Pokemon: An Icy Path

Chapter 21

As I step into the corridor back towards the waiting room, my music player starts to play “Legendary” by Skillet. I smile slightly and adjust my step to be in time with the music as I close my eyes slightly and bop my head as I sing along internally. I also notice that I have a blinking notification in the corner of my eyes but I ignore it for now as I want to celebrate my win. I reach the near the end of the hallway and see a league trainer who motions for me to go through a different door than the one I came out of. 

Passing through the door, I enter a small room that practically screams corporate office with a single desk in the center where someone was sitting. The person behind the desk was an older lady with graying hair tied up in a bun so tight that it was a wonder that she had any hair left, my skull hurt just looking at it. She looks up as I approach her desk and I see she has a face that makes it look like she was sucking on a lemon. I return her sour look with my own impassive face.

“I see you have won, first one today at that.” She says with a miniscule frown. “The scene you created out there has screwed up our schedule as it will take nearly an hour to clear the arena. We are not a gym that normally sees high level battles so none of the staff we had on hand today are equipped to handle such matters.”

“I apologize, but for me it was the only way to win.”

“That is what you trainers always say. Very well then, I will mark your trainer records with the information that you will cause widespread terrain changes so that other gyms will be properly staffed in the future. I have also credited your account with your winning from the gym. You may leave now.”

Thanking her, I sharply turn and walk out the door. I’m glad that my face is naturally impassive or else my eye would be twitching from having to deal with a Karen. I guess you can’t escape from them by changing what universe you live in. As I step out into the lobby, I am greeted by another wave of cheers from those that were watching my match. 

I walk out of the gym and quickly find Bea and Flannery waiting for me. I head over to them and give them a small smile and hold out a hand with my fingers in a “V” symbol. The two of them burst out laughing as my actions don’t fit with the air I am currently giving off.

“Fantastic fight Frost! You had everyone captivated with your battle, it was like watching an end of season fight. It is rare to see someone change the environment during their first ever badge.”

“Captivated was right. When you stepped out of the hallway, everyone was stunned by how hot you are.” Flannery gives me a teasing smile as her eyes trail across my body. I blush slightly at her comment and look away slightly. Unlike that guy earlier, her gaze makes me feel hot inside rather than sick. I shift my stance a little, wanting her to look more. “Where did you buy that dress? It gives off quite a statement.” 

I think for a moment, trying to come up with an answer. In the end, I decide to tell a small lie. “Grandpa got it for me on my sixteenth birthday. I’m not sure where he got it.” I give a small shrug, hoping they drop the issue. “Let’s take a picture for Pokegram! Since I’m all dolled up, we might as well take advantage of it.”

We find a place near the gym that isn’t full of people and take a few pictures for us to post. I make sure I tag Bea and Flannery when I post the pictures. I still don’t have any followers besides the two of them, but it doesn’t matter, I just post because I want to.

We post our pictures, and shortly after we head towards the Pokecenter so that I could heal up my pokemon and get changed. As much as I like this outfit, it would be impractical to wear outside of gym battles. After dropping off Skadi and Zephyr, I head up to my room and spend the next thirty minutes trying to peel my dress off. I had a much easier time putting it on by myself but trying to get it off is a different story.

When it is finally off I make sure that I toss it in the wash and take a quick shower to remove my makeup. I step out of the shower and while I let myself dry in the air and undo my hair, I check the notifications that I got after the battle.

[Congratulations host, you have defeated a strong trainer. You have earned one free gacha spin.]

[Congratulations Host, you have won a gym battle and earned a badge. You have received four free gacha spins.]

I blink for a moment and mentally tally up how many spins I have gotten in the last twenty-four hours and I realize I am sitting at ten spins currently. I check my gacha and I see an option that allows me to do a ten plus one roll. I don’t know if I would receive a good item with the plus one, like what is popular in gacha games back on earth, but I can see a reason to save up on rolls instead of using them as I get them sometimes. I still don’t know everything that I could get. I decide that I will do the rolls tonight after we finish having our celebration party.

*~*~*

I arrive back in my room with a small smile on my face. I had just spilt from Bea and Flannery after our party. We found a cafe that had an all you could eat cake buffet so the three of us spent our evening chatting, laughing and just having a good time, like usual when we are together, until we called it for the night as we wanted to head out early in the morning as we had spent long enough in Pewter City.

I grab my pokeballs and let out Skadi and Zephyr who look around the room and spot me with a smile on my face.

“We won ladies! Skadi, you did a great job setting up Niflheim and Zephyr, you were my heavy hitter. Hopefully our next badge will be easier as we are dealing with Water. At least it won’t be full of direct counters to us.” I tell them as I give them a hug. They reply with a bunch of happy sounds and cuddle back into me. 

After a few minutes of our cuddle pile, I go about making sure I am ready to leave in the morning. Once I am sure everything is packed up and ready, I pull off my clothes and toss them into the bag as well. As much as I dislike the fact I have to wear practically nothing, it is rather convenient to get changed.

I settle on the bed and everyone gets into their usual spots. I mentally pull up the gacha and take a deep breath, hoping for something good before I press the spin.

[Congratulations host, you have received a bottle of mountain air]

[Congratulations host, you have received a The Yuna Special]

[Congratulations host, you have received a Potion of Invisibility]

[Congratulations host, you have received a Potion of Mind Reading]

[Congratulations host, you have received an oversized Cat Hoodie]

[Congratulations host, you have received Haku’s Jutsu Scrolls]

[Congratulations host, you have received Ravioli Di Aragosta made by Erina Nakiri]

[Congratulations host, you have received 10 meters of  Soft Silk Rope]

[Congratulations host, you have received a Potion of Animal Friendship]

[Congratulations host, you have received a set of Silver Friendship Rings]

[Congratulations host, you have received a Platinum Armband]

I look at the notifications on what I have received with some intrigue. Though one of these items is not like the others. I sigh and stand up before walking into the shower and clicking on the accept option for the Yuna Special and closing my eyes. After a minute of waiting and nothing happening, I open my eyes to see nothing. I start looking around the rest of my room and I still don’t see anything. I let out a sigh and decide to let sleeping cakes lie.

I settle back onto the bed and click on the accept option for the rest of the items. The first item is a sealed plastic bottle with a label that reads “Premium Bottled Air from Mount Offal”. I decide that I am going to just place that in the trash when I leave, no need to open it or ask questions. The next things to appear are three test tube sized containers with liquid in them One of the containers looks empty but I can feel something moving around inside of it, another is a murky white liquid that has little images of animals appear briefly and the last is a purplish liquid that has a faint pink glow to it. 

These must be the potions, I will look into the tier details later, for now I have more stuff to check out. Next I look at a folded black square that I easily recognize as a hoodie. I used to wear them all the time back on earth and this sort of oversized hoodie that could act like a dress was just my thing. On top of the hoodie was four items. One was a bundle of neon pink rope that felt comfortable to touch, I could feel my eye twitch as I knew what that was to be used for. Next was a trio of silver rings with cat’s eye stones in them; one ice blue, one amber gold, and one flame red. These would be perfect for the girls and I to wear. The next item was a scroll of white paper edged in blue and tied with a blue kumihimo tied around it. The last item was a platinum ring that was too large to wear as a bracelet or anklet. When I took a closer look, the shape of the ring looks like a Ninetails in mid run. The eye of the Ninetails is an expertly cut sapphire. 

I pick up everything and sat it on the desk next to my bag where I find the final item. On the desk sits a white plate with three beautiful ravioli in a light reddish brown sauce and a green garnish of kale fronds. The food looks so perfect that I have to take a picture of it first before I sit down and pull out a fork from my bag and enjoy the treat. From the moment I placed the first one in my mouth, all the way until I finished, I felt as if I was swimming in an ocean with all sorts of fish playing with me. I don’t know how food could do this, but I was not going to complain. My only complaint was that it was gone and that it effectively just ruined my taste buds. 

Once I no longer feel as if I am floating, I quickly wash up and head back to the bed where I settle down and begin my nightly meditation. I’m not sure how to further progress my cultivation technique so for the moment, I just watch the pulse of energy and slowly fall into a trance that passes the time.