#sneasels

He draws his sword as Sneasel lunges toward him, claws meeting steel! With incredible speed, Sneasel strafes around Bay, attacking with a flurry of swipes! Bay blocks the bulk of the barrage with his blade, but as Sneasel speeds up, more and more slashes slip past his defense.

Bay makes a wide slash, but Sneasel ducks under it, countering with an uppercut that nicks his cheek as they spring into the air. They strike again as they fall from above, but Bay parries it, throwing Sneasel back into the air! Bay fires a water pulse at the airborne Sneasel, landing a direct hit and sending them tumbling onto the snow!

Sneasel springs back onto their feet, dodging Bay's next water pulse and countering with slashes of icy wind. Bay easily withstands the cold, but can neither land a hit nor close the distance thanks to Sneasel's speed. The barrage of wind slashes and hit-and-run strikes wears Bay down, until at last he puts down his sword... and summons a ball of energy in his hands.

He throws the ball, which Sneasel easily jumps out of the way of. But it stops in midair, and makes a 90-degree turn to fly right toward Sneasel again! With a yelp, Sneasel sprints away, dodging and weaving as fast as they can, but the ball stays right on their tail! They climb a tree, spiralling up it as a pink blur, followed closely by a matching blue one that absolutely REFUSES to let them escape; after all, aura sphere can't miss.

At last Sneasel finds themself at the tip-top of the tree, teetering on one foot for just a moment before the aura sphere SLAMS into them, knocking them aaaaall the way down to faceplant in the snow right at Bay's feet.

"ow," their muffled voice says.

Bay grabs Sneasel by the ankle and plucks them out of the snow. He heals the huge bruise from the aura sphere using his magic, and patches himself up too.

Sneasel shakes the spirals out of their eyes. "That was fun!"

"Yeah. You're pretty good." Bay drops Sneasel, who lands with a handstand before flopping onto their back.

"Phew, I'm beat. Literally. Wanna chill for a while? Literally?"

"Sure." He sits down beside them. "I could use a rest, and some company."

The pair relax together awhile; they introduce themselves, chat about their days, and admire the night sky.

After a few minutes of silence, Sneasel speaks. "It's fun looking at pretty lights. You know?"

"Yeah. They're almost as pretty as you~"

"Ooo, ho ho!" Sneasel nestles up against Bay's side. "You know, where I live, there's a tradition that the winner of a fight has to coddle the loser~"

"Oh?" Bay wraps an arm around Sneasel. "Sounds like a nice place~"