3spoopy

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The Ruined Chateau.... Given Sova had been here once already and explored the interior, it now looked smaller from the outside, all except for the massive double-doors. Then again, given the things he'd witnessed inside, it probably WAS somehow smaller on the outside. Still, this wasn't going to deter or scare him. The only thing he was worried for was anyone else aiming to go there. Today, the one who happened to want to go with him was Varda. This was odd, since the two usually only did missions together, but today.... there was no mission here. Actually, the guild had sort of made it a mission to explore the things happening and this seemed like the place to go, so maybe it was a mission. Just, without the rewards.

He looked up to the sky and stared at the gloomy dark clouds for a moment, as if just making sure the sky wasn't changing before he set his attention back on the Chateau. "Remember, Varda, stay close to me in here. This place will literally change with you in it, so if we get separated, we could have a lot of trouble finding each other. There's also a lot of really dangerous and hostile pokemon in here and since most of the rooms aren't exactly huge, I won't be able to go all out with you here," he explained, relaying his past experience in this horrible house to the swablu.

He wanted his ally to be ready for everything in here, after all. Especially since there was a good chance he was going to need some help.... if not with fighting, then with finding his way around. He would have brought some of his other new allies along, but oddly enough.... the little fluff-ball was still the one he trusted most alongside him. At that, Varda was the only one he trusted to manage to capably and safely navigate this place, and more importantly, to LISTEN to him. Sure, Dusk knew the area given she'd come with him before, but she had mostly just been a hindrance in fights and never listened.

Varda blinked as the gems approached, and it turned out... That well, yes, they were gems, but the gems were attached to a Pokémon! And seemed to be eyes. The bird tilted his head as he pondered about it. Could one see with gems...? This strange imp-like Pokémon didn't seem to be blind, but he had seen many Pokémon that could navigate almost perfectly even though they couldn't see. Still, as the Pokémon didn't attack, the Swablu felt at ease and smiled at the new purple friend, though he didn't get to greet the other just yet.

The gem-eyed Pokémon asked for their bags, a very strange request that made the little bird just stare at the Pokémon with a confused look. While he would have loved to make someone happy by giving them something... Right now they just couldn't accept such a deal. Varda shook his head, his expression apologetic, but stern.
"I'm sorry, we can't do that. We're here on an important mission..."

"I wasn't asking, I was giving you the option to hand them over willingly.... but free will is just a luxury, one that can be taken away," the sableye responded before suddenly bolting up to Varda, targeting the one who looked to be in better shape first in order to weaken him.  However, instead of going with some physical attack like getting so close would have implied, it merely stopped before reaching the swablu and quickly clapped its hands together, making a loud noise and sending a shockwave at the bird in a Fake Out.

Sova listened to the rather short exchange of words before moving to intercept the sableye before it could reach Varda.  However, on top of its oddly quick sableye, it seemed even more things were going against the glaceon in helping his friend.  Before he really managed to get anywhere, he felt something hit him in the back.  While it didn't hurt.... it.... felt weird, in a very bad way.  He could feel the spot in his back where it hit begin to numb, the feeling spreading throughout his body.  He looked down at his chest as the feeling began to reach there to see.... his body.... it was darkening!  What was happening!?  His emotional state seemed to deteriorate along with his body, with him suddenly beginning to feel a certain.... darkness in him.  It wasn't any emotion he recognized, it was more like.... a lack thereof.  Like, he could still feel emotion, but it felt as if there was some kind of hole in his emotions.  It was very difficult to describe.

But one who knew of the attack he'd been hit with would have described it as "Trick-Or-Treat," a deceptively innocent name for an attack that forced the Ghost-typing into those hit, which of course changed their mental and physical states.  The glaceon just stood there in confusion as the new feelings overwhelmed him to the point that he completely forgot about the battle at hand.

The pumpkaboo who'd risen out of the floor behind Sova and altered his typing then focused its sights on Varda, creating a purple orb of some gaseous substance and sending it toward the swablu, hoping the Fake Out would be able to hold him there so that it could also infect him with Ghost-typing.  Two drifloon arose from the ground as well, though they seemed to just stay very far away from the fight, almost as if they weren't even allied to the sableye.  One of the two drifloon seemed to take in a deep breath before beginning to glow with a white aura, Stockpiling defensive power.  The other just kind of floated there, staring at the first.

Varda blinked in confusion, the gem-eyed Pokémon's words just flying right over his head. He tilted his head with an oblivious smile as if to ask for clarification, but it never came. Instead, the Pokémon dashed at the bird with such speed that he couldn't even react to it! But no attack came. He had almost prepared himself for that, but the odd Pokémon decided to slap its hands together instead, creating such a loud sound that Varda couldn't help but be surprised by it, his feathers fluffing up as he flinched.

It wasn't nice at all, scaring others like that! Hearing some sounds from behind him, the Swablu managed to look at fast enough to see that Sova was... Turning darker, somehow! And that was very strange and kind of spooky. But as the bird was paying way too much attention to his friend, he missed the orb that floated towards him, eventually brushing against his tail feathers and causing a chill to run up the little Pokémon's spine.

His feathers were turning darker, too! Almost... Black! It was a slow spread, but it was confusing and new – and Varda had no idea what was happening!
"Aah Sova! Things are turning all... Black-like!"

Bird carried out 1 launched of one Ruined Chateau :

The new, odd feelings only kept Sova distracted for so long, with his friend's voice snapping him back to reality and prompting him to look up and around.  Of course, the first thing he spotted was Varda, who was now turning darker just like himself, but he also noticed the sableye was preparing to attack again.  It suddenly seemed to turn only half-visible and it took him a moment to realize that he was looking at an afterimage, the real one having made its way behind Varda at quite literally invisible speeds.  It then immediately swung its claws which were now glowing a dark black color at the swablu.  Payback, which, despite not being used in retaliation and thus not at its full power, would still hurt more with the new typing added to the bird.

Sova, of course, planned to try and stop the sableye.  However, a sudden jolt of electricity through his body stopped him.  Literally.  While it hurt, that wasn't the most noteworthy thing about the attack.  It seemed to be basically making his muscles malfunction, which quickly resulted in him collapsing to the ground.  He glanced in the direction the attack had come from to see the two drifloon and assumed the one who didn't currently look like it was trying to hold its breath was the culprit.

(Oh boy, Varda's got a friendship bell now.)

Varda didn't get an explanation to anything. No reassurances, either. He had kind of hoped for something, but it seemed like battles weren't the best time to talk. Who would have thought! He didn't understand a thing that was going on, or the odd feelings his even odder body was feeling right now. And he probably didn't like it, he was still a big undecided on that.

And he didn't get more time to wonder about it. A sharp pain in his back as something dug into it with a fast swipe caused him to chirp and fall onto his belly. It hurt! He rolled over as quickly as his chubby little body allowed him to, eager to get back on his feet and turn to face... The gem-eyed Pokémon! It truly was a big meanie if it was hurting others like that for no reason.
"That's mean! That's really mean!" Varda chirped, flapping his wings as he took into the air.

"Sovaa, what are we going to doo?" He called out, looking at his friend for help. Unfortunately, Sova had seemed to just flop on the ground!


((Frieeeendssssssssssssss))

Sova could hear his friend, who for once actually seemed to understand that someone was being hostile toward them. Varda needed help.... and where was he? Laying on the ground, paralyzed! He growled and forced himself up, only to find the pumpkaboo in front of him the second he lifted his head. Its eyes suddenly flashed with an eerie purple light, which disoriented him, blurring his vision and suddenly making him feel lightheaded. However, that didn't stop him from grabbing onto it and pinning it to the ground with his usable front paw, eliciting a slight yipe from it in its surprise at him still being able to move. Before it could get away, a ball of pure black energy formed in front of the glaceon's face and fired straight into it, creating a bigger-than-normal dark explosion due to his new type-enhancement.

"Just run.... I'll be fine, the door's right over there," he finally said, though considering the sableye's persistent attacking, running probably wouldn't be too easy.

The first drifloon finally finished stockpiling defensive power, but instead of doing anything with it, it just stayed away from the fight and began to glow a different color, this time a light red as it began to focus its energy. The second drifloon merely stayed near it, as if guarding it or waiting for something. Maybe both.

The sableye merely stared at the swablu, who was now accusing it of being mean. It turned its head toward the glaceon as he was spoken to, revealing his name to it.... but it didn't seem particularly worried about the crippled glaceon who'd just been crippled even further. Its claws continued to glow with a dark aura as it raised both of its hands, as if about to attack, only to once more dash behind the bird at such a high speed it left an afterimage behind. THEN it went through with the attack, taking Varda to be someone whom the same tactic would work on twice.

Varda didn't like Sova's suggestion, his eyes wide as he blinked and searched for a better option in their surroundings. Of course he couldn't just leave, that was bad! He couldn't leave his injured friend behind like that. He was certain that there was a way to make this all work out just fine in the end, but he still had no idea which steps actually took him there. First thing first, the black thing was weird and it seemed like Sova was feeling extra weird because of it, so they would have to find a way to remove it! The bird had a way to remove things, so he decided that he should try it out! Dark icy particles started to spread from his wings, glistening in the light of the candles as he tried to fill the whole room with them. It was worth a try, right?

And of course the totally missed how the gem-eyed Pokémon was trying to attack him, obviously falling for the same trick twice. And was probably going to fall for it for the third time, as well. The Pokémon was so fast that before he even noticed, it was behind him again and swiped at him, causing the Swablu to cheep again and be pushed forward by the impact. He fell from the air, tumbling down and rolling like a little ball of fluff across the floor before stopping when he bumped against the wall.

That wasn't really good! There was... So much going on! Varda couldn't even keep everything straight in his head – and not just because currently his world was swaying and wobbling in a rather confusing way. The bird Pokémon got up on his feet carefully, starting to sing his lullaby just so he could buy some extra time to think...

The sableye had reached Varda in time to knock him out of the air and stop the spread of the mist before much of it had really been created at all. Of course, having had to get in what little of the haze had been created, the afterimages it'd created faded away due to the effects of the mist. Not that it really mattered, since the first afterimage had already faded out of view and the second was nearing a complete fade, as they weren't meant to last so much as to confuse enemies for a short time. The haze didn't seem to affect the dark tint on the swablu's feathers, though.

As it prepared to attack once more, it heard the sound of the swablu singing.... and immediately recognized the attack. Instead of covering its ears, though, it merely stood straight up and put one of its hands out, giving a "come here" motion to taunt the swablu. "What, can't fight me, coward?," it questioned, its words taking on an eerie, almost glitchy-sounding echo as it enchanted them to Taunt the swablu into only attacking.

The drifloon who was focusing on powering itself up made sure to stay away from what little bit of a haze had been created, finding it fairly easy with the attack being cut off. It finally seemed to stop with the whole storing power thing as the sableye moved on with a taunt, taking it as a cue to hand over the power it'd saved up - literally. It pointed one of its leg-things in the direction of the sableye, which sent an orb glowing the same white and red that'd illuminated the drifloon earlier toward the sableye, resulting in it glowing a mixture of the two colors briefly before the glow faded.

Sova found that he could only really watch with the paralysis gripping him, and he could barely even do that! His vision was so disoriented from the flash of light the pumpkaboo had given him, he could barely make out what was happening. To make matters worse, four little living candles - litwick - phased through the wall behind him, out of his vision and all pitched in together to create a swirl of fire around the glaceon. One weak Fire Spin really wasn't a threat to him, but four enemies putting their power into creating it.... that was a different story.

The glaceon just barely managed to realize what was happening and flash-freeze his fur into armor before a vortex of fire erupted around him. He did his best to keep it from harming him, drastically lowering his body temperature, but it was to no avail.... his armor was melting, the attack was just too powerful to stop with ice, even his ice. He could feel the fire beginning to actually hurt as his armor weakened and his body heated up, with him unable to keep himself cool through the fire. However, he made an active effort against making any pained noises, hoping not to scare his friend. Varda needed to focus on the sableye!

Oh, it was no good. Varda gave himself a look, noticing that his feathers were still that odd shade of black, not having been washed away by his Haze at all. Sova was the same and still looked like he wasn't doing too good! Would the black make everyone feel bad in the end? He wasn't feeling bad, but he wasn't sure if he was feeling good either – so he could be reduced to the same state as his friend eventually! That was a big problem – but there had to be a cure somewhere, right?

His song was stopped rather abruptly as the gem-eyed Pokémon spoke up, ruining his concentration. The Swablu blinked, glanced aside and looked back at the Pokémon. He felt quite bad, being insulted like that! But... He didn't really feel mad, more insecure was the better word here. He looked down at his feet, opening his beak to say something, but nothing really came out. It was... Pretty hard to come up with a counterargument, really!

The room seemed to grow brighter, but gained an odd purple tint as more Pokémon made their way into the room. It took a moment for the bird to notice it, but when he heard the fwoom of the flames... He did remember that his friend happened to be an Ice-type and ice really couldn't handle the heat well! Varda quickly snapped his head in the direction of four candle-like Pokémon bullying his hurt friend, not liking how Sova was being treated by these... Brutes!

The Swablu opened his wings and jumped into the air, and instead of charging at the Sableye, he instead went and swept down at the candle as he tried to make them stop their attack. Directing their attacks towards him was much better!

The sableye just chuckled as it watched the bird go try and help his friend. It purposely waited until the swablu was close to actually being able to do something about the flames before using its own ability of being a Prankster along with Double Team to get in front of the bird near-instantly, leaving behind an afterimage of itself. It immediately bolted for the swablu, its hands glowing once more with the dark aura from earlier. This time, it aimed to slash at the undersides of Varda's wings and cripple him while he'd exposed such weak areas in flight.

Sova found that standing was getting difficult inside the vortex as his body continued to heat up, his ice-armor completely melting away. However, since the fire was spinning upward, it was also helping to keep him upright, making standing less difficult of a task. He tried his best to pull himself out of the fire, but the flaming winds seemed to pull to the center, stopping him from being able to break out. This needed to stop.... but he could barely think from the confusion brought on by the pumpkaboo alone, the fire just made it that much harder! How could he possibly think of a way out of this situation with so many things distracting him!? So many.... painful.... things.

The glaceon's lightheadedness turned into a sensation of spinning as he heated up even further, with a feeling of fading from consciousness.... But.... so soon, from this type of attack? No.... was he really so weak that he could be dealt with this easily? Just as he began to doubt himself, he realized what was happening.... as a voice rang through his head. His, but.... evil-sounding. "I bet you're both gonna die if you don't let me help."

Varda flew closer, flapping his wings hard to build up some speed, wanting to get rid of the candle-things as fast as possible! With his one-track mind, it really was no wonder that he was attacked by something else while he was trying to concentrate on one thing. Another swipe of sharp claws came from underneath, causing the bird to lose control of his flight and drop down, crash landing on the floor. With a cough and a coo, he tried forcing himself back on his shaky feet. He had no time to rest now.

He flopped over and used his wings to push himself up, his breathing already turning heavier. Varda looked up, seeing that the candle-like Pokémon hadn't even been fazed by what he had tried to do... And the gem-eyed Pokémon was once again in his way. It was a bit frustrating, why couldn't they just... Attack one at a time or at least stop hurting someone who was already injured and couldn't do anything! This purple Pokémon with the gems in its eyes... It really wasn't letting him do anything! He was too slow trying to juggle so many Pokémon and couldn't even get close to any of them...

"H-Hang in there, Sova! Just a little bit longer," he chirped at his friend, spreading his aching wings. What else could they try to have in this situation if not hope? If the gem-eyed Pokémon didn't let him do anything, then he'd just... Have to deal with him first! Again the Swablu jumped, shooting out at the Sableye.

The sableye merely kept the grin on its face and stared as its opponent finally started focusing on it.  It waited until the last moment, just as the swablu was in its face before using its Prankster-boosted Double Team to sidestep mere inches away to the left, leaving an afterimage.  However, the afterimage was almost completely dissipated as it raised its right arm into the image, pointing its eerie-glowing claws at Varda.  It was planning on just having the swablu run right into its hand without really having to do much to attack, using his own momentum against him.

Sova began to feel his own heartbeat as the fire lit him up.... and shortly after, he began to hear it as well.  The sound of his friend's voice was muffled by the fire around him, but even the fire was soon tuned out by the rhythm of his heartbeat.  He would have thought he was going deaf if not for that one consistent sound.  Of course, he hadn't had his eyes open due to the fact that, y'know, FIRE HURTS, but he forced them open just a little bit to make sure the fire was still there.  Sure enough.... it was.... but it seemed he couldn't really hear anything he logically should have been hearing.  Then he heard something else.... yet another thing that he wasn't really supposed to be hearing.  The voice.

"Stop fighting it, you know you can't hold out.... you know you need me," the voice echoed through the glaceon's head as he felt his body grow heavier around him.
It was almost to the point that the fire's extra lift couldn't keep him up.... he knew he wasn't going to last.... but it wasn't himself he was worried about.  It was what.... the other one was going to do.  Would Varda be safe?  Maybe Varda was already in danger and needed helping, maybe just letting go was the only way to help?

(Going under the assumption Varda's using melee attacks, since it wasn't too clear to me.  Just correct me if I'm wrong and I can change the post, because I don't see the sableye trying to clothesline Varda if he's not actually coming toward it.)

Varda flew closer, tucking in his wings once he was close enough and had built enough speed to minimize the wind resistance, his sharp beak sticking out as he dove like an arrow. The air was pushing against the bird's chubby cheeks and dried out his eyes, forcing some tears to roll out of them as he grit his beak, preparing for the attack...

And like that, he passed through what he had thought to be the gem-eyed Pokémon as if it was just air. And it was just air, nothing but an illusion. The real gem-eyed Pokémon was right there, right next to it... In that moment when everything seemed to slow down, the Swablu could see it, his eyes glancing to his side just in time to make eye contact with the Pokémon. It was too late to stop now. He collided with the sharp claws again, feeling them sink into his flesh and rip through his skin like a hot knife through butter. Some of his light blue feathers were ripped off in tufts, something warm starting to pour down from his wounds, dripping to the floor.

But Varda fought to keep his balance and mind clear, spreading his wings so he could glide instead of fall back down. He swept past the gem-eyed Pokémon, using his gained speed to get as far away from it as possible. He needed some distance, he had to turn around and do it again... But getting close to the Pokémon had proved to be rather dangerous, he understood that now. But he was a bird and didn't really have a way to do that, did he?

There was a burning in his throat that wanted to get out, but it wasn't a sound this time. He didn't really know what it was, but... For some reason, he felt like it would help, like it would have to be released. So, he was going to! The wall was approaching and he had to prepare for the turn now, his wings starting to get in the correct position to steer him in the right way. A certain warmness rushed through the bird's body, though this one was a lot more pleasant than the earlier one caused by the purple imp-like thing. It was so nice in fact, that he couldn't help but close his eyes and smile, even though it was quite dangerous to do so considering that being able to see tended to be a very important thing in the whole flying thing. But Varda was just riding the moment. It felt right to do so, his body just doing its own thing and he let it, trusting that it would know what to do.

While he couldn't see it, his body glowed and grew. His wings felt stronger as he flapped them, making a U-turn in front of the wall and soaring right towards the Sableye. He could still feel the burning inside his neck, but it was... Bigger, now. The feeling, spread over a longer area, his whole neck. The bird opened his beady little eyes to look into the gems, his beak opening as he took in a good gasp of air and released a pulsing beam of energy, traveling from his mouth to the target in an instant.


((Oh yeah, sorry about that. Decided that Varda shouldn't really get his Dragon Pulse before he evolved because reasons or something, so he has been dealing with Peck forever. I hope you have some magical girl music.))

The sableye's grin merely widened slightly at another successful attack, this one being more.... brutal. By now it had basically decided that this swablu had no forms of ranged attack and thus, was playing rather recklessly to its presumed advantage of being able to force the bird into close combat. It turned to face its opponent, bolting forward just as the swablu turned back toward it. However, it was forced to stop as a sudden burst of light blinded it, forcing it to stop and cover its gem-eyes. The second the light subsided, it directed its gaze back to the swablu who.... had evolved? The surprise caught it off guard, but the bird was still far enough away for it to-

Before the sableye could gather what was happening and react to it, a beam of unspecified color blasted straight into its face, so suddenly it couldn't even move its arms to block. Being a lightweight, the force of the impact was enough to knock the sableye off its feet and send it tumbling backward for a few moments before sliding to a stop on its chest. However, after a moment to gather its bearings, it merely got right back up, the defensive bonuses it'd received earlier proving to be more than enough to absorb such a blast. Its grin had now faded, an agitated scowl taking its place.

The gremlin couldn't help but notice the vortex of fire in the room suddenly beginning to shift from orange to white before dissipating, but it paid no attention to that for now, trusting its goon squad to be able to subdue a crippled glaceon for long enough. Without speaking, it began rapidly dashing in circles around the newly evolved altaria, abruptly pausing between its dashing to create afterimages around the bird in a circle. The dashing would only be getting faster as it continued this, picking up momentum, so to speak.

Sova remained trapped by the vortex of fire, unable to escape and having no clue what was happening outside of the flames. This was it, he couldn't take it anymore, he was going to slip.... the trigger, he just couldn't ever seem to stop it. "Do I even want to stop it?," his last thought before black.
He hadn't passed out, though.... not exactly. A grin grew over the glaceon's face, coincidentally in sync with the sableye's grin fading.... but his was far more malevolent than the little imp's facial expressions could ever hope to be. Of course, it wasn't like anyone could possibly notice this coincidence, not even him - there was a fire blocking everyone from seeing that.

The glaceon's body temperature began to fight the fire as if his strength had suddenly doubled, and while it didn't form his icy armor, it began to freeze air particles in and around the fire. Of course, most of the little ice crystals melted instantly, but within moments, it began snuffing out the fire, creating large white lines of swirling snow and ice that grew in both number and size until the fire was completely smothered and replaced with a blizzard. Instead of actually doing anything with the blizzard, though, the glaceon merely stepped out of it and allowed it to dissipate, leaving the snow to fall to the ground in the small area it'd been condensed into.

His eerie, malevolent, thrilled, insane gaze was first directed down at his paw.... which he'd noticed didn't seem to be working correctly. He tried placing it on the ground, but it didn't seem to want to help hold him up. After moving it around a bit - or trying to - he realized it was.... broken? No.... merely dislocated. Well, that was an easy fix! The glaceon lifted his paw close to his mouth, but stopped as he felt an electrical surge jolt through his body. A mere Thunder Wave.... with the hopes that the intense static energy would make it difficult for him to move. However, he was actually still paralyzed in the first place, that hadn't changed, he was just ignoring it. Though the attack wouldn't have done much anyways.

No matter, he would deal with the drifloon who was attempting to subdue him after his paw. He bit onto it firmly - perhaps a bit too much so, drawing a bit of blood - and jerked his head to the side, snapping the bones back into place with an audible and cringe-worthy pop. However, he didn't seem fazed in the slightest by this. And of course, what better way to celebrate fixing an injury than to immediately put pressure on the paw? Of course, this would normally hurt, but it didn't seem to bother the glaceon in the slightest to put pressure on his relocated paw. It wasn't that it wasn't threatening to make the injury worse than it needed to be, it was just that it didn't hurt. Sova was no longer home, someone with much more control over things like the pain reflex of his body had taken over. He'd just have to be careful how much he used it....

(Holy shiiiiiiiiiitaki Varda bled. This deserves far more than just Magical Girl music. 'Ere you go m8.)

Varda had managed to keep most of his speed as he turned, so after he had fired the odd beam from his mouth, he was still heading straight at the gem-eyed Pokémon at rather fast speeds. His attack had managed to knock it off its feet, so it wasn't like he had to fly into it to do not... And it wasn't like he wanted to do that, either! He had seen what happened when he tried flying into the imp before, and he didn't want to get scratched again! Because of that, he flapped his wings to gain some height, having the advantage of flight on his side. He could stay away from the bully that way!

And now that he had the chance while the Pokémon was down... The familiar hazy mist started to be created by the bird's cloud-like wings, every flap spreading it further and further. The tiny, light particles billowed everywhere, falling down slowly and twinkling in the light of the candles – both the ones on the walls and the candle-like Pokémon with their purple little flames. Once the icy haze had disappeared from around him and pushed further down towards the floor, Varda fluffed his own white plumage and blue feathers to strengthen them towards attacks.

Once again he came to the other wall, turning around and making another swoop at the Pokémon with gems for eyes. He couldn't completely ignore it, oh no... Otherwise it might start bullying Sova, and that was a bad thing! Speaking of his friend, it seemed like the Glaceon had managed to get up! This made the bird smile happily, his eyes lighting up with bright sparks.
"Sova! Are you fine, Sova?"



((Nooo but he's a magical girl. Here's a legit magical girl transformation song, now he's the prettiest of them all.))