After dinner, Luther and Mai followed Candice up a snow-covered stretch of mountain near the Gym.
It all started because Luther had grown curious. That afternoon, when he'd challenged her to a battle, Candice had casually mentioned needing to head down to the mountain's foot to call her Pokémon back.
Unlike most Gym Leaders Luther had encountered, Candice seemed to keep her Pokémon in a semi-free-range state.
Seeing his evident interest, Candice offered to show him her snow mountain ranch nestled at the base of the peak.
The trail leading to the ranch was surprisingly easy to navigate compared to the rough paths Luther had seen elsewhere. It was smooth, and the signposts along the way clearly marked it as private property.
Along the path stood a couple of small wooden huts. Candice explained these were for emergency supplies, insurance against sudden blizzards or severe weather shifts. The meticulous preparation showed how much care and effort Candice poured into maintaining her ranch.
Luther couldn't help but feel a desire to learn from her; he was genuinely intrigued by how someone like Candice managed a place like this.
Suddenly, Candice, walking ahead, clapped her hands. "We're here."
Hidden by the twilight, a fenced-off ranch made entirely of wooden stakes materialized before Luther's eyes.
Candice had clearly defined her territory. It was backed by a massive cave and surrounded by a wide expanse of coniferous forest. The only significant sign of human construction was a two-story wooden cabin Candice had built for herself to rest in.
The fenced area didn't look particularly vast at first, but as they passed by the cave mouth, Candice's knowing smile hinted that there was much more to see.
Once inside the cabin, Candice flipped the switches for the lights mounted on the fence, and the once-sleeping ranch came alive. The sudden brilliance was dazzling, forcing Luther to squint as his eyes adjusted.
Perched on his shoulder, Jumpluff instinctively dimmed its soft glow.
Candice called over Mai, then emptied a bag filled with unblended Pokémon food and various Berries. Luther and his Pokémon quickly pitched in, helping to mix the feed, stir it, and pack it into barrels under Mai and Candice's direction.
Candice explained that whenever she visited, she prepared enough food to last her free-ranging Pokémon at the mountain's base for one to two weeks.
Thanks to the low temperatures and the Pokémon's habit of burying some of their food in the snow to save for later, she didn't have to worry much about spoilage.
"How many Pokémon do you keep here?" Luther asked.
After finishing the last batch of food and taking off her gloves, Candice counted silently.
"Fourteen. I keep another eight at the Gym. Not too many."
Luther nodded. That made sense. For a core Gym Leader of Candice's standing, raising about twenty-two Pokémon was hardly a stretch.
Carrying the food barrels, Candice continued to explain her process: how she had chosen the ranch's location and tailored the environment to suit her Pokémon.
"With your current strength," She remarked, "you could easily apply to become a Gym Leader. The core Gym Leader assessment wouldn't be much of a challenge for you."
Luther offered a wry smile. "I appreciate that, but I'm not ready for that kind of commitment just yet."
Candice then led Luther and Mai into the cave.
The walls showed clear signs of being professionally carved and reinforced. Luther had suspected the fenced area outside was merely a playground; the true ranch, he figured, must be inside the mountain. Still, he hadn't anticipated the sheer effort Candice had put into it.
Embedded along the polished rock walls were numerous crystals. The lighting here was softer than outside, mostly in warm, inviting tones.
Under the glow of these lamps, the crystals reflected dazzling, multicolored lights throughout the cave.
Luther felt like he had stepped into another world. Here, there was no howling wind, no snow, no freezing cold, only silence, broken only by the echo of their footsteps.
It was like walking into a fairytale realm.
"These crystals…" Mai murmured, her voice catching as she stared, utterly spellbound by the beauty of the place.
Candice chuckled proudly. "Found them while digging out the cave. Didn't find many, and I never planned to sell them, just used them for decoration."
"They're pretty, right? There used to be more, but Mamoswine accidentally crushed quite a few."
She sighed lightly, then smiled again. "Ah, well. I just like shiny things. Every girl dreams of having her own little fairytale world, don't they?"
The beautiful lights ended where the cave split into several passages. Candice explained that deeper inside was where her Pokémon actually lived. She hadn't decorated that part, preferring to let her Pokémon make it their own home.
Candice set the food down on the ground, then released her Ninetales, which let out a few echoing howls.
Curious, Luther stood off to the side, peering into the pitch-black depths of the cave.
Before long, the sound of many footsteps echoed from within.
Cloyster and Glalie emerged from the shadows, while Vanillite, Sneasel, and Smoochum rode on the back of a Dewgong, sliding along a layer of ice by the cave wall until they reached Candice.
After she gently petted them, the Pokémon gathered around the scattered food and began to enjoy their late-night meal.
Besides her Ice-type team, Candice also kept a few others here.
At that moment, a pair of Minun were each being hugged and playfully rubbed by Candice and Mai.
"Every week, these two little ones come here from the Gym to play with the others," Candice explained to Luther.
After a while, Candice glanced curiously into the cave's depths. "Strange… are they all out tonight?"
Luther didn't know who she was waiting for, but he followed her gaze into the darkness, it was pitch black.
Just as he was about to turn his attention back to Mai, a chorus of soft, squeaky cries came from the shadows.
A large group of Swinub came trotting out in a huddle, their pink snouts snuffling all over the ground. Finally finding an untouched bucket of food, they squealed excitedly and crowded around it.
Luther counted, there were at least twenty Swinub.
"Candice, do you really like Swinub that much? You're raising this many at once?"
Candice looked back over her shoulder, still playing with Minun, and waved her hand dismissively. "No way. I only have one Swinub; it's at the Gym for rookie battles. These ones are all wild."
"Wild?"
"Yeah, wild. This cave actually connects to the other side of the mountain, there are several entrances. This group of Swinub wandered in earlier this year. The cold doesn't bother them, of course, but finding food is a different story."
"Normally, a herd this size would have a Piloswine or Mamoswine leading them, but maybe something happened. Right now, they don't have anyone looking after them."
Luther understood immediately. In the wild, Pokémon constantly compete for territory and resources. Without a strong leader, a group often can't survive for long.
The food shortage, most likely, stemmed from this Swinub herd lacking a powerful figure to guide and protect them.
"It's not the first time this has happened," Candice continued. "Last year, a few Stantler wandered in here. They were starving and wary of us at first, but after getting a few free meals, they warmed up. They lived peacefully with my Pokémon until spring came, then one day, they just left."
Luther thought that sounded perfectly natural. The encounters and partings between humans and Pokémon often happened like that, quietly, by chance, without any grand story or dramatic ending.
Everything simply happened, quietly and naturally.
"But after spring came," Candice added with a smile, "I sometimes found half-eaten fruits with bite marks outside my ranch fence. And believe me, those fruits are way too bitter for me to eat."
(End of Chapter)
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