The ILEX Team

Rain still slept even after being thrown against the well's wall. The Barboach doll lay in a small puddle next to Rain, the old blood that was caked on it was being washed away by the water. As Rain dreamed, he continued to hear his mother's voice although it was somewhat different than before. Her personality seemed to have changed into something different--something more angry and malicious. This alternate personality made a part of Rain's heart burn with ferocity and fury without him ever knowing why. He felt as if he was angry at everything and anything that walked or lived. This feeling, however, would come and go as he slept. Rain would at some moments feel like tearing something apart while at other moments he felt like himself, and, at some point, all of these alternate beings of himself split into two things within his dream.

The setting of his dream was outside the laboratory in which he lost his mother. Everything was as he remembered it that day: the ventilation hole in the wall, the color of the walls, the evergreen trees before him, the small trail between the bushes, the muddy ground, the lightly falling rain upon his head, and even the puddle which he saw his reflection in. As he remembered, he looked at his reflection in the puddle before him and cried; however, something changed as his tears made ripples in the puddle before him. Rain, ending his tears, saw a strange color in the puddle as the ripples began to cease; it was a color so familiar to him although he had seen it in his vaguest memories. As the aqueous image settled, Rain saw a creature much similar to him; but there was something different about this one. He could tell at once that the one he saw was not a boy but a female that was much older than him. Rain looked up from the puddle and gazed at the face of the one before him. He noticed that the female had colors of red on her where Rain had spots of blue on himself such as on the tips of his ears. The tail was different because it resembled that of a cross while Rain's tail was that of a straight line.

After moments of silence, Rain reluctantly asked the strange female before him, "Wh--Who are you?" The female did not reply but stood in silence. Rain asked the same question again but a little louder with, again, no response. The female continued to stare at Rain with indifference. As Rain placed his hands on his lap, he noticed that one of the hands of the female was behind her back. Drops of blood fell from her concealed hand. "A--Are you hurt? A-a-a-are you okay?" Rain asked, terrified at the sight. The red Minun slowly began to move her arm from her back. Suddenly, the puddle in front of Minun began to change color from its muddy, brown state to a thick red. Rain shot his gaze at the puddle before him in fright. "Blood!" Rain screamed as he awoke from his nightmare. The water of the well flew all over everyone as he burst up from where he laid. With the shock of seeing a curled up dog in the corner covering his face and the dog with his chest cut open, Rain stood with his mouth agape in surprise as the others stared at him. He slowly reached for his small doll that was on the ground next to him and picked it up. He tightly clutched the doll in his hands as yellow sparks began to form on his cheeks. This should hold them at bay, Rain thought, noticing that everyone, except for the phantom, was soaked. He began to lower his electrically charged tail into the water in which the whole group sat.

Mint was truly shocked by the turn of events with this whole deal with the Mightyena, Cerberus. The Umbreon was tearing his face apart, yelling at the others not to look at him, clearly anguished. Mint had been right about not looking upon his face when the Umbreon had lost that mask of his, and now the Umbreon wearily walked away from them, apparently wanting to leave their presence.
"Whoever and whatever all of you are...you can stay here...any of you hurt anyone, and I'll fucking kill you."
To be threatened by her new ally was even more shocking than the Haunter's outrage. Something in Mint's mind told her the Umbreon was not speaking empty words, but rage bloomed in her chest. She was sick of all these threats, this hostility between them all, and the indifference of the Spiritomb. But then the Haunter who had been so angry before returned....Mint could tell there was regret in his voice, and he had confirmed her guess on Plague having scars. She knew about scars, Mint had them too, why was the Umbreon so afraid of them seeing those scars?

Mint knew she had to find the Umbreon and try to convince him not to be so agonized about his scars. She knocked her own mask, the Mightyena skull, off her face, revealing her missing eye and deep scars on the other side of her face.
"Think you're the only one with scars?" she asked Plague, her voice defiant yet still gentle. "Don't be afraid of them." The Espeon wondered if she should go to the Umbreon, but that didn't seem like the best idea.

(Short post!! D:)

All this rage...all this lack of trust between each other. The Fear. It amused Ermac, although it was nothing. He has lived far too long and far too many lives to know what suffering would be. As he, delightful, was looking over this show between Dark and Ghost types, he felt some strange energy...Someone was slowing rising from it's slumber. As his eyes moved towards the small Minum he saw it's body become covered in electricity.

Many of Ermac's minds were staring at the Minum, delightfully, imagening different sorts of torture over the foolish attempt of a warning for everyone to stay away. His grin grew wider as a few of his orbs started to glow...A Curse would be fitting for this pokemon to know the true meaning of true power... But his attentions were driven away.

"Think you're the only one with scars?"

He looked at the Espeon. It had knocked it's own skull mask off revealing horrible injuries and even one of it's eyes missing. Indeed it seemed that it suffer great pain...But was it enough to compare? "Your friend might had suffered pain...You might had suffered pain...Question is from all of us, who suffered the worst? Think well about it...Being a creature with a Psychic nature We believe you can come up with a simple conclusion. Although...Certain others eventually seem to be too selfish to be able to understand such matter. We are all different but we are all the same. If a team works well...it will be one of the same."

Ermac tried to make the Espeon understand that it's not who suffers the most...it's not what we have different...It's how we handle each other that is important. If differences are put aside and a team is able to work together as one, if many work toether for one single goal, they will nulify each other's weakness and be able to acomplish what they wish...Just like a Spiritomb...Just like Ermac. But will anyone learn this lesson? Well...That is for them to decide and Ermac to watch with delight.

"Urrghhh.... My headache didn't get away, but... er... well..... I'm truly sorry for what happened earlier. I shouldn't had acted like that, but you know, because of...Ruby..I just..." The Haunter muttered, coming from the wall near him. Plague was somewhat surprised to see the ghost.
I didn’t think he’d forgive me…
Plagues’ ears fell even lower as Rubys’ name came up. His face grew dark as he remembered the Milotic getting taken down by the Gyarados. Xander began to weep quietly as he opened Plagues’ bag.

"You seems to have open wounds that need to be banded. Please, allow me to try to band them, after all, I'm responsable of this." The Haunter muttered through his tears, pulling out a roll of gauze. Plague could feel the blood dripping down his face, but he couldn’t bear the idea of taking his mask off again. Fear gripped him as he recoiled, protectively covering his mask with his paws.
“No, I can’t do that! I’m-I’m fine.” Plague said, defiantly.

"I already saw your scars and I'm not afraid by them. They're just flesh wounds after all. If you think that we could confond you with an infected, don't worry. I know that you're a great comrad, and I can surely tell you that you have nothing in common with that THING, so please, forgive me my brutal anger and let me help you out." Confused and shocked, Plague settled back down and looked at Xander. He looked away, trying to hide his tears.
At…least…he trusts me…
The Mightyena, who had once been ruthlessly attacking the Haunter, was now calmly speaking with the Espeon, who seemed preoccupied.
He is probably as confused as I am…
Suddenly the Espeon sat up, clearly flustered, and knocked off her mask, revealing a scarred face and missing eye. Plagues’ eyes grew wide.
"Think you're the only one with scars?" she said quietly. "Don't be afraid of them."
He looked down, unsure of what to say. His heart ached for her and what she must have endured, but she didn’t understand why he was so terrified.
I am one of them…just as the Mightyena is…
It is more than scars…I’m a monster…
The creature known as Ermac intervened, speaking with the Espeon.

Sighing, he turned his gaze towards Xander again.
“Thank you…” he said gently, turning away from the others. He slowly put a shaking paw up to his mask, about to take it off, when he heard a small voice start screaming.

“Blood!” the Minun screamed, splashing water everywhere. The mouse pokemon carefully picked up his toy and began to spark with electricity.
What the hell is wrong with this one! Plague thought, startled, as he saw it move its’ sparking tail towards a puddle.
Shit, he’s gonna electrocute us all!
“Whoa! Kid, we’re not gonna hurt you!” He shouted, leaping up.
“…It’s safe here…no need for that…” He said, motioning towards the puddle.
Plague realized that he was in an intimidating stance. Lowering himself to the ground and flattening his ears, he tried to get the Minun to stand down.
“If you want to leave…you can…but there’s monsters out there…here, at least we can stick together…have better chances at surviving.” He said, voice hoarse, staring at the Minuns’ face.
“Your choice.”

Xander was relieved that even with all he said before, Plague wasn't mad at him. Plus, he seemed to understand the situation. A faint smile was on Xander's face when Plagues started to remove his mask: "Finally, he seems to had overcame his fear!" Xander thought for himself.

He was about to band the Umbreon's wounds when a single word stopped him. "BLOOD!". Xander recognised that voice. The little Minum, that trouble maker, had awaken from his sleep. What he was up to again? Xander saw him hanging hia tails dangerously over a poodle of water, in which all the Pokémons here were. Xander was ready to deal with it again, much violently this time when Plague urged the Minum to stop, and to think twice before doing anything. Xander was about to object and vigorously protest, and probably fight, but he decided to let it go, probably because it was the right thing to do, for now. The least he could do was to let Plague deal with the situation himself, since his earlier try was a complete failure.

Cerberus let out a sigh as the Espeon simply ignored him to go over to talk to the Umbreon. His ears drooping as he sat alone at the far edge of the well as the others gathered around Plague. He started to think that maybe it was a good thing he couldn’t remember what had been happening these past few months, the though would probably leave him even more miserable then he already was.

The Mightyena’s ears twitched when he heard someone shout blood. He turned his head to see the Minun scared and sparking. His eyes went hide as it started to lower its tail into the water in which everyone was sitting. He stood up fast, not having the slightest clue on how to deal with it. The Umbreon seemed to be the leader of this small group, so maybe it had an idea on how to deal with it, at lest he hoped so anyway.

Mint hastily put the skull back on her face as the gray Minun began to freak out over something; she didn't want to scare him with her scars. Thankfully, Plague was able to calm the young one down.....and Mint knew he was completely right on sticking together. Alone, none of them had a very good chance of surviving for long, especially the Minun. But in a group, they had better chances, this Mint knew from her own experience. "I agree with you," she said to Plague, "We are better off if we're together." Remembering the Mightyena, and realizing she had completely ignored him with the whole incident with Plague and Xander, she turned to the wolf Pokemon. "I apologize for ignoring you," Mint told Cerberus, "But I only arrived here recently, and I don't know the whole story of what happened between you." Mint sighed, there was simply too much going on for her to actually understand completely, but then the Spiritomb spoke to her.

"Your friend might had suffered pain...You might had suffered pain...Question is from all of us, who suffered the worst? Think well about it...Being a creature with a Psychic nature We believe you can come up with a simple conclusion. Although...Certain others eventually seem to be too selfish to be able to understand such matter. We are all different but we are all the same. If a team works well...it will be one of the same."

The Spiritomb's words were rather confusing, so Mint took a minute to ponder it. We all have experienced pain....physically and emotionally....but we can't get caught up in pain and mistrust. Mint reflected, If one doesn't trust another, this whole 'sticking together' thing falls apart.... Mint knew what she had to say to everybody now. "What I think now," the Espeon began, "is that we can't go around hating and not trusting each other. We've all suffered, and we don't all see eye-to-eye on everything. But if we only think of the differences between us, we're going to get killed. We have to work together, and put all those negative emotions aside." The Espeon went up to Xander; now was the time to address him. "You said you were almost killed by Cerberus, correct? That's why you got furious, and I understand that. But look at him now, he's not attacking, and that's the main thing about it." Mint paused a minute to catch her breath, she'd said a lot of words in these past minutes. "We need as many allies as we can get in these times."

The Minum has calm down...Ermac seemed displeased by the lack of opportunity to kill or torture the foolish electric mouse that attempted to make a threat to his unlife and the life of the others...But oh well...more opportunities shall arrise.

The Espeon stood up and started speaking, she seemed that she understood his moral. Ermac smilled as he heard the espeon's words like if it were music. Hopefully the others will understand what they must do...if not...well...The grinning orbs that floated around Ermac were obviously dying enough excuse to understand this Spiritomb...was much more than just mischief.

The kid stopped surging with electricity and plopped down with a small splash, clinging to his plush.
Plague sighed with relief and got back to his feet slowly.

The Espeon, who had been listening thus far walked to his side.
"I agree with you," she said, "We are better off if we're together."
Nodding and smiling faintly, he turned to her.
"Thank you," he paused, remembering that he hadn't introduced himself to them.
"Cerberus...and Mint, right?" He asked, glancing at both of the Pokemon. "I'm sorry about earlier. Now that we are safe...my name is Plague." He said, turning his head to the other newcomers as well, hoping they'd offer names in return.

Mint began to answer the Mightyena, regretfully offering him no answers. Plagues' ears fell as he recounted how all of this began.
"A 'virus' has been killing Pokemon...and it makes them get back up after they die. They turn into killing machines, and don't seem to care who or what they kill and eat." He said softly, looking into the Mightyenas' eyes.
"You had attacked Xander....I don't know how...you managed to regain conscious thought...but you did." Plague sat as he pondered the recent happenings and Mints' words.

Xander was relieved when he saw that Plague finally worked on the Minum, who just lay down in the poodle of water without eletricy everyone. He couldn't understand why his approach had failed. Maybe because he was a Ghost? As he pondered on the question, the Espeon came closer to him.

"You said you were almost killed by Cerberus, correct?" she asked. Xander looked at her, and agreed with a nod, eyeing the Mightyena.That's why you got furious, and I understand that. But look at him now, he's not attacking, and that's the main thing about it."she answered back. Xander didn't liked where she was going with that because he knew what she was about to say, and he not only dislike the idea, but also he knew that she will be right."We need as many allies as we can get in these times." Xander wanted to object, but he knew that it just wasn't the time to argue.

As Plague moved to Mint, the Espeon, and the Mightyena, Xander floated by Ermac' side. With a low voice for the others to not hear it, he said:Remember the possessed Minum I was talking about? (He Pointed the Minum with his head) Feel free to "interrogate" him, as well as the.... (He pointed the Mightyena with a chin movement).

Mint dipped her head ever so slightly as Plague recounted the events of the whole infection, and how Cerberus had become normal even though he was an Infected. Mint wondered why that had happened. "I'm sorry I couldn't say that myself, but ever since what happened to-" Mint started to say to Plague, with a pang as she remembered her Deino friend, "my friends and family, I can't really talk about it anymore." She pondered on how Cerberus became normal as she said it, hoping nobody noticed her voice faltering because she couldn't say Evan's name. "You said he regained conscious thought after attacking Xander. Did anything happen before Cerberus became conscious?" she asked the Umbreon.

(Short post ;-;)

Everyone seemed busy now...Ermac closed his eyes as whispers escaped from his Orbs, they seemed to chat between themselves sometimes in an angry way. Ermac growled for the souls to be quiet...The others might not feel confortable with the constant whispers of the 108 souls.

Feeling a presence get closer, he opened his eyes and looked at Xander, who was standing at his side.
"Remember the possessed Minum I was talking about? Feel free to "interrogate" him, as well as the..."
As Xander talked in a descrete low voice making slight movements towards the Minum and the Mightyenna, Ermac's couriosity grew wider. He closed his eyes again...He had to determinate which of these creatures should he adress to first...

An unstable possessed Minum was quite intriguing and Fascinating...but an infected zombified Mightyenna that had recovered concious was intriguing as well...Oh choices, choices, choices...they were so hard. Specially to Ermac. But soon he will have the answers.

As Mint apologized, Plague saw a deep pain come over her face.
He nodded and lightly nudged her with his beak, not wanting her to think on the past too much.
"No, it's okay...I've lost ones I care for too..." He looked down, his ears and tail falling in sadness. "It seems we all have lost something close to us." It seemed to have helped, as she changed the subject.

"You said he regained conscious thought after attacking Xander. Did anything happen before Cerberus became conscious?"
Plague sat on his haunches, looking over at Cerberus and tried to recall what had happened.
"Xander had gone up to fight him, the kid over there fell down the well...I took him into the cave, then went to help the Haunter...but I heard howling from up there- one of a victorious kill, and I found him about to kill Xander."
He paused, unsure. Can a Haunter be killed?
Shaking his head slightly, he continued.
"Before he had the chance, I tackled him...but then he couldn't get up...and started talking."

Xander was intrigued by the conversation Mint and Plague had, especially because the subject of it was when he was unconscious. Plague described how he saved him that time outside. But Xander was surprised and almost dissapointed by how. It couldn't just be that, Plague tackling the Mighthyena and that's it. No, there must be something that evade them all... But what?

Xander recalled the encounters they made with infected. There was a total of three: The Gigantic beast in the woods, the Sea serpent that took away Ruby, and the Ceberus incident. Xander tried to recall the events in their totallity: How it began, Where they were, What they did....

What they did........
Something like a vague idea began to take form in the Haunter's mind.

"Say Plague" Xander started, "Is it correct that, in the encounters we had with infecteds, the Mighthyena was the only one you actually touched?" As he waited for the answer, he added: " Also, I'm kinda hungry right now. If someone could offer his or her dreams, that wo-" Xander frozen in mid-sentence. " That's it!" he said, snapping his fingers. "If I can acces his dreams, maybe we can have a clue of what happened!"

Mint was left to ponder on this new information, wondering how the infected Mightyena had simply just regained his senses out of nowhere. However, Xander's suggestion was as close as a solution as they'd ever get, even if she was pretty uncomfortable when it came to eating the dreams of others. But if it solved the mystery of Cerberus and prevented him from losing his senses again, it would be worth it. That was a special rule of such occasions....to gain something, you had to give something in return. And that 'something' happened to be dreams. "I think it's the best plan we've got right now," Mint admitted in a slightly apprehensive voice, telling that she didn't like the idea but knew it had to be done.


(Short....again ><)

(OCC: Skip me please. I'm having writters block...Ermac is just trying to control his souls)

Xander was right; Cerberus changed as soon as he tackled him, but Plague was apprehensive about the Haunters' continuous hunger and need for dreams. The thought made shivers run down his spine as he recalled the one he was trapped in when they were in the forest. He had felt completely exhausted after he had woken up; almost to the point of passing out again. If it weren't for the berry Xander had provided, he probably would have.

Glancing at the Haunter darkly, he turned and trotted towards the bag he brought with him.
It's not his fault he feeds off of them...it's in a ghosts' nature to do so...He sighed heavily as he rummaged through the contents with his paws. I guess it's better he asked rather than stealing them...and he did help me after...
Amidst the supplies, he found an awakening spray and some sort of potion. Pulling them out one at a time, he noticed a few small disc players. He recognized them as TMs- Toluca had used these machines on her Pokemon. Could I use this? He cringed as he pawed at the buttons of one of them, pressing them until the machine started to glow. Suddenly, a fumble of symbols appeared before his eyes, glowing bright purple, filling his vision. Mesmerized, he watched the symbols fly about him as they slowly came into focus. Then, with a brilliant flash, he felt an indescribable sensation. He felt...smarter.
A new knowledge flooded his mind. One of psychic energy. The Umbreons' eyes grew wide as he took a deep breath and stepped back.
"Wow..." He said with a small grin on his face.
Remembering what he went there to do, he turned to the others. Time didn't seem to pass during the time he had used the TM, because the others were still talking in the same places. Picking up the potion and awakening with his mouth, he carried them over and placed them at the paws of the Mightyena and looked up at him.

"You'll need these if you agree to Xanders' offer." He muttered, nodding towards the meds. "We'll help out if you need it."
Perking his ears, he looked around at the group.

"Oh, there's some supplies in that bag. Feel free to take what you need...we'll save the rest for later."

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Slowpoke Well | Morning(28)

The Haunter knew, by the look the others gave to him when he said how he could find why Ceberus was acting like that, that the solution wasn't really well accepted. Being a ghost, Xander didn't ever minded, it was in his nature to feed from other Pokémon's dreams when he learned Dream Eater. Mint finally agreed, arguing that it was the best they could do for now. Ermac probably didn't even heard, because he's trying to calm his orbs from speaking too much. As for Plague, he walked toward his bag, searching far and wide for something.

Suddenly, a flash of light came from the bag and blinded Xander for a few seconds. Then, Plague was near Ceberus, giving him what he will need to regain strengh after Xander's "manoeuvre". "Seeing that everyone had agreed, let's begin, shall we? Oh, only if he is ready, of course...." Xander said, pointing Ceberus. He moved close to the canine, and added: " I'm not ready yet to not concider you as a threat yet, but if we want to know more about what's going on, well I guess there's no other choice."

Cerberus couldn't believe what he was hearing. The world had gone into turmoil cause of this infection that made pokemon attack one another without reason. And what was more shocking was that he had indeed attacked the Haunter Xander. "T-That's impossible..." This was a lot for him to take in. He was one of those... undead. He took one of his paws and placed it on his chest, where the bandages covered his wound, the X shaped scar that showed no signs of healing. But what scared him more was... he had to heart beat. There was nothing, he was like a hollow shell at this point. He started wishing that this was all nothing but a bad dream, that he would soon wake up and his trainer would be there stroking his fur with that smile that he loved so much. But it was all real, and he had to face it. But the question remained, how is he back to normal?

Cerberus looked up when the Haunter suggested he snoop around his dreams to find out how it happened. He interested on how he came back, but the though of someone he didn't know invading something private like his dreams, it just didn't sit right with him. But Mint seemed to agree with it, and the Spiritomb didn't say anything, but he was sure that it also agreed that this was a good idea. Plague gave him what he would need if he went through with it, but he didn't really want to go through with it, but Xander didn't think to take no for an answer. He let out a sigh as he picked up the items and looked for a more comfortable place to fall asleep. Once he found it and set the items down and curled up. A chill went down his spine as he closed his eyes, but he couldn't really fall asleep right away. Not with everyone watching him. But hadn't really realized how tired he was, that he was fast asleep before he even realized it.

(OOC: Just skip my post. I am very busy this week.)

They were planning entering in the Mightyenna's mind? Oh this he couldn't lose! Ermac would find a way to go with that Haunter. One of his smaller orbs floated out of him and slid closer to Xander, unseen by the others. The orb whispered to Xander as it stayed close to the Haunter.
"Our Curiosity arrises with your choice. Take this soul. It is one of Us. This opportunity of sliding in the psychic nature of one so different can not go amiss by us. Take it with you...With that soul...We will see what You will see."

Ermac's grin started to grow as he started to think of what terrors keep the Mightyenna awake at night...Of it's fears...the pain it suffered...the slaughter it caused. Ooooh it would be so delightful to know such details...His eyes laid uppon the undead creature with delight.

As Cerberus and Xander began to start up their plan, Plague padded off to a small pool of water at the far end of the cave. After looking behind him, making sure the others couldn't see him, he sighed heavily and dropped his mask on the ground next to him. The inside was smeared with blood, and he could only assume his face looked about the same. He pushed the mask into the water and washed all the blood off with his paw. Plague put it on the dry ground when it regained its' deathly pale color.

Wading in a bit, he began to wash himself, wetting his paw and rubbing it against the clumped fur he felt on his face.
"Ow!" He whispered to himself. He cringed a bit as his paw touched the raw cuts that had reopened across his snout. Plague grew uneasy as the water started to turn red. I hope its' clean enough now...at the least, it should stop bleeding.

He was about to shake himself dry when he heard a few rocks falling from somewhere in the cave. He froze in place, ears and tail sticking up straight in the air.
What was that?!
Staying completely still, he listened intently. Not far from him, there was a faint sound of gravel crunching. Plague popped his mask on and went into an offensive stance, his rings suddenly shooting out a vibrant purple light. The cave glowed with the ghostly purple glow as he scanned the area carefully. Shadows played on the walls as his rings pulsated.

"Alright, who's there? Come out or you'll get a shadow ball in the face!"

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Slowpoke Well | Morning (29)

As Ceberus went asleep (which made thing easier to him), Xander was wondering what would lie in the Mightyenna's head. He don't know what to expect, and he doesn't even know if it was completely safe for him. A normal Pokémon can't harm him, but what about an infected mind? Xander didn't thought about that when he first came up with the plan. He was beginning to be a little nervous.

At that time, an orb of the Spiritomb dispatched from the body and floated toward Xander. "Our Curiosity arrises with your choice.". Of course, the Spiritomb wanted to be in."Take this soul. It is one of Us. This opportunity of sliding in the psychic nature of one so different can not go amiss by us. Take it with you...With that soul...We will see what You will see." This.... was a bit creepy to Xander. He knew that Pokémon could like divide themselves, but as far as this? Shrugging, Xander toss the useless though and now moved to Ceberus. Just as he was about tto enter his mind, Plague' shout echoed in the cave. Realising that Plague was away from the others, and that it could be a possible infected in here, Xander decide to wait for the expedition and approached Plague, ready to fight.

((Skip me, I'm really busy right now to post. Just say Cerberus is still in a deep sleep.))