The world spun as Oscar's eyes fluttered open. His head throbbed as he tried to gather his bearings, yet he found himself unusually dazed. In fact, it would seem impossible to move, let alone realize what was happening. A few more rotations caused Oscar's vison to finally straighten, revealing his frightening circumstances. It would seem that he was hanging upside down, buried up to his calves in solid ice.

The cave he hung in had no light, and yet he found everything to be uncomfortably bright thanks to the snow. His head shuddered with a mix of pain and rushing blood, and he found trying to remember how he had gotten here just worsened his discomfort. That perhaps can be reflected upon later, though from the state of his torn suit he could tell that he had quite an adventure.

Naturally Oscar didn't realize how much danger he was in until he heard a growl from deeper within the cavern. Something was stirring down the winding corridor in front of him--something large and angry. Oscar began to reach for his belt, only to find it lacking any pokeballs. Fuck. He began to desperately claw at the ice, making too little progress as a massive shadow came into view down the corridor. If he didn't find away out, it would seem this would be the end of the Rocket Beast.

River Marx

The growl grew as whatever hid deeper within the carven grew closer. The deformed shadow was ghastly, and filled Oscar with a sense of existential dread. It was likely the same feeling prey felt as a predator loomed over them. The ice would not give way, but Oscar was too stubborn to just let himself die. He kept clawing at the ice, his fingers becoming red and raw. When his arm strength finally gave out, he saw the glimpse of some sort of lanky creature before falling to the ground.

Whatever Oscar had fell on informed him that he was quite heavy, and as he adjusted his positioning he found himself to be on top of a familiar face. Oscar quickly realized how this looked and rolled off of the man. Oscar stood up slowly, his legs shaking as it tried to hold him up. Oscar began to rub his head, "I think maybe it's your lack of muscles. Hello again, River." 

This was a fun table-turn; the last time Oscar saw the young River he acted as the savoir, and now Oscar was the saved. That's the kind of twist of fate that ends up in record books. Oscar cracked his back, laughing to himself as he remembered his previous panic, "I thought you were a monster dude, freaked me the fuck out." It was clear that Oscar was relieved, no matter how much he tried to hide it. 

Yet before he could suggest getting the fuck out of this scary cavern, Oscar heard that same growl from before. Oscar froze, looking to River as if expecting the boy to reveal it was him making the noise. No such luck. The growl sounded off once more, and it was only from an upright position that Oscar could figure out where it was coming from.

He looked to the far wall, where his back had been to during his time upside down. His shoulders sank as what appeared to be a large pile of snow and debris rose. The snow fell away, revealing needle like fur. The beast turned toward them, revealing itself to be a full-sized Abomasnow. The monster let out a roar, shaking the save as its fury brought a chill to the air. Oscar sheepishly looked to River, "I suppose now isn't a good time to mention that I have no pokemon."

River Marx

How'd he end up in this mess? That was a loaded question. There were flashes, brief images of him doing stuff, but none of it connected. Every time he focused on trying to remember something, his head would ache horribly. His mouth felt so dry, like he hadn't had any water for--Oscar's eyes widened. 

"Oh that's right, I was--" Oscar was interrupted by River grabbing his hand, throwing him off balance as he was pulled forward. Oscar stumbled as he followed along, trying his hardest not to panic as the battle raged behind them. As they turned the corner and exited the lair proper, Oscar caught something glimmering in the snow. He swept up the object with his free hand as they passed, and he was downright  awestruck to see that it was a pokeball. As he opened it, he hoped to whatever poke-deity that was watching that the ball was his.

Out of the ball came Grievous the blaziken, luck was somehow on his side tonight. Grievous looked downright pissed to see his master dragged off, but Oscar was quick to redirect him before he got any funny ideas about attacking River. "No no I'm fine! Go in the room there's aaaa--I don't know, monster to fight." With that Oscar and River disappeared deeper into the cave, and Grievous decided to check in on the commotion happening in the room his master had indicated. 

There was a fierce brawl taking place in there, with three pokemon facing a gigantic abamasnow. Grievous had to assume that was the monster, none of the other pokemon were exactly intimidating. He cracked his neck and knuckles, watching for an opportunity to join the fray. When the opportunity appeared, he dashed in to deliver a Blaze Kick to the snowy abomination. 

River Marx

Have you seen a Ice/Grass type get hit with fire? It's honestly hysterical, what should be normal hit becomes an absolutely brutal blow. Grievous's Blaze Kick dug so hard into the Abomasnow's face that he swore he had dug into its head. As he retracted his leg, he saw that he wasn't far off. The Abomasnow's face was left smoldering, the smell of burnt wood wafting through the cave.

The beast reeled, its intimidating power meaning nothing when facing its greatest weakness. Grievous could have done something fancy to finish it off, but it really would not have been worth the effort. This was barely a fight. Grievous delivered one last Blaze Kick, the impact of which threw the Abomasnow to the ground. As smoke drifted up from its form, it would make no attempt to get up.

Grievous caught up with Oscar and River, looking very smug about his easy victory. Oscar scoffed at the haughty bird, "Don't look so pleased, a charmander could have beaten that thing." Grievous huffed, he seemed especially displeased with his master. Oscar furrowed his eyebrows, what was up with him? He decided to focus his attention on his savior instead, "Hey um--thanks for saving me. If you hadn't shown up..."

Oscar shuddered at the thought of dying in this icy hellhole, what an unglorified demise that would have been. When he couldn't stop shuddering, he only then realized how cold it was. "Fuck it's cold, let's get out of here."

River Marx

Oscar considered River's reaction almost adorable, who knew he could be so easily embarrassed. Oscar smiled, taking a shakey step forward. Every one of his limbs ached to his bones, and it was very clear he was having trouble walking. Soon enough something pushed up Oscar's arm to provide him balance. It was Grievous, who despite his annoyance with his master's behavior could not bear to watch him struggle.

Grievous helped Oscar along, and Oscar eventually thought to ask him about the night before. "You wouldn't happen to know how I got here, would you?" Grievous made a drinking motion with his free claw, and suddenly it all came back to Oscar. The night before he went bar hopping with skyler dross, and as usual their antics ended with him in deep shit. "Do you know if Skyler's safe?" 

Grievous shrugged, he was in his ball most of the night. Oscar furrowed his brow with concern. "We better go check in on her. After some coffee, of course." 

River Marx