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"Actually, no." Odd responded as he began to ascend the staircase. "The stairs only extend through the most treacherous places. The path was designed to test the resolve of those who came to seek guidance. Once we get through the small cave system at the top of this staircase, we'll be back out on the mountainside." He explained, jumping slightly when Fermata appeared from his Pokeball unexpectedly.

"Rooo!" The Rowlet cooed, flapping it's tiny wings fervently to stay airborne, eventually landing in the channeler's arms.

"Hello, Fermata." He greeted the Pokemon, petting the small avian's head affectionately. "Anyway, once we're through the caves, we'll be on unmarked mountainside. If you don't know where you're going, you could wander for days and get nowhere." He finally finished, watching where he placed his feet more and more carefully as he climbed the stairs by now.

"That's the point, Keiko." Odd responded. "I grew up in an abbey. The point of a pilgrimage is to test the resolve of one's faith. The believers are the ones who make actually make it to the top." He explained to the young woman.

"And that was the plan, Terashi." The Ghost channeler responded to the young male. "We can stop, make sure we're prepared to get back out into the weather and, if it doesn't last too long, we can try to wait out the snow before we head out again." It was clear that Fermata was already feeling the chill, though the little Grass owl was likely only doing so due to his typing, shivering in Odd's arms even as he pulled a scarf from his backpack and wrapped the owlet up in it.

"It could take a few hours to get there. on foot." Odd responded to Terashi's question. "This stairway leads only partway there, after all." He reiterated.

At Keiko's question, however, he could only laugh. "That depends on the weather. It's not snowing, there's a good chance that with the snow already on the ground, it will actually be a fair bit warmer on the ground than you'd think." He explained. "I'd be more worried about going up too fast, the way the air gets thinner the further up we go."

At this point, his spiritual radar started to pick up blips. Sort of. He could vaguely sense some kind of life up here on the mountainside, somewhere nearby but pinpointing it was difficult. The natural energy was so thick and undisturbed as they ascended the mountain that it somewhat obscured the energy of living things from him.

"Be careful. I can sense something nearby but I have no idea what it is at the moment." He warned, his senses cranked up to max in order to try and get a feel for what was going on around them.

Before Odd had a chance to identify what he was sensing, a pair of Sneasel and a Weavile appeared over the rise ahead of them, chasing down a Ponyta.

"Weavile vile!" The Weavile leader said to one of the Sneasel.

"Snea!" The Ice-type replied.

"Vile weav ile weav!" Weavile dictated to the other.

"Sneasel!"

The trio started to break apart at this point, the two Sneasel racing ahead with Agility to catch up to Ponyta. One used Crush Claw to startle the Fire Horse Pokemon while the other use Ice Shard, though it wasn't aimed at Ponyta.

Behind them, Weavile raced forward with it's own Agility, scooping a large clawful of snow along the way, crafting a Snowball from the natural energy infused snow on the ground and holding it forward. The Ice Shard hit hard and shattered the Snowball,sending a surge of energy through Weavile, raising it's attack just as it's claws began to glow black.

"Maybe they won't be a danger to us, after all...." Odd stated as he watched with morbid curiosity as the hunt went on. Maybe they should intervene? Or maybe not. Would it be right for them to interfere in the natural order?

Rala's attack did, in fact, manage to gain the attention of the two Sneasel. They turned their focus on her while Weavile continued on after Ponyta. The twin Dark-types came at her from opposite sides, opposing claws shining silver with Steel energy.

Weavile, on the other hand, would likely be seen finishing off Ponyta with it's Night Slash, followed by a watery orb via Hidden Power to douse it's flames, which were already beginning to flicker out on their own.

"Sad....." Odd said to himself as he released on of his Pokemon. Or made to, rather. Fermata decided, instead, that he would fight here. Throwing himself toward one of the Sneasel, he managed to Tackle it toward the other knocking them both off target so their Metal Claws both missed, if only barely. Though that did end up causing them to turn their focus on the owlet.

"Weavile! Weav vile vile weavile weav?" The leader of the small band approached now, claws held accusingly toward the three humans. It was obvious that it realized they were the reason it's backup was gone and it didn't like that. "Weaviiiiile!" Shadowy clones of the two Sneasel appeared at it's side now as it lunged toward Rala, intending to cut the Fairy down with Beat Up support.

Odd could only shake his head at Rala as she tried to heal Ponyta. There was no point. "I'm afraid that's not going to help." He told her as he pulled his SNAG out and scanned Fermata. "GRAY, can you tell me what moves he knows?" He requested of the team's AI.

The smart aleck response that came back to him amounted to "Figure it out for yourself because I have no idea" as far as Odd was concerned, though it contained a few more lines and a lot more sass in regards to his state of kinda-sorta-but-not-really-dead. "Fine. Don't help me." The channeler snapped back before he recalled Fermata to his ball and released Adagio.

"Flame Burst!" He told her, pointing to the trio of Ice-types not far from them. "Take this as your only warning and go back to your meal." He warned them as Adagio formed the unstable ball of fire and spat it towards them. The attack hit Weavile and erupted violently, sending sparks and weak embers flaying towards the Sneasel, who'd taken up positions on either side of it as sentries.

"Weav vile!"
"Sneas!"
"Sel!"

The trio brushed off the flames and all threw pointed glares toward Odd and his Pokemon. Weavile rushed toward Adagio with it's claws ablaze with Dark energy, a Night Slash readied. One of the Sneasel looked at the Bulbasaur that had appeared to take it's boss's Beat Up and began to laugh, clearly amused. Rather than attacking right away, it began to scrape it's claws together, Honing them down to sharper edges and preparing itself to deal with the nuisance in one shot, should it still refuse to back down. The second Sneasel, however, wasn't as amused and simply open it's mouth wide, as if it was going to scream out into the snow-covered mountains. However, that was not how it's actions continued. Instead, it took a deep breath and blew a frigid, Icy Wind across the mountainside, the Ice-type move aiming to berate both Sauron and Audrey.

"Rala, stop." Odd told the Kirlia as he turned away from Adagio for a brief moment. "The warnings are done. Inferno, Adagio." He instructed his partner, summoning his own flames with Wicked Wick, tossing them after the Inferno that burned it's way through the snow like a great, fiery bomb. Weavile couldn't avoid it due to it's proximity at the point Adagio released it and was consumed by the flames. Odd's fiery bolts hit the Sneasel, though it didn't seem to do much.

"They're not evil or mean. They were hunting and we interrupted." He told Rala at this point. "We should let them finish their meal and leave." He told her as his and Adagio's attacks burned out, leaving a very weakened Weavile in their wake and a pair of Sneasel that were highly confused by the lack of true burns they'd sustained.

"You two don't seem to have spent much time in the wild like this. Plain and simple; Carnivores hunt to feed. Something -must- die for them to survive. It's the way things are." He told Terashi and Keiko. "It's not pretty and it hurts to see creatures we love and respect suffer that way. I get that." He assured them as he recalled Adagio now. "But we shouldn't interfere in the natural order."

He turned to walk away at this point. The implication being that the others should follow his lead and let their previous attackers be.