Despite making it to the rest stop barely after five in the afternoon, the sun was already halfway gone past the horizon. And still, the blizzard didn't let on. As night began to set in, the endless rapport of snow falling from the sky turned their visibility from low to pretty much nonexistent.

Just in time, huh? Inyssa thought, closing the door of the cabin behind her. We really underestimated this storm. If we'd been a couple miles behind… If we hadn't had a GPS in our Poketch…

However, despite her concerns, she didn't feel cold at all. A thin layer of sweat covered her from head to toe, and the hazy feeling inside her head coupled with the blurriness of her vision told her that perhaps she was starting to harbor a fever.

She looked around, barely registering the inside of the cabin -walls and ceiling made of wood reinforced with stone, a couple of sofas littered about and an enormous skin rug resting before an impressive fireplace- and finding Barry a second after. He didn't seem quite as eager to take his coat off. His nose was beet red and his hands shook from the cold, thin mist leaving his lips every time he breathed.

It was fine, she told herself. She could sleep this fever off, no problem. No way would she fall sick yet a-fucking-gain when they still had more than two thirds of the path to get through. Letting Barry down was something the old Inyssa did, not her.

"T-there's some wood inside this wardrobe!" Barry said excitedly, teeth chattering. "I'll put them in the fireplace and tell Wrathia to light it up! We'll be cozy in no time."

"Sure thing," she said, trying to hide the tiredness in her voice. "I'll just… lay down for a sec. My legs hurt."

Though, of course, she made sure to ruffle his hair a bit and give him a kiss before collapsing onto the sofa. A short kiss which somehow became a long, heated one. It took her until she pulled away to realize one of her hands was on his hip and the other was grabbing onto the hair on the back of his head, and suddenly the heat of her fever was nothing compared to the way her face lit up, cheeks a full crimson.

"R-right, so…" She let herself fall back, grunting as the sofa caught her. "Good luck with that. Feel free to join me after you light it up and like… make dinner if you wanna."

"Heh. Yeah, sure thing."

She sighed, and let herself be absorbed by the surprisingly soft cushions, the haziness in her head spreading throughout her entire body. So comfortable. So warm. Still… she couldn't fall asleep, not yet. If there's one thing she'd learned over the course of her life –mostly thanks to her stupid frail body– was that you needed to overfeed a fever to make it go away. She'd eat whatever kind of food was in this damn cabin, and then she would take her well-deserved nap.

Breathing in, she gathered all her courage and pushed herself slightly up, opening her eyes.

She froze. The cabin was in complete darkness.

"H-huh?"

For a few seconds she stared at nothing, blinking in confusion. Panic then burst from her chest and she jumped off the sofa and onto her feet, looking around frantically.

The cabin looked the exact same as before, only neither Barry nor any of their possessions were anywhere to be seen. Inyssa gulped, immediately looking toward the window. It was a full night outside, the only thing she could see being the endless flakes of snow falling, some of them sticking to the glass.

"Barry? Hey, Barry!"

But there was no answer. She let out a shaky breath, noticing the thick cloud of mist exiting her lips. A cold like no other had set into the room in the few seconds she'd had her eyes closed, somehow. Wait… few seconds? That's right, it couldn't have been more than that, but then why…?

Uxie? she thought. Are you there?

Even before asking that question, she felt its absence. It was a strange feeling, as though she'd taken her hat off without realizing and was now confused as to where it was. Concentrating, she tried to call forth Uxie's power, but her eyes refused to turn gold. What the hell was going on?

Slowly, tentatively, she walked around the sofa, looking all around. She couldn't have fallen asleep, could she? No, of course not. Even if she had, Barry wouldn't have left her behind. Something had to…

A flash of movement past the window caught her attention. She froze, then slowly turned her head toward the glass, gasping at what she saw. Without a moment's hesitation she broke into a sprint and pressed her face against it, eyes wide and full of confusion and concern.

Almost hidden by the raging blizzard, a small girl stood a few yards from the house, slowly walking past it, eyes hidden by the shadow of her ashen-black hair.

Inyssa stammered, unsure of what to do. The girl walked slowly, almost limping, bruises and smudges of snow and dirt all over her arms and legs. Her right arm was bleeding. Not to mention her outfit was completely inadequate for the weather she was in. She wore no more than a thin pair of pants and a black and pink dress th–

Realization dawned on her like a punch to the stomach. She recognized the dress. How could she not? She'd worn it hundreds of times when she was younger, long before embarking on her trainer journey. Slowly, her eyes went from that dress to the girl's pale and frail-looking arms, and then to the thick and dark mess that was her hair.

Something stirred up within her. She recognized this. This place, this memory… it felt as though something was trying to claw itself up from her skull, drilling up with so much force that Inyssa had to hold her head with one hand, teeth grit in pain. What… What the hell was…?

She looked up again, and gasped. The cold stopped. Outside, the blizzard froze in place, time slowing to a crawl.

Young Inyssa was now looking her way. The green of her eyes was dull and distant, as though they saw nothing at all.

Then, slowly, she reached with her bleeding hand into the pocket of her dress and took out something small and white. It took Inyssa until she uncapped it to realize it was a pill bottle.

"W-wait… Don't…"

Young Inyssa looked sadly at the contents of the bottle. Then, craning her neck up, she met her gaze again and said something, her lips moving wordlessly, the glass between them preventing Inyssa from hearing it.

Everything went white. Inyssa woke up with a painful jolt, shooting up in the sofa and breathing in deeply, eyes wide in fear.

"W-whoa! Hey, Niss, you okay?"

She stared at Barry for a few seconds before she realized what had happened.

"I… yeah. Did I… fall asleep?"

"I don't think so?" Barry chucked a bunch of logs into the fire place, frowning. "You like… literally just sat down less than a minute ago. Are you sure you're okay?"

It was hard to respond. Her throat felt so dry it was painful, and when she tried to push herself to her feet, the sudden weakness in her muscles almost sent her tumbling down to the ground.

And still, she did her best not to show any of that outwardly. Wetting her lips, gulping, she turned to Barry with a smile and nodded.

"Yeah… I'm fine. Thanks."

----------------------------------------

Inyssa didn't get a minute's worth of sleep that night. Hard to, seeing as every time she started drowsing off she would feel something pulling her mind awake or would see a shape in the corner of her eyes or her nerves would make her jump at literally nothing. Barry, of course, noticed none of this. He was a heavy sleeper in the same way a Snorlax was a heavy… itself, so it was pretty hard to wake him even when she struck her head against the frame of the bed and cursed loud enough for Kuro to jump as well.

It wasn't a big deal, though. She'd stayed awake all night plenty of times before; so what if they had a whole day of walking ahead of them? So what if that lightheadedness from before had expanded all throughout her body, making her feel as though her head was full of hot helium? So what if it hurt every time she swallowed? She'd been mentally sick her whole life and if that hadn't stopped her then a measly cold sure as shit wouldn't either.

It's easy, she thought, the crunch of their shoes against the tightly-packed snow echoing around them. I just pinch myself whenever I feel like I'm falling asleep. Even a baby could do it.

The blizzard had eased overnight. It had gone from an endless rain of white to no more than a weak drizzle, though the clouds above stayed as impenetrable as ever, letting very few rays of sunlight through. Aside from the blanket of snow stretching in all directions as far as they could see, a few trees, rocks, vegetation and a couple groups of wild Pokemon could be seen in the distance, making the path look slightly more alive. And of course, present as ever, the forest remained at their right and left, looking as dark and ominous as the first time they'd seen it. Not a sound came from behind that barrier of green and brown.

It took her a few seconds to realize she needed to blink again. She looked away as she did, eyes stinging something fierce. The loss of her shades meant not only that the sharp cold could now penetrate her skin through her nose and cheeks but also that the shine of what little sunlight there was bouncing on the snow hurt her eyes pretty badly if she looked at it for more than a few seconds.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

So odd. With her eyes uncovered, staring into the horizon made it look as though the path ahead were melting at its furthermost point, dissolving in the same wavy way the air above a flame did, distorting the air itself. It was so pleasant to look at. It put her mind at ease, leaving her body on autopilot as her mind was enveloped once more by that warm, heavy haziness.

It took her a few moments to realize Barry was talking.

"…mostly because they attacked us but I wish we could've helped them out." He grabbed the back of his head with both hands, sighing. "Or maybe catch one of the Sneasel, they're so cool… they're like little cat ice ninjas! That's three of my favorite things put into one!"

She formed a weak smile. "Now if only they were part pancake too. Then they'd definitely be your perfect Pokemon."

"That would be so amazing…" His eyes went wide. "Hey, isn't there a Pokemon in Unova that's a giant ice cream?"

"It's a floating chunk of ice with the shape of an ice cream," she corrected him. "I'm sure it doesn't, like… taste like ice cream or anything. It'd be pretty fucked up if it did."

"D'aw…"

The mere act of rolling her eyes was enough to make her go temporarily dizzy, her next step making her knees wobble. Shit. Out of all the times for her body to start failing her, why now? Okay, fair enough, she treated it like shit on a daily basis, but only because it never cooperated in return.

She shook her head, focusing her gaze ahead. "Anyway… what's with you and Pokemon food? First you wanted to try the bananas off that weird Pokemon's neck and now this?"

"I'm just naturally curious about this stuff," he shrugged. "Though mostly when it comes to f-"

Barry stopped walking, eyes going wide, but she didn't realize it due to everything in the edge of her vision being blurry.

"You could be curious about less weird shit though. Like, what if you found out there was a Pokemon with–"

"Niss."

She saw him raise his left arm and point forward, close to where the patch of forest at their left was. Inyssa blinked a couple times, then followed his finger with her gaze.

The color red was the first thing her brain processed, which was more than enough to wake her up, eyes going wide. The next thing she noticed was the massive body of the Pokemon slowly making its way toward them, a head-sized bloodstain staining the brown fur on the left side of its body.

"T-the hell?"

"C-come on, let's go help!"

She was mostly dragged by Barry as they made their way toward the Pokemon, uprooting chunks of snow behind them as they ran. Inyssa bit her lip, the nebulous haziness in her head suddenly becoming denser and pulsing outwards like a heartbeat, rousing her awake and making her temples ache from the effort.

The creature collapsed on its side moments before they made its way there.

"Hey! It's okay, you're okay… we'll help you out, I promise!"

Barry knelt in front of the Pokemon as soon as he reached its side. Inyssa stood a few feet back, eyes narrowed as she tried to identify the species, which wasn't easy with her head feeling like it was bursting and the edges of her vision blurring violently. Long, brown fur, two huge tusks, a pig nose… not much of a chance for error there, but just in case…

The Pokedex' voice filled the air as soon as she pulled it out of her pocket.

"Piloswine: The Mellow Pokemon – Ice/Ground type. The thick fur that covers its body serves as protection from the freezing cold as well as a refuge for Swinub and similarly small Pokemon. Its tusks are perfect for digging up food and items that have been left buried under the snow and, though its legs are quite short, the roughness of their hooves is such that the creature will not slip on ice even during one of its characteristics stampedes."

"Really? That's it!?" She glared at the Pokedex. "Ugh! Hey Barry, what's going on there? What's the wound look like?"

Barry took off his shades and pressed a hand against the bloodstained fur, and though the Piloswine let out a pained growl it did not stop him. His eyes narrowed in concentration first, and widened with horror a moment after.

"It's… it's kinda deep I think!" His voice shook slightly. "Puncture wound for sure. Maybe… it was one of the Sneasel?"

"Swaaai…"

A low grumble extended through the snow around them and Inyssa could feel the vibrations in her boots. The Piloswine tried to move its head. It was hard of breathing, but still it continued to groan and moan.

"Swaa….swieei!"

Barry raised both hands, a clear look of panic on his face. "We'll get you better, just stay put! If I close the wound then I can…"

"No, wait." She stepped closer. "That doesn't sound like pain. Well, not all of it."

"What?"

"I think… maybe it's trying to tell us something?"

They stared at each other for a heartbeat, and judging by the unmistakable gleam in his eyes they both got that idea at the same time.

"You think Uxie…?"

"Doesn't hurt to try."

Turning her eyes golden took a few more seconds than she had expected, though that may have been due to the state of her body. However, once she did, everything seemed clear again. She felt whole, focused. And most importantly, she felt that ever-reassuring presence floating behind her.

"Well?" she asked. "Can you understand what it's saying?"

"Perhaps," it said. "It doesn't work the same way as human language does, though. Depending on the species and the particular Pokemon, I might understand them perfectly or not be able to make out what they're saying at all."

"That's good enough!" said Barry, taking something out of his backpack. "You two try that out; I'll try to clean the wound."

Inyssa walked and knelt at the other side of the creature, placing a hand atop its forehead. She didn't know if it was due to her skin being so hot, but she felt it alarmingly cold.

"Were you trying to tell us something?" Her voice was slow and deliberate. "Can you try again?"

"S-swaai…swee…" It blew a gust of air, shaking its head. "Swaahee!"

Inyssa felt a shiver down her spine, one that had nothing to do with the cold.

"Oh, I believe I got some of that," said Uxie. "What she said was…"

"Trainer," she finished its sentence. "She said… trainer, friend. Then… then she said the word dead."

There was a clear silence that stretched for much longer than it should have. Even Barry paused for a second to look over the body of the Piloswine, one eyebrow raised.

"Did you…?"

"Yeah, I heard it too. Dunno how."

"…Interesting."

A sudden gust of wind hit her in the back of the head. There was the sound of tape being ripped off and then Barry stood up with the suddenness of a spring, gulping.

"I… I think I did all I can do," he said. "I cleaned the wound and stopped the bleeding for now… I'm pretty sure."

She stood up as well, feeling the world go out of focus for a moment.

"You still have an open slot in your team, right?" she asked. "Try to capture her. It'll keep her safe for now and we can send a distress signal for someone to pick her up and take her to a center."

Barry looked down at his belt with uncertainty. "I… but didn't she just say she has a trainer?"

"Dead was also a word she said, Barry." Inyssa didn't mean to sound snappy, but her voice betrayed her. "We don't know what happened. We have to get her to safety first and forem–"

It felt like the storm halted for a moment. Less than that; an infinitesimal instant in which the sound of the wind disappeared completely, leaving the place in complete silence. Then, breaking that silence to pieces, the scream came.

It was the loudest, most bone-shaking shriek Inyssa had ever heard. Pain and distress were etched into every single note of it and as it spread through the air she could have sworn the storm itself intensified around her, wind roaring in response to that scream. Both of them froze, then turned their heads toward the source, at the left of the path.

"W-what the shit…?"

"I-it came from the forest." Barry's voice had lost all semblance of confidence and strength. "Sounded like a girl, didn't it? S-she probably needs our help!"

Inyssa grit her teeth so hard they hurt. Shit, it just had to be deep inside the forest… still, she couldn't quite disagree with Barry. It was taking every ounce of willpower she had not to start running in that direction.

She clutched at her chest with one hand, and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Catch that Piloswine and send a distress signal," she said, voice suddenly firm. "We'll go see what that scream was and if we get in trouble at least the rangers will know where to find us."

"Right!" Barry nodded enthusiastically, taking an empty ball from his belt. "Alright, here…"

The Piloswine went into the Pokeball without a hitch, which actually raised more than a few questions, but they didn't have time to think about that at the moment. As soon as Barry placed it in its holster and sent that distress signal, they were off.

Thousands of black spires joined the endless white as they ventured into the forest, the shade from the thick leaves above making it, ironically, a lot easier to see what was around them. Still, they couldn't proceed as fast as they wanted to. If running on snow was a pain in the ass already, doing so when surrounded by plants, rocks and roots all over the place made it down-right suicidal, not to mention the dozens of eyes they both felt on them the moment they stepped inside.

"Kuro, keep your eyes peeled," she said as they advanced. "Doubt the wild Pokemon will attack us but…"

"Something had to wound that Piloswine," nodded Barry, a fierce look on his face. "You too, Pedri! Don't drop your guard for a second!"

"Krhaa!"

"Oleeeo!"

However, even without the two Inyssa was pretty sure even a Greninja couldn't have sneaked up on her. Her eyes were still gleaming gold. Instead of turning them back to normal before, she had decided to keep bringing forth Uxie's power for as long as she could, knowing that the full brunt of her body's exhaustion and fever would catch up with her as soon as she turned back to normal. That was unacceptable right now. If she could keep her senses enhanced until they found the person that had made that scream, then at least…

A clump of snow fell from a branch high above, almost giving her a heart attack. She noticed the Zubat as it flew off, glancing back one last time before disappearing past the cup of the trees. Could it feel Uxie's presence? They couldn't be too far away from Lake Verity. Perhaps the Pokemon around here remembered what once slept deep in the hearth of this place, and sensed her carrying that presence with her.

If that means they'll keep away then good news for me, she thought.

They found the girl less than five minutes after. Until then Inyssa hadn't realized that she'd been leading Barry and their Pokemon, walking ahead of everyone as though she knew where she was going. And, as it turned out, she did.

"Hey, there! That's her!"

Barry caught up to her and together they reached the figure kneeling amidst two oddly-bent pine trees, a multitude of snow clumps surrounding her frail body. The girl sat with her back to them, wearing nothing but what looked like a white kimono with light blue highlights at the sleeves and a red ribbon tied around her stomach.

"W-whoa…"

To say her hair was white would have been putting it lightly. Were it not for the red ribbon and the skin of her hands showing past her kimono, she probably never would have noticed her. Her hair was long and weightless, as though a cloud had been woven into fabric and then stuck to her scalp. Each strand moved slightly with the wind, making it look like the girl's head was underwater.

"Are… you okay? Hey, we heard a scream and…!"

Barry took a step forward, and that's when the weirdness of the situation caught up to Inyssa.

Those Sneasel from before, the wounded Piloswine, a scream from a girl that –despite her skimpy outfit in such a weather– looked fine and unharmed and the way they'd been practically led deep into the forest by such a strange strand of events…

In actuality, she probably would have thought of it sooner. By the time realization dawned on her, however, it was too late.

The girl looked over her shoulder, and both trainers froze in their tracks. The sclera of her eyes were a bright yellow and her expression showed such powerful regret and despair that it felt as though a bucket of frozen water had been dumped on them.

A beep resounded throughout the forest. Both trainers looked down to their belts as their Pokeballs opened in unison and a red beam of light returned Kuro and Pedri to their respective ones, unprompted.

I… what…?

"Nice! So it really works, huh?"

They had no time to react to the voice, as a second after there was a loud crackle followed by a bright light. Inyssa gasped, every muscle in her body contracting in agony.

As she fell, body completely paralyzed, she was reminded of the last time a beam of electricity had struck her.

The snow cushioned their fall, though it did little to ease their fear and confusion. They heard the sound of multiple steps around them, and that voice from before spoke once again.

"Call Asta. Tell her to come immediately." There was a clear tone of excitement in her voice. "We got them."