The city has a quaint feeling about it much like the last one, though it may be just because both are covered in snow. Few tourists stalk the streets, though there's quite a plethora of trainers walking side by side with their Pokemon, chatting eagerly. It's always odd to see a trainer talking to their Pokemon, but us Goldeneyes are the rare ones who get to hear both sides of the conversation.

As I pass by them, I listen in, catching snippets of conversation that have nothing to do with each other.

"Do you think we'll be able to beat her?"

"I'm sure of it."

"When's dinner, anyways?"
"This is serious, Alexander. You can't go through life like this."
"I can't believe that they kicked us out of the bar! It was only one Hyper Beam!"

"The girl over there is staring at us."

I look away, my red cheeks growing even hotter with embarrassment. A Golduck, a Glaceon, and a young boy no older than eleven watch me go as I tuck my head down into my coat. Bronze is on the opposite side of Shauna. Despite our tender embrace earlier, I can still tell he's angry about what I did, and I honestly can't blame him. Trying to save Crypt was a risky move and worse, I managed to put him in danger, even if I knew Crypt would never hurt anyone.

"So." he says, breaking the silence, "How close are we to a suitable level for beating the gym?"

Quickly, I check my convenient Pokedex and stare at the less than convenient numbers. "We're not even close. Rune's at level 45 and he's my highest."

"How did we even beat the last gyms?" Rune complains.

"Type advantages." Pich says somberly. "We only have Akita this time around."

"I can handle it." Akita says, slamming her fists into each other, which requires her to splay out her enormous claws.

"You're forgetting a certain someone." warns Shruikan. Nephthys nods enthusiastically. The two of them are more than capable dark-type fighters.

"Bronze, do you think you could take on the gym?" asks Pich. "It makes a lot more sense, considering you have all the type advantages."

"I planned on it, though I'd still like your support." Bronze says. "We're stronger as a team." He emphasizes 'team' and I feel my mouth curl into a frown.

"Right. Let's go then." Shruikan says, walking off towards the gym, but Thistle catches him by the tongue and he makes an awkward croaking noise, his throat tight.

"Hold on there. Just because you have the advantage doesn't mean you have the levels. Remember, we're trying to prevent casualties here."

"We could try fighting each other again. I'd like to try my strength against

"No!" Bronze yells, slamming a wall, and all of us turn to face him. "We are not doing that again. I don't care what the benefits are or aren't." His breath freezes as it drifts upwards, white clouds rising like steam from his face. Slowly, he pulls back from the wall and stares back into our eyes.

"He's right." Shauna says, quick to smooth over the conflict. "With all..." she takes a second to count it over on her fingers, "... seventeen of us, we should be able to handle the forest just fine."

"You sure?" I say, noting that Akita has her claws spread wide as if she's about to slice open something or someone.

Rune looks back at me with an 'of course we can' look clear across his face. I roll my eyes.

"Well, let's go." I say, and we head towards the path into the woods together.

It's snowing, though Rune has his wand lit and doesn't seem to care much. Chrona is by my side, catching snowflakes on her giant tongue, Pich is sitting on top of her flower, Nico and Akita are scanning the perimeters of the party, and Crypt lumbers along at a large distance from the rest of the team, eyes on the forest.

"So." I say, trying to start a conversation, but I can't think of anything to follow up.

"So." Shauna echoes.

"So what? Do you humans have to fill every second with conversation?" asks Chrona playfully, "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were scared of silence."

Pich comes to my rescue with a quick retort. "It was a pretty awkward silence, to be fair. We're alone in the woods with tensions high."

"I'd hardly call a party of seventeen 'alone'." points out Ginger.

"Oh, it's not a party of seventeen. It's at least fifty." Akita tells us.

Nico's paws flare up with aura as we all stop. In the forest, the sound of crunching snow is audible along with the rasp of many breaths. Everyone clusters closer to their trainers in anticipation, waiting for them to take the first move.

Large claws appear from behind us and Pich whips her wings, creating a tornado that sends my attacker flying backwards into the snow. The Sneasel gets back up, barely hurt, and others begin flying from the trees left and right. Some even come from up in the branches, a dark swarm cascading down upon us.

"Does anyone know fighting-type moves?" yells Nico over their battle cries.

No one responds, and a blue blast of aura flies through the commotion, hitting three Sneasels in one blow. Rune is protecting Chrona and Pich with his wand, seeing as they're both weak to ice-types, and the bottom of his robe is a mess of dirt and snow. The Sneasels quickly force him onto his back, leaving him snapping upwards savagely while they plunge their claws into his sides.

"Chrona! PoisonPowder!" I yell.

"We have allies! It's too risky!"

"Pich, get Rune out of the way!" I tell her, and Pich's talons grasp his slumped shoulders as she struggles to pull him from the cluster. Finally, they break free and land by my side as a mass of purple powder fills the area around Chrona. Without hesitation, she begins Leech Seeding all of them. They pile on quickly, ripping at her flowers, and Rune snarls from the sidelines as I try to patch him up with a Hyper Potion.

Rushing into the scene as only a massive dinosaur can do, Crypt slams a Sneasel with one foot. He brushes the others away and Chrona looks up at him and yells, "That was my free healing!"

"I didn't know you were so attached to them. I'll try to be a little more careful next time."

"Careful isn't in your vocabulary, you old fossil."

"We're in the middle of a battle, stop flirting!" Rune yells at them both, blazing back in with Pich the valiant warrior at his side.

Meanwhile, Nico and Shauna's team have cornered at least ten Sneasel and are blasting away. Nico jumps from team to team, offering support.

In the middle of the battlefield, a huge Weavile, clearly the leader, grapples with Akita. The two exchange blows at lightning speed, though Akita is outclassed by his superior bulk. Her pupils have dilated to slits and her snarl is bestial.

The Weavile parries one of her blows and strikes straight for her heart. She catches it between her claws. "You know your place, Akita." says the Weavile in an almost teasing voice.

She staggers backwards as if the words themselves were painful, the snow crunching beneath her. All the other Pokemon are too busy to come to her rescue, holding back a horde of vicious Sneasel. Crypt lets out a roar as several plunge ice into his tail. Despite his size, the type match up makes this a dangerous fight.

The Weavile's claws extend, becoming enormous blades large enough to cut her in two (and that may be what he's planning).

He advances on her menacingly, pressing her into the ground. "You can still make it up to me." She struggles against his grasp, hyperventilating, and I move forwards to defend her manually if necessary, but she's faster. With a quick cut, bright red light floods the clearing as her claws slice him through. It's Brick Break, a fighting type move.

The Weavile falls into the snow, bleeding heavily. The other Sneasel have fallen around him. I think he knows the battle is over. Sure enough, he stumbles upwards slowly, looking at our team with gritted teeth. He dashes away into the forest, leaving a trail of blood, and the others follow.

Akita stands in the snow for mere seconds before collapsing to her knees. Nico comes to pick her up and Chrona places her on her back with her vines. She slides off, shaking her head, and the team's gaze is on her as we walk away from the clearing, heading back to the city to heal.

"I apologize. I figured they'd come after me." she says, walking away as her claws drip the still-fresh blood onto the ground.

"You could've told us. We have plenty of secrets to go around here." Crypt says, though he's hardly looking at us.

"Why would they come after you in particular?" Shauna asks.

"We do need an explanation. I understand you didn't want to talk, but you could've gotten us all killed." Bronze's breath is a steamy white. He's still up on adrenaline from the fight.

"I was the leader's mate." Akita says, looking away.

"The Weavile?" asks Rune.

"You almost killed him!" Ginger protests.
"Are you a fugitive?" inquires Pich.

"What's wrong with you?" asks Faye.

Nico puts a paw on her shoulder as she wraps her claws around herself."He wasn't a very good Pokemon. Our relationship was... very bad. I was told there were Goldeneyes in the area. I heard you could make me stronger. I thought I'd come along and then I didn't want to leave. Nico taught me Brick Break so if they came again, I could protect myself."

"That's alright. You're safe now." Nico tells her. "How about that gym?"

Bronze looks up at the sky. "Let's get healed up first."

One healing spree later, we're all ready, and the team feels far more united than it did before. Others are piling into support Akita, who's smiling. It's unlike the vicious grin I've seen her don in war: it's a warm smile, full of genuine caring. It's the smile of someone who hasn't felt wanted or loved in a long time and is finally home.

The warm mood is interrupted by a cold blast of air as Bronze walks out the Pokemon Center door, and the team follows quietly. It feels odd having him order us around, especially when he sounds so cold in comparison to his normal, optimistic self. The building looms over us, covered in snow and menacingly dark, the smooth stone dark as midnight.

"Suppose we're ready." Bronze tells us before entering the room, throwing open the dark doors as the wind whips around us.

When we enter, we find nothing more than a small room with tacky yellow walls, typical of low-budget gyms but far too small to be even a gym on that tier. I look around for anything but see no one but a single man in a corner, dressed in casual attire. "Howdy! I'm the admissions man!" he says. "Welcome to Olympia's gym! You're going to have a bad time, aren't you?"

Rune snarls and Nico's paws alight with aura fire.

"I don't count on it." Bronze says.

"Please put your Pokemon back in their Pokeballs before entering." The man tells us. Reluctantly, I do so, and for once no one stirs up any trouble. We're all aware that they're about to have more than their share of battling, so any time spent arguing now is time wasted.

After withdrawing the whole team, we look back at the admissions man, who is still grinning widely at us in a manner that indicates we have a lot left to do. "Ah, ah, ah! I'm afraid we don't do that here." he tells us.

"Do what?" I ask.

"Only one challenger at a time. We can't have you ganging up on Olympia, can we?" his tone is menacing, disconcerting as it is with his enormous smile (though at this point I want to punch it off his face).

Shauna clenches Bronze's hand. I feel my whole body shiver but say nothing. "You sure only one of us can go in?" she asks him.

Bronze stares into the darkness, emotionless. "It's just how it's going to have to be."

"Good luck." I tell him before walking up and giving him a quick kiss. "Tell the team we're rooting for them."

He blinks but doesn't look back. "I will."

I step away, my heart pulsing with anxiety and disappointment. Though he has every right to be angry at me, somehow I can't help but feel a little resentful about it. Wouldn't he do the same for his teammates?

I sigh as he walks into the void and the doors slam behind him, leaving Shauna and I in the room with only the admissions man to keep us company. The Pokeballs in my bag shake violently, the Pokemon within unaware that they won't be fighting at all today.

"I can't believe we just let him go in there alone." I say.

"Hard, isn't it?" she sighs.

"It's so stressful! What if something goes wrong? What if someone dies? We can't get in there to help him!" I tell her, unable to control my anxiety.

"You have no idea." Shauna laughs nervously, pushing open the door and letting the cool winter air and harsh light enter the room as we leave. "Want to get some frozen yogurt? It's my treat."
Despite how peculiar the request is, I have no reason to decline. "Sounds good to me," I say, looking back at the gym. My hand clenches around Rune's Pokeball, which grows hot beneath my hands. "Should I get out my Pokemon?"

She presses my hand back down, her gaze intense. "I'd like to talk in private."

(Woah, woah, woah. It's been a week? I am SO SO SO sorry. School and other personal things keep coming up and let's just say the last week has not been fun for me. Regardless, I tried to work on this every night and though I only got a hundred words or so out until today, hopefully this chapter isn't too disjointed. Hope you like it! Will try to update more. Your support means the world to me. :) )