(Old artwork; first submitted December 5, 2010)

Surprise drawing for a friend who hinted how she wanted me to draw a picture of Froslass, one of her favorite Pokemon.

In the end, it somehow turned into a story, with Banette thrown into the mix.

But first, the Pokédex entries I recieved inspiration from:

Froslass: "Legends in snowy regions say that a woman who was lost on an icy mountain was reborn as FROSLASS." (HeartGold/SoulSiver)

Banette: "A cursed energy permeated the stuffing of a discarded and forgotten plush doll, giving it new life as BANETTE. The POKéMON's energy would escape if it were to ever open its mouth." (Sapphire) ; "Strong feelings of hatred turned a puppet into a POKéMON..." (FireRed/LeafGreen)

I made Banette a tortured human soul with an immense grudge always haunting him. He runs the streets creating severe misery to everyone he encounters, no matter who they are or how innocent they are. Froslass encounters the Banette, pitying the poor soul behind the doll and wishing to save what she could of him. Unfortunately, Banette's anger has clouded his mind, and he attempts to destroy the Froslass without a single thought. Froslass tries to free his soul in many ways, understanding that the Banette is really a kindhearted person who "strayed off the path of rightiousness", but the final verdict comes down to the move "Destiny Bond."

In the games, Destiny Bond makes the opponent faint if they faint the user in the same turn. In essence, Froslass has to release her soul in order to do the same for the Banette. As a result, however, the two freed souls are now together forever in their newfounded love (bringing a literal meaning to the term "soulmates" - dur hur hur!)

This was a fun project once I got the idea down. The final result especially came out nicer with a bunch of awesome brushes all found at free-brushes.com. I'm glad I got to practice drawing humans for once, too. There are a few glaring issues with the shading, but I've never had more than one light source before in my works, so this is a completely new concept for me.