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The trio of myself, Freth, and Tristen was more than happy to take part of a vacation of sorts, though the term of vacation for the likes of us would be debatable in and of itself considering that we wouldn't be that far off from my home town of Mahogany. Though while Freth and Tristen would be up at the cabin, getting acquainted with Freth's new oddity of a Darumaka, I wasn't with them...at least for the time being.

I, for the most part, took a detour back to the Mahogany Gym. After a long war between two fronts, I decided to go by to the gym and spend some much needed time to my long time teacher and, for all intents and purposes, father figure, Pryce, the Mahogany Town Gym Leader. It was a slow night for teacher, which is kind of typical in this point of year. While he'd still get challengers in, challengers become fewer and far between because of the season. Rather it be trainers wanting to spend time with families during the holidays, or...simply not wanting to travel trying to brave the winter chill the entire way. The lull in battles gave teacher and I a lot of catch up time. With the battlefield floor lights dimmed, we sat on the stands nearby as the lights gave the field a nice particular nighttime glow, where the mist and chill danced along the icy floor.

"And...that's what generally happened. Kalos, while politically in shambles for the time being, can finally rest knowing what put them that way got the shaft and those who aided and abetted with him are going to go away, perhaps forever at this rate. The world can sigh in relief knowing that Ein is gone for good, let alone Orre considering how we saw the people he held captive. Unfortunately Ein's influence hasn't necessarily gone away completely. Shadow Pokemon are still out there, somewhere. Probably still spreading out and I'm not entirely sure if the threat will ever be completely eradicated. It started in Hoenn that we know of and its been years since we've gotten involved with it. They had plenty of time to migrate, hunker down, or whathaveyou, to other parts of the Hoenn Region, or just other regions altogether. Sure, we mitigated a whole mess of that with the help of friends we ended up getting along the way, but let's be realistic, with what's still out there, unsuspecting trainers out there are going to get caught up in that kind of mess for...perhaps decades. Perhaps longer."

"It would have been worse if you hadn't stood up to Ein, let alone make the coordinated effort to take care of the Shadow Pokemon as you found them. Though...one thing I am noticing..." Pryce looked over towards me, his ever calm gaze examining me as if he was staring right into my very soul. "...throughout your story, you come off...conflicted."

"Conflicted?" I thought about it for a second and I gave a sigh. I think I knew what he was talking about. "...I guess its a word for it. I've been wanting to come back here, finally get towards taking over the gym, actually...stop fighting like the world is at stake for a change. Despite all the chaos I went through, I've learned quite a bit as well. Regions, Pokemon, yadda yadda...stuff that I want to apply here. But then the more I think about it though...I feel like I'm...selfish? Maybe?"

"How so?"

"Well, for one, Freth and Tristen. Freth isn't into the Pokemon League really, and Tristen only battles out of necessity. Sure he finds it fun and all, provided that it isn't, again, fate of the world and whatever, but he long since already came to the conclusion there's more to life than just a Pokemon battle. Considering what he's been through, I can't necessarily blame him. I'd feel wrong for roping them into this for the long haul. Then the fact that along the way to beat Ein, rather it be Ein himself or some sort of body double or whathaveyou, Lysandre, and anyone in between, we as a whole made just as many enemies as we have allies, then the Shadow Pokemon thing I mentioned, I...eh...let's put it this way, I left again to ensure that everything was relatively safe. For me, for Freth, for Tails and Tristen...for the gym. Because last thing I wanted was me being in a middle of a battle here and all of a sudden some old ghost or whatever decided he wants to tear Mahogany Town a new one for whatever reason, or a 'naturally' Shadow Pokemon outbreak again, or things like that, and its feeling like...that's...never going to happen."

"I see."

"I feel responsible to keep at this...well occupation...I guess, because we in Snagem are pretty much are a small handful of people that are pretty much capable of actually dealing with it in some regard or another, but on the other hand, I'm realizing that...well, its not like I got forever to get my business squared away."

"Unfortunately Blizzard, I'm not sure what to tell you. In my years, I have never had a situation even remotely like yours. I don't really envy you...at least, as far as the problems at hand are concerned. You want to follow obligations, show honor, respect others wishes to extents, to not be put in a position where you would be the one who be able to solve a major crisis like Lysandre, for instance, and not be accused of betrayal by inaction. But also, you have the paradox of also wanting to relish your own handiwork, which would be a reward in and of itself for you, to actually know that you can do something and know that it'll be okay. But Blizzard, now that I mention it, that hadn't been a guarantee for you in years. Even before you were 'drafted' by Miles to deal with the Pokemon Rangers. You know this, correct?"

"Unfortunately." I said.

"I'm not going to tell you how you should run your life; I have never done that. Shortly before me taking you on as an apprentice, you ran at the pace of your own drum, even if it meant upsetting someone. Like your parents."

"Mm-hmm."

"And weird as it may sound to you, you do fine playing super hero of sorts." Pryce said. "Your exploits, let alone Freth's, Tristen's, and the rest of the Snagem band, are known world over now. But its nothing you want to be doing the rest of your life either."

"No..."

"Though..." Pryce thought. "...I do question one thing."

"What's that?"

"Just...how much stock do you have in your random, run of the mill trainer in the world? If a trainer, or maybe a handful of your average trainers in this world, ended up facing down even so much as an immediate local problem, like say...a shadow Pokemon outbreak in a town somewhere. How well do you think they'd be able to handle it? With what you know about Shadow Pokemon themselves? With what advancements Team Snagem made for them thus far?"

"......I honestly don't know." I said.

"Your uncertainty is making you look conceited. I understand that the average trainer, even most gym leaders, have not dealt with what you have gone through, or attained the power you have. Or just about any Snagem, incidentally. With them dealing with world wars and perhaps the supernatural, but what is jarring is that you are having the hard time letting the average trainer at least try? They're in the fight too, you know, even if not directly. No, they're not the elites, no they're not hybrids, or doing that channeler stuff, or whathaveyou. But then, it shouldn't just fall on all of you. Otherwise, how would you be different from the rangers? How would they know how to stand against the threats? Or stand at all?" I hadn't a defense against that, and incidentally, perhaps a point Reno was trying to make at one time, I think. I couldn't help but to remain silent to my teacher, looking down towards the floor at my feet. "It's something to think about, Blizzard. There's no rush. I'm not going anywhere if I can help it." Pryce said. A thought then occurred to the seasoned teacher. "So...now that everything is over, what is everyone doing?"

"Oh, for the time being, they're up north near the Lake of Rage for a seasonal outing. Chill isn't as bitter as opposed to Mt. Silver and it gets them all out of the headquarters for a change of pace. Much needed leisure, I guess." I said to him.

"Provided they don't draw the ire from the Gyarados." Pryce remarked.

"...The Gyarados are supposed to be docile at this time of year."

"The regular ones are." Pryce remarked.

"...Regular ones? There's only one kind. Unless somehow we somehow found ourselves with some sort of weird regional variant like my Vulpix." I said.

"Red-scaled, Blizzard."

"Red scaled? What? Shiny? As in the one that the Rockets cropped up many years ago?" I asked. "I thought Lance caught that thing. Or Gold. Or whoever the hell was around in that time."

"Tell me, Blizzard, who stated there was just only one in the Lake of Rage?"

"...I may need to go play super hero again." I said to teacher.

Darts rubs the forehead of his crest where he had crashed into the mantle gingerly as he follows their leader out into the snow outside, his Dreepy floating alongside him amicably with its Santa hat a matching pair for his. "I don't really skate." He grunts slightly, hefting the Santa sack over his shoulder in keeping with his theme. "But I did bring presents for everyone - it'd make for a neat Christmas environment to open them on the lake."

Hearing Sub mention ice skating, Odd was quick to agree. "I'd love to. I haven't gone ice skating since I was a kid. The Sisters never let me go out much, though. The mountain was too dangerous when the whether was right for it." He agreed, grabbing a pair of the skates that looked like they would fit and swapping his normal shoes for them. "It's not too hard." He assured Terashi before responding to his comments regarding his and Keiko's planned wedding. "Kinda why we went with summer. We didn't want to crowd you guys' special day too close to us finally making this thing official, too." He explained as he stood up on his skates and made his way to the edge of the ice with relative ease.

Lykas decided to just sit by the edge of the lake and watch the others skate. He couldn't say he'd ever done it before but he always preferred his water flowing, not frozen in place. Even a pool full of still water was preferable to a frozen lake in his eyes. But watching this friends and loved ones enjoy themselves was just as much fun when he was in the mood to relax and not be an antagonistic horndog.

In the cabin, Wren would walk into the wreckage caused by Darts and his tiny dragon before he had any idea what was going on. Speaking of tiny dragons, his Applin was hiding in his head wrap once again, eyes barely poking out to watch their surroundings. The tiny wyrm, which Wren had dubbed Manna, was still appleless for the moment but she wasn't going to let that stop her from at least keeping an eye on the goings on around her. "What exactly happened in here?" He asked Darts as he stepped inside, only for the Dragon master to exit the cabin in order to converse with Sub. The business man had no intentions on going back out into the snow just yet, though, so he just let him go and walked toward Keiko, offering to help clean up the mess.

Catching a sniff of the soil as he drew near to it, though, he'd pause and dig into his bag. After a moment he'd pull a few things out and make Hemlock an offer of his own. "That soil isn't quite right for you, is it little one?" He asked calmly. "I can adjust it to be better suited for you and teach Sub how to keep it right for you if you'd like?"

Ulla looked to Aden as she merely smiled. "That's good to know." She said as the two siblings were both greeted by Sub. Leon merely nodded to the Eevee as his Alolan Vulpix climbed up and greeted as well. He then looked to his sister as her Vulpix jumped into her arms. "You sure you are okay in this weather? I don't want you breaking out in a fever now." "Yes I'm fine. Besides, nothing like a day in the snow with the team. After all, it's been awhile since we actually experienced peace. Don't you think?" She said as she heard Sub offer to go ice skating. "I would like to!" Ulla said very eagerly.

The child then looked to Leon as he quickly refused. "I don't ice skate."[/'color]

Wren shrugged to Keiko's response that Hemlock liked being in his soil. "Could be a number of reasons. It might have to do with it being daytime. Oddish tend to be nocturnal from what I've gathered. Even subpar soil would be preferred over being out in the day but this doesn't seem too far off from what could be considered ideal soil for it." He explained as he picked up a small sample of the soil in the Pokemon's tipped pot and felt it between his fingers.

"Judging from the texture and the aroma, it's a very nice mixture of potting soil and natural earth with a small amount of peat mixed in to help retain moisture and boost the acidity. The only problem is that Oddish are Poison-types as well. The soil needs to be more acidic than it would be for a pure Grass-type." He continued.

"I've got a bit of powdered ammonium sulfate on me for Mandragora's soil when he actually feels up to sleeping in it that can help quite a bit but I want this little one's permission before I go meddling with it's bed." The reference to his Gloom was likely lost on both Keiko and Younger Hemlock(his own nickname for Sub's Oddish, given it shared a name with his Cacturne.

Keiko smiled as Hemlocke let Wren work on his soil while she was making a pot of hot chocolate - in case other Snagems wanted to escape the cold outside and warm up in the cabin. As she poured a cup for herself, Abby made her way in with Palladia behind her, and the pair dumped their firewood into a repository beside the fireplace. Between the two of them, they'd pretty much filled it full.

"Hot chocolate's ready," Keiko offered, showing Absinthe her mug of it. She only got a nod from the young Deathrage, though, before she and her Fighting-type companion sat in front of the fire and relaxed for a bit. When Hop-Frog and Lenore walked in, Eve followed them. It was in playfulness at first, as Hans wasn't any fun and I left with the outside Snagems to attempt ice skating. She was just as surprised as her trainer was when Hop-Frog revealed his creation. "That's really sweet of you," Keiko said with a wide, happy smile. "Sure, go ahead!"

As Eve as cheering Hop-Frog and Lenore on, Rala popped into the room after hearing about Darts giving away gifts. "Mr. Darts is giving away gifts outside. Might want to come out if you want any," she offered, disappearing the second her message was relayed. Abby groaned at this, but got up and prepared to leave with Keiko, letting Palladia stay in the cabin if she wanted.

~*~

I followed Sub and the others to the lake and made my way out atop it, going slow at first so as to get used to the skates on my feet. I kept my knees bent as I'd read that was important to any kind of skating. At some point, I don't remember exactly when or where I read that. But other than that, I didn't really know what I was doing.

Wren nodded to Hemlock when he agreed to let him adjust his soil. It didn't take long at all for him to make the minor adjustment, adding a small sprinkling of the the ammonium sulfate to the surface and kneading it in carefully before adding a small amount of water to let it soak through the soil fully. "Give it a few minutes to settle and let the water spread through it and you should find it much more to your liking." He told the little Oddish as he finished up, dusting his hands off as he stood up.

Manna had watched carefully as Wren worked the soil, eyes wide with wonder. This human had such a depth of knowledge regarding the soil and the creatures which sprung forth from it. It was almost as if she had been delivered to him specifically because of his talents. "I'd actually really like that, miss Keiko." The Grass Channeler finally responded to Keiko's offer of hot chocolate. The question came down to whether she was making the instant stuff or some homemade concoction that would put it to shame?

When Rala appeared and announced that Darts was handing out gifts, he debated whether or not he wanted to brave the snow again. He did have those slippers but... Even those things felt so restrictive! Why did they have to go somewhere with snow? Why couldn't they have gone to Alola? The jungle there was beautiful and it didn't require shoes. The weight of his hatred for footwear was beginning to make him realize he was going to miss out on some interaction if he didn't go soon.

And then a thought came to him. Snickering to himself as he realized how genius it was, he pulled on the warm socks he had brought just in case shoes were forced upon him and released two Pokemon. The first was Cassava to keep Hemlock some company in the absence of the others and the other was Asphodel. The Sawsbuck was glorious in it's winter form, white fur and frost-encrusted branches glistening in the light of the cabin. Walking to the door of the cabin, he let Asphodel out ahead of him and then climbed onto the cervine Pokemon's back. "We're heading toward the lake, I think." He told the Grass-type as he scanned the area to see where the others had gone.

Odd had swapped his shoes for the ice skates in very little time and was gracefully gliding across the frozen surface of the lake in no time at all. He didn't have the kind of skill Sub had but he certainly seemed to be enjoying what he did have. It was interesting seeing him here compared to the desert climates where he was always lethargic and exhausted.

Lykas sat on the lakeshore and watched for the time being. Occasionally, when someone looked like they were going to fall, he'd take a deep breath and breath an Icy Wind in their direction, weak in the Icy and strong in the Wind to blow them back toward balance.