Snowpoint City was cold.

  It may have seemed obvious, but Snowpoint City was cold.

  Ted was an absolutely miserable wreck of a human being by the time we got off of the boat, completely huddled up in as many layers as he could be and still move around. I had exchanged my tights and skirt for insulated pants, and even Lucas, the most adapted to the cold out of all of us, had put on his thick winter jacket.

  The city itself however, besides being cold, was strangely… silent.

  There were people and Pokémon who wandered the streets, going about their daily lives, but the city as a whole had a hushed feel to it.

  Like a forest after a fresh snowfall, everything was quiet and almost reverent, and even the normally boisterous Lucas fell silent as we trudged along the sidewalks.

  Thankfully, the city had invested in its infrastructure, and the streets and sidewalks were heated so that the snow melted away to keep them clear, but even then it seemed like every step needed just a little bit more energy to keep us moving.

  At the same time, I could see the beauty in it, and how Snowpoint City had earned its nickname: The Wintry City of Glittering Ice.

  I stepped into the street as a gust of wind blew some of the snow off of the red roofs of the buildings around us, staring up in awe.

  The snowflakes caught the light of the sun, and for a brief moment, it was like a thousand tiny diamonds were shimmering in the air around us.

  My breath caught in my throat, and for a second it was like magic.

  Then the wind carried the snow past me, and I had to return to reality.

  The actual process of coming into the town itself was starting to become depressingly similar. We stopped by the Pokémon Center, scheduled a battle with the Gym’s receptionist, and then went to the nearest hotel to rent a couple of rooms.

  In this case, we would have to wait a week to fight Candice, which Ted wasn’t too happy about. In fact, as soon as we had dropped our stuff off at the hotel, he had practically dragged us all along to the nearest store so he could pick up some new winter clothes.

  “This is ridiculous.” He grumbled, trying on a new coat.

  “No, what’s ridiculous is that color.” I said.

  Ted stopped and looked down. “Listen, I agree that lime green isn’t normally my color, but it’s the only one that fits.”

  Lucas groaned as he poked at a few puffy jackets.

  “I don’t understand what you all are complaining about! It’s really not that bad!”

  “Just because you spent your whole life with this kind of weather doesn’t mean that it’s an acceptable way to live!”

  “I dunno.” I said as I knelt down by where Venus was sitting patiently. “It’s a good time to accessorize.”

  Carefully I draped a tiny blue scarf around her neck, while she stared at me pitifully.

  Zetian had come out of her Poké Ball for all of five seconds before she realized how cold it was, and promptly retreated to the Ball so she could sleep.

  Kōjin had the time of his life, melting piles of snow into puddles, until he had finally managed to wear himself out with all of the play.

  Venus, on the other hand, was more neutral on the subject of the snow, but didn’t like the cold. Thus the scarf.

  “Hmm, no.” I said, pulling the scarf off. “Blue isn’t your color. Red maybe? To match your eyes?”

  She sneezed; even in the heated department store it was still chilly.

  The biggest purchase I had made so far in Snowpoint, in the few hours that we’d been here, was the egg incubator that I’d called to have set aside.

  It had been a bit pricey, but it was worth it to know that the egg would be in a safe environment.

  The incubator itself was big and bulky, a glass and aluminum tube that the egg sat in, while warm heating lights kept it at a healthy temperature. I’d had to fiddle with the settings to make sure that it was set properly for a Larvitar, but the constant heat was actually rather nice.

  Most importantly, however, the incubator acted as a shield for the egg, a protective barrier that kept the disruptive, dimension-warping energies of my bag from messing with the baby Pokémon inside.

  This way, as long as the egg was in the incubator, I could safely put it in my bag so I didn’t have to carry around a massive harness everywhere I went.

  It had even come with a little monitor that I could clip onto my belt that gave me real-time updates on how the egg was doing so I didn’t have to constantly pull it out of my bag to check on it.

  Adorably, the monitor was shaped like a little egg, and it reminded me of a tamagotchi.

  “So,” I said, rearranging the new scarf onto Venus’ neck. “What do we want to do while we’re here? We have a week.”

  “Train.”

  “I wanna train.”

  Both Ted and Lucas said together.

  I pouted. “Come on, it seems like all you guys ever want to do is train. What about exploring the town a little bit? Ohh, we could go to Snowpoint Temple!”

  They stared at me.

  “Alina…” Lucas said. “We’re Pokémon Trainers. It’s quite literally in the name that training is what we do.”

  “Everyday that we don’t train is a missed opportunity.” Ted agreed. “Getting stronger, challenging Gyms, this is what the Trainer’s life is about.”

  “Don’t you all ever get tired of just going from city to city only to challenge the gym then move on? What about taking in the sights, enjoying the culture of the places, and exploring?”

  They exchanged a look, and shrugged.

  “No?”

  “Not really.”

  I sighed.

  “Come on, let's get your stuff paid for and go.”

  /^\

  “Welcome to Snowpoint Temple.” The kindly young woman at the entrance said as she bowed. “My name is Maria, how can I help you today?”

  It was a cold morning, but that was par for the course for Snowpoint. I’d made the short trek from the city to Snowpoint Temple, feeling the crisp morning air rasp against my lungs.

  “Good morning Maria.” I bowed back. “I would like to take a tour of the temple today, if possible.”

  She smiled, and the white robes stirred in the breeze. The clothes almost reminded me of a nun’s habit, or perhaps the traditional miko robes.

  “Is it just you?”

  I frowned. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  Ted had been adamant that it was too cold and early in the morning to go for a hike, and Lucas was busy training with his Pokémon. So it was just me today.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Would it be possible for my Pokémon to come out in the temple?”

  “Of course!” Her smile brightened. “We’re happy to accommodate your companions, but there are some restrictions.”

  I nodded. “Let me guess, no Pokémon over a certain size and height requirement, and they can’t make a mess?”

  “Correct. As much as we would love to accept all who come to the temple, unfortunately there are still some restrictions.”

  “That’s fair, thankfully none of my Pokémon should be an issue.”

  “Excellent! Would you like a guided tour, or would you prefer to wander on your own?”

  I hesitated, thinking it over. “Would it be possible to explore on my own?”

  “Of course. Just as a note, the lower levels of the temple are off-limits to all guests. We understand that as much as you might want to explore the temple, due to various reasons the lower floors have been blocked off. It’s for your own safety, you understand?”

  “I understand.”

  “Great! That will be five hundred dollars then.”

  I passed her a coin, and she gave me a little sticker that I put on my coat, and then I was allowed into the temple proper.

  It was all a little bit more tourist-y than I had been expecting, but I supposed the temple had to be maintained somehow.

  The edifice of the building itself was jaw dropping. Beautiful white marble columns and carefully carved bas-relief depictions of the Regis were covered with a light dusting of snow, and the entire building had an air of hushed reverence.

  Appropriate, for a temple that held a Legend inside.

  I wasn’t nearly so deluded to think that I could try and see Regigigas, however. Even if the lower floors were open, I’d still have to navigate down four levels of increasingly difficult trials and challenges, and that was discounting the fact that I didn’t have the three Regis in my party.

  There were also supposed to be Pokémon down there in the lower levels, and I wasn’t going to risk aggravating them.

  Who knew what kind of mystic protections lay down there, and even if I did somehow manage to climb my way down, open up wherever Regigigas was hiding, and wake it up, there was no way I would try and capture it, let alone challenge it to a fight.

  In the earlier games, Regigigas might have been a level one Pokémon, but I was sure that that wasn’t the case here.

  More likely? It would be at level one hundred, or whatever the equivalent was in the real world.

  No, I was content with just roaming the halls of the first level, and maybe, just maybe, I could catch a little bit of the aura coming off of a sleeping Legend.

  I released Kōjin and Venus, Zetian was still hiding away from the cold, and simply wandered for the next hour or so.

  Every so often I would stop and run my fingers along the stone walls, and I was never quite sure if the tingle of electricity that traveled up my arm was due to my imagination, or something real.

  Then there were the statues, magnificent, life-sized statues of all of the different Regis carved out of the same stone as the rest of the temple. The largest and most detailed was, of course, Regigigas, and even though it was just a statue there was a palpable weight around it, as if the mere depiction of the Legendary Pokémon was enough to have some kind of power.

  Despite everything, however, there was a certain sense of dilapidation to the building. Not in the sense that it wasn’t being taken care of, Maria and any other assistants were clearly doing their best to make sure that the building was as clean as possible, but there was a sense of… age.

  Who knew how old the Snowpoint Temple was. The city nearby was named after the temple, after all, not the other way around.

  Even in the old Hisuian days, Snowpoint Temple was considered ancient, and that was hundreds of years ago.

  No matter how many people tried to make sure the temple was in as good as a condition as any, after that much time, even stone began to wear away.

  I stood in the central area of the temple, staring up at the statue of Regigigas, and felt the cold winter air quietly sigh as it flowed through the building.

  Time seemed to crystalize for a moment as I felt the weight of history press down upon me.

  Then I quietly gathered up Kōjin and Venus, and headed back towards the city, making sure to leave a large tip at the entrance for Maria and the other workers.

  /^\

  “I was gone for two hours.” I said, staring at my two travelling companions and their Pokemon. “How did this happen?”

  Lucas grinned up at me as he carefully fed a Berry to a five-foot tall dinosaur.

  “Isn’t it great!” he enthused. “Not only did Hardy evolve, but so did Maggy!”

  “That’s not what I asked.” I felt rather small as the Rampardos huffed, looked at me in the eyes for a long moment, then licked my face.

  Then Hardy went back to contentedly munching on Berries out of Lucas’ hands.

  “It’s not unexpected.” Ted said. “Honestly, it’s a little surprising that it’s taken as long as it has. Hardy and Maggy have been training almost daily for a while now.”

  I hesitated. I couldn’t quite remember at what level Cranidos and Magby evolve at in the games, but I supposed they couldn’t be very high.

  It had been a while, and Lucas was almost religious about his training regime.

  “It’s odd that the evolutions happened so close together,” said Lucas. “But I was expecting it to happen for a while now.”

  Still… I looked at Ted, and he stopped polishing Mayfly’s new metallic carapace for a second.

  “Well, congratulations. What about you Ted, any of your Pokémon evolve yet?”

  He snorted and shook his head.

  “I wish. I’m still on the lookout for a Razor Claw for Switchback, and while Silver’s feeling more comfortable, I think it might be a little bit longer until he’s in a place where he can evolve.”

  That was fair, Cleffa evolved with high friendship after all, and while Ted was doing his best, Silver was still trying to adapt to the world outside of the caves.

  I bet it would come a little sooner than Ted was thinking, however. Silver was a spitfire when he wanted to be.

  “So,” Lucas said leadingly. “Are you going to get Kōjin a Fire Stone before you challenge the Gym? A fully evolved Arcanine would be a great way to level the playing field against Candice.”

  “I don’t know.” I hemmed. “After seeing Kane and Blaze… I’m not sure if Kōjin is ready for that.”

  “That’s a conversation that you’d have to have with Kōjin.” Ted advised. “Evolving naturally is one thing, but things can get tricky when stones are involved. Both parties need to be comfortable with the idea, because forcing a Pokémon to evolve early can be really bad.”

  “See Blaze.” I said.

  “Exactly.”

  “I hope Kane’s Pokémon are doing okay.” I said, carefully petting Hardy’s side.

  “The Rangers and the Aether Foundation know what they’re doing.” Lucas said. “They’ll get the Pokémon to a safe place where they can recover and adapt, or they’ll be kept someplace where they can’t hurt themselves or another Pokémon.”

  “Hmm?” I looked up. “I’m sorry, what? Aether Foundation? Why are they involved?”

  “You don’t know? The Aether Foundation does a lot of outreach and helps Pokémon adapt to new environments, and reintroduce native species to places where they’ve been forced out. They also do a lot to help out unhomed Pokémon.”

  “No, no I know what the Aether Foundation does. I just… didn’t think they’d be involved.”

  I worried at my lower lip. Lusamine could still be a big problem, especially if she was under the influence of the Ultra Beasts. There was nothing I could do about it right now, I couldn’t even leave the region without a passport or another Badge or two, but I’d told Professor Rowan about her.

  Surely he had told somebody about it, right?

  “What do you know about the Aether Foundation?” I asked, trying my best to be sly. “I mean, I only know a little bit because of…”

  I waved at my body.

  “I’m new here, so to speak. What about their founder, Lusamine, was it?”

  Ted gave me a side-eye that told me I wasn’t nearly so smooth as I thought I’d been.

  “Oh, her? Yeah, apparently she was ousted by the Foundation’s board like, three years ago? Four?”

  My train of thought shuddered to a halt and I stared at Lucas, who didn’t seem to think that anything was strange.

  “What.”

  “Yeah, there was a big hubbub in the news about it for like, a week. Ted, do you remember anything about it?”

  The man in question had a strangely smug look about him as he leaned back.

  “Yeah, I remember it. Turns out that one of her subordinates was using a toxin generated from a- Pokémon to mess with her mind. He was arrested, and Lusamine was admitted to a hospital. Last I heard, she was doing better.”

  How have I not looked into this?

  I knew why. I had been too busy trying to figure out my new life here than to worry about Alola. I had told Professor Rowan, but Teams Magma and Aqua were the more pressing matter, as well as the looming threat of Team Galactic.

  But Ted… I narrowed my eyes.

  He seemed to know a lot about the situation.

  If he was a Faller, then maybe he was responsible for all of that. It wasn’t impossible, not at all. According to the games, Fallers might not have been common, but they certainly weren’t unheard of, either.

  Nothing like this had ever happened in the games, but as I’d already figured out, life was quite a bit different here than what I ever could have imagined.

  Ted continued buffing Mayfly’s exoskeleton.

  I rolled my eyes, and turned back to Lucas as he tried feeding Hardy a new kind of Berry.

  Ted’s secrets were his own, and I wasn’t going to go prying, even if I really did want to know the truth.

  But that did raise an interesting question, if Ted was a Faller, and Lucas was… Lucas, did I somehow end up on a team of protagonists? Maybe I needed to invite Dawn along when she started her Journey, she had a good head on her shoulders and wouldn’t get into too much trouble.

  God forbid I run into somebody like Ash or the other characters of the show. Then I’d really be in trouble.

  Still, all of this didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little bit of fun, though.

  “Hey Lucas.” I said. “Have you ever heard of the Ultra Recon Squad?”

  Ted nearly fell out of his chair as Lucas looked up.

  “No, but they sound neat.”

  “Oh they are! Let me tell you all about them.”