Encounter at Snowpoint, Part 2

The next morning, Lucas approached the edge of the balcony after an early rise.  He looked down to see his three ailing friends asleep on the same couches as the night before.  All of the pokemon had spent the night outside their pokeballs.  Pachirisu nestled on top of the blanket behind Kelly’s knees while Pichu snuggled on the pillow by her head.  Lucas chuckled at the sight.  He looked over to see the two Dragonites had slept back to back in the corner, and Arcanine was curled up next to the fireplace, which had stayed lit all night.  Kangaskhan leaned on the back of Tom’s couch, while Feraligatr slept soundly on the floor to the left of it.  Every pokemon that had helped out the day before had a place…except Blissey.

            Lucas headed down the stairs and around the corner into the kitchen.  Sure enough, Blissey was there preparing a pot of tea.  Four pieces of toast popped out of the toaster.  She quickly grabbed them and put them on a plate with some jam.

            “Need any help?” Lucas asked.

            Blissey nearly jumped out of her skin.  “Blissey!”

            “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Lucas apologized.  “It looks like you have everything under control anyway.  Tom sure is lucky to have you as his pokemon.”

            Blissey blushed.  Lucas helped her prepare a tray and carry in the toast and tea.  Together, they carried breakfast into the living room.  As they were setting it down on the coffee table, the three sick trainers were stirring awake.  To Lucas, they looked about as miserable as they were they day before.  He almost regretted waking them up.

            “Morning,” he said softly as they struggled to sit up.

            “Morning,” Kelly yawned groggily.

            “How do you guys feel today?”  Lucas almost didn’t need to ask.

            “I feel like I’ve been run over by a herd of stampeding Tauros, I don’t know about you guys,” Tom groaned with his face in his hands.

            “Well, maybe getting food in you will make you feel better,” Lucas suggested.

            “Yeah, if we don’t throw it up first,” Robert uttered as he took a bite of his toast.  Kelly just looked at her toast as if it would take an eternity to eat.  She instead went for the tea, hoping for better results.

            “If you guys feel up to it, you really should go see a doctor in Snowpoint City today,” Lucas pointed out.

            The three groaned at the thought of leaving their couches.

            “I think it would be wise,” Lucas continued.  “The weather is clear for now, but this area is prone to frequent blizzards.  If you guys get sicker and we’re snowed in, that would mean trouble.”

            “He’s got a point,” Robert agreed.  “We should get to civilization before we get any worse.”

            Tom and Kelly still looked uneasy.

            “It’s not that far,” Lucas assured them.  “And we can take as many breaks as you need.”

            After a few moments of debating, Kelly and Tom finally agreed with Lucas and Robert.  The three ate their breakfast while Lucas took care of the pokemon and all the rest of the chores that needed to be done.  He then helped his friends bundle up for the journey ahead of them.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

            Lucas may have said it wasn’t very far to Snowpoint City, but to the other three it felt like ages.  The four trudged on as snow began to steadily fall.  Pichu sat on Lucas’s shoulder, looking back at Kelly each step of the way.  Every chilling snowflake that hit Kelly’s cheek was like a little needle poking her.  The air was so cold it burned in her weakened lungs.  She began to feel dizzy.

            “Guys,” she breathed.  “I’ve got to sit down for a minute.”

            With her legs feeling like noodles, she stopped in her tracks and eyed a nearby stump.  She sat down, already feeling relieved.

            Suddenly, the stump squealed and moved out from under her.  She was thrown face-first into the snow.  Looking behind her, she saw a little pokemon break into tears and scurry away.

            “Are you alright!?” Lucas exclaimed, rushing to help her to her feet.

            “What is that thing?” she questioned.

            Lucas chuckled.  “That’s a Snover.  They’re harmless.  It’s the parents you have to worry about.”

            Just as Lucas said that, the bushes began to rustle.  Soon, they were face to face with a very tall, angry looking pokemon with the Snover cowering behind it.

            “Abomasnow!” Lucas gasped.  The Abomasnow let out a cry of rage and began to draw its breath.

            “Look out!” Tom shouted.  Suddenly, Kelly, Lucas, and Robert felt themselves being shoved to the side.  The three fell to the ground just as the wind began to kick up. Snow poured from the giant Abomasnow.  The wind was so intense it howled in their ears.  They could hardly see in front of them.

            “Magmortar, I choose you!” Lucas exclaimed as he threw a pokeball.  Magmortar appeared.  Flames poured from its hand at Abomasnow.  Startled, the Abomasnow and Snover ran deep into the woods.

            The wind slowed and the snow began to settle as Lucas helped Kelly and Robert to their feet.  They looked over at where Tom had pushed them out of the way.

            “Oh no!” Kelly cried.  Tom was frozen in a giant block of ice where he stood between his friends and the Abomasnow.  The three rushed over to him.

            “Magmortar, use Flamethrower, quick!” Lucas exclaimed.  Magmortar obeyed, using Flamethrower to melt away the ice that surrounded Tom.  Steadily, the block around him disappeared.  

Once the ice had been melted away, Tom began to collapse.  He fell right into Kelly’s arms, and they both collapsed to the ground.

            “Is he okay?” Robert questioned.

            Kelly could feel Tom shivering violently.  She looked up at the other two in dismay.  “It’s not good.”

            “We’ve got to get him to Snowpoint City or he won’t make it,” Robert stated.

            Kelly cringed at those words.  “We need to find help.”

            “Right,” Lucas agreed.  “I don’t think any of us can lift him.  We need to find Officer Jenny.”

            “We should both go,” Robert said to Lucas.  “Nobody should be by themselves out here.”

            Lucas turned to Kelly with concern in his eyes.  “Will you be okay?”

            Kelly nodded.  “I’ll be fine.  Just go, hurry!”

            Kelly watched as the two boys ran off.  The steadily falling snowflakes grew bigger and denser as Lucas and Robert disappeared from her sight.  She looked down at her unconscious friend, who was still shivering heavily.  She ached for him, feeling helpless as to what to do.  

Just then, inspiration struck.  She tossed Arcanine’s pokeball into the air.  The giant pokemon soon appeared in front of them.

            “Arcanine, we need your warmth,” she said to her pokemon, who instantly knew what to do.  Arcanine huddled up next to Tom and Kelly, blocking the wind for them and warming them with its body heat.

            Kelly pulled Tom close, trying desperately to keep him warm.  The mountains around them were still, and the only sound she could hear was the sound of Tom’s shallow breathing and the snow softly falling to the ground.  She looked down at Tom with tears welling up in her eyes.  The thought of losing her best friend was too much to handle, especially if she was the reason.

            “I’m so sorry, Tom,” she whispered, though she knew he couldn’t hear her.  A tear rolled down her cheek.  She wiped it away, only to have another take its place.

            “This is all my fault,” she cried.  Tears streamed down her face.  “If I had just paid more attention…”

            Her words trailed off as she wiped more moisture from her eyes.  Arcanine brushed its head by hears, trying to cheer her up.  Slowly, Tom began to stop shivering, bringing her a small bit of relief.  She wiped the melted snow from his face, feeling intense heat radiating from it.  His fever had gotten much worse.

            “Just hold on a little longer,” she urged him.  “Help is on the way.”

                                    *                                  *                                  *

            “I don’t like the thought of leaving her out there alone,” Lucas stated to Robert as they rushed into Snowpoint City.

            “Kelly will be fine,” Robert assured him.  “She has very capable pokemon.  It’s Tom we need to be worried about.  He didn’t look so good.”

            Lucas sighed.  “You’re right.  We need to hurry and find Officer Jenny.”

            Just then, they heard the hum of a snow mobile ahead of them.  The snow mobile came into view and rushed past them, spraying powder snow.  They shielded their faces and watched as it doubled back and screeched to a halt in front of them.  The driver was none other than Officer Jenny herself.

            “You two gentlemen seem to be in an awfully big hurry,” she said.  “Is there anything wrong?”

            “Yes!” Lucas exclaimed.  “We were attacked by an Abomasnow earlier.  One of our friends was hit by a Blizzard attack.”

            “He looks real bad,” Robert added.  “We need to get him to a doctor.”

            “Hop on,” Jenny said, gesturing for them to join her on the snow mobile.  “We’ll have to go back to the station and get another snow mobile.  Hurry, we have no time to lose.”

                                    *                                  *                                  *

            Kelly’s eyes flickered open.  With her head leaned against Arcanine’s soft fur, she had dozed off.  The wind nipped at her face and the snow soaked through her hair.  It was getting darker, the sky turning a deep purplish red.  Through the small gaps in the clouds, she could see stars beginning to peek through.  Her breath fogged in front of her.  Tom still lay motionless in her arms.

            “Please hurry, guys,” she whimpered to herself.

            Just then, Arcanine began to growl.  He quickly stood up and turned around.  She looked up at her pokemon to see him looking intensely at the trail behind them.

            “What is it, Arcanine?” she asked, turning to see what was upsetting her pokemon.  A figure was walking toward them on the trail, but Kelly couldn’t make out who it was.  As it got closer, she saw that it was a very tall boy hiking along side of a Glaceon.

            Kelly was stunned when she realized who it was.  “Cole?”

            Cole looked just as surprised.  “Kelly?”

            “Oh my god am I glad to see you!” Kelly breathed in relief as Cole rushed over to her and Tom.

            “What happened?” he questioned alarmingly, seeing Tom’s condition.

            “We were attacked by an Abomasnow earlier.  Tom jumped in and saved us and was hit by the attack,” Kelly explained as Cole placed a hand on Tom’s forehead.

            “He’s burning up,” Cole stated.  He looked up at Kelly’s tired, pale face and put his hand on her cheek.  “You feel warm as well.  We need to get you two inside.”

            “Lucas and Robert went for help,” Kelly informed him.

            “There’s no time,” Cole said, shaking his head.  “My father is a doctor.  We need to hurry before it gets dark.”

            With that, Cole gently slung Tom’s arm over his shoulder and lifted him off the ground.  Kelly placed her hand on Arcanine to steady herself as she slowly pulled herself up.  Using Arcanine to help her keep her balance, she followed Cole as they made their way toward Snowpoint City.

            “I thought you’d still be in Kanto,” Kelly commented to Cole.

            “I just finished,” he told her.  “I decided to come home a little while before I decide where to go next.”

            Kelly nodded.  She shivered as the temperature quickly declined.  The sun was almost completely below the horizon.

            “Don’t worry, we’re almost there,” Cole assured her.

            “I wonder where Robert and Lucas are,” Kelly said worriedly.  “They’ve been gone a long time.”

            Before either of them could wonder any more, Arcanine stopped in his tracks and began to growl.  This time, Arcanine looked ready to attack, looking at the surrounding trees.

            “What has gotten into you?” Kelly questioned her pokemon.

            Suddenly, multiple Abomasnow jumped out of the trees and surrounded them.  They each looked angry and ready to attack.

            “This isn’t good,” Cole uttered.  “Here, take Tom.  I’ll deal with them.”

            Kelly quickly put Tom’s free arm around her shoulders.  She collapsed under his dead weight due to her own fatigue.

            “Are you okay?” Cole gasped.  “I didn’t realize…”

            “I’m fine.  Arcanine, help out Cole,” she instructed her pokemon from the ground.

            Standing between the two weakened trainers and the angered Abomasnow, Cole tossed a pokeball and released his Flareon.  The Abomasnow attacked.  Wind and snow began to pick up.  Kelly shielded hers and Tom’s faces from the chilling gusts as she watched Arcanine and Flareon fight desperately against the enraged pokemon.

            The odds were two to one.  Arcanine and Flareon fought hard, but the Abomasnow were just too great in number.  Cole tried his hardest to fend them off.  After a while, Arcanine and Flareon’s strength began to give out.  The Abomasnow were gaining on them, slowly approaching the three trainers.

            Kelly didn’t know what to do.  She looked down at Tom’s backpack and saw the mysterious pokeball that held Heatran.  Memories of the Champion Tournament flooded back to her.

            “No,” she said to herself, shaking her head.  “It’s too risky.”

            She looked up to see Arcanine be knocked to the ground by an attack.  Snow sprayed her in the face.  Flareon was knocked backward into Cole, sending him crashing to the ground next to them.  Kelly looked back down at Heatran’s pokeball.  She picked it up and stared at it for a moment, arguing with herself internally whether she should risk releasing it.  She closed her eyes and drew her hand back, ready to throw the pokeball.

            Before she could throw it, a huge stream of flames flew over her head at the Abomasnow directly in front of her.  She whipped around to see Magmortar and Lucas standing there, ready to fight.  Robert and Officer Jenny stood behind him each with a pokeball in hand.  Soon, Robert’s Camerupt and Jenny’s Growlithe joined the fight.

            With five fire-type pokemon fighting, the Abomasnow were soon defeated.  Kelly and Cole sighed in relief, returning their weakened pokemon to their pokeballs.

            “Are you guys alright?” Officer Jenny exclaimed as she, Lucas, and Robert rushed toward the other three.

            “We are now,” Kelly sighed as Lucas helped her to her feet.

            “Fancy seeing you here,” Robert said to Cole as he helped him up.

            “Likewise,” Cole replied with a slight laugh.  His face instantly sobered as he looked down at Tom, who was still lying in the snow.  “We need to get you all inside.”

            “I can take you to the Pokemon Center,” Jenny offered.

            Cole shook his head.  “My father is a doctor.  We should take them to my house.”

            “Alright,” Jenny replied.  “We don’t have any time to lose.”

                                    *                                  *                                  *

            The frantic knock on the front door was answered by a tall woman with a confused expression spread across her face.

            “Cole, you’re home!” she exclaimed.  “Who are all these people?”

            “I’ll explain later, mom,” Cole said quickly as he hoisted Tom through the doorway.  “Where’s dad?  We need his help.”

            “He just got home,” Cole’s mom told him.  “I’ll go get him.”

            As Cole’s mother ran up the nearby stairs, everyone else filed into the warm living room.  Cole laid Tom down on the couch and then collapsed into the chair next to it, struggling to catch his breath.  The rest of the group took off their coats and shoes, and then exhaustedly sat on the floor in front of the crackling fireplace.  A few moments later, they heard two sets of footsteps running down the stairs.  A tall, dark-haired man wearing a white lab coat was the first to appear, with Cole’s mom quick on his heels.

            “What happened?” who they assumed was Cole’s dad questioned.

            “My friends and I were attacked by Abomasnow,” Cole replied.  “One of them is really sick.”

            Cole’s dad quickly rushed over to Tom, who was lying on the couch, still unconscious.  Everyone watched as Cole’s parents struggled to get Tom’s wet coat off of him.  His mom hung it up next to everyone else’s by the door.

            “You were attacked by Abomasnow?” she asked the three sitting on the floor, with a puzzled look on her face.  “That’s odd.  They usually don’t attack unless they’re provoked.”

            Kelly’s heart sank.  Her face burned as she looked down at the floor in guilt.  Lucas placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

            Cole decided to break the awkward moment.  “Mom, these are my friends I met in Kanto.  This is Robert, Kelly, and…” – His words trailed off when he realized he did not recognize Lucas.

            “I’m Lucas,” Lucas introduced himself.  “I’m from Sandgem Town.  I met these three when they first got to Sinnoh.”

            “Right,” Cole’s mom said, looking awkwardly over at the couch.  “And…that young man…”

            “That’s Tom,” Cole explained.  “I’m sure you saw him on TV during the big Champion Tournament.  He’s the Champion of the Indigo League.”

            Just then, the door to the kitchen burst open, revealing a young girl with dark pigtails.  She looked as if she had won the lottery.

            “The Indigo Champion is here?” she exclaimed.

            Cole turned his head to face her.  “Hey Candice.”

            “Hey, big brother, welcome home,” the girl said, throwing her arms affectionately around Cole’s shoulders.

            Lucas gasped.  “The gym leader of Snowpoint City is your sister?”

            Candice giggled as Cole blushed.  Cole introduced his sister to the rest of his friends.

            Their dad turned to face them over his shoulder with a serious look.  “Can one of you two grab my med kit and Weavile’s pokeball?”

            “Sure thing, daddy,” Candice replied, bolting up the stairs.  She returned moments later with the things he had requested.

            The doctor released a Weavile from the pokeball, who immediately began assisting him.  Tom’s friends watched as the two tried to bring his high fever down.  Weavile approached him with bandages for his frost-bitten arm.  It smacked right into Kangaskhan.  The pokemon was immediately returned to its pokeball by Robert, who by now was used to that happening.  He and Lucas sighed in exasperation.

“It’s getting late,” Cole’s mom stated.  “I suppose the rest of you are exhausted.  I’ll show you to the guest room.”

The three trainers suddenly realized their own fatigue as they followed Cole’s mom up to the guest room.  The two boys took the bunk beds while Kelly laid out her sleeping bag on the floor.  Lucas and Robert almost instantly fell asleep, but the events of the day would keep Kelly up a little longer.

                                    *                                  *                                  *

            Kelly stared at the ceiling for what seemed like an eternity.  On the other end of the room, Robert and Lucas were sound asleep, snoring loudly.  Pichu curled up in his usual place by her head on the pillow.  She scratched her pokemon affectionately on the head, feeling like she had hardly seen him all day.  Still wide awake, she sighed and got up out of her sleeping bag.  She headed toward the stairs with the intention of getting a glass of water.

            As she was walking past the closest room to the top of the stairs, she heard two male voices talking.  Kelly paused for a moment, thinking that she recognized one of them.  She peeked inside to see Cole’s dad sitting in front of a video phone, which projected Professor Elm’s image.

            “So is Tom allergic to any medications?”

            “Not that I know of…neither he nor his mother have mentioned any.”

            “That’s good.  I may need to give him something to reduce the fever.”

            “Really, is it that bad?”

            “I’m afraid so…”

            The two continued the conversation as Kelly crept quietly down the stairs.  The lights in the living room were off, but moonlight flooded the room with soft white light.

            Kelly practically collided with Blissey as she made her way to the kitchen.

            “Sorry,” she whispered to the startled pokemon, who was tending to her trainer.  Kelly snuck into the kitchen and searched for a glass.  Finding one, she filled it with water and headed back into the living room.

            Kelly stared out the front window up at the clear sky.  The full moon was just over the top of the mountains.  The events of the day kept playing out in her mind as vividly as they first happened.  She blinked away the exhaustion in her eyes.  Her body was fatigued, but her mind could not rest.

It should be me lying on that couch, she thought.  It was her fault her best friend was barely hanging on.  She closed her eyes, fighting hard not to allow a tear to escape.

            She kept staring out the window, lost in her own thoughts.  Just then, she felt a blanket being draped over her shoulders.  Startled, she looked behind her to see Cole looking at her with concern in his eyes.

            “Are you alright?” he asked softly.

            Kelly swallowed hard, trying not to let her emotions show.  “I’m fine.”

            Cole placed a hand on her shoulder.  “Tom’s going to be fine, I promise.”

            A single tear slipped down Kelly’s face.  She quickly wiped it away and sniffed.

            “It’s all my fault,” she uttered, looking down at the floor.  “I upset the Abomasnow because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, and now…”

            She couldn’t finish her sentence before a wave of tears cascaded from her eyes.  Cole put an arm around her to comfort her as she buried her face in her hands.

            “I’m sure Tom forgives you,” he whispered.  “He’s your best friend.  He wouldn’t have jumped between you and harm’s way if he wasn’t.”

            Kelly sniffled as she realized Cole was right, though it didn’t make her feel any better.  She wanted so badly to apologize to Tom.  As she looked back at her unconscious friend, she realized she wouldn’t get the opportunity that night.  She sighed, wiping the moisture from her eyes.

            Cole and Kelly were slightly startled when they heard a set of footsteps coming down the stairs.  Cole’s dad appeared with a small syringe.  He jumped slightly when he realized he was not alone.

            “Shouldn’t you two be in bed?” he commented.

            “I couldn’t sleep,” Kelly uttered.  She looked uneasily down at the syringe in the doctor’s hand.  “Is that for Tom?”

            “Yeah,” he replied, wiping the needle down with an alcohol swab.  “This is guaranteed to bring his fever down in no time.”

            Kelly laughed slightly.  “It’s a good thing he’s asleep.  He hates needles.”

            Cole’s dad chuckled in agreement.

            “Forcing yourself to stay awake is not going to make you feel any better,” he said, reading into her worried expression like a book.  “I can tell you are exhausted.  I promise, Tom will be much better by morning.”

            “Thanks, sir,” Kelly said with a slight smile.  With her glass of water in hand and the warm blanket around her shoulders, she headed back up the stairs, feeling a little more at peace knowing that her best friend was going to be alright.