Gathering Courage

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{Energy: 25 - 10 = 15}

Gulp came the sound of a certain Buizel's throat as he carefully made his way around the Pricklemist Hill. And here he was, thinking that this place could not possibly get any scarier or creepier than the Shadowhue Forest. It had taken him tremendous courage to even get through there as safely as he did. Of all of the farther-away locations he could visit to do some exploring and try to get more courage for himself, he had to pick this one. This one with mist so thick he could barely see where he was going. And what's worse, there were rumors about that this place was coveredin Ghost-type Pokémon. The thought caused a shiver to run down the Buizel's spine. He hoped that he wouldn't have to worry about something like that. He knew that Ghost-type Pokémon existed of course, and that they were just ordinary Pokémon like himself...but the fact that they were ghost-like at all still scared him somewhat. Normally, he wouldn't have ever stepped one paw inside of this kind of place. And yet, here he found himself, miles outside of his comfort zone. He had been told that wandering outside of that zone would be the best way to raise his usefulness.

Ultimately, Jet was here for one purpose. To garner up some more courage that he could then put to use as part of Team Mizuchi. At the moment, he was the only active member on the team. That had been extra motivation for becoming stronger and trying to become more fearless, like his team leader or his friends. If he was representing his entire team, he could not be such a coward. He had to come and face his fears. Or at least, so he was told. He let out a small sigh and continued to wander around somewhat aimlessly.

Still...couldn't he have gone ANYWHERE else, rather than jump straight into a place with an atmosphere this creepy? He was definitely not used to jumping into the thick of things. But oh well. He was here, so there was no point in turning back now. He couldn't wimp out of this. So, with that thought, he pushed himself forward. He was determined not to let his fear get the better of him. Besides....

What was the worst that could happen to him out here, fog or no fog?

Pterra followed the Buizel's decent leisurely, angling his wings to allow him to practically float down to the ground. He snickered at the Buizel's desperate last-minute attempts to stop himself from slamming into the ground, and landed before the prone form of Jet triumphantly, maw agape with laughter.

"That was maybe the most funniest thing I've seen in a long time," Pterra said between laughs. "Who knew Buizel could fly?" he snickered again as he hopped forward, getting closer to the downed water weasel, this time more aware of the possibility of the buizel getting up and blasting him with water.

"Give up yet, or were you eager for more pain?" Pterra asked snidely, ready to just rip the bag off of the Buizel by force at this point.

{Energy: 3+1 = 4}

Jet groaned in pain, even as Pterra leisurely descended from the skies and landed before him. This situation was not looking very good. However, he could not let one turn of events convince him to surrender. He was already too deep into this to turn back now. Even if he wanted to. He could not let himself give in to his fear again. No...he needed to continue fighting. So, with that thought on his mind, Jet grunted and pushed himself back up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the Aerodactyl's mocking laughter. The Buizel shook his head and slowly pushed himself back onto his feet again. He appeared more than ready for a round two.

"N-no way," he muttered. "I-I told you. If...if you think I belong under your feet, th-then you're going to have to put me there yourself." With that said, he crouched down and got onto his forepaws as well. He could dash slightly faster on all fours than he could on two legs. And so, he rushed forward as quickly as his Buizel body could take him. He flinched in pain as water started to form around his injured tail, telegraphing his attack long before he lunged into the air and tried to spin around on a vertical axis and attempting to bring the Aqua Tail down hard onto the top of the Aerodactyl's skull.

Energy: 20 + 1 (page) = 21

This time when the Buizel rose to his feet and charged at him with the water forming around his tail, Pterra was ready. He sprung into the air once more, the water jet barely grazing along his belly. He winced in pain but kept rising into the air.

He flapped his wings hard, and circled Jet's head, maw agape as a purple energy began to form in the back of Pterra's throat. The energy grew and grew until there were blue and purple flames spewing from the Aerodactyle's maw, heading straight for the buizel's head.

Pterra was particularly proud of this technique, as it was a special technique passed down in his family from father to son that harnessed the ancient power of the dragons, sometimes supplemented and strengthened by the occasional dragon type in the family. Pterra had been the only one of his parents' five children to receive the ability to use the technique, and Pterra was very proud of that fact.

Jet's slightly improved speed seemed no match for the Aerodactyl's reaction time. He clicked his tongue in disappointment as his move did not land as directly as he had hoped that it would. He had really hoped to disorient the Aerodactyl with a blow to the skull, but his plan had almost completely failed. His tail smashed mostly-harmlessly into the ground beneath Pterra and Jet recovered from the miss quickly. He landed back on his feet again and looked above him, seeing the Fossil Pokémon circling him again. In the back of his mind, he was grateful that Pterra hadn't simply gone in for another attack immediately with his feet, which a lot of flying Pokémon tended to do. But what Pterra had instead opted for could potentially be a bit worse for him.

Jet's eyes widened as he saw Pterra open his maw and as a spherical shape of some kind of purple energy began to form. He wasn't sure what the Aerodactyl was trying to do, but he knew that he did not want it to connect. Soon after the flames were spewed forth from his foe's mouth, Jet tried to move out of the way. But the attack came too quickly, thanks to Aerodactyl's superior speed. So instead, Jet opted to defend himself as best he could. He raised his arms in a desperate attempt to shield his head. The flames of the Dragon Breath struck his arms with great force, causing him to grunt in pain and slide backward. Thankfully, he managed to hold his ground throughout the attack, however.

When the attack was over, though, something did not seem right. "Urngh...!" he grunted, obviously pained from the connected hit. He fell onto his right knee immediately afterward, using his right arm to help keep himself up. He tried to shake off the pain quickly. This fight was really starting to turn against him. It was really starting to go south quickly. Still...he was not yet ready to go down for the count.

Pterra watched in triumph as the buizel fell to one knee, faint sparks traveling over his form to reveal his paralysis. Pterra circled the weakened buizel a few more times in triumph, enjoying his ability to simply fly away from an opponent. Then he dove for the buizel once more, talons extended outward, no particular move in mind. No, this time he was planning on taking the buizel to the sky again and tossing him around some more, especially since the water weasel was currently quite occupied with the after-effects of his Dragon Breath.

Jet could practically feel the sparks dancing around him for a moment as he remained on his knee. He struggled as hard as he could, but he could not fight it...the Paralysis that had taken hold of him was insurmountable. He could only watch helplessly as Pterra circled above his head and he braced himself for the inevitable strike that was to come next. And sure enough, after a short while, the larger Pokémon began descending and approaching, talons outstretched, ready to grab hold of some part of his body and lift him into the air.

"D...darn...it...." Jet murmured to himself as he waited helplessly for his opponent to grab hold of him.

Pterra grinned in triumph, showing off all of his teeth as he neared the buizel and noted that no matter how hard the buizel struggled to get away, the paralysis was too much for the weak pokemon. Just as he reached the buizel and stretched out his talons to grab ahold of the buizel's limp form, he was suddenly blasted away from the water weasel by a wave of psychic energy.

He snarled as he flipped end-over-end in the air before righting himself with several quick beats of his wings. He glared towards the source of the psybeam to see a Spoink bouncing up and down a few paces away. Nearby, a Zangoose stalked toward the still-paralyzed buizel. Pterra snarled. They were not getting his prey! He dove for the two feral pokemon, his dragon breath powering up again to blaze fire at the two pokemon.

Jet watched Pterra approach. That grin of his unnerved him and he wasn't sure what he was still fighting for at the moment. He could barely move and he was about to get snatched by his foe's feet and pulled back into the air again. If this continued on for much longer, he would undoubtedly end up under his foot after all. And then he'd probably end up in a difficult dungeon with all of his items stolen from him and he'd be a goner. Why did he have to try to play tougher than he was? Now he was really going to pay for...huh?

Jet was shocked when, suddenly, a blast of some kind of energy was launched and successful in blasting the Aerodactyl away from him. He let out a sigh of relief as the Fossil Pokémon's feet, which had come within inches of his body, was thrown away from him. His relief was very short-lived, however. He turned his head to thank his saviors, but it didn't seem like they were simply helping him out of the goodness of their hearts. He saw the Spoink nearby, looking in his direction. But he was completely unaware of the stalking Zangoose. "C-can I help you...?" Jet said to the Spoink, finally standing up again as the paralysis stopped holding him in place.

Just then, Pterra's charge was interrupted yet again. This time, it was as a string was launched from the opposite side. The source was obscured by the fog for now, but the String Shot was more than capable of slapping itself upon Pterra's right wing should he not see it coming quickly enough to dodge out of the way. If the attack could strike, a cocoon-like structure would start to accumulate which would no doubt throw him off-balance in the air.

Meanwhile, above Pterra, also mostly-obscured by the mist, a much smaller flying Pokémon circled around. When the String Shot sailed through the air, likely catching the Aerodactyl's attention, this bird Pokémon would not hesitate to rush straight down through the air. The blue-gray and red Pokémon would then slam downward, attempting to dive-bomb the Aerodactyl in the center of his back with a Quick Attack.

Pterra let out a cry of shock as another attack was launched at him, this time from the opposite side. He let out a cry of distress as the string shot successfully bound his wings to his side and he fell out of the sky, heading for the ground with nothing to stop him from slamming into the ground. He roared in pain when a quick attack from above slammed him into the ground even harder than he would have originally as a Fletchling slammed into him from above. Pterra rose to his feet, shrieking in fury and pain, purple and blue flames spewing from his mouth in his rage, taking out the Fletchling that had dared to attack him in his moment of weakness.

Then another string shot was flung at him, binding Pterra's maw shut tightly, removing his ability to use any of his attack and causing the once-arrogant aerodactyl's eyes to grow wide with fear as he realized that he was completely vulnerable as the Spoink from earlier neared him menacingly, and another enemy lurked behind the mists, invisible to his eyes.

Jet's eyes widened with surprise as he witnessed all of the events unfolding before him. He watched as Pterra was helplessly ganged up on by three Pokémon, one of which was still unseen. And for a moment, Jet was rather conflicted. On one hand, fighting a three-versus-one fight against wild Pokémon was hardly fair. But on the other hand, this was the same Aerodactyl "Aerial Outlaw" that had just been about to beat him into unconsciousness, steal the entirety of his Explorer's Bag's contents and then drop him off in a very dangerous place for the feral Pokémon to use him like a chew toy. He wasn't sure what he should do right now. What was the right thing to do? Help the Pokémon before him fend off wild Pokémon? Or let the outlaw get his just desserts?

The answer did not take him long to come up with. He was slower than usual, thanks to his paralysis, but he knew one way to fix that. He started to form a sphere of water in his mouth, preparing it in advance. He then threw his head upward and launched the orb into the sky. Once it reached a certain height, it exploded in the sky. Moments later, the rain started. His Rain Dance move had brought the rain down from the sky above. He could feel his own body begin to loosen as the rain fell upon him. His Swift Swim ability should double his speed, hopefully allowing him to help Pterra before things got too far out of hand.

"D-don't worry, I-I'm coming...!" he called out quickly to Pterra. What he wouldn't give to have access to his Water Gun attack right now....

Meanwhile, however, the Pokémon that had attacked the Aerodactyl were not going to wait for Jet to reach Pterra's side and come to his rescue. After witnessing Pterra's Dragon Breath attack cause some serious damage to that Fletchling, the hidden Pokémon decided to move in and make its first offensive move. Now that the Aerodactyl was grounded with a maw glued shut, he felt it was probably safer to approach. The silhouette of the Pokémon that managed to take him down began to appear in the fog before the Aerodactyl. The great, dangerous Pokémon that had managed to cause him so much trouble emerged and was revealed to be...a small, red bug Pokémon. None other than a Kricketot.

The Kricketot, a moment after revealing itself, did not hesitate. A green aura began to form around him...and he then focused the aura in front of him, creating an orb in front of him. The orb then shattered, launching a barrage of small, green projectiles that would attempt to slam into Pterra's chest, using a Struggle Bug attack. With any luck, the attack would strike and drain some of the Fossil Pokémon's special attack.

Pterra growled in disbelief and anger as his attacker was revealed to be a lowly kricketot. He was unable to move away from the bug in time to avoid its' attack though, the sticky mess left from the bug's string shot still rooting him to the ground. He was forced backwards and against the ground as the attack slammed into him.

Meanwhile, the spoink had decided to join in on the attack against the weakened aerodactyl, bouncing towards him and letting out another wave of psychic energy, further damaging Pterra as he whimpered in pain, unable to let out any shrieks or roars from his bound mouth.

The zangoose who had been creeping up on Jet decided to then reveal itself, streaking towards the buizel with its claws extended and glowing in an attempt to crush the water weasel's body under the force of the claws. If Jet didn't notice his attacker in time, the claws were likely to make quick work of the buizel's pelt, and lower his defenses.

Jet could not afford to continue standing idly by and watch this very one-sided "battle" continue. He had to do something. Pterra may have been trying to rob him not very long ago, but even still...even still he could not watch him get ganged up on like this. He shook his head and took his first step toward the scene before him...but he stopped. His eyes widened and he looked behind him, where a streak of red in the white mist could be seen rushing straight toward him. At the last second, he saw a flash and a glint of claws get thrown his way. Thankfully, Jet was able to duck down and dive forward, narrowly avoiding the smashing claw. But he did not have time to deal with whatever this new attacker was. he would have to deal with him when he could help Pterra escape his bindings.

So, instead of counterattacking, Jet used his bolstered speed from his Swift Swim ability to rush forward. The Buizel dashed straight past the Spoink and leaped as hard and fast as he could. He landed beside Pterra and reached his paws up, pulling at the String Shot as hard as he could. Thankfully, the material was still fresh and relatively easy to pull off from the outside. He started peeling it away. "D-don't worry, I-I can get you out of this," he said, hoping that his paralysis was not going to stop him.

At that point, an idea came to him. That Pokémon before had had rather sharp claws. If he could just lure that Pokémon here and trick him into attacking again, he might be able to get it to cut the bindings for him...! But for now, he had to do what he could...and just hope that he wouldn't be stopped.

Meanwhile, however, one Pokémon was not about to let Jet assist the Aerodactyl without a fight. The Fletchling, having finally recovered from the powerful blast before, flocked toward the struggling Buizel and tried to slam his beak into the top of the Buizel's head. He made a direct point attack, aimed straight for him. Unfortunately, that would mean he had to go straight past Pterra's maw. The Aerodactyl may have had his jaw shut tightly, but that did not mean he couldn't still move it.

At the same time, though, the Kricketot was clearly not ready to stop his attack. Happy with how successful the last attack had been, it began to gleam with more green aura before it formed yet another orb. The orb was then shattered once more, sending more green projectiles outward and attempting to strike the Aerodactyl's body with yet another Struggle Bug.

Pterra growled from deep within his throat as the buizel dashed to his side and started pulling the messy web left from the string shot, off of his wings. He was unable to express his displeasure verbally, though, and was left with indignant thoughts only. He hated that he was at the mercy of these weaker pokemon because some uppity kricketot had gotten off a lucky string shot at him.

As Jet pulled at the string, he felt a sharp stab as the Fletchling slammed its beak down hard into the center of his skull. He flinched in pain from the Peck attack, but did not falter. At least, not until he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye. The Kricketot, having apparently noticed Jet pulling at the sticky web, changed its target. It couldn't allow the Buizel to pull his String Shot off and free the more powerful Pokémon again. As such, it launched yet another String Shot. This time, it was aimed at the Buizel in an attempt to tie the rodent Pokémon to the helpless Aerodactyl.

Jet, thankfully, was able to avoid the String Shot by jumping upward and crawling up on top of Pterra's back. "S-sorry about this," Jet murmured just loud enough so that the Aerodactyl could hear him. He had to pause and think quickly. With the Kricketot now aiming at him, he could not afford to waste this much time in ridding these webs off of his once-attacker. He had to think of another solution before the Paralysis kicked in again and he ended up helplessly beaten by these Pokémon. The idea popped into his head rather quickly. His eyes widened and he reached into his Explorer's Bag, which Pterra had been trying to steal from him before.

He only had a small number of items in it right now; only things he had found in this forest since arriving, plus a pair of a certain object. From within the back, he withdrew a Stick. It was usually used like a weapon, but here, it could serve another purpose. Thankfully, it was sharp enough to cut through such soft webbing. And that's exactly what he planned to do. "D-don't worry, I've got you covered...!" Jet said. He quickly climbed up the Aerodactyl's body as quickly as he could and reached the Stick down, aiming to cut the web.

Before the Buizel could make contact, however, the Fletchling came back around for another attack. This time, it slammed itself up against the Buizel's body using a Quick Attack. The force of the attack caused Jet to gasp in pain and nearly fall right off of Pterra's body. However, he desperately clung to the Aerodactyl's left horn and was able to stay on top of him. Without another moment's hesitation, he reached down and slashed through the webbing, which ended up breaking the Stick into two useless lumps of wood. However...Pterra's jaw was now free of obstruction, and he was free to use his attacks once again.

"G-got it...!" Jet exclaimed in relief, falling off of the Aerodactyl's head at last and landing on his back at Pterra's feet.

Pterra roared in fury as his mouth was freed from its trap. His wings snapped out, the remnants of the string shot webs falling to the ground as he practically exploded into the air, red-and-orange flames spewing from his mouth as he fell upon the kricketot. He bit down on the bug harshly, spreading the fire from his mouth onto the bug's body.

Meanwhile, the Zangoose had given up all pretenses of stealth and leapt towards the buizel while he was distracted with the Fletchling attacking him. The Zangoose attempted to slice down with long, cruel claws, intending on shredding open the buizel's side.