|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 4:47 pm
Jessica and Joseph both half-stumbled out of the room as they distanced themselves as much as possible, with Jeremiah walking out casually behind them pausing only to pull down the tarp once more. The possibility that his distinct, ghostly biology played a part in his lack of reaction sat in the back of Jessica's mind for a moment before being pushed out by more pressing matters. Even if she tried to breathe in through her mouth, the smell still burned the back of her nose and the air was painful on the way down. She quickly shoved one of her hands into the pecha pouch and pulled out some of the paste, while doing the same with her other and offering it to Joseph. "Here."
"Thanks." Joseph wasn't much better. The pecha paste soothed the body and the throat after exposure to poison. It could never undo the damage that the poison had caused but when relief was what you needed there was almost nothing that beat it. Joseph didn't say anything else but his slow blinks and downwards gaze spoke of the thoughts he was lost in. His voice was a quiet whisper so as to be kept from innocent ears. "The last time I saw her she wasn't that bad, not nearly."
"Jeremiah, go get Joshua and Tobias. We're going to prepare for a fight." Jeremiah, with some unease, nodded and ran off back down the hall they had come from. Jessica cast her gaze to the conflicted Joseph but she didn't stop in her preparations, even as she spoke. "Are you going to be able to do this?" A second stone, almost identical to the one before, came out of a pouch and was popped into her mouth to be subjected to the heat of her body. Evolution stones took well to elemental energy and depleted ones were cheap. Cheap enough to keep a spare, at least.
"He owes me some answers."
Joseph's resolve would be tested.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:55 pm
Jessica would barely have time to cast the stone from her mouth and spew her flames before Trevor crash into her full force. He had had a vial in his hand that he had cast aside and a fresh bandage on his arm. The faint traces of the powder would catch in an instant, destroying the composure of both combatants and turning the leaping strike into nothing more than a clumsy tackle. Both would be sent tumbling across the ground in pain. The strike winded her; the instinctive breath in poisoned her as she drew deeply from the wisps of smoke clinging to Trevor's body.
The only fortune to be had was that, even as she desperately tried to regain her composure, it didn't really matter anyways.
Joseph tore into the fight, swinging his claws wildly to force Trevor back. "What the hell are you doing!?"
"I'm protecting her." Trevor lunged forward, thrusting a pair of finger-like claws straight for Joseph's chest.
"Protect her!?" Joseph half-stumbled, half-dodged out of the way. Trevor was open before him, but he didn't strike. "What the hell are you protecting her from!?"
"Everyone." Trevor hopped into the air, curled and began to spin. The moment he hit the ground he took off, sending stones flying in his wake as he rocketed forward towards Joseph. He missed, barely, but turned and continued.
Jessica was being ignored, a fact that she could only thank Arceus for. But this wasn't going well enough and it wasn't going to go well. Joseph, if the fight kept going the way it was, was going to die and she would be next. Running meant leaving him to that fate. Jeremiah had only barely left. It would take time for him to come back with the others, meaning that the two of them were alone. Did he wait until Jeremiah left...? There wasn't much she could do. Physically she was far from adequate and, more pressingly, her flames would do more harm than good. They wouldn't hurt Trevor much, but they would hurt Joseph. All she had was her environment and the two TMs she had used in the past, but lacked the strength to properly take advantage of. Joseph was dodging the repeated Rollouts but they would get faster and faster.
As the plan formed in her mind, she knew it was a bad idea. But this entire mission had been a bad idea. If she was going to rely on Joseph to win the fight, she would place her bet on him in full. She waited until the moment after Joseph dodged to dash in. She only had one shot at it, one shot to give him and opening. One shot to force his hand. Joseph had an edge if he was willing to use it. He just needed the push.
"You need to fight, Joseph. You don't have a choice. We're the only thing between him and Maddie."
"But--"
Part one was done. Part two came in the form of a distended, awkward water pulse. The move was both foreign and natural to her and was the product of a TM she had been given by the guild. It was one she intended to make good use of. The sphere of water that shot out was sizable enough and meager in its normal function; the attack was unique in that it held sonic waves that hurt rather than actually striking the target with force. The waves could toss the balance center asunder. A strong one that hit dead on would leave the victim stumbling helplessly for ages.
Jessica's wasn't strong enough for that, not by a mile. But that's not what she wanted, though any distortions were welcome. What she wanted was the water which impacted firmly against Trevor's spines and did far more to distort his path than any loss of balance ever could. He slipped wildly in a vain effort to correct his course. All that was left for Jessica was to try to dodge.
In vain. She couldn't dodge out of the way, she knew that from the start; unless she got lucky, the best she could do was mitigate the damage. Trevor was too fast, too large. She was too slow and too physically awkward. Her species was strong rather than swift but it was a strength she hadn't come into. The pain came with a sudden crunch as her bones shifted under the weight of impact and she was sent flying across the battleground. There was a dim awareness of a heavy smash as Trevor collided with a wall, having had his ability to turn and stop wrested from him. She could still move, still struggle, but the pain ripped such complex notions from her mind as she had expected it to. Not unconscious, not dead, but out for the count.
It hurt far more than she hoped it would but it was the second and final step of her plan. A dangerous yet careful plan that put her life on the line. A plan that would force Joseph to act. What other options did she have? Leave Joseph to die? Risk the barrels being set off before anyone arrived? It was a plan of desperation, the sort she hated. Breaking Trevor's pace was all she could do. That Joseph would fight was all that she could hope for.
"Hey...!" Joseph tried to call out, but they'd never had a proper and complete exchange of names. There had never been time. He tore himself from the appearance of the crumpled Charmander and looked instead at Trevor. No... Whatever this was, it wasn't Trevor. At least not the Trevor he had known. Stupid, sure, but never violent. Not like this.
Joseph would have to seek his answers by force.
The fight that transpired would ultimately be an awkward and messy one. Joseph was rarely hit, but those strikes that landed dug deeply into his flesh. Those strikes of his own that landed were many but weak. Whether it was a real fear of hurting the Sandslash before him or if it was simply the creature's tough earthen hide. But the fight wouldn't end in a draw. Exhaustion would set in for Trevor first, not by virtue of skill or strength but by simple biology; he wasn't made for an endurance contest.
The end of it came with Trevor slumping back against a wall. The lights had dimmed, from the weakness of Jessica's tail and the fading light of the depleted fire stone. A moment of clarity and understanding marked Trevor's expression. "We were all such good friends..."
"Trevor?" Joseph stepped forward quickly. Trevor's voice was soft, weak. It was hard to hear him. Joseph needed to be close. "Are you back to normal? Trevor?"
Trevor leaned forward slowly, weakly. "I knew you'd try to take her from me. I should've killed you first."
"Wh--AH!" Pain and fear both gripped Joseph's body as his once-friend lurched forward and bit down as hard as possible.
Joseph acted only out of instinct. He was going to die. His body knew it and rejected the protestations of his consciousness. His hands, claws pointed, came forward and pressed. They pressed, dug and scratch until it all came to an end. He felt the warmth going down his own chest and he felt the warmth as each pointed claw punctured and tore. The horrifying wetness of it. He had killed before, all Weavile had. But never had he stared into the mouth of death.
A sharp splattering of blood marked the end. The grip loosened. At first he didn't know what it was, but his desperate attack nicked the carotid artery. The fresh, warm spray of blood covered his eyes and his face as Trevor collapsed to the ground.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:17 am
The cavalry arrived late. The journey's speed had been dictated by a sense of urgency that was somewhat lesser than had been necessary. Tobias and Joshua were too sensitive to navigate once they got too close and too ill-informed to know where to go after they reached the source of the smell. Jeremiah's appreciation of the situation was ultimately inept, a fact that struck everyone but Jeremiah himself the moment they caught up. A bloody, crying Weavile. A crumpled captain. A dead, or dying, Sandslash.
Tobias was the first to run forward. "Jessica! Are you injured?"
Jessica tried to prop herself up in an effort that proved to be a poor choice. Her injured side slipped out from under her. "I'm... I'll be fine. Nothing is broken." It hurt like hell and it felt like hell, but her body still "worked" even if it refused to obey her. "Check on Joseph. He did most of the work." It hurt to breathe and it hurt to move, but pain you could recover from was hardly pain at all.
Joseph was the worse off of the two of them. There had been no great blow to remove him, just innumerable slashings and a near-fatal bite. The risk would come later in the infections that would be sure to follow. Tobias looked the Weavile over from afar but didn't act. He just looked back to Jessica. "What is it that we must do?"
What did they have to do... "Treat Joseph, deal with the body, figure out if we need to do anything with the Umbreon." Jessica rolled over onto her stomach. Her tail gave better light this way anyways. "There's some medical supplies in the back two."
She could feel the pouches shift slightly as Tobias opened them and withdrew the contents. As far as she knew he wasn't an accomplished medic, but he was certainly capable of reading instructions and doing his best. It was better than nothing. She relaxed, complacent in action but not in thought. There were no immediate concerns, only problems that had to be dealt with sooner rather than later. "Jer'." Maddie would probably need some kind of support, which could fall on them. It was nothing more than a guess but there was the expectation that the Umbreon was somewhat lacking in social aid.
Her thought process would be rudely interrupted by a finger being shoved into her mouth. "Eat this, it'll help."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:49 am
She wasn't sure what it was that Jeremiah had just shoved into her mouth, but it was sweet and almost plasticky in feeling. In spite of how unpleasant the feel of it was, there was something about it that compelled her to chew on it. "Jer'." Whatever it was, it was hard to resist. And maybe it was just the exhaustion having worn away her caution, but she didn't really feel the need to do so. Jeremiah was trustworthy enough. Not exactly smart, but not dangerously stupid either. Compulsion aside it wasn't the most pleasant thing to eat. As she chewed down on it it stuck to her teeth, getting trapped in the grooves of each one until she swallowed.
Very suddenly, Jessica rolled over and sat up. The relief had been instant. She felt good, even, considering everything that had happened. Sitrus...? It felt sort of like a Sitrus berry, but there was no way that was possible. While they weren't rare, so to speak, the area was both too cold and arid to support them. They didn't tend to last the longest of times either and a quick glance around showed that no one had arrived to help. It's not like Jeremiah, who lacked in pockets, could have brought them himself. Whatever it was, it looked like he had just given some of it to Joseph.
"Jeremiah!" Joshua's voice, which had abandoned its quiet warning and changed to an almost angry shout, pierced her idle thoughts and brought her mind back to the people around her.
"But Josh..." Jeremiah's voice was low, pleading and almost a whine. Joshua was standing in front of him, blocking his access to Trevor. "Its only been--"
"You promised me." Joshua's voice had dropped back to its normal volume but the authoritative tone hadn't dissipated at all.
Jeremiah's mouth opened and closed several times with his body moving all the while as he seemed to struggle to find the words he needed. Finally, somewhat crestfallen, he gave up. "Alright..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:57 am
Jessica stared at the exchange between the two of them but boxed her thoughts away to be dealt with at another time. Plumbing the depths of their personal drama would have to happen eventually but it was a rather inopportune time. Other problems were much more important and much better dealt with first. Joseph needed to be tended to on levels other than physically. The barrels needed to be dealt with; there was no way to tell how sensitive they were and if something set them off by accident then there would be no point in... anything. Maddie needed to be dealt with, because doing otherwise likely meant leaving her for dead. She seemed to be as much a victim as anyone else.
Joseph had to be first. He was no longer sobbing and they could at least speak to him now. There were too many barrels for them to deal with on their own and they had virtually no information to work with. No help, no aid. Joseph was the key to it all. The most she could do was walk in front of him and lower herself enough that they would be in eye contact in spite of his downward gaze. "Joseph, are you calm enough to talk?"
"Ye... Yeah." Barely. Joseph was dangling on the edge and he would be for a long time. They didn't have a long time.
Jessica nodded, feigning affirmation. "I need you to take some deep breaths and listen to me. We need to deal with the leftover barrels and I need to know if there's anyone that can take care of Maddie. Is there anyone here who can do that?"
"Oh god, Maddie... What'll--"
"Deep breaths, Joseph. We'll make sure it's taken care of, we just need to know."
Joseph choked back a sob and tried carefully to take a few deep breaths in and out again. His voice struggled to stay even but he tried to keep a cool, even tone as best as he could. He tried to be methodical. "If it's the barrels I... I can probably get Mar' to help move them but there's nobody who can--Maddie's poison is too much and she doesn't have any..." A pause, a swallow as he held back the word "friend". "Anyone to take care of her."
It was pretty much as Jessica suspected. Maddie had been isolated. Joseph was probably the only friend she had left and he wasn't capable of taking care of her.
"Okay. We're going to clean you up, and then we're going to go talk with Maddie. My team will take her back with us and we'll make sure she's put somewhere that will take care of her, alright? We need you to hold it together just for a moment, okay?"
Joseph nodded roughly and Jessica set to work. The blood had to be washed off and the bandages had to be removed and reset. Tobias had done a decent enough job with it, but she could do better. She quickly set to work stripping the bandages off and then set about to washing the blood off with a cloth and a small amount of the drinking water she had brought. Blood was wetted and scrubbed off gently and... that was it. She had to stop and marvel; there wasn't anything worse than a scratch on his body. She had missed most of the fight, but it hadn't been so lopsided had it...?
She shook her head slightly. This was good. She didn't need an explanation just yet, she could figure out what happened later. Having him in a decent state would help when they entered the room. "Take a minute to calm down and we'll go talk to her. Just take deep breaths, focus on your breathing."
They couldn't disperse, but the team waited. Jessica gathered and stored everything. The two fire stones were retrieved from the ground, one having been dropped by her and the other by Tobias in his rush, and all the supplies were stored as best as possible. Then she waited.
Tobias and Jeremiah both were quiet, the former having locked his gaze on the latter. Neither of them moved very much.
The only one to move at all was Joshua, who filled the idle time by wandering around and examining the scene. His eyes and his nose gathered a great deal of information, simply because something to do was better than nothing to do. Smells and sights were vivid to him, even in the darkness. He recoiled suddenly as he drew near Trevor's body, the smell of the open wounds having filled his nose. The only other thing to investigate was the vial on the floor, and so he did. He sniffed deeply of it, pausing only to glance around as he wondered if the smells of the area had mixed too much. "Blood...?" Freshly familiar blood, at that.
"Come on, Joshua. We're moving." Not that it really mattered anyways. He just wanted to leave.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 11:42 am
They quickly found themselves in front of the tarp that sealed the entrance and exit with Joseph taking deep breaths. "I can do this. I can do this." He pressed his hands against his face as he tried to ready himself against the flood of emotions he would inevitably experience. He needed to hold on just long enough to talk to Maddie, that was all.
"Um, Jessica? Do you have any more of those cloths from before?"
"Uh, yeah. Hold on." She always kept a few with her to wipe things down. Mainly her tools but being picky never helped anyone. She flipped a pouch open quickly, pulled out a cloth and flipped it shut in one smooth motion before handing it to Jeremiah. "What do you need it for?"
"Well I wanted to... Oh!" The brief exchange was cut short as Joseph marched into the room ahead of them, effectively pushing Jessica and Jeremiah in as well. Joshua and Tobias were standing at a distance with their noses pinched for their own safety.
The room and the encounter was much the same as it had been before. Nothing in the room had changed at all and the greetings shared were the same in everything but intent.
"Hey Maddie, how are you?" Joseph sat down in front of the Umbreon in order to be at eye level with her.
Maddie yawned as she woke up but greeted Joseph with a friendly smile. "Joey~ I'm good, how are you?" She paused to glance around. "Is Trevor not--oh, oh. Oh my, that's not bad~"
Jessica watched with a certain degree of apprehension as the conversation began to unfold, only to have it suddenly interrupted by Jeremiah beginning to run a cloth up and down her body. "Is that okay?"
"Oh, goodness yes. That feels wonderful~ Keep going." Jessica frowned as she watched the cloth slowly turn a tar-like black until it became totally unusable. Jeremiah awkwardly handed it back, to which Jessica responded by simply pitching it over towards the barrels and handing him a fresh one. There was no chance she was getting it clean enough. "Anyways," Maddie returned, somewhat dreamily, to the matter at hand. "Is Trevor not back yet?"
"No, no, uh... That's the good news." What. "Trevor said you're going to get better real soon, right? This is how, he brought this team here and they're going to take you somewhere you can get looked at properly." No, no, no, no, no, no, no... "They've got really good doctors where they come from. The best." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
