Determined to Help, Determined to Fall

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Mission Details:

The Frozen Stream, a rather dull area of the Icy Lands named for the continuously frozen stream that ran through it.  Of course, it wasn't JUST a stream, since streams weren't very big.  The stream flowed into the Descant River, though, so of course it was the most noteworthy feature of the area.  It also happened to be the most fun part of the area.... if one was an Ice-Type, that is.

Sova was a bit excited to be back here, since the only other time he'd ever been to the Frozen Stream was when he was an eevee and it was.... less than fun.  Now, though, he was an Ice-Type with a body so well-adjusted to the cold that he could probably swim in the water under the sheet of ice covering the stream.  The swablu with him probably didn't enjoy the cold nearly as much, but at least a bird could fly over the stream and not risk breaking the ice and falling in.  Though, honestly, he doubted someone as small as Varda could even break the ice with weight alone.

The little bird probably wasn't enjoying being in such a cold place and the glaceon knew it, but he never asked for help.  Varda had offered.  Actually, Varda had insisted.  It wasn't like he was bad company either, the swablu was fairly nice and not annoying.  He even liked to give out compliments, so the glaceon wasn't going to complain.  Sova was just glad he didn't have to put up with someone like William following him.  That gengar agitated him to no end.

"So, how're you feeling?", he asked, rather rhetorically since he knew Varda was probably not enjoying himself.
He looked around for any sign of the stream, but it was currently snowing, which obscured vision a bit.  If the stream was nearby, he couldn't see it.  He could see a few trees though.  He was content with just staying here, but he wanted to get to the stream to practice skating on ice.... and they had a mission to do there, that was important too.

(Ninja Edit - 38 energy)

Wally nodded his head, seeming completely fine with staying and keeping watch. "Sure, I was gonna take a break anyways so I wouldn't really be doing anything different. I'm not gonna stay here forever, though, but I'm guessin' if you two don't come back after a while you probably found the right guy.", he agreed, informing the two that he wouldn't be here for ever in the process.
He couldn't be expected to stay here for ever, after all. His break would probably last a few hours. He figured that'd be more than enough time for the two explorers.

Sova was a bit relieved to know that if they weren't about to go after the right sneasel, they had someone here to watch for the right one. Though Varda had brought up a good point; if they wanted to follow the stream capably, they'd have to have some way of seeing it. Sure, he could feel the ice, but he would likely end up bumping into the edges and veering off course a lot. They could stay on track, but it would take longer without actually being able to see the river. This was indeed a bit of a problem.

"Hmmm....", he sounded as he thought. Then he got an idea.
"Oh, right, Blizzard. If I use it, I can control the snow. Kind of. Maybe. It's worth a try, at least.", he suggested, remembering he still had the TM for Blizzard with him. He could use it and hope for the best, if Varda agreed.
Though he didn't really know how to use Blizzard very well, it would surely be easier than Frost Breath. He didn't really have to create a burning-cold mist in his lungs and exhale it for Blizzard. It would also probably be a lot easier to shut off once activated. And of course, it would probably be able to blow the snow away, since it was partially wind based.

Varda seemed to happy as their new friend agreed to keep an eye on any Sneasels that passed the stream, his eyes so bright. It was good to have friend helping you with these things! With a nod, the bird chirped happily.
"Thank you so much! We'll try to be quick, we don't have much time to waste," he thanked Wally and started to hop from one little bird foot to another in his excitement, knowing that they would just do this mission with all the help they were getting! They couldn't let their client – or Wally – down, not when they got so much on the line. The fact that the Sneasel might have gotten rid of the Moon Stone, on purpose or accidentally, didn't currently cross the Swablu's mind.

But the snow was still an issue, covering up the river that was their only mark they could follow in this icy wasteland. He had no ideas, but the little bird tried to think as hard as he could, his eyes closed. But nothing was coming up and the poor little Pokémon was starting to look like he would pull a muscle in his concentration. Finally Sova spoke up, allowing Varda to stop thinking and concentrate on someone else's ideas.

It was a bit of a strange idea, as a blizzard didn't really sound good and he honestly had no idea how the move worked... But Sova was very smart, so he most likely knew what he didn't! If his friend thought it was possible, then it was worth the try. Varda nodded.
"We are just going to have to try!" He chirped, looking at the fox-like Pokémon as if he was expecting something. They did have the TM... But he was unsure what they were going to have to do next to make something happen.
"Um... What now? Do you... Use the TM?"


Current Energy: 19 (18 +1 from the new page)

Sova took a deep breath, then exhaled. He knew how to use Hail.... but it was too dangerous to use most of the time anyways, so that would be the move to go. He just hoped Blizzard wouldn't prove to be as difficult as Hail or Frost Breath. He dug through his bag with a paw and carefully pulled out the disc, setting it in the snow before placing his paw on top of it. "Yep.... I use the TM. Dunno if it'll work, or how dangerous it'll be. I've.... only actually seen it used once. I just know it's strong and it involves wind and snow, like a blizzard.", he explained.

With the explanation out of the way, he closed his eyes and relaxed his mind, allowing the information contained within the TM to be absorbed. His mind and body were adjusted to be able to use this new move over the course of a few seconds. However, this didn't mean he had been prepared. He would still need to learn how to use it, but the important part was that now, he could. Hopefully, he'd be able to at least use it to an extent, since it generally wasn't as difficult for one to use a TM-move as it was for his Frost Breath.

He took his paw off the disc and opened his eyes after finishing with it. "Here goes nothing....", he muttered before closing his eyes yet again and focusing.
With all the snow on the ground and in the air, he figured he could do this without having to create any. For a moment, it seemed like nothing was happening. Then the snow around him on the ground and in the air began lightly swirling around him, revealing a small portion of the frozen stream as the snow was lifted away from it. It made for quite a beautiful sight, though the glaceon's eyes were closed to help him focus, so he couldn't see it.

Varda watched quietly as the TM that had been slipped into a bag was pulled out and placed in front of Sova on the snow. Just like before, a paw was put on top of it and the bird seemed to be concentrating quite hard on what was happening himself, as well. His friend had offered to teach him how TMs work, and this seemed like the best opportunity to observe one being learned from the strange discs.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," the Swablu chirped reassuringly as the other Pokémon started to doubt his idea. Danger... Now, he hadn't even thought about how dangerous it all could be himself, but strong winds were a bit scary now that Sova mentioned them. He didn't do all that well in storms, something he had experienced before in his life.

And then, Sova became very quiet, his eyes closing as he did... Something with the disc. The bird Pokémon couldn't see anything happening physically, but his friend was very focused if he could read his facial expression well enough. Perhaps it was more of a mental thing. It was a pity he couldn't see what was happening inside Sova's head right now! Still, he continued to observe, actually kind of glad that nothing shocking happened during the learning of a move. That would have been very scary to experience.

"Did you do it...?" Varda ended up asking carefully as Sova moved his paw and opened his eyes, guessing that it was so but he always tended to ask questions when he was unsure. The response was closed eyes and silence that continued for a moment, but the Swablu's light body could soon start feeling the wind. His feathers were being buffeted by the gust that was slowly picking up speed and growing stronger.
"I... I think it's working!" He chirped in his excitement as the snow around them was starting to be pushed away by the wind, swirling and twinkling in the air. As the bird opened his wings to cheer on, the wind ended up catching him and throwing him into the air.
"Whoa!" The little ball of fluff twirled in the air and fought the currents with his wings, straightening himself.

Sova heard the swablu speaking, sounding like he was having a bit of trouble.  He decided to open his eyes and see what was going on and finally got to see the swirling snowy wind around him.  Then he noticed Varda had been swept up, which got him to panicking just a little bit.  This series of events completely broke his focus, which had been on stabilizing the blizzard and keeping it from being threatening.  With his concentration broken, the blizzard began rapidly and violently picking up speed, spreading to a larger area and pulling all of the snow off the ground.  The sealeo ducked under the water as the snow neared him, not wanting to get caught up in it.

Sova frantically looked around as the blizzard just kind of started going on its own, as he'd completely stopped manipulating in the hopes it would stop.  But no, he'd kicked up an actual mini-blizzard that would probably take a while to subside if he didn't stop it.  "Oh.... no.... no no no no....", he muttered in his panic.
Thinking quickly, he closed his eyes and did his best to put his focus back on manipulating the blizzard's wind.  He began pulling it in the opposite direction, which began slowing it, but caused a rather violent collision between the wind spinning in one direction and the wind he was trying to pull in the other direction.

He was starting to really worry for Varda's safety, but he couldn't open his eyes to see what was going on and risk breaking his focus again.  He couldn't hear anything over the wind either, so he was pretty much completely out of contact with his ally by his own doing.  However, he was slowly gaining complete control over the blizzard once more and forcing it to subside by sending a wind in the opposite direction and downwards, suppressing it to a mere draft in under a minute.  On the bright side, most of the snow had been cleared away from the area or lifted into the sky, so they could at least see the directions the river came from and went in, which would give them a sense of direction.  But the first thing he looked for wasn't direction, but the little swablu he was with.

Varda was actually quite proud of being able to stop himself from being thrown around by the wind like a rag doll, feeling like he had conquered something that had conquered him in the past. Of course, he was forced to flap his wings very hard as he fought against the breeze that threatened to take him with him, but he managed to do it! At least, until the wind once again started to pick up, turning into a proper gust that just completely pulled the bird with it. He tried to fight it again, but his wings weren't able to fight it, constantly being pushed in different directions. No longer did Varda even know which way was up or down as he rolled around in the sky, the snow getting in his eyes and mouth as he spluttered about and tried to keep it out of there!

How long it continued, the Swablu had no idea. It felt like he had gotten stuck in a twister with no way out, but even in his disoriented state, he could feel how everything was starting to slow down. The wind, no longer so strong and it even felt like the gravity was slowly taking hold of him again, like he was falling... But he wasn't sure of that, he might have also been heading up. Once the bird Pokémon got the chance, he opened his wings and let the winds die down as he started to float downwards, gently. The landing wasn't the greatest as Varda was feeling extremely dizzy, his feet giving out from under him as he fell on his fluffy butt with a quiet oomph.

A confused, disoriented coo escaped his beak as he just sat there, seeing double of everything. Or quadruple. He didn't know. He was unable to focus on anything with his eyes as everything was shaking and turning – in fact, the little bird himself was doing very much the same, his body rocking from side to side. Something the Swablu did realize... Was that he was quite cold, some ice having gathered on his feathers.
"B-Brr," he shuddered as he tried to realize which one of the blue blobs was Sova,
"T-That was... A doozy..."

Sova sighed in relief to see the little bird not dead. In fact, it seemed like Varda had taken it rather well considering it was a blizzard. Perhaps not the most skillfully formed blizzard in the world, but still, it probably didn't feel very good to be tossed around within it. But all that mattered was that the swablu was alive and at least able to speak. He didn't seem very badly injured, if at all. Still, the glaceon felt absolutely awful about having caused such an event.

"I'm.... SO sorry....", he forced himself to say.
Apologizing wasn't something he liked to do, but honestly, he felt like an apology was needed here. He could have KILLED the little bird, foolishly thinking he could completely control a move as powerful as Blizzard right off the bat without any practice at all. He couldn't believe how idiotic he'd been in this decision.

Actually, overconfidence seemed to, more often than not, be a rather bad trait of his. He constantly got himself into difficult situations due to being overconfident. More often than not, this resulted in others getting hurt or worse, the evil dwelling in him seeing the light of day. Yet he kept doing it anyways.... Eventually, he'd probably end up getting himself or someone else killed because of this, he figured. But at least for now it hadn't done anything too bad. Other than maybe causing himself some grief.

Varda was still sitting, his behind firmly planted on the cool ice. Right now he didn't think he could even stand straight if he managed to stumble back on his feet! He didn't even try, letting his head stop spinning first. Luckily, he wasn't feeling sick at all, so it wasn't that bad to wait it out. Soon Sova only had a twin brother and nothing else, the bird's beady little eyes looking in his general direction as they tried to figure out which one to focus on. Both of them apologized, which was a bit strange in his eyes!
"Ohh, you don't need to be sorry," he chirped, letting his eyes close for a longer time as he tried to clear out his head.

Slowly, the Swablu started to push himself on his feet, rather shakily at first, but he seemed to be able to stand without falling over at least. Sova was back to being a singular being again and the little bird looked at him with a big smile, but a shudder caused by the cold made him poof up his feathers and shake off some of the ice and snow on him.
"I wasn't really prepared! I think next time, we should tie me to you somehow," Varda let out a little chirpy giggle, thinking about it. It would be a bit silly, but Sova was heavy enough to not get blown away by the strong wind, clearly! They would have to make use of it if they wanted the bird to remain close.

"Oh, look," the little Pokémon suddenly said as he noticed what was behind Sova – or more like, the lack of something behind Sova. The wind had, in fact, blown some of the snow away and revealed the smooth, hard surface of the icy stream below.
"It does seem to work!"

Sova sighed in relief yet again, seeing that the bird was still himself. Good, he hadn't knocked anything loose in the little swablu. Or.... he hadn't knocked anything MORE loose, at least. He looked around at the now partially revealed stream upon Varda's mention, regaining his sense of direction and starting off in the direction that was up-stream. The whole stream wasn't revealed, not by a long shot, but there was at least enough revealed to point in the general direction it was coming from.

"Well, I guess as long as it worked and you didn't get hurt.... we should be happy.", he said, mostly to himself in an attempt to make himself stop feeling guilty. But to no avail. He felt a need to apologize more.
"Sorry though. I'm really gonna need some practice with this if I wanna use it around you, unless we can actually tie you to me somehow.", he said in a rather guilty tone. But then that gave him an idea.... He didn't necessarily have to tie Varda to him. He just had to make sure the little swablu wouldn't get carried away!

"What if you tie yourself to a tree, or weigh yourself down with something? That way you don't have to be attached to me, but you still won't get carried away. Though.... there'd still be the issue of the blizzard actually hitting you, so I'll still have to work on being able to control it better.", he suggested. It was such a pain having to look out for others, but he couldn't just NOT do it. Why did all of the most powerful attacking options for him seem to be dangerous to others?

Varda nodded a couple of times with a big smile, agreeing that they should be happy with the results. The plan had worked and he wasn't hurt – just a little cold, that's all. With another shudder, the bird fluffed up his feathers as he did his best to try to get warm again, hopping in place much for the same reason.
"It was your first try," the Swablu chirped as Sova apologized again, mentioning how he had to get some practice with his new move considering what had happened. When it came to the "victim" of it however, he didn't seem too fazed or afraid.

"I think it was pretty good for that!" He continued happily with reassuring compliments, still bouncing up and down. The river wasn't even remotely revealed all the way, so it seemed like they would have to be using the Blizzard move again... And it was clear that the little bird couldn't fight the wind with his wings even though he tried. He had been training so hard to get more powerful flaps too, but it didn't seem to be enough. He would have to weigh himself down with something...

Sova suggested other objects, like a tree. Or maybe a rock could work too. Varda ended up humming a little hmm as he thought, letting his eyes scan their surroundings.
"There's not all that many trees nearby and we would have to be moving unless you want to leave me behind," he finally opened his beak and stopped his bouncing, a bit out of breath after the exercise,
"I don't think a tree could follow us. Oh, but I do have something we can use!" The Swablu cheered up as he had a solution to half the problem at least, untying the ribbon from his bag's strap and holding it with his beak.

Hearing Varda's assurance that everything was alright finally managed to free Sova of his guilt. This allowed him to think clearly, which he kind of needed to figure out how to go about this situation. Varda seemed set on simply tying himself to something, but Sova felt he could think of something better. He looked up to the sky and wondered how capable of a flyer the little bird was. Clearly not enough so to fly through harsh winds, but then again most birds weren't. He considered his idea for a moment before finally speaking up.

"Actually, there may be a much easier way. If you can fly high enough to stay out of range of Blizzard, I could freely use it without risking hurting you or leaving you behind.", he explained, feeling confident in this idea. Though of course, this binged on Varda actually being able to fly high enough to get away from the wind created by Blizzard. But then he thought of another issue. It got colder the higher up one went, he knew this. Could Varda even take the cold air?

"Oh, but you'd probably get really cold up there...." He decided to vocalize his worry, figuring there was no point in not saying it.
He wondered if Varda would be interested in trying this. His last plan had kind of failed, so he certainly wouldn't blame the little bird if he didn't want to try any more dangerous ideas. Maybe he could just tie Varda down on his back or something, that could work too. It also seemed less dangerous.

Varda tilted his head with the ribbon still held by his beak, his eyes dark and shiny as he blinked slowly. Sova claimed to know of an easier way, but it took a moment for the bird to realize it. Yes, of course, the move Blizzard would not be as large as a real snowstorm! Well, it would be pretty crazy if it was, nothing would be able to escape from it... But real life luckily was a lot saner! The Swablu's eyes lit up as he nodded a couple of times in excitement, certain that he could stay out of the range of the move if he couldn't fight the strong winds!

"Mff," he started to speak, though that was when he realized he still had the ribbon in his mouth blocking his words. Using his foot to remove it from his mouth, the bird started to tie the ribbon back to its original spot as he looked up at Sova.
"Well, I don't know how cold it is up there, but it's probably not as cold as the Blizzard," Varda chirped with a little laugh, not at all worried of the temperature – even though he probably should have been. Spreading his wings, he tested them with a couple of hops and strong flaps with his wings.

"We're just going to have to try! I think I'll be able to see you easily, I'll just follow the twister of snow," the Swablu rose into the air with a little hop and fluttered in place, slowly having to push himself higher and higher as staying in one spot was actually quite difficult! Right now, he was waiting for Sova's signal to be able to go up and wait for his friend to clear the snow before coming back.

Sova nodded to the swablu, glad they were in agreement. He wasn't sure how much of the stream he could clear at once, but he knew he would be able to clear enough to make a path to follow if he kept the blizzard going. "Alright then, if you're for it.... Go ahead and head up, just until you don't feel the blizzard pulling at you. I'll start it up so you can judge when you're safe.", he said before closing his eyes and preparing to hopefully not fail miserably the second time around.

A light wind began blowing moments later, seemingly sticking the snow to it. He made sure to keep it weak enough that it wouldn't halt the little bird from flying, but still present enough for Varda to be able to judge when he was safe. The glaceon began walking slowly forward in the upstream direction, his eyes still closed to ensure he could keep control of the weak "blizzard" without getting distracted.

He wondered how powerful Blizzard really was. He'd only seen it used once, by the froslass who.... by a froslass. It seemed fairly strong. It also FELT fairly strong, considering he had been hit by it. Though, he was stronger than that froslass, so he wondered how well he could use Blizzard, what he could do with it.

Varda nodded to his friend and didn't waste time to start flapping his wings harder, soaring higher and higher into the air. The distance to the ground grew, but he could feel how the winds were starting to pick up, both the ones in the air and well, the ones caused by Sova. Luckily the cold air wasn't so strong that it pushed the bird off-course again, but he did have to fight it a little to keep going forward. Just like he was told, he tried to find the perfect spot where he was just where the wind from the Blizzard couldn't reach him so he wouldn't fly too high and possibly lose sight of his friend down below – or something else that could be bad!

Eventually it felt like the winds stabilized, and the Swablu no longer was able to feel the pull from below. The winter winds were rather harsh as it hit his unprotected face, but he was just going to have to endure it. The snowfall had been slowing down until it was barely nothing... But the little bird still managed to get a coat of white frost and snow on his feathers as he flew. Peering down, Varda was able to see the little walking tornado ball that kept clearing the snow, the way sun reflected on the ice making it really easy for him to follow from high up.

Back on the ground, some Spheal had been playing in the snow, rolling around and pretty much covered in white, looking like big snowballs that someone had rolled up. As they saw the strange miniature storm approach, they couldn't help but stop and stare, their little beady eyes peering on from under the snow. As the whipping winds came closer, the snow was pretty much blown off them as they struggled to stay upright, their round bodies so easily rolled over.

Sova finally opened his eyes to see what was happening, figuring that Varda had surely flown out of range by now. The snowy whirlwind around him was again revealing the stream, it was working perfectly. But there was one problem. At this rate, he would run out of energy to keep the blizzard going before they'd managed to find the sneasel. He needed a faster way to do this.... There was also this issue of this spaced out attack hitting innocent bystanders, which he could see was already happening as a few spheals had been having difficulties due to it.

He focused on controlling the snowy wind as walked, trying to see if he could manipulate it. He started out slow, pulling the winds towards him and effectively shrinking the funnel until it was just a thick screen of snow and wind in a small circle around him, completely obscuring his vision. Then he worked on raising it above him, which took a minute to get right, but he finally managed to do it. Next came the fun part, which he had no clue how to do but knew was possible.

Controlling the wind was difficult, so the glaceon knew he couldn't have precision accuracy, but he really only needed to hit the stream. He focused on bringing the wind down onto the stream in front of him, sending a column of wind and snow flying down into the ice, essentially sweeping the snow away. He kept the wind pushing forward to knock away as much of the snow as he could, but before long it got too far away from and he had to stop. He finally took a moment to catch his breath, having gone through a bit of strain to this off. But it was worth it, they now had a clear indicator of where they needed to go; the stream was a straight shot! All they had to do was walk in one direction the whole time. He obviously couldn't reveal the whole stream, nowhere near the whole stream, but he had revealed enough to make it clear that it was not a very twisty-turny path.