it's damp, though she can't tell from what exactly. she traces the surface of the stone walls and feels nothing; absolutely dry. she reaches down to the ground to do the same thing and still, nothing. her points her flashlight around, keen on finding the source of what's making the cave so damp and humid.

but then she smells it. it's subtle yet distinct at the same time, overpowering as it takes over her senses. it doesn't reek like normal stench does; this one's more particular. more peculiar. she calls out her doublade preemptively, realizing that a battle's ahead of them.

one step around the corner and she sees it. a swampert on all fours, slumped on the ground eating what seemed to be berries, judging by the grotesque color that stains its mouth; she hopes it's berries. it doesn't turn to look to look at her, not even when the sound of her footsteps bounces off the narrow walls. she has a theory, so she tests it.

"hey!"

her voice booms through the small confines of the cave, alerting even her doublade who's quickly calmed by the raising of her hand. if she's correct in her assumptions, the swampert's deaf. she pulls a loose piece of rock out of the wall and tosses it at the water-type. it hits it dead in the head and yet, it doesn't react.

maybe it's not dead. maybe it just doesn't care.

"fine. i'll make you care."

she swings her hand down in one motion, signaling for ukko to start his attack. the doublade SLASHes, swinging one side of his blade down only to be parried by an invisible force field. the swampert's PROTECTed by its barrier, but it soon dissipates when suddenly, it snaps its head at ukko and springs forward. it grabs ukko and tosses him into the wall, causing ROCKs to SLIDE down, toppling him down onto the ground.

the ground starts to shake, increasing in magnitude with every passing second. ava panics because she's reminded of troubling times. "ukko!" she calls out in response. coming to his trainer's aid, ukko rises off the ground and rams his IRON HEAD into swampert, interrupting it from channeling a powerful EARTHQUAKE.

swampert flinches from the impact, but shakes it off only to slam both his fists down into the ground, causing a ROCK SLIDE to happen. ukko sways left, right, doing his best to avoid the rocks but eventually one catches him. it slams into him and takes him to the ground, pinning him.

she clenches her jaw. this swampert's more powerful than she expected it to be. before she has time to respond, it jumps straight at her, pulling back its HAMMER ARM before swinging it down into the ground. she manages to react in time, jumping out of the way only to have the impact carry her further down into the cave. she smacks into the ground, rolling to a stop but ultimately, she's fine.

briefly contemplating calling out lugh, she decides against it. this is ukko's battle to win. she deems it best to watch from a distance; each SACRED SWORD is parried by a PROTECT. swampert puts up a hell of a battle; one she hasn't seen in a while. ukko splits into two only to be grabbed by both ends; its HAMMER ARMs are too strong to fight against as it smacks ukko into the wall.

throughout all of this, swampert's face remains dead.

the battle looks lost for ukko as swampert towers over him, HAMMER ARMs smashing down onto his entire being, pummeling him against the ground. he can't move. then, a flash of red, a shade similar to the one that stains swampert's mouth, engulfs its entirety and sucks it into a small sphere.

it had put up a commendable battle, but the battle was hers to win. it always was.

notes doublade lv 55