Charred Remains

Life. Life never changes. It's always the same. People are born. People die. This same cycle, ever constant, ever wavering, yet never changing. We humans try to defy this cycle, seeking out science, or religion, to find some way to keep ourselves afloat long after we are due.

And yet, for every advancement we make in prolonging life, we are humbled and reminded that humans are fragile beings. How we ever managed to survive this long as a species is something that has bugged me for a long while now.

Perhaps the maniacal among us, the ones who bring so much chaos and discord, are nature's way of slowing us down; her ways continue to elude us, and yet still we try. We try and try. But is it worth it? Many among us would say yes. A select few would say no. A smaller percentage would say there is some easier way. As for myself, I refuse to say. I'm still searching.

Once humanity reaches its breaking point, the point where True Chaos shall reign, and nothing will be left but charred remains, I shall remain. Still searching, yet finding nothing.

-----

Storm jogged along happily, the rest of his team in pursuit. Gilda glides along gracefully, ever vigilant. Dashie ran back and forth, curious and cheery. Creatures skittered about, unmindful of the strangers in their midst.

After quickly passing through Softwind, the ragtag group came upon a blooming forest of Ash and Trees. Dashie seemed excited, as he noticed the many fire types in the area. Gilda was rather unconcerned, instead focusing on searching for food and water.

Gilda fluttered back and forth in her search for food, but the fires that burned Chartree Forest didn't leave much behind. However, a dab of yellow in a burnt bush up ahead caught Gilda's eye, and she flew over, Dashie sprinting along behind her. Gilda quickly nipped the yellow circle with her beak and tried pulling the fruit off the bush... except it wasn't a fruit. It was the ear of a rather moody little bear, who had no desire to put up with pesky visitors.
[6] :embear: [Female] [28/28]

"Huh, now that's an interesting pokemon. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a fire type, given all the burnt trees, and ash," Storm mused aloud, before returning to the imminent battle at hand. The baby bear spit some fire at Gilda, causing her to flinch back and reevaluate her approach. Storm studied the situation as well. Dashie merely ran around some more, clearly happy to be surrounded by soon to be charcoal. After a few minutes, Storm finally had an idea.

"Ok, Gilda," he started, "I want you to fly around it as fast as you can, create a mini vortex of wind to throw the soot around. Then use your eagle vision to strike it while it's distracted!" Gilda nodded in compliance. Storm braced himself, covering up his mouth and nose as best he could, as the griffon began flying in circles around the cub at a rather high velocity. Soot began to fly everywhere, as the sky around the battlefield grew dark, and foggy.

Gilda obeyed readily, sending itself swooping around Embear in circles. The soot flew around, confusing Embear. She lashed out, but hit only smoky air. Gilda, then, took advantage of Embear's failed attack to descend upon her and pecked her hard on the forehead. The blow hit its mark, but Embear hadn't lashed out to hit Gilda, in fact, her arms weren't used in her attack at all. Using her arms as cover, she had shifted her weight and bent her knees. Now, with Gilda right in front of her, Embear was able to throw all her weight forward, landing a heavily blow on the little bird.

[5] :grific: [Male] [17/23]
[6] :embear: [Female] [21/28]

"All right. *cough* That was good!" Storm called, as he back up farther so he could breathe clearly. He coughed some more, and rubbed his watery eyes, to little avail. So instead, he simply closed them, and tried using his other senses to observe the battle. Of course, only then did the HUD clear up enough for him to realize he could see what was going on, to an extent, even with his eyes closed. Huh, that's new, he thought, as he continued to observe the hazy clearing.

"Gilda, let's try that one more time! This time, go counter-clockwise, the other direction," he called, as he cleared his mind. His heart stopped racing, and his breath evened out, allowing him to focus completely on the battle. "Let's do this."

Gilda started circling again, whipping up even more ash. Embear looked around, but knew that she had no chance of finding her fast-moving opponent. Instead, she lifted her head and belched out a stream of flames. At the same time, Gilda flashed forward to peck Embear, flying directly through the flames. Gilda let out a cry of pain and quickly fluttered away, doing her best to avoid taking more damage.
[5] :grific: [Female] [8/23]
[6] :embear: [Female] [15/28]

"Grr...Gilda, retreat for now!" Storm called, reaching into his backpack. The smog was starting to clear, finally, and Storm could see without the HUD now. Gilda fluttered over toward her trainer, her wings singed and some of her feathers torn. "It's all right," Storm softly called, applying the potion to her wounds. Something in the solution renewed her vigor, as her wounds healed instantly. Storm was amazed at how it all worked so quickly.

It was then that he saw a figure running at them out of the corner of his eye. The Embear was intent on taking Gilda out, as it rushed straight at them. Thinking quickly, Storm held Gilda close, hoping to protect her from some of the flames that were sure to come.

Instead of using fire, Embear continued its charge, crashing into Storm and Gilda. The little bear took Storm's legs out from under him, making him fall forward on top of Gilda.
[5] :grific: [Female] [17/23]
[6] :embear: [Female] [15/28]

"Ugh, sorry about that..." Storm sighed, as he got up off of his bird friend. "All right, time to make it pay. Peck it's eyes out," Storm called solemnly. His eyes turned solid black as Gilda raced forward, hoping to catch the still charging foe off guard.

Gilda dove down on Embear. Her beak narrowly missed Embear's eye, instead implanting itself in the bear's cheek. Embear let out a sharp growl, making Gilda fall back in surprise.
[5] :grific: [Female] [17/23] [-1 Attack]
[6] :embear: [Female] [9/28]

"Once more! Don't let up until it decides to leave us alone," Storm called, calmly staring down the foe. The Embear growled slightly in response, somehow setting Gilda on edge. Curse these moves, and their automatic effects.

With her new tactic, Embear managed to take the advantage in damage. However, all the damage Gilda had done before was beginning to do its number, and Embear began to fall, even to weaker blows.

[5] :grific: [Female] [11/23] [-1 Attack]
[6] :embear: [Female] [4/28]

"Now then, finish her," Storm called, his eyes burning. Gilda nodded back to her trainer in acknowledgement, before taking flight once more. Shaking off her singed feathers, the griffon paused to survey her target. The cub merely stared back in response.

With a sly smirk, Gilda flew higher, toward the sun. The cub tried to follow, but couldn't shake the harsh gaze of the high sun. At this time, it was too distracted to notice the ever growing speck that arose from the sun. Gilda dove deep, before changing her angle to swoop down, and peck at the momentarily blinded foe. At that, the bear stumbled back, before going for a counter.

Embear, blinded by the sun, staggered around. Taking the "Finish Him." to heart, Gilda swept coolly past Embear, delivering the swift Beak of Justice on its way. FATALITY

[5] :grific: [Female] [11/23] [-1 Attack]
[6] :embear: [Female] [0/28] [Fainted]

Gilda gained 48 EXP! Gilda grew to level 6! She gained Quick Attack!

So what'll it be now?

Gilda chirped happily, seeing the cub fall from its injuries. With a sly smile on her face, she fluttered over to her trainer. Quickly checking to see that no one was looking, Gilda quickly nuzzled Storm's cheek for a split second. Satisfied no one had noticed, she promptly fell to the ground, sound asleep.

However, Gilda tossed and turned, occasionally wincing in pain as the burns from before began to resurface. This struck Storm as odd, as potions were supposed to heal wounds and restore vigor. Curious, he returned Gilda so that she might rest and actually heal, before grabbing the empty potion bottle and reading the ingredients.

"Pure adrenaline. The fuck," Storm was bewildered, wondering who in their right mind would feed pure adrenaline to any one, let along a young pokemon. Reading further, his mind began to turn, trying to comprehend this fallacy with Pokemon logic.

The adrenaline tricks the pokemon into thinking they aren't tired, and pumps them up to return to the fight. Then, this...masking agent fools everyone, even the pokemon, into thinking that the wounds have healed. The mind is a powerful tool, but damn these suppositories. I suppose that's what I get for buying cheap products. Then again, these were all I could buy as a new trainer. The fuck is with this place?

It was at that point that something crept up behind them, ready to strike.

A giant bug jumped on Storm's back and began munching on his hair, making joyful clicking sounds as it did.

[6] :firant: [Female] 27/27

"Gah! Get...ge'r off!" Storm shouted, grabbing the creature on his back. He held it up, but couldn't get it away due to the fact that it was currently devouring Storm's already rather short, anime hair. Fumbling for a pokeball, he called out Gilda. She looked none too pleased at having been awoken from her nap. "Look, I'll make this up to ya later Gilda," Storm called, bringing her attention to the bug currently squirming in Storm's hand, "but right now, could you peck this thing so it'll let go of my hair already?" With a bit of a sigh, Gilda nodded and dived the firant, her beak glowing a light blue color.

Gilda collided with the ant, the force of the attack causing the creature to cry out in pain. It was just enough for Storm's hair to be freed. With a sigh of relief, Storm dropped the ant and stepped a few feet away from it, ready to battle.

Gilda slammed Firant to next week with a strong peck of the beak. Unfortunately, Firant came back with a powerful Ember to the face.

[6] :grific: [Female] 18/25
[6] :firant: [Female] 9/27

"That's great!" Storm cheered, pressing the advantage. "Now finish it with another Peck!" he called, pointing at the foe, no mercy present.

Gilda smashed into Firant again, driving her beak in between its giant eyes. She then kicked the immobile form and stared at Storm, waiting for some sort of reward for the effort of getting up.
[6] :grific: [Female] 18/25
[6] :firant: [Female] 0/27 [Fainted]

Gilda gained 40 EXP!

What would you like now?

"Gah.....Well.....I think that's about all this forest has to offer," Storm sighed, glad to be moving on. Or so he thought. "Oh god, what now?" he wondered aloud, as a shadowy form came into view.

Rah, rah, rah~! Out from the trees popped... another female Embear!

[7] :embear: [Female] [31/31]

Storm face-palmed at the sight of the small, fire bear. With a reluctant sigh, he sent out Gilda once more. "Peck it's face off. Please make it quick. I kinda just want to get out of this place." Gilda nodded boredly, before dive bombing the cub.

Gilda gave Embear a swift and strong peck on the snout. What she didn't expect, though, was to receive a tail full of flames as she swooped past. She had to break for the soot-filled grass to stamp it out.

[6] :grific: [Female] [16/25]
[7] :embear: [Female] [23/31]