Lost Hope

Spoiler:

14 energy

Leif had spent six days, as promised, in recovery. Team Sentima had decided on the outlaw mission that would allow them to fight, and to fight as much as possible. Leif had spent much of the walk to pricklemist in silence. He had given up on Sova. He had given up on a purpose. Whatever feelings he had left, excluding anger, he began to neglect. His body was still lithe after the recovery, but for such a short time he had gained an incredible amount of body mass from his starving form. His special band and red ribbon were tightly bracing his arms and fists, while his equipped defense scarf was loosely slung around his neck to be used as a tool when needed.

Despite the intensity he felt, his face bore little or no expression other than boredom or annoyance. "We're here." Leif factually announced as they arrived in pricklemist forest. He cared little for the prize or explorer points. He simply wanted funding for another meal, and a chance to fight. Ever since he teleported away, Leif had completely abandoned any sign of being so heavily determined to get Sova back, and treated the relationship as largely professional.

Sova hadn't really talked much on the way either, though with him it was simply out of anticipation. He couldn't wait to see if Leif could keep up with him or for all of the inevitable violence that would come along with this mission. Besides, if they tried to talk, he probably would have just ended up unwillingly trailing off due to his lack of sleep. When it was announced(not that it wasn't obvious) that they were there, he gave a slight chuckle.

"Hope you're really fighting fit. That way I don't have to spend all my time watching your back." He said rather coldly. Though if one was optimistic, they could take out of the comment that he was still willing to protect his "friend" if needed, which was true. Just he wasn't in the mood for nicely worded things.

Leif grinned, "I can't blame you for forgetting, it's been six days. But I already told you, I can carry my own weight. But if you were challenging me to see who could do the best fighting... I'd be more than glad to accept." He completely missed the subtle care that Sova would be willing to protect him, to the point where he was so confident that either of them getting hurt didn't even cross his mind. He cracked his fists, "Now that sounds like something I could really enjoy."

He seemed to exude a power he did not have when he left, nor when he got back. The training on the island had strengthened him, but the starving weakened him to obscure that. As if it all came back at once, he reared with a fighting energy that seemed more like a mercenary than the Leif who had disappeared.

Sova laughed sarcastically. "And to think I wasn't sure if you were gonna be any fun, what with the awkward silence." He said rather vaguely. He didn't want to accept the challenge, just in case Leif wasn't actually ready to fight and to avoid making the abra do something stupid. Bad decision making was Sova's thing.

At the same time, he didn't want to decline the challenge and look like he was afraid, because he wasn't. He simply didn't want his ally to get hurt trying to impress him or something. Of course, that didn't mean either of them had to hold back. At least, he didn't plan to.

"Alright, well if you don't wanna challenge me, I'll try and take most of the fun for myself... But feel free to jump on the challenge, if you decide you're missing out on the action." He gave a genuinely serious and confused glance at Sova. He was sure that Sova would take the challenge, on top of missing the sarcastic and vague attitude, but fighting was just as good of fun as competition, and he was content either way.

He was whisked up in a tree by a light, his teleportation clearly gaining a pinpoint accuracy that it used to lack. He looked across the forest, searching for any signs, "I think we should go that way..." Leif pointed to a smaller path which seemed to have some muddy tracks from a recent rain. He was whisked back down in a flash of light, and began jogging towards where we pointed.

Sova smiled deviously. He didn't plan to be shown up, just didn't want his ally hurt. But if Leif planned to be stupid anyways....might as well hop on the bandwagon. Besides, he didn't plan to go easy in any fights anyways. He just didn't want to make it competitive and push his ally too far.

"Fine by me." He replied to the suggestion as he turned towards the path and approached it, taking his time. Tracks were a good sign of the targets they'd come for, or at least SOMETHING. Maybe someone who knew where the targets were. Or maybe just someone to hit really hard.

"Right." He thought of the off chance Sova might point out that these might not be the tracks of who they needed, "We can always interrogate pokemon if they know who we're looking for, or if they've seen them. Finding the wrong pokemon is better than finding none." Now that he knew Sova was following, he began to pick up pace. Being on two legs, he knew he would never out-sprint Sova, but it was about as fast as any athletic biped. On top of that, if Sova tried approaching the taraget too fast, he figured he could use his teleport to gain speed too.

Vulpes carried out 3 launched of one Pricklemist Hill :

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Sova tilted his head. The suggestion of interrogating seemed a bit dark even for him. Interrogating enemies sure, but what about innocents? He wasn't quite far gone enough to want to do that. "Er....well if they attack us sure. But if they're just a bystander....interrogation isn't really-" He was cut off by a dark feeling on his back followed by an explosion of shadowy energy, knocking him back but not down. He was actually surprised how well he'd taken the attack. His previous form as an eevee would have caused it to simply phase through him, but while he could now be hit with a Shadow Ball, it seemed he could take a hit. At least, one from a special attack.

He turned and fired a Shadow Ball as soon as the haunter came into view, striking it and knocking it into....scratch that, THROUGH a tree. He'd forgotten for a moment that it was a ghost type. Of course it'd just go through the tree. Having it collide an take extra damage would just be too easy.

Rustling in the bushes around them signaled more enemies were there. Perhaps this would be a good chance to see what Leif could do.

Leif saw the Furfrou and Furret, preparing for a fight. Being they were both normal types, his Shadow Ball would only work on Haunter. Looked like this job would best be done with close combat. He threw an ice punch at the Furret, but missed horribly. It tackled him, pinning Leif to a tree before he could teleport up into the branches of a tree. "That's right..." he thought, though not aloud, "When I hunted for fish underwater, my eyes were closed... My ability to react from my vision has diminished, but my psychic abilities..." He took his defense scarf, and tied it around his eyes. Suddenly, as though his eyes had truly opened, he felt his psychic senses far more keenly without his eyes to distract him. He could sense the haunter approaching behind him, and leaped down to the ground. The Furret charged even more forcefully this time, trying to use a Take Down on Leif. Before it hit him, he teleported behind the Furret and sent it crashing into a boulder with Iron Tail, its own momentum plus Leif's attack, knocking it out in one well finessed strike. He spoke loudly, as though to grab the attention of any onlookers, "Much better!" he proudly proclaimed, after beating an enemy blindfolded.

His attention turned towards the Furfrou. He charged up a Shadow Ball, looking intentionally too far to the right with a grin on his face. The Furfrou, feeling unthreatened by the display, attempted to launch a Dark Pulse at Leif. The Abra teleported just before letting the shadow ball strike the ground and create a cloud of dust to blind this pokemon, likely unfamiliar fighting without sight. In the confusion, Leif launched an ice punch, before teleporting to another side before the Furfrou could react to his previous location. This continued until the Furfrou was sufficiently frozen and detained, just before the dust cleared. The Haunter had already realized what happened, and from behind, took the Defense Scarf. In Leif's confusion as light flooded even his closed eyes, he was surprised and despite trying to run and avoid whatever was coming, he was hit with a glancing Shadow Ball. He winced in pain, even a partial miss of a supereffective move was painful.

Sova had been following Leif's movements, keeping an eye out for any sign he may need help. He didn't want to jump in and risk hurting both of them, especially when he had two long ranged moves and the haunter was lurking. When the ghost attacked Leif, the glaceon immediately fired an Ice Beam, knocking it back in recoil. After another Ice Beam to make sure it wouldn't be going anywhere soon, he Quick Attacked and leaped up as he got in range, passing through the haunter of course. He then froze his tail into a spiky flail and spun, whacking the haunter into the ground and out.

He landed gracefully, despite how tired he was.

"I might have suggested questioning them but..." He looked down on the foes pridefully "I think we may have taken them out too forcedully to have that option." He sighed, "they likely wont be up for an hour at least, and they might not know anything anyways. We should keep moving, they wont be bothering us again." Leif picked his defence scarf and tied his eyes again, knowing that would be important to help him in combat. His back stung still from the shadow ball, but leif felt quite satisfied for beating two of three in his first combat in a long time, not counting fish hunting.

Sova shrugged. "Eh, doesn't matter. We'll find them. I've got big ears and you've got....blind ninja sense." He said nonchalantly. He wasn't in a rush or at all worried about finding the targets. Though it'd be better if they could find the enemies faster....his lack of sleep was beginning to get to him, he was feeling tired. If they went on much longer....he'd risk passing out.

No, nonsense. He was absolutely fine. Sleep was the LAST thing he needed, especially since it came with free nightmares as a bonus.

"Yes. But if you decide to pick up my challenge winning won't be any fun that way. It's not worth calling it a competition it if everyone's not in peak condition." He faced Sova, "You still aren't sleeping enough." He tried to sense the enemies, but still they did not seem to be in his range, given his current power. "I can't see them from here. I guess we'll need to keep walking." He took off, again, jogging. He kept his senses searching for their enemies as they ran. Leif knew that even if he couldn't feel a true sense of victory through competition, a good fight would still satiate him.

Sova shook his head in an attempt to shake the drowsiness off. "I'm not aiming to show off to you. I'm aiming to make sure you don't die. I don't need to be at my best for that." He said bluntly. Even if he was tired, he was certain he could take care of himself and his ally.

"Besides, sleeping really isn't the better option....I'd only get a few hours before...." He trailed off. It may have appeared it was from lack of concentration, but in reality he simply didn't want to talk about it. He'd be able to get over his problems eventually, on his own. He didn't need others to talk to.

"It's not worth it."

Leif laughed, "Yeah, but it might be fun if you were. Not right now, but, generally speaking. That's all I'm saying." He paused, and before repeating to the Glaceon that he didn't need someone to carry his weight, he figured that the Glaceon wouldn't listen, and for good reason too. The help with the Haunter before taking the risk of another shadow ball was nice, and he figured he would have done the same had it happened to Sova. Regardless of anyone's pride, it was the most useful for everyone to be the best as they viably could. Leif began to focus on the other thing Sova said, "Before..." Leif tried to psychically interpret what Sova was thinking to no avail, "Before sleep apnea hit?"