"H-here you go…" Candice carefully knelt down, and let Sparky jump from her arms onto a bright purple beanbag. "Candice needs to set some stuff up, so maybe you'd like some more company?"

Sparky glanced up at her and frowned, then slowly looked back to the 'company', and then back to her. She'd been carried over to what looked like a play area of sorts, with lots of brightly coloured plastic things squirming about the room, and a giant inflatable kiddie pool in the middle, but full of snow instead of water. Which made sense for the company in question. Despite what could've passed for a friendly glance on one of them, there was something about this group of icy looking strangers that left her feeling completely vulnerable.

"They're super nice, I swear!" She cried. "Glace, can you take it from here?"

Glace mewled up at her appreciatively, and next thing Sparky knew, she had disappeared around the corner with her phone in her hand again.

"…huh," Sparky narrowed her eyes. "Is she always this excited?"

"Milady is busy today, on account of your arrival!" Glace said, its ears twitching. "She wants you to meet the rest of the gang, so I'll introduce you, friend!"

Sparky cast an eye over the four new 'friends' she was supposed to be making. Something told her a casual introduction wasn't going to cut it. She was probably the reason they were cooped up in here. The biggest one – a huge, shaggy monster – looked like it barely fit in the room, so it seemed especially inconvenient for the poor thing.

"Hello, gang!" Glace suddenly announced. "This little one here is Sparky! She is from far away, and has been very unlucky! Milady found her outside in the snow, so she will be here until a friend arrives for her!"

The fanfare withered, leaving the atmosphere heavier than before. Sparky sunk down into the beanbag. That couldn't have gone worse, really.

"No need to be afraid, friend. All of Milady's Pokémon are very nice, and they will surely treat you well!"

"…speak for yourself." The dark-coloured one said. Flexing enormous arm claws, it looked away pointedly. "Why should we befriend this outsider?"

"Because your trainer wishes it, Eve." The floating statue quipped. "This poor Pokémon has suffered a lot lately, and could do with a friendly face."

"Don't need me here for that," 'Eve' replied venomously. "Lemme know when you're all done babysitting, 'kay Mo?"

"Aye, will dae!" The giant, shaggy beast grunted. It threw its four feet outwards, falling to the ground with an immense thud. "Sorry Ros! I-I was pure answerin' Eve's question, honest!"

"We are not babysitting, Mo." 'Ros' said shortly, narrowing its eyes at the huge mass. "This poor child has seen terrible things; things no Pokémon should. You should her some respect!"

"I was gonnae!" Mo snorted back at her. Sudden its burly, nasal voice took on a much lighter, friendlier tone. "Sorry there wee yin! I'm Mo, a Mamoswine, as ye can prob'ly guess. And yersel?"

This 'Mo' knelt down as low as it could, obviously trying to make eye contact with Sparky. Still buried in the beanbag, she craned her neck upwards to match his efforts, but despite the friendly warmth emanating from the beast, she couldn't bring herself to speak. Miss Holly always said she shouldn't ignore others, but the words were simply failing her. What could she possibly have in common with these guys?

What did the big one even say? She could've sworn it sounded like English, but if it was being said on a radio that wasn't tuned in very well, maybe?

Mo blinked a few times, before slowly glancing over to Glace. "Does she no talk much, Glace?"

Glace frowned, then looked back to Sparky, and then up at Mo again. Sparky could practically see the cogs whirring inside his head.

"Hm?" Glace muttered. "…ohh! Yes, right! Sparky, I shall introduce you to everyone!"

Ros rolled her eyes while Mo got flatter still. The green and white snowman kept sleeping.

"Okay… you've talked to Mo already," Glace said. Mo 'smiled' down at her, his eyes curving upwards cheerfully.

"Ros is a Froslass, and she is scary!"

Ros' eyes narrowed at him.

"Eve is the one who walked out earlier. She is a Weavile!"

Something around the corner rattled, and Ros just huffed at it.

"And the big green guy over there is an Abomasnow," Glace pointed to the snowman. "He likes to sleep. Hey Phil, wake up!"

The snowman continued to snooze loudly, its little ice moustache fluttering outwards with every exhale.

"Hey Phil! Time to wake up!" Glace raised his voice. Phil whimpered for a moment, but quickly dissolved back into a deep sleep.

"We often have trouble waking Phil." Ros said, revolving on the spot to face the giant yeti. "So it may time some time for the pair of you to get acquain-"

"Wake up, ye great puddin'!" Mo shunted his entire body into the icy beast.

"Hngh!" Phil spluttered, stretching his long thorny arms and yawning hugely. "Whassup everyone? What'd I miss?"

Phil scratched his back and smacked his lips loudly. "Quite a whack ya gave me there, Mo. Was I snoring ag- whoa!"

The yeti jumped back and threw an arm in Sparky's direction. "There's a weird yellow thing! How'd it get in?!"

"Phil!" Ros cast him a frigid glare. "That weird yellow thing is a Pokémon! One with a heavy burden! Show a little respect, if you would!"

"But… but!" Phil stammered. "But it's an Electric-type! Why's it here?!"

"Milady brought her here, Phil!" Glace explained calmly. "And if Milady can trust her, I am certain we can! Don't you think?"

"…alright." Phil slowly lowered his accusing hand. "Sorry there, kid. Can't be too careful."

"I-it's… it's okay." Sparky managed a smile. She and Glace had talked at least, but the five of them were a bit of a circus. A half a conversation with one strange Pokémon was a drop in the water compared to this. Most of them seemed friendly at least, though Ros and Eve were another story. Ros showed no expression ever, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to know what Eve thought of her.

"Everyone is nice here, friend! Don't worry!" Glace smiled at her.

"It'll be grand, lass, nae bother." Mo chuckled. "Eve'll warm up te ye soon, I promise. As fer Ros, she's just no' very-"

Ros span around in an instant and fixed Mo with another death stare.

"Nice. I'm just not very nice." She quipped.

"Aw c'mon Ros, ah wasnae gonnae say that!" Mo's voice was reduced to a squeak.

"Mo just said the wrong thing, don't worry Ros!" Phil waved his enormous arms at her.

"It's just that we can never tell what you're thinking!" Glace chimed in. "He knows that you're nice, really!"

"Aye, I was gonnae say 'talkative'!" Mo scrambled. "Sometimes ye can be really nice!"

Ros stopped in her tracks, sighing visibly. "What about you, child?" She revolved to face Sparky. "Do you think that I'm nice?"

Sparky swallowed her golf ball. Why was the most terrifying one of them all asking her such a leading question? They'd only met a few minutes ago!

All of the other three were standing behind Ros, throwing various limbs about as some sort of signal. Sparky's gaze drifted between the expectant Froslass and the three of them. Exactly what was she supposed to do here?

Ros thrust a hand behind her, petrifying the trio instantly. "Don't try to influence her, you three."

She tapped fingers together slowly, and Phil fell over with a strained grunt. Sparky stared into those cold, merciless depths. Honesty was going to have to be the best approach, wasn't it?

She took in a heavy breath, and felt it shiver out of her.

"I um," she hesitated. "I think that you're a good leader?"

Ros' crystalline eyebrow arched. "Explain."

"W-well, I've seen you giving out the orders here," Sparky trembled. "A-and they obey you without question. I don't think you try to scare them into obeying either, because that's just mean, and you don't look mean?"

Ros huffed, "A brave choice of wording."

Meanwhile Glace's jaw dropped.

"I-I… I figured there wasn't any point in lying," Sparky stammered. "After all, you're the leader, and that means you've gotta make all the… tough decisions. Because it's the right thing to do…"

Realisation suddenly hit. That was what Higgle was always having to do. Make the tough decisions so she and Socks wouldn't suffer for them. Ones she was always arguing against because she didn't know any better...

A soft, rattling chuckle escaped Ros' depths, and for a moment there was even a flicker that Sparky could've sworn was a smile. "…a good answer, child. I can see that your loved one trained you well."

Phil, Glace and Mo followed up with a crescendo of gasps, which echoed down the hallway.

"L-loved one?!" Sparky gasped, her face aghast. "Wha, who, h-how?!"

"Panic not, child." Ros explained softly. "I merely sensed it. Your soul has suffered a great loss of late, correct? You adored her, yes?"

Hot, furious tears stung. Sparky let out a loud, snivelling sob. "B-but how can you know that?! I'm really really far away from home now, and she can't be here because she's in the sky right now, a-and-"

Ros placed a frigid, yet soothing hand on her shoulder. "Calm yourself, please. I shall explain everything."

Suddenly everything Sparky knew was turned upside down. Miss Holly was definitely dead – she saw it with her own eyes – but this Ros knew things about her. Things that were impossible to know without them having met. Sparky definitely didn't recognise her. Had Miss Holly been here, wherever this was? That didn't seem likely either.

Ros beckoned to Sparky, and floated off down a hallway. She must've known something very special, not wanting to tell her in front of the others like that. Either that or she was secretly really nasty, but if that was the case, there was no way she could guess intimate details about Miss Holly, was there?

Unless ghosts could read minds, she shrugged to herself.

"Yes we can." Ros said. "Especially one as troubled as yours, child. Be assured that I bear you no ill will, however."

Sparky toddled after Ros down several hallways, passing enormous windows showing nothing but endless snowscapes. She really was in the middle of nowhere. The iron skies melting into the pure white snow on the ground, with the occasional peppering of a tree or a rock. It sure made for a lonely sight…

The pair of them passed by Eve the Weavile on their way down yet another hallway. Leaning casually against the wall with her arms folded, Eve narrowed her eyes at Sparky and flexed the long claws on the end of her paws.

"Oh, are we losing the outside Ros?" Eve smiled sharply. "It's about time. Up for a snowball fight outside once we're rid of her?"

"Not now, Eve." Ros said curtly. "I have to show this child something."

"…fine." Even kicked off of the wall. "I'll go ask Phil."

"Please don't mind her," Ros said, as the pair of them watched Eve skulk away into a different room. "She may seem unfriendly, but she won't displease Mistress Candice."

"B-but she seems so… nasty," Sparky shivered as a door slammed in the background.

"It is in her nature," Ros glanced out to the scenery. "Mistress Candice found her in conditions not unlike your own, many years ago. Her trust is hard to gain, however there is no one more loyal."

A gentle smile etched into Ros' features. "Ahh, perfect timing. Here child, look at this."

Sparky scrabbled onto the windowsill with a well-aimed jump, "W-what is it?"

"Eve can be nice sometimes." Ros pointed to a dark figure outside. Barely visible as she sprinted across the snowy plains outside, Sparky got the occasional glimpse of the Weavile as she carved her way through thick snow as if it were nothing. Lumbering after her was Phil the Abomasnow, already getting pelted by a multitude of snowballs. Phil scraped up a wall of snow to block some of them before shovelling together an enormous boulder for his counter-attack. Eve timed it well however, and smacked Phil right between the eyes with a carefully aimed snowball, causing him to drop his own boulder.

Eve stopped to point and laugh at Phil when Mo charged out of nowhere, carrying a plume of snow in his tusks. Mo threw the mass at Eve, burying her.

Sparky's face was practically glued to the window. Was this the difference a bit of trust made? From cold and unwelcoming to an all-out snowball fight? The stark contrast was hard to believe.

"Any heart can shine with enough patience and effort," Ros said, watching Phil barrel roll into Mo. The both of them tumbled into the huge mound of snow, and Eve popped out of the other side before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Y-yeah…" Sparky found herself agreeing. "Wh-what was it… you wanted to show me?"

"I am showing you." Ros deadpanned, not breaking her glance.

"…the snowball fight?" Sparky frowned up at her.

"No," Ros shook her head slowly. She pointed past the frenzy and instead towards the skyline, "this is how I know about your trainer."

Squinting, Sparky followed Ros' hand, but there was nothing there? Squinting harder still, she scarcely made out the pebble grey silhouette against the iron grey skies. Miss Holly told her what those spiky objects in the distance were.

"…Mountains?" She asked. "H-how do mountains-"

"That is what you call them?" Ros' frowned. "How interesting. Well, in that case, it is only one of those 'mountains' that is important. I know it as 'The Path of Souls'."

"Path of Souls?" Sparky's eyes widened. That made sense, because ghosts could sense souls or something.

Then the lightbulb flickered. "W-wait, does that mean-"

"Yes, it does." Ros answered simply. "I sensed your trainer's soul there."

"W-why? How?!" Sparky gasped. Her mind flooded with infinite questions, each harder to answer than the last.

"Souls do not immediately return to the planet," Ros explained slowly. "Before they can do that, they must find a fate. And it appears as though your trainer has found hers."

"S-so… Miss Holly's there, right now?!" Sparky's voice squeaked up a notch.

"In a sense, yes." Ros' grimace deepened. "However I would not advise going!"

"B-but… if she's there?!" Sparky cried, tears prickling in her eyes. "Then maybe I can-"

"You cannot," Ros deadpanned. "Your trainer may be there, but not in a human state. Do you understand?"

"But what if?!" Sparky cried.

"But nothing," Ros shot her down. "Look at me, child. You cannot attempt to save your trainer, do you understand? This should have become apparent when you first found her. There are no 'what if's, no buts, no chance. Do you hear me?"

A snowball crashed into the window, obscuring Sparky's view of the mountains.

"Please try to understand, child." Ros sighed. "Whatever reasons you may think you have, you cannot just disrupt the fragile equilibrium between life and death simply because you aren't happy."

"But I-"

"Don't." Ros' eyes flared.

"But I might find out why!" Sparky wailed, bursting into floods of tears. "She just… just left us one day, and I never knew why! What if there was something I could've done?! Maybe I could've helped her to not die or something! I'm never gonna know, and that hurts worse than anything else!"

"…listen, child." Ros' voice softened. "I can understand your frustration. As a Ghost-type, I have witnessed more heartache than you can imagine. But there is nothing for you there, understand? Your trainer is merely a soul, waiting to be reassigned. Even if you could get there, how would you make contact? What would you be willing to sacrifice?"

"Why tell me these things if they make no difference?" Sparky sobbed, her face buried in her arms. "I-I'd accepted that Miss Holly was gone, but… but now she's back?! But only sorta?! And I can't do anything about it?! How can I just ignore that?!"

"She is not 'back', child. She is a soul; a mere existence; a memory. Even if you were to make it to the Path of Souls, there would be nothing for you there. Do you hear me?"

Sparky cast a wobbly glance back outside. The snowball fight had finally come to a stop, it seemed. Both Mo and Phil had gone back inside, with only Eve remaining, perched up against a rock with her arms folded.

"S-so there's no chance?" Sparky sniffled, peering through the seething snowfall.

"Absolutely no chance." Ros said. "I am sorry, child. I didn't wish to upset you like this. I just thought you should know the truth."

"It's okay," Sparky mumbled, coiling into a little ball. "I did ask, after all…"

"I… I wish for you to find happiness, child." Ros started floating back down the hallway. "Please don't waste precious life…"

Tears quietly streamed down Sparky's face as she stared silently at the mountain range in the distance.

Were the answers really there? Ros said no, repeatedly, but what if they were? If it was the Path of Souls, surely there was someone in charge of it all? Maybe they would know why?

But she was just one little Emolga, and that was a really big mountain. How was she even going to get there? There was a blizzard going on. It was as if life itself was telling her no.

Maybe this friend of Candice's was a better idea. He apparently knew a lot about Electric types, and that would've meant some stability in life… maybe? But what if he didn't like her? Or what if his Pokémon didn't like her? And getting uprooted and moved somewhere else, again? That didn't sound fun at all.

Staying here didn't sound like a good plan either, because Candice was ready to pawn her off to someone else as soon as she arrived. So even if she did like Mo and the others, it was just going to be another life torn away from her before she could even sink her teeth in…

Sparky's head thudded against the window. All she had was questions. No answers of any sort.

What was she supposed to do now? Miss Holly was up at the top of that mountain, even if she was only a memory, as Ros said.

Sparky's mind whirred; memory.

Ros must've used that word for a reason, right? Maybe that Path of Souls ran on memories?

Sparky tumbled down from the windowsill. She had tons of memories of Miss Holly. What if she could use those somehow?

It was a long shot at best, but what were her other options? Sit around here for a few hours, maybe a day, until some other stranger took her in?

And then what? Just sit there instead, feeling out of place and even more lost?

Security was nice, but where was the belonging?

What if she could bring that back?

Her mind was made. She knew what she had to do.

Ambling down the long corridors, she searched for a door. Eve's location was a good enough guide, and she was able to keep enough distance without anyone finding her and asking awkward questions.

Finally, a door was sourced. Scrambling back up onto another windowsill and jumping, she weighed the door handle enough for the wind to do the rest of the work, blowing it open and knocking her down again.

Icy cold strangled her extremities the moment a toe touched the snow. Sparky took in the deepest breath she could, and coiled the scarf around her again. Her teeth were already chattering, but there was no turning back now.

"Wouldn't if I were you." Eve said coolly as Sparky trudged a few inches farther forward. "Going out in this would be suicide, kid."

"P-p-p-put yourself in my position." Sparky shivered. "I-if you had a chance to save your… t-t-trainer, how far would you go?"

"To the ends of the earth, of course," Eve huffed. "But it'd be a huge waste to die trying."

"But what if I don't go… w-what am I gonna do?" Sparky gasped, the sharp winds biting at her. "What's a Pokémon without their trainer?"

"You can get another trainer." Eve scowled. "Getting another life won't be so easy."

"They c-can take it!" Sparky inched her way through the snow. "I-if there's a price, I'll pay it!"

"Ros been feeding you stories again, huh?" Eve shook her head slowly. "L-look, kid, if you're gonna go, at least take this."

Sparky jumped and gasped as something fuzzy and red swallowed her vision. She flailed to lift a beanie hat from her head, "…huh?"

"Let the record show I tried to stop you," Eve's cheek dimpled. She glanced away, as if biting something down, before clearing her throat. "…trees make good wind breaks."

"Th-thanks," Sparky chittered. "S-s-say sorry to everyone for me."

And Eve's eyes slowly got wider as she watched the little blob of red and blue slowly disappear into the snowdrift.

"They say suicide is painless," Eve muttered, "But that was the most painful thing I've ever seen."