Here's Chapter 2. I'd like to thank everyone for reading the first chapter, and thanks for both of the reviews I received. And make sure to check out "Servant of the Pokémon" as well if you like this story.
There's not much else to say. I'm on a roll with this, aren't I? Happy reading.
Current music: How Bad Can I Be? - The Lorax
It had all happened so fast.
From the moment the rumbling had first made itself known, there had only been seconds to react. Alicia was just barely able to get out of the slide's path without having to pull the cord and inflate her airbag - there was no time to worry about the others.
The Zoroark had grabbed a tree in order to avoid getting swept further down the mountain. She held on for dear life as the falling snow cascaded all around her like a deep, powerful river. This took nearly all her strength, but it kept her alive.
Once the avalanche had ceased, Alicia found herself still on the surface of the white stuff. The first thing she did was to pull herself back to her feet - her skis snapped off in the process.
It's a small price to pay. Our lives are more important than a couple of boards that can be replaced.
Speaking of "our" lives, Alicia saw a Combusken lying unconscious on a rock at the bottom of the slope. Donatello!
The Zoroark experienced a rush at the realization that time was of the essence. Now was when she had to make a difference, and that started with making sure Donatello was okay.
The Combusken was unresponsive to a nudge, but it was nothing a bit of slobber couldn't fix. Surely Donatello would understand that she was just doing what was necessary, and would forgive her as a result.
Donatello reacted immediately to his face being licked. His eyes fluttered open, and Alicia smiled.
"Wake up, sleepyhead" the Zoroark cooed.
"Ugh," the Combusken groaned. "Was I…in an avalanche?"
No shit, dude. That's what Alicia wanted to say, but decided she'd better not. Best to be understanding.
"You were," Alicia confirmed as tactfully as possible.
"How long was…I…out?" Donatello enquired groggily.
After Alicia assured him that it hadn't been more than a few minutes at most, the Combusken expressed regret at not having yelled to warn the others about the coming avalanche. The Zoroark understood Donatello's pain, but…
"You can't just lie there feeling sorry for yourself" she muttered. "We've got a job to do, and we have to do it quickly."
"What…what's that?" Donatello asked, the haze of unconsciousness evidently not having lifted yet.
"Remember the two others with us? Raine and Kaz?"
"Yes?"
Alicia spoke more sharply this time, knowing that some force was required for Donatello to appreciate the gravity of this situation. She barked the following words:
"They're still buried under all that snow. We have probably fifteen minutes at best to switch our beacons to 'search' and dig them out. Or they'll suffocate. And die."
That was all it took for the Combusken to spring into action. Alicia noticed that, much like her own skis, Donatello's had snapped off in the slide. They wouldn't have time to dig for them later once the snow settled - it would be as hard as concrete, and besides, they could rent new skis in the village.
If we all survive, that is.
"I just set my beacon to 'search' mode!" Donatello shouted. "So I follow it in the direction it says?"
Alicia nodded. "It'll tell us how many meters we are from the other beacon. And those beacons, of course, are strapped to their chests. Now hurry! We don't have time!"
The Zoroark stared at her beacon, which was all over the place. Honestly, that made sense, given that they had two victims to search for, so the beacon was probably "confused" at which target to find first.
"Where do we go?" Donatello all but whined. "It's spinning and spinning!"
Alicia felt the time slip away like the sand in an hourglass. Right now, the proverbial hourglass, the threads binding Raine and Kaz to this world, was running out of sand (or snow?) fast. Her heart sank - they were wasting precious seconds.
"I dunno, just run up the hill!" she yelled.
Alicia ran in the opposite direction from Donatello. Since they needed to find both Kaz and Raine before time ran out, the more ground they covered each minute, the better.
Her beacon, however, was still going haywire at first. "Shit!" she bellowed. "This sucks!"
Indeed, that's putting it mildly. You don't want a repeat of that time - you need to be calm, cool, and collected. Your friends are counting on you.
Eventually, the beacon pointed in the opposite direction, and the signal was constant, but weak. The more rapidly the device beeped, the closer you were to the buried Pokémon - that was an axiom of avalanche country.
So the Zoroark sprinted through the snow without hesitation. She hadn't, however, appreciated just how light and, well, powdery the white stuff was. If you stepped on it without a ski, you'd sink a good foot - a brisk walk felt more like an all-out sprint on a StairMaster.
Donatello's signal was much stronger. The Combusken gave Alicia a thumbs-up as he trudged uphill. Donatello's beacon sounded like a flatlining heart monitor with how constantly it was beeping, an analogy Alicia didn't feel like entertaining any further.
"There's a paw on the surface!" Donatello exclaimed.
It was hard to spot at first, but sure enough, a cadet blue claw could be seen twitching just above the snow. It was undoubtedly Raine's, unless someone from outside their group had been buried too.
"This is going to take a lot of strength, Donatello," Alicia warned the Combusken. "But pull with all your might, because if you were in Raine's position, would you want us to give anything less than a hundred and ten percent?"
Donatello nodded, grabbing onto Raine's claw and pulling upward. Unfortunately, this achieved nothing except breaking the nail on said claw.
"Dig first, Don!" Alicia yelped, grabbing her shovel and digging outward from the claw. "Get a radius big enough so she can at least breathe!"
After about a minute, Raine's eyes, nose, and mouth were visible. The Absol's face was a cross between fury and horror as she breathed heavily.
"Okay, Don, dig!"
The Combusken frowned. "I already did that."
"I mean, dig deep for all your strength. Let's get Raine out of here!"
In unison, Alicia and Donatello grabbed one of the Absol's forelegs and stepped back. With one giant heave, Raine was released from her snowy would-be grave.
"Thanks" Raine panted, clearly lacking the energy to say anything more. The Absol took long, deep breaths, sucking in as much of the fresh mountain air as she could. She then staggered forward and collapsed.
"Now, let's find Kaz" Alicia stated, as casually as someone might say, Let's go out for ice cream. Of course, the stakes were far higher here.
It wasn't as difficult to locate the other beacon, now that there was only one left out there. Getting to the location wasn't that hard either - just a bit uphill from Raine's location. Once the beacon began "flatlining" (why couldn't Alicia stop thinking of it that way?), she and Donatello dug with their paws. They were running on pure adrenaline, so the shovel would not have been as effective; at least, that's how Alicia justified this technique.
As soon as she saw the beige chest fur of a Lucario, Alicia's heart leaped. Maybe they'd all get out of this alive after all!
Her hopes were dashed when she saw that Kaz's eyes were closed, and that his chest wasn't rising and falling like a sleeping Pokémon's should be.
"Were we too late?" Alicia wondered aloud, but she dismissed this right away. Even if it wasn't possible to save Kaz, she had to at least try.
"There could still be a way," Donatello pointed out. "If my medical knowledge does not fail me, CPR could work on him. You know how to do it, right?"
"Yeah" Alicia muttered, trying not to waste too much breath. She was about to need it.
The Zoroark awkwardly positioned herself against the snowpack and began pumping Kaz's chest. This was easier said than done, since much of the Lucario's body was still buried. Nevertheless, she persisted, pairing two rescue breaths with thirty chest compressions, then repeating.
It was tiring, to say the least, and hope was fading fast. The "flatlining" of the avalanche beacon was once again prophetic - curse that analogy!
Just when Alicia wondered if she hadn't been too late after all, Kaz's eyes fluttered open weakly. The Lucario groaned as he glanced up at his savior.
"Uh…hi" Kaz rasped.
"Don't waste your breath too much," Alicia replied. "After all," she continued, winking, "I gave it to you."
Kaz smiled weakly. "I guess I should be thankful."
Alicia turned to give the others a thumbs-up. "He's breathing!" the Zoroark shouted, and she could hear Raine and Donatello sigh in relief.
"Clearly" Kaz moaned. "But my chest hurts like a bitch. You must have bashed something in - did you break a rib or something?"
"Well, that's a small price to pay for surviving something like that" Alicia pointed out. "Don't complain too much."
"I'm…not complaining," Kaz muttered.
"Sure sounded like it. Anyway, do I have permission to grab your shoulders and pull you out of your snowy crypt?"
The Lucario looked like he wanted to protest, but Alicia frowned down into the hole. Quickly, Kaz seemed to realize that he had little choice in the matter - there was no way he'd be able to get out by himself.
"Sure."
It took much of Alicia's remaining strength to reach into the hole, grab Kaz by the shoulders, and drag him out of the hole. It was then that the Zoroark saw what Kaz had referred to.
Lucario are known for their giant chest spike made of enamel. Most of them are very proud of it - some towns in Sinnoh had a parade where the dual Fighting/Steel-types would parade around with their chests facing the air. The point is, if a Lucario did not have its spike, that would be like adding insult to injury.
About half of Kaz's chest spike had broken clean off, making it resemble a miniature volcano that had blown its top. Not only was his fur soaked right to the bone, but a trace amount of blood could be seen coming out of the spike's former home.
"My chest…spike…" Kaz muttered.
"Kaz, if I didn't pump your chest, you wouldn't be standing here to tell the tale. You realize that, right?"
"Well, yes…but it's important…".
"You're quite attached to your spike, but it's not attached to you anymore. We'll get you back to the lodge - do you think you can ski down?"
In response, the Lucario shivered, and Alicia noticed that his fangs were now chattering vigorously. Water coming from the melted snow pooled on the ground.
"I'll take that as a no," Alicia stated simply. "How about your skis? Are they still…".
This question was answered as soon as the Zoroark glanced down at the hole where the avalanche had nearly claimed Kaz as its own. The bindings had come clean off.
"Get this wet winter gear off," Alicia ordered. "It'll only make you colder. Once you get back to the lodge, you should hang by the fire and warm up that way. It'll help ward off hypothermia."
Kaz didn't protest this.
By this time, Donatello and Raine had come rushing to the Lucario's side, both clearly overjoyed at his revival. Donatello in particular was practically grinning.
"Okay, can you walk down?" Alicia asked Kaz. "It's probably best that you keep moving so you can keep the blood circulating, especially because we need to warm you up. Can you do it?"
Kaz nodded, but something about that nod seemed off. Like he was trying too hard to convince the others he'd be okay.
"Okay. Take a few steps, just to make sure."
Kaz gritted his fangs. "Don't baby me like that! I'm not one!"
"No, you're not a baby," Alicia muttered. "I never said you were. But if you need help walking, I'm more than happy to provide it."
"I…can…do…this" Kaz insisted.
The Lucario took a few steps forward, holding his arms out like the wings of an airplane. This worked…for about ten seconds, before he fell to his knees like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
Raine gasped as she raced to Kaz's side once more. The latter knelt on the ground, eyes closed.
"Nope, you can't," Alicia muttered with a slight smile. The smile quickly faded, however, as she presently realized that if Kaz couldn't move under his own power, someone else would have to support him.
"Could we call the ski patrol?" Donatello suggested.
"That would be a wonderful idea," Alicia responded, "if only they patrolled this area. It's no secret that in the backcountry, you ski at your own risk. I don't blame them."
Those words hung in the air for longer than they should have. Eventually, Raine sighed.
"Well, maybe we can make a stretcher or something to carry him between us. I'm not sure how heavy he is, admittedly."
Kaz shivered. By this time, the Lucario had lain down, and his chest was rising and falling in the deep, even breathing that suggested he was asleep. The spike on said chest was very conspicuously missing, though there was nothing to be done about that.
"Surprised he feels comfortable sleeping so close to his crypt" Raine muttered.
"He's probably exhausted," Alicia retorted. Honestly, there was no need for that probably qualifier.
"Well, we'll just carry him between us" Donatello suggested. "We can't be that far from the village, can we?"
In response, both Alicia and Raine gave the Combusken a pitying look.
There had been no time to react.
As soon as Kaz heard the rumble, it was all over; snow was cascading all around him. It had been an abnormally quiet avalanche at the bottom of the slope.
He'd tried to pull the cord that would inflate his airbag. At least that would keep him above the snowy tide, and then he wouldn't have to rely on luck.
However, he was unable to reach it, and Kaz cursed himself for not having planned ahead. His hands were quaking so much that he couldn't seize the cord and pull it forcefully enough. It didn't take much, but it was more than he had.
There was that disorienting tumble down the slope, somersaulting over and over again with snow particles dancing around his face. He was very grateful for his helmet, though a fat lot of good it would do him if he got buried.
That was his second mistake: As soon as he got buried, Kaz panicked and began breathing heavily. There was a small air pocket around his snout, but the guidance he'd been given (as well as basic common sense) dictated that it was best not to waste the precious oxygen you'd been given.
When you were in an actual life-or-death situation like this, though, following instructions was secondary. Kaz's heart pounded so hard it hurt, so recalling information on how to survive being buried in an avalanche wasn't a priority.
He tried to dig further around his face, since that would give him more air and buy time for the others to find him. The beacon harnessed to Kaz's chest was his only hope, especially once the snow settled.
Well, they'd better be quick.
And then Kaz felt sick to his stomach, because he knew that it was at least partly his fault. Okay, mostly his fault.
Yes, Donatello (or whoever had gone last on that run) could have warned them about the avalanche. However, after so much snow yesterday, it should have been common sense not to venture too deep into the woods.
They'd flown too close to the sun, and they had gotten burned. Just like that character from the mythology of the Orange Islands - was his name Icarus? Yes, that was it. Kaz was his group's equivalent of Icarus.
As the Lucario felt increasingly drowsy, something else occurred to him.
Lots of stories circulated about seeing your departed loved ones after you died. Whether that was true or not, nobody truly knew the answer, and anyone who claimed to was lying through their teeth.
Maybe I'll see him again, Kaz wondered. Or maybe not. Maybe this is all there is.
He no longer had the energy to panic. Perhaps he just needed to accept his fate - play stupid games, win stupid prizes, that's what they all said. Kaz figured he'd won the gold medal.
And so he closed his eyes, ceased his resistance, and accepted his fate.
The next thing Kaz knew, he was staring up at the sky, a perfect bluebird day with no clouds present. That was about the only joyful thing about his surroundings, though, because his clothes were soaking wet and his chest was in excruciating pain as though he'd been stabbed in reverse.
To make a long story short, Kaz knew he wasn't in heaven. He was still here on Nexus. And he didn't know how to feel about that - survivor's guilt, perhaps?
After it became clear he couldn't trek back to the condo on his own two legs, Kaz assumed that Raine and/or Alicia either guided or carried him down the rest of the mountain. Later, when he was more alert, his brain would construct an image of himself being carried between the pair like an infant - more than a little demeaning, to say the least.
When Kaz woke up again, he was on his feet, back in the village area of Coronet Mountain Resort. Strong arms - Zoroark arms - were supporting him, helping him take each step.
"Oh. You're up again" Alicia remarked.
Kaz felt himself blush; fortunately, it likely wasn't noticeable under his facial fur. Given that the village was fairly crowded this time of year, he'd almost certainly been seen by many people staggering through the street as though intoxicated.
Who cares? I'm not likely to see many of these people in the future.
"Just a few more steps, Kaz," Alicia whispered.
"I don't need your support," the Lucario muttered through gritted fangs. "I truly believe I can walk alone."
"I believe you believe that" Raine said, a hint of mockery in her tone.
Kaz rolled his eyes as he was led up the stairs to the condo. Really, it was a pretty nice chalet - he'd spent good money to rent it. Of course, what constituted "a good amount" of money was relative.
After a long, hot shower, followed by a blow-dry session to ensure there was no water still trapped in his fur, Kaz was still shivering. Alicia gave him a giant blanket - a quilt that had come with the condo - to wrap around himself, then started a fire in the fireplace. She also made some hot chocolate, which she insisted Kaz drink.
The Lucario rolled his red eyes. "I don't know if I want to drink this. It's too early in the day for hot chocolate."
"Maybe it is," the Zoroark replied, "but we need to warm you up. Doctor's orders."
Kaz snorted. As far as he knew, no doctor had been consulted. Still, he didn't protest any further, because he knew Alicia had his best interests at heart.
How crazy is it, he reflected, that we just met on a friend-finding app, a platonic Tinder if you will, and she's already saved my life once? I owe her a debt I can't repay - at least, I hope I never have to repay it.
Much of the rest of the day was spent by the fireplace, and Kaz was told not to leave the armchair unless absolutely necessary. Begrudgingly, he followed the "doctor's" orders, but he would have been lying if he said it wasn't humiliating.
"Please stop treating me like an invalid" Kaz complained eventually as Alicia handed him a grilled cheese sandwich.
"I'm not treating you like an invalid" Alicia replied. "I'm treating you like someone who needs to recover from a near-death experience. There's a difference."
She did not understand; this made him feel worse, not better. Even as Donatello and Raine sat in the corner playing chess, Kaz felt certain both were more focused on the fireside chat.
"We just met not long ago. And now you're acting like we've been best friends forever."
The Zoroark's teal right eye gleamed. "Well, there's something about getting through an avalanche together that really bonds Pokémon to one another. Who would've thought?"
Raine looked up from the chess game to frown at the Lucario. And then she said something Kaz wouldn't soon forget.
"Kaz, this was your decision. You're the one who organized this trip, and you said you were an expert skier."
That hurt more than Kaz wanted to admit, but he remained silent. Seconds later, Raine relented as well, turning back to the game.
"Okay, so whose move is it?" the Absol asked Donatello.
"It's mine, but I just made it," the Combusken responded simply.
"Then it's my move" Raine insisted.
"Checkmate."
"Oh, damn. I guess you won that game" Raine responded awkwardly, evidently not having realized how hopeless her position had been.
Kaz turned back to Alicia, but the Zoroark was facing away from him. "I think you should head to bed, Kaz."
The Lucario frowned. "What?"
"You need to rest so that you'll be good for tomorrow" Alicia insisted. "And bed is the best place for that."
"I can't just curl up here? I'm pretty comfy as is."
The Zoroark winked. "Nope, if I have anything to say about it, you're going to bed."
"You're not my mother. You aren't the boss of me" Kaz muttered, but he felt his eyelids getting heavier. His protests probably sounded pretty foolish to "Mother Alicia."
"Look at you, your eyes are already closing" the Absol pointed out, with a slight chuckle.
Believe it or not, Raine was right. As soon as Kaz stood up from the armchair, his knees buckled, and if Alicia hadn't caught him, he'd have landed on his blunted chest spike again.
Maybe bed wasn't such a bad idea after all.
After Alicia helped him into bed, Kaz didn't have more than a few minutes of wakefulness left. However, that was more than enough time to dwell on the day's events.
I'm incredibly lucky. I didn't meet the same fate he did. Pure, dumb luck is the only reason I'm in this comfy bed right now.
I was a fool, too. I should have known better, but that's a "Captain Obvious" moment right there. Live and learn - but it was almost "Die, and Don't Learn."
Kaz let loose the tiniest, cynical chuckle as he turned onto his right side, careful not to crush the spike. It wasn't just his dignity that hurt - there was a phantom pain in his chest where the spike's tip had once been. It would take a few months to heal, and during that time, it would serve as a constant reminder of his hubris.
Before he fell asleep entirely, this was Kaz's last thought: I wanted to have fun today, to show him, if he's up there somewhere, that I don't let fear rule my life. But some fear is healthy - today it would have saved my spike, if not my life.