Ermahgerd SNER

[Kids These Days]

_{Thread Season: Winter
Thread Start Time: Afternoon, about 2:30}

"ARCEUS it's cold," Bryan hissed, and that was saying something, because he wasn't one to get cold. He'd even resorted to throwing on his old brown hunting jacket, which, since his body heat hadn't made it warm yet, was only making him shudder. The lack of sunlight wasn't doing him any justice either. His 'Russian hat', as it had been so fondly dubbed, was keeping his ears warm, though, so he couldn't really complain.

It'll be good for you, his parents had said, go on an adventure like all the other kids have! Well, if frostbite is good for the soul, then he had damn well accomplished what his parents had wanted him to do. He was just beginning to think about turning heel and heading back to town when a delibird landed in front of him, dropped a parcel, and flapped off, leaving a few bright red feathers in its wake.

"HEY! Come back here!" He shouted after it, grumbling as he knelt down and opened the parcel. Inside was a pokeball, and a note.

Bryan--
We've sent you a pokemon, just in case you didn't go to the lab like you told us you would. Her name's Rosa. We thought you'd be good pals.
Love, Mom and Dad~

"Fantastic. Parents don't even trust me to keep my word, don't care enough to write something meaningful, probably sent some snarky prick," he muttered, attaching the pokeball to the single strap on his backpack before stuffing his hands back into his coat pockets and continuing his slow shamble along the route, which was being made extremely non-linear (read: abso-freaking-lutely invisible) by the snow. Bryan seemed determined to be a Grinch.

[kitsunaii]

Though it was cold, there was much movement beyond the snow and ice. A pair of Nidoran, a male and a female, burrowed side by side into the snow to get to their burrow. Upon succeeding, they dove into the hole in the dirt, which was promptly obscured by the thickly falling snow. Distantly, one might catch a glimpse of a Rhyhorn shuffling about in the cold, looking for a bite of grass to eat. The cold didn't seem to be bothering the rocky beast, despite the Pokémon's weakness to both water and ice attacks. Clearly the snow wasn't hard enough to cause the rhinoceros any damage.

Quite a bit closer to the youth trainer, a single Mightyena wandered silently. He stood out quite a bit more from the snow than the other Pokémon did, and he appeared to be sniffing the air for fresh scents and failing due to his damp surroundings. If one were to keep watching, they might see how he shivered despite his thick covering of fur.

[Kids These Days]

Despite the chill, there still seemed to be extremely subtle evidence of life on the route. Wasn't everything supposed to be hibernating or something? Whatever the case, there were things afoot; every few minutes there would be a tiny scraping or scuttling of something small, or so it seemed. It didn't really matter to him, though; as long as it wasn't screwing with him it could be plotting world domination for all he cared.

There was one good thing about snow being everywhere, though. If it wasn't all dressed up in white or disguised as a rock, it was pretty easy to see. Most pokemon would stick out like a sore thumb just because of their coloring, and the fact that most of the foliage was gone would factor in to the overall visibility of threats.

What this enabled him to see made him stop and stare. THAT was definitely not supposed to be on this route, if his memory was serving him well. It was a large black-and-gray canine- a mightyena, was it?- sniffing around in the snow not too far away.

Weren't those things supposed to be, like, level twenty or something? Well, crap.

[kitsunaii]

The wolf Pokémon hadn't noticed Bryan yet, but did continue to move through the drifts in his general direction. He was looking for his pack, not a meal, so when he did notice the young trainer, he'd likely run away from him rather than attempt to battle. Unfortunately for the Mightyena, though, his pack had already moved towards another area and hadn't even realized yet that he was missing, and there was a very low chance of catching their scent in this snowy air.

Finally, the grey Pokémon spotted Bryan. He stiffened, tail erect, then drooped. What was the use? He was alone now. A pathetic bark escaped his mouth and faded into a whine as he laid down on the ground.

[Kids These Days]

Bryan tensed when the Mightyena noticed him, ready to run in the event of an attack (like that'd do much good) but was surprised and relieved when the Pokemon simply barked and laid down in the snow. After the initial relief that he was, in fact, not going to be eaten, confusion set in. Why did it just flop onto the ground? You'd expect it to have at least run away. It didn't even growl-- there was something wrong with this picture.

Now, he wasn't generally the helpful type. If something was going wrong and it wouldn't directly involve him, he usually let the sleeping dog lie, because why would you make a mess that didn't need to be made? But something about this whole situation seemed off. The thought of just leaving the Pokemon alone in the snow unsettled his stomach, which was odd, since he wasn't notorious for having a guilty conscience. So, going by his gut and not his better judgement (this would be considered a wild animal and those tend to be quite dangerous), he began to inch toward the Mightyena, trying not to make any sudden movements.

Part of him said, you twit, you're going to lose your hand, and another part said, nothing is going to go wrong. At least, not horribly wrong. If anything he could try to warm it up and leave it with some food... Did Mightyena eat berries? He seemed to be accumulating a lot of them.

[kitsunaii]

A new scent caused the canine to lift his head and peer out into the snow. Was that a human? What was a human doing out here in this weather? Didn't they have houses and other places to shelter..? At the thought of shelter, the Mightyena had an idea and stood up fully, wagging his tail and giving what he hoped was a friendly-sounding bark at the human. Maybe the human could get him to somewhere warm and safe, where he wouldn't need a pack to help him..

[Kids These Days]

Well, that did it. He would never understand Pokemon. Why was he doing this again? Oh, yeah. Right. Parents.

Bryan stopped moving toward the seemingly bipolar wolf and maintained eye contact, trying to be relaxed, though it was hard when you were completely weirded out by the whole situation. "Um... Are you alright over there?" You're talking to it now? BS. "It is kind of cold out." You're freaking insane.

You know, this is where having paid attention in all those 'boring' classes about Pokemon would have come in handy. Probably should've thought about that while you were making paper airplanes and turning people's backpacks inside-out and gift-wrapping them with duct tape, eh?

[kitsunaii]

The wild Pokémon whined and took a step closer to Bryan, shivering visibly. He seemed to be asking the trainer to help him get to somewhere warm, in a way. It was really hard to communicate something like that when all you could say was your own species name, but he tried. "Might, might.." He sounded tired, sad, and lost. Taking another step forward, he gazed up into Bryan's eyes, trying to convey 'please get me out of here' with his eyes.

[Kids These Days]

Bryan wasn't a master detective or anything, but he was gathering that this mightyena was very cold and very alone. He didn't really have anywhere warm to take the Pokemon; for one, he didn't want to go back into town, and two, his parents would bite his head off if he came knocking on their door this soon into his little expedition. And it would be kind of rude to stuff it in a pokeball; he didn't even know if it was warm in those things.

Sighing, he shrugged his backpack off and knelt down, removing the pokeball that contained his starter, the torchic. He sure hoped fire type thingamadoos had internal body heat, because as touch as he was when it came to weather, no one wanted to trudge through snow without a jacket on. He then took off his jacket, which had finally warmed up, and inched toward the mightyena, moving to gently drape it over its back.

"Okay," Bryan started, talking slowly, trying not to alarm it, "you can have my jacket until we get somewhere warm, but then I need it back." He slipped his backpack back over his head then, already suppressing shudders from the snow that was drenching his shoulders. He then let out the torchic in a burst of red light, and she ruffled her feathers at the snow. Bryan scooped her up, making a mental note to think of a name for the little bird later, and stood. She noticed the mightyena and eyed it suspiciously, evidently ready to fight at a moment's notice.

Well, the little bird was warm. That was a plus. "Come on now, let's find you someplace warm, or at least some dry sticks so my friend here can light us a fire," he said to the wolf, then added, "and maybe you can help us navigate." It was nice that they had a purpose now, at least. In the back of his mind, almost out of reach, he wondered if the mightyena would like to stick around, even after they eased its pain.

[kitsunaii]

Though the Mightyena tensed slightly when the trainer took out a Poké Ball of all things, he relaxed when the jacket was covering his shoulders and part of his body. He felt warmer already, in fact! How lucky it was that he had found a human that wasn't terrible like his pack always said they were. He wondered why his pack hated humans so much, if they could be nice like this. This one had given him a pelt to keep him warm even though he had more fur than the human did! The Pokémon had perked up quite visibly by the time the Torchic was out of its Poké Ball, but the Mightyena was too glad to be warming up to be worried about a fight. He looked up at Bryan, tilting his head as if to ask which way to go.

[Kids These Days]

Holding the torchic close to his chest and biting his lip to keep his teeth still, Bryan started to trudge toward the treeline where the forest took over the otherwise very grassy route. They could find something in there to make a fire, probably. Every so often, he glanced over his shoulder to see if the mightyena was following. He wasn't losing his jacket to a Pokemon today.

It was during this slow walk that he began to question himself. Why was he doing this again? Nothing was obligating him to help this creature. It had fur and, probably, friends nearby that would be more than happy to eat him for dinner. He wasn't one to go around helping things. If it didn't affect him, it wasn't something he got involved in.

He let out a little sigh, staring straight ahead. He supposed no one was that heartless. This was his good deed to make up for however long he'd been going around not caring.

[kitsunaii]

Indeed, there were many fallen branches in the forest, though since most of them had fallen from the weight of the snow they were all very damp. Unfortunately, it would take more heat than originally thought to get these sticks to light.

The Mightyena didn't really know what to do to help Bryan to help him warm up, so he decided to dig into the snow to make himself a hole to lay in and then curled up in it, keeping his ears perked in case he was needed for something. Meanwhile, the combination of the snow-hole and the trainer's jacket would keep him from freezing any more than he already had.

[Kids These Days]

Or, you know, the mightyena could just dig a hole and curl up in it and not help them to avoid getting lost. No biggy.

The fact that all he had to keep him warm at this point was a torchic and an ushanka was starting to take affect. He held the torchic a little tighter, and in protest she let out a little peep, wriggling a little. He muttered an apology before turning his gaze from the ground to the trees. Surely there would be some low hanging branches not smothered by snow up there-- he didn't have any qualms about breaking some things.

After a bit of effort and searching around, he had gathered a decent amount of twiggy offshoots from tree branches, swept away a patch of snow near the mightyena's hidey-hole, and dumped the small collection of twigs onto the slightly damp ground, all the while trying to keep his internal body temperature normal. Bryan was starting to get a bit bitter about this-- and who wouldn't? Sitting down criss-cross applesauce, he reluctantly put the torchic back on the ground. She ruffled her feathers and chirped happily, fluttering her tiny wings. She then eyeballed the small pile of twigs, puffed out her chest feathers, and exhaled sharply, producing a wisp of smoke.

Well, crap, Bryan thought, his resolve weakening as he watched the little bird, so bold and determined, try again and again. However, she eventually spat out a little puff of flame onto the twigs. He hoped that had done it, because he was starting to shiver. Go on a journey, they said. It will be fun, they said. I deserve a freakin' Nobel peace prize or something.

[kitsunaii]

The top twigs caught fire and started a small blaze, which began eating away at the other wood very quickly. As soon as the Mightyena smelled the smoke, he stepped out of his hole and shook himself free of the snow that had landed on him when he was digging and trotted close to the fire. This was the closest he had ever been to the red-orange flames before, so he was curious and got a bit too close, singing his nose slightly and causing him to yip suddenly. Teary-eyed, he stepped away and laid down again, eyeing the fire warily.

Nearby, a Sentret found an item half-buried in snow and attempted to pull it out and take it. It was a Potion, and the raccoon/squirrel/thing struggled to pull it from the frozen ground with little success. Growing angry, it decided to kick the Potion, earning it a throbbing pain in its foot until it went back to tugging forcefully. Suddenly, the item popped out, causing it and the Pokémon to go flying backwards, where they landed near the fire. Dazed, the Sentret lay still, with the Potion resting next to it. The Mightyena was sound asleep by now, luckily for the Sentret, which appeared to be out cold at this point.

[Kids These Days]

Thank goodness. He was certain his nose was going to fall off from cold. Patting the torchic on the head (which really just fed her slowly growing ego), he sat down criss-cross-apple-sauce in the snow and hunched over, content to just sit around and watch the fire for a while. It seemed to perk the mightyena up, at least, so much so that he nearly singed his nose off. Bryan smirked. "yeah, fire's kind of hot. I wouldn't get too close."

Meanwhile, a sentret made an unsuccessful attempt at looting the ground, which caught the torchic's attention. Immediately, she stood up as tall as she could, puffing out her feathers and scratching the ground, ready for anything... And then the pokemon somehow launched itself and the item, effectively knocking itself out cold... Or maybe it was just dazed. It was really hard to tell, but it wasn't exactly moving. The torchic drooped. Nope, no heroic butt-kicking for you today, little one. So, she did the next best thing and nudged Bryan's arm.

He snapped out of his day-dreamy state and glanced around, not taking too long to notice the new arrival. "Who do these pokemon think I am, some kind of charitable person?" He grumbled, hauling himself to his feet and walking over to the sentret. The torchic hopped along with him, stopping next to the rodent and making little chirping noises. Choosing to ignore his bird, he noticed the potion lying nearby and bent down to scoop it up. Finder's keeper's, I guess-- "What?" He hissed when the chirping became more insistant.

The torchic made vaguely circlular motions with its wings. Bryan got the gist of it... Or he thought, anyway. "You want me to catch it?" The torchic got excited. "Hey, I'm not the most honest person, but I don't think effectively kidnapping something that was dumb enough to knock itself out on a whim is a fantastic idea." Harsh. But he wasn't that selfish. Potions? Heck yes. Sentient creatures? Not so much.

[kitsunaii]

The Sentret still lay there, unmoving. About five minutes after all of that happened, the great canine's eyes fluttered open, and his gaze quickly found the tiny squirrel lying on the ground. As though to remind him of what Mightyena did with Sentret, his stomach growled, causing him to return the sentiment with bared teeth. He pounced, meaning to tear the tiny Pokémon to bits and devour it hastily.

[Kids These Days]

Bryan had sat himself back down near the fire, but his torchic remained loyally by the unconscious rodent's side. It was amusing at first, but it was getting on his nerves. What happened when it woke up? It was entirely reasonable to assume that the little bird would get its butt handed to it. And they had to leave eventually. Dragging a fire chicken anywhere against its will was not the most appealing idea.

The silence, aside from the crackling flames, lasted for about five minutes before the mightyena appeared to wake up. The trainer watched as its eyes settled on the sentret, almost hungrily. "Hey, what- NO!" Bryan scrambled to his feet and dove forward when the hyena lunged, even though he knew he'd never be fast enough. He landed, thud, on his stomach, arms stretched out in front of him, and lay there before picking himself up.

It was a good thing that torchic had been ever-so-diligently standing guard, because when the mightyena came barreling toward her and the rodent, she leaped forward as well, tiny 'talons' outstretched as she performed some weird flying-jump version of scratch, aimed at the hyena's soft nose.

This could only end badly.

[kitsunaii]

Even though he knew the Torchic had been helpful, it was now hindering him from getting to what he thought of as his prey, and that made it an enemy. He aimed a Bite at it, snarling and trying to get to the other side and the Sentret. If he got the chance, he'd be glad to snatch up the tiny creature and flee; he was just hungry, after all.

[cs=3]
Mightyena	Level 7
16/20	no status	normal stats

[Kids These Days]

11/20
(6*1.5)

The mightyena actually retaliating was not something the bold little bird had accounted for; and boy was she regretting it. The teeth closed on her wing, causing her to cry out in a shrill, chirp-like shriek. On an impulse, she lashed out with another scratch, talons glinting.

"Uh.. Yeah! Keep it up, Torchic!" Bryan shouted, sounding only half encouraging. He had other things on his mind, like he should really think of a name for the little bird and how the heck he was going to prevent himself from having to see an unconscious sentret be brutalized. Because that really wasn't on his to-do list.

Arceus, did trainers have to play hero like this all the time? This SUCKED. Well, he technically didn't have to. But he reasoned that things would get messy if he didn't, and he'd probably have to clean it up.

Beautiful.

This plan could backfire-- horribly, actually-- but he was not against giving a pokemon a foot to the face, despite whatever horrible things PETP or whatever pokemon rights service existed around here would do to him, so by his reasoning he'd make it out alive with potentially some bite-marks. Scars were cool anyway, so it couldn't be that bad.

While his torchic continued chirping in rage and trying to shred the mightyena's ears, Bryan made a dash around the two, making sure to give them a wide berth and trying to move as quietly as one could possibly move with heavy boots on in the midst of snow and plant debris, aiming to scoop up the body of the rodent before the hyena had a chance to lunge at it and tear it to shreds. Though he'd never tried cooked sentret before--- no. We're not going there, Bryan.

Torchic | lvl 5 |
11/20 | no status
normal stats

Blaze
Scratch | Growl | Endure

[kitsunaii]

The canine snarled at the little Torchic. How dare it continue to fight? He was hungry, darn it, and didn't he deserve to eat? He used Howl, enraged that he couldn't have an easy meal for once.

[cs=3]
Mightyena	Level 7
12/20	no status	normal stats