Luvia awoke to the that warm, cozy smell of burning firewood and groggily went downstairs. Mida yawned and shook herself, and tagged along behind her.

  There was a fireplace in the living room of their home that saw use in the rainy seasons of the year, when the island air was cool and heavy in the mornings and nights.

  It was another gloomy and overcast morning in Clearcloud, having rained for hours during the night, and a gentle, nippy breeze made the thin curtains of the house spread and flutter as it blew into the house. Nana had lit a small fire at the hearth. The old woman couldn’t stand a closed window – she hated a stuffy room. The only thing that’d push her to close them was if a deluge was falling on the island.

  Ziggy lay beside her, lazily watching her tend to the flames.

  “Morning, Nana,” said Luvia rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “You made a fire.”

  “I did, girlie. The sun seems to forget that it’s supposed to be Mid Summer.” She poked at burning wood with the forked rod.

  Luvia picked one of the creaky wooden chairs and sat beside her, sticking her hands out to the flames. Mida looked wary, eyeing them like they were living things and cocking her head when the wood crackled and popped as if the fire was speaking words that she couldn’t understand. The little one spared Ziggy a passing sniff for a greeting and sat behind him as she continued to eye the fireplace.

  “You off to that job of yours?”

  Luvia gave two quick grunts and shook her head. “Not till 9:30. That’s when we’re meeting up.”

  There was a brief silence as Nana leaned in and prodded the embers some more. “You were so tired last night, Luv, you hardly told us about this job you’re doing.”

  Luvia yawned a big yawn and shivered. “It’s just helping some mainlanders scan the place. They have these… things… that you press a button and throw on the water and it lets them see what’s under.”

  Nana was frowning. “What for? – I hope they’re not planning to strip us of our treasures.”

  Luvia cracked a smile and shot her grandmother a look. “Nana… what treasures…”

  Nana drew up her eyebrows and put on her serious face. “We’ve got treasures, girlie, every island has. Why do you think they poke out of the sea, so?”

  Luvia huffed a little smile and looked into the flames. It was an old bedtime story. Islands poked out of the sea because they were the tall places where kingdoms and palaces once stood.

  By that reasoning, it meant that beneath every island, there was a treasury room, and it was said to be guarded by a dra…

  A chill went up Luvia’s spine. Her mouth parted slowly.

  She glanced at her grandmother, tending casually to the fire, and felt an uncomfortable pit grow in her chest.

  Gyarados. A pokémon so hard to train that even dragon tamers struggled with it. They said that a gyarados would only listen to those without a trace of fear in them. If you felt the slightest bit intimidated, it would consider you inferior and ignore all of your commands.

  With all the books, stories, and modest internet surfing Luvia had gone through, she knew a lot of the old bedtime tales were just that – tales, but something about what Nana just said and the Gyarados that had been sleeping in the depths below the island… It couldn’t be true, could it?

  Nana and her mother, of course, knew nothing of the previous day’s encounter. Luvia didn’t tell them because she was sure they’d stop her from going back.

  …

  “What kind of treasure could it be, Nana?”

  The burning wood popped.

  *fwoosh!* the fire hissed when Mida spat a squirt of water at it.

  Nana howled. “Silly pup!” She waved her prodding rod to shoo her away. Luvia was laughing when she scooped the little one into her arms. She covered Mida’s mouth with a hand.

  “Sorry, Nana!” she said through a giggle.

  “Bah!” went the old woman, then mumbled grumpily to herself. Luvia put Mida down and knelt next to the fire, leaning as close to the embers as she could.

  “Leave it, Luv.”

  “Let me fix it, Nana,” Luvia insisted, taking a gulpful of air and blowing on the embers. It took a few and it made her lightheaded, but the fire eventually sprang back to life.

  “You have a pair of lungs on you, girlie.”

  Luvia pulled back and wagged a finger at Mida warningly. The little one walked back behind Ziggy and sat, still enthralled by the licking flames.

  “What treasures, Nana?” the girl asked as she climbed back into her chair. “What would they find on this island?”

  Nana set the prodding rod next to the fireplace and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms to ward against the nippy air.

  “Piles of gold…”

  Luvia’s shoulders sagged in disappointment.

  “… and jewels to behold,” they ended together, just as stories often did.

  Luvia turned back to the fire pensively. Nana wouldn’t have a clue. Not really. She stole a quick glance at the aged woman and wondered what she’d think of the monster that had been living right under their noses for god knows how long.

  Glacia’s unit was stationed inland this time. Luvia thought that was perfect since she had questions to ask, and felt way too embarrassed to speak them in front of everyone. She’d get to ask them whilst they trekked to their spots!

  …

  It didn’t pan out that way. The team met up in town close to the allotted time and it quickly became clear that scanning the sector took priority above everything else. There was much of the island still left to cover, and after a quick orientation, everyone split in their own direction from the get-go. There’d be no trekking partners unless it was your pokémon.

  It quite disappointed Luvia, but the feeling quickly vanished when Glacia handed her Dormund’s pokéball.

  She was being entrusted with an Elite 4’s pokéball!

  The previous day, they’d been at sea, and Glacia had seen no need to give the girl the ball, but today, since they’d be walking through woods and streets and other places unsuited for a walrein, having the pokéball was a necessity.

  She was to release Dormund every time she switched on the scanner, and recall him when it was time to get moving again.

  Even if she wouldn’t get to ask her questions, just having Dormund as if it were her own pokémon lifted her mood to the moon. Despite him being a lovable gentle giant, Luvia felt like she had a bomb in her pocket. He was a pokémon that had battled against that terrifying Gyarados and come out completely unscathed.

  “Rwah!” Mida yapped.

  Luvia turned to see a zigzagoon skulking around a pair of overfilled rubbish bins in one of the neighborhood’s back alleys. Its fur bristled at Mida’s growl attack, and it bared its pointy little fangs.

  “Don’t mind him, Mida,” Luvia said after a quick glance.

  The little one was so used to scrapping with wild pokémon that she assumed they all needed taking down. She wasn’t that way with water-types though. That had probably been Luvia’s doing, since whenever they went in the water, it was for swimming and fun, and being on land meant hard training and battles.

  Mida shook her fin tail once and left the Zigzagoon to its scavenging. Luvia couldn’t help smile as her brave little Mudkip trotted along beside her, ever alert and at the ready.

  It made her think of Ruby’s Mudkip. I wonder if his has evolved by now…

  She had learned that a swampert was mudkip’s 2nd stage evolution in her phone conversations with Andrea during the past month. Her mainland friend, being in the mainland, had access to a lot of information.

  Mudkip’s 1st stage evolution was a thing called Marshtomp.

  Mud, marsh, and swamp… Yay?

  “I can tell you what she’ll look like,” Andrea had offered back then.

  “No no no, don’t! Don’t tell me!” Luvia didn’t want to find out like that. She didn’t want to see Mida any differently. When the time came, it would come, and as long as the evolutions stayed as wonderful as Mida, she’d be happy.

  It was hard to tell, since they spent every single day together, but Mida had grown. Luvia could tell because the little one took up more space in her arms. Funnily enough though, the weight didn’t feel like it changed much.

  Around twenty minutes after setting out, the survey team was ready to begin Day 2 of the scanning. Luvia found herself at the edge of town, with a few islanders passing through the quiet street every so often.

  She set her scanner down in a patch of earth around a tree and confirmed with Robert whether she was indeed at the right spot. She was.

  She had another look around the quiet street. There weren’t many houses along it, but enough that Luvia decided she didn’t need to bring Dormund out.

  This wasn’t actual wild territory, and besides, Mida was there with her. The type of wild pokémon that would get so close to town were the scavengers, socialized birds, and maybe the odd beautifly. Mida could handle that.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  She paced around as the scanner did its thing.

  An islander with a fisherman’s headband and wooden hauling box strapped to his back strolled by, looking at her and Mida as if they were the oddest pair of aliens he had seen.

  He peered down at the scanner poking out of the ground as he passed them by, then looked Luvia in the eye.

  “It’s League work,” Luvia said as coolly as she could. No kidding – she was quite proud. Working for the League… How many Clearcloud kids could say that?

  “What league?”

  “…” Luvia blinked. “The Hoenn League?”

  “What’s that?”

  “…”

  A little heat rushed to her face. “Nothing.”

  That, the man seemed to understand. He nodded his greeting and went on his way, leaving Luvia to wonder if that’s how ignorant she came across to Andrea sometimes.

  For the second scan of the day, Luvia and Mida had to climb a rocky slope, jump across a stream, and hike through a wooded stretch to get to their spot. The girl had not been to this particular part of the island before, and the spooky whistling in the air unsettled her. It sounded like a sad story.

  She released Dormund from his ball the moment she planted the scanner in the ground.

  ***

  Mida liked the beachfellow – but he was too big. It was not right. He was even bigger than her mother had been. And her mother had been big.

  She could feel the beach in him, the salt and power of the tide, and also something sharper, biting and cold. His eyes looked like the light that rose in the sky in the earlies and hid in the lates. She felt very tiny with him there, and it was not right.

  If this beachfellow decided to attack Luviya, there would be nothing she could do. And that was not good.

  Her mother had done many fightings at the end, and always taught her and her den siblings that they needed to be strong. She didn’t teach them with talkings. She taught them with showings.

  The beachfellow gazed down at her lazily and a deep growl rumbled in his chest.

  “Today, you are not happy to see me,” he said to her.

  His words felt like waves falling on her. She had to echo them in her mind to be sure of what he had said.

  “I am happy,” Mida replied. “But you are big.”

  “You are small… It is not bad.”

  Mida’s tail shook involuntarily. “You will not hurt Luviya.”

  The beachfellow blinked down at her. “This girl is Luviya.” It was a statement.

  “Yes,” Mida agreed.

  “I protect her. You go and play.” He snorted a loud breath from his nose to dismiss her, but Mida growled and stayed put.

  The beachfellow turned from her, the ground beneath him crumbling under his weight.

  Mida splashed him with a glob of water as he turned.

  Luviya turned to them. ~ “Midawhatareyoudoing?”

  The beachfellow rumbled deeply again. He lowered his head slowly to Mida’s level and gazed his sun-gaze at her.

  *Hhffff* A chilly gust escaped his nose and buffeted Mida. It made her flinch and stumble back.

  “I am friend now, small one,” the beachfellow said. “I protect Luviya until Mashikal says to stop.”

  Mida shook herself before replying. “Mashikal is what.”

  Another low rumble, and one sighing snort from his nose before he answered. “As Luviya is your mashikal, I also have mine. It is the one who guides through the hidden paths and leads to true home.”

  ~ “Mida.” Luviya bent down next to her. ~ “Nowwhydidyoudothat? Wereyoujustplaying? Becauseitdidn’tlooklikeyouwere…”

  Mida looked at Luviya’s face.

  Both of them were young, but Luviya was not strong as she. None of the strangefellows were.

  Yet, they had something else. They seemed to see things that hers and other kinds of fellows didn’t. Maybe that is what the beachfellow meant.

  Being with Luviya felt right. Like being with her den siblings. She didn’t know where they now were, but if they had met strangefellows like Luviya, they would be fine!

  ***

  Around an hour into the afternoon, the supervisors called for a lunch break. They had already scanned the majority of the western sector, and the team would only need another two scans after the break to finish up for the day. It had gone by much faster than the previous day.

  “Ms. Glacia, do you need Dormund?” Luvia asked over comms as she and Mida trailed their way back to town.

  Glacia took a moment to respond. “No, my dear, you’ll return him once we’re done for the day.”

  …

  “Okay…” Luvia kept her finger on the mic button. She sorely wanted to meet up with the woman right then. Asking if she wanted Dormund back had been a ruse to start a conversation.

  Ask her. Ask her!

  She felt the words crawl from her lungs through her throat, then come to an abrupt stop at the furthest tip of her tongue.

  I need to ask! Why was it so daunting?! They were just questions!

  “Ms. Glacia,” she said.

  - - - “Yes, my dear.”

  …

  Ziggy doesn’t like me, I like water-types, why do you only have ice-types, why is my name Luvia… Let’s discuss?

  Her ears were burning before she even began.

  “Nothing! I just wanted to know why you only have ice-types…”

  !!!

  Hey! Something came out!

  There was laughter over comms, most of it from anyone but Glacia.

  “You do know she’s called the Ice Queen, don’t you…” someone said.

  “She probably didn’t!” Nolan butted in. “I thought she was joking yesterday about never having heard of her before.”

  A slew of ‘Whats!’ and ‘No ways!’ and chuckles flew through comms. Luvia stopped walking and hugged Mida as she melted into the ground, mortified.

  Glacia called for quiet.

  “First of all, that’s a nickname people gave me – I didn’t choose it, just so we’re clear. I cringe inside every time I hear it. Secondly, I think it’s fabulous that she didn’t know who I was. She had no reason to, and a lot of what holds people back isn’t what you don’t know, it’s what you do know. The more you fill your head with nonsense, the worse off you’ll be.

  “And Luvia, my dear, I use other types occasionally, but ice is my specialty. I know what ice can do inside and out. I know its limits. Should any of you train the right way for long enough, you’ll fall on your preferred type as well. Very few trainers become master jacks.”

  Luvia heard all that with her back flat against the ground, Mida squirming on her belly as she held the little one down.

  “So don’t let them make fun of you. Shrug it off.”

  Nolan backtracked instantly. “No, we weren’t making fun of her, it was just shocking, is all!”

  Luvia mashed her finger to the button. “You were definitely making fun of me!”

  A light-hearted bantering ensued, but Luvia kept the rest of her questions to herself…

  The sky had cleared up by the time the rest of the scanning was done. The team had broken up for the day and Luvia had put Mida in her ball before entering the resort where the League staff was staying.

  There were a few wide lodges within the compound, each with a neighboring set of bungalows built close together. She had seen the supervisors heading to one of them through the gaps in the perimeter fence earlier, so she had a good idea where they were staying.

  She felt like a stalker, but they had only just broken off a short while ago, so she was still well within the grace period to show her face without it being too awkward. It felt just like sticking around after class to have a one-on-one with the teacher.

  That’s all she wanted.

  It didn’t take her long to spot Glacia. The woman was sitting under a parasol at the back of her bungalow with her hair down, wearing a loose black camisole, a pair of shorts, and two pink fluffy flipflops. Her eyes were closed, but a second after Luvia spotted her, they slowly peeled open like she was aware that eyes were on her.

  “Luvia?” She leaned forward in her seat.

  Luvia stood where she was by the small picket fence separating the bungalow’s small backyard from the rest of the resort garden. She waved at Glacia like a Teletummy, cringing a smile.

  “Let me guess,” Glacia said from her seat. “You want to borrow Dormund…”

  Luvia shook her head vehemently.

  Glacia eyed her with heavy lidded eyes a moment more. “Well what is it, then?”

  “I wanted to ask you some things.”

  Glacia instantly laughed, sat up fully, then laughed again. She waved for her to enter.

  “You know, now it makes sense. I thought, ‘Gears are turning in that brain of hers.’ You were acting so strange today – was this all it was?”

  Luvia unlatched the lock on the fence and nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

  Luvia offered her a sheepish smile. “I felt weird asking in front of the others. They’d make fun of me.”

  “Sod that,” Glacia snapped. “I know you’re young and everything, but the sooner you do away with this meekness, the better you’ll be for it. Think now, if you had been meek yesterday morning, would you have approached us for the job?

  “Let’s say you would have – Would I have insisted Rob hire you? Definitely not, my dear. You walked up and said what needed saying, and in front of a little crowd too… That is the only reason you’re part of the team.”

  Luvia’s brow crinkled slightly. Glacia was right, but her words still came as somewhat of a surprise. Cold almost. Maybe that was the point.

  “Thank you for helping me,” Luvia muttered, and Glacia immediately grimaced and shook her head.

  “I only helped you because you helped yourself first. Believe me girl, life is hell if you don’t have your own back. Don’t forget that.”

  Luvia looked into the woman’s eyes and gave her a firm nod. Glacia sat back and gestured for her to sit with her.

  “Ask away, my dear.”

  …

  Luvia sat, hands balled up against her lap, eyes down as she searched for the first question.

  …

  She decided start from the top.

  “Is it normal for a pokémon you’ve known all your life to suddenly… just stop liking you?”

  Glacia frowned at that. She cocked her head. “Can you explain a little more?”

  Luvia was glad this was happening. So glad. She felt so close to an answer. “Yeah.

  “I had a Zigzagoon since I was a child. We used to do everything together, like… everything. Then one day it just stopped – like totally stopped. He didn’t like me anymore…”

  The woman’s eyebrows were drawn up in surprise. “Did you do anything to him?”

  “No,” Luvia said quickly. “He just stopped.”

  Glacia shook her head slowly. “Sounds very odd. The only thing I can think of is the erroneous belief that a pokémon will abandon their trainer if it senses no evolutionary potential. This is totally false – I’ve met plenty of Dicks and Harrys who couldn’t evolve a bug-type if you gave them a hundred years, and their pokémon still loved them bits.

  “… I’m more inclined to believe you did something the little guy didn’t like if that was his reaction, but even then, it’s still extremely odd.”

  Luvia took in a breath and began to speak, but stopped herself short. Glacia grunted and motioned quickly with a hand. “Let it out, girl, that’s why you came isn’t it?”

  “Well… I had this dream…

  “It was strange. I was in the water, and I saw the pokémon down there. It was really, really pretty. There was so much light in there, and it felt so vivid. Then I woke up in the morning, and that’s when all of this started.”

  “Hooo…” Glacia perked up at that. She didn’t immediately brush it off or dismiss it as Luvia feared she would. “Dreams are powerful things. They show us the underside of the iceberg. Had you told me this years ago, I would have given you a very different answer, but I know first-hand, now, just how meaningful dreams can be. What they can signify…

  “How sure are you that this is what caused it?”

  Luvia pondered it critically for a moment.

  “It’s the only thing I have. He stopped liking me from that same morning.”

  …

  “Anything else that came of it?”

  Luvia already had the answer. She put it as plainly as she could.

  “I’ve started liking water-types more… In that dream, I felt like I understood them better. They didn’t scare me, the water didn’t scare me, and they all seemed so, like, together. It felt like a family.”

  Glacia whistled softly. “That sounds delightful. What does it mean to you?”

  At that question, Luvia balked. “Uhh…” She was hoping she’d tell her!

  “No, go on,” Glacia insisted. “Take your meaning from it.”

  Luvia chewed her lip and eyes went up in thought. “It means that I should pick water-types?”

  Glacia chuckled softly and kicked up a leg over her knee. “That’s funny – I saw it the opposite way. I saw it as water-type picking you…”

  Those words made Luvia’s heart flutter. She shifted on her chair. “Types picking people?”

  Glacia offered a swinging nod. “Whether you pick it or it picks you, it’s not important, what’s important is the call.

  “My heart is ice, Luvia. I feel at home with the type. I feel full with it. Take every other type away and leave me with ice, and I’d cope just fine. Take ice away and leave me with everything else, and I’d go mad in a month. Straight-jacket mad, to be clear.

  “If the water calls to you, it is because you are a water-type human, as I am ice. As people are whatever they are. Don’t think you are more special for it, my dear – you are not. Type affinity is a common thing. Some just have to choose it, while others get chosen… it makes little difference in the end. See your direction, and excel toward it. That is all.”

  Luvia took it all in. She understood what it meant. “But why would it come so suddenly? I never thought of them, of the type, this way before…”

  Glacia inhaled deeply, not a trace of humor on her face, and gazed at no particular part of the garden for a moment.

  “When are you taking your trainer exam?” she asked.

  What? Luvia frowned. “Uhm, in December.”

  “Ah…” Glacia’s chin dropped and she snickered to herself.

  “Why, what is it?” Luvia’s eyes were drawn wide.

  “It’s nothing – I wish you the best of luck. If you’re half as driven as you appear, I’m certain you’ll pull through. I hope you do… but if you ever get the chance, there is woman by the name of Zamal, who lives in Sootopolis. She has a way with minds – a psychic. She gave me a reading once, and I never went back. Got a touch too personal for my liking. Though I’m certain she’d give you a much more interesting interpretation to your dream if there is any.”

  Zamal. Sootopolis. Luvia made mental not of it.

  Though… “Why did you laugh when I said my exam is in December?”

  There she went again! Glacia smiled wide and huffed a laugh. “Don’t worry, my dear.

  “Just prepare well.”

  Luvia knew then that whenever Glacia told you not to worry, you should be extremely worried.