Cherrygrove's Winter Knights

…

-Some Kind of Missionary

Even in the blistering cold of an unwelcoming Johto winter, a Pokemon Trainer is expected to tough it out and give it his or her very best. After all, the goal was to be the very best. It meant hunkering down and fighting strong through punishing rain or heavenly shine, through the good and the bad, through the amazing ups and the terminal downs. It was a demand on Gym Leaders as well; a Leader couldn't just close down the gym because freak weather made the structure inaccessable. Trainers were counting on those gyms to be open and provide a challenge; Gym Leaders were sworn to uphold those challenges in the face of any adversity.

And, by the chain of command, the Junior Leaders were sworn to stop any lame Trainers from reaching the Leader inside. The Juniors served a dual purpose. On the one hand, they served as sort of checkpoints within the gym itself: a Trainer had to beat all of the Juniors blocking the road in order to advance. Some were optional fights, but this less than the norm. On the other hand, being a Junior Leader often meant defeat in every single battle inside of the gym. Challenging Trainers were surprisingly skilled, even when it came to taking on that very first gym in the nearby Violet City.

However, it was those Junior Leaders that were eventually promoted to Gym Leader. If not, they were free to work for peacekeeping organizations such as the heroic Band United, the soaring Trainers Unlimited, and even the elusive Convenant of Light itself. Most simply opted to serve in Victory Road, battling the best-of-the-best in their familiar Junior capacity, except with a now-healthy paycheck.

All in all, the title of Junior Leader was something to aspire to.

For fourteen-year-old Rory White, the Junior Leader role was something to plow through as fast as humanly possible.

Standing by the edge of Cherrygrove City with her arms crossed and a Pokeball in hand, Rory White could be either a force to be reckoned with or a child whose ego desperately needed deflating. She stood just barely at five feet and four inches, but her frown held had enough intimidation for five people twice her size. Rory's unruly red hair flowed down her back in vigorous curls; she had pulled it into a ponytail rather than let it battle the snow, but this only succeeded in making her hair appear like a trail of fire running down the length of her back. The top of her head remained a volcano of crimson curl. She complimented the look with matching earmuffs.

Rory liked to think that the abundance of red in her wardrobe wasn't a wholly inaccurate metaphor.

As she flipped the Pokeball in her left hand, every cell in her veins ached for combat; Rory's knobby knees pumped up and down with overflowing energy. She had been out here for the better part of the entire day, for the better part of the entire week. Just because she couldn't be inside the Violet City Gym itself didn't mean she was unable to practice obstructing Trainers out in the wild, right?

She stared onto the horizon, waiting for the inevitable traveler unfortunate enough to cross her line of sight—

"Ha!" She exclaimed as a lone figure appeared down the trail. "I've got one!"

Rory tossed the ball higher into the air and caught it with a powerful grip. With every step this new Trainer took, he or she was coming closer to destruction. There was no way of getting through her, and after a decidedly one-sided battle, getting to Cherrygrove would become nothing but a desperate pipe dream.

The Chikorita in Aubrey's arms had fallen asleep more than twenty minutes ago, and now the young girl was worried. Aubrey was only just going into the ninth grade, but even she knew what happened to living creatures who fell asleep in winter weather. Aubrey tightened her embrace, hoping that the Chikorita might stay warm enough to make it to Cherrygrove's Pokemon Center, but the poor grass Pokemon had been shivering for what felt like forever.

Luckily for Chikorita—and to a lesser extent, Aubrey's appetite—the last sign they had passed said that Cherrygrove was less than a mile away. Aubrey could almost feel the warmth of a sandwich in her belly and the satisfaction of a good deed well done—

"Hey! You with the Chikorita!"

Aubrey stopped in her tracks. She whipped her head in every direction; the snow had picked up, and it was becoming impossibly difficult to see five feet in front of her face. The mane of red curls ran up to her so quickly that Aubrey skeptically wondered if a Ponyta had gotten lost on the trail.

The matter was quickly cleared up when that same red mane called out again. "You're not getting past me," it roared. "We're battling, right here and right now!"

Aubrey rolled her eyes and groaned. Not this again. Wasn't there anything more important to people than forcing inncoent creatures to fight?

A final stride brought Rory out of the white expanse and face to face with her unwilling opponent. Rory composed herself, standing upright and flicking strands of crimson hair out of her eyes. Her hold on the Pokeball was tight enough that Aubrey could see frost forming between her fingers and the ball's surface.

When Aubrey didn't let the Chikorita out of her arms and order an attack command, Rory grew even more antsy. The red hair on her head seemed to have its own war dance against the chilling wind.

"Well?" Rory asked, more than a little confused. "Aren't you going to fight me?"

"I can't," An agitated Aubrey replied. She wondered which of the many reasons she could shoot back. "I'm not a Trainer," she decided. "And even if I were, this Chikorita is in no condition to fight. It's freezing, and I'm taking it to the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center."

"Freezing, huh?" Rory leaned over just slightly, enough to glimpse at the green lump of a Pokemon holed up in the other girl's chest. The iconic Chikorita leaf had frost and ice water forming on its edges.

"Sorry, but no dice," Rory said. "You can't fool me!"

"Come again..?"

"You just know you can't beat me. Not that I blame you: I'm Rory White, the Junior Leader Extrordinaire!" She pounded a gloved fist on her heart. To Aubrey, this Rory was the poster child for 'tooting your own horn'. "I bet that Chikorita's just fine," Rory continued. "You're having it fake being sick just to get past me, because you know you'll never make it to Cherrygrove otherwise.

"Don't try to lie," Rory sang, pulling up one of her earmuffs and holding a hand to her ear. "You know that's the truth. Tell me honestly! I might let an honest coward go free."

There was a slight pause—

"Are you mental?" Aubrey groaned. Her dwindling patience grew increasingly thinner. With each passing second, the Chikorita's convulsions became stronger. She wanted to look and see if it was even breathing regularly, but Aubrey couldn't be sure this nutjob Trainer wouldn't just attack her in cold blood. "This Pokemon is sick. Step aside, I need to get it to a Pokemon Center right away, and you're just holding us up."

Rory paused; her hold on the Pokeball laxed slightly. Trainers tried to worm their way out of fights so often that Rory thought that she'd heard every phony excuse in the book. The protocol for being a Junior Leader was to never let anyone pass, no exceptions. But for one, there could be some gray area. On the one hand, Rory wasn't exactly inside a gym, so the rules didn't necessarily apply.

On the other hand, if she actually let this girl through, would she just be getting her career off on the wrong foot..?

Rory flipped the ball once, twice, and then put it back on the slot in her belt. She stretched out her fingers, then reached out wide. Aubrey stood cautiously still.

"Protocol says I'm supposed to make you turn around, heal at New Bark Town, and fight me later—"

"I told you, I'm not—"

"But, you're not even a real Trainer," Rory said, raising an eyebrow and flashing an amused smile. As if someone with a starter Pokemon could be anyone other than a rookie Trainer. What a joke that was.

"And besides, we Junior Leaders represent the Pokemon Global Federation and thus must uphold our promise to protect all Pokemon, everywhere," Rory recited. Aubrey instantly wondered how this Federation classified forcing Pokemon into meaningless battles, but that wasn't the issue. She stayed quiet and waited for Rory to finish.

"In other words," Rory visibly relaxed, lowering her wild arms, holding her hands behind her back, and rocking on her heels. "I'm going to guide you to Cherrygrove City personally. Just to make sure you get that Chikorita the help it needs without any idiot Trainers interrupting you along the way."

Rory grinned from ear to ear, obviously proud of herself. Aubrey decided to ignore the irony—'idiot Trainers?'—and accepted the offer. "Thank you," Aubrey said. "So much. I do appreaciate it."

"Not a problem! No one's gonna mess with us. Believe that! My Pokemon are indestructible, and everyone here knows it."

Aubrey reserved the right to decide that for herself.

"Oh!" Rory stopped just when it looked like they were ready to press onward. "I've got an idea." She pulled off her black sweater, revealing a thermal pullover underneath that was covering yet another article of clothing. "We JL's need to be out here practicing for a long time, and it gets ridiculously cold out here, so I've got more than enough layers. Let me..."

Rory held the sweater out hesitantly. This not-a-Trainer girl might bite Rory's head off if she moved too fast. Aubrey paused at first, but quickly realized that this was genuine help. Aubrey held the Chikorita out slightly; Rory wrapped the Pokemon up in the sweater and tucked it back against Aubrey's parka.

"That Chikorita's ice cold," Rory noted. "It's a good thing I found you when I did!"

Aubrey fought against saying anything insulting. She knew better than to look a gift Girafarig in the mouth.

"Anyway, we need to get moving," Rory said. "It's at least another fifteen minutes before we get into town. We gotta hustle!"

That's what Aubrey was trying to do before all of this started, but again, she bit her tongue. Without further deliberation, Aubrey and Rory started back down the trail. It was an interesting sight: two young girls, one with her back apparently on fire and the other clutching a black bundle as tight as possible.

"We didn't even get introduced! I'm totally messing this up," Rory grimaced. "I'm supposed to have a script before I force you to fight me..."

"Come again?"

"Disregard that! I'm Rory, Junior Leader of Violet City Gym and future Covenant of Light Operative! And don't forget it!" She exclaimed proudly, half to Aubrey and half to the winds of fate. Snow fell in her open mouth; Rory wiped her tongue clean with her hands. "What about you? What's your story, Chikorita-Keepa?" She chuckled at her own pun.

"I'm Aubrey. My parents run the Day Care a couple of miles down the road."

Rory waited for Aubrey to tell a joke or a pun. She was stunned when it didn't come, but understood why. This Aubrey kid must not have been the laughing type."The princess of a Day Care, eh? That explains the Chikorita."

"What do you mean?" Aubrey asked offhandedly. She wasn't focused on the banal conversation.; every second spent wasting her breath was a second that the Chikorita could lose it.

"You care about Pokemon differently than I do," Rory noted. "Differently than most people, at least.

"I mean, look at you. It's like you're that Chikorita's mother or something," Rory chuckled again.

After an awkward pause, Aubrey looked up from the freezing Pokemon into Rory's brown-eyed stare. "I just care about living things," she said, trying not to seem rude. She was definitely grateful for the help. "I'm not some kind of missionary. I just...If I see a Pokemon in danger, I'll want to make sure it's okay. That's all."

As Aubrey finished, she felt a deep insecurity welling up in her gut. She'd just told someone who was part of some kind of Official Federation Convenant thingy that she wanted to help Pokemon instead of battle them. She had to seem like a real weirdo. Aubrey waited for some kind of chiding monologue—

"That's cool, I guess," Rory shrugged. She flashed an ambivalent smile."We're both Pokemon people. That's something."

Aubrey shrugged and returned the gesture. The girls continued their journey in a comfortable silence. As they walked, the buildings of Cherrygrove City became faintly visible against the white backdrop of an ever-growing blizzard.

A/N: I'm going to work to update this story at least once a week. I'm planning to have it done before the end of August. Strap in and stay tuned, true believers. As always, if you like what you read, then please let me know!

Also! Thanks for letting me know about the typos. They should be fixed now.