Chapter 43

"Frost, Wait! You forgot your clothes!" Flannery yells from behind me. I stumble slightly as I try to stop quickly as I look down and remember that I am still naked. The freedom felt so nice that I forgot my current state.

"A-aha. I was just about to stop and grab them," I lie as I turn around with a small blush on my face before running back to my stuff and throwing on a pair of side tie panties and a bikini style top. At first glance it would look like I am wearing a bikini but if someone looks too long they would be able to tell. I strap my bag to my thigh again and take off towards the slope.

"I'll go ahead first and see what is going on." I call over my shoulder. Bea and Flannery are going to take too long to get ready and Lono doesn't move all that fast. I recall Lono as Skadi sprints up the stairs nimbly with me on her tails.

As I run up the steps, a new song slowly ramps up in my ears. I somehow know the name of the song even though I have never heard it before, You Say Run, which is fitting as I sprint with all my power up the steps. I reach the top of the stairs just as the song fades and I look around to get a grasp on what is going on.

My eyes quickly scan the scene in front of me. There is a group of about ten Rocket members attacking Bill's house. I recognize two of them as Jesse and James who I caught back in Vermillion City. The other grunts are none that I recognize but that is the least of the problem. I see a number of them using a whip to order their pokemon, which I can see have a number of scars. Pokemon don't scar easily, they will only get a scar if they are not allowed to rest for long periods of time or don't receive medical attention soon enough.

My head snaps up as I hear Zephyr cry out as she dives down and rakes her talons across the face of a Rocket as he attempts to throw a black pokeball at the Eevees that are huddled in a corner. In another area, I see Bill fighting off three Rockets at once with a Kadabra. Taking in everything in a few moments I quickly make my plans before letting out Lono and giving out my orders to the two of them.

"Lono, try to prevent the pokeballs from catching anything. Skadi, Icy Wind anything not friendly!" The two of them acknowledge my commands by quickly getting to work. It is not long before I start seeing the black pokeballs flying off in random directions. 

As the two of them follow my orders, I make my way along the outside of the battle and over towards the group of Eevee. The group of them seem to be dodging the pokeballs but they are starting to look tired. 

I take note that even though the Rockets are tossing their black pokeballs, there are no more than two on the ground. Any that miss seem to disappear moments later. I step in front of the Eevees just as another pokeball comes flying. I quickly slap the ball away and send them back towards the Rocket's pokemon.

"Get lost kid, before you get hurt." Calls out a Rocket as I dodge a glob of slow moving poison that a pokemon fired off.

"How about y'all leave first and stop bothering these poor Eevee, and after that I will move." I fire back dodging a stone that was flying at my shoulder as I knock away another pokeball. 

I notice that Skadi has switched to firing off Ice Shards at the numerous pokemon that are attacking the Eevee's and me. Zephyr is also doing her part from the air, causing the pokeballs and attacks to fly off in different directions. 

Making a mental decision as I don't see the situation getting any better, I slowly start to make my way closer to the rockets. Every step I take I block or dodge an attack but the attacks are coming in faster as I get closer to the line of dark and poison type pokemon. I hiss slightly as a sharp stone grazes my cheek as I was too slow to move out of the way.

I take a moment to take in the sheer number of attacks being thrown out. There are at least twenty different pokemon that are attacking. I can see the disdainful sneer of the Rockets as they crack their whip, and order their pokemon to get rid of me. The space in front of me seems to become filled with rocks, needles, ice, leaves and assorted other items. 

The world around me starts to slow down as my eyes bounce from all the different attacks flying at me as I try to figure out how to avoid all of them. I shift my feet slightly as I slip into the gap between the attacks with a fluid grace that I didn't have before and start to knock away whatever attacks I can that would hit my face. Gradually I get into a comfortable rhythm and I start to change my breathing to something similar to what I normally do when I cultivate. The breathing exercises mention that utilizing the rhythm during combat helps with fatigue during a fight and so far it seems to be right. 

My eyes start to dilate as I feel a cool sensation spreading from my abs. It spreads throughout my body as I continue to try to dodge and knock the attacks away from me. I notice something glittering around my hands but I don't have time to think about it as a few needles scrape across my defenseless stomach. I grit my teeth at the stinging pain that quickly fades just to be hit by a fast moving rock on my thigh. A number of attacks have hit me as there is no way to perfectly dodge everything. Before I know it, I am just in front of the pokemon line that is blocking me from getting to the Rockets who caused this mess.

"Move!" I growl at a Shiftry in front of me that just grins evilly at me. Belatedly I notice that this pokemon doesn't have the scars that other pokemon do. My already slow world seems to come to a stop except for the pokemon with the wicked look on its face as it slashes with one of its arms. My eyes pick up the green energy wrapping around the leaves as it moves in an upward slash starting from my hip.

Time returns to normal as I suddenly feel burning hot pain starting at my right hip and ending at my left shoulder. I hear a scream come from somewhere as I step forward and unleash a punch at the vicious pokemon in front of me. I feel the cool energy in my body gather on my fist that suddenly moves faster and slams into Shiftry sending it flying backwards as ice starts to build on it from where I hit it. I go to take another step forward to continue my attack but I stumble and start to fall as I hear someone screaming my name.

"Frost!"

I glance towards the voice and see Flannery and Bea running towards me. My eyes focus on Flannery as she gets closer to the attacking pokemon. 'She's not safe' I think to myself as I start to lose the color in my vision and everything turns black.

*~*~*~*

[Flannery POV]

Bea and I quickly get dressed and recall our pokemon before running after Frost. I swear she has to stick her nose into everything! Well, this time I can't blame her as her pretty bird is possibly in danger. 

As I dash up the stairs, I notice that my legs don't feel nearly as strained as they did in the past if I tried to do something like this. I'm still getting used to the changes in my body since our fiery night. As we get closer to the top, I can hear the sounds of battle and at the same time my heart starts to race as a dreadful feeling washes over me. At the top of the stairs I pause for a moment to see what is going on.

I see Frost's pokemon defending the Eevee's from getting captured by those weird pokeballs. I also see Bill holding his own against five rockets and their pokemon. A quick glance shows me that I don't need to worry about him. I scan around for my white haired girl and to my horror I find her in the middle of the field fighting against pokemon! Every move she makes seems to leave a trail of glitter in her wake, allowing me to see how closely she is dodging, or not, the attacks. 

As she reaches the attacking pokemon the feeling of dread spikes again, only much heavier this time as I scream for her to move as I start running towards her. I watch in horror as the Shiftry in front of her suddenly slashes across her body. I take a breath as I see that she still seems to be okay as she punches the pokemon in a way that looks eerily similar to Ice Punch. With the Shiftry away from her she takes another step and my heart stops.

Blood. Lots of blood. The attack I thought she was safe from created a huge gash across her whole torso which is leaking large amounts of blood over her body. She looks like an actor in a horror film.

"Frost!" I scream in horror as she starts to fall forward. I see her turn her head towards me and her normally vibrant icy blue eyes that I love to stare into are dark. I see a hint of something in her eyes as I can tell she focuses on me, but I don't care! I need to get to her.

I quickly release my pokemon and tell them to assist Frost's pokemon in taking care of the attackers. Once I am within ten meters of Frost, I suddenly feel myself starting to burn up, similar to how I did that night. Before long, I feel the heat slipping from my body but I can tell it is being drawn to Frost. I don't try to resist whatever is happening and actively try to push my energy towards her.

A moment later, Frost bursts into flame. Instead of a warm red-orange fire I am used to, she burns with a white-blue flame that seems to draw in all the heat around her. With the suddenness of the flames appearing, a lull appears in the battle as everyone focuses on Frost. From within the flame, I can make out my sweet Frost but I can feel it is not her. Her eyes, normally so full of life and mirth are filled with bottomless pride and rage. 

She slowly stands up as the flames wrap around her and begin to form a beautiful scarlet and gold dress that brushes against the ground and leaves her shoulders bare. The flames dance up her arms and transform into a pair of detached sleeves that match the dress. The last of the flames gather at the top of her head and create a flaming crown. As soon as the crown forms, a pair of blue flame wings burst out of her back.

I stare at her in awe as my legs suddenly give out from under me. Before I can fall to the ground I am suddenly picked up in a princess style carry and staring up at not Frost. A moment later, she sets me down, well away from the battle that is at a standstill currently as everyone is trying to figure out what is going on, me included.

"Safe now." Not Frost says in an ethereal voice that seems to come from the distant past. A moment later she disappears again in a swirl of icy mist and I find her back where she was originally and looking over the battlefield.

"Pathetic. To think my own blood is this weak. I must rectify this slight." Not Frost says in a chilling tone that sends shivers down my spine. She slowly raises her hand as an elegant spear of ice forms under it. As she wraps her hand around the shaft of the spear I hear my heart beat again as the tip alights into blue flame once more.