Breaking the Ice

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

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I took first watch that evening. The night was cool and crisp, a slight breeze rustling my hair, which I pulled back behind my shoulders. We had returned to the entrance of Pinwheel, enough to get out if there would be danger and far enough in to sleep feeling protected.

Glaceon rested peacefully on my lap, her ears twitching occasionally to the wind. Startle, refusing to go into his new Pokeball, had made a canopy of silk in a tree up above. He snored softly, and it assured me all was well. Monique scrunched together a pile of leaves and twigs and rested her head on it, her fiery orange hair draping over her soft, sleeping face. Her mouth opened slightly, blowing a strand of her locks in and out of it.

I rubbed my cold hands together and turned my gaze back towards the sleeping forest. Expecting to see Orange jump out of the bushes at any moment, I kept my shoulders tense and the adrenaline pumping.

Glaceon shifted on my lap, opened an eye and peered lazily up at me. I smiled at her and she closed them again, a slight smile on her face as she drifted off again. I examined the delicate snowflake designs on her long, icicle-like ears, something I never noticed before. They glimmered in the little starlight among the trees, small flashed of silvery snow crystals. Mesmerized, I let myself go off-guard for a moment. A big mistake.

The wind picked up. Startled, I looked up from my lap and stared into the bushes again. Glaceon flinched against the bitter coldness of the wind, but stayed unconscious. Startle shifted in his silk canopy up above. For a second, Monique's mouth closed, but then opened again. After the gale of strange wind, I thought I heard the faintest sound of feet against twigs.

I sat still, all my senses on alert. At first, I heard nothing but the soothing sound of my breathing. Then I heard the feet again. Louder this time. Closer. I could sense a pair, or more, of eyes burning on my skin. I jumped to my feet, waking Glaceon, who growled and faced the bushes fiercely. My little angel knows the drill already. I smile in my mind and jump over some broken leaves and twigs to reach Monique's side. I gently shake her shoulder, catching a glance over my shoulder at Glaceon on guard.

"Huh? Goway..." She grumbled, still half asleep. She shoved my hand away and rolled over.

"Monique, wake up," I hissed under my breath, just loud enough for her to hear. "Someone is watching us." She sits up immediately, rubbing her eyes. Peeling the strand of hair from her mouth, she looks towards the bushes.

"Who?" Monique whispered. "I see no one." I still can't ignore the prickling feeling on my back that we aren't alone. I let out a low whistle under my breath and look up at Startle's canopy. The little Pokemon shifts again and pokes it's little leafy head above the soft silk. I nod at him, and he disappears under the weaving again. Startle is a sharp Pokemon. I figured out already he has advanced survival instincts and is very loyal for such a little pre-evolved Pokemon.

Glaceon looked at us over her shoulder as Monique and I approached silently. She pointed her nose in the direction of the trees and growled.

"Gla-glaceon." She murmured quietly.

"Waddle. Sewaddle." Startle replied quietly, his voice muffles from the thick silk. Sometimes I wonder what the two of them talk about. After the initial hostility between the two at first, Startle and Glaceon became pretty good friends in the timespan of the night.

We sat for a while, listening again for the sound of twigs. I didn't hear anything, but I still felt eyes set upon us. A moment later the sense became stronger, until I knew what was happening. We were being ambushed.