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

[Notus]

Jory & Carissa

It didn't take long before the first patrol appeared: four acolytes came out from between the trees with their pokemon already out - a Rapidash, a Vaporeon , a Golduck and a tough looking Magmortar. Three of them were very young nd seemed rather aprehensive when they found out the duo, but the owner of Magmortar seemed to be more experienced and walked with authority towards them, her pokémon keeping a battle ready stance.

"Hey, you two, what is your business here?" the girl asked with a suspicious tone, her eyes going from them to the asleep Abomasnow.

The Cabin Group.

Jon entered the cabin last of all, still holding Kyte inside his pokéball. He wasn't about to let his partner get endangered only beacause of a small beating from an Abomasnow, specially one that slow. "Ok, tunnels then." he spoke up, closing the door behind him. "But we gotta get there fast, or the acolytes will find us soon. This place is not exactly the best to hide, you know?" After all the support he had from the group, he might as well go ahead alone and leave them chit-chatting, but he needed to know the way into this secret passage.

Flux & Fria

They arrived in the clearing where the group had been camped a good time after they had left. The ground was all trampled over by footprints, and the holes in the snow made by the fire attacks where still visible. "Oh-oh dear professor. That's too much footprints. I think we might have acolytes on our trail now..." A moment later noises started coming from the trees, but what came out was a group of Abomasnow: three of them, not as big as the first one, but still looking tough. They surrounded the duo and started closing in...

[Tacos]

Carissa tried her best to act shocked when the Acolytes approached. She grabbed onto Jory's coat, pulling herself towards him. As the acolyte got closer she loosened herself up. "Oh, it's just you, oh honorable acolytes. We were afraid another Abomasnow might come and attack us. You see, my boyfriend and I were out here just to spend a little alone time together in these beautiful snowy woods..." Carissa threw her arms up and spun in a quick circle, acting as if the site was incredibly impressive. "... because today is our Three-Year Anniversary! Can you believe it? B-but I'm n-not sure how much l-longer I want to b-be out here. That Abomasnow sure spooked us. It's a good thing my friend Lila here was able to land a lucky Hypnosis to save us." Carissa patted Milotic slowly. "And after running from the thing, we're kind of lost. Would you mind helping us find our way back to Snowpoint? I don't want to be late for tonight's Dawn worshipping!" Carissa had a pleading look in her eyes. Maybe I should be an actress?

[Notus]

The three younger acolytes loosened up a bit, seeming relieved by Carissa's explanation. The girl with the Magmortar, though, didn't seem that much convinced. "Oh yeah? So you guys evaded the night curfew just to come out and 'play', even after the snow storm warning? You seem a bit too tranquil about it, missy."

[Tacos]

Carissa froze. No senseless killing... Guess I got to give this another shot... or more so give Jory a shot. Carissa let a face of disappointment, regret, and innocence cover her true face. "I'm sorry ma'am. I've just always loved the snow. It's one of my favorite things about this world. And Dawn even blessed this place to have such a gorgeous snowstorm, I'm sure of it. Plus, it was his idea to come out here. He said it was a surprise that can only be experienced once in a lifetime!" Carissa grabbed Jory's coat once again and huddled close to him, a loving look in her eyes as she looked into his face. I hope he's catching my drift. If he gets this right then we might just be able to get out of here with everyone alive.

[Jory]

Jory did his best to look as though he was offended but doing his best to keep his tongue in check. "I'm sorry if my girlfriend's being happy around me bothers you," he said softly. "We just wanted to get out of the city and away from our parents for the night. Her dad doesn't really like me, so we're always glad to get away from that sort of pressure." He smiled lightly, petting his Zangoose's head. Shredder played his part admirably, purring and rolling over onto his belly in the snow. "We've lived in Snowpoint for as long as we can remember. Snowstorms aren't such a bother as long as you have someone to keep you warm," he said gently, pulling Carissa close and kissing her on the cheek.

[Tacos]

Carissa's face instantly turned the deepest shade of red as Jacob had kissed her on the cheek. Who knows, maybe we could both star in our own movie together? Thought I really wish he wasn't just acting there. "Oh you, keep talking so sweetly and warmly to me and we might just end up melting the snow." Carissa let out a legitimate chuckle. It quickly transformed into a huge yawn. "Maybe we should get back home though. I'm getting a bit tired. And I'm craving a bit of hot cocoa!" Carissa beamed at the experienced acolyte. "So would you please help us find our way back? We would really appreciate it!"

[Felicity]

Adam, had the situation not been so dire, would have groaned. If that lead acolyte didn't see through them he'd be shocked. What girlfriend blushes that much when they were going on their own little tryst in the woods anyway?

Adam, having stayed behind to try and fend off the now sleeping Abomasnow, had fled on his own, lockhart flying in the skys, keeping a watch on the situation, waiting for Adams signl should action be needed. He was now hidden in the bush and snow, keeping watch on Jory and Carisas little act. He hadn't even meant to, he just picked a direction and went...

He figured he needed to alert them to his presence at least, so he signalled Lockhart, who had no issue seeing him with his eyes, and sent him flying out from the trees, into Carissa and Jorys line of sight.

Hopefully she realises who Lockhart is...

[Notus]

Ninja Elf, Carissa & Jory

The acolyte leader shook her head. "No wonder her old man doesn't like you... What kind of idiot would go out of home in a snow storm, because of a ridiculous reason like that? You're putting the girl in danger, and if you live here for so long you should know that. And you girl, you should be wiser when choosing your boyfriends." Despite the scolding, it seemed the girl had bought the story, so she motioned for them to get up. However, their probation wasn't over yet. "Now, the worse of all is that you don't seem to get how much trouble you're in. Aside of all that, you disobeyed a direct order from the Church to stay home at night, not to mention the prohibition to leave the city without authorization. We will scort you guys, yes... Straight to the Conclave. You're in dire need of Reeducation, that's clear to me." With a motion of her hand, the other girls started towards the couple, two of them taking out hadcuffs from their pockets, while their pokémon watched at ready.

None of them seemed to notice Lockhart though, as the black bird looked almost invisible in the dark of the night.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Notus

[Tacos]

"Well, reeducation isn't something I'm a fan of. And I'm not a fan of you either." Carissa detached from Jory. "We tried, but I guess you acolytes aren't as dense as I had thought. Adam, some assistance would be fantastic here." Carissa snapped and suddenly Lila's tail grew an incredible purple and slammed the experienced acolyte into the nearest tree before shooting a Hydro Pump directly at one of the acolytes' Rapidash and sweeping the soaking stream towards Magmortar as well. "Feel free to take those water acolytes, Jory and Adam. I can handle these guys."

[Jory]

Jory nodded, sighing in disappointment. "You know, if you Acolytes could actually behave like normal people it wouldn't have had to end this way. Shredder, give that Golduck a Quick Thunderpunch." The Zangoose obeyed immediately, springing toward the Golduck and swinging hard at it. Shredder's balled claw was crackling with electricity as it sped toward its target with unnatural speed, a trail of white following the Zangoose as it closed rapidly with its opponent. His Trainer put on a burst of speed and rushed the Golduck's Trainer, attempting to drive the Acolyte into the tree behind her.

[Felicity]

they had it! Why are they attacking?! Adam shook his head, dismissing it. Iff they wanted to fight, so be it. "Lockhart, Sky attack, pick up that Vaporeon and drop it into the ground" Adams voice emerged from his hiding place, whilst he manoeuvred away from that point. No point revealing his position. Lockhart sped towards the Vaporeon, talons ready to pick it up and send it flying away.

[krim]

"...you can help." Nemir said quietly to Miki as he and Vis went inside. Soon they came back out carrying Mandarb, with the hood of his jacket covering his face. "Vis...open the tunnel." Nemir said as he threw the body over his shoulder and Vis walked over to the icy rock and moved it using strength. Underneath lay a set of stairs leading down into the tunnels. "The rest of you can take what you need from the cabin....." he said as he began the descent. Soon he reached a small room where he laid the body. "Well old friend....I guess this is the end....I never would have made it as far as I have without you. Even after your death you helped us...." he said with a sad smile. "You were the closest thing we had to a family and Vis and I were proud to train with you. I guess now....it's time to put that to use.....and finally take back the city you loved....." "...Goodbye...." They said, and after a moment Nemir added "Vis....rock tomb..." and soon Mandarb was gone from view, his body sheltered between the large rocks.

Edited December 11, 2014 by DragonMasterKrim

[DarkLight]

Miki released Raito into the cabin so that he could stretch and recover in the warm air. Once she whispered a few words to her Jolteon, she followed Nemir and Vis and helped them out with the preparations. She had stepped back tentatively so that Vis could bury their father figure in peace, remaining silent all the while. Once the rocks were neatly piled in place, Miki went over and put her hands together in a prayer pose, whispering some words in Japanese before she bowed towards Mandarb's corpse. "Thank you, Mandarb. We will finish what you have started, no matter what happens to us... Rest in peace..." Not really sure how to proceed, she turned towards Nemir and Vis and gave a compassionate smile, allowing the guys to gather their bearings before they head back into the cabin.

[Rielly987]

While in the Cabin, Pine began to scour for paper and grabs some burnt charcoal from the fire place. if he could gather anything from these ruins rubbings were the first thing he was going to take. "Sucks for Nemir" The boy says to no one in particular. "Must of loved the man a whole lot.. " Upon hearing the rock tomb bury the man Pine became over taken with memories of his beloved Sandlslash's death. Immediately falling to the floor and throwing up.

[M_Cowher]

Roused from thought by the sudden burst of noise from Pine he quickly rushed over and tried to help him first turning to the door, but realizing that a sick person outside could have many negative outcomes then helped Pine to the sink to try to keep the cabin as clean as possible. "Are you ok, and what happened?" Thoron asked Pine while wiping the bit of vomit that had got on his clothes.

[krim]

"Thank you....I'm sure he would've appreciated it.." Nemir said wiping away the last of his tears. "I guess it's time to head back up and see how the others are. Vis still has to heal Raito and Giga yet...and there's one more thing I have to do for him...." He then made his ascent, with Vis following close behind. As he entered the cabin he noticed a new man standing near the door. "He must be a dusk member...I saw him on the trek. Don't let your guard down though" he thought quickly to Vis. "Hello...I don't believe we've officially met...I am Nemir and this is Vis." Then he noticed Pine throwing up in the sink and worriedly said. "What's wrong? Do you need Vis to heal you?"

[Rielly987]

"Ye..Yeah... I'll be fine... just some bad memories" It wasn't a lie the whole event with the cave in scarred the boy. To bury his life partner was his worse fear and not long ago he had to do it. As he picked himself up he walked over to the bathroom still shaking from the experience. "Never again" Pine whispered to himself. "Never again."

[M_Cowher]

"Give him a while." I swear I was just thinking of the same thing like... 5 minutes ago... kinda reminds me of when, no not now I am over that.

Edited December 11, 2014 by M_Cowher

[DarkLight]

Miki was about to approach Pine when the man in the cloak advised otherwise. Taking a good look at the man near the sink and the "no nonsense" expression on the other's, Miki silently went back to Raito, who had made himself comfortable on a cushion. She then heard Nemir and Vis introducing themselves to someone... Jon?! Miki smiled and waved to Cover Ops comrade. "Hi Jon! Come over and sit. It's warmer here than it is by that door. Nemir has some finishing things he needs to take care of before we head back out."

[Flux]

"Oh-oh dear professor. That's too much footprints. I think we might have acolytes on our trail now..."

Flux was calm as ever, more worried about the title than the situation.

"Oh please, just call me Flux."

He stopped as he heard a thumping coming from the woods. Three Abomasnow were headed their way.

"Well, I don't know about acolytes, but we've got a bit of a 'bigger' issue," he said, motioning towards the ice pokemon. "I don't know what would have drawn them out here..." he muttered. "They normally don't leave the forest except when..." A thoughtful expression came across his face as he looked around, but it slowly turned into a frown.

"Damn. I was hoping to find some snow flowers, but they don't appear to be in season right now. Abomasnow love them, and it may have been enough to show that we mean no harm. Still, I'd like to attempt to solve this peacefully without this becoming a battle..."

He returned Ogre's heavy ball to the inside of his coat, so that the Abomasnow would not be frightened by it, but it was still close by if worse came to worse. He slowly approached the trio, looking back to give Fria a wink as he did so. He'd spent his entire life surrounded by Pokemon, studying them, so he hoped that he could calm these Abomasnow from whatever had drawn them out here.

"Easy now, easy now..." he cooed, putting his hands forward in a gesture to show that he meant know harm. He kept about 20 yards of distance between himself and the Abomasnow as he sat down in the snow, cross-legged. He looked up at the creatures, giving them a smile.

"Now now, what's got you all spooked all of the sudden? I assure you that we mean know harm. You wouldn't want to hurt a beautiful lady like her, now would you?" he asked them, motioning behind him at Fria.

[M_Cowher]

"I... need some air" Thoron abruptly said with some emotion obviously in his voice, and stormed out of the cabin, Rusgon right on his heels obviously concerned for his friend. Thoron exited the cabin and out into the cold blizzard and walked just inside the treeline and immediately collapsed into a sobbing fit not wanting any of his allies to see him. Rusgon sat down next to Thoron sharing body heat obviously knowing what the problem was.

[Notus]

Adam, Carissa & Jory

The older acolyte screamed as she collided with the tree, barely managing to keep concious, but clearly hurt.

The Rapidash was caught by surprise and the Hydro Pump landed squarely, throwing the fiery horse back into a pile of snow. Magmortar was more prepared though, and soon the cannons in it's left arm started glowing yellow, as it launched a Thunderbolt attack towards Lila. With the other arm, it shot a Fire Blast to meet the Hydro Pump, the impact sending a cloud of smoke in the air.

Golduck reacted quicker then Rapidash, and sent a Water Pulse to meet Shredder at the same time as it tried to back away from the Zangoose. It's trainer wasn't so well trained though, as all she managed to do was scream before Jory slammed into her and sent her rolling against the tree.

The Vaporeon trainer, though looking scared, managed to shout a command to her pokémon as Lockhart picked it up. "Vaporeon, use Icy Wind!" The now flying Eevelution nooded, and in a second a gust of cold wind blew onto both itself and the Honchkrow carrying it. Factoring in the hail and the natural wind blowing from the storm, it was a pretty nasty attack.

((Ops, people calling me to dinner brb. Jon's and Flux's updates will be made soon))

[Tacos]

"Two down, two to go!" Carissa yelled to her teammates, letting them know of her few victories. She then turned to the Magmortar. "We've seen worse than this, haven't we Lila." Carissa consoled her battling Milotic as the lightning bolts came closer to her. "You know the drill." Lila's body began glowing a vivid green. The Thunderbolt struck Lila, but she was only cringing from the pain for a short time before she shot an incredibly powerful Mirror Coat back at the Magmortar.

Carissa had complete confidence in Lila. They used that tactic all the time. So instead, Carissa took to the trainer who owned the annihilated Rapidash. She walked towards her slowly, a somewhat malicious look on her face. "Goodness, you're actually quite gorgeous. And your uniform, I must admit, it looks fabulous on you. Mind if I borrow it for a bit?" Carissa then quickly lunged at the acolyte, fists and nails flying.

[krim]

Nemir nodded as Pine left the room. "Vis....heal Raito and Giga....this might sting a little" he said to the pokemon as Vis held out a glowing palm to the jolteon. Then he looked at Seth and waited. "Now....." Nemir turned to the back wall,took out a few books and then clicked a button at the bottom. The bookcase slid in and then back, and hanging on the wall was a sword with a cracked leather book and a shoulder bag lying at the bottom. "I guess these are my....inheritance....I would never let them fall into Dawns hands." "This...." he said picking up the black bladed sword. "Is a bladesmasters weapon....it can only be passed down from master to master....or father and son...." his voice choked with emotion as he said that. "They don't need to know the rest of that story yet...." "I won't use it. I'm not trained enough in the blade..but I will wear it in his honor." he said as he clasped the scabbard to his belt and slid it in "And this....is the last book of its kind. Dawn destroyed all other known copies personally. It tells the stories of gods, humans and pokemon. The tales of legends, before she enslaved them. Tales of rebellion, and tales of love, and even tales of shadows." "This was widely believed to be a book of tales for children... but I can assure you that they are real. Why else would Dawn be so fearful of them?" "There are other books here in the case, but I can't carry them all myself...and I would hate to see them go to waste." He then slipped his own book and two more into the bag where the dusk balls were hidden. "I doubt ill ever need them...but you never know" he thought "There's also potions and food in the cupboards. Doubt it would be spoiled yet, it seemed he only passed on a week or so ago."

Edited December 12, 2014 by DragonMasterKrim

[Jory]

The Zangoose changed direction, his Quick Attack allowing him to move with great agility in order to get around the Water Pulse. He bounded to the side allowing it to harmlessly go past him, then opted for the low route, dropping to all fours and continuing forward to swing the Thunderpunch at his foe as an uppercut. Meanwhile Jory grappled with the Acolyte near the tree and grabbed her by the jacket, pulling her into a brutal elbow strike to the face.