Walking was rough, the snow was slowing me down and concealing the terrain below, making it far harder to walk. Luckily for her, Vio was light enough to walk above the snow, without sinking in, or I would have either been forced to carry her or call her back into her Pokéball.

Just as the sun was starting to sink in the distance, dusk slowly settling over the forest and I was beginning to look for a place to camp, I noticed the shape of a familiar mountain through a small gap in the trees. The sight invigorated me, allowing me to push that last bit of distance and reach the slope up to Snowpoint before it became too dark to see.

At the slope, I had my Prince Charming join me, while Vio moved back into her Pokéball, so I had a source of light as we climbed up to town.

The guard was quite surprised that we were there, even after having seen us climb the slope for almost an hour, but then, winter was quite obviously coming and few people would voluntarily make the trek, so there were few, if any, travellers arriving during this time of the year. He didn’t recognise me, but luckily, the formalities were no problem, allowing me to get back to the Pokécentre with ease.

There, things took a turn to the surprising, namely I learned that I had been gone for over two months, allowing autumn to come and go, even if winter had set in early. The clerk was incredibly surprised to see me, as there had been a search when I didn’t return in the week I had planned to take and after a month of no news, I had been considered missing, likely lost.

Amusingly, there was a whole, formulated procedure for people who had been considered lost to return to the ranks of active trainers, a combination of paperwork, medical examination and interview, in order to make sure that whatever ordeal the person had been through didn’t leave lasting scars. Or if there were scars, whether mental or physical, to make sure that people could deal with them.

And so, for the next two days, I was pretty much stuck in the Pokécentre, going through that procedure and slowly dealing with the fact that I had lost so much time. Due to the Uxie’s help, my memories were still a mess, but with copious amounts of downtime and meditation, I began to deal with them. Finally, on the third day after my return to Snowpoint, I was declared alive and fit to move about town, though the Nurse at the Pokécentre had strongly suggested that I continue scheduling therapy sessions as long as I was in town, so likely for the next few months.

It felt incredibly strange, to know that I had been gone for months, but not having really experienced those months. I had no idea how it actually worked, how the Uxie had kept me sustained or how it had prevented atrophy of my muscles but somehow it had. Maybe it had done even more than that, physically I felt better than I had before and while it was hard to gauge, I thought my body was stronger by quite a bit. Sadly, without objective measurements of my physical condition before going out there, I couldn’t get a good comparison. I only knew it felt easier to lift and carry my bag and I thought I wasn’t getting exhausted as quickly.

The biggest disappointment came quite early, namely when I asked about Claire and the others who I had been travelling with. They were gone, had left almost three weeks before, so they would be able to get across the mountains before the first snow. There was a part of me that felt incredibly disappointed, even if another part could understand their decision. Over two months without contact meant it was nearly impossible for me to have survived, not while I had only packed for a little over a week.

Still, just because I understood didn’t mean I wasn’t hurt. Afterwards, I spent a lot of time either curled up in Charm’s warm embrace or putting Vio on my lap and hugging the stuffing out of her, in an effort to drive away the feelings of solitude and loss. Somewhere deep within me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to trust Claire again, not after she had promised me to wait, only to break that promise.

On the fourth day of my return, I was met with a surprise, namely a knock on my room’s door. So far, I hadn’t had any contact with the locals, other than what was necessary for sustenance and procedure and had instead preferred to curl up with my partners, knowing that they wouldn’t disappoint me.

When I opened the door, I was immediately swept into an embrace, while a tearful voice spoke into my ear.

“Arceus, I’m so glad you’re okay!” Cynthia held me close and for the first time since returning to the forest, I felt something break within me. Clinging to her, I let all the negative emotions flow out, even those that I hadn’t really conceptualised. I now knew where I was from, even if I wasn’t sure when I was from. But regardless of time and distance, I could be nearly certain that it would require an Act of Arceus themself to bring me back to where and when I came from. Whoever I had been before, I would have to make the best of who I was now. Namely, Dani, Trainer of the Sinnoh-League, with Charm, Vio, Su and Aura as my partners and Cynthia as a friend and maybe mentor.

That vague notion of fate, of destiny, that had caused the Renegade Lord to pull me into this time and place, it wasn’t something I could focus on. Not without actually knowing what was going on. If I wanted to do anything about it, my best bet was to train my partners, to make them the strongest they could be, before it actually became relevant.

“What happened, I was so worried,” Cynthia asked, after simply holding me for what felt like an hour, letting me cry on her shoulder.

“Come, sit. I’ll make some tea, this might take a bit,” I managed to croak out, my voice hoarse from the crying. To give myself a bit of time to compose myself, I prepared the tea, just normal tea, not the strange blend I had tasted at Professor Rowan’s lab. Regardless, it gave me time and a few sips helped to bring my voice back into working order and I began to tell Cynthia what I had found out.

If nothing else, she was an excellent listener, never interrupting, never asking questions or probing, and simply letting me get my story out, before having me clarify some parts. I told her everything, from my meeting with the Uxie to its conclusions about my origin and even the hypothesis that the Renegade Lord had pulled me here for a reason.

I could see the gears turn in Cynthia’s head when I told her that, her face twisting into a frown.

“Not that I doubt you, but do you have any idea what it might be? Some vague notion, anything? Because, don’t get me wrong, you are a promising rookie, but only that. A rookie. Sure, your exposure to P-energy makes you stronger and will likely help your partners but even with it, you and your partners are comparatively weak,” Cynthia prodded and I felt myself flush a little, knowing that she was right. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of trainers stronger than me and the pinnacle of those trainers was sitting across the table.

“No, I don’t know. Just that vague advice that I need to be ready, though how to be ready, when to be ready? I just don’t know,” I admitted, making Cynthia let out a soft sigh.

“Well, I guess that means you’ll get extra training if you are interested. Or at least training routines, I don’t think it would be useful if I actually shadow you out there, my presence would deter too many Pokémon and those strong enough to dare challenge me would utterly destroy you and your team,” she explained with a solemn smile.

“Thank you. Do you know what happened with Claire and the others?” I asked, curious if she had heard about them.

“I heard and I’m sure they’ll be relieved when they hear you are fine. Likely guilty as well, but hopefully relief will trump that feeling and not let it morph into anger. From what I can tell, you didn’t choose to get lost in the woods, or wherever the Uxie had stashed you. Regardless, I’m sure things will work out, somehow,” she grinned, reaching out to give my hand a gentle squeeze. Her presence and reassurance immediately made me feel better, especially the realisation that she had my back.

“Now, if you like, we’ll meet once a week during the winter and discuss your progress. Have you considered where you want to spend your time, do you want to stay here? The harsh winter might work well for your training, but if not, I can drop you off somewhere else. Given that we don’t know what the Renegade Lord wants of you, I can only offer to train you to the best of my ability, if you feel something else is necessary, we can discuss it,” she offered, and I could only nod, a little overwhelmed by the support.

But then, ever since I had found myself on the slopes of Mount Coronet, she had done a lot to help me.

“Thank you,” I told her, “I think I’ll stay up here, the cold can serve as additional hardship to train against, don’t you think? Maybe look for passages to the Underground, and go through the gym challenge, I still want to complete my journey by my own power, you know?”

She simply nodded and we began to discuss specifics, with her giving me far more information than before, doing her best to allow me to make my own, informed decisions.