(ACE) The ILEX Team

Taking a deep breath, Duma tried to calm herself, her wide blue eyes flicking between both humans. "I'll do my best, kiddo," Well, that made her feel better at least. She had one friend who still hadn't left her. "This armor only stop so many bullets, though..." The Persian looked at Jaz, her eyes somehow widening as her breaths quickened for a few heartbeats, But it seemed that Xander's appearance had broken the meter-thick ice between their group.

"Sounds like we should get moving then!" Sticking by Wes's side, Duma watched as Xander floated on ahead, trailing a little bit behind Wes as the soldier brushed past Jaz, their rifle now slung over their shoulder. "Hup, hup!" Trotting after Wes, Duma stuck by his side,  keeping her eyes on the trees. Something was setting the spotted cat on edge, and she didn't like it. The fur at the nape of her neck and her scruff spiked up as she smelt the air. Something smelled really wrong. The scent of ash and death hung in the air, and it made Duma's skin crawl with goosebumps.

"U-uh, Wes, J-Jaz? There's something n-nearby, and it doesn't s-smell friendly" She whispered quietly, her teeth chattering as she stuttered. and as if answering her dreads, a dead Rattata came flying from the shrub, landing in the middle of the path.

With a loud meow of surprise, Duma back-pedalled, her paws kicking up dust as she ran backwards, only stopping when she bumped into Jaz, spooking the cat into literally falling onto the ground, her legs giving out from under her as she fell to the ground, shuffling back to hide behind Jaz, her bright blue eyes wide with fear as she stared out at the path, her breath coming and going in ragged gasps.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god I don't want to die, please no I don't want to die pleasejustdon'tletitkillmeIdon'twanttodie" She said, her voice surprisingly clear as she rushed the words into one big word that jumbled up her speech. As she was sending quiet prayers to whatever Legend was listening, she watched as a large Charizard moved into their view, their blood red eyes glowing fiercely with undeath. The Charizard laughed at them, the sinster cackle sending shivers up the feline's spine, causing her fur to spike up and give the cat the illusion she was bigger than she actually was.

The fire lizard shot a burst of flames at the path, the literal fire bomb exploding outwards and sending smaller flame bursts around them, catching the forest alight and sending smoke into the air. Then the dragon flew down, addressing their group. "Tell me haunter is there another charizard with you by the name of Mathias, if so I demand you hand him over to me." This was because they wanted to find some other Charizard that wasn't even there? Duma's eyes narrowed into a glare. This guy was an asshole, spooking her just because they're on a power trip to find one other Charizard.

As Jaz and Wes neared the area, the Charizard flew up into the smoke, to where Duma couldn't see them anymore. Despite not being able to see the dragon, that did nothing to calm Duma's nerves, and instead it made her more jumpy as she got back to her paws, shakily running over to Wes, hiding behind the blonde haired soldier like they were her lifeline, which in her mind - they were.

[[skip.]]

Adam quickly lost interest in the mild attention given to him by the two humans and the spotted Persian, and instead turned his focus to his surroundings. The sounds were starting to crop up-a twig snapping, cracklings leaves, faint voices whose words can't be made out. He had no idea if any of those sounds were even real, but just them being there was enough to make Adam feel trapped, boxed in this forest with complete strangers. The sudden crash of a falling tree was almost enough to make him jump into the air out of alarm-good thing his claws kept him firmly planted on the ground. When the utter genius behind the falling tree ended up being nothing but a clumsy Haunter, Adam just glared at him and gave a slight huff. Moron. Apparently that old saying about stupid people and one's personal health was all too true; everyone else must not have thought the same, because they started following the thing. Goddamn it. Now he'd have to confront his mind and argue over the benefits of companions or some other bullshit, all while in a forest that was becoming less safe by the second.

Reluctantly, Adam began to trail after the human woman, not exactly thrilled over the prospect of being with her and her companions. The Persian and Haunter were harmless, but those guns were fucking unnerving. Once they got out of this place, Adam was moving on as fast as his legs could take him. There was little chance they would care if he did.

The trees here made the fur on the back of Adam's neck stand up, as if they had eyes of their own, and were watching him. The scents of ashes, blood, and undead intermingle with each other, too strong to simply be waved away as nothing. There was something around here, and it certainly wasn't looking to make friends. For all Adam knew, it could be watching them right now, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. Fucker. Just stop hiding and show your ugly face already.
The Persian is the first one to react, freaking out over something Adam could not see, something that nearly made her trip over her own feet trying to get away. Fear practically radiates from her. Not a very useful gauge of what was going on, since that one probably jumped at her own shadow...her near-incoherent, rapid speech almost makes him want to scream. Didn't she know how utterly pointless it was to make your fear so obvious?

A low growl is drawn from Adam as the thing that made the Persian terrified finally reveals itself. A Charizard, one obviously undead and completely out of its mind. Its deranged laugh is so close to being cartoonish, Adam would have laughed had the dragon not immediately started setting the forest on fire. This thing was fucking with them. All of the undead he'd encountered killed Pokemon because their minds were damaged beyond repair, and this thing that still had intelligence was fucking with them. Adam could not wait until the humans shot the asshole down and called it a day.
"Tell me haunter is there another charizard with you by the name of Mathias, if so I demand you hand him over to me." Yes, because obviously they were hiding a Charizard. This one didn't have that much "intelligence", it seems. After another bout of cartoon villain laughter, the undead Charizard flew into the smoke, where it could not be seen. Fucking coward. The fire was spreading ungodly fast; getting out of here needed to happen now.

”FUCK THIS SHIT!” Pixy was  leaping from branch to branch, sometimes having to hop on the tree itself and simply rebound off of it. He had promised a young torchic that he would find his elderly brother, a Blaziken, whom had gone into the forest. The elders of the surviving group that housed the torchic had promised a time of shelter and food if the status of the Blaziken was confirmed, no matter what it may be. And it was confirmed- about 3 miles north, deeper into the forest, his undead head lay dethatched from his body. Was that Blaziken the cause of this fire that had erupted around Pixy? Without knowing it, Pixy had wandered towards the already started fire, and the flames had spread now. There was an extremely uneasy feeling to this entire forest, and something about Pixy’s intuition told him it was not safe even for the masterful Pokemon of this world to be present in. But now the stench of death- or more likely, undeath, was far more prevalent to Pixy, who was on edge, waiting for something to jump out at her.

The shouts of other pokemon were heard in the distance. Pixy payed it no mind at first, but then she realized something. They were shouts. Distinguishable words, and sounding rather desperate. Were there living Pokemon in this forest?! Pixy’s body trembled, pleading to not do what Pixy knew she must. But Pixy’s need to help others was always to win, weighing heavy on her conscience. Her wings flapped painfully, the old wound on her crimson, bloodied wing throbbing. He spots the threat first… no. Not a threat. The impending death of them all. That thing was far from normal, in both power and ‘sanity.’ Infected, clearly. The others were not far away- Two gun-toting humans, a Radeon, a Persion… that seems to be all of them. Wait, no- what looked like a charred tree at first glance was actually a haunter when actually gazed upon.

The Charizard, insane and rotting, retreats to the cover of its flame and smoke. Now a tactical decision was to be made… The Charizard does not know that Pixy is there. She could join the group, and strengthen their chance of escape together, or take on the beast. If was fearsome, no doubt, but Pixy was nothing to scoff at either, and she knew it. Maybe… just, just maybe she could defeat the foe, and save everyone. Hell… she would be content if she bought them the time to escape, if it meant her death. But she would not throw her life away. The only way she would sacrifice herself would be when she was certain that it would let the others escape this situation, and this enemy. In other words- a mutual death, her and the Charizard.

Pixy moved towards the base of the branch, shuffling to the right. She removed an escape route by doing so, and an attack from the tip of the branch on her left would be dire, but she also made herself less visible and removed one of the locations it could attack from. She hunkered down, poised to strike, soothing her breathing. The crackle of fire, the panic of the others below- she took in all the sounds. Thud… Thud… It was trudging around, nearby. Nobody seemed to notice her yet… Good thing, too. Any of the others could give her position away if they call out to her…

Everything was suddenly on fire. "FUCK." The soldier gave a sharp curse, snapping her gun to attention as she rapidly took aim. The smoke was worsening by the second, and the panic did not help. Even as she stood, trained on the flames, waiting for the undead to show itself again, the Persian ran into her with a squeak of fear. "Stay by Wes," she told the cat without even flinching. Magnezone and Magnemite kept close by her side, but the flames were not a good idea for them to get close to at all. "Mite, cover our back," she barked, to which the steel type immediately moved to their new post. "Zone, get as close as you can outside the flames. If it hits you with a flamethrower, you mirror coat and then immediately back down. Do not try to attack it again. Retreat immediately." The duel type nodded, hovering on the edge of the flames, waiting but unable to get too close.

Jasmine knew his sturdy ability would allow him to endure one hit, but only one. He was not stupid enough to risk his life on just one undead, but with a group to protect, they needed to consider that first. The Charizard, as it had so kindly shown itself, was still hiding in the flames. Jasmine clenched her teeth, biting down so hard her jaw ached. Just come out you fucking coward. The trainer kept her eyes trained on the smoke, the stupid echoing laughter of a madman a constant on her communicator. "Haunter, you know the way to a shelter, right? Lead the others off. Take Magnemite as cover. Make sure they get out of range of the flames." Despite her displeasure at having to rely on new Pokemon she had never even met, it was their best bet at that point. If any were infected, surely Wes would have the right mind to shoot it and mourn later. The cat seemed attached to him, but they would have to figure something out if they wanted to live.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god I don't want to die, please no I don't want to die pleasejustdon'tletitkillmeIdon'twanttodie-"
The Persian's cries raked across her communicator, causing the woman to wince. Before she could speak the Charizard spoke again, still hiding in the safety of the smoke "My my what a tasty Persian. I love Persians, I love to eat them."
"Come out and face me, you damn coward!" she roared, unafraid of volume control anymore by that point. The flames would either attract or scare off anything for them. Much softer, she spoke to the Persian over her shoulder, "Don't let it get to you-- it just wants you scared. It's the bastard, not you. Show it what living are capable of."
The Poison type from earlier, the one no one knew, had remarkably stuck around, too, unafraid. She would have been impressed if she even cared about anything by that point anymore.
"Tell me Eeveelution do you fear death! I would enjoy devouring your body as you sleep!"
This was truly annoying. "My fuck, shut up." She grabbed one ball from her belt swiftly, throwing it without any hesitation. An Empoleon emerged, the large steel bird giving a sharp cry as he emerged. Jasmine caught his ball, returning it without needing to look as the water type assessed the situation. "Whirlpool it, make sure it's safe not to hit anyone else, though," she commanded. The penguin immediately began to concentrate, above his head water materialising seemingly out of thin air. In a few minutes he would have a full on cyclone of water to throw at the undead. Survive that, fucker.

"Pitiful filth, your kind is the reason why my brother is missing."
"I take as that as a compliment," she spat back.  
"WHERE IS MY BROTHER!"
Jasmine narrowed her eyes, gun still trained on the smoke. "I got your brother right here!" As the undead seemed to be suddenly preoccupied, Jasmine barked out Wes' name. "Lure it out of the smoke, between you, me, and the other two, we'll nail it down. Radeon, can you help?" They had to do something. While it hid in the smoke there was no chance of hitting it since it was too hard to nail down. But things only got worse when she realised why it was distracted. "Son of a bitch, there's something else out there." They were running low on hands and time was not their friend. "We need to hurry."

[ ooc: feel free to hit Magnezone with a fire type attack, it will then be bounced back with double power at Dracul if you do hehe ]

The Haunter was surprised that a human he don't even know decided to stick with them and urged the other one to follow him. It pleased him, but the same cannot be same about the other  human and the odd eeveelution, whose don't seems to move to follow him. Clearly annoyed by that, the Ghost pokémon spoke: "The night will quickly come you know that? What are you waiting for? Dead Rattatas falling from the skies?" Rolling his eyes, the Haunter resumed his travel. A breeze of wind blew on the group, bringing the rotten smell of the forest's infecteds into Xander's nostrils and making him shrivers. They had to move pronto. The little wisecrack seems to have worked, since now both of them were following.

The thing is, when you're a wide-mouthed pokémon like Xander, what you say, even when you're sarcastic, often happens. A dead Rattata had indeed fell across the Haunter's track, who possibly made the fastest back crawl time for a Pokémon, backing away from the freshly deceased rodent while screaming a colored flow of profanities: " Fuck the trees, fuck the undeads, fuck the mushrooms, fuck this forest, fuck, FUCK, FUCK! " He however stopped dead in his tracks and shut it when he heard a laugh. A proud, mean and horrible laugh. Then the thing that was at one time called a charizard moved in the way, preventing them to go any further. But nothing was more terrifying for the Ghost Pokémon than when the undead Lizard looked directly into his eyes and what the creature said after that.

"Hehehehe its time for chaos."

The Charizard then set both sides of the forest with a Fire Blast. Fortunately, the group was too far away from him to get caught in the blast, even if Xander, who was the nearest one, could feel the heat wave went through him. He looked at the fire, spreading fast because of the amount of dead wood in the forest. He couldn't help but cough, the ashes and the soot saturating the air. The roaring of the fire was growing to the point it starts to hurt, and Xander had an hard time to keep a straight face. The Charizard faced him again, grinning like a lunatic. Grinning like to tell that there was still someone in there, but a primal, savage and maniac one that take pleasure to haunt these lands while they can to satisfy their bloodlust. It's the first time that Xander encountered something like that, so he was of course confused. The other beasts he met were primal, but there was not a single ounce of intelligence in them. They were only reacting. This.... THING was alive. Not only was he confused, but he was also scared. What did it wanted?

"Tell me haunter is there another charizard with you by the name of Mathias, if so I demand you hand him over to me."

The Haunter was looking at him, his mouth opening and closing like an out of the water Magikarp. He just couldn't think rationally with the Charizard in front of him. He didn't even understood the question. His only though, his only wish for now that was running in his head in a loop was to the creature to go away so he could think. Fortunately for him, the undead monster flew away in the smoke as the humans made their way to Xander. When he realised that, he got out of his torpor and snapped back to reality. Over the still roaring fire, he could hear the undead Charizard laughing at them, playfully threaten the Persian, then the purple Eeveelution. He then received the order to lead the others to the shelter. Xander didn't needed to be asked twice. He pushed against Duma's back, who was still freaking out, and urged her to run: "You heard the human? Follow me to safety! That's also valid for everyone here!"

The fire was acting like a giant lighthouse in the forest, lighting the entire area. Soon, Xander could see what could look like a building blocking their path ahead."Oh! OH! There it is! Finally!". The Haunter distanced the others to get closer to the exterior wall. It looked relatively intact. The ghost Pokémon tried to open the door, but it was closed. Probably the humans locked it before going out? It didn't mattered to Xander, who was shaking the knobs like they would magically open themselves. Time was running short, so he took a run-up and.... when through the door like it wasn't there and found himself face to face with the rotting head of an Onyx. Swallowing a gagging, he turned around and took a deep breathe. Of course he had forgotten that the poor bastard head was still there, exactly where he stood along with the two Eevees about 3 years ago. He looked at it again. Those damn Excadrils and Drilburs had made a feast out of him back there. Their claw marks were still visible on the rock type's flesh. He finally poked his head out of the door and unlocked it: "You better hold your breath folks, it's not pretty in here."He then opened the door for the others to come inside, exposing them the view of the open cranium of the rock snake.

Everything was on fire, they were going do get burnt and die in the fire! Duma's wide eyes were shaking, her vision blurring from tears and smoke. They were going to die here. She was never going to get out of here. The feline began to hyperventilate, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she struggled to catch breath that wouldn't come. Her pulse was pounding in her ears and the smoke was making it difficult to see. "FUCK." Jaz's sharp swear made the Persian start, a sharp chirp coming from her throat as she cowered behind the soldier. "Stay by Wes," Wes, right, he seemed to be nicer, right? Looking up, Duma's ears fell when she realised that she would need to go closer to the Charizard. Wait what oh god no please I don't want to go near that thing! She wanted to get up and move, but her paws refused to comply, keeping the spotted cat rooted to the spot.

"Mite, cover our back," Looking up at Jaz, she saw the steel types nearby the trainer, and the feline felt the need to help, but her mind was scrambling, trying to find an idea that would work. "Zone, get as close as you can outside the flames. If it hits you with a flamethrower, you mirror coat and then immediately back down. Do not try to attack it again. Retreat immediately." Looking over at the Magnezone, Duma's pelt began to prick upwards. Fire beat steel, didn't it? So then why was..? Duma cut off her thoughts with a shake of her head. Jaz knew what she was doing, she wouldn't question the soldier's reasoning. "Haunter, you know the way to a shelter, right? Lead the others off. Take Magnemite as cover. Make sure they get out of range of the flames." She was going with Xander? Looking at the ghost, Duma still was scared at the thought of moving closer to that Charizard. "My my what a tasty Persian. I love Persians, I love to eat them." Squeaking, Duma cowered into the ground, trying to cover her ears with her paws. "Come out and face me, you damn coward!" Looking up at Jaz, Duma wondered how she could stay so calm.

The soldier looked down at her, her voice turning into something softer, more nice. "Don't let it get to you-- it just wants you scared. It's the bastard, not you. Show it what living are capable of." Uncovering her ears, Duma looked up at the soldier, nodding in understanding. Here was no need to hide! She had friends to help her. Taking a deep breath, Duma sucked in air, holding her breath for a moment before letting it out slowly. Gathering her paws beneath her, Duma stood up, her head bowed low at first, before she raised it up, her blue eyes shifting from their scared gaze to a more determined one. "I-I'm not s-scared of you!" Duma called out, her gem glowing cyan for a moment as she shot three small, diamond-shaped projectiles from her jewel at the Charizard with her Power Gem.

"Tell me Eeveelution do you fear death! I would enjoy devouring your body as you sleep!" Looking off to the side, Duma noted that the poison eevee from earlier hadn't ran either. "My fuck, shut up." Looking up at Jaz, she watched the soldier swiftly grab a Pokeball and send it out, a large penguin-looking water type emerging. It looked powerful, and Duma could't help but stare in awe. It looked so freaking cool. "Whirlpool it, make sure it's safe not to hit anyone else, though," The Empoleon nodded, water beginning to collect above them. Duma gaped, her eyes wide with awe at it. "That is so cool..." She half muttered, almost forgetting where they were for that moment. "Pitiful filth, your kind is the reason why my brother is missing." Brother? That's right, wasn't the psycho Charizard looking for their brother or something? "I take as that as a compliment," That didn't sound like a compliment, but hey, whatever let them sleep at night, she guessed.

"WHERE IS MY BROTHER!" Snapping her ears back, Duma hissed at the Charizard, her spotted fur spiking up to make her seem larger. "Stop being so loud!" She growled, narrowing her eyes. "I got your brother right here!" Wait wha..? Looking at Jaz, she watched the soldier call out to Wes, trying to get a plan formed. "Lure it out of the smoke, between you, me, and the other two, we'll nail it down. Radeon, can you help?" Looking at the poison eevee, Duma put two and two together, guessing that the species of it was a Radeon. It made sense, Radeon, poison type...  "Son of a bitch, there's something else out there." Shaking her head, Duma had to get her head in the game and stop spacing out. "We need to hurry." As Jaz was waiting for the Radeon and Wes to get ready, Duma felt something pushing on her, and she looked around to see Xander pushing her to get her moving.

"You heard the human? Follow me to safety! That's also valid for everyone here!" It took a few moments for Duma's paws to comply, but after a few attempts, Duma raced off after Xander, following the ghost closely. They ran through the forest, using the fire as light. It didn't take long for them to find a large building illuminated by the firelight. "Oh! OH! There it is! Finally!" This was where they were going to take shelter? Duma stayed at the treeline, watching as Xander tried to open the door. You're a ghost... You can just phase right thro- As she was thinking that, Xander charged the door, phasing right through the door. Coughing to cover up a laugh, Duma waited outside for the ghost to come back out.

It didn't take long, and soon after, Xander came back out, opening the door. "You better hold your breath folks, it's not pretty in here." Wait what..? Before Duma could dwell on the thought, the door opened fully to show the decomposing head of an Onix. Gagging, Duma hissed and backed away. "W-what the fuck?!" She screeched, her curse not registering until a few seconds later. "I-I mean... Y-you know what n-nevermind. Lets just g-get this over with." She took a deep breath and held it, following Xander inside.

"FUCK." Jaz cursed, and well, yeah, that was pretty much the sentiment everyone else shared. The fire flared his instinct to get the fuck out of there -no pun intended- but he knew that he, along with Jasmine herself, were likely the only two that could actually keep the majority of their little ragamuffin group safe. He stared down the charizard, his eyes wide with alarm, and he hefted his gun in order to grab a pokeball as it disappeared once more into the smoke.

The fuck had he gotten himself into.

"Mite, cover our back," Jaz snapped at her own pokemon, as Wes almost frantically searched for the charizard's shape in the haze. He should have just shot the fucker while he'd had it in his sights...! "Zone, get as close as you can outside the flames. If it hits you with a flamethrower, you mirror coat and then immediately back down. Do not try to attack it again. Retreat immediately." Wes glanced at Jaz with a small nod of approval; he knew her game. It was also risky, but well worth it if the plan paid off. He released his own pokeball, revealing a powerful espeon whose expression ignited at the sight of the beast before them. "Hold yourself, buddy--" Wes warned, wanting to calm his pokemon down before it did something stupid.

"Haunter, you know the way to a shelter, right? Lead the others off. Take Magnemite as cover. Make sure they get out of range of the flames." Jaz barked at the Persian, but only just before the monster before them started spouting words. "My my what a tasty Persian. I love Persians, I love to eat them." And while the Persian herself squeaked and nearly came out of her own fur, Jaz apparently only felt anger. "Come out and face me, you damn coward!" she roared into the smoke, which only made Wes laugh, despite their imminent and likely death and despite himself.

Movement to his side caught his attention, some Undead Oddish sluggishly staggering toward them and a quick boot to the head too care of the little beet pokemon. He shot at a Fearow swooping at them nearby, knocking it out of the air with a few bullets. "I-I'm not s-scared of you!"

"Tell me Eeveelution do you fear death! I would enjoy devouring your body as you sleep!" Wes' espeon, Whiskey, hissed at the voice in defiance and Jaz, of course, shared the sentiment. "My fuck, shut up." she snapped, quickly bringing out another of her pokemon, an Empoleon. Wes hadn't had the pleasure of seeing many of them, but he already knew firsthand that the steel bird was something to fear. "Whirlpool it, make sure it's safe not to hit anyone else, though,"

"Pitiful filth, your kind is the reason why my brother is missing." "Brother"? Wes frowned; since the fucker was looking for this "brother", that meant he was alone. That was decent news, at least. "I take as that as a compliment," Jaz snapped back, but while Wes thought it funny, the dragon obviously did not.

"WHERE IS MY BROTHER!" The Persian seemed to have grown a pair, as she screeched, "Stop being so loud!" But Jaz, as always, stared her horror down and spat in its face. "I got your brother right here!" Jaz snapped his name, causing him to start slightly as he looked to his commanding officer, ready to take orders, for once.

"Lure it out of the smoke, between you, me, and the other two, we'll nail it down. Radeon, can you help?" A-what now? Wes looked to the direction in which Jaz spat out her other order and lo and behold, a strange, drippy-looking Eevee thing was standing. Huh. Well, that was certainly new. Wes pondered for a moment how Jaz knew what species it was, but that would have to wait. "Son of a bitch, there's something else out there." The Steel trainer groaned. "We need to hurry." The Haunter soon arrived, pushing on the cat.

"You heard the human? Follow me to safety! That's also valid for everyone here!" Though the Persian eventually followed, Wes stayed put, Whiskey faithfully standing by. He shouldered his rifle again, trying to find a good shot of the fucker, only to be blocked again and again by the fucking smoke. If only there was a way to-- Suddenly, his eyes opened wide in the shock of his own stupidity. How could he have not thought of it earlier? He barked out a fierce laughter and pulled down his goggles from his forehead before reaching for another pokeball. "Hope you like fucking SANDSTORMS asshole!" he managed in between his laughter, tossing the ball out to reveal Vodka, his tyranitar.

The behemoth of a pokemon roared and its sands came with it, a swirling miasma of sand and leaf, the winds howling furiously as the smoke all but disappeared. Whiskey was used to sandstorms, having lived his whole life in the deserts of Orre. Not only would the smoke disappear, the added sandstorm would give a natural defense boost to each and every one of Jaz's pokemon. "Come on out, you fucker! Let's get a good look at your pretty, pretty face!"

The Charizard's pathetic attempt at being villainous continues as he taunts the already petrified Persian. When he turns his gaze towards Adam, the Radeon growls again; he was not as easy of a target. This Charizard could threaten all he wanted, but Adam found that words were near-useless compared to actions. The undead was better off just killing him outright. With the fire and smoke, that probably wasn't going to be too difficult, so why bother with the cartoon-level threats? "Tell me Eeveelution, do you fear death! I would enjoy devouring your body as you sleep!"
"Yeah, good luck with that. I never sleep," Adam retorts with a scoff-of all things, he went for death and sleep; Adam was positively shaking. That was the most pitiful attempt at frightening him yet. Even the female human is done with the Charizard's bullshit, sending out another one of her Pokemon that Adam didn't bother wasting time trying to identify. Whatever it was, it was powerful, and that was all they needed.

"Whirlpool it, make sure it's safe not to hit anyone else, though." A water move, and a trapping one at that, this human was smart. As she and the Charizard started their shouting match, Adam began to think quickly: he had Dig, but without that thing planted firmly on the ground, the move was useless. He couldn't interfere with a Whirlpool up, but if the humans had another way of keeping the thing from flying...there was always Toxic, but that would take time they didn't exactly have. Unless I can hit the fucker in the eyes, blind him.
"Lure it out of the smoke, between you, me, and the other two, we'll nail it down. Radeon, can you help?" Ironic that a powerful trainer would ask him for help, but Adam couldn't blame her. This Charizard was a murderous pain in the ass, and with this fire...yeah, desperate times called for desperate measures, or whatever. Adam was willing to do anything if it meant getting that asshole to shut his mouth for good.
"I can bring it closer with Quick Attack, but unless that thing gets bolted to the ground, not much else," he says, "Toxic and Dig won't be much help if I can't get near the motherfucker." The other Pokemon leave the fight to get to safety, but Adam does not follow; he wasn't going to miss this Charizard's satisfying death, not if he could help it. Besides, this human woman was the most bearable of the lot; she, too, did not give a fuck.

The other human, the male named Wes, suddenly laughs, and Adam sees that he has taken out a Pokeball. The hell was he planning, to be so happy about it? "Hope you like fucking SANDSTORMS asshole!". Oh. Fuck. True to his word, Wes summoned a sandstorm-or, rather, his Tyranitar did-bringing a cascade of sand that stung Adam's eyes and pelt. He was not used to this weather, and Adam hisses, not at the trainer or the Pokemon, but at the sand itself. It was a solution to their little problem, but that did not mean he couldn't hate sand and everything it stood for. Fucking sand.
"Come on out, you fucker! Let's get a good look at your pretty, pretty face!" At least he wasn't the only one being hit by the storm-that Charizard was going to regret his decision to attack them, and what a satisfying thought that was.

((Skip. Having trouble fleshing out a decent post, suddenly went out of town IRL, fun stuff.

Pixy would essentially remain where she was- it'd be riskier to leap out into the open in her mind. Shadow, you have permission to hit with a wing attack, but please no flame burst.))

The poison Eevee was cooperate, that was a start at least. "I can bring it closer with Quick Attack, but unless that thing gets bolted to the ground, not much else," he pointed out. Jasmine agreed but did not dare take her eyes off the smoke as she still hoped for a clean shot to just end the whole mess already. The fire and noise would attract the undead it did not scare away, and they needed to move, fast.. "Toxic and Dig won't be much help if I can't get near the motherfucker." Toxic. That was an idea, if he could aim for the eyes, one of the Pokemon could surely knock it down from there.
"Alright, stay by me. When there's an opening, aim a toxic at its eyes. If it can't see, it'll instinctively drop, and once it hits the ground, we empty a clip in its ass."
The Haunter also listened to reason, prodding the Persian. "You heard the human? Follow me to safety! That's also valid for everyone here!" As the pair retreated, Jasmine watched Magenton follow, as she had instructed him. He would cover those two until she and Wes could retreat as well.

Empoleon remained off to the side, the smoke in his eyes, but the water forming above his body was growing. Soon enough it would be large enough to send, though Magnezone was also hovering above, along the edge of the flame, but the Charizard did not seem to be taking the bait set. The soldier gritted her teeth. Putting 'Zone in danger was the last thing she wanted, and if he so much as got singed by the flames, the mirror coat/sturdy combination would be broken and it would be much too risky to leave him out during the fight. Wes was just as stumped, the lower ranking trainer with his Espeon out. Surely the fool has SOMETHING better for this than something with only neutral?! Espeon could not even learn thunderbolt, far as she fucking knew. Frustration was making her nearly twitch, whatever was separated from them by the fire only in more danger the longer they were useless.
Without warning, though, suddenly the other trainer barked out with near maniacal laughter. Jasmine rounded on him, her tan eyes alight with anger. Had he finally lost it?! But the man was way ahead of her apparently, snapping a Pokeball from his side. "Hope you like fucking SANDSTORMS asshole!" Throwing the ball, the giant shape revealed itself to be none other than the creature of her nightmares: a Tyranitar. The thing was normal coloured, showing nothing but clean green scales, but as it roared, she involuntarily flinched. Her mind could only flash back to the massive literal demon of the species as it stared her right in the eyes. It got the job done, though, as the smoke was whisked away by the sudden, intense sands. Forcing herself to ignore the now pounding of her heart, Jasmine steeled her expression again and silently turned back to the undead. "Come on out, you fucker! Let's get a good look at your pretty, pretty face!"

She was not fearful as she stared up at the blurred frame of the undead, but turning her back on the Tyranitar made every nerve in her body scream to turn and shoot it. Her mind was suddenly a wild, roaring cyclone of memories, nightmares, and images of how the thing could bite her clean through the neck if it wanted. Jasmine had to resist the urge to grab another pokeball and release Togekiss; the fairy was the only one who knew of her dreams in detail, she would know exactly how to keep the former gym leader calm. But she was the only one who would not thrive in the sand. How weak am I in order to need holding someone's hand, anyway, she snarled in her own mind. That steeled Jasmine's resolve, and the one hand reaching for the Pokeball turned into a fist.
"Mankind, a cesspit of hatred and lies, fight for them and die for their sins." This Charizard was rapidly turning her morbid fear back into irritation."Pathetic humans, your kind is as weak as the day you was born. This world is no longer yours to bare." Jasmine's eyes grew icy cold, and though her heart still beat painfully loud within her chest, she channeled it into her rifle instead. "Either give my brother to me or the Aiveon dies first!" But that caught hr off guard.

"Fuck, how many Eevee are there here anyway?!" Wes' Espeon, the Radeon, now an Aiveon? "Get a clear damn shot!" Jasmine barked at the other trainer, her nerves very clearly showing in the uncharacteristic snapping of her tone. Tyranitar, Charizard, Aiveon, Tyrainitar, Charizard, Aiveon, Tyranitar, Tyranitar, Tyranitar-
"Filth, the lot of you, stealing my brother and giving him to another human! I will burn you all!"
"We're done here," she snarled. The thing was building fire around it. There was no way it was a flare blitz, not with the way it was centered around it's maw. "Magenzone!" The duel type got the order immediately. He shot forward, already shimmering with violet, psychic energy as he set himself between the two humans and the undead. "Come at me!" Jasmine bellowed, taunting the undead, a bait for him to attack.

[ ooc: Actually, feel free to let the flame burst hit Magnezone instead heh The attack would slam into him and completely miss the group; maybe Pixy can try to stop Dracul, deal damage to him, but fail and his attack hits, then gets blown back with the mirror coat? >:3 ]

As soon as the Persian followed him inside, Xander closed the door and locked it. Finally, they were out of harm way, for now at least. The purple ghost checked the place out. Most of the building was still in good condition, exception of the rear wall, where the Onyx' head crashed through. There also was some broken windows, but nothing major. The stairs leading to the second floor were also still standing. However, as the Haunter moved to check it out, a shout from the male human draw him to the nearest window. "Hope you like fucking SANDSTORMS asshole!" Oh, he sent out a Tyranitar. He looked around, and let out a chuckle. "That's dumb. He wants to starts a sandstorm, but we're in the forest. There's not even a single ounce of sa-".
Once again, the roaring sound of the storm raging and the sight of the dust cloud growing proved him that he'd better shut his big mouth before saying anything.

As the cloud grew bigger and bigger to reach the proper status of a sandstorm, the winds made the building cracking, which clearly wasn't built for that kind of environment. As the windows started to clatter and the cloud drew closer, Xander turned around: "Take cover! The windows gonna blow!". He just had the time to float away a little when the great difference of pressure and the winds outside vanquished the window's strongness, and they all shattered in an explosion of glass. The winds and the sand blew inside the building, knocking over whatever furniture there was in the lobby. "Quick Duma, under the stairs!". he hoped that under the stairs they would be shelter at least. The furious roar of the storm blocked any sounds from outside to get to them, so he just assumed that everyone else had a plan of some sort, and they'll just have to wait until the storm settle down.

Unfortunately for the Ghost, the winds were so strong that they starts to suck him out of the building. He grabbed on the stairs in the vain hope that he could remain there still, but the winds were too strong for the gaseous pokémon. He looked in-between the stairs, into the eyes of the Persian and declared: "Don't worry for me. You're much more heavier than me, so you're good. Remain here 'till it's all over and everything will be okay." . That said, he couldn't fight the power of the winds anymore and let go of the stairs, flying through the window and into the sandstorm, leaving a string of profanities as he swirls around in the sandstorms' winds, unknown of what might be waiting for him in there.

As he tumbled around, his claws catched the tip of a charred tree. It stopped his unwanted flight for a short while. However the still burning tree wasn't tought enough to support both the winds and the Pokémon, so it just gave up with a cracking noise, leaving poor Xander to tumble even more into the raging storm.

[[skip; Wes is waiting for a good shot]]

(skip ;;)

Pixy feels the attack to the branch, senses and faintly sees the giant fire undead rushing by. Trying to coax her out… but she knew better. To leap away is to expose every angle. At least here she could eliminate some methods of attack that the thing had.

But she could not sense the swift wing attack, and it landed cleanly on her face, knocking her to the side, and off the branch. She was in shock at first, not thinking that an undead could have so much speed- let alone the precision. She had chalked up the destruction so far to mindless rampage. Another solid thud came, this time to her chest, albeit more of a grazing hit. She shot back to her senses, flapping her wings to rise above the next attack, landing on a toasty, burning branch. As she did, the Charizard became distracted by one of the main group members’ attacks, and ended up simply hovering… a sickening gleam to his eyes. He was going to finish this… and if that hit anyone on the ground, it would likely mean critical injury or death…

Pixy pulled her claws out, and dug them into the base of the burning tree, freeing ash and bark. She lunged forward. Using her paw’s momentum to keep the various dust and ash bits against it, moving towards the undead… “Fuck… [/b]OFF![b]” She all but screamed, snarling as she dove past- and threw the ash and dust at Dracul’s eyes in a mock Sand Attack!

Pixy bounded off a tree, seeing a blond haired woman that seemed to be a leader of the group, or if nothing else, actually fucking doing something, and nearby. "FUCKING MOVE!" Pixy yelled out as she landed a few yards to the left of the woman. Her sand attack helped, in all likelyhood, but the danger was still very much there.

(OOC: Sorry about the bleh post. Shit recently happening made it hard to focus, but I felt I could not skip, that wouldn't be right... sorry >.<)

The Charizard glanced at her but quickly away. What is it planning?! But without warning, a sharp cry hit her ears, causing the trainer to whip around, the barrel of her gun already pulled up and ready. “Fuck… OFF!”

The undead roared in fury, shaking his head as ash assaulted his eyesight. Not even bad.
A seemingly pawed cloud shot out of the fire, through the sandstorm, yelling again, "FUCKING MOVE!" Jasmine jumps backwards, risking another paranoid glance at the Tyranitar before turning back to the Aiveon. "We found what it's other prey was, then," she grunted, but the undead was already having it's own version of a fit.

"KIll, KILL, I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" The Charizard finally released it's attack, but it was aimed at neither Wes nor her Magnezone, instead smashing into the remains of the fire fighting against the onslaught of sand. Jasmine snarled as flames bursted upwards, used as a cover as the undead finally fled for what seemed like good. Crowing to the sky, his words were lost on the trainer as she snapped her head around to address Empoleon.

"Put the fires out!" she barked out, to which the metal penguin nodded. Above him, the swirling vortex of water was a dozen feet tall, poised and ready to go. "Cat, move away from the trees!" she commanded the feathery Eeveelution, figuring that picking it up in that state of adrenalin would end with scratches she did not want to tend to. The whirlpool was released, flying through the air and into the trees then; as Jasmine watched, the fires all went out with a long, drawn out sizzle. Within a minute, the water was dumped into the soil, the only sound the sandstorm.

"Return," she called, holding out the Pokeball for Empoleon before holding up another and nodding to her Magnezone. "You did well." Jasmine turned her sharp eyes on the rest of the group. A scared cat, a pissed off cat, a purple cat, the ghost, Wes... well, it could have been worse. "We need to retreat, back where the Haunter went before something new fucking comes by."

While the others could relatively hear themselves well in the sandstorm, Xander could only catch bribes of words here and there, mosly when he passed near someone else. He tried to grip to the branches, but his gazeous body couldn't resist to the pull of the winds, still going strong. The sand in his eyes was also a problem, since he couldn't really tell where he's going. The only thing he knew was that he was hurled in a circle, probably around the eye of the storm. This fact was also confirmed after the infected Charizard released his Flame Burst attack, because the Haunter could feel the hot/cold cycle of temperature. Fortunately for the Ghost, he was getting through the heat so fast that there wasn't any damage done.

Since he was caught in the sandstorm, Xander couldn't see what was around him, but it was clear enough toward the eye of the storm to see what was going on. So, when the vortex of water was held up in the airs by Jasmine's Empoleon, the Haunter saw it. Finally, they would put an end to the forest's fire and maybe even wash that bastard ou, and they could get to the building to get some well deserved rest. The next thing Xander realised, however, was that while the water pillar was in the eye of the storm, the fire was on the outside of it...... and he was right between both. And before he could do anything about it...



"OH SHI-!"


....the Whirlpool attack was released. sending a huge amount of water through the winds, catching the Haunter in the process, and finally crashing down on the flames that were devouring the trees, extinguishing them instantly. As for Xander, he washed on a branch, his body was now heavier thanks to the water covering him. As the water disrupted the wind's flow, he could somewhat hear that the infected beast vanished, and that the group was planning to retreat to the building. Spurting out the water that was in his mouth onto the ground below without checking if someone was under first, the Ghost Pokémon choked on it, before saying: "*cough cough* That's a great idea and all *wheeze* but could you just...stop the winds please? It would be *cough* very appreciated. Thank you. Urgh." With that said, Xander slumped down from the branch to the ground, still a little stunned by the tidal he just received.

Wes wasn't the best shot, so he could only wait as the stupid lizard flew around for a decent shot, which actually never came. Instead, the dragon decided that maybe they weren't really worth his time after all; a relief on everyone else's part. As he raged during his retreat back into the forest, Wes couldn't help but heave a massive sigh. Thank fucking God. Jaz, on the other hand, wasted no time in getting shit together. "Put the fires out!" she barked to her Empoleon, who had already built up a massive Whirlpool. It nodded, obeying without question. "Cat, move away from the trees!" she commanded to the weird feather thing, a pokemon that wasn't even hers. Wes couldn't help himself a small chuckle of amusement-- Jaz could order the trees to shred themselves into paper and then make them feel bad for doing it wrong.

Things settled as the remaining fires were expertly handled and Wes felt a little more comfortable. Returning Vodka, the sands slowly died and Wes dusted himself off for a little while as Jaz barked out more orders once she had her own pokemon tucked away. Whiskey still remained at his side, wary of the newcomers that were apparently evolutionary cousins. "We need to retreat, back where the Haunter went before something new fucking comes by."

"Speak of the devil..." Whiskey muttered in a low, sarcastic scoff, grabbing Wes' attention to the shadow moving out from the trees. "*cough cough* That's a great idea and all *wheeze* but could you just...stop the winds please? It would be *cough* very appreciated. Thank you. Urgh."

Wes snickered and pushed his goggles back up. "You shoulda' stayed where you were, buddy," he chuckled as the last of the sands died down completely. "Why'd you come back out after you got shelter?"

(I'm sorry, but please skip me.)

"Cat, move away from the trees!" Cat? Fucking, CAT? SERIOUSLY? This may not be the thing to notice in this situation, but come on now! Either way, Pixy retreats to be at the ape- er, human’s side. Same thing, RIGHT? As she did, there was an Empoleon above that was apparently in charge of the massive swirling whirls of water. It splashed down, sizzling and evaporating at first, but the extreme amount of water quickly prevailed over the burning flames’ heat.

”Ok, the fire’s out… The fucking undead is gone… and I’m rather confused. What the actual FUCK is going on?” Pixy was starting to calm down just a bit, though something stuck with her. "And seriously? CAT? I am an Aiveon, thank you very much! I mean, that’s like calling you an ape!" Much better. Just had to get that one off of her chest.

Taking a look around, there was actually quite a bit of damage done- Pixy must have come in towards the end of the exchange. "Feh… One hell of a way to spend the afternoon. Are you guys all ok? Anyone injured?” Pixy was concerned, moreso now that the fight or flight- or in her case, fight BY flight reaction was calming down. Finding humans was probably one of the best things that could have happened. She hadn't seen too many before, but she knew that they would have supplies, and were a force to be reckoned with. But what were they using as weapons...? She hadn't seen those before.

(skip me for this round. Just assume that Xander is pouting at Wes for his snarky remark.)

Duma looked out the window, her eyes wide as she watched the battle rage. She turned away and tiptoed around the Onix's corpse, huddling down at the back of the shelter, away from the door and as far away from the corpse as she could get. "Hope you like fucking SANDSTORMS asshole!" Sandstorms? Wasn't that a thing that only happened in deserts? "That's dumb. He wants to starts a sandstorm, but we're in the forest. There's not even a single ounce of sa-" It seemed they were both proved wrong as sand began to pelt the windows, making small cracks along the glass.

Duma's eyes widened and she began to back away quickly. "Take cover! The windows gonna blow!" Well, she didn't have to be told twice. Duma scampered away from the windows, watching as Xander floated over, grabbing onto the poles of the staircase. "Quick Duma, under the stairs!" Diving down under the stairs, Duma huddled down, shutting her eyes tightly against the sand. "Don't worry for me. You're much more heavier than me, so you're good." She opened an eyes to glare at the ghost. "You know, I could take offense to that!" She yowled, her claws gripping the cement as she tried to ignore the sand. "Remain here 'till it's all over and everything will be okay."

While she wasn't too fussed on waiting, she would do so, at least until things calmed down. The cat looked up at the ceiling, sighing heavily (which then turned into a coughing fit because sand got caught in her throat). "What have I gotten myself into?" She asked no one, keeping her blue eyes on the door to look out for the others when they returned.