Part X: Put it on Ice if You Please

"Snowed in?!" I found myself shouting at the top of my lungs as the pink-haired woman simply nodded at us. Frustration boiled over, eliminating any traces of the self-satisfaction I had gained only moments ago. "You're telling me that we're stuck here?!"

"I'm afraid so." Nurse Joy's blue eyes shifted from my own face to the frozen rival beside me, obviously preferring the more manners-minded brunette to me. "I'm so terribly sorry for the inconvenience, Ms. Soul. I had no idea that you were still here."

"Hello!" I clenched my hands into fists as the woman basically ignored me. "What about me?! I'm here too, you dolt!"

Lyra simply gave my right arm a shove before turning her attention back to the woman. "Please, it's just Lyra." I rolled my eyes at her stubborn reminder and just folded my arms. "Also, I'm certain that we're not completely trapped here. How do you usually plow the snow?"

"Well," Nurse Joy placed a finger to her chin with narrowed eyes. "Usually Pryce and his Mamoswine will come through the Ice Path and plow us all out," She sighed and shook her head. "But he's fallen ill and can't leave Mahogany Town."

"Of course not." I deadpanned as my rival put a hand to her chin in thought.

"Well," She lifted her head slightly, brushing her cheeks with the tips of her chocolate locks. "What if Silver and I plowed the snow for you? I'm certain that Typhlosion could help out and I have a Piloswine of my own that could help us."

"I'm sorry to say that the doors are too blocked by the snowfall to even open."

"Please," Lyra gave the woman a cocky wave of dismissal before shrugging. "How much snow could it be?"

"Oh, that's a lot of snow."

I just gulped as my rival and I stared at a completely white wall of snow covering every inch of glass. Sure, Blackthorn is pretty close to the Ice Path and it is a mountainous area...but I had no idea that one place could accumulate so much snow in a single night.

"I've never seen so much snow in my life..." Lyra glanced back to me and gave me a nervous smile. "I mean, in New Bark it certainly doesn't snow that much. I don't know about you, but that's a crazy amount of snow."

"No, you're right about that." I nodded as I faintly recalled only seeing snow up to my waist back when I was a small child. "That's a crazy amount of snow."

I could have sworn that a small smirk covered her cheeks as she turned back to Nurse Joy. "Well, it looks like we'll be here for a while."

"I do have some movies in the back that you two could watch for the time being." Nurse Joy pointed over her shoulder before taking a few steps back. "I'll be right back." She then scurried off, leaving my rival, her glaring bird and myself alone in the noticeably colder lobby.

A few moments of awkward silence filled the spaces between us as we simply stood there, waiting for her to return. Eventually, I just turned my head and found my rival staring at me with narrowed eyes of thought.

"We're going to be stuck here for a long time, aren't we?"

Lyra just closed her eyes with a heavy exhale before placing a hand on Skarmory's head. "Probably. Too bad you couldn't get out while you still could, huh?"

"Pfft," I folded my arms across my chest. "I couldn't have gotten very far with that snowstorm on my tail. I would've just froze to death or something instead of being safe and somewhat warm in here." She just shot me a grin as I finished, "So no, I'm better off dealing with your smart-alack self for now instead of freezing to death earlier."

"Well then," She flashed me a grin before placing her hands on her hips. "I'm glad to know that you'd choose me over freezing to death." I just shot her a glare as she went on, "A few years ago, you would have taken the snowstorm in a heartbeat!"

"Yeah, well things change." I looked away as I felt a sudden wave of heat in my face. "Like how you went from weak and annoying to cocky and irritating, Marshmallow-Head."

"Hey," She gave me a shrug and a wink with that cocky grin of hers. "Adapt or die, redhead. I'd much rather toughen up than be squashed by all of the crazy, self-centered people out in this world. It's much better to become stronger than to allow yourself to be crushed under a man's heel."

"You know," I looked over my shoulder once she finished to find some sort of distant look in her hazel pools. "That was pretty profound for a midget like you, Marshmallow-Head."

"Who you calling midget?" She gave me a playful shove as I just chuckled it off—her shoves were a bit rougher these days, but they were still basically a tickle in my side. "I've grown quite a bit as of late, shorty! Besides," She held a hand up to the top of her hat before letting it slide far above my head. "I'm taller than you~!"

"Hats don't count, idiot!"

"I'm not counting my hat, red. Even without my beloved Marshmallow-Hat, I'm still taller than you by a whole inch!" Out came the stubborn retort as I could only just let out a huff and turn my head away.

There's no use arguing if you know you're beat.

I had just opened my mouth to shoot back a very clever comeback when Nurse Joy strolled inside with a mountain of digital video disks in her hands. We both turned and promptly let our jaws drop open. Colorful boxes covered every inch of the young woman's face, bright text proclaiming the names of various chick-flicks, romantic comedies and the occasional battling documentary that consisted of a famous Trainer's career and their best battles.

"Well, I've brought out every DVD we have inside of this Pokémon Center for the two of you to use. Please feel free to watch as many as you like." Nurse Joy's voice somehow managed to reach us from the other side of the wall of movies.

"Um, thank you." Lyra eyed the pile for a while before pulling off the bright orange case on the top. "These should distract us for a while." She pulled the movie close to her chest before a sudden shimmer entered her eyes. She suddenly snapped her attention back the woman covered in mostly cheesy films. "Oh! Is that battlefield ready yet?"

Battlefield? I gave the two an odd glance just as the woman let out a small grunt of effort. Is that the only thing she think of these days? It seems that Pokémon and battles are the only things out of her mouth recently.

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Soul."

"Drat!" My brunette rival stomped a foot with a sharp exclamation of regret, making a small smirk cross my face. "And here I was hoping that I could get some training done while cooped up here! Well," She quickly turned back to me and I tried to hide the fact that I had found her childish display amusing. "I guess my rival will have to keep me entertained for now."

A blush crossed my face as a certain double-meaning took over my mind. I coughed into my elbow and let the limb linger over my face, hoping to hide the discoloration in my face. Unfortunately for me, my rival just picked up on my problem that much sooner.

"Oi!" Her proud voice quivered as Nurse Joy went to place the movies on the nearest glass table. "Don't be such a pervert, Silver!"

"I'm not being a pervert, Marshmallow-Head!" A sharp cry of indignation escaped me before I could even think. A quick clasp of my hand over my mouth proved to only make things worse. A quicker glance at my rival found a smirk of self-satisfaction with some warm emotion churning in her eyes.

"Come on, you stinker. We've got a movie to watch."

Author's Note: These kids just have the best luck, don't they? By the way, those movies are from Nurse Joy's personal collection.

/cough/Lyra's opinion on becoming stronger may or may not be inspired by my own opinions. In other words, see that line as an Illusion Of Insanity quote. /cough/