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Description
Team Mischief: Mission 5, Part 2
Chapter 2: Into the Woods

Sorbet was currently distracted by the bursts of elemental energy being fired at its wings and the melee attacks aimed at its sides. The Ice-type reared its head in fury, turned to a Zangoose who had slammed into it with Double Edge, and inhaled deeply. It was about to launch a Hyper Voice at Dmitri when a Rufflet smashed into its face with Brave Bird, then flew wincing towards Creeping Forest.

"That's it, weaken the beast an' force it to the forest!" bellowed a Gabite. Gunpowder jumped and slashed at the legendary Pokémon with Dragon Claw. The Rogue Guild Leader had only two teams working with him, three if he counted the team setting up an ambush in Creeping Forest. As a result, he and Dmitri had split up to take different sides of the dragon and keep it from landing any hits on anyone. Team Orbit and Nebraska from Team Water Slash were in the back using elemental attacks to chase Sorbet out of the village; Fresnel and Maple were leading Sorbet towards the forest with help form Terence.

Sorbet turned towards the source of the noise and recognized Gunpowder as his most recent attacker. It had recovered from the Brave Bird attack. The small amount of its mind that was left registered the Gabite's Dragon Claw as one of the greatest threats to its quest to stop PK, and roared as it began to summon the blizzard surrounding it into its signature move. A Stunky began frantically playing a song on a triangle to disperse the attack; Maple didn't know what type of attack she was trying to stop, but she saw what it did to the tree house and wasn't about to let it be used again. Slowly but surely the Kyurem won the tug of war for its attack and was about to fire when a Purrloin with a gold scarf slapped its paws together in front of one of the dragon's eyes, breaking its concentration. Maple resumed moving the snow to form a wall between Kyurem and the rest of the village as the dragon jerked its head back and forth.

The Purrloin mean while was flipped upward, then began to plummet downward at a dangerous speed. The Rufflet flew as best he could towards the falling cat but was too late to catch him. Fortunately, a ramp made of ice appeared for him to crash into and tumble down into a snow drift. Sly blinked and shook himself. "Thanks, Ice Creeeeam," he called slightly dazed to a Sneasel who was running on all fours to catch up to Gunpowder.

He then turned back to the dragon, who had decided to take out the annoyance with one simple step. "Not happeniiiing," he purred as suddenly he began to split into two bodies: a stationary plush and a slightly tired version of himself which began jumping away from the dragon and towards his Guild Leader. "Team Mischief reporting for duty, captaaaaain," Sly called when he finally met up with the Gabite and his two teammates, the tip of his tail in front of his forehead like a salute.

"It looks like I'm stuck with ye as me only reinforcements," growled Gunpowder. "Anyways, time for another rush. Hit hard as ye can, then run towards the Ampharos. If ye have any plans to stop its attacks or ruin its accuracy, get to work."

"Miss Ice and I may be able to do something about that, sir," Leilani replied.

"Get on it lass."

The group moved to attack Sorbet, who had just finished launching an Ancient Power at Dmitri. Gunpowder slashed at the Kyurem's thick scales with a Dragon Claw. Sly had less success with Thief, and was quickly tossed off of the dragon's leg. Ice in the mean time had used the ramp she made earlier for Sly as a vantage point to jump onto Sorbet's back, and wrapped her claws around one of its wings.

"So ya think ya can stop the attacks if ya go for its head with String Shot?" Ice asked as she ducked behind the wing to avoid an Energy Ball and Hydro Pump.

"Quickly, please," Leilani replied shivering. Although now they were relatively safe from the unrelenting snow in the eye of the blizzard, the cold still bit through her scarf and the leaves surrounding her body.

"'Kay." The Sneasel glanced around. The scales were too thick and smooth for her to climb up. It wasn't until halfway up the long neck did a series of spikes from part of its icy armor provided some good claw holds. Then there was the wings, which had enough jagged edges for her to grip. She scrambled to the top of the wing and crouched lower. "Have a String Shot ready if I miss."

"If you mi-" the Sewaddle was cut off as her teammate leapt headfirst from the wing to the neck as the dragon leaned down to charge at the Pokémon on the ground. Unfortunately, the Kyurem moved its head sideways to attack Dmitri with Hyper Voice. Leilani ignored the ringing in her ears and attached a long thread of String Shot to Sorbet's neck. As the Kyurem's head moved upward, the two were swung directly under the neck and landed on the other side of it, Ice barely catching hold of one of the spikes on the neck and slowly pulling the pair up.

"Where on the head do you want to go?" shouted Ice. The young Sneasel had yelled as loud as she could, but she and her partner could barely hear it because their ears were still ringing after the Hyper Voice. The Kyurem, unfortunately could and tried to turn back to the sound. When that failed, it shook its head and neck furiously jerking the Rogues to and fro, the pair only stayed on because Ice made a spur of the moment decision to freeze herself to the beast.

"How'd it hear us? I couldn't hear us!" Ice shouted.

"I don't think it'll stop until he knocks something off or gets distracted by something else," the Sewaddle replied, hoping Ice could hear.

"Whatcha sayin'?"

"You're going to have to untie me, then jump off while I crawl or swing up the rest of the way."

"How's that gonna work?"

"It didn't notice us until you shouted, so it won't feel me crawling up, and I'm sure you can make your fall noticeable."

"Yep," Ice replied grinning and untied the bandanas, then rewrapped both of them around her teammate's back. "Ya ready?"

Leilani nodded shivering, and with that the Sneasel raked the ice off of her legs with her claws and slid down Kyurem's neck. Ice then turned and began to release a flurry of Slash attacks on the base of the dragon's neck. It turned around and stared at Ice, while the Sewaddle stayed safely in its blind spot, and let loose another Hyper Voice. The young Sneasel stopped attacking and clamped her arms around her head and tucked into a ball as she flew off its back. Leilani stared back at her teammate before slowly climbing up the neck of the rampaging dragon with the help of String Shot. She could only hope that the ranged team found her. I'll do my best to keep her safe on this mission, Leilani's words from earlier that night echoed in her head. It seemed like ages had passed since she had told Ice's brother that. It'd take a while, but eventually she'd make it to the eyes.

Ice landed in the snow in the middle of the ranged attack group. Scarlet and Berry began helping her up, while a Totodile she recognized as a fellow Rogue positioned herself in front of them, using Hydro Pump to push the dragon's head away from the group.

"Are you okay?" Scarlet asked.

"Wha?" Ice mumbled getting to her feet. There was intense pain in her ears, and her head felt fuzzy. Something warm was trickling from her right ear, where the pain was the most intense. It was hard to maintain her balance and the Vulpix's question sounded muffled and far away, even when the Fire-type repeated it louder. She clutched her ears again and tried to stop her knees from shaking. "My ears," she moaned.

"Do you think something happened to her ear drums?" Berry asked looping one arm around the Sneasel's side.

"Hyper Voice to the face, definitely would of messed her up," replied the Totodile as soon as she finished a Hydro Pump attack, which seemed to do nothing more than push the dragon's head back towards her partner.

Ice blinked and remembered. "The head! Don't attack the head, my teammate's still on it, she wanted to try to blind it with her String Shot!" she shouted as loud as she could.

"Seriously? And quit shouting, we can hear you just fine."

"Gunpowder said we should try to stop the attacks. Her String Shot is pretty tough, she might even shut its trap with it!"

"I think she may have gone temporarily deaf," Scarlet replied.

"Huh?"

"Go back to the village!" Berry shouted into the Sneasel's ear. "You're in no condition to continue. Nebraska can get her teammate, Terrence, to tell everyone else what your friend up to."

"Nuh-uh, I can handle this!"

"Berry, Scarlet, we need to speed up slush for brains!" Nebraska shouted aiming a Hydro Pump at one of the Kyurem's wings. Berry and Scarlet followed up with Psychic and Energy Ball respectively. Ice caught on and fired her own Ice Beam attack at the wing.

"I can still fight," she muttered, forcing herself to her feet.

Leilani finally dragged herself to the top of Sorbet's head. Just as she suspected, her weight was insignificant to the Kyurem, and as long as she stayed on the icy armor, it couldn't feel her crawling. Of course the drawback was that she was much colder. While the two bandanas wrapped around her body helped keep some of the cold away, it was completely negated by the fact that she had pressed her body against ice. She looked around. Dmitri was still attacking energetically. She could only attack one eye before being noticed, and she had to make it one that counted. She decided that Gunpowder was both the strongest and most vulnerable fighter they had, so it'd be best to give him an advantage. That and Sly was near him, and without Substitute the Purrloin would be knocked out or worse in one hit.

She slowly crawled down the right eye ridge. A strange darkness had overcome the Kyurem's eye, and it leaked out of the eye socket. It definitely had something to do with what was going on, but there was nothing she could do about it or even a cause for it that she could think of. It did make her decide that in addition to being too cruel, using Bug Bite to blind it quickly and easily would be too risky. She shot String Shot in a quick, back and forth action so the eye and surrounding ridge of the armor was covered in several layers of thick thread. The Kyurem screeched and writhed as the sticky substance got in its eye, but Leilani kept working until finally the dragon lowered its head toward its short claws and she had to back up as fast as possible to avoid being clawed at. She took a gamble and decided to try to bind the claw to the head. She couldn't wrap the silk all the way around the claw, and as a result it broke free and began trying to swat at her. She felt the leaves around her body tear as she rolled down the dragon's face. At the last minute she managed to attach herself to the front of Sorbet's chest and clung to it shivering as the dragon began to charge.

Creeping Forest was in sight now. Sly could just make out the familiar trees illuminated by the light from Fresnel's forehead and tail. He picked up speed and felt a bit safer and less worried about his teammates as he neared the forest he had called home for the past month. He remembered sitting together with his team and making gifts for the party, telling stories late at night in their hammocks, and going hunting with Stellaluna. The area of the forest the trap was laid in was going to get trashed, but from the looks of it, it wasn't going to be near his team's base area. Everything was going fine. Then he heard the screeching and turned back.

Sorbet was struggling with something on its face. Must have been LeeLee's plan, he thought flicking his tail. He stopped and watched. Things were going swell. The Ice Beams he had seen coming from the back had meant that Ice Cream had ended up joining the ranged attack group, and LeeLee had just disabled the Kyurem somehow.

Or so he thought.

A bright gold blur was seen falling from Sorbet's head and attaching itself to Kyurem's chest, then the dragon began rushing forward. Sly turned tail and ran, nothing bad was supposed to happen now that they were nearing home base. Or maybe it was some gambit that LeeLee had thought of. But what could she do from his chest? Kyurem's typing would make it resist her Razor Leaf and Bug Bite, and there was no point in Substitute and String Shot from there.

Sly realized that Gunpowder, Dmitri, and the Rufflet had joined Fresnel and had begun to yell taunts at the dragon. He also noticed that the snow was starting to pile thicker and had begun to slow him down. The heavy crunches of Sorbet's footsteps were also becoming louder. The Purrloin made a split second decision and began to angle sideways and concentrated on forming a Substitute. He felt his energy flow out from his body and form a duplicate that fell to the ground after him. He then leapt sideways and landed into a deep snow bank, while the Kyurem thundered past, crushing the substitute in its wake.

The cat took several deep breaths. Everyone had retreated into the trees except for Fresnel, who was repeatedly firing a Flash attack, and Maple who had been perched on his head playing a song on a triangle that made the snow swirl in a strange pattern.

Sorbet didn't seem to notice and rushed onward, barreling through trees as the Ampharos began to run. Sly followed as fast as he could. The Kyurem was now out of sight, and the Purrloin could hear a set of footsteps that must have been the range attack team. He glanced back and was able to make out Ice in the group; he slowed down and fell into place on Ice's right.

"Ice Cream, you okay? Sly called.

"Eh, Sly? What did you say?" she shouted back. "Move to my left so I can hear ya!"

"Why?" Sly asked as his teammate hopped over him.

"Scarlet thinks Sorbet broke somethin' in my right ear! I dunno, I think after a while it'll fix itself, my left one did, kinda."

Sly turned to the side and saw the Vulpix shake her head.

Leilani had created a small web on Sorbet's chest and climbed onto it to stay securely attached; that was the only reason she had made it into the forest, although the only reason she knew she was in the forest was because she felt brittle branches crash into her and Sorbet's bodies. Fortunately for her, she had yet to sustain any serious injury. When she had been clawed at earlier it was only a glancing blow that caught her leaves, although the branches meant that she'd be sore tomorrow, if there was one for her.

A few times she considered using String Shot to escape into the trees. The problem was that nights in Creeping Forest were notoriously dark, and without one of her teammates to serve as a guide she always got lost, and with the blizzard, that would be deadly. So she clung blindly to Sorbet and let the branches hit her, until they entered a clearing and were suddenly jerked downward.

"Gotcha," a voice called. A Sandile with a large toothy grin was sitting on a Sigilyph with an Archen. Looking down Leilani saw that the Sandile had dug a hole that trapped Sorbet's leg. This must have been the trap Mister Gunpowder was talking about, she thought as she used String Shot to swing into the tree branches. It was good timing too, because at that moment the Sandile and Archen summoned a mass of boulders onto the Kyurem, trapping it with Rock Tomb and smashing it with Rock Slide.

"Alright, ye scalawag, are ye ready to learn what the people of Tao think of you destroying our village?" Gunpowder growled emerging from the trees and surrounding the clearing with Stealth Rock.

"Now the real battle begins," Dmitri yelled smiling as he used Glare.

This triggered an onslaught of attacks on Sorbet. Terence crashed into the dragon's head with Brave bird, while the Sigilyph flew in glowing with Sky Attack. Gunpowder unleashed another Dragon Claw and Dmitri flew forward with Double Edge. Rikku and Arkae used another combination of Rock Tomb and Rock Slide, and even little Maple joined in with Flame Burst. Leilani contributed her own Razor Leaf, although the damage she did was thoroughly pitiful. In the mean time, Sly, Ice, Nebraska, and Team Orbit joined the group.

"Had enough yet Sorbet?" taunted the Sandile. "This is what you get for destroying our village."

What few signs of exhaustion Sorbet was showing had vanished as his dark eyes turned to the Sandile. "PK," it growled slowly before switching to its ancient language. "Pay for your crimes."

The Sandile paused. "Are you blind? Do I look like a Kecleon? Or a woman? I'm Rikku the Sandile from Team Ruin. And what were you saying back there?"

Sorbet roared and spread its wings, its entire body glowing with blue and red energy as rocks with the same glow appeared in the sky and began plummeting downwards.

"Draco Meteor!" gasped Fresnel as he leapt away from a meteor.

"Aye, Kyogre and Darkrai have a grim night planned for us," Gunpowder yelled as he smashed another meteor with Dragon Claw, wincing.

The meteors rained down hard. Several trees in the area were reduced to smoldering splinters, including one next to Leilani, forcing her to jump into the snow. Some Pokémon had decided to take Gunpowder's example and try to wreck any meteors that went near them; Ice, Berry, and Nebraska forming a type of rear guard with Ice Beam, Psychic, and Hydro Pump.

A meteor flew towards Maple, and Scarlet grabbed the Stunky by the back of the neck and tossed her out of the way, only for another meteor to smash into her hindquarters sending her rolling down. Team Ruin and Terrence were knocked out of the air by meteors.

The Kyurem must have realized that the main reason its attacks were missing was the group of Pokémon behind him and turned away from Team Ruin. "Defenders of the murderess, you will fall!" he roared as he used Ancient Power to summon frozen chunks of the surrounding earth and launched it at Berry, Nebraska, and Ice. As soon as they heard the roar the Spinda and Totodile fled the second they realized they had the dragon's attention. Ice however stayed rooted to the spot aiming an Ice Beam at a final approaching meteor.

Leilani was about use String Shot to try and reel the Sneasel away from the Ancient Power's path only for a gold and purple blur to knock her away. Ice landed in the snow and was about to complain about the hit when she finally saw the rock, which had landed a direct hit on Sly.

Description
Team Mischief: Mission 5, Part 2
Chapter 2: Into the Woods

Sorbet was currently distracted by the bursts of elemental energy being fired at its wings and the melee attacks aimed at its sides. The Ice-type reared its head in fury, turned to a Zangoose who had slammed into it with Double Edge, and inhaled deeply. It was about to launch a Hyper Voice at Dmitri when a Rufflet smashed into its face with Brave Bird, then flew wincing towards Creeping Forest.

"That's it, weaken the beast an' force it to the forest!" bellowed a Gabite. Gunpowder jumped and slashed at the legendary Pokémon with Dragon Claw. The Rogue Guild Leader had only two teams working with him, three if he counted the team setting up an ambush in Creeping Forest. As a result, he and Dmitri had split up to take different sides of the dragon and keep it from landing any hits on anyone. Team Orbit and Nebraska from Team Water Slash were in the back using elemental attacks to chase Sorbet out of the village; Fresnel and Maple were leading Sorbet towards the forest with help form Terence.

Sorbet turned towards the source of the noise and recognized Gunpowder as his most recent attacker. It had recovered from the Brave Bird attack. The small amount of its mind that was left registered the Gabite's Dragon Claw as one of the greatest threats to its quest to stop PK, and roared as it began to summon the blizzard surrounding it into its signature move. A Stunky began frantically playing a song on a triangle to disperse the attack; Maple didn't know what type of attack she was trying to stop, but she saw what it did to the tree house and wasn't about to let it be used again. Slowly but surely the Kyurem won the tug of war for its attack and was about to fire when a Purrloin with a gold scarf slapped its paws together in front of one of the dragon's eyes, breaking its concentration. Maple resumed moving the snow to form a wall between Kyurem and the rest of the village as the dragon jerked its head back and forth.

The Purrloin mean while was flipped upward, then began to plummet downward at a dangerous speed. The Rufflet flew as best he could towards the falling cat but was too late to catch him. Fortunately, a ramp made of ice appeared for him to crash into and tumble down into a snow drift. Sly blinked and shook himself. "Thanks, Ice Creeeeam," he called slightly dazed to a Sneasel who was running on all fours to catch up to Gunpowder.

He then turned back to the dragon, who had decided to take out the annoyance with one simple step. "Not happeniiiing," he purred as suddenly he began to split into two bodies: a stationary plush and a slightly tired version of himself which began jumping away from the dragon and towards his Guild Leader. "Team Mischief reporting for duty, captaaaaain," Sly called when he finally met up with the Gabite and his two teammates, the tip of his tail in front of his forehead like a salute.

"It looks like I'm stuck with ye as me only reinforcements," growled Gunpowder. "Anyways, time for another rush. Hit hard as ye can, then run towards the Ampharos. If ye have any plans to stop its attacks or ruin its accuracy, get to work."

"Miss Ice and I may be able to do something about that, sir," Leilani replied.

"Get on it lass."

The group moved to attack Sorbet, who had just finished launching an Ancient Power at Dmitri. Gunpowder slashed at the Kyurem's thick scales with a Dragon Claw. Sly had less success with Thief, and was quickly tossed off of the dragon's leg. Ice in the mean time had used the ramp she made earlier for Sly as a vantage point to jump onto Sorbet's back, and wrapped her claws around one of its wings.

"So ya think ya can stop the attacks if ya go for its head with String Shot?" Ice asked as she ducked behind the wing to avoid an Energy Ball and Hydro Pump.

"Quickly, please," Leilani replied shivering. Although now they were relatively safe from the unrelenting snow in the eye of the blizzard, the cold still bit through her scarf and the leaves surrounding her body.

"'Kay." The Sneasel glanced around. The scales were too thick and smooth for her to climb up. It wasn't until halfway up the long neck did a series of spikes from part of its icy armor provided some good claw holds. Then there was the wings, which had enough jagged edges for her to grip. She scrambled to the top of the wing and crouched lower. "Have a String Shot ready if I miss."

"If you mi-" the Sewaddle was cut off as her teammate leapt headfirst from the wing to the neck as the dragon leaned down to charge at the Pokémon on the ground. Unfortunately, the Kyurem moved its head sideways to attack Dmitri with Hyper Voice. Leilani ignored the ringing in her ears and attached a long thread of String Shot to Sorbet's neck. As the Kyurem's head moved upward, the two were swung directly under the neck and landed on the other side of it, Ice barely catching hold of one of the spikes on the neck and slowly pulling the pair up.

"Where on the head do you want to go?" shouted Ice. The young Sneasel had yelled as loud as she could, but she and her partner could barely hear it because their ears were still ringing after the Hyper Voice. The Kyurem, unfortunately could and tried to turn back to the sound. When that failed, it shook its head and neck furiously jerking the Rogues to and fro, the pair only stayed on because Ice made a spur of the moment decision to freeze herself to the beast.

"How'd it hear us? I couldn't hear us!" Ice shouted.

"I don't think it'll stop until he knocks something off or gets distracted by something else," the Sewaddle replied, hoping Ice could hear.

"Whatcha sayin'?"

"You're going to have to untie me, then jump off while I crawl or swing up the rest of the way."

"How's that gonna work?"

"It didn't notice us until you shouted, so it won't feel me crawling up, and I'm sure you can make your fall noticeable."

"Yep," Ice replied grinning and untied the bandanas, then rewrapped both of them around her teammate's back. "Ya ready?"

Leilani nodded shivering, and with that the Sneasel raked the ice off of her legs with her claws and slid down Kyurem's neck. Ice then turned and began to release a flurry of Slash attacks on the base of the dragon's neck. It turned around and stared at Ice, while the Sewaddle stayed safely in its blind spot, and let loose another Hyper Voice. The young Sneasel stopped attacking and clamped her arms around her head and tucked into a ball as she flew off its back. Leilani stared back at her teammate before slowly climbing up the neck of the rampaging dragon with the help of String Shot. She could only hope that the ranged team found her. I'll do my best to keep her safe on this mission, Leilani's words from earlier that night echoed in her head. It seemed like ages had passed since she had told Ice's brother that. It'd take a while, but eventually she'd make it to the eyes.

Ice landed in the snow in the middle of the ranged attack group. Scarlet and Berry began helping her up, while a Totodile she recognized as a fellow Rogue positioned herself in front of them, using Hydro Pump to push the dragon's head away from the group.

"Are you okay?" Scarlet asked.

"Wha?" Ice mumbled getting to her feet. There was intense pain in her ears, and her head felt fuzzy. Something warm was trickling from her right ear, where the pain was the most intense. It was hard to maintain her balance and the Vulpix's question sounded muffled and far away, even when the Fire-type repeated it louder. She clutched her ears again and tried to stop her knees from shaking. "My ears," she moaned.

"Do you think something happened to her ear drums?" Berry asked looping one arm around the Sneasel's side.

"Hyper Voice to the face, definitely would of messed her up," replied the Totodile as soon as she finished a Hydro Pump attack, which seemed to do nothing more than push the dragon's head back towards her partner.

Ice blinked and remembered. "The head! Don't attack the head, my teammate's still on it, she wanted to try to blind it with her String Shot!" she shouted as loud as she could.

"Seriously? And quit shouting, we can hear you just fine."

"Gunpowder said we should try to stop the attacks. Her String Shot is pretty tough, she might even shut its trap with it!"

"I think she may have gone temporarily deaf," Scarlet replied.

"Huh?"

"Go back to the village!" Berry shouted into the Sneasel's ear. "You're in no condition to continue. Nebraska can get her teammate, Terrence, to tell everyone else what your friend up to."

"Nuh-uh, I can handle this!"

"Berry, Scarlet, we need to speed up slush for brains!" Nebraska shouted aiming a Hydro Pump at one of the Kyurem's wings. Berry and Scarlet followed up with Psychic and Energy Ball respectively. Ice caught on and fired her own Ice Beam attack at the wing.

"I can still fight," she muttered, forcing herself to her feet.

Leilani finally dragged herself to the top of Sorbet's head. Just as she suspected, her weight was insignificant to the Kyurem, and as long as she stayed on the icy armor, it couldn't feel her crawling. Of course the drawback was that she was much colder. While the two bandanas wrapped around her body helped keep some of the cold away, it was completely negated by the fact that she had pressed her body against ice. She looked around. Dmitri was still attacking energetically. She could only attack one eye before being noticed, and she had to make it one that counted. She decided that Gunpowder was both the strongest and most vulnerable fighter they had, so it'd be best to give him an advantage. That and Sly was near him, and without Substitute the Purrloin would be knocked out or worse in one hit.

She slowly crawled down the right eye ridge. A strange darkness had overcome the Kyurem's eye, and it leaked out of the eye socket. It definitely had something to do with what was going on, but there was nothing she could do about it or even a cause for it that she could think of. It did make her decide that in addition to being too cruel, using Bug Bite to blind it quickly and easily would be too risky. She shot String Shot in a quick, back and forth action so the eye and surrounding ridge of the armor was covered in several layers of thick thread. The Kyurem screeched and writhed as the sticky substance got in its eye, but Leilani kept working until finally the dragon lowered its head toward its short claws and she had to back up as fast as possible to avoid being clawed at. She took a gamble and decided to try to bind the claw to the head. She couldn't wrap the silk all the way around the claw, and as a result it broke free and began trying to swat at her. She felt the leaves around her body tear as she rolled down the dragon's face. At the last minute she managed to attach herself to the front of Sorbet's chest and clung to it shivering as the dragon began to charge.

Creeping Forest was in sight now. Sly could just make out the familiar trees illuminated by the light from Fresnel's forehead and tail. He picked up speed and felt a bit safer and less worried about his teammates as he neared the forest he had called home for the past month. He remembered sitting together with his team and making gifts for the party, telling stories late at night in their hammocks, and going hunting with Stellaluna. The area of the forest the trap was laid in was going to get trashed, but from the looks of it, it wasn't going to be near his team's base area. Everything was going fine. Then he heard the screeching and turned back.

Sorbet was struggling with something on its face. Must have been LeeLee's plan, he thought flicking his tail. He stopped and watched. Things were going swell. The Ice Beams he had seen coming from the back had meant that Ice Cream had ended up joining the ranged attack group, and LeeLee had just disabled the Kyurem somehow.

Or so he thought.

A bright gold blur was seen falling from Sorbet's head and attaching itself to Kyurem's chest, then the dragon began rushing forward. Sly turned tail and ran, nothing bad was supposed to happen now that they were nearing home base. Or maybe it was some gambit that LeeLee had thought of. But what could she do from his chest? Kyurem's typing would make it resist her Razor Leaf and Bug Bite, and there was no point in Substitute and String Shot from there.

Sly realized that Gunpowder, Dmitri, and the Rufflet had joined Fresnel and had begun to yell taunts at the dragon. He also noticed that the snow was starting to pile thicker and had begun to slow him down. The heavy crunches of Sorbet's footsteps were also becoming louder. The Purrloin made a split second decision and began to angle sideways and concentrated on forming a Substitute. He felt his energy flow out from his body and form a duplicate that fell to the ground after him. He then leapt sideways and landed into a deep snow bank, while the Kyurem thundered past, crushing the substitute in its wake.

The cat took several deep breaths. Everyone had retreated into the trees except for Fresnel, who was repeatedly firing a Flash attack, and Maple who had been perched on his head playing a song on a triangle that made the snow swirl in a strange pattern.

Sorbet didn't seem to notice and rushed onward, barreling through trees as the Ampharos began to run. Sly followed as fast as he could. The Kyurem was now out of sight, and the Purrloin could hear a set of footsteps that must have been the range attack team. He glanced back and was able to make out Ice in the group; he slowed down and fell into place on Ice's right.

"Ice Cream, you okay? Sly called.

"Eh, Sly? What did you say?" she shouted back. "Move to my left so I can hear ya!"

"Why?" Sly asked as his teammate hopped over him.

"Scarlet thinks Sorbet broke somethin' in my right ear! I dunno, I think after a while it'll fix itself, my left one did, kinda."

Sly turned to the side and saw the Vulpix shake her head.

Leilani had created a small web on Sorbet's chest and climbed onto it to stay securely attached; that was the only reason she had made it into the forest, although the only reason she knew she was in the forest was because she felt brittle branches crash into her and Sorbet's bodies. Fortunately for her, she had yet to sustain any serious injury. When she had been clawed at earlier it was only a glancing blow that caught her leaves, although the branches meant that she'd be sore tomorrow, if there was one for her.

A few times she considered using String Shot to escape into the trees. The problem was that nights in Creeping Forest were notoriously dark, and without one of her teammates to serve as a guide she always got lost, and with the blizzard, that would be deadly. So she clung blindly to Sorbet and let the branches hit her, until they entered a clearing and were suddenly jerked downward.

"Gotcha," a voice called. A Sandile with a large toothy grin was sitting on a Sigilyph with an Archen. Looking down Leilani saw that the Sandile had dug a hole that trapped Sorbet's leg. This must have been the trap Mister Gunpowder was talking about, she thought as she used String Shot to swing into the tree branches. It was good timing too, because at that moment the Sandile and Archen summoned a mass of boulders onto the Kyurem, trapping it with Rock Tomb and smashing it with Rock Slide.

"Alright, ye scalawag, are ye ready to learn what the people of Tao think of you destroying our village?" Gunpowder growled emerging from the trees and surrounding the clearing with Stealth Rock.

"Now the real battle begins," Dmitri yelled smiling as he used Glare.

This triggered an onslaught of attacks on Sorbet. Terence crashed into the dragon's head with Brave bird, while the Sigilyph flew in glowing with Sky Attack. Gunpowder unleashed another Dragon Claw and Dmitri flew forward with Double Edge. Rikku and Arkae used another combination of Rock Tomb and Rock Slide, and even little Maple joined in with Flame Burst. Leilani contributed her own Razor Leaf, although the damage she did was thoroughly pitiful. In the mean time, Sly, Ice, Nebraska, and Team Orbit joined the group.

"Had enough yet Sorbet?" taunted the Sandile. "This is what you get for destroying our village."

What few signs of exhaustion Sorbet was showing had vanished as his dark eyes turned to the Sandile. "PK," it growled slowly before switching to its ancient language. "Pay for your crimes."

The Sandile paused. "Are you blind? Do I look like a Kecleon? Or a woman? I'm Rikku the Sandile from Team Ruin. And what were you saying back there?"

Sorbet roared and spread its wings, its entire body glowing with blue and red energy as rocks with the same glow appeared in the sky and began plummeting downwards.

"Draco Meteor!" gasped Fresnel as he leapt away from a meteor.

"Aye, Kyogre and Darkrai have a grim night planned for us," Gunpowder yelled as he smashed another meteor with Dragon Claw, wincing.

The meteors rained down hard. Several trees in the area were reduced to smoldering splinters, including one next to Leilani, forcing her to jump into the snow. Some Pokémon had decided to take Gunpowder's example and try to wreck any meteors that went near them; Ice, Berry, and Nebraska forming a type of rear guard with Ice Beam, Psychic, and Hydro Pump.

A meteor flew towards Maple, and Scarlet grabbed the Stunky by the back of the neck and tossed her out of the way, only for another meteor to smash into her hindquarters sending her rolling down. Team Ruin and Terrence were knocked out of the air by meteors.

The Kyurem must have realized that the main reason its attacks were missing was the group of Pokémon behind him and turned away from Team Ruin. "Defenders of the murderess, you will fall!" he roared as he used Ancient Power to summon frozen chunks of the surrounding earth and launched it at Berry, Nebraska, and Ice. As soon as they heard the roar the Spinda and Totodile fled the second they realized they had the dragon's attention. Ice however stayed rooted to the spot aiming an Ice Beam at a final approaching meteor.

Leilani was about use String Shot to try and reel the Sneasel away from the Ancient Power's path only for a gold and purple blur to knock her away. Ice landed in the snow and was about to complain about the hit when she finally saw the rock, which had landed a direct hit on Sly.