victory_road

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[Korra looks flushed and disheveled and a bit out of breath when she comes on the network, and there's a fresh bruise on her cheek. She's bundled up and outside somewhere, but despite her appearance she's grinning.]

Hey, so who around here plays hockey? Because this sport is great!

Oh, I'm in Goldenrod by the way. I'll probably be here through winter. I've actually started to miss the snow and cold a little bit.

Plus...Botan's here, so...

But if anybody plays hockey or wants to, you should come play with me. Even my newest little guy is enjoying it! Well...he's enjoying biting the puck anyway...

He really likes to bite things.

[Korra shifts the gear and there, at the edge of the ice, is a Chewtle gnawing enthusiastically on a hockey puck.]

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Oh, you've ended up with one of them too.

[Insert same hat meme.]

They really do seem to like biting things, huh? They're--

[Armin is interrupted by a small Chewtle shoving its hard head under his arm so it can peer at the gear, looking grumpy, but really, that is just a case of species wide resting grump face.]

Ah, here is mine. His name is Harvey.

Yeah! He hatched out of my Christmas egg.

I guess that's kind of their thing? Just angry little guys lashing out at everything. I know how that goes.

I haven't settled on a name for mine yet, but he doesn't seem to care. I'll probably end up calling him Chewy or Chomper or something. But a little tip, give Harvey frozen stuff to chew on. Or just really cold stuff.

It's hard to blame them if they really are in constant discomfort.

[Painful teeth suck. Painful teeth forever would be certified to drive anyone insane and murderous.]

Oh, people suggested that to me. So, I take it that has helped? I ended up getting some of this gel to rub on his gums and that has been working well too, but ice would be much easier.

[Harvey doesn't seem to be too interested in the conversation, squinting at the gear, before letting out a shrill cheeeee. Is there another chewtle there? He wants to meet them. And determine if they are cool.]

It really has to suck.

Yeah, I'm not gonna risk getting my fingers that close to his mouth. But frozen stuff has been working pretty well. I...I don't think I'm getting that puck back.

[The unnamed Chewtle doesn't seem inclined to give it up, continuing to gnaw on it even as he looks towards his trainer and mumbles a few 'chewt chewt's.]

They ended up recommending these gloves to me. Supposedly, they are strong enough that he could bite down on my fingers and still protect them. They couldn't be sure if it would still work once he is full grown. [Cause, well, nobody has much information on these pokemon.] but hopefully, by then I will have been able to teach him that fingers are not for chewing.

Here, wait, let me show you.

[Soon, Armin produces a pair of gloves out of somewhere. The gloves are essentially poke-kevlar.]

That is an option, but I think we're doing pretty good with what we've got. And I mean...once they evolve they shouldn't still be teething, right?

I certainly hope not. But who knows when they will evolve. It might take quite some time until then.

It probably won't take that long. I mean...what's the longest you've ever had a Pokemon take to evolve? If they do.

Uhm. It took my Electrode something close to a year and a half before he decided he wanted to evolve. He could have all that time, he just didn't see the need to.

Okay, that's a long time.

But I guess some of them are like that. I've got a few who I think probably just haven't gotten around to it yet, even though they could.

Well tan my hide, I had no idea there was horse hockey in this world! Been forever since I've played it myself.

[And then the camera pans to... whatever that is.]

...Reckon you're gonna need a lot more pucks though.

There's all kinds of sports here! I'm usually down in the islands, volleyball's really big down there. If you're near Goldenrod, you should come by!

Yeah, I may need to buy in bulk!

I've heard about the islands around here, but I haven't had the chance to visit yet. Bet they're a whole lot warmer than it is here.

[Where she isn't freezing her legs off trying to walk from one city to the next.]

Sad to say I ain't nearby. Stuck in Viridian right now. This weather's been making navigating the forest a chore, and without a pokemon to fly me around I've got no other options.

Oh yeah, they stay warm all year round! They're pretty great, I work as a lifeguard down there.

That is definitely not nearby! Much as I'm liking the explosion of winter, it makes traveling pretty tough. I still don't have a flying Pokemon either, but Iqniq's an Arcanine so he doesn't have too much trouble melting a path in the wilderness when we need it. I highly recommend good fire types for winter travel.

Trust me, I've been searching high and low for anything that can make a flame. Unfortunately around here there ain't much more than some normal types and whatever flying or grass types that haven't squirreled themselves away until springtime. Guess I could always camp out at the Pokemon Center until things warm up, but I start getting stir-crazy sitting in one place for too long.

[She shrugs, letting a quiet sigh slip out.]

But enough of me blabbing about my troubles. What brings a lifeguard from the islands to Goldenrod City in the dead of winter? Some kind of tournament going on, or something?

Oh that really sucks, I'm sorry. I know what you mean about staying in the Pokemon Center, though. I always get cabin fever when I do that. It's another reason I like the islands, I can just hop over to the next one whenever I want.

Oh, no, nothing like that. My girlfriend lives here and it was just our anniversary.

[Oh, now that gets AJ grinning.]

Well congratulations, Sugarcube! Hope the two of y'all were able to make it a great one. How long have you been together?

Thanks! It's been a year now. Do you know Botan?

I'm Korra, by the way.

A pleasure, Korra. [She tips her hat respectfully.] I'm Applejack, but most folks around here just call me "AJ".

Botan sounds familiar, though. Reckon we've talked in the past, but you'll have to excuse me there. My memory's still a little fuzzy since I came back to this world.

Nice to meet you, AJ!

She's been here like forever, she runs the bakery in Goldenrod. Blue hair, lots of ghost Pokemon. She's really great.

I'm willing to bet she spoils you rotten with that bakery too.

[The ghost pokemon part is interesting, too. She's seen plenty of people that had a preference to certain types, but not a lot of people wanted to put up with the antics of spirits.]

Yeah she does! Her stuff is really great, too, it's definitely a bonus to being here in the winter.

Plus I grew up in the tundra, so it's not like snow and cold's a problem for me.

Hoo, the tundra? I can't even imagine. It don't get much colder than this where I come from.

[Not normally at least.]

Yeah, that's something I've learned since coming here. No one else lives in the tundra! It surprises a lot of people.

It ain't something you hear about every day. What d'you even eat? I can't see how anything can grow when it's that cold.

We were on the coast. There's a ton of stuff to eat in the ocean! Seaweed is just vegetables that grow underwater. Plus there was some wildlife around, and plenty of it in the water.

Oh right. [She snorts.] I forgot y'all human-folk do that. Eat animals, and all.

Yeah, some of us do. But that's just sort of how it works were I come from. We all kind of rely on each other to survive - all of us, I mean. The animals and humans alike.

But a lot of my family that lives in the city are vegetarians.

Animals rely on people for survival... and ya'll are eating them.

[Doesn't that sound just a little bit messed up?]

Look, I'm not about to sit here and judge the way humans live their lives. Just do me a favor and keep it to a minimum. Some of them have feelings too.

I mean...they'll eat us, too... It's not like we farm animals or anything, but we hunt the same way polar-bear dogs and tiger-sharks do.

You don't have to tell me, my best friend back home is a polar-bear dog.

Alright, I've heard of my fair share of crazy animals, but I ain't ever heard of a polar-bear dog.

Are they... big white dogs, maybe?

They're huge white bear dogs. They're more bear than dog, if they were more dog they'd be dog bears.

...I'm a little surprised by how much sense that made.

[She'd still like to see what these bears look like. It sounds pretty neat.]

But if you're as much a friend of the animals as you say you are, then you're alright in my book.

[But Botan is more of an ice skating type, she just watches Korra lightly amused by the broadcast.]

Sweetie, you know you don't have to stay here just on my account, we had the long distance relationship thing going for quite a while before anything happened between us.

[...And now it's been a year since the "thing" happened between them. Holy crap.]

Trust me, I'd much rather be up here for the winter. Do you have any idea how nuts the island gets with all the rich mainland people trying to get away from the snow? It just works out pretty sweet that I've got a reason to specifically stay in Goldenrod.

[Korra grins over her gear. She has plenty of reasons to come to the mainlands for the winter, Botan is just one of them.]

Besides, it's been a year, I think...it's probably time to be a little less long distance? Maybe?

I would say not to be morbid but you already know what my job is back home so, yes, I've had to take some Japanese tourists in Hawaii to the afterlife sometimes. Hawaii is rather like the islands in concept, it is full of tourists during winter months.

[Ah, she's babbling. She blushes a little at the implication, automatically reaches up and fiddles with something under her jacket (it's the Fire Stone necklace, it's always the necklace).]

W-well, you know I'm open to it! [She never mentioned the part where the kimono she still wears for every Christmas and New Years was a betrothal gesture lkjfglkdjfglk]

It's probably time we at least talked about it.

[Korra sets her 'gear aside and folds her legs up under herself, hands on her knees.]

I don't even necessarily mean living together, just...maybe I outta get a place in Goldenrod. Spend more time up here - it's not like it's that hard to go back and forth.

Of course, staying in the shop is all well and good but I do miss your cozy house over on the islands, and just...

[Well honestly, she liked living--however temporarily--with Korra. That close companionship with another person is something she's missed over the years--and of course it's a bonus that it's her girlfriend.]

I just didn't want you to give up anything just to come over and see me. I'm all too willing to follow wherever you go, seriously speaking.

Well, we're both pretty well established where we are. And if we end up at my place....I'm gonna put an addition on, because it is definitely not big enough for two people and all their Pokemon.

[Korra's just talking it all out, more inclined to just put everything out there than work it over in her mind.]

But that'd be really easy, and I guess it probably would be easier for you to run the bakery remotely, and you could maybe open a little island branch...if that was something you'd be into, obviously, I'm just brainstorming.

It'd be fun, I think, not only a change of scenery but a change of menu, too? I've been wanting to try making those malasadas people on the islands go nuts over.

I guess, partly, I've just felt the obligation to stay in Goldenrod since that's where my friends from home all established themselves. But go figure, I'm the only one left now. It's probably time to move on, do you know what I mean?

You'd make great ones, I bet!

But I know what you mean, it's why I'm not around Mahogany anymore. New place, fresh start, there weren't a bunch of memories attached to the islands... And it worked for me.

[It had helped so much, that change of scenery and having something to do.]

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[they're probably literally like right next to each other so lol]

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