Genetics

First topic message reminder :

(Sova's Energy - 83)
(Skylar's Energy - 13, it's funny because Sova's the one with the cursed ribbon)


"..."

Dark.  Not quite too dark to see, but nonetheless, this was the first thing the glaceon noticed.  He was already deep within the cave, so why was he only just now noticing his dim environment?  He couldn't seem to recall why it was so foreign.  In fact, he wasn't even sure where he was, or why he'd come.  Was this another dream... or... nightmare?  It certainly felt like it; he had a familiar fogginess in his head that was reminiscent of the atrocities sleep typically put him through.  So, then, when was the nightmare going to start?  When would the bloodthirsty being in the back of his mind come out to play?

As he waited, his gaze slowly trailed up his legs until he noticed something odd.  At first, he thought he was wounded, but they were not wounds.  His body appeared to be covered in red markings.  He lifted his left paw to touch a large, L-shaped mark on his chest, when a sudden jolt of needle-like pain through his body that caused him to freeze.  Was he hurt?  He didn't want to risk moving and worsening an injury, especially if it was something internal.  The pain wasn't anything too extreme, so he figured it probably wasn't a serious injury and decided to just ignore it.

He had to feel the markings, and so he did.  He pressed his paw against the large brand on his chest just to verify what he could already see: it was a part of him.  His very fur and skin held the color, and it seemed to glow with an eerie aura.  As he moved his paw back toward the ground, he noticed another marking on its pad.  However, this one seemed... different.  He lifted his paw up to his face to get a good look at what appeared to be a healing wound.  He was hurt?  It looked like it'd been there for a while and wouldn't be a problem, but he had no clue how he'd received this injury.  He gave himself another look over and began to notice numerous healing wounds amidst the red markings.

What had happened to him?  How could he not remember whatever had riven his body, or the source of the strange markings?  He could feel his heartbeat speeding up as he began to panic, his breathing becoming shaky.  "This must be a dream," he found himself speaking aloud, hoping - borderline-praying - that someone or something would confirm his suspicion.

"Then wake up."

He recognized this voice, and the fact that it was coming from behind him rather than in his head confirmed what he'd already guessed: this was a dream.  He slowly, hesitantly turned around to face the mirror-image of himself, every step eliciting pain as if his body were full of stone shards.  His body seemed to move on its own, rushing toward the doppelganger with as much force as he could muster.  His body almost immediately began to pulse with agony, causing him to stumble and fall forward, going straight through the other glaceon.  He wanted to scream at the other glaceon, or to get up and attempt to attack once more, but all he could do was moan in agony as he lay on the ground, his eyes shut tight in pain.

"A for effort, now get up.  You aren't dreaming," S.S. spoke from behind him, sitting patiently and waiting for him to pull himself together.

Sova feared the very idea that this was his reality.  This meant he was truly insane, which he did not want to believe.  He tried to push himself up, but the slightest strain on his body sent another fresh wave of metaphorical needles piercing into his body, ensuring he stayed down on the ground.  "I..." he muttered, his voice strained from the pain.  He could hear S.S. sigh, as if disappointed in him.

"What's the matter, can't do it?  The pain's too much for ya?  Wasn't that bad for me," S.S. taunted, knowing that the vulnerable child soul-shackled to him would want nothing less than to fall short to him.  

Sure enough, with the threat of paling in comparison to the demon driving him, Sova found the will to pull himself up despite the pain.  Despite trying to move with caution, he still managed to stumble as he faced the bane of his life.  "What's going on?  Y... you're not..."

"Real?  I'm as real as you are," S.S. decided to cut his little friend off before allowing him to say something stupid.  "But I know what you mean.  The gist is that you're going insane.  You're finally breaking."

The sound of a rock falling to the floor of the cavern caused Sova to jump, nearly falling over in his delirious state.  His head swiveled in the direction of the noise to find nothing, and when he turned back, S.S. was gone.  In fact... that wasn't the only difference.

He was in an entirely different area of the cave.

"...What's happening to me?"


Skylar hadn't known Sova for all too long, but she still knew him well enough to recognize when something wasn't right.  He was always antisocial, irritable and insensitive, but lately, he was just... different.  He seemed to have a certain air of bloodlust to him, at least, at times...  Then sometimes he appeared to simply be absent from his own mind; his body would be functioning, but he would seem hollow, so to speak.  But not matter which side he was on, he'd been acting very ominously, saying and doing concerning things.  The vaporeon hadn't gotten to see much of him since he'd been around the guild - and Grassveil in general - even less than usual, but she'd seen more than enough.

In one particularly concerning case, she'd found him in their room, sitting.  Not laying down, or looking for anything.  Just... sitting.  His back was turned to the doorway, so she spoke up with a greeting to get his attention.  Upon receiving no reaction, she began to worry that something was wrong, so she approached and placed a paw on his back as she what was wrong with the hope of comforting him.

She could still remember his exact words.

"He's dead."

After that, he got up and left the room.  By the time Skylar had gotten over the shock of what she'd heard and went to pursue him, he was nowhere to be found.  He'd already left the guild.  When the message came about the death of Linus, a honchkrow who was on the team of one of Sova's friends, the vaporeon began to piece it all together in her mind.  It was difficult to suppress fearful thoughts of the worst-case scenario.

Skylar and her teammate, Keith, had worked tirelessly to cover for their leader's odd behavior from that point onward.  They made sure one of them was there whenever he was in the guild to ensure he didn't creep anyone out, or... hurt anyone.  They felt bad talking and acting on his behalf while he acted like either a husk or a psychopath, but they didn't really know what else to do other than tell someone and risk getting him in trouble.  After all, he'd saved both their lives, so they both felt like they owed it to him to at least give him some time to sort himself out, and to help in any way they could.

And so here she was.  The two had taken to following Sova around outside of the guild, partially to watch out for him and partly to see if they could figure out what was wrong.  Skylar had followed him into Serene Cave while Keith went back to the guild so no one would question all three of them being gone for an extended period of time without taking any missions.  Besides, she figured one of them would be able to move around undetected easier than both of them, and she'd already been through caves before, so she felt she was the better choice.  But now that she was actually faced with the task of keeping up with Sova while making sure not to be noticed, she was beginning to doubt herself.

She had completely lost him, and it'd been a while since she'd seen any trace of him.  He was too fast for her, moving unlike any living thing she'd ever seen.  He didn't run, yet his movements were swift.  He never hesitated, never stopped, and never took even a moment to contemplate which path to take.  Through the low light and maze-like structure of the cave, Skylar had lost sight of her leader, and her own sense of direction followed soon after.

She had no idea where she was going.

The piplup was proving to be just as much of a pest as ever, having apparently learned no manners nor discipline since the last time Skylar had crossed paths with her. The thought of reprimanding her for her behavior was appealing, but alas, there were more important things to focus on. "It's for him," came her short and simple response as she nodded toward the glaceon, her focus more drawn to him than the petty little bird. She knew she couldn't do much to assist in this battle, but she kept her eyes glued to the scene all the same, prepared to help in any way she could. She had little concern for her own safety in this situation, but she knew she needed to watch out for herself if only to spare her allies any excessive difficulty on her behalf. Her hazy memory coming into picture, she finally noticed the lack of the newfound companion she'd been tagging along with. For a moment, she wondered if the mightyena had run off and abandoned her, but she answered her own question when she realized there was a zoroark in the scene. Between her daze and the intense focus on Sova, she'd failed to notice the vixen prior, but now that she had, it became instantly clear where her ally had gone: nowhere. She had been deceived by an illusionist, but to what end?

She wasn't afforded much time to think on it before the situation playing out in front of her took a turn for the worst. She knew her hail wouldn't have much immediate effect on Sova, and the foe was pressing him hard; at this rate, the battle would probably end before the weather had any time to make a difference, she she wasn't liking the outcome things seemed to be moving toward. She had joined in the middle of the fight, of course, but from where she was standing, it seemed like the glaceon was losing. Demonstrating its vastly overwhelming power, the foe struck the ground with enough force to wrack the cavern with tremors, which quickly knocked Sky off her paws and send her stumbling to the floor below with a lack of grace. Despite her best efforts, she failed to get up and put her focus back on the fight until the shaking finally died down, and by that point, it seemed the outcome of the battle had already been decided. She finally stabilized herself and managed to bring her attention back to the fight just in time to witness the glaceon being knocked into an inferno, and the shriek that followed... She hoped to see Sova get back up, but after the concerning sound he had made, she was overwhelmed with doubts that proved true when he tried and failed to get back up.

The vaporeon's eyes widened in panic, her body tensing and beginning to liquefy instinctively as she watched idly. She was afraid of putting herself at risk, but it was preferable over standing by and allowing Sova to be harmed to such a degree. The enemy was going to continue striking him, as it had already made clear, and he was in no condition to defend himself. Skylar took in a deep breath, water welling up in her throat as she prepared to attack, knowing it would do nothing but draw the beast's attention to her... at best. Still, no matter what happened to her, it was better than the alternative. Just as she readied herself to attack, however, the zoroark sprang into action, apparently having a similar plan. However, unlike her own plan, that of the darkly creature seemed to involve a close-ranged attack, which was distinctly riskier. Clearly, this was no stranger to Sova, or she surely wouldn't have been willing to put herself in the direct path of harm to protect him. There was something vaguely familiar about her as well, but unfortunately, any further thought on the topic of the zoroark's identity would have to wait.

The zoroark rushed toward the purple entity with a surprising lack of hesitation, wrapping her arms around it and enclosing it in a painful-looking aura of darkness. The two became shrouded from view for a moment as the attack fulfilled its purpose, but it, too, seemed to be far too little to stop this embodiment of power. As the haze cleared, the foe was revealed to be seemingly unfazed by the attack, though the zoroark looked to be in good condition as well, albeit in new form. The situation definitely could have been worse, but at the same time, there was a great deal of room for improvement. Despite the illusory fox having shrouded herself under the guise of Sova, Sky knew which one was the real one thanks to her attention being glued to him. He was in the same position and still struggling to stand, which made him easy to spot, at least to her. The beast assaulting him, on the other hand, seemed hesitant, or perhaps just surprised at this development. It seemed torn over who to attack first, its gaze shifting between the two identical blue figures as it stood. Despite its faltering commitment, it still had an aura of confidence and power to its demeanor, standing tall with its arms at either side, presenting no effort to guard itself.

It didn't take long for the beast to decide on its next move; its left hand lit up with a warm, orange hue, and with little warning, it suddenly flung its arm in a crescent motion toward the ceiling, sending a wave of energy bearing the same glow upward. The orange glow brightened as it spread, consuming and dispersing the hail-bearing clouds at a rapid pace. Skylar gasped in surprise, having failed to account for the possibility that it would be capable of controlling the weather as she could. She had been training herself specifically for this purpose, feeling that it was the best way for her to be useful with her very minimal combat skill, and yet this creature seemed to be able to do just as much whilst simultaneously boasting a staggering capacity for violence. The vaporeon's body moved almost on instinct, spraying the water that had collected in her throat upward in a mist that began working to neutralize the new light on impact. This collision of weather created a bit of a spectacle, fog forming and thickening into spiraling clouds that crept outward as the glowing energy fought against them.

The purple-skinned creature's eyes narrowed as its head slowly turned toward the vaporeon. Upon having its eyes lock with her own, she shuttered, the consequence of her choice suddenly ringing clear. Still, she persisted, her body again moving as if through automation as she let loose a jet of water from her mouth. Rather than avoid the attack, the foe simply stood in place and took the jet straight to its chest, not even so much as flinching from the impact. This wasn't surprising, as she already knew of her own inability to harm the creature and had only been aiming to keep its attention on her. This plan seemed to have worked, for whatever it was worth, but she now had her own safety to worry about. The lingering glow within its palm shifted to a lighter color and seemed to collect in an orb as it raised its arm toward the vaporeon. Giving little time to react despite its slow and casual movements, the sphere was launched forward, and she instinctively shut her eyes as she braced for impact.

However, instead of feeling the force of another wrathful explosion like the one she had had the displeasure of experiencing prior, she instead felt something slam into her left side, sending her tumbling to the ground in the opposite direction. She opened her eyes just in time to see Sova take the attack in her place, apparently having covered the distance between them fast enough to defend her. Before she could make any moves, the orb impacted with the glaceon, the shockwave of the resulting explosion reaching her and knocking her back to the ground as she tried to stand. She could hear the sounds of ice shattering: Sova's armor was being ripped apart with every blow. How much was it truly protecting him against such powerful attacks? Surely not enough for him to be able to afford taking hits so carelessly to protect his weak teammate. This only fueled Skylar's desire to help, but even with the distance she'd been given and the liquidity of her body, her body was now overcome with pain, and it was all she could do to restrain herself from whining.


Despite his best efforts, the glaceon was unable to recover quickly enough to save himself from the inevitably painful kick Mewtwo had prepared for him. However, to his good fortune, it seemed his allies were worth being labeled as such, effectively sparing him the wrath of this living warpath. Before Mewtwo could slam its energy-blade-adorned leg into him, it was interrupted by the sudden assault by the zoroark it had momentarily dismissed. She enclosed her own body around the foe, ceasing its assault with her own attack. The glaceon could feel the energy of the impact even from his position, and while it wasn't particularly dangerous to him since he wasn't the target, it still clearly had power behind it. He hoped to see the foe fazed by such an impact, but if nothing else, it had at least afforded him the opportunity to gather himself. Lacking vision thanks to a spread of darkness that he assumed was from the zoroark's attack, he simply leapt away from where he knew the foe to be, concerned at the possibility of being struck again while his vision was obscured. It didn't take long for visibility to return to normal levels, thankfully, and the zoroark seemed relatively well-off, which he took as a sign that she hadn't been hit with a counterattack. Mewtwo seemed to be doing about as well, unfortunately, which was quite concerning with the powerful attack it had just been engulfed in.

The creature was still for but a moment before making its next move, this time opting for a strategic advantage over simply lashing out as it had done thus far. Throwing its arm outward at the ceiling, it sent a bright light up to meet the clouds producing the hail. Considering his state, he was quite thankful for the hail, so of course, he was sad to see it go when the light began eating away at the clouds. The light also made it difficult to see, as his eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness of the cavern. However, when his eyes finally readjusted themselves, he found the light to be dying down, dancing amongst the clouds rather than overcoming them. It didn't seem to be giving way with ease, but the clouds were slowly winning nonetheless. At first, he wasn't sure why this was happening, but one look at the opponent directed his attention toward its current target and clarified things. The vaporeon, of course, had intervened and prevented the spread of the artificial sunlight, preserving the optimal weather for an ice-type to thrive in.

His allies were protecting him, bar the piplup. He felt guilty, but at the same time, grateful for their assistance. Having been spared a fair bit of misery by the intervention of the two, he now had more reason to defend them, beyond simply doing the right thing. So, when the next attack was thrown out, he moved to intercept it with very little contemplation, throwing his body at the vaporeon to knock her out of the way of the sphere of energy; at the same time, a gust of chilled wind kicked up in the direction of the piplup so as to blow her to a safer distance. A wall of ice began to form a few feet in front of him as he struggled to get up and spare himself from the blast, but it was far too fast, ripping through the pathetic shards of ice that had just barely begun to form before colliding with his chest in a painful explosion. The glaceon was sent off his paws and flying through the cavern, but a sudden gust of freezing wind nearly completely stopped his advance through the air and dragged him back to the ground, getting him back into place to take action more quickly and sparing him any extra pain from an unpleasant impact.

His body pulsed with pain as the red markings covering his fur shone through his tattered armor. He nearly collapsed from the sensation alone, but remained standing, vigilant and convicted. His armor began to repair itself as he prepared for what he felt was inevitable: another attack from Mewtwo. However, to his surprise and dismay, it seemed more interested still in targeting everyone else, lifting its other arm toward the zoroark to- ... In place of the zoroark, there was now a mirror image of himself. It didn't take him long to figure out that this was an illusion, but it still brought momentary confusion to him before he finally realized the truth. He rushed toward the purple entity as another glowing orb formed in front of its palm, this time directed toward the cloaked zoroark. In hindsight, it was possible that it wasn't sure which one was the illusion and had just selected one to attack at random, in which case, the guise was putting the zoroark in danger. Regardless, there was nothing to be done about it now, so he didn't bother putting any focus on it.

As the glaceon neared the bipedal creature, he lunged off the ground; mask having been broken, he easily latched onto the free arm that had been lowered to its side, pulling the fiend off-balance and disrupting its aim. This caused the orb of aura to fly up toward the ceiling, though to describe the failed attack as "harmless" would have been an inaccuracy. While it did miss its target entirely, the impact was enough to cause a rockslide above the cloaked vixen, and the glaceon was just a bit too busy to save her this time around. Mouth clamped down on the wrist of the powerful being, he held on as tightly as he could, hoping to drag it to the ground. Sadly, Mewtwo proved far too powerful for such a thing, correcting its balance almost immediately and throwing its arm forward, the sheer force of which tore the glaceon's grip away and sent him flying into one of the cavern's walls with a very loud thud. As he fell to the ground, his eyes squinted and begged to be allowed to shut as if it would somehow let him hide from the pain.

Dark, shadowy sparks of energy flickered in front of the glaceon as he collided with the ground, his gaze still trained on the opponent. These traces of energy quickly formed into a dark orb that he then loosed at the foe, but despite the attack's speed, it was avoided with ease. Seemingly intending to simply take the attack head-on at first, the juggernaut waited until the last second before suddenly vanishing into thin air. The glaceon rose, leaning against the wall to help prop himself up as he searched the cavern for any sign of the opponent. "Where... W-where is he?" he spoke between breaths, panting in exhaustion as he scoured the cave for the dangerous entity lurking within. For just a moment, he wondered if it had fled, but he quickly discarded the thought since by all means, it was winning. It had no reason to run with its minimal injuries, especially if it enjoyed fighting so much as the claims surrounding it would have had one believe.

The one place the glaceon hadn't thought to check was above, since, after all, it seemed silly to think Mewtwo would somehow be on the ceiling. Yet this was exactly the case: it was standing upside down, its feet seemingly glued to the cavern thanks to manipulation of the gravity around it. It crossed its arms and shut its eyes as if in contemplation, a white barrier of light creeping up around its body as it stood in idle thought. Suddenly, a vibrant array of colorful lights began to paint its body, dually healing its injuries and empowering it whilst also announcing its presence. The energies collided and sparked with electricity-like surges of light, sporadically sparking and striking all around its body in quite the display. It crouched down - or up, rather - and placed its hands against the ceiling in preparation for a true display of its power. For a moment, it did nothing but allow the spectacle of lights to envelop it. Then, without warning, large stalactites formed on the ceiling above the party and stretched downward at a rapid speed, seemingly reaching toward them all.

The glaceon had noticed the lights emanating from the ceiling, but by then, it was too late to do anything about it. With the foe already taking the offensive once more, he couldn't attempt to stop it from doing whatever it was doing. He knew there was no way he would be able to move quickly enough to protect everyone, but at the same time, he didn't want to just hope they would all be able to take care of themselves. Thinking quickly, he came upon the only solution he could think of, and with great dread, a violent cyclone whipped up around him. Just as the spike above him neared, the encircling wind suddenly blasted outward, coating the ground along its path with frost as it spread toward the others. The aim was to knock them all out of the way of the attacks, even if it meant hurting them in the process. If anyone happened to be capable of avoiding it on their own, well, then, they'd be hit with a blizzard for no reason. Alas, the only way he could think to ensure everyone's safety was to hurt them. Surely, they would all understand.

Just as the subzero wind pulsed outward, the glaceon dropped to his right and rolled, narrowly avoiding the downward-creeping hunk of stone above him as it collided with the ground. This effectively formed a pillar, which would inevitably make the environment just that much more difficult to quickly navigate, especially since there were going to be four of them. He glanced up to find his gaze met by that of the beast above just as it lunged down from the ceiling, suddenly moving at too high a speed to effectively react to. He jumped back just as the creature's body slammed into the ground in front of him, narrowly avoiding its two outstretched fists. However, the very impact created a shockwave powerful enough to stun him as it rippled through the air and tore at the ground below, creating a storm of dust and debris in the process. Cracks surged through the fox's icy armor, but despite this, it was doing virtually nothing to absorb any damage from this attack. With his breath taken away, he struggled still to move in an attempt to catch himself as he neared the ground, but even the slightest movements sent surges of pain through his body that caused his muscles to tense up and fail him. A certain helplessness arose through this, resulting in the glaceon tumbling pathetically across the ground with lifeless movements akin to a rag doll.

Before the glaceon could even make a failed attempt at getting up, Mewtwo spun in a circle with an arm thrown out in a backhanded motion, gathering extreme momentum in a split second before slamming its hand into the ground below. This sent another shockwave in the direction of the glaceon, tearing the ground apart and knocking him into a flurry of rocky shrapnel whilst shredding away his armor. Within the dusty haze, a violet glow surrounded the living weapon, taking form as claws and blades that stretched outward down its appendages. Seemingly demonstrating an infinite reservoir of stamina, it was visibly unfazed by its devastating and reckless attacks, still carrying itself with a casual demeanor lacking any form of guard or caution. It stared through the cloud of destruction at the downed opponent for a moment, waiting for him to get back up. When it became apparent that he wasn't going to rise this time, it turned its attention to the environment around it, searching for something still standing for it to decimate.


There was a moment of silence while the two parallels gazed into the eyes of one another, their appearances speaking more than words ever could. Despite being able to see the sheer level of regret and dread Sova felt, S.S. still found himself harboring spite and bitterness toward him, and this showed. Narrowed eyes, flattened ears and fur on-end spoke volumes of how he felt toward his opposition. Even after all that, he was still nothing more than a tool to be used however the situation deemed necessary. Currently, it seemed he was a glossary; this was an unflattering gesture, to say the least, but more importantly, it was a dishonor to his purpose. He was a weapon, through and through, yet it seemed his job was now to be customer support for Sova's mind. Before long, the silence became too much to tolerate and he snapped: "WHAT!? What more could you POSSIBLY want from-"

"What's your name?"

Once more, silence filled the colorless void as S.S. was interrupted mid-rant. His eyes widened, mouth gaping open in shock at what he'd just heard. For a moment, he wondered if it had been his imagination, but the question matched Sova's remorseful demeanor. He took a step away in recoil, though not from Sova so much as from a well of emotion that felt as if it would consume him if he didn't somehow escape from it. He stared in disbelief, unsure of what to feel toward this gesture. It was a question he had long since given up on ever hearing, at least from Sova, so the reality before him was a bit difficult to take in. His momentary hesitance faded, however, and he finally gave his answer. "S.S. Sova Surzéi," he spoke calmly and clearly, an emotionless and serious aura coming over his being. Now it was Sova's turn to be wide-eyed, and sure enough, the poor little fool did just as expected.

"W-wha-" Sova tried to gather the information before him, pretty much anything else as an answer. He didn't know what to say, nor what implications this revelation held. Before he could even gather his thoughts, the opposing glaceon began explaining the situation to him.

S.S. began a slow approach, eyes locked with the other glaceon standing across from him as he elaborated. "Don't you think it's odd how I have all your memories, and how I remember things even more clearly than you do? How about how I make more sense as an outcome of your life? I mean, think about all the things you've been through... How are you not a violent psychopath by this point? I mean, you seem more like the safety net here than I do, wouldn't you say? That's why you have my name: so you can pretend to be me while the real thing is hidden from view," he spoke with an eerie calmness to his voice, clear horror becoming present on his emotionally frazzled other half. He could almost see the internal breaking of the weakling playing out before him.

Sova, if that was even truly his name, fell silent, all emotion save for shock melting away and leaving nothing but an essence of emptiness. His eyes physically could not have been any wider, and if he hadn't already been unconscious and trapped within his own mind, he likely would have passed out. "I-I'm-" he started up, gasping suddenly as he realized he had forgotten to breathe. Despite being inside his own mind, he still felt the need to breathe for some odd reason, perhaps because he was still used to it. But his breaths were a facade that simply made him feel more real in this place... and apparently, the same was true for his waking life. "I'm... n-not re-eal?" he finally managed to speak through the shock, just barely stuttering his way through a coherent sentence. He was falling apart at the seams from this revelation, finding himself wishing and pleading to his own mind for it to all be a lie. His life was bad enough when it was his own, but the idea of it being someone else's... well, he didn't even know how to imagine it.

He was nothing more than a resource made to fix a life he thought was his own. This was what S.S.' revelation implied, and while it seemed clear enough, he was still having trouble comprehending it. He felt so... real, as did his memories, his life, his... parents. His body was suddenly released from the emotional paralysis holding it, causing him to nearly fall before catching himself with his front legs in an awkward, puppet-like sitting position. His ears drooped, tail laying on the ground and head hanging forward with nothing more than his paws to keep his attention. Through the blur of silence and non-reality around him, his ears suddenly perked up at an odd noise. It was... laughter? S.S., or... "Sova" was... laughing at him, chuckling in specific. He slowly looked up toward the demented being with what would have been anger if he was even capable of feeling such a thing at the moment. Alas, he felt nearly nothing, which was perhaps fitting since he wasn't real in the first place. Why have real emotions if he was nothing more than a hollow alter-ego made up to live someone else's life?

At the sight of his long-time closest enemy reduced to a pathetic heap of shock and trauma, S.S. couldn't help but laugh. An all-too-cheery grin crept onto his face as he took in the wonderful sight, etching every detail into his memory. It was something he didn't intend to forget, especially since he would likely never experience such satisfaction again. "I'm fuckin' with ya. But, hey, now you know how I feel all the time. Now you understand what my existence is," he spoke up as he closed the last bit of distance between himself and the shivering heap who hardly looked deserving of the name "Sova." Looking down at the embarrassing sight before him, he found Sova's gaze slowly raising up to meet his, still looking stunned and scared from the false revelation. For the first time ever, he felt like he was truly sharing a moment with Sova as an equal.

"Senya. My name is Senya Saika."

The two fell into silence for what felt like a brief eternity, if such a thing could even exist. Tears welled up in Sova's eyes and streamed down his face, but the look on his face was not one of sadness. Rather, he held an expression of... acceptance, understanding... of peace. He felt sad, very deeply so, but for once, he truly understood why. He could finally comprehend where he had actually gone wrong at every turn, and he now felt confident that he knew the correct path. It was a bit late to change, but if there was any hope, he owed it to everyone in his life. Everyone he'd burdened with his existence, his self-loathing and sporadic violence, his unreliability, his tantrums, the weight of his presence... He had fought for the wrong reasons, the wrong goals, far too many times. He had never truly learned any lessons from any of his choices, instead simply changing his means of striving for the same innate failures in his life. Change was long overdue, and he now understood that he had no right not to try.

Slowly, Sova's body rose back to a standing position, face-to-face with Senya. He closed his eyes and took in a deep charade of of a breath, still deceptively content through the despair that permeated his mind mirroring the tear streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, Senya. For everything. I have a lot to make up to... everyone I've ever known," he finally responded, an almost foreign serenity present in his voice. He raised his head upward and slowly opened his eyes to gaze into the abyss, and as if in tune, sparks of light began to form all around in the distance. Then, without warning, the small and distant lights suddenly turned to a vibrant, all-encompassing flash. For but a moment, this flash consumed the entirety of the blank mindscape. It faded just as quickly as it had appeared, leaving behind cracks all around the empty environment. The cracks slowly spread all throughout, leaking the same light from prior through the gray background of nothingness.

His gaze was slowly drawn back down to Senya as he continued: "And I can't do that in here."

Senya's expression shifted slightly, becoming more of a smirk at the sight of a side of Sova he had never seen. Perhaps it was so unheard of because it had only just been born, but regardless, he liked it. There was sudden, but distinct, change in Sova. His cowardice was just... gone.

"Good, because there's no way in Hell that pansy's gonna beat Mewtwo."

He had been waiting for the newcomer to get them all killed, simply wiling away the minutes until the inevitable group-death they would all three experience when this third personality inevitably failed to defeat the powerful creature of legend. This new personality was naive and weak, making it very ill-suited to the task afoot. But now, there was hope... and Sova wasn't the only one with some wrongs that needed writing. Senya had failed twice to do anything at all to help him overcome creatures of legend. Fighting was his sole purpose, and yet when it mattered most, he had failed not once, but twice.

He didn't intend to fail a third time.

The mewtwo had attacked Skylar, but there was nothing Namataki could do. She had made herself scarce as soon as the mewtwo had even looked in their direction. The piplup had decided that a nice and large rock was good enough to obscure herself from view after she was blasted by a chilly wind that knocked her out of the way of the attack, though it was amazing that she had decided to even stick around.

The piplup had been...intrigued with what was going on. Though for the most part she was upset. THIS was the power of an explorer? Giratina and that whatever-other-thing that fought did so much more than Skylar!

Giratina had taken the attack for Skylar, but still, she just...sat there and did nothing. She was completely oblivious to the fact that there was nothing the vaporeon COULD do, so the fact had completely failed to stop her from calling out to the vaporeon, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"You're doing jack squat to that thing! You're an EXPLORER right!? Do some damn damage already and stop wasting time! They're going to DIE if you don't do something of actual fucking use!" her big mouth piped in anger with the water type. She knew that the vaporeon was hurt, but so were the other two. Yet all this vaporeon was doing was sitting around and whining like a little-lost pup!

Despite all her yapping, she did nothing herself to help the two. She knew full well that she would get in the way. Surely, a trained EXPLORER would be able to do something, this is what they were TRAINED to do after all weren't they?

She had distanced herself from the cavern a good way down the tunnel. She was out of harm's way before the mewtwo had even launched its devastating attack. She hid behind her rock as the cave ahead of her shook and cold winds howled about the tunnels. She put her back to the rock and held her flippers over her beak, for once in her life she would not allow a single peep to escape her lips.

--

Her plan to confuse the mewtwo had worked perfectly, but if only it wasn't intelligent and did not have access to a near infinite arsenal of moves. The mewtwo had been attacked by the vaporeon...well, more like 'tickled' than attacked. She tried to think up a proper plan once more but failed as her attention was pulled away. Sova had been hit...again.

She was doing a really bad job of this whole 'protecting' thing, wasn't she? Sova was so much better at this than her...

Then again it'd probably be easier if the target didn't literally throw themself into the face of danger.

The mewtwo had pointed in her direction, the illusion mimicking a look of shock as if he had picked the right one. An attack was prepared, but she was on the move to get out of the way already. The glaceon had intercepted the attack and caused it to fly upward. The round sphere struck the cavern above her and caused rocks to fall. She was more annoyed by this than anything, as she had to focus all her attention on merely not being crushed.

The next thing she knew, she was being struck with a blizzard.

"ARCEUS FUCKING-" she cried out in sheer frustration before she was cut off by her collision with the cavern walls. Darkness overwhelmed her as she was knocked out completely by her own ally's attack.

But at least she wasn't crushed underneath the ceiling.

ooc//fuck colors and fuck posting while half asleep

Collapsed upon the cold, frost-glazed floor of the cavern, Skylar came to understand how pointless her endeavor was.  All she wanted was to help, to repay a debt to someone who had protected her and let her into their team.  But, more than that, she wanted to be useful... to do good.  Seeing Sova reap such success made her long for the same, but even more so, she desired his power.  She was an incompetent fighter, mediocre at best, and she fell short of being a strategist.  She had heart, perhaps, but she wasn't the best at showing it, and her social skills were about average, which left her unable to fill any role of diplomacy or morale.  On her team, in the guild, and in general, she found herself without any particular skills.  On its own, this would not have been too terrible; she could practice, after all, and perhaps she could improve with time.  But, then there were the deficits specific to her: being a vaporeon with a fear of water... it wasn't her first choice.  Her body and its natural capabilities terrified her, leaving her hindered.  If she couldn't even overcome herself, how would she do the same with external obstacles?

All while watching her leader fearlessly battle the deity-like beast, she received the honor of another round of slander from the piplup she was now too weak to retaliate against.  Even if she had been capable of doing something about the berating voice, she wouldn't have wanted to.  After all, for once, the prissy little penguin was entirely correct, no matter how hurtful her words were to hear.  Skylar wanted to be everything she was being yelled at to be, not to please the one making the demands, but rather, for herself... and for everyone else.  She had been protected so much just by Sova in her short time knowing him, and in hindsight, she had spent much of her life being defended by others.  Her goal in joining the guild had been to reverse her role and help others for a change, but thus far, she had done virtually nothing.  Her entire reason for following Sova in the first place had been to help him for a change, and perhaps to do something noteworthy with herself in the process, but she had done nothing but be a burden to others yet again.  Even her temporary ally had received nothing but hindrance from her.

The vaporeon's eyes drifted shut as she was forced to lay there and listen to the harsh, cold words of the piplup.  Perhaps she shouldn't have taken hurtful insults from an inconsiderate individual seriously, but she felt they were true.  Eventually, the criticism stopped, but the damage was already done and her own mind was continuing what the flightless bird had started.  Fortunately, she was taken away from her self-loathing by the glaceon distributing more his special brand of help, dispelling a powerful wind that sent her tumbling in the opposite direction before she could even think to react.  It hurt, but the physical pain was nothing compared to what she was doing to herself on an emotional level.  She was confused as to why she had just been attacked by her ally, but seeing a pillar of stone come down on her previous location made it all clear.  Her vision began to fade as her eyes struggled to stay open, the exhaustion of the ordeal taking its toll on her.  She wasn't sure why, but she tried in vain to shackle her consciousness to reality.  She wondered... why even bother, when she was inevitably going to fall in the end?

She would pass out eventually, and clinging to consciousness wasn't exactly doing much to help anyone.  It was probably for the best, anyway, as she could no longer burden the others with her attempts to "help."  The creature seemed more interested in battling the strong opponents anyway, having barely even acknowledged her existence outside of to swat her away whenever she tried to help.  Her efforts got her attacked when she otherwise probably would have been free to just leave, and she dragged everyone else down with every time she put herself in harm's way.  Her vision blurred and slowly faded out as she managed to break her own will and give up.  Sova had come alone for a reason, and he clearly didn't need help, least of all from someone like herself.

Then, a series of abrupt and loud noises caught her attention, piquing her curiosity and motivating her just enough to take one last peek.  The first thing she noticed was the cloud of debris that had been kicked up from whatever had happened.  It faded quickly, however, and revealed the confident figure of the purple being.  It stood unrivaled, staring down at a familiar heap of blue on the ground in front of it.  Yet again, it had the advantage, and this time, it seemed it had truly won.  Sova was immobile, lacking any indication of consciousness or even life.  He had been beaten.  The foe seemed to be scanning its surroundings, probably looking for something else to beat to death if its track record was of any indication.  However, the mightyena-turned-zoroark was incapacitated, the piplup had fled, and... well, Sky was beaten.  In fact, she had been beaten before the fight had really even started.  For a moment, she hoped that the beast would simply leave with nothing else to sate it.

Her hope was not realized.

After assuring itself there were no more prospects to be explored, the monster slowly raised its right arm toward the glaceon sprawled across the ground.  He was already unconscious, beaten and battered, and yet it intended to continue attacking him?  It waved its other arm up toward the ceiling, a glow emanating momentarily in its hand and dispersing upward to eat away at the clouds.  Almost immediately, the hail began to die down; not only was it attacking an opponent who was already defeated, but it was also cutting off his life support.  Did it want to kill him?  Intent aside, that seemed to be where the situation was headed.  And if it was going to kill Sova, then what of everyone else?  Was this what a legend truly looked like?

"It's gonna kill him," she thought to herself, fearing that even if it was just trying to make sure he would stay down this time, its attack would be too much for his body.  She glanced down at her bag, on the ground in front of her, the strap stil draped over her neck.

"I can't stop it.  If I try, I'll die."

She was fairly confident that she was correct in this one thing if nothing else.  She lifted a paw and weakly reached it out toward the bag, dragging it closer to her.  She then reached into its opening with her other paw, feeling around before pulling out a small seed, dragging it across the ground as she was too weak to have the coordination to properly pick it up.  She pulled the seed in close, opened her mouth and bit into it.  She then swallowed it, hoping for the effect to hit her as quickly as possible.  She didn't care about dying if meant just one more chance to be proud of herself.




Almost immediately, she felt a pulse of rejuvination all throughout her body.  Before waiting for the seed to take its full effect, she was already pulling herself up, her legs shaking and body aching in protest.  Then, immediately, she let loose another breath of freezing mist toward the ceiling, smothering out the light and heat once more.  The glowing orb of energy that had just begun to form in front of the beastly foe's palm suddenly flickered out as its menacing gaze turned toward the vaporeon.  The spotlight was on her.  She had no idea what she was planning on doing, but she felt focused... she felt... determined.  She knew that, reasonably, she had no hope of winning.  Despite this, she simply couldn't lose.  She would just have to find a way to win regardless.

A deep breath of air filled her lungs, her body shivering on reflex at the feeling of water seeping into her throat.  Suppressing her instinctive fear, she shot water from her mouth in a jet, to which the foe actually responded this time around.  It stepped aside, avoiding the weak attack with ease despite having proven already that there was no need, then rushed forward almost too quickly to react to; almost.  Skylar pushed herself off the ground with her right paw and jumped back as she dug her left leg into a pocket of her bag, pulling out a small, blue orb with a quick swoop.  Sova didn't use tools much, but she wasn't Sova.  Sova also didn't organize his items, which meant difficulty drawing them on demand, but again, she wasn't Sova.

She threw the orb into the ground just as the foe neared; a shockwave emanated from the point of impact, sending the creature flying into the far wall of the cave.  She then reached into her bag once more and pulled out yet another orb, crushing it against the ground just like its predecessor.  The beast recovered quickly from its meeting with the wall, raising its arms and collecting two large masses of vibrant light in front of them.  It seemed agitated, perhaps that such a weak foe's retaliation had had any effect.  It wrapped its arms around its sides, dragging the volatile balls of death with it, then flung the two appendages outward and sent the blasts of energy flying toward the vaporeon.  It should have been far too fast for her to react to, and yet she leapt aside, managing to avoid the both of the spheres and allowing them to continue onward into the wall of the cave.  The resulting explosion was nearly enough to knock her off her paws despite her distance, but she retained her stance and kept her focus on the battle, every bit of her mind, body and soul invested entirely in somehow winning.

Enraged, the beast pulled its left arm back, a similar ball of light forming in its palm with the only difference being a smaller size.  It then threw its arm forward violently, sending the orb flying at far too high a velocity to be reasonably avoided.  Fortunately, Skylar was prepared, fishing yet another orb out of her bag of wonders before the foe had even wound its attack up.  She placed it under her paw and crushed it, fearing not for splintering shards as she was forcibly bringing her body into its liquefied state.  It terrified her and she barely understood how to control the process, but she needed every bit of help she could get, and the reduction of damage from being... less-than-solid was a great asset.  Instead of trying to avoid this attack in what she knew from experience would be a fruitless effort, she ducked her head into her bag and pulled out a a pinkish twig-like object and a seed.  Making quick motions, she tossed the corsola twig in the direction of the deadly projectile nearing her, managing to land a direct hit on it.  Colliding with a solid object disrupted the orb's structure, causing it to explode mid-air.  She was overcome with a feeling of familiarity as the force of the explosion hit her, knocking her back across the floor and causing her to stumble as she struggled to retain her footing.

While she had thrown the twig, the seed was kept in her mouth as she prepared for the coming response.  After failing at a distance twice, and with its apparent preference toward close combat, she assumed the enemy would be making another attempt at striking her up close.  Sure enough, it leapt back against the wall before pushing off with its feet, bursting forth with an intimidating level of speed.  Skylar took a few steps back in idle fear as she witnessed the sheer speed of the creature, but she suppressed her worries and put herself into action as the unpleasant end she'd signed herself up for grew ever closer.  As the being neared, its body radiated a scarlet hue of pink that seemingly elongated and brightened the energy blades adorning its body.  Having no prior experience with the particular item she was about to use, Skylar inhaled and blew out toward the death approaching her.  It seemed to expect more of her pathetic water attacks, making no effort to take any defensive measures against her.

Instead, a ball of fire erupted from the vaporeon's mouth, engulfing the purple body of the creature as it lunged for her.  She then sidestepped its attack while it was blinded by the fire, causing it to fly forward and tumble across the ground, hurting no one but itself.  It shook the self-inflicted injury off almost immediately, rolling itself up onto one knee and rubbing its eyes with its hands.  It seemed the fire had hindered its sight or hurt its eyes, but either way, that was a good thing for Skylar.  She dipped her head into the bag yet again and pulled out a metallic spike before bolting toward the foe, her speed drastically enhanced thanks to her itemization.  She would have to thank Keith for letting her take his quick orbs if she somehow survived.  As the beast lowered its arms, its sight just barely returning, the vaporeon rammed straight into its chest.  Thanks to its guard being lowered, this successfully knocked it to the ground, but more importantly, the force of the impact was enough to shove the thorn straight into its chest.  It was certainly resilient, but it seemed it was still vulnerable to sharp objects.

The vaporeon's paws resisted the ground below as she forced herself to a halt and immediately darted off to the left.  The foe rushed to its feet, looking forward in an attempt to locate its enemy since she had attacked it from the front.  Its instincts proved well-honed as it instantly spun around after seeing the vaporeon was no longer in front of it, expecting her to be trying to gain an advantage by attacking from behind.  It was correct, but too late.  Skylar had pulled another orb out of her bag, gently gripping it in her mouth; she then tossed it into the air and spun around, slapping it with the fin of her tail and sending it flying toward the behemoth.  It turned around just in time to catch the orb with its face, the material of the item shattering against its skin.  The impact of the orb was followed by a shockwave that knocked the unnatural entity off its feet and sent it flying whilst also forcing shards of the item into its face and leaving wounds.  It bled red.

It... bled.  The scratches on its face and penetration wound through its chest were bleeding, albeit barely in regards to the prior.  She had made it bleed.  Sova hadn't even done that.

It wasn't invincible.

As the creature fell to the ground, Skylar pulled another thorn out of her bag.  The being rolled off of its back and pushed itself up with its arms, only to nearly collapse back to the ground as she threw the thorn straight into its left arm.  It barely managed to hold itself up with its other arm, the wounds beginning to affect its ability to function.  Rather than attempt to get up, it suddenly loosed a wave of static energy from its body in the direction of the merfox.  It was invisible save for a few sparks, causing her to stand idly by until it was too late.  As the static electricity washed over her, she began to convulse, promptly collapsing her to the ground.  One would have perhaps expected the fight to end there; it was a surprise to her that she had even lasted so far, but she still refused to quit.  She forced her head up through the convulsions and sprayed a mist of water into the air, which, for a moment, seemed to do nothing.  The bestial opponent ripped the spikes out of its body with the free time it had been given, before raising its good arm and expelling a bolt of electricity toward the vaporeon.

Skylar narrowly avoided the attack by jumping out of the way, or rather, trying to.  The intention was to jump, but the result was more of a flop, the convulsions causing her body to give out halfway through the attempt.  Fortunately, it was still enough to get out of the way of the thunderbolt, and just in time as the temperature of the clouds raised enough to begin melting the collecting hail into liquid water.  The hailstones turned to droplets of rain, a welcome change to the one who had enacted it, as being pelted with hail was by no means pleasant.  However, beyond this, it served another purpose, one that became immediately clear.  The foe loosed another bolt of electricity from the palm of its hand, accounting for Skylar's pathetic attempt at a jump, but this time, her body committed more impressively to the task.  She sprung off the ground and moved to her right since the attack had been aimed slightly to the left, which was the direction she had favored prior.  Despite her body's continued involuntary retractions, she managed to stay standing even after having avoided the attack, and it was all thanks to the rain.

Slowly but surely, her paralysis was fading as the water showered over her body.  The two combatants panted, eyes locked as if in some form of silent truce.  Skylar was exhausted, but she clearly wasn't the only one, and this alone was more than enough to motivate her to keep going.  For once, she was the one doing the protecting, and she didn't intend to throw it all away even if her energy was wearing thin.  She swooped her head into her bag and pulled out two more spikes before reeling back and tossing them in the direction of the creature.  She then took a deep breath and let out another spray of water, hoping to keep the foe on its toes.  It simply swatted the thorns out of the way with its already-damaged arm and allowed the jet of water to make contact with its chest, walking calmly forward through the attack and demonstrating once more the power difference between the two.  A bright yellow glow began to build up in the hand of its other arm as it marched forward, completely unfazed by the pathetic water gun.  Skylar continued the stream of water as long as she could but when the target lifted its glowing hand toward her, she immediately ceased her own attack and ducked.  She was just in time as a beam of vibrant, solar light flared from its palm toward her, passing narrowly above her.  She then rolled to the right and took off running, the foe redirecting the beam to follow her by moving its hand.

Knowing she still wouldn't be able to match the speed of the deity-like creature even with all her enhancing orbs, she suddenly spun onto her front paws and leapt into the air, flipping herself over the beam.  She hadn't learned much from her practice, but there were a few fancy moves she'd picked up.  Before giving her a chance to recover, the foe ceased the solar beam and suddenly rushed her with a backhanded, crescent sweep toward the ground using its good arm, to which she responded by jumping as far back as she could.  Her evasion was clumsy since she was still recovering from a flip that she hadn't practiced much, but she had managed regardless.  This attack seemed a bit too easy to avoid at first... then she remembered how Sova had been defeated.  "Oh-" she barely managed to sound out the sudden mixture of fear and realization that was flooding her mind before the juggernaut's hand slammed into the ground, sending a wave of force and debris forward.  Being in no position to avoid yet another attack so soon, the pulse slammed into her, taking her breath away and knocking her violently to the ground.  Her body's molecular state did little to minimize the damage since the impact was spread throughout her with very little room to be mitigated by dispersion.

She gritted her teeth in an attempt not to cry out from the pain, experiencing it more clearly this time than the times she'd been struck before.  This was the first time she had felt the wrath of this godly entity with full lucidity, as she was too determined to allow her consciousness to slip.  Through her short breaths, a quiet, whimper-like groan started up, but she refused to allow herself to look so pathetic yet again.  She quickly grew lightheaded from the pain and shortness of breath, but she kept her focus through nothing but willpower.  Laying on her side to the right, her body pulsed with waves of pain every time she tried to move to get up.  Despite this, she tried still to roll onto her belly so as to prop herself up, hell-bent on winning even if it killed her.  A sudden foot in her chest put a stop to her struggles, blocking her from rolling herself upright.  The foot then rolled her onto her back, directing her gaze upward and allowing her to clearly see the purple figure above her.  Even in the darkness of the cave, it was the one thing to stand out, thanks only in part to the pink aura of light around it.

Desperate and determined to the end, Skylar inhaled despite the pain it presented to her lungs that were still recovering from the previous blow.  Water welled up in her throat as she exhaled with as much force as she could, shooting a jet of water into the being's face.  It raised its left hand in front of its face, blocking the stream of water with ease and waiting it out until Sky was too exhausted and breathless to continue.  While it could have stopped her at any point, it instead waited for her to taper out on her own, as if to prove a point to her.  It may have expected fear or, at the very least, worry, but instead, she simply growled, her eyes narrowing into a glare.  Then... it began to press down on her chest with its foot, so slowly it couldn't possibly have been anything but intentional torture.  It seemed to want to see her suffer, perhaps as some sick way of salvaging its ego.  She struggled not to give it the satisfaction, shutting her eyes and gritting her teeth harder as she fought not to give any reaction, but as the pain quickly became unbearable, she let out an exasperated, strained cry.  She howled until her lungs felt as if they would give out on her and then just kept going, unable to silence herself.  Her body was completely solidifying, the pain and exhaustion being far too much for her to hold the shifted molecular state.  Her eyes welled with tears and her mind flooded with fear that it was going to kill her.  She had figured from the beginning that this would be the end, but now that she was being faced with it, her stoic resolve was nowhere to be found.

"DON'T TOUCH HER!!"

She could hear the sound and feel the force of an explosion directly above her, and suddenly, the pressure was lifted from her chest.  Then there was another blast, and another, and another...  She coughed and gasped for breath, still clinging to consciousness despite the fight so very obviously being over for her.  Even after managing to force her eyes open, she could barely see anything, her vision blurry with dark splotches fading in and out of it.  Her head swiveled around amidst the daze as she tried to gather her bearings and locate the beast, and the second she located the blurry, purple form, she took in another deep breath.  Pain shot through her body from the continuous strain, but she ignored it as she attempted to fire another water gun.  However, the stream didn't travel nearly far enough to reach its target and merely tapered out within moments as she coughed and whimpered.  Knowing it wouldn't have mattered even if she somehow managed to put enough pressure into a blast of water to actually hit the creature, she instead lifted her head upward and let out a shallow breath, blowing icy mist up into the synthetic atmosphere she'd created.  With the last of her energy, she shifted the weather back to hail before her body finally gave out.

It was hard to accept defeat, but he knew he wasn't a fighter in the first place.  He had only fought because others were in danger, but he simply couldn't bring himself to give it his all.  He was pacifistic by nature; he preferred diplomacy, but alas, his attempts at talking his way through the situation has failed, then he had gone and played Mewtwo's game... and lost.  Pain encompassed his being, every muscle twitch causing his nerves to attack him.  Still, he had hope that Mewtwo would see the light and join Arceus' cause, even if it meant he had to allow himself to be beaten within an inch of his life.  It didn't seem like a bad deal, especially since he wouldn't be conscious for it; he could already feel his mind slipping into the abyss, signaling that his struggle was over.  Whatever happened next was out of his control.

He was abandoning his cause, in a way, though it wasn't intentional.  Had he been able to get up, he would have, but alas, he was weak.  He had coordination, strength and creativity, but in the end, he wasn't made for fighting.  He had done his best to tolerate the pain and play through the gradual weakening of his body, but he just couldn't do it any longer.  He had tried... and failed, and what happened next was out of his paws.  He could hear the sounds of conflict and destruction as he faded away, and he regretted that someone else would have to pay for his own inadequacy.  "I wonder who it is protecting little old Lu," he thought to himself, curious as to who was even capable of fending off Mewtwo.  He certainly wasn't, and from what he had gathered, none of his allies in the fight were either.  The zoroark seemed to be the only one capable of keeping up at all, and even then... she was still the most likely candidate, but it seemed unlikely that she alone would reign victorious if all of them together had failed.  Her safety was, of course, a concern, albeit mitigated by the fact that he knew she had experience with this kind of thing.

How did he even know this?  How did he know her?  His memories and understanding of them were a bit of a puzzle, as he had learned already, but he at least knew for certain that the zoroark was capable of defending herself.  The other two, though...  Well, he hadn't gotten much time to get to know the piplup, but she clearly wasn't much of a brawler, and the vaporeon was sweet, but weak.  As he had learned the hard way, kindness wasn't of much use against this obstacle, so he was fairly certain she wouldn't be of any use.  She seemed able to manage artificial weather quite well, but that alone didn't mean much.  With all of this taken into consideration, the glaceon knew the battle may as well have already been lost, which meant Mewtwo probably wouldn't be joining the cause, but more importantly, it meant they would all be at its mercy.  He wasn't sure if it was a merciful being, but with its violent and bloodthirsty nature, he wasn't left feeling very secure.  As his consciousness dwindled away, he was left feeling disappointment more than anything else.  He simply wanted to resolve problems with as little conflict as possible, but unfortunate circumstances in an unforgiving world made that... difficult.

Then there was a peculiar sound, one that sparked his heart awake with renewed conviction.  His ears weren't cooperating, relaying only muffled noises alongside high-pitched ringing, but he could still make out the cry.  Suddenly, his eyes shot open as if on instinct; his body lifted from the ground with astounding ease that betrayed the struggle he had experienced prior.  While he felt alive inside, his mind was still dampened, warranting confusion in what little thought he could manage.  He was standing, looking, moving, yet... it wasn't him.  The feeling was familiar, but he was still unsure as to what was happening.  Then, he locked eyes with the creature; though not of his own volition, he was glad he did.  Mewtwo was bearing down not on the zoroark, but one of the weaker ones, clearly going too far and threatening to crush the poor vaporeon.  "DON'T TOUCH HER!!" he heard his voice exclaim, but it seemed detached, foreign to him.  It was almost empty, void of the warm kindness he made every effort to show in his words and actions.

He didn't understand much about his own existence, but he knew what was happening.  "Is my time up already?" he wondered to himself, saddened that his time was over and his consciousness was being revoked.  It wasn't exactly the first time this had happened to him, but that didn't make him any less upset over it.

Then, suddenly, his mind seemed to respond to him: "Yes."  This time, the voice was even more warped from his own, dark and intimidating unlike anything he would want to be.

A shadow ball, then another, and another...  The sheer amount of energy being collected and condensed in such a controlled, refined manner was impressive in and of itself, but it was made to be even more of an accomplishment by the three distinct personalities, all conflicting with each other.  In reality, though, they were all aligned to one immediate goal, even if they all had their own reasons.  Sova wanted to protect his friends, Senya wanted to make up for his past failures, and Luscinia... well, he just wanted to do the right thing.  This resulted in immense focus being poured into the act of manifesting the shadowy blobs of dark energy.  One by one, they formed in front of the glaceon before suddenly blasting forth.  Mewtwo didn't seem to notice them at first, but this certainly changed after it experienced the pain of the first few.  It took the hits surprisingly well, but it still seemed fazed at the very least, being knocked away from its victim by the impacts if nothing else.

In the lead was Sova, with neither of the other personalities struggling against him for this role.  He would have found it difficult to think and act if not for the surprisingly linear thought patterns they were all sharing at the moment.  He felt a wide variety of emotion, which was admittedly a confusing feeling, but the majority of it was motivating him to fight.  His body felt as if it was tearing itself apart just from standing, but he persisted nonetheless.  Icy armor began to coat him as he rushed toward Mewtwo, almost surprised by his own speed; he had gone out of his way to make sure he was faster than the average glaceon, but he still seemed to be capable of movement far exceeding his usual limits.  The unexpected speed fortunately didn't throw him off, and he rammed his skull into Mewtwo's chest as hard as he could.  With both velocity and strength backing the attack up, the foe was sent flying back through the cavern; it would have been met with a wall had it been in the proper position, but it was lucky enough to have nothing but empty space behind it at the time.

Before it could even hit the ground, its body was suddenly stopped in midair, the psychic energy surrounding it glowing brighter as it completely halted itself.  It then ceased the psychic hold on its own body and allowed itself to drop to the ground, raising its arms up the second its feet touched the ground.  Its eyes began to glow with the same hue of light radiating from the rest of its body, and before the glaceon could react, he found himself being lifted off the ground.  Then, before he could think to retaliate, he was flung into the wall to his right as Mewtwo waved its arms in the same direction.  The force alone was enough to shatter his armor and create a crater in the wall, which gave way as he fell to the ground, resulting in a rock-slide right on top of him.  A flurry of debris spread out around the devastation, obscuring the rubble under which the glaceon lay... and just like that, it was over.  There was silence, and after a moment, the god of war turned back toward the vaporeon with whom it still had business.  She was still struggling to recover, and thus, helpless to whatever it planned to do.

Then, as if defying logic itself, the pile of rubble suddenly erupted with fire-like energy, sending stones flying in all directions.  Mewtwo, pelted with stones, threw its arms up in front of it, a barrier of light forming in front of it and blocking the projectiles.  When the dust cleared, there stood a very angry - and seemingly unfazed - glaceon.  A low, raspy laugh escaped his throat, giving a distinctly deranged vibe.  Then, he spoke, his voice contradicting the one presented by the laugh and taking on a suppressed, echoey quality as a mask froze its way around his mouth.

"You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that."

Practically vanishing from view with his speed, the glaceon rushed forward once more, seeming no worse for wear even with the injuries his body had sustained.  Despite his blinding speed, Mewtwo was able to keep up, though this was no surprise to any of the personalities sharing custody of the body.  The beast's long, slender arms reeled back and sprung forward as the glaceon neared, but a sudden burst of wind whipped seemingly from the blue fox's location, taking the enemy by surprise and dragging its arms back as it stumbled backward, caught by the fierce attack.  Ice coated its extremities in its short time being engulfed by the freezing wind, rendering it unable to use its arms as they were frozen straight and weighed down.  It was forced to take yet another blow to the chest as the glaceon leapt off the ground and rammed into it, taking its breath away and causing it to collapse to its knees, arms drooped weakly toward the ground in front of it.  Ice began to form on the ground around the being, collecting at the sides of its body and freezing its hands and legs to the floor.  Before it could recover and pull itself free, another Shadow Ball struck its face, tearing its body away from the ice and sending it flying back through the dark cavern.  This time, it didn't catch itself in the air, instead falling to the ground and tumbling in a very undignified manner for such an impressive creature.

Not missing a beat, the glaceon rushed straight at the downed foe once more, knowing that it would get up and keep fighting if afforded the opportunity.  This decision was Senya's, but Sova didn't fight it, allowing himself to phase out of control for the moment.  The glaceon spun around as he neared his target, aiming to swat it with his tail and follow up with another gust of blizzard wind.  However, before he could land a hit, Mewtwo slammed its left arm into his side, shattering the ice still clinging around it.  Without even a moment's pause, it raised its right arm and slammed it into the glaceon from above, ice shattering and raining down around around him from both his own armor and the foe.  Still, he stood firm, another black orb forming in front of him and firing toward the psychic-typed opponent.  This time, it ducked to avoid the attack, then rolled back in an attempt to gain ground.  It then raised its arms, throwing up a barrier around itself just as the glaceon fired another shadow ball at it.  The ball collided with the glowing dome of light, creating a dark haze of energy that obscured the protective shield and the demigod within from view.

As the haze cleared, Mewtwo returned to visibility, blinding light now surrounding its entire body as it stood within its protective barrier.  Senya spun around, creating a whirling wind around himself that swept outward and slammed into the shield.  The attack froze the ground along its path solid, but accomplished little else.  Despite this, he was undeterred, spinning in the opposite direction and summoning another gust of freezing wind.  Again, the wind collided with the barrier, and again, nothing came of it.  Again and again, he threw out blast after blast of icy wind, but the barrier barely even cracked under the continuous pressure.  Mewtwo's posture was straightening, its body standing taller as the light continued to envelop it.  After a few more waves of wind, the barrier finally shattered, but it was already too late; the white light receded along with the broken remains of the energy shield to reveal a fully repaired, revitalized Mewtwo.  All of the injuries it had sustained, all gone; if anything, it seemed stronger than ever.  Senya felt himself fade into the background of his own mind as Sova took back over.

Another shadow ball formed in the air in front of Sova, but before he could do anything with it, Mewtwo was upon him, thrusting the fist of its left arm through the orb and causing it to explode.  The fist continued on to jab the glaceon in the face, causing him to stumble back and fall to the ground.  Before he could make any reactionary moves, the foe grasped him by the tail, spun and slammed him back into the ground, breaking the armor around his body apart once more and eliciting a sound somewhere between a groan and a cough.  Still holding his tail, it spun in the opposite direction and tossed him into the distance, but with the wind still on his side, this didn't do much.  With a freezing gust out of nowhere, his body was slowed and allowed to drop to the ground nigh-harmlessly.  The wind then continued on toward Mewtwo, but unlike his prior attacks, this seemed to do nothing.  It braced itself and took the attack rather than making any evasive efforts, and, seemingly unfazed, began a slow stride through the wind.  Seeing this, Sova continued the blizzard, hoping to deter the opponent's advance.

Despite the great deal of effort being put into the blizzard, it seemed to do nothing but slow the beast down.  The ice coating its body from the subzero temperature simply shattered away with its movements, unable to stick and immobilize it.  Now that its energy was restored, it could easily break away any ice that threatened to encase its form, as it was demonstrating.  The wind began to die down as Sova exhausted his own resevoir of energy, and within moments, he found himself lifted off the ground, the hands of the beast wrapped around his neck.  It was cutting off his brething, glaring into his eyes and waiting to see the life fade from him.  But, it didn't seem mad... rather, it was... exhilarated.  Senya was all too familiar with the look, so it was easy for him to pick up on.  It wasn't doing anything obvious like smiling, but through its aggressive glare was a certain serenity, a calmness that could only come from one who was content with the violence.  Be it a love of combat or just pure sadism, the creature was actually enjoying this.  "Alright," he spoke in a strained voice due to the hands trying to cave his throat in.  He wanted to show that he now understood the situation, even if the other shards in his mind didn't.

A warm, orange hue engulfed the blue body of the glaceon in a pattern akin to the sun itself, and before the abomination restricting his breathing could react, he erupted with searing heat, sending Mewtwo reeling away as it released him from its clutches.  He dropped to the ground weakly, his legs barely holding him up, but he persisted nonetheless.  He took a few steps back as he watched the foe pull its left arm back, as if in preparation to throw a punch.  It looked like it was putting a lot of power behind the strike, its legs spread and posed to get as much traction on the ground as possible, but it was too far away to reach him.  If it tried to come into range to hit him, its preparation would be broken.  He stared in confusion, hesitant to make any moves until he had a better understanding of this strange retaliation.  That, and he was exhausted and struggling to stand, let alone attack.

Then, without warning, Mewtwo's entire body blinked across the space between them, teleporting right in front of him.  His eyes widened in shock as Mewtwo's fist slammed into his chest, the very force of the devastating attack sending cracks rippling throughout the ground around them as he was sent flying.  Too weak to summon any wind to stop him, he flew through the air and skidded across - no, into - the ground, riving the entire left side of his body as he tore through the stone floor below.  Senya was skilled in managing pain, but even for him, this was a trial indeed.  He let out a gurgled, weak growl as he tried to get back onto his paws, blood dripping from the deep tears in his side.  His effort was cut short, however, with a swift kick to the chest from Mewtwo after another teleportation to close the gap between them.  Psychic energy surged around the beasts's foot and cut into the fur of the glaceon, now exposed due to his armor being constantly damaged and him being too pressed to retain it.

The kick lifted him into the air and sent him away, and before he knew it, Mewtwo had teleported yet again, this time under him, and loosed a blast of fire.  His body ablaze and burning, he spun helplessly through the air; he was unable to even touch the ground before the beast below lunged upward and slammed its hands into his belly, launching him into the ceiling.  His collision with the stone body of the cave was catastrophic, both to himself and the environment.  The sounds of stone shattering masked the cracking of his own bones, but it did nothing for the pain shooting throughout his body or the strain on his lungs.  "I can't..." he allowed this single thought to drift into his mind, feeling his consciousness slipping away.  Then, as he drifted toward the ground, rubble raining down around him, his head suddenly swooped into his bag against his own command.  He was shocked to find Sova still around despite the turmoil and agony, but he was relieved to have the strategic insight.

Sova opened his mouth and bit down on a seed, one of the few items he had brought with him.  Technically, he hadn't been the one to decide what to and not to pack, but he had a hunch that he would at least have the essentials on him, and he was right.  He found himself unable to chew or swallow, his entire body failing him, but he could still hold the seed in his mouth.  He resisted the urge to cough as he slammed into the ground, eyes shut tight from the pain.  Keeping the seed in his mouth was all he could do at the moment, and he wasn't even sure how much that would do.  It would grant him energy and perhaps help his body heal faster, but his injuries were severe.  Then his eyes shot open as he remembered the falling stones, but he felt incapable of doing much.  Fortunately, he didn't have to; his consciousness faded into the background as Senya took over, rolling over and loosing a sudden burst of freezing air.  It was weak, relatively speaking, but it was still enough to push the rubble away from him.  It also knocked Mewtwo away as it neared to deliver another close-ranged attack, though this was unintentional.

He expected to be struck again while he was down, having braced for the inevitable blow, and he had simply planned to take the hit and wait for the seed to kick in.  When no attack came, he rolled onto his belly and lifted his head weakly to see what had stopped the fight.  Sova snapped back into the foreground as his eyes caught a blue figure staring Mewtwo down, spraying it with water.  "Sky, no!  Just ru- hk," he spoke and stood up in a rush, only to have his body shut down and collapse as sharp, piercing pains ran through him.  He couldn't even feel the hail falling on his fur, its healing effect on his body struggling to faze him with the severe damage he had taken.  Still, he stood once more, this time refusing to allow his legs to give out.



Mewtwo's right arm raised in front of it to deflect the weak attack while the left arm lay at its side, a bright orb of energy collecting within its hand.  The fur on Sova's tail bristled and froze as Mewtwo tossed the orb in the direction of the vaporeon.  He then spun around, shooting icy quills off of his tail at a high speed.  The needle-like quills moved fast enough to intercept the ball of aura, causing it to explode as they made contact.  He then rushed to the other eeveelution's aid, using his own body to catch her as she was knocked back by the blast.

"I can keep up with you," Skylar muttered weakly, clearly at her limit and pushing herself still.  She could barely stand on her own paws, her body leaning against his despite the freezing ice coating him.  This reminded Sova that he had a lot to make up for, including the way he had treated his teammates.  Now, because of him, here one of them was, risking life and limb just to earn his respect.  He had known for a while that she wanted his approval, to be trusted to do things on her own, but he had denied her that.  His intentions were good; he wanted to protect her from herself, but it wasn't his place to do such a thing.  It wasn't his place to yell at her, belittle and imprison her just to "help" her.  It was supposed to be his job to teach and trust her, not to run her life, and now, he was paying for his actions.

He sighed, eyes locked on the distant foe to watch and make sure it didn't try to rush him.  "It's not about that.  Look at my body.  I'm gonna need this hailstorm when we're done here, so you need to keep yourself safe," he responded, glancing up at the bits of ice falling from above.  It was true; he needed to make sure the hail kept coming, but he also wanted Skylar to stand down for her own sake.  She seemed willing to get herself killed just to prove herself to him, and while he intended to right what he'd wronged with her, now was not the time to start letting her act autonomously.  She could barely stand and was only pressing on for his sake.  As she lifted herself off of him, he stepped away, hoping to put the spotlight on himself so that his teammate could get to a safe distance.  His focus was on the beast still as it did nothing but stare back at him, but he could still catch Skylar giving him a surprised look out of the corner of his eye.  She then began backing away with weak, shaky steps, showing that she was actually listening.

Mewtwo glanced at the vaporeon, but its attention was dragged away from her as Sova spoke: "Don't even think about it."  His tone was willful and commanding, yet calm, unlike his usual demeanor.  He was done being an emotional wreck.  Despite this newfound peace of mind, he could only do so much when his attacks didn't even faze his opponent.  Memories of his struggle with Genesect resurfaced, as the fight seemed to be going in the same general direction.  After going through Hell and back to even hurt the damned thing, it had just healed itself right back to pristine shape.  It wasn't fair, and it was happening again and he had no way to deal with it.  And if he lost, his friends were willing to die for this cause, or at the very least, for him... and they probably would.

"What do we have with us?" he questioned in his mind, hoping to form some kind of plan based on what he had at his disposal.  His capabilities were different from what he remembered, such as the apparent ability to explode... or perhaps "erupt" was a better word for it.  Either way, fire was not something he had ever had access to before, yet here he was, apparently now able to make fire.  Aside from this, he was also too weak to even harm Mewtwo, which meant he would need to get creative if he wanted to win.  He knew that somewhere inside him was a strategist, a survivor, and he needed that part of him.

Almost immediately, Senya's voice echoed back to him, listing off everything in their possession.  "Not much.  A few lum berries, reviver seeds, your favorite stabbing tool, a vile seed, your rock collection-"

"Vile seed?" Sova interrupted, noting the rather dangerous seed with the potential to turn the tides.

"How do you propose we get the glorified fetus to eat poison?  It's not like he's just gonna open his mouth and let us throw it in," Senya responded, understanding the general line of thought but doubting any practical application of the seed.  While it would be of great value if they could somehow get it into the goliath's mouth and keep it in there long enough for it to kick in, he simply didn't see any way for them to do such a thing.  Mewtwo was far too powerful to be force-fed anything, which left the seed practically useless.

Sova felt dread that there was no way to effectively distribute the seed to the target, as it would have been an indescribably great help.  His heart raced as he searched for another solution, but the deity was not interested in giving him time to think, bolting straight for him.  His own increased speed had worn off while the foe's remained, which meant he couldn't even run and try to stall long enough to think of a plan.  He froze in place as he realized this was probably the end of the line.  Then, suddenly, his joints unlocked and his body began to move, though not of his own accord.  He felt as if he was being shoved into the back of his mind and out of his own body, which wasn't exactly a foreign feeling to him, but he normally felt Senya's mind mingle with his own when this happened.  He did feel a distinct presence other than himself, but the one taking over wasn't Senya.  The other one had returned to the spotlight and seemed to think he had some kind of solution.  Since Sova had no ideas of his own, he didn't fight it despite how little he knew about this new personality... not that he could have done much to resist it anyway.

Sova watched through eyes that both were and weren't his and felt his detached body's movements, his mind clouded and thoughts distant from himself.  He felt his teeth grip the seed to prevent it from touching the inside of his mouth and affecting him.  His head then lifted to face the foe hurdling toward him, the motions happening so fast that it was difficult to keep up with it all.  He had no idea what was going to happen, as he was not the one in control at the moment.  Mewtwo's arms reeled back as it approached, the psychic blades on its fingers sparking with energy as if eager for blood.  He felt his body step back, portraying what looked to be fear.  Then, as the wrathful entity threw its arms forward, the glaceon suddenly ducked, successfully avoiding the attack with his abrupt and unexpected movement.  Mewtwo's arms wrapped around the air with nothing to stop them, and it was unable to retract them immediately for another attack as it had put too much force into the wild motions to stop itself all at once.  It stumbled forward, trying to catch its footing and halt its progress before it would trip over the blue ball of fur under it.

Lu then sprung his plan into action, leaping off the ground and up under Mewtwo's arms before it could go on the defensive or lash out again.  As he climbed up its body, effectively lunging onto it, it fell over backward with its balance already having been thrown off.  It shut its eyes in preparation for some kind of attack, but such a thing was wishful thinking.  Its eyes opened wide in shock as the glaceon's lips locked with its own, its body falling to the ground and going limp in the process.  Shock and disturbance overwhelmed the all-powerful warrior at this development, leaving it momentarily unable to respond.  Quickly, Lu slipped the seed from his own mouth into the beast's, pressing its lips open with his tongue.  He forced the seed as far into Mewtwo's mouth as he could reach before retracting his tongue back into his own mouth, leaving the vile item behind.  Mewtwo gagged and reflexively shuddered and jerked from the feeling of a foreign object in its throat, but Luscinia kept its mouth pressed against his own to make sure it couldn't cough the seed up, his paws bearing down on its body so as to prevent it from escaping him.  This went on for a few long, tedious moments before the beast finally regained its bearings and slammed its right hand into the side of its captor frantically, rocketing him off of its body and sending him tumbling across the ground.

Mewtwo shook as it wiped its mouth off and stumbled away, failing to properly right itself and get up.  The pain of being struck knocked Sova back into the forefront of his mind, and he was just as mortified, almost wishing he had simply lost the fight instead.  He spat on the ground, though this did little to alleviate the stress from the horrific experience he'd just been through.  Fortunately, Mewtwo didn't seem any more eager to retaliate than he was, leaving the two at a momentary standstill.  Sova was so disturbed, it took him a moment to realize that the vile seed had successfully been forced down Mewtwo's throat.  Almost instinctively he ducked his head into his bag and pulled out a sharp, silver spike and tossed in the direction of the enemy, who was understandably a bit slow to react and ended up with the object stuck in the left side of its chest, near the shoulder.  It reached its right arm over to pull the spike out, taking its attention off the glaceon for only a moment, and was knocked flat on its back as he rushed forward and rammed into its other shoulder.

Every movement gave a very unnatural sensation of pain, suggesting there was something very wrong in his body from all the harm that had come to him, but he couldn't quit on account of that.  Without even a moment's pause, he tore the spike out of the purple body of the beast, causing it to reach its arms up to cover the wound.  This pained recoil lasted only a moment before it lashed out with both its arms, trying desperately to swat the glaceon.  He avoided this sloppy attack with ease while the beast scrambled to its feet and lunged for him.  He didn't even flinch or hesitate under the threat of attack, retaliating with a forceful blast of subzero wind.  Mewtwo was rendered incapacitated as the wind carried it back through the air and into the ground, freezing various parts of its body indiscriminately.  "Well, while I'll never be able to get that sensual moment out of my mind for as long as we live, it seems to have fixed our little problem," the dark tone of Senya's voice echoed through his mind.  It was a relief to know that he wasn't the only one unsettled by the turn of events.

The ice around Mewtwo's body shattered as it rolled onto its feet, but too little, too late as Sova rushed by and slammed his frozen tail into its face, knocking it right back down and leaving a set of lovely gashes across the entire left side of its face.  It tried still to get up, only to have the furry pincushion's body be thrown into it once more, the icy mask around his face having reformed and leaving only his eyes visible so as to protect his head while he recklessly rammed himself into the beast.  However, this time, having barely managed to get to its knees, it threw its arms up in front of it to counter the attack.  The glaceon's head rammed into Mewtwo's open hands, stopping him dead in his tracks.  Its body's durability had deteriorated to a paper-like state, but it was still as powerful as ever.  However, it was having trouble keeping up, clearly not used to being at such a disadvantage.  Rather than try to overpower the opponent, he simply stepped back, causing it to fall forward from the unexpected and sudden lack of resistance.  He then swung his head to the left, slashing its hands with his silver spike and knocking them to the side as its body fell to the ground.

Instead of continuing his assault, Sova leapt away for fear that his risky, close-ranged attacks would eventually be caught up with and lose their element of pressure.  Taking the moment to finally get up, Mewtwo lifted itself off the ground with its arms, leaving behind bloody hand-prints from the fresh wounds on its palms.  Its eyes narrowed whilst its body began to glow a familiar, radiant white hue, the same one that had enveloped it when it had healed itself.  "HIT HIM!" came a sudden command in his mind, one which his body seemed to follow without any input from him.  A shadow ball formed in front of him and launched itself forward in the blink of an eye, the aim being to disrupt the foe's recovery.  A barrier of light similar to the aura radiating from its body sprung up around it just in time to shield it from the attack, the resulting detonation spreading harmlessly around the dome of energy.  The psychic blades around its hand and feet flickered out of existence, signaling the boundaries of its capabilities were being pushed.

"Not again..."

Senya seemed worried.

Sova chuckled, filled with confidence upon fully realizing the situation.  He had this being of unfathomable power on the defensive, pressuring as if he were the stronger of the two.  What was there to be worried about?  "That's alright," he spoke audibly enough for Mewtwo hear, and he did seem to catch its attention, though his words were directed inward at Senya as well.  He now had a cocky air to him, his voice full of confidence as if he knew something that Mewtwo didn't.  Suddenly, shadows began to appear on the ground around him, darkness oozing up from them in an eldritch display.  The black energy seeping from the ground below slowly began to collect into circular shapes all around him, starting out at just a few, then growing rapidly in number.  Within moments, there were too many to count, spreading outward all around in a manner akin to a minefield.  He could feel pain surging through his body, his nerves going haywire and begging for him to cease this endeavor, but he refused.  Mewtwo took a step away, apparently intimidated or at least surprised.

"I've got more."

At the cue of his voice, the orbs of energy began flying forward in rapid succession, colliding one after another with the protective barrier.  He knew how that move worked, and he knew from experience that even Mewtwo couldn't keep it up forever.  All he had to do was put on the pressure and it would soon become so brittle that it would be incapable of withstanding his attacks.  Sure enough, within seconds, it began to crack under its own increasing weakness and the continuous onslaught.  Reaching its limit at continuously using two straining moves at once, Mewtwo was unable to teleport away before being swarmed by the ghostly aura of the mass of shadow balls.  It instead threw its arms up in front of its face, trying to minimize the damage as much as possible, but this did very little.  Its concentration was broken and the light faded from its body as it was wrapped in darkness and burning agony.  Forceful explosions resonated all around it, quickly breaking what little guard it had and leaving it at the mercy of this vicious, all-out attack.

A cold feeling overcame the glaceon's body as he watched his handiwork; while the cold was generally a welcome sensation, this was... different, unpleasant.  The unexpectedness was joined by weakness and more pain, causing his front legs to give out and making him fall forward.  He barely managed to catch himself through his weakened state, the recoil of his most recent attack hitting him hard.  He understood the exhaustion, but the pain was a mystery to him.  It wasn't as if he had used his body for this attack, so why was he feeling so much pain surging through him?  As if to answer his question, the red markings covering his body pulsed with an eerie, red aura, and for a moment, he was drawn to them.  His observation of himself was cut short by the end of the hellish rain of shadows as he looked up to see the mass of darkness engulfing his immediate vicinity.  There was silence, leading him to wonder if he had finally won.  The only sound was that of the hailstones falling to the rocky floor.

Then he felt a hand wrap around his tail.  He turned to see Mewtwo, scathed but still standing, having teleported behind him from within the haze.  Its left arm dangled at its side as if maimed too badly to be used, while the hand of its right arm had itself wrapped around the glaceon's tail.  It then pulled its arm back and spun, tossing the blue creature away like a rag doll.  He soared through the air until slamming into a wall, cracks shooting outward around him in a web-like pattern.  He tried to replace the broken shards of armor falling from his body, but it seemed he wouldn't be allowed such a privilege.  Mewtwo raised its arm and pointed toward the glaceon as he fell to the ground, at his head in specific.  He threw his paws against the ground and pressed himself up against the wall to stand despite the pain reminiscent of his body being torn apart.  All of a sudden, his armor crumbled away, a certain feeling of weakness manifesting at the same time... almost as if he'd been the one to eat the vile seed.  He didn't know how, but Mewtwo had obviously instilled the consequence of the seed onto him.  Seeing a scarlet flash of light around Mewtwo's hand, he could make an educated guess as to what was about to happen.  He put what little energy he had left into lifting himself onto his hind legs, and just in time as a brilliant ray of scarlet light shot forth toward him.

The spear of light that had been aimed at his head instead struck him in the chest, physically impaling him.  "Gkh," he let out as his front paws rested against the tangible beam of light, the pathetic noise being the only sound he could muster.  All the pain he had felt, all the agony that was his life... it was all nothing compared to this.  He looked down at the spear sticking straight through his body, then followed the ray of light back to its source at Mewtwo's hand.  His tired eyes were barely keeping themselves open, blood drenching his belly and hind legs.  He felt something welling up in his throat, giving him an urge to cough that he conceded to despite knowing it would bring only more pain.  Sure enough, a fresh wave of misery coursed through him as he let out an unpleasant hack, a mixture of blood and saliva escaping his mouth along with the spike he had held so firmly in his jaws.  The metallic object dropped to the ground with a clang that reverberated throughout the environment, droplets of blood splattering around it and staining portions of it red.  "Sskh-" he tried to speak only to have it come out as a gargled mess that did nothing more than elicit another hack, and along with it, more of the dark ruby mixture of bodily fluids.

"SOVA!!" he could hear Skylar scream, though the overwhelming pain prevented him from turning his head to look at her.

"Senya," he spoke in his mind since he could not do so with his voice, a pink-hued glow creeping out from around the puncture wound in tune with his thoughts, "If we pass out now, it's all over."  Blurs and black splotches crept throughout his field of vision, but he did everything he could to just stay awake.  Pain the likes of which he could not even begin to describe tormented his body, but he fought to stay awake.  Moments of his life flashed before his eyes, making it the second he had seen his life play out before him on this day.  He recalled so many memories, nearly all of which were failure and shame.  Under the crushing weight of these memories, he struggled to retain his determination and will to stay awake.

Then, like an answered prayer, he felt the dark fire of Senya's presence.  "Despair will not be our legacy."  He felt himself drift away, but not fainting.  Senya was sharing his consciousness, helping keep him awake with a sense of mania.  Cracks shot throughout the pink aura coating his body, but it persisted, slowly changing shade to a bright white.  Without warning, Mewtwo's body flashed with the same white light, leaving in its wake a wound nearly identical to his own, the only difference being that it was significantly worse.  The juggernaut was brought to its knees while the spear of psychic energy faded.  It then fell backward and collapsed, losing consciousness.  Finally released from Mewtwo's signature Psystrike, Sova collapsed to the ground in a heap, eyes falling shut.  He could hear pawsteps approaching along with a voice he recognized as Skylar's, but he couldn't make out what she was saying.  It didn't matter.

With blood pooling on the ground around him, he knew it was in his best interest to stay down and hope for his own survival.  In spite of this, he pushed himself into the wall behind him and slowly slid himself up against it, another bloody cough escaping his throat in the process.  His eyes opened and immediately locked onto the collapsed figure ahead while ignoring the vaporeon to his left, begging for him to lay down.  He wasn't going to lay down.

"I've lived a life of failure and misery," he thought to himself, receiving no response from Senya.  He felt the mania fading, which told him that his other half wouldn't be sticking around any longer.  This meant he was on his own, which was even more reason for him to give up and lay down, but he still had something to do... something to prove.

"I've lost at every turn, suffered and made everyone around me suffer," he took a weak, shaky step forward... then another... and another...  His body wobbled and he was practically tripping over his own legs, having to constantly catch himself through his weary stumbling.  Blood dripped from his fur onto the ground as he walked toward the collapsed enemy, blurriness coming over his vision in waves with every step.

"So I'm going to enjoy this, even if it kills me... because for once," he paused his thoughts as he reached the point of his focus.  Skylar had finally stopped following him, perhaps because she didn't want to get near Mewtwo.  Sova climbed onto the chest of the defeated beast, pressing his right paw against his neck as he stared down at it, blood dripping down his chin.  Mewtwo's eyes fluttered open, and a grin crossed Sova's face.  Ice formed into claws around his paw as he pressed it against the exposed neck he stood upon, emphasizing the situation.  He then spoke, this time aloud for all to hear, including Mewtwo.  His voice was weak and hoarse, but that didn't matter.

"I win."

A faint smile crossed his face, then his eyes shut... and he collapsed.  Atop Mewtwo he lay, having conquered the pinnacle of genetic perfection.  He could hear poor Skylar's panicked voice as he drifted away.

"Sova, stay with me!  Listen to my-"

The air hung heavy in the caverns of Serene Cave. The beast that had been menacing the group of four lay on the ground beneath the unconscious Glaceon, his eyes glancing down to the fallen Eeveelution. The legendary pokémon narrowed his eyes as he gazed upon the fallen form of Sova, his face showing disdain towards the other pokémon...

...before a low, quiet breath escaped him. It sounded shaky at first, as his chest began to pump, and the slightest hint of a grin coming to his face was the only warning given before the legendary pokémon broke out into laughter. The tunnel around them echoed with the sound, as Mewtwo brought a hand up. Effortlessly, he flicked the hand back, and with a telekinetic force tossed the Glaceon's body off of his own, sending the pokémon over towards Skylar, who…well, she tried her best to catch him, but the force of the impact seemed to simply knock her down.

He stood back up slowly, moving to one knee first as he acted with some trepidation. The wounds he had from the fight seemed to have affected the legendary pokémon.

"You...dare to say that you won? And yet you collapse before you can finish the fight? I would smite you here and now for your blasphemy, were I not nevertheless impressed..." He coughed, and as he moved to stand up fully, he brought a hand to his chest. The legendary being stopped for a moment, his head tilting in confusion as he looked down. Sure enough, there seemed to be quite the wound left there, given the impaling...despite all the legendary pokémon’s talk, he didn’t seem to be in much of a condition to back up those words properly.

"Ah. Right. First..." He stood back up, his body seeming to heal itself and recover, the wound slowly closing up and seeming to pull itself together. As he seemed to settle, though, he turned his gaze not to Sova, but to Skylar.

"Now then. You...have heart, Vaporeon. Heart and determination. Impressive, but without strength, those traits will lead you to nothing but loss. The same goes for the Zoroark there. Remember all of this, and remember it well to tell your partners if they awaken. At times, you almost lost much more than the battle. Consider this a hard lesson." Mewtwo nodded, and seemed to regard his target with a curious look. Even now, the vaporeon stood back up by her companion protectively, despite the state she was in. With another laugh, he turned his back towards the destruction that had been caused there.

"I already know that Arceus requires me once more. Now that I've been given a sufficient warm-up, I will go where I am needed. I do hope you keep your friends alive and leave here as well, Vaporeon. Tell the Glaceon that I acknowledge his strength, and should we cross paths again, I would be willing to be entertained once more." And with that, the legendary pokémon turned and began to walk down the tunnel. However, after a few steps, he heard something. Skylar seemed to speak up, asking him a question: why had he tried to crush her if he was so proud? Mewtwo stopped and looked back over his shoulder with a somewhat smug grin, looking to the vaporeon once more.

“Mettle and strength are lost on an untested soul. Consider that.” He simply stated, before blinking and adjusting his sights towards a certain rock further back down the tunnel, as if he’d forgotten something.

"Oh. But you don't need to take your hiding friend with you, if you're overburdened by the other two. After all, the ground is a perfect place for a coward to stay." Mewtwo closed his eyes and shook his head. In another moment, his body seemed to phase out of existence, disappearing as he teleported away.

(OOC: Finally. All stuff with Skylar was dictated to me by Sova and not powerplayed because we all want this thread to end.

Edit: Except Kat. My Bad.)