[15] Totodile vs Meursault (ref: pathos)

Upon release, Ganymede and Schwyz both take slight bows at each other, neither one taking their eyes off the other. They can each see the familiarities in the their foe, and it fuels a fire inside them, a desire to prove themselves the better - but they must remain mensches, of course. Courtesy above all. And so to start things off right, Ganymede makes a polite comment about Schwyz’s choice of hat, and Schwyz does likewise; neither one actually cares for the other’s hat, but small talk never had to be honest, did it?

Now that that was over, Schwyz wastes no time, quite literally. The little muffin swipes her paws through the air - wax on, wax off - and a reflective banner shimmers before her, just in time to take Ganymede’s screaming. For scream he does, a horrible, mental scream, as if his actual thoughts were alight with noise, and Schwyz has to wonder how her light screen manages to protect her thoughts … though she’s certainly greatful it does. She can’t imagine taking that noise without it.

Her paws rest gently on her temples, still aching from the psychic assault, and she rubs them slowly. Her mind grows calm, washing away the pain, the worry, her paws slow massage taking her to a gentler place. She feels herself growing stronger, hopefully ready to take the next assault head on - and so she does. Ganymede’s screaming resumes, and Schwyz’s paws press now into her skull, the pain driving away her calm and any other thoughts she might have. She can only wait for it to stop, and it does, as quickly as it started. There’s no external sign the attack ever happened at all, except for the expression on Schwyz’s face… that of sheer pain.

Oh, her face is utterly pathetic. Her paws move now to her mouth, hiding how much it’s shaking, her eyes watering, her nose twitching and even slobbering a bit, and it’s entirely too much for poor Ganymede to take. It’s a battle, sure, but no one could want to hurt something so miserable looking… Schywz hadn’t even hurt him all round, just taken hit after hit, and at this point Ganymede really felt the bully. Of course, he resumed his screaming, but it was noticeably weaker; Schwyz still grimaced in pain, but she had the relief of knowing her round of tactics had paid off…​

Schwyz didn’t feel particularly fond of Ganymede at the moment, honestly, but she supposed love wasn’t always necessary for a good kiss. She waddled over towards the ralts, puckered up her lips, and much to Ganymede’s dismay, planted a big, heavy wet one right on his mouth. Ganymede was too shocked to react, and he felt himself being drained, a wisp of energy he’d rather not think about flowing through his mouth to Schwyz’s as she backed away, looking satisfied. Even worse, he had to do it back now! He didn’t want her thinking he liked that! He closed his eyes and bounced up, smacking his lips lightly against hers, and before she could blink a bit of life was forced out and back to him. It was so little that she didn’t mind, really, blushing a little; what a cutie…

At this point Ganymede was entirely expecting the reciprocation when Schwyz ducked in and smacked another kiss on his heavily blushing face. He tried to push her off but it was no use, she was like a plunger on him, sucking all the joy out of his life through his tiny mouth before he could tell her to stop. She drew back, looking a bit drunk, swaying a bit … and finally he had his chance. No more kissing. A heavy psychic wave rose from Ganymede, making him seem suddenly larger, more threatening, and he yelled at poor Schwyz - how dare she kiss him like that! Doesn’t she see he’s a minor, and she didn’t even ask him, no, she just attacked him - nevermind that he kissed her too, shut up, he doesn’t care about that! NO MORE KISSING! Schwyz looks completely ashamed, and nods quickly at his words, eager to get the yelling over with. Yes, yes… she’ll never kiss again…

She stares blanky at her little paws for a moment, wondering what she should do now. She feels so heavily ashamed of herself that she can’t think quite clearly, but she remembers, maybe, another command… oh, yes. If Ganymede doesn’t like kissing, let’s see how he likes the other option. A slow grin spreads across Schwyz’s little face.

She bends down and slams into Ganymede, her little fist punching him, her tiny feet kicking, doing everything in her power to show how rough she can be. Ganymede yelps and runs away screaming - oh, he’d give anything for those kisses now. He runs a full circle, tucking his head in, and smashes it right into her as she tries to hit him again. Both pokemon fall backwards, a bit stunned from the blow, and get slowly back to their feet.​

Without waiting, Schwyz throws up her little paws, bringing up a protective shield before her. Ganymede frowns, but doesn’t waste any time; he turns his head skyward and begins a short prayer. In no time at all, thick clouds appear, coating the sky entirely and blotting out the sun; a crash of thunder announces the first shard of hail. Soon there’s no escaping them, as sheets of ice fall to the ground, and Schwyz’s shield does nothing to protect her.

She lets the barrier go, and stares daggers at the sky. This will [/i]not[/i] do. The clouds are still thick, having only drained a tiny bit of their weight, when they part, revealing the sun shining harshly behind them. They seem to flee from its warmth, leaving only the ice lying still on the ground as evidence they ever existed. Ganymede whines, picking up leftover ice shards and rubbing them between his hands mournfully. He’ll miss those clouds…

But there’s no use now. He turns his grimace towards Schwyz, no longer feeling much pity for her, and charge into her mind with all his rage. She feels a piercing, aching pain spread through her skull, as if she were being crushed, and she falls to her knees, unable to stay upright. It hurts too much - and suddenly it’s gone, only the dull hammering at her temples left to remind her it was ever there.

She squints her eyes and slowly gets back up. Time to inflict some damage of her own. She spreads her arms, and a brilliant light forms between them, rippling towards Ganymede like a tidal wave. It hits the ralts and nearly knocks him over, but he braces himself as the light washes over him. He wastes no time, quickly diving back into Schwyz’s mind, but he can’t find that spot he’d hit before. It clearly hurts, from the grimace on the slurpuff’s face, but she’s relieved at the slackened pain; another hit like last time would be too much…​

Schwyz frowns, head still throbbing, but prepared to hit back. Her little paws spread in front of her and a bright shimmer spreads between them, growing brighter until Ganymede can’t look anymore for the pain, like looking straight into the sun. The brightness spreads from Schwyz’s paws in a spreading wave, searing outwards, slicing through Ganymede; though the ralt’s eyes are closed, it burns through his eyelids, through his skin, light hot enough it could be fire - but it’s suddenly gone, leaving only the pain in his eyes, the tingling in his nerves. Ganymede blinks and rubs his eyes; it’s several moments before sight comes back to him, blurry at first, and still burning.

But he doesn’t need his eyes, not for this. He closes them again and lets them rest, going instead to a place in his mind. He searches through it, a mental maze, searching outwards through the psychic fields spread throughout the arena and yes - he finds Schwyz, and he screams. It’s not a verbal screaming; no one else, besides the two of them, can hear it. No, he’s screaming straight into her mind, so no matter how hard she presses on her ears, how loud she screams to try and block out the din, she can’t shut it out. Everything in her head is noise, overwhelming skull-shattering noise, and just as quickly it’s quiet again. Ganymede flees her mind for his, but her mind still echoes, wordless screams repeating over and over again until she thinks she’ll go mad.

Both pokemon’s eyes are closed now, Schwyz rubbing at her temples again, Ganymede still resting his eyes. Slowly Schwyz opens her, spotting the devil ralts across from her - he hadn’t moved. Good, easier to hit him and smash him and kill him and then spit on him after he’s dead and… Her head his still echoing when her paws draw forth more light, ushering it forth towards the resting ralts; his eyes weren’t ready for the repeated assault, and he lets out a little yelp, stumbling back as if he could dodge the light. But it’s everywhere, spreading like the actual sun, then thinning out to a tiny point and disappearing; but like the noise in Schwyz’s head, it lives on in Ganymede’s eyes, a searing light that burns whether he opens them or not. He can see just fine, but it burns, and all he wants to do is stick his head in warm water and rest.

But he can’t, not yet. Instead he dives back into Schwyz’s mind, finding it easily, and picks up the echo with another burstful of screams. Schwyz first doesn’t realize the sound is back - the echo is just louder, isn’t it? - but then the crushing pain overwhelms. Even as Ganymede retreats again, her mind seems lost, only pain and noise…

Slowly, trembling, she spreads her paws again, unleashing more light. Ganymede shows no visible pain, but he feels it, his eyes watering, his skin burning; he’s not doing much better than the slurpuff. Still, he’s got some fight in him, and he finds her mind again, giving her one more scream. This one’s enough to send her to her knees, clutching at her head, and she stays there, shaking warily in pain.​