Victory with a Catch

"Get me out of the ice and we'll take her on at the same time!" You announce to Jackal.

The Typhlosion gives you a hesitant look, wondering if he had enough time, before concocting a way to buy that time. Crackling heat in his throat, he releases a stream of pure pitch black smoke from his maw out towards the tall Aurorus woman, blinding her view in a thick cloud as he immediately then dashes to where you were. The tall infected woman is left to cough and swing her arms to dissipate the fumes before her while Jackal arrives to stream out some heat against your ice prison.

You charge your own aura at your limbs, melting at the ice from both the inside and the outside to double your efforts for freedom. Eventually, you manage to burst your arm from the slushie-like ice and help to punch the rest down off from your legs, escaping the trap entirely, if not dripping a bit wet now. "Thanks..." You huff in relief as Jackal smirks some, enjoying the brief victory that you needed his help after all.

A loud roar sounds out as the Aurorus finishes swinging the smoke away from her, charging up another beam of ice in her jaws. Prepared for it this time, both you and Jackal dive separately away from one another as a line of frost freezes the ground you both stood on in an awkward arc, as large jettisons of ice form up in its place. Your hands were still ignited in your aura, allowing you to take a firm position to compress your palms close together to generate that aura together in place, swirling it into a sphere. Jackal on the other hand was far more aggressive and upfront, already charging towards the Aurorus woman again with embers trickling out of his mouth.

The fire emblazes all around him as he preps a Flame Charge, barreling at the tall dinosaur before smashing himself against her fat stomach in a rupture of sizzling heat. The ice titan gasps aloud, stumbling backwards at the pressure and temperature to sustain some damage while the tail looped around Gold clenches up even tighter, forcing his eyes and cheeks to bulge. "Gq-hhghlk!" He chokes up, unable to breathe in the constriction to her thigh.

Knowing he needed to get out, or potentially suffer a worse hit from either Jackal or the infected, you send your Aura Sphere out towards the tail specifically to hit it with blazing blue energy. The tail wriggles wildly upon the strike, immediately loosening up to have Gold slip out through the loops and plop onto the ground right on his ass. He quacks in dismay before crawling on all fours to make some kind of distance as the Aurorus woman stumbles far enough backwards to topple over. Her great weight smashes her back to the grass of the ground to tremor the earth a bit underneath all of you.

Scampering right up to you, the blushing duck rubs at his neck, thankful to breathe as he mutters, "...H-Hoh kay, I like it rough, but maybe not ****-my-lungs-out, crush-my-body kind of rough."

Jackal, at Gold's other side, grunts with disapproval, "Then stand back squirt. Me and Lace got this if you're just gonna swoon over ever fight we get into."

Taking that as a challenge, the duck snarls to the fire badger and grips a fist, "I ain't no coward! I was just...warmin' up!" Before you could even stop him however or devise a plan, Gold immediately rushes the Aurorus as she attempts to kneel herself back up, patting at the embers and soot of her cold belly. The infected dinosaur glances up to notice Gold blasting himself forward in an Aqua Jet; a trail of torrenting water following him as he smashes right into her stomach again to **** the air out of the predator before riding up past her chest to launch towards her face. In a follow-up he surges pressured water around his tail before swinging in a spin, slapping her with an Aqua Tail attack to blast more of the liquid as it marks her cheek and swings her over onto her own side to crash once again to the floor.

He lands back down on her hip to stand as tall as he could and gives a proud flex his arms, grinning, "How'd ya like that honey? Bet you wanna eat me less and would rather have me eat you out, huh~?"

The Aurorus groans, perhaps just dazed in the pain, but she likely hated his boastful taunt as well. Sluggishly she takes a swing at him with an arm to try and grab at him, but the duck gives a short hop with a "Wah!", sliding down her rear and tail to get out of the way, but not before bloating his cheeks to blast her with a Bubble attack. The loud and wet pop explodes water to strike her back and has her roll onto her stomach by the ****.

And it was at this point you were already making your next move, seeing the Aurorus' head fully exposed on the ground that you leap up after a dash to surge aura over the hindpaw of your good leg, divekicking down to stomp down on her noggin to have the crest flaps of her head straighten up and her body to tense up all of a sudden. Eventually though, her fat body goes slack, and her violet glowing eyes vanish under eyelids drooping over them, falling ****.

You catch your breath and step off of her, readying your hands up just in case as the dinosaur drools from her maw and doesn't seem to move, but simply groan and breathe. Jackal steps up right next to you and rests an elbow on your shoulder, "...Damn Lace, I think we-"

"I did it! I got her!" Gold announces aloud from behind the Aurorus' collapsed form, leaping back up on her large ass to stand in triumph with his chest puffed. He didn't see your last attack, and also seemed to ignore the work you both put in before he ever rushed her. He rubs a knuckle to his chest and adds, "How's that for ya, hothead? You're welcome to be the one to chicken out and hide elsewhere. Clearly I can handle any infected of any size!" He tap-taps his talon on the ass cheek hill he stood on to feel its hefty wobble from how much meat the Aurorus packed on her. "...Even when they're five times my height and weight. I think I can get good use out of this hefty lass, she just needs to be shown how to really treat a man-"

Jackal barks, "Excuse me? You were a quiverin', useless mess when we needed you to fight! Why I oughta cook you right now and feed you to her myself-"

"Guys." You announce, not wanting yet another conflict. "We all chipped in. It was a group effort. But Jackal's right Gold, you can't let infected get to you like this. It can literally be the last mistake you ever suffer if you're not focused."

Gold rubs the back of his head, not wanting to take Jackal's side on anything, but for you, he seems to come around, "Yeah yeah yeah, sorry, just never...seen a woman this big. Wish she wasn't infected, I still think I could rock her world in a different way~"

The Typhlosion just snarls in disgust and keeps his arms tucked and crossed together at his chest. "Do you think with anything other than your dick?"

The Golduck was prepared to retort back that Jackal wishes he could think at all, but with his beak open, he sees your disapproving look before actually showing some restraint. You just smirk and say, "All the more reason to help us solve this problem. If there's a cure or way to stop the infection, you're free to come and find her again to get a proper date."

The duck huffs and slides off her smooth figure again and simply walks to approach you again, crossing her arms behind his head, ready to keep going then, "Yeah yeah, whatever. I'd prefer to have a day n' night with her now, but I know you two would ditch me without a second thought."

Jackal grunts, "You seriously can't be suggesting you'd have sex with someone who's already infected, right? You'd probably just end up just like her then."

Gold just gives a sneering look to Jackal, "Dunno. Eating and fucking all the time wouldn't really be different for me~"

"No, you bring up an interesting point Jackal." You state aloud, catching him off-guard, choosing to ignore Gold's retort. "Hex mentioned that it was likely fluid from the infected that change us, but I've eaten ferals before. I think you have too."

Jackal was a bit taken aback by the notion, thinking on it and ponders aloud, "Yeah now that ya mention it...I mean that was before I knew how they infected others, but...I've been chowin' on 'em when I needed to for a damn while, and I feel fine."

You look to Gold for confirmation as he just shrugs, "Yeah I've eaten 'em before. Pounded a couple hungry lasses I defeated beforehand too; to the victor go the spoils, y'know~?"

Not commenting on the latter there, you can only wonder how that's the case. Why is it when an infected has sex with someone while conscious or in control, it trades the infection off to the victim? Why does swallowing one awake or **** seem to not matter when it comes to the infection? You can only assume this is what Hex meant by suggesting it was something more to do with the mind than any other kind of infection or virus. A psychic Pokemon like this Draxius was definitely your best bet.

You mutter out for the pair, "This'll help with our questions with Draxius. The more we can narrow down how it spreads, the better we might be able to figure out how to stop it or even reverse it."

Jackal smirks and slaps your back hard, "Shit Lace, you're pretty smart, I never even thought about that!"

You didn't know how to properly feel about it since you just felt like you were an average individual, but before you can even respond, your view of Jackal wobbles a bit. "H-Hhnhnh...?" Darkness creeps around your vision as your head feels heavier than usual.

The Typhlosion looks at you with concern before muttering, "Yo, Lace, you good? Don't tell me the fight took it...took it...outta...ya...hhrrouuagghhh..." The fire-type gives a large yawn of his mouth, looking sleepy all of a sudden.

You can even see Gold looking up and stating, "Is it...snowing?" He has his hands cupping at the air as soft little pale puffs flutter down, collecting on him. In fact, you see several on Jackal's head and shoulders, and...even on your arms. Spores were fluttering down from the air, collecting on all of you to flood your senses with a strange notion for sleep.

You do your best to stagger out of the way, grunting, "Sleep...Powder..." It was a Pokemon byproduct attack that could render anything **** with enough of the stuff. You were too focused on thinking after the fight, you never considered a danger around you at the time. You gaze about through the treelines, looking for any person or infected this could be the source of, but your legs give and you thud to the ground tiredly. You're pretty sure you hear Jackal's voice call out to you, but it's accompanied by a low groan and a heavy thud behind you. In your peripheral, you spot Gold collapsing as well onto his side, huffing with eyes rolled up, disappearing under his eyelids as he begins to snore steadily.

You would panic, but your body is far too sluggish to budge or pump any rampant heart rate. You do however hear a faint buzzing and flaps of wings from above you, all before legs set down on the grass before you. Black exoskeleton legs stand before you, casually striding up before squatting down. You spot a bee-like abdomen backside with a dangerous-looking stinger to it, and a male voice muttering, "...These three are out. Fortunate that they tired themselves out with the feral. Bind them, they'll make good offerings to the queen, the warm plump looking one especially."

"N-N...No..." You mutter out, trying to get a view of your captor as your vision begins to fade out entirely...