"Wow... most of that doesn't make any sense," Rio chuckled as he was filled in on what he missed. "Like... Kora basically drowned, Kane vanished, and it kinda just… started snowing? Calling it all crazy kinda feels like an understatement."
"I hope it doesn't get any crazier. I dunno what time it is, but I doubt it's even noon yet," Kora sighed, eating a couple macarons. "Maybe the blizzard will die down soon?"
"Yeah, no. I don't see it lettin' up anytime soon. Man, almost makes me feel bad for that bastard lizard. Almost," Minerva shrugged, finishing off a slice of pie.
Eva rolled her eyes, taking some treats and placing them into a bag for later. "Right, well, I'm gonna go get ready to look for Kane again. Peace."
Minerva's ear twitched. "Why the hell're ya goin' out in that weather for someone like Kane? Sounds like a good way to get lost."
"Because I care about my teammates, Minerva," Eva growled, shooting a glare at the feline. "Difficult or not, he's my friend."
"At least my friend doesn't go around pissin' Pokémon off for the hell of it! Do I gotta remind ya who set Kora off a week ago?" Minerva growled. "Last time I checked, it was the same prick that snapped at me for no reason! The same one that you let insult me!"
'No reason?! You threw him at Zen' Eva wanted to say, but kept herself quiet. She took a deep breath and turned towards the exit. There were more important things to do.
"I'm not having this argument right now, I'm gonna get ready to leave. Zen you can come but I'm not waiting for you," Eva said as she left.
"Eh, good riddance," Minerva waved Eva off, going back to eating her treats when she noticed Nina looking at her. "What?"
"You aren't gonna go after her?" Nina asked. "She'd be out in the cold by herself. Well, her and Zen."
"And? They're strong enough to go out by themselves. If they wanna go find Kane, more power to 'em, but I ain't riskin' myself for him." Minerva turned away started eating another slice of pie.
"But… aren't you all trying to form a team? Shouldn't you try and save him, even if you don't like him?" Nina tilted her head. Minerva didn't respond.
Zen didn't comment on the conversation either, but the look on his face got his disappointment across regardless. He was about to leave the room when Jay stopped him, with Lucas and Nina beside him. "I'm going too," the Grovyle said, firm.
"You and your friends may be capable, but this isn't a risk I will allow you to take," Zen shook his head, turning to leave but was, again, stopped just short of the doorway.
"Take me then!" Lucas offered. "It's gonna be cold out there right? You'll need someone that can start a fire!"
Zen shook his head dismissively. "While you have a point, I still-"
"Then we'll just have to ignore you," Lucas interrupted Zen, grabbing both Nina and Jay by their arm and racing out the Infirmary. "This sounds like a rescue mission, which means it's a team mission! Let's hurry and meet up with Eva!"
"Wait!" Zen reached for them, but the three were already gone. "Dammit!"
"What a way you have with kids," Kora snickered.
"Truly, a role model for caretakers everywhere," Rio added with a smug grin.
"I'm not their- You know what?" Zen grabbed the two jokers and dragged them out of the Infirmary. "You two will assist me in retrieving those three. No objections." Rio and Kora protested, but they were unable to pry themselves from the Bisharp's iron grasp. Or were they steel grasps? Minerva scarfed down the last of the snacks she had before following behind Kora, Rio, and Zen, swearing to throw that bladed bastard into the ocean.
As everyone else left, Tia floated over to Jax and sat next to him, patting his arm. "They're gonna get themselves in trouble, aren't they?" she sighed. "I've been having this bad feeling all day…"
"Eh, I think they'll be fine. You got a knack for worrying too much, Tia," Jax chuckled. "But, just in case, ya might wanna get in touch Nate and Zeke."
Eva arrived at the supply area fairly quickly, despite almost getting lost along the way. There were rows of large, walk-in closets, each named after one of the teams, then one larger chamber at the end for actual equipment and supplies.
Finding the closet labeled "Team Sunrise," Eva walked in, flicking a crystal on the wall to brighten it a bit. The closet was reserved for her, Zen, and Kane, but she was the only one who actually used it. By closet standards, this one was huge. Basically the size of a two-person room, with a changing room to the back hidden behind a curtain.
"Here's all our winter stuff. I think I need a lantern and maybe a jacket," Eva said to herself, looking through her winter apparel. "Do I even have a lantern, actually?"
After a few moments of searching, Eva found her light, dark-blue jacket and slid it on. She rarely used it so it was basically still brand new, aside from some strands of fur. To go along with her jacket, Eva thought it would be nice to have a scarf. Another quick search and she picked up a thin, dark-red one.
"I'm all set! Just need a lantern now." Eva nodded as she walked out the closet, heading towards the larger chamber.
The large chamber was essentially the same as the smaller closets, just, you know, larger. It was a wide, open area with equipment neatly lining the walls, and fluorescent crystals shining over everything. They were split into five sections; spelunking gear, heavily waterproofed gear, flameproof and lava resistant gear, climbing gear, and winter gear.
Eva went straight for the spelunking section, finding a weathered but still functional lantern and a couple liquid wax cartridges for it. She thought about going to the winter section to find something she might need, but couldn't think of anything. As bad as the snow was, she didn't think it got that much worse.
"Perfect! Now I just gotta wait for Zen and we're off!" Eva nodded to herself, turning on her heels towards the exit. She only took a few steps before a blur of orange, blue, and green nearly ran her over.
"Sorry!" the orange blur, Lucas, said. He and his friends grabbed a bunch of supplies and bolted out the exit without saying another word.
"That was… something," Eva tittered. She actually made it to the exit before being interrupted, this time by Zen dragging Kora and Rio behind him.
"Where are they..?" Zen grumbled, dropping the fox and jackal at his sides.
"Those three kids? They just ran off," Eva said, pointing behind him. "How'd you miss them?"
"I had my hands full." Zen rubbed his temples, looking down at Kora and Rio. "These three are coming with us, since you already have all your stuff, just wait for us outside the mountain."
Eva tilted her head, giving Zen a curious look. Before she could ask why he said three, Minerva popped out of Kora's mane and dusted herself off. The two girls blinked at each, dead silent. Rio slowly backed away from the scene, followed by Kora and eventually Zen.
"You're actually gonna help me? Did Kora convince you?" Eva crossed her arms, skeptical that even Kora could convince Minerva to do this.
"The hell does that matter? Ya got a couple extra paws lookin' for ya friend, so why question it?" Minerva said, crossing her arms as well. "Besides… I woulda came to help ya anyway. Us girls gotta stick together and all that."
Eva remained skeptical but didn't outright express it. "Alright then… Thanks. I'll be waiting for the rest of you guys outside the mountain."
"Sure, fine." Minerva nodded.
Regardless of Minerva's reasonings for turning around so soon, Eva was glad to have her assistance, along with Kora and Rio's. "We'll find you Kane, just… be safe."
It was worse outside than Eva thought; the snow was already piled up to her waist. The wind was picking up too, sending chills through her body. She stood out there with her lantern lit, looking over the untouched snow as she waited for the others to get here. Which didn't take long, luckily.
Lucas tripped over himself as he ran outside, face planting into the snow. Nina snorted, covering her mouth as she continued giggling. Jay was absolutely dreading being outside, shivering like a scared child in the cold. Behind them was Zen, as stoic as ever. Rio came out next, in awe of all the snow, and lastly was Kora with Minerva in his mane.
Those less bothered by the cold, Rio, Zen, and Lucas, had basically nothing extra on other than green and red scarves on Rio and Zen respectively, and clawless gloves on Lucas. Jay had on a large, warm looking jacket and wool hat, both light and dark green respectively. Nina had a coat similar to Eva's except it was all blue. Kora had red ear muffs and a matching tattered scarf, and Minerva wore a poofy black and yellow jacket with black ear muffs.
Eva couldn't help the smile that stretched across her snout after seeing everyone gathered together. "Thanks you guys. Zen and I were gonna need all the help we could get."
"Don't thank us yet, save it for when the job's done," Lucas rose his head from the snow and grinned.
"L-Let's h-hurry up a-and find K-Kane…" Jay said through chattering teeth. "I-It is way too cold..! Wh-Why is it so cold?"
Nina wrapped an arm around her shivering Grovyle friend. "We'll get back inside before long. I don't think Kane wants to stay in the cold for long either."
"We're gonna get moving soon, right? I think the snow's gonna get worse," Kora said, pawing at his snout. "Uhg, I gotta sneeze but I'm not sneezing. This is agony."
Rio went over and flicked Kora's nose. "Better?"
Kora blinked, rubbing his snout. "Actually, yeah. Thanks!" He gave Rio a bright smile.
Zen cleared his throat loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Alright, enough wasting time. Every second we spend standing around is another second the snow gets worse. Light your lanterns and we'll head out." He pulled out his own lantern, handing it over to Eva. She blew a tiny flame inside to ignite it. Jay's was lit by Lucas, and Rio's by Kora.
"Looks like we're all ready," Minerva yawned, poking her head out of Kora's mane. "Tell me when we find Kane or whatever, I'm takin' a nap."
Eva rolled her eyes, grinning. She, Zen, and Rio took the lead, with the trio behind them, and Kora and Minerva in the back. There was a faint homeyness in traveling with a group, a feeling of safety that warmed Eva to the core. She hoped she'd be able to find Kane soon so he could experience it himself. They began their trek along the shore, chatting amongst themselves to distract from the cold.
The snow picked up sooner than anyone would have liked. Their vision was cut in half, and the wind stole the heat from their bodies as it rushed past. The group huddled closer together, both to conserve warmth and to keep track of each other.
"Hey Eva, do you have a clue that'll lead us to Kane?" Nina asked, huddling closer to Eva.
"Honestly… no. We checked his house and mine, and I don't really know where he'd go if not those places," Eva replied, sighing. "I doubt he'd be out in the snow, so maybe the square? Or maybe he got lucky and Diana took him in."
"The Outlander, right?" Lucas leaned in, grinning excitedly. "You mean we'll actually be able to meet her? Awesome!"
Eva tittered, shaking her head. "Maybe, it's hard to say. She and Kane don't really look like two people that would really get along, with how sweet Diana is compared to Kane being…"
"Mean?" Kora chimed in.
"Abrasive," Zen said, keeping his focus ahead of him.
"A b-bit of a j-j-jerk?" Jay chattered, rubbing his claws together.
"About as soft as a bed of nails?" Nina hummed.
"Difficult to be around and not wanna punch?" Lucas said, rubbing his chin.
"A bitch in lizard's clothing?" Minerva snickered from atop Kora's head.
Eva pouted and crossed her arms. "I was gonna say, uh… different from her. Y'all are just mean."
"Says one of Kane's friends," Zen chuckled, getting a clump of snow chucked at his head by Eva.
"You're one of his friends too, idiot!" Eva huffed.
"At least I'm honest about him." Zen shook the snow off and continued on.
Rio pouted and crossed his arms. "I was gonna say he was kinda ok."
Minerva stuck her head out of Kora's mane, her face deadpanned. "Why admit to bein' wrong, Blue?"
"I…" Rio paused, then huffed. "I just wanted to say a nice thing about him, alright?"
The beach was getting cumbersome to traverse. The snow was getting high enough to slow them to a crawl, and they could barely see a few feet ahead of them. Lucas had to snack on charcoal to keep his flame bright and warm for everyone, Kora allowed Nina and Jay to ride in his mane, and Rio started stumbling more and more.
Just as Rio was about to fall over, Zen grabbed his arm. "What are you doing, Outlander?" he asked, pulling Rio back up.
"I... I don't know. My head's just kinda fuzzy," Rio said, holding his head. "I can't… it's weird but like, I can't see you guys. Like, I can see you standing there but… I don't know."
"Hm… it might be your ability to sense aura failing. This might be worse than I originally thought," Zen muttered that last part to himself. "We should find a place to rest and get out of the cold for a little while.
They went into the woods, finding a small clearing close to the edge of the forest. Kora and Lucas melted the snow on the ground with their flames, while Zen and Eva gathered enough wood for a fire. Their makeshift campsite wasn't perfect, but it did its job. Eva, Zen, and Lucas sat on one side of the fire, and Rio and Kora, with the three on his back, sat on the other side.
"Alright, what's the plan, Edge?" Minerva asked Zen.
"Do not call me that," Zen said, colder than the snow around them. "The plan is to scour the island as much as we can and find Kane. Simple enough for all of you to understand."
"That plan sounds like somethin' Kora and I woulda came up with," Minerva rolled her eyes. "Quit pullin' nonsense outta ya ass and spill it, Edge. Unless ya ain't got a plan at all?"
Zen took a deep breath, not letting Minerva get under his skin so easily. "Again, do not call me that."
"It totally fits, though! Everything about ya is sharp as hell," Minerva huffed. "And don't think ya can change the subject, we still gotta know what we're doin'."
"Weren't you going to take a nap? How about you get back to that so I don't have to deal with your annoying speech impediment" Zen hissed. "How do you even have an accent? No one on the mainland continents has it, and your father barely has one."
"Hell if I know," Minerva shrugged. "Whatever, keep us in the dark as long as ya want. See ya." She sank back into Kora's mane without another word. Zen let out a groan and pinched between his eyes.
Lucas scooted closer to Zen and tapped him on the shoulder. "What are we gonna do? I don't think we can just walk around without an idea of where we're going," the Charmeleon asked. "I don't wanna find out what happens when I get frostbite, ya know?"
'Without Rio's aura sense, this will prove difficult. I shouldn't have placed so much faith in an ability he learned basically yesterday. That being said, I should be more than enough regardless of the Outlander and his lack of ability,' Zen thought, looking over at Rio for a moment. The Lucario chatted away with Kora and Nina, seemingly still unaware of what was wrong with him.
Zen turned to Lucas and said, "I apologize if you expected more, but the best we can do is stay together and look for Kane. I'll make sure we head back before we get lost ourselves."
Lucas smirked and nodded. "Alright, I guess we're in your hands. Keep us safe out here, team leader guy!"
Zen blinked, wanting to correct him but decided to let it be. He bowed gently, placing his gauntlet on his chest. "You have my word."
Eva pretended not to notice the sweet moment that played out beside her, focusing on the dance of the campfire. It was kind of mesmerizing, actually. Eva didn't realize at first, but she started spewing tiny flames as she watched the fire go. Eventually, her gaze crept up towards Kora, and a dull ache grew in her chest.
Some time passed, and seeing that everyone was in high spirits, Zen decided it was time to get moving again. He stood up, taking a deep breath before saying, "We should be reaching the Square shortly, if the blizzard doesn't grow worse. I'm allowing us to remain out here for only one hour. If we can't find Kane then..." he looked over at Eva, who stiffened at the idea of not finding her friend. "... We'll head back to the guild. There's no point risking all of us for another."
Eva wanted to protest, but she knew Zen was right. The Bisharp is many things, but wrong is hardly one of them. She and the others followed Zen's lead to once again travel along the shore, hoping they'd find Kane sooner than Zen expected.
It was a bit more manageable this time; the storm let up a bit, the wind died down, and because they were right next to the edge of the forest, there was less snow on the ground to slow them. Zen and Rio found themselves at the front of the group, but the others didn't really have an order to them.
"Are we there yet?" Nina asked, popping her head out of Kora's mane. " I feel like this is taking a while."
"Why're you complainin'? Kora's the one carryin' us," Minerva said, patting Kora on the top of his head. "Speakin' of us, where's Jay? Did we lose him?"
"No, I'm right here," Jay's beak poked out of the red mass of hair. "It is way bigger in here than I thought, and warm too! And you're totally fine with the three of us just… being on your back, Kora?"
Kora nodded, sporting a proud smirk that his passengers wouldn't have seen. "Yep! I barely even feel you guys back there. If none of you said anything, I woulda forgot you were even back there, hehe," he chuckled.
"Do ya think I can join? How many can fit in there?" Lucas asked, feeling somewhat left out.
"Lucas, you'd be a fire hazard, and seeing how Kora probably doesn't want to go bald any time soon, I think the answer is gonna be a no," Jay laughed.
While Kora and his passengers joked and laughed among themselves, Eva wrestled with the idea of talking to him. Being nervous still felt unnatural to Eva; the inability to look at him, the way she fumbled with her paws, all of it unintentionally telling Kora that she wanted to talk to him if he was keen enough to pick up on it. Eva let out a sigh and finally decided to speak up.
"Kora..." Eva started, getting the Halfbreed's attention. "Can I, um, talk to you about something? Alone?"
"Hm? I mean, we can't split off from the group so…" Kora rubbed the back of his head, suddenly feeling two someones hopping out of his mane.
"We'll get out of your hair for a bit," Nina giggled, proud of her little pun. Right next to her landed Jay, letting out a startled yelp as the sudden rush of cold and snow struck him to his core. The Grovyle threw himself onto Lucas' back, being the closest warm thing to him.
"Y-Y-Yeah, we can leave f-for a bit," Jay said. "B-But please, k-keep it sh-short?"
Lucas readjusted Jay on his back, shooting Eva and Kora bright, toothy grin, "We'll move on up a little so you can talk or whatever. Don't fall too far behind!" he said, him and Nina waddling closer to Zen and Rio.
Minerva let out a yawn, deciding against leaving Kora's mane. "Eh, I'll just go to sleep for real this time. Tell me if Eva tries startin' somethin', Kora." The feline sank into the sea of red hair, yawning loudly.
Kora blinked, then shrugged and went next to Eva. "Well I guess this works, right? What's up?"
"I-I, uh… I'm…" Eva fought against the urge to make herself smaller, trying to be as confident as she could be. She knew that he didn't want to hear an apology yet, but she couldn't not do it, right? Eva opened her mouth to say something, but Kora shook his head and spoke instead.
"Eva, you don't need to say sorry to me. I haven't done anything different yet, so there's no reason to say it," Kora said, smiling.
This is the second time he's rejected her apology, saying her brashness was justified. Eva looked Kora in the eye, a mixture of frustration and confusion building up within her. "Why are you so… not upset with me?"
Kora shrugged. "I dunno. Do I have a reason to?"
"Yes! I've treated you terribly and-"
Before she could finish, Kora raised his paw to quiet her. "You can't treat me wrong if it's for my own good. I'm no shining example of good, uh, friend-qualities, like you are. You almost went out in this snow by yourself to find Kane, and I got Minerva paralyzed for a day, and hurt Lucas, Jay, and Nina with that fake me I made…" He gave Eva a warm smile, flinching slightly. "If anything, I need you to be harder on me than before, right?"
Eva bit her lip and took a deep breath. He wouldn't have accepted it anyway. For how Eva knew Kora, seeing him acknowledge his faults should have been a relief but… it stung, somehow.
The pair fell silent, unable to speak or look at each other. Minerva, who didn't fall asleep as it turns out, kept quiet as well. What would she have said, anyway? They only spent a few moments in silence before the blizzard filled it with raging winds and thick clumps of snow.
Eva shielded her eyes, her and Kora stopping in their tracks as the blizzard suddenly grew worse. They quickly lost track of the others, not even the faintest light of Lucas' tail flame was seen.
"H-Hey! Guys!" Kora yelled, but his voice was lost in the wind. "HEY!"
"I thought it was clearing up! Why is it getting so much worse?!" Eva exclaimed, grabbing hold of Kora's arm. "We gotta get into the woods!" She pulled Kora away, ducking into the dense forest.
The dense canopy of leaves kept out a good amount of the blizzard. Unfortunately, that meant there was little to no light other than Eva's lantern. They could move quicker, but with no sense of direction. A reasonable trade-off in their eyes.
"The hell happened? Where is everyone?" Minerva popped her head up, as if she had just woken up. "Why're we in the woods?"
"The blizzard kicked up and we got split from the others," Eva explained, slowing her pace a bit. She still held onto Kora, now by his paw, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Seriously?" Minerva groaned. "So what, we just walk 'round 'till we find somethin'?"
Kora shrugged, not minding Eva's grip. "That's what it looks like. What else are we gonna do?"
Another groan left Minerva as she sank onto Kora's head. "Well ain't this great? We're lost in a damn blizzard with nothin' to do but walk…"
"You do realize that you're being carried by Kora, right? You are literally doing nothing but staying warm and letting us do all the walking," Eva rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'd love to be in your spot, but I can't."
"Why not?" Kora tilted his head. "I can carry you too, Eva, it's not that hard for me."
Eva shook her head. "I'm not gonna let you do all the walking by yourself. That just wouldn't be fair." There was more to it, like how she'd prefer not to evade his personal space like that, and maybe also her feelings about him.
"I mean, if you say so. I wouldn't have minded." Kora, again, shrugged. He sniffed at the air, his nose scrunching up. "It's gonna be a long walk, I don't think we're close to the square or anything. All I smell is snow and... I dunno, something."
"Something?" Both Minerva and Eva asked.
"Yeah, something. It's messin' with my nose, like when you really wanna sneeze but can't." Kora rubbed his snout. "Arceus, it's irritating…"
Minerva patted Kora on the head, snickering to herself. "Yeah, I know that feelin'. We'll get outta the snow soon, that might help ya."
"Maybe we're close to the Square already? It can't be that for, right?" Eva chuckled, not entirely believing that herself, but she sounded confident enough for Kora to believe her.
"Well, this sucks…" Nina groaned, trudging through the dark woods behind Lucas. "We actually got separated, and lost, in about five minutes…"
"I-It could b-be worse," Jay shivered, still on Lucas' back. "I-Imagine if we w-were lost without each o-other? I'd f-freeze."
"I'm sure we'll be fine. Zen said he'll keep us safe, and I believe him," Lucas grinned, marching through the snow and darkness without a care.
Nina walked up to Lucas, just so she could confirm that the Charmeleon had that carefree look on his face. "Lucas, we're lost."
"Then we'll just have to find them, duh," Lucas said, chuckling. It would be better not to try and bring sense to Lucas. He worked best with this blind optimism anyway.
It was definitely a long, chilly walk, but they finally made it to a less dense part of the forest. The trees were thin, threatening to break in the wind of the storm. It was already cold, but it felt almost sub-zero here. Nina had to be next to Lucas, and even he was starting to shiver.
"O-Oh no, this is w-way too cold!" Nina exclaimed. "D-Did we really walk all th-the way down here?" Jay would have responded, but he wasn't able to get any sounds out with how much his teeth chattered.
"I-It's not that bad! We can make it, we just gotta, uh, keep m-moving." Lucas chuckled. "Or m-maybe we should find a place to rest up?"
"N-No I, uh… Actually, m-maybe? It's t-too cold to th-think..!" Nina held onto Lucas, his natural heat hardly enough to keep her warm.
Lucas nodded, looking for a place to make a campsite. Everywhere looked the same, so it wasn't hard to find one, he just blasted the ground with a Flamethrower until the dirt was revealed and placed Jay in the center. Nina and Jay sat close together with the lantern between them, as Lucas gathered firewood. In moments, a hot, bright bonfire was lit, bringing some much needed warmth to the trio.
"Alright, this should be good." Lucas dusted off his claws, grinning proudly. "We'll be nice and warmed up in no time!"
The three sat close together, taking in the warmth of the fire. It was pretty obvious that they couldn't stay here. They could try and go back the way they came and maybe get back to the shore, but they'd also risk getting lost in the woods. Going through these strange woods is also an option, but they weren't sure where they were, or how long it'd take to get out.
"I wish we had snacks at least…" Lucas sighed, finishing his last piece of charcoal. "It's gonna be a bit hard going on without food."
"Somehow, I don't think food should be your biggest concern," Nina tittered.
"I-I'd just like to get out of the cold as s-soon as possible," Jay said, still freezing but much less than before. "This s-snow is more than e-enough for me to reconsider joining this m-mission."
Lucas put on a warm smile and wrapped his arm around Jay's shoulder. "Don't worry, once we're done here, we'll head back inside the guild, get some food, and we won't go back outside until the snow's gone! I'll even stay right by your side to keep you warm."
Jay chuckled. "Y-you better k-k-keep that promise."
Nina giggled at the two scooting closer to Jay to push him closer to Lucas. "Don't forget about me, I'm cold too!"
"Of course I wasn't gonna forget you, Nina! We're a team, so all of us get to eat and warm up together!" Lucas laughed, shoving himself between his friends to wrap them both in a fiery hug.
Much like the others, Rio and Zen took shelter in the woods once the snow picked up. While it was an unfortunate stroke of luck, neither of them were bothered by it. Well, one of them was unbothered by it.
"Have you made a plan?" Rio asked, staying close behind Zen.
"Are you able to sense things again yet?" Zen asked in reply, glancing back for a second. Rio sighed, which Zen took to mean no. "In that case, I'd like it if you kept quiet for the time being. I have this under control."
Rio crossed his arms, but didn't have a comeback on hand, er, paw. "So you just want to walk through the woods in total silence?"
"Yes. How else would I be able to think of what to do?" Zen said, keeping his focus ahead of him.
Rio suddenly shoved a digit in Zen's face, grinning smugly. "So you don't have a plan!"
Zen grabbed Rio's paw and moved it out of his face, glaring at the Lucario. "If you like having that arm, I suggest you don't do that again." He drove a hard bargain, an offer too good to not take. Rio backed away, zipping his lips and respecting Zen's space.
After walking in silence for a bit, Zen felt he had to commend Rio for keeping quietl. The Outlander hasn't made a peep this entire time, it was almost concerning how quiet he was. Zen looked back to make sure Rio was still behind him, and sure enough he was but… he didn't seem like he was all there. The Lucario swayed from side to side, his eyes glazed over, and Zen couldn't tell if he was breathing or not…
"Outlander..?" Zen grabbed Rio's paw, reeling back as he felt how hot it was. Rio was burning up, so much so that steam faintly rolled off his body, and there was an odd sensation radiating from him as well. "Rio, are you ill? What's wrong?"
"I don… feel to…" Rio muttered, reaching out for Zen. "Z-Zen..?" He was only able to take a single step before falling, luckily into Zen's arms. His body was getting hotter by the second, which was definitely not a good sign. Zen lifted the jackal into his arms, cursing the fact that they were lost.
"I doubt this to be a normal fever, perhaps something to do with what you are?" Zen asked, although he wasn't expecting an answer. "Should I bring you to Tia or… maybe Diana would know the answer? Dammit…"
Rio looked up at Zen, weakly. He brought his arm up and poked Zen's chest blade, who's point was placed right on his side. "Why're you s-so… sharp..?"
"Apologies, I'll try not to puncture you." Zen sighed, looking through the woods for something that would signal where they were. As misfortune would have it, the snow was getting worse in spite of the foliage above. A chilling breeze carried fresh powder along with it, almost cold enough to irritate Zen. "This is unnatural, both your ailment and this blizzard. And yet we have no choice but to keep going and play into the hands of whoever is causing this."
Rio whined, not liking the sound of that. "I hope… the others stay safe…"
After deciding on following the wind, Zen marched deeper into the forest. If, somehow, this was a trap, Zen believed he could handle it, despite Rio being essentially out for the count. Zen's expression softened for a moment, just long enough for Rio to catch. "...As do I."