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

[SilverJakler]

Seth called out Giga. He was still injured, but he recovered enough to stand on his own two feet.

When Nemir showed those books and that sword, his jaw almost dropped. Actual relics from before Dawn took over? Those were more rare than wild legendaries these days... if there were any of either left in this messed up world. "Wow... just, wow." he was truly at a loss for words. He wanted to read one of them so bad, he could hardly stand it. "I can take a few with me, if you doubt mind? I used to love reading about the times before Dawn took over. My folks..." He paused for a moment, millions of good and bad memories flooded into his mind. But he wasn't about to start breaking down now, he'd done plenty of that during his time in the Conclave. "My folks had some books on the stories of the Legendaries before they were captured by her. I'll make sure to keep 'em safe, I promise."

He went over to the cupboards to stock up on some potions and rations, just enough for himself, he didn't want to seem like he was hogging all of the supplies to himself... or just plain raiding the place.

He made his way over to Pine to try to pick him up. "Hey, need me to get ya anything? Water or something?"

[Rielly987]

Stressing out and looking at himself in the mirror Pine noticed how shitty he looked. His eyes were blood shot and he had upchuck all over him. He sometimes regretted the harsh journey but he was going to see to it that Dawn knew what she had done to him. As he heard Seth ask if he needed anything he only notched his head "Yeah... if you don't mind finding me a clean shirt. I'm sorry i would but having vomit all over me isn't my idea of ideal... And thank you" Pine wasn't the strongest teammate but he had to pull himself together for the rest of them.

[Notus]

Cabin Crew

"Hello...I don't believe we've officially met...I am Nemir and this is Vis."

"I'm Jon, and my partner Kyte is inside his pokéball. I'll let him out once we are inside the tunnels, he wouldn't fit through the door." The boy presented himself to the newbie, keeping his safe distance. Besides, Kyte doesn't like cold.

Then he noticed Miki calling him from the cushion. He was a bit exitant at first, but just on cue a shiver came up his spine. Indeed, cold was not for him. As Nemir walked away, he slowly made his way to where the girl and her Jolteon were and stood near them, still not sitting though. "Hey Miki... So, eh, how is Raito doing after that Earthquake?"

***

Flux & Fria

The three Abomasnow stopped, apparently confused, as Flux stood there sitting and smiling at them. At first they felt menaced after all the sudden movement in their forest but now they weren't quite sure that these two were indeed enemies.

Fria let out a small chuckle, covering her mouth with a gloved hand. It was obvious her eyes would be smiling behind the heavy ski glasses she wore. "Thanks for the compliment pro... Flux." She said, walking over and kneeling near the man, looking straight at the Ice pokémon with a warm smile on her face. "That's right cuties, we don't mean any harm... To much bad people around your place these days, right? But don't worry, we'll take care of them."

Suddenly, the pokémon's eyes widened and they started towards Fria... Apparently to hug her. "Eh-hey, no need for this much gratefullness! It's only our job, really!" She said, laughing out loud.

***

Adam, Carissa & Jory

The Golduck couldn't avoid the punch: Shredder's speed was too much, specially having no back up from it's own trainer... But as it went down, it still managed to shoot out a surge of Psychic energy at the foe.

The acolyte Jory was fighting tried to resist, but her young and small body didn't pose much of a threat. A cracking noise was heard, and the blood poored from the girl's nose. The next thing, she was curled in fethal position on the snowy floor, hands covering her nose while she cried.

As for Carissa, the Rapidash's trainer was putting up a much better fight. Though still shaky, it seemed she had some base of personal defense and grabbed Carissa's fist, using her own momentum to pull her closer and atempting to throw the attacker over her own back.*

While that, Lila's attack caught the Magmortar off guard, and the energy from the Mirror Coat hit the fire pokémon squarely, knocking it down on the snow. However, soon a shadow raised behind the Milotic: the huge Abomasnow had woke up with all the fighting, and was looking down angrily at her. It raised it's right arm high, and then threw it down like a hammer, aiming her head.

All the while, the injured lead acolyte, tried to crawl away in the snow. Seeing that she wouldn't make it too far, she pulled a radio from her belt and started calling for backup.

*((that's actually a Judô move called Ippon-Seoi-Nage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YAgRSs7Af8 ))

[Tacos]

Carissa didn't exactly expect the sudden defensive maneuver from the acolyte, but her reflexes prepared her for what happened next. As she was about to collide against the ground, Carissa grabbed onto the acolyte's arms and swung her torso between the girl's legs while leaving her legs spread open. The impact would surely buckle the girl's knees, as the maneuver was synonymous to a sweeping motion often used in Kenpo self-defense. As the world spun around Carissa, she noticed the leader calling for help. I need to get that radio. If she's calling backup, I'm the only one who could have a chance of calling it off since I'm the only Team Dusk member here who's a girl.

Lila saw the attack coming clear as day and with a maneuver mimicking that of an Ekans, slid herself out of the way as the Hammer Arm collided with the snow. Lila shot another Hypnosis at Abomasnow before turning around to see the situation. Lila was confident that Carissa could hold her own against the acolyte and instead turned towards the leader. She slithered over to the leader, swatting the radio towards Carissa's direction to use when her battle was finished. Then Carissa's tail glowed purple again, and she slammed the Dragon Tail down onto the leader's back.

[krim]

Vis raised his palm towards Giga and laid it on him, healing the wounds taken from the earthquake. "Sorry if this stings" he thought to the pokemon. Then Nemir said "You can take as many as you want. Just be careful not to lose them....books like these aren't easy to come by anymore. Not as rare as the Tales...but not something I'd like to lose to the Church." "I'm going to go find Thoron. We will probably have to leave here soon, as sad as it makes me, and I want to be ready if we need to early." Then he turned and walked outside. "Now...if I was him, where would I be?" he scanned the treeline and immediately noticed the dark form of Rusgon, and then walked over to them. "Is something wrong? You left in such a hurry."

[M_Cowher]

Wiping a tears from his eyes as soon as he heard the door open and attempting to compose himself he replied to Nemir "Yeah, i'm fine. I just... was reminded of something that i'm not proud of. It is the main reason why I decided to join team dusk and... well... I guess it shaped me into the man that I am today."

Edited December 12, 2014 by M_Cowher

[Notus]

Crack. That was the sound that came from the acolyte's back as Lila's attack made contact. Without a single scream, the girl fell face first in the snow and stood there.

As for the Abomsnow, it shrugged off the hypnosis and stopped near a tree. Without much effort it broke it's trunk and, wielding it like a hammer again, rushed savagely towards the Milotic.

Meanwhile, the acolyte fighting Carissa also fell to the ground, surprised, and tried to roll away from the girl and get up again.

[krim]

Noticing the man trying to wipe away his tears as he spoke, Nemir said "I think we've all done things like that. Back in Orre.....nevermind. If you need to share something, just say so and I'll listen."

[DarkLight]

Raito managed to get up from his lazy position and sat straight up to allow Vis to fire a Heal Pulse. A sting is nothing compared to this natural generator, or so he thought. After Vis fired the healing beam, the Jolteon let out a surprised cry as he felt the energy crawling all over his skin before falling backwards. Once the creepy-crawly feeling has worn off, Raito waved his legs around in the air to test his abilities. It seemed like he is back to full health! With a happy cry, he scrambled to get up and proceeded to run around in circles, only stopping briefly to thank the Lucario. Once Jon spoke up, however, Raito quickly bounced back towards his human and tried to jump onto Jon.

-------------

Miki was never an expert on battle armor and weapons, but her eyes did lit up at the mention of "books." As the others began to gather some potions and books to carry, Miki decided to stay put and let the newcomers have first picks. She was fine with any book after all. The Japanese girl waited patiently for Nemir's Lucario to heal Raito, who was, comically, trying to act tough.

"Thanks, Vis!" Miki thanked the Lucario cheerfully as he went off to heal Giga. She then turned her attention back to Jon, a wave of relief finally enveloped her as she saw her Jolteon running about. "Well, he took the Earthquake like any Jolteon would - badly. Whoever ordered that Earthquake is going to be sorry once I see him again..." she growled before reaching the softer register of her voice. "But, now he's back to his normal, hyperactive self. Thank goodness for that." Miki finally got up and looked longingly at the bookcase. There are still a few books left that the others weren't able to take. 'I doubt they would be safe for long. They may be safer with us, like the other recruits...' She walked over to the bookcase and took the rest of the books back to her seat, examining each of them before she took two of them and handed them to Jon. "Want them? I don't think I'll be able to fit all of them in my bag. Plus, I would rather take these and not risk having them fall in Dawn's hands."

[Jory]

Shredder was thrown backward by the Psychic attack, taking damage but surviving the blow easily, as he landed in the soft snow behind him. He got up and shook his fur free of snow, looking for his next enemy. Jory stood over the Acolyte, his breath clearly visible in the cold winter air. "I don't want to hurt you any more than I have to. Stay down or you won't be so lucky next time," he growled. He turned around to hear a roar and saw the Abomasnow standing over Lila. "Shredder, Quick Fire Punch!" he shouted. The Zangoose bounded toward the wild Pokemon, his flaming claws melting the snow as he zipped toward the Pokemon's side on all fours. He leapt high into the air and swung his claw at the Abomasnow, hopefully in time to save Lila from the devastating attack.

His Trainer, on the other hand, ran toward the Carissa's Acolyte from the side and threw a hard kick at her knee, hoping to bring the woman down non-lethally.

[M_Cowher]

Sensing the topic swinging back towards him Thoron had to consider 'Can I really trust this guy? He seems more trustworthy than most of the others in the group, and then looking again at his eye-patch thought that he must have had some pretty bad experiences as well.' "Sigh, Mandarb's relation to you reminded me of my old master... Will. When I first met him I was out far in the wilds northwest of Oreburgh. I didn't even see or hear him before he was on top of me with a dagger at my throat asking who I was... we were both hiding from Dawn's dogs and we decided to team up... well after I followed him for about a week. He taught me almost everything I know about sneaking, shooting, and even talking to people a skill I really needed practice with at the time... One night we were pinned down by a surprise patrol of well armed zealots. One of them grabbed Will from behind in a full nelson, and he was big probably about 7 ft. Will was helpless and I was still concealed in the bushed wounded from a skirmish earlier in the day from when we were pinned down... I could have helped... But I didn't..." Thoron turned to face away from Nemir to hide his tears. "I ran... like a coward as they killed him right before my eyes. I never found his body, he never got a proper burial, all I was able to find was his dagger." Thoron said as he pulled a Half broken dagger missing half of the cross guard and it's blade was shattered. "I never even used it because it is so broken... I... hope that I can reforge it one day though..."

[Flux]

"Eh-hey, no need for this much gratefullness! It's only our job, really!"

Flux couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the Abomasnow hugging Fria. He stood slowly, the grin still on his face. He was glad that things had worked out with the Abomasnow. There was nothing he hated more than hurting Pokemon, but sometimes it was necessary, like it had been with the acolytes back in the covert ops. Still, despite the happiness that was taking place here, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on with the rest of the crew. Fria had suggested that the tracks belonged to acolytes. He trusted that the others could handle themselves, but things would be tricky in a blizzard.

[Tacos]

Carissa stood up and brushed some snow off of herself after Jory came to her rescue. "Thank you so much. I need to solve something really quickly..." Carissa finally saw that Shredder had saved Lila from the Abomasnow. "He's awake already? Damn! At least Shredder saved her. Remind me to give him a treat later. Mind being a doll and getting the uniform from the leader...?" Carissa stared at the motionless woman. Lila... You killed her didn't you?! Carissa shook her head and bent over to retrieve the radio. She pressed the button and spoke into it, trying her best to mimic the voice of the leader. "No more backups necessary. The threat is neutralized. They are apprehended and will be brought to the town by myself to send them off to reeducation. Over." Carissa pressed the button again to silence it's microphone.

[krim]

"If you were wounded then there was nothing that you could do. I know about that well enough" he said as he pointed to the patch over his missing eye. "You got out alive though. You can avenge him by taking out Dawn. That's why we are here isn't it? As for the dagger....not many smiths are left alive. We can figure that out when the time comes though I guess. Now....we should probably head back inside and see how the others are doing."

[M_Cowher]

"Yeah, just give me a minute to get myself together and I'll be right behind you." Thoron replied as he pat Rusgon to confirm that he was ok. Rusgon had a blank expression remembering fully watching from cover and hiding from the patrolling zealots and using his illusion to hide his best (and probably only now) friend. Watching as Will was killed.

[SilverJakler]

"Here, I'm pretty sure that I packed an extra shirt." he said as he rummaged through his bag, also taking a few books for safe keeping. "Not sure if it'll fit, but better than nothing." as he threw a new shirt at Pine.

---------------------------

Giga felt the weird tingling sensation coming from Vis, whatever it was, he didn't like it. But if his new friends said that it was good for him, well, what did he have to lose? After the sensation disappeared, he felt a heck of a lot better. Now that the battle was over and he was feeling good, he returned to his cheery self, wearing his bright, intelligent smile. He thanked Vis for the treatment with a nod and a slight laugh. Then plopped himself down again. He watched as his fellow electric type zipped around the room. He remembered when he was that small and quick, he kinda missed it. He didn't mind though, he was still plenty fast, and bigger too! He waved at the spiky thing, trying to say "Hi!".

[Notus]

Cabin Crew

Jon was taken aback by Raito's jump - really, he almost fell to the ground - but, he didn't get quite how, he ended up having the Jolteon held in his arms like one would do to a pet dog. The yellow pokémon was surprisingly light and it's fur was a bit too spiky to be confortable... But still it was a good feeling.

"Want them? I don't think I'll be able to fit all of them in my bag. Plus, I would rather take these and not risk having them fall in Dawn's hands."

The boy looked at the books with a surprised expression, his face turning red right after. "Eh, no I guess not, thanks... I mean, if you want me to carry them for you it's ok, only I... Am not much into reading." He clearly seemed a bit unconfortable with Miki's offer though.

***

Flux & Fria

The Abomasnows finally let Fria get back to the floor. "Haha, thanks guys, you really are soo cute! Now, could you please lend us a hand? Do you know were the bad guys went to?" At that, all three pointed the same direction with their thick arms. Fria smiled, thanked them, and turned towards Flux. "Well, you heard them! Let's go!" The woman turned again as if she was going to start walking, but then stopped and faced Flux again. "By the way... It was pretty impressive what you did here. Most people would simply outright attack and hurt them without a second thought. I know this is mostly because of this world we are in now but... It is great to know there are still people like you on it." She smiled at the professor and then started walking again, faster than before. "C'mon, let's find the others! Don't be a Slowpoke, Prof. Flux!~"

***

Jory and Carissa

The battle was not yet over: the Abomasnow perceived Shredder's movement and swung it's free arm to try and intercept the Zangoose, all the while not stopping the strike at Lila. It basically turned into a giant spinning toy, trying to hit both pokémon at once.

Meanwhile, all the acolytes that Carissa and Jory faced had surrendered. From the radio came a feminine voice answering Carissa's call, but only after a while. "Ok then. Who's talking, by the way?"

[Tacos]

"Shit." Carissa's voice was hushed, almost like a hiss. The gears in her brain began grinding before she figured out a solution. She walked over menacingly towards the acolyte who had owned the Rapidash. "Hey sweetie. Mind telling me the name of your leader? I always like to know the names of those who were honorable opponents." Carissa gave a casual smile to the acolyte, hoping for a response.

Lila slithered out of the way before turning and slamming Abomasnow with a powerful dragon tail.

[DarkLight]

Miki pouted; she didn't want to leave good books behind, but she didn't want Jon to do the dirty work just for her sake. Miki then looked back at the cabinets and saw her teammates rummaging through the nooks and crannies to see if there is anything of use. That actually reminded her about getting a sizeable pair of gloves; maybe she could find an extra bag too. She quickly packed the two books into her bag as neatly as possible (without smushing the marshmallows) and got up to investigate the drawers. This reminded her of how she and her Jolteon used to look for food, only there is actually light to see her surroundings clearly. After some careful searching, the girl picked up some potions, a pair of white gloves and another sizeable bag. The bag was considerably smaller than her trainer bag, but it would do for saving the books. Gleefully, she propped herself back down onto her seat, placed the remaining books inside the small bag and pocketed the healing items into her trainer bag. Then she stashed Shredder's mittens inside and put on her newfound gloves instead. 'Note: Give these back to Shredder asap.' "There you go. Problem solved!" She exclaimed cheerfully to Jon, waving her two bags in front of him. "Since you don't like books, what about some potions? Those can definitely come in handy. And Raito... Please get off of him, we can't have your spiky collar poking eyes out."

After the cuddling session, Raito squirmed out of Jon's arms and headed towards the huge yellow Pokemon to give a friendly bark. It has been a long time since he has last seen an Electric type, let alone an Electivire.

[Jory]

Shredder once again used his agility to his advantage, ducking the large Abomasnow's arm and swinging straight at its side with the intention of hurting it enough for the Abomasnow to not want to engage the pair anymore.

[Notus]

Cabin

"Oh no, it's not that I don't like books." Jon tried to explain himself. "It's just that I... can't read." He scratched the back of his head, ashamed of his own ignorance. The last time he held a book was many years ago, while he was still a child. After that, constant the running and hiding from the church and avoiding towns (and humans in general) made it hard for him to learn how to read properly.

***

((Waiting for Lila's reaction, otherwise it will be an auto hit))

[Rielly987]

"Actually Miki if you don't mind I'd like to steal one of those books from you." Pine says as he walks out of the bathroom. " I never saw something kept so neatly from the world before Dawn." While he had seen ruins of worlds before he had never read a book that defied Dawn. "The shirt's a little bit of an odd fit, but thank you Seth"

Edited December 12, 2014 by Rielly987

[DarkLight]

Miki nodded happily and gave Pine the small bag after taking out the oversized mittens. "Take two instead. As long as we could trade after we each finished a book, I'm good!"

The bookworm then gave a curious look to Jon. She was considering why he couldn't read... They all did go to school before the Church took over, right? Then again, everything was gone when that same Church took control. She was probably one of the lucky few to even lay eyes on a novel after Dawn raided Sinnoh. Her Asian parents always valued education, so they made sure that Miki continued to get reading material even when things got scarce. Finally, Miki grinned. "Well, Jon, you're missing out! Books like these are really interesting, especially the ones on the myths. So... How about I teach you how to read or I could read one out loud when we have the time. I shouldn't be the only one enjoying these. Please?" She begged, giving Jon an innocent, child-like expression.

[Flux]

"C'mon, let's find the others! Don't be a Slowpoke, Prof. Flux!~"

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it," he said with a shrug, as he started off to catch up with her. "You know, you handled that pretty smoothly as well," he commented as they trudged along through the snow. "Those Abomasnow really took to you quickly. It takes a special kind of person to be able to do that with a wild Pokemon, much less an angered one." He gave her a smile. "Let's just hope the others fared as well as we did."

[Notus]

Adam, Carissa & Jory

The Abomasnow realized he couldn't hit the opposing pokémon, and finally felt it was time to go away... But not before it was hit by Shredder. The Fire Punch scorched the side of the beast's belly, making it roar out loud and flee to the woods in pain.

Meanwhile, the acolyte answered to Carissa, breathing heavily and with a frightened look. " C-Cla-... Claire!" the girl practically shouted, looking at the other girl's unmoving body in terror.

***

{Jon & Miki}

Jon gave Miki a surprised look. He didn't expect the offer, actually he had feared she would laugh at him. "Ye-Yes, I would like it very much!" He answered.

((Other updates coming later))