Blinding Blizzards

Mordred was shaking. No, he was not shaking from fear. He was shaking from the SHEER COLD. His arms were wrapped around him in attempts of lowering his freezing temperature. His eyes were reduced to mere squints due to the blizzard, causing him to see in blurs. His teeth chattered, feeling breathe escape his throat and appear as a visible fog as it disappeared into the violent evening.

The blizzard raged on, dropping countless bullets of snow upon the unlucky passers-by of Icicle Woods. No one had foreseen this harsh weather, but only few came to the Woods anyways, so it would be expected. The snowy ground grew and grew, inches by inches as it continued to bury the trees and whatever was left upon the unholy grounds. The spindly branches of the trees shook wildly, allowing its eerie rattling to accompany the unnerving roar of the blizzard. It was a picture of terror.

The lone Scraggy continued on, gripping his scarlet hood as it fought against him in order to go with the wind. He refused, tightening his grip on the fabric as he trudged through the thick layer of snow. He had to find shelter or he would be good as dead soon. He'd heard of many stories about the dangers of Icicle Woods, but he never imagined it to be as harsh as it was.

Willpower steeled, his squinting eyes attempted to find a makeshift shelter. A cave, or something similar. Anything to take cover from the weather. If it weren't for the fact he was part Dark Type, he would've been as good as blind right then and there.

Kira shivered from the cold, she had no idea that the woods would be THIS cold. She trudged through the snow, that reached up to her knees, and pushed onward. She wondered how long she could keep going for, she had been at this for a while now. Her ears were practically frozen and she could barely keep her eye lids open. She knew well enough not to sleep, she would freeze to death in this weather! She sighed and wished she had been back at grassveil, happily sipping a cup of hot chocolate and relaxing in the warm weather there.
The snowy flakes struck hey eyes and made her have to close them and use her aura sense to see what was around her. Although she failed to see the root in front of her and tripped over it, she busted up from the snow as it almost instantly covered her up. She couldn't keep this up, she had to find some type of shelter. If she couldn't find anything she may as well be a Riolu-cicle.

'Where was Cry?' I hear you say? Simple, she was in her nice and sheltered cave, a roaring fire before her and shell pieces from her meal of eggs laying around her. She was well fed and well prepared for the blizzard unlike a certain Scraggy and Riolu. Living here taught you to be prepared for bad weather and Cry grew up in cold conditions like this. It was the eviroment she had learned to best thrive in. She was reasonably satisfied with her solitary life.

That's right, Cry lived all alone. By choice too. Emotionally colder than the outside temperature, she preferred being alone. It meant less questions, less to worry about. And that was just fine. Cry had lived alone without any trouble so far. Cry had done a dang good job surviving on her own. Laying on the soft moss bed with only a fire warming her... Cry could have done much worse.

'I only wanted to train...' Mordred thought silently as he fought against the snow. Although this situation tested his endurance against harsh climates, it wasn't exactly how he'd planned his training to be. He wanted to overcome his fear of his own attack, knowing that it could've proven useful in many previous battles if it weren't for his nagging trauma. But due to the sudden blizzard, all possible opponents had fled, and he was left with having to trudge instead of punch. An impressive irony, one could say.

The Scraggy blinked, seeing a faint light in the distance. He brought his hands to his eyes, rubbing them to rid the blur of his vision. He couldn't tell if it was his imagination, but as he stared longer at the light, he began to believe that it wasn't his mind playing tricks on him. Mordred let out a sigh of relief, finally finding another pokemon out in these terrible conditions. The light seemed so foreign after the long period of time he was left in the dark blizzard, but he knew that it meant there were others, possibly those from civilization.

He began trudging towards it, hoping that whatever pokemon made the fire was friendly. In his current state, he was sure he'd be willing to fight any pokemon if it meant warmth. Desperate times call for desperate measures, after all.

Kira's strength was quickly draining, she had to get to a shelter soon. She did all she could to send her aura out further so she could look for some kind of shelter. She sensed a scraggy heading towards a hole that seemed to have something else inside it. She made her way over there, even if she would probably have to talk to them, it was better than dying in the cold. She tripped over another branch, it took her a while to stand back up. What she would give for a warm pie or something delicious and warm. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and struggled forward, praying to Arceus that they were friendly pokemon. She thought of herself as crazy to even come here. She knew there was a chance for blizzards, so why had she come? Sightseeing. She regretted ever wanting to do just that, she found herself close, just behind the scraggy now. She waited to see what would happen.

The wind carried more than snow. Through the whistling wind, Cry heard the sound of crunching snow at regular intervals. It was so obvious someone... no two pokemon were approaching Cry's den. They weren't large judging by the sounds. Most likely travellers who foolishly came out when obvious signs of a coming blizzard should have sent them to the nearest shelter. Only luck brout them to this cave. Well Cry wouldn't be pounced on by the desperate, no siree. Luckily her supplies were hidden a fair distance back in the cave. Cry silently, but quickly went into the enveloping darkness just outside the fire's glow, hidden completely from sight. Cry would simply watch these strangers closer than a Watchog for now.

It felt like hours before Mordred finally reached the light. It was apparently a cave, an empty one. He stepped in, shaking off the snow that had piled up in his hood. He pulled the hood down, finally not needing to grip in from the wind. He looked around, seeing a small fire made in the middle. Other than that, it was just a normal cave.

'Weird... No one here...' He walked around, trying to find any signs of another pokemon in the cave. He stopped, noticing a few footprints near the fire. The footprints seemed to have two large claws protruding from them. They weren't very big, probably belonging to a pokemon a bit bigger than him. Still, with claws like those, they could be difficult to fight. The Scraggy decided not to worry about that for the moment. He really needed to just relax for now.

He sat down near the fire, watching the flames with a bored expression. He could probably just stay here for the while, but the pokemon who made this flame would probably return. There's no telling if he'd be able to reason with them, or if he'd need to fight them. He'd much prefer not fighting at the moment. The cold was not a favorable weather for him, since he'd been raised on a mountain that barely ever had cold weather.

Mordred turned his head, hearing a pokemon nearby. Just past the entrance, there was a Riolu. He tilted his head, a bit confused. Was this pokemon lost as well? Were they the ones who made the fire? He wasn't sure. But the best option was not to act aggressive. 'Should I greet them or something?' He pondered, not sure whether or not he should alert the pokemon of his presence. Either way, the Riolu had probably seen him. But the Scraggy didn't actually feel like talking at the moment. Too cold.

The riolu had noticed the scraggy, who she approached and asked, "C-C-can I join y-you?" She stayed outside of the cave, not sure whether to enter just a bit and get closer to the fire and risk angering the pokemon or not. It was times like these where she wished she had been a fire pokemon or an ice pokemon that's used to this temperature. At the thought of a fire pokemon, she remembered about her fire move, Blaze Kick. She mentally struck her forehead with her palm, she could have made a fire a long time ago. Although it wouldn't really help with there being no shelter. The cold would have sucked all the heat from the fire then the wind probably would have put it out.
She shivered again and her eyelids drooped, becoming sleepy. She wobbled a bit as she fought to stay awake, but fell!

Cry didn't leap forward to help. She didn't even move. She had grown up learning if you didn't survive with your own strength, you were meant to die. It was harsh, but it was the way one toughened up in this arctic wasteland. The weak died and the strong ate the weak to survive. It was the way nature worked after all. Nosense in defying it. So Cry stayed in her shadows and kept watching. There was still the Scraggy to keep an eye on. His half dark type meant he had the potential to be cunning and that could always be dangerous.

"C-C-can I join y-you?"

The Scraggy shrugged. "This isn't exactly my cave, but I guess it's alright." He said, bringing his hands up to the burning fire to warm them. The Riolu's company would be alright. Mordred didn't mind company. So long as they knew their boundaries. But a small talk would benefit him, in a way. Socializing helped the sane, as they say.

Thump! The Scraggy turned his attention back to the entrance, seeing the Riolu on the ground. He waited a moment, hoping the Riolu would just stand back up. A few minutes passed, and no response. He finally stood from the fire, walking over to the Riolu's fallen form. He stopped next to her, poking her shoulder. "Hey, you still alive or what?" He said apathetically. The cold wind made him shudder; he wanted to go back to the fire.

Kira picked herself up, surprised at herself that she had fallen. "I-I'm fine." she spoke, "I just need to keep awake." she said. She entered the cavern and sat by the fire, she shivered as she waited for the heat to warm herself up. That was when she sensed something with her aura hiding in the depths of the shelter. She spoke, "So how long are you going to hide back there for? Its kind of useless to hide from a riolu that can sense auras." She shivered as she spoke, she hoped the pokemon wasn't hostile. She wasn't in a very good condition to fight, although she did have a fire move so she could warm up a bit faster with that. She decided to wait and see the results of her interaction. She looked at the direction of the sneasel, shivering too much to say anything else. Although she was getting warmer, she felt the heat seep into her body and fight the cold out. She enjoyed it.

Cry knew about Riolu and their aura sensing powers. But mystery was a part of intimidation. A tool of the strong. When she spoke, her voice echoed throughout the cave. The Scraggy would not be able to track the source. "Hide? I'm watching and deciding what to do to the two intruders in my home. Walking in that blizzard was your choice. A more aggressive predator would have attacked and eaten you before you sat at the fire." Cry's sharp claws scraped on rock, sharpening them. "So tell me, why shouldn't I do the same. You'd be a good source of meat while I wait out the blizzard."

The Scraggy was a bit alarmed by the voice's threat, but was much too tired to actually care. The pokemon's footprints indicated it was but a mere gap from his size, more so for the Riolu. After his many travels, it was plain as day that this pokemon could very well be as scared as any intruded pokemon was. But it was still possible the pokemon could kill or eat him. It struck a chord in his anxious conscience, but his numbness from the cold luckily prevented him from showing any obvious fear.

He simply sat by the fire, continuing to warm his hands as he thought of the scenario of battling a pokemon with large claws. "Mm. Although I'm not in the mood for battling, you can try. The size of your footprints indicate you're not entirely that bigger than me in size, so it probably wouldn't be all that difficult to fight. More so if it's two against one."

His focus shifted from the darkness of the cave, to the fire in front of him, to the riolu who was also warming herself by the fire. He looked over to the darkness, waiting for a response. "Although, we really don't wish to fight at the moment. We'll only be here for a while until the blizzard passes, though I do apologize for intruding. Why not come join us? It's not like we're going to steal your home."

"Not to mention your figure is that of a sneasle, the ice type. I have Blaze Kick, a fire move. I don't want to fight like the scraggy says. How about you join us, like the scraggy says." Kira sounded a bit annoyed, but she didn't mean to be rude about it. It was too late to take back words now, she regretted being so mean though. She sighed as she waited for an attack to come at her if the ice pokemon found her rude and decided to try and kick her out. She would fight for the fire though, she would leave once the storm cleared up enough for her to walk around outside again.

She was warm enough to fight if she needed to, she wouldn't drag the scraggy into the fight though. She considered it a nice pokemon, the attitude of the ice pokemon bugged her though. She didn't like being threatened to be killed and eaten. She didn't have much meat on her anywyays, 'Am I too thin?' her mind wandered, 'maybe i should eat more...'

A snick echoed though the cave, followed by a soft sigh. "Taking you down would be counter productive. More effort than you are worth. You can stay until the blizzard passes. The next is a week away. Plenty of time to hurry back home. Just stay away from farther in the cave and I won't gut you." Cry may have allowed them access to her fire, but food was not to be given. They'd have to survive on their own supplies. If they tried anything, Cry would force them outdide and use Avalanche to block her cave. She could dig out later.