#bramblethecacturne

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they are stupid your honor

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Fight For Life

(part 3 of mission 5!)

Blood

Thats all Bluey could smell wafting around her as massive black claws wrapped around her tiny body and ripped her from the ground and flew off with her. But it wasn’t her blood that she smelled, it wasn’t even fresh blood or just one persons, but very very old yet several very familiar scents.

While the claws that held her were covered in fresh blood by some unsuspecting victim she couldn’t make out if she knew or not the raggedy faded shawl brown from dried blood that dangled in her face held smells she knew. She could smell her mother, her father, her grandparents…and so many more who stained that shawl. When Bluey looked up all she saw was the frenzied face of a Yamask with its eyes laser focused ahead of it as it raced away from Bastion and Jenga who were hot on this ghosts tail. As Bluey looked down towards the others, she managed to get a look at the golden mask attached to the tail of the Yamask.

While it was impossible to not know who a Yamask was in the past due to their golden mask that was a resemblance of their once living face, it was almost impossible to make out the face on this mask as it had been clawed at and scratched away. The scattered direction and depth of the gouges in the gold made it clear it was done out of sheer anger and hatred. Did She do this to herself? What made her hate her own face? It was questions Bluey was certain she knew the answer to, some part of this Yamask had to have hated what it did.

“Let her go, Scarlet!” Jenga barked as he flung a stone that ricocheted off the mask with a loud clang. In response to the sudden pain the Yamask let out a gargled scream and dropped Bluey as her focused shifted from stealing the Pawniard, to mauling whoever dare strike her.

Bluey let off a shriek as she fell towards the ground, clenching her eyes shut she braced for impact but instead was only slightly winded as she felt herself impact against Bastion’s chest after the massive Bisharp leapt to catch her before she hit the floor.

“N-Nice save again, Bash!” Bluey said shakily feeling a bit week in her legs having fallen several feet, “That was a close one…heh…heh.”

While Bluey steadied herself Bastion caught sight of the Yamask slamming into his grandfather, sending the old Sableye clattering to the ground, breaking off one of the gem shards on his back with a swift rake of her massive claws. Bastion hissed at the sight and charged into the Yamask sending her through a tree with a swift backhand. Sending shards of the dead burnt trunks scattering around the clearing from the impact.

“I forgot she followed me here from Sands.” Jenga winced as he sat up looking at the ruined remains of one of his gems with disdain like someone kicked his favorite dog, “She’s been nothing but a menace since reawakening. Sometimes I think she still has fragments of memory, but she always reminds me she’s just a beast now.”

“Wait so that Yamask is my mother? She came back and she’s still like this?!” Bluey exclaimed.

“Death and Undeath doesn’t seem to be a cure for it either I am afraid. I made the mistake thinking she may have been snapped out of it when I saw her climb out of her grave, especially when she was so keen of slowly following me, I thought she might of remembered me but every time I let her get too close, she never hesitated to attack me.”

The trio watched Yamask fling herself from the splintered trunk towards bastion and was once again sent careening through another tree sending more shards of wood splintering into the clearing.

“Physical attacks like that aren’t gonna do anything to her Bastion! You are only pissing her off!” Jenga said as Scarlet picked herself up again. Bastion shook his head at Jenga in a way of showing him that injuring her wasn’t his intent.

“Bastion if you gotta knock her out just do it cause she’s only gonna keep coming at us!” Bluey barked, “I know you may not wanna, cause she’s what’s left of my mom, but she not my mom anymore, she’s just like any other feral!”

Bastion looked at her hesitantly but nodded and the third time she lunged at them a thin dark sheen came over Bastion’s arm before he hit her hard with ‘Metal Claw’ which combined with Bluey using ‘Assurance’ sent Scarlet careening across the clearing and into the door of the library with a loud thud, leaving the Yamask crumpled to the ground from the super effective move.

“What brute’s making a mess of my library” A strange voice echoed from around them, “You’ve overstayed your welcome.”

“Wh-what was that?” Bluey said as she and Bastion looked around but saw no sign of where the voice came from.

“One of the guardians…It’s Azelf.” Jenga whispered and tried to make himself look smaller, “We’ve made too much of a ruckus.”

“Some guardian! A coward hiding in the woods, if you wanna fight just come out and do it! Or are you chicken?!” Bluey yelled into the forest only for a giggle to ring back.

“Why would I dirty my hands on a lower lifeform like you when I have a far more perfect specimen to do it for me? I’ll see to it that you destroy each other!”

A ripple of a white mystic fire rang through the forest like a tidal wave, it made Bluey shutter as the energy rippled over her, but the pained scream that came from bastion as he clung to his head and dropped to his knees, whipped Bluey’s attention from the voice to her partner.

“Bash, yo Bash are you okay?!” She called and ran over to him, “Whats wrong, bud are y-”

CLANG

Before Bluey could even finish her sentence she was sent clattering to the ground as she was smacked away with all the force Bastion could muster. She winced and pulled herself off the ground, “What the hell, Bastion?! What’s wrong with-”

But instead of Bluey’s red eyes meeting Bastion’s blue eyes, they were met with eyes that had a dull pink glow as this strange white and blue alien-esque creature slithered its long tendril like tails around his neck. For a moment Bastion seemed to react and looked at his hand in horror before looking back at Bluey and before he could say anything or respond in anyway the tails tightened and all expression except for sheer hatred was drained from Bastion’s face. He glared down at Bluey and for the first time in her life she was actually a bit frightened of him.

“What did you do to Bastion?!”

“I’m just borrowing him. I’ve watched how defensive you are of each other, so I’ll see to it you rip each other apart. If you wish to get into my Library you’ll have to get past me. But I’ll be honest the only way you will leave this forest is in a body bag.” Azelf sneered before with a flick of its tails the shine in Bastion’s eyes got brighter and he charged her.

Bluey had little time to react as she was slammed with a hard swipe of Bastion’s metal claw his size and strength having no issue sending the tiny Pawniard flying several feet and clattering with the loud scrap and groan of her metal against the rocks in front of the Library.

“Bluey?! Are you ok?” Percy shouted as he spotted her impact with the stone and her roll to a halt, “What did that?”

“Bastion” Bluey groaned as Bramble helped her up. Both brothers looked at her with shock

“Bastion did this? Why would Bastion ever hit you?”

“He’s…uhg…he-he’s been…bewitched by whatever took over…Drauzen! B-but I don’t know if anyone else has been bewitched.” She whined and shook the dirt and rubble from her dented metal, “As if this day couldn’t get worse.”

“Wait bewitched? Like what happened in Sandstone and Onyx city?”

“Yeah, exactly like that.”

What can we do to help?”

“I can handle Bastion; He might hit like a rockslide, but he won’t kill me. Just catch me if he throws me a third time.”

“Third time! He hit you twice and your still stand-” But before Percy could finish his sentence Bastion exploded from the tree line and made a B-line for them.

Bramble didn’t hesitate to launch ‘Pin Needles’ at Bastion which made the large Bisharp wince but he didn’t steer away from his target as he lowered himself and barreled full force with iron head into Bluey, as he mowed over her Azelf had grown board of just watching and placing itself in the middle of the group, cackled and let off a blast of horrible light from what must have been the use of ‘Signal Beam’.

Bramble and Percy winced from the sting of bright light, and Bluey barely managed to stand back up. Every part of her stung with a dull throbbing pain as she looked at Bastion who for a moment shook Azelf’s will off and he looked at Bluey with both confusion and seeing just how bruised and dented she was, horror as she charged at him, he didn’t even notice at first that her eyes were pink and not red.

The sharp pain of Bluey’s ‘Fury Swipes’ made Bastion grit his teeth as he tried to back away from her shaking his head in disbelief that she was attacking him. Why? Why was she attacking him? And why was she so injured?

And after she slashed at him several times she stopped and shook her head as if snapping out of a trance, “B-Bastion? Wait you snapped out of it thank the great mother!” She exclaimed before looking at his bleeding cuts, “Wait did…did I hit you? I-I’m sorry I’d never!”

“Uhg, that little one is so boring!” Azelf yawned, “She’s a durable little thing but does such little damage. The big one is far more fun.”

Bastion reached his hand out to gesture that he was fine but before he could respond again, he grabbed at his head and slashed at Bluey throwing her through a tree nearby.

“Bastion stop!” Percy shouted at him to get his attention off of Bluey, “What’s wrong with you?”

But Bastion didn’t respond and merely stood glaring at the other Bisharp and with the way he stood reminding the other how much bigger he truly was. With a flick of Azelf’s tail Bastion charged at Percy and the two Bisharp locked blades with a violent flash of light that must have been from the sparks of colliding metal.

“W-Woah! Easy Bastion, look I don’t wanna fight you. But you are really not giving me much of a choice man!” Percy grunted as he did his best to keep Bastion locked in place, damn he was heavy.

Azelf laughed, “You lot are so easy to move like pawns of a chess board! This is too eas- AH!” it yelped as Bramble filled its back with needles.

“That hurt you little brat!” Azelf shrieked as it let loose another Signal Beam that for a moment blinded the three ‘mon around it long enough for Bastion to break away from Percy, “Deal with that brat!”

Bastion lunged for Bramble but before his blades made contact with Bramble’s throat there was a flash of light followed by the loud shriek of metal on metal as Bastions blades were locked with another’s.

“Thats Enough!” Bluey shouted into his face, Making the Bisharp halt for a moment.

“I was hoping that last hit had killed you.”Azelf frowned before sneering, “Well second times the charm.”

Bluey buckled a bit under the new force of weight coming from Bastion pressing his blades full force into her own, running out of options given her already weakened state she groaned, “I’m sorry buddy please understand this is for your own good!”

With that she focused all the energy she could into what she was about to do, positioning herself just right, she slammed her leg will all the force she could muster between the Bisharps legs. The pain that radiated through Bastion made him give a high-pitched gasp of a whine while through the shared link with Azelf even the mythical nearly collapsed from the pain as the Bisharp collapsed at Bluey’s legs curled in a fetal position with his hands between his legs while Bramble and Percy both winced having witnessed it.

“Bastion would never turn his blades on his family or his friends! And I’ll die before I ever let a bastard like you make him take the life of anyone he cares about! And for your sheer audacity of forcing him to live through that you’re gonna be the one leaving this forest in a hearse!” Bluey screamed as she charged the Azelf who was still reeling from the pain it experienced through Bastion.

Before the Azelf could react to what was happening it felt the horrible burning sting of Bluey’s blades against its chest as she left a deep X shape gash. The pain from the super effective move was anguishing and as Azelf glared at Bluey, it shrieked again this time as Percy slammed it int he back with his own ‘Assurance’ and Bramble wasted no time peppering it with ‘Pin Needle’ after ‘Pin Needle’.

Seeing as it was vastly outnumbered as losing control over the situation and several other ‘mon it had taken control of Azelf hissed at the group and attempted to stand its ground, but little did it know it had done the most foolish thing possible. It had struck the metaphorical hornet’s nest and as it tried to gain a better vantage point it was snatched from the air by the rake of Bluey’s ‘Night Slash.’

As Azelf hit the ground it tried to let out another Signal Beam but had failed, why had it failed? Then it realized the anguish it was feeling it should have gone away already, but it handn’t, it wasn’t just from the link to the Bisharp. Azelf whirled and looked over at Bastion who was shakily standing up.

“YOU! You used Torment on me?!” Azelf screamed as it was slashed this time by Percy.

“Serves you right!” Bluey barked.

Azelf let off a blast of psychic energy but watched to its own horror as the energy reflected off Bluey’s metal hide.

“Those tricks won’t work on any of us.” Bluey growled as she moved closer to the Azelf with her focus steel set on ripping it apart with her own claws.

Azelf was bristling from the rage it felt and having focused too hard on this small group it had quickly lost all control over the situation as it couldn’t keep its influence spread far enough if it continued to focus solely on them. Its injuries were also severe enough it would be foolish to attempt to take on this group now that they’d figured out a way to break its hold. Finally, having concluded its best strategy for the situation it waited until the four charged it again and with a snarl followed by a flash of light vanished as Bluey’s claws sliced the ground where it once stood.

She reeled back with a growl seeing that it got away. Taking a moment to scan the area for it and seeing it was long gone she sighed, “C’mon we have to help the others.”

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Word Count: 2,610 Items used: -one move tm ticket (Bluey Learned X-SCIZZOR!) -one evolution ticket (Bluey evolved into Bisharp! Bluey learned Metal Claw!) Bluey's new move set: X-Scizzor, Metal Claw, Night Slash, Assurance

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Team Sworddance’s entry for Mission 5 part 1: Mountain climbing

Bluey and Bastion make their way up the Dragonspire alongside many other guild teams. But there is more than just snow and bitter cold waiting for them in this sea of white.

story below the read more (Word Count 2,433)

Characters cameoed: 

Group NPC’S: Percy & Bramble

Members from other teams: Chess, Hana, and Zion

Daunting.

That's what Bastion thought as they made their way through the thick snow-laden pass. The guilds had been traveling for days up the sides of the steep peaks of Dragonspire Mountain. The deafening sound of snow and ice crunching beneath not only his own weight, but the many other creatures drudging their way up the mountain mixed with whistles of wind winding through the chasms, peaks, and trees, and the ever-growing irritation of ice forming in the crevices where his blades were sheathed, followed by the sickening crunching of said ice each time he flexed his blades in and out to break the ice away. The chill air nipped at his thick hide and stung/ his sinuses with each breath of air he took and the ever-confusing soup that was the mingling scents of dozens of different species and pokemon traveling together. It was all so overwhelming. Every mile they claimed of this fridged pass drove him to be further on edge.

While Bastion did not feel cold thanks to his towering size and bulk mixed with his sturdy steel typing, he could tell the same was not said for many of the others who traveled with them. He had noticed several grass types beginning to fall behind or start to lose much of the plant life that grew on their bodies. His eyes moved from Bluey trudging easily through the snow in front of him, to officer Percy who seemed to take several strides ahead before he’d stop and wait for his brother to close the gap between them. Bastion sighed letting out a mass of fog from his breath as his eyes fixed on officer Bramble and part of him felt nothing but sheer pity for the Cacturne. This trek must have been a living hell for this desert native. And his own partner Bluey, despite her small size seemed to be moving faster than him through the thick snow.

But as much as Bastion wanted to press forward and pick up their pace to get them through the pass faster, Bluey was insistent on not letting Bramble fall too far behind. While he could understand her worry for the Cacturne and not wanting to leave him or his brother who she fancied behind, there was part of Bastion who was not fond of how much longer it was making this journey. Why the guilds insisted on allowing Grass and Bug types to make this journey baffled him. It’s almost as if they willingly sent some of these ‘mon to their deaths.

He was pulled from his own thoughts when he heard Bluey shout, “The weather is getting worse maybe we should make camp and get under some shelter!”

-Drauzen said we all had to get through the pass as quickly as possible- Bastion signed as he shook snow and ice off of his body with ease. -We do not require any shelter. I want to make it to the ridge before nightfall-

“Miss Bluey brings up a good idea tho! The weather is really starting to do a number on Bramble.” Percy said whilst he halted so his younger brother could catch up, before frowning “His legs are starting to turn a weird color.”

“Yeah…I don’t like how much ice is stuck on his hat either.” Bluey said with a shake of her head, “Are you doing ok Bramble? Do you wanna stop now and get warmed up a bit before we keep going? No one is gonna mind if you need to get warmed up.”

Bramble gave a nod and motioned with his hands that he was ok to push forward a little bit longer, but it was clear to the rest of the group that he was absolutely miserable in this weather.

“You sure you’ll be ok? Your legs look as purple as Wiki Berries.” Percy frowned.

“I’m making the executive decision we find a proper place to bunker down. Because I really don't like how that looks.” Bluey said as she began digging the snow away from the trunk of a tree, “Here we can hunker down here in the root system. Bastion put those new claws of yours to work and give me a hand to hallow this out! You too Percy!” She chuffed pointing at the dent she had made in the trunk of a large dead tree. Bastion let a deep throaty groan rumble in his chest before he stepped forward and began to carve through the frozen soil as Bluey and Percy carefully sliced the bark from the trunk tree in large wide sheets to form a barrier to cover the den Bastion had started to hollow out. It took roughly an hour to make it large enough to fit more than one of them, during that time Bluey had managed to make a fire by striking her blades against rocks to light it, and during that time she tossed rocks into the base of the fire before pulling them out once warm enough and had filled the entire bottom of the den with hot rocks which she covered with the branches and leaves of the neighboring pine trees so that it was warm in the den but the rocks wouldn’t Burn either of them, especially Bramble’s legs.

“Where did you learn to do this Miss Bluey?” Percy asked from the spot he had settled down on, next to his brother, who seemed far more comfortable now with his frigid legs resting on the warm, soft, pine nettles. The purple color slowly started to fade.

“Oh, my grandfather. My pappy Verde used to travel a lot when he was in a guild, and he was the only one on his team who did poorly in cold climates. This was one of the many tricks he taught me that helped him out when he had to deal with these kinds of places. He was a Cacturne too, funny enough!” She said with a smile as she sealed the entrance with the bark sheets, leaves, snow, and branches.

“So long as we don’t pop this open until we are ready to leave the temperature should stay comfortably warm for several hours, especially with four of us in here. Hopefully, it doesn't take too long for Bramble to warm up. If anything, it gives the teams further down the mountain a chance to catch up and moving in a bigger group may be best.” She sighed sitting next to Bastion, “Still can’t believe we lost track of Drauzen. Man, that Gallade is quick! But I’m sure we will catch him at the base camp we’re all supposed to gather at on the other side of the ridge.”

“Yeah, I think it's the last ridge before the final stretch to where that library is supposed to be,” Percy said as he picked some ice off his arm, “I don’t like the cold either.”

“Perfect! Well since we’ll be here for a bit while Bramble recuperates, why don’t we have something to eat while we wait? Luckily Bash and I stocked up with plenty of rations for this climb so we should have plenty to share if you two are hungry! I can cut it up small enough for Bramble to be able to have some too, it may help warm you up too! It's a bit spicy, 'cause we used a curry recipe from our homelands to season the meat, but it's perfect to warm someone up when it's this cold!” She chirped.

The mention of food easily peaked the attention of the other two, especially Percy. Bastion couldn’t help but wonder if that Bisharp was a bottomless pit. Regardless he began to tune out their conversations and reclined back against the wall of the den. If they were going to be here for a while, he was going to get a nap in, once comfortable he signed for Bluey to wake him after the storm had passed. However, as he dosed off, he felt an off sensation that something wasn’t quite right, but he brushed it off as him still being overwhelmed from the assault on his senses from earlier. Though it had done little to shake the weird smell of death he thought he picked up in the wind.

Soon, much sooner than he would have liked, Bastion was stirred from his slumber by Bluey’s firm shaking of his shoulder. He flashed her a tired grumpy glare as she shoved him some more, “C’Mon up you get lazy bones! Brambles got most of his color back and the storms calmed down enough outside that we can keep moving!” She smiled as she removed the barricade that plugged the entrance.

Bastion groaned as he arched his back in a large lazy stretch before sitting up and shuffling out from the den after the others, once able to fully stand he gave another big stretch before following the others. While the snowfall had slowed, he noticed just how much actually fell during his nap. With the soft powder now coming up to his ankle, it must have snowed well over a foot over those few hours. But as his eyes scanned the area the evidence of more teams having recently passed by was clear from a mix of footsteps and mini trenches made in the snow. As the group walked along for another 3 hours, they finally caught up to the group that had passed them as those on the tail end came into sight. “Oh look there are the rest of the teams! We must be getting close now since so many teams are coming through this area. I can’t wait to get off this mountain, the light reflecting off the snow has been bugging my eyes.” Bluey said while rubbing at her face.

“What about you guy’s happy to get off this mou-” Bluey suddenly stopped as she turned and looked over at Bastion, “hey Bash, you ok?”

But Bastion didn’t respond. Mostly because he didn’t even register Bluey had spoken to him. His eyes were fixated on something east of them. He swore he heard something. It was quiet and barely audible over the sound of pokemon walking past him. But he knew he heard something…or someone, crying. And without a moment's notice, a cloud of white was kicked up as Bastion charged toward the direction he was certain he heard the noise. He didn’t even pay mind to Bluey shouting after him as he vanished into the thicket of the trees, his mind hyper-fixated on what he was sure was a child’s cry. And from the smell of iron, he began to pick up on as he continued forward, he was certain he was heading in the correct direction. He stopped for only a moment to silence the sound of his own heavy footsteps and waited, his eyes scanning the tree lines and the snowbanks around him as he waited, for a smell, the sight of movement, or a sound.

And after several minutes of silence’ it was the sound of snow behind him that caught his attention, turning to look he spotted Bluey who angrily threw a clump of snow at him, “Wha’cha run off for you dingus!?” she barked.

And there it was as if reinvigorated by the sound of someone's voice both Bastion and Bluey heard it. The faintest cry of what had to be a hatchling came from the direction of a heavy smell of iron just beyond the rocks in front of them.

“Hold up is that a baby crying? Wait Bastion hold up!” She said as she tried to grab his leg, missing as he climbed over the boulders with ease. “Show off...” She grumbled.

However, what Bastion saw on the other side of the rocks was a scene far different than what they had seen on the rest of the mountain. Instead of an endless sea of white with grey rocks and green pines, there was a lake of red and a pungent smell of death. Looking around Bastion managed to count 13 Sneasels and  Weaviles strewn around this clearing. From the looks of the area whatever happened here happened within the last few hours, though he couldn’t be sure of an exact time, but long enough that the culprit was long gone, and not even their scent remained.

“By the great mothers, what happened here?” Bluey gasped as she managed to clamor over the rock and landing with a thud on the other side.

-Feral.- Bastioned signed with a deep growl as he began the circle the area, smelling every crack and crevice he could spot.

“It didn’t eat any of them…A turned ‘mon you thin-” and she was cut off by a throaty hiss as Bastion angrily signed for her to be quiet. “Don’t you fuckin’ hiss at me.” -Shut your yap! I’m trying to listen!- He then returned to circling the clearing before a tiny whimper finally caught his attention.

It came from what looked like a small burrow under some twisted roots and rock. Getting down onto all fours Bastion peered into the hole and his cerulean eyes locked with a pair of mint eyes staring right back. Tucked as far back as its tiny body could hide was what had to be the smallest Sneasel cub he’d ever seen. She couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old she was so frighteningly tiny.

“What is it? What did you find?” Bluey asked squeezing her head into the hole right next to his, “Oh my god…she’s so little.”

Bastion shoved Bluey out of his way as he reached into the hole and ever so gently scooped the small shivering purple ball of fuzz. She was practically frozen by how cold she felt against his metal. How could she have survived so long in this weather, he had no idea, but he wasted no time removing his bandana and cocooning her with it before pulling her close to his chest to warm her up against his body while he used his massive hands to shield her from the cold. He turned to look down at Bluey before scooping her up with his other arm and making a b-line for the direction of the ridge campsite. Storming past Percy and Bramble and refusing to slow down until Bluey practically screeched for him to take it easy. However, once he spotted the tents and fires of the base camp, he sprinted as fast as he could toward Cherri’s tent. The whimpering infant having finally warmed up enough that the campsite filled with her wailing.

To be continued in part 2…Monsters of Memory Lane.