Everyone Gangster Until Mom Shows Up

First topic message reminder :

A river. Well, it was more like a stream. It wasn't as impressive as the one he saw back in Everspring, but it was just enough to make him cautious. The little zorua hopped his way through the snow, finding it difficult to walk through the excessive amount of snow. Instead of footsteps, he left holes of snow behind him. Chance was certain to double and even triple check where he went, fearing what could happen if he were to land in the wrong spot of the river.

Despite his unusual caution, he was excited. This place was so cool! There was snow everywhere! Oooh, what if he made a fort out of the snow? That'd be wicked! His mind raced with all kinds of ideas he could carry out here. All of the mischief he could get up so. He wondered briefly if he could take some of the snow home...before realizing how stupid that was. Fortunate that nobody was here to read his mind!

...What did snow even taste like? He paused as he stared at the snow around him. Curious, he gave the snow a lick.

...

Tastes like cold. Noted.


Mirage would bet money that Chance was thinking of something stupid right then. The zoroark trailed along just far enough behind the zorua for him to not notice. She heaved a quiet sigh as she watched him struggle along. Her form was hidden underneath the magic of her illusions, making it appear as if nothing at all were there to begin with. She watched her son lick the snow and couldn't help but feel even more defeated than before she got here.

She could absolutely grab him and drag him back right then and there, but...what would that accomplish? He'd probably just run off again. She figured it'd be better to wait for him to wear himself out. With how difficult it was for him to travel through this terrain, that looked as if it might be soon...at least so she hoped.

Chance Energy: 13
Mirage Energy: 62

No talk. Only throw.   Alki bit her lip, nodding softly. She barely had thrown it, huh? It was just... hard. Hard to have fun, knowing that the Zoroark was so close by, so angry at her, furious even... So judging of her. Hateful of her?  And to think she had been so happy to meet Chance earlier... Things would've been so much better if she didn't have someone only a metre or two away glaring at her, scowling, probably thinking about how much she hated her right this second... Alki packed her own snowball, holding it gently in her hands, watching as Chance threw his snowball to her. He was giggling, laughing... He was nice. Sweet. Happy.

He was what she wished she could be... With a small, sad smile, Alki nodded softly, watching as he threw it, not too weak, but not too strong either... She sort of wanted to impress him... Without really thinking about it, Alki teleported forward, to end up on the other side of Chance, before throwing the snowball at him from behind, her smile growing. If he'd been unimpressed by her previous throw, she hoped he'd be impressed now... She'd put a lot into it. For a brief moment, Alki glared at Mirage, anger boiling once more, before she looked back down to the snow, occupying herself by forming another snowball. The snow was nice. It felt cold in her hands, but also kind of pleasant... Her hands felt wet. She looked at the ribbon around her wrist for a brief time, satisfied with it's tightness, before finally looking up at Chance, the small smile still on her face.

"Was t-that throw good enough...?" She asked, looking up at Mirage again, for just a second. It was a bit off, but say she positioned herself so Chance was right between her and Mirage... and then she threw a snowball, but... say, it was just a tiny bit too high... Alki began to walk around, slowly, watching Chance now, but keeping Mirage in the corner of her eye. This was going to be fun...

"Alright! Here comes another!" Alki exclaimed loudly, properly grinning as she took aim, not for the Zorua, but for the Zoroark behind him. If she didn't move, she'd hit her, and boy, was that going to be fun to see... After all the mean things she'd said and implied about her, it was only fair...

Chance was completely taken by surprise. The snowball smashed into him, a surprised yelp escaped him, but not of pain. He shook the snow out of his fur and looked back at Alki with wide eyes, in awe of her ability. "Yeah, yeah, like that!" he chimed with a giggle. He darted off to the side, eager to put some distance between him and Alki so that he could prepare his next snowball.

Meanwhile, Alki's secondary assault sailed through the air just as Chance left the line of sight, but it was clear from the height that he was not the target. The snowball smacked into Mirage's cheek, her attention kept on Chance to ensure he wasn't about to run off into the depths of the woods. Her eyes widened before her glare shifted back to the jigglypuff. Her expression, however, seemed to hold a lot less hostility than before. What kind of gall did this pink shortstack have to think she could just get away with that?? Fine. If she wanted to play it that way...

A growl rippled from Mirage's throat. Her form began to shimmer and fade into nothingness as she seemed to disappear into thin air, a clear and defined glare focused right on the jigglypuff as she did so. The soft sound of crunching echoed around the puff...before a snowball rocketed out of nowhere straight towards Alki!

Alki's smile grew as Chance seemed to grow more and more jovial, giggling after her attack. He was running around, grinning, smiling, rolling up another snowball... Alki tossed her own snowball over him, straight at Mirage, and - Bingo! It found it's mark! She couldn't help but giggle as she watched the snow drip down the Zoroark's cheek, down, down, as the Zoroark glared at her, eyes narrowing, but... It wasn't nearly as hateful as she would've imagined it to be. She briefly wondered if she should smile, and a ghost of one began to appear, before she saw the Zoroark before her shimmer, and then disappear.

"H-Huh?" Alki exclaimed, looking around frantically, her eyes wide, before her side was met with a fierce snowball. She yelped out, just like Chance had moments before, in surprise, as she stumbled down, and fell into the snow. "Hey!" She cried out, looking around in mild annoyance. How was she supposed to hit someone she couldn't see? "T-That's no fair!"

She glanced over at Chance, eyes wide, before she waved her arms wildly, gesturing at nothing in particular? What could she gesture at? Mirage wasn't there! She'd disappeared!

"L-Let's team up! Us two versus your mum!" She exclaimed, smile broadening as she began to have fun. She barely ever got to have fun! She wasn't sure if she entirely deserved to, but if it made Chance happy, then that was reason enough, wasn't it...? She nodded at the Zorua, regardless of what he said, before she turned around, in the rough direction of where she thought the attack had come from, dug into the snow with her hidden power, and flicked as much of it in the air as possible. For a brief time, the powder rained down, and she hoped that some of it would land on the Zorua... It's not like she disappeared completely, she just disappeared from sight... So snow would still land on her, right? Otherwise... Well, it was hardly fair! As soon as she'd pulled this, she began to pack another snowball, looking out to see if her plan had worked at all. She hoped it had... Because she certainly didn't have any other plan!

Chance. Freaking. ADORED! Alki's idea. His mom was big and strong, so it only made sense for him and Alki to double up against her-especially when she was going to be like that. Chance did his best to ball up snowballs the best he could with paws before he started to roll them around in the snow. A big goofy grin on his expression as he conspired to create the biggest snowball he could for Alki to throw...regardless of whether or not she could actually achieve such a feat.

"Keep her busy!" Chance not-so-intelligently called out to the jigglypuff.

Of course, Mirage heard-even when the snow that Alki threw into the air coated her. At first, it seemed as if the snow hung in the air, but it was quick to disappear along with the rest of her. Another snowball struck her soon after, but her concentration was kept strong. She could see the jigglypuff just fine, which meant that the snowball she collected in her claws would make for an extremely easy throw...

Alki nodded, wishing Chance wouldn't be so loud... Although she couldn't be happier he'd accepted a team up with her! It only seemed right, after what had happened earlier, and what had been said. In a way, she also felt her anger defusing, considering she hadn't expected Mirage to join in. She'd expected to be met with a blast of dark energy, not a snowball in return... She watched as the snow from her attack rained down, seeming to suspend in midair, before disappearing. So the Zoroark was somewhere around there!

"Invisibility is cheating!" Alki blurted out, her voice reverberating, before she put up a shadowy shield between herself and where she figured Mirage might be. Of course, she didn't want to just give up, despite the cheating... What if this were a real fight?

Her ears perked up, trying to detect sound from a footfall, an errant crunch of snow... But she couldn't. The Jigglypuff held a haphazard shield with her left hand as she packed a snowball with her right. Of course, she didn't want to throw it, if she didn't know where the older Pokemon  was...

"Chance...? W-Where is she?" Alki called out desperately, hoping she was still protecting herself in the right direction...

Chance's ears perked up as he bolted upright from his surprisingly large collection of snow. He looked to Alki, then he looked around. "Uhhh..." he hesitated as he squinted at nothingness. He turned around to check behind him, still, nothing. The zorua's ears fell back. He didn't quite know what to do when his mom was the one pulling the tricks. She was far more experienced in all of this than he was, he didn't know the ways around the illusions. "I don't know?" he called back. Abandoning his task, he turned around to face his pile of snow-wait...where did the snow go?

The invisible zoroark didn't particularly care whether or not this was cheating. Mirage stalked about, each step soft and careful. It didn't matter how slow she was if they couldn't see her-so long as they couldn't hear her. The vixen stalked closer to her son, who'd collected an impressive amount of snow in such a short period of time. She took it upon herself to lift the ball from the ground. She didn't quite bother to make the pile invisible, she wanted Alki to see this.

The snow drifted right above her oblivious son's head....before it plopped down right on top of him. "HEY!" Chance cried before his voice was muffled by the pile of snow, only a little zorua tail sticking out the side. An eerie chuckle sounded from nowhere in particular.

Well... That was hardly an encouraging answer. Chance didn't know? How was she supposed to hit her then?  Alki looked around the clearing, in search of her own answer. This would be so much easier to if she could use moves... But then that would also be cheating, and she didn't want to cheat! She wanted to win without cheating! Besides, she didn't want to take a snowball fight too seriously... What if someone got hurt on accident?

But then that meant bumbling about in search of an invisible target... And that was no fun! She was just about to complain once more, when she turned to speak to Chance again. But whatever she was going to say was quickly forgotten, when a gigantic snowball, bigger than her, much bigger than her, actually, was plopped onto Chance's head.

Immediately, it almost completely covered Chance, only his tail visible, poking out of the side of the snowball. Did that hurt? Did a snowball that big hurt?

"Y-You meanie!" Alki cried out, hurling the snowball in her hand in the direction of the chuckle she'd heard. It was far from precise, and while she hoped it'd hit, it wasn't quite her priority. The jigglypuff teleported to the side of the Zorua, awkwardly trying to dig him out. There was so much snow though, and as tempting as it was to pull him out by the tail, she wasn't sure if that would hurt him... So digging it was!

The snow was freezing.

"H-Hey, C-Chance... A-Are you ok...?" Alki stammered out, trying to dig him out from beneath the pile of snow. Her hands weren't very good for that though, and as tempting as it was to use a move to make it quicker... It'd be way too easy to accidentally hurt him... It didn't occur to her that she was opening herself up for quite an easy attack now, but... Well, that's life! Besides, what if Chance had actually gotten hurt? It was way more important to check on him than win the snowball fight...

The snowball missed, just Alki's luck. Mirage rolled her eyes at the Jigglypuff's concern over her son. It seemed genuine, but there wasn't really any need for it. Her son'd taken a lot worse before, this was barely anything. She sat beside and decided to wait, seeing as Alki was concerned over Chance. It was cute to see someone care for her son, but still, she wasn't sure about the idiotic fairy that thought she absolutely needed to be an outlaw.

The zoroark settled herself down back by the fire. She kept up the illusion of her invisibility-just in case the daring duo decided a bit of revenge was in order.

Just as Mirage expected, Chance was perfectly fine. The zorua wriggled and wormed as he attempted to pull himself out once his hind legs were free. If Alki wasn't careful, then there was the complete risk of Chance bowling into her once he popped out. He rolled on the ground for a foot before he popped right back onto his feet.

"HEY!" he cried out to the nothing, "THAT WAS MY SNOWBALL!" He puffed. His fur was coated in frost and ice, but a good shake and a stamp of his foot was all that was needed to clear himself of it. As if nothing had happened, his eyes began to dart about in search of his mother. Yep, he was fine. Cold, but fine.

Alki heard the soft sound of a snowball plop onto the ground some metres away. It was probably hers, which was a shame. It would've been nice to hit the Zoroark, but that hardly mattered. Alki's hands felt freezing, which kinda sucked. She liked the cold, and she liked the snow, but as far as she could remember, this was the first time she'd ever been in a snowball fight... The thought lowed her digging, and instead preferred to rub her hands lightly together, trying to warm them up. It... hadn't quite been the company she'd envisioned, but it'd actually been somewhat fun...

Her thoughts were interrupted as the Zorua crashed into her, knocking her onto her side. That was ok! It didn't really hurt, and it was actually kinda funny. The girl giggled in the snow, not bothering to raise herself. She figured they'd lost the fight, really, Chance had been stuck in a pile of snow for a solid half minute or so, and she had been the easiest target to hit while she was helping. But she wasn't about to admit that!

Instead, she laughed softly at her new friend's statement. "It wasn't very nice to take his snowball..." She said, still lying in the snow. It was nice. Nice and cold and actually sort of relaxing... She could warm herself up easily if she wanted to later anyways. She stole glances at the Zorua every now and then. Chance seemed like such a sweet person. Or at the very least, a nice friend... She liked that. She wished she'd have more chances to have fun with him like this, but she wasn't sure that Mirage liked her very much at all...

A frown came over her face slightly as she grabbed a chunk of snow, throwing it onto herself. She didn't have much interest in continuing the snowball fight. It was hard to try to hit someone she couldn't see, and the thought had really put a damper on her mood... "Well, t-that was fun, h-huh, Chance...?" She mumbled slightly, ears flattening as she let herself go limp, closing her eyes as she focused on the cold surface she was lying on. She hoped that Mirage would change her mind about her...

Was? Was? The party was only just getting started! There was no way he was going to just give in like that. His ears twisted and twitched as he focused on his hearing, his eyes gazed at nothing in particular. Nooo no, this was far from over. He glanced back to the jigglypuff who lay defeated on the ground. He squinted his gaze at the rotund pokemon as his thoughts chugged along.

Suddenly, his shoulders sagged, "Yeah...it was...I guess," he sighed dramatically. Mirage's attention was locked onto her son now, a raised eyebrow as he strutted towards the jigglypuff, head held high with his nose in the air. He was up to something. Mirage knew it, she just had to figure out what.

He paused near the jigglypuff...hesitant in whether or not his idea would work. Well, one way to find out! He looked back to the empty area, curious if his mom was watched. He was certain to get in more trouble for this, but he didn't exactly think of that. Instead, he suddenly jumped right onto the jigglypuff's face.

"DO THE MOVEY-THING, GO! GO! GO!" he cried out in the utmost urgency and panic, praying to whatever god there was out there that Alki would be able to teleport the both of them out of there. Hopefully to somewhere where they could better prepare for his mother...

Alki listened as the Zorua seemed to agree to her, rather melodramatically. To be completely honest, she didn't really think he needed to be so disappointed. It was just a snowball fight, and looking back on it, it had been a foregone conclusion. Mirage was fully evolved, and she had to be quite smart to be as accomplished an outlaw as she was! By comparison, both herself and Chance were just kids, and even if it was just snowballs instead of actual moves, a fight was still a fight... And they'd lost. Oh well. There was always next time!

The balloon was just about to get back to her feet when the Zorua seemed to step above her, as though shielding her from something. But there wasn't anything to shield her from? Why was he standing on top of her? Was he angry at her for something? A look of fear crossed her face as she tried to figure out what, exactly, she'd done wrong, when an ear-splitting cry turned the fear into literal pain. Why was he so loud?

And what was he screaming about? Movey-thing? What was that supposed to mean? While she didn't know what, exactly, he meant to say, she could easily tell what he wanted. He wanted to keep going. A lost fight... But heck, what was there to lose?

"...I... don't know what you mean..." Alki said, a smile crossing her mouth as she stared up at Chance. Sure, she had no clue what he meant, but she could figure something out! If it would please him, why not? What did she have to lose?

Hell, what if they won?

There were trees everywhere. Height... Would Mirage have a way to follow them if they went up there? What if she couldn't find them? It might work...

"I... think we should j-just... g-give up..." Alki said, a stutter reappearing even as she winked to the Zorua. Nah. It had been fun, and she was going to milk it for all it was worth. Sure, she was a loser, but she wasn't going to drag Chance into being a loser along with her! At the very least, she would do her best!

The girl teleported up into a rather thick looking branch; the better to support the both of them, after all! Of course, she had no clue if this would work, or if Mirage would stop this plan in it's tracks right then and there, but if she stayed lying down, then they would have already lost! The girl pulled her shadow out from beneath her, casting it out at Chance like a lifeline. "Grab it!" She cried out, not quite as loud as the Zorua, but every bit as urgent. If she could pull him up, then they could figure something out in the trees... What was Mirage going to do? Climb it? Then she could just do the same thing, but on another tree!

Was this even a snowball fight anymore?

Chance was disappointed when Alki didn't seem to catch his drift. Then, the smile. Did...Did Alki know something? Was this a trick? Not against him-he very much believed- but against his mother. This wasn't his plan, but he couldn't help but smile back, very conspicuously. So much so, that Mirage's wary gaze narrowed into accusation. What was this jigglypuff going to influence her son into doing now?

Neither of the foxes believed for a second that the jigglypuff was about to give in. The moment the Jigglypuff teleported, however, still came as a surprise to the both of them. Chance looked up at where the fae's voice came from as a long tendril of shadows reached down towards him. Without a second thought, he eagerly latched onto it.

Mirage, not willing to have any of this, lunged forward from her spot. The snow around her kicked up and shifted as she moved to grapple Chance in the hopes that she'd be able to grab him before he was pulled up.

"MOOF MOOF MOOF!" The zorua's voice cried out in thrill.

"DON'T!" The zoroark's voice cried out in disapproval.

Alki grinned as her feet searched for purchase on the thick tree branch she found herself on. Chance, at the very least, seemed quick to act, leaping for the inky thread, his jaws latching on as Alki was already beginning to pull the shadow away from the Zoroark, up with it's cargo, towards the tree. Even as she pulled Chance up, she hardly paid him any mind. Instead, she gazed down at Mirage, the spectacled balloon winking at her... enemy? Was Mirage an enemy, or just... Well... As far as she could tell, her worst characteristic was being lame. And maybe a bit of a hypocrite too, but hardly enemy material...

But that didn't mean she couldn't flaunt a bit! As she pulled Chance onto the branch along with her, the girl struck a small pose, standing on one foot as she leaned over the edge of the branch, grinning down at Mirage. "I gotcha! I gotcha!" The girl cried out, her voice smaller than the others, but clearly pleased with herself. She brought her arms up to her mouth, closing her eyes as she smiled brightly. "...I did it right... N-Now you c-can't catch us!" She said, her boast quickly turning into a small moment of self congratulation. Now Chance would be happy with her! And she was quite happy she'd done something right for once herself...

The jigglypuff resumed her normal stance, swaying uncomfortably with the height as she pushed her glasses back up. At the very least, the fight was on pause until the children could figure something out, she figured. That was fine by her! It'd be nice to have a plan... Alki turned to her companion on the branch, tilting her head softly as she puzzled over their situation. "Y-Your mum... U-Uh, s-she can't follow us up, r-right?"

The girl tapped her hands nervously together, suddenly doubting she'd made the right choice. Oh... Suppose she had a move to let her climb the tree too? Then they wouldn't be safe, and while she could get to the ground safely, she wasn't sure Chance could...

Alki was worried about whether Mirage had a move to climb a tree or not...but what she should have worried about was whether the fox could climb the tree herself. A toothy sneer stretched across her expression as her claws slammed into the tree. Snow fell from the branches as the trunk shivered from the force. Sure, if she had been a zorua, this might have been more of a problem...but she was a powerful zoroark now so it wasn't.

It wasn't long before she was clawing her way up the side of the tree. Chance's ears fell back in exaggerated horror as his mother started coming up to whoop their behinds for this act of defiance. His eyes widened, "We need to move!" he spoke to the jigglypuff with urgency. He looked around for some place to go, but the only place he could really go by himself was to other branches on the tree. It would have been smart to ask the jigglypuff for assistance, but instead he began to crawl his way up to higher points on the tree, struggling and huffing as he put a dangerous distance between him and the ground below.

"Move where? " Alki asked. Her voice did a poor job of masking the sudden onslaught of fear she felt. It was easy for her to forget that other pokemon could just. Climb. No moves required. It often seemed as though her own moves only allowed her to meet the baseline of what others were capable of. Teleport let her climb, her hidden power let her... well, do a lot of thing she usually couldn't. She'd forgotten that some people didn't need moves to do things. And this Zoroark certainly didn't. She was climbing fast.

The jigglypuff made a note of where the Zorua was going, which was up. (For some reason?). There was another tree nearby, so maybe she could teleport there, and get Chance over? It was worth a shot... Anything to get away from the Zoroark...

Without another thought, the jigglypuff teleported to another nearby tree, and tossed her hidden power back to the tree, somewhat like a rope, hoping Chance would take the hint. "Grab on!" The jigglypuff cried out, not bothering to hide her intentions from the Zoroark. She just hoped Chance would take it in time, and she could pull him up in time. Or at all, for that matter.

Was this really accomplishing much? Or was she just being a nuisance to the Zoroark... She wouldn't be able to keep it up for very long. She couldn't teleport forever, after all. And she doubted the Zoroark would struggle to keep climbing the trees...