“Are you just going to sleep the whole day away?” Nessa slowly stirred as an arm shook her gently from atop the covers. She buried her head further beneath her heavy blanket and tried to wrap herself as tight as she could to prevent any warmth from escaping her little cocoon.

“Come now. Must we do this every morning?” An elderly voice spoke again. “Your father and mother didn’t send you all this way just so you could sleep the entire time. I have a reputation to uphold, now it’s time to get up.”

The covers were ripped away with a surprising amount of force, and Nessa immediately curled herself into the tiniest of balls, trying desperately to ward away the chill of the deep Galarian winter.

“Milo and Sonia are already at the table eating,” Nessa cracked open one blue eye to view the speaker. Professor Magnolia was a kind and elderly woman, her short greying hair framed an aging face that sported thick-rimmed bifocals. She was wearing a sparkling white lab coat, but beneath that was a patterned heavy sweater and a pair of thick pants to guard against the chill.

Nessa shivered as the warmth began to leave her body. She desperately rubbed her hands along her legs, but it was futile; the cold air sapped more and more heat from her body despite her warm Dubwool pajamas.

“Come eat so we can start the day,” Professor Magnolia smiled. “You best hurry! Milo might eat everything, he’s a growing boy, you know!”

Professor Magnolia left Nessa to dress, taking the blanket with her.

Nessa flipped and flopped atop her bed, curling herself tighter still, but it was useless without her blanket. She huffed and finally dragged herself from her bed over to the chest of drawers that housed all of her clothing. Nessa watched with jealousy as Shellder slept soundly in the giant tank of water placed atop her dresser, little bubbles escaping his shell every few seconds.

“If I have to wake up then so do you,” she tapped his fishbowl vigorously as she dressed herself in a sweater, pants, and heavy socks. Her toes felt numb even though she had only been out of bed for less than a minute. Shellder stuck his tongue out at his trainer and retreated further into his shell. She didn’t feel like dunking her hand in the tank of freezing water to grab him, so she acquiesced and left him to sleep for a while longer as she made her way downstairs.

Professor Magnolia lived in her laboratory located on Route 2, but calling it a mansion would be more fitting. The massive dwelling stood alone on the banks of a small lake and was a day’s ride from Wedgehurst, the only town around for further than one could walk in a week. There were more rooms and doors than Nessa could count but each of them was locked and she had no idea what experiments or secrets lay behind any of them. Not even Sonia, Professor Magnolia’s granddaughter, knew what they housed.

Nessa made her way down towards the kitchen, stopping as she always did atop the stairs so she could stare out of the tall bay windows. The entire east side of Professor Magnolia’s home was made of tempered glass and Nessa looked out of the windows at the unblemished snow that blanketed the ground outside.

She had turned 11 this year and her parents had sent her to a research camp with the Professor over six months ago during the summer. She had shown such promise that the Professor had begged Nessa’s parents to let her stay. So that one month summer camp had turned into a greater commitment and she was now halfway through her year of living with the Professor away from her home in Hulbury.

“Finally, you’re up!” Sonia smiled brightly as Nessa walked into the sprawling kitchen. Nessa seated herself at the table beside the red haired and fiery granddaughter of Professor Magnolia and helped herself to breakfast; an assortment of eggs, rashers, and more fruits and berries than one could count on their fingers and toes. Despite the Professor’s warnings, it seemed Milo had not eaten all of the food, not for lack of trying though.

She looked across the table at her other friend who hid his face behind a mountain of berries. Milo was also 11, just as she and Sonia were, and his sandy brown hair and soft freckled face accented his kind nature. He was a stickler for the rules, always doing what everyone else told him, so when his mother and the Professor told him to ‘be sure and eat properly’, that had turned into ‘stuff yourself until you can no longer breathe.’

“Milo’s on his third plate,” Sonia teased. “He looks like a Wailmer, doesn’t he?”

“I’m just big-boned!” Milo protested in between bites. “Mom says I have to eat a lot to grow big and strong!”

“It’s just baby fat, you’ll grow into a strapping young man,” Professor Magnolia smiled as she flicked her granddaughter’s ear. Sonia howled in pain and rubbed the side of her head. “And you! You shouldn’t tease the boy if you have a crush on him.”

“Grandma!” Nessa smiled as Sonia’s face turned the same color as her hair.

“I thought you three could go out to the lake for me today?” Professor Magnolia proffered when everyone had finished eating. “The experiment that I’m working on needs Rimefrost Berries and the berry bush only flowers for a handful of days during the heart of winter.”

“Isn’t that what you have assistants for…?” Sonia grumbled under her breath, so low only Nessa could hear.

“We would be happy to go and find them for you!” Milo enthusiastically volunteered all three of them. Nessa nodded and went upstairs to grab Shellder out of his aquarium along with her heavy coat and boots. Once the three of them were sufficiently bundled, Professor Magnolia sent them on their way.

“Do you know where we can find the berry bushes?” Nessa asked Sonia as they set off from the laboratory. “Your grandma must have shown you where to find them before, right?”

Sonia bit her lip and looked around at the pure white land around them. Save for the lake, almost everything else looked exactly the same. “Let’s head down to the lake. I think the last time me and grandma went looking for the berries we followed the stream that fed into the lake for a while.”

Nessa and Milo shared a look with one another and shrugged, following Sonia who was already walking toward the lake’s shore. They reached the edge of the frozen water and turned north, following along the outer banks for a while until they reached a frozen stream. Sonia turned to follow the bending brook, and after an hour of walking the three of them came to the stream’s headwaters.

“A hot spring!” Nessa grinned enthusiastically. Every inch of her was freezing and the steaming waters were all but beckoning her to jump right in.

“We’ll have to come back when Milo isn’t with us,” Sonia whispered under her breath.

“And look!” Milo pointed to a copse of shrubs ringing the backside of the spring. The trunk, leaves, and branches were coated in a thick layer of ice despite their proximity to the warm waters of the spring and every few centimeters a plump blue berry hung from a leaf. Nessa could hardly contain her wonder as each of the berries rained minuscule snowflakes onto the ground at the base of the bush.

“Don’t forget what the Professor told us before we left,” she told her friends. She checked her gloves, cinching them tighter around her hands as she approached the bush. “If the berry touches any exposed skin, frostbite will immediately set in. Make sure your gloves are tight.”

After filling their containers and making sure they were sealed tight, everyone took out the snacks the Professor had packed. Nessa walked over to the spring as Milo and Sonia sat down on a rock, swapping snacks with one another.

She yelped in surprise when she looked into the water, dropping her crackers into the bubbling waters of the spring and falling gracelessly onto her rump.

She had seen a pair of eyes blinking up at her.

“What’s wrong?” Milo asked as he and Sonia raced over to the spring.

Nessa dusted herself off and looked down into the water again. Her crackers bobbed idly amongst the bubbles.

“Nothing,” she shook her head and grinned. “I thought I saw something in the water. I just spooked myself, is all. Are we ready to head back?”

“Yeah, it’s freezing out here and I’m ready to go sit by the fire,” Sonia agreed.

They collected their packs and turned to leave. Nessa looked back at the spring one last time before she followed her friends; the crackers were gone.

Nessa sat on the couch and stared into the fireplace. Milo and Sonia had already gone to sleep for the evening but she wasn’t tired at all. She couldn’t stop thinking about the spring.

She eyed the Professor out of the corner of her eye as the elderly woman sat in a high-backed armchair, darning a pair of Milo’s fraying socks.

“Something on your mind dear?” The Professor broke the silence. Her needles rested idly in her hands as she looked over at Nessa.

“Nothing, Professor,” Nessa lied. “I was just watching the fire dance.”

“Haven’t I said you should call me grandma?” Professor Magnolia smiled warmly. “You can tell me anything you need to.”

“It’s nothing, grandma,” Nessa smiled back. “I think I’m just finally getting tired is all.”

“As am I child,” Professor Magnolia placed her needles down on the stand beside her chair. She reached for her cane to stand and Nessa rushed over to help the elderly woman from her chair.

“Thank you, dear,” Professor Magnolia shuffled over to the stairs. She withdrew Nessa’s blanket from the cupboard beneath them. “Now let’s get you to bed.”

Nessa lay awake staring at the ceiling hours after the Professor had tucked her in. Her heart beat furiously in her chest for no apparent reason, making it all but impossible for her to fall asleep. She sat upright, stood from the bed and dressed herself. After collecting Shellder and sneaking as quietly as possible from the lab she was out the back door and ready to make her way back to the spring.

The full moon was at its apex in the night sky and Nessa took a moment to stare at the stars twinkling in the heavens above. The night was still and Nessa set off on her journey by the light of the glowing moon. Owls hooted in the distance and Nessa clutched the Pokéball at her side, comforted greatly by the fact that her friend was ready to help at a moment’s notice.

Luckily Nessa didn’t need Shellder to battle; she reached the spring easily enough and stripped down to the swimsuit she was wearing under her jacket. The night air bit at her exposed skin and she hesitated only a moment to check the water for any staring eyes. When she didn’t see any, she dipped her toes into the spring, then quickly slid all the way into the water’s blissfully warm embrace. She called Shellder out of his ball and the clam squeaked happily as he dove and swam circles in the center of the spring.

Nessa laughed at her Pokémon then dunked her head underwater, teeth immediately chattering as she came back up into the freezing night air. She took a moment to inspect her surroundings; the spring she was sitting in was circular and it drained off to her left into the frozen river below. The current was strong, Nessa could feel it from where she was sitting, but as long as she didn’t get any closer she wasn’t too worried about it.

Before she could do anything else Shellder surfaced and immediately swam over to her, squawking furiously at his trainer. Nessa followed him to the center of the spring and her heart leapt into her throat. The eyes from this afternoon were staring back at her again from just under the water’s surface. She turned to run, wondering what Shellder had been thinking, but she lost her footing on the slick rocks at the bottom of the stream.

Before she could even scream, the current swept her away into the river, pushing her downstream faster than she thought possible. She was flung mercilessly through the water and into rocks as she clawed futilely at the icy surface above that prevented her escape. Darkness crept across the edges of her vision, she was going to drown, entombed under the ice in a watery grave.

Just when she felt like closing her eyes for good, a purple beam of light pierced the ice above her. She felt her momentum halt despite the strength of the current and then the icy surface of the river exploded outwards, shattering into millions of tiny shards. Her body was ringed in a purple light and she was lifted gingerly from the river. The light placed her down on the shore.

It warmed her, she felt strength returning to her body, and when she looked up into the night sky she came face to face with the most indescribably beautiful creature she had ever seen.

A great purple bird floated above her, icicles and snowflakes drifting down each time it flapped its powerful wings. Its eyes were hidden behind a veil of impenetrable darkness and its sparkling tail fluttered in the sky like a brilliant ribbon.

“Thank you,” Nessa barely managed to whisper. She found her voice hard to come by but couldn’t tell if it was from her near death experience or the presence of this mighty creature.

Grow strong child, Nessa heard a voice in her mind.

Before she could respond the bird screeched at the top of its lungs, launching a flare of blinding purple light into the sky. It then vanished right before her eyes. Nessa bowed her head, the indescribable pressure gone, and smiled when she saw Shellder at the water’s edge alongside those same eyes again.

A Feebas.

“Did you see the light! She must be over here!” Nessa collapsed into unconsciousness while listening to her friends shouting voices far in the distance.