Braixen's Quest

Chapter 4

Just before they stepped into the forest, Gardevoir suddenly remembered something, and held an arm out to stop Braixen from walking in.

"Before we go in, lemme just warn you about something. If you feel some sort of a chill, tell me. This forest is basically the turf of a bunch of ice-types, and they hate trespassers."

"Ice? But I'm a fire-type. I can take them on any day!" Braixen remarked, putting her fists up and pretending to fight something. Gardevoir just stared at her pitifully and made a mental note to keep her close at all times before heading into the forest with her. Once they were in, however, they had only taken one or two steps before that very same chill had settled in. The air had become so cold that despite her fur, Braixen was shivering, and Gardevoir was silently wishing her hood was bigger. Some fog had settled in when Braixen suddenly straightened up with a jolt, shocking Gardevoir a bit.

"My stick!"

"What?"

"I have a stick that can produce flames!"
"Well what are you waiting for, then? Get it out!"

Braixen slid the stick out of her tail (which was a painful task, as her tail fur was tangled) and lit the tip to try and create some warmth. Gardevoir was keeping on her guard, and for good reason, as some figures emerged from behind some trees. They strode out of the fog, revealing themselves as a Cryogonal, a Cloyster in a tank, and a Beartic. Gardevoir made an attempt to warn Braixen, but she was more focused on the fact that her stick was burning a bit too strong. She ran around in circles for about a minute while yelling "Put it out! Put it out!" before dumping it into the Cloyster's water tank. It coughed, and adopted a rather agitated expression.

"Yo, whuzzat for?"

Cryogonal joined in defending his friend while Gardevoir just looked pitifully at Braixen, with an expression saying something along the lines of "You shouldn't have done that". Cryogonal made a motion with his eyes to direct the attention of Braixen and Gardevoir over to their Beartic friend, who punched his fists together and blew fog from his nose. Braixen was suddenly frozen in fear, while Gardevoir simply said:

"Run."

Braixen's expression changed to something of intense fear, and the two of them bolted, hearing nothing but the surprised shouts of the trio of Ice-types behind them. After what seemed like half an hour of running, Braixen and Gardevoir stopped and took a heavy breather at a strange brown brick shed. They were still surrounded by trees, but they knew they had escaped the Ice-types because the trees around them were green, and the fog had seemingly dissipated.

"Whew, that was too close. Look, foxy, don't do stupid things like that. It could get you killed," Gardevoir said. "I need a break. See you in about five minutes." And with that, Gardevoir headed behind a tree, lighting a cigarette on the way. Braixen looked at her now-wet stick, tossed it aside, and made a mental note to find another one. She then set her sights on the shed right next to her. Thoughts began whizzing around her head until she decided to be brave and step inside the shed. She found that the door seemed to be frosted shut, meaning that the Ice-types had been around this area, but after some effort, the door finally opened. Inside was very dark, filled with cobwebs and rotten wood planks. It seemed that someone once used this shed to build things. On a moist, mouldy table was a torn piece of paper that had nothing except some arrows on it.
"This could come in handy," Braixen muttered, pocketing the scrap. As soon as she did this, however, she heard a shriek from somewhere outside. Braixen nearly fell flat on her face in her rush to get outside and see who the scream belonged to, and nearly immediately, she saw that it belonged to Gardevoir, who was being pinned against a tree by the Beartic from earlier.

"Foxy! Do somethin'!"

"I'll try!"

Braixen frantically looked around for a way to combat this Beartic. It was nearly five times stronger than her, and it was still incredibly angry at her mistreatment of Cloyster. As her eyes darted around, she laid her eyes on the stick she had just cast aside, and then she looked at Beartic, who had his back turned to her, and was focusing on tormenting Gardevoir who seemed to have gone unconscious from shock or something similar. Braixen grabbed the stick, charged at Beartic, and rammed the stick into his posterior, causing him to howl with pain and run off. When he did this, Gardevoir collapsed onto the ground. The front of her jacket and white shirt were ripped open and there was a huge scratch in her chest which was still oozing black blood. Her shirt and chest were spattered with black blood, and she was breathing, though lightly. Braixen, in a panic, knelt down to check if she was alright, and when she did, Gardevoir rose one of her green arms and slowly made a thumbs-up sign. Braixen sighed heavily, knowing that her newest friend was going to be okay.