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.

As they walked on through the cave, sounds began to echo. Their footsteps echoing around created an eerie atmosphere where one's imagination could easily get the best of them.... The floor stayed cold but there didn't seem to be any more unwelcome gusts of freezing death. Despite all of that, Sova seemed to be enjoying himself. He found the cave to be very interesting. There were patches of icicle stalactites here and there coming down from the ceiling and the cave and as they got farther in, the cave got a bit darker. "Hah, this place looks awesome." He said with a smile as he surveyed the area. Perhaps he was enjoying it too much.

Sadly, the sightseeing was cut short by a faint skittering sound. The echoes of the cave made it impossible to tell where it came from, even with his sonar-ears. The distorting echoes also made it impossible to tell what it was. It could have just been a falling icicle or it could have been a dangerous pokemon lurking nearby. Of course, the eevee had no sense of fear as usual. He wasn't worried in the slightest, though he was curious what made the noise. "Hey....did you hear that?" He whispered.

Mirage jumped the opportunity to appear helpless once more, "I-I-I D-Don't know..." she swallowed loudly, her ears flattening as much as they could as she lowered herself. Her stomach became closer to the floor as her tail tucked between her legs. She was "scared", under the guise that she only had any hint of bravery when truly needed. Behind the mask, she was merely cautious. The skittering could easily be some small rattata the Eevee could take out in one strike, or even her if the Eevee somehow lost to it. It sounded rather light, something light weight was usually something that didn't hold rather powerful attacks from her experience. What she failed to think of, however, was that perhaps the skittering was just the shape of the feet rather than the weight.

Sova looked around, scanning the area.  He didn't spot anything unusual.  Maybe it was just the sound of water dropping or an icicle falling, echoed by the cave.  But it had a source from what he could hear.  The least he could do was ensure the source of the sound was nothing dangerous.  Slowly, he followed the sound, tracing its source to find....a bergmite.  It was mixed in with the stalagmites, pretending to be one.  Apparently it was scared of things as small as an eevee and a zorua.  He probably wouldn't have even spotted it had it not been moving around.  "Oh, nothing to worry about...."  He managed to pretend he wasn't even a bit worried somehow.

Then, just as he began to feel relieved from the bergmite being the source of the sound and not something more intimidating, a familiar cold wind blew through the cave, almost knocking him over again.  This time it sounded similar to a hum....to him, at least.  But of course, the sounds of the wind were probably just playing tricks on him.

As the voice echoed throughout the cave, something about it actually struck fear in Sova. He wasn't very used to the feeling of fear, as it was extremely rare that he felt it. There was just something about the voice.... He was actually afraid of this froslass. Why? Nothing ever scared him. The only thing that had ever scared him was the one-time event of hallucinations.... Did it perhaps weaken his mental state? Was he more susceptible to fear?

Either way, he couldn't run. He couldn't flee and leave the zorua alone. But he found himself unable to speak to form a plan with the fox. "I....we need...." He managed to mutter as he turned to face the frosty demon. A combination of the new sensation of fear and not-so-new surprise seemed to stop him from formatting sentences for the time being. He'd just have to hope the froslass didn't want to fight. But something so creepy could never end so peacefully.

Mirage, trying to pry the claws of fear away from her heart, flattened her ears to the back of her skull as her fur bristled. Her lips curled as she began to snarl, attempting to intimidate the frosslass. The cool and confident look the frosslass held made her sure that this was an experienced fighter, it was time to drop the act, for pretending to be weak in this situation would only result in being killed or frozen over.

The frosslass responded with a chuckle, her tune becoming interrupted by the laugh and the sound in the cave seemed to cease to exist. It was only broken by the breathing of the two mammals that the frosslass had confronted. The frosslass then lifted both of her arms and gave an elegant twirl, the ice that had been dropping behind her now spreading across the cave, the Hail now coming into full effect and making the ice type difficult to see.

Sova wanted to put the zorua's well-being first and give her a chance to escape, but his usual confidence had vanished. He didn't feel like he could live, let alone win if he fought the froslass alone. Why did he feel so afraid? He'd fought intimidating things bigger than him before, in comparison the froslass shouldn't even have been very menacing. She wasn't even very big. Then the hail blowing through the cave snapped him back into reality and away from his thoughts.

He managed to shake off the fear just long enough to speak. But as he turned to the zorua, he noticed that she was standing her ground. She definitely wasn't the wimpy pokemon she claimed to be, to stand up to such a terrifying foe. But for some reason that didn't change his plan. "Run, I'll....try to stall her." He said with despair and fear in his voice. He was offering to risk his life for this liar....He could just as easily run away and leave her instead, the zorua had probably done something to deserve it at some point in her life too. Or he could have just accepted fighting two versus one and increased both their chances of survival. But no, he decided to make the most idiotic choice available.

(You seem to be thoroughly enjoying your self and doing a damn good job of RPing the froslass, so I'll leave that to you if that's alright.)

The zorua had been about to question the brown fur-ball's sanity, when the Frosslass suddenly seemed to split into two at a high speed, the form that had appeared slipping behind them quickly so they were cut off from going back and forward. Mirage turned to face the apparition behind them, leaving the eevee to face the original. The zorua's body lowered to the icy floor, attempting to ignore the icy rocks hitting her every now and then. She refused to answer, focusing on the danger at hand. The dark type began to form a dark sphere around her, aiming for the apparition that had formed from the Double Team before her. She gave a low growl, while the ghost type merely giggled and watched them with amusement.

The froslass could use Double Team? How would they ever hit the real one if it started making more copies? Or worse yet, what if it was actually another froslass? Hopefully that wasn't the case. Regardless, it seemed the two canines were stuck fighting together. Sova was glad that he didn't have to fight the froslass alone, though it felt wrong to be glad that someone else was in danger with him. Especially since he was probably just going to be a burden to the zorua in the fight, what with the massive disadvantage he had. His Normal-type moves wouldn't do anything to a Ghost-type like the froslass.

Good thing the eevee had just learned Shadow Ball recently for just this reason. Otherwise he probably wouldn't have been able to even help figure out which enemy was the real one. Without any delay, he conjured up a dark sphere of his own and had no delay in firing it at the froslass he was left to face. However, the specter easily avoided his attack, fading into the hailstorm enveloping them in the cave. He wasn't used to having to aim, it was pretty much a foreign concept to him. It was definitely something he'd need to practice....but for now he'd just have to focus on limiting the ghost's ability to avoid the attack by getting very, very close.

The zorua unleashed a Dark Pulse towards the ghost type, managing to strike it, only to have the figure disappear before her and be replaced with several more as the Froslass began to use Double Team again, creating more copies of herself so she would become even more difficult to hit. Mirage growled in frustration, before beginning to rapidly fire Dark Pulses at the different figures in hopes of striking the correct one by sheer luck. Due to lack of charge however, the attacks were relatively weak, so even if she struck the pokemon, it would do half the damage it normally would have.

In sync with the clone the zorua was fighting, several more mirror images spawned from the froslass on in front of Sova. Between that and the blizzard, he couldn't tell which was the real one. But unlike the zorua, his solution to the problem was not to blindly attack. Instead, he watched all of their movements, taking note of one farther back than the rest, and figured that one was probably the real one, staying out of harm's way.

Without even a second thought, the eevee darted through the hail towards the "real" froslass with Quick Attack, passing through a few duplicates on his way. Instead of stopping in front of the froslass he'd perceived to be the real one, he simply ran right through it. A Normal-type attack wouldn't make contact with a Ghost-type, of course. He skidded along the icy floor of the cave for a moment as he stopped, turned and quickly fired a Shadow Ball at the froslass. She didn't seem to have any time to dodge and took the attack, but instead of showing any pain or recoil, the froslass....disappeared. It was a fake, the specter had tricked him into running away from his ally. The hail cover between him and the zorua seemed to thicken, completely blocking her from view.

The hail was too thick, she could hardly see in front of her as the tiny icicles pelted her coat. Normally she would not panic in this situation, but she knew that it was probably important to keep up her character in this situation, "Sova!" she cried in fear, backing up until her behind hit a corner in the case that he could her and she couldn't see him.

The zorua was shivering at the cold, it was freezing beyond all belief! The hail and cave didn't exactly help with the cold that the environment naturally produced, and she was backed into a wall which sucked away her heat. She found it to be a bit more intelligent to back against a wall, that way she would not worry about something coming from behind. She was not aware of the Frosslass's ability to phase through walls, or even if it was unable to. All she knew was that they were in a very dangerous situation...

(handing control of Frosslass over to you for operation Break the Eevee)

Despite no longer being able to see his ally, Sova immediately darted off in the direction the cry came from. Or at least where he thought it came from. It was hard to tell with next to no visibility and an echo from the cave. "Zorua!?" He called out. Instead of the answer he'd hoped for, he heard a faint "Nope...."

Appearing in front of him, concealed by the hail until they were face to face, was the froslass. Or perhaps it was a clone. It was hard to tell, but he didn't have time to decide whether it was the real one or not. He charged a shadow ball only to have the icy blizzard seemingly home in on him, cutting his concentration off as his body felt as if it was burning from the cold ice swarming him. He couldn't help but let out loud cry of pain, "AAAAAaah-" before collapsing.

"Your name is Sova? Oh, what a coincidence...." The froslass spoke in a sadistic, calm tone. Even the seldom-scared eevee couldn't help but feel afraid.

"I would have expected more from you...." The froslass continued. What did that mean?

The only response she heard was a cry of pain. Her ears twitched as she began to think. Now would be a good time to drop the act. This pokemon was obviously not toying around, and if she wanted to make it out of here alive, she would have to focus completely on the battle rather than trying to swipe something from that explorer. Her cries of fear changed into snarls, as she continued to search for something to assist or a sign of the Frosslass. She focused all of her attention on some moving shapes not far from her once she spotted something.

She couldn't tell if it was the Frosslass, the eevee, or just an illusion of the frosslass. She formulated a plan, as she began to conjure enough power to create her own Shadow Ball. The eevee was a normal type, so the move wouldn't affect it, if it was an illusion it would destroy it, and if it was the frosslass, then yay more damage to it.

Once the shadow ball was ready, she fired.

"What?"  Sova mumbled to the froslass hovering over him as he tried to regain his focus....and stand back up.  That'd be nice too.  But he was cut off by a projectile appearing from the hail.  As the froslass began to move away to avoid the Shadow Ball, the eevee fired a Shadow Ball of his own, distracting the enemy for just long enough for the zorua's Shadow Ball to hit as well.

The froslass reeled backwards but quickly regained its composure.  "Maybe you'll be more fun than I thought...."  The froslass said, mostly to her self.  Before Sova could attack again, the enemy fired a bright ray of eerie light in the direction the zorua's attack came from.  It then retreated into the hailstorm, again cloaked and nearly impossible to see.

"Zorua!?"  The eevee called as he struggled to get up.