An Outlaw's Shenanigans, an Explorer's Horror

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(Energy - 5)

The Icy Lands were just as cold as Sova remembered them. Actually, it was colder since this time he was much farther in, nearing Mt. Frostmeer. Luckily, the snow wasn't obstructing vision, or he might have gotten lost trying to find it. Why was he even here? He thought about turning around, but the idea was quickly discarded as he was reminded of a voice echoing through his head.

His recent hallucinations brought on by the peak of Black Mist Mountain hadn't lasted with him for more than one day, yet he was still hearing the voice in his head, insulting him, calling him weak. Not because of any drug, but just because he couldn't forget it. The only thing he felt would ease his mind of the voice was to prove it wrong. What better way than risking death to climb a mountain for no sensible reason?

Even though he felt exhausted already just getting there, he didn't let up even for a break. He had to prove to himself that he wasn't weak. Though....proving something that isn't actually true in the first place usually isn't easy.

The snorunt was hit exactly as the swinub had planned, being treated as a golf ball and knocked outside of the cave. It would have gotten back up, had it not been dead to the world, knocked out.

--------

Sova ceased his attacking as the barrier came up as well, knowing continuing would be pointless. He began to use Quick Attack to get himself into a good position to attack the beartic, but paused as he saw the various projectiles pelt Jok, leading to the avalugg collapsing....and looking quite lifeless afterwards.

The glaceon didn't know what to be more worried about; Jok's safety, or his own. He was now left with two formidable enemies to face, alone. He'd have to worry about the well-being of his ally later. He Quick Attacked up to the beartic, stopping right in front of it in hopes of making it flinch out of fear, firing a shadow ball at the same time at point-blank range.

The Beartic was struck with the Shadowball, dealing critical damage to the snowy bear. THe beartic bellowed in pain and stumbled back, before the snowball returned near its mouth and it prepared another Sheer Cold attack aimed at the Glaceon. It gave a roar as the snowy blast moved to strike the Glaceon.

Meanwhile the Glalie stuck to the back, keeping away from the battle in fear of being struck by the Sheer Cold. It swallowed as the bear used Sheer Cold, not wanting to meet the same fate as the Avalugg by sheer accident.

--

"Hmph, that'll teach you a lesson!" the swinub huffed. The boulders picked up once more and began to block off the entrance, keeping any opponents that might attack from entering.

"Nmph..." Mirage finally made a move, her eyes opened to find a fire in front of her while she was in a brightly lit cave.

"Oh, it seems you've woken up!" The swinub looked to the zorua, "Your friend brought you here to get warm. He and a friend of mine went to run on an errand," it spoke happily.

Mirage lifted her head, still laying down but leaning on her foreleg with her head up straight. Her earrings gave a slight tingle as she moved. She rubbed her eyes and gave a yawn, "Wha..what happened?"

"You had a bit of a severe case of hypothermia and passed out, your Glaceon friend brought you here to get warm I said."

Glaceon? She didn't know a glaceon-oh right that eevee she had been trying to fool but gave up on and then befriended...Sova was his name. The zorua didn't remember anything past the duo deciding to play that "I Never" game, not remembering anything of the dreams or anything she might have said.

Sova again used Detect to sense the exact moves required to avoid the attack. This time it was as simple as quickly ducking low to the ground, narrowly avoiding being hit. He then Quick Attacked into the bear and activated his frost-quills, essentially becoming a cross between a ram and a porcupine. He was hoping to stick himself to the beartic, so to speak. Then he could easily finish it with another Shadow Ball without it being able to dodge.

What would he do if it turned out Jok was....deceased? He would have to bring back the bad news. The horrible news. To someone who was so kind. The least he could do was to even the score a bit.... He'd just have to make sure these apparent friends of the insane froslass ended up just like her.

The beartic avoided the attack from the Glaceon, lumbering away on all four legs before standing again and giving a great bellow before getting ready to use Sheer Cold once more, the snow gathering at its mouth and dropping in temperature to a life threatening state. The best bellowed again and shot at the Glaceon.

--

"Ah..." Mirage spoke.

"Some snorunts attacked looking for you," the swinub spoke, "do you happen to know why?"

The zorua shrugged to the Swinub, "I don't know," although the zorua was beginning to worry if it had been an exploration team. If it was, then the Swinub was probably in trouble for protecting her. That was not her concern though, it was on its own for not questioning them before attacking them. She stared into the fire, wondering what to do at this particular moment.

It was difficult to use Detect multiple times in a row, so Sova decided to rely on his own ability to avoid this time rather than attempt to perform successive Detections. He sidestepped out of the way of the attack, easily dodging it as he was far smaller and much more nimble than the unfortunate avalugg. "You can do better than that, come on!" He said as he moved to position himself between the beartic and glalie. He then leaped into the air and fired a Shadow Ball at the beartic. He had jumped high enough that his descent was slow enough for one to fire a projectile before he landed. Like an icy death-beam. Which was exactly what he was hoping for.

The beartic had missed the attack, but seemed determined to use Sheer Cold to take this evasive Glaceon down. It spotted an opportunity for attack while the Glaceon was falling to the ground, and fired the icy attack at the Glaceon, hoping to strike it down and end this annoying match. It did not, however, realize that its friend was just behind Sova.

--

"You're not very talkative are you?" The swinub asked Mirage.

"Not a fan of it, especially when you wake up in some stranger's cave..."Mirage huffed.

"Well that some stranger helped you back to health with a fire and at the very least a 'thank you' would suffice," the swinub huffed back, only to be ignored by the Zorua.

Sova wouldn't be able to avoid an attack so large while in mid-air with Detect after already using it once recently, this much he knew. He was hoping the opponent would know this too....and it seemed his hope was now reality. But now he had to do something less than pleasant to get out of this situation and turn it around.

He fired a Shadow Ball directly at the ground under him, the explosion of which propelled him up again and out of the way of the Sheer Cold. Without him in the way to stop it, it had a clear path to the next possible target.

As for the glaceon, he hit the ground slightly less gracefully than he would have hoped. He took a moment to stand back to his feet after his rather painful attack on himself and fall to the ground.

The glalie couldn't even screech in fear as the icy blast struck him, leaving behind nothing but a completely frozen over Glalie in a large hunk of ice.

"No!" The beartic cried, looking at his friend. The beartic seemed to grieve for a few seconds before turning to snarl at the Glaceon, obviously angrier than before. The bear gave a roar once more, and a ball of Orange Energy gathered at its massive paw before being tossed towards the Glaceon in a Focus Blast.

With all these highly dangerous moves the beartic had, Sova was pretty much left having to constantly avoid. Though the cover of the hail and Detect were certainly helping with that. He rose to his feet and used Detect to simply sidestep the attack and proceed to walk towards the bear. "Hah, you can't even hit me. Your friend was bound to die eventually with someone like you watching his back." He taunted. Of course he had every intention of enraging the enemy.

Wasting no time in returning with his own attacks, he began alternating between repositioning himself with Quick Attack and attacking with a mix of Shadow Ball and Ice Beam. Perhaps using an ice type attack wasn't the smartest move, but he DID need to practice it and he could pull it off faster than Shadow Ball.

The Beartic was getting struck with each one, flailing its paws in attempt to block the attck but failing to do so. It gave a bellow of frustration before attempting to flee, getting on all four legs and charging away from the pesky Glaceon. However it had not paid attention to where it was going and slammed into the frozen Glalie. The bear cried in pain and mistook it as another attack from the glaceon, the bear, blind with panic, charged another focus blast and attempted to strike the glaceon once more with it, but failed miserably as the focus blast was sent flying way too high.

Now that the once calm and dangerous enemy had been reduced to a spastically flailing idiot, Sova could move into close range to finish the fight without any danger. He used Quick Attack to get into close range and immediately fired a Shadow Ball to put down the enemy's guard. Without even waiting for the attack to collide, he spiked up his tail and spun lifted himself onto only his front paws, using the momentum to slam his flail tail down on the enemy's head or chest as hard as he possibly could. It was a risky move, which was why he was so careful to disorient the beartic beforehand.

The beartic was struck with each attack, the disorientation having been effective and knocking the beast down and out. It still breathed, but it was definitely knocked out. The Glalie obviously was still down and out and Jok still remained as lifeless as ever.

--

Back at the cave, Mirage and the Swinub were still failing to strike up a conversation, seeing as Mirage refused to talk to the stranger and only gave short and vague answers to the swinub's questions. The swinub was beginning to wonder if he was better off entertaining himself than trying to socialize with this vixen.

Sova approached the toppled Jok, checking for signs of life. "Hey....HEY! Wake up! He shouted. He looked the not-so-living iceberg up and down to find any trace of life....but nothing. This infuriated him. This kind pokemon had come with him to help him and ended up dying because of HIS problems. He turned to the unconscious beartic and approached it. He formed a Shadow Ball and fired it directly at the unconscious enemy's face. He repeated this a few more times, ensuring it was dead or at least very heavily injured.

He then turned his attention to the task he was there to complete. He used Quick Attack to get to the cave quickly, search it up and down, and aquire an Escape Orb, as well as a few other things he found. The froslass certainly wouldn't be needing them any more. He stopped by the room of horrors to get a last look at his parents. "Goodbye...." He said quietly as he turned to leave the cave.

He rushed back to the the much warmer and more inviting cave as fast as he could, not because he was in a hurry to deliver the bad news or give the swinub the escape orb, or even to get away from the froslass' cave. He just needed to make sure that Mirage was okay. At least ONE thing in this day had to not go horribly wrong or he wouldn't be able to take it any more. He would most certainly snap.

As he reached the cave entrance, he called in, "Hello?"

Hearing a familiar voice, the swinub gave a small leap of joy, running to the entrance and glowing as the boulders he had used to block it parted and revealed the normal sized entrance once more, "Yay! Hey hey! Your friend woke up!" the swinub approached Sova, before looking around, "Where's Jok?"
Mirage's ears twitched when she heard Sova's voice. She stood herself and made her way towards the entrance to meet the Glaceon, she was not given a chance to speak as the Swinub filled whatever silence there was with his yapping and then finish with a question.

"Good...." Sova barely managed to reply to the comment on Mirage waking up before being asked the inevitable mood killing question. He sighed and looked down, not wanting to face the swinub. "We ran into some hostiles...." He said as he pulled an Escape Orb out of his bag and dropped it by the swinub.

"He's dead."