Broken Souls

Ice To Meet You

Following a good day of preparation for the month ahead and catch up from the days behind us (including a full scale retelling of the hell we went through), the team and I decide to move on. It's early in the morning when Reginae nudges me awake and I fall back towards him and off the bed. Now that he's so much larger, his gestures have become less affectionate and more mildly intimidating, but he still jumps out of the way when I fall.

"Ashley! I-" Reginae yelps in surprise, but when he sees my content smile on the floor, it sours into a frown. "Oh, come on! Look, I know you're tired, but we need to get up. We're on a tight schedule here!"

"Twenty-seven days, guys. Twenty-seven days." Fang yawns, stretching out and ruffling up his fur. He crawls off the sofa and comes to rest closer to the hearth.

"I don't know." I say, curling myself up in the blankets that used to be on the bed. "Maybe we can ditch the whole world saving thing and stay here. Seems like a nice place to die."
"Ashley!" Reginae whines.

"Joking." I get up slowly, rubbing my eyes, and stagger towards my bag. From the depths of the infinite bag, I pull out a nice set of new clothes, complete with faded jeans and a gray jacket and begin dressing.

"It's not even twenty-seven. It's really more like twenty-four, and even then, we should probably have a few days buffer in case of emergency." Rose pipes up.

"Thanks, Rose. We really value your input, you know? You're just a ray of sunshine." I pull the shirt over my head and look around at the team. Everyone looks thoroughly unimpressed and incredibly tired. "Now, who's ready to grind our way through Ice Cave?"

There's not a peep out of the room, so I take it as an enthusiastic yes and escort everyone out. Staring back at the room, I feel a bit moist around the eyes. The hearth is still full of charcoal from our indoor fire last night. The blankets are a mess. The air smells more like us than lavender and there are imprints on the furniture from where ghosts sat beside us.

I think of two teams in memory, existing side by side. If I come back here again, the chances of all of us still numbered among the living is slim to none.

Still... I want to live somewhere rural when I'm settled down, I decide. Somewhere like this.

It's simple, but it feels right.

The door slams shut and we're off.

The team springs ahead in not-quite pairs, with the newly-emerged Pisces and Fang up ahead and Reginae, Rose, and Ten sticking around behind, discussing battle plans for the Clair battle. I don't want to think about it but I make a mental note to ask them what their plans are later.

"Still no trainers here." muses Ten, taking a swift turn over my shoulder. "Hope they're alright."

"...Right. Makes my job easier." I say, staring down at my Pokegear.

You never answered me. You okay? I ask.

I finally got out of the closet. Morty replies.

Congratulations, I tell him. I consider adding an appropriately sarcastic smiley face but decide against it for his own sake.

How is the team? Casualties???

One. Basil's out. I admit.

Who?

The Arbok.

There's a pause before his answer. Oh.

The air grows cold around me and Reginae 'taps' me gently with his head, and I almost buckle over. "Sorry!" he says. "We uh... we're here though."