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Cold Weather and Warm Company
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After his match with Skylar ended—and the little skarmorys stopped flying around his head—René went out to change and find Nicole.

René went into the locker room to get out of his now sweat-soaked uniform only to find Nicole as she finished changing.

Coming up from behind he tapped her on the shoulder. “Um, Nic—ULP!?” René gulped as she grabbed his arm and did a shoulder toss that slammed him down on the tiled floor of the locker room. Lights exploded in his eyes as he looked up in a daze.

“René?!” Nicole looked surprised and abashed as she looked down at him. “I am SO sorry about that,” she said weakly as she helped him up. “I just came from a match and well…I guess I still had some left over adrenaline, you know?”

“…Not really.” The vulpix wheezed as she helped him to the bench. “You know that’s the SECOND time today I got to greet the ground personally.”

“Sorry.” Nicole apologized again. “So what brings you here?”

“A sparring match…and you.”

“Me?” She blinked. He nodded.

“Um you wouldn’t be happening to be doing anything this Saturday, would you?” He asked anxiously. Nicole looked surprised and gently shook her head no.

“No. Why? Are you…planning on asking me to do something with you?” She asked slowly. René tugged on the collar of his shirt, which suddenly felt constrictive and hot.

“Yeah, well, you know if you’re not doing anything…” He shuffled his feet as his face flushed. “That you might want to…I don’t know, go skiing with me?” René asked hopefully.

Nicole’s eyed widened. She hadn’t been expecting THAT. “Wow…really?” She asked, surprised for the second time. “Skiing? Sure, I’d love to! How did you manage that?”

“Well, actually a…friend arranged for us to go. A session with her personal ski instructor.” René coughed. Nicole regarded him strangely.

“…A friend? Who?”

René squirmed as he anticipated the worst. “…Nicole Blackclaw.”

You could have heard a pin drop as Nicole’s eyes widened. “…HER?!” She exclaimed in disbelief. “Why would SHE set up a skiing session for us?” She blinked. “ …HOW would she know about us? Why would you TELL her?” René flinched under her questioning.

“Well, my dad went to her dad for some business meeting or something. My dad kicked us out and so she took me for a drive and we got to talking and…well, you know what I’m like with girls.” René said helplessly with a sheepish shrug.

“Lucky you.” Nicole rolled her eyes. If she were a more suspicious mon she’d be feeling jealous. But René was so totally earnest and honest that it was impossible to take his idol worship and friendships with other females as a threat. “Are you sure she doesn’t have some…ulterior motive?”

“Seeing as its Nikki I’d be surprised if she didn’t,” René said honestly. “But I don’t think it’s anything bad…maybe she just wants to make things easier for our dads to work together. I don’t know.”

“Well…” Nicole pretended to think it over. “I’m not really fond of that girl, but if it means spending a Saturday with you getting a free skiing session then I’ll do my best to grin and bear it.”

“S-so you’re saying yes?” René asked hopefully.

Nicole grinned. “Sure! I’ve never gone skiing before. Should be fun. Where is the ski place?”

“Actually, it’s at Mount Coronet.” René answered.

“In Sinnoh? How’re we going to get that far?”

“…Nikki kind of arranged for a helicopter to fly us to and from the ski lodge.” He explained weakly twiddling his fingers. Nicole rolled her eyes.

“…Of course.” She sighed. “Okay, okay. When does it come?”

René looked relieved that Nicole hadn’t hit the roof. “It’ll pick us up from the Blackclaw residence at six in the morning on Saturday and drop us back off there at ten that night. She said she’d call a cab to bring us there, if that’s okay.”

“Just so long as you don’t get scared by my early morning face.” Nicole elbowed him. “See you at six foxy. Hope you got your skis boots on when I do.” She ruffled his hair and headed out.

A stupid smile plastered itself on René’s face and wouldn’t leave for hours.

&&&

Haha, cuteness as usual.

This story brings to mind a question that has been nagging the hell out of me: Just where, exactly, is the PCA located? Here I thought it was in Sinnoh, but the comments near the end make me think otherwise. I'd like to know for the sake of figuring out where my own kids would live.

The PCA itself is located on the outskirts of Viridian City in Kanto. Within the city limits but in the more rural section near the outer edge of town.

Ho dang. :O That's, ahh... Way more old-school than I could have imagined. Gotta figure out relative distances between areas (Johto is right next to Kanto, but Hoenn? Sinnoh?), not to mention what exactly the various cities represent. I mean, Sunyshore seems to be some sort of resort area, but what about the other places? Wouldn't 3rd-gen Pokemorphs be more likely to come from Hoenn or Sinnoh?

Odd's bodkins, this is what I was trying to avoid.

Well I'm sure the regions in the PCA world are analogous to those of the game and probably have a lot of the same names but there's still worlds of difference, the scale is much larger for one. Sunnyshore is probably a vacation or resort town like Las Vegas mixed with Hawaii, I think Viridian City has been viewed as similar to Los Angeles, at least in the PCA world. I think it was picked because it's so old school, tradition and all that. The details aren't really all that relevant, it only comes up in terms of backgrounds or in stories like this one.

Admittedly this is one of the lesser touched on details that always interests me, since every student would have a different perspective on exactly what different places are like. Someone who just goes to Sunnyshore to vacation two weeks a year would see the city completely different than someone that actually lived there for their whole life. It's something that could figure into character development too in ways.

True, but that mirrors the real world. Everyone in the states always dreams of a vacation to Hawaii or the Bahamas, but for people who live in Hawaii or the Bahamas, eh, it's just the backyard...

Or maybe they've seen certain things about the place that the tourists don't hear about, and that's soured their opinion somewhat. I know it's not a vital detail, but I still think that kind of localization can be more than just a backdrop and make things more interesting if used correctly.

If you want to go with the fact that the regions in the pokemon game are intentionally modeled after parts of japan, the Sinnoh region is to the north, Hoenn to the south, and Kanto and Johto are right next to each other, between the two of them.


God knows where Oore is.

Hey Nikki has the ability to be quite civil, she just rarely uses it. While it may be very small she does have a good side and though it's very hard to get on it, anything's possible. Or of course she could have ulterior motives that she's trying to screen...

Nikki may have some good intent, but her evil is too great

Beware Meowths bareing gifts.

Next time...Nicole meets Nicole! What will happen? ...Seriously, what'll happen? How's Nicole liable to react?

The note of evil has been sent

"Oh, you must be the other Nicole!"

I don't think there's a way she could phrase that comment and not have it come across as anything but mean...

...I just realized something. Rene really *is* a lesbian in a man's body.