Pokemon: An Icy Path

Chapter 12

“Pix. Vul Vulpix. Vul.” 

I can hear Skadi talking to someone as my brain starts to come to life. I shift myself slightly as I am laying on my stomach in an uncomfortable way but as I start to move I experience a burning hot pain on my back. My eyes begin to water at the intense pain as I curse under my breath. I take a deep breath slowly to help regulate the pain in my back before I open my eyes.

I seem to be laying on some kind of cot in a wooden building of some sort. I lift my head slightly to get a better look around. The room itself is simple, with minimal decor only just enough to show that the place is lived in. I notice a window in the wall directly in front of me where an odd bird pokemon is perched. The bird has a white head that shifts between crimson red and lapis blue as the light hits the feathers. On its wings, the leading edge is black on either wing but the trailing and flight feathers are crimson on one side and lapis on the other. The bird stands about a hundred and forty centimeters tall as it sits on the window sill.

“Fletch!” My movement seems to alert the pokemon as it opens its ice blue eyes and looks at me before chirping loudly. The pokemon then hops down next to me and gently rubs its head against mine. When it touches me, I feel this odd sensation of heat and chill at the same time. It takes me a moment to realize that the bird I was seeing and is now rubbing me is Zephyr.

“Hey sweetheart, I’m loving your new look.” I croak out as my throat feels like sandpaper from how dry it is. A few seconds later, a streak of white comes into the room and hops up next to my head on the other side from Zephyr and starts to rub its soft and fluffy head against me. “Hey Skadi, I’m happy to see you too. You two were amazing and thank you for protecting me.” I smile lovingly at them while I slowly moved one of my arms up to pet them.

I hear a snort from nearby and then a female voice with a hint of vexation speaks up. “That they did. It took me forever to get them to allow me to treat you. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but your bird there looked like it was ready to kill anything that got close.” 

“I’m sorry about that, I wasn’t in any place to give any complicated orders.”

“It’s no problem. How are you feeling?”

“In all honesty, like every nerve in my back is on fire.” I scoff while moving my head to see who I am talking to. What I find is a girl of seventeen or eighteen standing about a hundred and seventy centimeters tall in the door frame looking at me. Her hair is a silver gray color cut into a medium bob that matches quite well with her bronze colored tanned skin. I can see the lines of lean muscle faintly showing under her skin. She is wearing a black bodysuit that leaves nothing for my imagination. 

She scoffs at my statement with a slight smile on smallish face. “Funny you should mention being on fire, as your wound currently is.”

I give her a dead-eyed stare, not looking impressed as she is surely joking with me. “Really, joking with an injured girl?”

“I’m not kidding, your back really is on fire. The flames seem to be repairing your back instead of harming it. First time I’ve ever seen this.”

I look at Skadi hoping that what I am hearing is false. Skadi just looks at me for a moment and then nods. Well fuck. Just what else is going to change about me? Am I turning into some kind of monster? 

“Fuuuck.” I let out an exasperated sigh and drop my head on the pillow. “Any idea on how long it will last?” I ask in a dead tone.

“Well, in the short time we have been talking your wound has gotten smaller, so maybe an hour or two?”

“Could be worse I suppose.” I sigh again before looking at the girl again. “I’m Frost by the way, Frost Oak. Thank you for taking care of me, I would rather not wake up in the middle of a forest.”

“It’s no problem, us girls need to look out for each other. I’m Bea Hakumei. I’ll let you rest for now. I took the liberty to wash your outfit as it was covered in blood and dirt and it is just beside the bed.” Bea points to a spot I couldn’t see well as I had a big bird in my way. “Also, you really should wear some underwear. I wasn’t quite expecting the show.” She added meekly as her cheeks darkened with a blush.

I blush at the same time and apologize. “Sorry about that, not much I can do about that.”

Bea shakes her head and mumbles something that I don’t quite hear before turning around and heading back out the door. “I’ll be outside training. Let me know if you need anything.”

As I watch Bea’s back disappear out of my sight, my eyes admire the muscles in her back and toned backside moving out of my sight. Once she is gone I suddenly blush heavily as I realize what I just did. I close my eyes trying to calm myself only to have images of Bea’s sculpted buddy appear vividly in my mind. 

“Down girl, just because she is the first sexy girl you have seen you don’t need to perv on her.” I berate myself quietly. “Those abs and that ass though.” I shake my head hard to try and clear my thoughts only to wince in pain from the sudden movement. “Right, still healing.”

Now that I was alone with my thoughts, I notice a small blinking snowflake that seems to sit just outside my vision. I focus on the snowflake and have two message boxes from my system show up.

[Congratulations host, you have survived an encounter with a pokemon nest. You have received one gacha spin.]

[Congratulations host, you have defeated a pokemon by your own power. You have received one gacha spin.]

I raise an eyebrow at the messages. The nest encounter must have been the Beedrill swarm. I shiver slightly as I remember what happened. I never want to see another Beedrill if I can help it. The second message must be when I punched the one that is the reason I am laying here. All I can remember from that is that my punch somehow caused the Beedrill to turn into a block of ice and then a feeling of emptiness. Everything else past that is foggy until I woke up here. I dismiss the messages and decide to call up my status page.

[Status:

Name: Frost Oak

Age: 16

Bloodline: Heavenly Glacial Ice Phoenix (active)

Aura: Active

Cultivation: Gathering

Harem: 0

Gacha Spins available: 3

Pokemon: 2]

I notice that my status now shows a cultivation level. I seem to be in the gathering stage? I try to recall the different stages of cultivation and slowly the information floats to the surface of my mind. The stages of cultivation are Gathering, Condensation, Foundation, Formation, Nascent, Severing, Seeking and Immortal. Besides the stages, I don’t really know anything else. It is just some vague information that as I get stronger, more features of my bloodline will appear. Putting aside my cultivation that I only know the basics of, I turn towards my gacha spins. Seeing that I have three spins I decide to use them now. It’s not like I can do anything for the next few hours anyways. I mentally command the system to spin and hope for something that would help me heal.

[You have received a Potion of Resistance. The potion of Resistance increases your resistance to type energy for one hour.]

[You have received a jar of dirt. The best friend of pirates!]

[You have received the Multiverse Music Player. This music player plays music from all over the multiverse.]

The three items appear on the bed in front of me. The potion is a small test tube sized vial that shimmers in various colors. The next item is a glass jar that is slightly frosted due to weathering and is filled with dirt. The last item is something that really catches my attention though. It has the shape of a large silver snowflake with a hexagon around it that looks like it is to be worn as a hair accessory. I can’t see any way to connect headphones to it until I notice that the hexagon has a small line on it. I pull on the outside slightly and two silver ear cuffs in the shape of snowflakes appear. I place one on one of my ears and it gently wraps around the edge of my ear, leaving it unblocked. Just as the clip finishes attaching to my ear, music starts to play in a quality that makes me feel like I am hearing it at its best version. 

It takes me a moment to realize what song it is but when I realize it I just have to sigh at the irony. It’s ‘Into the Unknown,’ a very fitting song for my current situation. I awkwardly put the other ear cuff on as well so I can listen to the song properly. As I listen to the singer hit those high notes I get a few goosebumps on my arms from the music induced frisson. After the song finishes, the next one makes my eye twitch slightly and I know that whoever set up the first few songs was messing with me. At least I like the song and decide to sing along with the chorus.

“Let it go, let it go; Can't hold it back anymore; Let it go, let it go; Turn away and slam the door; I don't care what they're going to say. Let the storm rage on, The cold never bothered me anyway.“

I spent the next few hours playing with the music player and singing along to songs that I knew and playing with my pokemon. Eventually the fiery pain in my back started to diminish and then it disappeared. I gingerly started to move around and upon noticing there is no pain, I slowly sit up. Once I am sitting up I grab Skadi and give her a hug and a kiss on the head before doing the same thing to Zephyr as they both deserve all the love. 

I look around and find my clothes and bag sitting on a chair nearby. I walk over and pick up my dress and examine it. The front looks perfectly fine as Bea mentioned she washed it but when I look at the back I am shocked by what I see. There is a frayed gash that goes from the left hip all the way to the right shoulder. The beautiful blue fabric now has dark areas around the gash and where gravity had caused my blood to spill down the back. There is no saving it now as it should be nearly impossible for me to fix or clean. 

I frown and fold it up before putting it in my bag with the shoes that are still in good condition. I pull out a black front tie crop top and a pair of jean hot pants and my sneakers before putting them on. The clothes feel slightly uncomfortable as they restrict the ice energy that my body was producing in the areas that are now covered. I did not realize just how much the dress I got from the gacha was doing to make me comfortable. I really hope I can fix it as the style has grown on me.

Once I finished dressing, I place the potion and jar of dirt in my bag and then attach the music player to my hair like a hair clip. I put my bag on, I pull out my phone and open up the pokedex. I point my phone at Zephyr to finally see the information about her evolution and changes.

[Fletchinder, the —- pokemon]

[Fletchinder launches embers into the den of its prey. When the prey comes leaping out, Fletchinder’s sharp talons finish it off. Its speed right after takeoff already puts it in the top speed class of all bird pokemon. The hotter the flame sac on its belly, the faster it can fly, but it takes some time to get the fire going.]

[Warning: This pokemon has undergone genetic changes. Please seek out your sponsoring professor for accurate information.]

[This Fletchinder has the ability Thermal Exchange]

[Warning: This ability has never been seen on this pokemon species. Unknown changes may occur, please seek out your sponsoring professor for more information.]

[Fletchinder knows the following moves: Growl, Peck, Defog, Quick Attack, Ember, Flail, Acrobatics, Steel Wing, Frost Breath, Heat Wave, Flame Charge, Ice Burn]

[Warning: This pokemon knows moves that are incompatible with its species. Please seek out your sponsoring professor for assistance.]

“Well Zephyr, I see you have changed drastically. Enough that you are causing the pokedex to throw warnings.” I take a look at all the warnings that popped up after scanning Zephyr and smiled wryly. Once I get to Pewter I will contact Grandpa and have him look over Zephyr. I turn to look at Skadi and hold my phone up ready to scan her. “Any changes I should know about before I can you?” Skadi just tilts her head cutely and shakes her head at me.

[Vulpix knows the following moves: Powdered Snow, Tail whip, Howl, Moon Blast, Iron Tail, Disable, Spite, Ice Shard, Icicle Spear, Icy Wind, Confuse Ray]

Seeing as there are no errors and just updated information on her move set I relax and put away my phone.

“Alright ladies, let’s go see what Bea is up to.”

I walk outside with my two pokemon trailing behind me and look around for Bea. I hear the noises of impact coming from nearby and I head in that direction as Bea said she was training. As I turn the corner of the house I come to a stop and stare at what is going on in front of me.

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