Chapter Text
“Wow Elaina! Your pokemon sculpture looks so accurate!” Kitty couldn’t believe her eyes. Elaina had perfectly carved a Rowlet out of a mountain of snow. The details were impeccable; it looked like the pokemon could take flight at any moment!
“Yeah, I never knew you had artistic talent before,” Julia said, nodding in approval. “That’s not another gift from your harmonia, right?” She spoke in a light tone of voice, but at the same time she was cautious- she knew how seriously Elaina took her harmonia.
Luckily, the brunette was in a good mood.
“No, it’s not because of my harmonia,” she said, shaking her head. She even laughed a little at the idea. “It’s because of how much time I used to spend alone in my room. Playing video games, reading books… there’s not a lot you can do by yourself, so over time, I started practicing drawing, and, well…”
She shrugged and gestured to the snow sculpture. “…I guess it’s just a hobby of mine.”
Julia scrunched up her face. “Does drawing really translate that well to carving stuff out of the snow, though?” She asked.
Elaina could only give a shrug in response.
“Ooh! Can you carve something for me?” Kitty asked, her eyes shining excitedly. “I want a cute little Skitty, or maybe an Eevee!”
“Come on Kitty, that took her like two hours to do!” Julia laughed, shaking her head. “Go easy on her, she can’t spent all day making stuff for us! …Unless, you could do a Poochyena, right?”
Kitty turned to Julia and scowled.
“What? Kidding! I’m kidding!” Julia laughed, holding up her hands. “Come on, it’s not my fault we had to stop the snowball fight early!”
“That’s because you were running too much!” Kitty wailed. “I didn’t want you to pass out! You’re still recovering from your altitude sickness!”
“Yeah, well, so are you,” Julia reminded her friend, pointing to the oxygen tank lying unused against the bench.
Kitty blinked as the two girls stared at each other.
“You know, now that you mention it, I haven’t heard you guys coughing for a while,” Elaina pointed out curiously. “Maybe you’re finally starting to adapt to this altitude!”
“Huh…” Now that Elaina mentioned it, Kitty wasn’t feeling the shortness of breath that had been plaguing her all morning. She actually felt pretty good. Minus a light headache.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I guess I am feeling a lot better! Though it might be good to get some oxygen just in case.” She scurried over to retrieve her tank.
“I’m feeling fine,” Julia shrugged. But then, she’d said that before, too. Elaina stared at her and narrowed her eyes, and Julia sighed.
“…Okay, I’m still a little nauseous,” she admitted. “I’m not exactly looking forward to lunch or dinner, you know? But I’m not feeling dizzy anymore, so that’s gotta be a plus!”
“I think it definitely is,” Elaina agreed, her expression softening. “For now though, let’s just focus on taking care of our health, okay?”
Even though Elaina had mostly adapted to the high altitude, she definitely felt a little more lightheaded and short of breath than she did back on the ground. But that was just something you had to get used to up here.
Julia nodded in agreement… and lobbed a snowball at her face.
“Julia!” Kitty groaned, rolling her eyes. “Come on!”
“What? You said you were feeling better, right?” Julia flashed a toothy grin and scooped up some more snow, pressing it into a spherical shape between her mittens while eyeing Kitty up like a prize to be won at the fair.
“Eek! No!” Kitty dashed away as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, which in the deep snow of Glaseado Mountain wasn’t very far. Julia easily pinned her in the back of the head with a snowball, nearly knocking her over.
Of course, that only opened Julia herself up to a barrage of snowballs from Elaina, freshly recovered and shivering.
“My collar’s open, you know!” She shouted as she hurled chunks of snow at her friend. “That last one got under my parka!”
“Sorry!” Julia shouted back as she ducked, avoiding most of the assault. But a couple wayward chunks of snow still splattered across her jacket.
Kitty watched that with a smile on her face, and leaned down to scoop up some snow herself. She began throwing it at her friends, although her accuracy wasn’t very good. She could barely land a scratch on either of them.
But that didn’t really matter. The important thing was that they were all together, and they were all having fun.
“Oh, man! That was such a blast!” Julia couldn’t believe how hot she felt as the trio tromped back into the gym. She was roasting under all those layers with how much exercise she’d gotten! She could do even more- in fact, the only reason that the girls had come inside in the first place was because the sky was starting to get dark. It looked like a storm was on its way, which wasn’t a good sign at all. The girls wouldn’t want to get caught in another blizzard.
“I had a lot of fun,” Kitty said, flashing a beaming smile at Julia. Then she turned to Elaina. “What about you?” She asked timidly. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Of course I did,” Elaina assured her with a smile. “It… it was my first snowball fight, actually…” She looked down and blushed as both girls stared at her with open mouths.
“W-wait, you mean, you’ve never done something like that before?” Julia asked.
“Never?” Kitty’s eyes widened in surprise.
Elaina’s blush deepened and she shook her head. “Snowball fights… those are things you do with friends, remember?” She pointed out somberly. “And making friends was never something I was good at.”
Julia and Kitty both knew how sensitive of a topic this was for Elaina. But they blazed right past it.
“Ah, forget all that stuff,” Julia scoffed, patting Elaina on the back and guiding her over to the fireplace. “It’s a brand new chapter! I’m glad we got to have fun today, aren’t you?”
“I actually am too,” Kitty nodded in agreement. “Hey, maybe getting altitude sickness was a good thing, if it meant we got to take a break to play in the snow like that?”
That was one positive, at least. If the girls hadn’t gotten sick, then right now they’d probably be climbing to the top of Glaseado Mountain. And while the sight would hopefully be worth it, the climb itself would certainly be brutal.
The girls stripped off their thick jackets and huddled in front of the fire. Their bodies were starting to cool off after all the exercise they’d gotten, and they wanted to warm up in the lodge.
A few minutes later, Julia had another idea.
“So if we’re done with playing outside, anything else you want to do? Maybe Grusha has some board games around here or something.”
“This isn’t some guest cabin, Julia,” Kitty pointed out. “We’re not at a ski resort. It’s a pokemon gym, things are professional around here.”
“No video games, either,” Elaina said with the faintest of disappointed sighs on her lips. “I don’t even see a TV. Who doesn’t have a TV?!”
She raised a valid point. There was a screen behind the counter for displaying news, but that was different from a TV for guests to watch stuff on.
Heck- there probably wasn’t even a signal up this high anyway, so what would even be the point? Watching static?
“Not for nothing, but that would be pretty one-sided,” Julia said with a laugh. “Remember spring break? You wiped the floor with us!”
“And?” Elaina failed to see a problem with that, which just made Julia and Kitty burst out into a fit of giggles.
“Still, it is pretty boring around here,” Kitty sighed, kicking her feet lazily. “I could go upstairs and get my phone, but that just seems like surrender, you know?”
“Do we even get cell service up here?” Julia wondered.
“…I could play some music,” Elaina suggested timidly. “I remembered to pack my flute.” She brought it with her everywhere, just in case she needed to calm herself down.
“Don’t you summon the wind when you play that, though?” Julia reminded her.
Elaina paused, and then nodded. “Fair enough,” she admitted sheepishly. “Maybe that’s not the best idea, then.”
Julia shook her head. No, it was definitely not.
“Hmm…” As Kitty pondered what they could do, she took another whiff of oxygen. She didn’t really feel like she needed it at this point, but she was a bit of a worrier and a hypochondriac, so in her mind it was better safe than sorry.
“I know, maybe Kitty can do a fashion show for us,” Julia teased, earning her a glare from the shorter girl.
“Julia-! You know-!” Kitty fumed, and then shook her head. “You should be nicer to me. It’s thanks to me we got all these warm clothes, remember? I had to use the last of my modeling money, and it still wasn’t good enough!”
Julia blushed sheepishly. “Yeah, you’re right… sorry, Kitty,” she apologized. “I’ll definitely pay you back, I promise.”
“I will too,” Elaina swore.
“Oh? How’s that gonna work?” Julia asked her innocently. “You don’t have a job, or any other way to get money. Isn’t Alcea basically subsidizing your tuition?”
At this point, Elaina was getting sustainability from the school’s various programs and free cafeteria meals. She didn’t exactly have any disposable income.
The brunette sunk into her seat, feeling a little sheepish. Immediately Julia felt bad for what she said, and try to walk it back.
“Well, I mean, you could always get a job!” Kitty suggested quickly, realizing that Elaina might be in danger of spiraling the way that Grusha seemed to do a lot of the time. That wouldn’t be good for anybody! She had to put a stop to that in a hurry. “Look, I got that modeling gig, right? And you’re way prettier than I am!”
While the compliment might have been sweet, the suggestion wasn’t exactly one that Elaina was thrilled to hear.
In fact, she turned pale at the thought.
“M-modeling…” She mumbled, picturing herself in front of the camera for hours the way Kitty had. A shiver went down her spine.
Julia elbowed Kitty in the side.
“Eh, it’s not a big deal,” she said quickly, trying to fix up her previous mistake. “Don’t worry about things like getting a job! We’re teenagers! We should be focused on enjoying our lives, and having fun with our friends and our pokemon.”
Elaina blinked, and smiled a little. “Yeah… yes, you’re right,” she nodded in agreement.
But with that being said… what were they going to do?
The problem still had not resolved itself- the girls were still bored out of their minds.
Julia sighed and shook her head. “I guess we’re stuck then, huh?” She muttered. “But hey, at least it’s warm, right?”
For now, they focused on getting warm. At least until the elevator reached the ground floor and opened up, anyway.
All three of them turned to see Gabrielle walk towards the door without even looking their way.
“Hey, what’s up?” Julia called over to her. “Going out for a walk or something? You sure that’s the right thing to do in this weather?”
Things had only gotten darker since the girls had come inside. Kitty looked warily up at the window, and shivered.
That wasn’t a good sign.
Gabrielle glanced over at the doors, seeming dismissive.
“The weather is nothing unusual,” she assured the girls, even as she walked over to the fireplace to join them. “I was only going to be gone for a little while.”
Julia squinted. “…You weren’t going all the way back to Montenevera for those skewers, were you?” She accused.
Gabrielle blinked.
“…It’s lunchtime, so…”
“Okay, I think you have a bit of a problem!” Kitty exclaimed, shaking her head frantically. “Gabrielle, you aren’t seriously considering walking through a blizzard just for some skewered Torchic, right!? That’s insane!”
Gabrielle shrugged. From the nonchalance of her body language, it obviously wouldn’t have been the first time she did something like that.
Julia shook her head incredulously.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Elaina offered timidly. “At least wait for the weather to turn better, please…”
She could feel it on the wind- this blizzard was going to be a fierce one. That’s why she’d urged her friends back inside. She felt bad for the little Rowlet she’d carved into the snow, but that’s just the way things went sometimes.
Gabrielle didn’t seem that fazed though.
“Embracing the elements is part of my training,” she pointed out. “If I’m going to get stronger… if my pokemon are going to get stronger… then I need to make use of the force of the mountain, just like Grusha can.”
Kitty winced. Gabrielle may have been good at holding back her emotions, but it was obvious that her loss against Grusha that morning had really stung.
“…It must be pretty tough, going through something like that,” she said sympathetically, reaching out and patting the other girl on the hand. Gabrielle pulled her hand away, though, not interested in physical contact.
“It’s to be expected,” she replied, shifting slightly in her seat. “After all, Grusha is a gym leader, and I’m just a student.”
She had been training pokemon for years, but she still hadn’t been able to beat him. There was nothing knew about that, of course, but still…
“I trained with him a year ago… and I came back over winter break, as well,” Gabrielle informed the girls. Her cold voice carried the faintest hint of bitterness in it. “I had thought that… maybe… maybe I had improved slightly since then, but…”
“You have improved.”
Gabrielle jumped in her seat and the other girls all shook as well. No one had heard Grusha’s approach over the roaring fireplace.
Frankly, Grusha looked just as startled as they did.
“Sorry!” He said hastily, waving his hands. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you, or eavesdrop on your conversation… I just didn’t know the right way to speak up, and then you were talking about me, and I just… I’m the worst.”
He hung his head and sighed, and trudged over to the corner of the room.
“Hey, come on, stop it with that,” Julia said. “It’s fine, right, Gabrielle?”
“…Yes,” Gabrielle nodded, leaning forward and eyeing Grusha carefully. “…What was that you said before?”
Grusha blinked and turned back to her.
“Huh?”
“Before.” Gabrielle narrowed her eyes. “You said that I’ve improved. How exactly have I improved?” She practically demanded.
The other girls all looked at each other with varying expressions of discomfort. It seemed that Gabrielle was really taking this situation seriously.
Grusha honestly didn’t know what to say.
“Well, it’s like… how do I put this…” He scratched his cheek, feeling a little uneasy, and began to fidget with his scarf. “I mean… your skills have improved… and your pokemon have definitely gotten stronger than last time…”
“But specifically. What have I gotten better at?” Gabrielle was flat-out interrogating him at this point, as if he could put her improvements into quantifiable terms so that she could keep working on them to get better.
The awkward tension hanging over the room was suffocating.
“Hey, let the guy breathe, geez,” Julia said, rolling her eyes. “Come on, Gabrielle, you’re a talented trainer, you’ve gotta know that it’s not as simple as a specific thing. You’re getting stronger, isn’t that good enough?”
Gabrielle sighed in resignation and sank back into her chair. Julia raised a valid point… perhaps she WAS getting a little too ahead of herself.
“If I had to say…” Grusha stroked his chin thoughtfully, still interested in answering his student’s question. “…It feels like you trust yourself and your pokemon more.”
Gabrielle looked completely confused.
“…But I already trusted my pokemon,” she stated. “And as for trusting myself…”
“Look, obviously you’ve trusted your pokemon for a long time!” Grusha started to fret. “You wouldn’t be able to Terastallize them if you didn’t! But… I don’t know, you’ve always carried this detached, icy aura about you… but recently, it seems like that’s started to fade a little bit.”
That was the best way he could think of to describe the situation.
Gabrielle looked at him cautiously, considering what he was saying.
Then she nodded.
“Understood. So I should trust them even more, then,” she decided, earning her a sigh from Grusha and the other girls.
She was trying her best, she really was. But some things were harder for people to process than others, sadly.
“Um, Grusha…” Kitty squirmed in her seat, glancing out the window again. “How long do you think this blizzard is going to last?”
It was really beating the walls now, and it was starting to frighten her.
“It’s hard to say.”
And Grusha’s response didn’t exactly make her feel any better about it, either.
“Blizzards can last for some time on this mountain,” Gabrielle mentioned. “Or they can pass by quickly. But either way, you’re going to be staying here for a while. Until you’ve adapted to the altitude,” she reminded them.
Then she tilted her head to the side curiously.
“Wait… now that you mention it… You all don’t look that sick.”
“We, um, we’re actually feeling a lot better!” Kitty said, sitting up a little taller in her seat.
“Oh, really? That’s good then,” Grusha nodded, looking a little relieved. Gabrielle nodded in agreement.
“Absolutely,” Julia grinned. “So we’re totally ready to get started on climbing that mountain!”
“As soon as the storm lets up,” Elaina clarified. She wasn’t about to let anybody go out into that maelstrom if she could help it.
“…We’ll see,” Gabrielle said coldly, not convinced that they were ready. Grusha nodded in agreement.
For now, it was a moot point though. The girls would have to wait until the storm passed before anyone could even consider climbing to Paldea’s Highest Peak.
