< The Path We Create >
As the ice descended, Felicia tried to move, but her exhausted body wasn't even willing to move an inch. She had already pushed her body beyond its limit, with the constant running, and thinking her brain did, the human body has a limit, no… all living beings have a limit, and she just hit her limit first.
Even at this moment her brain still running in full speed, thinking of a way to block or even dodge the attack, even if it would mean sacrificing her limp, but nothing, her brain come out with nothing, Felicia could only watch with tired eyes as the ice about to make contact with her skin, she could only resign and accept her death that is coming closer…
Only for it not to happen as the ice suddenly stops.
Felicia could only watch in shock, the ice was about to make contact with her, just a few centimeters away, but somehow was stopped…
When she looked up, she saw a green vine binding tightly around both the spear and the Frosslass.
"Nyann!" The little Sprigatito roars out fiercely, and the vine moves accordingly, thickening up even more as they grow a bit larger.
Felicia didn't waste any moment; she pushed her limit and rolled out of the icicle spear from the Frosslass, but before she was even allowed to relax, cold air started emanating from the now very angry Frosslass.
The vine froze and broke instantly, along with the icicle spear. Felicia managed to dodge out of the explosion just barely.
Suddenly, there was a warm, wet, and coarse feeling on her cheek when she looked toward her right. She could see that the little villainess was licking her cheek with a dissatisfied expression.
"Hehe…sorry, it seems you helped me this time." Felicia tries to pet the little furball in front of her, only for her hand to get swatted away like a fly in an instant by Sprigatito's own little paw, then she even uses her other paw to hit Felicia repeatedly on the head while hissing, displaying her full displeasure.
"Ow! Ow-! S-sorry! Why though?! Ah…Are you… worried for me?" She didn't know why, but Felicia felt as if she suddenly understood Sprigatito's emotion, why she felt displeased, and why she was expressing it this way.
"Heh, I didn't think we really bonded that much though…but seeing you worry for me, I guess we did bond a lot more than I thought, huh?" The Sprigatito stopped hitting her repeatedly and just huffed and turned her head away, before refocusing in front of them.
"Ah…right, you're still here, too." The angry Frosslass now uses one of its arms to hide its lower face as it tilted its head upward with arrogance.
The attack from Sprigatito did not even leave a scratch on her; well, it was as expected. There is no way a weak attack like that could hold up against whatever juice the Frosslass was on right now.
Felicia stood up, and the little Sprigatito hissed forward. Right now, Felicia feels tired, so tired that she could in fact fall asleep right now and wouldn't wake up for at least eight hours.
She could feel there was a tiny scratch all over her, probably from the explosion just now. Thankfully, there is no deep wound on her at all.
"Nyan!" Suddenly, Sprigatito rushed forward, and the Frosslass responded by hurling ten ice spears at her, all faster than Felicia had seen it use before.
The little sprigatito dodges all of them with ease, then suddenly, she jumps toward the Frosslass's face, who immediately forms a shield of ice, but the moment the shield is formed, Sprigatito's fang is covered in darkness, and she immediately bites toward the ice shield, destroying it instantly.
The Frosslass only stared in shock, and before it could even make any move, Sprigatito opened her mouth and roared as thousands of leaves rushed toward the unprepared Frosslass, throwing it back a few meters.
"Amazing…" She truly didn't mistake it at the time. The little sprigatito was manipulating her own type of energy, but…she seemed so clumsy with it too…
The little Sprigatito jumps back from her attack and then proceeds to run toward Felicia and bite her skirt, trying to drag her away.
"Ah, right! Running away!" Immediately, Felicia started running with the Sprigatito on the front, who occasionally looked back. The attack, while effective, was weak, probably not even enough to scratch Frosslass, the difference in firepower too great to be made up by a few tricks.
They had been running for almost ten minutes by this point, and Felicia knew that the Frosslass was still stalking her; she just didn't know how.
Just as her leg was starting to cramp up, Sprigatito jumped behind her, and suddenly,an ice ball that Felicia didn't even notice hit Sprigatito on her stomach.
"Sprigatito!" Felicia stopped running and quickly caught the little Pokémon in her arms, but the impact from catching Sprigatito also caused her to fall on her bottom. But she couldn't care about it right now as she could see the ice slowly spreading from her stomach, so without even thinking, Felicia took off her outer coat and wrapped them around Sprigatito, trying to keep her warm.
Before she noticed, the Frosslass was already in front of her…
How? How did she stalk them like this? Felicia will admit, while she loves Pokémon very much and enjoys working as a Photographer, she did not know much about them outside of the few she truly met; she only has surface knowledge.
The fact that she even knew Frosslass was only by pure luck, as she was surfing the net the other day, and there was a match from another region that came up for her to watch.
But how or why or anything didn't matter. What matters is how to escape from this thing.
But…Felicia was truly out of ideas. There was nothing she could use; she had exhausted all of her supplies already, and she didn't have a Poké Ball she could throw to distract the Pokémon.
Her phone was useless, since she had already called for help, and even after this long, there was still no help coming, so Felicia didn't even think that help would truly come.
Ah…It…frustrasting…
She already died once, she doesn't know how she died, but the fact that she has been reborn was already a blessing, and she…even found something she wants to do too…
"Sorry…Little Sprigatito, looks like our road ends here." Felicia can't feel her legs anymore. When she looks down, she can see ice slowly forming and covering up her feet, slowly making its way up her calf. She can't run anymore…
'...fighting together, feeling frustrated together…'
Ah…suddenly, words from the past slowly appear in her mind… Felicia looked down toward the little Sprigatito, the unconscious Pokémon was now half covered in ice, and even her hand that used to keep it warm was entirely encased in ice now.
'This is probably the first time we fight together, huh…' Felicia thought in her mind, instead of the cold, she feels warm. 'You're frustrated too, right? I can see it from your expression, even when you're unconscious…'
"Nee… Sprigatito…Let's experience frustration more together, alright?" At her word, the little Sprigatito's eye opened a little, the purple eye stared back at her, the eye was…unwavering determination.
In that moment, Felicia's eyes glowed fiercer as she pushed her arm that was encased in ice forward; the cracking sound rang throughout the forest.
Her fist, which should have been completely frozen, broke through the ice. Her hand, glowing with warm blue light, Felicia didn't know what it was, but the ice slowly melted away from both Felicia and Sprigatito.
The Frosslass stare at her in shock, but then compose themselves as hundreds of ice chunks materialize from the air.
Sprigatito got up, and roared, and a thousand blades of leaves immediately rushed toward the Frosslass, who responded by creating an ice shield, then hurled those chunks of ice toward them.
The blue light glowing from her hand can't even melt ice from her body fast enough, much less an ice the size of a basketball flying at her. Sprigatito tries to defend them using the leaves she conjures, but it's not enough.
Quickly, Felicia tucked Sprigatito into her and, turning her back, bracing for impact. Only for it to never come.
Sprigatito wriggles hard in her grasp to try and pry open her arm, but due to its weakened body, it can't even do that.
When Felicia turned back, she could see the familiar shining feathers, ones that took her to the skies many times before.
"Ponewt!"