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“Wow.” Lunick breathes from where he lies on the bed.
He thought the heater had gone and broke on him during the night– the Ranger Union Bases around Fiore are stuffed with all sorts of cutting-edge tech to make their Ranger’s lives easier, but the buildings themselves have been around much longer than the stylers they carry on their waists. He would gently describe them as ‘well-lived in’ to young aspiring Rangers he tends to run into around the region, not eager to dampen their excitement.
No, really though. The heat was on, and he could even hear the hot air rushing through the vents like any other chilly morning– so why is he so cold? In fact, why is it so chilly outside in the first place?
Looking out the window, the cause was obvious, if illogical. A foot of snow lay outside in the middle of spring.
“Mai…”
The blankets were real Mareep wool, but Minun’s form was still shivering under the thick covers. The bed creaked as Lunick reached for the small Pokémon, it pitifully curling up in his lap to escape the empty cold air of the Ranger Union housing.
He spent a good ten minutes petting his partner Pokémon and watching the flakes of snow dance down from impossibly high clouds where they landed silently over the thousands more that had already fallen. It was beautiful. Lush, green trees now seemed black in the distant mist. He sees crystal-clear icicles peeking out from the top of the window, and he stands up, carpet soft under his feet as he peers outside and tries not to press his nose against the glass.
Back home, it would snow a few inches in the winter. Enough to make a snow angel, if they were lucky. He’d never seen anything like this before… neither had he expected it. After all, people come to Fiore to vacation. Not for snow.
The familiar text tone from his styler sitting in the dinged-up charging port next to the bed finally dragged his attention away from the wall of white. He plucks it from the receiver and flips the screen open, blinking until his still-bleary eyes can make out the tiny text.
From: Solana
To: Lunick
Subject: it’s snowing……….!
you’re at the Ringtown housing station, right? ill be there in a bit. the snow is kind of crazy, but it sounds like we still have work to do… dont get too cold without me!!
There’s a firm knock on the door about fifteen minutes later. He opened it to a shivering, happy Solana. He let her warm up with the still-toasty wool blanket as he got changed in the community bathroom.
“So, you both.” When they hear Spenser’s voice from the elevator, Lunick and Solana both stop their endless banter. “This weather is completely abnormal. While Fall City has infrastructure to handle this kind of… well,” He strolls to his usual spot, and wearily looks up at the two (rather sleepy) Rangers. “I wouldn’t call this a natural disaster. Natural inconvenience? Either way, Ringtown is not equipped to handle it. I want you two to keep an eye out for any citizens or Pokémon that need assistance, both here in town and in the foothills.”
“Right.” Solana nods. Plusle is clinging to her leg, shivering. Poor thing. Plusle and Minun are adapted for fairly temperate locations, unlike Pikachu or Raichu. Hoenn gets plenty of rain, but barely any snow. “Has the Fiore weather service contacted any of the Ranger bases? I feel like we should review the evacuation protocols for this sort of thing, just in case.”
Lunick watches as she speaks. She really is a fantastic Ranger. Always thinking ahead…
“I believe they contacted Summertown about travel closures, but that’s it. I’ll keep you updated, though.”
She tucks a unruly strand of hair behind her ear as Spenser hands her a thick-looking packet. Cute. Cute… Really cute…
And then she asks about if they’d need snowshoes, and Spenser says something noncommittal, and he watches her soft hands delicately trace the words Fiore Oceanic and Atmospheric Chemistry Department, and…
“Lunick?” Spenser clears his throat.
Lunick’s train of thought is derailed. “Oh, uh, yes?”
“You got all that?”
Solana looks at him curiously.
“Yes, sir.” He lies.
“Good. Get suited up. Neither of you are dressed for the weather.” Their boss dismisses them with a wave and a sigh born of overwork.
Opening up the closet, the two of them are greeted by four dust-covered down jackets. It doesn’t look like they’ve been touched in a while. Or ever. Only one of them seems to really fit Lunick right, and all of them are tight around the shoulders.
Solana fares a little better. The ‘one-size-fits-all’ gloves are more ‘one-size-fits-none’, but with the storm picking up outside, Lunick’s thankful for any sort of insulation.
Once they’re all suited up, they head towards the front entrance. Solana pats the puff of her jacket, standing in front of the sliding glass door. Just outside the entrance, a fellow Ranger is shoveling snow, powder pitifully piling up behind him as he tries to keep up with the weather.
“Too warm?” Lunick watches her tug at the fabric, amused.
“Maybe.” She mumbles. “It’s hard to move in.” The shorter of the two tests her range of motion, moving her arms in mock Capture-on! fashion… it seems it’s good enough for her. Solana then takes a deep breath, the kind he’s seen her take before all their missions. Lets it out. Turning to her best friend, she grins, light bouncing off the snow from outside.
“Let’s do a good job, Lunick.”
“Ma’am, we’re sorry to intrude.” Solana calls as the door opens, both its wooden frame and the Ranger shuddering in the wind.
This was the last house on their checklist. It was wider than it was tall, with a roof that seemed barely able to stand the weight of the snow piling on top of it. Despite the situation, the older woman who answered them seemed in particularly good spirits.
“My, it’s ok! What’s the matter, you two?” She asks through the entranceway, peering through a crack as to not let the weather in.
“Well, we’re here to let you know about the weather situation.” She pulls the remaining few pages from the stack Spenser had given them earlier. “The Union is asking us to deliver evacuation guidelines and instructions on how to keep your plumbing from getting damaged during the storm.”
The old woman takes them with a smile and levity. “Ah, there’s no need to worry. This also happened when I was a wee child, but nothing came of it. Just a Pokémon’s whim.”
“What do you mean? A Pokémon?” Lunick probes.
“Oh, yes. A Pokémon.” She thinks for a moment. “A flying storm from a region far away. It comes here to roost every few decades. I don’t blame it, aha!”
“Probably worth telling Spenser. You never know.” He murmurs to her, wind whistling in his ears.
“Right.” Solana nods and gives a short bow to the town elder. “Thanks for your info, ma’am. Stay safe during the storm!”
“Yes, yes. That goes for you lovebirds as well! Travel safe, keep each other warm!”
The door shuts on them with a clatter.
“Huh?” Lunick says without thinking.
No, he was thinking, but the mental image of ‘keeping each other warm’ short-circuited his brain and made the part responsible for speech stop working.
He glances at Solana, trying to gauge her reaction at the offhanded comment, but she’s staring at her Styler’s dim screen with a smile as if she didn’t hear it. Or she did, and didn’t mind.
The two mill about for a little while longer, using the GPS system in their stylers to plot a chart for the reservoir that provides Ringtown with drinkable water. Making sure that no ice blocks the valve is important.
Halfway up into the foothills, about an hour later, surrounded by frost-tipped still-green trees, Solana and Lunick’s stylers go off with a startling weather warning. Lunick watches Minun and Plusle poke their heads out of the medical bag swung around Solana’s shoulders, and then instantly regret their decision as the wind bites at them.
Solana, who was a dozen or so feet in front of him, stops trudging through the snow to dismiss the blaring and bleeping, almost on second nature. She then had to do a double-take down at the screen.
Turning back to face Lunick, she calls over the roar of the wind. “They want us to shelter in place…”
“Really?” He almost has to shout, too. These outfits do help against the bitter cold of the storm, but the sting of the ice against their faces and the sound of the wind drowning them out are their true opponents. Sheltering his styler against moisture with his hand, he glances down at the liquid crystal display.
“Seems like the situation up on the mountain is pretty bad…” He frowns. “A rampaging legendary Pokémon…?”
To: Lunick, Solana
From: Spenser
Subject: Re: Mission Update
I’m sure you both know already, but there’s a region-wide shelter in place order in effect. The source of this storm is a rampaging legendary Pokémon. Me and the other Union Executives are handling the situation fine, but this storm may last longer than we anticipated. Find shelter. We’ll update you once we’re able.
“Where should we go? I don’t think we’ll find anything ahead.” Solana calls. As Lunick’s eyes search beyond her, he only sees an expanse of white, peppered with small rocks peaking out of the ice with zero man-made structures as far as the eye can see. A particularly cold bluster of wind spurs him to think. Even the reservoir is pretty barren… So they’d better turn back.
“The Relic, maybe? We’ll have to backtrack, but it’s all I can think of!” He yells over the wind. She nods and pats the bag with their partners safely tucked inside, as if reassuring the Pokémon that everything would be alright.
“Phew” Both of them say in unison. Finally made it. Another hour of trudging through the storm had earned them both freezing fingertips and frosted eyelashes.
Cold minds think alike, it seems. After half an hour of making their way back through the blizzard outside, they now stand at the entrance of the crowded Jungle Relic interior. Inside the cave were dozens of rather docile, cold Pokémon. The two Rangers had initially reached for the stylers hanging on their hips upon seeing the crowd inside, but quickly realized it wasn’t necessary. A few Venonats huddled in the corner like a pile of shivering fluff, and a large Heracross was curled up on the far side of the wall. A pack of Eletrike surrounded it, biting softly at their packmates as they dozed.
The Cyndaquil Solana had befriended on the way down from the foothills– one the two found stranded in a snowdrift– jumps eagerly from her arms and races into the center of the cavern, immediately igniting the flames on its back with a crackle. Plusle and Minun hop out of the medical sachel and race after it, either quick to have made a new friend or rather cold themselves.
Solana pulls the hood of her jacket away, smiling at the scene and attempts to shake the small bits of snow that accumulated out from atop her hair. Lunick was about to do the same, until the two of them get another notification, one only moments after the other. The beeping echoes around the manmade cavern until they flip their stylers open.
To: Lunick, Solana
From: Spenser
Subject: Re: Re: Mission Update
Blackout at the base. Shelter-in-place is still in effect. We’re thinking to let it expire at 3:00pm, but don’t expect a warm bed when you get back.
“That sucks.” She says at a normal volume, staring down at her own handheld.
“Fiore really isn’t equipped for this weather…” He murmurs back, gloved fingers slipping against the keys as he types a hasty reply.
By the time he’s done pressing send, Solana is peering back out of the entranceway, the tops of trees in the distance barely visible and swaying vaguely in the wind.
“It’s pretty when you’re not in the thick of it.” She says around a smile.
“Yeah.” Lunick replies. His eyes don’t leave her, though.
Solana’s pale hair is dotted with countless fluffy flakes of snow, flush against her neck. The knitted scarf she’s wrapped in, embroidered with the Ranger Union logo, is pulled up to her rose-tinted cheeks. He’s thankful they got to do this mission together.
Missions with her have never felt like… missions. Lunick’s always wondered if she felt the same way, hoping the two of them ended up as a team each time a Spenser got a fax from the other towns, just to see each other a little bit more. Just as he does.
They eventually sit down, Lunick unfolding a thin thermal blanket to keep them insulated from the icy rock that lines the chiseled hall. The wild Cyndaquil curls up in front of them like a campfire, tucking its legs under its snout and quickly dozing off.
It’s cold enough to bite at his fingertips, but Lunick decides to take his doubled-up pairs of gloves off anyways. He lays them out near the fire-type Pokémon to dry. Solana follows suit. As to not regret their decision, they both hold their freezing hands up to Cyndaquil’s flame.
“This is really healing.” Solana says with plenty of relief.
“Yeah.”
“Mai…” Minun pulls it’s ears over itself like a blanket as it curls up next to Cyndaquil’s light. Plusle presses it’s head into Minun’s side, like the other is a heated pillow.
“…You can come closer, if you want.” Solana says, after a minute of silence and warming up. “If you’re cold.”
And he decided he was, indeed, quite cold. “…Thanks.”
And so they chat, about work, about Solana’s hometown– she ends up telling the story of how a Pokémon flew through her family’s kitchen window again, and how she managed to calm it without a styler.
“I made sure to include that in my letters, too! I thought it’d be a way to highlight any talent I had… but Spenser told me off about it a few months in. He said it was dangerous, hehe.”
“Pinkie swear you won’t go chasing Swellow around in an act of revenge?" He says with a doubting look.
“I have a styler now, you know! I don’t have to. Fine, though. Pinkie swear.”
Solana pulls his hand over, placing her cold pinkie against his, and shakes their hands in a promise. She doesn’t pull her hand away, though. Just tugs Lunick’s back towards Cyndaquil’s warmth, and keeps it there.
“What are we doing?” He asks her with a breathy laugh, rose dusting his face.
“You tell me.” She asks back.
Her cold, soft, hardworking fingertips find their way into his now warm palm. Against thermodynamics, he heats up even more. He curls his hand, wrapping her hand in warmth. Soothing her knuckles with his thumb, like they’d warm from the movement.
“Lunick?” She asks after a moment.
“Sorry. I’m really cold…” He stutters out. It’s kind of a lie, since his face is on fire. Again, she doesn’t pull away.
“You’ve been here longer than me…” Solana says, knowing smile bleeding into her voice. “I guess you got used to Fiore’s sunshine.”
“…Maybe.” Lunick mumbles back, his own smile wide. “I don’t think that’s such a bad thing, though.”
Her hand finally leaves his, and she’s tugging off her jacket.
“Solana?!” Lunick sputters.
“It’s fine.” She assures him. “Let’s use it as a blanket. I was getting too warm anyways.” She tugs it over the both of their curled up legs.
“…Use mine too, then…” His no longer numb fingers still struggle to find the zipper, but once his own jacket is off, he throws it on top of Solana’s.
“Cynda!” Cynadquil cries in surprise as Plusle and Minun dive from the other side of the cave under the covers.
“Eek! Plusle, you’re cold!” Solana yelps, feeling her partner Pokémon scramble up her legs.
“Pfft.” Lunick reaches under the pair of jackets, finds and pulls out his buddy. “C’mere, you.”
“Mai!” Minun cries happily as Lunick holds it close. Plusle follows suit, finding itself cozy on Solana’s lap, ears peeking out over the faux fur of their jacket hoods.
They sit like that a while. It’s oddly relaxing, despite the circumstances. The sound of the fire comforts them, and the knowledge that they’re safe from the storm lets their bodies finally rest.
Maybe it’s too relaxing.
Lunick can feel the exhaustion from trudging through miles of snow catching up on him, dragging his eyelids down like he’s been on a graveyard shift. The warm double blanket of coats isn’t helping, and neither is the fact that it’s gotten pretty warm in here thanks to Cyndaquil’s efforts.
Before he knows it, he’s nodding off, only brought back to his senses after he catches himself on Solana’s shoulder. He flinches upright.
“It’s fine.” She says through her own yawn, rubbing at her eyes with the heel of her palm. It seems like both of them weren’t cut out for this weather. Lunick looks at her for a moment, as if seeking a second round of confirmation, before laying his head back down to where it was only a moment ago, against the soft cotton of her uniform. A few seconds pass, and he feels her lean back against him. Her hair tickles his cheek.
The sound of water dripping forces him to stir. When Lunick opens his eyes, he no longer sees Cyndaquil. He doesn’t see any Pokémon. He sees… a stone ceiling, and Solana’s downturned eyes, and the bottom of her styler, faintly beeping. The back of his neck is warmed by her thighs even through the winter trousers they both wore.
“…”
He really likes her. He doesn’t know when these feelings crept up on him, or when they started this strange yet warm dance around each other. Lunick knows that they’re too deep to turn back on, and nor does he wish to.
In fact, he’d like to fall deeper. It’s a wild daydream of a thought, but if only she’d lean down a little and…
He blinks, and Solana finally notices he’s awake. Her styler is placed by her side, and a hand he didn’t even realize was threaded through his hair is pulled away.
“Morning, sleepyhead.”
“What time is it…?” He mumbles up at her, voice hoarse.
“Shelter-in-place ‘o clock.” She jests. “Actually, I think we can head back now though. It’s been about two hours. They lifted it to be for civilians only.”
Lunick pulls his Styler from his waist, faintly recognizing another message from Spenser in his inbox. “You could have woken me up.” He says, hand dropping back to his side. He’d read it later. It feels like he should sit up to talk to her, but the temptation to stay like this was too strong. If Lunick had a choice, he’d keep his head here forever.
She opens her mouth to speak, but not before he notices the odd sensation on his scalp. Putting a hand to his head, he laughs breathily as he finds one of Solana’s hair ties. “You braided my hair!?”
“Sorry! I got bored… My browser only has so many entries to read.”
After packing up their meager emergency supplies, they trudge away from the Relic, leaving Cyndaquil in the now quite toasty entrance hall. Hopefully it’d stay warm until the weather was back to normal.
He doesn’t really want to go back. He wants to run around with her like this for the rest of his life. He doesn’t want the odd joke or knowing look from their coworkers to be jokes or suspicions anymore. Lunick knows she feels the same, like some kind of secret, silent agreement between the two.
“Solana!”
“Huh?”
He just can’t confront it. Instead, he calls out to her about something else.
“Let’s make snow angels!” Lunick calls to her from the top of the hill.
“Oh. Sure, you slacker!” She snickers back.
And so, he throws his pack onto a bare rock, tumbles into the snow down below, and she follows suit. Plusle and Minun try their best to mimic their partners, but their small bodies are too light to make a dent in the stiff snow.
Just a little more time. The snow stopped falling, but they can still dance around in this dream a little longer.
After two or three snow angels, they stop to catch their breath and let the giggles wear off. The two Rangers stare up at the dusty sky… which is already starting to clear now that the rampaging Pokémon was seemingly calmed.
“I wish we could do this every day.” Solana says breathlessly. “It’s fun! Minus the damp gloves, haha…”
“Me too.” He replies back. Lunick steels himself, pushes his body up out of the white, and leans over her, blocking out the grey sky above.
“Lunick?” She questions him with a smile.
This time, it’s Solana who’s looking up at him. It’s only fair. The faux fur around the hood of her Ranger Union jacket is soft as his hand passes over it.
“I wish we could spend every day together,” He murmurs. “Even if it’s not snowing.”
Like it was completely natural, or like a decision made in a dream, she pulls him down by the Union issued scarf and kisses him. Cold, and blazingly warm all at once. It barely lasts more than a few seconds, and it’s an awkward position, but he can feel her smiling against his lips and swears his whole world slows down just for the two of them. Just a little longer.
“What are we doing? Seriously.” He asks her, once they pull away from each other. His breath felt short, even though she had kissed him so gently.
“No clue.” She confesses, the red across her face pairing well with her eyes.
“Maybe,” Lunick looks away, his matching blush stark against the snow surrounding them. “We’re keeping each other warm.”
“Like lovebirds, huh?” It comes out of Solana’s mouth so naturally.
The silence between them is his answer, and she breaks into a laugh.
“We should probably head back,” Lunick realizes with a sigh, brushing flakes of snow off the bridge of her nose and leaning back on his ankles. “It’s getting late.”
“Darn.” Solana says with a little pout, red eyes finding the glimmer of sunset through the hazy, grey sky. “I hope we get more crazy weather soon, then.”
“Don’t let Spenser hear that.”
“…? Lunick, what’s in your hair?” is the first thing Spenser says once the two stumble through the union base doors.
“Hm?” He questions back, shrugging off his heavy jacket and scarf, pulling off the gloves, and then remembers. Before he could fully explain, Spenser seems to have come to his own conclusions.
“You two got bored, huh? Maybe I should have given you paperwork to keep you busy.” His fond smile betrayed his scolding words.
The next morning, Lunick found himself staring outside the window again. The endless sound of melting icicles against the dorm windows is what woke him up. He has to squint against the bright light of the sun against the snow.
“It’s all gone.”
“You didn’t know? Spenser told us during the briefing. Since the storm was basically one big Pokémon move, the snow isn’t stable.” Solana explains, curled up on the bed opposite to him. Plusle chases her hand as she brushes her hair, like a Delcatty.
“I don’t remember that.” He frowns, sitting cross-legged.
Solana rolls her eyes. Affectionately, of course. “It was while you were staring at me.”
He looks away in embarrassment, like the snow was more interesting than the girl he adored. Was it really that obvious?
“…I wish it would last a little longer.” He mumbles into the collar of his pajamas.
She stands, strolling over to his bed and sitting besides him. The quilt under the two of them is soft. “I haven’t gone back to Summertown yet. So it’s not over.” She reminds him.
“Right.” He finally meets her eyes again.
What happened wasn’t a dream, he has to remind himself. Their relationship hadn’t changed, either. It feels the same way it always has. Were they always at this point? Why hadn’t they done this before the storm started, he wonders? He can’t answer those questions, but silently, he thanks the legendary Pokémon for the opportunity for them to be asked. Oh, and the village elder for calling them lovebirds.
“And, you know,” Her hand makes it’s way from the quilt to his cheek, brushing his stubborn bedhead out of his eyes. “I happen to know where we can find some ice-type Pokémon.”
“Do I need to make you pinkie swear again? No blizzards.” Lunick scowls with mock disapproval.
“Haha!” She laughs, linking her free hand with Lunick’s in a promise. “Fine, just a dusting of snow!” Now they’re both laughing.
Cute. He’s really cute. Cute…