Try That On My Archeops

This was a Bad Idea if Osiris ever had one.

Slithering across the surface of the Frozen Stream was a single dratini, horribly out of place and indubitably vulnerable to just about everything that existed in the immediate area. Adorning his head was a slightly oversized blue headband with a red draconic eye at the center, and fastened around his neck was a long strap to a satchel that he dragged unceremoniously behind him.

Anything with a pair of eyes could immediately infer that this little dragon noodle had a snowball's chance in hell of surviving any hostile encounter, but it seemed like the dratini could be aware of that. Worn over the satchel strap and covering the bulk of his serpentine body was a quality, black-and-slate-grey fluffy fur cloak; as stupid of a notion it was for him to came here, it was at least obvious that he tried to prepare for the trek to the Icy Lands.

"I-it's c-c-c-c-cold," he whispered quietly to himself, nervous eyes flickering to his left and right. His constant scan of his surroundings was attentive and watchful, if a little bit... distracted.

34 - 18 (entry): 16 energy

CRACK-SPLOOOSH!

Mission:

The ice around the dratini cracked briefly before it suddenly seemed to burst like a volcano's top. A large blue shelled creature emerged from the water as the ice flung off in all kinds of directions. The shell of the creature pivoted around smoothly on the ice to reveal the sinister looking face of a dark orb centered around a second layer of shell with a horn pointed out the top. The grin of the pokemon widened as the horn began to glow a brilliant white.

Bullets of ice suddenly shot forward into the sky, as if the cloyster completely ignored how much danger it might have just put the Dratini in by shattering ice near it. The icy bullets whistled through the air towards their target, multiple Archeops in the sky. Each time a bullet struck one of the "flock" members, they seemed to completely ignore it. The icicle shot straight through it.

Acro was in hot pursuit of the target. The cloyster was so fast, it was difficult to keep up with him. The archeops and his duplicates dove downward towards the shell pokemon. The cloyster's shell closed up as Acro's talons met hard calcium. The ice underneath the Cloyster instantly gave way to the force being placed upon the Cloyster, causing the cold water below to splash upwards. Acro immediately abandoned the attack, not wishing to become coated in the chilled icy water.

As he rose back up into the sky, only then did he notice a distinct blue serpentine shape nearby...was that a kid?

"AAAAaaaaaahhhh!" Osiris screamed, ice erupting below him and scattering every which way. It was the surprised, eardrum-splitting, panicked sort of scream, the one that instantly communicated that mistakes were made and please don't kill me I'm too young and awesome to die. He flailed inexpertly in the air, taking one look at the water now beneath him before swallowing a thick lump in his throat.

He failed to gather his wits and do anything about his situation before he smacked back into what felt like an icy surface. The explosion left Osiris fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on which way look at it—sitting dumbly on a sizable block of ice now floating atop ice-cold water. All other chunks of ice had skyrocketed into the sky, leaving the young dratini for all intents and purposes stranded. He gathered himself in a tight coil and tried to appear small, peeking his eyes out between ropes of his noodly body to perhaps discern why the world was exploding around him.

It was only then that he noticed two very big, scary looking pokemon clashing way too close for comfort. A crazy fast what-the-crap colorful bird crashed into a giant armored thing before taking back to the air, leaving Osiris to glance around and wrack his brain for a way to get the heck out of here.

That scream. That was a kid. The Archeops pulled himself into the sky before he swiveled back around. His copies followed him as he mixed into them, which made it difficult to tell who was the real one. The cloyster's snarky grin remained plastered on its expression before once again, icicle spears erupted from the horn and shot in the Archeop's direction. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

Again, they missed. Acro's priorities changed, however, as the stranded Dratini would need to be lifted out of its condition. "Hold still!" He called out to the creature before he began to dive, the Cloyster's icy spikes trailed just behind him. The ice type ceased fire as its eyes finally caught sight of the noodle. The shelled pokemon put two and two together, before the smirk only seemed to grow wider. The cloyster aimed just above Osiris as Acro dived towards him. His legs outstretched, he attempted to scoop up the dratini.

The cloyster fired just seconds before, however, so just as the flying type was latching onto the immobile reptile, he was blasted away onto the thick collection of ice and snow with a pained cry. He would attempt to keep a grip on the little guy, but he couldn't tell if he even latched on in the first place over the pain of being impaled with a few spears of ice.

Iris wasn't sure what to think when the big bird called to him before swooping down to... help? It didn't much matter what the dratini thought since he knew he wouldn't be able to resist. The giant terrifying talons of the flying-type spread open and reached out toward him as the archeops closed the distance between them... right after the cloyster made its move.

The only saving grace was that the ice-type wasn't aiming for him. Just after he felt a pair of strong talons grip his serpentine body, a flurry of ice blasted into the bird that held him and sent both bird and noodle crashing to the ground. It was honestly just a giant case of whiplash for Iris; he was here one instant, and then a couple of yards away the next. The forceful movement and very rough landing wore on him, but it wasn't like he was the one who got attacked.

"Get up get up get up get up!" he chanted, nervously wriggling around in the archeop's grasp. The cloyster could strike again at any moment, and with the both of them in the snow, Osiris would be in real danger of getting hit this time.

His duplicates disappeared when he was struck. It took him a moment to realize he was down and in the cold, but once he did, his talons released the dratini. He forced himself back up, albeit painfully due to the spears of ice that snapped and shattered as he moved. The Archeops' gaze looked back to the Cloyster just in time to see the back of the shell gunning straight for him. He only had the time to squawk before he was slammed into by the shell pokemon. The cloyster left a path of ice behind him that rose up out of the ground in spears and shards.

The cloyster moved right on past the dratini, ignoring the weak little pokemon. Acro felt his back collide into a tree on the side of the stream as the Cloyster zipped back away from him, narrowly avoiding a strike of Acro's tail as he recovered himself. The shelled pokemon cackled at the explorer's impudence. There was no way it was going to strike him like this! So, why not take some time to kick things up a notch? The Cloyster's shell closed up once again, though this time the purple exterior seemed to crackle and crumple under some sort of pressure.

Acro, meanwhile, tried to take flight again, quickly searching for where the kid in the situation had run off to, frantic that the bystander might have gotten hurt or will become hurt as a result of the battle.

Kat carried out 10 launched of one Frozen Stream :

, , , , , , , , ,

Acro : 94 - 20 > 76

Only instants after the big bird released him from its powerful grip, the world around him whirled into motion. A powerful gust of freezing wind swept past him, alongside a giant blur of purple, and suddenly both the cloyster and the archeops were gone. He turned his head to see the flying-type slam into a tree - their fight had moved! This was Osiris' chance!

The dratini turned on a dime, slithering furiously but carefully through the path of icy shards left in the cloyster's wake. He stopped just as quickly, however, when a pair of rotund figures floated up through the surface of the frozen stream right in front of him... a pair of Jellicent, one male and one female, both staring down curiously at him. "Don't haunt meeee!!" he squealed, coiling up tightly like a spring. Then he exploded off the ground in a burst of Extremespeed, soaring right through the female jellicent.

He landed face-first in a thick pile of snow a few meters away, his tail sticking out of the top as the only visible indicator of where he was.

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

, , , , , , , , ,

There he was! Two Jellicent popped up and spooked the little dratini. He wasn't sure if they meant any harm, but he wasn't given the opportunity to check. Several more spears zipped past him, narrowly missing. The target wasn't going to let him abandon the fight so easily. He was forced to turn his attention back to the targeted Cloyster as he took another dive off to the side of the shore. The Cloyster was confused, seeing as neither the dratini nor him were there.

Acro's collision with the land was harsh, however, instead of just kicking up snow, stone spires rose up from the ground. With a quick turn, Arco's tail smacked into the stones and sent them flying straight towards the Cloyster in a Stone Edge. The Cloyster, thoroughly surprised, looked as if he were about to be struck for a moment. The stones struck against a blue shell alright, but instead of the outlaw's fall, a second cloyster collapsed onto the ground with the stones impaled into its shell.

The outlaw looked down at the other cloyster in shock before another would step up next to him. Both of them suddenly looked very angry.

Just in front of the dratini, or behind if Osiris faced the center of the river, the snow began to shift and move. A large blue and white head raised itself slowly, a drowsy looking tusked creature blinked slowly as it looked in front of itself at the small little tail that poked out of the snow. "...Hi?" the Walrein spoke, confused by the sudden blue spike that interrupted its nap.

Osiris hauled himself up out of the pile, sending a flurry of snow into the air that rained down around him. He blinked stupidly when he came face-to-face with a whole ass grown Walrein, too stupefied to freak out again. "Hi," he replied automatically. The dratini turned to see the two jellicent still hovering in the same position, though they'd turned around so they could still look at him, and they didn't seem hostile. "Why are those guys fighting and making everything blow up?" he blurted out, feeling a little safer next to something big that didn't immediately try to eat him.

"That's a good question." came a squeakier voice. Osiris looked down to see a tiny little spheal wriggle out of the snow next to the walrein, looking equally curious about all the commotion as Iris. In unison, they both looked up at the walrein.

Ohhh god there was two of them, a kid around here somewhere, and he didn't have any help. Acro's heart began to pound. This was bad, really bad. There was a very real and likely possibility that this random kid was about to die just because he decided to go and try to get himself impaled. Now he couldn't do that.

The target cloyster burst forward while the new one remained behind. The new Cloyster closed its shell, cracks started across the shell just as the other Cloyster had. Acro launched himself back into the sky with some struggles as he narrowly avoided another ice shard from the outlaw. He was quick to circle around and slam his weight into the new Cloyster. The ice shattered beneath it as it gave a pained cry. He pulled himself back into the air with a quick look back, the new Cloyster was half-wedged into the ice with a closed shell. It didn't seem to move again. Huh...that was easy.

The walrein looked over to the match up with a lazy eye. He studied the scene for a moment before he gave a huff, "Probably Paul bein' a dick to the tourists again...seems like he picked the wrong one to fight this time..."

Osiris mouthed the word 'tourist' to himself, vaguely offended. He shook it off quickly though. Between the walrein and the two jellicent hovering by silently, he felt pretty protected. Like he was a part of a group, watching a fight on the side of the road. He supposed this was the Frozen Stream equivalent. "But... why, though? Is he just mean? And how does he move that fast? He's so big!" he wondered out loud, turning to observe the fight, his eyes widening as the archeops pinned one of the cloysters into the ice of the frozen stream itself. Inventive. Now it just seemed to be "Paul" that was left.

"That's just Shell Smash," another new voice piped in. The dratini looked to the side to see two shellder hobbling over. "All cloyster can do it. You smash your shell and you get weighed down less, so you're faster and stronger and stuff. More vulnerable, though. We'll learn it when we get big." the second one elaborated, its voice turning a little smug at the end.

"Oh," Iris uttered. So it was a move - kind of like his own Dragon Dance. Except... better? Osiris couldn't move around like that after even a couple of dragon dances. He turned and kept his eye on the fight, not keen on missing a detail. Maybe there was more he could learn?

"Paul" turned back around to face the Archeops and wasted no time in deciding to try something else. The creature's horn glowed once more, though this time the spikes that he fired took on a different color and even shape. Instead of sharp and pointed icicles, round rocks were shot at the aerial opponent at a speed and intensity Acro could not keep up with. He was struck by the boulders, his wing taking on a pretty brutal hit. He began to fall.

He was about to recover himself, but his eye caught the movement of the Cloyster charging forward with another Ice Shard. The Archeops instead decided to let himself fall. The cloyster intended to hit the Archeops head on as he fell, but Arco would flare his wings out, twist his body, and once again land on the ground with intense force. Stone once again spiked out of the ground in an outward angle, resulting in the Cloyster taking the hit head on.

The cloyster snapped its shell up as it recoiled away, but it did not have the strength to try to flee again. The shell flopped over onto its side, defeated. Acro, however, was still cautious, as he glanced around his wall of stone to look at the cloyster. It didn't move, but that didn't mean it wasn't done for. He wasn't about to be faked out. To his fortune, however, the cloyster seemed to be down and out.

Over by the walrein, another pokemon seemed to rise up out of the snow, on the other side of the spheal. A dewgong with a soft and effeminate voice looked upon the scene, "It's about time someone did something about Paul. That charizard kept coming back and making soooo much noise."

The cloyster, Paul, was definitely the bad guy. So the archeops... was the good guy? Was that why it tried to pick him up and get him away from the fight? He wondered why it would risk itself in a battle just to get at a little dratini, and it seems like that really was the reason. Osiris smiled wide, a thrill passing through him at the revelation. He was never in any danger at all! Maybe the flying-type worked at the guild or something, and that was why he was doing good stuff like this.

"I'm gonna go see if he's okay! And tell him thanks!!" Osiris chirped, taking off as soon as the idea entered his mind.

The two shellder went back about their business, now that they'd seen some cloysters get their butt whooped and the show was over. Likewise, the walrein and its spheal child settled back down, and things seemed to settle down.  With the exception of Osiris, who was making his way over to the downed flying-type with a trusting grin and information he didn't know was important.

"Heeeey!!" he called as he drew closer. "You didn't hurt, did you, bird guy?"

Well, this mission didn't exactly go as planned. He took the mission so it was expected of him to complete it, but he was kind of hoping something different would happen. His breath puffed in front of him as he looked over himself. His bag was still attached to him, the explorer badge neatly pinned on the side, and it didn't seem like any permanent or deadly looking damage was done. He bled, yes, but it was nothing compared to wounds he suffered in the past.

A voice called out to him. A familiar one, but not so familiar that it made his skin crawl. It was the dratini-kid. The Archeops stepped out from around his spike-wall, but stayed close to the outlaw he needed to apprehend. He was relieved to see that the kid wasn't hurt.

"I-I'm fine," he stuttered out despite his minor wounds. It was difficult to tell whether it was due to the chill or his own nerves, which made him thankful. "Wh-what are you doing out here? Aren't y-you a bit young to be out here in the c-cold like this?"

"Well, yeah, but what are you doing out here?" Osiris parried, not entirely willing to get another lecture. So if he just hit this guy with a barrage, maybe he'd catch him off guard. "Being awesome, that's what! Man, that fight was crazy. I talked with all those pokemon over there, they say the guy was the worst and that he picked fights with tourists and stuff! Abusing this move called Shell Smash, I think, and it made him way fast and strong but vulnerable." he blabbered, eyes wide as he got close to the archeops. It wasn't the craziest thing he'd ever seen, but it was one of the first fights he'd got to witness - a back and forth exchange between two fully evolved pokemon trying to put the hurt on each other.

He wriggled up close to the big bird, waggling his eyebrows slyly at him. "That didn't faze you none, though, huh?? You really put the hurt on that guy, and you weren't even that much slower than him once he got going! Gooosh, that was cool." he wound down, staring at the defeated body of the cloyster. Once the adrenaline faded from him, though, the archeops' words actually registered with him. It was cold out here.

He shivered for a second. "Hey, can you give me a ride home?" he asked the fighting hero bird innocently. And the fighting hero bird did - Osiris slithered right up onto him while the archeops hauled the cloyster along in its talons, dropping the dragon-type home before taking the defeated ice-tye along on his merry way... wherever that was.