Chapter Text
Cold. A biting bitter cold that cut right through his coat and into his bones. Waking up with nothing but his name and the clothes on his back was one thing, doing so in the middle of a blizzard was another train entirely.
As another gust of freezing air and snow was blown into his face Ingo reached for his side looking for-
He staggered as his head pulsed with another wave of pain and nausea as his thoughts were derailed. Ingo looked down to find his belt empty, despite his entire being telling him it shouldn’t be. His frown deepening, Ingo moving his hand to tug his cap further down his head. Who… whatever was with him before wasn’t now and he’d have to make do. He continued his trek through the storm, the hollowness in his chest growing the further he traveled.
As he did however he kept getting a nagging feeling of being watched. Ingo looked around to find little but darkness and snow, not even pokemon choosing to brave the harsh weather. Shaking his head Ingo continued on, only for the feeling to return moments later.
He couldn’t shake the feeling no matter how many times he checked behind him. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe the cold was finally getting to him. Maybe it was the feeling deep in his gut that something should be-
CRUNCH
Ingo whipped around to find… a girl no older than 8 staring back at him, with a… what looked like a zorua (How did he know its name? More importantly, why did it look wrong to him?) whose upper body was half buried in the snow as it kicked its legs about wildly.
The two continued to stare at each other, Ingo in shock while the girl stood as though she had been frozen in the storm, leg half raised and eyes staring unblinkingly back at him. Slowly, as though moving slow enough would prevent him from seeing her, the girl set her foot down and plucked the little pokemon from the snow (The not quite zorua had begun flailing about with a smile on its face before it saw him and froze).
Hugging the pokemon to her chest the girl began to slowly backpedal deeper into the st-
“WAIT!”
There was another crunch as the girl’s foot punched through the snow in surprise, as the girl once again stared at him wide eyed and frozen. Ingo took a moment to compose himself, being sure that his voice was much lower when he opened his mouth to continue.
“I-I apol-logize for st-startling you” Ingo tensed his body, attempting to reign in the shakes and shivers of his body, “but I can’t allow you to travel through this storm alone. It would not be safe for a young lady like yourself to travel in such conditions. I must insist you allow me to escort you to the nearest station.”
Ingo bent down slightly and reached out his hand for the child to take. Her gaze however wandered away from him and into the darkness and snow around them. If his admittedly faulty memory served him right he was never popular around children, most being scared of by his ever present frown, but still he couldn’t just leave this girl out here by herself.
Eventually, however, the girl slowly made her way over to him and grabbed a hold of his sleeve, with the not quite zorua having leapt from her arms and keeping a respectable distance from the two.
Ingo felt the corners of his mouth lift slightly, though not enough to really be labeled a smile, as he stood up to his full height. He looked around to find… snow. Ah, right.
“Now if only…”
He felt a tug on his sleeve and looked down to see the girl pointing towards the not-zorua. He watched as the little fox shifted its eyes between the two of them, before huffing and making its way deeper into the storm.
Ingo watched for a moment before he felt another tug and looked down to see the girl pulling him towards the pokemon.
“It is true I don’t know these tracks very well…” He nodded, “Very well lead the way!”
The pair began following the pokemon, Ingo looking out for any sign of civilization. There had to be, after all, where had girl the come from. As they traveled he eventually noticed the not-zorua had not been leaving any tracks in its wake. He turned around only to see one set of footprints from where they came from, causing a chill to run down his back.
He looked down at the girl holding his hand, vaguely recalling ghost stories he and… someone had shared in the past. The girl looked up to him curiously, before giving his hand a small squeeze.
Ingo tried his best at a smile until the girl looked back towards the pokemon leading them and shook his head. He had more important things to worry about than.
Eventually he began to notice the shadow of a cliff face ahead of them before they reached a frozen river. The girl let go of his hand before her and the fox pokemon made their way across it effortlessly. Ingo on the other hand… could not say his trek was as graceful, but he did make it to the other side.
Once across he looked around to see the girl and not-zorua had vanished. Before his panic could get out of control however he noticed a warm light emanating from a cave up ahead. Entering he felt a wave of warmth envelop him as he saw the girl adding chunks of wood to a fire in the middle of the area.
Looking around Ingo felt his frown deepen slightly. This… wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.
“Are you sure that it is safe here, miss…”
He looked down at the girl, only to find she had curled up with her pokemon and quickly fell unconscious. Another spike of panic went through him and didn’t calm down until he confirmed the girl was indeed breathing.
Sighing Ingo sat down by the fire. The cave wasn’t what he’d call the worst shelter, it being surprisingly warm all things considered.
And as his body finally began to relax, Ingo felt his exhaustion crash into him as his eyes slowly closed.
—————
When Ingo woke up it was to a very loud, ear piercing whistle.
Attempting to shake off his exhaustion he looked around, only to find a still barely going fire in the center of the room.
Turning to the entrance of the cave he saw what looked to be an incredibly large pokemon’s silhouette bleed into existence in front of one much smaller figure though his still blurry vision.
Standing up Ingo rubbed his eyes to try and clear his vision. Once he deemed it sufficient enough his gaze returned to the entrance to see the pokemon had turned its back to him and had begun walking away, with… the little girl he was with clinging to its mane.
As the pokemon began to vanish from sight, the girl turned to him before giving him a wave goodbye.
That was… strange.
Eventually the shock had worn off and Ingo slowly made his way out of the cave. Surveying the area he had to admit, when there wasn’t a blizzard raging on the scenery he had traveled through last night was quite beautiful.
Now if only the river hadn’t defrosted.
As he pondered how he was going to make it across without freezing (the pokemon in the river again looked familiar, but wrong at the same time.) Ingo heard something land behind him.
He quickly turned around… and then looked up.
The pokemon before him simply looked down at him, a smirk on its face, before it chuckled.
‘That… is one tall sneasel…’