The Gigalith was the first to open his eyes the next day. He could hear no noise, except for the lapping of the river and a mild wind blowing into the tree branches. He sat down next to the extinguished campfire and started thinking about what the group would do today.
Moments later, when everyone had gotten up and eaten a bit, they packed all their stuff and went back on the road. The landscape progressively changed, the rocky ground and the pines making way for trees with white trunks and golden leaves and small bushes covered with berries. The ground was covered with ferns, tall grass and a few leaves had already begun to fall. As a sign on the road was indicating, they had entered the Boreal Forest and Lycir was not very far. They were talking about the different ways to counter magic spells when they heard a cry for help in their surroundings. They all stopped to move, holding their breath.
"Did you hear that ?" Aspen asked
"Please use your indoor voice !" The Sirfetch'd whispered with a wing movement, moving towards the bushes as stealthily as she could. Hiding behind them, she examined the place the scream seemed to come from.
"BANDITS !" she yelled. "Let's protect these people !"
She jumped and ran towards them, followed by the three others wo prepared themselves to fight.
"Hum, Amaria wait !" Orahcia called. "We don't have a strategy !"
But the Sirfetch'd was already out of reach. Orahcia followed everyone, sighing. Goliath came along, thinking that they could have at least tried to negociate with the bandits before dashing into battle.
Amaria and Aspen bolted across the battlefield to see three robbers, a Cofagrigus, a Tsareena and a Lanturn. Warned by Amaria's loud shout, they had already taken their positions. The Sirfecth'd's eyes widened for a second, and she frowned immediately after. Four travelers were on the ground next to them.
"LEEEEAAAAAF-BLAAAAADE !" the Shiftry bellowed, charging at the Lanturn. He suddenly felt dizzy as he was coming closer to the Water-type, stumbled and fell the face on the ground, his pointy nose burrowed in the dirt.
"WHAT ?" he yelled, shaking the head and standing back on his feet. Then, he understood.
"Oh, I see... Isn't that your passive skill... Interference !"
The Lanturn smirked. Pokemon could indeed have between none and three passive skills that they learned to use through training and practice. Interference had the power to lower the ennemy's accuracy.
During this time, the Tsareena had observed Amaria recklessly running towards her. She brandished a light blue staff decorated by a wing towards the adventurer, who was caught into a strong gale and propelled back. The blast of air made her fly right before the Cofagrigus, who hit her with a brutal Shadow Claw. The Sirfetch'd rolled on the ground, growling, and nearly banged into Orahcia who was just entering the battlefield. She went back on her feet, refusing the Escavalier's help and insisted she went fighting instead.
In front of Aspen, the Lanturn used Stockpile. A dozen of feet behind, Goliath was stomping through the ferns and bushes to reach the battlefield as fast as his heavy build allowed him to go. Orahcia flew towards the Tsareena and rubbed her spears together in an awful Screech. The Grass type covered her hears to escape the terrible noise, thus letting her guard down, but was quick enough to avoid the Bug Bite from the slow Escavalier.
"PUNISH THE CROOKS !" Aspen yelled, crashing into her in an agile Quick Attack, but the move fell flat due to the Queenly Majesty ability. The Shiftry, seeing his second attack miss too, grumbled. The Tsareena laughed maniacally and jumped, using High Jump Kick on the unfortunate adventurer who got hit quite harshly. But, once the shock of the highly effective move was gone, he smiled. He pulled a glowing parchment paper right out of his thick fur and triumphantly waved it down the Tsareena's face. The item started glowing harder, and then disappeared. A reassuring sensation of power transcended Aspen's body. He had found this Weakness Policy a few days before they left for their mission, and had kept it on him since. The Lanturn used Stockpile a second time.
Far from being discouraged by the failure of her first attempt, Amaria decided to try using Brave Bird on the Tsareena again and dashed towards her.
"Single Strike !" she yelled as she used one of the two Battle Styles she had been learning since her childhood. This time, her powerful attack was more successful. At the same time, the Cofagrigus saw Goliath finally arriving into the brawl. A sandstorm kicked in, restricting the fighter's visibility. The Ghost type used Grudge, anticipating what his most logical action against him would be. The Gigalith indeed used Stone Edge, landing a pretty hard hit but losing all the energy he needed to use this move again in the fight. Also, he didn't know it but his ability was gone, replaced by the invasive Mummy. The Cofagrigus burst into a laughter that could compete with the cheesiest evil overlord's one. Orahcia sucessfully hit the Tsareena with a Bug Bite. The bandit shoved her down and charged at Goliath with Trop Kick, weakening him considerably.
"We will have your blood !" she taunted.
The Lanturn swiflty approached Amaria, and let a twice boosted Spit Up go at the Sirfetch'd. The powerful attack hit her violently. Surprised by the move's sheer power and stunned by the blow, she dropped her leek and couldn't land the Brick Break she intended to use. During this time, the Cofagrigus used Shadow Claw on Goliath, who responded with a Heavy Slam of significant power. Near them, a quite weakened but boosted Aspen invoked Substitute's green doll.
What's going on in the Gigalith's head
"Allies and ennemies. Everywhere. That's confusing... All of this is going to fast for me. I see Orahcia using Bug-Bite on the Tsareena. Aspen uses Leaf Blade on the Runerigus. I took damage... I feel weakened. Seems that I lost all my hit points. No more energetic protection. Next moves are going to hurt. But we need to defeat these bandits. They were attacking innocents... Can't tolerate this. Just defeating them and make them flee... I refuse to kill."
Aspen and the Runerigus were facing each other in a battle of Leaf-Blade versus Shadow-Claw
"Your ability is gone !" the Cofagrigus boomed as Aspen hit him, Mommy activating.
"Haha ! My ability was completely useless as the sun rays aren't strong enough. Nothing of value was lost !"
"You seem so enthusiastic, for someone who just lost the use of their move !"
Aspen then realised that he had got hit by Grudge, preventing him to use Leaf Blade again. He chose to continue the fight using Rollout.
"You ambushed innocents !" he shouted, his Substitute doll getting ripped in two halves by another move from the rogue.
"Pretending you're the noble saviors, I see... PATHETIC !" the Cofagrigus snickered at the ball of fur that was rolling around him
"TAKE THAT !"
"YOU DON'T STAND ANY CHANCE !" the bandit roared as he threw some dirt in Aspen's eyes.
"HEY ! You CAN'T do that ! That's against the rules !"
"The rules ? US SCOUNDRELS DON'T KNOW ANY RULES !"
The Cofagrigus waited for Aspen to attack again. He hit at the right moment, using the Shiftry's kinetic energy against him and sent him flying across the small clearing the brawl was raging in. Then, he burst into a loud laughter again.
Aspen landed next to the Tsareena, who was struggling against Orahcia's Bug type move. He looked up just to see the Grass type jumping high in the air, right above him. He swiftly rolled back on his feet, dodging the High Jump Kick. He then plowed into the crashed Tsareena with Quick Attack. He had guessed right : Mummy spread very quickly in battles with at least one Cofagrigus, and Queenly Majesty was no more. The beaten up bandit passed out. Behind her, the Lanturn used Stockpile again.
"Rapid Strike !"Amaria exclaimed while running towards the Water type. Unfortunately for her, Interference activated again and her attack missed. She grumbled as she nearly landed in a bush. At the same time, the sandstorm stopped. Goliath, who was now facing the Cofagrigus alone, used Heavy Slam again. Orahcia flew to the Lanturn and used Screech, hoping to counterbalance the defense boosts of his Stockpiles. The Lanturn ignored her, looking at the Shiftry who was struggling to pick himself up instead. It was the ideal moment to finish him with a little surprise ! The purple gemstone ornating the metal ring he was wearing on his right flipper glowed. He drew a sigil in the air and a ray bursted out of it. The Lanturn grinned as the light was aiming for the unfortunate Shiftry.
At the last second, the ray was deflected and hit Goliath instead.
The bandit's grin quickly changed into a startled frown as the Gigalith came and silently stared down at him. Behind the Rock type, Aspen was able to get back on his feet and waited for what would happen next. The Lanturn wasn't the only one there to have mastered a passive skill. Goliath had been training regularly way before joining the guild, and had gained access to Bodyguard, a skill that allowed him to take a hit for a weakened ally. It worked not only with moves, but also with magic spells like this ray of light.
The Lanturn shrank in front of the stone giant, but he didn't have to worry about getting hit by him. A light suddenly flashed and the Cofagrigus, who had just used Ally Switch to escape Orahcia's repeated Iron Heads, was now facing Goliath. Now, it was the Water type's turn to be exposed to the Escavalier's attacks. The Ghost type braced up to withstand the Gigalith's attack, but the final blow came from behind him. He turned back just in time for Amaria's sword to hit him right in the face. His eyes widened in confusion when he realised he had just been hit by Brick Break, and a move he was supposed to be immune to had caused his downfall.
"Scrappy... In your face !" a bruised Amaria gloated.
Now, the Lanturn was the only rogue still capable of battling in the clearing. Goliath, Amaria and Orahcia surrounded him while Aspen was panting behind. The Escavalier hit with Bug Bite, while the Lanturn abandonned Stockpile and Spit Up to hit directly with Thunderbolt. The lightning striked Goliath, who flinched and quickly stepped backwards with widened eyes. His legs trembled and he fell down on the ground. Amaria growled and used Brick-Break on the remaining bandit. Yet another time, Interference activated and he was able to dodge the move. That was the last straw for the Sirfetch'd. She let her frustration burst out and started to repetitively beat the Lanturn with her leek.
"Wow... WOW ! Calm down !" the Water type begged before running away to escape this fury. Amaria tried to chase him, but was held back by the others.
"We successfully protected these people," Goliath said, trying to get back on his feet with difficulty. "That's enough."
"And don't even think about preying on innocents again !" Aspen yelled at the fleeing Lanturn.
Said innocents came out the bush they were hiding in and thanked the adventurers profusely for their act.
"Were you going deeper into the Boreal Forest ?" One of them, a Flapple, asked. "Something's going on here..."
"Are you talking about the strange natural events ?" Orahcia asked.
"Yes," an Arcanine replied. "It seems to be spreading from its starting point. Lycir is still safe, but I believe it's only a matter of time. That's why we were fleeing the zone when we got attacked."
"We're on our way to investigate ! Aspen said. You can trust adventurers like us to find a solution."
"I hope so..." the Flapple answered with a small laugh. "But it definitely looks like something serious."
The travelers went back on the road after insisting on rewarding the adventurers for the rescue.
It was now time for them to recap what happened.
"My ability is gone..." Orahcia sighed. "I have Mummy now."
"Yeah, me too..." Aspen said.
They realised that they all temporarily lost their ability to Mummy.
It was now time to get back on the path, but Goliath and Aspen had taken a non-negligeable amount of damage during the battle. They were given potions to restore their health and their natural protection against attacks.
"You did pretty well," Orahcia said while giving the vial to the weakened Gigalith, whose cloak was dirty and damaged.
"I'm training since long," he replied. "I want to be able to protect my loved ones if something happens."
"Hey, so these scumbags..." Amaria, who had been stealthily frisking the passed out bodies, interrupted. "They were the bandits I saw yesterday, when we moved our camp. Oh, and, Aspen... I saw you using the Weakness Policy. How many things are you storing in your fur ?"
They finally came back on the road and continued to follow the way to Lycir, Orahcia regularly checking on her map so they didn't take a wrong turn. Aspen, who had recovered pretty fast, was already jumping from tree to tree instead of walking. This way, he shook a branch and a pinecone fell on the Sirfetch'd's head, but Orahcia started a mundane conversation quickly enough to avoid another verbal jousting. Soon, the high towers of the capital city appeared distantly. Amaria smiled in sight of her childhood city. They could pass more and more people on the road : merchants, other adventurers, a Mudsdale drawing a wagon, travelers, a group of priests and some paladins, among others. Without warning, a brown hooded figure stormed across the path and nearly shoved the adventurers.
"Out of my way !" they could hear.
"Hey !" Amaria yelled as the person was already disappearing in the distance, shaking her leek sword in their direction.
"What's their problem ?" Aspen asked, knowing he would probably never know the answer.
"There was a symbol. On their cloak." Goliath said.
"Oh ? What did it look like ?"
"Don't know. Didn't have time to see."
"Well... We're not further ahead... Nevermind. Let's go !" the Shiftry concluded.
They could see the city's gate and high walls in the distance.
