Chapter Text
Another day, another pile of work to do. Fortunately for Cynthia, it wasn’t paperwork.
One of her many duties as a champion was making sure that the 8 gyms of Sinnoh were up to standard. She had decided to visit the gyms twice a year. And, well, it was that time of the year. She had already visited Oreburgh, Sunyshore, Florama and Canalave, the next on the repertoire was Snowpoint.
She did not like Snowpoint. Mostly because of frequent bad weather because of which she had to go up the mountain on foot. At least she wasn’t one of those people who couldn’t handle cold. It would honestly be surprising if that wasn’t the case given how much time she had spent underground.
After a very painfully long two hours of hiking up the damn mountain, she finally reached Snowpoint.
She sighed, mentally preparing herself for the tedious task of checking if Candice was still doing a good job. She knew that she was, but she had to check anyway, or she would be the one not doing her job properly. She let out yet another exasperated sigh.
…
Cynthia left the gym, everything was fine, just like she expected. Candice was a good gym leader.
It was still snowing, but she looked to the sky anyway, just to be sure that it was. As expected, the weather was just as shitty as when she came here 3 hours ago. The whole ‘gym inspection’ thing was actually over after a little less than 2 hours, but she decided to stay and chat a bit with Candice since they haven’t seen each other in a while and she didn’t have anything else on today's to-do list.
Not having any work left for today made her happy.
Then she remembered that she will have to go down the mountain on foot for like two hours, and that made her frown. She really didn’t want to do that. “Maybe I can wait for the weather to get better and fly down to Celestic town.” But there were two problems with that idea. One, she could be waiting for a week and there is still a chance the weather would be equally bad. And two, there was nothing to do here at Snowpoint while waiting.
After careful consideration, she decided that just going down and getting over with it is the better option.
And so her adventure began.
…
2 minutes in and she is already hallucinating for some reason. She was seeing a familiar figure called Steven Stone. He was going toward Snowpoint. Well, maybe she was seeing things right, but why the hell would he be in Snowpoint.
A few seconds later, their eyes locked and Steven gave a small wave. She waved back.
She hadn’t seen him in almost a month. She was very close to seeing him a day after he joined her and her grandma back then though. She tried leaving for work, but her grandma actually almost called him and that would be awkward because she promised him she wouldn’t do that, and she couldn’t bother him with something like that.
“Hi Steven.” She was smiling again.
“Hi Cynthia.”
“What are you doing in Snowpoint?” She asked curiously.
“I live here?” It was pretty obvious that he was confused by that question. “Well, technically I live by lake Acuity.”
Cynthia was just silent, trying to process this new information. “Why would anyone live there?”
“Did I never tell you that?”
“No.” She answered.
“Where did you think I lived?”
“The Resort area, you know the place that every rich tourist goes to? How do you not get cold there?” Cynthia was in disbelief. She could handle cold better that most people, but this was crazy. That lake was even higher up the mountain, and he managed to find a house there? How?
“Well, I always liked the cold better than hot weather. I think it would be pretty weird if I didn’t, you know, going through caves and all that almost my entire life. What are you doing in Snowpoint?”
“I was just making sure Candice is doing her job right.” She said. “I’m free for the rest of the day, should I ask him if he wants to go get a coffee or something?”
“Are you going back?”
“Yes, I just wish the weather was better so I could fly down, I can’t really say I’m looking forward to going down the mountain on foot, it was enough of a hassle to get here…” She trailed of while thinking about the whole process.
“You got anything else you have to do today?” His question snapped her out of her thoughts. “Nope, done for today.” Happiness in her voice was evident, her mood improved immediately after remembering she didn’t have any work left for today
“… Want to join me for lunch?” He said very casually.
“Sure…” Cynthia’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you inviting me because I was complaining about getting back?” She asked with a slight frown on her face.
Steven chuckled. “No. I’m inviting you because I like spending time with you, and I also owe you one for when your grandma invited me for lunch.”
He could have left that last part out. It would have worked out better for him.
“If you could just wait for a few minutes, I have to do some grocery shopping.”
“Sure.” She said with a smile.
Steven hurried to a grocery store and Cynthia decided to just wait where she was. She was very happy to have met Steven here. It was a welcome surprise.
…
Only a few minutes passed and she saw Steven coming toward her. “He must have hurried quite a bit. I don’t think I could do the shopping that quick.”
“I don’t live that far out, it’s just a few minutes of walking.” He said when he got back.
They started walking, with Steven leading the way. Everything was covered in snow. It was very pretty but a bit hard to walk, Cynthia also imagined it was pretty easy to get lost since you can’t see the trails. Fortunately, Steven did not look like they were lost.
They walked in comfortable silence for about 15 minutes, when Steven broke the silence.
“We are almost here. Lake Acuity should be over there,” He said while pointing to their left. “though it’s a bit hard to tell because of all the snow. But it’s very beautiful when you can actually see it.” He added.
A few moments later, a cottage came into their view. It really wasn’t that far, but the snowstorm made it harder to see.
It looked nice, not too big but definitely not small either. She noticed that the roof was at a sharper angle than that of a regular house would be.
“How come the roof is that steep?” She asked and turned to face him.
Surprisingly, he had a frown on his face. He also didn’t seem to notice her asking a question. “Is everything all right?” She asked.
“Huh? … Oh, yeah, everything is fine, I must be imagining things.” He said, shaking his head slightly. “Did you ask something before? I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”
“I was curious about why the roof is so steep.”
“Ah, it’s so that the snow falls down easier so it doesn’t crush the roof if there is too much. Have you never seen something like this before?”
“No, not really, but I can’t really say I spent a lot of time in places like this.” She looked forward again, seemingly deep in thought about it.
She then noticed that Steven had stopped a few steps behind her. She turned to face him. “What’s up?”
Steven laughed nervously. “I dropped my poke ball in the snow. You just go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.” He scratched the back of his head and looked down around him.
“All right.” She found it pretty funny that a champion dropped his poke ball, but cold hands can be a challenge so she found the restraint not to laugh.
“Hey Cynthia!” After a minute or so of walking she heard Steven call out to her.
“Yeah!?” She shouted back.
“Do you have a flying pokémon on you!?”
“I do, why!?”
“Send it out to me!”
All right? She called out her Togekiss. “Can you go pick him up?” She asked pointing to Steven. Togekiss nodded and went toward him. “Why do you need a flying pokémon to pick you up!?”
“… I felt the ice crack beneath me!”
“…”
“What?!” She was in shock and disbelief. She instinctively started going back toward him.
Steven flinched when he saw her going back. “NO! Stay where you are!” He shouted to her. Togekiss was almost there so he’d be fine. He then heard another crack, and another.
“Fuck.”
He fell through the ice.
“Steven! Oh Arceus, shit! What do I do?” Cynthia started panicking. Which was perfectly reasonable in this situation. She couldn’t just jump in to save him, but what if she does nothing and he actually dies.
He gasped due to cold shock which made him swallow water, he resisted the urge to cough, still, Steven was very lucky it was a lake and not a river, because he had fallen through a river the chance of his survival would have been a flat 0. But since this was a lake there was no current pulling him around, he somehow managed to swim up to the surface and grab a chunk of ice to stay above the water.
Togekiss was here now, unfortunately it had no hands so he would have to somehow grab onto it. “Shit.” He cursed again. He was cold and slowly going numb.
He managed to extend one hand up without sinking back down. Togekiss was a little too high for him to reach so it went down. Steven grabbed onto it with one arm first, then the other. Togekiss started ascending, slowly lifting him out of the water and carrying him back.
He had no feeling in his legs and barely held on with his arms.
After what felt like eternity, he reached Cynthia who put one of his arms around her shoulder and helped him walk along with her. Cynthia has never been more hyperaware of how slow walking through snow was. A million thoughts going thought her head as they walked toward his cottage, ranging from ‘thank Arceus he is safe’ to ‘I’m gonna kill him for this after he recovers’ to ‘what if something happens to him because of the cold?’ it was definitely the most stressful walk of her life.
They reached his house. It was unlocked so they didn’t have to bother searching for the keys and just went in. She would usually be very curious about how his house looked, but she was a little preoccupied with being worried to death about him.
Once they reached his living room Steven let go of her and just flopped on the floor near the fireplace, pretty desperate to warm himself, while Cynthia sat down on his couch still trying to calm down from all that.
A few minutes passed. Steven stood up and stretched. “That was scary.” He said while releasing a sigh.
“I almost had a heart attack because of you!” Cynthia said.
“I’m fine, Cynthia, there is no need to worry. I’ve been through worse.”
She had disbelief written all over her face after he said that. She sat up from his couch abruptly. “You fell through a frozen lake and you are telling me not to worry?! You could’ve died!”
Steven laughed. “But I didn’t.”
“But-!”
She didn’t get to finish what she was trying to say. Steven reassuringly put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back to sit on the couch, that made her heart skip a beat but she was too preoccupied to address that. “I’m fine. Now, I’m gonna make us something to eat.” He said, surprisingly full of confidence.
“No you aren-”
“I’m fine.” She was yet again interrupted by him.
“But-”
“It’s all right.” He reassured her.
“I can’t let yo-”
“Cynthia… I’m fine, so sit down, and I’m gonna make us something to eat.”
She sighed in defeat and pinched the bridge of her nose. “… Fine.”
Steven went to the kitchen and Cynthia finally convinced herself that it was all well, he did fall in the lake, but he said he was fine, he was also acting like he is fine. She took in a few deep breaths. She wasn’t expecting the day to go this way, but it ended well, even though she almost had a heart attack, and now she could just spend some time with Steven.
She was so caught up in worrying that she didn’t even look around his house. It seems to be a two-floor building, she was sitting in the living room, there was also a kitchen, bathroom, and something with a closed door which she assumed was some kind of closet for odd items. It was cosy, pretty much perfect for one or two people, it wasn’t too spacious, so there wasn’t a lot of work with cleaning but it had everything you’d need to live comfortably.
Unfortunately, she could distract herself from her worry for only so long. Just as she was about to get up and go check on him and help him she heard a loud thump coming from the kitchen. She rushed over to the kitchen and her heart almost stopped when she saw that Steven had collapsed.
…
Steven blinked awake and groaned. He felt like shit.
“Oh, thank Arceus, you’re awake!” Cynthia was kneeling beside him. She gave him a tight hug immediately after.
Steven was still coming to his senses but after a few seconds he figured out what was happening and returned the hug awkwardly. He wasn’t sure what to do, and that seemed like the best option.
A few seconds passed and Cynthia broke away. She grasped his shoulders very tightly. “You dumbass!”
Steven awkwardly looked to the side, avoiding eye contact. “Uh, what happened?”
She squeezed his shoulders. “You fainted after saying you were fine!”
He winced. His head hurt and her shouting didn’t help with that, he couldn’t really blame her though.
She noticed and gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. “Arceus I’m so sorry for shouting. I was just– I was just so worried.” She said quickly, panic still in her voice.
“It’s fine Cynthia, I would have had the same reaction if our places were reversed.” He reassured her.
Cynthia closed her eyes and released a very shaky breath while finally letting go of his shoulder. She stood up and took a deep breath. Steven also tried sitting up but was stopped by Cynthia. “Don’t you fucking dare move!” He might as well have turned into stone. “Arceus I’m sorry for shouting again.” She said quickly after. “Just… Don’t move. I’m gonna call a doctor and ask what to do.”
Steven made the smart decision and stayed where he was while Cynthia went back to the living room to grab her phone and call a doctor.
About 15 minutes later Cynthia came to the kitchen, Steven was still on the floor.
“I explained what happened to a doctor, and the most likely option is that you fainted from temperature shock. So what most likely happened is you warmed up to quickly and that caused your blood vessels to widen before your body could adapt, which resulted in too much blood in your legs and too little in your brain, and high blood pressure, which caused you to faint.” Cynthia explained.
Steven just hummed in acknowledgement. Still laying down on the floor.
“You can get up now.” She said in a matter-of-factly tone.
Steven chuckled and got up slowly.
…
A few hours later, it stopped snowing and the sky started clearing up, so Cynthia decided it was time to get back home.
“Are you sure you can fly now?” Steven asked while he was seeing her out. There was a bit of concern in his voice as well as a trace of well hidden disappointment.
“I’ll be alright. I’ve been through worse weather. And again, thank you for inviting me. You’re a great cook by the way.” She said with a smile.
“… Well, I hope you come visit again. I really like the fact that I found another person who shares my hobbies.”
They waved each other one last goodbye and Cynthia took off.
Steven closed the door and sighed. ‘It’s a shame we see each other only every so often…’ He thought, he never expected to find someone he loved spending time with so much. He slumped on his couch and looked at the ceiling for a while, not knowing what to do with himself now that Cynthia left. It suddenly felt really quiet, he used to love that… but now it felt a bit empty. He let out a dry laugh and shook his head. ‘I’m such an idiot…’