George rubbed his eyes while waddling towards a private office. It was all the way in a different building, and his stomach growled from a dire lack of breakfast. Blitzer’s belly might’ve been bigger, but there wasn’t a damned chance he’d eat more than George today. Once they actually got food, that was.

Given Blitzer’s identical sickly, belly clutching appearance, that was saying something.

“Why aren’t we eating right now?”

The Carracosta leading the way turned her head, her footfalls creaking on the wooden floor boards. “I’ll tell you in a moment. Just stay tight for a while longer, okay? Dinner last night should keep you going!”

Blitzer sighed while dragging his tail over the floor. “Dinner was ages ago…”

Allora clicked her tongue. “Not really. We had dinner at the usual time.”

George and Blitzer went selectively deaf in both ears. “Not true. Not true at all.”

A massive harrumph came out of the Carracosta’s throat, as she stomped out the building and into the snow outside. “Soon, soon enough. This is all very important! Breakfast will be extra special today to compensate.”

Groaning, George tightened the scarf around his neck as he followed Allora’s footsteps, his fur bristling as the wind blew by. ‘Suuuure, sure it is, totally not a ploy to get us to shut up or anything, god forbid… married to Chronos, huh… known her for a long time and she’s been nice so far, but the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree-’

Just as they left and passed by the cafeteria, the smell of a rich, creamy butter mixed with sugar reached George’s nose. He sniffed it like he hadn’t smelled fresh air in aeons. Or in this cakes…

‘...PANCAKES?!’

Suddenly the human turned Dewott bounced in his steps, put his back up straight, ears tuned in to Allora rambling about the weather being cold. She might sneak something important in there.

Blitzer shuffled his way behind them, still dragging his tail through the snow, the frown on his face deepening.

“...We aren’t eating the pancakes anytime soon, George…”

George didn’t respond. He was still deaf.

* * *

A few minutes later, George was seated tight on a chair, while Blitzer stood right next to him. His tail rested on the chair he’d been offered, but didn’t take. Before them stood a giant desk facing their way, oddly enough. The walls were adorned with colourful pictures that had been nailed to the wall. A lot of Carracostas standing around smaller Pokemon, many of them with weird colour choices.

For a private office, it sure resembled a school classroom.

Allora didn’t even have a desk, but a giant blackboard. Strapped to one of her flippers was a piece of chalk. On her face, a huge grin.

“Sorry, did I say office? This is my office, haha! I do part time teaching!”

Blitzer blinked. “...Part time teaching?” he asked, resting his claws on the desk.

“I’m adept at more things than just fighting, you know,” she chuckled. “Aah, I’ve been looking forward to seeing a Char in here!... not that you are one of our kids, of course,” she said, with a smug underpinning to it. Blitzer was baffled.

“Uh…”

“...Hey. Teacher. Question here,” George asked. “How do you have time for this? Aren’t you working for both the Smaugus and the Alliance?”

“I’m glad you asked!” Allora said. She wrote a few characters on the blackboard.

‘Time Management :)’

“Does that help?”

George’s eyes and mouth were half open. “Uh, sort of…?”

Allora chuckled. “Ha. Anyway! Time to talk about your assignment… the thing that’s oh so very special to us, and why I had to make this briefing a little something extra special!” she rambled. “It’s a biiiig long trip you’ll be going on, well, not really, you just have to bring one thing back and that’s it… but don’t let that fool you, it’s massive!...”

George softly growled, before his eyes widened in surprise at the sound of his voice. ‘…whoa, that was VERY deep.’ He went silent out of reflex, but the growling didn’t stop. It sounded draconic. ‘Oh. Blitzer. Right.’

Meanwhile, Allora sketched out a large map of Whitiara on the blackboard, humming a dramatic sounding tune to herself. After a minute or two, she presented the result.

“The Quest for the old Smaugus Base - Abandoned a while back - Special hands needed! - Smaugus afraid

- Mount Tenebrous

- THE BASE

- Tirasford

- Snowviary

- You are here!

”

“So… let’s start at the beginning, shall we?” Allora began. “There’s an old base of ours, and by ours I mean the Smaugus, that’s located at the base of Mount Tenebrous. Unfortunately, we kind of had to evacuate it in a hurry. Turns out that building something close to a volcano can backfire on you in odd ways, heheh.” She sheepishly rubbed the top of her head with a flipper.

George rolled his eyes. ‘Gee. What a shocker there. A five year old could’ve figured that one out. What’s next, fire types in the woods? Wait, Blitzer, yeah… can work. And these people live in perpetual cold, how is this surprising in any way?’

Blitzer found himself laughing at the idea, shielding his smiling snout with a claw. “That’s kind of embarrassing, isn’t it? No offense to anyone who might’ve died.”

Allora shook her head and waved her flippers about. “Oh no no no, don’t misunderstand me here. We didn’t actually lose anyone because of the eruption, it’s not in our code! Those Crest bastards have done worse to us on a daily basis. But I’m getting off topic here.”

She traced her flipper over the dotted line in between the place names. “The point is, one of our old artefacts had to be left behind, a very important one at that. Historical! No one’s bothered to enter the base since that eruption some decades ago, we think… maybe some sods tried stealing from it, but we’ve sent people down there to explore not that long ago. All signs point to the artefact still being there.”

While Blitzer nodded along, George crossed his arms.

“First things first, why didn’t they get the artefact back themselves?" the Dewott asked. "They were already down there. Second, how is it going to help us get the last flute piece? We both know it’s under tight wraps. No chance they’re going to just let us waltz in and grab it.”

Allora followed George’s words without the slightest sense of humour. She had a dire, deadly serious look on her face, one which gave him pause.

‘What’s her deal now?’

“Clean hands, Georgie. You and Blitzer here have clean hands. It’s why you’ve been charged with getting your hands on the Azure Flute. You can handle it in ways we… shall I say ordinary Pokemon cannot. We want to put it to the test ourselves.”

George bit down on his lip. Allora was not being forthcoming about any of this. “This is the first time anyone’s talked about me having ‘clean hands’...”

Allora raised her flipper. “You don’t need to know all the details, of course. The important thing to know is that it’s a religious artefact. Much like the Azure Flute, actually. It’s something that’ll give us the power we need to drive the Crest out of Whitiara, and then help drive them out of Eravate, too.”

She clicked, no, smacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth several times, then went back to sheepishly rubbing her temple. “Sorry… my mind’s kind of foggy on these details too, to be honest with you. I expect better from myself, you know! Kind of frustrating to fall back on my shell when people are counting on me! Especially you of all people, I’m your mentor, right?!”

“...Right,” George said. His stomach rumbled. ‘Those better be some good pancakes…’

Blitzer then chirped a few times. “Happens to the best of us, doesn’t it?” he said, the last word a growl. “Look at me, I’m supposed to have gotten stronger, yet I still sound like a little kid sometimes.”

“Well…” Allora slowly tilted her head. “You still look pretty kiddy to me.”

“H-Hey!” Blitzer recoiled. “I’m not a child! Do I look like a child to you?!”

George cracked up in the blink of an eye. ‘Oh my God.’

“I kid, I kid!” Allora said. “If anything, you should enjoy being young while you can. Don’t wanna end up all old and grumpy without having had your fun, eh?”

“Mmmrrrph…” Blitzer pouted and blushed. George pinched his own cheeks, trying to squeeze the grin off of it.

‘You know Blitzer, you really aren’t helping your own case here, ya know… he’s too precious for the world, damn it… freaking adorable.’

Allora sighed, then flipped the blackboard onto its other side, causing a small puff of chalk to fly off and fill up the air.

“Well! That’s your job, anyway. Get that artefact back. Now, you’ll be going into that temple alone, but rest be assured that we’re not just gonna let you walk all the way. Sefonia volunteered to give you two a ride! And knowing her…” The Carracosta giggled. “She may or may not go inside with you, anyway. Just saying.” She added a wink at the end.

Blitzer’s eyes lit up. “S-Sefonia’s coming?”

Allora leaned her head over his. “You heard me, didn’t you?”

“A…A… YES!!” Blitzer said, bouncing up and down as if he were on a trampoline, on the verge of jumping out of his skin by accident. “Man, I’ve wanted to see her in action myself! How she explores and how she goes to town and how… everything!”

He grabbed George by his shoulders, and started shaking him around. “There’s so much we’re gonna learn from her, you just wait!”

George, whose tail and ears were flat against the ground and his head respectively, pushed Blitzer off. “You’ve already watched her plenty, though. Sparring, flying, dodging, breathing, walking, eating… Literally everything. What haven’t you learnt from that now, anyway?”

Blitzer shrugged. “I don’t know! That’s why I’d love to find out on a real mission. And besides, YOU don’t know anything, period! Come on, this is such a big opportunity! She’s got so much in her, it’s incredible!”

George stared at Allora from the corner of his eyes, hoping to get a second opinion. All he got back from her was a snappy click of the tongue, one that couldn’t have spelled out ‘figure it out yourself’ any harder without the spit literally forming the individual letters. Sighing, he ran a hand through the fur on his head, fluffing it up into a tangled mess. Can’t just let other people decide for you all the time - that was a bad habit to begin with.

The vague scent of pancakes punched George square in the nose again. They were getting cold. He bit his lip, and considered his options. On the one hand, all the tales about Sefonia’s prodigy status couldn’t have been a lie. Exaggerated, perhaps, but the glimpses George had seen spoke for themselves. Her being a Dragonite at age fifteen didn’t just speak, it had the podium.

But on the other, she was fifteen, and Blitzer was getting close to fourteen, if he hadn’t hit it already. Wasn’t that the age where people started finding each other interesting in special ways? Pokemon weren’t humans, though. But the difference between the two was remarkably small when you looked past the animalistic traits.

“Hello? George?”

Blitzer waved a claw in front of the Dewott’s face. George shook his head in the blink of an eye.

“Ah- don’t mind me. Err… alright, well there’s no real reason to say no, is there… It’s not like Sefonia’s hurt us. Or you.”

The Charmeleon nodded. “Darn straight you are. But I actually want to spar with her sometime, see for myself how strong she is…”

“Please some other time…” George said. A rumble roared its way out of someone’s stomach all of a sudden, catching both George and Blitzer by surprise. It sounded like a lion.

“Oh my…” Allora sheepishly patted her belly with a flipper. “Well, putting your breakfast off for too long is bound to come with some consequences! Apparently my body isn’t fond of this meeting anymore, haha.”

Blitzer looked at his own stomach, then frowned. “Can we go eat, then? I could eat a whole feral Glaceon!”

George nodded along. ‘What he said. Except in pancakes…’

Allora chuckled. “That’s no breakfast. But are you ready to stuff yourselves with as many pancakes, maple syrup and Belue Berries as your mouth can fit?”

“Yes! YES!” George growled. “I haven’t had pancakes in forever!”

“Then it’s your lucky day!” Allora said while clapping her flippers together. “Follow me-”

George happily tore Allora’s plans to shreds, immediately throwing the door open and rushed out into the snow, chasing the syrupy pancake smell through the pines. “Heeey! Wait for us! You might go the wrong way!” Allora called after him, with Blitzer laughing after her.

“Oh, George…”

* * *

Pancakes aren’t good for you, so the saying goes. Every nutrition tip or booklet that got shoved in George’s face during primary school had emblazoned that square and centre on their pages. If you had to eat them, consider being moderate, and don’t add too many toppings, because all that sugar was bound to be bad for your teeth.

This morning, George stuffed all that information away into some backwater corner in his mind, and went to town on the piles of pancakes served. Bite after bite, all coated in a delightfully sweet glaze of maple syrup, with Belue Berries to chase them down. He ate, no, scarfed it all down like consuming was his only reason to exist.

Even Blitzer, who’d stunned George with his love for food before, didn’t quite know what he saw. At least he wasn’t so noisy while eating, nor was he as messy! By the time breakfast was over, George had all sorts of pancake chunks wedged in his fur, and dirtied his hands with maple syrup. He’d eaten enough to put some extra chub under his fur. And all things considered? That was perfectly fine. Who cared about a little extra weight? He’d been on the thinner side ever since arriving at the Drasal Base, and besides, it wasn’t as if he’d stopped growing.

Samurott needed a lot of food, after all.

Once they had cleaned up after themselves, Allora saw them off. Sefonia, who’d been eating somewhere else, had already gotten herself fully geared up for the cold journey ahead: She had a harness, and a pair of goggles to protect from the cold, as well as some emergency rations. George and Blitzer put their backpacks on, and were helped onto Sefonia’s back by none other than the Dragonite herself. Snow had begun to fall sometime during breakfast.

“So, are we all ready?” Allora asked once Blitzer was firmly seated behind George, her eyes unblinking.

“Yup!” Sefonia said with a quick nod. “Haven’t carried two passengers in a few days, but they sure aren’t giving me any trouble like this!”

“Good, good!” Allora put her flippers together. “Now, you be careful out there, yes? This is a very delicate thing, you know… our history is something precious. You can’t let it fall into any foreign hands, alright?”

“Mhm,” George hummed. ‘ Relax, good lord. Don’t you trust us?’

“We’re not gonna let you down!” Blitzer said. Allora closed her eyes, sighed, then put a flipper up.

“Alright. Sef, Blitzer… Mister Pancakes, good luck!”

With a flap of her wings, Sefonia soared into the air, a fierce updraft granting her all the lift she needed to clear the trees. George went from groaning to meekly grabbing onto Sefonia’s harness, terrified of the slightest shift under him. Blitzer held onto the harness as well, minus the fear.

“Woohoo!”

George didn’t open his eyes until a few minutes into their flight, by which point they had passed over Snowviary, and were well on their way towards Tirasford to the north west. If not for the snow and clouds, the edges of Mount Tenebrous would have been visible on the horizon. He’d been told to look for a black outline that towered over everything else.

“Sooo…” Sefonia said out loud once the wind settled. “Mister Pancakes! What kind of name is that?”

Blitzer laughed and grabbed George by the shoulders, causing the Dewott to grit his teeth.

“Hahahahaha! Tell ‘er, George!”

“...I was hungry?” ‘It’s… not that funny, is it? I missed pancakes…’

Blitzer’s grip became firmer. George swallowed, heat rushing to his face.

“Is making the understatement of the year a human tradition? Sef, he was practically shoving them into his mouth back to back! Barely waited a second after swallowing one before picking up another! Put a ton of syrup on them, then he was like ‘Nom! Gnom! Snorf! Snarf! Snarf, Gnarf! Ahum! Mmmmmmm!’”

Sefonia started laughing just like Blitzer did. “Hahahaha! No way! Okay, I know a lot of people outside of Whitiara usually get all beady eyed when they taste maple syrup for the first time, but this is just too much!”

“Eep…” George softly chirped, trying to make himself as small as possible. ‘This is embarrassing…’

“If you ask me, he’d have been rubbing his belly after he was done. Like this,” Blitzer added, leaning back to give an example. George swallowed again. Just the sound of the Charmeleon’s claw going in circles over that creamy belly was too much.

Sefonia was still giggling along to Blitzer’s every word. “George, you’re too precious for this world.”

The Dewott sighed. “I guess you could say that.”

Sefonia angled her wings leftwards, turning her body a few degrees. George carefully shifted his legs so he wouldn’t be off balance, just in time to catch a big gust of wind that knocked his head backwards a little.

“I can tell why you guys are friends, you know,” the Dragonite continued all the while, her tone casual and laid back. “Do you talk like this all the time?”

“Not at all,” Blitzer said. “Sometimes we poke fun at each other, sure, but we’re not just ribbing each other all the time. When things get serious, then we get serious, too. Well… serious isn’t the right word for it. We’re there for each other. Support and love each other when we need it.” He sighed. “That’s what we all need in our lives.”

“Mhm…” Sefonia’s head pitched down; the rest of her body didn’t follow. “Yeah. Yeah, you do. That makes every day better, right?”

Blitzer scratched his head. “What do you mean?”

“Being supportive. Being friends. Makes every day just a little better, or not?” Sefonia repeated. Blitzer’s tail went flat against Sefonia’s as he internalised what she said, his eyes going down to the snowscape underneath.

“It does. Why do you ask?”

“Oh,” Sefonia hummed. “Not much, it’s just that I wish there was a little more of that in my life. Don’t get me wrong, the commoners I help and the people that train me do give me support, it’s just not the same as what’s happening between you guys.”

“We could be friends!” Blitzer suggested. Sefonia shook her head.

“Sorry. The Smaugus code of life gets in the way. And I can’t just break it.” She let out a deep sigh, leaving a cold puff of smoke lingering in her wake. “I know, that sounds ridiculous, and it’s not something you’ll understand entirely well when you’re an outsider. And I wish we did have that chance to get closer than that, it’s just, well, I can’t.”

“A-ah…” Blitzer laid his snout on top of George’s shoulder, much to his surprise.

“Er, are you okay back there?” ‘You’re not.’

“Oh yes, I’m fine,” Blitzer and Sefon said simultaneously. George let out a soft groan.

‘Neither of you are fine. Too bad I can’t change it… ugh. Who came up with those idiotic life rules anyway…’

George dropped the matter entirely, and neither he nor Blitzer and Sefonia said much more to each other for the next few minutes.

* * *

Their trek across the glacial landscape went about unabated. No matter how fierce the snowstorm and how poor their visibility, Sefonia wasn’t letting it stop her. A readjustment of her goggles and a deep breath solved whatever weather related dilemma’s came her way, for the most part The updraft at her back kept their pace steady, and the skies were otherwise devoid of other Pokemon.

Sefonia and Blitzer occasionally broke he silence, but the responses were short. George never started any conversation period, instead preferring to see what was below them. What was remarkable about the Whitiaran countryside was how unremarkable it was. Endless seas of white plains misty with snowdrift, with a handful of trees and settlements dotted around. Feral Pokemon such as Vulpix hunting, Snorunts hopping about, Frosmoths sleeping on what few trees were there. Streams and ponds that had completely frozen over, and rivers that surged wild from their origins in the Dragonspines.

George sighed to himself.

‘To think anyone would want to live here… was it always this bad, or is the weather that much better in the summer? Or… do certain species just like the cold, kind of like how I enjoy being in and around water? Some of those bogs look alright if it wasn't so damn cold.’

And so the Whitiaran landscapes were passed, Sefonia’s wings cleaving through what their feet would have struggled with. An hour of travel time cut to mere minutes. And Sefonia didn’t slow down for a moment. Despite the cold, the wind, and the physical toll it must’ve taken on her, she shrugged it off. Blitzer was excited by the prospect of it when she explained how she felt, daydreaming out loud how he pictured himself flying next to her, even challenging her to a race once he had evolved. Sefonia laughed it off.

As they closed in on Mount Tenebrous, and its black slopes became far sharper, the city of Tirasford sprawled out over the snowy plains. The river Entivesi ran through the city, its origin in the Dragonspines once again resulting in the currents being too strong for the river to freeze over. The lanterns were on, and the city residents were out enjoying the day as if it were warm and sunny. Two buildings stuck out of the city’s shadow. One was a massive cathedral in the centre. The other was an enormous complex on the edge, with massive green Crest banners flying high above. The shadows of Soldiers on watch gloomed out the already black walls even further.

Fortunately, Tirasford was passed over. They were headed straight for Mount Tenebrous. Between Tirasford and the mountain, there were far more trees than usual, and few if any settlements to speak of. Those in the shadows of the mountain were doomed to perish in fire, so Sefonia explained. George bit his lip as they approached.

‘If living here is going to kill you, then why did the Smaugus build a base here in the first place? It… makes no sense. Were they even thinking straight?’

Sefonia circled over an ancient-looking temple entrance, built into the side of the mountain. She landed with a thud, then laid down to let George and Blitzer off. The wind howled as they looked into the dark abyss ahead.

“Here we are. The old base…”

Blitzer walked towards the darkness with his tail in hands, shining it inside as if it’s a torch.

“Whoa… how long has this place been abandoned for?”

Sefonia shook her head. “Years, if I had to guess…”

All while the two dragons were at the entrance, pondering what they’ll find inside, George’s attention had snapped to something – or someone – sitting nearby on a rock. They had the appearance of a ghostly imp, their ectoplasm twitching in the form of a smoking tiara, or helmet.

“Hello?” George asked. ‘What in the world…? Of all the places to be, right here?’

The imp looked up. “Yeah?” she replied, kicking her tiny legs around. George folded his arms.

“Pardon me, but why are you up here?”

“Could ask the same to you,” the imp said. “Why don’t you tell me your name first?”

George glanced over his shoulder. Sefonia and Blitzer were still distracted, but not unattentive. “...George.” ‘Don’t be a Soldier, for the love of…’

She crossed her legs, then raised a spectral finger to her lips. “Hey George. I’m Sisu. Why are you up here?”

“Hey, Sisu. To explore that cave,” George replied, biting his tongue. He wondered whether he was revealing too much. “And why are you up here?”

Sisu shrugged. “It’s quiet. I like it here. Would you prefer living in Tirasford? I wouldn’t. Too many footlickers.”

George raised an eye. “Footlickers? Wait what-”

“George! GEORGE! What the actual…?”

The peace was disturbed from behind, and George jumped around to see Sefonia taking on a threatened stance, with Blitzer confused right next to her.

“That’s Marshadow right there!”