Marais Morte… Flocon considered it a fitting name. They were only two sectors into it and already the sheer strength of the pokemon this deep was staggering compared to those of Purple Bog. And yet, they were the intruders, they were the invaders. But Flocon didn't care about the ownership of those savage beasts.

He stuck near Sylpheed and Frukkshin, close enough to almost hear their heartbeat. His ears were perked and wary of any pokemon that might leap from the underbrush of Verdant Marsh. Every sound seemed intensified in ways he never thought possible, the squelch of every step he took, the twang of a bow, the rustle of a feral.

Flocon paused for a moment. The twang of a bo-. His thoughts were cut short by an arrow tearing into his hindquarter. He cried out from the agonizing blow as it plunged into his flesh until it struck bone, lodging itself in firmly.

The other two immediately came to his defense. Sylpheed gripped the bleeding Ninetales, while Frukkshin scanned the area of whence the arrow came from. "Sylpheed, protect Flocon." he ordered as he began to focus energy into his mouth. An orange glow suffusing the air around him.

"Frukkshin, wait!" Sylpheed exclaimed. "You can't fire a Flamethrower in a place like this!"

The Rapidash ceased and nodded, refocusing for a moment, the color of fire was soon replaced by a bright white. Frukkshin kept his ears perked, Sylpheed was deathly still as she held up a Protect. But there was no other sound beyond the warping of the green barrier.

Sylpheed rose to her feet, doing her best to carry the Ninetales in one arm. "I knew something was off." she muttered.

Frukkshin turned for a moment to try and hear her, but that one second was all it took as another arrow flew towards them. The Rapidash did his best to dodge out of the way, the tip scraping past his neck and leaving a thin line of blood, causing the energy to dissipate. "Behind cover, now." Frukkshin commanded.

"One step ahead of you." she remarked as she dove behind a tree.

The Rapidash slowly backed up, keeping a very close eye on whatever it was, his wound vaguely hurt as he hid himself from the assailant. It was a slow, throbbing, and numbing pain that almost felt as if it were spreading throughout his being.

Frukkshin gave some attention to his wound by trying to put pressure on it with a nearby branch, Sylpheed got up and helped him do so. Though the blood seemed to start slowing on its own.

Locking eyes with the wound on the Rapidash. Sylpheed had a hunch that led her to leap out of cover to grab the arrow that skimmed the Fire-type just moments earlier, narrowly avoiding another projectile as it lodged itself in her clothing. She grabbed it and dashed back into cover to investigate. Turning it over a few times in her claws, she saw a sticky residue drip onto her pink exoskeleton. "We don't have much time." she said.

Frukkshin looked down at her in a panic. "What?" his voice was in disbelief.

"These arrows, they've been poisoned." she remarked. "You'll be fine—probably, it's Flocon who could…" her voice trailed off as she put a claw to the head of the Ninetales.

Frukkahin gasped and glanced back to where the arrow came from. "So, what that means is: whoever shot that isn't a feral?" he stuttered as he talked.

Sylpheed nodded, her face visibly darkened. She gripped Flocon and muttered something in his ear.

Frukkshin was visibly disturbed by the new piece of information as he looked up. "Damn coward." he muttered under his breath, the white glow returned to his mouth before he finally burst out in anger, "Show yourself!"

He reeled back for a moment. Before a crackling beam of energy flew from Frukkshin's maw blasting the trees apart and resulting in an energetic eruption. The leaves cleared for a moment but Frukkshin was rooted to the ground in exhaustion after firing a Hyper Beam. There was an opening but nothing came from the leaves.

"Are they gone?" Sylpheed asked as she let her claw down to the ground, she hoisted the limp Flocon in one arm. Her breathing quickened as she looked him up and down. Touching a claw to his face she opened one of his eyes, she watched them and for just a moment, she saw some sign of recognition, Flocon was alive.

Letting out a sigh of relief she told Frukkshin. "It looks like he's only sedated, he might be fine, but we should finish up now. Just in case."

The Rapidash gave her a quick nod as she hoisted Flocon onto his back. "There we go." Frukkshin remarked. "We should keep our guard up Sylpheed… Sylpheed?" Frukkshin looked to the ground to find her sprawled out on the ground, an arrow lodged into her arm.

"Shit." Frukkshin said, as he stepped back and perked his ears up. "Damnit, where are you?" he muttered as he heard the twang of another arrow, he leapt up and dodged it as it scraped his leg, the loud sound of a wet thud reached his ears as Flocon tumbled off his back. He turned around and stared down the origin of the shot.

Frukkshin peered down at Sylpheed and Flocon and muttered, "As long as I don't fire anything too hot, I shouldn't start a fire. But even if I do, I'm not letting either of you die like this!" his voice rose to a crescendo as he reeled back and shot a Flamethrower, aiming towards the spot he saw the arrow fly from.

However the second he did, an arrow flew out, he jumped to the side and dodged it. He leaned back and fired once again into the shadows, he caught a quick glance of some tall, avian figure in the distance. He knew then who his target was as he shouted towards it, "Alright, come on then." as he fired another Flamethrower into the shadows, singing leaves as a gentle crackling filled the air.

One more time an arrow flew from the depths, the Rapidash dodged in vain, as another arrow struck true into his thigh before he could reposition himself. Frukkshin struggled for a moment as he tried to remain upright but he soon crumpled to the floor.

A few minutes of long silence passed before the avian figure came out of the shadows, revealing himself to be a Decidueye. He walked to stand over the fallen Ninetales and held out a note. "This is the one?" he remarked to himself. "I expected far more of a fight from you." he said as a shadowy aura began to wrap around his wing, "Seems you've met your end."

Decidueye raised his wing as the energy took the form of a Shadow Claw and aimed directly for Flocon's neck.

He was about to bring his wing down as he felt something crack the back of his skull. Reeling forward and tripping over the strange Ninetales. He found his footing and looked around to no avail. "Must've been a damn feral." he remarked as he rubbed the back of his head.

He repositioned himself but once again something cut him off, but this time, it wrapped around his leg. Pulling him to the ground Sylpheed jumped up and dropped her elbow directly into his ribs. "It's like he said. I'm not letting us die here." Sylpheed exclaimed as she rolled off of him and back to her feet in one smooth motion, the arrow in her sleeve flailing about.

Decidueye made eye contact with her. "I thought I shot you." he said as he started to his feet. He was more concerned about the Lurantis standing at all rather than the fact that there was a slight glow to her, her petals seeming a bit more spread out.

The Lurantis wasn't about to let him though as she grabbed his shoulders and kneed him in the ribs. He managed to stagger to his feet whilst gripping his chest and sprung forwards into her, slashing her chest with the Shadow Claw he'd been saving up.

She fell back as the claw passed through her chitin and bit directly into her flesh, she pushed herself up against a tree an ethereal glow surrounding the gash as she struggled in the searing pain. "Not so tough now? Are you?" he taunted as he landed a firm punch directly to her jaw, cracking her tough shell.

As he was about to draw back his fist Sylpheed grabbed it and flipped it around before cracking down on it with her other claw.

The Grass-type yelped in pain as he drew back his crumpled wing. "You, I hit you directly, how are you standing as if nothing's happened?"

She said, "I'm a bit tougher than you think." as she sprung forward and tackled him into the dirt. Rolling off and back to her feet once more she began to change her pose a bit, stretching her arms far to her sides and bringing them in with a deep breath as a green oscillating wave began to surround them.

The Decidueye found his footing at long last and stared her down. He prepared to leap forward but was quickly cut off by an ember striking him in the square of his back, he flinched in pain. Looking down to his side, he saw Frukkshin give a wry smile before finally passing out.

He recomposed himself a moment too late as a long and deep gash was seared into his good wing by a wave of concentrated light. A wave far stronger than anything he'd felt before, Sylpheed's Planet Waves planted a crippling pain into him, and he fell unconscious from the sheer shock of the blow.

Sylpheed let down her claws once more and fell to her knees in exhaustion. Letting out heavy pants as she tried to regain her composure, each struggle to stand felt as if she were holding the weight of the world on her shoulders. She looked around with bleary vision as she steadily found her footing. She reached up and dislodged the arrow from the fabric of her shirt, letting it fall onto the ground.

She grabbed Frukkshin and dragged him into a small alcove in the trees, then grabbed Flocon and laid him down. She sat on the ground and waited a moment. Tears filled her eyes as the area filled with a deathly quiet. Turning over her claws as she looked at them, Sylpheed hung her head low.

It was a long time until Flocon finally began coming to his senses. "Augh, finally." he said as he tried to get up only to be met by failure as he plummeted to the ground.

"Don't push yourself too hard." Sylpheed told him as she rested a claw on him. "There's not much that I can do about the poison that entered your body. You just need to give it time."

"Sounds good." Flocon said as he let himself be hoisted up and set against the wall. "How long was I out?" he asked as he glanced around through cloudy eyes.

"A few minutes at most, Frukkshin should wake up soon. I hope he will anyway." she said as she drew a claw to her face and let out a small sigh of relief. "I'm just relieved that whatever it was that he shot you with didn't kill you."

Flocon looked up with some vague concern, Sylpheed seemed to draw herself in a bit as she spoke. But if the Ninetales was going to say anything more he was far too pacified and instead opted to lie back down and rest.

Sylpheed heard Frukkshin stir soon after and began to help him get comfortable next to Flocon. She opened her mouth to speak but Frukkshin held up a weak hoof to quiet her down. "You did great out there, I didn't see it, but we're alive because of you." he told her.

Sylpheed looked down at the ground. "Yeah." she said shortly as she let herself relax a little. "I'm just glad everyone is still alive."

"I am too." Frukkshin responded as he let himself lay back a little bit.

Sylpheed sighed as she got to her feet. "I think, I think I just want to get back to base alive." she said as she crossed her claws and looked off into Verdant Marsh. The setting sun filtered through the trees, casting an eerie glow. "I'm not happy with what you did though."

Frukkshin gave her a weak nod. "The team comes first." he said as he laid back and waited for whatever poison was flowing through his bloodstream to wear off.

She held up a stick to his mouth. "Could you light this?" she asked nervously.

The Rapidash looked over to see that she had built a small pile of sticks and a few logs, which all looked too damp to really catch on fire. "Sure, though I doubt it'll light very well." he said as she gave a small huff of flame long enough to get it to crackle.

"Thank you." she said as she got to working on lighting the stack of sticks.

Rapidash tilted his head in confusion. "Why are you making a campfire?" he asked, there was a hint of concern in his voice.

Sylpheed looked up as the fire failed to start. "I don't know." she said as she leaned back. "I guess I just want to have something to do…" her voice trailed off as she sat down and drew her knees to her chin.

Frukkshin gave her a smile as he positioned himself to lay on his belly and spark up his mane.

Sylpheed looked up in surprise. The fire was dim, possibly due to exhaustion, but she huddled up against it either way and leaned slightly on the Rapidash. "Thank you." she said softly.

"Don't mention it." he said before tacking on at the end, "Especially not to Irukan." He leaned forward and let himself get some rest.

Flocon shifted from where he was to lay beside the two of them and rested his head on Frukkshin before letting out a small contented huff. It sure is warm. he thought as he let his mind drift away.

By the time the poison truly wore off to the point he could stand, it was nearing dusk. "We should finish up our last job." Flocon said. "It can't be too much further in, right?"

Rapidash firmly replied, "We will not, Marais Morte is dangerous at night. Your life is more important than any lost toy."

Flocon stood still for a moment. "Alright then, back to base we go." He let a disappointed frown cross his face, but inside he was ecstatic. Looking up at Frukkshin's retreating figure he ran towards the guiding flame and he knew that he wasn't alone. He knew that someone truly and dearly cared for him.

At that moment Flocon didn't have a care in the world but something in the back of his head was nagging him. He stopped before turning around to check the fallen Decidueye and in his coat of feathers he found a burnt note. He couldn't make out the exact words in the setting sun. But he could make out enough to know what it meant. The Ice-type had no idea who it was behind all this but one thing became apparent, one thing that frightened him beyond all else. Someone wanted him dead, and they wanted it now.

Flocon knew his days were numbered.

I'm still keeping up and at this rate I'll continue to do so. I almost forgot to upload today but I just remembered