momo is the first maybe-"friend" maki's made here as well. she gets along fine with the other rocket grunts, but for the most part, they seem to keep their distance from her. she's a lone wolf here, without anyone other than her younger sister to occasionally keep her company. she's never been so far from the influence of her family before. would they think she's already going soft, looking at her now?

maki smiles. "maybe i'll cheer for you in your next contest," she says. connections are important, she reminds herself. they're people you can use. though it's beyond her right now how she might be able to 'use' momo, which leaves the question of why she will allow them to remain in contact. the best she can say is that the other girl has piqued her curiosity about the contest scene.

she nods. "...keep me updated on when your next contest is," she says easily, smile still pasted carefully on her porcelain face. "i should be going, though. i hope your training goes well." the practiced pleasantries fall easily from her lips. with her bag rustling at her side, she and her houndoom walk off. they both keep pace with each other perfectly as they leave.

as maki walks, she wonders to herself how a single, small area can have its own unique weather system. she read up on the history of this place, how a rogue legendary pokemon left it covered in ice, killing anyone and anything that happened to be here... but that doesn't explain the snow and hail, or how it continues to be so cold.

her answer, or at least one answer, comes as the ground rumbles beneath her. something massive is approaching... maki and her houndoom quickly hide behind a shelf of ice, peeking out around the side to watch what happens. the creature approaching is something maki's only seen in history books. what is a fossil pokemon doing here?

it brings hail and snow with it. it must have snow warning, maki thinks. that could be pretty... useful. she almost stops at 'pretty', mesmerized as she is by the precipitation.

this battle isn't as easy as the last. thankfully, this aurorus doesn't seem to know any rock type moves, but its typing and the weather still makes things more difficult. houndoom's nasty plot is essential in raising its attack power while it dodges the aurorus's take down. the dog's paws slip on the ice below, and he's hit with a freeze dry before he can climb back to his feet. it doesn't hurt too much, but it's enough to slow him down for a second.

the next flamethrower, powered up as it is by his nasty plot, ends it. the aurorus collapses to the ground, which shudders under its weight. maki throws the pokeball, waits for it to settle, and then turns around to leave the area. maybe she'll be back later... but for now, she wants to heal her pokemon and re-assess her team.

with so much stillness in the air, it's easy to overlook things. especially when their opponent is just as still as the ice itself, waiting for them to pass by. maki and her houndoom don't even notice it, as it blends in with the rest of the icebergs around them.

then, without warning, there's movement. the avalugg lets out a guttural roar as it forms an icicle that it sends crashing down toward them. houndoom senses the change in the area milliseconds before it happens, and shoves maki out of the way. they both skid on the ice before coming to a stop as there's a loud crash behind them, the icicle shattering into pieces. the avalugg lumbers after them, intent on defending its territory.

maki stands, wobbling on the ice, ready to take command. after a few flamethrowers, the battle is over just as quickly as it started. she briefly contemplates catching the other pokemon, but decides to leave it.

she continues onward, deeper into the ice fields.

clad in an expensive snowsuit, boots, hat, and a scarf, maki doesn't exactly look very intimidating here. her houndoom at her side more than makes up for it, his large horns curving as he sniffs the air around them. this place is cold and silent but for the crunch of snow and ice under maki's shoes. with each step, her houndoom is melting pawprints into the snow, his very nature as a fire type anathema to this place. she brought him here intentionally, knowing that ever since this land was frozen, there's been a sharp spike in both ice and steel types.

that's perfect for her. even if she doesn't find a new partner of her own, she knows how useful it can be simply to bring new pokemon in for team rocket. the cold doesn't bother her much, since she's all bundled up, and she imagines few others will brave this area. it'd be too macabre for them; the sight of beings frozen in ice, frozen in time, are too unsettling for most.

maki's breath crystallizes in the air. she continues inward.

maki is an attentive listener. she's been taught to pay attention to everything and everyone, so that she can pick up on the subtle intricacies of other peoples' behavior. she's navigated a world full of lies and subterfuge since she was a child. everyone has ulterior motives, and everyone will take any chance to screw you over if it benefits them. that's what maki's believed her entire life, and it's the modus operandi behind her family's involvement with team rocket. there is honor between thieves, sometimes, but only if you're powerful enough that you can never be used without your knowledge.

momo seems to be an open book. she chatters away with reckless abandon, and maki just stands there and listens. she tries, and fails, to determine if the other girl is hiding something. has she realized who maki is? it would make sense if she wanted to be 'friends' with a yukimura, given their money and status.

maki doesn't find any reason to believe anything is hiding behind momo's smile, and somehow, that's more disconcerting than if there were. when momo asks if she can have maki's contact information, maki blinks, pulling herself out of her musings. "you want to...?" her voice wavers, and maki curses herself for her hesitance. she shakes herself out of it, pulling her phone out of her handbag. "alright. here." she pulls up her contact information and shows it to momo.

why am i...? she doesn't really understand it herself. she knows a million ways to politely refuse or deflect unwanted questions. this is a waste of my time... even so, she doesn't budge.

thankfully, maki's houndoom isn't easy to provoke. he stares the tinkaton down, not moving a muscle from his position at maki's side. even when momo convinces her to let up, he doesn't budge. it's impossible to tell what's going on in that horned head... maki lays a gentle hand on his head, and he relaxes just a little, barely perceptible to the naked eye.

"aesthetics, huh...?" she's never given much thought to her appearance. her long, dark hair is unbound, falling in waves over her shoulders. her clothes are neat and practical, though expensive. her skirt alone cost more than most people make in a week's work. it's not that she doesn't know she's pretty-- she's been to enough social events to be aware of how other people perceive her-- it's more that she's never seen much value in modifying the way she looks.

despite this, she does hesitate here. "i wouldn't even know where to start," she admits. she can't help being curious, even as her mother's voice in her head tells her not to waste time on unnecessary endeavors.

maki angles her head slightly, expression kept pleasant and calculatedly warm. "i suppose you could call me that," she says. she's never thought too much about how to label herself, but in the eyes of most people, she'd be considered a 'trainer'. she does train her pokemon, after all, primarily for battle and obedience. the houndoom at her side was personally reared by her mother and given to maki as a gift on her eighteenth birthday. it was kept on estate grounds until she set off for hoenn, choosing it as one of her companions for the trip.

she smiles at momo's tinkaton. steel and fairy... if it came down to it, it would be easy to take in a fight, though i doubt it'll come to that. few people know of her family's ties to rocket, and fewer still are aware maki herself was given as an offering to help the regional takeover go faster. "i've never considered contests as a career path, to be honest. are they fun?" there's the tiniest, barest hint of genuine curiosity there. kanto wasn't known for its contest scene even before rocket took control... maybe this is another thing maki should look into. new experiences can help sharpen your instincts, her father always says, shortly before her mother's glare shuts him down.

normally, maki wouldn't be caught off guard so easily. but as the petals slowly drift down, she's struck by how familiar the scene feels. there in the middle, a figure of a pretty girl and her pokemon... fragments of pink fluttering as they make their journey to the ground... she realizes now exactly what the image reminds her of, and why she's so taken aback by it. when momo introduces herself, maki barely even seems to take notice.

"it reminds me of..." the snowglobes she bought today, and the ones back home, too. she collects them, as a tether to her one single childhood memory that could possibly be called 'warm'. momo's performance brought those feelings to the surface, which is why maki stands there so dumbly for a moment.

then she shakes herself out of it. "...i'm maki yukimura," she says, recovering smoothly. she offers the other girl a smile and a little dip in her head of greeting. "you must be a coordinator, then. i can see you've trained your pokemon well." the houndoom at her side regards both of them as if a fight could break out at any moment. his body language is stiff and uninviting, eyes keeping watch on momo's pokemon.