Torino gripped a handhold. The steel spire was warm to the touch, remnants of the morning sun. Some sort of natural, or programming marvel prevented the whole structure from becoming a red-hot death beacon during midday, and Torino gladly accepted the blessing without question.

"Simone, have you ever climbed so high?" she asked, as she swung a leg up to a high crevice.

"Nope!" replied the Grookey cheerfully. "I don't have many memories before the lab, really, so it's just the places we've been! Have you?"

Torino nodded, sweat beading on her pale forehead. "When I was little, my brothers and I tried to climb the church. One of them fell and cracked his leg. We had to lie to mama and say he got drunk and fell into the river." She laughed, almost losing her grip.

"Why did you lie?"

"Because my Mama loves the church! If she found out we were climbing?" Torino's eyes went wide and she shook her head. "I sometimes still have nightmares about her knocking on my door and saying 'Vittoria I saw you on the church'."

"Vittoria?"

"Oh. My Mama gave me a special name."

They climbed until the air sang with static. Finding a handhold became less a matter of chance or skill, and more a question of whether Torino wanted to stick her hand into an oversized electrical socket. She found herself viewing the spire as an enemy to be defeated, and each grip upwards was a vine-clad punch against its face. "Simone," she panted, heaving herself up onto a thin ledge for a breather, "we will be the first, I think."

"The first what?"

"First to get to the top of this place."

Simone the Grookey looked out across the Surge Steppes, to where dozens, maybe hundreds of semi-identical, massive spires punched up out of the luscious greenery. "Do you think?"

"Sometimes."

"I meant..." Grookey face bent into a frown but he was too exhausted to deal with Torino at the moment. "Don't worry. Me too."

An updraft raced up the mountain, ruffling Simone's fur and pulling at Torino's hair like a playground bully. A speck of rain plinked against the metal, setting off a spark. Another drop hit Torino, and she turned her eyes to the darkening sky. "Simone let's hurry, before Summer washes us back down to Passero."

She lunged for Nidoran, grabbing the small blue creature like it was a spiky football. And spiky it was. Poison barbs dug into Torino's skin, and she had to physically clench to stop herself hurling the little Pokemon off the edge and straight into a several hundred foot fall.

"Why are you up here!" she shouted, hands going numb from some sort of toxin. "How did you climb?"

The Nidoran wasn't giving up any secrets though, and she had the trainer and partner trapped in a clumsy dance. She kicked, she bit, and she sprayed poisonous spikes at both of them, whittling down health like she was a apiarist cutting Torino into the shape of a sore loser.

Torino looked around for a way out. There was no better outcropping above, and none below. She couldn't jump, glide, or fly away, Grookey was too small to do anything about this threat.

And then suddenly the buzz of the Yamna returned! It shot towards them, harrying Torino with a pair of high-speed wings to her face. "Ah! Simone! I have an idea!" spat Torino, her eyes squinted against the blur of wings. "We need to jump, ready?"

"No!"

"Jump!"