Elinor’s Pokémon were far faster at reacting than their trainer. By the time Lars had yelled duck, half of them had already tackled her and covered her in a protective casing of their own bodies. Protecting her from the ice explosion.

None of them allowed her to leave before danger had passed. But when she did, she spared no time in exclaiming. “Well! I guess we got through.” And without further ado she began to hurry toward the entrance.

Her Pokémon rushed along to protect her from her own recklessness.



OOC: N/A
LOCATION: SHOAL CAVE -> ARTICUNO'S LAIR

The moment the cold burst of air cleared out and the icicles had stopped falling—Lars was not surprised to have to pick out several of the larger shards from his hair which had (to nobody’s surprise) frozen over.

“El, are you okay?!” he called out once the burst of cold wind had settled down and peering inside the gaping open entrance of the ‘altar’ where the Iceborne Mirage made their roost.



For a few moments, there was nothing but silence…

The nervous pawing of the Glastrier’s hooves on the icy ground made the silence even more deafening as he stepped inside first, followed by Ro the Metagross.

“Stay behind me…”

“Yeah yeah, I am fine. A little cold can't hurt me.” She straightened her back in confidence, but one glance at her Pokémon would reveal why she was left with little to no injuries after that icy explosion.

She was not blind to their condition, but she wasn’t about to let them give in to their own doubts. If she radiated confidence, then surely so would they?

Logic finally reigned in her recklessness and so she did as Lars requested, she stayed behind him as they walked into the Frozen nest.

Though she knew their reasons for coming here were dire, her gaze could not help but wander around taking in the beauty of the icy nest.



OOC: N/A
LOCATION: SHOAL CAVE -> ARTICUNO'S LAIR

It didn’t take long for a baleful pair of eyes to finally glare at them—and for the first time in a very long time, Lars felt something prickling through him as he felt the stare literally lasering in on him.

It was much colder than what he was used to.



And instead of hearing the same old snarky voice in the back of his mind, a powerful screeching noise rumbled from the Iceborne Mirage themselves.

Not another split-second had gone by before the Glastrier clattered forward, hooves hitting the icy ground as Lars yelled at his cousin to stay behind him as another louder, much more painful screaming noise assaulted their eardrums before the build-up of frozen energy began happening as fast as water would freeze over in a flash.

“Go, go, go, get out of here!” he yelled her way as several bursts of frozen arctic energy emanated from the Mirage, repelling them backwards and slowly driving not just the Glastrier, but also the Metagross (who had since transformed back to his normal stature) and Lars out of the frozen cavern.

“Idiota! We just wanted to check if you’re alright!” he finally yelled through the cold at last, never mind if he could feel the tips of his fingers tingling as the frigid cold began enveloping the entire cavern once more.

“Why are you acting like this?!”

A third, warning screech from the Iceborne Mirage meant that they probably should hightail the fuck out of there unless they wanted to become frozen statues…

A tremble began in her body, which quickly grew to a shiver. The cold was starting to bother her.

Somebody was watching her. She could feel it. She figured it was Articuno.

No sooner had the thought occurred to her, did the ear shattering screeching noise emerge into the Icy nest.

Lars called for her to get behind him. And she did. This was no time for recklessness. But it didn’t take long before even that wasn’t enough, as he began to usher her out of there. Seeing how the frozen energies began to freeze the place, she was not about to go against his wishes.

Elinor ran for her life. Her Pokémon followed. As they exited the nest once more.

She heard the yelled words from Lars, and it sure sounded like he didn’t exactly get an answer.



OOC: N/A
LOCATION: SHOAL CAVE -> ARTICUNO'S LAIR

The Glastrier had beat tracks out of the frozen cavern, making sure to guide Elinor and all her Pokémon to safety while Lars and Ro lagged behind, not standing for the deafening screeching noise.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” he yelled again, before the Iceborne Mirage flapped their wings again, sending a particularly frigid burst of air to send the other two packing.

The Metagross beside him made a warning grating noise, using Telekinesis to pull Lars along as he apparently had plans on lagging behind and trying to communicate with the angry Mirage.

“Come on! You can tell—” he got cut off before the third warning shriek permeated the air, and he felt himself suddenly floating as the shining silver beast was floating away, backwards, making a very pointed warning noise as Lars struggled and—

“Ro! Put me down!”

The same angry grating noise came from the shiny Metagross, before another wave of bone-chilling cold permeated the area—wait, bone-chilling?!

“Che ca—” he yelled again, struggling against the hold as the Metagross slid out barely in time before the entrance suddenly sealed up with a thickening layer of fast-forming ice, and Lars himself was unceremoniously dropped on the ground.

“Ow! Ro, you didn’t have to—” he began, before realizing something else—

Why was he able to feel the cold again…?

Once at a safe distance, Elinor would wait for Lars to join her.

She hoped he would. But she had an inkling that he would stubbornly try to do something dumb.

A sigh of relief escaped her as she saw Ro dragging its trainer along before unceremoniously dropping him on the floor.

“So, that could’ve gone better.” Elinor stated quite frankly.“With how little it wanted us in there, had been any other Pokémon I’d be inclined to think it was nesting.” She spoke, half in jest. Though for a moment she wasn't sure. She didn't even know if Legendary Pokémon reproduced.

But then she noticed the look on Lars’s face. It was a look of realization. She had an inkling suspicion that it wasn’t of the good variety.



OOC: N/A
LOCATION: SHOAL CAVE -> ARTICUNO'S LAIR

For the record, there was one legendary Pokémon seemingly capable of producing offspring, though it was so fantastical it was almost unbelievable. Almost.

“Che palle, Ro, did you really have to drop me hard on the ground?!” he grumbled as he stood up on wobbly legs, rolling his eyes and making sure that he wasn’t hurt—physically at least.

The tingling sensation in his fingertips was still there, which was disturbing.

“Let me correct you, Eli, there’s supposedly one that can reproduce, but. Well,” he trailed off as he turned his gaze towards the thickening ice wall before several stalactites near them fell ominously close to where they stood.

“Fucking hell,” he grumbled as he got out of impaling distance.

“That… didn’t go as well as I expected. At least we’re sure of one thing: they’re alive.”

“Really?” She asked with mild surprise as she made a mental note of looking into that early. If the League could catch it and force it to reproduce, they’d surely have a veritable army of legendary Pokémon on their side.

Anyhow, Lars continued his grumbling.

“That could definitely have gone better. But knowing that they are alive was well worth the risk.” Elinor looked thoughtful.

“Maybe we could try to appease it with gifts?” Elinor suggests.

“But what would we give it…” She mumbled. “Food, prayers… human sacrifices?” Of course the latter was said in jest, but she did shoot a glance toward Lars to see his reaction.




OOC: N/A
LOCATION: SHOAL CAVE -> ARTICUNO'S LAIR

“Che palle, Eli, what made you say human sacrifices?!” he exclaimed, turning to face her with this ‘what in the fucking hell was that idea?!’ look on his face. “Of all the things—no!” he continued, adamant.

He then shook his head.

“There is no fucking way I am going to sacrifice anyone else to appease their wrath! That’s kind of why I’m the human champion they chose—so they don’t have to choose someone else!”

He then let out another sigh as the tingling sensation in his fingers came to a stop.

“As for the supposedly reproducing Pokémon, I don’t think they’re that powerful… they’re just babies.”

Of course this was just him taking a shot in the dark. It was all guesswork at this point.

He then let the silence envelop them as he got to thinking—what could qualify as something worthy?

“…to be honest, Eli, I have no damned idea. At least we can think about that once we get out of here—” he trailed off as he thought he saw several more stalactites dislodging themselves from the ceiling and crashing down dangerously close to where they stood.

“Let’s get the hell out of here. Clearly they didn’t like us barging in…”

Even the Glastrier was nervous.

Lars’s reaction took her by surprise. The look he sent her made her feel bad, bad in a way she hadn’t felt in ages, yet in an instant the familiar sensation returned. Disappointment. She had disappointed him.

Her gaze fell to the ground. “Sorry… It was just a dumb joke…” She should’ve known better. For a moment she felt like a kid again. But then luckily the conversation changed.

“Yeah let’s get out of here before they decide they want the rest of the cave as well…” Her voice still glum after the brief return to her childhood.

And with that Elinor would begin to make her way out of the Shoal Cave.



OOC: N/A
LOCATION: SHOAL CAVE -> ARTICUNO'S LAIR

“Get on Ro, we’ll get out faster that way,” was all he would say, as the silver beast folded his legs in and waited for her to get on. “I’ll take the Glastrier to the top. I’ll be following you, of course.”

Although, for a few moments as he seated himself bareback on the frozen equine Pokémon’s back—did he feel the cold again? Or was that just his mind playing tricks on him?

Either way—the good thing was, they were alive.

The bad thing about it all?

He had a feeling that the next time they met shit wouldn’t be as easy as it had been today.