bottlecaplogs | FLIGHT AND FREEZE

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FLIGHT AND FREEZE

Who: Kris, Umemiya, Archnemon, Shoka, Bigby, Siffrin (SA), Kinger, Sanji, Need, Ren, Akechi, Anasui, Emporio, Ingo, Emmet... and Noelle!!
What: Move over Team Intimidate, there's a cooler Pokemon that needs saving.
When: Early October
Where: All over
Warnings: Will update as needed!!

Noelle has vanished while recovering at the clinic and nobody can find her! She may have run away while having a mental health crisis. Please, bring her back safely!

Mightyena doesn't know where Noelle went, just that she was still in recovery when she vanished. She thought Noelle couldn't have gone far in her condition... but if that's the case, why hasn't she been found yet?

[ QUEST START ]

After a tense day of discussion, organizing and planning, Kris and Ingo gather the volunteers at the outskirts of Bottlecap Bay. Supplies are handed out, groups are chosen, and everyone is given a quick debriefing on the plan: start close to home, then work their way further out as they narrow down her location. Some groups should hang back, ready to set out once a fresh lead is established—the pearls are perfect for this, so everyone should keep their own handy. Spreading out too wide will only make things difficult once they find her trail, so it's important that everyone stays on task.

Once everyone's roles have been assigned, it's time to set out. It's going to be a long, long day.

BEFORE THE SEARCH
TEAM A | TEAM B
TEAM C | TEAM D
TEAM E

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"Not just the lakes. But that too. Anyway. Keep warm, and shh."

Emmet can't weave a convincing illusion to keep the lot of them hidden, but the mane does a lot to keep Emporio hidden within it as long as he hangs on tight and stays put.

He'll follow along off to the side of and a half-count or two behind Ingo. If needed, he can probably break away and disappear into the poor visibility of the storm, much as he won't like to. The snow only seems to intensify as they head towards the copse of trees ... which might be a strong tell in its own way of what they might be approaching.

It's either the glimmer of a veil of glittering light of some sort, snaking its way through the trees in a there-and-gone-again flash... or the low, rumbling growl that heralds Abomasnow's presence first when they arrive. It's also the only warning they'll get of the Frost Tree Pokemon's intentions, because at their approach she'll blink her eyes open to reveal a sharp, sharp gaze, rouse to her full stature, tall and proud, bristling and wary... and immediately go on the offensive by sending a howling Blizzard at what to her is yet another group of potentially dangerous strangers encroaching on her home.

"Leave. You are not welcome here!"

(Blizzard is known for its inaccuracy under regular conditions. In this storm, however, the whirling snow everywhere as far as they can see and then some? There's no choice but to bear the brunt of it.)

Ingo squeezes his eyes shut, lowering his head against the force of the Blizzard. The frigid winds bite at him, even through his fur, but he knows it's far better now than it would have been as a human. Even if he could dodge, that's not an option with Emmet and Emporio behind him. He just digs his claws into the snow and stands until the worst of it is over and he can draw in a full breath again.

If he were still a trainer, he would have returned that attack with another. Machamp knows Fire Punch; it could have been dealt with soon enough. Now, though, talking is far more of an option. "We do not wish to fight you!" he calls as loudly as he can, though the ice in the air stings his throat. "We are merely searching for a lost Pokemon!"

Shhh indeed. He immediately clams up, keeping himself as quiet as possible. Some snow blasts over but fortunately does little more than graze the fur he's hiding in...though what falls in the process, he finds himself tempted to grab at when it sticks. Some of this looks like it would really hurt if it were thrown...

...Right, focus. Right now, Abomasnow is clearly not having any of this. It's hard to keep silent, when at least half of him wants to shout in alarm whenever any dodging is necessary...

While the other half wants to shout about what he just caught sight of. There's definitely something in the ice behind Abomasnow- he can see a faint glimpse of it through the hair of Emmet's mane.

But trying to say as much while Blizzard is in effect? No way. At least Abomasnow isn't trying anything that could seriously hurt these two so far. Right??

....Hm.

Something in the gusting wind, out of place— a faint, vague sense of mint? But there's no time for following up on that, Emmet straightening up a little from how he'd crouched and hunkered down to brace through the attack. He's quiet, entirely willing to let Ingo take the lead on this, but...

"If you do not want to fight then go," snarls Abomasnow, still bristling, the whiteout conditions around them only growing worse. She stomps harshly in a way that threatens, but does not quite become, any one of a number of different potential ground moves. "There is nothing for you here. And if you do not leave I will make you wish you had!"

Emmet moves as soon as Abomasnow does, bolting forward in a blur of white on white. There's the sound of rushing water, impacting on something that makes an oddly thin, ringing sound, like glass but not quite, and, when the snowstorm relents just enough that it can be seen through better, the sight of the multifaceted barrier of Protect falling away in parts around the Zoroark as the freezing cold Chilling Water splashes (mostly) harmlessly to the ground, where it will likely end up freezing in short order. Quite a lot of the hexagons are focused around the passenger at his nape, the move more taxing than it should be, but the glimmering shield has done what it's supposed to.

Well. It's growing more likely that this will lead only to the one destination. Still, even as the Zoroark's smile takes on a sharper edge, he makes no move to attack, and only asks: "... You will not reconsider?"

"Emmet!" Ingo cringes as his brother leaps forward to take the blow meant for him, deploying...a move he doesn't quite recognize, but does tickle at the back of his mind. That seems useful...

No time to think on that right now. He steps out from behind Emmet to speak up again. "We are searching for a lost Deerling! We have reason to believe that she is...unwell!" Not in her right mind, really. But he's not going to say as much to a stranger, much less a hostile one. He's keeping his tone strictly polite, but a few bright purple sparks snap from his jaws as he speaks. Even if Emmet did not actually get hit, Ingo did not like seeing that! "If you have seen no such Pokemon, simply tell us and we shall be off!"

"A-AAH-!"

He can't help the yelp that escapes even if most of the attack is blocked with Protect. The motions themselves jostle him fiercely, and he struggles between trying not to fall off and trying not to yank poor Emmet's mane. Bits of bone helmet briefly poke out from the fur, and his shadowed gold eyes try and take in more than what he could before.

This is getting more than just dangerous. He has the sneaking suspicion after all, that this Abomasnow doesn't want anyone helping Noelle at all.

He can't well just leap out and say something like that though. Not unless he wants to Really make the situation worse.

Well. Emporio's right, it turns out. Abomasnow's reaction to the mention of who they're looking for is ...

"If you are here for her," and if the Frost Tree Pokemon's tone was frigid before, it's absolutely glacial now, "then I have nothing more to say to you. Begone. Let the snow bury all of you."

She lumbers forward, letting the full force of her weight carry into and through the ground with each step in not Bulldoze, not Stomping Tantrum, or Earth Power, but Earthquake, forcing Emmet to yelp as he splays his paws out in a wider, lower stance to better brace through it ... and bark out again, this time with the tinge of a darker resonance behind it as the sound echoes through the trees, blunted by the just-there shimmer of light still shielding the grass-type.

If Abomasnow is already willing to go that far with Earthquake in the terrain here, then fine— either they are at an elevation and or in conditions where the avalanche risk is minimal, or they really need to take care of this fast.

"Don't think we'll be able to talk her out of this!" Emmet also snaps his jaws, exhaling a few breaths into the biting air before letting out another yip as he only just dodges out of the way of the tree crashing down on their group with Wood Hammer and retreats to a safer distance. Right, he has a passenger; normally he would prefer to battle closer in and make use of his agility, but with Emporio riding along, his usual tracks will be ill-advised— shadows start to gather together in front of him instead.

Ingo doesn't verbally concede the point; he lets out a yelp of pain, stumbling and falling to the ground as the Earthquake shakes the earth. Emmet cannot shield him entirely from that.

But he rises back to his feet, and darts forward with purple flames already streaming from his mouth. He knows his role here - and more than that, how dare she talk like that about a child? Noelle may have made some...mistakes. The news he's picked up is vague, but he remembers seeing her at Froslass's side often. He remembers wishing to stand there, himself. So how can he blame her, if her mind is still not quite right? How can anyone?

He opens his jaws and lets a Flamethrower spill forth towards the Abomasnow. He'd hoped for a peaceful resolution, but a Warden must know when to switch tracks!

"Wo-wo-woAAAHH!!"

A passenger indeed, and he would apologize for creating such a struggle but right now there are greater things to focus on. Things like the Pokemon attacking them, pushing them against the trees and the snow around them. From up in his perch, Emporio does his best to avoid drawing too much heat and focus. Hopefully that isn't hard- but he hates the idea of being a sitting duck as well.

Snow is falling. It falls off the boughs of branches, sloughs of white sliding off with each vibration of the area, and with each bit of heat to loosen the ice. Some of it falls right on them in fact, though between Emmet's fur and the bone helmet, he's good.

But it does give him an idea.

Gathering what he can from right out of the mane, Emporio forms a snowball best he's able without falling right off. Abomasnow can fight all she wants, sure, okay.

But in that case-

"Knock it OFF!" comes the squeaking protest, as Fling launches the snowball ahead. Not that it's going to be doing much of anything next to the fire, but maybe an unexpected pea-shooter will make all the difference?

The Shadow Ball Emmet looses first skitters across Abomasnow's Aurora Veil, the glittering protective aura having dissipated much of the attack's impact in a display of glimmering, multicolored light by the time the unstable orb of ghostly energy makes it through. In parts, though, it seems that . . .

Ingo's follow up Flamethrower punches right through. The veil does blunt a significant amount of the full force of the attack, but all the same, the flames are striking into a severe weakness, and manage to score angry burns up Abomasnow's flank. She hisses, the sound much like rustling leaves and falling snow— is given the briefest of pause by the flung Snowball that lands between her eyes for the unexpected source— then renews her offensive with another Blizzard, which Emmet only just manages to get another hasty Protect barrier up in time for, luckily for Emporio (the Protect does not block the entirety of the attack, but it does manage to deflect enough).

(It's not quite as strong as the first. Less snow and ice this time and more wind, howling gales and gusts buffeting the group of them insistently as if to herd them away from something.

A serious battle is power against power, feelings against feelings ... )

Ingo backs off a little, face turned away from the wind. He knows what a territorial, protective Pokemon looks like. But how many times has he already tried to talk her down? They can't just turn around and go home!

Violet embers leap from the flames on his back, hovering unnaturally in the air around him. The start of an Infernal Parade, though he holds it at bay for a moment. "If you will simply tell us WHERE SHE HAS GONE, we will go after her and be on our way!" he snarls. "I am a WARDEN! I will not leave a lost child to fend for herself out here!"

Another yelp- this time it's that much harder to keep holding onto Emmet's mane, but by sheer luck he manages it...

Even if his helmet absolutely doesn't remain on his head. The cubone shudders at the exposure to the chill, but rather than duck back down he tries to reach into his satchel for what he's supposed to use for fling.

Rocks.

"If you're so worried about others, stop trying to freeze us!"

And that's another fastball, with a good deal more weight to it than some snow.

From further into the copse of trees, low to the ground and hidden in the brush, there's a squeak and a whimper, a break in the dam that gives way to a quiet susurrus of nonononono, go away, go away, leave us alone, stop hurting us, stop hurting mom—

Perhaps because of the reminder, the frost tree stands tall, refusing to back down despite the injury. "And what of the children she's hurt?" snarls Abomasnow right back. "This lost child of yours, she comes tearing through the snow and up the mountain with no care for those in her way, no care at all for the many, many Pokemon she's hurt—"

A broad sweep of one of her large arms sets the storming white around them aflurry again, but not in an attack; the gesture seems only to be intended to make and emphasize her point, with the renewed Snow Warning as a side effect.

(In the air around Emmet's collar, flames blink and flicker into life as well, blue-white and pale. Like Ingo's flames they linger near to him; unlike his, they are nowhere near as powerful a promise of an attack, and are meant only to provide what warmth they can for the passenger riding along. He himself won't offer anything to the conversation other than a watchful eye.)

"And I am just supposed to let you retrieve her and go about on your merry way? I suppose she is the one who matters most here, is she not?" A derisive snort escapes her in a visible cloud of breath. "Freezing you ... child, I will explain this to you alone: there are only four of you. Even if you should be lost beneath the snow ... How many Pokemon do you think your little lost Deerling has come across on her way here? Do you think all of them were found?"

Ingo's ears flatten at the sound, easily the most dramatic expression Emporio has probably ever seen out of him. He didn't want this to be a fight before; knowing there are young Snorunt here makes it seem impossible.

But what is he to do? They cannot just abandon Noelle. Maybe she's not around, and this is all for nothing...but, the way that Abomasnow is speaking of her, Ingo finds it difficult to believe that is the case.

"She was not like that before Froslass!" he calls out, something a little like anguish in his voice. Ingo doesn't know Noelle that well. He'd been worried about her, but only as a distant neighbor, the way he would about nearly any of the young displaced Pokemon here. But in this too, they're the same. "She came among us and took control of many Pokemon...bending them to serve her whims! It seemed to affect Noelle more than most - I do not know why, but she is unwell!"

Does that make a difference? Ingo...isn't sure. He may not have been so far gone as Noelle, but he is not happy with everything he did for Froslass either. For all that he's willing to forgive the Deerling, he can understand where Abomasnow is coming from. He's much less willing to forgive himself.

Still - still! "What is any of this to accomplish? If there are more passengers who require assistance, then let us organize a proper search instead of standing about attacking one another! The others have already found and aided several such Pokemon - if we can determine her path more exactly, we will have a much easier time of it!" Which would, of course, be aided if Abomasnow could provide them information about her movements! Instead of attacking them with snow!

His flames remain lit brightly, but there's no attack from Ingo. Is he brewing up a Strong style move, or passing altogether?

To be addressed this way by the Abomasnow- to be looked down on while still being attacked, it feels- it causes Emporio to take a moment to pause. To think.

To focus, in fact, as he gathers his might under Focus Energy. Realistically he doesn't know what they should have expected from her. She very clearly doesn't want to talk, and very definitely won't see any reason, but now he knows for a fact that Noelle is back there.

And Noelle, whatever the case, was at least nice to him.

Emmet will feel Emporio standing up within the mane- even adjusting himself, muttering an apology. It's not going to feel great, what he's about to do. Does he think 'all of them' were found?

Better question, he supposes. Why assume there's only four? He could answer with that, point out how multiple teams have all been coming and going with various other Pokemon, their leads being the exact reason that their own group came this far, but instead he eyes the snow below them with a shaking grimace.

He really hopes this works.

"...Do you think they weren't?" He says, and then, he throws his hand forward in a move the other two will find very familiar.

He expects something like what Abomasnow does, really. That he'll end up unleashing a 'blizzard' that can't actually hit his partners. The latter part is true- as always, Secret Power is Normal Type. But it's not a Blizzard.

An avalanche, or at least the vision of one, comes barreling forward from where the three stand. Emporio jumps, the motion and pressure from which explains the cubone's pre-emptive apology, and in the false snow he quickly vanishes.

He vanishes into the normal snow too, ice burns be damned. If they can't go through the lot, then he's going under- and he can!

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FLIGHT AND FREEZE

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