PrankFox

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Every blow that Frostbite landed onto Vivid was carefully controlled. As easy as it would be to kill her and let them drag him back into the pit in chains he wasn't about to let that happen. He had spent too long biding his time for anything to go wrong now. He had kept his gaze away from the guards, made himself seem cowed and weak until the moment when he knew they were too stupid to realize he'd played them for this long. This was the first time he'd been back in the Pit since killing the SKyWing and it would be the last.

His head swiveled slightly to the stands as the SandWings started yelling. If they wanted a fight they wouldn't get it. They would get a facsimile of one. He could see the guards watching and based on what Caracal had told them if it really looked like Vivid would be killed the guards would jump in to stop her from losing her "trophy."

They were both getting tired, that much was obvious. Under the beating sun of the hot desert it almost felt like his scales were burning even though he knew they weren't. He needed to get out though, he couldn't be tired and get away at the same time. That meant he had to end this now, and quickly. He made eye contact with Vivid, ice blue eyes gleaming in the sun, and gave her an almost imperceptible nod. She was a RainWing hybrid which meant she would be useful in getting out and she was small which meant he could carry her. This could work.

He returned her screech with a roar of his own but twisted his head to the side at the sudden mix of colors hitting his eyes. He reared back as she wrapped around his neck, tossing his head and attempting to snap at any limbs that might be close enough to grab in his teeth. As she reached around to his eyes he could tell she was purposefully being clumsy about it, but he still shrieked in pain as she clawed at his face.

Two can play at that game. He ducked his head sharply towards the ground, pulling her more onto the spines along his head and neck. Not enough to really hurt her, but enough to certainly cause pain. With her distracted by that he tossed his head and shook his body hard, flaring his wings in order to dislodge her. Once she was on the ground he lunged towards her again, using his size to barrel into her and knock her to the ground again. One clawed paw pinning her rear legs to the ground with another pressed to her throat.

His eyes flicked up to where Caracal sat in her box, Three moons this better work. If Caracal really didn't care about losing her prize they were both screwed. With Vivid pinned to the ground he raised another serrated set of claws into the air, ready to bring his claws down onto her neck. At least that's how he hoped it looked to the Queen.

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Mentions: Chen @Lord Orgasmo
For a book nerd it seemed like Chen was rather chatty when someone got him talking about history. He couldn’t really say he was surprised, but he didn’t mind history. The amount of conversation? That he might mind a little bit more if it dragged on too long. Besides, history wasn’t his preferred subject, his interests laid more in science and law, but it was alright for now. Historic firearms? That was an interesting topic especially if he was looking for specifically American ones.

He hummed thoughtfully and thought about the books that he knew were in the bookstore. He spent more time here than he cared to admit, but it did give him an idea where most things were located without having to ask.

“If you’re looking for historical figures or history that isn’t Japanese you’re gonna want to look in the international section.” There weren’t a lot of books, maybe a shelf or two, and he hadn’t really looked at what was there. It’d be the best bet though. He wasn’t sure what was compelling him to actually continue the conversation, but he pushed himself to his feet nonetheless. “Come on.”

He moved past Chen towards one of the back corners of the bookstore. He quickly scanned the shelves before seeing the spines of the books that pertained to anything foreign, “Here.” That should do for the amount of interpersonal interaction he would have to deal with for the day.

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Frostbite was somewhat surprised by the sudden vigor shown by the little hybrid, but he supposed when you were fighting for your life it gave a bit more of a push. He snarled back at her as she charged him, trying to rear up to bat at her as she leapt at him. It gave her the opening to grab onto his shoulder, and he roared in over exaggerated pain as she sunk her teeth into his neck.

He could feel her claws scraping on his scales and knew that they would protect him well enough. The shallow scrapes weren’t enough to do more than sting, but blood leaking onto the sand sold the act more.

A growl rumbled in his throat as he swung himself to the side into a roll, crushing Vivid underneath the majority of his weight to get her to let go. As he rolled back onto his feet he swung his spiked tail downwards. He could kill her easily but he aimed for her side rather than anything vital. He left a deep enough gash to make it bleed, but no more as she had done for him.

His breath was starting to come in heavy pants from the lack of food and water as well as the exertion of the fight. The sun beat down on his dark scales as gave Vivid the opportunity to get back to get back onto her feet. They would only need to draw it out for a bit longer before he felt like he could end it and get his plan under way. He had no idea how well it would work, he just hoped that it would.

PMD: Explorers of the Unknown

When the other team agreed to go to breakfast Asher sent a grin Sora’s way, pleased he was already getting some connection between them. “Nice to meet you all,” he gave them a toothy grin, “I’m Asher, the big one is Ozzy, his partner Sellie, and the quiet one is my partner Sora.”

With introductions out of the way Ozzy bounded forward to stand next to Asher. “There’s a great little café that’s run by a Serperior,” he licked his lips, “They make these awesome bite sized cream puffs and omelets.” There were a number of other things that were specially made by the serpent Pokémon, but those were definitely the best ones.

Sora was only slightly hungry and he knew that he would probably just get a drink and sit quietly while the rest of their new team talked. His eyes flickered to Lumi as she told them to go ahead without her and frowned slightly. Lumi had never turned down food in all the time he could remember, but it had also been a decade since he’d seen his sister. So much has changed since they had been running around playing games in the yard and getting underneath everyone’s feet in town. He pushed the pang of hurt away as well as the memories. No time to dwell on the past.

“I’m gonna run back to the house real quick, I forgot something. I’ll meet you at the café,” Sora told Asher who just gave him a nod. He would have to find something at the house that he could've reasonably forgotten before he went over there. Just as to not raise questions since it was clear that Lumi didn't want anyone to know they knew each other. He appreciated the fact that his partner didn’t pry much anymore though as he pushed out the door and followed after his sister.

It didn’t take long for him to catch sight of the pale coat and quicken his step to catch up. “Lumi!” He kept a few steps behind her, not sure exactly what her reaction would be. He honestly didn’t really know what he was wanting from this conversation. Confirmation that she didn’t hate him maybe, he didn’t know. “Um, have you heard anything from the rest of the family?”

Clans of the Coast

“Of course Frostpaw,” Embersky pushed himself back to his paws as he retrieved the herbs he’d dropped before slipping back into the rear of the cave. Presumably to put them where they belonged, but honestly what the medicine cat did in his free time had always been a bit of a mystery. Came with being the only cat able to converse with StarClan and really speak with Dawnstar about clan secrets.

The two other apprentices looked to Embersky and then to each other as they gave the medicine cat a respectful dip of the head before he slipped away. They stood to turn and follow after the flick of Frostpaw’s tail.

Lionpaw shrugged his broad shoulders as Frostpaw spoke. “I guess not.” He didn’t really know all that much about how StarClan worked beyond what Cranesong told him and overhearing the warriors. The main thing he knew they did was prevent fights at the Gatherings but they didn’t do that. He knew they were supposed to watch out for all four clans, but if they hadn’t said anything to Embersky then were they really? He didn’t know.

“Hey that’d be pretty cool,” he grinned at the silver apprentice, “I like snails.” Their shells were fun shapes and he had always liked batting them around after it rained when he was a kit. He maybe felt a little bad after he'd learned that there was a little creature inside the shell, but he wasn't like he'd really hurt them.

He picked up a big enough fish that they could all share and moved a short ways away so that they could eat. “It’ll be kind of weird, but it might also be fun right? We’ve got friends in FireClan and now we don’t have to wait until the Gathering to talk to them.”

「 Persona: Reflections 」

Mentions: Chen @Lord Orgasmo
He was supposed to be working on school work, and he did, for a bit anyway. Kenzan got through an acceptable number of assignments before the other random tabs that he had open on his computer grabbed his attention and he started scrolling through various social media sites. He wasn't actually paying much attention to what he was seeing, just mindlessly scrolling until he rediscovered the motivation to keep working. If he actually managed to find it.

The textbooks he had been flipping through had been dropped to the ground, or returned to his backpack, so that likelihood that of that happening at this point was pretty slim. Instead he finally gave in and just closed out of any of the school tabs that he had up. Maybe he'd get back to it later. Instead he clicked open one of numerous games he had downloaded on his computer to continue to pass the time until closing.

He heard the sound of the door to the bookshop opening, but ignored it since he doubted it was of any interest to him. It was a bookstore, people could come and go as they pleased. He didn't usually pay any attention to who came in because they didn't usually care about some student who was there doing work.

Seemed like that wasn't the case this time though as he heard a voice directed in his general direction. Dark eyes flicked over to the second year that he had somehow managed to end up in the house of the other day. what were the odds that someone who knew him would actually come in. From what he heard about Chen though he was pretty quiet, unlike most of the people he had met in that group.

"Yeah, that's right," he paused his game so that he didn't end up dying, "Um, pretty good. Just trying to get some work done." Which wasn't going all that well anymore. "What're you here for? Anything specific?"

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

It was difficult to tell if what Frostbite had said actually landed with the smaller hybrid, but that was the best he could give. He didn't want the others to die, contrary to the way he acted most of the time, but he also wasn't going to risk his own life. Especially not for some scrawny SandWing who looked like a stiff breeze would probably knock her over, let alone a claw swipe.

His eyes flickered around the arena, set up the same way as before when he'd fought against the SkyWing. The screams and jeers, the mass of sand colored scales, and perched amongst it all the smug gaze of Queen Caracal. His vision briefly snapped back to the previous time he had been shoved into the Pit. The similarly scrawny SkyWing, scales painted with blue and a wide tail that showed heavily the SeaWing in him. The fear in both their eyes as they were pushed forward, the realization that one of them would die, and the conviction when he decided it would not be him. Instead he had killed someone and regretted it ever since.

The shouts pulled him back to the present as his eyes narrowed up at Caracal. She would be much more beautiful if she didn't always have that smug smirk across her muzzle and an obvious disregard for the lives of other dragons. He glanced curiously at the SandWing guard who had brought them out. Trophies? She must mean the SandWing then because he certainly wasn't that.

Interesting. So the other hybrid wasn't meant to be sent into the Pit, she was meant to be sold, or something similar. As Queen Caracal said it would be on their guard's head should something happen he fought down the more vicious side of himself. The side that told him that he should damage the smaller hybrid just to prove the guard wrong. Take back some control in his life and send the guard to an early grave. Would serve her right for what she did to them. But, he had said he wouldn't hurt Vivid and he wasn't going to go back on his word. That would make him no better than the hoard that watched them.

He stretched out his own wings as they were freed and shook slightly to free the spines on his neck that had clumped together. If there was one benefit to being in the Pit before he knew what these monsters liked. They wanted aggression and violence. A show. That was all this was to them and that much he could do. He just had to be careful not to actually hurt her with his serrated claws. He looked across the Pit and took in a deep breath.

As the call to begin echoed through the area he raised his head and let out a bellowing roar to the delight of the crowd. Idiots. He used his wings, star white scales on the undersides glinting in the light of the desert, to give himself a push towards Vivid. He made it across the Pit faster than one would expect of a dragon his size; taking a somewhat curved route so that he could slam his full weight into the smaller hybrid from the side. He cuffed her hard on the side of the head, making sure not to use his claws, as they tumbled to the ground. He knew how to make a fight look good even if he didn't actually hurt her. She just had to trust him.

Clans of the Coast

Lionpaw shuffled backwards, out of the way enough that Frostpaw could step up and talk to the medicine cat. She was the one who wanted to come over here after all. Even if he didn't really understand the exact reason that they had wandered over here. Sure Embersky could give them answers, but he thought he had heard some rule that the medicine cats couldn't talk about the dreams, or whatever they had, to anyone but the leader.

He watched Embersky curiously as Frostpaw, true to form, went about asking her question in the most blunt manner possible. He saw the ginger tom's eyes blink in faint confusion as he was suddenly hit with this question by three apprentices, but he let out a sigh and stepped backward; waving his tail to usher them all inside the den.

Once they were all settled down in the front half of the medicine den Embersky looked to all three of them. "I can't tell you anything specific, since those kinds of discussions are reserved for medicine cats and their leaders alone," he could see the faint look of suspicion in Reedpaw and disappointment from Lionpaw so he continued on, "I can tell you that StarClan has sent no signs, to anyone as far as I'm aware, that this allegiance is not something they want."

Lionpaw perked up a bit as he remembered something that had happened at the Gathering the previous night, "Oh yeah! When Dawnstar made the announcement Spiderstar and Coyotestar got super angry. They started saying that StarClan wouldn't agree and all that, but the moon continued to shine. Not even a single cloud showed up." His tail waved excitedly as he was the only one there, aside from Embersky, that had been at the Gathering to see it actually happen. "That means that they don't really care right? Since even though the leaders were fighting they didn't try to stop it?"

The medicine cat's whiskers twitched faintly in amusement at the outburst, "I suppose you could say that. It's difficult to know what exactly StarClan wants without omens or a prophecy, but like I said, they haven't made any indications of their displeasure." His green eyes flicked to Frostpaw, "Does that answer your question?"

PMD: Explorers of the Unknown

Sora couldn't resist looking towards Lumi at Cash's mention of Ember Cave. He himself was already feeling sick and he couldn't force his body to relax. Despite the fact that he hadn't seen his sister in ten years he was still able to see the force that it took for her not to bristle at the mention of the location that tore their lives apart. At least she hadn't completely forgotten, not how it had seemed when they had been a bit younger.

There wasn't a slew of questions which was a somewhat good sign. Cash's eyes flicked between the members of each team as they spoke, the calm regality of the fire Pokémon somewhat comforting. Sora just kept his mouth shut as the Fishertown team discussed what they thought might be in the forest.

"There's probably bug types in there too, and maybe some dark or ghost if we end up being there at night." Asher's voice was surprisingly contemplative as he chimed in his own thoughts.

Ozzy gave a nod as Lumi said that they had water types covered and shared a toothy grin with his partner. "Those won't be any trouble for us."

They certainly had a lot of types covered with the team that they had. Probably part of the reason why Cash picked the team that he did. As Marlow rephrased his question, mentioning the Sage Stones, Cash gave a slight hum. "From what we know of the Sage Stones from the previous expedition to Ember Cave it is a sudden, violent transformation. A forced evolution if you will." His tail tip flicked as he looked carefully at each and everyone of them, "We aren't sure if there's Sage Stone in the forest, but if you could find evidence of that then that would be incredibly helpful. At the very least we have reports of feral Pokémon, so caution is warranted either way."

Sunspear's team grew quiet as well as they exchanged concerned looks. If they were up against feral Pokémon they would stand a chance depending on how tough they were. The berserk ones though? If even the old team, most of whom had retired after the incident, didn't stand a chance in Ember Cave then how could they hope to make a dent if that was the real cause. They didn't know how the other team worked, the didn't know anything really is seemed, but Cash had given them this job and they were going to do it.

"Well if there's no more questions or concerns," Cash moved towards the door, "Get acquainted and get some rest." With that he strode from the room back into the main hall to settle other assignments.

Mercifully, Asher's voice cut through the silence that had covered the room. The ever chipper Quilava trying to take everyone's mind off the stress, "So...you guys want to go and get some breakfast? Maybe talk strategy, get to know each other a bit before tomorrow?"

The Yurazen Prince - A Tale of Redwall

Good writing with y'all, hopefully we can do it again in the future