Lars had barely made it outside of the cavern when the Z-move had been dropped unceremoniously within the chamber—the better to keep it from crumbling into debris and flooding (and therefore sinking beneath the waves when high tide came to the cave).

There was a fucking reason the deity preferred to stay all the way down at the lowest level of Shoal Cave, and never manifested outside of the cave unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Fuck,” he grumbled as a huge exhalation of white powder and whatever else debris came bursting out of the cavern’s entrance; the sign that the move had taken hold and (hopefully) returned the cavern proper back to its frigid glory.

Getting up from where he’d fallen, he then made a mad dash back inside only to witness—

“You little shit,” he hissed as he thought he saw something moving from far above, close to the ceiling—

And then a loud, angry shriek from the iceborne deity as Gravity, similar to what they’d experienced deep underground, in the Ruins shuddered throughout the open space.

It—

Was going to be an uncomfortable fall going down.

Now the redhead had done it.

‘Such insolence!’

‘I know!’

The only thing that Lars could do now was watch, from his vantage point on the ground as the Articuno then attempted to flip themselves over, before another beam of frozen energy erupted from their maw—

Was that an Ice Beam attack headed towards the little shit Alakazam (the only potential source of the Gravity shifting violently)?!

‘Are you really going to nuke the Alakazam?!’

‘For trying to force me down to the ground?! Maybe!’

‘Damn, that’s cold.’

‘Did you see where it went?!’

‘Unfortunately, no!’

Lars knew that the snarky one was referring to the Alakazam, of course. Smug-ass bastard whipping out and changing the force of Gravity, forcing the iceborne deity to crash-land.

It was definitely an experience that they did not want to relive all over again; and in a similar location, to boot.

‘Do you see him?!’

‘I—I don’t know, I’m not sure!’

‘Well, keep looking!’

At this, the lone human on the ground concentrated for a few moments, before manifesting the wings borne of ice and trying to take to the air as well—but holy fucking shit, it felt like the air in a compressor had increased pressure; therefore it was difficult to look for the redhead therefore he remained on the ground instead.

‘When you find him, let me know!’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘I am not going to reveal that until he shows himself!’

‘What the fuck was that about?!’

‘I wish I could easily answer you!’

‘Are you alright, though?’

‘There is a reason why I hate that particular move.’

From his current vantage point somewhere up on the cavern walls (having decided to stick to it like a Kecleon instead rather than flying because the oppressive force was still lingering around the space thanks to the reformed ice), he thought he saw a flash of movement—however all the iceborne mirage could do was roll over and pull themselves up, before shaking the heavy feeling from their wings.

‘You know that feeling of freedom being taken away from you, Lau—Lars?’

‘You never call me by my name.’

‘That’s why I hate that particular move.’

‘Must suck, huh.’

And then—he spotted the blur, before climbing down from the cave wall to what he hoped was the actual redhead (and not another decoy. Man, who knew that they had that trick up their sleeve?!).

“I swear if you’re just another Ditto-faced decoy,” he began as he alighted back on the ground, before looking over what he presumed was Sénon.

“Honestly, don’t knock them out of the air; we already had a bad experience before, and it also involved this exact same fucking move. I can’t fly, either.”

“What the—holy shit, are you alright?!” he exclaimed at the other the moment he heard the coughing noise.

‘Why isn’t he talking?’

‘Beats me.’

It wasn’t until this moment did he realize that the Chimchar that had been riding on his shoulder had disappeared—maybe that was the movement he’d registered briefly some time earlier, but that wasn’t important… for now at least.

“Maybe you should… catch your breath for a bit.”

A lame suggestion, but it was the closest he could offer.

(And unfortunately, neither he nor the snarky one had noticed what the Chimchar had been doing. At least, not yet anyway.)

It doesn’t take too long for Lars himself to notice that there’s something—

“What is that?!” he exclaimed, tilting his head in the direction of the landbound mirage. “What the hell are you—”

‘Can you fly?’

‘No. The pressure is still in the air. Similar to how you couldn’t earlier.’

And then he realized something else.

“Can you still hear them talking to you in your head?”

Or did he close off the connection? He wasn’t too sure. Either way, he looked over at the Chimchar and the Infernape, wondering silently what the hell was going on—

Much tempted as he was to knock on Sénon’s head (or at least give him a noogie) he realized the idea wasn’t going to fly, so instead he moved closer and waved a hand in front of the other.

“Yo, can you hear me?” he tried again.

“What the hell are you holding?!” he followed up a few moments later, realizing where the other end of what he’d noticed was located.