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

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

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)

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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.

"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.

"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?"

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.

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."

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.

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...?"

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."

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."

"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.

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

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