With the morning sun cresting over the horizon, an icy claw breaks free from a crater filled with rubble and rock.
"Snooow!" Abomasnow lets out a mighty roar as she blasts the final layer of rocks away. Light shines upon our hero's grave as arms stretch for the zenith.
"Air!" Candice is the first to reach out. "Fresh air!" She climbs out the rest of the way before reaching a hand down to help Swole out.
Swole takes a huge breath. "Sweet, sweet air! Fucking hell, I can't believe how deep we'd been buried! I really thought that was it!" He takes her hand. "Thanks."
A whole mountain landed on top of them, but the igloo held. When the air thinned, panic crept in. Only the same calculative, sharp thinking that wins battles kept them calm in the face of a slow death.
Alas, they may live, but as the sun keeps rising, the destruction is laid bare before them.
"My city..." Candice whispers, staring down the path Regigigas carved - a canyon sliced through the mountain like by a blade. Its walls have collapsed, half-filling it with jagged rock and loose boulders.
The masses shift as they traverse the unnatural canyon, threatening to crush their feet at any step. Through the treacherous track, they steady each other and their pokemon as they stumble along until they finally reach the town's edge.
Buildings lie in ruin. Maria grieves in front of one flattened pile of rubble. A blanket drapes across her shoulders while Riley keeps her comfortable.
Heinrich, Hannelore, and Houndour stayed behind in the home they had built - where they lived, laughed, and raised their children and grandchildren. They did not cry when the monster roared. Their granddaughter had been sent away to find safety with the rest of the city.
Now, he reaps the fruits of his selfish decision. Like pearls, the tears freeze on Maria's face before the salty fruits fall into a fresh layer of snow.
Swole and Candice fail to mutter a single word as Riley tells the story.
They offer silent prayers... "I need to get going. I need to organize the rebuilding efforts." Candice trails off, thinking about the tasks ahead.
Swole stares south, to where Alpha Regigigas headed. "... I'll go look for some volunteer work."
He thinks for a moment if clearing out rubble is the right task to choose, but he determines that people need more time to grieve over those they have lost.
Power has been restored, yet the pokemon center remains packed. Children, adults, and elders - all sleeping on cots, wallowing, wasting the day away. Even the simplest tasks overwhelm them after their lives have been uprooted.
Nurse Joy appreciates his help gratefully, putting him to work to cook for the destitute - a neighboring family has offered up their kitchen for the task.
It will be a simple stew, the planners decided. Food is precious until normalcy returns. Still, Swole gives the food all of his attention, cooking as best as he can with the ingredients rationed into his care.
But eventually, the distractions run out. He tries patrolling the city in case wild pokemon attack, but the task seems decorative at best. Who in their right mind would head toward the path of that monster? Any wild pokemon still nearby have likely fled as far as possible.
His feet carry him to Candice's office. A single pair of footsteps leads out of the gym, fresh snowflakes racing to fill them up.
He finds her office glaringly empty. Signed documents are stacked on the desk. A Post-it note sticks to the computer with her username and password. And in the center of it all lies a handwritten note.
Candice instructs her predecessor on how to continue the work. A train with supplies will arrive later that day, together with responsible workers, helpers, and government officials. At the bottom, she explains that she plans to face Alpha Regigigas in battle, even if it will cost her life.
"Goodbye."
Swole rushes out of the gym, thanking Arceus that the prints in the ground are still faintly visible. He follows her tracks south, walking in Alpha Regigigas' wake.
A few hundred meters after leaving the city limits, Candice mounted her trusty Mamoswine, using her pokemon's natural resistance to ice, snow, and even jagged rocks to carve her way through the uneven tracks that Regigigas left behind.
She looks over her shoulder. The city she swore to protect is already out of view; the snowfall is too dense to see it on the horizon.
In her heart, she promises to make things right. She has failed before, but she is a pokemon trainer. If there is one thing she knows how to do, it is how to battle!
"Is that... Swole?" She squints, trying to spot the flickering form veiled within the snow. "Are you insane?! Do you even know how to survive in the snow?!"
Her scream fights a losing battle against the wind.
"Is he... shouting something? I can't hear him because he's too far away... Hey! What are you following me for?! ... What did you say?!"
Their game continues for a while.
Eventually, after he got close enough, his voice could just barely be made out. "Can you repeat that?!"
"What?!"
"What?!"
"I said, what!"
"Oh! Me too!"
"Wait, so who wants to know what?"
"Candice!"
"Yeah? That's me."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm going to battle Regigigas! And I'm going to win!"
"Are you still insane?! Snap out of it already!"
"No. I've been of sound mind for a while. As a gym leader, this is my responsibility. I should have stopped Regigigas when I had the chance, but I failed. So now I must rectify my mistake!"
"Do you really think that?!" Swole shouts even as he steps right up to Mamoswine, looking up at Candice as she rides on her pokemon's back. "You think surviving was a mistake?!"
"Y--"
"Wrong! Ask any of your pokemon, and they'll tell you the truth!"
She does not need to. She knows; her pokemon already made that clear.
"So, Candice?"
"Don't do this..." She pleads, her courage crumbling much faster than she ever expected.
"No way. I'm not letting you throw your life away because you feel guilty!"
"What else am I supposed to do? Drown myself in work? I've tried, and it doesn't lessen the pain."
"I know."
"Then what? I've done all I could to atone for my cowardice. In an hour or two, help from Veilstone City will arrive, and they can fix what I've ruined."
"You're wrong again. It wasn't cowardice. If you're anything like me, then it was love, wasn't it? You love your pokemon, and you couldn't stand the thought of leaving them behind."
"..."
"You know they would stay at your new grave until they starved."
"... I know."
Mamoswine nods along. She, Abomasnow, Weavile, Glaceon, Jinx, and Aurorus all thought the same. Froslass, who cannot starve, would have waited even longer.
"But I love my city too. My people! I'm responsible for them!"
Swole shakes his head. "No matter what else you are, you'll always be a pokemon trainer first. Our beloved pokemon will always come first. And... I-- Honestly, I believe we made the right choice."
"... You're only saying that because you haven't known these people your whole life. Heinrich and Hannelore have always cared for the students at our school. Every Friday, they'd come and deliver baked goods. A total of nineteen families have become destitute. Nineteen!"
"Their homes can be rebuilt. Hannelore and Heinrich's lives can't be restored, but neither could yours. And if you go after Regigigas without a plan and die, then everything would have been for nothing. And then what?"
Candice stares past him, watching the thick snowflakes fall.
"Come back with me. Be the gym leader your city needs."
Her gaze drops to Swole, and... for the first time, she does not see a fourteen-year-old teenager.
She stretches out a hand, palm facing the overcast sky, and Swole stares at it.
"The badge. You said you wanted to earn it. You've said you wanted to stay in Snowpoint City until you beat me on my terms. Then return it to me, and let's have a battle."
"Now?" He asks, even while digging for the half-forgotten piece of metal in his pocket-- the other pocket.
Candice glances up and down at his pokemon. "You've treated their wounds well. You're all ready for battle, aren't you?"
As expected, Swole's team agrees - whether out of overconfidence or fact, nobody knows.
"Usually, trainers must first master the Snowpoint City's ice lake terrain to earn a victory at our gym. It's a unique battlefield in all of Sinnoh, testing both a trainer's fortitude and wit and their drive to reach the League. I think it's safe to say you have it, so we can battle right here, right now."
Swole studies the fire in her eyes, wondering just how far she went off the deep end to suggest a battle right now. But as he looks deeper, he sees only ice-cold clarity in her soul.
A quiet determination stirs within him. The outstretched hand is the challenge ahead.
He places the badge into her palm while grabbing her hand in a firm handshake. She clenches her fingers, matching his strength.
"Let's battle." He states, and Candice swings her other leg over Mamoswine's back before leaping down. He notices she is now dressed in much warmer, more weather-appropriate attire that does not allow a peek up her skirt anymore. "Same rules as before?"
"Yes. I will use the same team, in the same order, as if this were a regular gym rematch. You're free to adjust your team however you deem necessary." Candice removes a pokeball from her belt before walking away a few paces. "Ready when you are."
---
Swole looks over his team. Each pokemon meets his gaze, steady and expectant - except Swadloon. She cannot look up. Wrapped in his arms, she is stuck.
"Salandit, I'll choose you to fight Weavile first. Lopunny--" He looks towards Candice, who is busy staring up at the clouds. She tries to give him the time and space he needs to prepare carefully. "Lopunny, stay ready. You'll be the main fighter against Weavile."
She nods, relaxed ears flopping with the motion.
"I'm certain we will get past Weavile, and then we'll see who she sends out next."
Swole readies himself. He shuffles his feet and widens his stance. Salandit crawls down from his shoulder, careful to avoid touching him with her back or the flaming tip of her tail.
Her clawed feet sink a little into the snow. She hates the sounds of snow crunching under her weight and the feeling of water melting between her claws, but she moves into position nonetheless. She tenses her legs, licks a snowflake off her eyeball, and prepares herself for Fake Out.
"On three!" Candice shouts across the battlefield while Weavile pops out of her ball and takes position. Her eyes tighten in a glare. "One!"
Swole continues. "Two!"
"Three!" - "Three!"
Salandit's world slows to a crawl.
"Ice!--" Candice stops herself as soon as she sees Salandit disappear.
"Fake Out!"
While waiting for Salandit, she takes a few moments to consider his next move.
Salandit lands the first strike, blocking off Weavile's attacks. Flames immediately gather within her mouth while her burning back blazes brighter.
The order was already at the tip of Candice's tongue. "Use the snow to block Will-O-Wisp."
"Abort and change to Toxic!"
"That's nothing more snow won't stop! Weavile, pick up more."
Poison fills Salandit's mouth. Purple globs drip from her teeth, while Weavile smirks and packs snow into a big, hefty snowball.
Suddenly, Salandit lunges towards her enemy.
"Poison Fang?! Dodge!"
Too late. The snowball falls from Weavile's claws as Salandit chomps down on her arm.
"Use Fling and fling her into the air!"
Weavile grabs Salandit by her throat and looks at her with hate-filled eyes while dark energy gathers along her arm.
"Wea-Wea." Weavile mocks her opponent before reeling her arm back, readying Salandit like a baseball.
A red beam shoots out just as she launches Salandit. Without the weight of a whole pokemon in her grasp, Weavile loses balance and falters. The motion of her swing continues, empowered by Fling.
She accidentally completes a front flip, landing back on her feet. Her vision swims for a moment before refocusing. "Weavile?" She wonders out loud, surprised at her trick.
Then she looks at her throwing arm, sending it a few silent compliments for a job well done. Then at the other... A dark purple spot remains where she was bitten. The poison slowly creeps along the veins of her skin, but her fur hides how far it has already spread. "Weavile..." She's disappointed at the performance of her other arm.
"Take this fight seriously, Weavile, or we might end up losing."
Hearing her tone, she listens to her trainer's reprimand immediately, trusting Candice's judgment more than her own.
"I didn't know Fling could be used against pokemon!"
Candice smirks, spotting the deceit in his voice. Or perhaps his aura? "This was your first of two recalls, Swole!"
"Two?! I thought I had three in my fourth gym match!" He knows it is the number of pokemon allowed in the fight, divided by two, rounded down. So 2.
"You sneaky rascal! Do you want me to call you out on your BS?!"
"Haha! No need! I'm just taking the match seriously... Can you blame me for stalling?" His voice drops in volume towards the end.
But Candice pieces the missing context together without asking him to repeat himself. "Tick-tock, Swole!"
"Yes, yes. Lopunny, you're up." His pokemon hides behind her ears, trying not to witness her trainer's Salandit-like fighting style. Her ears perk up when she hears his voice.
It takes Lopunny a while to realize he is actually talking to her through aura. "Lopunny." She speaks out loud and nods to confirm his orders.
Candice laughs and shouts to be heard over the wind. "Whispering your orders too?! The moment the cameras are off, you show your true face, don't you?!"
"We've evolved far beyond whispers!"
"So, aura?! Don't think your parlor tricks will win this! I'm ready!"
"Me too! And go!"
Lopunny rushes across the snow, her feet leaving deep prints behind as her legs press on.
"Create more distance and use Agility, Weavile!"
Swole closes his eyes, concentrating on only the battle before him. Despite the snow, the shapes become clear to his inner eyes.
Lopunny looks as sharp as if she stood right before him. He sees her legs pump harder, feels the normal type energy building up slightly just to hasten her movements with Quick Attack.
She rushes past Candice, hurrying after Weavile in this unconventional stadium that Alpha Regigigas carved out. Clones briefly flicker into existence as Agility increases her speed.
"Dodge her attacks and use Poison Jab!"
Candice's voice becomes clearer to him while he concentrates. He even hears the intent hidden within the command.
~"Lopunny!" Her ears twitch on instinct again. ~"Pretend to use Low Sweep." Lopunny, too, feels the intent in his words and aims for Weavile's legs.
Her opponent is ready to face her, claws oozing purple poison - with both Salandit's and her own.
She sweeps her leg low to the ground. Weavile jumps as predicted, claw poised to strike her face. "Roll." Aborting her attack comes easy when she never put any power into it in the first place. Lopunny kicks off the snow and rolls to safety.
Poison Jab gouges a deep groove where Lopunny had been. She rolls with the motion, her heel sweeping low toward Weavile's ankle. This time, Low Sweep is fully charged and poised to strike.
"Roll away!" The order comes, and Weavile listens. Her trainer has got her back.
Lopunny misses. ~"Follow up with Double Kick."
She pivots, reversing her momentum. Her planted foot bites deep into the snow, threatening her balance, but she powers through, kicking--
"Protect! And then Night Slash!"
The shell appears, knocking her foot back and fully breaking Lopunny's balance. She stumbles. The snowy ground approaches her face, yet her trainer's thoughts resound clearly within her mind.
Lopunny disappears just before face-planting. The next moment she jabs the back of Weavile's head.
Weavile swipes around, slicing through the air, but the dark energy dissipated the moment Lopunny touched her. Her claws, still sharp, rake across Lopunny's face and nick her skin.
"Run!"
The order is too late. Lopunny has already charged her legs. She hops into the air and dropkicks her opponent.
Weavile tumbles across the snow, carving a long trench in her wake. Without missing a beat, Lopunny darts after her, slipping into a Quick Attack - perfectly in sync with her trainer's intent.
"Dark Pulse!"
With Agility's speed boost, Weavile quickly charges the attack - just enough to release it in the last moment. Lopunny bites through the pain while darkness washes over her. She sprints through the attack, barely slowed down, and punches Weavile in the face, following up with Double Hit.
"Use Dig!"
"Dig?" Swole is ripped out of his concentration, looking at his opponent as Weavile takes another hit and dives into a quickly dug hole in the snow.
He watches Candice closely but cannot discern the intent from her ice-cold poker face. When a stray snowflake strikes his open eye, her plan becomes clear to him.
"Use Rain Dance!"
"Rain Dance?"
Candice is baffled at his choice. It makes no sense to her... unless... "Blizzard doesn't work while Weavile is underground!"
"Oh. Really?!"
"Yeah! The move originates from Weavile's position, so it won't work!"
"Oh! Still, who are you calling out next?! Froslass?!"
"Afraid of Snow Cloak?!"
"Yeah! That ability had been on my mind since you told me about it!"
"Ha! You should worry about this fight before thinking of the next! Oh! And Weavile can't hear me! Not everyone has magic powers, you know?! I can't tell her to use another move while she's busy digging around!"
"Oh." A slap of a palm against his face rings out. Lopunny finishes her Rain Dance in the meantime, shooting a white orb into the sky and slowly but surely turning the snowfall into rain.
"Wait, so you're literally just using Dig?!"
"Yes!"
"Even though your opponent can see through walls?! Why would you do that?!"
"... You can see through walls?!"
"Yes! When I concentrate-- Oh, shit..." Swole quickly closes his eyes again, only to see Weavile has already dug right underneath Lopunny.
"Jump!"
Weavile bursts out of the snow and strikes Lopunny, sending her flying up into the air. He feels Lopunny's twang of annoyance aimed at himself. ~"Sorry... But we can turn this around into a Jump Kick!"
Most words do not make it across their briefly destabilized bond. Lopunny works her brain trying to piece the meaning together.
She's reached the top of her impromptu flying lesson and looks down at the enemy far below her.
Jump Kick. It suddenly clicks in her mind.
She did not catch Weavile's order, lost in her thoughts, but that matters little to her... In fact, if her opponent wants to line herself up for a trade like that, then why not - Lopunny thinks - why should she not put even more force behind her favorite move?
As she falls to the ground like a comet, she bends her knees, aiming for Weavile's face. High Jump Kick.
A wild grin spreads on her face as the risks associated with the move float up from the depths of her instinctual, subconscious mind. If she misses, it will hurt her a lot. But if she hits, Weavile will be in a world of pain.
Suddenly, Weavile begins to glow brightly. She opens her mouth, and the power collects in a hot, yellow sphere.
"Now! Hyper Beam!"
A flood of white light and chaotic noise takes over Lopunny's senses. A burning-hot feeling gnaws at her knees, and she pulls her arms tightly to her chest to avoid singeing her hands too.
Then, her knees connect with a target, and the pain ebbs. Blinded, she falls into the snow, cold ice soothing her burns. She blinks through the lingering spots in her vision before pushing herself up, peering over the edge of her snow crater.
She stumbles once and glares at her pained, crispy, black knees until the discomfort decides to leave her alone.
She looks around herself, spotting Weavile on the ground, and behind herself, she hears her trainer cheering joyfully.
---
Swole-POV:
I open my eyes and feel the exhaustion catching up immediately. All at once, my muscles feel overused, and my eyes and brain strain under pressure, like a constant force pressing down on me everywhere.
But... holy cwap. "Good job, Lopunny!" The sheer power behind those moves!
Hyper Beam was strong enough to blast a hole into the overcast sky, ending the rain and giving us a brief moment of sunshine. But even with that strength behind it, Lopunny simply broke through.
"Incredible job!" She still stares at the opponent by her feet. Eventually, she says something, sticks out her tongue, and turns to me.
She limps back to my side as her adrenaline fades, a smug smile still playing on her lips despite the wounds covering her body. Her legs are singed, and her smooth, soft fur will need time to regrow - again. Sometimes, I wonder if she gets hurt on purpose just so I have to treat her.
Lopunny positions herself at our side of the battlefield, eyes fixed on Candice as she recalls her pokemon.
"Impressive fight, Swole." Without the snow or rain, she doesn't have to shout nearly as loud for me to understand her. "But I wonder how you will handle this!"
All of a sudden, Jynx teleports onto their side of the field.
Teleport, Mean Look, and Perish Song... Lopunny can't stay. Mean Look ensures Lopunny can't leave, and Perish Song defeats anyone who hears its melodies. Not to mention that teleport allows Jynx to stay out of Lopunny's range.
"Lopunny, return."
But who do I swap in? Riolu's fighting type gets countered by her psychic powers. Salandit's poison type is weak to psychic too. Swadloon's really not in a good fighting condition - there aren't even any overhangs nearby to use Sting Shot on... Banette doesn't like battling.
Only suboptimal options.
Who has the best moves against her?
Riolu has Metal Claw and Rock Throw as super effective moves... but her physical attack is awful. Swadloon has Bug Bite... but no way to reach a teleporting target. All of Salandit's fire attacks are great...
"Does Jynx have the Dry Skin ability?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Candice grins. I'm struggling to come up with ideas, and she grins!
If she does have Dry Skin, fire would become an even stronger option. In that case, Sunny Day would be perfect. It increases the power of fire type moves, continuously damages pokemon with the Dry Skin ability, and all of my pokemon know it from a TM. It was just as cheap as the other weather moves, so I taught them to all who could.
Except Banette...
"Are you stalling for time?" Candice asks, but her voice misses the teasing tones from before.
"Sorry, I'm still thinking."
"Alright, take your time, but you won't get this luxury in the League, you know?"
She's right. I need to trust my gut. My brain tells me it's too risky, but my heart says to bet everything on fire. "In that case... I chose you, Swadloon!"
The pokemon chirps a confused tone while nestled in my arms. I step into the arena and place her on top of the packed, icy snow. Lopunny left deep footprints behind when she started her sprint right there.
"Swadloon?" She lets out another chirp when I leave. She can't even turn around on her own to speak directly with me.
"Don't worry, Swadloon. You've got this. I believe in you."
"Swa--... Swadloon!" If she could, she'd be nodding her head with heaps of determination.
I check the watch on my wrist. Salandit's Fake Out will be ready soon.
"You're the best, Swadloon." She'll make a great tank someday. The way she faces overwhelming odds head-on is incredible... or maybe she's just oblivious.
"By the way, Swole, you're trying to give Lopunny a break too, right? In that case, she can recover better within her pokeball."
"Really? I mean, I will take your word for it, but I don't think pokeballs are very comfortable." Otherwise my pokemon wouldn't rather ride me during our travels.
She confirms it, and Lopunny gives me a look as I unclip her pokeball. One that says, 'I'll be ready when you need me.' I try to return a similarly meaningful look, but she just bursts into laughter. I guess the meaning was lost somewhere.
"Take a proper rest, Lopunny. I'll need you in top condition." I press her pokeball's button, and she disappears in a flash of red light. Then, I stare into Candice's eyes. "Ready."
"Me too!" She shouts. "And go!"
"Go!"
"Blizzard!"
"Sunny Day! Quickly!"
Jynx's blonde hair floats and flutters wildly as an unseen storm gathers with her in the center. The wind picks up, and snowflakes grow from thin air all around her. Thick snowflakes, dense hail, and even sharp icicles swoop around Jynx in a growing cloud.
A devastating move - one that becomes even stronger during a snowstorm.
Jynx unleashes her battle cry. It sounds almost human. Her blonde hair glitters within the storm, and behind the veil of falling snow, her silhouette and murmurs resemble a woman wandering the tundra. It's no wonder people once mistook her kind for lost souls in the blizzard.
Swadloon hasn't finished her move yet. Rooted in place, she has no chance of dodging; Blizzard may be slow, but she's slower. All she can do is softly glow as Jynx sends it on its way. The cloud of ice and snow expands to cover a massive dome that slowly inches across the battlefield, coating everything it touches in a fresh layer of winter.
I cannot see Sewaddle's eyes, but I can feel her dread as she faces the storm on her own. The edge passes over her, and she mewls in pain.
"Bite through the pain! You can do it!"
She screams and cries, but the glow of Sunny Day does not die off even as the storm completely encompasses her.
Then, a white orb separates itself from her body. It grows to a beach ball-sized sphere that shoots off into the heavens at a breakneck pace.
The moment it flies far enough away to become invisible to the eye, the sunlight intensifies. Jynx's storm wavers at the edges as the air heats up.
Sweat quickly breaks out on my face, and Candice slips out of her winter coat, then strips off her sweater and wraps it around her waist.
In the meantime, Blizzard fades out completely. The last remnants drift through the air before melting and coming down as water.
"Swadloon?" She disappeared.
"Where did she go?"
"I don't know."
"Jynx, can you find her?" Candice asks her pokemon, and I remember to use aura to find her.
She's buried upside-down underneath a drift of snow. The winds must have blown her away before the snow covered her... But she's still awake.
Jynx grabs her with a psychic hold and breaks her free from the quickly melting snow. Swadloon comes out of the ground, facing me, but still upside-down. Her eyes glint with equal parts anger and annoyance.
The top of her frozen body - or rather, her bottom - has already begun to thaw by the time Jynx turns her around for Candice and herself to inspect.
"She's not KO?!"
All of a sudden, a bright green orb shoots out of Swadloon's mouth, breaking the rest of her ice shell into fragments, which fall and join the growing mud puddles on the ground.
"It's Struggle Bug!" The special attack that we never could pull off before!
The move takes Jynx by surprise, and the bullet made of super effective bug type energy strikes her shoulder.
"Use Psychic!"
"Protect and then another Struggle Bug!"
A translucent shell appears instantly around Swadloon, and Jynx recoils when her move fails, but she catches herself quickly enough. "Use Confusion!"
Swadloon falls freely until Confusion grabs her midair again. Her second Struggle Bug goes wide, shooting off into the sky as Jynx mentally slams Swadloon into the ground with a splash of mud.
"Confusion, again!"
Swadloon bounces once and then rolls over the ground, her eyes finally closing and turning into swirls. A blue glow covers her body.
Heart beating hard. Hands move on instinct alone. The button of her pokeball - fourth on my belt - a red light shoots out. It slams into a barrier and fizzles into nothing.
Then Confusion strikes the same barrier, flashing before fading as well.
Froslass appears from the ground, her arms outstretched, blocking Jynx.
"Sooorry!" Candice shouts, but I barely hear her over my harshly beating heart. My brain catches up to the present, and I can't help but shoot Candice a glare. "I'm sorry! She just tanked a lot more damage than I expected!"
Me neither. I didn't expect her to keep fighting after tanking that super-super effective Blizzard.
That was close. Swadloon could have gotten really heavily injured by that.
I take a couple of deep breaths. I brush off some snow that has begun melting on me. "It's alright. Nothing happened; I just got startled. Thank you, Froslass."
She turns around and bows like a proper lady would, reminding me of the stories surrounding Froslass' birth.
I unclip Swadloon's pokeball, expand it with a click, and return her in a flash of red light. "Good job, Swadloon." I give the cool metal a brief kiss before pressing the button to shrink it and slotting it back onto my belt.
My wristwatch reveals she succeeded with every objective and even damaged Jynx. Considering that she can't move, Swadloon more than exceeded my expectations. "Really well done, Swadloon."
Now... the question remains... does Jynx have Dry Skin? If so, it should be easy enough to find out.