~~Guy's POV~~
"Not true! A Legendary doesn't have to be a dragon-type to be powerful!" I argue with Kasha, "Just look at Mewtwo! He's one of the most powerful Legendaries out there." Kasha shakes her head, her white hair shines with silver highlights in the firelight.
"He was genetically modified to be the most powerful!" she argues back, "Face it. Out of all the natural born Legendaries, the dragon-types are the most powerful!"
"No they aren't! They always have a second type that makes them even more vulnerable to a different type," I try to reason with Kasha, "Darkrai is very powerful and he's not a dragon-type! He could kick Giratina's ass any day."
"Puh-lease! Darkrai takes one good fighting-type move and he's out like a light," she says as she snaps her fingers for emphasis. "Dialga could smash any other Legendary into the ground!"
"Like Heatran or Regirock? No way, you're delusional!" I hear a small yell from my right. I look to see Rin rolling around in her sleep, her face scrunched up in agony. I get up to go wake her, but Kasha grabs my arm as I try to pass her. I look down at her and she shakes her head, pulling me down to sit next to her.
"What?" I ask a little angrily and definitely confused.
"It's better for your health if you don't wake her," She says solemnly, "Just don't do it."
"Why not? She looks like she's having a nightmare," I point out the obvious, but Kasha just shakes her head again.
"She reacts… violently," she pulls her bangs to the side, showing a bluish-brown bruise on her left temple.
"W-what…?" I stutter.
"I tried to wake her up last night and she slugged me," Kasha explains, "Gotta say, she's stronger than she looks. Our little wisp has got quite a left-hook despite being right-handed." Kasha chuckles a little and I look over at Rin once more. She's still tossing and turning, but not yelling anymore. Rin's Umbreon, Eve, wakes up with a concerned look on her face and snuggles into Rin's arms, calming her down. I sigh and look back at Kasha.
"So she has nightmares often?" I ask.
"I've only been traveling with her for two days, but so far, yeah" Kasha replies, startling me. They've only traveled together for two days?! They act like sisters for all their worth! I think in surprise.
"You know what about?" I ask, always curious, "Her nightmare?" Kasha's steel grey eyes show a guarded expression, but she just shakes her head.
"She hasn't told me yet," Kasha says with a ring of truth, but I know she's hiding something. Her eyes dart away too quickly for it to be a truly honest answer.
"Why not?" I ask.
"I don't know, maybe she doesn't want to," Kasha says giving me a look that says 'drop it'.
"Seriously? No clue?" I ask but Kasha sends me a stormy death glare. I give up on the topic that she seems so adamant to ignore. She's not going to tell me anything. I rummage through my bag for my fossil. I take my rag out of my front pocket and polish the surface while I think about what Rin could possibly be dreaming about.
"What's that?" Kasha asks, glad to finally change subjects. I stop polishing and hold it up in the firelight.
"It's my fossil," I reply, "My uncle from Sinnoh sent it to me. He found it in the Underground and thought I would like it for a good luck charm." Kasha studies it further and nods.
"You gonna try and revive it?" she asks.
"I hope I can," I explain, "I've just got to find someplace here in Alamar where I can get it revived." Kasha looks into the fire, probably thinking. I go back to polishing my fossil until there is absolutely no grime left on it. I stow the fossil back into the bag and sit back to enjoy the scenery. The firelight causes the icicles to dance with warm shimmers and glitters. The air is full of sparkles from the dripping ice and refracting light.
"This place is really amazing," I think out loud, "I've been wandering around in here for a few days, but every night it impresses me." Kasha looks at me with a warm smile despite her earlier stormy emotions.
"Yeah it is," she replies, "I wish I could just take a piece of this forest with me, but I don't have a camera and I don't think Rin does either." She pouts and puts her chin on her palms.
"Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have one either," I hold up my hands in apology. She sighs and looks up at the small patches of sky that's visible through the trees.
"I can't wait to describe this to my parents," she says with a smile, "They're going to love it."
"Well I hope they find it amazing as we do," I say. Kasha climbs into her sleeping bag.
"Night Guy," She says sleepily, "I'm still counting the end of our argument a win, though."
"You are not!" I say in fake anger, "I was the last one to say anything. If anything, I win the argument."
"Yeah right," she says with a yawn, "Like I'm letting you win any arguments." I chuckle and burrow into my own sleeping bag, optimistic about tomorrow.
~~Rin's POV~~
I wake up to a glittering morning and squint at the bright light. Eve must have sensed I was having nightmares in the middle of the night, 'cause she's laying right next to me. I remember my nightmare last night and shiver. The same one I've been having lately, except this time Hammond didn't talk to me, he just shot me… with a gun…. I shudder once again and wake up Eve. She looks at me with concerned eyes and I give her a hug to let her know I'm all right. Tikeri and Winter are snoozing next to each other and cuddling. It's so cute, I forget my nightmare for a few moments, but not for long. Every night that I'm out in the wilderness I have that same, awful dream. The only time it goes away, it seems, is in town. Every night a death threat, every night reliving the destruction of my home, every night the confusion of finding out my parents are not who they said they were… it's enough to drive someone insane!
I get up and restart the fire, knowing that dwelling on the past will do nothing but worry me. I said I was going to move on and become Champion and that is what I'm going to do. I have to stop thinking about the past and just move forward. Kasha wakes up with a groan and a few cracks of her joints, getting a small laugh out of me.
"So Rin, what's for breakfast?" She asks as she stands up to stretch.
"Whatever we've got left in our bags," I reply, "I didn't really expect to stop in the Crystal Forest so I've got a few instant soups left… and sugar? How did that get in there?" I look confusedly at the small bag of sugar that was hiding in the bottom of my bag, "What about you?" Kasha digs through her bag for a minute then pulls out a handful of berries and half a loaf of bread.
"That's about it," she says.
"Well Guy should have some food on him. We could make a potluck," I muse and look over at Guy. He's still sleeping and all tangled up in his sleeping bag. His mouth is hanging wide open with a little bit of drool hanging out. Both Kasha and I laugh at his expense, too funny to do anything else.
"Come on, maybe I can whip something up before he wakes up," I say as my giggles end. Kasha hands me the bread and berries and I pull my bowl and pot out of my bag.
"Seriously Rin, how much stuff can you fit in there?" Kasha asks with a confused and amazed look on her face.
"I don't know," I admit, "I've never filled it up!" Kasha laughs with amazement and I giggle along with her.
"Wow, we'll just have to see when we journey, huh," She says, poking me in the ribs with her elbow. I smile as I dump her berries into the bowl and my soup into the pot with a few handfuls of snow. (The clean kind, don't worry. I know the dangers of yellow snow!) I put the soup over the fire to cook and dig a wooden spoon out of my bag to mash up the berries into a jam. Kasha just gives me a look and I stick my tongue out at her. When the berries are fully mashed I add a small bit of the sugar to help bind it together and make it sweeter.
"Whatcha doing?" I hear Guy's voice say from right behind my ear. I jump at the unexpected voice, my hand jerking up and I hear the 'whap!' of the wooden spoon smacking Guy. I look behind me to see him take a step back and rub the jam off his face.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean-" Guy cuts me off as he licks some of the jam off his hand.
"Mmm. Good stuff," He says with a smile, "Kasha was right, you do react violently." My mouth hangs open and I just gape at Guy like a Magikarp. He laughs and sits next to me.
"Hey I warned you," Kasha says, "You didn't have to sneak up on her." Guy's smile gets wider.
"I wanted to test your hypothesis," He says in a matter of fact tone, "For all I know you could have knocked your head into a tree branch and just didn't want me taking advantage of a poor, innocent, little girl." Both Kasha and Guy laugh at his teasing, but I blush furiously.
"Hey! I am not little! I'm fourteen, thank you very much!" I yell at the two of them, making them laugh even harder.
"Face it Rin, you're the youngest out of all of us!" Kasha says, "I'm seventeen and Guy is sixteen." Kasha actually snorts a couple of times when she laughs, cracking my own self-control and making me laugh a little as well.
"All right, fine," I admit, "I'm short and tiny. Now can we please move on? I'm starved!" Kasha and Guy eventually stop laughing and I pull the soup off the fire and serve it out to everyone. Current, Shade, Woody, Buddy, Eve, Winter, and Tikeri all get some as well.
"Well now that we're pretty much out of food," Kasha says as she finishes off her piece of bread with jam, "We should probably head on to Marn. We need provisions and you and I got to challenge the Gym."
"You're going to challenge the Gyms?" Guy asks and I nod, "Well I've already beaten Marn's Gym. I could give you a few pointers if you'd like." I smile.
"That would be amazing!" I say, "We don't even know who the Leader is, let alone which kind of pokémon they use." Kasha looks a little snubbed when I cast a pointed look at her.
"I was in a hurry, okay!" she complains and I laugh.
"I was just teasing," I say as I laugh, "Payback." Kasha just pouts and gets to cleaning up. I stand up and wash out the pot and bowls with a bit of snow.
"Well, the Leaders are Cinder and Aqua, they specialize in water and fire-types," Guy explains as he puts out the fire, "They're pretty good for being so young, prodigious, even, but they're like night and day. Cinder is really calm and Aqua is easily angered." Guy chuckles at a memory. "If you can get them bickering, then you've got them in the bag," He says.
"Wait, water and fire-type?" I ask in confusion, "Two different types? I thought all Gyms just specialized in one."
"Yeah, I thought so too," Guy responds, "Everywhere else, like Kanto, Sinnoh and all the other regions, the Gyms specialize in one type. After I beat the Cinder and Aqua they told me that most Gyms here in Alamar are double typed Gyms. Crazy, aint it?" Wow, now it's going to be double hard to beat the Gyms, I think as I stuff my pot and bowl inside my bag and put it on my shoulder. Winter hops up on my other shoulder and Tikeri and Eve trot at our feet. Current and Shade are currently (see what I did there?) snoozing in their pokéballs and Woody is relaxing in the bend of Guy's messenger bag with Buddy in his respective pokéball. We head off into the woods, heading west to reach the road we were traveling on before.
"That's… unexpected… Well then, we'll just have to be careful," I say, starting to strategize possible battle techniques with my pokémon, "What are you going to do Guy?"
"Well, I was hoping to find a female Snorunt for my team, that's why I'm so far north," He says.
"Why a female Snorunt?" I ask.
"Well, I'm studying the different ways pokémon evolve," He explains, "I want to become a Pokémon Professor when I'm older and traveling through Alamar will help my research."
"Why Alamar?" Kasha asks.
"Because Alamar has species from each and every region, it's very diverse," Guy says, "Since Johto doesn't have pokémon from, say, Sinnoh or Unova, Alamar was my first choice."
"So you're from Johto?" Kasha questions.
"Yes, New Bark Town to be exact," Guy says, "Professor Elm has his main laboratory there and I used to help him once in a while. So one day, when I saved up enough money, I asked Professor Elm for a pokémon so I could follow in his footsteps and study here in Alamar. He gave me Woody and we set off. Why the third degree?"
"Just curious," I say.
"Well, you know, curiosity killed the Delcatty," He replies with a teasing smile.
"Yes, but satisfaction brought it back," I retort and Kasha laughs.
"Well then, Ms. Smarty Pants," Guy says, "Would you mind if I travel with you and Kasha?"
"Well, sure, why not?" I say, "But why ask me? Kasha's the oldest."
"Because Kasha said she was following you," He responds.
"I did not!" Kasha whines, "We are traveling together! No one is following anyone!" I laugh at Kasha's indignant nature.
"Yes, Kasha, we know," I tease. We walk through the forest for a while, enjoying the sights of the icicle laden branches and of the wild pokémon running to and fro underneath and above the trees.
"Hey Kasha, I don't think a storm hit last night," I say, noticing the lack of much new snow.
"No, I'm never wrong about storms," Kasha says, "I think that it's just all been stopped by the trees. They're so intertwined that none of the snow has fallen through yet."
"Oh," I reply, "That's both nice and weird." We continue to walk and a pod of Snorunt crosses our path.
"Finally! Some Snorunt!" Guy shouts and sends out Buddy, his Bidoof, "All right Buddy, let's get things started, use Defense Curl, then Rollout!"
Buddy curls himself into a ball and then launches his rolling form at the Snorunt at the end of the pack. The Snorunt shouts in surprise and blows a Powder Snow at Buddy. He slows down a bit, but keeps on going, connecting with a powerful slam. The Snorunt uses Double Team, creating a mirage of Snorunt doubles all over, surrounding our group.
"Buddy, aim your Rollout through all of them, domino style!" Guy orders as Buddy stops to try and figure out which one is real. Buddy launches himself into a Rollout again and takes out each of the fakes, hitting the real Snorunt hard. The Snorunt blows an Icy Wind at Buddy, dealing a lot of damage.
"Buddy, let's end this with Headbutt!" Guy orders and his Bidoof runs towards the Snorunt, slamming his head into her with full force. Snorunt stumbles and flinches, giving time Guy enough time to throw a pokéball. It shakes in the snow for a few seconds, then makes the victorious click that signals a successful capture.
"Yes! We did it Buddy!" Guy shout in victory, "We finally caught a Snorunt!" Buddy happily cheers with Guy as he picks up his newfound friend and releases it from the pokéball. The Snorunt pops out with a small, shy hello.
"Hello Snorunt," Guy says as he smiles, "I think I'll name you Yuki, do you like it?" The Snorunt nods vigorously and practically smiles. But then again, they always seem to be frowning, so not really.
"Well now you've caught your Snorunt," I say and Guy returns Yuki to her pokéball.
"Yeah, I guess you two were my good luck charms," Guy puts his arms around me and Kasha, though quickly retreating before Winter can sink her claws into his hand.
"Yeah right," Kasha snorts, "I still haven't even found a Crysat to catch yet. Rin and I are not lucky."
"Speak for yourself!" I yell at her,"Hey Winter, why are all of you Crysat so hard to find?"
"I thought you'd never ask!" She says with a grin as she all but disappears, her toothy smile hanging in the air like the old storybook character from the tale my mother used to read to me. Kasha and I gasp while Guy's eyebrows simply migrate into his bangs. Her smile dances and her eyes reappear, full of an impish light, before the rest of her flickers back into existence.
"Huh." I say in a stunned tone, "I guess that explains that." Winter laughs and we continue walking to the west.
"That's, like, really cool," Kasha comments, "No wonder I haven't seen any! At all! Just, poof, and you're gone." Winter smiles and purrs, loving the attention.
"So all of you Crysat can do that?" Guy asks, instantly pulling a notebook and pen out of nowhere.
"Where'd you get that?" I ask in surprise but Guy just ignores me.
"Yes, we can all do that," Winter says, exasperatedly. Guy just look at me with a lost expression and I sigh.
"She said yes," I paraphrase, "Anyway! Let's get going! I want to make it to Marn by sundown tonight!" I race ahead, closely followed by Kasha with Guy catching up, stuffing his little notebook back into his bag. I exit the trees to see the green landscape from yesterday blanketed in white, glittering snow. I shiver and pull my jacket out of my bag. Kasha does the same with her sweater.
"Wow, I guess you were right Kasha," I say, taking in the blankness of it all.
"Told ya so," she gloats. I point to the signpost.
"There's the sign from yesterday," I say, "Now let's get goin!" Guy laughs at my enthusiasm and follows Kasha and I as we head on down the road to Marn.
Hey guys! I know this took me forever to write, but now that school's started, I don't exactly have a lot of time to sit and write. So from now on, updates will be slower on both "Rin" and "Fugitive"(My other story!) so you'll just have to be patient with me. Till next time, Read On!