Welcome to Gaia! ::

The temperature is dropping, in much of the world snow is beginning to fall and the days are getting shorter. The Ursaring are retreating to their caves to hibernate and the Snover are coming down from the mountaintops. As the world begins to settle down and rest is when the most merry of celebrations take place across the world. For the Snagems they celebrate a very...different holiday, reflective of their cosmopolitan makeup, a conglomerate of all their various cultures rolled up into one celebration for themselves. It's Snagmas time again! And this year Sub has decided to rent a cabin on the shores of the now frozen Lake of Rage, to get away from the worries and trials of the world they live in. Won't some Snagems join him at the lake for a more traditional holiday celebration?

-----

It was cold, very cold, but it was the kind of cold you could tolerate, the kind where you could still enjoy yourself in the snow. The Snagem leader stood outside the cabin, a very old log cabin. Despite its age it had a certain undeniable charm to it, very cozy, and actually very big, big enough to fit all of them in it comfortably. It also came with a big price but he didn't mind, he wanted to give his teammates the holiday they deserved after all they had been through.

He watched as Lenore ran through the snow wildly, thrilled to finally find its self in a frigid climate for a change. It had been a very long time since the Weavile had seen snow, though in her trainer's defense the team rarely visited places that saw snow outside of a very limited window. Hans was interested in what the Weavile was doing, befuddled by its enjoyment of this frozen water, the Eevee happy enough being tucked inside of Sub's thick black jacket, the Normal type only poking its head out from it and not an inch more of its body. Bohdan on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the flakes of snow as they fell, trying to catch them in his mouth as he floated around in the air. Sub pondered if the gas bag could actually feel the cold like they could.

As he looked out at the frozen lake he pondered on the various Gyarados this lake was notorious for, especially a certain red one. From what he read they too 'rested' during the winter, or rather retreated to the lake floor and ended a very slow moving state. This was the only time of year where the Lake of Rage could be considered 'safe' for people but they still told you to be on alert. Either way for now the Snagem just waited to see if anyone else would show up.

(This mission has no true end nor goal involved, just a 'quaint' outing for the Snagems to relax and celebrate the holidays how they see fit. However you will be given rewards at the end and any Pokemon roleplayed with in this mission will earn Evo/Purification/Happiness points based on their 'screen time'. So just post and have fun and Happy Snagmas.)

"First ones to show. Hey Terashi, Keiko, and Abby too." He said with a smile, giving a little wave to each of them as they arrived. Hans was less enthused to see them for whatever reason, the little Eevee growling softly under his breath. "Don't mind him." He reassured the two, Hans wasn't going to hurt anyone, it was too cold. "Glad you guys could make it. It's nice to get out of that stuffy mountain every now and then and not have to worry about getting killed, isn't it?" The man chuckled, Bohdan floating by between Sub and the others, giving off a happy 'Koffing!' as if in agreement. Sub just laughed.

"Hey, Bohdan!" Keiko said happily, waving to Sub's Koffing. Meanwhile, I was having mixed feelings. While I didn't see our headquarters as stuffy, the ability to go wherever I pleased without someone gunning for my head was a relief. "Yeah," I said finally.

While Keiko and I were greeting Veronica, Abby spared a passing wave for a little bit before focusing on getting wood chopped with Paladia. Being able to work with her Pokemon was good for her soul, although her previous bad mood was mostly allayed by the early Christmas gift she got from her father - though not having a Shadow Combusken to worry about helped, too. It was beneficial for Paladia, too, as using Karate Chop over and over helped her practice for an actual battle, and gave her an opportunity to bond with her trainer more. Of course, she was happy that her trainer wasn't in a slump anymore, as well.

I smirked as Lykas and Odd showed up with a very cold Wren in town. Yeah, the dude should have known to wear shoes knowing he'd have to walk in the snow, but that was his business. I couldn't help but be amused at my friends' antics, and I could hear Keiko giggling at them beside me, too.

"So, when's the wedding?" I asked playfully, though I didn't know if they'd respond, as caught up in their playing as they were.

Arceus rest ye merry Snaaagems let nothing you dismay.... remember Darts the saaavior was not boorn yesterdayyyy.... The Snagems in the area would hear the mystical swirling of some far off faint carol floating on the breeze.

"HO HO HO!!!!" Comes a merry cry from inside the cabin followed by several crashes, loud bangs, some thuds, the cracking of what may have been an inside foundation beam, some more swearing, and then a final mighty crash as Darts falls out underneath the mantle, an enormous patched up sack of something the only thing breaking his fall within the cabin. "Dreeeepyyyy...." Moans his newest Pokemon acquisition, floating above him like a ghost of Christmas past with a tiny knitted Santa hat perched jauntily above its yellow bug eyes.

"Warmish? Here? In the winter time? I wouldn't bet on it. Forecast is saying there is a chance of a Cryo Storm even. Not often you see Cryogonal this far from Unova but hey, it despite the frigid temps and howling winds it would be a neat thing to experience." Sub replied to Veronica and her hopes that it would warm up. Lenore would stop dead in her tracks as a Mudkip approached her, the Weavile looking down at it with a confused look and pondering how it was actually enjoying all this snow but alas just shrugged it off and playfully kicked some snow at the Mudkip. This playful nature was outside of Lenore's usual personality, the cold climate must bring out the best in her.

"Koff koffing!" Bohdan chimed again as Keiko greeted him, letting out a buff of horribly smelling gas a few times so that it would orbit around the Lopunny Hybrid to show his affection towards her. Poor fella will never understand how much he stinks.

"Odd, Lykas, you guys-" Sub went to greet Odd and Lykas however he was cut off as Wren ran by and disappeared into the cabin, the door slamming shut. "...he did know where he was going, right? I get not like wearing shoes but is it against his religion or something? Seriously, not even I go that far with my dislikes." He commented, though just shrugged it off as he watched Lykas carry Odd off. "Ugh...I forgot how romantic this is for some people."

Fortunately for Sub he was afforded new distractions from the cutesy scene as Ulla and Leon showed up. "Hey! If it isn't my favorite siblings." He waved at the pair as they arrived. "Leon's right, we're all just now gathering together. Say hi, Hans!" He asked his Eevee to greet them, but to them too he simply growled under his breath. "He's in a mood." He reassured them as he pulled his jacket around the Eevee a little tighter.

Next thing the Snagem leader knew a bunch of crashes and thuds came from inside the cabin behind him followed by what sounded like heavily improvised caroling. "...what was that?" He asked as he turned towards the cabin. Inside Hemlock the Oddish had been resting on the fireplace mantle enjoying the warmth only to get knocked off the mantle thanks to Darts, or maybe his Dreepy, he wasn't sure who to blame but really didn't care. As soon as the Oddish hit the ground it angrily unleashed a puff of Stun Spore in the room.

Ignoring that for the time being he nodded in agreement at Amaranth. "Trust me, it wasn't cheap. Not only did I pay the owner a hefty price but I also had to buy off the previous renter to pull out. Ordinarily I would use more...underhanded tactics but I made a promise. Ugh...tis the season." He said followed with a mumble.

Lykas froze in place for a moment when Terashi joked at them. "Well..."

"You didn't hear the discussion in the Fairy Realm?" Odd asked, frozen in place as well.

Turning back around, the pair both held out their left hands and showed a pair of silver rings on their fingers. "We decided it's been long enough and that brush with death was the last straw." Lykas explained.

"So we'll be getting married next summer." Odd completed the explanation.

Turning back to Sub, Lykas would shrug as he set Odd back on the ground. "We tried to warn him. The best we could get him to agree to was a flimsy pair of house slippers to keep his toes from falling off once he gets in the cabin." He explained. "Maybe you can convince him to wear regular shoes or something that's insulated?"

Odd nodded in agreement. He remembered Wren mentioning he'd had to wear shoes when he went to Alola to capture the the various Shadow Pokemon that had been detected there when he caught his Drampa but assumed he would wear them again rather than going barefoot in this weather. Apparently the experience hadn't taught the older man much.

Appearing infront of the cabin from teleportation stood Rein. “Ey Everyone.” He said as he walked toward the dark one inside the cabin. He himself was dressed in all black, though this wasen’t much of a surprise to Rein as his aqua blue eyes the matched the ice crystals on the cliffs stared the boss down. He threw out a pokeball letting out his Honchkrow , “KROWWW” the bird shouted , stretching itself , with a wingspan of 8ft , the bird flew up getting familiar with the Cold and Snow as it perched on a snow covered tree.