Chapter 22

In the morning I slowly open my eyes as I get my bearings. The worst part about meditating for sleep is the dissonance you feel when you wake up. It feels like everything around you is either moving too fast or too slow, even when everything is still around you. I reach over and grab my phone to see what time it is. Great, it is still well before dawn so no one will be awake yet.

I sigh slightly and put on my workout clothes before heading down to the gym for my morning routine. Instead of my normal routine, I hop on a bike and just mindlessly pedal, letting my mind drift as I fall into a rhythm. Before I know it, two hours pass and when I get off the bike, I don't feel like I exercised at all but at least my brain is awake now. As I head back towards my room, I see that the lobby is starting to fill with the earlier risers so I quickly duck into the stairwell before anyone sees me. 

I toss my workout clothes into the wash while I take a shower and finish packing everything up. I leave out the three rings that I got from the gacha last night and make sure that everything is ready before getting dressed and doing one last check of the room before recalling Zephyr and picking up Skadi. It has nearly been a week since Bea and I arrived in Pewter City and I was ready to leave. The fact that there is an adventure ahead of me is making me not want to drag my feet in a city any longer than I need to. Besides, I was a country girl in my last life so being in a city puts me on edge.

I head back down to the lobby and find an empty table to sit at while I wait for Bea and Flannery. I sent them a message when I was up in my room that I would be waiting for them down here. During our chats the past few days, I asked Flannery if she wanted to travel with us, to which she happily agreed so now it is us three girls against the world! I order myself a latte to sip on and some breakfast for Skadi and myself. About the same time as the food arrives Bea and Flannery show up in the lobby and quickly walk over to my table.

"Morning babes." I give them a slight smirk as I greet them.

"Mornin' yourself good looking." Flannery fires back with a wink.

"Morning~" Bea yawns.

"I got something when I was out this morning. I figured it would be a good way to mark the start of our journey." I tell them as I pull out the rings I got from the gacha and set them on the table. 

"Mmn, these are pretty nice." Flannery looks over and then with a cheeky smile she picks up the ring that matches my eyes and stares at me as she slides it on her left ring finger. "This one seems to fit me perfectly." 

I nearly spit out the coffee I was drinking and look at her with my eyes wide open and my mouth mimicking a fish. I can feel the heat creeping up my face as I sputter out a reply. "Th-that's not the f-finger it is s-supposed to go on." Flannery just starts to giggle wildly at my reaction. Bea, who was watching all this go on, smirks and grabs the red ring and does the same thing as Flannery by putting it on her left ring finger as well.

"I guess this one is mine then. She's right, it does fit perfectly."

I look between the two of them, unable to figure out what is going on. I swear, smoke would be coming out of my ears at this point if this was an anime. I puff my cheeks and pout at them and pick up the amber-gold ring and place it on the same finger as them with a slight huff and look away. "Fine, be that way. See if I care."

My reaction seems to be the tipping point and both of them start laughing hard as I pout more. They spend the next hour teasing me as we eat our breakfast and finally start heading out of the city towards the huge mountain in the distance. As we pass the edge of the city, the sun passes the treetops, lighting up the path we are walking on. I let Zephyr out so that she can fly above us and let us know if something needs our attention. 

We spend a few hours chatting with each other as it is rather dull as there are very few wild pokemon and we are early enough that no other trainers are on the route as well. Sometime in the afternoon, the small hills that we had been walking on give way to more rocky terrain and we started to see more wild pokemon. We let our pokemon fight without our intervention as we walk. The wild pokemon in the area are fairly weak and neither of us see any that fit in our parties. 

We crest another rocky hill and we are suddenly greeted by a sheer cliff face with a dark cavern in the side. Near the cavern sits a wooden building that has seen better days with a few people milling about outside. We glance at each other and decide to stop by in case there is information we need. 

"Hello ladies. Are you going into Mount Moon?" Asks a lanky guy in a green tank top and beige cargo shorts. I can feel his eyes sweep across my body and a shiver gets sent down my spine. My face shifts to a frosty expression before answering.

"We are. Any information we should be aware of before we enter?" I ask coldly as my eyes search around the area. The wooden building seems to be a resting spot for people that have come through the tunnels. I can see a number of people that look like the person that just spoke to us but they don't give the same creepy feeling this guy does. I can also see a few people that are dressed in all black but are huddled together and talking quietly.

"Oh well you ladies should really have a guide if it is your first time through the tunnels. There have been sightings of packs of wild pokemon acting more aggressively than normal and we have had to pull out a few injured youngsters. I am available to guide you through the tunnel." The guy offers as I feel his eyes linger on my chest a lot longer than they should have. I shift my stance to something a bit more aggressive as I reply to him.

"My eyes are up here mister. We will be safe on our own. We appreciate the information on the aggressive pokemon but anything more is unwelcome."

He coughs slightly awkwardly but still tries his luck. "You really should reconsider. An experienced hand is definitely a good thing to have on hand. I would hate for something to happen to young ladies such as yourselves because they refused a helping hand."

My voice drops an octave as I glare into his eyes causing him to take a step back. "I. Said. No." I punctuate each word with a step toward him. Before I can get too far, I feel two soft hands on my shoulders that pull me back slightly. I look over my shoulder to see Bea and Flannery shaking their heads and I back off slightly.

"Alright, I can see I'm unwanted. Good luck with your travels, you will need them." The guy answers as he backs off and heads into the building.

"Alright Ice Queen, time to chill out. Take a few deep breaths." I shoot a dirty look at Flannery at her statement but then I close my eyes and start taking some slow, controlled breaths. Moments later I open my eyes and feel calmer.

"Sorry about that girls. I couldn't stand the way he was looking at me, it felt disgusting. It felt like he was stripping me with his eyes." I shiver slightly remembering his sight.

"Well he will regret not getting to see it, I mean it is a work of art if I have to say so myself." She flashes me a smile that makes me blush again.

"Alright lovebirds, how about we get going. I want to get as far as possible away from this place. I agree with Frost though, that guy was looking for a beating."

With our decision made we head towards the cave entrance. The entrance looks like a mouth that was ready to consume us. I shake off the feeling and step into the darkness. I notice the cave gradually get darker until suddenly it is as bright as daylight for me. I blink and look around and then glance behind me only to be momentarily blinded due to how bright the light outside seems. 

"Frost! What is up with your eyes? They are glowing!" Flannery asks in shock when I look behind us.

"Glowing? What do you mean?" I ask, I have never seen my eyes glowing.

"They are like the eyes of a cat at night!" I raise my eyebrow at her in question.

"Here, look!" She takes out her phone and takes a picture of me before I can stop her. She didn't turn on the flash thankfully. She flipped her phone around to show me the picture she just took. What I see is white and blue hair that is still reflecting the light from the entrance, a shadowy face and two brightly glowing blue orbs with a pupil that has slightly elongated, giving it an almost diamond shape. I spend a moment studying the picture before I blink and look back towards Flannery.

"I guess they do glow. I have never noticed this before." I give her a small shrug, unsure of what to tell her.