Hello everyone!
Yes, I've finally finished chapter 51! Inspiration to keep writing has a tendency to come and go, a feeling I'm sure my fellow fanfic writers are familiar with. I don't know why, but I feel like the inspiration has been coming to me more frequently lately, allowing me to make some good progress on and finally finish this chapter. Whatever it was, I hope the feeling sticks with me so I can keep making progress on this and other stories I'm working on/want to work on.
If you have any comments/thoughts on my story that you'd like to share, don't be shy! I'd love to know your thoughts on the story.
Anyways, here's chapter 51! Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 51: I'm just glad I made it in time.
After making their way through the Snow-Laden Path, Blitz and his teammates had reached a certain village inhabited by ice-type Pokémon. Before continuing on to Mt. Frostbite, where one of the Axis Tower crystals was hidden, they had decided to speak to some of the locals in order to find out if they had noticed anything unusual in the past several weeks or so. A young Snorunt had brought them to the home of a Pokémon who could supposedly give them the information they needed. While most of the buildings in the village were made of wood, this house in particular stood out due to being made almost entirely out of ice. The Snorunt carefully pulled at the sheet covering the front door, motioning for Blitz and his teammates to go inside.
"Um… Is it really okay for us to just go in?" Blitz asked, looking over at the Snorunt.
Before the Snorunt had the chance to answer Blitz's question, Chiaki had already stepped inside. He curiously looked over at the white humanoid Pokémon that was hovering in front of a large block of ice, staring at it intently. Her two arms were connected to the sides of her head, with one hand currently touching her chin as she continued to stare into the ice. There were two small ice crystals on top of her water-droplet shaped head, vaguely resembling horns.
"H-H-Hey…" the Snorunt said, walking up to the Froslass. "I-I-I brought another rescue t-t-team over… Is n-n-now a bad time?"
"Not really," the Froslass responded, shaking her head slightly. "I'm just waiting for this block of ice to turn into art, but alas, it seems inspiration just won't come to me at this moment…"
The Froslass turned around, allowing Chiaki and the others to get a look at her face. It almost looked as if she were wearing a mask, due to the holes in her head. Her blue eyes were visible through two of the holes, while her mouth was visible through a gap in the "mask".
"I suppose I'll take a break for now," the Froslass said, looking over at Blitz and his teammates. "So, you wish to know about Mt. Frostbite, is that it?"
"Yes, that's why we're here," Blitz responded, nodding his head. "A Beartic from this village, Frosty, already told us a bit, but we thought someone here might know if anything unusual had happened lately…"
"Ah, yes, Frosty," the Froslass replied, chuckling. "I remember when he was just a little Cubchoo… I recall he was quite the energetic little thing, albeit a little clumsy… He was always yearning to get stronger, and from what I can tell, he has indeed grown quite strong."
"Yeah, you've got that right," Azure commented, grinning. "He's part of a pretty high-ranked rescue team, after all!"
"Yes, I'm glad he's been doing well," the Froslass responded, nodding her head slightly. "It seems moving to Fenix Town was a good decision on his part."
"We certainly like having him around," Sera said, smiling.
"Good to hear," the Froslass replied, holding a hand to her chin. "Anyways, I guess I'd better tell you what you came to hear, so that you rescue team Pokémon can carry out your mission."
"Right," Blitz said, nodding his head. "The wild Pokémon on Mt. Frostbite are acting unusual, isn't that right?"
"Indeed," the Froslass responded, forming what looked like a ball of ice with two pointy horns between her hands. "I've noticed that some of the wild Glalie seem to be acting more aggressive than usual… It's like they're patrolling the area, and if they see anything out of the ordinary, they'll immediately attack with powerful ice attacks… I suggest you try to stay out of their line of sight if possible."
"We'll keep that in mind," Blitz replied. "Anything else we should look out for?"
"Hmm… Well, based on the unusually long and harsh blizzards on the mountain lately, I'd guess that the wild Abomasnow are also affected by this," the Froslass said as she began to form another small ice sculpture between her hands.
"Ah, Stella and Bow did say something about that when they described their vision, didn't they?" Sera pointed out, her ears perking up. "Something about it being difficult to see through all the snow?"
"Yeah, they did say that," Chiaki responded, nodding his head.
"Well, keep an eye out for them when exploring the outside parts of the dungeon," the Froslass replied, the small ice sculpture formed between her hands having taken the shape of a bipedal Pokémon with spiky hands and a tail, as well as fur covering most of its body. "I don't think you'll see them inside the cave areas."
"I see," Blitz responded, holding a paw to his chin. "So, wild Abomasnow appear in the outside areas of the dungeon, and I assume the wild Glalie can appear both inside and outside the caves, correct?"
"Yes, that is right," the Froslass replied, nodding her head slightly.
"Is there anything else?" Blitz asked, looking up at the Froslass.
"There might be," the Froslass responded, leaning against the block of ice she had been staring into earlier. "However, I've only really gotten a look at the first few floors of the dungeon, so I'm afraid that's all the information I can give… I can only assume the Pokémon higher up on the mountain are also affected."
"S-S-Scary…" the Snorunt muttered, having quietly listened this whole time.
"So, keep an eye out for the Glalie, Abomasnow and other kinds of wild Pokémon that might be acting unusual," Azure said, nodding slightly.
"Hmm, that might be easier said than done," Blitz commented, looking over at Azure. "Especially with those harsh snowstorms in the outside areas… Even with my sharp senses, I might have trouble detecting an approaching threat in such conditions…"
"Especially since some ice-types' natural abilities can make them harder to spot when it's snowing or hailing," Sera added, her ears drooping slightly.
"Indeed," the Froslass responded, nodding her head. "You have quite the challenge ahead of you, young ones."
"M-M-Maybe you s-s-should reconsider?" the Snorunt suggested, looking at Blitz and his teammates. "Two r-r-rescue teams are already t-t-taking care of the mission, s-s-so there's no need for you t-t-to go on such a d-d-dangerous mission!"
"Aw, don't worry about us," Azure said, patting the Snorunt on the back. "We'll be fine. I told you before that we're pretty strong, didn't I?"
"B-B-But…" the Snorunt stuttered.
"Azure, this isn't simply a matter of being strong enough to defeat our opponents," Blitz said, looking over at the Marill. "They'll certainly be taking advantage of their abilities to hide in the cover of snow to attack us when we least expect it."
"So… Bring items that allow us to keep track of wild Pokémon?" Azure suggested. "Got any Radar Orbs in storage?"
"Hmm, that could help…" Blitz responded, holding a paw to his chin. "But there's limited space in our treasure bag… and I'm not even sure how many Radar Orbs we'd need…"
"There are times like these when I wish we had X-Ray Specs…" Sera commented, sighing. "I still hope we can get our paws on a pair of those someday…"
"You'll certainly have to choose your items wisely," the Froslass said, looking at Blitz. "But I don't think that'll be a problem for you. You seem like a rational young Shinx, so I'm sure you'll handle that just fine."
"Uh… Thanks," Blitz replied, rubbing the rings on his forelegs together.
"Well, I guess that's everything I know about these unusual conditions…" the Froslass said, looking away for a moment. "Although there is still one more thing that worries me…"
"What is it?" Chiaki asked.
"A certain Pokémon lives somewhere on the mountain…" the Froslass responded. "I wonder if he is okay…"
"You're talking about the Absol who lives there, right?" Blitz asked.
"Yes… I guess Frosty already told you about him," the Froslass responded, nodding her head slightly. "Since he hasn't come down from the mountain in a while, I suppose the village is safe. However, with everything that is happening on the mountain…"
"Yeah, he might be in trouble…" Sera said, her ears drooping slightly.
"Of course, I doubt he'd go down without a fight," the Froslass said, looking thoughtful. "He is quite strong, after all."
"We'll look for him too!" Chiaki said, smiling. "We'll make sure he's okay!"
"Thank you," the Froslass responded, nodding her head slightly. "I wish you luck in your mission."
"Thanks for sharing what you know about the current situation," Blitz said, looking over at the Froslass. "Well, we'd better get going."
"B-B-Be careful…" the Snorunt stuttered, giving the rescue team a concerned glance.
"We will," Blitz responded, smiling and nodding at the Snorunt. "Thanks to you too, for bringing us to the elder."
"Huh?" the Snorunt replied, blinking a few times before blushing slightly. "Oh, um… You're w-w-welcome…"
Chiaki smiled and patted the Snorunt on the head, before he followed his teammates out of the elder's house. After saying good-bye to the elder and the young Snorunt, the group began heading towards the mountain.
A Kangaskhan Rock was standing close to the entrance of the mystery dungeon, and Blitz was quick to run up to it and begin sorting through the items. While Blitz was focusing on preparations for the mission, the other three rescue team members noticed that it seemed to be snowing much more compared to the light snowfall they'd seen since exiting the Snow-Laden Path and entering the village of ice-type Pokémon. Of course, compared to what kind of weather they would have to face on Mt. Frostbite itself from what both Stella and the Froslass' warnings, this was just a little flurry.
Chiaki looked up at the large mountain before him. A crystal was hidden somewhere on it, and it seemed Erebos had gone out of his way to make it difficult for the rescue teams to reclaim it. Chiaki wondered how far up they'd have to climb in order to find the missing crystal. Could it be hidden at the very top of the mountain?
"I wonder if the other rescue teams are doing okay…" Sera said, staring up at the mountain.
"Well, Sting's team has Frosty, who is familiar with the area," Azure responded, looking over at Sera. "And Mirage's team has Megara, who is a fire-type. She can fight off ice-types with super effective fire attacks and keep her teammates warm!"
"Still…" Sera murmured, looking away for a moment. "It sounds like things are pretty intense up ahead…"
"I think they'll be fine," Azure responded, smiling. "After all, their rescue team badges will activate and teleport them out if anything serious happens, right?"
"Ah, yes, that's true…" Sera replied, holding a paw to her chin as she thought about it. "The badges can also send out a distress signal to let other rescue teams know if they're in trouble…"
The three of them glanced over at Blitz, who was still busy trying to decide on which items to bring along on the mission. The rescue team badge was as usual hanging off of the treasure bag, much like a regular cute little accessory.
"Doesn't look like the badge is reacting to anything, so they're probably okay, right?" Azure said.
"I hope you're right," Sera responded, nodding her head slightly.
The three of them stared up at the imposing mountain for a few moments, before they eventually heard the sound of Blitz closing the lid on the treasure bag.
"Okay… I think that'll do," Blitz said as he turned to face his teammates. "Are you all ready?"
"I think so," Sera responded, nodding her head.
"I'm ready!" Azure said, punching the air with a stubby paw.
"Yeah, I'm ready too," Chiaki added.
"All right…" Blitz responded, nodding his head. "Don't feel bad if… things get too rough up there, and we have to flee… It's okay…"
"Huh? Don't tell me you're getting cold paws now!" Azure said, looking a bit annoyed. "I guess it is perfectly understandable, but…"
"I'm not saying that we're just going to head home without trying," Blitz corrected, looking over at Azure. "I'm just saying that if it gets too dangerous, then there's no shame in just escaping the dungeon."
"Hmm… Fine," Azure responded, sighing. "I guess you're right…"
"… Okay, let's go," Blitz said, walking up to the entrance of the dungeon.
Gathered in front of the entrance to the mystery dungeon, the four Pokémon exchanged glances before heading inside. With Blitz leading the way, the team found themselves inside an icy cave. Blitz looked around at the room they were in, while Azure helped listen for any potential threats. No one said a word as they began exploring the rest of the floor.
Parts of the cave floor were icy, and they had to be careful not to slip on it. After a few moments of wandering around exploring the first floor, Blitz suddenly stopped.
"Be quiet…" Blitz whispered to his teammates, keeping his gaze on something nearby. "I don't know if they've noticed us yet…"
Azure's ears twitched as she tried to listen for the wild Pokémon that Blitz seemed to have spotted, but couldn't hear anything other than her own teammates' breathing. Chiaki wondered what was going on, and tried to get a look past Sera and Blitz in front of him. Sera just waited quietly for her cue to make a move.
"It's getting closer…" Blitz whispered, getting into a fighting position.
A Pokémon resembling a black rock covered in ice was floating towards the rescue team, glaring at Blitz with its blue eyes that were visible through two of the holes in the ice covering its orb-like body. As it approached the rescue team, it slowly opened its mouth, a blue light forming between its jaws as it prepared to attack.
Before the wild Glalie could unleash its ice attack, Blitz made his fur shine brightly. Blinded by the light, the Glalie ended up shooting the ice beam too high, missing the rescue team entirely. After the ice beam had harmlessly passed over them, Blitz jumped forward and pushed the still-stunned Glalie back slightly with an electrified tackle.
"Let's take it out before it alerts the other wild Pokémon!" Blitz shouted, keeping his eyes on his opponent.
Sera quickly used her Helping Hand move to give a power boost to her teammates, followed by Chiaki and Azure going in for an attack. Chiaki jumped up and kicked the Glalie, while Azure slammed her tail against it with enough force to send the Glalie flying into one of the dungeon walls. The Glalie gave an angry growl, before falling to the ground.
"… Did it faint?" Sera asked, tilting her head slightly.
"I think so…" Blitz responded, cautiously approaching the Glalie to make sure.
"That wasn't too tough," Azure commented. "Maybe this won't be as difficult as we thought?"
"Hmm… I don't know about that," Blitz replied, not taking his eyes off of the Glalie. "We're currently on the first floor, and this was just a single Glalie…"
"He's probably right," Sera said, her ears drooping slightly. "There's no way the entire mission will be this simple…"
After making sure that their opponent was indeed defeated, Blitz and his teammates continued to explore the dungeon. They soon located the stairs and moved on to the second floor. Blitz continued to carefully watch out for the wild Pokémon, trying to avoid battles if more than one wild Pokémon was within close range at the time. Eventually, they went up a set of stairs only to suddenly find themselves outside of the cave.
From the layout, it was clear that they were still in the mystery dungeon and that this was another floor, although a heavy snowfall was making it a bit harder to see everything clearly.
"Okay… I think this is where things will start to get more difficult," Blitz said, looking around. "Let's keep moving."
The four of them continued to explore the new floor, staying close together and keeping an eye out for wild Pokémon. Azure's ears twitched slightly, and she briefly stopped to look around.
"What's the matter, Azure?" Chiaki asked, turning to look at her.
"I hear something…" Azure responded, looking around.
"Maybe it's just the wind?" Chiaki replied, also glancing around.
"It's never just the wind," Azure responded, her ears twitching as she tried to figure out where the noise was coming from. "I hear… it's sort of a growling sound…"
"Huh? So, it's a wild Pokémon, then?" Chiaki asked.
"Probably…" Azure responded, nodding.
The two of them continued walking, quickly catching up to Blitz and Sera so they wouldn't get left behind. After a few moments, Azure stopped again.
"There it is again…!" Azure exclaimed, her ears twitching. "It must be close by!"
Blitz had stopped walking, and was now staring up at a much larger Pokémon that had appeared before them. A large bipedal creature with white shaggy fur was glaring down at them with pale purple eyes. It raised one arm, preparing to slam down with a glowing green hand. Blitz managed to leap out of the way of the Abomasnow's Wood Hammer attack, before ramming his body against the Abomasnow's side. The larger Pokémon seemed mostly unfazed by Blitz's attack.
While the Abomasnow's attention was still focused on Blitz, Sera ran towards the Abomasnow as quickly as she could and slammed into the opponent. The Abomasnow gave an angry grunt, before launching several large shards of ice at Sera. The shards were sent flying towards her so fast that she didn't even have time to try to dodge, and was knocked down.
"Ow…!" Sera yelped, flinching as she tried to get back onto her paws.
Chiaki and Azure quickly ran over to Sera, standing between her and the Abomasnow as it walked towards her.
"Don't worry, Sera!" Chiaki said, glancing over his shoulder at her. "We're here for you!"
"I'd rather not get hit by one of those powerful grass attacks, though," Azure commented, with a somewhat nervous smile on her face.
While the Abomasnow's attention was on his teammates, Blitz was contemplating his next move.
"I wonder if my Fire Fang attack would be enough to take it down," Blitz thought to himself, looking up at his opponent. "It… should be okay to use that… right?"
Chiaki jumped up and delivered a powerful punch to the Abomasnow's chest, while Azure slammed her tail against one of its legs. Sera had managed to get back onto her feet.
"You okay, Sera?" Azure asked, looking over at her teammate.
"Y-Yeah…" Sera responded, nodding her head. "I'll just walk it off…"
Chiaki swiftly sidestepped as the Abomasnow fired off more ice shards, just barely managing to dodge every single one. Chiaki gave a sigh of relief as the attack ended, while the Abomasnow stomped on the ground in anger. Blitz leaped forward and tackled the Abomasnow once more.
"I think we've got this!" Azure exclaimed, before rolling towards the Abomasnow at a high speed. "Let's finish it!"
Azure rolled into the Abomasnow, bouncing off and rolling into it again with even more force. The Abomasnow tried to slow her down by blowing an icy wind at her, but the attack didn't seem to have much of an effect. Blitz and Sera both rammed into the Abomasnow's side, while Chiaki jumped up and kicked it in the face. Azure soon came crashing into the Abomasnow a third time, finally causing it to faint from their attacks.
"Ah, there we go!" Azure said as she began to slow down, looking a bit dizzy. "Whew…"
Blitz looked up, and noticed that it seemed the snowfall had gotten a bit lighter now that they had defeated the Abomasnow. The group decided to keep moving before anything else happened. As they continued moving through the floors, they had to fight several tough wild Pokémon. But through teamwork, and the consumption of a few of the healing items they had brought along, they managed to keep making progress.
"Hmm… I think the next floor after this one will be in the cave part again," Blitz said as they arrived on a particular floor. "At least, if I've counted these floors correctly…"
The group continued walking for a bit, before noticing that the weather was looking a bit different on this floor. Each of them felt a small as tiny balls of ice hit them from above.
"Ugh, is this hail?" Azure asked, rubbing her head. "How annoying…"
"Well, let's just keep going and find the stairs," Sera responded, trying to keep a positive tone. "Hopefully, it won't be hailing on the next floor."
They kept exploring the floor, trying not to be bothered by the occasional piece of hail landing on them. After a while, Chiaki suddenly stopped, having felt his leg bump into something cold and icy on the ground.
"What is it?" Azure asked as Chiaki bent down to pick up the object that was sticking out from the snow.
Chiaki brushed some snow off of the icy object, and was surprised to see what appeared to be a rescue team badge encased in ice. Azure gasped as she peeked over Chiaki's shoulder and saw what he was holding.
"Is that badge… from one of the other teams?" Azure asked, looking a bit concerned.
"I'm not sure…" Chiaki responded, examining the badge. "It might be…"
"But why would something like that be here like this?" Azure asked. "Did something happen to one of the other two teams!?"
"I-I hope not…" Chiaki responded, starting to worry himself. "We should show this to Blitz… Maybe he can tell who it belongs to."
"Y-Yeah, good idea," Azure replied, nodding.
The two of them ran forward to catch up to their teammates, only to discover that Blitz and Sera were already engaged in battle against three Glalie. Chiaki and Azure exchanged quick glances, before rushing in to assist their friends in battle. Chiaki tucked away the frozen badge away into his scarf, before jumping up and hitting one of the Glalie, causing it to flinch. He then narrowly avoided getting hit by ice beams from the other two Glalie.
Azure fired a strong stream of bubbles from her mouth at one of the Glalie, pushing it back a little. Sera was using her Helping Hand to power up her teammates, while Blitz was charging up electricity to power up his attacks, as well as build up a better resistance to the beams fired by their opponents.
The stairs leading up to the next floor were nearby. If they could just get past the Glalie hovering near them, they could move on.
"They sure like firing those ice beams, huh?" Azure commented, jumping up and slamming her tail against one of the Glalie.
One of the Glalie dropped to the ground as Chiaki knocked it out with a Jump Kick. Blitz and Sera teamed up to try to take down the one in front of the stairs. The two jumped up and tackled the Glalie in near perfect sync. Soon, all three Glalie had been defeated.
"Whew… Good job, everyone," Blitz said, smiling at his teammates. "Let's keep moving."
Blitz and Sera walked up the stairs to the next floor. However, before Chiaki and Azure could follow them, a large icicle suddenly dropped from out of nowhere, landing in front of the stairs to block Chiaki and Azure's path.
"W-What!?" Azure exclaimed, blinking a few times. "What just happened?"
Azure's ears twitched as she realized that something else had entered the room.
A large, brown mammoth-like pig Pokémon had appeared, having gotten into the room unnoticed in the hail. Staring down at Chiaki and Azure, it began preparing another attack.
"Quick! Let's go around the big icicle and catch up to the others!" Azure shouted.
"Okay!" Chiaki responded, nodding his head.
The two of them tried to do just that, only to discover that yet another Glalie had just entered the room from another path.
"Not another one!" Azure whined, looking rather annoyed.
"Watch out!" Chiaki cried out, pushing Azure and himself out of the way of an incoming ice beam attack.
The rolled out of the way of the ice beam, but didn't have much time to relax as a sudden blast of cold wind blew through the room. They had no way of dodging the Mamoswine's Blizzard attack like this.
"Ugh… That's not fair!" Azure complained, glaring at the wild ice-type Pokémon.
"Azure… The stairs…" Chiaki said, pointing towards the staircase, which was now being blocked by the Glalie.
"Doesn't look like these guys aren't going to let us reach it that easily…" Azure responded, sighing. "Guess we'll just have to fight!"
"But…" Chiaki replied, shivering a little from the cold.
"It's the only way we'll be able to reach those stairs," Azure reminded him.
"… All right," Chiaki responded, nodding his head. "Let's go."
Azure let out a stream of bubbles to slow down the Mamoswine, while Chiaki decided to do something about the Glalie blocking their path. Chiaki fired a stream of golden stars from his paws at the Glalie to try and push it back, before aiming for a powerful Jump Kick. However, the Glalie suddenly made a sharp movement to the side, causing Chiaki to miss his attack and crash into one of the walls of the dungeon.
"Chiaki!" Azure cried out, as Chiaki fell to the ground.
Azure slammed her glowing tail against the Mamoswine for quite a bit of damage, before rushing over to check on her teammate.
"Chiaki, are you okay?" Azure asked, shaking Chiaki by the shoulders.
Chiaki did not respond.
"Did he faint…?" Azure muttered, looking up as she realized the Glalie and the Mamoswine were getting closer. "Ah… This is so not good!"
Azure stood between Chiaki and the two ice-type Pokémon, who were soon joined by an Abomasnow.
"Okay, this is just too much!" Azure exclaimed, glaring at the ice-types. "Well, I don't care if you outnumber me! I'm going to protect my friend, no matter how many of you decide to show up!"
The Mamoswine roared and stomped on the ground. The Abomasnow and the Glalie soon joined in, making the ground shake. Azure's ears twitched, and she looked up to see an avalanche headed towards her and Chiaki. Azure tried her best to cover Chiaki in order to protect him from the ice-types' attack with her own body. She closed her eyes, preparing for the impact of the attack.
… Instead, she suddenly felt something pick her up, carrying her away. When she opened her eyes, she and Chiaki had been moved out of the way of the avalanche. A quadruped Pokémon with white fur was standing in front of her and Chiaki, and was facing the ice-type Pokémon.
"It's that Absol…" Azure said, looking up at the white furred Pokémon that had just saved her and Chiaki.
The Absol had dark blue skin on its face, which was devoid of the white fur covering most of its body. It had a dark blue sickle-shaped horn on the right side of its head and a tail resembling a scythe. The Absol was watching the ice-type Pokémon with his red eyes, waiting for one of them to make a move.
Once the Glalie opened its mouth and began preparing for a Blizzard attack, the Absol suddenly leaped at high speed and struck the Glalie with his horn. With a critical attack, the Glalie was knocked out and fell to the ground.
"Nice!" Azure exclaimed, grinning and punching the air. "One down, two to go!"
The Abomasnow launched several razor sharp leaves in the direction of the Absol, but the Absol sensed the incoming attack and moved out of the way. The horn on the side of its head shone with a pink light, before it unleashed a Psycho Cut attack against the Abomasnow and followed up with a Quick Attack. However, while the Absol was focusing on trying to take down the Abomasnow, the Mamoswine was able to launch several shards of ice at the Absol.
The Absol made a pained grunt as the ice shards struck its body. The Mamoswine was about to attack again, when a stream of bubbles struck it.
"I'm still here, you know!" Azure yelled at the Mamoswine, smirking.
With Azure distracting the Mamoswine, the Absol was able to continue focusing on taking out the Abomasnow. The Absol gritted his teeth and walked towards the Abomasnow as it tried to slow him down with an Icy Wind. Once the Abomasnow ceased its Icy Wind attack and tried to slam down on the Absol with a glowing green arm, the Absol moved out of the way of the Wood Hammer attack, before biting down on the Abomasnow's other arm. The Abomasnow made a growling noise as the Absol released its arm.
The Absol finished the Abomasnow off with a powerful Night Slash attack, before running over to help Azure take down the Mamoswine, who was approaching her and the unconscious Chiaki.
"Whew… I don't know how much longer I can keep up the bubble beam attacks…" Azure muttered as she tried to catch her breath.
Azure did her best to block attacks from the Mamoswine by knocking its ice projectiles away with her tail, making sure none of them would hit Chiaki. Her expression brightened as she saw the Absol running over to help her. Seeing the change in Azure's expression, the Mamoswine began to turn around, only for the Absol to strike its side with the claws on one of his paws, following up with a slash from his horn.
"I'll let you finish this," Azure said, panting.
The Absol glanced over at Azure and nodded in acknowledgement, before turning back to face his opponent. The Mamoswine began charging at the Absol, intending to strike with one of its large, white tusks. The Absol waited for the Mamoswine to get close, before stepping to the side and letting the Mamoswine collide with a wall. While the Mamoswine was disoriented from the failed attack, the Absol began whipping up a small whirlwind. As the Mamoswine managed to turn back around, the Absol was running towards him with a Razor Wind blowing and weakening the Mamoswine before the Absol delivered the final blow. His horn coated in dark energy, it struck the Mamoswine with a powerful Night Slash attack, finally taking it down.
Azure gave a sigh of relief as the Mamoswine went down, looking over at Chiaki lying next to her and patting him on the head. She looked up to see the Absol standing in front of them.
"Thanks," Azure said, smiling up at the Absol. "You really saved us there…"
"There is no need to thank me," the Absol responded, looking down at the two younger Pokémon with a stoic expression. "I'm just glad I made it in time."
The Absol leaned down a little, curiously sniffing Azure and looking at the red scarves she and Chiaki were wearing.
"You two… you are rescue team members, aren't you?" the Absol asked.
"Yeah, that's right," Azure responded, nodding her head. "We're looking for a crystal from Axis Tower. They were all stolen a while ago, and one of them is hidden somewhere here on this mountain!"
"I see," the Absol replied, nodding his head slightly. "So, you're looking for it too."
"… Huh?" Azure responded, tilting her head slightly. "What do you mean by that?"
"This isn't the place to talk about that," the Absol said, looking around. "It's not safe here."
"Oh, right," Azure responded, glancing around. "More wild Pokémon might appear…"
"Exactly," the Absol replied, nodding his head. "I'll take you two to a safer location, so that you may rest up from that battle. We can talk there."
"Um… Okay," Azure responded, looking a bit concerned. "But… our teammates have already gone on ahead, and… they're probably really worried about us by now…"
"I'll help you reunite with them once you've recovered a bit more from that battle," the Absol replied.
"… Fair enough," Azure responded, sighing. "All right, let's get out of here."
Azure helped Chiaki get Chiaki onto the Absol's back, before climbing onto it herself. She held tightly onto his fur as he began running at high speed. She wasn't sure where he would take them, but she trusted him. She knew he would keep his promise, and help her and Chiaki reunite with Blitz and Sera.
"Blitz… Sera… I'm sure you two are worried sick right now," Azure thought, as she rode on the Absol's back. "But we'll catch up to you two soon enough! So, just wait for a little bit, okay?"
End of Chapter 51