Ryan ushered Chuey, Shauna, and the pokemon out of the cave after the Team Flare goons. The large creature had begun swiping at them, not that Ryan blamed it, the poor guy was already very stressed. Back in Dendemille, Shauna began skipping to the Eastern gate, only for Ryan's hand to land on her shoulder. He pointed to the sky past the gate, the air was thick with snow. "Probably best to avoid a blizzard. Even with a swarm of fire pokemon." She looked up, smile wavering. "And it's almost night. Do you want to be stuck in a cold blizzard in the dead of night?" She shook her head and went back to looking around the town. Ryan however continued to watch the storm, looking north to the mountain at it's large ice sheets. "Might be an avalanche too given that." He mumbled to himself. Annwn nodding beside him, looking in the same direction. "You don't want to risk being caught in a blizzard during an avalanche either do you?" He mumbled, watching Annwn shake his head again.
Sitting down on a bench nearby, Ryan drew out a bottle of vodka he'd snuck out of Lumiose. Sharing the drink with each of the pokemon. Stroking the head of the large red bird that landed beside him, giving it a one-armed hug. The large man would be quite willing to sleep on the bench in the street, surrounded by warmth. However Chuey would not have it, grabbing him by the right forearm and dragging him with her through the street to a white building with a red roof. He knew it immediately; another pokemon center. Growling his objection, he was shushed and pushed inside, listening to the quite rational concern that any blizzard on Route 17, could visit itself upon the town in the dead of night. "I'll be with you in a moment." The woman behind the main counter smiled at them before turning back to Shauna, who was showing her collection of badges. Under his own sullen grumpy mumbling, the vagrant heard the lass call them her parents, which immediately confused him. "Oh, are you going to watch her last two gym battles. How sweet." The woman smiled at them. Confused, Ryan smiled back. "I think we have a private room spare, so you can rest up before her battle tomorrow!" Shauna beamed at them as the woman lead the two upstairs. This little girl had gotten very manipulative. He was impressed
"What are you doing there?"
"Helping you."
"Isn't that yours?"
"Do I go inside?"
"Yes"
Grumbling, Ryan crawled out of the bed as soon as he'd rested. Wanting out of the Hospital/boarding house as soon as possible. He sat silently outside on a bench, gently patting both Embeee and Fyre who both sought his lap. The small candle sat atop his head, he could feel his 'tattoo' sting but no further pain or weakness. Looking around, he noticed Annwn sitting on the other side of the bench holding something. Leaning back he tried to get a better look at it. The small black and bronze pokeball shone at him. "It's okay Annwn. You can get back in any time you want." The fox looked at him, nods once but hands the ball back to him. With a smile he pocketed the ball in his trenchcoat once again. Keeping the fairly-heavy ball safe, close to him. With breakfast, and the petting, finished. Ryan walked to the Eastern gate to check on the outcomes of the night. Of course he was right. Half the exit was filled with snow and ice, two men stood there with shovels just looking at each other. "Morning" He nodded to them, they nodded back before returning to looking at the snow wall. "Looks like you've got some work in store for you" The one guy grimaced at the joke, almost mocking the vagrant's earnest smile. "Well, I'll help you when my companions get here."
Sitting beside the gate, Ryan waved the men back each time they took a step to start digging out the wall. Until Chuey entered the gatehouse, immediately sticking her head back out again to yell for Shauna. "Looks like my time's up here guys. Blargg, Leveyr, Cranson; care to help these guys out?" The Slug, bird, and candle looked at him. The large man stepped over to the snow wall and, with one finger, drew a crooked 'V', with one side straight up, and the other at a 30 degree angle. Pointing to the vertical line, and then placing both hands in a 'pushing' pose on the whole snow wall. He then pointed to the angle'd line and said, very simply "Gimme fire". Once he stepped out the the way, the bird was the first to comply, followed by the slug, and finally the candle once it had understood what the other two were doing. In truth, only Leveyr and Blargg were cutting the path, melting the ice in a sweeping motion of fire. The small candle's rather large blast of flame only filled the room with hot steam. The steam helping cut the path but also preventing water reaching the group. "That'll do" and they stopped. One of the men wiped his eyes as the group of travellers walked past him up a compacted ice sheet, out onto the high snow sheet, now filling Route 17. Shauna exclaimed at the pure white state of the path. It looked almost like a white desert. When she'd seen tree's in the storm the night before, there were none now.
As they walked across the snow, Ryan smiled as life seemed to slowly bloom in the white desert. A large mount, that looked at first like a snow-dune, began to move. Slowly it stood and shook the white powder off itself. An enormous wooly, or maybe hairy, elephant. With large tusks and a long trunk. It stepped up onto the snow, out of where it had lay, much smaller version following from it's hole, their own coats untouched by the snow from the night before. Large hands dug themselves out of the snow nearby, another of the large 'abomasnow', not as big as the one in Frost Cavern, climbing out of the snow. It reached back down and lifted up smaller creatures that huggled by it's leg as another of the large creatures climbed out of the same hole. Chuey walked very close to the large man, head flicking around to watch every new addition to their desert. High above the white field, soared the great crimson bird, topped with a little white and purple candle.
Fyre however walked about on the soft snow, lifting his little paws high between each step. The old pup wandered slowly, lankily, sniffing wildly. The milky eyed canine barked occasionally, "I'm here Fear" Ryan would answer, leading the old one to trudge over near him, rub against his leg, before returning to exploring ahead of him. After about an hour of slowly wandering around, fyre began bouncing happily in the snow. "Having fun?" Ryan chuckled, watching the little guy licking snow curiously before sneezing and bouncing some more. Chuey even kneeling in the snow at one point to pat him, smiling wide as he sat in front of her, lifting his head into her hand as his old but fluffy tail gently swept across the snow. Ryan couldn't help but smile at her as she smiled so softly, so sweetly at the little thing. A crunch in the snow nearby made the droopy ears twitch, and Fyre stood as quickly as his little frame could, turning toward the sound. Though he could not see it, ahead was a tiny Abomasnow, little bigger than Fyre himself. It wandered closer and attempted to copy Chuey, gently rubbing the top of Fyre's head. The cold but gentle touch was met by a curious sniffing from the old pup, whom upon deciding the creature was harmless, barked happily and enjoyed the pats from two people.
After the small abomasnow toddled off, Fyre bounced a little after it, before laying down and rolling around in the snow. They weren't far from the town, so the group was happy to let him enjoy the snow for the first time. Little specks of snowy powder glistened in his red fur. At one point Ryan laughed, the old boy laying on his back, legs splayed in the air and tongue lolling happily out the side of his mouth for a 30 second break before excited rolling resumed. Slowly, the heat of the fire pokemon's body, and the friction or rolling melted the snow around it. The group watched as he formed his own little ice bowl in the snow. Pouting at the sight as he stood up and barked as he began sliding around. Every time Fyre tried stepping somewhere in his little bowl, he'd slide around, resulting in the poor thing growing frustrated very quickly and unleashing a blinding belch of flame at the opposite side to try and stop himself. Instead, all he did was create an icy half-pipe scooting along the snow, that he slipped into and began scooting down. After the very first bark of fear, Ryan scooped the little pokemon up into his arms. Fyre licked his face before barking grumpily at the snow again.