[Silver]

Keo stood up and shook his head. His fluffy curls all fell back into place quickly. It was a tough hit, but he was tougher. As he was coming up with his next move, the Glalie was coming at him full force again. Looks like he made him real angry with that attack earlier. Now he was going in for a crunch, but again Keo managed to get out of the way just in time.

"Haa!" Quark shouted with all his might, using his entire body to pull off another wing attack. His stiff wings bounced off Glalie again, but he could tell that he was making a difference.

[Silver]

"Just a little more," Amie said to herself in a sing songy tone. She didn't know what else to do other than throw out another swift attack, which she did. The star shaped rays peppered the Glalie who seemed like he was finally wearing down.

Keo realized that this was the perfect opening for an attack, so he conjured up a hex and sent it hurtling at the Glalie. That final blast was enough to make the Glalie think twice about trying to attack them again. He didn't faint, but he did turn away and zipped out of the cave as quickly as he could manage in his wounded state.

[Silver]

"That's really incredible!" Amie said, bouncing toward Keo to check up on him. "You're like, really fast and your attacks were so effective!"

"Yea," Keo said, looking at the ground. He didn't really know how to take a compliment, so he just pretended like it wasn't that big of a deal.

"And Quark, you did awesome! I've never seen you put all of your weight into a wing attack like that before!"

"I was worried about you," Quark admitted. He floated toward the ground and flopped down onto the cold ground. That was really stressful and he needed a moment to recover.

[Silver]

"I can't believe he could barely hit you!" Amie said to Keo. She was really impressed by his speed in battle. She knew there was a reason she insisted on inviting him!

"It's because of the snow," Keo said as though that were obvious. "Vulpix like myself are almost invisible in the snow, even to other ice types like Glalie."

"That's right," Quark said. He was practically talking into his own wing as he was sprawled out across the ground resting. "I'm sure I've learned that somewhere."

"Just one more reason you guys obviously need me around for this one," Keo said with a smug snort.

[Silver]

"We do need you, that's why we invited you!" Amie said cheerfully. She wasn't sure if he was fishing for compliments or not, but she was happy to give him one anyway. It didn't bother her at all to compliment him, especially since he earned it.

"Okay Quark, are you feeling alright? Shall we get going?" Amie said, nudging him with one of her ribbons. She didn't bother to ask if Keo was alright, even though he took the hardest hit. She was pretty sure that he wouldn't answer truthfully no matter what she did.

[Wild Pet Found]

[Silver]

"I'm.... okay," Quark said as he picked his head up and reluctantly fluttered back into the air.

"That's great!" Amie cheered. She helped him up with two of her ribbons, even if he didn't really need it. She felt like it was the least she could do for him. This was not a mission he was well suited for at all, but he was willing to tough it out anyway. She had a lot of respect for that!

"Well, here we go. We still need to find the item," Amie said. She was still smiling like she thought everything was going to be fine.

[Silver]

"You only sound so perky because you didn't tank a headbutt," Keo muttered under his breath. Either Amie didn't hear him or pretended she didn't, but Quark paused briefly just enough to let him know that he heard it. Quark had exceptional hearing, of course, but he wasn't confrontational enough to say anything.

"I think if we keep climbing we will find it for sure," Amie said.

"How high do you think we are?" Quark asked with a quiver in his voice. Normally he didn't mind heights, what with the flying and all, but he realized he had no idea how high they had climbed.

[Silver]

If they were going to be stranded, he would rather it not be at the tippy top of a very high mountain, but it was starting to look like that was a possibility. He shivered with the thought, or maybe the cold.

"Calm down," Keo said. He rolled his eyes, just because he knew Quark couldn't see it. "The Fe'gan Mountains are the highest around. What did you think you were getting in to up here?"

Quark opened his mouth like he was going to answer, but Amie cut him off. "Look, we know what we signed up for, and you do, too. Let's not turn this into an argument. We're a team, remember?"

[Silver]

"Yea, a team," Quark muttered. He normally wasn't snarky, but he was starting to get sick of Keo's attitude. Did they really need him as much as Amie said they did? They could have taken that fight with just the two of them. Maybe a little more tough, but they could have done it. If only his Confuse Ray had landed, it wouldn't have been a problem at all!

"You, too," Amie said more softly. What had gotten into Quark today? He was usually so mild mannered. She was starting to really worry about him. She didn't want to call off the mission but she didn't want him to be upset or hurt, either.

[Silver]

"Right," Quark said, sounding a little ashamed. She was right, he wasn't usually like this. The bitter cold and length of the mission was really starting to bother him, and while he was used to Amie's overly peppy attitude, he was starting to get really annoying with Keo being a downer.

Whether or not he liked to admit it, Keo did sort of like this adventuring thing. He really did care about others and trying to help them, but he was starting to wonder if this one was worth it. Amie seemed so convinced that they were close, but he wasn't seeing it.

[Silver]

"Let's head out. The longer we stay here, the more reluctant we'll be to get started again." Keo said. He was trying to do that peppy thing that Amie was so good at, but it came off all wrong. He sounded like he was trying to order them around instead of help them like he wanted.

"Absolutely," Quark agreed. "We need to make it out of here, for sure. I don't want to find out the hard way that Glalie's coming back with friends."

"That's the spirit!" Amie cheered. She bounced out into the snow and instantly shivered when her paws touched the wet ground. Snow was so cold! How did she forget?

[Silver]

"I think I can see something over that ice patch," Keo said, squinting into the falling snow.

"I can't see anything up here," Quark whined. The softness of the snow and the thickness of it in the air stopped his echolocation from working at peak capacity. He hated not being able to see, but he knew he could follow the sound of Amie when it came down to it. She was never quiet.

"I can see it too! Let's go," Amie said. She skipped off toward the ice and when her paws hid it, she started to skid out. Her feet slid out from underneath her and she hit the ground on her tummy and slid all the way out to the middle of the patch.

[Silver]

"Waaah.... wheee!" Amie changed her pitch half way through the slide, suddenly deciding it was more fun that terrifying.

"Quiet," Keo hissed, not loudly enough for her to hear him. He was sure she was going to attract another fight screaming like that.

"Amie are you okay?" Quark said, flapping furiously in the direction of her cheerful screams. That didn't sound like the tortured scream of someone getting attacked, but he was worried about how far away she was getting that fast.

"Yea I'm alright, just a little clumsy," she said. It wasn't anything new of course, so she wasn't really worried about it. She was always tripping and falling over on stuff.

[Silver]

Amie tilted her head at one of the little chunks of ice sitting in front of her. It was wiggling! For that matter, that one was wiggling, too! She jumped back, almost slipping and falling flat on her face again. "Look you guys, the ice is... moving!"

Before they had the chance to catch up with her, a Bergmite jumped out of the snow. It didn't look happy about being bumped in to, but it didn't attack just yet. Then another one popped up and shook off the loose snow, and another... Soon enough, they were surrounded by a whole pack of them!

[Silver]

"Oh... Bergmite?" Keo said. "Hey you... guys, look, we don't mean you any harm, okay? My friend's just a little clumsy."

"Wait what's going on?" Quark asked. He could sense the shapes moving around but they were really hard to define with the snow shaking everywhere.

"I think I woke up a bunch of Bergmite!" Amie shouted. They all turned to look at her and their surprised faced turned into glares. "Oops," she mumbled. That was probably not the most clever thing she had ever done. Now all she could do was hope that they were in a running away mood instead of an attacking one.

[Wild Pet Found]