City in the Sky #9

The cold felt like it chilled Jackson to the bone as he stood in the floating city of Wintervale. As usual, his partner pokemon Atlas was standing at his side. Luckily his pokemon had a thick fluffy coat that would help protect him from the cold. He figured that they would be outside for a while.

Jackson had come back to the city to try and offer more help. The city was currently in grave danger after the damage Raqueza called. One of the main current problems was the lack of heat. As one might imagine this was dangerous in such a cold place.

The trainer took a pokeball out of his bag and tossed it in front of him, a pokemon appearing in its place. This pokemon was a totodile/growlithe fusion named Chompy. He stood on four legs, had a large crocodile-like head, along with red spines and stripes. Thick tufts of tan fur also grew from the top of his head and chest. 

“Alright, let’s try to help warm this place up.” Jackson said to Chompy, who wagged his thick reptile tail. The pokemon bounced ahead until he spotted a bonfire constructed from a large pile of sticks. It seemed to have been lit at some point based on the small fire it had. However, the flame was becoming so weak it wasn’t providing much good as citizens huddled around it shivered. 

The little pokemon used ember, sending a small flame right onto the bonfire. Some of the sticks began to catch fire, but there still wasn’t enough fire. Chompy circled around it, using ember repeatedly until the weak fire turned into a strong blaze.

While Chompy was lighting the fire Jackson found some nearby blankets and were passing them out to the citizens gathered around the fire. All of them seemed grateful for the help as they wrapped the thick blankets around themselves.

The trainer praised Chompy as he hopped back over, impressed his pokemon had been able to make such a hot and large fire. The fusion had also managed to not light anything else on fire, which was a huge bonus. With one last ruffle of the pokemon’s head fur Jackson began to walk away to try and find more fires that would need to be lit.

The thick snow proved to be troublesome with his prosthetic leg as he slowly moved to a dim bonfire he could see in the distance. Chompy’s head was just barely poking above the surface of the snow. Atlas was able to lift his head a bit higher than the other pokemon but was still up to his chest in snow.

Jackson was relieved when they finally made it out of the thick snow and onto an area that was more cleared. He did have to be careful on the slippery ice with his leg, but he thought it was still better than struggling to move through the snow.

As the group approached the bonfire Jackson noticed that there wasn’t a lot of wood left on it. It had clearly burned for a while before it went out. The trainer motioned for his pokemon to follow him as he made his way to a nearby wood pile. He was glad to see a wagon next to the wood pile, knowing that the heavy objects would have been difficult to move otherwise.

Jackson hooked the wagon up to Atlas before beginning to load it with wood. Chompy grabbed some small sticks and branches that he was able to carry in his mouth, placing them in the wagon.

Soon enough they had a full load and Jackson began to make his way back to the bonfire. It took Atlas a few moments to get the wheels rolling, having to strain against the weight of the wagon. It became much easier once the wheels began to turn, moving easily across the surface. The noctyena had to use his nails to grip the ice and avoid falling. Jackson had also taken a place next to the wagon in case it began to tip or slide out of control.

The trainer unhooked Atlas once they reached the bonfire, pulling the wagon up right next to the fire. As he began to throw longs and sticks onto the pile he was grateful to see that some other people had come to help. It didn’t take long for all the wood to be on the pile.

“Go ahead and light it.” Jackson said to Chompy, whose rounded ears perked up. The pokemon used his fire moves as he circled around the pile, creating another roaring fire.