Four Paws and A Tale

Chapter 26: Jacob

There it is, Alcarmia Castle. It must have been grand in it's prime but now, it was little more than abandoned ruins. It stood, a stone fortress, an immense tower seemingly dropped into the frozen wastelands of Northern Ardua. The castle was encased in ice giving the stone a blue tint.

A lake gave way to veins of frozen rivers flowing haphazardly around the castle, large icebergs drifted quickly through the fast-flowing water. Getting through that was going to be a problem. I stood on the edge of the harsh landscape and I could already feel the cold. I remember Tertle saying you didn't know cold until you've swum in the waters of Northern Ardua. This must be what he meant.

I made my way towards the castle and immediately sunk in the deep snow, this wasn't working. Time to practice my evolution. A flash of light, an Espeon. Nope, wrong one. Another flash, Sylveon. Wrong again. A third flash, a Glaceon, there we go, that's better.

I'm going to have to practice more if I want to gain better control. It still didn't make any sense, why could I evolve and devolve at will? Evolving an Eevee is no simple task, the evolution can depend on lots of things; stones, environment, time of day. I mean come on, what the heck? This is like bad writing or something ☹

I guess Palkia thought I needed some help? I guess that kinda makes sense but at the same time, it doesn't, it explains nothing.

These were the thoughts I was thinking as I approached the castle, light-footedly stepping on the snow and no longer sinking, damn, Glaceon are cool (Pun intended). Stopping a little way short of the lake and its many icy rivers I noticed a small wooden jetty leading onto the river, there was a girl standing on it.

She wore black track pants, a purple and black knee-length coat and a light purple scarf. Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail with a red bow. She's pretty. Looks like a bad-ass.

She jumped. Off the jetty and landed on a passing iceberg, it wobbled a little but stayed upright and she didn't fall. I let out a low whistle. Impressive. The iceberg carried her down the river and out of sight.

Yep definitely a bad-ass.

I'll have to avoid her if I see again. Well, time to get moving. I changed into a Vaporeon and dove into the water. Two words came to mind.

Instant regret.

It was freaking cold! Tertle was right, the chill ate away at the bones and I could feel myself going numb, swimming ain't gonna work. An iceberg passed over head, I jumped onto it deciding to copy the girl.

Now to get warm, evolve! Leafeon... More regret. Again, evolve! Flareon. That's better. I floated down the river and jumped off my ship landing in front of the castle.

*****

I searched for what seemed like hours, burning through icy roadblocks and running across slippery floors, strange sounds echoed throughout the castle, sounds of battle, somewhere high above, probably just wild Pokémon. All that evolving really takes it out of you, staying in an evolved form made me tired and I could only hold it for so long. Now a shivering Eevee rejoiced as he finally found the library.

It was only small, a square room of which large bookcases lined the walls. In the middle was a table with chairs around it, one had fallen over.

I walked to the nearest shelf, time to begin searching.

"Jacob."

I froze. I know that voice, but it wasn't the same. It was... Cold. I turned slowly.

"Pixie..."