Flowey's Friendly February (& March) Catch-All

[friendlyflower]

Who: Flowey & Bigby, Eleanor, Nico Robin, others to be added
What: Quests (Bounty: Frightening Freeze; Light Construction; Tough Luv; others TBA) and more?
Where: Icefall Lake, Heavy Downmoor, the coast
When: February through March
Warnings: Violence (canon-typical, including battling, and maybe beyond), Flowey's warnings (child injury & past death, disassociation, angst)

Comments

2/2

[friendlyflower]

But that's when Bigby interrupts. Flowey does hear what he's referring to: a wind not like the unfocused snowstorm they've trudged through, but a razor-sharp knife slicing through the ice straight towards them.

It's only because of his warning that he jumps out of the way. He can't make out the Pokemon itself at first, the way it blends into the white all around them. All he can do is quickly duck and dodge under Aurora Beams.

"Get out! Leave this instant!" the attacker demands. Flowey can only make it out by its eyes at first-- large, black, insect-like eyes that stare daggers right into him. "She's already suffering enough! Don't you come and make it worse!"

"'She', huh?" Flowey says. It must be Froslass, then. "Golly! If she's in pain, I guess we better just go home." He quickly winks at Bigby. "I'll start heading down!"

By hopping down the path, Frosmoth has turned mostly away from Bigby, just as Flowey intended. Still indignant, it insists: "Take the other one."

"Him? He couldn't hurt a Caterpie," Flowey says. A certain malice underlies his words, like he's casting a spell. "Good thing, too! Sounds like your stupid Froslass is going to keel over any second, and you'll never see her again."

It's an unconventional Swagger, but it works. Already furious, the Frosmoth quickly boils over into a near-rabid state. It fires attack after attack at Flowey, who- to his credit- holds his own by hiding behind small glaciers and snow drifts. But the Frosmoth is quickly cutting through them all; he can't dodge forever. He can shake off the snow and ice a tiny bit because of his warm clothes, but a Bug Buzz reverberates through his shell and leaves him open.

[wolfcut]

Whatever Flowey was planning to say can wait. He forces himself to stand as the Frosmoth comes into view, but he's immediately clutching at his chest despite the inevitable about to happen. His eyes narrow up at the bug flying overhead, not in the mood at this point to bother with trying to talk the Pokémon down, especially not when it's obviously talking about her.

"You—" Before he can get a word in, Flowey's already putting the attention all himself. His frustration shifts to confusion just slightly with the wink in his direction. Then, it all becomes clear when the Swagger takes effect. Fur bristling, Bigby instinctively wants to jump in, only to hesitate as the pain flares up again. He curls up slightly, stuck watching while Flowey has to hold his own. Credit where credit's due: the sunflower seed can do more than cry and whine. Not that Bigby can think much about that right now.

While the Frosmoth focuses on Flowey, he slinks off in the background, finding a spot to hole himself away in to mostly recover. From his own supplies, he fishes for another berry, about to force himself to eat that one too, but pops his head out instead once he hears an attack hit. His ears flatten instantly, eyes going wide as he sees the Frosmoth readying up another empowered move.

"Hey! Forget about me?" It pauses to spin around, angrily swooping toward him for its next Bug Buzz next. Not great with him being just as weak to it, but he stances up regardless. With a glance toward Flowey, he throws the berry over. "Big mistake."

Bold words from a tiny thing like him. He pulls in a deep breath, not taking his eyes off the Pokémon even as it flies dangerously close. Once it's in just the right spot, he finally fires off another Aeroblast at an actual target this time. The force behind it sends him flying against a wall, but it also lands just as intended. He doesn't see it, too busy dealing with more self-inflicted injuries, but the Frosmoth does get shot back with a super effective move, dazed and confused, unable to stay in the air for much longer. It drops further away, and the air goes quiet.

[friendlyflower]

He manages to shake off the Bug Buzz in time to see Bigby send the Frosmoth packing. "Kill stealer," he says, well aware that he was not going to be able to defeat it. At least his plan of keeping it busy worked.

He hops over to the crumpled pile of hamster. He digs in the bandana/sling he stored his items in. Empty. It's at that moment the Violent Seed leaves his system and he collapses next to Bigby in the snow.

"... how did you learn that wind move? I knew you were full of hot air, but it seems counterintuitive for a Morpeko." It sends him flying every time!

[wolfcut]

He is so close to snapping back with a retort of his own, lip curling at the corner for a split second before he reels it back in. For now, he’ll let the kid have this after doing the bulk of the work anyway. Maybe Bigby should show some appreciation. Instead, he huffs a sigh, glancing over with a raised brow over at the Sunkern now collapsed beside him.

“Here? Dunno. Just woke up with it one day.” He suspects it had to with SINTO during the holidays, but he’s not giving the mental image of him covered in glitter for days to Flowey. “Not like it’s new to me. It’s just this da— ... this body. You think I was a rat back home too?”

He’s not sure if Flowey’s picked up that he wasn’t exactly human before coming here either, but questions are inevitable when you’re stuck as a hamster that can huff and puff. Quietly, he starts to dig through his own satchel.

“I have some seeds, if you want.” No more special than trail mix, with bits of dried berries for good measure, but energy is energy.

[friendlyflower]

He barely resists the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes at Bigby's self censorship. As far as he's concerned, Bigby was always a rat. What he looked like was another story. But if he lets himself take the bait, they'll never stop squabbling on this dumb frozen rock.

"Of course you do." He uses a vine to shovel some into his mouth. "And no, though you take to being a rat so well. As much as I hate to sound like I'm inflating your ego, I know a hardened killer when I see one."

Bigby could have killed him easily, back in the clinic. That's what really scared him. Once the moment was over, it was very apparent to him Bigby had held back-- just like he did when he knocked Flowey out of that tree for dumping snow on his head. Even that Frosmoth, who should have by all rights buried them both, is probably dead at the bottom of a ditch.

"And I keep my ears to the ground. You weren't human. You hunted for your food just like Fireheart, didn't you? It was being the victim of it for once that really pissed you off. You weren't some little prey animal like a rat, you were a predator. Something big. Something terrible."

He sounds a little accusatory, but also... admiring, in a strange way.

[wolfcut]

"Mm." Of course he does. He can't even argue otherwise anymore. Hunting at this size with the amount he has to eat is nowhere near as efficient as stockpiling the most obvious snack in the world. Too bad that Frosmoth wound up who knows where, though he doubts the kid would've been happy to see him eat that instead. He opens the small sack a bit more, ready to take a handful for himself once Flowey has his fill, only to look up at the Sunkern with a knot in his brow.

It takes a killer to know a killer, though now it's a bit easier for Bigby to wrap his head around it when it comes to Flowey. Even the Big Bad Wolf started off as a lonely little runt crying over his mother. He scoffs under his breath, remembering when he ran into Firepaw in the forest, his first real introduction to where he is on the food chain here, nearly a year ago now.

"Yeah, that's right. I was the thing people told stories about. The reason they stayed out of the woods and boarded their houses at night," he mutters, quiet even if it is just the two of them here. The sneer in his voice is obvious, unable to hide the hint of mockery at his own expense when he's fallen this low. Even pretending to be a human never felt as wrong as this. He takes a few seeds, biting down with a low laugh.

"Never helped them for long though." He closes the sack of trail mix, stashing it back away into his satchel. With a small stretch, he finally gets back on two feet. "Maybe it's a good thing this place turned us into a couple of chew toys instead. Could've handled that bug all by yourself, but where's the fun in that."

[friendlyflower]

Interesting how Bigby finally started putting some respect on his name. It's almost as if Flowey treats people nicely, they're more inclined to treat him well in return. Groundbreaking.

Of course he knew that- he spent an eternity playing nice with everyone Underground and being their best friend, therapist, hero- and he was sick to fucking death of those whiny idiots and their tiny problems by the end of it. Who cares if nobody likes your stupid hat? Keep crying about it to the soulless abomination.

After he wound up here, he thought he'd keep up his old tricks-- and then this world showed him it's not a secret level, but a new game entirely. His secrets spilled out through the fog; Firepaw saved his life; he couldn't undo any tragedies anymore. It should've kept him on his best behavior, knowing his decisions were permanent-- but instead, it ironically cut him free.

"Eh, maybe. That thing was fast and had a type advantage on me. It worked out better to keep it busy until you could swat it." Looks like Bigby saved him again. Other times include stopping him from running away and catching him when he fell out of Perrin's bag, but who's counting? "So, thanks for that."

He stares out in the direction of the chasm, not quite looking at Bigby, unsure how to identify the mixed emotions he's feeling. He should be happy Bigby finally seems to think well of him, and to an extent he is, though he doesn't and can't really care what he thinks.

"I wasn't lying when I said I killed more than you can imagine. It's just that I wasn't the fearsome monster that you must've been. In fact, I wasn't too far off from this." A little more sprouted-- that's all. "My real advantage is long gone. Since we're being all honest: I could turn back time. 'Reset' everything. Every time I died, I'd come back and start it all over again."

Even if his odds of winning any given fight were 1% or lower, that was only a matter of time and determination. It's not like he had anything better to do.

Whenever he dies this time, it's for good. That's the other reason he's been working so hard besides getting Ribombee's recognition. He is still scared of dying- utterly terrified, and he's sure Chara would scold him for not learning his lesson about winding up in the clinic- and yet, for some reason, he's calm as he talks. More 'matter of fact' than 'whiny child,' though he knows he's earned that latter reputation.

Maybe he let the pendulum swing a little too far in the other direction. He still has no soul, and he still thinks he'll always make things worse for everyone.

But Bigby is still alive for now, at least. That's something, right?

[wolfcut]

A lesson Bigby knows too well, even if he's the first to let his emotions get the best of him. His head tilts at Flowey, a bit taken aback at the maturity being displayed here, but appreciative all the same. If anyone's keeping score on who's saving who, it's definitely not Bigby, who simply nods in return.

"You took the brunt of it, kid," he huffs. "So, thanks for that, too."

Briefly, he glances away from Flowey toward the path up. Steep. Cold. Dangerous. Who knows how they'll manage against Froslass at this point. Despite the challenges so far, Bigby's suddenly feeling a bit better about their odds, even if it still won't be easy. But when Flowey continues, his ears flatten slightly, attention slowly going back to him.

"... So that's what your thesaurus of a friend meant." Flowey's safety net, if he remembers that right. A boy who can't die, doomed to repeat, suddenly forced to face the reality of his consequences. Aside from the power to turn back time, it sounds familiar all over again. "It's not easy, losing whatever it is that made you something. But you get used to it, little by little."

Not that he expects Flowey to take it too much to heart, as preteens are wont to do. Though, Bigby supposes there's a difference too, when he's the one actively pulling his own restraints back home. It's close enough. All the strength and power that comes with being the Big Bad Wolf might as well not exist when he's choosing to live as Sheriff Bigby. He adjusts his satchel, ready to get going whenever Flowey is.

[friendlyflower]

"Yeah, because running away is stupid and you have to keep on going and yadda yadda." It was getting way to genuine for him. He's going to need to spend at least a few hours watching random forest Pokemon succumb to his pitfall traps in order to get his swag back. "Sheesh. I hear you, dad. Don't make me call you 'old man' again."

Still, there's a smile on his face that's less forced than usual, and his ribbing seems a little more affable. The break has reinvigorated him, the adrenaline crash has left his body, and he hates Bigby a little less than before. He'd better get going before they become 'friends' or something.

He hops ahead, but this time, turns a little to make sure Bigby is following.

[wolfcut]

"Oh, so you were listening to me." Bigby laughs at least, already expecting as much. They can move on from that conversation when they've got something a whole lot more pressing to deal with instead. Though, getting called dad, even as a joke, does give him pause. A step above grandpa, but it still gets his fur to bristle slightly. It's a loaded term, and one he's going to try to brush off with a joke of his own.

"Careful. Don't want me to start ruffling your leaves."

Surely better than chewing on them again, though knowing Flowey, maybe that'd be more emotionally painful. Something to consider for next time he gets on his nerves. For now, he follows closely behind Flowey, ready to finish scaling up the mountain. Of course, the higher up they go, the more brutal the wind gets, forcing them to stay low and take it slow to avoid getting blown away. Despite his own abilities, he always hated the damn wind, and this time is no different. Hearing those sudden screams immediately puts him on edge, and for good reason.

"We're getting close," he mutters, glancing over at Flowey with a slight shudder. "You holding up okay?"

[friendlyflower]

Struck a nerve? Interesting. Given that he's so keen to collect strays, Flowey is surprised that Bigby takes umbrage with being called 'dad'. (Maybe he thought that Flowey was being genuine. Ugh.)

He doesn't apologize, but he does keep his mouth shut instead of making things worse, which is a marked improvement.

Even if he wanted to argue, it takes all his energy just to survive. More than once, they have to huddle in crevices to avoid being swept off the mountain. His leaves are wilted and frost has formed on his outer shell. Having a knit cap has helped, but it's starting to get wet from the melted snow, which is a detriment. Sunkern doesn't exactly produce body heat like an animal would, so there's only so much good he can do by getting closer to Bigby. (It's also the principle of the thing, but y'know.)

Soon, they've reached their last chance to give up. The higher they climb up, the further they'd have to descend if they did chicken out. Considering the path they manage to carve through the frost is quickly filled back in by fresh snowfall, it wouldn't even be a fast return trip.

But Bigby has no intention of quitting, and neither does he. Although he would say if asked that it's vengeance driving him, he's also become increasingly driven by a strange camaraderie. He won't let Bigby go alone. He won't let Bigby think he's just some whiny kid.

So even though he's miserable, he nods. "It's rough--" It would be laughable to pretend that's not the case, "-- but I'll live. Pokemon are resilient, even chew toys like us."

Many have bounced back from near-death scenarios and been back to guild work within a couple days. He's seen it from his time lurking around the clinic.

"Listen, we want to know exactly what our plan is once we get up there. Our best bet is probably going to be repeating the Frosmoth strategy. I've got some good distraction and weakening moves. I'll be counting on you to strike her while her back is turned. What do you think?"

The check-in is nice, but he thinks it best to look forward rather than focus on their present misery.

[wolfcut]

Bigby wraps his arms around himself. Even a brief stop is enough to remind him just how icy these winds are. His fur can only withstand so much, and with him being as small as he is, he know his body won't be able to hold off the torpor for too long either. Against all his shivering, he remains resolute, expression hardly shifting as Flowey echoes his thoughts. Pokémon might be sturdy, but monsters like them don't die so easily either.

"Agreed," he huffs quietly. Bigby had more than a few reservations at the start, but the fight with Frosmoth instilled a bit of faith in him that he's not so easy to let go of now. He nods at the Sunkern for good measure before lifting his head slightly to pinpoint the direction the winds are blowing in from. They might not be all her doing, but after scaling a mountain more than a few times to fight a god before, he knows the usual tricks. "Let's use our size to our advantage for once while we're at it. I doubt she'll see us coming if we keep low and quiet."

If what he's thinking is right, the rumors some months ago made her sound massive compared to her first arrival in Skull Town.

"Just don't expect another final blow like last time. She's weak to Dark-types, but I'll have to be close first to get an attack in."

[friendlyflower]

Good thinking. Begrudgingly, he can feel the amount of respect he has for Bigby increasing. He nods meaningfully, and the two make the final push to the mountain's peak.

There, standing above it all, is Froslass. She doesn't look how she did when she descended from the mountain, though. Right now, she stands like a beautiful ice sculpture, humming and twirling and summoning freezing winds in her wake-- and then screams as if in terrible pain, nearly triggering an avalanche. It's all they can do to hold on.

Flowey sticks low, ducking behind snow and ice to avoid detection, but it's not as difficult as he thought; Froslass's mind doesn't seem to be entirely here. He waits for the perfect moment. A Grasswhistle harmonizes with Froslass's humming.

She doesn't fall asleep, but she slouches, her eyelids growing heavy. She twirls again, firing icicles everywhere like missiles. One of them shatters the frozen stalagmite that Flowey had been hiding behind. It's all he can do to roll out of the way and try to keep Froslass's back turned to Bigby-- but as rifts tear open the very air around them, Flowey realizes this might be the hardest battle he's fought yet.

He follows with a Swagger, only adding to Froslass's frenzy. An Ice Beam aimed directly for him seems like it's going to spell his death, but then he blinks out of existence and reappears from a rift. He gets his bearings quickly and manages to land a Leech Seed on the furious Pokemon, making her scream out again.

The only thing making this possible for him at all is that the drowsiness has slowed Froslass down significantly. He leans into the chaos of the rifts, used to bending time to his advantage. Once, he catches a glimpse of the past- Froslass, before she changed, inspecting the rifts on the mountain's peak- but he's thrown into combat before he can think too much about it. He dodges for his life, sometimes tossing a rock or spare icicle back at Froslass with a vine. It only chips away at her health, but hopefully it will be enough to buy Bigby the time he needs.

[wolfcut]

It starts as well as it can. Froslass, lost in her own mind. Flowey, capable of more than just brute force. They make for quite a pair of colliding forces. Bigby, meanwhile, sticks to the sidelines, watching as Grasswhistle takes effect, waiting for the right time to strike. Occasionally, while her focus is elsewhere, he strikes with a few stray Thunder Shocks and Seed Bombs, if only to further disorient her while he dodges out of sight. Just a bit more, he thinks, and then he'll finally close in.

Except, she manages to aim an Ice Beam right at the kid.

"—Flowey!" His shout gets drowned out by her screams. In that moment, he charges forward, blood boiling, teeth bared as his cheeks spark. He's ready to lose himself completely to the fight, fur shifting to its darker hues, only for him to suddenly try skidding to a stop. At first, there's Shoka and Eleanor, and then, nothing but clear skies. Just as quickly, he's back where he was, in time to see the Leech Seed hit.

He shakes off the confusion before he has any time to think about it, dashing along on all fours as a different kind of energy radiates off him. With a loud growl, he emits a Dark Pulse right at her, strong enough to get her to flinch, the perfect opportunity for him to pounce onto her. He doesn't even stop to consider just how high he has to climb up, claws digging into her as she tries to fling him off. All he thinks is to keep going until he can finally bite into her neck with deep Crunch.

But after another screech of pain, she manages to pull him off, tossing Bigby back down to roll in the snow. He struggles to get back up, but he has to keep going. They made it this far. There's no going back. The rifts, however, grow stronger, until he swears he can hear the echoes of a voice that definitely shouldn't be there. Bigby glances over at Flowey with uncertainty right as Froslass collapses into a heap. He stances up, ready for more, but when she doesn't move, all he does is stare.

"What...?"

[friendlyflower]

The howling wind finally subsides. The skies clear once and for all, not just temporarily from the effects of his Sunny Day move.

Flowey makes his way back to Bigby's side, both as a way of showing that he's okay (wilting, half-frozen, and having nearly died multiple times-- but okay!) and because he's not entirely sure this isn't a trick.

Few are happy with Froslass after all she's done, but as the other teams debate, it sounds like the majority decision is to spare her life. He can accept that- he was spared, as little as he deserved it- but he does have one objection. "We can't be certain this won't happen again. Even she doesn't seem to know how this started or where these rifts came from." He nods towards Bigby. "We're owed some answers."

good to wrap?

[wolfcut]

Even with the focus on Froslass, he does take a second to give Flowey a once over when he comes closer. He presses a paw on one of his shoulders, slouching slightly, but saying nothing about either of their injuries. They'll find their way to the clinic eventually, but for now, just as Flowey said, they have to deal with her before making the trek back down.

"Well, go ahead. Explain yourself." Of course her answers don't change. She's not exactly apologetic, but her story remains consistent. Encountering the rifts, losing herself — she doesn't even seem to know how long she's been like this, despite all the rumors from months ago. The rest of the groups seem satisfied enough to let her go. "She can't — she needs to be held accountable."

But for what and for how long? Is this really about the damage she did here, or back in Skull Town? There isn't enough of a consensus. With all the commotion around her, there's barely enough time to ask about everything else she's done, but she's far too proud to ever admit any wrongdoing anyway, especially not to her darling little pet. She promises to take her leave at the very least, granting the crowd a parting gift that Bigby can only scoff at. At least it's not another outfit.

He does feel less than satisfied at the outcome, but it wasn't all for nothing, and now they're not so alone in this.

"C'mon, kid. Let's make it back in one piece."

wrapped

[friendlyflower]

"What a bunch of bleeding heart morons," he mutters. This isn't the time or place for extended debate, even with the ice storm behind them, so he leaves it at that. He doubts this is the last they'll see of Froslass.

At the very least, he survived-- and gained a lot of information. He'll commit to documenting and mapping it once his stem isn't frozen solid. And for once, an interaction with Bigby went actually well. Maybe they'll be back to old habits as soon as they reach the clinic, or maybe this is the start of a new understanding between two (former) killers.

For now, he just nods and begins the journey back down.