It only takes a few minutes before Skadi and I slip out the front doors and down the ramp of the Pokecenter. I get the feeling that steps are not going to be something common in this city as I slip off the grassy path leading towards the 'street' and into a space behind the hedgerow. I quickly grab my pokeballs and let out each of my team members.
Zephyr lets out a happy trill as she stretches her wings. It is the first time she has been out of her pokeball in a week, as it really was not safe for her to fly around the S.S. Anne. Lono lets out a small chime as he takes his place floating behind my shoulder, near my music player that is playing some sort of flute and harp music. Aurora, my super fluffy Eevee, brushes against my leg before she leaps at Skadi playfully. The little scamp seems to be full of energy. Tir, my Beldum, on the other hand, just floats aimlessly nearby, his white body nearly glowing in the starlight.
"Alright everyone! We are in a new city that is rather different from the others we have been in. I figured we could explore together." A cacophony of noise answers me as everyone, except for Beldum, lets out a bark/chirp/chime of agreement. I give each of them a smile and lightly stroke Zephyr's cool feathers, which she leans into slightly, before finally heading out onto the nearby road. The soft sound of wings flapping from behind lets me know that our feathered team member has taken to the air.
Stepping around the hedgerow blocking my view, I find a changed city. The previously serene ambience of the city shifted to a much more mystical view once the sun went down. Instead of normal streetlights, every flower or berry glows with a soft bioluminescence peppering the 'road' with colorful lights. Each one doesn't produce much light on its own, but the sheer number of glowing plants makes navigation easy.
The lack of light pollution that you would normally find in a town makes the sky pop with rarely seen colors. Rather than a black void dotted with white stars, the sky is filled with swirls of violet and red, similar to how the aurora would light the sky during winter. I tip my head back to enjoy the uniqueness of the starry sky while Zephyr dances on the wind above, a pale glowing silhouette among the stars. Lono chimes softly as a soft breeze dances between the buildings, bringing the sweet scent of flowers and home-cooked dinners along with it.
There is an odd silence about the city at night as we make our way through the streets; it is almost as if the world is holding its breath, where the only sound is the whisper of the soft grass we move through. As I pass by a house, the absence of sound intensifies as I spot a small family eating dinner and chatting, but not a word can be heard. I furrow my brow slightly as I tilt my head at the odd sensation of watching people talk through an open window, as there is no glass in the frame, only more of those beaded curtains. I take a deep breath and let myself relax my expression before letting my senses open.
Ever since the S.S. Anne and those dreadful hours of hearing everything, I have kept my enhanced senses under tight control so I wouldn't be overwhelmed by them. Now I am slowly releasing my hold over them to try to take in more of the oddness of the city. For a moment, nothing changes, but seconds later, a crackling sound can be heard, like you hear when popping your ears, and the silent night comes to life.
The soft, ever-present breeze brings forth the gentle rustle of grass and leaves as it dances past. From above, I can hear Zephyr flap lazily as she glides through the air following us. Further out, the sounds of Pokemon nightlife can be heard, but they are rather far away. I keep listening, trying to see if I can hear anything special, but the only thing I do happen to hear is the lack of human voices. Not just a lack, but a total absence of the normal sounds of human culture.
"This is odd," I say, but it comes out strangely muffled, almost as if something is suppressing sounds. "I wonder what's causing it." Aurora lets out just a soft yip in response and brushes against my leg. I squat down and give her a pet as I think about what to do. After a few moments, I decide to explore more, and maybe I'll find out more to tell Flannery about it when I get back. We head deeper into the city, exploring the odd setup of it as it is completely different from any other city we have been to. It almost feels like Palet town. The roads seemingly meander like an animal path through the woods, giving the feeling of open spaces and nature beyond the obvious signs, almost as if the city was naturally grown instead of built.
As we wander, I begin to notice that the bio-lights of the surrounding flora start to change. The shift is subtle, but the path has slowly shifted towards using more blue along one side of the road, while the rest of the flora lights are still that soft rainbow of color. Looking further down the still-empty road, I notice that the blue lights suddenly take a sharp turn, heading towards the edge of the city. With my curiosity piqued, I decide to follow the blue-lit path. My music clip starts to fade in a new song(https://youtu.be/gIOyB9ZXn8s?si=JcgaBuv0vOxU7PBb) just as I take the corner.
As I follow along the path, the plant growth becomes thicker and thicker, gradually choking out the sky and scenery around me. The blue bioluminescence also grows in intensity, starting from a carpet of soft blue, to having the "walls" glowing brightly until finally ending up in a tunnel of blue. The tunnel of light seemingly lasts forever as we walk down it for the next few minutes. Along the way, I begin to notice that the air is rapidly becoming much more comfortable for me, going from a stuffy heat that causes a light layer of sweat to the feel of a pleasantly cooled building. I close my eyes for a moment, not stopping though, to enjoy the feel of the air on my skin, not feeling hot for the first time in years.
Just as my eyes close, I feel like I passed through something that sort of felt like a barrier, as the ambient temperature suddenly plummets, causing me to stop dead midstep. It's not a small drop of ten or so degrees, but more like someone placed a negative symbol in front of the current temperature and called it a day. The sudden drop causes my breath to hitch slightly as my aura flares as it starts drawing the icy temperature into my body. The sudden rush of energy presses against every inch of my skin, nearly vibrating from the force of it, causing my body to heat up in pleasure as a shivering moan escapes my lips.
The sensation tapers off after a few heartbeats, prompting another more sensual moan from my lips but allowing me to function again. I slowly open my eyes and take in the scene in front of me, blinking a few times as I try to make sense of what I am seeing. Standing before me is a large cavern with a small lake filled with mirror-like water. In the center of the lake, sitting in a perfectly positioned beam of moonlight, sits an enormous translucent stone that reminds me of polished aquamarine. Around the base of the stone, extending out a good ten meters away from it, sits a ring of ice and snow that creates an island around the crystal.
A flicker of light out of the corner of my eye draws my attention away from the stone in the lake. Looking toward the source of the flicker, I find Skadi standing beside me with a mottled light pattern webbing over her body. It is like she is trying to evolve but is missing something. I notice Aurora nearby, also glowing, but most of her body is covered in solid light, except for her super fluffy tail. Realizing what is happening makes me understand what I have been studying before; it is a giant Ice Stone that is somehow located in Celadon City.
"Skadi, Aurora, are you two okay?" I ask quietly, unwilling to break the stillness. Yet, my voice seems to have been the signal, as before I could stop either of them, my two partners rush towards the mirror lake as their glow becomes blinding. The light continues to grow as the two of them seemingly dash into the water, yet instead of hearing a splash, a thin mist appears obscuring everything from sight. It takes only a blink for my eyes to adjust to the sudden fog, but that is all it took before I noticed Aurora starting to grow larger.
As her small body slowly grows, much like watching a time-lapse video, small changes begin to occur. First is the bushy fluff around her neck, which smooths out and shrinks until it is indistinguishable from the rest of her fur. The same thing happens with her fluffy tail as the fluff seems to fold into itself in fractal patterns until a long, slender, yet angular tail appears. Her ears grow slightly as well, gaining a diamond-like shape as they grow and sharpen. Slowly, the growth of her body stops until she reaches about twice her original size. Yet the process doesn't seem to be over as icy-blue energy begins to build on her forehead, again creating a diamond shape, growing in size until it suddenly bursts, creating a flash of light. The light disappears a moment later, leaving a freshly evolved Glaceon where there was an Eevee only moments prior. Aurora seemingly takes a breath before announcing to the world, in a voice that sounds like a windchime made of ice, that she is here.(https://www.myinstants.com/en/instant/glaceon-36918/?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share)
The call of Aurora seems to have been the signal that Skadi was waiting for, as she begins to shift herself. Unlike how Eevee seemed to grow, Skadi's change has a much more mystical feel to it. The bright light surrounding her shifts from a covering to more of making her outline glow. From the Ice Stone, a small tendril of Pure Ice energy breaks off and flows towards Vulpix. Instead of entering her, the tendril begins to swirl around her slowly, leaving a trail of diamond dust in its wake. After the Ice energy has done one lap around Skadi, making her whole body sparkle from the light refracting off the tiny ice crystals floating nearby, her body officially starts to change. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hqd1-5Cc1Q)
The first change occurs as the Ice energy brushes against the cloud-like hair on top of her head. The tight curls loosen and lengthen until a long flowing mane of hair floats effortlessly in the air. The Ice energy continues its path down her back, where it brushes against her tails, giving them the same treatment as the mane, creating the iconic flowing tails Ninetales are known for. The energy seems to linger a little longer by her tails until a new one grows, joining the others seamlessly. It's at this time that Skadi's body starts to grow a little larger and more refined. The Ice energy swirls along her body once more before floating near her tails again, causing another one to grow and prompting the refinement of Skadi's body once more, shifting her cute look into a much more elegant and refined version.
This time, after the Ice energy circuits her body, instead of heading towards her tails, it instead slips into her chest, causing the slightly purple fur on her body to shift to more of a silver color. The energy doesn't appear again, and the fog in the room quickly dissipates. It looks like the evolution is done, yet Skadi's body still glows from the light of evolution. The question is quickly answered as Skadi stands up and plods over an empty spot near the Ice Stone where the moonlight shines through. Upon entering the moonlight, the glow on her body shifts from evolution-white to a silvery-pink color as the final tail grows in the middle of all the others, prompting her body to grow and refine once more. Unlike the explosion of light that signaled the end of Aurora's evolution, Skadi's is much more subdued, almost reverent in the way the light slowly fades from her body, starting from her nose and ending at her newest tail. She doesn't announce her new form to the world, yet it feels like the world almost bows to her instead, acknowledging her presence. Skadi looks at me with highly intelligent eyes and elegantly motions for me to approach the Ice Crystal.