Mischief Managed [Halloween S4 2019]

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Tonight was going to be fun, Chance thought to himself with a snicker. He spent quite a fair amount of time on just collecting data about the kill-joys of the evening, now was the time to act against them! He couldn't do this alone, however, fortunately, he knew exactly who to ask along with him. It took him all day to put together the note for Osiris, even more just to sneak it into the dratini's room without his mother noticing.

...That was probably very illegal to do, but what did he care? He was gonna be the world's best outlaw! The zorua donned his cape and flash emblem, slapped on his false-oversized fangs, and picked up the pumpkin shaped basket. The innards of the carrier was empty, however, so he flipped the object up onto his head-effectively transforming it into a hat.

He sneaked out of the house and into town square, a careful and cautious eye looked to and fro. This was a Top! Secret! Meeting! He had to make sure nobody was following him...Once he was satisified with his three second search, he slipped into the alleyway he told Osiris about. He searched around the boxes and barrels briefly before he located the one he scouted out several days before. A grin stretched across his expression, the "X" he marked on the crate still ready. He reached his fore-paws up onto the edge. With a keen and careful eye, he made a move to jump in...

Of course, he failed. The box flipped over with the wrong move and trapped him inside. A surprised cry escaped him as he dashed forward in a blind panic. He rammed into the side of the box and sent it flying with him across the alleyway. the box struck another barrel. The rumbling sound of wood struck fear into him as he heard something heavy drop on top of his box.

...

uh-oh.

Finally. Finally, something in his life was going right for once. Finally he'd have a win. Electricity crackled around him as he thought about how much easier it was going to be to dig into the dratini than it was the zorua. The little guy was already slightly shredded for him!

The jolteon prepared himself to lunge, his body lowered down as his shoulders gave a preparation roll or two...only for the Dratini to spit something at him. His ears pinned back with wide eyes just a split second before the dragonic blast struck him face-first. The force of the attack blew him back just as it did to Kiba earlier. The jolteon cried out, but was quickly cut off as he was sent rolling straight into the cobblestone wall of a building, his drop back to the earth cut off only by the "comfort" of some decorative pumpkins left out by some locals. The moment he saw the pavement rushing towards his face, was the moment he blacked out.

Osiris watched the jolteon get propelled back by the force of his attack and smack into a wall, just as he watched Kiba suffer the same fate earlier. And just like before, there was no relief or joy to be had. He only felt the bitter sting of intellectual defeat. The jolteon had fought smarter and better than him. Maybe Osiris was stronger, but because of his inadequacies as a battler, Kiba had gotten hurt.

What was the use of all his work if he could only keep himself safe? The dratini sighed, giving the nameless electric-type one last look of disgust before turning to his friend. All he cared about was the condition of his friend and getting them both back to his home to sleep this awful night off; maybe he'd get lucky and it would just turn out to be a bad dream. He rose up and looked down at the hurt zorua, inspecting him up-and-down for any good or bad signs.

This dice is not existing.

The zorua was less than fine, but the light panting indicated that he was still alive. The smell of burned fur was even stronger than when Osiris struck him with Dragon Rage and this time the source was obvious. On his side just on his shoulder, a patch of fur seemed to be entirely missing. Instead a fleshy red mess was left on the spot where the thunder struck him directly.

He struggled to get a sense of where or even when he was. The dizziness and pain made it difficult to think, but somehow his mind managed to get one command out to the body: more words. "I can't. I can't. I can't." It might tick off Osiris even more, but he felt it important to tell the dratini that he absolutely couldn't make the body go any further. He just had to pray that the jolteon didn't decide to attack him any further...or that Osiris didn't decide to try and use force to get him going again.

This... did not look good. There was no possibility that Kiba or Evil Kiba would be able to get themselves to Osiris' place—he knew that just from looking at the zorua. And there was nobody around except for an unconscious jolteon that just tried to kill them, and that meant Osiris was in for a bad time. Responsibility weighed down hard on his shoulders, and despite wishing for nothing more than to conk out right next to the body of his friend, he had to suck it up and handle it.

The dratini sighed. "It's over," he said, slithering around to Kiba's other side. "He's down. We're safe." Osiris soothed before leaning down and biting onto a chunk of the zorua's collar scruff. He pulled, and then he despaired. Kiba was heavy, and he was so weak, and just slithering alongside the dark-type as he pulled was agony on him. The pavement chafed horribly against his open wounds and he swore after just a few inches that he couldn't drag his friend any further, but he had no choice. So he went onward.

"Goin' home," he spoke out loud for Kiba's benefit, voice muffled by his own frustration and the thick fur in the way of his mouth. Just a few blocks to go.

He could feel something tug on his scruff. He could barely manage to make out the dragon type's words. They were going home. Was the jolteon gone? His eyes fluttered as he struggled to keep them open. They moved at a snail's pace. The dratini wanted him to get up, didn't he? Even though he couldn't-the dragon type was going to hit him again and it was going to kill him.

The zorua's breathing picked up, heavy and desperate to let the dragon type know, "I can't-I can't-I can't-" he repeated over and over again with increasing intensity. As he went on, however, his voice began to pitch, waver, and crack. He struggled against the dratini, attempting to stand again and again only to fail to even get a paw in the proper position to do so. The zorua's legs twitched and struggled, but to no success. The body couldn't do it.

Can't stop, won't stop. They had to be in Osiris' house before that jolteon woke up, or they were going to be dead. Iris repeated that thought in his head over and over like a mantra, trying to draw strength from it. From there, the presence of his mom could keep them safe—and in the morning, if she could get someone to watch them, she could even make a police report and get that guy squared away.

"Dun worry," he groaned as he dragged the zorua. "It's over. It's over. Dun worry," he repeated, periodically clenching his eyes shut every time he pulled his friend's almost-lifeless body. In the dead silence of the night, he heard his every mumbled word, and felt his every struggle. If it got too bad, he'd have to stop and comfort him, but for now, he tried to prioritize both speed and consolation.

He didn't know how long this went on for, but he could hardly tell what happened around him. Even when he opened his eyes, everything looked blurry. He knew what was happening to him, he didn't like it. The cycle perpetuated itself as his mind wandered off. He continued to push out the same two words in rapid succession as much as his garbled voice would allow.

The door was getting closer, but he didn't know it. They were almost there, but his voice was already so hoarse that he couldn't say much more than unintelligible sobs. The body did all it could to punish him for his failures, each and every movement made it worse. He gave up on getting up and simply waited for his failure to collect its debt. The door was right there.

This dice is not existing.

Each tug and consequential slither was agonizing, but Osiris was at his house! He weighed the pros and cons of just yelling for his mom, but the idea of alerting the jolteon (who may be awake and looking for them by now) to their position terrified him. Instead, he put everything he had left into dragging Kiba's body through the front yard, onto the porch, and letting him flop onto the ground while he pounded on the front door with his last bit of strength.

"Moooom!" he whined, real desperation and emotion coloring his tone. He'd putten up a brave face for quite a while, but security and comfort were just behind the door, and he wasn't sure he could hold it together.

When the door swung open and the head of a dragonair peeked out, the dratini visibly sagged with relief. "Osiris? It's not quite your curfew, did you—oh sweet Arceus, what happened?!" His mother immediately picked up on the very obvious state of him and his friend, flinching back for only a minute before the game face came online. "Nevermind, just coil up for me. That's it, now. Inside with you two, this way." she soothed, her much longer serpentine body looping around and neatly scooping the now-coiled and easily transportable dratini up, alongside the worse-off looking zorua he brought home with him.

She paused only to glance outside for a moment, eyes flickering down the road on both sides as if looking for the pokemon responsible for this lurking nearby. Spotting nobody, she hustled back in with the two kids and shut the door behind her, making a bee-line for her bedroom. Once there, she gently deposited both dratini and zorua onto her bed before poking her head into a nearby dresser, reemerging with a very bulky first-aid kit. "You're all-right for a moment, aren't you?" she asked, alert eyes scanning them both over. She had to focus on just one to start with, and Osiris was at least conscious. He nodded, visibly trying not to cry now.

"H-he's been like this for a bit now," he said, head drooping and voice tremulous. "We got electrocuted, but he got it worse..."

At this, the dragonair's tail crept up and gently pressed down on various points on the zorua, checking for a pulse as she looked him over and cataloged various injuries. It was a gentle if firm process, and both dragon-types went silent for a moment as she worked.

Movement, lights, and then the warmth of a home. The body was still alive, but it was done with punishing him. The controls slipped out of his paws, but he could still experience what went on around him. The body sniffled and and shivered, at the mercy of the two dragon types. He could do nothing but watch, just as if it were a movie.

The body flinched and cringed whenever the dragonair touched on a particularly touchy spot. He was moved and shifted, something was applied to him. He didn't know what, but it was bandaged soon after. The view's eyes began to close. He tried to fight it, keep the body awake and alert, but the weight of everything seemed to come crashing down. His vision went dark as he blacked out.

----

Waking up was unpleasant. He woke up to pain all throughout his body. He could feel the warmth of the sun on his face, waking him up even more. The zorua's eyes fluttered open, confused as to why he was no longer cowering in the corner of a shop. Why did his body hurt all over? The zorua slowly lifted his dazed head and looked around. He was in a house, one that he didn't recognize. A sense of dread and fear hit him, his heart began to race. What happened? Where was he? Where was Osiris?

"O-Osiris?" he squeaked meekly, backing his way into the blankets as if they were the only safe cove provided to him. He quickly found that he couldn't put much pressure on one of his paws. He looked down at it to see it bandaged up. His side was as well...and one of his hind legs? What in the world??

His ears pinned back as he tried to make himself as small as possible under the blankets. He waited to see if anyone would respond, praying that a friendly voice would comfort him.

Very close by, a noodly worm startled awake. Osiris' head popped up out of a mess of blankets and pillows strewn on the floor next to the guest room bed—that he'd refused to leave, despite his mother's insistence—and he immediately zoned in on the voice speaking to him. It was curious, earnest, timid, a little scared... was it the alter-ego from last night, or his friend?

"Kiba??" he called back tentatively, raising up from his ground-level comfort fortress to peek up at him. The dratini was similarly wrapped up in a number of bandages, but there were a couple of them that went slack, and fresh, shiny new scales could be seen with only faint imprints where rips and tears in his hide had been hours ago.

There. Osiris's voice. The familiarity was enough to encourage him back out from the cover of his blanket-fort and peep his head out. Each step his made was quicker and even a little more careless than last night, as he stupidly stepped on his bad paw again. He stepped off of it with a small yipe and promptly fell over into the bedding.

He quickly pulled himself back up, seeing as the fall immediately prompted a pain in his side. The zorua flinched with a whine before he looked over to his noodle-friend with a bewildered gaze. "Wh-What happened? Where are we?" he asked, still mildly terrified despite the friendly face. He didn't leave the comfort of the blanket's entirely, however, seeing as it felt as close to his mother's hair as he'd probably get at that moment. Wait-it was day time.

His mom was going to kill him!

Even the pitiful yip inspired Osiris with a feeling of relief—Kiba was back, finally, and he was okay! The dratini couldn't resist bursting off his pillow and closer to his friend, only just keeping himself from launching onto the zorua and hugging him, the protests of his injured body be-darned. Even then, it was just a matter of time.

"We're at my house," he replied a little somberly, "It's kind of a long story, but the good news is that it's not our fault. How do you feel? Do you still hurt too much, or...?" Iris asked, tilting his head as he tried to get a better look at his preferred zorua. It must have been really confusing for him, actually, waking up feeling like crap in a place he'd never been before.

Confusing it was indeed, the zorua had absolutely no idea what went on. The dark type couldn't stop the uncertainty and fear from crawling about inside him, but the presence and lack of panic from Osiris prompted him to keep himself under control. If his friend didn't panic, then neither should he...right? The dratini requested an update on his current state...which he was glad to oblige.

"Uhh...not good?" he answered, "M-My side really hurts and I can't put pressure on my paw..." the zorua glanced down at the bandaged limb. The hind leg was just as bad, but he didn't try to use it as much. The dark type gave the dratini a curious look. It was apparently a long story...but what even happened?

"Uh...what's not our fault?" he gathered the courage to ask, "I remember getting into the shop-a-and the skiddo-and then...nothing." He looked at the dratini expectantly, sort of hoping that the dragon type would deliver either some epic tale of adventure or something boring and unexciting.

Osiris followed Kiba's gaze and stared at the injured paw. He felt a surge of guilt wash over him - if he'd acted differently last night, maybe Kiba wouldn't be so bad off. If he hadn't have strong-armed Evil Kiba so roughly or performed better against the jolteon, things would be different.

"We, uh, we got attacked," he went with, Evil Kiba's threat bouncing around in his head. "After the skiddo's shop, we... didn't make it to the lurantis' house. There was this jolteon, and he got us both pretty good. I got us back here, 'cos my house was closer and you were out of it, and... yeah. My mom patched us up." Osiris finished, his voice colored strongly with both shame and sheepishness. He was not going to make himself out as some kind of hero that saved them, not after his poor performance.

He kept things vague, both because he couldn't go into specifics without lying, and because recounting the experience felt like revisiting a bad dream. Except he bore the marks of this particular nightmare, and so did his friend—he just didn't remember it.

A...jolteon attacked? Chance's eyebrow propped up with curiosity. The way that Osiris spoke seemed weird. He couldn't quite pin-point what it was about it, but this didn't seem all that right. Why would Osiris be like this...unless...

"Woah..." his eyes widened, "Dude, you totally saved me didn't you!?-Ow!" The zorua's body wiggled with a much more enthusiastic excitement. He immediately regretted the action as the wound on his side reminded him of just how much he shouldn't be moving. This, however, didn't seem to stop him, "You beat em up, right?? Did you get him good? Man! How did I get down and out just like that?? Did he have some sort of hardcore sleeping move or something?"

A sudden realization dawned to him, one that punched a hole in his gut with guilt. "Oh-is the skiddo okay? He wasn't around was he? Did he get unstuck??"