Mother still wouldn’t let me go hunting, she kept saying I was still recovering but I already felt better than I did before the attack. After telling her again and again that I was bored of staying in the nest, she finally caved. But instead of letting me hunt with her, she wanted to try something safer.

  “Are you sure you’re not just trying to show me off to the Aurorus?” I asked, tailing behind mother as she walked through the forest. I heard a light scoff from up ahead as she turned to look at me with one eye.

  “Of course not sweetie, what made you think that?”

  “I dunno, thought I saw you making eyes at one of them.” I said, not missing the slight wince she tried to hide. But unfortunately my teasing only earned me silence in return. We started up the incline towards the frozen lake, as it started getting colder I finally spoke. “You sure they’re old enough to fight?”

  “Mhm, don’t worry, Amaura grow slow, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them already know icy wind. Just… Don’t make them cry, the point of this isn’t to bully them...” She looked back at me quizzically for a second but I just huffed at her annoyed. If she thought I was immature enough to beat up on kids like that she was wrong. Probably. Maybe if I was up against the one that laughed at me last time.

  Finally exiting the forest we made our way into the clearing, the same Pokemon as last time were there. With a couple new additions like a Frosmoth watching over the group of Snom and a Beartic half asleep while its Cubchoo played tag with the Pikachu from before. It seemed kind of one sided, but the cub seemed like it was having fun.

  Mother announced herself the same way she did before, and made her way over to the Aurorus slowly. They looked at her questioningly but I didn’t miss her nod of acknowledgment to one of the bigger males before she spoke.

  “Are any of your brood up for some battle practice with my own? She’s been antsy since the other day.” In response two of the female Aurorus looked down at their own group of hatchlings, most hid behind them. Over-sized heads that I could really sympathize with sticking out around their mothers legs to look at my own mother, then at me.

  I noticed a lot of ice types weren’t very talkative, first the ice cube one the other day, and now the Aurorus. They didn’t speak as one of the hatchlings stepped forward, conveniently the same that had laughed at me. I hid my grin as she stepped forward, her parent nodded at mother and the four of us broke off from the group, moving a bit away from the lake. As not to disturb the other residents and also because it was a bit too cold for a fair fight.

  The Amaura’s mother laid in the snow on the edge of the clearing next to my own while me and the other hatchling squared up a ways away from each other. Clearly neither parent would count us off though, this wasn’t a league match or anything like that.

  “You ready kid?” I asked, maybe a tad more mocking than I meant to be. The wound to my pride from the other day was a bit more sore than it probably should have been.

  “Yes!!” She yelled, more eager than I’d expected her to be, maybe she was a battle junky? I ran forwards immediately, readying a bite. I thought that immediately starting out with a brick break or setting up curse might’ve been a bit much if she didn’t have the battle experience I did. Not that hunting was much experience with all the ambushes, but I had fought for my life once already.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  I opened my mouth to bite her body, probably a mistake not to go for her long neck, but I wasn’t going for a kill here. But unexpectedly all that ended up in my jaws was a puff of freezing snow that felt like it was burning the skin right off my face. I shook quickly to get the painful powder snow off, looking up at the Amaura who had jumped away with surprising agility for its stature.

  Its grating snicker hit my ears and I gave into the taunt immediately, not an actual move but it sure felt like it. She yelped as I headbutted her, brick break sending her reeling. She was wheezing a bit from being hit in the side but I ignored it. Setting up a curse while she was distracted.

  “Not so funny now huh?” I snapped my jaws at the Amaura, I could practically feel my mothers frown beside me but this kid had it coming. As soon as I got the words out though I noticed her doing something weird with normal type energy, waving her head around. Confused I went to gather energy for another brick break. But a curse washed over me immediately instead… Encore?

  As I tried to get off as many curses as I could to shake off the encore a cold wind hit me. Much much colder than the powder snow, shivering as I tried to move out of the way. Slowed by the cold she started pelting me with rocks, it wasn’t very effective but with me stuck using curse for a bit and still freezing my ass off it was more than enough to have me worried.

  As soon as encore wore off though I was running at her, much slower but fast enough. The Amaura should have kept using icy wind, ancient power wasn’t enough to finish me off. Now boosted by five curses in a row, brick break had her on the ground immediately. Luckily she had gotten a stat boost from one of the ancient powers, so she was still conscious, but she definitely couldn’t fight anymore.

  I grinned down at the Amaura before dropping to sit next to her, gasping for air. I may have won but it was close, one more icy wind and she would have won. It seemed both our parents were content to let us hang out after the fight, neither moving to stand.

  “Why didn’t you use another icy wind?”

  “What do you mean?” She asked, cocking her head almost confused.

  “You would have won if you used that last ice type move again.” I answered, clearly just as confused as her.

  “I’ve never used it before, I didn’t know how to do it again.” I gaped at her, even more confused, ignoring the familiar snicker that followed. Before realizing that learning moves mid battle wasn’t uncommon, in fact it was expected for baby Pokemon. I had done the same the other day with brick break, though clearly she hadn’t felt the same pressure to keep using it that I had. “Good fight though, we should play again sometime.”

  “Maybe, it’s way too cold up here…” That just got more laughter from her, I wondered if it was all she knew how to do.

  The rest of our time at the frozen lake was spent resting or playing, apparently the Glalie from before was trying to impress a Froslass that lived a bit higher up the mountain with its igloo. I don’t know much about mating practices between the Snorunt line but one igloo clearly wasn’t enough. The ice type asked me and Amaura to help, she couldn’t do much other than use powdered snow on the ice blocks Glalie made to help them stick together.

  While I was carrying blocks of ice in my jaws I was absolutely blessed to see Pikachu doing the same. Waddling around carrying a block bigger than itself was definitely a cuteness overload. I might have fallen over with my own block if Amaura didn’t snap me out of it. She seemed to like following me around for some reason.

  While we were working I saw mother sneak over to hang out with the Aurorus group, including one specific male… Well, maybe I’d have a little sibling soon, who knows. Once we finished up with the second igloo, which went surprisingly fast, Glalie paid us with Rawst berries he’d stashed away.

  Definitely different from meat, and the first berries I’d eaten as a Pokemon. They tasted cold like I remembered, like the tip of your tongue was about to freeze to the roof of your mouth. Instant brain freeze in the smallest package possible. I never much cared for them but I accepted the gesture anyways, curious if they’d be different with my new taste buds. They weren’t, and Amaura’s giggling didn’t help that fact when my face scrunched up.

  The way home seemed quieter than usual, mother seemed a bit sour about something so I only spoke once we got back to the nest.

  “Y’know I can beat him up for you if he rejected you.” Had her rolling on the ground laughing, apparently much funnier than I had meant it to be. At least it cheered her up.