And this is Tikeri, Eve and Winter," I reply, almost tripping up with my name, "So what brings you to the Great White North?"
"Actually, the main reason I'm here is because of Shade, my Absol," she replies, "He kept urging me to come north when we were in Marn. I really have no idea why, but he stopped the day before yesterday after disappearing for a while. But he does that kind of often, so I don't worry about it. Then I heard a rumor about these pokémon named Crysat that are apparently only found in the freezing north. So I've been hanging around Kentil for a while looking for one." She speaks with a cool confident manner, not once doubting her words or being embarrassed by her story.
"Well, we only found Winter during sunset on our way back after being out all day." I explain, "I'm actually on my way to Marn right now to challenge the Gym there." She looks at me thoughtfully.
"Hey, do you come from Eira?" She asks bluntly. I jump a little at the mention of my hometown.
"Um, not really, why?" I ask. I'm not really from Eira, I was born and raised on the outskirts of town. So it's a half truth.
"It's just that's the direction Shade came back from, so I was worried something happened there." She says, not noticing my jump, or just ignoring it.
"What's that go to do with Eira?" I ask.
"Absol have become known as the Disaster Pokémon. Check your pokédex, it should say something about it." She says looking at her friend. I dig my pokédex out of my bag and point it at the Absol.
"Absol, the Disaster Pokémon. Absol appears when it senses an impending natural disaster. As a result, it was mistaken as a doom-bringer." It says in a computerized voice.
"See?" she says, "Anyway, it's just if he went to Eira, then something bad must have happened. It worries me that he practically dragged me all the way here, then just stopped bugging me about it."
"Well, whatever it was, it's probably nothing." I say, not wanting to get into any trouble with this girl. She doesn't look so sure, but shrugs.
"You said you were going to Marn, right?" she asks, I nod, "Why don't I come with you? I never got a chance to challenge the Gym myself. We can journey together! It gets a little lonely on the road." I think about it. Will traveling with someone help or hinder my efforts of hiding? Will it look normal, or will it just put her in danger? I mean, I have changed my look dramatically and they aren't even looking this far south yet. I think about stuff like this for another minute, but cave in.
"Alright. Who knows, it may be fun." I reply and she smiles, "You ready to leave today? I was planning on heading out after breakfast."
"Yeah, I was getting a little discouraged on my search for a Crysat, but maybe you'll be a good luck charm!" she says, sliding into the booth. I finish off my eggs in record time and pick up the dishes from my pokémon and myself. I head to the kitchen and dumped them in the sink. I returned to the table and grabbed my bag and returned my pokémon to their pokéballs.
"Ready Freddy?" I ask Kasha.
"You bet, Chet," she replies with a smile, returning her pokémon as well. We head out of the Pokémon Center and head south through the town. We pass the shops on the main street where I shopped yesterday. There are a lot of people out and about today. Kasha talks about how she tried many different tactics whilst searching for Crysat. She asks me how I found Winter.
"She just jumped out of a tree and challenged me to a battle. In fact, Eve evolved during that battle." I explain.
"Whoa, that's really cool." She says, "So you're planning on challenging the Gyms all across Alamar?" I nod. "Well, it's a good thing you met me! I have the exact same goal! We can take on the Gym Leaders together." I smile at her exuberance. She really has no sense of doubt. She just goes for it, whatever it is. We reach the outskirts of town and I look back. I have a feeling this may become a habit. I look over the small shopping town. The stores in the middle and the houses on the outside of Kentil. This is the place where most people get their snow gear to survive this far north. Any farther south is usually survivable in a light jacket and pants. I look at the Pokémon Center on the main street in and out of the town. It is all lit up in warmth and kindness, standing ready to shelter any travelers that happen to pass through the cold, northern town.
"Yeah, it's a nice town," Kasha says from behind me, "It makes a nice home, but it's much too cold for me and Current." I look at her and smile.
"Wuss," I tease lightly.
"You'd have to have magma in your blood to be able to stay warm here," she plays along, "I hardly survived in full winter gear. I'm too used to warmth, being from the Islands. No way you'd catch me in anything less than pants, jacket and hat and gloves in this abominable weather. Speaking of which, how the heck can you be wearing shorts!?" I laugh and simply shake my head.
"Magma in the blood." I say bringing up her past statement. She pushes my shoulder, dumping me in the snow, but not before I grab her arm and bring her down with me! She laughs and throws a snowball at me. I retaliate by giving her a whitewash. For any of you that don't know what that is, it's when you shove snow in someone's face. She escalates it by shoving a big handful of snow down the back of my jacket, effectively ending our play fight. She laughs her butt off as I jump around trying to get the cold snow out of my shirt. Once it's all melted, she stands up and puts her arm around my shoulder, leading me down the southern road to Marn. We pass other travelers along the road and I pull down my hat to conceal my eyes. My eyes are the most noticeable thing about me and I'm sure Hammond noticed them when I threw that ice chunk at his face. Better to keep them hidden from total strangers and seem rude than accidentally let a minion of his see them and recognize me. Kasha doesn't ask me about my odd behavior, which I thank Arceus for. I really like her, and I know I'm going to have a good time traveling with her. She's a lot like Alec's older sister. We are currently on an abandoned stretch of road, when I hear a loud noise from above us. I push up my hat and look at the sky. In the sky is a large, blue bird with a long, sparkling tail. It cries once more before heading back north, towards the mountains near Eira.
"What do you think that was?" I ask.
"Don't know. Could be a Legendary for all I know." She replies
"Yeah right," I scoff, "A Legendary in Alamar! They all live in other regions! No one has ever seen a Legendary here, and probably never will."
"Of course they won't if you keep up that attitude," She says, "You gotta be optimistic!" With my life, that may be a bit of a challenge. I think to myself, Optimism isn't exactly my forte.
"If you say so," is all I say.
"Oh don't be a stick in the mud, err… ice. Come on! We'll be to Marn before you know it, and then you and I can challenge the Gym!" she says with a determined fist pump.
"Do you even know what kind of pokémon the Gym Leader uses? Or even who it is?" she gives me a blank look and I shake my head with a small smile.
"Hey! In case you've forgotten, I was pressured to come here!" she says in mock anger, "I didn't exactly have a lot of time to check out the Gym!"
"So you said you're from the Islands," I try to change the subject, "Which one?"
"I'm from Kairi, on Yoka Island," she says, "It's a little village in the boonies of the big island. Not many people know about it."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," I say thoughtfully, "You don't really look like you come from the Islands."
"I know," she replies, "My dad is from the north, Kentil, actually. He is a stereotypical northerner, and my mum's a full-blooded Islander."
"I guess that explains things" I ponder, "I mistook you for a northerner when I first saw you."
"What about you? Where you from?" she asks. I hesitate to give my answer, trying to think up a good lie. "Hey, it's okay if you don't wanna tell. If it's not my business then just say 'Buzz Off' and I'll leave ya alone."
"No it's okay. I'm just trying to figure out how to explain it." Half-truth, it isn't a complete lie when I say, "I don't really have a hometown," At least not now, "My parents and I lived out in the forest, and that's where I was born. I don't really belong to any town, though we were closest to Eira." She looks at me with a weird expression on her face.
"Huh. And I thought I was from the Boonies," she says ponderously. We walk on in comfortable silence, not really knowing what to talk about, but not really wanting to break the mystical silence of the snow draped environment. We keep heading south, towards Marn and our first Gym experience. We run into very little pokémon, and those we do, mostly ignore us. We don't see any other Crysat, much to Kasha's disappointment, but by the time the sun starts to set, we aren't even halfway to Marn. It will take at least another day and a half of walking to get there, according to the map. We set up camp next to the road and Kasha sets up a fire while I go pick the few hardy berries of the north for dinner. Along with the berries, we have some traveler's rations. Like the just-add-water stuff and we melt snow into them to prepare a small meal. We fall asleep under the stars, talking about what the bird we saw earlier could be. I quickly fall asleep in the middle of the conversation, snuggled deep into my insulated sleeping bag.
You have now officially met the first fan OC! yay! Kasha Altru is brought to you in part by adventurerXD. Sorry this chapter took so long to write, i had a whole day of writer's block, so just be glad it got posted eventually! :) anyway, just make sure you know two things.
1) I do not own Pokemon, only my OC's.
2) A female Azurill has a 1/3 chance of evolving into a male Marill.
Yeah, think about that! anyway, Read On and enjoy!