Birbs and Foxes

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Mission Details:

The water-drenched flatlands known as the Cattail Marsh certainly weren't much of a spectacle, at least during the day.  Not even the rays of the setting sun could fix that.  It was about as inviting as it looked, too.  One particular glaceon knew from experience that it was annoying to travel through the marsh, if not difficult.  Of course, the two birds with him would have little trouble other than occasionally having to move out of the way of a tree, since they could fly.  He could have frozen the water and just walked or even skated over it if he still had Ice Beam on his side, but he just HAD to go and use another TM, he couldn't just settle for what he already had....

"Frost Breath", what a ripoff.  All it had done to him was take away his ability to use Ice Beam.  There was nothing akin to any "Frost Breath" replacing it from what he could tell, he was just down a move due to some faulty TM.  Surely, this was the case.  It couldn't possibly be that this move in particular was just something that he could not properly use.  So he would have to walk through the marsh, but it wasn't like he hadn't done that before.  Besides.... it would be night soon.  He'd insisted on them coming later in the day for that specific reason.  For the light show.  "So, Linus, do you know why I wanted to come here so late?", he asked as he stopped at the edge of the water, taking a moment to speak to his companions before getting to the "fun" part.

Nearby, in a rather easy to climb tree, a little ball of brown fluff was sitting on a branch over the marsh in the hopes of drying off.  He'd heard this place had a pretty lightshow during the nights, but he hadn't expected it to be so wet.... despite it being a marsh.  He'd decided to sit in a tree, away from the water and hopefully safe from any lurking dangers, as he waited for the promised lights.  The trip here was a pain, he hoped it would at least be worth it.

(Sova's Energy: 38)
(Keith's Energy: 2)

The archeops grew terrified as something began to bite at him, struggling more viciously until he realized that it was only biting at the webbing. He remained still while the pokemon worked away at it, and once his wings were free, he turned and slammed his wing into the purple mush, freeing his tail. He felt pain in his lungs, as they desperately begged for air. He forced himself up, breaking the surface of the water and flailing his way to an area of which he could stand. He coughed and gasped for air, waterlogged and hating ever having landed.

Linus did not take the time to watch the surskit he pecked at suddenly plunge into the water as it was knocked out. He pivoted in a bit of a u-turn towards the other, his beak glowing menacingly as he slammed it right into the other's face. The surskit screeched in pain, but still stood. It shivered for a moment as the wound leaked a bit of red liquid, before there was suddenly multiple surskits once more, except this time it was due to a Double Team rather than there actually being more surskits.

As soon as Sova had finished helping the archeops tear free of the binds, he made his way back to the surface and immediately spit out a mouthful of the disgusting water, followed by coughing due to having swallowed a bit of it. He was relieved to see Acro had come up to the surface as well, which meant the archeops hadn't drowned! "Are-", he began, but was cut off as he had to cough again. "Are you alright?", he finally managed to ask.

Keith watched as the black bird seemed to handle the situation well on his own. How would he be able to help even if he did try to? He didn't have the advantage of being able to fly over or run across the water and he wasn't very good of a swimmer. He wasn't much of a fighter anyways. But maybe he could help in other ways.... As the surskit seemed to multiply, he worried for a moment that it had called friends, but he knew this move. Double Team, where one can create multiple mirror images of its self.

He looked down to the water, knowing only one of the surskits was actually solid. They all seemed to cast shadows and the water appeared as if it was shimmering under all of them, but when one moved, it didn't leave any ripples. Or at least, all but one. He watched for a few seconds to be sure before pointing to the single surskit that was leaving behind ripples in the water when it moved before shouting, "That one!", as he lifted a paw out of the water and pointed to the surskit.

Linus retreated to the branch of a tree as the surskit multiplied. He remained there, watching the copies closely as they seemed to turn towards Keith. The honchkrow heard the eevee shout about one, pointing towards one that left ripples wherever it had stepped. The honchkrow gave a caw of acknowledgement before diving off of the branch, and reaching towards the real one with his claws outstretched, ready to grab it in his talons. The surskit gave a shriek, and began to become enveloped in water as it used Aqua Jet to leave the Honchkrow's grasp.

Acro was clinging to a tree, shaking in fear that the water beneath him might open up again and swallow him whole once more.
"Y-Yes-" he spoke, quaking and coughing as he hugged the tree with all of his strength. The colorful bird looked to the fight, and saw that one of the surskit was now missing and the other was fleeing from Linus. He took a shaky breath, trying to calm himself. The purple goop from earlier resurfacing as it seemed to follow the archeops.

Keith watched as the surskit became enveloped in water and dashed away from the attacking murkrow. It had managed to still evade attack, but at least this was proof enough that he had been right. Figuring now the oversized murkrow could hopefully keep track of the surskit, he dove under the water and began swimming towards the remaining surskit. If he could just get to it, he could come up underneath the little water bug undetected and grab onto it so the crow could finish it off. Of course, he couldn't vocalize this plan and let the surskit hear, so he'd just have to hope the bird wouldn't chase it around too much.... or at least managed to get to it.

Sova sighed in relief upon hearing that the archeops was okay, at least enough so to say that he was okay. "I'm guessing you can't fly with soaked wings. Think you'll be alright here?", he questioned as he pondered whether to stay with Acro or help the two weaklings.
He looked back just in time to see the eevee dive under the water. The two seemed to not be dying, at least. Maybe he could let this fight play out and they'd win. If not, he could always just intervene, even from a range. Maybe he couldn't use Ice Beam any more, but he still had Shadow Ball, for what ever that was worth.

The archeops nodded, "Ye-Yeah..." still hugging the tree with all his strength. The prehistoric bird kept his wings out of the water while he climbed onto a log, still hugging the tree. He was determined to not let it go, and risk getting trapped under the water once more. As he moved, a ball of purple tissue followed him. He blinked as he heard a giggling sound, and looked down to see a Goomy climbing onto the log, it seemed to be laughing and playing happily as it followed his tail.

Linus spotted the eevee, but was unsure of what it was trying to accomplish. This thing was speeding off faster than he could fly. The crow gave up on his pursuit, pulling away and trying to find some way to cut it off. The small bug type's Aqua Jet ceased, looking down at the water as it noticed a brown lump in it. The cheeks puffed out a bit, and a Water Pulse was shot towards it, aiming to strike the eevee.

"Good, good.", Sova replied, before noticing the lump of goop stalking the archeops. It seemed harmless, so he didn't immediately attack it, but he had to wonder what it was trying to accomplish. "Well, looks like you've got someone to keep you company too, sooo.... I'ma leave you to that.", he continued before swimming off towards the battle, specifically aiming to get to the eevee who seemed to currently be the center of attention of the surskit.

Keith had noticed the distorted pulse in the water created by the surskit, heading right towards him. Of course he tried to avoid it but alas, he was too slow. He could hear the disk smack against him under the water, followed by a stinging pain and dizziness. He'd also gotten some of the air knocked out of him, making it difficult to hold his breath. His first instinct was to swim to the surface, but as he swam, he felt something pull him up. Not the surskit.... It was too small.

Sova sighed through the scruff of the eevee's neck. "I thought I told you to run.", he said in a tone that indicated he wasn't angry. It seemed like this little eevee wanted to help, but he didn't want the little thing to get hurt too bad.... "Look, you can help Linus finish this fight if you want, I'll make sure you don't get into too much danger....", he continued as he slowly placed the eevee down in the water and released his hold. "But I don't plan to interfere unless it gets too dangerous. I'm trying to train him, not do his fighting for him."

The eevee gasped for breath as he was pulled to the surface, relieved to see the "jolteon" having pulled him up yet again. He listened to the words being spoke to him as he caught his breath and kicked the disorientation left from the Water Pulse. He was dropped back into the water, but it was okay, he could still swim. "O-okay", he finally replied before swimming off towards the "murkrow" yet again.

It seemed that the surskit had other plans however, as it spotted the glaceon saving the eevee. It gave a huff, and fired another Water Pulse, narrowly avoiding the talons of Linus as he attempted to grab and peck it again with yet another Aqua Jet. More copes of itself began to flood the area, making it rather confusing as to which was which as the real one rushed the glaceon. Linus pecked at the various copies, each one vanishing as he realized that it was not a real copy. He gave a frustrated caw, and pulled away from the arena once more, planning to try and pick out which one was real from a distance.

Acro looked to the purple goo that was a pokemon, "Uh...hi..." he spoke to it, confused as to what it was doing in such a dangerous area.
"Mammy! Mammy!" it spoke, looking directly at him.
Acro's eyes widened, "N-No!" he spoke, "Not again! I'm not your mother!" He panicked, last time this had happened was a long time ago in Silent Temple, a Larvesta had thought he and William the Gengar were their parents. Did this thing really think he was its mother?
"Mammyyy! Wets Pway!!"
Yes. Yes it did.

Sova sighed in frustration as the surskit turned its sights to him. "Change of plan I guess....", he muttered in a frustrated tone as he grabbed the eevee's scruff in his mouth again and tossed the ball of fur away from him once again, taking the Water Pulse directly. As the surskit made a multitude of copies, he focused his vision on none in specific, letting his peripheral and unfocused vision cover all of them. This allowed him to notice one in particular heading right towards him, becoming completely enveloped in water as it neared him. He simply raised a paw out of the water and slammed it down on the creature as it neared him, breaking through the Aqua Jet and smacking the surskit into the water.

"You REALLY should have stuck to them....", he said as the illusory copies of the surskit began to disappear in bulk.

Once again, Keith had found himself being tossed away from the blue fox and plunged into the water. He raised his head to see the thing he had decided was a jolteon take the Water Pulse, barely even flinching, before stopping the surskit dead in its tracks as it tried to attack him once again. Were the guild explorers really this strong? The little eevee was certain he could NEVER be this strong.... unless maybe one of them helped him. The blue jolteon had mentioned training the big murkrow.... Maybe he was interested in having another student? Or maybe the pinata bird! Maybe he was this strong too!

Linus watched as the illusions disappeared. He blinked, realizing that the glaceon must have taken care of the foe. The honchkrow relaxed, deciding to say up on the branch for a bit and take a look around, perhaps spot something of use. However, it seemed that the tree he was on had different plans. It creaked, and began to fall. He gave a surprised squawk, the tree falling in the direction of the group, "LOOK-" he was about to warn them, but some strange object had fallen from the tree and forced its way down his throat, a Tiny Mushroom. He choked for a bit, before forcing himself to swallow the strange item. He looked back to the tree, to see it splash into the water and narrowly miss the others in the group.

Acro looked up to the tree, giving a sqawk of fear as it seemed as if it was falling right for him and the goomy. The archeops grabbed the goomy, and dove into the water to flail somewhere else. The tree smashed the log he had been sitting on, and he managed to find another log. His wings were incapable of flight, and now they would remain that way even longer. He looked to the base of the tree, to see an unconscious Illumise and a Poliwhirl that seemed to be flexing its muscles proudly. The illumise seemed to have been thrown into the tree, harshly, and knocked it over. The archeops set the goomy, who was giggling with glee, onto the log and waited to see what would occur next.

Sova looked up and rolled his eyes as a tree came down and almost crushed the archeops further down. He didn't hesitate in the slightest, instead calmly backing away a bit so that the tree wouldn't hit him. In fact, he followed the tree down with his eyes, watching it splash into the water beside him and closing his eyes briefly to avoid getting water splashed in them. He was pushed away a bit by the force of the tree impacting on the water, but that was alright.

Keith, however, had luckily been tossed in the opposite direction of where the tree had come down at. He watched it fall, flinching for the blue jolteon as he was certain it was going to slam down on the fox, but nope, it landed right beside him and he didn't even seem to care. Maybe he knew a psychic-type attack of some kind and pushed the tree away? Or maybe he just knew it wasn't going to hit him.... or had a death wish.

"Thank you, Linus.", the glaceon commented with mock-sincerity.

Linus squawked, "I-I didn't do that!!" he spoke. He looked down at the tree and watched as a poliwhirl climbed onto the fallen tree.

"There is no need to fear fine citizens! For this is my doing, there is nothing to be afraid of, for I was simply taking care of an evil-doer!" the poliwhirl spoke with a deep and heroic tone. It puffed its chest out with pride, "It decided to flash its behind at me, blinding those near it and preventing me from going about my business, so I dealt it justice!"

Acro blinked, staring at the poliwhirl. The goomy had crawled back onto his back, sticking to his spine and crawling up onto his shoulder. He was a bit more focused and worried about the poliwhirl than the goomy, so he let it be.

"Oo Taffy Guy!" the goomy spoke.

The poliwhirl blinked, looking to the goomy, "My fair citizen, surely you mean 'tough' guy, yes?"

"Taffy! Taffy!" it giggled.

"I ask that you please do not refer to me as Taffy."

"Taaaafffyyyy! Taaa-"

"I think it's about time we keep moving," Acro spoke, covering the Goomy's mouth.

"You're not even going to thank me?" the poliwhirl seemed appalled by the thought.

Sova's eyelids drooped and a slight frown crossed his face as very obnoxious events unfolded. Some insane poliwhirl ranting about how it'd knocked out part of the light show and apparently thought this was doing them a FAVOR. He growled in agitation as he pulled himself onto the fallen tree and stared the poliwhirl down. "So, you just knocked someone out for flashing a beautiful tail light, almost KILLING my friend in the process and now you want to be THANKED for it? Oooh, I've got a real nice "thanks" in mind for something like that.", he replied as he walked across the fallen tree towards the poliwhirl, glaring at it the whole time.

Keith watched from the water as a poliwhirl came into view, talking about how it had handled an "evil-doer." Its tone seemed a bit condescending to him, but it wasn't something he'd be troubled to fight about. Troubled to run away, if anything. However, the "jolteon" seemed to have other ideas. He swam along through the water as the blue fox spoke rather antagonistically towards the poliwhirl. He headed towards the pinata bird as his current safety net was now off getting into the fight and he wanted someone else strong nearby while he watched.

"I'm afraid I do not quite appreciate the tone you are having with me fine sir!" the poliwrath spoke to the glaceon. It seemed that he was ignored, as the glaceon stepped closer and closer, continuing to glare at him.

"I see...so you must have been a friend of that fiend! I'll just teach you a lesson as well, IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE!" he shouted, reaching out his hands and grabbing the ribbons of the glaceon in his boxing glove like mitts. Before the glaceon could do any more, the poliwhirl began to spin, dragging the glaceon with him in a Circle Throw before releasing the glaceon and sending him flying. Acro ducked, almost getting hit by the flying Glaceon, while Linus attempted to catch him, and only resulted in being a cushion between the ice type and a tree.

"Taffy?" the goomy asked, a bit confused as to why the poliwhirl was angry.

Acro looked behind him, "Sova!? Linus!?" he called, wanting to make sure his friends were not harmed. Linus only gave a groan before falling onto a log, not quite having taken the hit too well.

Keith gasped as the "jolteon" was hurled into the black bird and a tree. This caused him to speed his paddling up, reaching the log the archeops was on and lifting his front paws onto it to hold himself above the water as he watched the blue jolteon fall to the ground, landing on his feet and hesitating for a moment before turning back to the poliwhirl with a look of.... excitement. This kind of scared the eevee. How could anyone be happy about being thrown into a tree?

Sova held his mouth shut and gritted his teeth as he slammed into a feathery cushion, then into a tree, forcing himself not to make any noises that would indicate he was in pain. As he dropped to the ground, he forced himself to land on his feet and continue to approach the poliwhirl yet again. He dropped his body temperature and the water began to freeze under him as he calmly walked over it, smiling excitedly as he began to feel the rush he felt once before. He couldn't show any sign of weakness with so many viewers around him, but he could still have fun with this. "I've got this.", he stated loud enough for the others, the poliwhirl included, to hear him, while glaring at the blue creature that'd been so brave as to grapple him.

The poliwhirl huffed, watching as the evil doer seemed to want even more of a beating.

"Fine! You leave me no choice!" the poliwhirl huffed, pointing his glove at the glaceon with what seemed to be pointing. The water type then began to waggle his finger, "You should have just stayed on the side of light!"

The finger began to glow, the Metronome took shape, as a white aura surrounded the Poliwhirl, and he suddenly took off into the sky like a rocket. The Metronome had turned into Fly!

Linus and Acro's mouths/beaks dropped as the poliwhirl suddenly began to fly. Their eyes were wide as it did a few loops in the air, obviously enjoying the feeling of flying, before returning to the field to smash into the glaceon at a high speed.

"Spoopy?" the goomy tilted its head, looking at the rather scary looking glaceon, "Spoop...Spoop!" it cried, trying to hide behind Acro's neck from the frightening glaceon.

Linus looked to the goomy, and decided not to question why the archeops suddenly had a blob of purple on his back. The honchkrow looked back to the fight and...why was the glaceon orange now? He blinked, squinting at the glaceon before shaking his head violently. When he looked back to the glaceon, it was blue again. Weird...