Simon was jumping around in his seat. He needed an answer soon or he would explode! Him mom had to let him see Steel!

“ I suppose so,” the woman finally answered. “I asked Elm when he had a visitor over, a professor Oak I think, and he said he knew Steel. He said she was a sweet girl and she’s traveling with friends so I wouldn’t have to worry about both of your safety with all that Rune bui-” the mother was suddenly cut short as her son propelled himself into her stomach and hugged her tightly.

“Thank you mommy! Thank you!”

“Aw, how come Simon gets to go to Kanto Mrs. Locke?” the child sitting on the leather couch questioned. The woman smiled, approaching him and kissed the boy on his head.

“Simon is going to meet an old friend Nicky.”

“What friend?” the boy huffed “Simon doesn’t have any other than me and Kairi!”

“Well, I guess we were wrong!” the woman giggled.

“But I don’t want him to go!”

“He won’t be gone for long and he will come back.” the little boy continued to huff and gazed angrily as young and excited Simon danced around with his Sentret. Nick slowly sat back down on the couch and pet his prized Pikachu with a forlorn look on his face.

Soon a rapping on the door came and the mother answered it. She smiled as she greeted the young freckled farm girl with a steaming fresh apple pie with her Miltank at her side.

“‘After noon ma’am. Can the boys play today?”

“They can but it won’t be a long time today.” the woman smiled accepting the gift.

“Why is that ma’am?”

“Simon is going to see a friend in Kanto, and his ship is leaving today.”

“Golly! That means you’ll be going to Olivine City! I’ve always wanted to go there!”

“Maybe you could ask your mom, it would only be for a few hours.”

“Maybe I could! Could I borrow your phone ma’am?”

“Of course Kairi,” the mother smiled warmly. “you’re always welcomed in my house.” the young girl skipped to the stool situated by the phone hanging on the kitchen wall. After a few minutes of conversation the blond cheered. Her mother said yes!

“That’s wonderful!” in the background Nick huffed. The woman approached Nick, draping a heavy yellow winter jacket over his shoulders. “Now, as soon as Simon packs up we’ll go to the city together! We can go site seeing and eat together at a fancy restaurant!”

“That sounds like a swell time!” Kairi grinned. The blond girl hopped onto the couch and the Miltank curled up by her feet. The two friends remained on the couch, Nick completely unhappy and Kairi jittery as she could be.

Steel slowly shifted her body upwards, hair flowed over her shoulder and her dulled brown eyes stared at the door. Did someone mention her name? She sneezed and threw herself back down on the bed. She shuddered, pulling her feet under the bed sheets and wrapped her body in the sheets for warmth.

Of course. December was coming and it was only getting colder… maybe the first snow would come soon… she sighed and nuzzled her pillow. Steel curled under her sheets and returned to sleep.

…

Winds howled loudly, snow and hail fell from the sky and yet, Steel did not seem to notice or even care. Even if she was dressed in a simply white dress. Her hands were cupped; catching the falling snow and throwing it back into the sky with a giggle.

Suddenly something small and blue fell from the sky. Steel reached out and caught it. She quickly cupped her hand so it would not escape, whatever it was. She curiously opened her hands slowly to see a tiny blue bird looking at her.

Tiny blue bird pokemon were not common in Kanto, in fact it was impossible. The only region with wild blue birds Unova and by a thin branch, Hoenn.

“What do you value?” the bird tweeted. She blinked. What the hell?

“What…?”

“What’s your favorite thing?” thing? Well, the ring that once belonged to her mother. Mrs. Selma was a nice woman and all but she wasn’t her mother. Any piece of her parents was valuable to her. The house in Viridian was in ruins and most likely never to be purchased and never repaired. Rune, which was to be her’s one day, was under Hilda’s iron rule and twisted. Anything of her parents was precious to her…

“My mother’s ring…” she spoke softly. The bird suddenly pressed and squished itself into a small glowing orb and flew into Steel’s gaping mouth. She was completely off guard and tried to cough up the bird but no anvil. The light of the bird traveled down her throat to shoulder span and down the arm with the prized ring. The light seemingly entered the ring and blasted a powerful blinding light

Steel flung herself upright, heaving. She hacked and coughed, no feathers came out. A dream? Well, that was probally okay. But at the same time no it wasn’t. Steel grimaced at the memory of her dream. She ate a bird. How weird could she 
get?

Sitting up the sheets pooled around her waist letting in another chill of cold air. She shuttered and huffed, crawling to the window and opened the blinds to be greeted to the sight of Kanto’s first snow.

Well. That explained the cold. No matter! This was a perfect opportunity to try on her new winter clothes she purchased in Celadon City. Giddy already, Steel grabbed her bag and rushed for the bathroom with such speed the door loudly slammed shut, startiling the young pokemon.

“For the love of Arceus!” David scowled, he pointed at Brass and Galvin “Control that psycho! She can’t go around scaring the injured pokemon.”

“Now, now” came the voice of an elderly man. The gaggle of boys turned to the man. “I’m sure the girl meant no harm to the pokemon. She seemed excited to say the least. What a thrill it must be to be young.”

This old man was Mr. Fuji, the grandfather to David and his sister, and master caretaker of sick, weak and injured pokemon, and even people. After helping put the restless spirit to rest the old man graciously opened his home to our heroes.

Galvin sighed. “Brass, you do have winter clothes, right?”

“No, why would I anyway? It’s not even cold.” Galvin gave his friend a questioning look.

“Brass, it’s the f-”

“The first snow of the season you nitwit!” David snapped

“Pffst, it’s not even cold.” Brass scoffed. Galvin continued to give his friend a look. There had to be a door of snow outside and the temperature was low. The could be no was he was not cold, even slightly.

“Good morning guys!” Steel greeted as she skipped down the halls with a heavy black winter jacket with white fur trimming on the shoulder and around the hood. “Morning. That’s a nice coat by the way.”

“I know!” she smiled and pointed to the pair of heavy brown pants he was wearing. “It’s for you! I knew it would match your pants!” unsure how to respond to that he just slipped the jacket on. A perfect fit. He quickly checked Steel’s attire as she approached Brass, offering him a coat and scarf (both that he rejected.). Steel had purchased herself a pair of white fur boots with a bubble design, black leggings, a heavy gray coat, black scarf and the white Trainer hat from the fashion line.

“What do you mean you’re not cold?” Steel huffed “It’s cold as tits!”

That was probably an extreme.

“Look Steel go eat, if he gets cold later he can get the jacket then.”

“Fine.” with a huff she stalked off. Galvin sighed. Why couldn’t his mornings be normal?

After eating up the trio took their leave, bidding the Fuji family farewell. As they exited down they found more people were roaming around. Was it possible that the channlers informed the people? Well, maybe when some new trainers come to town they wont face any hostilities.

Lucky them…

Mrs. Locke lead the children out of her humble home and to the from yard. She pulled a pokeball from her pocket and tossed it into the air. From the white light an Altaria appeared. With a smile she loaded the children onto the giant bird and took a seat in the crook of the bird’s neck. With a smile she ordered the bird to fly in the direction of Olivine City.

The Altaria cooed, spreading its cloud like wings. It took off into the air and among the clouds. An hour of flying vanished in what seemed like minutes as the group landed before the city’s Pokemon Center. First the mother came off, then she assisted Simon and his bag down, following Nick and finally Kairi. The woman returned her pokemon to its pokeball after thanking it.

“Look Mittens!” Kairi cheered letting her Miltank from its pokeball. “It’s so beautiful! Way better than I imagined!”

Yes, the twilight lit city was quite a sight to behold. Lamps glowing, port streamers and flags flapping in the salty wind and the ocean was clear and shimmering. It was something compared to New Bark Town and Fields.

Kairi watch a girl and her Ampradose walk by. The child gasped. Could this be the super cool lighthouse pokemon she heard of? The temptation to approach the pokemon was high, but was killed when the owner noticed her. The elder girl smiled shyly and wave at her. Kairi slowly waved back.

“Kairi dear!” Mrs. Locke called “don’t fall behind! You’ll get lost!”

Oh right. She was here to send Simon and Scarfy off.

“Right, com’ in’ ma’am” Kairi hastily called back. Grabbing Mitten by a hoof she rushed to her friends and squeezed between the boys with a cheeky grin on her freckled face.

The young woman with brown hair and an Amphradose smiled fondly.

“Kairi… What a pretty name.” she smiled to her pokemon, grasping it by a stubby hand they continued their walk to Glitter Lighthouse. “Come along Ampy. It’s time for another day of hard work.”

“Amp.”

Steel hummed with a thoughtful face. Slowly she reached to prod the sleeping mound of flesh and fur to confirm her suspicions. As she thought, it was not sleeping but instead hibernating!

“Oh my Arceus!” Galvin grunted “Steel, stop poking it. It’s obviously hibernating. It’s the start of winter.” she was about to snap back when the tweeting of a flute entered the air. The pokemon twitched slightly. The two trainers turned to Brass to find that he was the one playing the flute, terribly no less. “What are you doing?!”

“Waking it up. Mr. Fuji said this flute can awaken a sleeping pokemon.” He put the instrument back into his mouth and made some more random notes. The face of the pokemon twisted and consorted. With a surprisingly tiny yawn the Snorlax stirred, heaving the body upright. With excitement Brass threw aside the flute and let Lanna out.

“This will be easy! Lanna! Use False Swipes!” the young pokemon nodded, she jumped forward and slammed the blunt end of her femur bone right against the head of the Snorlax. With a yelp the pokemon tumbled over. Brass licked his lips, pulling an Ultra Ball from his pocket. With a click of a button the yellow-black striped ball enlarged and Brass threw it like a baseball, smacking the pokemon on the head.

The Snorlax was engulfed in a red light as it was sucked into the colorful sphere. The Ultra Ball fell to the ground, wobbling back and forth. With a click and a ding, Brass knew he successfully captured the pokemon.

“Sweet! I’ll call her,” Brass picked up the pokeball with a grin. “Jojo!”

“Are you sure it’s a girl?” Steel questioned

“It let out a girly yawn so I think it is…” the two shrugged, content with that answer, even if it was a boy Jojo would still fit.

“So, you taught Lanna False Swipe?” Galvin glanced to said pokemon, which was hugging Brass’s leg, looking for some recognition. Brass nodded as he leaned down to pat the pokemon on the back.

“What is False Swipes anyway?” Steel questioned with hands on her hips and huffing as the trio ventured forward and into building that represented the entrance to cycle road. “It totally smacked the crap out of Jojo.”

“False Swipe is a move that can knock a foe down to near fainting,” Galvin explained. “It works best on wild pokemon for some reason…” Steel’s mouth curved into an ‘o’. Together the trio began to assemble their foldable bikes when a guard asked them to pull out their vehicles. The gang bike through the automatic doors and into the chilly air once more, almost missing the warning about the road being a tad slick.

No matter they biked forward. Steel huffed at the lack of conversation. Brass was biking along casually, as if he was not cold in the slightest; Galvin maintained a cautious speed and being mindful of his two friends. Maybe she could spark something!

“So last night I had a dream, it was snowing and I ate a blue bird.” This took them by surprise, to be expected. With gawking expressions the boys two bikes collided, and they fell. Steel yelped and skid to a stop. She rushed to her friends side, worried that they were hurt.

“I’m sorry!” she fretted “I didn’t mean to make you-”

“You had a dream like that too?” Galvin questioned. She blinked.

“Too? You mean you had a dream like that Galvin?”

“So did I, but my bird was red” Brass added “and there was fire, or an eruption or something going on in the background.”

“An electric storm and a yellow bird.” Galvin sighed.

“That’s weird. Why would we all dream something so similar, on the same night?” Brass pondered. Galvin shook his head. He dusted spots of snow from his jacket and pants before setting his bike upright.

“We can talk about this in privacy; it would be weird for someone to overhear us on the road.” Brass and Steel agreed upon this and hopped back onto their bikes. They continued the ride in silence. This whole adventure was so abnormal! What happened to just collecting badges and making friends! Kids her age weren’t supposed to have trippy bird eating dreams or have to worry about crime syndicates trying to kill them. Steel let out a soft sigh.

‘I sure wonder what Simon is doing now… I hope he’s having a good time with his family…’

The small group exited the dinner, a bag of left over in the hands of the females. Simon smiled brightly. Soon his ship would be leaving soon and he would be going to see Steel! He was getting giddy already. The mother reached into her wallet and pulled her son’s sea faring ticket out. His ship was to sail within the hour…

“Simon,” the young child ceased dancing. His mother handed over the ticket with a smile and pat him on the head. “You’re ship is leaving soon, so why don’t you board on now?”

“Okay mom,” Simon suddenly dropped his bag onto the concrete, he quickly zips it opens and shuffled around for something. From the bag he pulls out a small black box. The boy grinned as he handed it over to Kairi.

“Happy birthday Kairi!”

“Golly,” Kairi awkwardly took the gift from her friend. She looked to him and the box. “Simon, it’s not even my birthday yet! It’s not well into the month yet.”

“I know, I don’t know if I’ll be back in time so I wanted to give it to you early instead of missing your birthday.”

“That’s mighty kind of you partner…”

“Open it up Kairi!”

“Okay, okay, hold your Ponytas…” with a smile Kairi opened up the box and gasped. Inside was a golden chain bracelet with a single sapphire heart shaped gem hanging from it. “S-simon..! This is…” she shook her head “I don’t think I can take this…”

“You don’t like it?” The boy asked dejectedly.

“No, I really like it. But there’s no way I could ever get you something as great as this Simon…”

“Don’t worry!” he smiled. “Having you as my friend for a whole another year is a greatest gift ever!”

“You sure partner…?”

“Yep!” Kairi smiled, her young fingers pulled the box to her chest. Simon stepped forward and hugged her. “I’ll see you soon! So don’t worry.” Simon turned to his brother with a cheeky smile, dragging him into the hug. “I’ll miss you too Nick!” the brunette boy huffed.

“Yeah, I’ll miss you Simon…” Simon pulled away from his friends and threw his arms around his mother, burring his face into her stomach.

“I’ll miss you mommy! But don’t worry, I’ll be a big boy. I’ll be responsible and I won’t get in Steel’s way!”

“I know you will dear,” Mrs. Locke kneeled down and pecked her boy on his forehead. With a hug she sent him off. Wondering if it would be this hard when her little boy left for his league adventure in a few years

Getting on the boat was a relatively quick process. He was given his room key and map of the ship. Finding his room was a bit confusing; thankfully a few adults were helpful enough to help him out. He found himself confused yet again although. The room Steel paid for was huge! A concierge suite with a balcony view to be exact. It had everything, living room and dining room, bedroom, a ginormous walk in bathroom, closet and so much extra space. Floor covered in white carpeting, tables and counters with marble finishes, walls and cabinets with wooden finishes, green curtains to cover the gaping windows and balcony door. How did she pay for all of this?

The boy threw himself down on the couch. His loyal pokemon partner joined him, curled up on his chest, contently purring. The boy stared up at the ceiling with excitement when there was suddenly a loud crash and bang from the halls. Curiously, he climbed up from the couch and exited into the halls to find a young woman with long black hair on the floor in a heap. Gee! What was she doing on the floor?

He noticed a white stick on the floor and picked it up to poke at the girl.

“Hey… miss, what are you doing on the floor? You don’t sleep on that…” the girl twitched and pulled herself upright. She was frowning and in tears.

“Did you hurt yourself?”

“No… I just locked myself out of my room and I don’t know where my roommate is… oh what can I do?”

“Uhm, you could stay with me for a little while,” he pointed to the door behind her. “this your room right?”

“I don’t know… I think it is.”

“You don’t know?” Simon parroted with curiosity in his young voice. “Why not?”

“I cant see, I’m blind. I’m going to Kanto to get help… none of the doctors back home in Sinno could help me…”

“Oh…” Simon touched the girl’s hands. She pulled herself up to her feet with a sniffle and lead her back into his room across the hall. “I’m Simon by the way…”

“Linda, Linda Banks.”