A pink, dusk sky sprawled overhead by the time the champions and their Pokémon made it to the town by the lake. With all of them nearly frozen to the bone and thoroughly worn out from the long trek, the first thought on everyone's mind was to find shelter and warm up.
The town was hemmed in by a circular stone wall and an open gate with a pair of Arcanine sitting as guards. As the six travelers approached and proceeded through the opening, the Arcanine merely watched intently and sniffed at them, as if they were more of an alarm system to any potential dangers than actual guards.
Inside, the snow-covered path they walked had turned to a sort of muddy, slushy mess from the day's foot and cart traffic. Wooden buildings and homes lined the streets and paths in an almost haphazard way. Although evening, the town's activity seemed oddly quiet.
After a few moment's observation, Cynthia realized the obvious lack of men in the population, and the ones present were either elderly or very young children; those of fighting age no doubt sent off to one army or another.
Thankfully, no one paid much attention to them as they walked by.
An older man working at his smithing task, paused briefly to gawk at them but then quickly returned to his work. Children laughing in a game of tag rounded a corner and slowed to stare in wonder at their four Pokémon before zooming off in play again. Women passed by amid various chores, carrying baskets of laundry or food, all staring curiously for a moment before moving on.
It seemed they were simply taken for a pair of soldiers passing through; a somewhat normal occurrence during a warring era.
Although they had originally wanted to find warm lodging first, walking by a building spewing the smell of ramen and rice had both champions stop dead in their tracks; neither had realized just how hungry they were until that moment.
Steven and Cynthia shared an inquiring look and then a sheepish smile when their stomachs chorused a growl. "Glad to hear we agree," she said with a chuckle.
"Yes, but I'm concerned about the currency that Kenshin gave us," Steven pointed out as he pulled a coin purse from their supplies. "I'm a rock specialist... old coins are out of my field."
"Let me have a look." Cynthia hummed as she took the purse and examined a handful of gold, silver and copper coins. "I can't say I'm certain, as I've only studied currency briefly, but I think a single silver would cover the cost of two meals. A gold should cover a night at the Inn."
Steven nodded in agreement. "Sounds reasonable."
Turning to enter the establishment, their four Pokémon trailing behind, an elderly man stopped them with a raised hand. They hadn't noticed him at first, but he sat in a chair just beside the doorway with an Eevee curled up and sleeping on his lap.
"Hold on you two. No Pokémon allowed in any establishment." He coughed a couple times before nodding towards a large building down the street. "You can set them up in the barn though, with the rest of the critters."
Frowning, both trainers gave their Pokémon an apologetic look. "Sorry guys, can you wait out here until we eat?" They didn't want to just send them to the barn without checking it out first.
The foursome whined and grumbled but ultimately plopped down on the slushy ground, all of them too tired to complain further.
Stepping through the open doorway with simple fabric drapes hanging down, the pair found themselves in what appeared to be a traditional ramen stall, with a bar and a row of stools, mostly vacant. Multiple lanterns hung from the ceiling and cast down warm, pleasant light throughout the room.
Cynthia thought it strange for the place to be so empty. Taking into account that a third of the town was away fighting in the war, there should have still been quite a crowd coming and going for dinner...
Idly, they noticed a lone man, a soldier by the looks of him, sitting a few seats down the line. On the other side of the bar, an elderly woman and a young girl worked together at preparing food; the food that had smelled so good from outside.
"Greetings travelers," the elderly woman said, appraising her new customers carefully as she set out two cups of water for them. When they returned her greeting and sat down, the old woman made a show of looking around. "Just the two of you? No little ones to feed?"
Although the question had been harmless enough, Steven seemed to choke on his water while Cynthia managed to offer an amiable, yet bashful smile. "No, just us." She sent him a sympathetic look as he cleared his throat objectively, then she turned back to the old lady and passed her a silver coin, hoping it would cover everything. "Oh, but we do have four hungry Pokémon outside."
The elderly cook took the payment with a smile and a nod. "Very good, we'll get you both a bowl and some Ponigiri to go for your Pokémon."
Sharing a quizzical glance with Steven, Cynthia wondered what Ponigiri was, but eventually just assumed it to be food specifically made for Pokémon.
As the young girl worked to dish them up their bowls of ramen (since there seemed to be only one flavor on the non-existent menu), the lone man down the row turned towards them with a curious head tilt. "You two from Kenshin's ninja unit?"
Both champions turned to look at him properly, noting his friendly smile and spiky brown hair. He wore white and black armor-clothing, with a red scarf around his neck and a violet sash about his waist. He looked fairly young, probably eighteen or nineteen.
It was Steven that remembered to reply. "No affiliation. We're just peacekeepers."
"Ah, an interesting title, that," the stranger murmured, almost to himself. "Tell me, does it mean you aim to end the war yourselves, or to simply pacify it?"
Steven and Cynthia blinked at him, then shared another puzzled look; neither had expected to be questioned in such a way. Thankfully the elderly cook sent the young man a pointed glare in warning.
"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm being rude," said the stranger with a dismissive gesture. "It's time I got moving." He stood up to leave and waved his thanks to the cook, despite her sour look. "Good luck with your peacekeeping and all that." He offered the pair a toothy grin before making his exit and calling to his apparent companion outside. "C'mon Eevee, time to go!"
They promptly forgot about him once their food was served. Remembering that their Pokémon were waiting for them, still cold and hungry outside, the pair tried to eat quickly. After thanking the elderly woman and her (assumed) granddaughter, they hurried outside with a small satchel of the curious Ponigiri food; to Cynthia, it just looked like simple rice balls.
Upon seeing their masters exit, the foursome all chirped happily, or in Garchomp's case, whined in discomfort. Cynthia frowned, noting how her dragon was still sulking from losing her Munna charges, but was also still suffering from the biting cold weather; she wasn't fond of the idea of being separated from her overnight.
As they made their way towards the barn, they noticed another Arcanine sitting by the huge double doors, but it was unclear if he was guarding the barn or if he, like the other two by the front gate, was simply an alarm system for any given trouble.
With a calculating gaze, the huge canine merely acknowledged the two humans and their four Pokémon before he offered a friendly huff. Inside the barn, Cynthia was surprised to see how many Pokémon were taking shelter there. Hay was laid out everywhere, on the floor and up on the loft above, with nearly every space occupied by mostly Growlithe, Shinx, Meowth, Ponyta and Tauros, among a handful of others.
As their four lingered and looked around for a suitable spot, the Arcanine padded by them and started nosing a group of Growlithe and Shinx away from one particular haystack. He turned and barked at the travelers, which caused the four to move and occupy the spot. All of them collapsed there in a matter of seconds, offering various noises in gratitude.
The Arcanine roved his careful gaze around the barn's inhabitants and loosed a stern bark, as if to say, Everyone is to respect our guests, or else! He padded back outside, without so much as a peep from anyone.
As the four rooted around in the hay to get comfortable, Garchomp curled up by herself and laid her head on the floor, sullen. The other three all looked at each other, as if consulting the matter before reaching an accord. First, Togekiss moved to curl up beside the dragon, then, hesitantly, Aggron followed suit. It wasn't until the first two grumbled at him that Skarmory finally joined in with a yielding squawk.
Garchomp simply raised her head briefly to regard the other three, though it was unclear whether she was annoyed or grateful for their condoling behavior.
"Well look at that," Steven marveled at the peaceful sight. "Finally getting along like friends. Hard to believe Aggron and Gar were fighting so bad just a few days ago."
Cynthia wasn't so sure. Absently, she also wondered just how long they had been trapped here; it seemed like more than just a few days to her. "I think it's more that they're all just exhausted, on top of the other three feeling sorry for Gar at the moment."
"I suppose we won't know for sure until she recovers from the heartache," he replied, revealing that he wasn't as calloused about Gar's attachment to the Munnas as Cynthia initially thought.
She didn't realize she was staring at him with a fond smile until Skarmory started yapping plaintively for dinner; him being the most vocal of the four. "Oh, right! You're all hungry!" Cynthia immediately moved to dole out the satchel of rice balls, thankful for the distraction.
If Steven had noticed her staring, he ignored it, and instead worked at unhitching the gear from Aggron and Garchomp, though he appeared to struggle a bit with the limited use of his left arm. "We should tend to your arm now, so Kiss can heal you." Without hesitation, Cynthia moved to interrupt his chore and motioned him to sit.
For his part, Steven seemed to know better than to resist her suggestion. He sat down on Aggron's flank (who didn't seem to mind) without argument and even admitted with a slight wince, "it has been aching the past few hours."
She frowned at him then. "Why didn't you say something sooner?" She tried not to let her irritation flow to her hands as she untied the bandages.
She was unsuccessful, judging by the strained smile he sent her way. "I didn't want to slow us down."
Cynthia sighed in mild frustration, but her mood shifted to concern upon seeing how red and aggravated his wound looked. "Ok Kiss, a Life Dew, please." Once the avian completed the healing cleanse, she quickly wrapped it up again, hoping for the best. "I'm worried an infection is setting in. We need to find the town's herbalist so I can buy some tools and grind those Gabite scales into medicine."
Steven released a sigh of his own, sounding a little subdued. "I'd like to say leave it for tomorrow, but you're right, an infection would complicate things."
Nodding in silent agreement, they both moved to leave when Cynthia stopped, noting how Garchomp hadn't touched her food, but instead had her head turned away from it.
The woman looked over to see that the other three had devoured their shares, meaning there was nothing wrong with the food itself. "Oh Gar," she murmured comfortingly and crouched down to stroke the dragon's head. "Are you so upset, you can't even eat?"
Garchomp let out a pathetic whine and nudged her master's hand, as if she were in physical pain, her gold eyes gleaming with unshed tears. The dragon's response caused Cynthia to sigh again, at a loss as to how she was supposed to leave her ace in such a distraught state. "What am I to do with you?"
She was grateful for Steven's patience, as he simply stood nearby and waited for her to resolve the matter. Surprisingly, the other three decided to pipe up with their own encouragement.
Togekiss offered a cheerful chirp and nuzzled against Gar's face, knowing he could get away with it, being her teammate. Cynthia imagined him saying something like, Cheer up, the Munnas are happy and safe with their parents now.
Aggron stretched around and gave the dragon's flank a gruff nudge and grumbled, as if to say, Just eat already, stop being a pain.
Finally, Skarmory squawked at her loudly, probably saying something like, Yeah, or I'll eat your share!
Garchomp growled at all of them in turn, but then looked at her food as if she were considering it. "Please Gar? At least eat one bite, for me?" Cynthia held up one rice ball to the dragon's nose. "I can't leave you until I know you're ok."
Huffing with slight annoyance, Garchomp ate the proffered bite and then gave her master a grateful lick. "That's my girl," Cynthia cooed with affection, then looked at the others. "Now you all be good, we'll be back in the morning."
Steven nodded his agreement, adding, "That Arcanine seems to be in charge, so you go straight to him if there's a problem."
The foursome yipped their understanding and Garchomp quickly finished off her dinner, apparently having realized how hungry she was. Smiling in relief, Cynthia turned and followed Steven out, passing the stalwart Arcanine as they went.
She paused to take one last look inside the barn. The four were readjusting their positions to keep each other warmer, all chattering at each other as if they had been comrades all their lives. Cynthia smiled again, reassured that they would be safe and warm for the night.
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Bonus scene: A few hours later...
Gar opens one eye to find a group of Growlithes and Shinx gathered around her face for warmth.
Gar:... This is fine. (nuzzles each of them before drifting back to sleep)
Kiss: (whispers to Skar) Told you it was a good idea.
Skar: (grumble) Yeah, yeah.