The Enemy of My Enemy Is Smelly

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When Goro the croagunk had heard from a traveler that there was water nearby, this was not what he expected.

The outlaw stared at the frozen stream with a dumbfounded look on his face, his hairless brow twitching in irritation. He was cold, tired, hungry, and he was already sick of eating snow. He'd run out of food for this little trip this morning and he was days away from any kind of civilization. His stomach was already rumbling idly and he was quite thirsty. And it seemed that a nice, ice-cold, refreshing drink was just too much to ask for.

He sighed and turned away from the large body of ice, his breath steaming in the cold of the afternoon. He could hear the sound of water rushing underneath the icy river, so it was probably just the top that was frozen over. But how on earth was he supposed to get to it without falling under and drowning? He croaked loudly in frustration, sitting down in the snow and crossing his arms in thought.

Goro was distinguishable by others of his kind by a few different markers. Perhaps most notably was his left hand - it was quite misshapen and he was always gentle with it nowadays, hinting at a significant injury. A red-stained, tattered joy ribbon was tied to his left bicep, and in his other hand was a bindle containing his supplies (or what was left of them).

To any onlooker, he probably looked like a homeless vagabond down on his luck. In actuality, he was a very bored outlaw with nothing better to do with his time than to get himself into trouble like this.

Opal wasn't expecting more quakes right at that moment, and certainly not from such a close source. She took another tumble, but was quicker to get up this time. Furious, she turned back around to face the frog, having put two and two together.

"Hey! What gives?!" she demanded, not understanding the stranger's intentions. Was this frog really so petty as to cause an earthquake just because she thought he was smelly? He should really bathe if he had such a problem with that. If he didn't clean himself, of course everyone is going to think he smells. Sure, being a poison type didn't help, but he could still put some effort in.

The outlaw shrugged easily in response, completely unrepentant about his awful behavior. He wanted her to stick around; the sunny day trick brought much-needed warmth to his cold everything. If she left, he wouldn't have access to that anymore. So if he needed to bully the crap out of her until he got what he wanted, that's just what he was going to do.

"Well, I ain't done with ya." He did feel a little bit bad about being cruel, but only a little. Not enough to sway him into being nice or civil, legends forbid. "I'm still cold. And yer a fire type, I bet."

Goro leaned forward on his haunches and paused, staring expectantly at the growlithe, presumably waiting for her to confirm or deny his assumption. The morality of his actions didn't faze Goro at all. To him, this was just the way the world worked. You took what you wanted, and if you were stronger than the other person then it usually worked out. If you weren't, you figured that out the hard way, and it was incentive to get stronger next time you wanted something.

"Yes, I am, but you could have just asked me to stick around," the growlithe growled. Although the frog was stinky, Opal would have stayed if she'd been asked to. Now she was less inclined to do so, but she had to pick the right moment to run away. Or try to turn this around and leave him the one feeling intimidated. Opal shifted her posture, making sure her bag was in full view of her saviour turned assailant. That might seem like a silly thing to do when someone was attacking her, but the pup had a plan.

Pinned to the bag was a badge. This was not just any badge, however. What Opal was flashing to the frog was an insignia that represented membership of the Guild based in Grassveil Town. It was polished and shining, as Opal was proud of her position in such a wonderful organisation. She wanted to send the message that she had allies, and that those allies would hunt him down and punish him if anything happened to her.

(1 energy from new page)

Goro shrugged again in response. Yeah, he could have asked, but he had a feeling that wouldn't have worked. She'd have probably just said no and kept walking. This way, he cut through all the pretenses and put his cards on the table for everyone to see. He took a few more steps toward Opal, studying her intently now that most of the snow had melted off of her. Fire-type was probably right. She had the coloring for it, to say nothing of her boldness.

"Maybe," he said, tilting his head. He squinted when he caught a flash of something shiny pinned to her bag. "Say...you're from Grassveil, aint'cha?"

He'd seen something similar once on a rescue team member before. He had only been to Grassveil once, but he knew about the Guild there. He'd met someone who worked there, actually. Goro hadn't been terribly impressed by that guy. Though he'd heard several intimidating stories about other guild members since he'd been getting out more - it seemed like they had some heavy hitters and a lot of babies. He wondered which one this growlithe was.

A stray thought occurred to him. Grassveil was undoubtedly one of the biggest towns, and this pokemon had access to their outlaw boards. Rainfront might have had one, too, but he hadn't seen it yet as he didn't spend a lot of time in town. But he'd been wondering whether or not he'd made a certain status with some of his more...bolder activities, as of late. "You ever see my face before?"

[Energy: 1]

Opal was a relatively new Guild member. While she wasn't a heavy hitter just yet, she'd be most upset if someone called her a baby. She was young, sure, but she was dedicated and fearless. The growlithe stood her ground as the ornery stranger approached. "Yeah, that's right," she answered his first question in a confident voice. Was her ploy really working?

Then the second question arrived. This one was more sinister in nature, but Opal was unaware of the intent behind it. "No. Should I have?"

Why did the frog ask that? Was he from Grassveil?

"Oh," Well, that was probably good news. This pup probably walked by the outlaw boards every other day, and if she hadn't seen a croagunk posted up there then it means he hadn't been ousted yet. He still had some time left as a regular pokemon who could walk into town without looking over his shoulder waiting for the law to pounce on him.

...Maybe. If this girl was still a baby, then maybe she just hadn't gotten access to outlaw jobs yet. He didn't know; Goro knew almost nothing when it came to the specifics of that kind of work. He just knew that pokemon would put in requests for help, and guilds often sent out teams to give that kind of help in return for money and other compensation. Come to think of it, learning how their whole hunt-down-the-big-bad-outlaw process worked could make his life easier later when he definitely would be one. He had a guild member practically at his mercy right now. Other things came first, though.

"You're sure? You ain't never seen a poster of a croagunk hangin' around your guild someplace?" Goro unfolded his arms and leaned in a little closer to the puppy pokemon, hoping to convey how serious he was about this.

It was kind of important to know - police and guild members hunting him down would be a pain in his butt. It could end up kind of fun every once in a while, but they'd be showing up on their terms. No doubt they'd interrupt him when he was working since that seemed to be what he was up to more often than not nowadays...this little training/vacation trip notwithstanding. Or when he was at home, legends forbid. He didn't know what he would do if some rescue team showed up on his doorstep wanting to arrest him.

Opal bore her teeth when the frog leaned in. A croagunk, he said he was? Wow, even the name of his species sounded smelly! She didn't like how insistent he was getting with his questioning. It was almost as if he was expecting to be on the outlaw board...

Oh dear.

There was a real live criminal standing right in front of her! What to do? Obviously he needed to be arrested, but Opal had prepared for a scouting trip, not a chase. The growlithe would have to rely on her brute strength. Her target looked weak enough with that bad arm of his, but what moves did he possess? Earthquake was the only one she knew about, and that was strong against her typing. This had the potential to get rather ugly.

"I see... I'm going to have to stop you, you know. Consider yourself under arrest," Opal declared in a formal tone. This was serious business, so the pup had to be serious about it. She then went right back to bared teeth and began to figure out a plan of attack. Should she disable the croagunk's good arm or go for the legs and bring him to the ground? Maybe startling him with an Ember to the face would be a good opening move? Opal took a deep breath and prepared herself for-

-tink-

Huh? What was that? Something had just hit her on the head!

-tinktinktinktinktink-

Ice was falling from the sky! It was getting colder again, too! Opal was confused. Sunny Day was supposed to work longer than a few minutes. Something had gone wrong, but what? The pup looked around for the answer, but it wasn't until a loud and angry roar drew her attention to the stream that she found it.

The source of the roar came from a large, blue, blubbery pokemon with two massive tusks hanging from its upper jaw. It burst from the water and slammed onto the ice in front of the two youngsters. As it did so, the Hail it had used intensified. The beast fixed dog and frog with a furious glare and looked like it was about to charge.

Well, that was the most frustrating answer he could have gotten. Goro frowned as he stood straight and looked down on the growlithe. A yes or a no definitely would have sufficed; it sounded like she was guessing he was an outlaw, and what he wanted was a hard confirmation. Not a puppy who was too eager to chase glory that she was willing to get herself into trouble.

The croagunk took a wary step back when she bared her teeth at him, contemplating how best to handle this pokemon. Obviously, he could just earthquake her to hell - he'd done a little bit of that already, honestly, but that was the easy solution. He kind of wanted to duke it out with her. It'd been a bit since his last good scrap, and maybe she would be more cooperative after a good beating. His legs spread slightly, his center of gravity lowering, and he shook out his right arm in preparation for a fight.

Then a chunk of ice dropped on his head.

He flinched with the blow, raising his hand as he looked up at the sky. Great. Just what he needed: a hailstorm. The pup's sunny day was wasting away as the hail took over, and he heard the telltale, continuous tinktinktinktink of hail crashing into the ice and snow all around him. He felt the bite of coldness sink into him all over again, and he had to suppress another shiver. He failed to do so when an ominous roar burst from the frozen stream, and Goro's attention immediately snapped over.

A walrein had joined the scene, and it looked angry. He took another few steps back, intimidated despite himself. "Oh, shit."

There was no time to say anything else, as suddenly the beast came charging. To Goro's horror, it moved much quicker than one would expect from such a large pokemon, and suddenly hundreds of pounds of blubber, muscle, tusks, and rage was in his face. The walrein raised up on its haunches before swinging back down, a telltale body slam attack aimed at both of the intruding explorers.

For his part, Goro desperately threw himself bodily to the side, landing a few feet away in a sloppy roll in the snow. The fighting type sprung up into a ready half-crouch. His broken left hand was clutching his bindle painfully tight, but he ignored the twinges of warning pain emanating from it. He had a bigger problem, a much, much bigger problem on his hands right now.

Opal's fight with the croagunk would have to wait. This giant pokemon wasn't going to leave them be, and this was made all the more obvious when the growlithe found herself scrambling out of the way as it launched itself at them with a mighty Body Slam.

"Look, I don't like you, but we're going to have to work together on this," Opal called to the smelly outlaw, "I don't think either of us can beat this thing on our own."

While the pair had to fight for their own safety, Opal also desired to learn what had angered the walrein so. An explorer's job was not to start trouble, but to stop it. If she could reason with this pokemon and assist him, the world would be a better place. Helping others would make everything better, little by little.

"Uh... Hey there? We can talk about this..." Opal addressed the blue beast, hoping they would listen.

Goro kept still as he stared down the giant walrein. The thing was gigantic and looked quite powerful, and as its enraged eyes went from him to the explorer, he felt a shiver run up his spine. Come to think of it, this might not be the worst thing. This could be good practice for his new job. Doubtless, he would come across big heavy types like this in the future, so this would be a valuable experience.

But no way was he going to accept the help of some goodie-two-shoes explorer. Maybe he could use her - she seemed like she could make good bait for the big water type, but she wasn't going to help him.

The great walrus pokemon rumbled, turning in such a manner that it could keep both Goro and the growlithe in its sight. It clearly had no intention of talking, which suited Goro just fine. Goro took a few steps away from the big beast, planting his bindle into a mound of snow. His very recent defeats were fresh in his mind; he could not fight the same way he always did. Simply planting his feet and trading hits with a pokemon like this would just lead to another loss.

"Speak for yourself," The memory of a fight against a buizel in the swamp flashed in his mind. Hit-and-run was a plan he could try, to start with at least. The beast growled again, aggravated. Goro tensed. "I don't need no help."

The walrein reared its head back, a strained, low sound emanating from its throat. It seemed to almost cough a few times before its great heat snapped forward and it spat out a giant glob of hard ice, fast. On reflex, Goro ducked, feeling the bottom of the ice ball graze the top of his head. He heard the crunch of snow, the ice projectile landing somewhere behind him, but before he could react, the walrein reared its head back once more.

It was about to fire another one. This time, though, its eyes were trained on the fire-type.

The massive pokemon before them not only refused to talk, but seemed to be made even more angry by the pup's suggestion of a diplomatic resolution. These two pipsqueaks had dared to intrude upon his territory and disturb his family's stream. Now they wanted to just walk off with no consequence? They would pay for their insolence!

"Don't be stupid," Opal told the croagunk without taking her eyes off the walrein, "This guy's angry, and he's much bigger than us. Much, much bigger."

It was a good thing she'd kept an eye on the beast, because now she knew he could spit ice. Goodness, that attack was fast! Fast enough that the second ball of ice smacked right into her as she noted how close the first one had come to hitting the smelly frog. Opal gave a sharp yelp as the projectile sent her hurtling backwards, but quickly got back up and shook herself off. Her fire typing was super helpful right now, lessening the damage she took. This was not lost on the thankful growlithe.

"I don't care how big he is," Goro hissed, his fists curling tight. His left fist twinged painfully, a warning, and he felt himself grow angry at the feeling. This pup was getting very annoying, very quickly. "Just stand over there and wait 'til I'm done!"

The walrus pokemon split its attention, firing a fast ice ball at the distracting fire-type. Goro didn't sit around and wait to see whether or not she dodged it, as he dashed at his enemy as soon as it took its eyes off of him. His good right hand hovered at his hip as soon as he closed the distance, ready to swing at his opponent. Hit-and-run, Goro told himself. Don't stick around to exchange blows.

He threw a Drain Punch in the form of a compact right hook into the walrein's side, aiming for where he imagined its ribs would be. The feedback was decent; he could feel muscle and blubber separate and disperse under the weight of his punch. The reverberations trailed down his right arm all the way down to the tips of his toes, and Goro was reminded why he loved the sensation of punching a pokemon. It made him feel powerful.

The frog pokemon didn't stop after one attack, hoping to cover more ground in a single exchange. He drew back and threw another Drain Punch, striking the exact same spot with a slower, more powerful punch. This time, he heard the big beastie's breath catch in its throat. Goro would take that as his cue.

Hastily, he stepped back and turned around, intent on sprinting away and creating more distance. That's how this tactic worked, right? Hit-and-run-away seemed pretty self-explanatory. But the croagunk didn't make it more than two steps before he felt a heavy force hit him square in the center of his back, and he was lifted off his feet by the weight of it. Despite himself, he cried out in surprise and pain. It crushed and stung and froze him all at the same time.

The poison-fighting type landed ten feet away, face first in a mound of snow. He forced himself to his hands and knees, instinctually assessing the damage. His back felt sore and cold and wet, but that was it. Nothing broken. Staggering to his feet and turning back around, Goro saw moisture sinking to the snow around him, and the walrein's angry face was frothing and wet. It attacked him with a water attack, he realized. A decently strong one, too.

(+9 energy via Drain Punch)

Opal watched as the frog ran in with his punches. Even with a bad limb, it looked like there was quite a bit of force behind his assault. Perhaps it was for the best that their battle to be had been interrupted by the walrein.

Or not.

The fiery pup cringed at the watery attack that had just been unleashed by the massive blue beast. Whatever move it had used looked powerful. If the frog found it as painful as it appeared, imagine how badly it would hurt her! This was not something she wanted to be hit by.

Opal wondered how she could stand up to the walrein. Her only real options were to bite it, which was too dangerous, or breathe fire at it, which surely wouldn't be very effective. There was Sunny Day, but that wasn't a damaging move. Well, if it got rid of the hail and helped that smelly croagunk recover his footing, it might be the way to go. She took a deep breath and concentrated...

Goro had to fight to keep his teeth from chattering, as his whole body was beginning to shiver. A strong spray of ice-cold water was not what he needed at the moment. He could feel the cold seep into him, bone-deep, and he wished desperately for some kind of warmth. But there was only snow at his feet, hail on his skin, freezing water clinging to his back and legs. He was beginning to hate this place. Why couldn't he have gotten lost at a pleasantly warm beach?

The walrein rumbled again, and the croagunk tensed. He'd messed up his escape there, somehow. It was his first time trying to strategize like this, to use his head as much as he used his fists, but given how simple his tactic was, he didn't think he'd mess up so fast. Was going for two punches too greedy? If he just threw one and backed off, he might have escaped cleanly, but then the fight would take that much longer... Goro sighed, his breath coming out in a cold puff. What a pain.

He resolved to focus on the escape this time, rather than attacking. The walrein made a similar sort of noise, and Goro knew that another ice ball was coming. A moment later, the ice pokemon threw its head forward and Goro shot forward like a bullet. He ducked under the ice ball, feeling the cold rush of wind accompanying the projectile on the top of his head as it passed. In a smooth motion connected to his sprint, his right fist shot out again, another Drain Punch sinking deep into the walrein's side. He'd aimed for the same spot he'd punched the last two times; if he was lucky, something important could be under there and he could break it, like a cluster of ribs.

The croagunk did not stop to strike again. As quick as he moved in, he backed off, feet pushing hard against the snow. Just in time, too, as the walrein swung its meaty head around to catch the croagunk, and he just barely avoided a pair of sharp tusks catching him in the side. He dodged! A smile bloomed on his face. That was clean!

Goro backed up further and further, his right fist hovering at his hip, ready to strike again. He felt the crunch of ice at his feet, and as he glanced down, he realized that he and the walrein were slowly moving onto the frozen stream again. Problematic, potentially, but it couldn't be helped. If he wanted to fight smart, then he would just have to take what he could get. With any luck, the big fat walrus would find itself on a weak spot of ice and fall right through.

As preoccupied as the two battling pokemon were, Opal went almost entirely ignored for that short duration of time, free to perform Sunny Day.

the sunset hero carried out 10 launched of one Frozen Stream :

, , , , , , , , ,

Opal breathed a sigh of relief as the hail stopped and the sun shone once more. The walrein didn't appear to have noticed, and it was far easier to concentrate without being hit in the head by small chunks of ice all the time. What to do next, though? Fire attacks seemed like an even worse idea right now. She saw the fighters slowly moving back onto the stream, thankfully to a part that was still frozen. An Ember or Fire Spin there would be disastrous for the croagunk. There had to be some sort of item the growlithe could use!

As she considered which of her seeds to deploy, a glittering of something shiny caught the corner of her eye. Curious, the pup went to investigate what turned out to be a metallic spike. That could be useful, Opal thought. She picked it up and bounded back toward the battle. Though she didn't step onto the ice as the other two had, rather choosing to wait until the walrein was in just the right spot. When that happened, Opal flung the spike as hard as she could, hoping it would hit and end up lodged in his blubber. It might not do much damage on its own, but if the growlithe's plan worked, it would provide a distraction for Goro to take advantage of. A distraction might be all they needed.