Riley.
Several Days Later.
"Leon, we're finally out in the fresh air. Put out that goddamned cigarette."
Sarcastically, Lee took a long drag off his cigarette, and blew it in Mark's face. "Screw you."
A few more days of wandering around Mt. Coronet, we finally came out to where my map recognized as Route 216.
We were all in much better spirits, and honestly, I felt a lot better. I'd hated that ant farm of a mountain more than anyone, and the fresh air felt precious to me. I also felt pretty good knowing Riolu and Astro had made up from whatever fight they'd had.
Standing behind Lee, Dee quietly kneeled in the snow and scooped up a generous handful. While she shaped it, me and Amber laughed like idiots.
Lee eyed us suspiciously. "What's so funny?" He asked. "And where's the oth-?" Dee chucked it at the back of his head, and he winced as it made contact. Flying debris hit his cigarette on the lit end, putting it out for good.
That stopped Lee midsentence, and even Mark was snickering. "I guess she's on my side, then."
Lee threw his unlit butt to the ground. "I'll show you 'on your side'!" He growled, picking up snow and throwing it at Mark.
Of course, it fell apart midair. Mark chortled at Lee's pathetic attempt at payback.
"You're such a wuss, Lee, damn!" Mark threw a snowball of his own, hitting Lee in the chest. The snow practically bounced off his jacket.
Lee pouted. "And you're an asshole!"
The snowball fight didn't last long, but it was pretty funny to watch. Even Dee laughed, and I'm pretty sure small animals die when she laughs.
[Raven-haired dick, you know that's not true! You're just trying to give my brother more ways to insult me!]
I calls 'em as I sees 'em, Dee-Dee.
Dee.
Later.
"Me'n Mark's seen all kinds of mountains in Hoenn and Johto, but ain't never this much snow."
"Mm'hm...God knows that damn dust vaccuum of a volcano's gonna blow any day now..."
I think we all much preferred chatty, happy Lee to bitchy Lee. Seeing him snap at Riley like he did, it made me so mad. The only person allowed to yell at him was me.
The five-or maybe six-of us followed a path Riley had found on his Town Map, until Mark saw a path through some snowy trees with fresh footprints.
Me, Amber, and Riley were marching along behind Mark and Lee, the two chummy little Riolus trailing behind us. Mine and Amber's arms were linked at the elbow; even through her thick hoodie, Amber was really warm despite the hell-frozen-over weather.
"I can't wait until our next contest!" She bubbled. "Lee, didn't you say you don't judge again until the new year?"
Lee shrugged. "Ehh, yeah," He answered. "That don't mean that there won't be another contest; I just won't be judging it. Riley, ain't there a gym in Snowpoint City?"
"Yeah." Riley nodded, grinning. "I think it's probably an ice-type gym, 'cause...the ice. Riolu and Aron'll definitely do fine."
"What about that egg?" Mark asked. "You've carried it an awful long time, haven't you?"
Riley glanced down at the egg case in his arms. "If it's taking this long to hatch, I'll bet there's a special pokemon inside. I can definitely wait."
From behind us, Astro chimed in, "Hey, Amber had me a whole year before I hatched! Maybe it'll even be as special as me."
That left a perfect opportunity; Astro set himself up. I snickered, replying, "Nothing's special like you, Azzy. That'll be one headache Riley won't suffer!"
That got a cheap laugh from Mark, but not much else. Riley narrowed his eyes at me in annoyance, then grabbed my ponytail and sharply yanked.
"Ow!"
"Oopsie." Ooh. If Amber hadn't been there, I would've beat the crap right out of him. Like, damn, you don't just pull a girl's hair.
[Oh, give me a break! I was just a kid!]
No excuse, twinkletoes.
Lee looked around. "Hey...have we really seen any wild pokemon...?" He asked.
"I think I might've seen something a while back," Amber answered.
The top coordinator crossed his arms. "Huh...I wonder." He really did sound astounded.
I frowned. What could he be getting at? What would keep away wild pokemon?
The trees thinned out quickly and we left the wooded area, and the snowfall got even thicker. It evolved into a full blizzard.
Riley pulled up the hood of his jacket. "God, this snow's getting bad!" He shouted. We could hardly hear him.
Amber picked up Astro and carried him so she wouldn't lose hom, and I held Riolu's tiny paw as we trudged through the snow.
"Kids, stay close to us!" I heard Mark order over the sound of the blizzard.
Mark and Lee stood there for a few minutes, at least, talking to each other. I could only hear a few bit words. While listening to them discuss whatever the problem was, I let go of Riolu's paw and Amber set Astro down.
"Riley! Where's that Town Map?" Lee shouted.
Riley got it from his back pocket. Lee took it, opening and looking it over. He squinted, struggling to see, and shook his head.
"No," I read from his lips. "No, that can't be right."
"What's wrong?" Amber asked.
"It says the path took us further into the mountain range! How crazy is that?" Lee sounded genuinely astounded. "This thing must be busted!"
Riley snatched his map back. "No way, this thing's practically new!" He sounded so proud of that.
Lee narrowed his eyes at Riley. "Then why does it say that? Unless-unless that path, it didn't intend to go to Snowpoint...?" He trailed off, looking around at the blizzard roaring around us.
We let that sink in. Mark glared at Lee. "If the path didn't intend to go to the nearest city, then what the hell did it...?!" He cut off like Lee, looking around.
What could they possibly see that we couldn't?
"Riolu, look out!" A purple blur appeared out of the blizzard and swooped on the two Riolus, and Astro tackled Riolu in a full-on bull rush to sink him into the snow.
Startled, Mark and Lee both yanked pokeballs off their belts. "Aww, goddammit!"
"Blaziken, go!"
"Shift, c'mon out!"
The blur missed, and I got a good look at it. It looked like a legless cat thing with four wings. Riley took out his pokedex.
"Crobat, the Bat pokemon, and the evolved form of Golbat. With its additional legs, Crobat can fly much faster than Golbat."
As Golbat retreated into the blizzard, it began to thin out. In only a minute, the blizzard was just a minor snowfall. A boy a little older than me stood up on a cliff, with dark blue hair in the shape of cat ears. At least two Galactic grunts stood behind him, with Golbats.
"The bigger Riolu is the one that the Boss wants!" Saturn declared. He pointed to Astro. "Crobat, Golbats, don't let him get away!"