My stomach lurched as I teleported backwards, my feet slipping as my instinct to jump back combined with the sudden movement and the somewhat slippery floor. Sharp wind and icy blades slammed down into the ground I had been standing on as I landed flat on my ass, scattering my team through the room.

Two streams of fire, one from my shoulder and one from across the room, launched upwards and swelled in size under Sol’s artificial light, pushing through the carnage that was trailing after Joern as he haphazardly slid backwards. Pale blue light enveloped both and usurped control of the blazes, combining them into a massive swell of fire that trailed after the flying sculpture, and...

Boom.

Legends above I knew it was coming and it’s still obnoxiously loud. Shielding my eyes and face, I just barely managed to peek through my fingers to see the explosion force the fake down, trailing a firestorm down after it as it slammed beakfirst into the unforgiving ground below.

“Please tell me this is an ice fake and not the real deal with a fresh case of icy mind control!” I shouted over the roaring blaze that was currently pelting the ground.

Holy fuck it was getting back up. It was tough guying through a damn fire storm, what the hell?

‘Cap, if this was the real Crash, we would have already been over the plank having dinner with Davy Jones.’ The seabird capped his reply off by disappearing in a buzz of sound and slamming a silver wing directly into the sculpture’s stomach, launching it across the room.

‘I don’t really feel any life from it, either,’ Peresphone quipped as she floated upwards, briefly breaking contact with her husband as the chunk of ice sailed between them. ‘Another copy, how droll.’

Lucas winced as said copy slammed into the wall with a resounding thud. ‘With all the form and none of the substance, it would seem.’ A whistle sounded out as he floated closer, chunks of ice falling from the wall. ‘Yup. No flesh or blood to be found. Nice work, Apollo.’

‘Kill stealer!’ both Suzy and Emilie shouted before looking at each other. ‘What do you mean kill stealer!? That was mine!’

‘Ninety percent of that was my fire, shortstack! Whatever giant snake you blew up before had to have been pretty pathetic to get blown up by those carnival grade pyrotechnics!’ Suzy started moving toward my starter, her shoulders shaking.

“You wish your fire was as cool as circus fire, featherhead. Besides, my stream was smaller because I condensed it down. Makes the fire hotter.” She waved her hand and tossed her hair back as she looked away. “Not to mention that explosion was ALL me. Go back to being the damsel and let the grown-ups do their jobs, alright, hothead?”

Suzy thwacked Emilie in the head and laughed. ‘Grown-up. That’s adorable. The only thing that’s grown is your ego, pipsqueak.’

The red was back. Legends, why do I get the best ammunition to torment my starter in fucking battles to the death with ancient ice deities? I’m like ninety percent sure this is a problem that only happens to me!

“More grown up than you at—”

“For the love of everything holy, we have more pressing matters, so cram it, shove it, and stow it, capiche?” I leveled a glare at the both of them and smirked as they shrunk away. “Good, now let’s book it before some other random ice sculpture decides we’d make a good—”

A blade of ice shattered inches away from my face against the unyielding steel edge of Lucas’s blade, my cheeks burning from where the remaining shards glanced past. In the blink of an eye, that same blade was above me, barely holding back a pair of angry blue talons from tearing me to shreds. My heart skipped a beat as I backpedaled, tripping and landing flat on my ass for the second time as another blade came up from behind and bisected the bird at the chest.

‘If you lot are going to squabble like children, have the decency to make sure the damned thing is dead first,’ Persephone screeched, the eyes in her scabbard glaring balefully at the two starter Pokémon as her sword rose up high in the air, turned, and delivered a powerful vertical slice that cut right through the ice bird’s wings and split the reforming bird from shoulder to hip. ‘And would someone with a bludgeoning move come over here and finish—’

Joern slammed a glowing black fist directly into the ice bird’s back, sending the top half flailing across the ground before slamming the other half behind him with a backhand.

‘Thank you.’ Persephone smiled at Joern, then looked at Suzy, a baleful glare taking shape upon her scabbard. ‘Now, make yourself useful and incinerate what’s left. You leave even a piece of these damn things and they pop back up like cockroaches.’

Suzy snapped out of her daze and nodded, a blaze already forming in front of her beak. Joern hopped back just as she tossed her head down and lit the ground up with a Flamethrower.

I scrambled backwards as the flames started to push beyond where Suzy had been aiming. “Careful, I’m cold, but I’m not that cold.”

Suzy winced and cut the blaze, once again looking shamefaced as she rubbed the back of her head, a blush making itself known from behind her feathers. ‘Sorry. I, uh... don’t know my own strength sometimes.’

“Rookie mis—” Emilie snapped her mouth shut and looked away from the group at the glare she got from both Apollo and Persephone. “Shutting up now.”

Why did I hear metal grinding against stone?

I pushed myself up, dusted myself off, and slowly made my way over to the giant black scorch mark on the ground. No ice moved or thrashed about. No wings. No talons...

All traces of our opponent had completely disappeared from sight, save for a single yellow jewel resting in the center of the black stain that was already shifting back to blue in color, the snow seemingly appearing out of nowhere and inching closer.

Almost as though it wanted to touch the jewel...

It couldn’t be that simple, could it?

I reached down and snatched the little thing up seconds before the cold reclaimed it. Damn thing was cold to the touch, something I could feel despite my thick winter gloves, but despite that, there was a gentle thrum. A pulse that pushed through that felt alive.

God, the weak spot was the eyes all along. Video game logic held true to real life, and that both made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

A loud bang and a plume of snow and ice pushed out from the passage that led down to here, and I whipped my head around to take stock as Emilie roughly landed on my shoulders. My world faded out, my stomach lurched, and we were partially through the cave leading out of the chamber. The smoke cleared to reveal pale blue skin and a yellow jewel, and I swallowed down my panic as more copies of Brawly’s squad glided into the chamber.

“Time to go!” I shouted, before snapping my jaw shut as the world once again lurched forward, this time with my view pointing in the correct direction to run.

I spied both swords sink down into my shadow as Apollo swung down low, with Joern riding Sol as she darted up next to me.

Suzy brought up the rear as we started to move, and I glanced back to see her shooting me a confused look. ‘I feel like we could take ‘em. We dealt with the wannabe wrestling fanatic fine—’

“Correction, we ganged up on one fake member of Brawly’s squad, it tanked an explosion and a firestorm, and it still almost iced me,” I shouted back. “I don’t want to deal with all of them at the same damn time, in a big open area, where the fake fighting types have a crap ton of space to move in. Fuuuuck that.”

A wall of ice formed behind us as a stream of cold fire slammed into Emilie’s barrier.

How the fuck does that work? How is fire cold? Why is fake Toa already almost on top of us, this is dumb!

‘Joern, pelt the damn thing with Razor Leaf. Aim for its feet to try and trip it up,’ I ordered, glancing back at the rapidly approaching Ice Blaziken.

Legends, why did something so cool have to be on the other side?

The ice chicken jumped over the sharpened leaves, its feathers unnaturally static as it glided up, its hands held together behind it as a blue orb formed between his palms.

“Oh, you are not kamehamehaing me, you stupid bird. Emilie, light the damn thing on fire,” I said, my voice panicked.

A low rumbling assaulted my ears as my starter focused and a glowing red orb grew between her hands. A bright flash of light was the only warning I had as the attack launched out across the hall, slamming into the opposing Ice Beam. The two attacks fought each other for half a second, before combining into a massive purple ball of energy that started to grow, until finally...

“Teleporting now!” Emilie shouted as she cut off the flow.

I felt my stomach lurch as the world once again reoriented itself around me, though for once, the accompanying bile didn’t rear its ugly head. A gust of wind met my back, urging me forward once more as I glanced around at the other members of my team, who had gotten a bit ahead of us while we focused on Ice Blaziken. I moved to turn back before feeling a pair of tiny hands directing my head to face forward.

“You’re not supposed to look at the explosion, and you run faster when you’re not distracted.” She clapped her hands next to me ears. “Pump those legs, work it, come on!”

My lungs burned as I glared at my starter Pokémon. “You know, I could run faster if I didn't have to lug around a forty-pound tagalo—” My words were cut off as we teleported further ahead again. “You know what? I think I’m starting to get used to that.”

“Good, because we’ve got another runner that’s managed to play catch up!” Emilie shouted, sending me a mental vision of an Ice Machamp as the world once again moved around me mid-step.

“Just the Machamp?” I asked.

She gave me an odd look before nodding. “Blaziken got sent backwards and is playing catch up. Gallade is the next closest but it’s a decent bit slower, and the others are trailing behind.”

A loud crash sounded out behind me, and I grinned before switching over to telepathy. ‘Good. That was the other reason I wanted to run. Apollo, Air Cutter the ceiling as you fly forward. Sol, you help with Night Slash. Joern, same with Razor Leaf. Let’s see if we can’t bring the house down.’

Apollo blanched slightly. ‘Err... are you sure that’s wise, Cap? I’d rather not have a repeat of—’

A fist slammed down into the ground where i had been running as Emilie moved us further forward yet again, her eyes glowing an angry blue as she grabbed some errant rocks and ice and threw them behind her at the crystalized creature. ‘Just do it, and go fast! I’ll keep Lea safe.’

‘Aye, first mate,’ Sol cheekily replied as she twirled her head around, her horn glowing black as a sickle pushed out from her head.

Apollo gave me a nervous look before nodding and lending a wing. Stalactites were the first to fall, skewering the ground behind us and sending cracks through the stone as both the Ice Machamp and Ice Blaziken moved out of the way. I kept my eyes trained on the fake fighting types as a third caught up, letting Emilie guide me as a Gallade skated along ice that formed beneath its feet. A loud pop followed by rumbling quickly pulled my head up, but the ceiling above me remained untouched as Emilie once again teleported us forward.

“Okay, either Gawain was undershooting how much of a boost evolution gave him, or I’m built different. These back-to-back teleports are a breeze.” Emilie shot me a grin before glancing over at Suzy. “You keeping up, featherhead?”

‘I’m the only one keeping up, princess. Don’t go too far ahead or we’ll get separated from the others,’ Suzy said from beside me, barely audible even through the mental link over the stones slamming into the ground behind us.

I glanced back nervously, before sighing as I pumped my legs even harder. If nothing else, I was confident in my team’s speed. Boulders and dirt were tumbling down behind them as they moved, Apollo being the first to appear at my side with a buzz of sound. Sol darted forward to join him, her fur flowing as she glided between falling rocks with Joern tightly holding onto her back as she jumped forward.

The fake Lele was right behind her, damn it.

“Joern, Water Pulse, like you did in front of the gate!” I shouted.

Joern was already spinning around before I could finish giving the command, a ball of water exploding outwards, point-blank, at the fake Gallade. The water crystalized on impact, and the thing that had decided to steal our friend’s face lost form as the ice expanded outwards, sealing off the chamber behind us.

Joern grinned before falling forward, his hands flailing wildly in a desperate attempt to grab something to steady himself.

‘Oi, watch the tail!’ Sol shouted as she slowed down. ‘That thing is sensitive.’

Joern grunted before pulling himself up and facing forward. ‘Keep up the pace. That won’t keep them out for long. It barely slowed down the army of the damned, and I'd be willing to bet those things are a lot stronger than those foot soldiers.’

A loud crack proved Joern’s point, and we once again were on the move. As I turned away, a single yellow jewel caught my eye as it was launched from the small opening. “What’s—”

The visuals flitted into my mind instantly as Emilie shared her memory of the event as it happened. The yellow gem launched back into the air, bringing up a decent amount of ice and snow that reformed into the frozen mirror image of our psychic friend. Two hands rose up into the air, and two sheets of ice launched out from the wall.

I blinked as the mental image bled into reality, and bit back a swear word as the frozen barriers raced alongside us, boxing us into a narrower section of the cave. I chanced a glance to the left to see my own reflection staring back. Dried blood matted my unevenly cut hair, wool puffed out of a few tears that littered my coat, my face was a damned mess...

Legends above, I could hear May fussing over me in my head already.

Needed to get to her first though. Even if my lungs were screaming and my legs were crying, we couldn’t slow down.

Still, mirrors... I could work with that. ‘Psybeam, aim it at the mirror and angle it back the way—’

My order died in my throat as the reflection shifted. No longer content to show what ran beside it, my form twisted and warped until it showed something familiar, yet different. Two extra arms pushed out from my back as the image grew, until finally pushing free of its prison.

My stomach lurched as we moved forward, and yet another loud boom assaulted my ears as the cave cracked and shook. Pale blue and white spikes lifted from the ground as four separate fists brought it home.

Another lurch, and I was beside the rest of my team as the last spike impaled the air where my head had been.

“Yeah.” Emilie winced as she eyed the mirrors. “No. I’m just going to focus on keeping you ahead of that—”

‘Get down!’ Joern screamed.

The sequence after that probably took less than a second to play out in real time, but it felt like it stretched on for an eternity.

Two massive hands shot out from the ice behind us, power radiating from every part of its being.

Joern leapt from his spot on Sol’s back and tackled me down, pushing me out of the way as the arms descended, a violent scowl glaring at me as its eyes traced after my falling form.

“Kahuna...?” The word left my lips in a hushed whisper.

The creature froze, inches away from Joern’s face.

The moment passed, and my stomach lurched as we disappeared once again. A fresh wave of pain surged through my back as I slammed into the cold stone floor beneath me, a cry leaving my lips as heat surged through the chamber. I whipped my head up and frantically got back to my feet, feeling a twinge of pain from the burn on my ankle as I strained against the hot air and steam.

The entire chamber behind us had been subsumed by the largest Flamethrower I had ever seen, and through the roaring blaze, I could hear a loud mental war cry as the flames shifted from orange to white. The mirrors on either side of us warped, showing distorted, half-melted images of my team, then fell to the ground and shattered.

What the fuck was that? These things were supposed to be fakes, why did it react to the name?

‘I think my ice wall trick is a bad idea against these things,’ Joern muttered as he grabbed my pant leg. ‘We need to move.’

I glanced back toward Suzy as Apollo flew forward. At some point, we had apparently gotten ahead of him with all the teleporting.

‘The scallywags are hanging back and waiting for the lass to catch her breath.’ He shifted his gaze to Emilie. ‘You want to teleport her back so we can all cast our sails for smoother waters?’

“Actually...” I muttered, remembering a rather fun combination from when we were on the ship, “why don’t we try a fun little combination attack? Apollo, prep an Air Cutter. The second Suzy’s clear, blow out their sails.”

Apollo grinned. ‘Aye, Captain.’

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“Suzy, get ready to get pulled back!” I shouted as Emilie disappeared from my shoulder.

What followed was one of the most beautiful and terrifying things I had ever caused. I also realized two things; Suzy was capable of blowing out a lot more fire than she could on the boat, and Apollo apparently had more potent Air Cutters than Skarmory.

The second Suzy disappeared from view, it was like a switch had been flipped. My ears fucking popped as the inferno exploded, filling the entire cave before pushing away from us, engulfing the tunnel in a blaze that went back further than I could see and traveling at a speed I had trouble quantifying. The wall of ice Joern made to trap them didn’t even slow the damn thing down.

A whistle pulled me out of my awe, and with a bit of difficulty, I closed my mouth and glanced at a grinning dark type.

‘Think that took them out?’ she asked.

I sighed before turning around and moving forward. “Have we been that lucky once since coming down into this hell hole?”

‘No.’ Joern glared backwards. ‘But that did a good job of clearing the ice.’

I froze.

“Emilie. Can you feel around and see if they left something behind? It’d be a couple of small gems. Yellow ones.” I winced at the odd looks some of my team shot me before glancing back down the hall and freezing. Damn thing was already icing up again. “Now would be good!”

“I was already looking, I think I found two. That or some very stubborn rocks, they’re like the only loose stones in that direction.” Emilie was twirling her hand as she talked, and she kept shifting her focus to the walls on either side of the hall.

I nearly stumbled as Emilie once again landed on my shoulder. God, still not used to that new weight.

“Sorry, I’m just... antsy. Can we at least move while I do this?” Emilie asked.

“Just—” I stopped talking as they both came into view, their light shining brightly in the dimly lit cave.

...come to think of it, why was the cave dimly lit and not just pitch black? We hadn’t seen any torches or, ancient godly deity’s own personal dimension, Lea. Stop questioning it.

I reached out with both hands as they drew closer, clasping my fingers around the first before reaching for the second...

Crack.

Only to be pulled away, my vision quickly shifting as a tendril of snow wrapped around my prize, pulling it back into the cold that was quickly starting to reassert itself over the cave.

“Apollo, Suzy, blast them again! Show them a cannonade your captain would be proud of!” I shouted, my heart beating out of my chest as the front pieces of my hair seemed to freeze. Okay, that was a little too close.

Still, two down, five to go? I still hadn’t seen Tito, and I had no earthly clue what Tiki was, but—

My mouth dropped open as the attack that had previously nuked the hallway dispersed harmlessly against a raised wall of stone. Not even a damn crack.

“Alright, welp, that’s enough for me!” I turned around and started running. “Time to go!”

The squad instantly started running beside me, a cool wind at our backs as a dull, echoing wail started to sound out through the chamber. I sucked in a sharp breath as cold air rubbed up against my face, its touch a biting sting as my teeth started to chatter.

“You’d think I’d be used to the cold by now,” I muttered, before glancing up at Emilie. She didn’t even look bothered.

Maybe I should touch the damned shiny rock. Eh...probably a bad idea.

I glanced behind me we pushed further in, surprised at the calm sprint through what was left of this cave, before pulling up the yellow gem I had managed to snag.

“Care to share why you’re looking at that stone so tenderly?” Emilie tapped her foot against my shoulder. “If you start calling it your precious, I’m teleporting you back to the ice sculptures.”

“If you ever compare me to Gollum again, I’m dying you purple.” I glared.

She gave me that look again, the one where she doesn’t say anything and just tilts her head to the side. Like she’s saying she knows that I can do better and should.

Damn it, Emilie.

“I’m like, ninety percent sure these little trinkets are what gives the ice life. Take this away—”

‘And they stay down for good.’ Sol finished with a grin. ‘Go for the stones, just like dad taught me. Can do.’

Emilie facepalmed as I giggled.

‘You’re a lot less of an asshole now, I’ve noticed,’ Suzy piped up, an edge to her voice as she ran in step next to Sol.

I tensed as I suddenly remembered how things were left between these two when they last saw each other.

‘Meh, you’re not all so insufferable. Besides, the world’s ending. Big massive scary ice storm outside, horrifying monster inside, figure if I left it ALL up to this gang of asylum rejects, we’d all die, so...’ Sol shrugged. ‘Truce.’

‘God, you are such a tsundere you can’t even admit you like us,’ Lucas muttered from my shadow, almost causing me to trip from the sudden input. ‘So cold, it’s almost enough to make a long sword cry.’

‘I wonder how good of a chew toy he’d make,’ Sol muttered.

‘Quit the banter and pay attention, it’s been quiet for way to long.’ Joern was glancing from wall to wall, probably eyeing them for the slightest distortion.

I winced before pushing myself to go even faster, my lungs complaining from the constant abuse. Fucking hell, that wind was getting strong. We had to be getting—

‘Land ho, cap,’ Apollo shouted as he flew forward, taking lead toward an arch that spilled out an eerie, rainbow-colored light.

“Land—the whole damn thing is land.” Emilie glared up at the bird. “Surely you can think of something better than...that...”

Apollo fluttered down before landing, his gaze locked on the majestic structure in front of us as Sol and Joern slowly joined him. ‘B-beautiful...’

I nodded as I let myself take in the room, my head swiveling around as I took in everything around me. It was like stepping into a kaleidoscope, each corner of the room shining with a different color that melded together into something unreal. Reds, blues, golds... all reflected off the massive structure in front of me. A frozen rose, megalithic in size, pulsed out a faint transcendent aura that the room seemed all too eager to reflect back.

‘This... is different...’ Persephone murmured as she gingerly rose up from my shadow. ‘I, where is everyone?’

I winced as the words brought me back to reality. “If I had to guess, probably inside the giant glowing ice flower.”

‘Well, I guess you were wrong about that thing not being able to change this room.’ Suzy’s look of awe morphed, her eyebrows pulling together as her beak tensed. ‘You know, suddenly, the novelty of this thing has worn off.’

“Wanna light it on fire?” Emilie asked, a small ball of fire forming between her hands.

‘Sounds good to me.’ Suzy opened her beak and breathed in.

Emilie fired first, her blaze seeming to dance as it moved through the room, shrinking in on itself before growing and contracting in rhythm. It was odd, seeing her fire like this without any other moves or abilities altering it, at least none that I could see.

Speaking of things I couldn’t see, the fire did next to nothing as far as melting the ice. Suzy breathed out and a stream of heat and pain spilled forth from her beak, wild and overwhelming. The room shifted an angry red in color as the two attacks melded together, but despite the increased intensity, the fire simply washed across the flower’s surface.

I faintly heard a low growl from my shoulder warmer and saw the inferno glow blue, before shrinking down. All at once, the fire violently rebelled against Emilie’s control, before swelling out in an explosion that cracked the barrier in front of us.

Not even so much as a scorch mark.

“Alright, well. That’s a bust.” I craned my head upwards and squinted, doing my best to push past the light and try to see the top of this thing. “Up and over, then?”

Emilie opened her mouth—

The entire ground shook.

I let loose a small scream of pain as my head was pulled down, Emilie yanking out a tuft of hair as she fell from her perch at the sudden movement. Lifting my head, my body froze up as the cause of the tremor leapt towards us, cracking the ground beneath him and knocking me off my feet, filling almost the entirety of my vision with ice as it lifted an enormous hand up to backhand me into oblivion.

I closed my eyes and braced myself for an impact that never came, and the loud scream that would probably haunt my nightmares for weeks wasn’t even mine. Whipping my head up and following the shout, I fall flat on my ass as Emilie was sent careening through the cave at a terrifying speed.

‘Emilie!’ Suzy jumped after her, away from the group.

‘Lea!’ That shout was from the other side. It sounded like Joern, but I couldn’t seem to focus or even force the words out to reply.

I just sat frozen as the follow up came back, moving faster than I could track.

“Emilie...” I whispered out, eyes wide with panic.

Clang.

The sound was deafening, and enough to pull me out of my daze.

‘I know that’s how most of your nightmares start, but you need to focus on what’s happening now, Lea!’ Lucas floated in front of me, shaking as his blade held back Ice Hariyama’s fist.

Clang.

I blinked once and turned, before moving backwards, away from the beast as Persephone held back the second strike.

‘Good.’ Perephone grinned as the two blades spun and deflected both fists into the ground, before rapidly floating back towards me, their hilts on offer. ‘I think a bit of resonance is in order if we’re going to take this thing down.’

I froze for a second, before taking in the now drastically shrunk room. Two massive ice walls had formed on either side of me, cutting me off from the rest of my team. A curse spilled out from my lips as I reached out and grabbed both hilts, letting myself feel the pull as one consciousness became three.

With a swiftness I knew I didn’t possess, we hopped backwards, narrowly avoiding a forward jab, then twisted in midair as we focused, letting the power build up before letting the Bushogoma fly.

The attack met a spiral of cold wind in the space between us, spinning the opposite way. A biting cold kissed my skin as the two attacks violently fought each other, before petering out in a small gust of powdered snow.

“Should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy,” I muttered as I glanced across the field at our opponent, who was looking me up and down as he inched to the left. “Think the others are okay?”

‘They’re strong, they’ll be fine.’ Lucas sent a bit of warmth through the connection. ‘Only thing we can do now is deal with the problems in front of us.’

“Problems?” I asked before glancing up.

Right.

Our shit luck.

‘At least this one is a human sculpture?’ Persephone asked.

I just gritted my teeth and allowed them to guide my stance as an ice replica of Brawly walked out of the flower, his shadow stretching up all the way to the ceiling as a cocky grin pulled at his lips.

This was not going to be fun.

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

Apollo’s POV

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

“Lea!” He heard the outcry of his fellow crewmate through a haze of frozen dread, the pale blue light pushing out from the frigid prison a distraction in this bitter hellscape as a wall of ice cut the room in half.

Nay, probably thirds. He struggled to think of a reason these scallywags would go to the trouble off singling out the first mate without isolating her as well. Just their luck to not have any fire starters on this side of the wall.

A loud banging pulled him from his thoughts, and he cast a keen eye towards Joern, his hands aglow with a sickly black light as he hammered into the wall.

“Lad, I’m as rightly terrified as you are, but a few fancy punches aren’t going to push through that blockade.” Apollo winced at the glare the grass type sent him.

“Cool it, hero,” Sol cut in.

“And what exactly should I be doing, hmm?” Joern tilted his glare towards the dark type.

Sol rolled her eyes and tilted her head towards me. “I dunno, we just saw Apollo drop a tactical nuke on a horde of ice soldiers not that long ago.”

Spit Up. They wanted him to use that atrociously named attack on the damned wall. Of course they did. “Aye, I won’t be able to talk for a bit, but it’d be the best plan of attack.”

Joern just stared long and hard at him before glancing back towards the ice. “Fine, but hurry. For all we know Lea’s alone against an army.”

“She has Lucas and Persephone at a minimum, and dad if he’s woken up from his beauty sleep,” Sol scoffed. “If they can’t keep Lea safe long enough for the old man to bring out the cannons, then we’re probably screwed regardless.”

Joern winced. “Not exactly a comforting thought.”

Sol chuckled darkly before scratching at the ice beneath her feet. “Yeah, well... we’re in this shit together at least, so—”

Whatever words that were on her tongue died as a single muscled arm burst through the mirror and wrapped itself around Joern’s throat.

“Joern!” Sol jumped forward, only to get batted away by two more arms from beyond the veil.

A fourth arm joined the attack as the rest of the creature pushed out from the mirror, lifting Joern higher as it glanced around, its eyes piercing and angry as it surveyed their own little section of the cave. The ground shook as it stepped out onto the cold stone floor with purpose, knocking the already shaken dark type back off her feet.

Joern struggled briefly before lifting his arms up, a malevolent pulse of darkness surrounding his hands as he brought them up above his head.

A visage that was locked in place as the Machamp focused his gaze on the grass type, the gem embedded in his forehead shifting to an angry red color as Joern instantly crystallized.

Apollo kept his beak shut tight, his discipline and experience as a sailor the only things keeping him level-headed in the face of losing...

No.

Not losing.

Don’t think like that, you old sea dog. No one’s lost yet.

Sol was locked in place, her eyes wide and panicked. Damn it all that his partner in this was the only one that couldn’t catch telepathic thoughts right now.

Not that it’d matter; the little lass had been radio silent ever since the walls went up.

Apollo beat his wings once, and with a light buzz, he was beside Sol, resting a wing on her back as he felt the last bit of air he had gathered with that first breath condense down. He dared to open his beak to speak but stopped himself, and started breathing in the next round when he felt the energy shift.

If, no... when they got out of here, he was going to double down on mastering that whole ‘do other things while storing energy’ thing Lea was talking about.

It took a second, but she was looking at him now. He didn’t know if that’s better or not, but the damn thing hadn’t moved yet. Still hadn’t put their frozen crewmate down, either. Not sure how he felt about that, honestly.

“I... sorry.” Sol swallowed before getting to her feet and glaring across the room. “Square up, sailor, right? We’ve got work to do.”

Apollo nodded before focusing on the titan in front of them. Out of all the frozen copycats running around, this thing easily scared him more than any other member of Brawly’s team.

“We don’t have a fire type to put that thing down for good on our side...” Sol muttered as the Machamp gently sat the grass type down on the ground.

Odd that it cares about the statue's condition.

“Do you think you can obliterate it in one go if given enough time?” Sol asked as Joern sunk down into the ice, disappearing into the ground as the whole spot seemed to freeze over.

He nodded once before taking to the skies, eager to put as much distance between himself and this scallywag as possible. Flashy heroics weren’t going to win the day here. He needed to keep his head about him if he wanted his revenge.

“Then I know what I’m doing.” Sol hopped forward just enough to put herself in front of him. “Hey, musclehead! Just want you to know that your jewelry looks tacky as fuck. Trying to pull off bodybuilding jock does not gel well with the whole Third Eye thing you’ve got going on.”

The creature glanced briefly at Sol, before doing the one thing Apollo was hoping to avoid.

Stare directly at him.

“Oi! I’m fucking talking to you!” Sol screamed as she whipped her head around, a glowing black blade pushing out from her horn and carving into the battlefield.

Machamp jumped, his feet cracking the ground as he pushed himself up, casually dodging Sol’s improvised cutlass. Faint blue light coated the fists he was pulling back, and the world slowed down to a crawl as Apollo clamped his mouth tight and let instinct take over.

Last second. Last possible second or he could follow and redirect. Maybe even go for the lass. He couldn’t forgive himself if he lost two mates under his watch.

Now!

A buzz accompanied the beat of his wings, and he let the wind it created carry him across the chamber.

He chanced a glance behind him, and winced as the entire section of the cave he had been occupying froze over completely.

Fucking hell this thing was terrifying.

Sol quickly jumped between the two of them and charged up a Shadow Ball as Machamp rose up to his full height again and stanced up, each fist glowing blue. Well, at least the fighting type was a brawler. Kyogre below, was this thing even a fighting type anymore—

Why the fuck did this thing have projectiles!?

Apollo darted forward and beat his wings with purpose, firing as many Air Cutters into the hail of icy death this beast was slinging their way. Each jab shot ice their way, and between him and Sol, they were barely keeping up with the onslaught.

Deep breath in through the nose. This was stalling, even if it was exhausting. The deadlock was staying even, at least, though he was a bit worried about the frozen shrapnel that was getting sent out every which way from the thrice be damned ice chunks.

Thankfully, more of it ended up on its side of the cave than theirs.

And then it stopped.

Their flurry of attacks sailed through the open air with a wailing shriek before impacting the glowing brig in front of them. Not so much as a dent was left, but the force pushed the rest of the debris they had been making out into the rest of the room.

“I got it!” Sol shouted out before launching a Night Slash at the problem, vaporizing the attack as it came.

That might have been the better option to use in the deadlock, but he supposed the lass was doing her best to keep up with Shadow—

Move.

Apollo nudged his beak under Sol before slamming his wings into the ground and violently dashing through the air.

A loud bang met his ears as pain lanced up from his legs.

Don’t scream. Don’t scream, for the love of every sea creature out there do not let this attack go out into the void.

A loud hum of pain pushed out against his beak as he slammed his wing forward, tossing his swabbie across the room, away from the muscle clad sculpture. He glanced down at his feet and winced as the pain slowly shifted to a dull numbness, his talons coated in a thin layer of ice and frost.

Landing was out. Got it. Landing was lame anyway, who had time to stand still on the battlefield.

The thought that he was spending too much time with Emilie briefly crossed his mind as he violently beat his wings against the ground to regain altitude, the tips of his feathers kissing the now completely frozen ground as he fought to stay airborn.

A shadow cast itself over him and he turned. If this brute wanted to cross blades, then he’d put him in his place. With wings glowing bright with the same hardness of steel, he brought his own personal cutlasses to bear, cleaving through two of the monster's arms with nary an issue as he glided through the ice with practiced ease. A grin pulled at his beak as hands seemed to float away at the edge of his peripheral vision.

The grin died when the extra hands reached up and grabbed his wings at their base, sending a violent chill through his whole body.

Kyogre below that hurt.

“Apollo!” The scream sounded distant. Muted. Damn swabbie couldn’t even yell properly...

So tired.

He was losing feeling in his wings now; that probably wasn’t good.

A gust of cold wind blew in his face, and somehow, he could smell it. In this tiny frozen cave, he could smell the sea.

A small drop of rain tapped the top of his head, then another, until finally, a downpour started to fall on them. The rain was cold, but not as frigid as he had imagined.

For the monster holding him, though, it was a prison sentence. Each drop that hit its crystalized skin hardened instantly, causing the creature to morph and twist as its body became too cumbersome to move.

Warmth radiated from his shoulders. How? Something was behind him, but he was still held in a vice grip far too firm to see.

“Apollo? Apollo!? Are you still with me?” The swabbie... that lass.

His crew.

Opening his mouth wide and breaking a bit of ice that had creeped up along his beak, he sucked in as much air as he possibly could before slamming his beak shut and focusing. His eyes bulged as the energy turned volatile, his beak straining as he desperately fought to clamp it down, to turn it into something useful.

He didn’t need wings, or feet, or anything else. To Davy Jones with this monster and everything it stood with.

He would lose no one else, especially not to this cheap copy!

He forced his eyes closed, braced himself as best he could, and fired.

The first thing he felt was the force slamming into him as the crystalized scallywag instantly shattered, the yellow crystal flying through the air as he sailed backwards. It felt like things were happening in slow motion yet despite that, he was still moving so fast.

The first impact with the ground hurt the most. Despite the numbness, he could still feel things, and the sound of something shattering was not something that brokered confidence.

Each following impact was barely felt as tiny pieces of ice broke off, his wings remaining whole despite the rough treatment.

Sol was already running toward him. ‘You idiot, get the jewel!’

He couldn’t move his beak to form the words, and Emilie wouldn’t be any help here even if she could translate for him.

“Apollo...” She had tears in her eyes. Legends above he must be in a sorry state. “You—You’ll be fine, alright? We’re getting you out of this.”

A chuckled rumbled through his body. He couldn’t tell if he was lying to him or herself, though he supposed either way he couldn’t really say anything.

Legends above he was an ass. He wasn’t sure if the first mate would be crying or finishing the job.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see it, ice pulling the crystal closer to the wall between him and his captain. All that, and he couldn’t even put the damned beast down for good. So tired...

“Apollo?” Sol’s voice sounded so far away.

‘Don’t worry lass... I’m just... taking a bit of a rest... That’s all... ‘

“Apollo!”