Breaking the Ice

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

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I was awoken by the toot of the boat's horn. I heard Monique groan, and I did too. I opened my eyes as the boat lurched to a stop.

After counting to make sure all my Pokeballs were present, I rubbed my eyes and stuffed them into my pockets. I exchanged a glance with Monique, who smiled.

"Ready to go, partner?" She asked. I smiled.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I answered. When the stream of people eager to get off the boat started filling up the aisles, Monique and I decided to wait until they thinned out to join the line.

"Where are we going to go after this?" She asked me. "We're finally home. In Kanto." The thought filled me with happiness. With so much adventure in Unova, Kanto seemed far off. But here we were, docked in Vermillion City, in my home region.

"I want to go to Pallet," I said suddenly, surprising myself. "I want to see my mom again. I want to tell her I'm safe." Monique gave me a sympathetic look.

"Sure, we can head back there." She replied. "It'll take a couple days with some fast walking, but we can probably get there before Orange catches on."

"Or Hickory," I added. Monique nodded her approval. By that time, it was safe to stand, so Monique and I abandoned our seats and scurried to the back of the line. The amount of people had dropped drastically, which was a relief.

"Ms. White," The man at the entrance cooed, and tipped his hat. Monique didn't waste a moment, and gave him a flirtatious smile and batted her eyelashes. Once we were out of earshot, I started laughing really hard.

"Oh gosh, Monique," I gasped. "That was priceless." Monique was laughing as well and she nodded.

"I hope that guy never sees me again," She added. "Or I'll be in trouble!" This made us both laugh even more until we were close to tears. Once we were finally able to stop, Monique and I studied our surroundings.

"Where are we?" She questioned after a moment.

"Vermillion City." I replied without hesitation. Every school I had attended studied Kanto maps very thoroughly, so I knew the region like the back of my hand. Almost.

"Okay then, smarty, which way is Pallet Town?" Monique tried again with some sass in her voice. I chose to ignore it and turned my head so it viewed the ocean.

"It is almost directly across this small body of water," I started. "But if you'd rather take the long way we can cut around it and go through part of Viridian Forest. Which you burned last time you entered." Monique gulped and weighed the decisions.

"Ellie," She moaned. "Do we have to do either?"

"Yes. It's your pick."

Monique groaned again, and our last water experience flashed through my mind. It wasn't nearly as bad as all the times we stopped in the forest, I thought.

"Too late, we're going over the water." I decided.

"What? You said it was my pick!" Monique protested.

"Yeah, well you took too long. Hurry up, before people start to notice us." I took a step into the bay and noticed the water start to slush under my foot. I didn't realize how much my powers had grown until that moment. After everything that happened...what was my purpose?

I took another step into the liquid and was pleased when it froze completely under my touch. Monique gulped and shifted uneasily behind me.

"Not again...gosh dang it why am I still keeping up with this..." I heard her muttering under her breath. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, Monique. Here we go!"