Pokémon: Aftermath #3a - In the Thin Ice [IC]

[DarkLight]

{Team Cabin}

Seeing that she was outnumbered, Miki gave an uneasy nod and got up to follow Nemir, Jon and the rest of the cabin crew. She is still uncomfortable with the idea of leaving some of her friends behind in the snowstorm, but they did have a point. Perhaps the rest of Team Dusk are also at Snowpoint City already, waiting on them. "Raito, let's go into the tunnel and--"

Her Jolteon immediately froze when he heard "tunnel." Raito gave a whine, dropping his ears to the side to signify his discontent. Miki sighed and went to pick him up. "Sorry guys, Raito has claustrophobia when it comes to the underground." With that, she began to head into the tunnel that she just came out of, only turning around to see if Jon was following.

[SilverJakler]

"Right behind ya. C'mon Giga, let's roll." Seth recalled Giga, and started walking behind Nemir and Vis. The blizzard seemed to have calmed down slightly, but it was still going strong. He took a long look at the cave entrance and took a deep breath.

"Well, now or never right?" said Seth eagerly.

[Rielly987]

{Raito}

"I understand the feeling..." Pine bent down a little and petted Raito "No worries Raito, I'll be just as anxious as you." With that Pine descended into the tunnel waiting for the rest of the team to follow.

[M_Cowher]

Thoron and Rusgon swiftly went down the flight of stairs and into the tunnel, and soon came small room, "We can regroup in here and discuss how to proceed." Thoron muttered to Rusgon. 'Will's golden rule was to always be ready for an attack' Thoron thought as he mentally decided to go through and develop some contingency plans as he always did.

[Notus]

{Jon & Miki}

Jon was right behind her. He actually almost tripped on Raito when he suddenly stopped, and the remembered the time when they had to get through Kyte's tunnel to get into Eterna Gym's power plant. Oh oh, this might be a problem. He realized if the Jolteon couldn't fight underground it would be one more thing hindering him and Kyte.Actually, talking about him...

As soon as Jon stepped into the tunnel he pressed te button in his Dive Ball, releasing the huge blue pokémon. Kyte stretched his arms with a yawn, and then looked around to the new place were they were. Seeing Miki and Raito, the Swampert waved a hand and smiled to greet them happilly.

((Remember the tags guys... XD. Also, waiting on Adam for moving your scene Tacos.))

[krim]

"Okay...that's everyone?" He counted quickly "...It is." then he said "Somebody get out a light or something, because i'm sealing it up!" before quickly stepping into the tunnel with Vis and having him use a combination of his aura powers and strength to get the rock into the position it was when they had arrived. "Now the path here is quite straightforward. The big rock pile up ahead is where Mandarb is....and the tunnel on the other side of that leads to the icy ruins. After that it should be a straight shot to Snowpoint." He hoped that was true, but he didn't know exactly how Mandarb designed it.

Edited December 13, 2014 by DragonMasterKrim

[SilverJakler]

"Gotcha covered." He grabbed Giga's Ultra Ball and called him out in front of everyone. "Giga, use Fire Punch." Gigawatt responded by making flames appeared around his right hand as he held it in front of him, keeping the flames concentrated. "There, Giga can light the way and be battle ready just in case something goes down."

[Felicity]

(Jory, Carissa and Adam)

Adams bravado faded as the girl pleaded for her friends safety. He backed off a little now, thinking. Then an idea that he thought would suit all of them occurred to him. "Carissa, wait, hear me out. If we waltz in their with a wounded woman, we're much more likely to pass their checks. When the Acolytes we meet are fussing over her, we take our leave, it'll help us out. If you want, I'll be the one to carry the girl. Okay?" Adams voice was much lels angry, the edge of it fading as quickly as it came, and Adam couldn't bring himself to look at the other two.

[DarkLight]

{Pine, Jon and Giga}

Raito gave a soft cry as Pine pet him before they moved deeper and deeper into the tunnel. Even though he is not alone in this sentiment, the Jolteon still began to shiver as he did before back in the power plant. As the darkness began to loom over them, Raito hid his face using Miki's shoulder.

"Hi, Kyte!" Miki greeted the friendly Swampert. Maybe this familiar face could cheer her Jolteon up? "Hey, Raito, look who it is! It's Kyte! Say hello." Unfortunately for her, Raito paid no attention thanks to his fear. Miki sighed despondently at her Jolteon's reaction. "Sorry, Kyte. He doesn't mean it; he's just afraid of the underground. Hold on, the underground..." A sudden thought came to her mind. 'Caves are, technically, crevices in the ground too. So why isn't Raito afraid of those?' Miki began petting her shivering Jolteon as she looked around her, trying to figure out the differences between a tunnel and a cave, when Seth ordered his Electivire to light up the tunnel with a Fire Punch. 'That's it! A cave has a huge opening for light to beam in, but tunnels don't! Maybe...'

The Japanese girl carried her Jolteon over to Giga and put him on the ground, much to Raito's dismay. "Raito, just try and stay with Giga here. He has a light source so that you could see where we are. Maybe if you could see what a tunnel looks like, you could get over it?" Miki suggested to her shivering Eeveelution. "I'll be right behind you, so don't worry."

Raito looked up at Giga, whose flame did comfort him slightly. The light surrounding it did allow him to see the rocks and dirt beneath his feet, which is something he liked, given that he is built on running at fast speeds. He began to take a few shaky steps, making sure to keep close to Giga and his trainer.

[Tacos]

Carissa nodded and moved back towards the two acolytes. "I guess we could take her back, but only under a few conditions. One, we are allowed to enter and exit the city freely through the next 48 hours, and two, you tell the lady in the radio exactly what I tell you now. You were making your way back with the prisoners when another few Abomasnow attacked you. In the situation, the prisoners escaped. Your whole squad was injured in the skirmish and Claire was injured most of all. But soon after, a group of three travelers found you and are helping to bring you back to the city. They are not a threat, and they are welcome into and out of the city for 48 hours. Got it?" There was an edge in Carissa's tone. If this woman ruins everything, she'll be dead on the spot. Carissa slowly handed the acolyte the radio.

[krim]

Nemir maneuvered his way up to the front of the party as they approached an area where the tunnel widened into an area almost like a gate. "The icy ruins are through here. Be careful in there.....it might look pretty, but quite a few pokemon live there due to the slightly higher temperatures than outside. If you disturb them, it probably won't end well." then he stepped through and looked wonderingly. Parts of ancient buildings and pillars long frozen over littered the large room with a high ceiling. "Nobody knows exactly how this all got here....Mandarb and I discovered it years ago, and for a few years, archaeologists from many regions came to check it out. Ever since Dawn took over Snowpoint nobody has come back that I know of. I do know a legendary pokemon once lived here though....an ice type, but it must be long gone now."

Edited December 14, 2014 by DragonMasterKrim

[Notus]

Carissa, Adam & Jory

The acolyte seemed to relax a bit after Adam and Carissa spoke."Right, I... I think I can do that." Then she turned to the other two of her defeated squad, who sitting on the ground recovering from the beat up they took. "Please girls, we have to do as they say, for Claire's sake." Both nooded and then, letting out a relieved sigh, the girl proceeded to do as Carissa instructed.

[Jory]

Jory gave an inward sigh of relief as the Acolytes complied with Carissa's demands. Good. I really didn't want to have to follow through on that threat, he thought to himself as he watched Adam and Carissa take control of the situation.

[Felicity]

"Right, well, to make sure there's no back stabbing, i'll be taking care of Claire here." Adam declared as he went over and carefully picked the girl up, making sure to be careful with the girl who was the key component in this plan. He looked at the girl, unconscious, and felt guilty that Carissa had had to hurt this girl. Why? they were enemies, people would get hurt... But he still couldn't get over a niggle in his mind that kept grinding at him about it. "I'd say you can trust me with her, but I doubt anyone here will take me at my word, so I won't bother."

[Commander]

Drake decided to finally abandon the group who stayed behind to try and catch up with the others using Typhoon to carry him across the air for a little bit. When the Crobat grew tired due to the cold, he continued his way on foot and came across the cabin. He wasn't sure who was in it, but he could hear people. The two looked at each other a minute and decided they could handle the cold a little bit longer and would be ready to take down whoever was in it when they walked back out of the cabin.

[Chevaleresse]

After everyone ran off in one direction or another, Sarcus had struggled forward through the blizzard, Absolution keeping the both of them warm using Will-O-Wisp. However, the Dark-type was starting to grow tired. The move was meant to be used quickly to burn an opponent, not to keep the cold at bay during a blizzard. He stopped and started to scrabble at the snow with stiff fingers, his gloves proving somewhat inadequate against the blizzard. Sarcus tried to remember what he had read about making shelters out of snow. He gestured to Absolution, who helped his trainer dig out a space in the snow. He stacked the snow up into walls while Absolution dug further down, until they had made a fair shelter from the wind and cold. Unfortunately, they had no tinder, so they had to huddle together for warmth. Confident in his shelter, Sarcus began to drift off, the fatigue of the night getting to him.

[Flux]

"Jeez, so many... And moving like that, they're going to assault that cabin. Any plan Flux?"

Flux frowned. The cabin... Why are they approaching the cabin? He turned to Fria. "Does somebody important live here?" he whispered. "Why would the acolytes attack a random cabin?"

He glanced around, already thinking of options in the split second that he waited for her answer.

We can't assume we have allies in the cabin, despite the likeliness of that factor. If we rely on that and it proves false, we're finished. I doubt we can reason with the acolytes like we did with the Abomasnow... If we're to stand a chance at winning this, we need to split them up.

[Notus]

Carissa, Jory and Adam

The now leading younger acolyte - Karen, as they had heard while she talked in the radio - looked suspiciouly to Adam as the boy said he would be carrying Claire. The stare clearly got a less worried after she saw how delicate he was with the unconcious girl though.

"All right, then we should get going. The sooner we get to Snowpoint, the better for Claire." The girl took the lead of the group and started walking through the woods, letting the others follow her.

{Tunnel Crew}

Jon and Kyte walked into the ruins right after Nemir, the Swampert's heavy steps echoing through the cave. It was surely an impressive view, and Kyte seemed to be enjoying it, looking around with wide eyes and an open mouth. Jon, however, was not interested in sightseeing and focused in trying to look for traps, enemies and any kind of difficulties that might lie ahead. Despite the light provided by Giga, the place was simply too big to be fully illuminated. "What kind of pokemon can we expect to find here Nemir? I like to know my opponents before I face them."

Drake

As Drake waited time over time for someone to leave, it became clear that the cabin was now deserted. The lights have been left on, but no movement could be seen or heard coming from the inside, and a closer inspection at the frost-covered windows would reveal no one was inside it. Not only that, the blizzard didn't seem to be receeding yet.

((Commander, I'm assuming you arrived after everyone left. Your scene is happening at the same time as Flux's, but you can't see them))

Sarcus

The blizzard raged outside of the improvised shelter made by Sarcus, and time passed by slowly. As the night progressed the temperature started to drop even more.

At some point, the duo heard a sound from outside the shelter, as if the wind was whistling against something. It seemed like it was coming nearer, and then...

A Froslass appeared unexpectedly in front of the entrance. The pokemon did nothing more than stare at them curiously for some time, but after a while it waved it's hand as if calling them. As suddenly as it arrived, the pokemon started to float away from the shelter, looking back to see if Sarcus and Absolution were following.

Flux & Fria

"There was an old man living there I think, and I know for sure he wasn't friendly to the church. I don't know why these acolytes are doing this though, the Church never bothered about that guy before. This is the direction the Abomsnow's pointed to us though... Think the rest of the guys could have gone there for shelter?" Fria whispered to Flux. "Either was, we must get past them, and if we can avoid the attack it would be the best. If worse comes to worst I can try to distract them and you go on. What do you think?"

[Tacos]

{Jory, Adam, Carissa}

Carissa huddled next to Jory and then looked up at his face. "So looks like things worked out for us. Not in the way I had planned but in a way that I think was a bit better." Carissa gave Jory a toothy grin and nestled closer, keeping pace with Karen.

[krim]

{Tunnel Crew}
Looking around the room still and yet again wondering what could have happened here, Nemir responded "Ice types, mainly. Beartic, glalie, cryogonal and the like. There were others though...bronzong, sigylyph, xatu and aegislash. Probably more...once I saw a larvesta. I doubt it survived though...even if it is slightly warmer in here, fire types aren't attuned to this environment...especially young ones like it." "I don't since any danger..yet." Vis thought. "You alright buddy?" Nemir thought back. It was the first time Vis had spoken since they had buried Mandarb "Fine....what do you think happened to Checkmate?" "The bisharp? I would assume Mandarb sent it back to Unova when he knew his time was up. I didn't see it's pokeball in the cabin." "Hmm...." Vis left off cryptically. Nemir just assumed he needed more time, the bisharp and he had always gotten along well, and left him to his private thoughts.

Edited December 15, 2014 by DragonMasterKrim

[Jory]

Jory nodded and wrapped an arm around Carissa, holding her against him. "Yeah, things worked out. But we won't be able to rest easy until we get into the city." And even then, these Acolytes might turn on us the first chance they get. We'll have to be on guard no matter what, he thought to himself as he eyed the Acolytes suspiciously. This was all a bit easy... But for now, he was content to remain warm with Carissa on the walk to Snowpoint City.

[Tacos]

{Jory, Adam, Carissa}

Carissa frowned. She began to whisper to Jory. "Don't forget we are the ones in control of Claire now. While I hate to say it, if they pull something, Claire's going to have to get it. And this girl seems to be too concerned about her to do something like that right now. So don't be so worrisome darling." Carissa nestled closer, her cheeks getting incredibly rosy.

[Chevaleresse]

Sarcus awoke with a start. He was suspicious of the Froslass, but he wasn't making any progress where he was at. He also wasn't sure what Pokemon Fria used; perhaps it belonged to her. Yes, that would make sense. Ignoring the voice that told him not to trust the Ice-type, he followed it outside, adjusting how his scarf was wrapped to better protect his face.

[Flux]

"If worse comes to worst I can try to distract them and you go on. What do you think?"

Flux scoffed. "And what kind of man would I be if I let a fine lady like yourself do that? No, if it comes to that, I'll be the distraction so you can escape." He paused, a thoughtful look on his face.

"But you think the others might be in there? I was having similar thoughts... It is likely, but we can't rely on that factor." His face darkened. "It honestly might be best if we simply let them attack the cabin... We could use the opportunity to sneak past. And if it is indeed our group that is inside, we could initiate a sneak attack from behind when the inevitable battle begins."

He sighed. There really wasn't any optimal option in this situation. They'd just have to make do...

[Notus]

Sarcus

The Froslass kept looking back to check on the duo while they walked. They walked for quite some time before it finally stopped near a huge silouette that at first sight could be taken by a rock... Aside from the fact that it was breathing.

The Mamoswine stared down at Sarcus and Absolution with an eyebrow raised. After a moment, it shooked it's head afirmatively and kneeled as if it wanted them to climb on.

Flux & Fria

"Ooh, nice to see that you're such a gentleman Flux. But you know, you are the one who needs to get to Snowpoint, not me. I don't like to let the acolytes do as they please... Don't worry, I'm more than used to mess with them around here." She stepped back a bit and grinned playfully. "You check on the cabin, and then keep north until you reach a big clearing in the woods. I'll see you there Prof." With that, the woman turned around and run westward, disappearing in the midst of shadow and the blizzard. A little while later he heard her voice yelling out loud. "Uuuuhuuu, dear Acolytes! Want to have some fun?" A few loud cracking noises and a couple of screams followed, and soon the whole group had changed direction towards Fria's voice, leaving the way open for Flux.