After Charm vanished, I took another second to look around, only to realise, the walking thing could be incredibly hard. Sure, at the moment I stood in a space free of snow, courtesy of the massive dragon that had landed here moments ago but around me, there was snow. Quite a bit of it, piling almost to the height of my knees or even higher at some points.

Letting out a deep sigh, I started to walk, trying to step onto the snow only to sink in. I’d either have to force myself through it with every step or try some strange storking steps, stepping over the snow before sinking in. I wasn’t sure which would be more exhausting in the long run, but I had a feeling it didn’t matter much, both methods would see me exhausted before long.

Shaking my head, I continued pushing forward, my mind focusing to the point that there were only two thoughts swirling inside it, the first was to keep an ear out for danger, to ignore the crunching sounds I was making and keep listening for any noise that hinted at approaching foes. I had no idea how many Pokémon were living in this area, but if there were any, they might consider me a challenging snack. Given that I couldn’t really call out one of my partners, not without them sinking into the snow themselves, I was somewhat vulnerable.

The other thing I was focused on was keeping my steps even and the direction constant. Repeated looks on my compass made sure that I wasn’t starting to go in circles and I managed to catch sight of the occasional Route marker, telling me I was on the right track. It wasn’t a major Route, barely more than a path, but it was marked and gave me something to focus on, guiding my path back to Snowpoint.

After walking for some time, maybe half an hour, maybe an hour, a strange sound caught my attention. My mind went immediately into overdrive, vigilance spiking and moments later, I called Vio out of her Pokéball. She was, other than Charm, my most powerful partner and here, in this mess, I wanted to make sure whatever was coming could be countered. In addition, she was quite suitable to fight at a distance, her psychic and fairy powers allowing her to disable or redirect a foe at range, without them ever coming too close to us, something I was quite keen about.

The moment she appeared, I felt a brief flare of jealousy surge through me, she didn’t sink into the snow, she simply hovered above it, her feet stretching towards it as if she was delving into a pool that she’d never meet.

She looked at me with concern for a moment, before she started to scan the forest around us, just like I did. There was another crunching sound, both of us focusing in that direction and waiting. Watching, making sure nothing could suddenly jump onto us and attack.

A minute passed, maybe two, as we were standing there, waiting for an enemy to appear. Only, there was no enemy. There were a few more sounds, but nothing indicated that we were about to enter battle.

Letting out another sigh, I held up Vio’s Pokéball, intent on calling her back, only for her to hold up her hand, palm stretched towards me in a gesture that clearly told me to stop. Pausing, I looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant. Was there an enemy I hadn’t noticed or why didn’t she want to retreat into her Pokéball?

Her focus on me intensified and her body started to glow, neither the hot pink of a fairy move, nor the purple of a psychic one, but somewhere in between, a swirling mix of both colours. Before I could figure out what was going on, she reached out with her hand and took mine, gently holding it. I felt her power flow across my body, caressing me like a warm, gentle embrace, only that I wasn’t just embraced by a pair of arms, her power embraced me, cocooning me in a warm, tender aura.

Looking at my dear partner in wonder, I tried to figure out where she was going with this, only for her to gently pull on my hand. Normally, I would have expected her to get pulled towards me, given our respective weights but after her evolution, that didn’t seem to be the case. Instead, I was pulled away from the earth, though it was as if I weighed nothing, there was no strain on my arm. Almost as if I was floating myself.

Glancing down, I realised that my feet didn’t touch the ground, or the snow, I was floating above it, just like my dear partner was.

“Amazing,” I grinned, “How do we move? Can we move? How are you doing that? How long can you do this?” questions bubbled from my lips, only for Vio to reach out with her other hand, gently putting a finger to my lips and shushing me. There was a cheeky grin on her face, she was looking quite pleased with herself, that much was obvious, but there was also an underlying happiness.

Unsure how to continue, I simply waited for a moment and watched was she was doing. Then she took a step, or at least that was what it looked like, she deliberately put one of her feet down, pushing it against the snow without sinking in and pushed herself forward, pulling me along.

I still couldn’t feel a physical pull but somehow, I kept floating with her. Trying to copy her move, I realised that I could, it was incredibly strange as if there were some sort of wheels beneath my feet, or maybe blades if we were on ice, but somehow, it worked. Together, we could easily propel our bodies forward, moving in sync, neither of us pulling or pushing the other. Simply gliding above the snow, untouched by earthly worries.

It felt incredible. If flying on Charm’s back was being like the wind, like a storm forcefully cutting through the air, what we were doing was akin to being the clouds, drifting freely, unbound by anything but our whim. And Vio’s touch, I was quite certain that the whole floating thing only worked thanks to our continuously linked hands.

I could feel the wind against my face, not painfully cold but somehow warmed to the point that it was a gentle counterpoint to Vio’s power embracing me. Laughter bubbled from deep within me, to the point that uncontrolled giggles started to escape me and I felt like twirling around, dancing as we were gliding across the snow.

The pace that we were setting was quite impressive, easily as fast as I was able to run on smooth, even ground, though far from the pace Charm could achieve in the air. Despite that pace, it wasn’t exhausting, there was a bit of strain but it wasn’t too much more than I would feel when walking normally.

Though, I knew it was only thanks to Vio that this worked. The effort I was saving, she was undoubtedly expending, keeping me floating and aloft as she did. Thinking back to the times I had directly interacted with her power, like the one time I had sung with her as we fought the Zubat and the time she had poured the effects of a Draining Kiss into me to heal me, I decided to search for that power within me. If I could help her then, and she could help me heal, maybe I could help her bear the burden of carrying us both.

Closing my eyes, trusting Vio to guide me, I started to search my body, to look for something akin to the warm embrace I was feeling. Unable to find anything that gave me a hint, I simply tried to project the same warm embrace I was feeling around me back to Vio. I had no idea if it worked, there certainly was no tell-tale glow, but I imagined it did. Vio certainly gave me a bright smile when I opened my eyes again, alongside a quick nod.

Soon, I could see Snowpoint Temple in the distance, squeezing Vio’s hand to get her attention. She glanced at the structure and I thought I could feel her determination as she pushed on. Closer and closer we got, but before we reached the city, Vio started to slow down, the aura around her starting to fade, just like the one around me did. Looking at her, I could see her laboured breathing, I could almost feel the exhaustion radiating off her.

As I was sinking into the snow, I realised that Vio, too, was touching the ground, her strength sapped to the point that she couldn’t keep floating. Reaching out, I pulled her into an embrace, feeling the light weight of her body in my arms as I held her. Mumbling words of thanks I held her for a minute, maybe two, only to notice that her eyes started to close, a gentle smile on her lips as she was falling asleep.

“Rest, Vio, you’ve earned it. We’re back in town and you can sleep as long as you need it,” I told her, before calling her back into her Pokéball.

Letting out a sigh, humbled at the sheer tenacity and loyalty of my dear partner, I started to trudge through the snow, as I felt the exhaustion of the day starting to catch up with me.