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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.

The sableye stopped and looked around in confusion as mist fell around it, causing all of its carefully placed afterimages to immediately fade away. It immediately dashed away at its rapid speed, leaving behind another afterimage that was immediately dissipated as the mist reached that area. Its hopes were to get far away then taunt the bird again to get him to stop making the haze, but a sudden painful blast of cold hitting its side like a bullet caused it to stop before it could even try. It tumbled to the ground, baffled as to why the attack hurt so much. Its defensive boost was still active, it hadn't touched the mist! However, that soon changed as the attack kept it on the ground long enough for the mist to cover it completely.

The gremlin growled as it heard its foes seemingly confident enough to strike up a conversation in the middle of a battle. Despite how much it was currently hurting, it pulled itself to its feet and put both of its arms out to its sides, the dark glow once more forming around its hands as it waited for the now much more threatening bird to attack.

Sova.... was not home at the moment, thus the glaceon gave no answer. Instead, he responded by giving some light assistance in the form of blowing a streak of Frost Breath toward the sableye with precision accuracy, hitting like a bullet with an audible impact. Of course, the defensive bonuses to the enemy didn't matter with this attack, it simply burned right through a foe's defenses. With the "light" assistance out of the way, he then turned his attention to the rest of the enemies, specifically, the little candle-crew. They tried to channel their combined power once more as he slowly walked toward them, being considerate enough to his own body to hold his injured paw up and not put needless pressure on it. As the ring of fire appeared around him, snow once more began to swirl, putting it out just as the fire began erupt.

A pure-black orb then formed in front of the glaceon's face, the Shadow Ball being even more powerful than usual due to Ghost typing being added onto him. However, the power spike wasn't really visible in the orb itself.... it looked black, like normal. No, the power spike became evident when he fired it at one of the litwick and the massive explosion enveloped all four of the little critters, knocking them all out at once. The dark clouds even managed to knock Varda's haze away and reach so far as to envelop the glaceon, effectively cloaking him from view. However, the cloaking didn't last very long, as he immediately bolted out of the shadowy energy-debris, this time using his still-injured paw to help move. Ice flash-froze around his body and sped him up as he ran, looking darker than normal along with the rest of his body.

What was he running toward? The two drifloon, of course. The one who'd been trying to paralyze him in specific. It once more sent a surge of static electricity at him, a Thunder Wave, but he merely took the attack and completely ignored it before ramming the living balloon, slamming it into the wall behind it and literally breaking a hole in said wall, sending the drifloon through the wall and into whatever was on the other end as well ask knocking it out. To his disappointment, when he turned to look at the next drifloon, it seemed it'd fled into the walls or floor while he wasn't looking.

(And now we get to never talk about what took place here again. Specifically, Varda bleeding and magical girls.)

Varda flapped his wings as he swooped around the room and turned to face the gem-eyed Pokémon again. The icy particles had stopped falling from his feathers already, the topmost part of the room clearing out first as the rest of the haze continued to fall slowly until it would eventually land on the floor and melt away completely. He never got a reply to his question from the Glaceon, but Sova was currently walking and well, attacking, so maybe he was feeling a bit better now. His fur had still that odd stained dark looked to it, but he was looking better! Of course, Varda was still feeling a bit like Sova wasn't supposed to do all this just yet...

"Be careful, Sova!" He called out as he moved to look at the purple imp creature on the ground, his eyes narrowing slightly. The bird stopped flapping his wings, no longer needing more speed or height. This time the gem-eyed Pokémon was just standing there rather than moving fast like it always tried to! Varda could feel the burn in his throat again, swooping in closer and firing yet another blast of the odd laser-beam thing his mouth seemed to be able to shoot now! And another! They were rather quick in the way they came out, the bird didn't even seem to feel like they had to be charged up or anything!


((But love (and peace) will always find a way.))

The sableye knew trying to use Double Team wasn't really going to do much with the effects of the haze around, and thus didn't even bother.  It was well-aware that at this point, it was possible that it wouldn't win, but it would at least take out one of them!  Given it was prepared for the blasts now, it just barely managed to step out of the way of the first blast to the right.  The second, however, managed to hit its arm and with the prior defensive power it'd held gone, the attack burned this time.  It couldn't help but grab onto its left arm from the attack, but now it was where it wanted to be!  Right between the altaria and the glaceon, so that if the bird tried to do that annoying attack again, it could dodge and cause the icy fox to be hit instead!

"Go ahead, fire again.  But if I move in time, you'll be aiming at him.... and I don't think he can move quite as well as me at the mo- AAHK," the sableye began speaking, hoping to stop its enemy from attacking.
Maybe it could get away, or if the altaria still attacked, at least it could give them both a hard time.  But multiple sharp pains in its back suddenly stopped the gremlin mid-speech brought it to its knees, followed by another pain, this time in its already-injured left arm.  It swung the glowing black claws of its free arm at whatever was now holding onto the left one, to find.... the glaceon, who'd somehow managed to reach it in such a short time.  It smacked its hand into the glaceon's face, but found that the creature's fur seemed to have a sheet of ice around it, too tough to break through!

The sableye looked back forward at the fluffy blue bird, now seeming a bit panicked as it seemed to be in a no-win situation.

The glaceon merely ignored the words of his "friend" once more, because Sova wasn't currently here, so he didn't have to answer!  Since he was in a nice mood, he decided to watch Varda fight for a moment, being willing to give the altaria a moment in the spotlight.  But then when the enemy tried to use him to threaten the bird.... well.... he just couldn't help himself.  He bolted forward while the sableye was so cocky as to leave its back turned to him and slammed into it, his ice-spiked body digging into its back and causing it to fall to its knees.  Before it could move to run or fall away from the spikes, he bit onto its left arm and pulled it back, keeping the little pest close to him.  He then waited, giving the altaria a perfect chance to hit the little munchkin directly in its exposed face and chest.  It didn't really matter to him if the attack hurt him too.... it wasn't like he would be the one having to deal with that.

(If Varda gets hurt too bad and goes RIP in pepperoni, the world will lose about 300% of its love and peace.)

Varda's eyes were full of determination, his beamy thing actually hitting the bully Pokémon! That was great, if it meant it was going to stop. But then... Then the gem-eyed Pokémon taunted him, causing the bird to doubt again. If one thing was true, it was that this nasty Pokémon was very fast, and he could have accidentally really hit Sova in this position... And he couldn't do that! He never would! It was a bad thing to do, a horrible thing.

But the imp wasn't allowed to move, as Sova suddenly came forth and bit the Pokémon's arm, holding it still! It was a really surprising thing, and Varda didn't know if he liked having his friend this close – after all, being closer to the fight meant he risked being hurt, either by the gem-eyed Pokémon or even him, in case he misfired! There was no time to say anything, however. All this time, the bird Pokémon had been flying closer without trying to steer himself or fly higher, so deep in his thought as he tried to figure out what to do... That when he realized what was happening, he was already right in front of the blue gems, staring straight into them.

The bird crashed against the imp – and there had been a time when he had been light, fluffy and quite harmless, but now... Well, for his size, the Pokémon was still light of course, as he had to fly. But he was much bigger and heavier now, his added bulk making the impact quite the bit more than what it used to be just a moment ago. Varda chirped, bumping right into the gem-eyed Pokémon and somersaulting over it, landing on his belly on the floor behind.


((But because Varda actually is LOVE and PEACE, and as you can't actually kill those things, Varda is now actually immortal.))

The glaceon looked over the sableye, whom he was expecting to be blasted with a Dragon Pulse any second, to see why said Dragon Pulse was not happening. Then he saw Varda flying straight toward them, as opposed to just hitting it from far away. He braced for the impact and managed to hold himself up, though the sableye, who'd actually taken the attack, didn't fare nearly as well. It screamed in pain as it was pressed between the bird and an icy pincushion, with the ice around the glaceon's body managing to dig into the gremlin's back from the force. The being in Sova's place merely chuckled to himself at this, not at all disappointed in the outcome despite it not being what he intended.

The glaceon made sure to keep low as Varda flew over the sableye and thus, himself as well. He didn't even wait for his ally to get up off the ground before releasing the arm of the injured sableye and starting up asking disturbing questions. "So, do I kill him now, or do you wanna play with him more first?," he asked, looking back at the altaria with his insane smile.
He wasn't really willing to take "neither" for an answer, though he was willing to let Varda have a bit more fun with the opponent, if the bird so pleased. The two were supposed to be friends, after all.... and friends.... share.

(Love and piece can die, you just need enough hate and war. Aaah, good ol' hate and war.)

Varda slammed against the floor, the air rushing out of his lungs from the impact. Well, it was a rather rough landing, but... It worked, he supposed! Slowly, the bird wiggled on the ground, moving his wings to push himself off the ground and putting his feet in the right position to stand properly. His head was feeling a bit dizzy and something felt a bit off, but he was concentrating more on the gem-eyed Pokémon. It seemed like that little crash landing had hurt him, which wasn't nice, but... Maybe it would teach it a lesson?

The bird Pokémon didn't even seem to believe like Sova's question was serious – or at least he wasn't shocked. He just shook his head, disagreeing with the idea of killing Pokémon because that was just bad and wrong and everything. They wouldn't do something like that.
"We're not going to kill anyone. We have a really important job, Sova! The evil thingy music boxy," Varda reminded his friend so now that they didn't have a reason to not move on, they shouldn't waste more time.


((No, LOVE and PEACE will beat hate and war.))

The sableye was actually beginning to worry quite a lot about its own safety, the prior confidence being suddenly lost as it realized it was at the mercy of someone who had no mercy.  The next realization of the gremlin was that if it wanted to live and the glaceon wasn't bluffing, it would have to appeal more to the altaria.  "Listen to your friend, I'm no longer a threat," it spoke up, trying to stay calm and at least keep its dignity.
It then tried to stand up, only to have a fresh wave of pain come from its left arm as the glaceon once more latched onto it, eliciting a pained whine.

The glaceon completely ignored his victim's plea, though he finally decided to acknowledge the name "Sova," sort of.
As he stared at Varda with his crazy smile, he gave an eerily slow and robotic shake of his head before speaking up once more, this time making his dark, malevolent tone clear. "Sova isn't home, please leave a message," he stated before biting onto the sableye's left arm once more as it tried to get up.

He didn't stop there, though.  Oh, no, he had said he was going to kill it and he intended to keep to his word!  He spun the rather light creature around in a single circle by its arm before releasing and throwing it into the far wall, on the opposite side of Varda to make sure the altaria couldn't interfere.  Then, to make the creature fly further, he took in a quick breath and blew out a shot of frost at it, the resulting impact causing the sableye to fly into the far wall with very audible cracking sounds.  It was the old wall of the house cracking, though, not the sableye.  He then began a slow walk toward the wall as the now-unconscious sableye fell to the floor.

(Lets test that.  How much Varda does it take to bring Sova back?)

Varda nodded a couple of times, agreeing with the gem-eyed Pokémon's words. You were just... Kind of supposed to slap a bully around if they were picking on someone smaller and weaker than them, right? And then they would learn and everything would be fine! But Sova was still biting – and actually seemed to just bite down harder as the imp-like creature let out a cry of pain. This wasn't something the bird could just accept like that.
"Sovaa," he chirped to his friend's off response, not liking how he wasn't taken seriously here or something! This was a bad time for jokes.

And then Sova just threw the imp-like Pokémon, the poor thing just... Splatting against the far wall! The wall even cracked a bit, some bits and pieces coming loose and falling on the floor with a clatter alongside the limp body of their previous bully. That was enough already!
"We don't have much time, Sova!" Varda called out, spreading his wings and using them to give him enough lift to jump over the Ice-type Pokémon, landing in front of him.


((0.3))

The glaceon's maniacal smile slowly faded as he was suddenly blocked from clear view of his victim, also having his path blocked at the same time.  To make matters worse, he was still being called Sova..... well, he was going to fix this, right now.  "I am not your dear friend.... and I have a name.  S.S," he spoke in his usual hostile tone, glaring at the altaria with a very unfriendly demeanor.
He wanted to make it very clear that he was not the pathetic weakling Varda kept referring to.

Really, S.S. much preferred the idea of finishing off the sableye to engaging in idle chatter, but it didn't seem he had a choice.  He knew Sova would just fight him harder if he did something like that, which was really the only reason he restrained himself.  Still, he really felt the altaria needed a reality check, so he'd just have to settle for giving some information about himself.  He suspected from his shared memories with his weaker half that even an honest explanation would bring about a negative reaction from Varda.... Varda was the name of this bird, right?

Varda blinked slowly as Sova spoke up – claiming to not be Sova! It was very confusing to say the least, but then he tried to remember... Didn't Sova say something about this...? Ah, yes, something! He didn't understand it back now and he didn't think he understood now either, but... He didn't think Sova would lie or something!
"Um... Hello, Esses! I'm Varda!" He chirped, clearly not quite understanding the situation, but doing his best to try to figure something out. And be polite, of course.

It was a rather awkward meeting, and first the bird just stood there staring at the Glaceon with his usual simple smile on his face. Then he figured that he probably should try to bring it in the direction he wanted!
"Do you um, know why we're here?" Varda asked, tilting his head in the other direction, his long feathers flopping to the other side,
"We had to find the uh, thingy before anyone else did, so we can stop it," he continued, not really waiting for this not-Sova to reply. They were in a hurry, after all – and the bird felt like it would be better to distract this person so he wouldn't do what he wanted to do.

Balancing on just one foot, Varda used his talons to open up his bag and dug out a couple of the odd mechanical pieces. This Esses fellow might like to see them too!
"And we might need to find all of these..."

S.S. decided to humor the bird and just listen for a moment instead of immediately getting back to seeing how strong a sableye's bones are.  He couldn't help but feel a bit underestimated as the altaria seemed to feel the need to explain things to him like he didn't already know; it was SOVA who had trouble with remembering things.  "Yes, I know your name and I know all about your little adventure, we have co-consciousness.... well, I do, he's too weak-minded.  Anyway, your reason for being here's not mine," he responded before turning back toward the sableye and continuing his march.

"This is my reason for being here," he continued as he walked along, referencing the sableye who was already unconscious and really didn't need any more beating.
But who ever said he did it because he needed to?  Well.... he didn't really know if he needed to, actually, as he'd never really had to not brutally beat something for an extended period of time.  Fighting and negative emotion were the only triggers for his release, after all, so he always got to hit something.... well, except for one isolated case, but that didn't last long.

Despite claiming the reason for his weaker half being here was none of his business, though, he was actually quite looking forward to it.  Specifically, he was looking forward to Sova getting absolutely wrecked and having to let him have a turn with whatever was behind this.  Oh, that was something he DEFINITELY wanted to be a part of!  ....Okay, maybe violence was an all-encompassing addiction to him, but if he didn't exist, all of his very clear issues would have been pushed onto Sova.

(Turn the Varda up to 0.4.)

Varda didn't seem to be at all upset when he was told that the odd Pokémon knew everything already and his explanations were rather useless. In fact, he seemed to be rather happy! If they both knew what was going on, that would make everything much easier. It would be kind of difficult to try to explain everything – but he honestly wouldn't even mind! But the bird's expression did change as the Glaceon started to move towards the gem-eyed Pokémon again, not looking like he was listening.

He spread his wings and jumped into the air, soaring in front of Esses and landing on the floor as gracefully as he could, his wings then folded against his sides to rest.
"Oh but, it is your reason too!" He chirped, blocking the Pokémon's path with his body and putting the odd pieces of broken machinery back into his bag. If Esses really did know everything, then he should know their reason – and it was very important for everyone!
"Things are um, really bad in there! If we don't do this, I don't know what will happen... We could still stop it, they said. But if we don't, what if... The whole world goes dark!"


((You fool, no one can survive that much Varda!))

S.S. tried to maneuver around the large bird blocking his path to get at the sableye, only to have Varda jump right back in front of him and block his way once more. He made an agitated frown at the altaria's continued blockading, really wishing he knew diplomacy right about now. His diplomacy was to hit things really hard, and if it didn't work, he just hit them harder. He'd still have to try, though. "I already said I don't care. Right now, what I care about is that sableye, and if the whole world falls apart because of it.... well, that's just a bonus," he explained, though he was a bit dishonest, as his views weren't quite that dark.

Sure, everyone going insane would mean more things attacking Sova and more free time for himself as a result, but what if he.... or.... Sova was affected? However, he didn't really see how taking a few moments to finish his playtime would cause that to happen. Maybe a few more innocents would be affected, but why exactly was it his place to care about the bad luck of some random individuals? Besides, it wasn't like violent insanity was the worst possible thing that could happen to someone.... why, he was a shining example of how.... fun it could be. Or was he even really insane? Probably.

(Desperate times call for desperate measures!)

Oh no, it didn't seem to be working. Varda wasn't getting through this Pokémon, it was difficult to do anything with those who just didn't seem to be caring! But one thing was very worrisome: being fine with the world ending or falling apart. That made the little bird's expression turn a bit more serious, more stern. That wasn't good! It would hurt Sova – and this Esses fellow, too! It could happen to them all, it would be really, really bad!

The fluffy white feathers on the bird's wings landed on the Ice-type Pokémon, brushing against the Glaceon's shoulders lightly. Only a little bit of pressure was added as the appendages weren't exactly like hands, but they were currently trying to emulate the same kind of touch.
"There's no us without the world, either!" He chirped, but the smile soon returned on his face. His eyes were calm and gentle again as they looked at the Pokémon in front of them full of hopeful brightness, his head tilting slightly.
"Look, the door that opened is still there..."


((But he would explode!))

S.S. became immensely uncomfortable as the altaria suddenly touched him for some reason, with the annoying cheery expression of the altaria disappearing for just a moment as it happened.  The glaceon gave a.... rather emotionless face, only really showing a bit of surprise.  However, when Varda's face turned back to that happy, cheery.... thing, he just.... slipped.  Black.  The close look at the bird's face coupled with being physically TOUCHED by said bird was enough to trigger a personality shift, though perhaps they would have just been better off with S.S. sticking around for a while.

Sova only really got a moment to stare at his friend's face, his mouth beginning to open slightly in shock and confusion at seeing an altaria.  Then his eyes began to squint, as if he was having trouble staying awake.  Then came the pain.  His injuries hadn't just magically disappeared, in fact his inconsiderate counterpart's behavior had worsened the immediate pain of his injuries.... a lot.  The first thing he noticed was intense pain in his injured paw, but before he could even lift it, the rest of the pain and exhaustion hit him like what could only be described remotely close to something else as a very powerful jolt of electricity.  Tears began to fall down his face from the agony he was feeling, just as he abruptly fell forward, completely losing consciousness.

Injuries were something S.S. had the ability to ignore, to an extent at least, due to having control over his.... or their body's pain reflex, being able to completely shut it off.  He could also negate exhaustion due to also having control over adrenaline release.  He'd been created to protect Sova's mind and body from things he couldn't handle, after all.  However, this didn't just magically remove injuries and exhaustion, it simply.... displaced them for a time, and Sova had never once to date been strong enough to tolerate the intense strain and agony put on his body from such things.  However, this time was the worst by a considerable margin, as no previous switch had resulted in so much injury and such a high requirement of adrenaline.

(He as in Varda?  Or the unhinged glaceon?  Or BOTH?  Side note, I feel like my last paragraph should have been shortened to some OOC explanation, but I'unno, it just felt right being in-character.)