Frozen Heights

Garnet: 12
Linus: 9
Acro: Enough....48

missions for Acro/Linus:

It was cold, not a problem for him through. The very snow around him gave way and melted with ease, the heat of the fire type forcing the snow to melt. Garnet stared up at the mountain once more, his long tail swishing behind him a bit. The tall white mountain was quite different from the dark crevice he had been beaten to a bloody pulp in not too long ago. The reptile glared at the peak, he wanted to go. Now. Ever since he had awoken and learned of what had occurred, he had felt an intense rage building within him far worse than what occured when he used Outrage. It was a more natural rage, pent up anger. Who was it directed at? Himself.

The charmeleon was leading, walking quickly as he wanted to get there quickly. It was annoying that the newcomer by the name of Acro and Linus had brought missions with them, it would slow them down. Hell, he couldn't even use Fire Blast now because of those two missions. His strongest move, gone. Just like that. Well, he could use it, but he would get in trouble. He had decided that overall he was friends with Sova. He almost kind of felt that he was allowed to be real around the glaceon, but still he was going to keep that whole taking joy in harming others on the down low. Wouldn't want to make it a habit now would we?

The charmeleon looked back ahead of him rather than looking up with narrowed eyes. He had been a grump ever since the events in the rift. While he had not taken it out on others by snapping at them or growling at them, he certainly showed it in his body language and growling to himself when he was alone. He certainly had a good hold on his anger with himself, but he was not bothering to hide it around this group like he would have around Garnet and Namataki. The two probably would have been terrified to see him angry, which is why he had cancelled his search for a bit, in order to come here and obtain one of the precious items hidden within the mountain.

Sova had invited him along on this journey to the mountain to obtain what was rumored to be the cursed items. Powerful items that could give great boosts in strength. Sure they had massive drawbacks, but he was willing to do anything to make sure he wasn't slammed against a wall again.

--

The archeops followed along behind the charmeleon, alongside a client. The vanillish needed to be escorted to a friend, a slurpluff. It was a bit of an odd combonation fo friends, but who was he to judge? He barely had friends in the first place. Acro was a bit unsure of this newcomer Sova had brought along. He seemed to be angry, the charmeleon had barely said anything to him. Apparently this charmeleon was the friend of the snivy's they had come across. If they just knew where the hell the snivy went afterwards, they could have told this charmeleon where to look for his friend. Was he angry about that?

The glaceon had not told him the specifics of where he had met the charmeleon, so he was not exactly sure what was going on between the two. The archeops was walking, keeping himself paced with the charmeleon and the glaceon. The vanillish beside him seemed to be looking around and amusing itself, "oo"ing and "ah"ing at the pretty sites of the frozen forest.

The archeops glanced up to the skies, where a dark bird flew. Dark not only in typing and color, but in mind. Linus had been acting differently as of late, worse than even before the events in Monochrome Ruins. He was snapping at everything, he seemed to be angry with everything. He had not yet informed Sova of the situation, but he believed that Linus had been touched by the madness that had started up when the events of Giratina's Rising began. He felt awful. It was his fault wasn't it? Maybe that curse was a real thing after all, the superstitious bird should have left. He should have flown far far away.

Acro looked down to the ground he walked on and merely focused on it. He wanted to get this mission over with, he wanted to grab that ability suppressent that was rumored to be in the ruins as well. Maybe things would be better if he wasn't so damn useless? Would he be able to help Linus? What was even going on in Linus's mind right now?

--

The world is trash. Everything is useless, futile. the yelling started up in the bird's mind as he glared at the mountain ahead. Linus flapped his great wings, flying high above the group and out of the way. There was no way of holding a conversation with him, even if he were close to the ground. The honchkrow huffed as the yelling in his mind continued, Kill it all! Kill it all! Destroy it! Build anew! No, he should not. He knew what was happening. He was not some dimwitted simpleton that was just going to give in to the strange thoughts.

He was angry, he had always been angry as of late. Over the simplest things, even if the temperature was just slightly uncomfortable it always set him off. The honchkrow was having difficulty controlling this rage, and had found himself to be glaring at pokemon whenever he looked to them. His combat had become more vicious, and it felt as if all the fear he had once experienced in combat simply vanished.

It...it actually felt kind of...good. To be able to fight without fear for his life, to simply enjoy fighting for fighting. Who knew it could have been this fun? Concede!No, those weren't proper thoughts. Or were they? His mind was still clouded and plagued, the bird was confused, infected, and there was nothing he could do about it that he knew of.

Mission Links:

Everything in the world just seemed to want to agitate Sova.  Or at least, this was how it seemed from his perspective.  Everyone wanted to follow him everywhere, to worry about him, to get in his way!  On top of that, he was slowly growing more and more convinced that he was a useless burden on the world.  It seemed he was quite good at changing things, but not for the better.  He'd allowed those with him to come along willingly and in truth, he didn't really mind any of them being there.  Keith had stopped trying to follow him after the last time, Skylar still respected his wishes, and these guys were all here because he was okay with them coming.  Acro was capable enough to go anywhere with him; he trusted the archeops.  Garnet.... was perhaps not the strongest guy in the world, but the charmeleon had proven very capable of surviving and for some reason, very healthy to the glaceon's mental state.

And then there was Linus.  It didn't take a genius to figure out there was something wrong with Linus, though he was just assuming it was a bad day or something.  Maybe something bad had happened, like a family member dying.  Regardless, the bird seemed to know it was in his best interest to keep his problems to himself.  Of everyone to be moody around, Sova was perhaps one of the worst options, even as a friend.  He was in no mood to stand for someone else being hostile toward him due to their own problems.  Sure, perhaps that was exactly what he was doing with everyone else, but there was one difference: he was strong enough to back it up.  Plus, most of his negativity had been due solely to his desire to protect others and inability to do so.  Perhaps they were better off hating him.

He'd recently had to be rather mean and hateful to a lot of his friends, or at least, he certainly felt like it.  He'd been very hostile toward his teammates for worrying about him, nearly gotten Mirage killed then acted like a complete nut and terrified her, openly expressed a desire to end his own life in front of someone with serious trauma related to that, LITERALLY GOTTEN A DEMI-GOD KIDNAPPED....  Oh, and he'd told Dusk off.  She'd finally seemingly forgiven him for trying to save her, deciding she wanted to accompany him wherever he was going because apparently he was "in a bad mood" and looked like he was "going to kill someone."  Of course, he refused, and when the umbreon persisted, he'd just tried to dissuade her by being a complete jerk, which worked.

He didn't want anyone to come with him other than those who were already coming.  They had reasons to risk their lives, reasons that they saw as worth it.  Plus, he trusted them not to die, and he just felt comfortable around them in general.  Garnet in specific knew he was crazy and stuck around him, even acting as an anchor of sorts.  The charmeleon had earned his trust, regardless of strength.  Acro didn't know quite as much about him, but the bird was capable and a good friend, one with respectable reasons for wanting to come along.

Linus was just a packaged deal with Acro, but he was okay too.

Both Acro and Sova had missions they were also doing since they happened to be on the way to the destination.  The glaceon was depressed, but he was still supposed to do his job.  "You all know the risks, right?" he questioned just to make sure the others knew what they were getting into.
They all seemed to want to go to the Snowcloak Ruins, and he didn't doubt they all had good reasons, but the treasures there were supposedly very dangerous.  He wanted to be sure his friends knew what they were getting into.



Not too far behind the group, yet far enough to be out of sight, there were two very similar-looking dark vixens.  Both had circular markings on their bodies, yet one's were yellow while the other held a neon-blue tone.  The latter in specific also had a distinct glow emanating from her markings due to immense excitement.  But from what?  She'd recently evolved, of course, and she was thrilled over her new form!  Meanwhile, the one with the less glow-y yellow markings was considerably less happy.

"I thought you were gonna leave me alone if I bought you the stuff to evolve!" Dusk shouted at the other umbreon, not seeming to faze her.

Krikka giggled before responding: "Nooooooope, I lied!  Now, where're we going?"

"We aren't going anywhere.  Go away.  Shoo.  I don't have any more money with me to spend on you."

"You wouldn't be out here in this awful terrain if there weren't something in it for you.  You aren't in a guild and this place is pretty well-charted, so it's probably not for a mission or exploration.  That only leaves treasure, and I want in."

"Uhg, if you need to know so bad, it's for a friend, something you clearly have no concept of.  I wanted to come out here with him and he randomly flipped on me like I'd just committed some unholy sin.  From the looks of it, wherever he's headed is somewhere on Mount Fro-"

"Please don't talk about unholy sins.  Anyway, he's probably headed for Snowcloak Ruins.  Supposedly, there's some pretty neat stuff there, if you can get there in one piece.  That's the only noteworthy thing about this mountain that I can think of.  Sounds like he just didn't wanna share the treasure with you."

Dusk's pace suddenly slowed to a halt.  She stared at the other umbreon with a questioning look, and on the outside, it seemed she was just doubtful of such a claim.  However, on the inside, she was worried it was true.  Honestly, it hurt a bit to think about, even if she didn't know Sova well.  "N-nah, I don't think he'd do that.  I mean, he's.... he's not a bad guy," she responded after a brief hesitation.

"Tch, whatever you say," Krikka shrugged and continued on.

Dusk had recently come to realize that the guy who annoyed her so much, Sova, had only good intentions for her.  Or at least, that was what she'd thought until attempting to bond with him or something.  Guy said he was going somewhere, so of course, she'd asked to come with.  After having it made very clear to her that he "hated" her and didn't want her around, she began to doubt what she knew about the guy.  However, the point still stood that Sova had saved her.  No way he was just some greedy guy who hated her if he'd saved her for no reward.

There had to be something the glaceon was hiding, and she intended to find out what.  Maybe this little trip would reveal something, or maybe it wouldn't, but it was her best bet at the moment.  Sadly, while preparing in town, she'd gotten stuck with some brat who really wanted to copy her.  Since she had no time to put up with the annoying little distraction, she had been doing everything the mental child asked of her in an attempt to be left alone.  It wasn't working.

On the flip-side, Krikka was enjoying the ability to roam around in Grassveil without being pinged as.... well, Krikka, when she'd come across an umbreon.  She immediately fell in love with the look of umbreon and decided "Yes I want to be this now make it happen."  This strategy worked way too easily, and it only took about ten minutes of.... convincing.  Not only had she gotten the umbreon to buy her evolution items, but she'd even gotten a TM out of it!  This alone wasn't good enough, though; she could tell the other umbreon was in a rush and decided perhaps there was more fun to be had.

By now, even if it wasn't Dusk's intention to go treasure hunting, Krikka was pretty sure that was where the day was headed.  From what she knew, she concluded that they would likely end up in the old ruins that were supposedly full of cursed treasure.  Curses didn't scare her; such superstitious things only made her think of her sister, and that made her just want to grab all the treasure she could and prove there was no curse.  In reality, the chance of ending up in Snowcloak Ruins shouldn't have seemed so high, but Krikka was one who liked to think about treasure.  If there was a possibility of such goodies being involved, she would assume it would happen until proven otherwise.

Garnet

"You all know the risks right?" The blue fox had asked. The red lizard responded with an immediate and blunt, "Yep." There was not a single bit of hesitance nor concern in his tone. He was going there, he was getting what he wanted, and he was leaving in one piece or die trying. Generally those were the options when entering such a dangerous place.

He was not speaking much, but he wanted to keep things short and simple. It was strange to be a charmeleon. His parents had warned him that being a charmeleon might come with a few...mood swings, but he found that all he wanted to do as of late was grit his teeth and stab the nearest thing he was allowed to stab. How was this a mood swing when all he could feel was anger?

The charmeleon kept a steady pace, ignoring the chatter of the escort the damned bird had brought along.

--

Acro

The escort tilted their heads, "risks?" it asked, a bit concerned about what they were talking about.

"Don't worry," Acro was quick to respond, "We're just going a bit farther after we drop you off." Well, a lot farther, but the ice cream cone did not need to know that at the moment. He continued to walk on the ground along side the escort, his wings folded as his long legs carried him. It would have been preferable to fly, but then he would leave the client open for attack.

"So uh...what's up with everyone?" he decided to ask in order to start conversation, though he did not feel like talking much himself. It was more for the sake of making the client comfortable.

"Nothing." Came a short reply from the charmeleon, making it quite clear he did not want to share anything about himself.

--

Linus

A flap of the wings, he suddenly dove forward a bit. He had decided to scout ahead. Nothing so far, so he turned around...in time to see two black dots in the distance. He uttered a deep cry to the others below, circling around and around so that he could land.

Once he had landed, he spoke, "Followed. Two dark types, looked like Umbreons." He kept himself nice and to the point, no needless nonsense that could possibly end in the glaceon or anyone else being provoked by words that would slip from his tongue.

Oh, right, they were with an annoying ice-cream cone.  Ice-cream cone was not invited to come to the oh-so-fun place they were headed for, though he highly doubted they would want to come regardless.  He just ignored it and allowed Acro to handle explaining.  Then the bird decided to attempt conversation, which he had to remind himself was probably supposed to be a friendly gesture.  He didn't want to talk more than he had to, but he also didn't want to be rude to a friend and trusted comrade for no reason.  So, what was up with him?  He couldn't really think of anything good to say, so he decided to just be honest.  He allowed Garnet to respond first before speaking up himself.

"I'm sure you know all about what's up with me," he responded, just assuming Acro had probably learned of his recent.... exploits.
Really, he had no clue whether or not he was particularly well-known for his recent screw-ups, and he wasn't particularly interested in finding out.  Mere moments later, the antisocial bird came down to the ground in order to inform them about something.  Perhaps to the others, it was confusing news, but to the glaceon.... it was just agitating.  He had a good guess about who at least one of the umbreon was.

Sova immediately turned around and started walking in the opposite direction without even the slightest bit of hesitation.  He spoke as he did so: "I'm pretty sure this has something to do with a certain umbreon friend of mine who I told not to follow me.  You all go on ahead...."
He was clearly a bit upset by this development.  It was Dusk.  It had to be Dusk.  He didn't know who the other umbreon was, but it was too coincidental for one not to be Dusk.  Even if he was wrong and both umbreon were hostile, it surely wasn't anything he couldn't handle.


The two umbreon walked in silence for a short time, though this didn't last long before one spoke up.  Krikka was absolutely fine with socializing as little as possible since she was really only sticking around for the thought of treasure and some possible drama to entertain her.  However, Dusk was less okay with just having someone follow her around silently.  Sure, she thought her new parasite/friend was incredibly annoying, but annoying was better than awkward.

"Why are you so interested in me?" Dusk questioned, looking over to the other circle-patterned vixen.
She didn't really see much reason for a complete stranger to want to follow her around like this.

Krikka had hoped to just remain in silence and follow her new.... friend to what she was expecting to be treasure, but it seemed it wouldn't be that easy.  She'd have to entertain Dusk if she wanted to avoid trouble.  "Simple: I think wherever you're going is somewhere I wanna go too," she responded oddly honestly.
Normally, she'd be more hesitant, but she didn't see any risk in being truthful about her motives here.

Dusk didn't like being followed like this in the first place, but knowing the reason didn't really help.  Still, she wasn't going to start anything if she didn't need to.  "Fine.  But if you're gonna be stalking me, can I at least get your name?"

"Nope."

At this point, Dusk was reconsidering the whole thing about not starting anything if she didn't need to.  However, she had a much better idea than getting into a fight.  "Alright.  Nice to meet you, Nope."

They were too busy doing whatever it was they were doing to notice anyone potentially approaching.

Bah, more slow downs. Garnet glanced back as he stopped, his arms hanging at his sides as his tail swished to the side. The glaceon wanted them to go on ahead, and he was perfectly fine with that. To his annoyance, however, it seemed that the prehistoric bird was not okay with this idea.

"What? We should really stick together," Acro spoke, his head turning and following the glaceon as he left. The archeops's numb feet turned him, wondering what was going on with the two behind them. Now that he looked, there was indeed two black specs in the distance that were not supposed to be there. The arhceops wanted to follow, but it seemed that the lizard had different plans.

Garnet suppressed the urge to growl and merely spoke, "He'll be fine," he attempted to reassure the Archeops.

"What if something attacks?" the vannilish spoke up, seeming to side with Acro on this newfound predicament. A look of worry crossed the ice cream cone's face as a hand lifted up to touch its cheek as if it were concerned for the safety of the glaceon.

The charmeleon was quick to respond, "If something attacks, and he can't handle it, what makes you think we'll be able to handle it?" Garnet spoke. Honestly, if something attacked he would be charging straight for it even if it meant he would get hurt. The others...he expected them to stay back. He did not know how strong the Archeops was, but he at least knew that flying types were weak to ice.

Meanwhile Linus had merely took flight into the air again, deciding to avoid any further conversaiton as he had his own issues to attend to within that small bird brain of his. The honchkrow ignored Acro's worried look as the archeops looked from Linus to the glaceon. The crow did not know whether his team leader was aware of his condition or not, but he blamed him for it. If he had not been put in this blasted team with this blasted Cursed Archeops, he would have been just fine. It was his fault that he couldn't think straight. His fault he always felt so angry now. It was all. Acro's. Fault.

The glaceon continued to walk toward the two specs, ignoring the conversation going on behind him.  It seemed some of the group doubted him.  That was fine, since he was doubting himself a fair bit lately.  However, Garnet managed to calm the others, or rather get them to shut up and keep moving.  He liked having Garnet around.  Garnet fixed things so he didn't have to.  He glared at the two black dots as they slowly grew larger, not letting his gaze off them for even a moment.  Within not too long, they seemed to notice him, and he could clearly see the details on the two.  One was normally colored, while the other had blue markings rather than yellow.  Dusk and.... a friend?

The one presumed to be Dusk waved a paw.  The glaceon gave no response.  He just continued glaring as he approached.  Dusk began to back away while the other umbreon stepped out of the way, as if to open its friend up for attack.

"Heeey, Sova!  I'd like you to meet Nop-"

Sova was in dashing range.  It was Dusk's voice.  His temper was getting the best of him.


Dusk stopped upon noticing a blue spec in the distance.  It was slightly difficult to see on the white background, but she could tell it was Sova.  They'd been spotted?  Well, maybe Sova wouldn't be mad....?  She attempted to wave a paw, but got no response.  Sova was mad.  A bit worried about the drone-like fashion in which the glaceon was approaching, she began to back away, attempting to speak up and ease some tension in the process.  "Heeey, Sova!" she started off nervously.
Maybe she could make fun of "Nope" to calm the glaceon down?  "I'd like you to meet Nop-"

A flash of blue appeared in front of her and she felt a stinging pain in her chest, forcing her off her paws and onto the ground.  Sova was standing over her, pinning her to the ground on her back and glaring at her.  The pressure was hurting her, making it difficult to breathe, and it was kind of starting to worry her.  She knew Sova was much stronger than her.  "I know you're mad I followed you, but-" she started.
The pressure of the paw bearing down on her then increased, making her wince and let out a quiet whine.

"I could break your bones, then you wouldn't be able to follow me," the glaceon spoke hollowly.

"I.... I can't breathe...." Dusk strained herself to speak.
She was no longer worried.  Now, she was scared; terrified, even.  Then, as abruptly as it started, it all stopped.  The paw was lifted off her chest and she gasped and panted to catch her breath while trying to scramble to her paws and get away from the glaceon.


Krikka spotted the "friend" that they were apparently following at about the same time as her companion.  At first, she wasn't worried; the guy was just a glaceon!  Two on one, so they could take him if he tried to pull anything.  But Dusk's clear hesitance made Krikka just a bit hesitant as well.  She began to back away just for the sake of caution, but when she heard what the glaceon's name was.... she sped up just a bit.  She recognized Sova.  Even if she hadn't met him before, she knew of the dangerous Grassveil Guild member.

An afterimage was left behind when the glaceon suddenly bolted for dusk, and Krikka was distracted staring at it before she realized Sova had moved.  She watched as the fox pinned the vixen and began suffocating her.  Dusk seemed to be trying to play it cool despite how painful it looked.  The situation was getting so tense that the shiny umbreon wondered if she was about to witness a Guild member murdering an innocent.  But alas, this was not the case, and it was probably for the best, as she likely would have been the next target.

She watched as the other umbreon was allowed to stand and speak.

"I came because I was worried about you!" said Dusk.

"That same worry has hurt many stronger than you," retorted Sova.

This was getting pretty good.

(Sova - 94)

Lord E V carried out 10 launched of one Mt. Frostmeer :

, , , , , , , , ,

(Dusk - 7)

Lord E V carried out 7 launched of one Mt. Frostmeer :

, , , , , ,

(Krikka - 6)

Lord E V carried out 6 launched of one Mt. Frostmeer :

, , , , ,

The icy air seemed to pierce his feathers and dig into his skin. He flapped his wings in attempt to prevent them from becoming numb. The honchkrow shivered as he paid attention to what was in front of him, occasionally looking back to check on the glaceon. Eventually, the glaceon seemed to be running back towards them to catch up. Nothing important. He probably told the black dots to go away or something...or killed them. Did not matter, there were more important things at hand...like how difficult it had been as of late to think straight.

It had passed by the two umbreons and the ever so familiar looking glaceon with ease, hardly being noticed and simply waving as it passed should it be spotted. It had a plan in mind, as its pink blobby form began to shift and shape once it was a decent distance away from the trio as it headed towards the larger group that continued to walk away.

The group had been silenced, and it was time to get a move on. The charmeleon remained silent as he walked, ignoring his tiring legs and focusing on the trek ahead they still had to go through in order to reach the beginning of the ruins. He heard rushed footsteps behind him and turned to see that "Sova" was catching up to them. Good. It seemed that Sova was about to say something...wait...was he smiling?

The archeops turned to the glaceon as he caught up. He opened his mouth to speak and question who it was that was back there, but "Sova" interrupted him, "Hi!" he piped with strange and sudden enthusiasm.

"...hi?" Acro asked, a bit suspicious of this strange new attitude. The arhceops's head tilted as he studied the stupidly wide grin on Sova's expression.

"Time to die!" the glaceon's grin grew even more before a dark look overcame him with wide psychotic eyes. The archeops's eyes widened just as winds suddenly whipped up around them and a blast of freezing ice battered the archeops about. He could see Garnet also being assaulted by the attack while Linus simply flew out of range. The client had thrown up a Protect attack in order to shield themselves, which was a lucky thing since he was currently being smashed into a dead tree. The archeops cried out in pain before reacting quickly, glowing a purple aura as he allowed himself to fall to the ground on his legs.

Once his legs struck the ground, the ground seemed to erupt into small rocks with the occasional boulder around him before flinging themselves at the glaceon. The glaceon only cackled as he was suddenly no longer there, and more and more copies began to appear all around the group.

"Having fun?" The voice of Sova echoed, "Cuz I am!"

(Acro - 48)

Kat carried out 10 launched of one Mt. Frostmeer :

, , , , , , , , ,

(Linus - 9)

Kat carried out 9 launched of one Mt. Frostmeer :

, , , , , , , ,

(Garnet - 12)

Kat carried out 10 launched of one Mt. Frostmeer :

, , , , , , , , ,

"Oh, yeah, prove how much you care about me getting hurt by CRUSHING MY RIBS!" Dusk re-stated what she felt to be an idiotic thought process on the glaceon's part.

Sova just glared at the umbreon and flattened his ears.  He was ignoring the other one, as she wasn't his concern at the moment.  As far as he could tell, he didn't know that one, so he didn't care.  All he was worried about at that moment was making sure Dusk didn't keep following him and end up getting herself hurt.  He got the feeling she'd end up with more than sore ribs if allowed to come where he was planning on going.  "I-" he started before falling silent.
From the distance, his large eats picked up what sounded like Acro.  It sounded like the bird had been hurt.

"Go home," he ordered before turning around and bolted back toward his own group.
He was using Double Team to move as fast as he could, though using it for long-range movement tended to exhaust him and he knew this.  Still, he didn't quit until he reached the others, and there he saw....

....

What.  It appeared to be.... a glaceon?  Attacking his friends?  He picked a target from the copies and rammed into it before struggling to stop himself, having gone straight through it.  "Woah, why are we fighting!?" he questioned as he tried to track the real one.
It was better with Double Team than he was.  He couldn't seem to follow it.  He'd either need to get it to stop or.... risk hurting his allies with Blizzard.  He didn't even want to fight.  He just wanted to be able to talk this out.  Maybe the glaceon was just having a bad day and could be talked out of a fight?  Would it even be willing to speak?  Would it even be able to speak?  He didn't know, but with his morality recently weighing on him, he needed to try.


"Oh, yeah, prove how much you care about me getting hurt by CRUSHING MY RIBS!" she had spoken out against the glaceon.
Sova had already proven himself far stronger than her.  She knew he was, and sure, he was intimidating, but she wasn't going to just sit there and take it.  Even if she got more of the odd, brutal treatment, she would not be silenced just because someone was stronger than her.  It looked like Sova was about to say something, but he then changed his tune and just told her to to go away before turning around and running off.  He seemed worried about something.

Dusk made the obvious choice of completely ignoring the order.  She immediately started up after the glaceon, though he was so much faster than her that he was gone in seconds.  It would take her a considerable while catch up with how slow she was in comparison.  In fact, despite looking like something that would run fast, it seemed umbreon were naturally pretty slow.  That was one thing she didn't like about being an umbreon.  Maybe a jolteon would have been better, or an espeon.  Leafeon?  There were a few options for being fast, but umbreon was not one of them.  Still, she was pretty durable, which was about as good as being fast if not better.


Krikka loved watching drama unfold.  But to her disappointment, the drama came to a quick halt as the glaceon changed his attitude and decided he had somewhere he really needed to be.  Like, he really seemed to need to get somewhere fast.  So fast she couldn't even properly follow the guy with her eyes.  Whatever it was, it seemed like it would be dangerous to follow, considering Sova was clearly a loose cannon.  That, and he seemed worried about something.  If that guy was worried, then it was probably best to just stay out of whatever he was worried about.  Her companion seemed to have different ideas, though.

"Yeah, you do that.  I'ma just...." she started up as she watched Dusk run off after the glaceon.
She then turned around and began walking in the opposite direction.  For a moment, she just kept walking without even the slightest bit of hesitation.  Then she realized how dangerous and stupid it would be to travel alone in such a place.  She looked out over the vast, icy landscape and decided perhaps it was best to just follow the other two.  "Nevermind," she spoke mostly to herself as she turned back around and followed the other umbreon.
However, she was moving at a fairly slow pace in the hopes that whatever the problem was, it would be resolved before she got there.

???

"I don't know Mr. Sentima," Sova's own voice growled back to him from the copy of him, "Why ARE we fighting? Maybe it's because of, oh I don't know, a certain cruel explorer? A few certain friends that someone wishes to extract revenge upon you through? A certain, friend that DIED because you couldn't spare to show an ounce of SYMPATHY?" The voice was echoing from all sorts of different copies, making it difficult to discern who was real.

Acro

The archeops's ancient power had missed, but he was already in flight and charging towards the priority of the situation, the vannilish. The archeops grabbed the client with his talons and pulled himself high into the air. The client cried out in surprise, but seemed to calm down once they realized it was a friend. The archeops dragged the client a fair distance, his heart pounding as he dropped the client safely into a dead tree, "Wait here!" he ordered the vannilite before swooping around to rejoin the group.

Linus

Attacks from below, he looked down, narrowly avoiding a blast of icy wind. He gave a deep squawk before registering that there were now a crap ton of glaceons beneath him. He blinked as he stared down, what the hell? Was Sova attacking everyone? Acro was fleeing with the client, a smart choice since they could not afford the client's shield failing and getting hurt.

He stayed in the air, since he was safer there. Something gnawed at him though. He wanted to go down and fight...A burning desire rumbled within him as he wanted to swoop down and dig his talons right into the flank of the glaceon that dared to attack them now for some reason...The only thing stopping him? Common sense.

Garnet

He was quite surprised to feel a sudden blast of cold win sweeping him off his feet and launching him like a rag doll. The winds battered him and pushed him into a tree, his claws digging into the bark as the wind tried to drag him off it seemed. Suddenly there were copies of Sova all around him. He did not know what the flying hell was going on, but he was not liking it. Once the winds died down enough the Charmeleon gave a snarl before swatting at the closest copy with a glowing Iron Tail. The copy disappeared as soon as the tail made contact, but he simply moved onto the next. He still had no clue what was going on, but he did not really mind if he accidentally hit Sova considering it probably would not even hurt the glaceon in the slightest.

Sova sighed at the words of the other glaceon.  While he wasn't particularly sure where this was all coming from, he now had a good idea of the reasoning behind this attack.  He sat down calmly, closed his eyes, then responded: "My name is Sova.  Looks like I've got quite a reputation.  Any chance we can end this peacefully?"
While he didn't want to fight and was having trouble locating the real attacker with his sight, he was still preparing for the worst.  He was focusing on his hearing, which the many afterimages couldn't fool.  It was difficult with the high speed, but he could hear the rapidly changing location of the enemy.

He didn't intend to fight back right away if the other glaceon attacked him, as he'd clearly done something wrong that he needed to at least try to talk out.  However, he was fully prepared to discard all thought of peace if this guy kept attacking his friends.  Today was not a good day for him, and he was not in a particularly tolerant mood.  Sure, he was having severe issues with guilt, but that didn't mean he was going to be a complete pacifist.  He could keep track of the enemy's location as long as he focused, and he had a general idea of where his allies were, so he was confident he could handle anything that happened.


Dusk kept her pace as fast as she could, which wasn't very fast.  She didn't know what was wrong, but if Sova was worried, then it probably wasn't something good.  In hindsight, if something was enough of an issue for Sova to worry about it, she wasn't entirely sure how she could even help with it.  She tried to just suppress these doubtful thoughts for the time-being, figuring she'd deal with that problem if it arose.  As she closed in on the area, she noticed a black thing in the sky, which looked to be some kind of bird, but it didn't seem to be attacking anyone.  She could also see the snow that'd been whipped around by the recent attack, which made it easy to figure out there was probably a fight going on.  A fight Sova seemed worried about, which meant it was probably a fight she couldn't do much to help with.


Why was she going back?  Krikka had to question her own motives for willfully entering a dangerous situation that wouldn't likely benefit her in any way.  She still felt like wandering off on her own would be more dangerous, but the sight of the distant battle made her somewhat doubt herself.  She had her wits and all, but she doubted she would be able to protect herself against whatever was going on ahead.  She slowed her pace even more in the hope that the fight would end before she reached it, partly because she didn't want to get on anyone's bad side for not helping and partly because she didn't want to get herself caught up in any trouble.  All she really wanted was to see if this group was going to end up going after any treasure.

Really, she would have just ended up seeking out the Snowcloak Ruins eventually regardless.  Even if there was nothing she was particularly interested in, even if the area was incredibly dangerous, she had something personal to prove.  She wanted to prove anything that could even slightly support the metaphysical absurdities her sister believed in wrong.  There was supposedly cursed treasure, and thus, she needed to take as much of the treasure as she could just to prove there was no curse. This was the main reason she was sticking around, although her own safety was also rather important.

"Oh your name is Dick? I'm so sorry where are my manners?" The copied glaceon spoke in an obviously fake tone that was flat rather than over exaggerated. The glaceon glared at Sova, "So Dick, now you wanna talk? Certainly didn't seem like it when you threw that sneasel in jail. He's dead, did you know? Died that very night in his jail cell. Pretty shitty security right? Say, aren't explorers supposed to HELP pokemon? Certainly didn't seem like you helped him to me!" The wind picked up once more, shooting in the glaceon's direction in order to blast him off his feet.

--

Acro returned just in time to receive a rather harsh blow by the winds. He squawked in surprise as the winds forced him out of the sky and battered him about in the trees. He finally latched onto a branch of a tree he had been tossed into. Once he had done so, the archeops dug his claws into the bark of the tree as he was coated in a purple glow. Boulders that had been thrown around before picked themselves up suddenly before collecting near the archeops in a bit of a shield from the wind. He needed to find the real one, Sova seemed keen on simply talking this out though. That was a bit of a surprise, but Acro decided to respect the glaceon's decision.

--

Garnet on the other hand, was going all out in trying to sink his claws into he fake. The copies dwindled one by one, and just when he thought he was getting close more appeared. A sudden blast of icy wind suddenly blasted into him once more before he blacked out. Great. The charmeleon had been turned into a living ice sculpture, caught mid-way of an attack and falling over now that he had been frozen. He was having SUCH a fun time!

--

Out of range of everything, Linus drifted in the winds as he watched the fight below. He saw Acro begin to protect himself while Garnet protected himself in a rather unique and unwilling way. The Honchkrow stared down, his eyes focusing in on the copies in attempt to figure out which was which before diving head first into danger. The crow could see that one glaceon was not moving in particular, but something told him it would be a very bad idea to attack that one. Then again everything was telling him it was a bad idea to even participate in that battle...

Sova could hear the changes in the wind and was able to guess that there was an attack coming for him, but he didn't bother trying to avoid it.  Sure, he could have just moved out of the way, maybe even clothes-lined the other glaceon with his body, but this was a battle he did not want to fight.  He immediately recalled arresting a sneasel for a mission, and he was pretty sure that was the sneasel that was being referred to.  Someone who hadn't done anything major, just petty thievery, and for a decent reason.  Also someone who has tried to run and fight back multiple times, for which he felt he had actually been rather lenient.  Still, this sneasel had apparently died later that day, due to being caught....

So yes, he could have avoided the attack, or taken it and attempted to stay standing to send a message, but he instead allowed the fierce wind to treat him like a rag-doll.  He took a deep breath before the wind slammed into him, lifting off of his paws and sending him spiraling backward before falling into a brief tumble on the ground.  After a brief pause, he gave a sigh and pulled himself back up.  He forced his eyes to remain shut to ensure he could still keep track of the opponent, just in case.  "Probably not worth much, but I didn't want him to die.  I just did my job," he responded as calmly as he could.
"But do you really think this'll make you feel better?  Take it from me: it doesn't!"


Dusk was getting close enough to faintly hear some of the conversation and clearly see what was happening.  It seemed like there were a lot of copies of.... at a glance, Sova.  However, it sounded as if Sova was talking to himself, which she assumed wasn't the case.  From what she could gather, it seemed like there was another glaceon who was mad about Sova.... killing their friend?  She knew he was kind of.... harsh, but jeez, she'd never thought of Sova as a cold-blooded murderer!  Just an annoying femboy with emotional issues.  She assumed from how similar the voices sounded and how they appeared to be two identical glaceon that the other one was probably some kind of copycat, but she wasn't entirely sure what.

Her stride began to slow as she neared the fight and realized how stupid she was being.  The huge gust of wind and snow that mowed down those closer to the fight made her really understand that she was making a terrible decision.  She'd just get in the way if she tried to help, and Sova didn't even seem to want to fight.  There was no real merit to her "plan."


Krikka finally stopped when she witnessed the very wind and snow being used as a weapon.  Yeeeah, she wasn't going near that.  Instead, she just sat down and waited.  In the snow.  It was not comfortable.  "I'm sure they'll handle it.  Then they'll go for the treasure, and I can just tag along...." she spoke to herself from the safety of very far away.
She was certain this was how things would play out.  She could barely tell what was going on from her distance, but she had at least seen Sova fight before, so she knew he was capable.  If not, then she was also prepared to run at the first sign of the fight not going where she wanted it to.  She really wanted that treasure, though....

The copies of the glaceons stared at the true glaceon for a moment before speaking, "Your job is to help others. Not scentence them to death. This WILL make me feel better, because they you will know the pain that I felt tenfold!" The glaceons' eyes widened in unison before shadowy spheres collected at their gaping jaws, all pointed towards the umbreon that had so stupidly kept herself in the open instead of hiding like her shiny counterpart. The sphere suddenly shot forward from one copy, before the copy moved and disappeared before it could be attacked. The shadowy sphere shot towards the umbreon, threatening to collide with her in one powerful attack if she did not react in time.


--

Acro's shield of rocks held strong against the still raging storm that had been conjured by the Blizzard. He could feel his body failing him as the shield began to shiver and shake as if weakening. His concentration was breaking as his body failed him once more with that acursed ability that he had been ever so delightfully granted by his own species. Failure echoed in his mind as he too began to shake, though not from the cold but from weakness...ok and the cold. The archeops could see nothing of what was going on outside as he tried to keep the shield up, as the intense storm raged on.

--

Garnet was still frozen. He was still passed out, but he was still frozen. His tail was a bit thawed do to the flame, but was not capable of movement even if he were to be awake. Once the ditto had fired a Shadow Ball in the direction of the eeveelution, it prepared another attack for the downed ally. The Shadow Ball charged up quickly in a span of seconds before firing towards the frozen form of Garnet who was unable to move.

--

Linus decided it was safe to stay up here, in the sky, away from the cold windy fight below. He was fine up here. He had no reason to try and fight, for he would just get pulverized. It would be idiotic to go down there! He may have been touched with a bit of insanity, but there was no way he was going down there to fight a losing battle. He didn't want to die! As much as he would like to get in on some action and sink his talons into that glaceon's flesh, though he did not care which one, he would not be fighting anyone anytime soon if he were dead.

Sova continued to feel guiltier and guiltier as the conversation went on, but he still kept to his plan. Then he heard the formation of the Shadow Ball and his eyes shot open. It was pointed at.... Dusk. Dusk had followed him, apparently harboring a death-wish. Without thinking, he darted in front of the umbreon, leaving behind an afterimage that faded shortly after. He made it just in time to take the hit and was surprised to find that it truly hurt. The blast sent him flying back into the Dusk, knocking the latter off her paws as Sova tumbled over her. He regained his footing shortly after and slid to a stop on the snow, only to find that another Shadow Ball was already being aimed at another of his allies. He was incapable of reaching Garnet in time to stop the attack, and he knew this, so he did the only thing he could: he fired a Shadow Ball of his own in an attempt to intercept the enemy's.

For a moment, it seemed like the two projectiles were going to make contact, until they didn't. Sova's just barely missed the enemy's and kept flying, while the hostile attack made contact with the frozen charmeleon. The sounds of the ice shattering could be heard, though the sight of the impact was blocked out by the dark haze of the attack. The glaceon stared with wide eyes for a moment, seemingly frozen. His fur bristled and froze on instinct while his look changed to a more collected glare. Guy wanted a fight; guy was going to get a fight. "You're wrong in both regards.... I already know your pain tenfold...."

He paused to step over his friend who was still on the ground, his head hanging as he did so. He could see Dusk's shocked face, but that wasn't what he was looking down for. He was trying to focus on his hearing to pinpoint the enemy's location. "And honestly, it was never really my job to save others.... or to sentence them to death. I'm no judge nor jury...."
He let his words hang in the air for a moment before suddenly bolting for where the other glaceon was headed. His aim was to cut his foe off, even if he had to use his own body to do so. If the spiteful attacker tried to stop, he was prepared to start playing dirty and push the attacker toward him with the wind. He planted his paws firmly on the ground and prepared to ram his counterpart with his spike-coated body, no longer seeking peace.

"I'm just the reaper."


Being the genius that she was, Dusk didn't quite realize that she was basically offering herself up to be attacked until it was too late. All of the copies suddenly turned their attention toward her, which caused her to stumble backward in sudden fear. She didn't have the speed nor the reaction time to avoid the attack, so she just stared as the orb came toward her. Then, in an instant, there was a blue figure in front of her, taking the hit. Then the blue figure was sent flying into her, which knocked her off her paws and slammed her into the ground. Even this indirect impact was enough to hurt, though it didn't cause any severe injuries. She groaned and attempted to get up, but her body was hurting at the moment. She had no clue what was happening.

"Sova, I'm sorry...." she spoke as loud as she could, though her voice was weak due to the hit she'd just taken.
However, the glaceon didn't seem to notice her speaking. She heard another explosion to signal another attack had hit something, but she didn't look around to see what had happened. A few moments later, Sova began speaking as he stepped over her. She was beginning to understand the situation now. Everything was happening so fast, but she tried to keep up with what was happening. And it seemed like she was managing until Sova suddenly vanished from her sight, mixed in with the afterimages of the foe.


Krikka just stayed back - way back - and watched the fight from afar. She could only assume the bird in the sky wasn't an ally to either side since it wasn't making an effort to help anyone. The rest mostly just seemed to be on the defensive, and she wasn't really close enough to hear most of the conversation, so she didn't know who in all was talking. She could occasionally hear faint voices over the howling wind, but nothing in specific. In fact, she could barely even see what was happening, though it was enough to tell Dusk had been attacked for going further. That was just more reason for her to stay very, VERY far away from whatever was going on.

The ditto seemed to be a bit more intelligent than that, as more copies suddenly began to appear. The winds shifted and fought against the glaceon's changes as a war of wind occurred between the two glaceon and the ditto as the ditto avoided being attacked. It utilized the speed created by double team to shoot towards the rocky shield that the Archeops upheld. The after images appeared to be running for the rocky shield for a brief moment before the ditto suddenly changed direction and shot another Shadow Ball in the umbreon's area once more, attempted to fool Sova into thinking he was originally going for Acro only to change course once more unexpectedly.

--

It had been sheer darkness, before suddenly a fierce pain shot through his body and caused him to awaken. It was nothing like the pain he had experienced during the fight with Genesect, but damn it still hurt. The charmeleon was freed from the ice encasing, surrounded by dark mist as the ghostly energy evaporated into the air around him. He had been blasted back from his original spot, his entire body sore from the impact combined with the freezing temperature that was beginning to lower his own despite the heat generated by his fire typing. The charmeleon forced himself up despite the pain, rage quite obvious in his wide eyes. He was not a happy camper.

He watched the fight, trying to focus on the one that wasn't his friend. The sheer speed of the two caused him to quickly lose track of the two however, leaving his exhausted self in the frustrating dust.

--

It was becoming more and more difficult to hold up the barrier he had created for himself, his wings wrapping around him in order to keep warmth. He had no idea what was going on outside, but there was no way he'd get out of this mess in one piece if he tried to fly or run out of this messy blizzard. He could only hold out for as long as he could, wishing he was able to help. Being quad weak to ice typing attacks, there was not much he could do but sit there and wait.

--

Linus continued his lovely calm flight above the mess below. Huh...it was kind of quiet up here. Boring too. The honchkrow's eyes trailed towards the tree the archeops had taken the client to, it was sitting in the tree patiently and obediently, looking a bit worried. Uninteresting, back to the show before him. Eh? Where were the glaceons? Oh, double team, fun. Now he couldn't tell them apart period...Acro certainly looked like he could use some help. Too bad Linus was up here. If he were down there...well, to be honest he'd be trying to get up here.