Not Really Lost in Mt. Frostmeer

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Ace walked to the base of the mountain and looked up, "I think we'll be able to make it to the top. Or at least get somewhat high up." he turned around and looked at Tom, "What about you? Do you think we can make it all the way up there? Or are you going to be that one Pokemon that just doubts everything?" Ace chuckled, he was in a pretty good mood now that he was out of the woods and at a place far more exciting in his eyes.

And suddenly Hyper Beam was in the mix.

To put it bluntly, the Snivy wasn't expecting this. He was planning some really nice rescue using the Magical Leaf as a barrier between the Ursaring and the Totodile when things looked close. But it didn't take much thinking to realize that against a Hyper Beam, that plan wasn't going to work.

It didn't help that Tom was already in immense pain and down, and it didn't look like the Ursaring would let up. And it was probably wise to say that even if Ace distracted him, Tom wouldn't get over the Hyper Beam fast enough to get back into the battle.

However, seeing no other choice, Ace fired the (larger than usual) set of Magical Leaf at the bear. It was not enough to send it on the ground or anything. It was enough for it to cut up the Ursaring here and there, and more importantly get its attention off of Tom. For now anyway.

The bear turned its head in Ace's direction, not looking pleased that A. There were two of them he had to deal with, and B. He interrupted it's beat down on the Totodile.

Not really sure what he was doing, Ace shot out a vine to attack the Ursaring, however the Pokemon easily was able to cut it up before it got any close. The Snivy's eyes widened as it jumped behind a rock, just in case another Hyper Beam was to come his way. He was pretty sure nothing came his way, it was still kind of hard to hear over the Totodile's screaming.

And that's where ideas come from.

Realizing that this might be a risky move, Ace began to sneak behind the rocks and tried to get around the back of the Ursaring. Hopefully, it would put it's attention back on Tom for ten more seconds...

Memories wandered through Tom's head aimlessly. Purposelessly.
Cynthia as a Quilava, playing with the Totodile in the town.
Running around town with Keyami and Shaman.
Screams of agony - his own or another's? He couldn't tell.
Blood lay on the snow.
A decapitated head lay on the ground - a shiny riolu's.
Shaman and Tom having a chat out of boredom. Normalcy.
Blood red tears fell from Krystal's eyes as she cried out, screaming why.
Blue skin lay on the ground next to him, covered in blood and snow.
'Are these my last moments in this life?' Tom thought. Memories continued to float. Fall. Fly.
A seed lay in the snow, alone. Was that it? His life, so small, so weak, to be blown away with but a gust of wind.
A seed.
The reviver seed.
In that moment, Tom's mind cleared up. The reptile didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse, what with the pain becoming so much more prominent in his mind, but it was only with his mind cleared that he realized that these may not be his last moments. He screamed harder, but it wasn't a simple scream of pain any longer - it was a shriek of pain, joy, hope, fear, every single emotion that could come to pass at once. For his life was almost within his grasp, in the form of that reviver seed he had found not long ago.
Blood continued falling to the ground in extreme excess, falling from his raw, red skin. The Ursaring had brought its attention to Tom again, but he didn't care, he didn't notice, he just knew that he had to make it. He closed his mouth, gritted his teeth and forced himself to stop screaming. He needed to make it to the seed, no matter what. He wasn't going to give up on life.
Never.

In all honesty, Ace had no clue what the Totodile was doing. He couldn't pay attention to him, all he heard was the screaming get so much louder, and than stop. For a moment it worried him, the distraction was gone. But by that point, the Ursaring was so wrapped up in attacking the Totodile, it didn't notice the Snivy slowly walking up behind it.

One step closer to Tom, and another. One more step, and one more. Of course, the last step just so happened to have a vine right where the bear was stepping. The Ursaring wasn't able to see it coming, and tripped over the vine...landing face first on a large rock. Unsure if that actually took care of it, Ace started to slap the bear in the face with a vine...a lot. He didn't know if it was working, but it was the best thing he could do with what he had.

His life was within his grasp. The weakened Totodile smiled, not noticing the carnage going on beside him. It didn't matter because he was going to survive. He was going to live. He brought the seed to his mouth and swallowed.
Immediately, blue skin began growing in place of the skin that had fallen to the ground, albeit skin that was lighter than before. A sense of relief and hope filled the reptile as his senses became more alert, more active. He glanced at the Snivy bashing the bear's face in and stood up. "Ace." He said, trying to get the snake's attention. The blue reptile walked over to the fallen, beaten Ursaring. "C'mon, I think he's had enough." He said, though the Totodile grinned at the spectacle.

Ace turned around and stopped slapping the Ursaring, "Just playing it a little safe." he said and chuckled, "Nice to know that you got over the hyper beam. That could have brought things to a screeching halt..." he paused for a moment, looking at the sun and back at Tom, "If we want to find a place to set up camp, I suggest somewhere far away from that." indicating towards the bear.

Tom smiled and nodded in agreement, though it was clear that he was still disoriented. There was a strange red tint in his vision, and not one caused by the blood. The Totodile vaguely registered the aura of Rage still surrounding him, dancing like the flames of a charizard's tail, but he took no notice - he was probably just imagining it. He took a step forward -
- and fell into the snow. He'd been fully healed from the attack itself, but the pain was still fresh in his mind. Tom gritted his teeth again, trying to get himself together. "Man, that battle was... Intense. Sorry about being a burden like that, Ace." He stood up again and managed to take a step forward. His eyes came down to the snowy floor, reddened with his blood.
"That's all my blood, huh?" He felt as though some sort of traumatic flashback or hallucination should occur - they often did when he faced something that reminded him of the past, like blood - but nothing came. "Is the Ursaring alright?" He asked; he was glad that he wouldn't have to face another hallucination of Krystal staring at him or something, but wondering why would probably be tempting fate.

The Snivy shrugged, "I know the Ursaring's alive. Its chest still seems to be moving. I doubt getting slapped in the face could kill someone." he walked forward and glanced at the blood in the snow, "I wouldn't call you a burden though. You did as well as someone who just pissed on a Ursaring could have done after all."

Tom took another step forward, trying to quell the nausea. "Maybe... Maybe we should rest here for a while. Or somewhere not too far away." Tom looked down at the unconscious bear. "You think this guy will be fine if we just leave him here? It feels wrong to just leave him here after having... Y'know. Pissed him off."

Ace's eyes moved towards the bear, "I don't know what else you want to do with it. I'm all up for adventure, but I'd rather not wake it up and take a hyper beam to the face." he paused for a moment, "If you want to make a small camp in this area I suppose we can stop here for the night."

In all honesty, the Snivy was not in any mood to stop going, it was just too much buildup before they reach the top, but he gave in to the Totodile's request. He didn't think of Tom as a burden, but if he was traveling with a partly wounded Totodile that was tired, he could be a burden. And that just wouldn't be fun.

Tom nodded gratefully; he was fully aware of the fact that Ace wanted to continue on, and was giving up his time to accommodate him. Tom began limping off a bit farther down the path, looking for a cave or other, similar shelter. "I don't want to be out here when night falls, so we should probably find an indoors place. Preferably one with only one entrance, unlike the one we came through earlier. Wherever we go, though, we certainly can't stay here." His eyes scanned the mountain wall, eventually settling upon a pile of snow that seemed different from its surroundings. "I think there may be a cave behind that pile." Tom said, pointing it out.

Ace sighed, this might take more time than he thought. He walked up to the snow pile Tom was referring to, two vines slowly emerging from his back as he did so.

"I suppose the best way to find out is to get rid of the snow." He quietly said as he slowly began to dig a small path, "This shouldn't take too long..." he paused for a moment and looked around, "...Well it shouldn't if the feral Pokemon allow us an intermission..."

Tom did what he could to help out; clearing out any snow that Ace dug up so that it didn't come to bite them in the butt later, digging alongside him, watching for enemies, but overall Tom felt useless. He had a migraine from the battle, and was feeling queasy - the reviver seed did little to bring back his blood levels. Being a water type, this wouldn't be a problem for long, but for now he could not do much without tripping over himself.
Thankfully, no feral creatures did show up, so moving the snow away from the entrance had been relatively easy. Tom grinned as he stared into the dark, empty cave.
"Perfect."

The last of the snow was pushed aside as the Snivy peered into the cave and turned to Tom, "You must have really low standards for sleeping arrangements." he walked inside of it, on the plus side it was empty so no feral Pokemon should be sneaking into this one, but other the other hand, it was a damp cave with nothing in it.

Ace figured he wasn't in the place to complain, after all this was probably the best place they could have. He looked around the cave before turning back to the Tom.
"I'm sure after almost dying, you probably want to pass out." his eyes drifted towards the entrance, "Just have to shut off the entrance without locking us in at the same time..."

Tom nodded in agreement. "Alright... Now, how to do that, exactly..." No ideas came to mind. "Nuts." He didn't think that they'd be able to dig themselves out if they covered the place back with snow, and he wouldn't be able to melt the snow either (he didn't know how to use scald or any other heat-producing attacks). "Maybe we could mark our territory or something? Y'know, like the ferals. We'd ward off any ferals that come near, I think. We'd really only have to worry about angry ursaring or the like, and I doubt the one we fought will want a rematch any time soon." He paused for a moment to consider what he was suggesting. "I can't believe I just suggested peeing on the entrance."
It was then that he caught a glimpse of something in the cave - whether it was an item or a feral, he couldn't be sure. "What's that?" Tom slowly and apprehensively made his way towards it, his ice-punch at the ready.
And there, within the cave, was an item.
Thank GOD for that.

This dice is not existing.

Ace sighed, "To be honest, I can't believe you suggested that either." however, the Snivy turned his attention to what Tom had found, and before the Totodile could find out what it was, he picked it up.

"It looks like another Oran Berry." after looking at it for a few moments, turning it over for any obvious defections to the berry, casually tossed it at Tom, "Here you go. After the beatdown you took from the Ursaring, you probably need it."

With that, Ace's attention moved back towards the entrance, "I suppose the best bet is to either hope the feral Pokemon have a regular sleeping schedule, or for someone to keep watch..."