[IC] As Gods Sleep Chapter 3: Of Wind and Rain

[DarkLight]

The small crystals of ice and water pelted Nivia harmlessly. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying the brief chill and smiled a little. "Well, nevermind the fire then," she mumbled without budging an inch. It was when that human girl with the gun - those guns - that made the Dewgong tense up. She was ready to fire a Water Pulse when the girl pulled out a few berries and, awkwardly, held them out to her. 'At least she didn't try to shoot me.' Nivia finally lifted her head back up to take a sniff at them. 'I don't smell any poison on them, and they do look like those that my human used to give me...' Before taking a bite, however, she turned to the human's two Pokemon partners. "Hey, your master isn't going to use those to sell my coat right?"

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"If I deemed she posed a threat to you Miss Nivia, that woman would not be standing that close to you right now." Theo said. He lumbered up beside the Dewgong, planting his butt firmly on the ground. He lowered Blaze down as well, since he didn't need to carry the little fella anymore.

[Flux]

Blaze lifted his paws off of his eyes, taking a look around before stepping on to the ground.

"...T-thank you, Theo..." he mumbled before taking a seat next to the Pangoro. The sun felt good bearing down on his back, making him feel energized. The sand spread out all around them, spires of stone poking through periodically. There was a large cliffside visible in the distance, rising far above their heads. It made for a beautiful sight, though he imagined it would be a painful walk, especially for those who weren't fire types. He felt sorry for Nivia, being thrust out into a desert like this. It certainly wouldn't be a good way to start her journey.

[Arkhi]

Gale hopped off the ice, like the badass he was. Then, he flew through the dirt, getting a taste for the landscape. Thankfully, he kept Amarantha safe in his arms, he thought. Spitting out a bunch of sand, Gale turned away, hoping no one had noticed, and sat down Amarantha along with his outer shirt. He reached for the Poke Ball on his belt, then tossed out his Sandile. "A'ight Bugger. Let's see if you back your game." Turning to a spineless cactus, Gale acquired his target. "Let's see what's up. Crunch on that cactus." Sandile looked up, clearly bored. Then, he quickly crawled to the target, crunching at it rapidly, getting in and out, making quick, deep bite marks on it.

"Oi, that's lethal," Gale affirmed, smirking. "Now for a real target." A Cacnea nearby would do.
So, it had been a while for him, but no bother. "Bugger, Crunch on the Cacnea!" The Sandile ran over, biting savagely as the Cacnea flailed, quickly fainting. Before that, though, the Cacnea swung its glowing, green arm at Bugger, and he was swept across the ground, sustaining heavy damage. Needle Arm, he thought. "Don't let up! One more Crunch attack!" And with that, Sandile lept on the Cacnea, its jaw fitting around the arm, then clamped down. Cacnea then went still as Bugger let his grip off, revealing large bite marks, then crawled over, still wounded.

"Sweet spice, Bugger. That's a good pilot episode. I'll leave you out for a bit to recover. Great job," he said, giving a thumbs-up before Bugger dug a small hole in the sand, then crawled into a sleeping position.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Arkhidon

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

"Of course not," Chaos said, a bit miffed, before Cerberus the Houndoom cut off the Umbreon before she could say more. "Don't worry, she's not like that. In fact, though she may have those guns and a chainsaw, harming any of us here wouldn't even be the last thing she does. Or... well... it would be a thing she wouldn't do. Yeah." The Moonlight Pokemon went and sat down on her Trainer's foot.

Okay, so she took the berries. That was a good sign, right? "I promise, I don't wanna hurt you. Or any of you. And I know that the mister man wouldn't either," Zephyr said, after a glance at the guy training his newly-caught Sandile. That reminded her... you could find Trapinch in the desert, right? Where were those little buggers?

[DarkLight]

Nivia nodded at the party's respective responses. To her, the Umbreon and the Houndoom's words were sincere and, heck, they probably wouldn't be with her for that long if she was that bad, right? The girl's soft tone also rang a bell for Nivia; it reminded her of how her human used to coax the Dewgong from one of her tantrums when they lost a contest. 'Since they put it that way, and even Theo approves, I guess I could take a bite.' Nivia took the Leppa berries from the girl's hands and nibbled on one. Slowly, but surely, she could feel her energy creeping back to her. 'Well, that seems to do the trick.' Nivia left the rest of the Leppa berries alone, though. "You might want to save these for later, just in case" she explained to the girl with the guns. With that, she put her head back down and stared at a patch of land between the two. After a few seconds of what seemed to be mindless staring, a small fountain of water came up from the ground. Nivia's blue eyes were glowing intensely all the while. The fountain was big enough for Zephyr and everyone around them to take a few sips from. "I'm sure some of you are thirsty to some degree. Take this as my thanks."

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

The Dewgong took one of the Berries and seemed to be calm with her. This is a good sign. Although, I'll keep the rest of these for the time being, Zephyr thought, pocketing the rest of the untouched Berries, with what seemed like an actual smile at being appreciated and not being blasted with an Ice Beam by the pretty Water-Ice type.

Then she seemed to have called out some gushing geyser of delicious looking water. All at once Zephyr, Cerberus, and Chaos perked up. Now this was definitely a thing to celebrate! Running through and nipping at the cold, clean water, the Umbreon seemed to have little care for whatever anyone else would've thought of her at that very moment. After cupping her hand and filling it with water for her hellhound to drink safely without accidentally fainting from joy and/or being splashed, she took out a canteen from her bag and filled it up then drank straight from the fount of bliss.

This here was heaven. In the midst of a hellish, barren desert.

It took a while for Zephyr and Chaos to notice the little orange claw-like creature that crept up to the massive spray of water hesitantly. It was thirsty, but...

[DarkLight]

The Dewgong chuckled at their obvious delight. 'Good to know I am more than a pretty face.' Once the trio was satisfied, Nivia gave a quick glance to the other Pokemon and the human boy around her. 'Theo and Blaze are always welcome to this but... I guess I can't leave out the rest of them. That would just be rude.' "Go on, this is for everyone to enjoy. I could only hold onto this for so long." To emphasize her point to the human, she waved her tail lazily to the little geyser.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

Seeing the Dewgong gesture to the geyser while looking at the other Pokemon and Gale, Zephyr decided that the sea Pokemon was feeling generous. "Oi," she hollered to the only other human being in the group, "if you don't want to die of thirst, come on over. Pure, fresh water's totally in now, and is limited edition too, I hear."

A clicky sort of noise made her head swivel around to see a Trapinch making its way to the gush of water, as though reluctant to approach. "Hey there, fella. Don't be scared. You thirsty, boy? There's plenty enough to go around," she said gently, crouching down to its level.

What the heck was this... big creature? Uncertainly, the Ant Pit Pokemon began backing away. He'd heard from his parents and friends to be careful of these creatures called humans. He snapped his big jaws menacingly when the fleshy thing reached out toward him. The sand and dust around him began to swirl threateningly, when somebody talked to him. "Hey. Don't even think about it," said a big, horned Pokemon, who yawned lazily though he stood on all fours, snout pointed at the orange set of snappers. Then he nudged a saucer towards him. What was... water! The Trapinch gulped down the liquid with euphoric gusto. It was true that Desert Pokemon like him could go for days, weeks, maybe even months without water... And he was at his limit. Then, praise almighty Arceus, he saw water springing from a distance. Hoping it wasn't a mirage, he approached... to find, in dismay, that there were others by it. The white, cold Pokemon seemed to be the source of the life-sustaining substance, surrounded by other Pokemon and two strange beings.

Cerberus looked at the Trapinch, satisfied for the time being. He nudged Zephyr's hand which had been withdrawn in fear of getting bitten, getting her to scratch him on the head. "That got him docile. Good job, boy," she said. "You could just ask, you know," the Houndoom said to the smaller Pokemon. He looked up for a bit before gulping down the rest of the water. When he was satisfied, he began backing away, opening his jaws, hissing threateningly. It seemed that he didn't want to be followed. Reflexively, Cerberus leapt up, protectively blocking the smaller Pokemon's way to Zephyr. "I don't care if you're Ground-type, bub, but don't you even think about hurting my Trainer here. Especially not after she gave you some water."

Edited November 7, 2014 by ZephyrEnyalios

[Arkhi]

"Pure, fresh water," was all that reached Gale. Something about that was unnerving, being told by an armed-to-the-tooth chick. Add that to the groups of reluctant Pokemon around them and there was reason to be plenty suspicious.
Of course, Gale always had a plan. "Ammy! Let's drink up." he said, walking over to Togepi, removing his shirt-blanket from her. With Amarantha in hand, he walked over, holding her up for a drink of the water before making a straw with his tongue to slurp the water out. Damn, I'm clever, he thought. Through the blurred water, he could see a Trapinch baring its teeth for combat.

"Bugger, let's go!" Gale called. Sandile lazied over, then stood ready to attack. "This one's on you, Zephyr. Though, if you require any assistance, give a call."

[Chevaleresse]

Amarantha gratefully drank the water before huddling under Gale's discarded shirt once again. She looked about, however, when she heard a faint roar in the distance. "Did anyone else hear that?"

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

That Trapinch was adorably vicious. A boy spoke, and Zephyr realized that Gale had come over as though to help. Glancing at the combat-ready dude with his Sandile before turning to the Houndoom, she said, "I've got this. Cerberus, you ready? The critter's got the field to his advantage, but digging's a thing dogs do best too." Cerberus looked at her uncertainly. "Yes, Cerby, this is the post-apocalyptic world. I wouldn't really care if you dug holes in the yard anymore."

Oh ho ho. So this Pokemon wanted a fight? The Trapinch hissed. There was no way he was going to make this easy on them. He was a survivor after all. Kicking up his stubby legs, he flung a flurry of sand and dust into the bigger Pokemon's face. Moving quickly while they were distracted by the sand, he disappeared and burrowed into the ground.

The Sand Attack was easy enough to dodge-- there was enough distance. Through the dust cloud he saw the Trapinch bury himself into the sand. He left a hole. Really? Unsure if this was intentional or a novice's mistake, Cerberus sniffed it cautiously. About to dig into the ground himself, he heard a faint roar and perked up. "Cerberus, move!" It took him a second to realize that he'd moved over the little pit, and it was a little too late-- a flurry of sand had ensnared him, rendering him unable to move. Caught me off-guard... well this was careless of me, the hellhound thought in annoyance, struggling and snarling as the sand squeezed and pelted him. "He dug in, didn't he?" Cerberus managed to bark, closing his mouth shut before the sand got inside. "Flamethrower-- blast him out of the burrow!" he heard Zephyr cry. Shaking sand out of his eyes, he aimed into the hole and fired.

YOW! The sand all around was heating up. If the Trapinch didn't want to fry in the sand, he had to get out... and up and out he did go, flopping out of the sand. Whatever water he'd managed to drink seemed to have evaporated-- he was thirsty again. He couldn't keep this up and keep hydrated. The sand swirling around his opponent-- the Houndoom-- began to die down... that was all the Ant Pit Pokemon could remember before a red light seized him.

One. Two. Three. Click. As soon as it was over, Zephyr fed Cerberus a Sitrus Berry-- best he kept up his strength. The sand didn't do any devastating damage, but it did hurt him. After bringing him a refilled bowl of water to drink, she called out the Trapinch. "You're a tough one, aren't ya?" she said. It hissed, weakly. Yeah. He really did have a lot of fight in him... his body didn't though. He looked surprised when she brought over the Houndoom's bowl of water over. "Cerberus drank his fill. Fire-types like him don't need that much water," Zephyr explained gently to the Ground-type. "You don't either, but you look like you've been spent. So, drink up and rest up." To her delight, the Trapinch didn't resist and lapped up water from the bowl. While both hellhound and, essentially, a jaw on four feet, rested their muscles, Zephyr looked in the distance. What the heck was that roar just now?

[DarkLight]

'That doesn't sound good.' As soon as everyone had their fair share of the water, Nivia released her mind from the geyser and stared off into the distance. As the water slowly seeped back into the dry, barren land, the Dewgong tried to locate the source of the roar that Amarantha and the others have mentioned. "I heard it all right, but I can't see anything from down here. Does anybody have a clear view of what it could be?"

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

After shaking the water out of her fur, Chaos went on to groom herself. Baths were good, but she loved keeping her sleek fur nice and tidy, no matter how ruffled it got. Hey, the world ended, after all. What can't possibly go wrong? "... I don't like it. We probably should keep going." When the Trapinch Cerberus'd battled earlier had finished drinking water, he seemed to have become docile enough to talk to... or at least try to talk to. As soon as Chaos approached, he hissed and waddled to Zephyr. "... Okay, so, introductions are out... yeah, didn't think so..." the Umbreon said to herself, muttering as she took her spot on Zephyr's other side, a bit indignantly.

The big creature was nice. The Trapinch decided he'd tag along with this one (not that he had a choice, but he wasn't really aware of that), as long as it took care of him. He flinched a bit though, when it picked him up and lifted him to its face... wow, this didn't look like a Pokemon... but how'd he know for sure? His family didn't stick around long enough to teach him what a Pokemon was and what wasn't a Pokemon.

Zephyr stared at the Trapinch intently as though trying to discern a great mystery. There are many, many in this broken world: what is the point of surviving, now that everything, everyone is gone? What lies ahead? Where is the Plate they seek? What was that roar? But she contemplated only one, one gut-wrenchingly difficult conundrum that had plagued far more than she. And, when she reached her conclusion, the ground-breaking revelation that shed light on her current internal problem, the solution to her dilemma, her blue eyes lit up, blue like the sky, just before Dawn stretches out and spreads her wings to soar across the morning sky.

"... Pancake. That's what I'll call you," she said. Of course the above narrative wasn't entirely screwing with people-- it was hard to decide a decent nickname for one's Pokemon, after all.

[Chevaleresse]

The roar sounded again, much closer this time. So close, in fact, that it sounded like it was just over the nearest ridge. . . and it was. The source of the roaring revealed itself to be a large dragon, with dark blue skin and wickedly sharp claws attached to limbs that extended from a powerful body. That wasn't the only threat approaching, however. A mass of juvenile beasts swarmed over the ridge, their harsh cries echoing through the canyon. The Gabites made a beeline for the group, almost tripping over one another in their eagerness to feed, while the Garchomp approached more slowly, fixing an unblinking gaze on the party.

[K_H]

Kenny looked towards this second Roar, and saw the Gibles and Garchomp.

"Guys, we've got Hostiles inbound! get ready!"

The Dewott then faced the Gibles and Garchomp, readying an Icy Wind.

Edited December 24, 2014 by K_H

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

And the sources of the roars showed themselves like Gandalf approaching with his back-up army. Dragons!

... Dragons. Hungry-looking dragons.

... Oh, shit. Nope. Not Gandalf at all.

Wait. They had an Ice type. "Uh, hi again, miss," Zephyr said again to the Dewgong. "If you're feeling up to it, I think these landsharks are totally go for a pretty snowscape. What say you?" In the meantime, Chaos and Cerberus steeled themselves for the incoming Dragons-- especially Cerberus. Sun is good, sun is love for Fire types, but Earthquakes weren't fun at all. "Let's take these little runts off the menu first, why don't we?" he snarled. "No, wait-- their parents are probably going to act as back up. We've got to take them out first." Glancing at the Dark type with dissent, he then looked up at his Trainer. Whatever she thought, he'd follow her call.

Pancake looked at the Gible and Garchomp horde and hissed, as was his natural reaction. They were probably coming to eat him and take his water too.

[DarkLight]

'So much for peace and quiet,' Nivia thought disdainfully as the Gible line ran towards them. She paused for a moment process Zephyr's plea before she gave a heavy sigh, as if this whole confrontation bored her. A bunch of Ground and Dragon types should be no challenge for her. The Dewgong flopped herself over and placed herself between the group and the incoming dragons.

"Patience, Houndoom. We would want to conserve what energy we have for what is up ahead. I can take care of them." Nivia addressed the feisty hellhound before she made an icy borderline between her and the Gibles. 'That should make them think twice before they charge forward.'

"I would advise you to stop here and state your purpose if you know what is good for you," Nivia warned the dragons in a bored voice. "Should you refuse, do not blame me for freezing you into popsicles."

[Chevaleresse]

The Gabites continued to run at the group, slavering over what they saw as fresh meat. It had been days since the pack had eaten. The Garchomp continued to ominously make its way toward them one deliberate step at a time. The only sounds that it made were its footsteps, though those were nearly drowned out by the approach of the ravening dragons. A few of them released gusts of draconic energy from their open maws, which sped toward Kenny and Nivia.

[DarkLight]

"Well, don't say I didn't warned you." Nivia yawned. As the gusts made their way towards her, the Dewgong's tail began to surround itself with a spiral of water. Once the dragon attacks were close enough, Nivia spun around with surprising speed and blocked the blows with her Aqua Tail. Once her head was facing the Gabites and Garchomps once more, she released an Icy Wind from her mouth. The air surrounding the cold breath began to glow a light blue as the snow made its way to the group of dragons.

[K_H]

Kenny used his Scalchops to block the Gusts that were headed towards him, bracing for impact. After that, he fired off an Ice Beam at the onrushing Dragons, the Beams moving through the Dragon Group in a way that was intended to be able to hit multiple targets, a maneuver that his Trainer had called "Spreadshot".

Edited December 27, 2014 by K_H

[Chevaleresse]

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed across the canyon as a flash of light temporarily blinded those looking at the Garchomp. The wave of energy blew away the oncoming attacks as a new form was revealed, replacing the large - but still otherwise ordinary - dragon with a version with wickedly curved blades edged in red as its primary feature. The Mega-evolved Pokemon stomped, and the earth began to shake underneath the party.

[Arkhi]

As if a herd of too many deranged landsharks wasn't enough to inspire brown pants, the head of the group- the Garchomp- mega-evolved. Gale prepared himself for battle by calling over Bugger. He also took back his shirt from Ammy. "Sorry girl. But we've got a fight coming and you're our trump card." He hoped she had some moves with which to keep the oncoming threat at bay.
"Bugger, set up some Sand Tombs! We'll fortify what we can to prepare for the fight!" The Sandile lazily got to work, digging sand-moat hybrids. Once a Gible or Gabite stepped through, it would get stuck and the group can take them out one by one. It was a genius plan from a genius man. "Amarantha, if you've got Fairy moves, now's the time to fire away. In the meantime, Gale reached for a Poke Ball from his belt, leaving him with just one left. This would have to count. As everyone else was unloading firepower, Gale was looking for a Gabite that was frozen, burnt, or had some sort of status leaving it in a critical state.

[DarkLight]

"Gah!" Nivia growled as the piercing light blinded her. As soon as that light ceased to exist, the vain Dewgong opened her eyes to find a more impressive-looking Garchomp glaring at them. Before she could react, she felt the Earth rumbling beneath her, which caused multitudes of rocks to rise up and pelt Nivia. It also successfully dirtied her white coat. Nivia, upon seeing her prized fur soiled and dirty to the extreme, was now widely awake and is glaring up at the Mega Garchomp and its family. "Okay, I could deal with you ignoring me, I could also forgive you for blinding my beautiful eyes, but nobody, NOBODY GETS AWAY WITH MAKING ME LOOK LIKE TRUBBISH!!!"

Nivia then saw the Sand Tomb that the human boy ordered the Sandile, which gave her a little amount of time to prepare herself for revenge. She quickly summoned up a series of watery rings that surrounded her body. The water slowly began to wash away some of the sand and dirt that had settled onto her white coat. Now that that is taken care of, Nivia turned to look back at the party. "Look, I could summon a hailstorm so that I could send a blizzard to their pathetic faces. But, you know how Hail works. Those things hurt like hell and could be canceled if one of those a**holes decides to whip up a Sandstorm. I need you guys to decide if you want to go with that strategy or you have something better. Speak up now!"

[K_H]

Kenny stopped his "Ice Spreadshot", partially blinded by the Mega Evolution.

"Arceusd*mnit!"

Kenny then regained his sight and turned to Nivia, only to be shaken by an Earthquake. in response, Kenny looked upwards... and got an idea, which Nivia evidently had at the exact same time. Kenny then spoke to her.

"Well, since we're up against a Tough Opponent, I say we should even the odds a bit with a hailstorm. I don't care that I'll get harmed from the Weather, and you won't be affected by it because you're a Partial Ice Type. If they summon a Sandstorm, we can turn the Tables back again and summon another Hailstorm."

Edited December 27, 2014 by K_H