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Description
Team Mischief
Epilogue: Breaks

The first thing Ice was aware of was a bitter taste filling her mouth. She tried to cough it up only for a small set of hands to push her mouth closed, and distorted voice said, "You need to swallow all the Revival Herb. Swallow, please." After struggling, she choked the herb down and forced herself into a sitting position.

She was in some building that she had never seen before. Beds were laid out for her, other Pokémon injured fighting Sorbet, and Pokémon injured in the Café. To her left she saw her teammate, Leilani, huddled under some blankets and on the right a large pink Pokémon she recognized as the village's surgeon working on a small dark form. Her Guild Leader, Gunpowder, was talking with the main doctor, a large blue Pokémon with a flat beak and rubber gloves. They weren't too far off, but the Sneasel was having trouble making out what they said.

"Try not to move too much, Doctor Quaak hasn't relocated your elbow yet," repeated the voice from before. The source was the nurse, Poppy, a small round pink Pokémon.

"Wha?" she responded.

The Happiny moved towards Ice's left before replying, "There was so much damage done to your right ear canal that it would take a miracle to fix, and your left ear isn't in good shape either. You also have an elbow that Doctor Quaak will fix when he's done talking with Gunpowder. Stay here."

Ice blinked. She had been told during the battle that she may not get her hearing back in her right ear and didn't believe it, but there was a finality in hearing it from the nurse. The Sneasel nibbled absent-mindedly on one of her claws as she tried to figure out what life would be like without hearing. Leilani usually travelled on her head, so the Sewaddle could repeat orders for her. But without her? Leilani didn't hunt, could she still hunt if she couldn't hear with one ear? When she went hunting she'd have to rely on Sly to figure out where the prey was. Her teammates. She dragged them on this mission, how were they? She turned to where Poppy was standing earlier and saw that the Happiny was gone; she left to join Doctor Quaak and Gunpowder's conversation. Ice would have to check herself.

She hopped off the low bed she was on and moved over to her teammate. The Sewaddle had cocooned herself in the blankets, and the tattered leaves she wore as clothing were wrapped around her head.

"Pssst, Lee. You awake?" Ice asked reaching out with a claw the Sewaddle mumbled something, so Ice repeated her question louder. She didn't think she had spoken that loud, but Poppy, Doctor Quaak, and Gunpowder's heads had all swiveled towards her, and Leilani jumped. "Lee?" she asked again. "How are ya doin'?"

"Vhat are you doing? Poppy, didn't you tell her to stay in bed?" asked the doctor as he walked up with the other two.

"I did," replied the nurse.

"Children you turn your back on zhem for a minute und zhey run off." The doctor took Ice's right arm and began manipulating it until he snapped her elbow back into place.

"Ya done?" asked Ice. Her right arm moved better but still hurt, and she was getting fed up with the bitter taste in her mouth from the herb she was given.

"Such an ungrateful child. I'm done vith you. Try to keep it down zo ve can concentrate on our vork." The doctor turned away.

"I wasn't that loud!" she shouted after him, earning a harsh glare from a purple, lamp-like Pokémon. Ice returned the glare only to get a shake from Gunpowder.

"Don't instigate Merlot's workers if ya know what's good for ya," snapped the Gabite. "Now, do ya have any questions about what happened?"

Ice turned and picked up the groggy Sewaddle and pulled her arms around her tightly. "You okay, Cap'n? An' my teammates an' everyone else?"

"I be fine. A lot o' experienced teams came at the end to help finish things wit' Sorbet an' move the injured. Yer team leader's in bad shape. Tha' Draco Meteor he took for ya broke his ribs. As for the other lass, it's mostly cold, unless ye strangle her!" Gunpowder forced Ice's arms apart to release the death grip she had on Leilani. The Sewaddle nodded her thanks and crawled around Ice until she was wrapped around the younger Pokémon's neck and her antennae were brushing the left side of the Sneasel's face. Ice wrapped her arms around her knees. She needed something for her arms to squeeze, and since Leilani found a more comfortable spot on her neck, and Gunpowder probably wouldn't let her hug him. "Anyway. Most o' her damage is from the cold, although she should see Chrys about her leaves. The other teams are all in better shape, for the most part."

Ice squeezed her knees tighter. Sly had been hit because she failed to dodge a meteor. He also only went on the mission because she wanted to go.

"Lass, are ye okay?"

"I…," she trailed off and was silent for several minutes. "Uh, how do ya get the taste o' those herbs outta your mouth?"

"Ya wait until ya get food that tastes like somethin' from the doctors." Gunpowder laughed and placed a claw on Ice's head before standing up. "Anythin' else?"

"What exactly are the living arrangements for the teams who broke into the castle?" Leilani piped up. "I doubt Mister Lexy or Mistress Merlot will be happy with the Pokémon behind the theft living here, especially Mister Sly since Lexy saw him leave with the book. My parents live in Sapling Village, so if we need to, we can move there."

"As o' yet, I'm not privy to Devonshire's plans here or how much protection he can extend to the teams who took the book. I'll tell ya when I can." The Gabite left to check on another Rogue team that Doctor Quaak was talking to.

"Lee," Ice tried to whisper. She couldn't hear her voice but Leilani had. "Why'd you take that Draco Meteor attack for me?"

The Sewaddle rearranged herself so she was closer to the Sneasel's good ear and replied softly. "I wasn't going to last much longer in the cold; you were doing fine in it, and I promised my brother I'd take care of you."

Ice winced and curled up into a tighter ball. "An' Sly?"

"Probably the same reason." Leilani paused when she noticed how tense her teammate was. "Just because both Mister Sly and I were knocked out defending you doesn't mean you're weak. We both knew our limits on that mission, and we knew that you could go farther than either of us. Ice, please say something."

"When do we get somethin' to get that taste outta our mouths?" she muttered into her arms, ending the conversation.

Ice and Leilani visited Sly as soon as he was awake. The Purrloin was in bad shape. His stomach was wrapped tightly in bandages. He seemed to have trouble breathing, and every few seconds he'd blink and suck in his lips to try to force his face back into his normal bright and slightly sneaky smile.

"Leelee, Ice Cream," he panted. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine. My main problem was the cold, and everything's gotten so much warmer, I'll recover faster," replied Leilani. She hopped off of Ice's shoulder and curled up next to him. "What's your condition?"

"A few broken ribs. I can't do missions for at least a month, so Leelee is now the boss." Sly coughed. "That's normal," he said when his teammates looked at him in concern. "Sometimes it hurts to breathe."

"Well, just lay there and rest for a while. We'll take care of things for the team. You look after yourself." Leilani nudged his face with her two antennae getting him to smile.

Ice stood quietly nearby, her arms wrapped around her body again. She didn't like Sly that much. He was good for nothing except stealing and chasing down anything round or shiny that crossed his path. Plus there was the nickname he gave her. Still, she felt horrible seeing him that way. It was her fault, that was all, she kept telling herself.

"Why'd ya do it?" she finally snapped. Her claws were digging into her elbows as she said this. Sly blinked at her as if she had just asked him why he didn't sprout wings and fly to the top of the castle. "Why'd ya take that attack for me? I wasn't being careful. You didn't have to d-do that!" she yelled, leaning closer to him.

"What do you mean?" asked Sly moving towards her with help from Leilani. "You're my friend, and you were having more fun out there than I was, so I didn't mind getting hit so you can have fun longer." Sly finished his sentence with his nose inches from Ice's. The Sneasel blinked. Her breath felt shaky. A part of her wanted to stay, while another wanted to leave as fast as possible. The second part won as she jerked around and ran off.

Ice needed time alone. After being thrown out of the fairly empty library, she found a window looking out on Creeping Forest that she could wedge herself into. The place she was sitting wrapped snugly around her, and the part of Creeping Forest she saw hadn't been damaged in Sorbet's rampage. She studied the trees to keep her mind off things.

"Sis? You okay?"

Ice glanced down. Her older brother was standing nearby. He looked at her under the brim of his hat with concern. His paws, which had been injured in the Café collapse, were heavily bandaged, and the right one had some sturdy pieces of wood wrapped in the bandages.

"Huh, uh, yeah," she replied jumping on him. She wrapped her long arms around his shoulders and buried her head in his chest as she knocked him over.

"You sure?" he asked wrapping his arms around his squirming sister. "I've never seen you like that. What happened?"

"I'm fine." Ice nuzzled her brother a bit more as she tried to figure out what to tell him. He had panicked when she said she wanted to take the mission, and the last thing she wanted was for him to be right about her not being able to handle it. It was true, but she didn't want him to know. But it also felt wrong to lie to him. "Kay, 'cept my right ear got broken or somethin', but I'm fine other than that." It still felt wrong to her.

"The mission was super fun!" she continued. "Sly did this trick to distract Sorbet for a bit so it couldn' attack, an' then Lee an' I jumped onto Sorbet's head an' tried to blind it, only it caught us so I had to distract it an' it hit me with Hyper Voice. Then we chased it to the forest an' fought it for a while. The yellow guy with the red lights then blinded Sorbet with his lights an' Lee tried to shut its ears with String Shot, only she got stuck there so me an' the Spinda who was in the Café with us flew onto Sorbet's head usin' her Psychic an' this broken tree, an' that was fun. Then we fell off. Oh, an' this Totodile from my guild beat a hole in Sorbet's face ice armor and I had to go find it, so I got myself flung to Sorbet's face an' I punched it. So the Spinda an' Maple were tryin' ta get everyone up to attack it while I was one of the Pokémon distractin' Sorbet. Then Cap'n Gunpowder charged him an' Sorbet was going to attack him with Hyper Voice an' I managed to push him outta the way. An then I fainted."

"Ice, what were-" Silver started to lecture.

"Ya smell burnt. How'd that happen?"

"Coco thought it was necessary to help your other Guild Leader with the tunnel evacuation because I said it was a bad idea for him to send your team on that mission and 'we needed to find some way to make it up to him'. It turns out the fire and lava he mentioned to you when he was giving you missions came from an enraged legendary Pokémon," he replied, his voice dripping with malice. He then pulled Ice closer and asked quietly. "Listen, how did Gunpowder treat you during the mission?"

"Pretty good. He yelled at me an' shook me a bit when I did somethin' he thought was stupid, but he's really awesome an-"

"Good, try to work with him instead of Devonshire as much as possible," whispered Silver. Ice had to strain her good ear to hear him. "I don't know what your guild is doing, and I don't really care as long as you're safe, and I don't think Devonshire has the safety of the Pokémon in his guild in mind. Maybe it's because we were the obnoxious Merchants who forced our way onto the mission, but Devonshire had no problem using Coco and I as bait for that thing, and I don't want you to end up in a situation like that."

She nodded. "We were mostly gonna stick to Cap'n Gunpowder anyway. He's really awesome, an' Mister Devonshire kinda creeps Sly an' Lee out," she replied trying to keep her voice as low as his.

Silver smiled a little. "Here, I brought the book I gave you before the party. Do you want me to read you a story?" Silver shifted his grip so he had one arm around his sister and could use the other to pick up the book.

"Kay, you pick," she replied moving closer to him and letting his voice lull her to sleep. Just like before.

Description
Team Mischief
Epilogue: Breaks

The first thing Ice was aware of was a bitter taste filling her mouth. She tried to cough it up only for a small set of hands to push her mouth closed, and distorted voice said, "You need to swallow all the Revival Herb. Swallow, please." After struggling, she choked the herb down and forced herself into a sitting position.

She was in some building that she had never seen before. Beds were laid out for her, other Pokémon injured fighting Sorbet, and Pokémon injured in the Café. To her left she saw her teammate, Leilani, huddled under some blankets and on the right a large pink Pokémon she recognized as the village's surgeon working on a small dark form. Her Guild Leader, Gunpowder, was talking with the main doctor, a large blue Pokémon with a flat beak and rubber gloves. They weren't too far off, but the Sneasel was having trouble making out what they said.

"Try not to move too much, Doctor Quaak hasn't relocated your elbow yet," repeated the voice from before. The source was the nurse, Poppy, a small round pink Pokémon.

"Wha?" she responded.

The Happiny moved towards Ice's left before replying, "There was so much damage done to your right ear canal that it would take a miracle to fix, and your left ear isn't in good shape either. You also have an elbow that Doctor Quaak will fix when he's done talking with Gunpowder. Stay here."

Ice blinked. She had been told during the battle that she may not get her hearing back in her right ear and didn't believe it, but there was a finality in hearing it from the nurse. The Sneasel nibbled absent-mindedly on one of her claws as she tried to figure out what life would be like without hearing. Leilani usually travelled on her head, so the Sewaddle could repeat orders for her. But without her? Leilani didn't hunt, could she still hunt if she couldn't hear with one ear? When she went hunting she'd have to rely on Sly to figure out where the prey was. Her teammates. She dragged them on this mission, how were they? She turned to where Poppy was standing earlier and saw that the Happiny was gone; she left to join Doctor Quaak and Gunpowder's conversation. Ice would have to check herself.

She hopped off the low bed she was on and moved over to her teammate. The Sewaddle had cocooned herself in the blankets, and the tattered leaves she wore as clothing were wrapped around her head.

"Pssst, Lee. You awake?" Ice asked reaching out with a claw the Sewaddle mumbled something, so Ice repeated her question louder. She didn't think she had spoken that loud, but Poppy, Doctor Quaak, and Gunpowder's heads had all swiveled towards her, and Leilani jumped. "Lee?" she asked again. "How are ya doin'?"

"Vhat are you doing? Poppy, didn't you tell her to stay in bed?" asked the doctor as he walked up with the other two.

"I did," replied the nurse.

"Children you turn your back on zhem for a minute und zhey run off." The doctor took Ice's right arm and began manipulating it until he snapped her elbow back into place.

"Ya done?" asked Ice. Her right arm moved better but still hurt, and she was getting fed up with the bitter taste in her mouth from the herb she was given.

"Such an ungrateful child. I'm done vith you. Try to keep it down zo ve can concentrate on our vork." The doctor turned away.

"I wasn't that loud!" she shouted after him, earning a harsh glare from a purple, lamp-like Pokémon. Ice returned the glare only to get a shake from Gunpowder.

"Don't instigate Merlot's workers if ya know what's good for ya," snapped the Gabite. "Now, do ya have any questions about what happened?"

Ice turned and picked up the groggy Sewaddle and pulled her arms around her tightly. "You okay, Cap'n? An' my teammates an' everyone else?"

"I be fine. A lot o' experienced teams came at the end to help finish things wit' Sorbet an' move the injured. Yer team leader's in bad shape. Tha' Draco Meteor he took for ya broke his ribs. As for the other lass, it's mostly cold, unless ye strangle her!" Gunpowder forced Ice's arms apart to release the death grip she had on Leilani. The Sewaddle nodded her thanks and crawled around Ice until she was wrapped around the younger Pokémon's neck and her antennae were brushing the left side of the Sneasel's face. Ice wrapped her arms around her knees. She needed something for her arms to squeeze, and since Leilani found a more comfortable spot on her neck, and Gunpowder probably wouldn't let her hug him. "Anyway. Most o' her damage is from the cold, although she should see Chrys about her leaves. The other teams are all in better shape, for the most part."

Ice squeezed her knees tighter. Sly had been hit because she failed to dodge a meteor. He also only went on the mission because she wanted to go.

"Lass, are ye okay?"

"I…," she trailed off and was silent for several minutes. "Uh, how do ya get the taste o' those herbs outta your mouth?"

"Ya wait until ya get food that tastes like somethin' from the doctors." Gunpowder laughed and placed a claw on Ice's head before standing up. "Anythin' else?"

"What exactly are the living arrangements for the teams who broke into the castle?" Leilani piped up. "I doubt Mister Lexy or Mistress Merlot will be happy with the Pokémon behind the theft living here, especially Mister Sly since Lexy saw him leave with the book. My parents live in Sapling Village, so if we need to, we can move there."

"As o' yet, I'm not privy to Devonshire's plans here or how much protection he can extend to the teams who took the book. I'll tell ya when I can." The Gabite left to check on another Rogue team that Doctor Quaak was talking to.

"Lee," Ice tried to whisper. She couldn't hear her voice but Leilani had. "Why'd you take that Draco Meteor attack for me?"

The Sewaddle rearranged herself so she was closer to the Sneasel's good ear and replied softly. "I wasn't going to last much longer in the cold; you were doing fine in it, and I promised my brother I'd take care of you."

Ice winced and curled up into a tighter ball. "An' Sly?"

"Probably the same reason." Leilani paused when she noticed how tense her teammate was. "Just because both Mister Sly and I were knocked out defending you doesn't mean you're weak. We both knew our limits on that mission, and we knew that you could go farther than either of us. Ice, please say something."

"When do we get somethin' to get that taste outta our mouths?" she muttered into her arms, ending the conversation.

Ice and Leilani visited Sly as soon as he was awake. The Purrloin was in bad shape. His stomach was wrapped tightly in bandages. He seemed to have trouble breathing, and every few seconds he'd blink and suck in his lips to try to force his face back into his normal bright and slightly sneaky smile.

"Leelee, Ice Cream," he panted. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine. My main problem was the cold, and everything's gotten so much warmer, I'll recover faster," replied Leilani. She hopped off of Ice's shoulder and curled up next to him. "What's your condition?"

"A few broken ribs. I can't do missions for at least a month, so Leelee is now the boss." Sly coughed. "That's normal," he said when his teammates looked at him in concern. "Sometimes it hurts to breathe."

"Well, just lay there and rest for a while. We'll take care of things for the team. You look after yourself." Leilani nudged his face with her two antennae getting him to smile.

Ice stood quietly nearby, her arms wrapped around her body again. She didn't like Sly that much. He was good for nothing except stealing and chasing down anything round or shiny that crossed his path. Plus there was the nickname he gave her. Still, she felt horrible seeing him that way. It was her fault, that was all, she kept telling herself.

"Why'd ya do it?" she finally snapped. Her claws were digging into her elbows as she said this. Sly blinked at her as if she had just asked him why he didn't sprout wings and fly to the top of the castle. "Why'd ya take that attack for me? I wasn't being careful. You didn't have to d-do that!" she yelled, leaning closer to him.

"What do you mean?" asked Sly moving towards her with help from Leilani. "You're my friend, and you were having more fun out there than I was, so I didn't mind getting hit so you can have fun longer." Sly finished his sentence with his nose inches from Ice's. The Sneasel blinked. Her breath felt shaky. A part of her wanted to stay, while another wanted to leave as fast as possible. The second part won as she jerked around and ran off.

Ice needed time alone. After being thrown out of the fairly empty library, she found a window looking out on Creeping Forest that she could wedge herself into. The place she was sitting wrapped snugly around her, and the part of Creeping Forest she saw hadn't been damaged in Sorbet's rampage. She studied the trees to keep her mind off things.

"Sis? You okay?"

Ice glanced down. Her older brother was standing nearby. He looked at her under the brim of his hat with concern. His paws, which had been injured in the Café collapse, were heavily bandaged, and the right one had some sturdy pieces of wood wrapped in the bandages.

"Huh, uh, yeah," she replied jumping on him. She wrapped her long arms around his shoulders and buried her head in his chest as she knocked him over.

"You sure?" he asked wrapping his arms around his squirming sister. "I've never seen you like that. What happened?"

"I'm fine." Ice nuzzled her brother a bit more as she tried to figure out what to tell him. He had panicked when she said she wanted to take the mission, and the last thing she wanted was for him to be right about her not being able to handle it. It was true, but she didn't want him to know. But it also felt wrong to lie to him. "Kay, 'cept my right ear got broken or somethin', but I'm fine other than that." It still felt wrong to her.

"The mission was super fun!" she continued. "Sly did this trick to distract Sorbet for a bit so it couldn' attack, an' then Lee an' I jumped onto Sorbet's head an' tried to blind it, only it caught us so I had to distract it an' it hit me with Hyper Voice. Then we chased it to the forest an' fought it for a while. The yellow guy with the red lights then blinded Sorbet with his lights an' Lee tried to shut its ears with String Shot, only she got stuck there so me an' the Spinda who was in the Café with us flew onto Sorbet's head usin' her Psychic an' this broken tree, an' that was fun. Then we fell off. Oh, an' this Totodile from my guild beat a hole in Sorbet's face ice armor and I had to go find it, so I got myself flung to Sorbet's face an' I punched it. So the Spinda an' Maple were tryin' ta get everyone up to attack it while I was one of the Pokémon distractin' Sorbet. Then Cap'n Gunpowder charged him an' Sorbet was going to attack him with Hyper Voice an' I managed to push him outta the way. An then I fainted."

"Ice, what were-" Silver started to lecture.

"Ya smell burnt. How'd that happen?"

"Coco thought it was necessary to help your other Guild Leader with the tunnel evacuation because I said it was a bad idea for him to send your team on that mission and 'we needed to find some way to make it up to him'. It turns out the fire and lava he mentioned to you when he was giving you missions came from an enraged legendary Pokémon," he replied, his voice dripping with malice. He then pulled Ice closer and asked quietly. "Listen, how did Gunpowder treat you during the mission?"

"Pretty good. He yelled at me an' shook me a bit when I did somethin' he thought was stupid, but he's really awesome an-"

"Good, try to work with him instead of Devonshire as much as possible," whispered Silver. Ice had to strain her good ear to hear him. "I don't know what your guild is doing, and I don't really care as long as you're safe, and I don't think Devonshire has the safety of the Pokémon in his guild in mind. Maybe it's because we were the obnoxious Merchants who forced our way onto the mission, but Devonshire had no problem using Coco and I as bait for that thing, and I don't want you to end up in a situation like that."

She nodded. "We were mostly gonna stick to Cap'n Gunpowder anyway. He's really awesome, an' Mister Devonshire kinda creeps Sly an' Lee out," she replied trying to keep her voice as low as his.

Silver smiled a little. "Here, I brought the book I gave you before the party. Do you want me to read you a story?" Silver shifted his grip so he had one arm around his sister and could use the other to pick up the book.

"Kay, you pick," she replied moving closer to him and letting his voice lull her to sleep. Just like before.