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

[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.