Body and Mind.... are Fragile Things

Sova struggled to hush his own laughter, ending up collapsing to the ground as the pain from the attacks he'd taken suddenly hit him.  On the bright side, this made it difficult to laugh, so it was easier to stop himself from doing so now.  He just sat there, catching his breath and laying in his own pain and misery....  The burning feeling inside of him.... had been toned down.  He could now think.... almost straight.  He stared at his work as he tried to gather his thoughts; what was he supposed to do now?  ....Right, Mirage.  MIRAGE, was she alive!?

Then he heard the voice of the charmander, stating to have found Mirage.  He pushed to lift himself off the ground, no longer caring about his exhaustion, and jumped off the ledge he was on without even looking down to see how far it was.  He landed on his paws rather ungracefully with a bit of a stumble just as the lizard spoke once more, stating Mirage was breathing, and it relieved him to no end.  Suddenly, the intense burning was gone and he felt clear and sane.... and the pain felt a bit more.... vivid.  But that last part wasn't important right now!

"Oh, sh-she's alri-!?" he frantically questioned as he rushed over to see the zoroark.
....No, she was definitely not alright.  Not alright, but alive.  He frantically looked over his friend, immediately spotting a pretty severe-looking bite wound on one of her arms.  He reached his paw up to his neck and between the two ribbons he wore, pulling off the outer one, which was a light blue Guild ribbon.  He liked covering up the girly Joy ribbon with it, but Mirage's safety was far more important than his own fashion.

Suddenly, he was actually focused, and he no longer seemed like a depressed drone nor a psychotic monster.  "Lift her arm for me," he spoke clearly, expecting the lizard to help him.
However, he wasn't calm and this was something he wasn't trying to hide.  His voice was audibly shaky, but rather than a mixture of sadness and mania, this time.... it was just out of fear.  Mirage seemed pretty badly hurt....  He didn't want to lose her.  If given the option, he'd be willing to give up his own life for Mirage, and he doubted said life would even be worth living without her around.  He would feel like a complete failure in every possible way and he doubted he'd ever really feel joy again.

Mirage: 14 despite her current condition
Garnet: loliateareviverseedsovacarryme 19

The charmander watched as the glaceon approached the limp zoroark. The charmander had seen the bite as well, it was a nasty one as well. The glaceon had the right idea, however, and Garnet hurried to help lift the large arm, struggling to do so since the zoroark was so much bigger than him. Once the ribbon was placed under the arm, he lowered it softly before moving to tie it. He figured the glaceon would have issues tying the knot with paws, so he took it upon himself to get the job done.

"If you hurt her, I break you." The glaceon warned. The charmander only paused mid-tie to give the glaceon a blank and unamused stare. He was not intimidated in the slightest, though he likely should have been considering the display he had performed earlier with the hydreigon.

"Calm yourself Princess, I've done this before," he commented, remembering what Jaden's parents had done when Jaden was badly beaten. Once the wound was properly tended to, the charmander spoke up, "Seems like she got beat up pretty badly. Got any berries or something? If not we could scrounge around see what we can find down here. It's a temporary fix, but it's not good for a permanent solution. If you guys are going to fight some big baddy it would probably be best to wait until-Mirage was it?- is back on her feet."

Mirage's body was limp, obviously unconscious as her mind forced itself so in order to recover. If she were to wake, she would likely feel extreme pain and agony with every movement. Good thing her mind didn't want her to wake up.

Energy: Enough, trust me.

The charmander helped without any fuss, which was appreciated by Sova. However, when the lizard moved to finish tying the ribbon around the wound, he grew.... a bit defensive. Tying things was always difficult for him given his paws, but that didn't mean he trusted someone else to touch a badly injured Mirage. "If you hurt her, I break you," he threatened.... and honestly, he wasn't sure if it was just a hollow threat.
Mirage meant pretty much everything to him, after all.

The charmander responded by calling him "Princess," which he didn't quite appreciate, but he was pretty sure he'd made his point even if his new.... friend wasn't afraid of him. He watched idly as the charmander tied off the wound, and in his search for some way to stop being helpless, he began looking through his bag. When the fire-lizard asked if he had any berries, he was already looking for anything he had that could help, so that didn't really change his course of action. It didn't take long for him to find an Oran berry. As he did so, however, he got a good look at his front legs and noticed something.

Red.

He had blood on him. He was fairly certain it wasn't his own, but it kind of made him feel.... bad. He had blood stained on his fur in several places, the most prominent of which being his tail. But for now, he needed to ignore this in favor of helping his friend. "Making someone eat things while unconscious is generally a bad idea," he voiced doubts about giving Mirage a berry.
He felt an extreme need to be overly careful due to who it was in question here. At the same time, he also felt rushed; Mirage's injuries were severe and he feared what could come of waiting too long.

Taking mirage with him.... had been a terrible idea. He should have just gone alone.

"I know," Garnet spoke, "It's a good thing you're not unconscious," the charmander spoke, making it a bit clearer who he was talking about. "Berries aren't going to help this," he pointed to the wounds on Mirage, "But they can help that," the charmander pointed at Sova's fur, "All of that can't just be f*ckboy's blood."

The charmander crossed his arms, staring at the glaceon, "I'm going to go see if I can find anything of use since you can't see in the dark, and I doubt I could protect her as much as you can," Garnet spoke, not giving Sova a chance to respond. The charmander had decided that he liked the glaceon considering him a friend. Currently, his friend's friend had gotten hurt trying to save the both of them from being blasted by the dragon type the friend had killed, so he had decided that he would help his friend's friend. The zoroark likely meant a lot to the glaceon, so Garnet was going to help as much as he could.

(Dammit sova list your energy)

Sova followed the charmander's pointing idly, beginning to understand that it wasn't Mirage in question here. But he.... he didn't need any berries. It didn't matter if he body hurt; Mirage was the only concern right now! His gaze fell upon himself as the charmander pointed at him. He looked over his body for any wounds, but honestly, it was hard to tell if any of the blood was his. Still, even if he had any noteworthy injuries, it didn't matter, He wasn't worried about himself at all and he'd taken plenty of far worse beatings before and come out alive.

The charmander spoke once more, seeming to take the leading role among the two of them. That was fine, as Sova hated leading anyway, but it was kind of odd to be led by a tiny lizard. He didn't really get a chance to respond before the charmander wandered off to get.... he didn't really know what. But he didn't mind being alone with Mirage, even if Mirage was a bit less-than-capable of talking at the moment. He decided to lay down in front of the zoroark as he waited, hoping she would be alright. Once the light of the fire faded into the distance, he decided to speak despite knowing Mirage couldn't hear him right now.

"Don't die.... okay?"

He then took his necklace off with a paw and gently put it around Mirage's wrist. For some reason, he felt like maybe this would help. He hadn't died with this necklace in his possession, so maybe.... it would somehow help Mirage? Honestly, it was merely the only way he could think of to delude himself into a feeling of security. "I'm lending this to you.... So now you can't die, because you have to give it back," he stated.

(It's like 50 or something, there, I did it. Sort of.)

The darkness surrounded the small source of light, acting almost like a beacon in the darkness. It was another reason he had decided to walk away from the group. He was practically a living target in the darkness. They were in no condition to fight, and he was not going to drag them into a dangerous battle just because he was incapable of snuffing his tail out without dying. He was completely on his own now in the darkness, and he was well aware of the chance that he might not be able to go back. The charmander continued on with a rather relaxed position, not fearful or even nervous as he searched about with his little tail flame for something that could be of assistance.

The zoroark remained as motionless as a statue save for her faint breathing. The necklace was laid on her paw, however nothing resulted of it. She was off in a different kind of land of darkness as the light in the distance turned to a spec. The two were left in the darkness, the dark sky above providing no light to the deep dark dungeon that they had made the mistakes of entering.
Mirage:

Kat carried out 5 launched of one Obsidian Rift :

, , , ,

Garnet:

Kat carried out 5 launched of one Obsidian Rift :

, , , ,

With the light getting further and further away, vision was being heavily restricted to the glaceon. He couldn't see anything, not even Mirage, who was still right in front of him. Then again, it didn't help that the zoroark blended in with the darkness. "....How the f*ck would I get through here alone?" he questioned idly to himself as he waited, hoping for his friend to wake up.
If he didn't have a Dark-type with good night vision and a living lantern with him, traversing this place would surely be very difficult. Right now.... he was basically alone, without either of the other two to help him. If anything happened to him.... he'd be in trouble.

Of course, he still had his ears which worked better than the average ears, but that didn't really change the handicap from being down a sense. Sure, it helped a bit, but at most, he would only be able to hear what was moving. How would he hear a WALL coming? He couldn't echolocate. And while he could probably hear an enemy approaching and get a good idea of where it was, he would have no way of knowing what it was or what it would do. In fact, he wouldn't even be able to tell friend from foe unless they spoke up.

Lost in his own thoughts, Sova stopped paying attention to the environment around him. What point was there when he couldn't see anything? If something was going to hit him, he probably wasn't going to be moving out of the way.

Lord E V carried out 5 launched of one Obsidian Rift :

, , , ,

The charmander had collected a Special Band, Apple, Blast Seed, and an Oran Berry after a quick bit of searching. While the apple and seed weren't particularly useful, the special band could be used to replace the bandages for the bite after a while. He was beginning to think he should turn back, when the a scratching sound caught his attention. Garnet froze, concentrating and focusing on where he had heard the sound from. It was beyond his light's reach, whatever it was it was staying in the darkness. The lizard glared in the general direction before speaking up, "Who's there?" he demanded.

Back at the mound of fur with a blind glaceon, a light was slowly approaching from the opposite direction Garnet had left. The light quickly snuffed itself out before Sova could see it. It was silent for a brief moment, before there was a brief snap and suddenly the entire area around the glaceon and zoroark was illuminated with a bright blue flame that simply stood there, flickering like an eternal fire in the middle of the air. If the glaceon were to look up, he would spot two Dusknoir staring down at him and the zoroark.

There was silence, before finally one of them spoke with a masculine voice, "We should help."
The other one spoke, this one more feminine than the other, "I'd rather have entertainment"
"C'mooooon let's help, i'm tired of being a d*ck to strangers," the male complained.
"But i'm bored!" the female huffed.
"You can not be bored by helping them."
"But I want to hit something..."
"I want to hit something too hun, but look at them, do you really think they'll put up much of a fight? One's practically dead, and the other looks almost dead...and he's so cuuuute look at those ears!"
"He's covered in blood he's the opposite of cute."
The two ghosts seemed to go on and on without paying any attention to what Sova might be saying on the matter.

Sova just laid there waiting idly for something to happen, hoping to see the charmander's flame come back into existence.  Suddenly, there was a flame, but it was definitely not the one he'd been expecting.  He jumped to his paws and back away from the sudden light, looking up at it and trying to let his eyes focus in on it.  After being in pure darkness, his eyes had attempted to adjust to it and the sudden light was not treating him well.  He could make out what appeared to be two.... dusknoir above him, and while his vision wasn't doing fantastic at the moment, his hearing was working just fine.  From the sounds of it, one wanted to attack him.... and the other didn't.

"Hey, I can hear you, y'know," he spoke up about halfway through the two dusknoir rambling, but he got no response.
They just kept on talking, and he honestly began to feel a bit objectified by the way they were talking about him.  He couldn't put up a fight??  "Hey!" he tried to speak once more to get the attention of the two, but to no avail.

"This isn't my blood, it's a hydreigon's!!" he exclaimed, feeling like his pride was under attack.
He still wasn't quite sure if any of the blood was his, but he knew for certain that most of it wasn't, at least.  What in the world was wrong with these two ghosts?  It was like he was just a toy or something in their eyes.  One thing he knew for certain was that he didn't want help from the likes of them even if they decided to give it to him.

.... Oh.... but.... Mirage.  Mirage needed help so very badly....  He would have to put his ego aside for that.  His own well-being was one thing, but he couldn't trade the safety of his friends for his own ego.



Meanwhile in the land of cocky charmander, there was a silent pause in the air.  The scratching had completely stopped, and for a moment, there was no response.  Then, a scratchy, quiet voice spoke back: "Who's there?"
It seemed to mimic Garnet's tone, as if it were taunting him.

"A dragon slayer now is he?" the female spoke up in more of a mocking tone, "That just makes me want to hit him moooore," the female complained, looking to the male as if begging him to allow her to fight the glaceon.
"I want to help them, go find something else to hit," the male spoke up, floating down a bit more so now he was on ground level with the two. The female followed him, both of them floating just above a boulder as if they were seated upon it.
"It's no fun alone," the female pouted, crossing her large arms and hunching over. She seemed to finally submit to the other dusknoir's desires, and cease all talk about harming the glaceon.
"Also yes we know you can hear us, we just don't care," the male finally spoke directly to the glaceon, "Look, your friend doesn't look too good there. My fiance and I can help, and I would like to offer a hand to help. You see, I know a move known as Pain Split that could help your friend out. It's going to be agonizingly painful on my part, but I'm willing to go through it to help a fellow out...that and I can just use Rest to heal myself right back up."
"Show off," the female snorted playfully, giving the male a soft hit with her elbow in his stomach.

Garnet stared into the darkness with a rather annoyed looking expression as the pokemon simply mimicked his question. Quite obviously there was someone there, and they were toying with him. The charmander spoke up, "Nope," before turning around and beginning the walk back to the group. He was not going to deal with the voice's nonsense, it would just make him want to seriously maim it most likely. The fire type's tail waved behind him as he turned, beginning the walk back.

Sova hesitated to respond to the two dusknoir.  He really wasn't a big fan of either of them, and if it were his own life on the line, he would have turned down their help in a heartbeat, but this wasn't about him.  It was about Mirage and he had no right to turn down someone else's offer to help her.  As annoying as the two ghosts were, and as much as he wanted to.... explain a few things, to the female one in specific, he was going to put it all aside for Mirage.  He looked over to his battered friend and sighed, then looked down at his paws with a sad expression.  It was his fault she was like this, wasn't it?  Instead of helping sooner, he'd just sat there like a braindead ball of depression.

"....If it were me, I wouldn't accept your help.  But.... that's not my choice to make," he spoke clearly, then looked up to the two ghosts.
"She means everything to me.  If you can help her, I ask that you do."



"Nope," came the mocking once more, from what sounded like the same voice.
However, this time, it was from the opposite direction, where the charmander was now heading.  Perhaps with the lack of sight, it could appear to be just one very determined prankster, but in reality, there were two.

Garnet had heard the second mocking tone, however he did not acknowledge it. The charmander simply kept on his path continuing ahead with a steady pace. He would continue to do so unless they decided to attack him or try to block his path. If they tried to block his path, he would simply go around them. The mysterious voices failed to creep him out or even tick him off from his outer appearance. What was the saying? Oh yeah...don't feed the trolls.

"You see, that's adorable," the male spoke, giving a huff and gesturing to the glaceon with a broad sweep of his large hand. The female merely shook her head exasperatedly before the male approached Mirage. This was most definitely going to hurt...
The dusknoir took a deep breath, a purple light glowing around him as the mouth on his stomach began to open. As it opened, a vast purple smog billowed out and coated the zoroark before wrapping around her as if it were a coating. The dusknoir tensed up suddenly as the glow between the two suddenly grew brighter. Holy shit this hurt! The dusknoir could not help but to unleash a muffled agonized cry, but it was over in a matter of minutes. Many wounds had appeared on the dusknoir, the ghost type suddenly exhausted.
"Hoo boy..." the exhaustion was obvious in its voice, "That...I uh...need a rest..." it spoke before collapsing onto the ground and becoming cloaked in a blue friendly looking aura that seemed to be working to heal the wounds.
The female rolled her eye, "He'll be back up in a few minutes, not sure about your friend though."

Sova was.... confused. The two dusknoir were helping him, yet he didn't feel particularly thankful. He felt objectified and insulted, but how could he possibly be mad at someone who'd just helped Mirage? He was not "cute" or "adorable," he was not some harmless plush toy, he was a warrior and a member of a Guild!! One of the two ghosts had insistently called him cute, while the other had flaunted strength over him.... It made him want to break both of them, it made him want to find out of dusknoir had bones and snap all of them in two.... He.... he....

....What was he thinking? Was this him.... was it.... really how he was? Was he truly only good at being violent and hateful? If this was his nature.... his very essence and purpose in life.... Maybe he was the alter-ego. Maybe it was he who was the split personality, the fractured part of his brain trying to compensate for his own weaknesses.... Maybe S.S. was the "real" one, the appropriate result of the life he'd led.... He.... didn't want to be like that anymore. As the male dusknoir fell asleep, he decided to speak up, completely ignoring what the female had just said to him about Mirage.

"....You.... you shouldn't live like that. A life of violence will backfire sooner or later. If you'd decided to attack me.... If you keep living like that, your luck will eventually run out," he spoke, doing his absolute best to give his warning without coming off like he was trying to be threatening or insulting.
He wanted to try doing some good in the world, spreading something positive instead of spreading the plague of violence.
"And even if it doesn't.... you'll...." he muttered, trying to continue, but he trailed off.

What he'd wanted to say was that anyone who lived a life of violence would eventually be taken over by it. He was now beginning to see that was happening to him, and he couldn't take the thought of it. It was too much for him to keep talking.

Honestly, he was projecting.



The voices did not respond to the charmander, as they had nothing with which to respond. Rather, the sounds of footsteps started up behind the lizard, following him. Faint giggling sounded from behind and in front of him, yet no further action was taken.

"What? Die?" The dusknoir huffed, "You worry about you and your friend. I appreciate the concern, but i'll be fine. I've been doin' this for longer than you've been alive probably. Besides, it's not like I kill anyone," the dusknoir rolled her eye. She looked to her snoring companion, "He wont let me bite off more than I can chew anyways even if I wanted to."

The charmander stopped as he heard the giggling, giving a great sigh. He could not bring these nuisances back to the others, he had no idea what their current condition was and it would only cause problems. The lizard suddenly whipped around, launching himself in the direction of the giggling as a purple light cloaked his figure. His eyes widened as his tail erupted into a brilliant purple flame and flared out. His claws glowed white before becoming tainted with a purple hue as his Scratch attack took on a dragon typing rather than the normal typing thanks to the Outrage attack. He was just going to have to get rid of these little nuisances himself then.

Voices...an unfamiliar one, and a familiar one. There was another, but it was not something that spoke. Snoring? She could hear things, but her body ached horribly. Her arm felt as if it were pulsating, pain refreshing itself with every throb. There was something on her arm though, two things actually. One eye managed to open itself ever so slowly and slightly. The area was lit up by a flame, a candlestick's? No. those flames were red. This one cast a blue hue. She spotted two figures, a fox like creature and a rather large ghostly figure. They appeared to be talking, about what though?
Couldn't stay awake, too tired. She slipped back into darkness as her eye closed.

"No...." Sova muttered in response to the ghost.
This single word wasn't enough, but he wasn't quite sure how to word what he wanted to say. He wasn't trying to give a warning that the dusknoir would eventually die. No, his warning was pertaining to something that he personally considered to be far worse. He wasn't even sure if he was talking to someone who cared about that, nor why he felt this urge to try and help someone who'd just been threatening to attack him. Regardless, he finally managed to level himself out enough to respond properly.

"I'm.... not a very nice guy. I'm starting to regret it. I don't want anyone else to end up like this...." he spoke a bit absent-mindedly, not really paying much mind to his words.
He didn't care to try and carefully word what he wanted to say. "I'm warning you about something a lot worse than dying."

A sableye came into the range of the fire's glow as the charmander came toward it. Rather than trying to fight, however, the little purple creature dove out of the way of the attack, giving a surprised gasp as it did so. "Woah, what's your problem?!" it questioned frantically as it pulled itself back to its feet.
"Woah, what's your-" the other voice started up, but was abruptly cut off by the visible sableye.
"SHUT UP, CARL," the sableye shouted.

It then looked back toward the charmander and put a hand out as if to say "stop" as it spoke once more: "It was just a prank!"