“Steel, what the hell is that?” Galvin questioned, pointing to the object in his friend’s hand.

“…Someone’s dentures….”

“That’s nasty.” Brass quipped as he walked through the tall grass.

“Well, yeah, but someone is missing them. Maybe I can give them to the officer and they can find the owner.”

“I guess, but that’s kinda gross still.” Steel shrugged and took a seat next to Galvin. She had her fill of pokemon hunting but now she had to wait on her friends. How boring. She huffed and pulled her bag into her lap.

And so, they sat on was water’s edge for quite some time. Steed was staring to get bored rather quickly and began to draw pictures in the dirt. Suddenly Galvin’s fishing rod tugged downwards as he yawned.

He grits his teeth with a smug grin and tugged. The pokemon broke the surface but it was still resistant. Galvin tugged harder on the rod and jerked it in the direction of the sky. The slim serpent creature went up in the air and crashed down at the foot of the trainer, effectively beaching it.

With a grin Galvin threw a safari ball, hitting the pokemon on its head. Galvin grinned as the camouflage covered device ceased its wobbles. He proudly collected the device and left the Safari with Steel, leaving Brass to continue his adventures in the tall grass.

“Hello and welcome to the pokemon center,” the nurse greeted. “How may I help you?” Steel slowly raised the hand holding the dentures. The Nurse’s face fell. She wasn’t expecting a trainer to present this to her…

“Someone lost these in the Safari Zone miss.”

“Oh, those probably belong to the Warden, he’s missing his and no one can understand a single thing he’s saying!” Steel thanked the woman and ran off. Nurse Joy turned back to Galvin and smiled, accepting his pokemon.

Steel burst through the door in her usual crazed manor, flailing arms and screaming. She received no response to her actions. The lone old man was sitting at his table to the corner of the room with a frown on his face.

“Hellllllo! I’m here to return some lost dentures!” The old man’s gaze suddenly shot upward and he looked just like a Growlith chasing after its favorite tennis ball as he ran over. The old man snatched his teeth and put them into place.

“Thanks lil missy, I lost my teeth some time ago! Not a single person could understand what I was saying!”

“I bet it’s hard to talk without teeth sir…”

“Darn touting it is!” The old man waddled off to the desk in the small home. He began to pull and throw things from the desk drawer. Light weight and heavy object flew haphazardly leading Steel to hide under a table. The meteor shower came to a halt as the elderly man pulled out a aged silver disk. He inspected it for a moment and handed it over to Steel.

“Here you go Missy, a HM 04, strength!”

“Oh… Thank you sir.”

“Who are you again?” the old man suddenly asked. Steel awkwardly took a step back.

Hands on the invisible walls was the only way to get around the Fuchsia City Gym. It was either that or she was going to crash into walls over and over and get another nose bleed. Galvin wasn’t fond on the idea of nosebleeds. With a sigh he lectured himself. What a fool he was to think getting to the gym leader was so straight forward!

Still, at least he god the job done. He glanced at his new heart shaped badge and placed it in his silver badge case as he exited the gym. He made his way back to the pokemon center as Steel came back from the shores with Bubbles… who was no longer a Wartortle. Steel smiled and waved.

“Hey Galvin!”

“Hey, Bubbles… evolved… he looks quite impressive.”

“Yep! I made sure to train him up to evolving. There’s not a ship left in the city, and by the time Brass beats the gym leader tomorrow they still wont be back so Bubbles will take us to the next gym!”

“Really, no ships?”

“Sadly.” Steel sighed, reaching into her coat pocket. She pulled out a white handkerchief and used it to clean the drying blood from Galvin’s face. He went red sightly. Steel tucked the dirty cloth away when she found him clean. “C’mon, let’s go back to the poke center. You and your pokemon should be tired after that battle.” Glavin nodded and followed his friend back to the center.

After a nice hot meal served by the nurse each of the pre-teens called to check up on their home and family. Everything seemed to be in order and nothing unusual happened, but each lied about recent run ins with Rune and night stayed at hospitals. Galvin gazed out the windows once more in that direction to the northeast, the power plant. He wasn’t even sure why he would stare off at it, he just had… a connection, which made no sense.

He let out a small sigh, resting his head on his knuckle and adjusting his seat on the windowsill. Steel approached but he didn’t even notice her until she hugged his arm. He blinked in surprise and lifted his head to face her. He shifted his body onto the center of couch under the windowsill. Steel hugged his arm tighter, he managed to pull it from her arms and wrapped it around her shoulder.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked casually. She nodded into his chest. “Wanna talk about it Steel?” she was silent for the following moments before she nodded again.

“I’m just scared… Hilda is going to come and get me you know… and, she’s really powerful… I don’t… I don’t think I can stop her.” Her fists clenched around the material of his night shirt. Her voice was small, hesitant and quivering, so different from what he usually heard come from her. “None of us can…I cant bare the thought of her hurting you or Brass either! I’m scared to be alone, I don’t know any more if I’m ever alone… what if I’m being watched by Rune? Even right now?” Galvin stroked her hair as she began to weep and he pressed his forehead to her’s.

He sighed softly, trying to find words. This was a delicate subject, it was his own mistake that saved his life but installed fear into his dear friend.

“They wont hurt you,” Galvin final spoke. “And you’ll never be alone. Just… whistle or something… yeah,” he smiled softly. “whistle, and I’ll come running. I’ll become the strongest trainer in all of the regions. I’ll protect you from Rune. I’ll… I’ll do everything I can…”

“Galvin… but… what if…?”

“I’ll get hurt without a doubt, but they wont kill me. You’re my friend, and I’ll do anything for you.”

“You’re brave…” Steel muttered, glancing aside.

“I guess,” No. He was pretty scared himself but he had to protect her and be there when she was emotionally vulnerable. He knew it was the right thing to do. He glance down to her. She had fallen asleep. He could not blame her, it was late after all. Effortlessly Galvin lifted Steel up and made his way to the room. She was placed in the second bed from the window, Galvin carefully pulled the sheets over her body before jumping in the empty bed.

As anticipated there was not a single ship in the docks. Steel let out her starter water pokemon in the cold ocean waters and the trio climbed on. When Steel gave Bubbles the okay pokemon set sail southwestern. As the group came closer and closer to the Seafoam island, the only roadblock to Cinnibar island, the temperature dropped drasticly and chunks of ice were found floating in the water. Bubbles masterfully maneuvered around the ice and he made it to the sands of Seafoam islands. Amazingly, and horrifyingly, a blizzard howled from the depths of the cavern.

“Stay close when were on land. The last thing we need is to get separated.” Galvin explained leading the group, he located a ladder going down. This lead to a waterway so Steel let out her starter once more. Bubbles jumped into the water and the trio climbed aboard. The group aimlessly floated down the chilly waterways and soon the blizzard became worst.

“Ugh, we must be getting close to the source…” Galvin muttered. He shivered and rubbed his hands together, trying to warm up. Steel shifted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Brass squinted his eyes at the sight.

“Make ooooout.” he bellowed. The two went red and glanced away from each other. Brass chuckled just as the weather got worst. The blizzard hit harder and soon it was almost impossible to see. Bubbles let out a groan as it’s head made a dull thud with contact with land. The trainers climbed off and Steel returned her pokemon to its pokeball. Galvin took Steel’s hand into his and she took Brass’s. The trio trecked across the icy terrane and for a moment, Steel was sure she heard a voice.

A voice calling her name. It wasnt a voice she heard before but it was so familiar. All common sense was lost as she pulled her hands from friends and ran into the frozen envorment. She could hardly hear her friends over the howling winds.