Chapter Nine

"First thing ya gotta learn is how to fight dirty kiddo." Colt said, even as he watched snow continue her laps around the training room. Alice and Cathy had left to take care of "lady things" At the markets in the guild, everyone else was busy dealing with their daily duties; so he had supervision over Snow during her training. "'the only unfair fight is one that you lose.'" He said; Snow didn't bother wasting her breath responding, 30 laps for a Pokémon like her was maddening. The Chesapeakeian weather was especially grating; it was hot and humid no matter where you were. Although Colt had promised her that it was much colder in the winter, she wasn't so sure that was true.

A Feraligatr suddenly appeared in front of her and smashed the ground in front of her; she rolled to the left, and used an ice slash. The attack hit the thing dead center and it vanished, while Colt stumbled a little. "Getting better, way faster than the first time I tried that." He noted with a smirk.

Snow groaned internally at that, "I'd just like to forget that first time dad."

His smirk grew wider, "Uh nope… I ain't ever gonna let you forget that time. You forget we both know I'm your dad now, which means it's my job to embarrass you on a regular basis."

She growled but said nothing. "Alright, enough with the laps; I think we've tested your endurance and reaction time enough for the day."

Snow flopped down onto the track, gasping for air. She loved his practical lessons; he was always coming up with ways to make it fun and teach her new tricks. The problem was that they tired you out pretty quickly.

His theoretical lessons on the other hand… they weren't bad per say. Just hard to follow; it didn't help that he often had trouble explaining what he was saying in a more dumbed down way so she could understand it. Normally Ms. Angel or Ms. Alice would be in charge on that front.

The difference in accents didn't help either; in contrast to the distinctive aristocratic twang that most Chesapeakeians had, Snow had what the others described as the "Auroran Nobel" pitch to it. No doubt due to her mother raising her, even with her amnesia.

As a result, slang on both sides would go over the others head, leaving one side hopelessly confused. "All right, ya listening?" He asked.

"Yup, crack on then" she said in response; even as he tilted his head and scratched his mane. Like right now; "I said continue."

"Ah ok, now then todays lesson is about using your environment to your advantage. You're an ice type which means you have advantages over Grass, Water, Ground, Flying, and Dragon types. But conversely, you're weak against Fire, Fighting, Rock, and Steel types. But there are ways to negate those disadvantages." He walked over to the pool section of the training area.

Snow followed up behind him; "So we throw a Spanner in the works for the typing system then?" she asked.

He chuckled, "If by spanner you mean environmental factors then yes." He snapped his digits and an Onix appeared. Colt stumbled and sat down, a clear indication to Snow that he had done a tangible illusion. "Whooo… those big ones always take a lot outta me. Now you remember that tangible illusion I did to make you look like a Zorua?"

She nodded.

"Okeydokey then, your goal is to deal with this Onix. Use whatever hazards you can find to your advantage. I can see one right off the bat." he instructed, as sweat began to form on his face.

The fake Onix roared, and Snow took a step backward. Bollocks, was all she could think.

If Snow had not been a quadruped like her mother and been a Zoroark like her father then Solomon Steelix might've died right then and there. As it was, the ice lance hit one of his tough outer teeth and shattered; not his vulnerable eye. To his credit, he reacted with a speed that should not have been possible for a Pokémon of his size. He slashed the bushes from where she had thrown the lance, his pre-charged iron tail leveling the area.

Snow had already dropped and ran as soon as she threw it, shifting her position so that she could stay in the shadows. Only now did Snow realize just how monumentally stupid her plan was, having just her and Billy to take on the most dangerous terrorist alive.

Ice was strong against ground; but Solomon was also a steel type, which was one of her weaknesses. BollocksBollocksBollocks! She thought frantically; choking back the panic while struggling to regain the advantage.

Billy blew a scald at Solomon while dashing forward to grab the poor Oshawott, still curled up in the fetal position and shaking in terror.

But in the blink of an eye, Solomon reversed his next strike; returning the scald with another iron tail. Billy yelped and ducked, zooming back out of his striking range. Solomon tilted his head, "Interesting, you two almost killed me." He mused, and then he dashed forward, body slamming Billy into a tree.

The Vaporeon howled in pain, but got up immediately and blew a poison spray right into Solomon's face. Solomon hopped back, but displayed no other reaction to the attack.

With his attention off the Oshawott, Snow dashed forward as fast as her legs could carry her. She swept the kid up and put him on her back, and dashed back into the woods.

WHAM! The tail nearly blindsided her, only missing her because Solomon hadn't desired it to hit. She shrieked and hopped back, caught off guard.

"A good attempt Ms. Vulpix, but I cannot have you make off with my goal under my nose." He stated, not even looking at her as he used a rock throw on Billy.

"Sod off you bloody terrorist!" she snapped in response, anger temporarily overriding her panic.

He gave her an aside glance as Billy gave her a look of panic. "Snow don't engage him! RUN!" he tried to yell, but was cut off when Solomon body slammed him again. Billy turned into water and Solomon went right through him. Billy reformed and attempted to dash to her; but Solomon tunneled under the ground and vanished.

"Oh shit… don't move" he ordered, trying to stay calm.

"Interesting… an Auroran accent… you wouldn't happen to be from the Kingdom of Lights would you?" Solomon's voice drifted up from under them, his cold tone had shifted to one of curiosity.

Snow didn't dare respond, she didn't move a muscle. Those that used dig relied on vibrations to find their targets; the best counter to it was not to move at all. The problem was that in the heat of battle it was very difficult to stop all movements completely.

"hmm… you are an intelligent one, I must admit. Had you not been a quadruped then you would have killed me with that ice lance of yours. A mistake on my part, and one I will not repeat. But that means unfortunately for you, this is the end of the line." The terrorist leader burst through the ground in front of her, his tail glowing white. He swung 360 degrees hitting Billy first, catching him off guard and sending him flying into tree. He smashed into it with a sickening CRACK! And he slid to the ground, not moving at all.

Then his attack hit Snow on her bad side with the cut, she could feel her ribs break as the Oshawott kid went flying off her back. Snow howled in pain even as she flew into a rock, she could feel her ribs break as she hit at breakneck speed into it. Her vision turned white from the pain, and she fell to the ground panting. She coughed, spitting up blood. Well… Bollocks… she thought dully.

Snow heard Solomon righting himself, and she struggled to stand; the pain in her side almost making her pass out. She found that she was also having trouble breathing; it felt like her lungs burst into flame every time she tried to take a breath.

She looked back at Solomon, the Steelix still standing in the middle of the clearing. He looked at her and tilted his head, "Stubborn, and resilient. A shame that I must leave no witnesses, I would have liked to recruit you. But you are too set in your ways that I can already see." He said, his tone had shifted back to that cold analytical voice.

Snow took a breath, trying to ignore the pain, as she tried to charge up another ice attack. Solomon just stood there and watched her, not even bothering to move. She blew the attack right into his face with all the remaining strength she could muster, but he didn't react beyond raising and eyebrow.

"And so it ends…" he said, charging his iron tail and slamming it downward it her with all his strength. Snow closed her eyes and cringed, knowing that it was about to end.

CLANG! The noise startled her, along with the fact she was not dead, so Snow opened her eyes and looked up in surprise.

Colt was now in front of her, a night slash fully powered up and keeping the iron tail back. Snow couldn't see his face, but she could feel the rage emanating from her father.

"Stay…" Colt threw the iron tail back into Solomon's face, catching him off guard.

"Away…" He used another night slash on Solomon, catching him in his midsection. The terrorist stumbled back, surprise now evident on his face.

"From…" Colt used hidden power, throwing an odd collection of glowing orbs into Solomon's face.

"My…" Colt began powering up a move that Snow could not identify, but she could feel the dark energy rolling of off her father now.

"DAUGHTER!" Colt screamed, unleashing a wave of dark energy at the Steelix; but Solomon had recovered by this point, and used an iron tail to attempt to minimize the damage to himself. It didn't help… the wave of energy slammed into the terrorist with the fury of a hurricane. The Steelix growled as he was pushed back, and closed his eyes in pain. After a few seconds the wave finally dissipated; Solomon winced, and looked down at his smoking body.

He looked at Colt, then at Snow; "I can see the resemblance your highness, congratulations. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave." He said.

Before Colt could do anything, Solomon tunneled beneath the ground; vanishing within seconds. Colt watched him go, even as the rest of team Archangel emerged from the woods. "Dad…" Snow whispered, now sufficiently frightened of her father; and the pain from her injuries beginning to catch up with her.

He turned to look at her, the anger on his face fading away to fear. "Snow. Oh no…" he trailed off, then rushed her and looked at her side; he poked it and her vision exploded in pain as she howled in pain.

It became too much, and she passed out.

A/N: sorry if this endings a bit abrupt. I wanted to get this out, but I have a wicked head cold. I have the screen brightness turned down to a minimum and it's still too bright for me. I hate having chapters less than 2k but 1.9k will have to do. I'm going try to make chapters closer to 5 or 6k from now on; in any case, see ya when I see ya.