My breath hissed out through my teeth, and, automatically, I took a single step back. The three Pokemon with me were immediately more alarmed than they already had been, rapidly sweeping the area with their eyes. It was Jive, of course, that saw it first, the slow and slight movements of the boulders far below us. I watched his eyes narrow, then widen, flick to me, to the camp. I gave him a nod, turned, and took off, fast as I thought I could go on the slippery mountainside. Drake didn’t even hesitate before he was at my heels, giving me a bewildered look with a hint of something sharper and harder behind it.
“The gray areas!” I hissed at him. “Look at the boulders!”
He fell back slightly, looking over his shoulder, but bare seconds later he’d caught up to me. That hard, sharp look was stronger now, and there was something wild with it as well. Together, we charged up to the top of the ridge and over, my hand fumbling in my pocket for the small box that it held.
I nearly skidded to a stop at the pile of branches and sticks that made up the bonfire. It still smelled of pinewood and sap, but I didn’t have time to appreciate the scent. The first match I snapped against the sandpaper in my rush, causing me to swear under my breath, but the second one made it all the way down the strip and ignited. I dropped it immediately in the bundle of kindling in the center of the bonfire, watching as the little flame caught and spread, already producing prodigious amounts of smoke.
Done. Kevan would be scanning the sky in this direction for the smoke from this very fire, and the moment he saw it, they’d all be on high alert and making their way back here. I turned from the fire, Drake breaking from his careful watching of the rises around us that blocked our view to glance at me. I gave him a simple nod, and he returned it. Whatever this was, we weren’t going to let it rumble us, not that easily.
The fire began to catch and smolder more and more behind us as we mounted the small rise that defined the dip that the camp was contained in. Kevan had directed us to retreat into the camp and hold there, but I wasn’t going to take up a position where we couldn’t see anything, and where anything that didn’t come immediately to the ridge was capable of sneaking around us to any side before coming over and attacking. Jive might be able to handle it, but I wasn’t going to put us in a disadvantageous position if I could help it.
We crested the rise a moment later, and I took a moment at the top to take in what was happening.
Jive and Absol had pulled together, the badger obviously having pointed out the moving boulders. They were eyeing them, nervously in the case of Absol, and with a cold gaze in the case of Jive. I could tell, even from here, that his only focus was weighing them as a threat, trying to guess what they were and figure out how to take them down most efficiently should they prove to be a threat. Absol seemed uncertain, but that was quickly falling behind a solid wall of determination in her face. It was easy to tell at just a glance that she wouldn’t be backing down from this, either.
Farther below us, the boulders were moving more, now, enough that I could start to recognize them and their shapes. I felt a bit of surprise in me, that it seemed like they were a collection of Rock types, golems and gravellers that had been identical to the bigger rocks around them. Identical enough, in fact, that I had initially mistaken one for the other. Now that they were moving, however, and despite the fact that they were still covered in frost and obviously groggy, I was starting to make out more of what they actually were. I could see the eyes, the faces, the limbs, how they sluggishly moved them, how they were coming to terms with the world around them.
They’d been under the snow buildup, and had obviously been disturbed by Blake and Kevan setting off the avalanches. The fact that they hadn’t moved immediately I attributed to the fact that they’d been sleeping so deeply that they might as well been catatonic under all that snow, and I had to wonder if that was something that Rock types just did. It would make sense that they could just hibernate like that, and I shelved my curiosity about how long they could go for later, when we weren’t facing a crisis that originated from them.
Drake and I slid down to where Jive and Absol stood, where we’d sat together before, coming to a stop next to them. Absol started slightly, which made Jive’s lips twitch upwards, but the badger was too focused and too involved to really make anything of his amusement. Quickly, I popped the little makeshift earplugs out of their ears, ensuring that I’d gotten all of them before retreating slightly. Wouldn’t do any good for any of them not to be able to hear.
Far in the distance, I could just see the collection of colourful dots that made up the two teams setting off the avalanches. They were obviously conversing together, and, from the way that the snowpack rose in between them and the stirring Rock types, it was obvious that they had no line of sight. No warning, besides mine, of the fact that anything was happening.
I wasn’t concerned that they wouldn’t be able to fight off a collection of wild Pokemon. Blake and his team hadn’t struggled against the Ghost types before, when they’d had a Pokemon that could’ve eaten both Kevan’s team and mine without even being particularly inconvenienced. Even if Kevan’s Pokemon weren’t a match, which I somewhat doubted, then Blake and Devi would easily carve their way through anything in their path.
No, my worry came down to the fact that they were still close enough to the next section of avalanche that it might be set off if they started fighting in earnest. With how much the newly-awakened Pokemon were moving and pulling themselves out of the mountainside, disturbing the rocks and ground as they went, it was a wonder that they hadn’t triggered knock-on avalanches or slides already. If they triggered one in the section that was too close to them, they might be caught in it. Ajax might be caught in it.
It felt like something cold gripped my heart at that thought, the thought that Ajax might be in trouble and I was too far away to do anything about it. We could rush to where they were, but that might mean being caught out by the Rock types, putting ourselves in a worse position where they might be able to blindside us. But that meant that we were stuck here, watching, hoping that they noticed the signal, that they realized that there was an immediate threat they couldn’t see and, hopefully, retreated farther up the mountain.
For the moment, however, I had more immediate things to think about. As much as I worried for them, they would have to handle themselves.
Much of the ice and frost that had coated the Rock types in layers and sheets was sloughing off now, some knocked off by their movements or them slapping various parts of themselves, producing loud claps in the process. Underneath it, barely audible, I could hear the light tinkling of pieces of ice impacting and shattering against the rocks underneath their feel.
“Shit. Alright.” I glanced around, getting a lay of the land.
I had with me Drake, Absol, and Jive. I had little doubt that Jive had better capacity for range than Drake, who was restricted to just Snarl and the area of effect that it created. Imprecise and very likely to hit us as well, if we weren’t careful, so not very useful. This meant that we couldn’t just establish a defensive location with clear lines of sight: if anything, this might be a disadvantage for us, given that the Rock types down there most likely had much better ranged attacks.
If that was true, then our primary strength was going to be sheer force and speed out in the open. Rock types were typically slow and ponderous, the epitome of the mighty glacier, given their sheer durability and capacity for damage-dealing. Jive would be able to crack their rocky armour with high efficiency, given his sheer strength and power, but Drake and Absol would struggle to make significant progress against them. Wasn’t a matter of Type energy, Dark didn’t much care about Rock, it was just a matter of physical attacks struggling to get through their natural armour.
This meant that our best option would most likely be to engage them in the open, and use Absol and Drake to bog down the Rock types through harassment. At that point, Jive could step in and handle them at speed, while keeping them focused on us and contained. All of that, of course, was assuming that they took offense to us in the first place-
I jumped as a rock cracked off the nearby mountainside. I stared at the spot where the small stone had fractured against a larger rock, then looked downwards, to where a still somewhat sleepy looking golem was staring daggers at me. Apparently, either we’d well and truly riled them by setting off the avalanches, or… maybe something ticked them off before they were snowed in? Whatever happened, it didn’t look like this was a situation that we could solve with diplomacy. Unfortunately.
“Alright.” I said again, “I’ve got a plan. Drake, Absol, get out to the left and right. Jive, in the center, a good distance in front of me. The two of you-” I pointed to the poochyena and Absol, “are going to harry them from the sides, harass them, piss them off if you can, but keep out of their reach and don’t get hit. I don’t think either of you is going to effectively down any of them, so don’t try, leave that for Jive. Your jobs are to slow them down and focus them in so Jive can move in and deal with them effectively.”
Drake nodded immediately, Dark energy swirling in his aura. Absol, who had been somewhat uncertain before, had hardened in expression and body language, becoming somewhat closer to the creature that had run to my rescue against the force of Ghost types before. Jive, in direct contrast to the two of them, seemed eager: I supposed that he didn’t get many chances to really cut loose, especially not in a new form, and hadn’t had a chance since he beat the stuffing out of the Dusknoir. I supposed that he was still looking for ways to test his mastery of his relatively new body.
“Don’t exhaust yourselves. Don’t overextend. We’re not going to effectively handle this all on our own, our job is to pin the horde down and slow them enough that Kevan and Blake can move in from behind and start really dealing with them. If they wise up and pull back a bit, let them: if they run, even better. All we need to do is make sure that they don’t set off more avalanches, and that they’re gone before they can interfere with what we’re doing.” I glanced around at the three Pokemon. “Everyone got that?”
They nodded without hesitation, Drake and Absol seriously, Jive with a sharp, pointy smile adorning his muzzle. He flexed his claws in anticipation, and, for a very distinct second, I felt really bad for the poor Rock types that were about to get a schooling in what fighting a Champion tier Pokemon felt like.
Drake moved to the left, Absol to the right, while Jive folded his arms, straightened to his full height, and growled so deeply and loudly that I thought I heard the stones under our feet rattle. I glanced nervously at the sections of avalanche farther down the mountain from us, but they didn’t shift, not yet. I assumed that Jive knew what he was doing.
Still, it seemed to have worked perfectly to attract the attention of the Rock types, many of which were now shaking off the last dregs of their exhaustion and focusing more intently on us. The faint anger that I’d seen in them had crystalized into something quite a bit more direct, though as they approached, practically flowing up the mountainside towards us in a motion that I thought was almost beautiful if it wasn’t a small army of rock monsters looking to cream us, I saw confusion underneath that anger. If it wasn’t for the fact that they seemed bound and determined to throw rocks first and ask questions later, I’d feel a bit worse about combatting a bunch of Pokemon that seemed so obviously confused about what was happening.
Then, the first wave reached us. Drake and Absol smashed into their flanks, but, as I predicted, their surges of Dark energy were having trouble against their more natural defenses. The TE would penetrate their aura fine, but many physical attacks would simply stop short the moment they hit the stone underneath, struggling to find purchase. It was an odd matchup, one that disadvantaged us, and one that the Pokemon games had never really accounted for.
I could hear the frustration in Drake’s growl from here, his first Snarl washing over the gathered Rock types with not much more effect than pushing them back slightly. Some overbalanced enough that physics took over, their relatively rounded boulder-like forms causing them to roll down the slope and away from us. For others, Drake had to dance away from thrown rocks and fists, trying to find weak points that he could hit with Bite and Sucker Punch to do any real damage. Absol wasn’t doing any better in the direct damage department, but that wasn’t the point. Instead, however, I was surprised when she flared with the white of Normal… and as she dodged, a sort of semi-translucent afterimage of her followed along. At a glance, it was difficult to tell which was real, as the image fell behind or moved forwards first. Was that Double Team?
Jive, however, appeared to have something else in mind. Once again, as he had before when he made noise to attract the attention of all the Rock types, he straightened up with his arms crossed. He leered, expression smug and confident, and as I watched, his aura surged with dark and he let out a… sound.
It was difficult to describe the sound itself, but it made me feel off-balance for a split second. The Rock types that were climbing the slope stumbled, some of them falling to their knees, before rising again. This time, however, they seemed to have eyes only for Jive, though a few were still engaged with Drake and Absol on the wings. It was very successful in preventing them from moving around the flanks: with only three Pokemon and a lot of mountainside, we could’ve quickly found ourselves surrounded.
Still, we had to give ground in the face of the pressing tide of Rock type, inch by inch, retreating up the side of the pass. Jive was restrained, unable to really press forwards and give his all to fighting the collected Pokemon, for fear of hitting Drake and Absol in the process. And besides that, he certainly didn’t want to risk severe injury among the opposing Pokemon. Individually, they took one, perhaps two blows for the ludicrously strong badger to dispatch. In practical terms, we had an army encroaching on us that was incredibly angry for reasons that I couldn’t quite figure.
Well, maybe… think. Think about it. A large collection of these creatures, underneath an incredibly deep layer of ice and snow. Something comparable to years of buildup stacked on top of them, layer after layer. It wasn’t impossible that the previous Ranger teams had noted the presence of the buildup and had simply noted that it wasn’t thick enough to cause a problem yet, only for it to be capped off by the large blizzard that had swept through not long before. Still, I didn’t think that was the full answer.
They didn’t look like they’d settled down on the mountainside a long time ago and just hibernated there until the snows were gone, they looked as if something had attempted to freeze them to their cores. Perhaps I was drawing conclusions prematurely, but I thought that it was perfectly viable to assume that this was an active effort. My thoughts flickered in the direction of the sneasel colony, before I summarily dismissed that notion: if they knew, they would’ve warned us, or attempted to prevent us from setting off the avalanches. On top of that, I doubted that they had the sheer power necessary to have done this all at once.
Alright, so a powerful Ice type, or a group of strong Ice types, either gets tilted by a large group of Rock types, or vice-versa. If enough Ice types got together and really tried, could they alter the weather so much that they caused a blizzard? I supposed that it wasn’t impossible. If they did enough, they could’ve turned a relatively thin layer of snow into one prime for creating an avalanche within a very short period of time. Didn’t seem impossible. And given that Rock TE is anathema to Ice, they would’ve had to freeze them to not be overwhelmed.
I hopped back a few more steps as a stone shard skipped off of the ground by my feet, grimacing. The idea here was just to hold out until the rest could sweep in from behind and shatter the group, reducing the entire assault to, aheh, rubble. As it was, Jive was absolutely unseating each of the durable Pokemon with every swing and attack, but he was too swamped. His relative unfamiliarity with his form was working against him, I could easily see that much with how he moved, how he struck. He was struggling to hit the very fine line that stood between seriously injuring them, and not doing enough.
Farther down the mountain, I could see where some of the earlier Rock types that had taken a heavy hit from Jive and been knocked down were beginning to stand up again and shake it off. They hadn’t been so injured that they were out of the fight, and Jive was unable to move in and make sure that they were incapacitated enough that they wouldn’t just engage again, so we were struggling to make real headway.
A wave of Dark slammed out from Drake, punching into the front ranks of the Rock types and driving them backwards somewhat. Through positioning, he’d driven them somewhat more into Jive’s general path, the badger attempting to sweep through the Pokemon in front of him. Absol was doing her best to line up her own assaults and attacks, knocking Rock types around in ways that made me think she was specifically aiming to try and cause knock-on effects. A limited sort of battlefield precognition, maybe?
“Drake! Shift up and to the side, we’re going to put the crowd between us and Blake! Jive, give a little ground, keep them focused on you! Absol, we’re going to pivot around you so that we can lead them this way, can you hold!?”
Her face twitched, almost forming a grimace before she stopped in short, giving me a simple nod instead. She held her head higher and dug in her claws, staring down the Pokemon before her as Dark energy swirled in her aura. I retreated, carefully crossing the terrain while keeping an eye on the large collection of Pokemon pressing us. Slowly, Jive and Drake retreated towards me, while Absol held her flank with precise strikes and happening not to be where any of the Pokemon struck.
Whether or not the Rock types understood me at all, they didn’t choose to acknowledge what I was saying or react to my plan. It wasn’t impossible, I supposed, to conclude that they were either too angry to listen to what I was saying, too groggy to understand, or just didn’t care. As far as they were concerned, we didn’t have the Pokemon to defeat them, and they could push right past us eventually and get on with whatever they intended to do. Seek out the Pokemon that had done this to them and finish what they started, probably.
Still, with Absol giving little to no ground and Drake giving quite a bit, we managed to slowly pivot the entire positioning of the battlefield into a movement that was more parallel to the pass itself. This wouldn’t have worked had the avalanche zone extended past where we were, giving the group of Rock Pokemon a spread that would’ve assaulted us from all around the camp and forced us to draw a defensive line that encircled it, for whatever that was worth. Instead, with the first zone that they’d been hibernating in farther down the pass, we were able to draw them into our fighting retreat like we were doing right now, saving the camp from direct danger.
As I was weighing out the current layout of the battle, watching carefully in case Drake or Absol took a bad hit and needed to pull back, a sudden rush of wind blew over us. It detached much of the frost that clung to the rocky shells of the crowd of Pokemon, sending it whipping around much like a sandstorm might, as a blade of wind carved a gap into the formation. It blew away the Rock types, though it didn’t do any real damage to them, opening up a rent in their formation and forcing them to retreat slightly. I could see the light blue of Flying energy dissolving against the edifice of Rock, but a gale force wind was a gale force wind.
I grinned and looked upwards as Pidgeotto winged above our heads, Kevan giving me a salute from her back. They circled the entire battlefield once, then came down next to me with a wave of air that I had to brace myself against. Kevan gave me a smile that could almost be interpreted as apologetic, but Pidgeotto only had eyes for the Rock types arrayed against us. They had withdrawn slightly in the face of the newest addition to the fight, but a Flying type wasn’t much more effective against a large group of Pokemon wrapped in stony armour than a trio of Dark types had been, even without considering how Rock annihilated the energy of Flying.
“You have no idea how glad I am to see you.” I said, somewhat relieved. “We’ve had to keep giving ground to them, we can’t exactly put them down for good. I don’t have any Pokeballs, so I can’t keep downed Pokemon out of the fight that way, and Jive can’t move in to make sure that Pokemon that he strikes are unconscious or incapacitated without the rest of them swarming him.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it.” He said, eyes taking in the battle from the ground at a glance. “Think you’ve done about as well as could be expected against so many of them.”
“What’s the situation with Blake and the Fire team? If they get here, we have a real chance of defeating them through numbers, or at least forcing them to back down. Without, it’s just a zero sum game, we keep going until one of us falls over from exhaustion.” I gave a worried glance at Absol, who was already panting somewhat, still not fully recovered and already pushing herself. “And I don’t think that’s going to be them.”
Kevan gave a grim nod, then hopped off of Pidgeotto’s back, patting her wing. She raised them, took off, then sent a wave of air slamming into the collected Rock types that drove them back, giving Drake and Absol a breather and Jive a chance to move in and give a couple knocks to some of the Pokemon that had ended up on the ground. We regained a little ground, and if Pidgeotto could keep doing that…
“Blake’s got his own problems. You aren’t the only one being attacked, he’s being hit with something like this over there as well. Devi’s kicking them around like footballs, I don’t even think he’s even particularly entertained, but to some degree he’s having the same problems as Jive: trying not to go so overboard that he causes any of them serious injury, or causes too much collateral damage. We’ve already set off one or two of the avalanche sections farther down the pass in the fighting.”
I let out a hiss of air through my teeth.
“Alright, so we’re pretty hard pressed. With the Fire types at their back, they might try to press us harder, get driven this way as they try to retreat from the Pokemon at their backs. If we even had just Ajax with us…”
I blinked, then slapped my forehead and groaned. Of course, stupid of me, I just forgot that these sorts of solutions existed. Kevan gave me a curious glance, and I answered through putting my hand at my belt, retrieving one of the Pokeballs that hung there and tossing it to him. He caught it easily, giving it a once over, then grinning at me.
“Ajax’s?” I nodded, and he laughed. “Yeah, I get it. You spend so much time with your Pokemon outside of their balls, you kinda start to forget that they exist at all. Pidgeotto and I will go get him, you just hold out until then, okay!?”
He said that last part to the Pokemon as well as me. Absol and Drake were too focused on trying not to get hit while dishing out what damage they could to acknowledge what he was saying, but Jive gave him an easy grin, before slamming another golem with a frankly brutal backhand that sent it flying over the crowd and slamming into the mountainside.
Kevan let out a loud, piercing whistle, sharp enough that I couldn’t help but wince. Pidgeotto answered by angling down from where she’d been floating, occasionally striking out against the tide of rock against us. A wave of wind slammed into the front ranks, pushing them back into the ones behind them, tangling the entire front and forcing them to untangle themselves from each other, and she landed next to Kevan. He swung himself into the saddle on her back, whispering rapid instructions into her ear, getting a nod in return.
“Good luck!” He shouted.
With that, they were gone, soaring over the gathered crowd. The occasional enterprising Rock type slung a projectile at them, but they fell short every time, Pidgeotto’s sheer speed ensuring that she just wasn’t where they aimed. In a few seconds, they rounded a higher outcropping of rock and were out of sight.
“You heard them, you three! Hold on, help is coming!”
This was where I truly missed Ajax, where I wished that he had been here with me the entire time. Perhaps the entire avalanche situation might have taken longer, but with him at my side, this would’ve been a lot less of a threat and Absol wouldn’t have to be pushing herself so hard. As it was, I wasn’t sure how long we could last, if only because of overwhelming odds. Honestly, Jive could probably carry this himself, if it wasn’t for the fact that there were so many of them swamping us all at once. Between their durability and sheer numerical advantage, it was more a measure of attrition than anything else. As long as-
My stomach clenched, my heart suddenly in my throat. Absol, exhausted and sore, nowhere near in top shape even before entering this fight, misjudged a dodge. One good hit was enough to cause her to crumple, sending her skidding across the rocky ground, producing a painful exclamation that felt like my heart was being clenched to listen to. She lay for a moment, breathing heavily, before struggling to get her paws underneath her… and failing. Her breath came in short, painful pants, and I could see that she shuddered every time she shifted.
I practically skidded over the rocky mountainside to her, hand already in my cargo pockets. The compact, durable spray bottle of a potion was in my hand in an instant: the stuff was antibiotic, combined with surface blood to create a seal over wounds, and even encouraged the same regenerative effect that berries worked with. I’d thought that it was something of a marvel when I’d first read the instruction manual that was stamped on the side of the bottle. Now, I was frantically wondering if it would be enough.
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The single, heavy blow that she’d taken from a stone fist had been to the side of her chest. I could see the blood soaking through her fur, which meant that she hadn’t cushioned the blow with her TE or aura much if at all- probably out of sheer exhaustion. Gently, I tested the wound with my fingers, which caused her to jerk and clench her teeth. Bruised, maybe cracked rib? Bad, bad injury, maybe enough to prevent her from being combat ready for a while.
“Hey. Hey, you’ll be alright, I just need you to look at me. Can you do that?” She shuddered, then opened one eye. I tried to push past the slight shaking in my voice. “Okay, there’s no way to do this gently. I need to clean the wound, alright? It’s going to hurt.”
She stared up at me, then closed her eyes and nodded. I moved her fur out of the way, revealing the abrasions, cuts, and broken skin that bled freely into her silver fur. I quickly laid a layer of potion over it, ensuring to get plenty of it into any open fissure in the skin that I could find. At a glance, the punctures seemed relatively shallow, which was good. I was afraid that I didn’t have a hemostatic applicator; hell, I didn’t even have an AFAK, they were way outside of a typical trainer’s budget. I’d have to rely on what medical supplies I was carrying with me for this one.
That done, I retrieved a clean pack of gauze from my pocket, ripping the packaging off before hesitating. Quickly, I slid a durable piece of nylon between Absol’s teeth, getting a very short nod of gratitude from her before she bit down on it. Quickly, I pressed the gauze into the wound, putting as much pressure as I could manage on it. Absol arched her back, paws pressing and scrabbling slightly against the stone.
Jive and Drake had faltered slightly when Absol had been struck, the poochyena losing some ground to the Rock types as he frantically tried to look back. Jive, however, had turned straight from mostly unworried to uncompromisingly grim. His next blow, not nearly as tempered or restrained, blew a hole in the formation of Rock types. Clearly, he’d decided that if they were done playing, then so was he.
Still,despite that, I could see where the group was edging around him, through the gap that previously had been filled with Absol. I wasn’t sure if they were trying to flank him, or if they were trying to get to us, but they were moving around to his side. Just a few minutes more, I thought, and we’d have had Ajax, and this wouldn’t be happening. Absol could’ve retreated and taken a breather, and we could’ve held the line.
One of the gravelers that had moved around to the side raised a hand, clearly intending to make a strike at Jive’s side- and then, a beam shot over our heads. It slammed into the hand of the graveler in question, coating it in a layer of ice, freezing the articulated rock solid and causing it to howl and retreat.
I turned in the direction the beam had come from, and couldn’t help but grin as a handful of dark blue figures with red highlights came sprinting up the side of the pass. A small collection of sneasels, lead by one of the weavile that had served as leaders of the colony, coming to our aid. They wouldn’t be much more than annoying to the Rock types, and I could see the graveler that they’d struck with what had to be an ice beam already shaking it off with a look of irritation, but I wasn’t going to turn down help when we needed it.
“Hey!” I waved to the Dark/Ice types, who rushed over to my position, regarding the downed Absol grimly. “She’s okay, she’s just out of the fight. I need you to split yourselves into roughly even groups, with you-” I nodded to the weavile, keeping my hands on the gauze, “On the lower side of Jive. We need to hold them off long enough for backup to get here. You hear me?”
The weavile considered me briefly with cold eyes, and, for a moment, I was worried that they’d disregard me and do whatever. The tension went out of my shoulders when they nodded, they chittered a series of orders to the sneasels, who split between the sides of Jive. The weavile themselves went where I’d asked them to go, replacing Absol as the right side Pokemon, trying to dance out of the way of attacks and push the hoard of Rock types back.
The weavile had come with a contingent of six sneasel, probably the strongest the colony had. The weavile and Drake played tank, directing the attentions of the many Rock types to themselves and dodging almost every blow, being far too irritating to miss. The sneasels ranged around them, harassing Rock types along the fringes, keeping them from the edges of our little formation, slowing them up and tripping them with ice or with paws and claws when they could.
Before, the sheer force of the tide had been slowing us down, with the Rock types pressing us back and back without any chance on our part to really respond. Now, however, we found ourselves at a good equilibrium, where they couldn’t push one of the three primary damage-dealers back without being harassed by the cohort of sneasels running around. What this meant, in a practical sense, was that I didn't have to worry about moving the injured Absol, and that Jive had a chance to really make good on his blows.
Without the stunned Pokemon being covered by the slowly encroaching tide that was the crowd of Rock types, they were no longer getting time to recover from the hits that Jive gave them. Often, instead of being covered by their fellows and getting an opportunity to get themselves together and get back in the fight, now they were immediately vulnerable to Jive. And Jive? He was no longer playing as nice as he had been.
Clearly, the badger had considered the wound dealt to the Absol to be breaking some kind of unspoken treaty. Now, his blows were heavier and much more damaging than before: even despite how Dark struggled to gain a purchase on dense, tough, rocky hides, he was cracking the hardened surfaces and slinging the Pokemon around like paper dolls. When he downed one, he’d grab them out of the crowd, sometimes slinging them overhead so hard that they went flying over the crowd or bowled entire groups of their fellows over, sometimes, slamming them right back down into the stony dirt two or three times. Whichever he chose, the targets of his ire, while obviously not severely injured, would struggle to get back up and then slip into blissful unconsciousness.
This had the effect of making the entire collected crowd of Pokemon somewhat more nervous about pressing us hard. They weren’t retreating, but they weren’t swamping the Pokemon on our side enough to overwhelm our new advantages. Instead, it was coming out to something of a stalemate, where they could afford the incapacitations that Jive was handing out while continuing to press Drake and the weavile.
And then, I saw the shadow of Pidgeotto flying towards us.
Rather than land and let Ajax out, Kevan threw the Pokeball from her back. The red and white sphere arced down, then popped open, releasing a red beam that immediately coalesced into the hellhound. Ajax glanced around, taking in the scene rapidly, then alighted on us. Me, crouched next to Absol, hands on a piece of gauze stained red. His eyes widened, and his lips drew back from his teeth as he turned his attention to the Rock types.
As I watched, the frost and snow that remained clinging to the dirt evaporated. He stalked towards them, radiating enough heat that I could see it coming in waves off of his back, the ground underneath him steaming and popping as the ice was reduced to water, and that water promptly evaporated. Some small pieces of grass and plant life that had been under the snow withered, then burst into flame at his passing. His pawprints were blackened, scorched earth in his passing. It made a little more sense why Jinnouchi houndour were so respected: if I had Ajax staring me down in that moment, I would’ve fled in the other direction with all speed, and I don’t think anyone would’ve blamed me.
The Rock types, at least the ones that weren’t having to deal with Jive, had noticed Ajax approaching them. They seemed suddenly and distinctly more wary than they’d been the entire time that we’d been fighting. Fire tended to unweave itself against Rock, Rock being anathema to it, but in this situation? The Rock types had been buried under all that ice, and the frost still clung to them. Their stony hides were so cold that, despite dissolving the Type energy behind an attack, the heat could cause it to crack; from their nervousness, they were realising this.
Ajax didn’t give them a chance to respond, however, as the red Fire energy that surrounded him like an angry nimbus flared with light. Ember after Ember appeared around him, formed from his energy and launching themselves directly into the gathering of Rock types. Each exploded with extreme heat, causing small concussions that set the gravelers and golems off-balance, some tumbling down the pass somewhat before managing to stop themselves. Jive shifted slightly out of the way, and I saw that his most recent effort had left a rent before him when he’d thrown one of their number. He gave a smile to Ajax that was all fangs, and Ajax gave one in return.
The Fire-type darted past him and into the gap. Before the Rock types that surrounded him could recover, he raised his head and howled. The Fire energy that had collected around him suddenly pulsed, and from him rushed a wave of such extreme heat that I reflexively winced and nearly raised my hands to shield my face, stopping when I realized where I’d be taking them away from. Several Rock types shrieked in pain and anger as loud CRACKing sounds rang over the mountainside, thermal stress making up for the typing disadvantage. Thermodynamics still existed in spite of aura, and it was rearing its ugly head.
Stones skittered and cracked against each other, and I glanced up to see Kevan approaching me at best speed, a concerned look on his face as his eyes found the gauze I was pressing against Absol’s side. He went down to his knee, hands already moving for the wound before he even opened his mouth.
“What happened?”
“Bad blow.” I said simply. “She took it right in the side, didn’t cushion properly with aura. Punctures, a couple lacerations… uh, maybe a cracked rib, I just know it hurts.”
He gave me a noise of acknowledgement, taking two fingers and gently probing the side of her chest. Absol winced, clamping her teeth around the thick piece of nylon in her mouth as her legs flexed and twitched. After a moment, Kevan let out a small breath and nodded.
“Just bruised, I think. You got the wounds with potion, right?” I nodded. “Good pressure on the wound… it’ll probably have sealed, but I need a look.”
It hadn’t occurred to me that Kevan would have emergency medical training, but in retrospect, it would be strange for a Ranger to not have some level of capability with it. Gently, I peeled the gauze away from her side. The material had somewhat stuck to her fur, the blood becoming tacky and somewhat dried already, which was most likely the potion at work. The wounds underneath had already mostly sealed themselves, leaving a small trickle of blood.
“... She’s alright.” He said, after a moment’s examination. “None of these look deep or serious enough to have passed the rib cage. I’d imagine that they came from the rough texture of the fist that hit her, not a specific attempt to impale or puncture. Just breaks in the skin.”
He withdrew a fresh piece of gauze and medical tape. I handed over my potion and he quickly spritzed the site and the application side of the gauze, before placing the square of white material over the site and pressing down, securing it in place with the tape. Absol shuddered, but managed to roll onto her paws, opening her mouth and offering the piece of nylon to me. I took it gently, giving her an encouraging smile.
“You’re out of the fight, though.” Her head snapped to Kevan, looking indignant, as he stood up and brushed off the knees of his pants. He wasn’t having any of it, fixing her with a glare. “If you were so exhausted that you couldn’t even get your aura up in time to cushion a blow like that, then you’re not combat ready. If you go down, we’re going to have to focus on reaching you and getting you out, and that’s going to be far more dangerous for all of us than what we’re doing already.”
She held his gaze for a moment, defiant, but his words made her muzzle twitch. She looked away, frustration and a shred of shame shining through. Kevan sighed, obviously trying to figure out how to address that, then glanced at me. Taking it in how I suspect it was meant, I stepped forwards, hand going to her head.
“You did perfectly fine. Rest up, alright? We’ll handle it from here.”
She nodded, but I could see it in her, that shame, that embarrassment, the touch of self-recrimination. Internally, I could tell that she was angry that she’d fallen short, that she hadn’t done everything that she could. Time and again, she had to rely on us because she couldn’t handle it alone, and it was killing her. Literally and figuratively, from how exhausted and completely spent she was. And it was frustrating, because as much as she hated that she’d fallen short of some lofty self-expectation, she didn’t deserve it.
I’d first seen her outside of Emeragrove, where she’d warned us about the onix. And she’d trailed after me since, directing us first to the dam, which would have wiped out thousands of humans and Pokemon. And then she’d led us here, to a threat that could’ve been a danger to anyone coming through the pass, and either could’ve taken us out if we hadn’t been warned. And, of course, this wasn’t mentioning the fact that I had little doubt that she’d been running around and doing what she could to stem disasters even without me, or the rest of my group. After all, she’d never been in top shape, and I would bet that she hadn’t properly rested since this entire thing started more than a month ago. Honestly, more than anything, it was impressive that she’d lasted this long, when she had to be running on not much more than fumes.
I glanced in the direction of the battle. Ajax had slammed into the center, Jive was dealing with Rock types that had been thrown around and scorched by his flames. Pidgeotto was continuously keeping them off balance, Drake and the weavile working together to hold the flanks and push them back, while the sneasels harassed and didn’t give them a moment’s peace. Kevan was there, directing them, and they didn’t need me there right now. There was nothing I could contribute that Kevan wasn’t already.
I looked back to Absol. Here, however, was someone who needed me. That regal bearing that she had held for every moment that I’d known her had almost gone, faded from exhaustion and injury, and the way that she suddenly held herself as if she was far smaller than she was. I’d be damned if I was just going to let that sit and fester, if I could do something about it.
“No.” She twitched, glancing at me out of the corner of her eyes, but not turning her head to me. “You feel beat up right now, right? Like you didn’t make it. Like you’re not good enough.”
She twitched, a deep wince that she tried to hide. Not very successfully, I might add. Still, it made me only want to press harder, to get this point across. She wanted to retreat from me, I could feel it in her body language and see it in her expression, how she thought that I was going to tell her how she’d fallen short. That I’d agree with the thoughts that she was having right now, those of failure.
“That’s bullshit.”
Anything that she’d been thinking was replaced by surprise, as she turned her head towards me, wincing again as the movement pulled at her injury. But I held her gaze, steady and certain, because I was.
“I don’t know what you’ve been doing, not precisely, but I can guess. From the moment that all these events started happening a month ago, you’ve been pressing yourself as hard as you can, trying to hit every single one in reach. Warning people and Pokemon, trying to avert things. Is that correct?”
She hesitated, uncertain; I had her off guard, she wasn’t sure where I was going with this. But I wasn’t going to take a non-response or no for an answer, and she could see it in my face, as plainly as I could see the emotions that were spinning behind her eyes. Reluctantly, she finally nodded.
“So you’ve been going non-stop since the very beginning. And, what, now that you’ve hit your very limit, now that you can’t push yourself anymore, demand anything more from your body, it’s your fault?”
She cringed a little, lips drawn back from teeth in a grimace, and she nodded again. Something hot settled in my chest, seeing someone who had so selflessly pushed until she’d had nothing left to give only feeling shame that she had nothing more. The sound of the battle underlined my thoughts, the fire and stones and wind that rushed behind me as I took her muzzle between my index and thumb, turning it towards me.
“Look at me.” I said, quietly. She resisted for a moment, then reluctantly made eye contact. "You've gone beyond what anyone could ever expect of you. Accept help.” Something in her face tightened at that. “It's not a surrender, or a resignation, it's an acknowledgement that you can't do everything alone. You need friends, to pick you up when you fall, to make sure that you don't push so hard you break. Because you will, if you keep going like this.”
Something tired and resigned stole across her expression at that. I shook my head, emphatically, pulling her attention back to me.
“No, you can’t think like that. Think about all the people and Pokemon you helped, that you saved. If you press yourself until you expire from sheer exhaustion, facing something that you couldn’t possibly win against just because you had to throw yourself at just one more threat, who’s going to help them? Who’s going to be there to warn them, to make sure they know that storms are coming? Huh?”
I could see it in how she glanced down, how she didn’t want to listen to that. It was obvious that she’d built herself up in her own mind as the only one that could know about these things ahead of time, and thus the one that had to do something. A hero complex, a destructive one, where she had to be the one to risk everything again and again to save whoever she could, regardless of the cost to herself.
“You can’t, maybe won’t, see how that hurts you, because as long as it hurts you and not others, right?” She nodded, though it was reluctant. She agreed with the sentiment, even though she sensed that my vocalization of it was a trap of some kind. “But, if you get hurt, then others are hurt because you’re not there to help when they need you to be. If you break your leg because you just had to be the one to take a blow, to save someone, to press just that little bit harder, then who’s going to be the one to save the next? Or the one after that?”
She tried to pull her muzzle out of my hand, but she was weaker than me right now, hurt and tired beyond belief. I kept ahold of her, making her look at me again, seeing the sorrow and the inwardly-aimed criticism in her eyes.
“So let us help. You want to protect people, protect Pokemon, and so do we. Could you have done this alone? Set off these avalanches safely? Fought the Rock types?” She hesitated, not wanting to admit it. “The sneasel colony, and the other Pokemon that came through. You tried your best, but you were only one Pokemon, and a Dark type: they assumed that you would side with the colony over them. You couldn’t have done that alone. And that doesn’t even approach the dam, or the onix, or anything we’ve done together. You’re so obsessed with the idea of being the one who has to save everyone that you forget that you can’t.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them in shock when I poked her right in the nose. She gave me a look, indignant and a little irritated, but that was better than depressed, self-loathing, or resigned. I’d take it.
“You don’t get to just check out of this into beating yourself up about not being a legendary. Because that’s what you’d have to be in order to stop any of those things on your own.” I pointed at myself. “I’m a squishy human, I’m made of weak flesh and I don’t even have powers. Way back when I first found myself in Vinewood, before I ever met you, that gengar? He was leading an attack on the whole town. I knew that I was screwed if I went out and tried to get help on my own, but Drake was there. Together, and only together, we could’ve punched through all those Pokemon and gotten Kevan and his Rangers to help.”
Surprise; apparently, Drake hadn’t told her the story of how we’d met. Despite the fact that she didn’t want to, I could see how she was comparing the story to her own, to some of the things we’d done. How we’d gone with her to accomplish things, prevent disasters in the making.
“I know better than anyone that you need friends.”
I glanced over to where Kevan, confident now, was orchestrating the collective Pokemon. Far in the distance, I could see flares of light and fire, Arcanine and Devi pressing the Rock types from behind. Ajax was wrapped in a glorious nimbus of flame, sending out pulsing waves of heat that caused the golems and gravelers that collected around him to retreat even through their stony shells. I couldn’t help but grin in pride.
“I wouldn’t be here without Kevan, without Blake, without Devi, or Jive, or Arcanine… without Drake, and Ajax.” I looked back at her.
She looked back, and this time, the negative things that had infested her eyes had nearly vanished. In their place was something that approached awe, shot through with a bit of longing. I thought, in that moment, that perhaps she could see how much unshakeable faith I had in my boys, in those wonderful Pokemon that I’d ended up with.
“So, then, don’t be alone.” I said, like it was the easiest thing in the world.
And it was. All it took was… having faith, knowing the people around you would be there for you, and I had that. I didn’t have to be there to direct Ajax and Drake right now, to micromanage their every move and attack, because I didn’t need to be. I had complete faith that they knew what they were doing, that they could hold the line, that any gap could be filled by Kevan. I had faith that my friends had my back, come what may, that they wouldn’t give up while I did what I needed to do.
Absol stared back at me, and as I watched, a single tear soaked itself into the fur of her face. That longing was so intense that it hurt, the desire for people and Pokemon that she could rely on completely, the certainty that I displayed to her. And I could understand that desire: a Dark type, especially an Absol, would struggle to find something like that. And now I was offering it to her, no cost, no strings.
“Just rely on us.” I gave her a gentle smile. “Sleep. Rest. Recover. Be ready. Know that we have this, and… have faith.”
She stared at me, and as I watched, I saw that awe slowly change into gratitude, and relief. We had this, and despite the fact that she was still hesitant, I wasn’t lying to her. She could see that, couldn’t contest it, desperately wanted it to be true, and it was. Slowly, carefully, she laid her head down and closed her eyes, letting out a gentle huff of air.
“Stay here.” I said, softly. “Try and recover enough that you feel you can move. You’ve done your part, now let us do ours.”
I pressed my hand into her shoulder, gentle pressure that I tried to make reassuring as I could, then pushed myself to my feet. I turned away from Absol and towards the battlefield, jogging towards Kevan’s figure, where he was slowly stepping forwards, matching the retreating line. He gave me a cursory glance, eyes flicking to my feet and back towards Absol.
“How is she?” He said over the sounds of the battle.
“Resting. Best we can hope for. How are we doing?”
He glanced forwards again, raking the Rock types with his eyes. Drake pounced one of them, toppling them with the sudden force and weight at the top of their head. He used the falling Pokemon as a springboard, pushing himself forwards, up and over the strike of another Pokemon and using the momentum to slam into a third with a surge of Dark. He was panting slightly, but disengaged with a grace and ease that he’d only gained in long practice against Blake’s much more experienced Pokemon.
“We’re winning, now. The sneasels and the weevil tipped the balance in your favour, just too many fast and strong Pokemon for them to deal with, especially given a Pokemon with the sheer strength and durability that Jive possesses. Ajax and Pidgeotto ensured that they’re completely on the back foot, and now they’re being cornered between us and Blake on the far side.” He grinned. “And, of course, Noble and Mika aren’t even here yet. They’re done, whether they realize it or not… in a minute, we’ll let off the pressure, tell them so. See if they want to just retreat, give the whole thing up as a bad job.”
I nodded, hand clenching and unclenching. Even if they didn’t just surrender or retreat, with nearly every Pokemon that we had at our disposal focused on them, the sheer numbers and durability that they possessed had almost entirely been rendered moot. They just couldn’t win with how things were, and with how the increasingly conscious and panicked Rock types were glancing back towards the rear ranks being assaulted by two more Fire types, they knew it. Already, they weren’t charging us with reckless abandon anymore, being far more cautious and retreating when they could.
Of course, they were swiftly becoming more panicked as they began to back right into the Pokemon that were retreating from Devi and Arcanine. The sheer heat that the fire rabbit was putting out dwarfed even Ajax, vaporizing the remaining frost from the mountainside as he slammed again and again into the collected Rock types like a vengeful meteor. It was rapidly settling in for them that they were in between the rock of Blake’s group, and the hard surface that was ours, with nowhere to run.
Kevan moved down the mountain, taking a more direct command of the weavile and the sneasels there, as well as directing Pidgeotto to strike at any of the Pokemon that seemed to be trying something clever. I, on the other hand, moved in the opposite direction. Drake gave me a relieved look, dancing away from his most recent engagement, which was a moment of relief for the battered Pokemon… before they were immediately set upon by two sneasels working in tandem.
“Absol’s alright. Hurt, but not severely. We’re going to press them a little more, knock a few more out, then we’re going to give them the option of taking their injured and retreating from the pass completely. So, not much farther to go.”
He came over to me, and I crouched, checking him over. He’d obviously taken a couple of hits, but unlike Absol, he wasn’t spent and had cushioned the hits with his aura. This left him with patches of fur that were tussled, spots that made him wince when I touched them, and occasionally a small amount of blood, but entirely from small cuts. I squirted the potion into another piece of gauze, dabbing at the couple of marks, extracting a relieved sigh from Drake in the process.
“Think you’re ready to go back out there in a second?”
Drake didn’t even hesitate, giving me a completely certain nod. I looked down the slope, to where Kevan was. The Ranger looked back, giving me a grin and a nod. I returned it with a grin of my own, then ruffled Drake’s head fur with a hand and pushed myself back into a standing position.
“Alright. Let’s finish this.”
He gave me a nod of absolute confidence, turning and charging back to where he’d been. The battleline had retreated somewhat, and it fell back farther as the Rock types eyed Drake warily. Slowly, attacks petered out as they drew back, Pokemon muttering among themselves, looking at the unconscious members of their crowd that they hadn’t been able to awaken yet. They were in bad shape, and they hadn’t beaten us when they were fresh and we had fewer Pokemon on our side: now, they were caught between two larger teams of strong Pokemon. It wasn’t hard for them to see where this was going. Kevan let them stew in it for a moment, then stepped forwards, attracting their attention as he cleared his throat.
“Attention! Gravelers, golems, Rock types gathered here!” He paused a second, waiting until they were focused on him. “I am a Ranger.” Many of them clearly didn’t recognize the term, but a few of them stirred at it. I had to wonder what the reputation of Rangers was among wild Pokemon. “My fellows and I were in the process of clearing excess snow, preventing large-scale avalanches that would’ve flooded the pass below and the Pokemon there, when you attacked us without cause, warning, or reason.”
Several of them shuffled. Some looked defiant. Others didn’t meet Kevan’s gaze as it swept over them. Much of the grogginess that had characterized their number when they’d come charging out of the snowpack had gone, and now I thought they were realising exactly what they’d gotten themselves into without knowing.
“However, I have no desire to cause any further issues, or continue fighting when there is no reason to!” Several of them perked up at that with interest. “I and my Pokemon are willing to retreat and allow you to leave, should you choose to do so. We have more important things to do than to fight you, and have no wish to continue. If you simply turn and leave, we will let you.”
Kevan took several steps back, retreating and ceding ground to the battleline. The Pokemon waited heartbeats, making it clear that the only reason that they were doing this was because they wanted to, not because they had to, before following his example. I waited until Drake had nearly reached me before I moved back, giving him a small smile as he glanced towards me.
The assembled Pokemon discussed it among themselves, glancing at us, clearly wary. They knew that we wouldn’t have too much trouble smashing them if we really wanted to, we demonstrated that we could do that even without going all-out. Slowly, the stronger-looking golems made their way to the front of the group, screening the rest as they withdrew down the mountain. Once they were gone, the golems retreated as well, tucking their limbs in and rolling after their brethren down the mountain slope.
I let out a sigh of relief, and shared a glance with Kevan. Now all that was left was the remainder of the avalanche zones… and hoping that there weren’t further hibernating Rock types underneath them, too.