PokèDruids [PkmnWattys2016]

Winter Ghosts

Eros was not ready to trust the Sneasel by any means, but he longed for someone to travel with. "Sure thing, but don't go through my stuff again." Sneasel was uncomfortable with Eros' consent, but none the less was now traveling with Eros.

The two have made quite a bit of process, although Sneasel would often go through Eros' bag while he was clearly looking at it. "I'm sorry, I have kleptomania." Weird. The two also introduced themselves formally. Eros gave his name, and the Sneasel gave hers, which was Xerxes. The real reason she was wandering around was that she was a lonely thief looking for things to collect. She was kind enough to give Eros a heart scale she took from someone else, and then gave it to him again after she stole it from Eros. Eros kept any personal details about his Druidity a secret, knowing the potential consequences of doing so.

The weather started to become snowy, and quickly. Infinite clouds overhead darkened the noon so it appeared to be an hour before sunrise, the cool blue ground with a thin layer of snow. Eros asked for a break from the walking, since he had some small amount of leg injury left and he had been walking nonstop for the last few days. The two sat in the middle of a plethora of pine trees, working together to make a circle of stones with wood in the middle. Eros used his flint to start a fire.

Xerxes didn't care for the fire, but Eros needed desperately to keep warm. The fire worked with Eros' cloak to keep him warm enough to consider himself comfortable. Eros was taking a long rest, surviving off the winter foliage comfortably. All was going peacefully for the pair.

Xerxes suddenly pushed Eros to the side. Eros felt a long, stinging blade cut the side of his chest, stinging bitterly as it was withdrawn. The cut was a simple graze and Xerxes avoided any harm. Eros felt an unusual burn from this blade, whose curved blade brought back the memory of one figure- the Duskull behind him, holding the fraction of the scythe with a blade, holding on the the foot of timber left of it. On the blade was a green powder, lethal when consumed in the body. Suddenly, the world started to go blurry. Eros raced for his bag while Xerxes used pursuit on the Duskull, slashing at it with a dark glow in its claws. Eros shuffled through his stuff until he found a yellow spray bottle, which he quickly sprayed on his cut, combating the effects of the poison on his system. Eros then realized that even in death, his mother was watching over him, caring, and being awfully lucky when giving Eros an antidote!

The Duskull was fainted, with Xerxes standing over it with an evil glare. Xerxes spoke to Eros, "What should we do about him?"

Eros looked over at the murderous phantom. "I'll put it in a pokeball. That way, it can't try and kill me again."

"Isn't it a little evil to use a poke- Again? What do you mean try to kill you again?"

Eros walked over and put the Duskull in a normal pokeball, the one he used for Bidoof a while back. Having been fainted, the ghost couldn't resist the ball. "We've met before. This time, though, he had a deadly poison on his blade. We need to do something with him, please."

"Fine. But you can't keep him forever. I won't let you." Eros nodded. He then took the fragment of scythe and buried it in the shallow snow in the hopes no one would find it. Xerxes was disturbed to see Eros pull out a pokeball but understood his reasoning.

The two rested for another hour before continuing north, deeper into the snowstorm. The sky grew darker as the snow got more intense and the snow rose to the point where Eros had to struggle to continue moving. Every so often Eros would throw out sparkles in the air, which slightly illuminated the path while helping practice his powers. Xerxes would watch this but decided not to question Eros. After all, what does it matter that he can throw out harmless sparkles? The snow also made the world almost completely silent, save Eros' heavy footsteps in the snow. However, no matter how intense the weather was, the faint outline of mountains in the distance gave hope to the two that they were moving in the right direction.