"Hm?" I curiously looked over at what a bunch of Pokémon were looking at in the icy pond water and saw something round and white. I looked at the Pokémon looking worried for it's sake "No way..." I gasped and hurried to send out Clefable, who quivered and hugged her body as close as possible "Clefable, pound on the ice and lift that egg from the water" she saw what I was talking about and hurried to do everything as carefully as possible.

The bright white egg had got out the freezing cold waters and was given to me as I used my scarf to provide it with some warmth after I brushed away the access water dripping from it.

"The water is in the range of possibly being able to give someone hypothermia. Even if the majority of the Pokémon here are rock or ice types, eggs cannot be in the same temperature environment as their parents due to the possibly of letting the egg freeze from the inside" I held the egg up to my ear "Something is still alive in here" I sighed in relief along with the Pokémon around me "Does this belong to any of you?" The wild Pokémon looked at each other before running off to who knows where "I guess not" I looked at Clefable shaking from the cold "Thank you Clefable. You'll be warm in your ball" I returned her back and placed her in the bag while I got up and hugged the egg closely.

"There's hardly any noise or movement, but it's still alive" I smiled and hugged it "My body heat should provide enough warmth for you. Poor thing. Because you are a brand new egg, you cannot get use to the environment you're in. You've must've recently got dropped into the water" I searched for the exit "You're going to be fine" I walked up ahead, turned a few corners, avoided wild Pokémon, and stumbled across a kimono girl stuck in the ice.

"Another kimono girl?" I questioned in my head. I've been seeing a lot of them roaming around the region since I started. From the distance, I could tell she was holding herself while shivering so fast that she looked like she was jumping in place. Her hair was all wet and her kimono looked to be frozen.

I placed the egg in my bag and hurried to face her burying her face into her body while holding something in her arms.

"Miss?" I softly shook her shoulders. She slowly looked up and showed how pale her face was, how white her eyelashes became, and how blue her lips were. From the moment she saw me, she gasped in relief, but couldn't say anything due to her shaking lips.

I removed my shirt, leaving myself in only a sports bra, and offered the shirt to her "Here, try to open your arms and take off your kimono" I felt on the material "it's all wet..." she shakily removed her arms from her body and showed that she was holding an egg. I softly took it from her and placed it with the other egg so I could assist her with removing the top part of the kimono so I could help her put on my shirt. She sighed longingly and leaned to place her body on mine.

"W-W-Warm..." she shivered. I glanced at her fingernails, seeing how purple they were. This doesn't look good for her.

"Togekiss!" I called on her. She came out on her own and jumped in fright at what she saw "Help me" I removed the girl from me and faced my back towards her. Togekiss levitated her onto my back so I could carry her out the place without letting her need to walk any further. Pichu came out after so and climbed Togekiss so she can navigate the exit while levitating my bag with two eggs inside.

The girl had held onto me very tightly, taking my body heat as much as she could "Thank you..." she told me.

"No problem. You just relax while I get you to the Pokémon center"

"I... fell onto a puddle of water and got so cold" she shivered "I couldn't walk any more, especially since my sandals got stuck in the ice... Thank you" I nodded and proceeded to find the exit "You're... so warm... even without a shirt"

"Well, I've been topless before while outside the comfort of my own place" I snorted "It's not cold if that's what you're wanting to ask" she just mumbled and relaxed on my back while we finally made it out the cave. It wasn't wise to place her directly underneath the sun, since she'll get burned, so I followed the shaded paths, along with Togekiss flying over us to provide temporary shade, until we could get to the next town.

After awhile of running in only a sports bra and pants, we made it to Blackthorn City. I had many eyes on me as I rushed to find the nearest Pokémon center Pichu was leading to. In the matter of a few minutes, we made it to where we needed to be.

"Get this girl some blankets!" I yelled out in the building, freaking a few people out. The nurse quickly waved her helping Pokémon after saying something and hurried towards me.

"What's the matter?" She asked before seeing the problem.

"We were in the ice path and she might have caught hypothermia after falling in some water. Get her help please" she nodded and waited for the gurney to come so I can set her down with Togekiss's help after taking my bag. The girl took my hands before the nurse pulled her away.

"You are very kind... Thank you" I patted her hand.

"No problem. You focus on getting better"

"Will you take care of the egg I had with me?" I nodded "Thank you... Please take care of it. It's yours to keep"

"H-Huh?!" She smiled, shivering.

"Consider it a gift of gratitude" I watched her get carried away. I watched her and looked in my bag at the two eggs I had in store.

"I'm back to carrying two eggs..." Pichu looked inside the bag "If I'm thinking to keep them, I'll have a full party of Pokémon" I took them out my bag so I could face the front counter to call another nurse walking towards me with a blanket of her own "Miss, I need to care for these eggs" she listened to what I had to say while placing the blanket on my shoulders.

"Of course ma'am" she gestured her hands to another room "Please come around this way" I followed her to a back room and set down the two eggs for me to study on and see if they were in good condition.

"Oh! Hello Ms.Clair and Mr.Lance!" The nurse spoke out outside the room. I looked up from my Stethoscope to see a girl and guy in a cape walking into the room. I only recognized one of them.

"Hey there, Valerie" Lance smiled.

"You know her?" The girl, Clair, asked.

"Yeah! She's Miranda's niece" Lance walked up to me getting back to checking on the eggs "I came when we heard that someone was running through town naked with a girl covered in ice on her back"

"Yeah, that was me, but I'm not naked" Lance looked at the blanket covering only my shoulders and back "Pichu, pass me a shirt, will you?" Pichu dug in my bag to throw me my favorite sleeveless shirt so I can put it on without having my aunts fiancé staring at my stomach.

"Tell us what happened" Lance said.

"Us?" I asked without looking at either of them, more focused on taking care of the eggs.

"Oh! Right! Valerie, this is Clair. She's my cousin"

"I am the Blackthorn gym leader here and a dragon master" she said with a bold attitude while playing with her cape.

"I guess Dragon masters like wearing capes" I said. Lance nervously laughed and waited for an explanation "All I did was walk through the ice path after defeating Team Rocket in the radio tower and happen to find that girl stuck in the ice while having hypothermia. I gave her my shirt to provide her with some heat and brought her here. Simple story that doesn't need further questioning"

"Why so distant?" Clair asked "People had notified us that the whole situation looked suspicious" I already had a lot on my plate. Why is she picking a fight with someone she knows nothing about? "How do we know that's what really happened?"

"What? Are you picking a fight with me?" I eyed her "I don't have time for this. I don't know who got you to think you can talk to me like that, but I appreciate if you don't bounce off the walls and disrupt my work"

"What?!" Lance backed her off.

"Sorry, Valerie. She's a bit high tempered" I snorted, finding it worse than me, surprisingly "How's the girl you brought from the path? It's very bold of anyone to go through there instead of taking the main path"

"Then it's a good thing I went through there, otherwise she might have died" I looked at Clair glaring at me still "Got something to say on me rescuing someone?"

"Watch that tone! Do you know who you're talking to!?"

"You're in a hospital" I closed my eyes "The least you can do is offer peace and quiet. If you can't do that, I'll call security on you"

"E-Excuse me?!" Lance blocked her from looking at me "Lance!"

"I know what you're doing. Stop it" he spoke serious "Valerie has authorization to kick you out of here. It's in the family code we don't want to mess with"

"Screw that family!" She glared "You want to marry into a family of freaks instead of building up the family tradition of dragon mastering!" Oh, I see why she's upset. If Lance marries into the family, his last name will be taken from him due to the law that was made many years ago in order to prevent the gift of healing and helping eggs from disappearing "I don't care about this girl or Miranda! This girl is suspicious and I will not let you defend her!"

"In what way is she suspicious!?" Lance fought back "stop talking bad about the person you know nothing about! I'll marry into any family I want to and it won't mean that I'll stop training my dragons or carry the tradition!"

"That family does not take a tradition from anyone else but their own! You're going to do this to your family because you're selfish!" Clair snarled.

"You're the one being selfish!" Lance defender himself.

"I care about the family!"

"And I don't!? If I say I'm going to carry the tradition, I'll carry the tradition! Miranda even has her own dragon type! She's more than worthy of being my wife if you want to put it that way!" I was shaking in anger the more they were yelling in the middle of this place...

"Like I'm going to believe that big skinny tree Pokémon is a dragon type! I don't care about your girl friend, and I don't care about this girl! If I find her suspicious, I find her suspicious!"

"Toge!" Togekiss yelled and used psychic on the both of them to throw them lightly against the walls and made them sit down. I walked from behind the table to look down at them.

"Give it a rest... this place is no place to be yelling like a bunch of idiots" I said in the calmest way I could without snapping "You burst in here trying to make me a victim of something you know nothing about. If you want answers, speak to the girl instead of trying to make me the bad guy just to prove a point that Lance is making the mistake to marry into my family. You cannot persuade his decision no matter how loud you scream" I squeezed my hands "Take whatever you want as it is... but if you dare to act this way around my family, I will never allow you to be part in my soon to be born cousin's life" Clair's face went pale. Lance looked away.

"Lance... What's this about?" She stood up to confront him "Is Miranda..?" Lance stood up.

"I didn't plan on telling you like this, but you lifted the load for me, Valerie" He sighed, looking at my darkening eyes staring at the both of them still making a disruption.

"Y-You did this on purpose..." Clair took in defense

"What? No I didn't!"

"You will not be part of that family... You won't!" She yelled loudly "I won't allow it"

"Enough!" I shouted, making them look at my anger erupting "I will not have you yell in this place where people need to rest. Your personal problems does not matter in a place like this. I will not let you scream on the top of your lungs just to force Lance out of a decision he already made. You can yell all you want, but he won't back away from his family" I walked up to her in a slight state of shock "Keep your voice down. Yelling will not prove your point any less than it already is. Do not yell in front of my eggs again" I glared a little more without control "I'll make you regret being disrespectful to me, Lance, and my family" I took a step back "You're the gym leader here, correct? Why don't you let out your frustration in a battle with me? I'll make sure you swallow your words" she stepped back.

"How dare you..? If you think I'm going to allow you to challenge my gym, you're mistaken!" She came up to my face "I don't care how many badges you have, and I don't care if you supposedly took down Team Rocket. You are just a child who is not worthy of being part of my family!" I snorted.

"I don't care about you, stranger. You might be related to Lance, but I'll make sure you won't be involved in our lives. My cousins won't even know your name. Our family will never let in someone who disrespects our name. If this keeps up, I'll bring it up to Miranda" Lance quickly took my arms.

"V-Valerie, wait a minute! Think about what you're saying!" I looked away.

"In the power of our name, I can force you to leave this family if you don't take control of the problems it will cause us" he slowly removed his hands from me "Clair is your cousin, so I'm sure you can knock some sense into her, but if she continues to be a problem and dares to take it out on my family and you won't do anything about it, you can forget ever being part of our lives at all!" He looked absolutely crushed.

"Lance?" Clair looked at Lance staring at the floor "She can't do that, can she? She's just a kid"

"Unfortunately... the Zoe family holds great power to their name. Each of them are responsible for bringing in a member that will keep away danger and provide health and loyalty to the tree. Clair, I really want you to understand... This is my family. If you won't understand, I don't want you any part of it if it means you'll just cause problems"

"Lance!" Clair gasped.

"I will not lose her and my kids before I have the chance to marry into the family. I don't care if I lose the family name and take their own. I will not remove our tradition, but I'm not afraid of letting you go for the sake of them"

"W-We've been together since we were kids! We did everything together! Are you going to throw everything away for a family that's weaker against ours!?"

"You might have the ability to tame the hardest typing in the charts" I said "but that attitude will get you nowhere. This is about Lance, not you" I lifted my chin "If you truly care about Lance, you will accept his name change"

"N..." Clair glared "Just you wait... thinking you can control our lives like this. I'll be waiting in the gym and I'll show you how unworthy your family is to OUR tree!" She stormed out the room. I looked at Lance still staring at the floor.

"You'll throw away your cousin, the person you knew all your life, for our family if she stays a problem" I said.

"Of course I would. Why would you ask that?"

"I didn't ask" I went back to my eggs "don't get me wrong. I don't want you to throw away your side of the family, but it's crucial to understand that our family comes first. Only in the sense that something else will not cause us problems. If you can make her understand, you won't have to abandon her"

"She's hard to persuade... If I can't get her to understand that this is my choice, I have no choice" I sighed.

"She's thinking too shallow. She only thinks of the family's reputation and tradition. It doesn't have to be like that. Our family persuades different kinds of characters to join the tree, it's what makes it that much more beautiful" I frowned at him biting his lips, trying to keep himself from tearing up "I will make her understand" he looked at me.

"What? You will?"

"She made me upset that I couldn't help burst out mean things. She seems like a very insecure and shallow person. Aside from me making her understand that her anger will get her nowhere and she's being selfish, I hope you can talk her into understanding that our family means well and has no room to take away the importance in loving each other through thick and thin. My aunt will understand my view point. It's how this whole thing works. We don't hold any kind of magic, but we encourage positivity" I went back to work on my eggs "I'll see you later. If you're going to go see my aunt, tell her I'm doing fine and I'll come home once I'm done with everything. I promise" Lance nodded and left the room, leaving me here to regret saying such bad things to him.

I'm sorry Lance, but our family always comes first. Auntie will agree with me that we do not tolerate negativity. If he chooses to keep Clair in his life without making her understand, so be it, but I know he won't allow himself her side. I believe he'll make the right decision.