Chapter 3

A Chilling Battle

Standing in front of their exit was a weavile with his arms crossed. His face looked bored and he wore a backpack and a dark blue cape that was waving with the light breeze in the room. He was examining the small group, just as they examined him. Aurora was frozen in place, she couldn't believe what she was looking at.

"Who are y-" Flint began before Aurora interrupted.

"You," her eyes now narrowing.

"You didn't really think I'd let you escape that easily," the weavile started, "did you?"

"Wait," Flint said, "you two know each other?"

"Not in good conditions. This weavile is the pokemon responsible for the death of my previous team."

Rose began to grow nervous in the presence of the weavile and hid behind Flint. Flint was in a defensive position, ready for anything, or so he thought.

"I still want to know who he is," Flint's fur began to stand up a little.

"Don't stick your nose in business that doesn't pertain to you," the weavile said.

"His name is Frostbite, he's one of the royal leaders from Zerith,"

"I don't think it's such a good idea to fight this guy," Kindle spoke up.

"Would you rather him kill us!?" Flint exclaimed.

"What is it you want?" Tesla then asked.

"You kids are all nosey these days," Frostbite said, "always getting involved in other people's affairs. If you all were smart though, you'd probably listen to your fennekin friend of yours."

"Enough of this nonsense," Aurora said, "this is my business, supposedly, so what is it you desire?"

"You know damn well what it is I'm after, the package you are carrying."

Flint then remembered that Aurora was delivering a package, but now he wondered why it was so important to this weavile. Still, he was feeling uncomfortable and knew things could get worse in a matter of seconds.

"If you're after the package, then why did you and your group ambush us before I received the package?"

"It would have prevented you from acquiring the package, therefore putting Mardol behind in the war."

"And with me dead, how would you have even found the package?"

"Is not that I need the package, it's all a matter of preventing it from reaching princess Starshine." Aurora continued glaring at Frostbite, "However, now that I have you here and the package, I might as well destroy it while it's here."

"Do you even know the severity of destroying the contents inside this package?"

"You can't bluff me, not even you know what's inside there,"

Aurora backed away, knowing Frostbite was right, "Well then, why do you want to destroy it if you don't know what's inside?"

"Simple, if it's so important that the princess needs it as an 'upper hand,' then it needs to be eliminated."

"Then you'll have to take this package from my cold, dead, body!" Flint froze at those words, and he felt the reality hit him. He jumped into a defensive posture while protecting Rose. Kindle and Tesla both prepared for an attack as well.

Frostbite grinned, "Just the words I was waiting for."

The weavile was scanning the room, he observed the location of torches, the pillars, exits, the location of rubble, and more. He also took a quick minute to observe his opponents, he made a note to be watchful of the growlithe and fennekin, but also noted the young eevee as a vulnerable target. He'd fought the amaura on one other occasion, so he had a general idea of her battling style, the mareep was just viewed as another minor inconvenience for him.

Once satisfied with his quick strategy, he opened to side pouches from his bag. Using his claws, he felt around until he was satisfied with what he was reaching for. He tightened his grip around the objects and launched the projectiles at the group with an underhand motion. For Aurora, time seemed to slow down as she noticed the familiar objects.

The amaura was limped her way behind a boulder and slumped against it. Her breath was rapid and she was in a slight state of shock. Blood covered her right side, though not her blood, it shocked her to see pokemon die the way they just did.

Another explosion erupted from the other side of the boulder, followed by screams. She peeked over the boulder and saw a kadabra skidding across the ground, only it had no legs, they had been removed from the blast. The kadabra could hardly handle the pain, it yelled in pain while crawling away from the explosion site.

A weavile emerged from the thick smoke and approached the kadabra, "tch tch tch, you poor soul," Frostbite said unamused. The kadabra only looked back with tears in its eyes, it had already accepted its fate, there was no use begging for its life since it was already going to die, "don't feel sad, it's not like you had any potential to actually fight in this war," with that, Frostbite shoved his claws through the kadabra's back and out his chest.

Aurora gasped, and the weavile reacted by darting his eyes towards the boulder and throwing a red vile towards the rock she was located at. As it came into contact with the rock, flames warped in the area and created an explosion.

Aurora snapped out of her thoughts and shot a beam of ice at each of the vials heading towards them. They both exploded, leaving a ball of smoke and flames lingering in the air. Frostbite was caught off guard but knew he had little time to act. Knowing he was obstructed from view due to the smoke, he jumped towards the nearest pillar and prepared another vile. He first double-checked the color inside, once he confirmed it was yellow, he lowered himself towards the ground and prepared an ambush. The smoke cleared, and the group was startled with the weavile's disappearance.

"Where'd he go?" Kindle asked while nervously looking around.

"Frostbite is a strategic fighter," Aurora explained, "he creates two or three initial attacks then strikes, after a bit of fighting and memorizing attack tactics pokemon use, he then goes in for the kill."

"How do you know that?" Tesla asked.

"As I said, I've already met him on one other occasion, however, what he hasn't realized is that I do the same thing, I learn from my enemy and switch up my tactics too." Aurora began building up energy, she inhaled a deep breath and exhaled a freezing wind that intertwined between the pillars.

The weavile was forced out from his cover. Once in the open, he tossed the yellow vile towards Aurora. Aurora was surprised because she only saw red liquids in the vials Frostbite had thrown, even in their previous battle. Nonetheless, she switched from her icy wind attack to an ice beam. Once her beam shattered the glass of the vile, a bolt of lightning recoiled at her and sent her flying backward into the stairs. The weavile grinned happily as he then charged towards his closest target, Flint.

Flint froze in place as the weavile closed in on him, the weavile took note of the fact. Tesla also noticed that Flint wasn't going to do anything, so he gathered energy in his tail and swung the tail towards the weavile. Frostbite ducked just in time, with Tesla's back turned towards him, he lunged forward with his claws. Tesla had expected this though before Frostbite could strike, a surge of electricity escaped his body and circuited throughout the weavile causing him to jump back to a safe distance.

"Not bad..." Frostbite said under his breath.

"Flint," Tesla said, "what the hell was that?"

"I-I, uh-" he stammered, "you see, I-"

"Instead of making excuses, why don't you make an effort to fight?"

Rose was petrified behind Flint, Flint turned his gaze to her and switched it back to Frostbite, after letting out a sigh he said, "You're right."

Aurora was now getting up from being assaulted, "What was with the lightning?" She asked, directed at Frostbite.

"When I battled you and your group, I only used my red vials, which as your noticed explode on impact. I have more than just red vials, I also have blue, yellow, green, and purple vials. Each color does a different effect, for instance: yellow contains static electricity, it recoils back at anything that disturbs it."

"And what about the other colors?"

"Heh, wouldn't you like to find out?" He said while grabbing a green one from his bag, he threw it at Tesla since he was the closest.

Flint quickly grabbed Rose and darted away from the area while Tesla jumped back. Once the bottle hit the floor, the glass shattered and spread the green liquid around. The liquid gave off heat and steam emitted from its surface, it quickly evaporated though. The area that was once covered in the green liquid was now corroded.

"Acid..." Tesla said.

"Good observation, now back to fighting," Frostbite said while jumping towards Tesla.

Tesla gathered electricity in the orb of his tail and watched the weavile carefully. Frostbite swung his claws downward at Tesla who sidestepped and slammed his tail in the ground. A wave of electricity shot from the orb, but only Frostbite was close enough to take damage from it. Kindle and Flint both seemed to have the same idea as they shot embers towards the weavile. Frostbite dodged the burning balls effortlessly.

Frostbite retreated towards a pillar, 'So,' he thought to himself, 'the mareep so far jumps into battle headfirst and plans counterattacks. The fennekin, she hasn't done much, but she is getting a hint as to attack from a distance while I'm busy with the mareep. The growlithe though, his focus is the young eevee. That's what his weakness must be. Why aren't you attacking Aurora? It doesn't matter though. I'll have to take them down one at a time, I'll start with the eevee, then the growlithe, head to the fennekin, finish up the mareep, and finish what I started with Aurora.'

Frostbite began sharpening his claws with his claws. Afterward, he grabbed a blue vile, his eyes scanned the battlefield. Everyone was on guard, carefully eyeing his bottle of mystery. Frostbite flipped the bottle in the air, catching it in his right hand, he then threw it towards Tesla and Kindle. The glass shattered at their paws and the blue liquid splashed onto them. Meanwhile, Frostbite used his free time to charge at Flint.

After Tesla and Kindle were covered in the new liquid, they began to feel dizzy, their vision becoming hazy. Tesla could see Frostbite, but he was only a blur. He began to walk in the direction of the blur but found himself too dizzy to walk straight. After just a couple of steps, he had toppled onto the floor.

Flint realized he couldn't just stand there this time, this was a life or death situation. Not just for him, but Rose as well. Flint ignited his flammable saliva and launched a ball of flame towards the weavile, but Frostbite was nimble enough to easily dodge it. The weavile had cocked his right arm back, ready to jab his claws into Flint's soft tissue. Flint had seen his attack coming and he waited for the right moment. Once Frostbite was in a comfortable position, he launched his claws at Flint. Flint decided to sidestep and bite the weavile's arm. He showed no mercy while he dug his fangs into his flesh. Blood trickled down his tongue, but he forced his jaw shut.

Frostbite gave audible sounds of pain, he tried to shake his arm free, but that only tore more of his flesh. Frostbite then used his only other method of escape. Using his other free hand, Frostbite swiped at the growlithe's stomach. Three fresh wounds visibly appeared on his abdominal region, slowly gushing blood. Flint's jaw instantly retracted and he coiled into the ground, attempting to ease the burning pain.

Flint briefly looked back at Rose who was nearly petrified at what she witnessed, "Rose, run!" That was all Flint could say.

She didn't need to think twice, her quick little paws bolted in a random direction as she tried to flee. Instantly, she regretted not running in the direction of the rest of the group. The weavile dashed after her in hot pursuit. At this point, Aurora was the only capable fighter, she tried predicting where the weavile would be and she tried to time it with the speed of her ice beams. Once content with a final decision, she shot a single frozen beam at the scene of the chase. Rose had hopped over some rubble but lost her footing as she landed, causing her to trip and stumble. The weavile stood atop the rubble she hopped over, preparing his claws for a final strike. Suddenly, the beam of ice struck the weavile on his shoulder.

Frostbite hadn't noticed it, but the ice had ripped the strap of his backpack that hung over his shoulder. He noticed it after rubbing the bruised area, 'clever...' he thought to himself.

Rose didn't need to think any longer, she got back up on her paws and ran back to Aurora. Frostbite decided not to chase her, instead, he began thinking of his next attack. Tesla and Kindle were recovering from their confusion. Flint was slowly bleeding out on the floor, out of reach. Even in his weakened state, he was forcing himself to move, he was still committed to protecting Rose. Rose had now reached the group and hid behind Aurora. Frostbite still had his goal in sight, he need to obtain the sealed package from Aurora, the only thing slowing him down where all of the other distractions.

Frostbite set his backpack on the ground and grabbed another new colored vile, this one was purple. He threw this one towards Kindle and Tesla who both easily dodged the bottle. This vile didn't seem to do anything, all that happened was a purple mist lingered, they were still cautious not to step inside the area of effect. Tesla's body began crackling with electricity as he expected another attack. Kindle built up a heavy dose of fire in her mouth, ready to launch it. The weavile grinned at her mockingly. She then spat her flame out of her mouth in a constant stream, however, as it came in contact with the purple mist, the mist erupted into a huge ball of flames that backfired on the group. Aurora and Rose had to retreat as not to get harmed by the deadly flames, Tesla and Kindle were not so lucky. Some of Tesla's wool had been charred as he ached on the ground, visible streams of steam rising off of his wounds. Kindle hadn't taken too much damage since she was comprised of fire inside her body.

Frostbite decided to ditch his backpack and strike Flint while he and the others were incapable of protecting him. The weavile charged at Flint while grinding his claws into the ground, leaving a trail of sparks. Flint's body then burst with newfound power, his adrenaline was kicking in, and he was ready to fight. He was able to ignore his pain, but it would cost him. Frostbite swiped his claws downward while Flint evaded to his right. He bent his legs backward and sprang at Frostbite with a tackle. He was able to pin Frostbite to the ground, both of his paws on top of one of the weavile's arms.

Flint just stared at him in silence, the weavile trying to escape. Frostbite would struggle to free his arm, but Flint's paws would forcefully shove them back to the ground while digging his claws into his arms. Flint wanted to unleash some type of rage on Frostbite, but he couldn't. It didn't feel right to him. Frostbite didn't know any oral attacks except crunch, so he had no way of fighting Flint off of him. The harder he tried the more tired he became. Eventually, the weavile decided to spit in Flint's face.

"Get off of me you fucking mutt!" He yelled in anger.

Suddenly Flint had a flashback of his own:

Flint's body slammed into the side of a tree, nearly breaking his ribs. He groaned in pain while the world appeared to be spinning.

"Please Flint," another growlithe called, this one being female, "please get up," she cried as a few tears rolled down her cheek that had a fresh would.

"Is that all?" a zangoose said, "I was expecting more from a growlithe with that much determination in their eyes." Flint was panting, struggling to breathe properly, while blood oozed out of his mouth. "Oh well, I'll just continue what I was doing before I was rudely interrupted."

The zangoose turned back to the other growlithe with a devious grin. She tried to escape, but she was grabbed roughly by the zangoose. From instinct, she turned around and dug her teeth into the zangoose's hand.

He yelled in pain before grabbing her head and slamming it against a rock, forcing it down against the hard surface. "You're going to pay for that you bitch." Dripping from the female growlithe's face was a mixture of her tears and blood. She tried her best to free herself, but to no avail, "can't you see that it's hopeless?"

Flint was beginning to blackout at this point, all the fighting had done him in and his body needed a rest from its stress. The zangoose continued to stroke the growlithe's fur with his free hand, he was blind in his actions with his lust and greed. Using his free hand he pleased his extruding red appendage and was ready to guide it into the hole of the growlithe.

In one last desiderate attempt, she tried calling for help, "Flint, please help me!"

His eyes had instantly opened, adrenalin pumping through his body. He was able to gaze at the scene before him and noticed what was about to happen. He quickly charged at the zangoose and lunged at him while showing his fangs. He had tackled the zangoose to the ground and stared into his eyes.

"Get off me you fucking mutt!" He yelled in anger.

The zangoose was about to strike Flint, but Flint had sunk his teeth into the zangoose's neck. His blood drained from his body, and Flint could taste his metallic blood staining the inside of his mouth.

As Flint stood on top of Frostbite, the familiar, yet unsatisfying, the flavor of blood lingered in his mouth. The zangoose was the first pokemon he ever went to such extremes as killing. He absolution hated the feeling of taking one's life and watching the light fade from their eyes. He shook his head trying to forget the memory. Not exactly the fact that he killed the zangoose, but events that shaped over the next few months. Even though this weavile had harmed them and intended to kill them, Flint didn't want to kill him. He couldn't just leave him there either.

Flint then proceeded by slamming his head into the weavile's head. Flint instantly clutched his head after receiving a shock of pain. Frostbite used this to his advantage, he got back up on his feet and prepared another claw attack. What he hadn't noticed was that Tesla had already ran into the battle. With a backward spin, Tesla used the moment of his tail to ram his orb into Frostbite's stomach. Frostbite was sent skidding along the ground to the center of the room.

'This is taking longer than it needs to be,' Frostbite complained to himself, 'I'm low on time too. Guess I'm going to have to cut it short. It's now or never if I'm going to go for the package.'

This time he decided to ignore the others as he charged directly at Aurora at a high speed. Kindle braced herself and shot a ball of fire at the weavile. He simply jumped over the predictable attack and landed near Aurora. Rose had nowhere else to run, she had been cornered at the entrance with Aurora. Aurora pounced towards Frostbite. He dodged to the right and used the claws on his left arm to scratch Aurora's body. His claws had pierced her skin, instantly, a sharp pain was sent through both Aurora and Frostbite. Aurora's pain was caused by the claws digging into her side, but Frostbite was in pain because her frozen body was freezing his nerves, blood, and muscles. Aurora had collapsed on the ground, falling unconscious.

Kindle took a quick minute to wrap herself in flames, they danced violently around her fur and she decided to charge at Frostbite. Kindle didn't attempt this too much since it hurt her as well, but this was the last resort because of how much they struggled to fight Frostbite. Frostbite had heard her approaching. He placed his hands on the ground to keep himself balanced as he then used his legs to kick Kindle in the face. His foot smashed right on Kindle's snout, shoving the bone backward, nearly cracking it. Kindle was also forced back and tumbled along the ground, but her flames still managed to singe the weavile.

Tesla shot sparks of electricity at Frostbite, but he was quick enough to dodge it. He was too focused on what he originally had come for. He ran to Aurora's unconscious body and used her as a shield while digging through her bag. Tesla tried moving to an area to get a better view.

"Take another step closer and I'll kill her," Frostbite said in a threatening voice.

Tesla stayed there defeated unsure what to do. Kindle and Aurora were both unconscious and Flint was injured to the point of being unable to fight. Rose was the only person who could do something, however, she was too scared and weak to attempt fighting. At the same time though, she started thinking what would happen if Frostbite destroyed whatever was in the package. Firstborn had then found what he was looking for, a rectangular object wrapped in paper with a wax seal. He hadn't known what was for sure in there, but he was curious as to what could be inside.

'I'm sure Tenebris wouldn't mind too much if I opened it,' Frostbite thought to himself, 'Would he?'

Rose was still debating what she should do. She was very intimidated by the weavile, his presence alone set her off the edge. She was confused on why he hasn't attacked her while she was there but assumed it was because she wasn't a threat to him. From the looks of it though, this weavile was for sure an enemy towards the people of Mardol. Rose remembered that Mardol was at war with Zerith, also she recalled that Frostbite needed this object to give them an upper hand. The outcomes of what this could do to Mardol was outweighing the risks and Rose was close to making up her mind.

Frostbite curiously inspected the package as he held a single claw to it, he attempted cutting it open, but the paper wouldn't tare. He tried more forcefully, but still, nothing happened. Slowly growing mad, he tried using his teeth to tear it open. However, the package was still unharmed. Before he could question it, his thoughts were interrupted. Rose had sunk her teeth into Frostbite's left wrist, similar to how Flint did. Since she was still young, her teeth were shaper. Tesla, Flint, and even Frostbite were surprised by Rose's actions. Frostbite had less time to think as Rose twisted her head, allowing her teeth to dig in at a different angle inside Frostbite's wrist, increasing his pain and puncturing his veins.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Frostbite yelled.

Tesla had shot a bolt of electricity at Frostbite but was too late. Using his foot, Frostibe had slammed it downward on Rose's right foreleg. The force caused it to bend against its will to the point where it snapped. The sound of her leg breaking was the first sound that echoed through the cave. The next sound made Flint's heart sink. Rose screamed in pain, worse than a normal scream. This was a pain she hadn't been able to comprehend. She fell on her side, elevating her right foreleg as tears rolled from her eyes.

Though it took longer than expected, Tesla's spark had finally struck Frostbite. He staggered a little bit but eventually ran away from Aurora, collecting his backpack on the way. He was done here, battling anyone else would slow him down. He'd gathered important information that needed to be told to someone by the name of Tenebris. Tesla tried following Frostbite, but as Frostbite reached the exit of the cave he turned and waved his cape around. Tesla skidded to a stop. It was like a magic trick, Frostbite just disappeared.

"What the hell?" Tesla whispered to himself.

However, he couldn't focus on that right now. Rose was still in immense pain that she was unable to control. Flint was trying his best to ignore his pain as he dragged himself across the rough ground; it didn't help subside his pain, if anything, it probably made it worse. Flint firmly planted both his paws in front of him and forcibly dragged himself closer to Rose. He gritted his teeth at his pain, reminding himself that Rose had it worse right now. As he continued dragging himself, he left a trail of his blood behind.

Tesla was already by Rose's side. He was inspecting her broken leg. The lower section of the bone has been dislocated and tucked itself behind the upper half. The skin around it appeared to be bleeding from the inside. He flung his backpack on the ground and quickly looked through it, searching for something to relieve the pain. He came across a berry that coiled slightly, it was pink with a creamy tip; what he had found was a mago berry.

"Rose," he started, "you need to eat this, it'll help you feel better."

Rose complied by sinking her teeth into the side of the berry, its sweet juices flowing through her mouth. To her surprise, it had relieved a bit of the pain, but it was still quite painful. Rose didn't have the energy to audibly express her pain anymore, so she quietly ate her mago berry. Tesla continued searching through his bag, hoping to find anything else that could help. He had nothing else of use though. Flint had finished crawling towards them by the time Rose finished her berry. Tesla then decided to check on Kindle and Aurora to see if they were okay.

"Rose?" Flint said while panting from his loss of energy, "Are you alright?" She didn't answer him, she looked at her wound then towards the ground. Flint couldn't help but blame himself for what had happened. He dragged Rose into this, and now she was seriously injured. "I'm so sorry Rose..." He whispered to her as a tear formed in his eye.

Nightfang was on the ground, coughing up blood from the pain he had endured. Bloodstained his coat in many areas where blood had bled from. The krookodile and cacturne were giving him a few minutes to rest before they continued any further. Nightfang was weak all over his body, he was covered in many wounds and bruises for refusing to give more information to the others. He also had a black eye on his left eye, his fur was matted, but luckily for him, none of his bones had been seriously harmed.

"Alright," the cacturne said while approaching him again, "you've had your rest. We shall continue unless you've changed your mind of course."

His right eye shot up at him, "My answer...is still the same...I'm not telling you anything..." Nightfang said between breaths.

"Have it your way," the krookodile said.

The krookodile flipped Nightfang over onto his back, then pinned him down using his large foot. He then proceeded to yank Nightfang's right foreleg towards him eyeing each of his claws. Nightfang had three claws per paw, and the krookodile's intentions were clear to Nightfang. The krookodile used his own claws to grip Nightfang's middle claw, he then looked into Nightfang's eye, he wanted to watch his reaction. Nightfang braced himself for the pain. The krookodile proceeded by ripping the poochyena's claw from his paw, the nerves holding it in place had snapped as well. Nightfang bit down on his own shoulder, attempting to reduce the pain. Blood had then started trickling out of the small, sensitive wound. Krookodile admired the pain Nightfang was going through, he looked at his severed claw before flicking it somewhere random in the room.

"I think this is enough for today," said the krookodile. "Tomorrow if he continues refusing to answer all remove the other eleven claws, and maybe I'll even take his teeth."

The krookodile steeped off of Nightfang and grabbed him by a hind leg, he then dragged him out of the room to return him to his cage. Just like the others, Nightfang was tossed in his cage carelessly, then hoisted back up. The others watched him in pity, some even wondered how he was still alive.

The scraggy from earlier had bled out and died in his cage while three murkrow picked at his corpse. Nightfang paid no attention to anyone in the cavernous room. He still didn't have any care for life. He was going to endure more pain tomorrow and there was nothing he could do. Even if he did tell them where the gem was they'd still kill him; albeit quicker than the slow death he was experiencing right now, he couldn't allow his selfish wants to simply give in to their evil. Not really in the mood to think about anything, he licked the blood from his paw before coiling up to sleep.

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