It's been about three days since Valerie and Cerise's battle and I still do not understand what Valerie meant by her cryptic comment. We just arrived in Dendemill earlier this morning. I hate it already. It's too cold. I hate the cold. Strange things happen to me when it gets cold. I start to forget where I am and just...it's confusing.

To make matters worse, Peridot wants to go to Frost Cavern to evolve Malicai's Eevee into a Glaceon, which is where we are headed to now. Honestly I would have liked to have stayed behind but they weren't having for it.

Cerise expresses my thoughts. "Why do you wanna do that, Perry?" If you ask me, she isn't dressed for this weather. Yes, I understand that the dress is also a coat but her legs must be freezing. I don't care that she's wearing tights. It's below freezing out here; tights can only do so much.

Peridot is holding onto the Eevee, Lumi, similarly to how I'm holding onto Averie. "Malachi told me that he always wanted a Glaceon but we couldn't do that cuz we lived in Johto. Since we're here where an ice rock is, I want to do it for him."

"Aww, well that's sweet of you!" Hmph. If you ask me, Malachi should evolve his own Pokémon. Oh wait, he can't. My bad.

"Hey, there it is," Peridot calls. The cave entrance is what he means. True to his word there it is, a wide gaping hole on the rock face. We go in and-

"Take it Sienna! You're stronger than this! It only gets worse from here." That voice. That voice! Please, why can't you just leave me alone!

"I can't do it!" I'm crying but the tears aren't falling down. Instead there being pushed back by the strong, biting wind. "Please stop! It's too cold!"

"You're weak Sienna," he growls but doesn't stop the attack. "You don't deserve to be the heir!" I don't want to be anyway! But I can't say that. He'll-

"Sienna! Are you okay," a voice, Russet's, says to me. His dark eyes are full of concern. Something wiggles in my arms: Averie. I suppose I do have a Guillotine grip on her. I loosen my grasp and she turns to stare at me with wide brown eyes.

"I'm just fine," I say after a second of silence. "The coldness just took me a little off guard."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." He doesn't look convinced, but he drops the conversation. The five of us trudge forward, adjusting across a few patches of ice along the way. The deeper we go, the more ice there seems to be. I probably should be paying more-

"Pathetic," that man yells at me. A baby could walk across this with no trouble. I just slipped on the ice and now my butt hurts.

"Can we please go home now? I'm tired." And sore. And hungry. And depressed.

"Not until you can walk across this ice in your sleep! Now get up Sienna! Right now, still complaining!" I go to stand but my ankle hurts to badly and I fall back down. Cold grayish-green eyes glare threateningly at me.

"Sienna! I said get up right-"

"Sienna!" It's a different voice. Cerise, this time. "You okay? That was a pretty bad fall. Nothing hurt, is it?"

"No I'm good. Just want paying attention." I get up in an instinctively unique way: jumping. I hop straight from a sitting position to my feet in one quick movement. Like I said, instinctively. Or maybe the correct emphasis would be unique.

The others take note of my strange way of standing. "That was actually pretty cool," Jasper says nonchalantly, though you could tell he was very impressed.

"How the hell did you do that," Cerise exclaims more than asks. "If I woulda tried that, I probably would have killed myself!"

"Instinct," I mutter. I guess instinctive was the right word to emphasize. "Come on. Let's just hurry so we can get out of this cave." Without another word, thankfully, we set off. I really do not want to share my childhood endeavors with these people.

Up ahead is a little entrance way that leads to the frozen lake inside the cave. Besides the river, it's probably the most dangerous part. The lake itself is completely frozen, but the ice is impossibly slippery which often leads to crash painfully into the walls. I know from experience.

"Aaaah! Daddy, help!" I know he won't, but I can't help but to call out for him. I brace myself for the impact of hitting the wall but when I do, my breath is still knocked right outta me. The force knocks me backwards and I fall on the ground for about the sixth time in the last twenty minutes.

"You're so, pathetic Sienna," my dad yells at me. "Get up and do this right!" I don't need to look to see the evil expression on his face. I struggle to my feet, unable to jump like I usually do. I slide uneasily back to him. As I'm approaching solid ground, he trips me. I hear him laugh. A sadist is what Akia called him, whatever that means.

"Let's go Sienna," he snaps. "We don't have all day."

"Yes sir," I practically whimper. I'm so tired. I don't wanna do this anymore. I wish he would leave me alone. I wish he'd leave all of us alone.

"Okay!" Cerise's voice snaps me awake. Dear Arceus, this is exactly what I was taking about. I just zone out. What was I even thinking about? "How do we get through this?"

"I know how," I say. It's an instinct that hasn't gone away. I remember this path like the back of my hand. I could probably do it with my eyes closed. Actually I have.

I put Averie into my backpack and step onto the ice. Lots and lots of practice has made me able to stand easily on the ice.

"Just follow after me after I make a move," I say to the group. I recount the steps in my head. Slide forward. I move my left foot in front of my right and do so. Right before I reach the snow covered ground on the opposite side, I turn to the side for a smoother landing. The others copy my movement, except for the turning, in a line lead by Russet. I walk left across the snow and slide across the ice directly in front, this time in a more bent position. I keep my arms extended at waist level to catch my self on the rock directly in front of me.

Now for my least favorite part. It isn't difficult now, but as a child I often hit the walls and slipped on this part. I turn to face rock and push myself sideways with it. I get to my destination and push forward from the rock directly behind me. Then I spin and slide across with my back to the wall. Finally, I push forward and land on another strip of snowy ground. I look around the corner to where the others are looking with resigned expressions...This is gonna take a while. Great, and I'm not even finished yet.

It took them a good ten or fifteen minutes, but they finally made it through. We're passing by the river that flows through the cave. The water is moving much too fast to freeze. I remember that you have to cross it in order to get to the ice rock. That makes it pretty dangerous if you don't have a Flying type or a very strong Water type to get you across.

"Oh, look! A Jynx," Cerise exclaims. I look to where she is and sure enough the very strange looking Pokémon was walking around. It was being followed by two Smoochum.

"Let's hurry up and go," Peridot says. He sounds scared. He looked even more terrified. He is gripping onto Jasper's coat. Jasper on the other hand, has an entertained smirk.

"This isn't funny Jasper!" One of the Soochum wanders away from her mother and towards our group. Peridot whimpers and hides behind Jasper. I wonder what his problem is. Whatever it is, Jasper seems to be enjoying himself.

"Hi there Smoochum," he says while waving. The Smoochum waves back and wobbles on over to them. Peridot tries to run but Jasper grabs his arm.

"Let me go! Jasper, come on. This isn't funny!"

"Come on, Perry. You have to face your fears one day. Look at it. It's harmless." Peridot is shaking, though I'm not sure if it's from cold or fear. Without warning, the Smoochum starts to cry.

"That can't be good," Jasper says. That's when the Smoochum stops, just as suddenly as she started. She smiles eerily. "What is it." In the background, there's a Pokémon cry. A Jynx.... Oh shi-

"Take it like a man, Sienna!" I hate this man. I wanna yell back at him that I'm a girl but I'd definitely get into more trouble. Besides, I can't even talk anyway. I think my lips are frozen together.

He finally stops the Blizzard, thank Regice. I didn't fall this time so he can't be too upset with me. I look down at my reflection in the ice. Is this just the ice, or am I really completely white? Clothes, face, even my hair is white, though I do see a bit of brown here and there. I look up at him.

"Good job Sienna." I'm a little shocked. It isn't too often I get praised. "But why are you shaking?" True to his word, I'm shaking very badly. Shivering would be a better word.

I know better than to say I'm cold. He says that being cold his for the weak and no one in his family is weak. "No reason, sir."

"Then stop." Try as I might, I can't. It just makes me shake more. "I said stop, Sienna."

I struggle to open my mouth."I can't, sir."

"Why not?"

"I'm cold."

"Cerise, get Niays!" That's Russet. I turn behind me to where he is. It's much further down the edge of the river. Next to him are Peridot and Jasper...dressed in only their boxers? Their clothes lay to the side. Their hair is wet and their teeth are clattering loudly. Russet is wrapping coat around them. Oh, they must have fallen I the river. Wow, was I out that long?

"I didn't bring her," Cerise says. "I switched her out for Hiyo." Hiyo is her Liepard she caught yesterday.

Russet scoffs and mutters "Of course she doesn't have her when she needs her." Then he says louder. "Cerise, reach into my bag and give me that Fire Stone." He reaches down to his belt and picks a Pokéball. "Krew, let's go!" I think I've figured out how those Pokéballs work. All they have to do is say a Pokémon's name and it'll pop out of the one they pick up. But wait, I've seen someone send out a Pokémon without saying it's name...

Russet's Eevee, Krew, appears in a flash a light. The babyish looking Eevee looks like an excited little child. Russet picks him up. "Krew, I know I said we'd wait, but it's an emergency. Will you evolve into Flareon for me?" Krew makes a serious face and nods as if to say 'Yes sir.' "Good boy!"

Cerise hands Russet the Fire Stone and Krew touches it with his nose. A bluish glow overtakes the Eevee. His face gets rounder, his ears longer and more angular. The tiny tuft if hair on guys hand changes into a flame shape. The hair around his neck and tail become even more fluffy and full. Once the light fades, a red and yellow Pokémon replaces the Eevee that had previously been there. A Flareon. Russet hands Krew to Jasper. He and Peridot move even closer and hold onto Krew tightly.

"Why are they doing that," Cerise asks.

"Don't you remember," Russet says. "Flareon release heat from their bodies." She mouths 'oh' and sits next to Russet. I decide to finally join them.

"Looks like we're staying here tonight," Russet says.

"Excuse me," I say.

"These two," he responds while pointing to Jasper and Peridot, "are in no condition to go anywhere. While I would like to get them to the Center, it'll be a little difficult with like this."

I sigh but he smiles. "Hey, on the bright side we have a Fire type to keep us warm." I roll my eyes at his optimism. I just have this strange feeling something bad will happen. I don't like it. And to make matters worse, I think it's getting colder.

Well won't this be fun!