Mr. Blue (Namelessshipping)

Chapter 5: Introducing Red

Me: *Squeals at the top of her lungs* "And now...the moment we've all been waiting for...I introduce to you..." *Jazz hands* "Yes, apparently I introduce to you 'jazz hands.'" -_- "I guess I hope you like jazz hands."

........................................................................................................................................................................................

"Yellow! We survive this, right?!" Blue shouts to be heard over the wind howling on the mountainside, shrieking as it rips past the rocks which burn Blue's fingers to the touch, so cold they sting. He notices his hands no longer melt the snow accumulating there as it blows in, carried by the biting wind.

Blue worries she won't have heard him. Probably his voice has just been blasted away by the gusting air. He can also barely see her, though she's just a few feet up and ahead of him. The snowstorm has reduced visibility to near zero and generally made climbing conditions to the summit quite perilous. Somewhere far below them, their beasts undergo the journey upwards at their own far slower, more cautious pace.

"We make it to the top!" Yellow shouts back, her voice just slightly louder than the storm, "But I do not see how!"

"Terrrrrrific," Blue mutters under his breath, barely able to get the words out when he's not shouting them—his shivering overpowers his enunciation otherwise. The two of them are only wearing thin clothes, and Blue is not certain they'll ever get warm again. At least Pikachu's and Pidgeot's fur and feathers are thick, and Blastoise's leathery skin seems like it was made to resist ever having any sensation in it.

Blue hikes his leg up to get a new foothold on the side of the mountain, only for his shoe to come sliding off an ice and snow-slick rock. Unprepared to catch his weight on only three of his limbs, he slips a little but rights himself easily enough. Yellow has also been missing her footholds and handholds here and there, slipping, and even having to be caught by Blue, lest she truly fall. Blue, personally, welcomes her tripping. She still radiates a tiny amount of warmth, and yes, her cheeks are red from the cold, but she flushes even harder when she looks at him.

Blue smiles to himself. He's frozen all the way through but can't bring himself to mind at the moment.

They make slow but steady progress, and the burning cold begins to feel warm or...not so cold. Blue smiles again and wipes his face on his sleeve, keeping the snow out of his eyes for a moment. He must be getting used to the freezing temperatures, and that's nice. He looks up and ahead of himself but can't discern the blurry shadow that is Yellow from the ocean of white. It's happened a few times already. It doesn't bother him.

The wind reminds him of the sea, so much noise, but it has a rhythm to it, a calming feel, like it's just the mountain breathing. He can't hear his own breath in his ears over the din of it, and the gusts whip fluffy flurries of snow past him and blast his exposed skin with tiny shards of icicles. So beautiful, honestly, and not cold anymore. The mountain is nestled in a fluffy white blanket, finer and warmer than any down, just keeping warm. No wonder the rocks were so cold against his hands earlier, exposed to the wind like that. But there's more snow now, whole gusts of it—a beautiful barrage of white—and it's so warm—hot, even.

A cold that burns...

***

Heat comes in waves against his cheek, like standing in front of an opened wood stove. Another gust of heat, but it's so much quieter than the wind on the mountain, isn't it? Something crackles in the background—shards of ice being shattered?

Blue's eyes are closed—when did he close them? He blinks them open now, gaze naturally drifting to the source of the hot wind. A concentric ring of brown, the same color as the soil of the earth, surrounds a circle as black as pitch but filled with fire. A translucent flap of...something comes down and...blinks over the eye.