Frost didn't bother giving Thresher the courtesy of acknowledging his intent to battle. If the Scizor was going to treat him as a non-entity, then he didn't deserve the honor of proper combat etiquette. Besides, Frost owed him some payback for the sucker punch to the jaw earlier.
The temperature of the forest clearing continued to drop as Frost sprung into action, closing the gap between himself and the Scizor. Once he was at point-blank range, he exhaled forcefully, snowflakes billowing from his mouth and scattering over the Scizor's metal body, each flake glittering blue.
Thresher took the icy gale with nary a wince, and one of his pincers glowed white. The next moment, Frost felt the Scizor's pincer connect with the side of his head, striking him with enough force and speed to send him tumbling backwards, stars flashing before his vision. Even dazed, he could hear Shadow's alarmed gasp, and he growled, pushing himself to his feet.
Did Shadow really think a simple foe like this would be able to down him in a single blow? The only one who deserved the honor of defeating him was Lin, and only because she had taught him everything he knew. The Glaceon narrowed his eyes at the crimson insect, the air around him becoming colder with every passing moment. Any fear of the repercussions of lowering the temperature had been banished from his mind. All that mattered was defeating this enemy.
"Sugar, entertain Astrid, if you could," Thresher ordered softly to the Beautifly hovering beside him. The butterfly chittered, and darted past Frost to engage the Absol, who had been hurrying over to their side of the clearing.
Frost formed a blob of ghostly energy within his mouth and spat it at the Scizor, following it up immediately with another Shadow Ball. To his alarm, Thresher didn't even try to dodge, the spheres of energy detonating forcefully against his body, but the Scizor emerged from the smoke without a dent on its body. Taken aback, Frost took an unsteady pace backwards, his dark eyes widening in disbelief.
This was the second time that his attacks had been successful, but with no effect on the opponent. Before he could even process the situation, Thresher moved so quickly that Frost could only see a crimson blur. Acting on instinct, Frost exhaled forcefully, a gale of icy wind roaring through the clearing, buffeting the Scizor in the chest, and temporarily halting the attack. Frost seized that moment, darting at his foe and spinning, his tail taking on a pale blue glow before striking across the metal bug's left leg.
This time, he got a reaction. Thresher stumbled from the blow, giving Frost the opportunity to repeat the technique to the opposite leg. It worked, and Thresher lost his balance entirely, falling to one knee, his eyes glaring at Frost, who couldn't resist a cocky smirk in reply.
"Fine, play that way," Thresher said, his tone still holding a note of indifference. A pair of insect wings fired out from the Scizor's back, and Thresher kicked off the grass, the buzzing wings providing a sudden burst of speed that caught Frost by surprise. Without hesitation, Thresher delivered two swift, merciless blows to the Glaceon's body with his pincers, a crimson gash opening across Frost's shoulder.
Ignoring the pain erupting through his body, Frost hurled himself sideways, just in time to avoid a downwards blow that hit the ground with enough force for the pincer to get stuck in the ground, precisely where Frost's head had been located a second earlier. Frost's eyes widened, and cold anger surged through his body as he climbed back to his feet, wincing a little from the pain in his shoulder.
Thresher grunted, vainly attempting to remove his pincer from the ground, his eyes on Frost despite his temporary disadvantage. Frost growled quietly, every passing moment bringing the temperature around him lower and lower. Part of him was aware that the temperature drop was having a drastic effect on those around him, Leaf in particular whimpering from the cold, the young Leafeon curling into a ball and shivering. Shadow was likewise shivering, but his devotion to his brother seemed to be prompting him to curl around his younger brother for the purposes of sharing body warmth. Bee-Bee and the Beautifly were moving a little more sluggishly, and although Frost couldn't see, he suspected that Astrid was all but unfazed. Absol were used to harsh conditions, so she should just be grateful that Frost was giving her opponent a disadvantage for her.
"Ruthless, aren't you?" Frost mused to Thresher. The Scizor said nothing, gazing back at Frost without the slightest hint of fear. "Then I'll throw that back at you."
The Glaceon exhaled, and a frigid wind roared through the forest clearing, ripping leaves and branches from the nearest trees as it moved, snow and ice forming all around them, leaving flecks of white on the grass and trees. The howling wind grew louder as Frost directed his energy into the air, a storm of ice striking Thresher forcefully.
Frost panted a little, his dark eyes glittering with excitement. It felt amazing to unleash his ice abilities like this sometime. He hadn't gotten the chance to really let loose against an opponent since his battle with Lin, and even then, she would have been right at home under such an icy assault, whereas he couldn't say the same about a Scizor.
The Glaceon's eyes widened as the icy mist faded, revealing the Scizor before him. Snow and ice clung to its body, and Thresher had retracted his wings to protect them, but he was definitely still standing, his eyes fixed upon Frost.
"Impossible...how are you taking everything I dish out without even flinching?" Frost demanded, his fur bristling.
"Idiot," Thresher scoffed. "Do you think a Scizor's armor is just for looks? This is Sinnoh, evolving to overcome cold is not only wise, but necessary. You're not even that strong...more like a warm breeze to what I've overcome before."
Frost could only move his mouth wordlessly, incredulous at the Scizor's gall. To call him insignificant before, and now even claiming that he wasn't that strong? He had honed his ice abilities under the guidance of the strongest Pokemon he had ever met, and even if he wasn't on her level, the least he could expect was recognition as being above the average Pokemon's strength.
If Thresher denied him this much, then maybe it was time he held nothing back.
"A warm breeze, am I?" Frost murmured, and his eyes glinted. "We'll see..."
Thresher raised a pincer arm, a sphere of silver energy charging within its grasp. A moment later, the projectile fired towards Frost, only to strike the ground harmlessly as Frost leapt backwards, forming a Shadow Ball in his maw and launching a counter-strike. The ghostly energy detonated against the Scizor's armor, but Thresher stepped forward, unscathed.
Again, the Scizor aimed his arm, launching another sphere of silver energy, but each time that Frost dodged, Thresher adjusted his aim and let loose with another Flash Cannon. The Glaceon ducked and weaved, occasionally counterattacking with a Shadow Ball or even a blue-white beam of ice energy, but these attacks didn't so much as dent the Scizor's seemingly impenetrable armor, and it quickly became more productive to only focus on dodging.
Thresher abruptly slashed his pincer in a horizontal line, launching an entire barrage of smaller energy spheres that exploded along the grass at Frost's feet, the Glaceon displaying impressive agility in evading the blasts. As soon as he touched the ground, he kicked off the grass again, narrowly avoiding the follow-up projectile. He chuckled in spite of himself upon seeing the Scizor's frustrated expression.
It was fantastic! An exhilarating thrill to fight an opponent of this caliber. Thresher was strong, a truly competent opponent, but one that had made the foolish error of underestimating him. A wiser foe would have caught onto Frost's skill by now and shifted his tactics to a proper mixture of direct combat and projectiles to keep the Glaceon on his toes. As it was, Thresher was too confident in his invincibility to bother moving from where he stood, and so long as Frost kept a fair distance away, the Scizor saw no reason to move.
There wasn't a trick that he couldn't foresee. Lin had trained him diligently in anticipating relentless projectile attacks, and maneuvering in a manner that didn't leave him open to follow-ups. Too much leaping and ducking made one easy to predict, and once an enemy figured that out, they could adjust their aim to anticipate one's evasive maneuvers. When Frost was younger, he thought Lin was being somewhat hypocritical, for her style incorporated an alarming amount of somersaulting and jumping, but back at the Ruins, she had demonstrated otherwise. There never was a moment where Lin spent too much time airborne. All of her maneuvering had been for a reasonably practical length of time, and she even tended to keep rolls and the like tight to the ground, allowing her to recover from these maneuvers too quickly for anyone to capitalize on them.
However, he knew he couldn't just play the evasion game forever. He needed to find a way to take the offensive against a foe whose armor was seemingly untouchable by his usual techniques. For that, he would need to make the surrounding area even colder, and then, he would need to bait the Scizor into charging. That moment would seal the Scizor's fate.
Frost dodged yet another barrage of Flash Cannon spheres, this time landing nearer to the Scizor and flashing him a cocky smirk that he was sure would enrage his foe. Thesher's eye twitched, and that was proof enough of the effect Frost was having on him. Such an arrogant foe, dismissive of any threat Frost might pose to him...he couldn't handle the frustration of his attacks being useless. It was coming...any moment now...
Thresher dashed towards him, but the cold seemed to be having more of an effect on his agility than anticipated, because his movements seemed to be in slow-motion. Both pincers were glowing with a pale green light, and the Scizor was pulling both arms back, preparing to strike with both of them. Such a novice tactic, and precisely what Frost had been waiting for.
He waited until the Scizor was almost upon him, and then he darted forward, ducking under the Scizor's legs and sweeping his glowing tail beneath his opponent, sending the metal insect crashing to the grass.
Frost pivoted to face his downed foe, and a smirk tugged at his muzzle. If the Scizor's wings were so vulnerable to cold that they needed to be retracted, then maybe there was a weakness to exploit after all. A flaw in the armor, perhaps? Or maybe he could simply demolish the Scizor with sheer, overwhelming power.
Ice was the ultimate force in the natural world. A beauty so exquisite that it took many art forms to even try to capture a fraction of its loveliness. Paintings of snowy fields, of snow-covered mountains, of frosted pine trees among a forest...many books, movies, stories of all kinds involving those with supernatural ice powers, and the amazing power that could be found within such beautiful, yet horrifying abilities.
Such was the power that he had embraced and made his own.
To underestimate ice was to tempt and taunt fate. Those unprepared for the harshness of the ultimate chill would succumb swiftly to its power. This Scizor dared to underestimate him and his power, and dared to think so little of him, yet wielded ruthless tactics in battle. Such ruthlessness went beyond skillful combat and relied instead on permanently incapacitating foes. Cowardly tactics. So cowardly. So weak. It was sickening.
His tune might change once he was entombed in ice. To be buried by the very power he mocked, the irony would be so satisfying.
The Glaceon's body began to shimmer with a white aura, as if the air outlining his body had become so cold that it had become one with the icy energy radiating from him. The forest was freezing cold, but the Glaceon felt warm inside, feeling at the height of his game. Ice made his enemies sluggish, but it gave him even more strength and agility. This sense of power was intoxicating, even arousing, as if there was nothing he couldn't accomplish right now.
Thresher lifted his head and looked over his shoulder at Frost. For a split second, Frost could see a glimpse of fear within the Scizor's eyes, for as soon as the metal bug had looked at him, he was able to see the true depth of his error lurking behind Frost's eyes. Coldness more intense than the most terrible Sinnoh winter stared back at Thresher.
"W-what is with this cold?" Thresher sputtered, his eyes flicking around the forest clearing with a bewildered expression.
"Feel free to amend your assessment of my strength, Scizor," Frost spoke, and even coming from him, the words felt foreign, as if someone else was speaking them. From the corner of his eye, he saw Astrid flinch, but he didn't care about that very much.
"Turned against me, it's still nothing special," Thresher said indifferently, getting to his feet. Frost's eyes narrowed dangerously, followed by a cold smirk.
"Famous last words, Scizor."
With that, Frost launched the Ice Beam he had been charging within his body. The aura surrounding his body dissipated, becoming absorbed into the sphere of pale blue energy forming in his mouth. The sphere seemed to actively draw in all the coldness from the clearing, and took with it the moisture of the air, freezing it rapidly and propelling an intense beam of blue-white light at his foe.
Thresher stood still, making no effort to avoid the attack. So complete was his confidence that he didn't even raise an arm to defend himself, even as the beam engulfed his body, an icy mist erupting from all around the Scizor.
Frost panted heavily, his dark eyes glinting with satisfaction, waiting for the mist to subside and reveal his buried foe. Scizor armor or not, he couldn't imagine anything capable of withstanding such a icy assault. Even if he survived, the battle would undoubtedly be called as his victory. Assuming he'd be able to get up at all.
Getting up wouldn't be enough to escape the ultimate fate that- wait, what?
Frost flinched, his dark eyes blinking in alarm and confusion. Where the hell had that thought process been coming from? Since when did he casually muse about burying his foes in ice?
At the same time, the Glaceon realized just how far the temperature around him had dropped. Shame and embarrassment welled up in his chest, and he hastily released his control over the atmospheric temperature, retreating several paces from the mist.
Now that he had refocused, he realized just how badly the temperature had been tormenting Shadow and Leaf. The Espeon had formed a small psychic barrier around them, possibly to reduce any ice-based attacks from affecting them, but it was clear that this desperate defense was unlikely to hold up had Frost continued lowering the temperature or flinging more ice attacks around.
Frost couldn't even think of making eye contact with the two Eons, and instead fixed Thresher with a cold stare. Until the fate of his foe was determined, he wouldn't be able to justify how far he had gone to defeat him.
"What the-?" Frost's eyes widened in disbelief. Instead of Thresher, Astrid now stood in front of him, her eyes glowing with a vibrant green light. His eyes flicked around the clearing, eventually landing on the Scizor, who looked just as baffled and stunned as he did, now crouched beside an unconscious Beautifly from across the clearing.
"That's enough," Astrid growled softly. For the first time since meeting her, she seemed legitimately angry, and her green eyes were devoid of playful amusement. Frost was too bewildered to argue.
Thresher stared at her. "...why?" he demanded finally. "Why did you switch with me?"
"Disaster sense went off," Astrid answered, and she glanced back at him. "I came here to avert a disaster in the forest. Like hell will I let you be the victim of disaster while I watch."
Thresher scowled, rising to his feet and gesturing forcefully with one of his pincers, the agitation present in his eyes. "This doesn't change anything, Astrid! The attack on the Eterna Hive is still underway, and sparing my life won't stop the others. We've done too much to back- WHAT?!"
The Scizor whirled around, and Frost blinked, spotting a new Bug-type Pokemon hovering nervously at Thresher's shoulder. It was light-blue in color, with two pairs of small, flapping wings. Its most noticeable feature, however, was its larger antenna that appeared to have a set of intimidating eye spots upon them.
The Masquerain's response was too quiet for Frost to make out, but he was too winded from the battle to really care too much about anything other than getting a breather. His heart was pounding, and he could still feel a sense of anger writhing in his chest, try as he might to quell the feelings.
"That's not possible," Thresher hissed. "The Hive was supposed to split their forces so that...never mind. Damn it..."
The Scizor turned back, visibly frustrated.
"Plans fall apart?" Astrid wondered sweetly. Frost couldn't make out the Scizor's reply, but Astrid sounded more amused than ever when she answered. "Not into that, sorry."
"Fine, go ahead and pat yourself on the back," Thresher hissed, turning his gaze to Bee-Bee, who miraculously had gotten through the entire situation seemingly unscathed, although she seemed a little drowsy from the lingering cold. "Until next time, lackey."
The Scizor clicked its pincer, and the Masquerain's eye spot antennae glowed white, releasing an blinding surge of light over the clearing, forcing everyone present to shield their eyes from the incredible brightness.
When the light had faded, the Scizor and Masquerain had vanished without a trace. Even the unconscious forms of the Beautifly and Dustox had disappeared. Astrid heaved a heavy sigh and shook her head pityingly.
"You're familiar with him?" Frost asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not here," the Absol replied curtly. "Too cold for those two," she explained, nodding to the younger Eons. Frost winced, again reminded of how extreme his tactics had gotten before. He had never needed to go all-out before, and as satisfying as the experience promised to be, it came at great risk to those around him. Mercifully, Astrid made no further comment on the subject, and instead began guiding the three Eons away from the frigid clearing.
"I'm going to have to...report to the Hive," Bee-Bee explained, the sluggishness in her body also manifesting within her speech, for every word spoken was perfectly comprehensible. "See you later, Leaf," she said. Leaf nodded quickly, all too eager to get moving to somewhere warmer, and with that, the Beedrill flew off into the forest.
"This way," Astrid said, and to Frost's surprise, she began walking in a different direction than the way they had come in. This detail was not lost on Shadow, either, because he frowned and inquired about it. "I know, but we're closer to the Eterna City exit, and the sooner we leave the forest, the better," she explained, looking around with a trace of wariness. "I wouldn't put it past Thresher to have one of his allies ambush us if we linger too long."
An awkward silence fell between them as they walked, the movement doing wonders for Leaf and Shadow's circulation, but Frost couldn't help but notice that the Leafeon seemed a bit overtired. Another wave of guilt spread through his gut at the reminder that due to Leaf's age and species, he was far more susceptible to cold temperatures and sunlight withdrawal. The forest was too dark to give his body adequate sunlight, and the cold had probably sapped most of his energy. With that in mind, he was in full agreement that leaving the forest as quickly as possible was in their best interests.
Shadow suddenly stopped in his tracks, his silver eyes widening, and Frost turned to look at him in concern, a sentiment mirrored by the Espeon's younger brother. "Y-you okay, Shadow?" Leaf asked nervously.
Shadow shook his head. "I...don't want to go this way," he said.
"What? Why not?" Astrid asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Something doesn't feel right," the Espeon insisted, his eyes sweeping the forest path anxiously. "What's up ahead, do you know?"
The Absol furrowed her brow. "Nothing, really. It's pretty much a straight path out of the forest. We pass the Old Chateau, but that's just an old, rundown mansion on the side of the path. No one's lived there for decades."
Frost frowned. "What kind of vibe are you picking up, Shadow?" he asked seriously. By this point, he had determined that Shadow was able to pick up subtle feelings or sensations, such as pinpricks of danger or shifts in weather patterns. If he was picking up danger of some kind, it was probably wiser to take the vibe seriously in the wake of the forest crisis.
"It's like back at the Ruins...but so much worse," Shadow said quietly. Frost flinched at the Espeon's tone. The words were spoken clearly enough, but there was no denying the absolute fear within his voice. "I felt it this morning, too..."
Astrid abruptly raised a paw to silence them. What she said next sent a sudden, inexplicable shiver through Frost's body.
"Someone's coming this way."
