he raises a hand to his jaw and turns his head. that same scowl stretches to his eyes as he examines himself. the twin ravens hop over to the mirrored surface as well and peck at their doppelgangers. sharp tings reverberate around. thinking that whatever danger he thought they'd been in had passed, fenris puts his guard down. 

so he startles ridiculously so when someone whips around the corner. his shoulder slams into the wall as he avoids tripping over the squawking ravens. bright blue eyes narrow as a curse seethes out from him, hand flying up to stop the throbbing. 

"what?" where the hell did they even come from? the ravens tilts their heads, eyeing the larvesta quizzically. 

"you always sneak up on people like that?" he says, ignoring the question. 

howl mccoy

☉

his face is drawn. he's still scowling at himself in the reflection. but his eyes are on the newcomer now and the look on their face makes him soften. he doesn't mean to be an ass. he blames it on the dark circles under his eyes, the mess of his hair from where he's been knotting his fingers in it incessantly. 

he drops a hand now and goes to stick it out awkwardly towards the stranger, but then the larvesta in their arms gives a wiggle and leaps free. 

he watches the larvesta take down its opponent while huginn and muninn trill that they've found a larger section of cave. they stretch their wings, lifting off, circling and waiting for fenris to follow. 

"don't be too hard on the little guy," fenris says, looking down at the larvesta. "he did a solid job there." its commands could use some work, but that just comes with time, and the creature definitely looks small enough to be a juvenile. 

fenris turns. "it's alright, by the way. about the shoulder." great apology, fen.

he slouches to the side, a little awkward, and then the crows save him. he steps up the incline and looks into the cave they'd found, only to see the two birds duking it out with a gallade. 

"oh, nice." he scrambles up and gives a haphazard look back at his companion. "c'mon then. no sense running around this house of mirrors and scaring the shit out of each other again."

the corvisquire release a volley of blows, twisting and turning over one another. fenris calls a couple of commands out when he sees the gallade readying attacks and with his trainer's help, the crows make short work of the pokemon. 

fenris tosses a ball. 

howl mccoy
catching gallade!

☉

"ha, well," fenris starts, but breaks off in a laugh as huginn and muninn dive him, plucking at strands of his red hair. he waves them off and then grins at his new companion. "mine are kinda assholes too."

phae would be absolutely distraught to have been lumped in with mischief and mayhem. she prides herself on her put-togetherness, but fenris gets away with it anyway while she's stuck in her ball. even though this particular cave would be gracious enough for her wingspan, they'll probably end up moving on soon. 

fenris watches as the person's larvesta makes another break for it to flex on a nincada. a wave of warmth washes over them and fenris takes a couple of steps back. 

"think maybe he's feeling a little cooped up? my corvisquire get nasty when i don't exercise them enough." as though to emphasize his point, the crows squawk loudly and beat their wings at part of the rock face. 

only it's not the cave wall that they're attacking. a rhydon opens its eyes and grumbles lowly. one fist flies and catches huginn right on the back, smacking down the bird. 

muninn rakes her claws against the rhydon, but her attack inflicts little damage. fenris mutters under his breath and hurls stymphalia's ball out. the skarmory screeches as she emerges and dive-bombs the rhydon with a steel wing. 

the cave-dwelling dinosaur crumples, rock blown out from its shoulder. fenris winces and throws a ball. 

"err." he shrugs down at his companion. "so, uh, what's your name? i'm fenris. and that murder-bird there is stymphalia. i'd keep blais away from her if i were you," he says with a chuckle.

howl mccoy
catching rhydon!

☉

huginn picks at his sister's feathers, prompting her to get up, but she doesn't. fenris goes over to assess the damage, crouching down beside the corvisquire. her wing is busted, probably dislocated, and fenris apologizes softly before planting his thighs on either side of her and popping it back into place. 

she screeches, coming to at the intense pain, but her flutters at least let fenris know that she'll be alright. he pulls out her ball regardless and returns her, promising that he'll get her properly looked at soon. he recalls stymphalia as well; the skarmory is too large to easily traverse the caves. 

huginn turns at the sound of more fighting and croaks a throaty laugh when howl's larvesta makes quick work of another pokemon. fenris laughs alongside him. 

"i fear the day he evolves," fenris says. "you battle much? not that i'm looking for a match right now and i'm fairly certain blais might just melt stymphalia." granted, despite the type advantage, fenris has a feeling he may be able to outperform howl as a trainer. 

they just need to work on their confidence. 'cause at the end of the day, they're doing something right if their pokemon can handle an environment like this so easily. 

howl mccoy
skipping

☉