Idiots Afoot

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His head was high, his eyes were closed, and each step was taken in sheer confidence. The grass around him reached higher than he stood, but the path he followed made sure he had an easy walk. His loud mouth could be heard for practical miles with how little he cared about being silent, "I promise you Em, you're gonna LOVE it here! It's WAAAAAY better than the library. It wasn't even that hard to get to."

The zorua opened his eyes to the world ahead of him, a few rolling hills in the distance caught his eye. A single tree stood upon it, but it looked as if the plant fell long ago. It was such a simple piece of nature, but the prospect of investigating it excited him. With an excited wiggle of his body, he leapt forward and dash towards it. The wind in his fur felt absolutely amazing; This was so much different from boring ol' Grassveil and Shadowhue!

He slowed briefly before he jumped up on top of the log of the elderly fallen tree. He looked on at the expansive flat lands before him as energy that rivaled the static charge that floated in the air around him coursed through his veins. Was this what his father felt like when he went into dungeons? Probably not considering he looked like an alcoholic deadbeat last time Chance saw him, but there had to be a reason why the glaceon became an explorer in the first place right?

"Wooooow, Em come look at this!" he encouraged his sister. He waited to hear the sound of her paws scratching against the bark to hop up alongside him, but he heard nothing. "Em?" His stupidly wide grin faded into curiosity as he turned around to look at his sister for the first time in literal hours. There was no sister in sight. A concerned shout escaped his mouth briefly before he started to look around more fervently, "Em? Emmelyn? Emmy?" he called out for his sister in vain as he turned in circles. He half expected her to simply materialize behind him and ask him to stop shouting, but nothing came.

"C'mon Em this isn't funny!" he shouted, his tone slightly offended that she dared to hide from him. He sprang towards one end of the log and peered into the inside of the hollow innards, effectively looking inside completely upside down. "Em?" She wasn't there. His heart sank. He lifted his head back up while his hind-legs failed to support him. He sat upon the log with lowered ears. "Where did you go?" he asked in a much quieter tone. Did...did she stay back at Grassveil?


Lost, hungry, and most of all desperate. He decided that it would have been fun to visit the one place that seemed friendly to electric types such as himself, but instead he simply became lost for days. The jolteon struggled to hunt in these parts, unable to familiarize himself with the prey and enact proper strategies on top of being unable to find any edible items to fill his stomach.

Fortunately, however, he was given a stroke of luck. As he trudged miserably through the tall grass of the electric field, the shrill sound of someone yelling caught his attention. His bitten ear twitched before his head swiveled in the direction of the source. Yes...it was definitely somebody. Somebody small from the sounds of it. His stomach growled. It was time for the circle of life to continue its cycle.

The electric type lowered his body to the ground and quickly-yet quietly skulked forwards. His yellow color blended in with the golden grass that rose out of the ground higher than he stood. He headed towards the sound of the voice, up a hill and closer until he came across a small clearing at the top of the hill that held the log and stump of a fallen tree. He could see the form of a small zorua at the top of the log who looked a little depressed about something.

Erebus smirked, food. Easy food. Finally, he could get his stomach to leave him alone. He took a step forward, however, hesitated. He could run forth and pounce on the fox the old fashion way...or he could use his new abilities as a Jolteon to his advantage. He had not tried hunting with his powers, but it could not have possibly been any different from average combat. With how weak the zorua looked, he could not imagine it would take more than a single Thunder to deal with it.

The Jolteon's body began to crackle with electricity as he steadily stepped out from the grass, his eyes focused on the dark type. He was behind the zorua, so it did not yet see him. There was no way it could smell him from there either. His plan was simple: get as close as he can to the Zorua. If the prey showed any sign of noticing him, then he could unleash the charge onto them and claim his dinner...

Darcy smiled wryly as the Glaceon asked her to please shut up. Well... What was wrong with a bit of singing...? Especially after everything that Senya had put them through... It was unfair. So he got to cut, and maim, and traumatize everybody he wanted, but if she started singing SHE was the bad guy? ...Naw. No way. She wouldn't let him hurt himself, but... After he'd cut her, and gotten everyone involved in this dumb fight, she wasn't about to let him get away scot-free. She strut over to him now, smiling at him as she shook her head.

"Naw, I don't think I will, Senya." She said, still smiling sweetly. She placed both of her paws on top of his good paw, the one he'd been using to cut his ear. Was her singing that bad...? Alki had never complained, but then again, she figured that she wouldn't really be the type to criticize someone else... "...What was it you said earlier...? That you were making an exception for me? W-Well, I'll make an exception for you! " She exclaimed, grinning stupidly. She wasn't going to put him to sleep, cause that could be pretty dangerous... But she was certainly going to sing her heart out!

She was just happy to be alive...

"...Why so down tonight? Just another day that didn't go your way, well..." She began softly, enjoying every moment her voice rang out. It was just her and Senya now, and he seemed... well, he seemed somewhat distraught. But he'd get over it! She was sure. Her eyes closed pleasantly, even as her paws pressed down harder and harder on his. If he was saying anything, she wasn't hearing it. She was busy, couldn't he see...?

"...Don't you make me cry... Just take my paaaaaaaaw... don't toss and turn!" She grinned, finishing her verse. This song was much faster than the previous one, and especially considering she probably should go look for the kids that had come with them, she wanted to wrap it up. But this was too easy! After all the taunting and trauma, it'd be a good reminder to him how everybody else could feel...

At the same time, he had done something good, and she didn't want to punish him too bad...

"Let's just lie awake... In just a moment's tiiiiime, you'll wonder why you... Ever thought you'd ever Want, For, Moooooooore... Than you got! Cause Darlin' you. Got. You. Aaaaaand me..." She finished, smiling brighter as she slowly lifted her hand off of Senya's paw. Of course, he'd done something good, and he had said he liked her... So why not?

Darcy leaned in and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Keep an open mind, Senya!" She said simply, before she began to walk away. It was... Awkard. And spur of the moment. But again, why not? He'd done something right, so...

Oh, Arceus, that was stupid of her...

~

Alki watched with shallow, trembling breaths as the Raichu reached into a nearby bag, extracting the seed in question. Her vision was shaky, but she felt fairly sure that the seed was, indeed, a quick one. Of course, it could be a blast seed too, or a Sleep Seed, but... Well... Actually, this was starting to seem like a kind of bad idea...

Before Alki could second guess herself any further, she took the seed and popped it into her mouth, as soon as the Raichu gave it to her. It was actually kind of painful to swallow... But as soon as she did, she recognized it's effects. It was, indeed a Quick Seed. Funnily enough, she didn't feel any faster... Just sicker. And not in a good way...

"A-Alright, I... Um... W-Would you like me to carry you? O-Or you can ride on my tail, o-or... It's... Up to you..."

Alki looked up at him, forcing herself to her feet, unwavering steadily once again. There wouldn't be room for both of them on the tail, not to mention the risk of one of them falling off and hurting themselves further if they tried to fit the both of them there. So... Someone had to be carried, didn't they?

Oh dear... She wished she had the heart to make Chance go through that... But try as she might, she couldn't find it in her. He was smaller than her, younger than her, and certainly more deserving of safety than her... She stumbled forwards, in front of the Raichu, and nodded again. She was still holding onto the orb, with both hands, but she hoped he'd get the message...

He did. She found herself being lifted up, slowly, so slowly, and positioned on his shoulder. She was high up now... But at least she was free to move... If he tried something, she could probably react fast enough and throw the orb... She had to! If not for herself, then for the Zorua...

...Why was the Raichu's eye bleeding...?

The Raichu turned to the Zorua in question, moving his tail below the Fox, waiting patiently.

"...Whenever you're ready, I'll... I can take you, back to your friends, and then... then you'll never see me again. I promise..." Alki nodded softly, but couldn't take her eyes off of the Raichu's eye. That looked really bad...

The cold blue eyes of the zorua watched Alki as she communicated with Yin. They came to an agreement, where the electric type provided her with a seed that gave her an edge over the raichu. His snout wrinkled at the idea, as if a bad odor sneaked into his nose. The jigglypuff was placed onto the raichu's shoulder, which kind of impressed him considering how raichu barely had any shoulder to even use.

The electric type turned to him and offered out the tail for him to climb onto. His gaze fell from Alki to the tail, where he stared at it in silence. The lack of response carried on for so long that the raichu felt compelled to speak out, "U-Uh...I'm uh...sorry about all that back there too by the way..."

His gaze snapped back up to the Raichu's eye. The good eye. Arcs of electricity still crackled and spun their way through the air around the zorua, but it didn't seem as if the dark type was in any pain. If anything, he looked hungry. The way he stared at the raichu held the same look as the way the Jolteon looked at him just seconds before the pounce that started this whole mess.

"A-Are you okay? Can you move?" the raichu asked after the zorua, once again, didn't respond. With an uncertain wine, the raichu dared to pull an arm away from its bad eye and moved to nudge the zorua onto the tail. Perhaps he just couldn't move? Or speak? Yin didn't think he'd paralyzed him that bad...

As soon as the hand came close to touching the zorua, the dark type moved. The flash of fur with a nasty snarl suddenly twisted around onto his feet with nothing but harmful intent. The raichu jerked its hand away from the dark type just early enough to avoid the snap of pointy zorua teeth on his paw. Fearful, he stepped back in preparation for another all-out-assault from the kid. It didn't come. The zorua fell back down onto the ground with a quiet yet pitched whine before he could do any more.

Seizing the opportunity, the raichu quickly reached its hand back down again and pushed the zorua onto the tail. There was another attempt to bite him, but it was met with yet another failure followed by a whine.

"...Okay then uh...s-sorry..." Yin spoke with uncertainty. The zorua was at the front of the tail-board, but his head was turned to look back at the raichu with that hungry glower. Hesitantly and slowly, he too boarded the tail. "J-Just hang tight alright? Just don't bite me...or tip the balance...again." The trio rose up. Yin made sure to use a hand to help keep Alki supported, while the other was held out to try and keep balance. The nasty wound of his eye was wide open for all to see, though still squeezed and swollen shut.

With a spark of electricity below, they were off.

Senya's ears flattened at the clear dismissal of his request that the skitty showed. He finally felt the pain of his injured ear as it moved instinctively, making it perfectly clear to him what he had done to himself, but this hardly seemed important. She pinned his paw down, and immediately he recognized that she was preventing him from blocking out the singing. Did she know? Was she so intuitive that she knew she was threatening to send him away... and was she trying to? Or did she just not care what she was doing to him or how it affected him? He had certainly hurt her earlier... but she had actively asked for it, and he... he was doing the opposite. This wasn't fair at all. He had stopped fighting just to please her, and been hurt worse because of it, and... and he had tried to protect her... and...

Now she was torturing him. It wasn't the same as when he had cut her, because he was asking her to stop and she was continuing for her own pleasure! She was making it perfectly clear that she hated him, that he wasn't welcome, and his will was quickly being drained. He no longer wanted to fight the woozy sensation coming over him since he was clearly even more hated than he thought. He didn't exactly expect gratitude for his presence or his decision to try and protect her, nor for his willingness to stop when she had asked him to... but he certainly didn't expect this either. It seemed Darcy wasn't quite as nice as she let on.

The world began to spin as he felt himself slipping away, and this time he couldn't block it out due to his paw being held down... but he didn't care. This extra measure to force him to listen was entirely unnecessary, because he no longer wanted to be here. He had tried to "behave" and made the mistake of trying to interact someone. Lesson learned; he would never do this again. His place was that of a punisher, not a protector and certainly not... anything else. Besides, Sova was the one who was wanted here, so there was no reason to fight it...

He drifted away in thought about what he had done wrong, trying to find an answer. For once he had tried to behave. Since coming to an understanding with Sova, he had thought that perhaps things would get a bit better, but they obviously wouldn't He was wrong for giving Darcy what she had blatantly asked for, and then wrong for protecting her, then wrong for asking her to stop singing... He was wrong for protecting Sova's son... He was wrong for defending himself... He knew he was violent and many of his actions had poor justification, but today... he felt like he had done less wrong than was being pinned on him. Maybe he was just that hateable?

The one silver lining was that he could barely hear the singing now. He would be gone soon, sent back to his prison where things made sense and he didn't have to worry about such complex things as socializing. Things worked better the way they usually were, with Sova doing all the living and Senya himself just being around to solve problems. He was unfit for anything else, and whatever curiosity he'd had to explore such possibilities was now gone. He could finally relax as he faded away, almost as if his worries were fading as well. This, at least, he knew...

And then something surprising happened: he felt a sensation on his cheek. Before he could even register what it was, his eyes widened and his vision cleared. Suddenly, he was back, fully conscious. He confused for a moment, but his mind slowly processed what had just happened and his shock visibly faded as he realized... Darcy had kissed him.

Visibly. His shock had visibly faded, but inside... he was surprised, confused, sad, and so many other things he didn't understand. Tears began streaming down his face, seeming from his perspective to come from nowhere. He was overwhelmed. His part in Sova's life was so simple, he couldn't help but think that he would have been much better off just sticking to that... Alas, he had very little choice, as had been made clear multiple times today. He couldn't control this much more than Sova could, and he couldn't run away just because he wanted to. He couldn't force Sova to come back out, and he couldn't even get up to walk away. The only thing he could do was... cry.

He didn't even understand why he was crying. It wasn't as if this was something he did often, unlike Sova. It was uncomfortable and seemed only to invite the painful feelings in, making them worse. He wanted it to stop, but he had no will left to fight any of it. He was so confused. Why couldn't she just make it clear that she hated him? It would have been so much simpler.

He could only hope she wouldn't turn back around and see him. He didn't want anyone to see him. Tears streaming silently down his face, and a hopelessly depressed and willess look cast over him, he felt pathetic.

Darcy felt a bit guilty about that... She had been so in the moment, and so happy, that... Well, She hadn't really noticed how upsetting it'd seem to be to the Glaceon. Of course, she'd noticed him crying, but she thought that was just because of everything that had happened. Stress being cried out, so to speak. It wasn't until she was finally walking away that it occurred to her that she might have been the cause of such a reaction. The Glaceon didn't really seem like everyone else, did he?

Of course, she had sort of meant to hurt him, hadn't she...? It had only seemed fair, given how traumatic the experience seemed to have been for her little sister and for Chance, and how grave her own injury was. Now though? She could hear him crying, and the fact that she very well may have caused it was certainly quite a guilty experience... She'd messed up worse than she'd thought! What was she supposed to do now...?

"H-hey, Um... I... Uh..." She stammered out, not daring to look back. She didn't want to see what she'd caused... This was way too complicated... She started to feel the blood dripping down her chest once more... Or maybe she just wanted to focus on that instead...? It had been hurting the whole time, but she'd been too busy focusing on other things... Now she wanted to focus on it, instead of her newfound guilty.

"Um, I... D-Didn't think that through very well. Sorry..." She mumbled, unsure of how best to acknowledge what she'd just done. She hadn't thought it through at all... How was she supposed to know he'd have such a negative reaction to singing of all things...? Her ears flattened at the thought, but she walked forward into the brush, intending to look for the smaller members of their party, and getting out before the Rattata could cause any more damage. She just hoped she'd find them fast...

~

Alki felt at risk of falling off of the Raichu's shoulders at any given moment. She felt so unsteady, and just about ready to pass out... But she couldn't faint yet...! If she fainted, she wouldn't be able to defend either of them... She watched as the Raichu approached the Zorua now... He seemed nervous. And... regretful...? Maybe he wasn't like the others... But she couldn't take that risk... Come to think of it, had his eye been blinded when she'd seen him on the road?

Her thoughts were cut short as Chance began his attack once more, snarling at the Raichu before jumping towards him. The inefficacy of this attack failed to reach Alki, who instead simply let out her own sharp cry of fear, before feeling herself slip off the Raichu's shoulder. She felt a paw catch her, but she hardly even registered it. She felt just about ready to explode... She just wanted this to be over! Was that too much to ask...?

She heard Chance whine himself as his attack failed, but truth be told, she felt somewhat grateful. Why fight fate...? There was nothing more either of them could do, really... She watched as he was pushed by the Raichu and placed on his tail. Things were going to get better, and...

All of Alki's thoughts were interrupted as she heard the soft crackle of electricity below them, which prompted a loud, terrified scream. Her eyes were tightly closed, and she was more pale than pink at this point. She wanted to use the Orb, but her limbs wouldn't work, she couldn't make them work, and she was waiting and waiting for the shock to come, but none came.

She heard the rustling of grass nearby, and a voice crying out her name. Was it Darcy? It had to be Darcy, but she felt terrified, and her voice wouldn't work, and she couldn't tell how far away it was, and what if she heard the shock again...? Alki looked up at the Raichu with pleading, fearful eyes, hoping he'd understand that she wanted to go nearer to the voice. She didn't want to get electrocuted... Not when Darcy was so nearby. Darcy would hear it, and then she'd find her... She already felt so lightheaded... Alki's ears were flattened almost entirely, only flickering up at imaginations of lightning and thunder. She just didn't want to suffer anymore... Was that really so much to ask...?

She was never going to go on a guild trip again, that much was certain...

Yin tried not to think much of the traumatized child's terrified cries directly into his ear, but it was a little easier to do thanks to his concern of the zorua just below him. The look in the fox's eyes was completely different from how it was just a few moments ago, it was unnerving. At this point, he really just wanted to drop all of these guys off at a hospital, turn around, and go back to whatever camp he and his family and friends set up.

The raichu did what he could to keep Alki comfortable, but dared not to touch Chance. He too heard the voice. The look the jigglypuff gave him said all. He gave a small nod to the puffball before he floated on over to investigate.

As Senya lay in a devastated and existentially confused heap on the ground, he heard the skitty's voice once more. He flinched, expecting another bout of singing... but to his relief, this time she was just speaking. Or maybe he would have preferred the singing at this point, so that he could at least be done with this torturous scenario... But, at least now Darcy seemed to have fallen back to her normal passive state instead of... whatever that had just been. Now she was trying to apologize, albeit very poorly. Was that really the best she could do? She just didn't think? He normally would have had things to say to this, but right now all he cared about was the fact that she had noticed him... crying...

This was enough to motivate him to try to stand against his better judgment. He couldn't quite suppress the tears, but he could at least make sure he wasn't collapsed in such a pathetic state while he cried. As he slowly, weakly pushed up off the ground with his one functioning front leg, he opened his mouth to speak, "I'm fi- hk!" He was cut off by a sharp and painful intake of air, followed by a coughing fit that caused him to fall. His eyes focused on the ground in front of him, and he could see... blood. He could taste it in his mouth too, and feel it in his throat. The ribbon...

This was clearly a very bad sign, but he was too focused on other feelings to care, and his face showed this. Beyond the tears still streaming down his face, he just looked... tired. He wasn't afraid of what may have been broken or torn open inside of him, because other things hurt worse and bothered him more. He could still feel Darcy's paws on his, and a tingling sensation on his cheek. It didn't hurt, and yet it did, so much worse than everything else. It confused him. The worst part was that even after Darcy had tried to explain herself, it still wasn't any clearer to him, maybe because all she had really said was "oops."

He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. He had already made it clear that he was not "fine," so trying to say that again would have been stupid. "Well, I hope you're happy..." he muttered bitterly, unsure what in specific he was even referring to. There were so many things he could have been talking about... Maybe it was just everything.

Darcy's ears flattened as the Glaceon claimed to be "Fi-" before falling over, very clearly not fine.  He was coughing now, and it sounded nasty, although she couldn't summon the courage to look back at what he might look like. She... Well, she'd apologized, and she knew full well how bad of an excuse it was. She wasn't thinking? That didn't forgive her hurting someone else, but at the same time, she didn't think that it was her fault that the Glaceon was in such a bad shape...

Truth be told, she wanted to say more, but she had no idea what, exactly, she wanted to say. This feeling was only exacerbated by the Glaceon's final words.

I hope you're happy.

Darcy's tail flickered nervously as she turned over the phrase in her mind. Was she...? No. Not really. She thought she'd be, and truthfully, at the very start, she thought he'd like it too. After all, who didn't like singing...? But as she progressed, she'd felt... Well, she'd felt quite happy, and she'd sort of... kept going. Even though she'd noticed his distraughtness, she'd tried to justify it to herself, and then she'd made things worse... She absently lifted a paw up to her wound, pushing it ever so slightly. It stung.

"S-Sorry..." She repeated again, quietly. She wasn't going to answer his statement. She figured it didn't need an answer. She felt... Bad. Once again, just like after she'd berated Sova before she'd... experienced Senya, she felt guilty. Darcy pawed at the ground softly, wondering whether she should say anything more, before deciding against it. Even if she didn't feel guilty, both children were still missing, and she was starting to feel quite anxious to find them. The Alolan Raichu had been rather loud about their surrender, yet the second Raichu hadn't yet re-appeared, nor had Alki and Chance.

Darcy took a deep breath, before disappearing into the brush. She... Didn't really have a plan. She wanted to find the two kids, but... perhaps they'd waited too long? Maybe she'd made a mistake in more ways than one, spending so much time singing... Darcy bit her lip softly at the thought. That had certainly been foolish of her... Suppose she didn't find them now...? Darcy fastened her pace as she walked about, before beginning to call out:

"A-Alki? ...Chance? Alki!" Darcy called out, trying her best to keep her voice calm and collected. No response. She repeated her cries, again and again, each time getting more and more desperate. Her ears quivered as she tried to pick up a response that wasn't coming. A couple minutes of this passed, until she heard nearby rustling. Movement. Maybe it was them? She couldn't possibly know until she checked...

"...A-Alki...?" She repeated once more, but once again, no response. Ok... Maybe it was the Raichu...? Maybe... He hadn't gotten the memo...? Darcy padded towards the sound, before she found herself face to face with exactly who she didn't want to see. The Raichu... She... Actually felt more shock than anything else. His eye was bleeding something bad, and Alki was on his shoulder, seemingly terrified, but... Was that her imagination, or was the Raichu helping her stay on his shoulder? Darcy growled as she bared her teeth, unsure as to what the situation was, exactly, but unwilling to let the Raichu get away with her sister. And Chance too.

"H-Hey, I... T-That's my sister, you... y-you put b-both of them d-down, or I'll bite you again..." Darcy said, making eye contact with Alki. She held an orb in her hand, and she was shaking, but she was conscious... Hurt. Hurt really badly, but... Conscious. Chance seemed to be in a similar position...

"...I really don't want to hurt you..." She said, stepping forwards, toward the Raichu. The gash on her chest was clearly visible, but it didn't really seem to faze her too much. Truth be told, it was very painful, but... considering she couldn't count on help from the Glaceon, and her sister's safety was on the line... She was willing to sacrifice her own safety for the jigglypuff...

~~

Alki shifted on the Raichu's shoulder, unsure of what she wanted to do. This whole ordeal was absolutely terrifying, and now that her sister was there, she wanted nothing more but to run to the Skitty, and hide behind her. She was too big at this point, but she really wanted to hide under her, and hope that Darcy would be enough to protect her from the electric type. She didn't really want a fight. The Raichu was confusing her, and considering he hadn't attacked yet, she wasn't sure if he intended to. But if he did it accidentally...? If he shocked her accidentally and suppose that shock stopped her heart, here, in front of Darcy, or if it hurt Chance instead, or if something went wrong, at all, and...

She wanted to go. She wanted the Raichu to go away. She had a warp orb, and she would've used it, if it weren't for the fall she'd suffer afterwards, which seemed almost three times her own height. She was forced to watch, for her own safety... She hoped things would be alright, but Darcy was stepping closer now... She'd made eye contact with her, and she seemed relieved to see her. Truthfully, she didn't deserve it. She'd been the cause of this entire mess to begin with, and if she hadn't existed from the start, Darcy wouldn't have that nasty cut in her chest, Chance would be fine, and everything would be alright...

Alki began to cry again, as Darcy came closer and closer... She just wanted the Raichu to put her down, and let her come with Darcy, and then... Then things would be alright. At least... they might be... This whole day had been a nightmare, and those never seemed to fully end, did they...?

Yin was just getting all kinds of trouble today. His own trouble and other people's trouble on top of it. The raichu was a little tired of it-though not in an annoyed sense. As intimidating as the skitty attempted to be, the only real thing he feared was the skitty getting hurt even more. He didn't know what the others had done to this group, but he was willing to cooperate with them.

Slowly and carefully, he picked the jigglypuff off of his shoulders. One of his feet touched the ground as his tail lowered the entire party down. He didn't bother saying anything, seeing as words weren't exactly helping at all in this situation. He placed the jigglypuff down onto the ground and pulled his paws back and away from her.

He looked to the zorua hesitantly to see the hungry glare of the zorua locked onto him. He swallowed, fearful of the dark type's wrath more so than the others'. Ever so hesitantly, he reached a paw close to try and help nudge the zorua off and slide him onto the ground. As soon as his paw grew close, he could hear the zorua's growls begin to crackle accompanied by the electrical arc of the paralysis effect. He flinched at the reaction, but no attack came. He took a deep breath and reached over to-

The zorua jumped.

Straight from the tail and into the Raichu's face. Long bloodied claws lashed out with a distinctive target of the raichu's one good eye. The electric type reacted in time to cover the good eye with a squeak of terror, but his already bloodied arm received the blunt of the vicious swipes. The electric type backed away just as the zorua kicked off from the raichu's body and tumbled onto the ground gracelessly. Electrical shocks sparked from the zorua as the paralysis attempted to worked its effects, but he was not stopped from turning tail and bolting in the direction the skitty came from.

----

He struggled to regulate his heavy breaths and stop the body from simply collapsing again. It was fortunate that a new wave of energy found its way to him, otherwise he would have been stuck with that Raichu. Every movement seemed like a challenge to make, but he pushed the body as much as it would go. He needed to get Chance back to his dad.

He was met with the clearing Chance ran from earlier. The first he noticed was the Alolan Raichu slumbering on top of the rattata...while the other Raichu and the Dedenne looked to be in pretty bad condition...though he was fairly certain that Dedenne looked dead. He'd never seen a frozen pokemon before, but the only real pokemon capable of doing that sort of thing around here was the one that acted like an icy nuke.

Speaking of the nuke, he seemed to be disabled.

The very appearance of the glaceon seemed...wrong. Keeping skepticism about him, he approached the glaceon. Much slower than how he entered the pathway, he walked in front of the glaceon. The ice type's ears were bleeding, there was blood in front of him, and he looked as if he were...crying. His expression twisted with even greater confusion than before. He stopped just before the small spat of red just before the glaceon, the tips of his own bloodied paws just an inch away. He looked down at "Senva" with a brief silence that made it seem as if he weren't even going to talk.

"Hi," he greeted the ice type before his tone rolled right back over into the demand he used against Yin, "Stop that."

Senya's interest in the situation had plummetted once more. At this point he had no idea whether he wanted to stay or go, but it didn't seem to matter since he had no control and this day had served to do nothing but remind him of that. He was at the mercy of Sova, the abomination, and even some random cat he'd made the mistake of thinking could be an interesting conversation partner. At least now he had some sense of clarity: he would never have to consider trying to do anything other than his job again. He clearly wasn't a good fit for general existence, and he didn't really even want it anymore.

Then he heard the skitty apologize again... Why did she have to keep doing that? He could handle being treated like a villain, but this wishy-washy shit was miserable. He wished she would just make up her mind about whether she hated him or not... but he also felt a tinge of relief. Every time she spoke, every kind word she said... it made up for how stressful she was. He had never gotten anything even adjacent to an apology from anyone, bar Sova after years. But what was she apologizing for? The singing, hopefully... and probably the weird random kiss? He doubted she was sorry for anything else. Regardless, he didn't feel up for responding and really just wanted her to... go away. Maybe not forever, but right now... well, he wanted everyone to go away. He would have volunteered to be the one to go away, if only he had a choice.

He could hear Darcy saying something else, but fortunately it didn't seem to be directed at him and he was having difficulty focusing on the distant chatter. It was all he could do just to stay conscious with no direct stimulus, which admittedly made him wish he had something to focus on, even if it was the increasingly stressful cat...

As if by some divine wish-granting intervention, he suddenly heard the familiar voice of Chance... although it seemed... off. He glanced up at the zorua with bitter unamusement in his eyes. Normally that kind of sass from technically-his-kid would have actually been entertaining, but right now he just... didn't want to deal with it. He wasn't in the mood for fun things like that, for once. The kid was just telling him to stop... Stop what, crying? Dying? Senya was starting to think Sova's kid had brain damage based on some of the odd things he liked to say and do. Regardless, he wasn't interested in dealing with it right now, so he decided to dismiss the child quickly.

"Fuck off, Happy Meal."

Darcy watched through narrowed eyes as the Raichu stepped down from his own tail, before setting her sister down. He was doing so carefully, with both paws, almost like... he cared? Darcy couldn't imagine why he'd bother, if she were in his shoes. Hadn't he been trying to kidnap them...? Or at least Chance... Maybe Alki had tried to help, but if that were the case, why was she on his shoulder...? She seemed terrified, but she hadn't said anything yet... She was hobbling over towards her now, and Darcy flicked her tail, stroking the jigglypuff lightly.

Was it a trap...? And if it wasn't, why had he had a change of heart...? Darcy looked around warily, even as Chance ran past her, back towards the Glaceon, not daring to peel her eyes away from the Raichu. Still growling, she surveyed the situation. If it was a trap of some sort, she'd have to protect Alki, of course... Chance had gone back to Senya, so she was fairly certain he'd be safe in that clearing. Nobody there posed any threat, and she was reasonably sure that he wouldn't run off again.

"...Alki, you should go back to Sova. Alright...?" Of course, it wasn't really Sova, but she didn't want to confuse her... Especially not when it could potentially be important that she leave! Even though she felt the girl's trembling against her flank, she didn't feel her leave, nor did she see her leave.

Nor did she hear anything. Silence. She couldn't force Alki to leave, and she seemed hurt... Truthfully, Darcy wasn't sure if she could win a fight like this, even if she didn't have to take care of Alki. But she was in no control over what the Raichu decided to do, she could only react to it.

And maybe try to dissuade him...

"L-Look..." She began, pacing softly ahead, placing herself between Alki and the Raichu. "I-I don't... I-I thought you were running with them... W-With the other R-Raichus, and... D-Do you really wanna help, o-or... or is this a trap of some kind, or..." She trailed off, her voice losing authority the more and more she spoke, betraying the fear that she'd been trying to conceal until now. They weren't out of this yet, and truthfully, she wasn't sure if any of them, or even all of them, could take on this Raichu. His eye seemed to have a nasty wound, but otherwise, he was probably fine to fight. Certainly in better shape than Darcy, Alki, Chance, and Senya were.

"W-What're you playing at? Y-You could've..." ...Killed them? Alki and Chance...? It was a horrible thought, but it was true enough... And she couldn't shy away from it. For a brief time, her sister's life had been in the hands of a criminal... "...R-Really hurt them... S-So... Why didn't you? Are you... f-friendly now...?" The Skitty asked, any attempts at authority fading away as she felt a tear roll down her cheek. A bit too little too late, wasn't it...

~~

Alki stumbled away from the Raichu, still holding the warp orb tightly. As long as they were in this cursed field, she'd be holding it... It was the last ace she had, the last trick she could use. She was still faster than the Raichu, or at the very least, she could react faster... If anyone attacked them, she'd use her orb, but it was the only orb she had... She was seeing double now, and she coughed softly, feeling an icky, thick substance in her mouth. She found herself by Darcy, the Skitty's tail softly stroking her.

Darcy said something, but she didn't really pay it much mind. It wasn't that she didn't want to obey, it's just that... If she left, how was Darcy going to use the orb...? And she wanted to be sure that Darcy would be safe... She didn't want to leave her sister alone! What if the Raichu changed his mind...? She trembled harder, leaning against the Skitty's side, for support and comfort. She coughed again, and the red, icky substance flew out a bit. Darcy  was saying something more to the Raichu, but she didn't care what it was. She was watching the Raichu's paws, his cheeks, his tail, for any sign that he might attack them...

She couldn't be sure, after all... And so long as there was a threat, she'd do her best to protect Darcy! She'd protect her sister, or she'd die in the attempt...

Yin was tired. Tired of this day, tired of this job, tired of this life...and just plain tired. The duo did nothing to even attempt to stop the child from trying to gouge out his eye, which he couldn't help but feel to be a little rude even with everything that there was. He was being friendly wasn't he? He stopped. It made sense to try to stop that kid...

"It wasn't at all supposed to be like this," he commented, "We were just supposed to scare you...not actually...do all of this..." he tried to explain. "I didn't hurt them because I don't want to...I'm not that kind of guy."

----

"Fuck off, Happy Meal."

...Well that wasn't very fatherly of him. He didn't fully understand the meaning of what Senva said, but he knew enough to know he wasn't welcome here apparently. Despite that, the zorua sat down in front of the glaceon.

"No."

Senva's response was less than satisfactory. The zorua contemplated the ice type's words with a thoughtful hum...before he decided to humor him. The zorua picked up a paw and dipped a claw in the small puddle of blood he spat out. Carefully, he drew the mark over the plate on his forehead. Each stroke was deliberate and careful. The handwriting was awful, but given the circumstances it was surprising that it was legible. The bumps and the shape of it made it difficult, but it didn't need to be perfect. "Bad Dad :)" ...Yeah, that seemed about right. Once he was finished, he put the paw back down and admired his work a little.

"Done," he responded, "Now stop it."

The child's response was very simple, and surprisingly bold. Senya couldn't help but wonder what in the hell Sova and his little girlfriend were teaching their kids to make this thing such a badass. It wasn't afraid of him at all... and to be fair, he understood that he wasn't in a very intimidating state right now, but still. He figured the kid would be terrified of him after today, or at least scared of Sova after meeting him before... but nope. In fact, it didn't seem to care in the slightest what he said; it was almost eerie since he was pretty sure this kid was supposed to be kind of a crybaby dumbass.

It was just... staring at him. Senya's eyes narrowed. "Why don't you paint me? It'll last longer," he responded bitterly, hoping to chase the child off with a very clear display of coldness.

His eyes widened when the zorua actually started painting him, and in a more literal sense than he had even meant... with his own blood? What a creative response to a sarcastic challenge. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, but one thing he knew was that he probably wouldn't like whatever was being "painted" on him. He certainly wasn't going to ask the little creature, though, and wouldn't have believed its words anyway. When it proclaimed that it was finished, he tried to look up at his forehead before quickly giving up and deciding not to worry about it.

"You painted on me. How very witty," he responded before turning his head away from the zorua. It hurt just to move, but he didn't particularly care. "Still fuck off though," he added on, wanting to make it perfectly clear that no amount of creativity would make him want to interact with anything right now, let alone some kid that thought it belonged to him.

On the bright side, the tears had stopped thanks to how much of a distraction this zorua was being. It actually took a bit for Senya to realize it, but he was no longer crying. At least the child was useful for being so much of a pest he couldn't focus on anything else.

Darcy remained silent as the Raichu explained. She nodded along slowly, still apprehensive about what it was that they might want to do, but unwilling to be too cold to this guy. After all, if he wanted to make a move, he'd been alone with Alki and Chance for quite a while now... Why wait until somebody more showed up? Darcy sighed, nodding at last, before sneaking a glance down to her younger sister. "Y-Yeah, you don't seem like that kind of guy to me either..." She mumbled. Truthfully, it was less an appearance thing, and more a logic thing. Either way, the Skitty relaxed her muscles as her gaze softened, much more tired, and much more scared than the tough look she'd previously been trying to convey.

"You shouldn't do this kind of thing anymore. I don't think it suits you... A-And, thanks... f-for not hurting them anymore..." She said, adding that last sentence rather quietly. Before she could explain any further, she turned her back on the Raichu, and walked back to the encampent, bringing her sister along. She hadn't said a word. She was conscious though, walking along, clearly favoring her right side as she looked up at Darcy, still holding her orb.

Darcy smiled. It felt wrong on her face. She felt guilty. But what more could she do? Just smile and nod, and hope that the worst of the day was over...

The two teammates entered the clearing just in time to see the Glaceon's head-ice-block thingies covered in a red liquid. Blood? Darcy tilted her head, making out the scratchy paw-writing carefully... "Bad Dad..."? And a smiley face... Had Chance drawn that...? What she heard shortly afterwards was even more alarming to her. Fuck off...? What kind of Pokemon used that sort of language in front of a CHILD?!

"H-Hey!" Darcy exclaimed, her indignation apparent as she stamped her foot. This was too grave to go ignored! Was it bad timing...? Perhaps. Was she interrupting something important...? The thought didn't even occur to her.

"Y-Y'know, don't... say... s-swears..." Darcy stammered, her eyes wide as she looked between the Zorua and the Glaceon in shock. What would compel him to say something like that...?

~

Alki hobbled along, not caring to pay attention to Darcy's words. She just wanted to go home. Was it time to go home...? Alki leaned on the Skitty, her head feeling more and more ready to explode as she went. Her eyes were tightly closed, the light was really bright... And it was annoying how everything seemed to have a double-image. The jigglypuff, rubbed her eyes, almost falling over as she heard the Skitty pound the ground nearby. Another fight...? Oh boy...

No... She was yelling at something. It just made her head hurt more. What was there left to yell about? Why couldn't they just leave before the electric rats changed their minds...? They were making a mistake... But she couldn't say anything. Literally. She could barely make out what the adults were saying. Alki just wanted to leave.

Why couldn't they just leave...? What if she left? Alone...? Would anyone notice? She'd make her way home by herself... Probably... She never wanted to be in this place again...

The ice type didn't seem to understand that leaving wasn't exactly an option for him. While he was relatively unaffected by the swearing, a certain normal type caught wind of it and expressed their displeasure. An ear twisted in Darcy's direction briefly to listen, but he hardly spared her a glance. His attention was focused on Senya.

He thought about his words for the briefest of seconds, "Are you going to let her walk all over you?" he criticized in a whisper for the ice type's ears only, "Or are you going to stop that too?" He reached a paw over the glaceon's plate and pulled on it to bring him back to face him. He wasn't getting away that easily. The first step to his agenda was completed, but the list went on for miles. He would just have to work at them one task at a time.

Senya tried to ignore the now-intolerable voice of the skitty as  she reemerged from wherever she had gone. Alas, it was hard to ignore her, and all he heard out of her was more criticism. Now she was complaining about him swearing? He huffed in annoyance before the strange little zorua in front of him began saying... odd... things. He gave a glance in the little fox's direction in surprise before having his head dragged to face him by force. Chance or whatever its name was seemed to long for death. Senya's eyes narrowed slightly at the zorua, though he was more annoyed and confused than sincerely angered. This behavior seemed odd for what little he knew of Sova's child, and actually kind of weird in general. Darcy was sort of defending him and he was basically requesting for her to be...

...What? Hurt? Senya had already established that he didn't want to hurt her, let alone over a little bit of sass, and he was actually a bit uncomfortable with receiving this suggestion... especially from Sova's child. "The fu- what?" he muttered under his breath, blinking in sheer bewilderment. He tilted his head to the left in confusion, before pulling away and falling limp once more.

His solution to this problem was simple.

"Both of you fuck off."

Sure, he didn't want to hurt Darcy, but that didn't mean he wasn't upset, nor that he wanted to see or talk to her right now. Chance's strange attitude was getting on his nerves as well, mostly because of the sensitive situation, and he was having an all-around terrible day that just seemed to get worse with every development. He didn't want to have to deal with criticism on all ends when he was already so stressed. He just wanted to be left alone to bleed and sulk.