The UNION Team

The horrible presence disappeared before she reached the other side. Gone. She was too late to help Seruru. Somebody had beat her there.. and as she crawled through, to the surprise of noone, she saw a familiar Houndoom. Of course. Disregarding him, she hurried over to Seruru. He seemed on the verge of collapse, wounded, exhausted.. Relieved, apparently. Help has arrived..

With.. some effort, Claire lifted the exhausted Riolu over her shoulder ((And Cell was okay with this OTL)) and had turned to head off to the rest of the group when something BIG emerged from the water. She looked at their new opponent, an undead Lapras, and shrugged. "Die alone," she muttered before scurrying off, leaving Lostcall to fight and/or die alone.

As the Infected fell to the floor, and curled up into a sphere before him, Seruru suddenly felt incredibly weak. All of his energy had gone into keeping himself spry during the fight, but now that it was over, he was spent...

Panting softly, he fell against a rock, and heaved a few heavy breaths, before sliding to the floor, "Good..." he panted again, "...Work..." he wheezed.
Just when he thought the job was done, however, and Seruru felt safe to close his eyes... A song rang out throughout the cave.

His heart sank, and he pried his eye open to see a Silhouette climbing across a body of water in the distance. A thick fog was emanating, and the song sounded familiar almost like...
...A Perish Song...

Seruru clenched his teeth, and tried to get to his feet... but he just, hadn't the energy. The water had been so rough to move through, and what energy he had left, he spent to the full extent of his energy and more. He couldn't even run on adrenaline anymore... he was going to die.

But just then, something seized him, and began pulling him away. It's Aura was familiar, and almost concerned...
It was the Kirlia.
Seruru couldn't croak protest, he was too weak to struggle and too broken to speak loudly. Instead, he wheezed "Thank you...", before closing his eyes, and passing out.

The Flareon was curled up in the shadows, but Linger was in no way asleep. She didn't need that anymore, Linger never really got tired anymore, a huge benefit to support some of the cons of infection. What the Flareon really was doing was lying in wait for prey to come into her sight, it seemed that living things were no longer common in this cave anymore. A shame; Linger enjoyed staying in this cave, she didn't want to leave unless lack of prey drove her out. What if Shiver returned, and Linger was not there to meet him? Linger snarled at the mere thought of that happening....until something else drove Shiver out of her mind. It was a living, breathing Zubat, unaware that Linger was planning to kill it. The bat's breathing was laboured, and it had deep wounds in its stomach...Linger knew that would make it so much easier to kill injured. The Flareon got up, and in the instant the Zubat heard her, Linger had already slammed it to the ground with the assistance of Quick Attack. The Zubat unleashed the most horrible screech that sounded like it was coming through broken speakers to Linger; her ears had been torn up well by Shiver, and now her hearing was slowly fading. With a fierce, flaming bite from Linger, she silenced the Zubat by tearing out its throat, then proceeded to eat the rest of the annoying little thing. Wasn't much, but it was, at least, something.

Now Linger, again, had to search for more prey. One little bat wasn't enough to fulfill an undead's desires, and the Flareon stalked off into the shadows, going into a deeper level of the cavern. It was the place she had stayed before, the place where she had met Shiver, quite nostalgic. She was aimlessly wandering around when a faint cracking noise met Linger's ears. Hoping for more living, she set off as quick as she could without being able to run. When Linger finally found what was making that annoying cracking sounds, she found herself transfixed in the destruction of what looked like a chandelier. It was breaking, the cracks getting bigger and bigger as time passed. There was a shattering of glass and the chandelier hit the floor, the limbs creaking in what was loud to anyone else, but barely quiet to Linger. At the end, the chandelier became a ball of metal, and the flame inside of it died. Linger did not pick up the single word the chandelier had said in its passing, but she did notice what seemed to be living...and approaching them was the undead Lapras of this particular floor. In a vague sense of glee, Linger hide herself again...if they were attacked by the Lapras, Linger would be glad to help, and get some more prey for herself.

Only the strong could linger, after all.

He had learned early on in the time of the epidemic that being lost in a strange location was absolutely no fun at all. This cave being no exception. When Lostcall had run off to chase after the kirlia, Theo had gotten lost on the way, these echoing caverns made it impossible to discern where the footsteps where coming from , and his nose kept getting interfered with rotting meat from past victims. He hated being alone again, he had grown so use to being around living pokemon so suddenly, that being away left him feeling empty. His paw now returned to its comfortable place in his mouth, he was now wearily walking deeper into the cave, too afraid to yell out, yet stupid or brave enough to go looking for his only friends.

It was hard navigating through the cave when it was this dark; not having Ena around to light up the path was making things much more difficult. That was how he ended up on the ground, his foot had caught on something, sending him plummeting to the floor. Without the able use of his eyes, he used his only free paw to figure out what it was that he tripped on. It was soft, and cold, but worst of all it was slimy. Too afraid that he might have stepped on a slimy pokemon, Theo stayed motionless for a few minutes, seeing if this thing would move any second. He finally let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding when another poke left the object motionless.

During those moments of fear, waiting to see if his fate was finally sealed, his eyes gradually began to grow used to the dark. The outline was very familiar, and it seemed to be lumpy on some ends, it was most notably a human, the previous fear and aversion of his life before the crisis, now rendered useless upon death. He knew he should hate it for their kind killing his father for his fur, but the mask of death brought remorse to him. It was a male, but he had never been around them long enough to know how to tell them by age, or other features, the only thing that was notable about this corpse was that it had a bag, similar to the one he was carrying that the houndoom had abandoned, the only difference was that this new one was full of things.

He was not able to clearly see what was in it at this moment, but it had lots of things, he could feel a few of these slim circular things with a hole in the middle, some round containers, and some human clothing. Abandoning his old bag for this new one, Theo warily stepped away from the body, wondering as he stepped towards the eerie darkness, if some random pokemon will find his body while stumbling through the dark…..

((Skip me, I can't do much right now >.<))

Kirlia ran through the caves, Seruru over one small shoulder. Lostcall was now forgotten; he would die fighting or find them later. She now worried about finding the others: Ena and Theo were alone out here somewhere, and none of them would last much longer here. Everyone needed to escape NOW.

Seruru could be heard mumbling in his unconscious state, murmuring apologies to Pokémon that weren't there, and mimicking flinching. It wasn't clear whether he was having a Nightmare, or merely having flashbacks. Regardless, he continued to to be carried by the Kirlia, his body fragile and unable to resist.

The small green one had run off with a blue creature, leaving the Houndoom to face the Lapras and possibly die. The coward did not deserve to live, and Linger ran after it by using Quick Attack, her paws hitting the floor and echoing throughout the cave. The Houndoom would be for later, if it managed to kill the Lapras all alone. Alone. She couldn't remember the feeling, but that had always been her. Alone. Now the living that had run away would die alone for abandoning what had to have been its friend. Die alone. Linger continued to follow after the fleeing Pokemon, she could barely hear its heartbeat and could also follow it by scent....the smell death and decay no longer had a meaning to the Flareon, and she ignored it. The living creature continued its flight through the cave with a blue thing over its shoulder, and when Linger was only a few feet behind it, she unleashed a Fire Blast straight at the thing. Scorching-hot flames that burned at Linger's throat, causing the decay to accelerate. They will all die....ALONE!

((OoC: Sorry for the short post. Linger was just chasing after Aidan and Seruru, then attempted to Fire Blast them. XD))

Cecil had traveled a long way from Orre, having being snatched by a flying type to the region. She had landed near the Union Cave entrance and was now walking through the dark, dank caverns. The deeper she walked the more sounds she could hear. The Mienfoo could hear footsteps, fast, sprinting ones far, far away.

Cecil, worried it may be a living fleeing from an undead, sprinted from her place towards the footsteps, to only catch a glimpse of a Kirlia with a Rioulu over it's shoulder running for it's life from a undead Flareon. The Flareon unleashed a strong Fire Blast and Cecil yelped. She could feel the heat from where she was, metres away. Without thinking, she unleashed a Stone Edge against the infected, hoping it would help.

Darkness, one would think that after being in it for so long that one would grow accustomed to it, this was not the case at the moment. Each step he took, Theo could only imagine himself stepping off the edge of a bottomless chasm, never to be found again. Yet with each timid foot he took, both a sigh of relief about being safe and a new fear that the next step would be the last would wash over him. He may a large Ursaring in appearance, but he could not seem to shake off the fears, the ignorance, and the mindset of a Teddiursa. He had assumed that upon evolving, all would come naturally, but he was still the same fearful Teddiursa, just in a larger body, and he hated that.

The new bag was heavier than the previous one, it kept trying to slide off his shoulders, he had no clue how humans managed to carry these things for long lengths. He had half a mind to abandon it, but something inside him told him it would be unwise to leave these…..whatever the heck they were just laying around. He might not know what these things did, but Lostcall or Seruru would defiantly know, they tend to know just about everything involving humans between them.

Walking through the darkness Theo could hear noises, it tends to travel through this echoing cave; lots of grunts, lots of panting, and plenty of heavy footsteps. He knew they were close, yet had no clue as to what direction. And for a while it seemed as if something was passing real close. Fast footsteps seemed to come and go, and heavy breathing suggested they were running from something, and though he was no expert, it sounded like the pokemon ran on two legs, not four, leaving out the possibility that it would be the houndoom. Soon after another pair of footsteps was heard, these were most definatly on four legs, and soon after a strange noise could be heard, most likely an attack. Someone was in danger, and in this maze like structure he could not get to them in time, especially since the path he was on seemed to go deeper into the cave, and lower into the earth. He wasn’t sure if the sound from before was echoing this far deep, or what, but ahead he could hear signs of another struggle. Being paranoid made him sneak closer carefully, and what he saw was Lostcall facing off against a large obviously infected water fiend with no signs of the kirlia or Seruru around.Leaving no chance for questions or formalities.

Placing the possibly delicate bag on the floor, Theo sprang into action, abandoning all fear at the sight of a friend in danger as he launched a series of Fury Swipes at the beast. He managed to make it bleed, but being undead caused it to not feel much of anything. The water beast simple fired a large water jet at him, knocking the large bear backwards. If he wanted any chance to defeat this thing he would need to somehow avoid that blast of water….


((Every time i try to make my posts short, this happens.....))

Fire.
Claire tripped, dropping Seruru to her side as she hit the ground, flames roaring over her head, scorching her back. She screamed and tried to turn to get a look at what had attacked..
An undead Flareon approached them, looking quite hungry.. until a stone spike broke from the ground near it. A strange, biped Pokemon had appeared nearby, and seemed to be challenging this fox.. thing?
Ah well. Help had arrived!

As Seruru dropped to the floor, he rolled across the stony surface, and sprawled out on his back, his chest rising and falling as he slowly recovered from his previous battle, though at a very slow rate.
He was incapacitated, naturally. But the darkened aura of the infected almost lured him from his sleep...

He groaned, as though he were experiencing a Nightmare, and curled into a ball within the shadowy confines of the cave.

[OOC: Skip me please. Too angry to post.]

((Sorry, but please skip me also....))

((Skip me as well, will do a fight scene next post.))

((Confound this skip-fest
It drives me to not be able to post))

(Being unconscious has provided very little posting material for me, too. So I guess I'm joining the Skips brigade.)

[OOC: C-c-c-c-combo breaker. Lmao.]

The Flareon had gone away, and the Mienfoo sighed with relief. Quietly, she hopped towards the Kirlia, a bit nervous. "A-are you alright?" Cecil asked. "M-my name's Cecil. It's a pleasure to meet you." She looked towards the Riolu. Was he alright as well?

She hopped towards the fellow fighting-type. "Hello? Are you okay?" the Pokemon looked like he was in a nightmare.

Theo was at a disadvantage here, this water pokemon specialized in mostly long ranged it seemed, while Theo on the other hand…..he knew only close combat attacks…He would need to dodge all the attacks coming at him or be pushed all the way back from the force just to even get close enough to try to attack the thing. Not to mention he was having enough trouble dodging the water guns, he had gotten wet already, he wasn’t planning on doing that again.

All this time analyzing might be good for some, but in truth Theo was just using it to stall, he was worried about going head in again, knowing it would just end in failure. With a big sigh, the big bear said screw it, this thing wasn’t planning on just letting him run now, and even if he did lose, he wasn’t going to let it have an easy meal. Picking up a boulder nearby, Theo chucked it at the water undead, and of course it was able to divert it by firing a powerful water gun at the rock, but it provided the moment he needed, with the boulder as a diversion, the faint attack was a success, it allowed him to get up close to attack. But a faint attack would not be all he did, using a flurry of slashes, Theo attacked the lapras relentlessly, thinking he may be able to take it down fast. An ice beam head on immediately put a stop to him though.

With his entire left arm and part of his torso frozen, Theo was in trouble.

((had to look up how faint attack works >.<))

Luke couldn't handle this Lapras for much longer, though it was an ice type, it had water type attacks, and if he got hit with one more hydro pump, he was sure to be done for. Even with Theo helping him out now, he couldn't get over the fact that the Kirlia just abandoned him. He understood if it was just to get Seruru to safety, but just to leave him like that, if he managed to survive, he was going to seriously hurt that Kirlia.
Managing to dodge yet another Ice Beam, Luke fired a Dark Pulse at the Lapras. He managed to hit it just below the head. It out another horrendous screech before countering with another Hydro Pump.
Theo seemed to be doing all right, but he didn't know how long that would last. The big guy seemed to be more of a close range fighter then a long range like Luke. Luke was bleeding pretty badly in his right side after taking a direct hit from on Ice Beam from the beginning of the battle. Though it had very little effect, it still hurt like crazy. He turned back to Theo and shouted at him. "We have to retreat, I don't think we can manage to win like this." He called as he turned and made a run for the exit.

He stood at the entrance as he waited to see what Theo would do. If he was smart he would run as well. Luke's trainer always told him that if the enemy is strong, then you should run to fight another day. But if the big bear was crazy and stayed and fight, then Luke would stay and fight with it, even if it meant the end of his life. But he would still kick that Kirlia's butt even if he was no longer alive.

"Run.."
The Kirlia slowly dragged her small body off the ground.
"Escape.."
She turned to look at the.. new pokemon. What was it? She'd never seen one before.
"Take him. We need to go."
She looked down at Seruru.
"Can you carry him?"

(My internet is going crazy- I'm gonna have to skip this turn, sorry.)

Due to internet issues/a post not going through the day before, the harbinger attack is called off.

The young Butterfree fluttered through the cave in fear. Clara was naturally paranoid in the dark, and being in a cave like this did not help at all. Clara just hoped there weren't any infected around... those monsters scared her to death(nearly.) Maybe she wasn't alone in this cave...

Voices. She heard voices. Not wanting to be alone for another second, she followed the voices. Two Pokemon she couldn't reconize, one was green and white, and the other was blue. Wounded. O-Oh! The Butterfree put a Safeguard around the two. A-Are you ok?

His left arm and part of his torso was frozen…..His mind kept repeating it over and over in his head….Frozen……It would not stop, it was making it hard for him to think about anything else, no matter what, it lead back to being frozen. Little by little it started to drive the bear into a frenzy, he was frozen, and that water pokemon had frozen him. He didn’t know why, but it angered him beyond reason, he knew he was supposed to run, to flee before he got killed, but his frozenness kept coming to mind. He could hear Lostcall calling for him, but his mind could not process the words, it was still on him being frozen. It kept repeating in his mind over and over again, driving him insane till eventually, all in a few moments, he snapped.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKING BITCH!” The normally calm and peaceful Ursaring no longer had control of his temper; every small fragment of anger was suddenly amplified. “YOU, DOG, YOU WANNA RUN YOU PUSSY ASS DOG!? THEN RUN!” Apparently he had heard Lostcall, but he could not control himself, these words kept spewing out of his mouth, he had heard them before, but his mother had taught him better than this, he would never willingly say them, and yet here he was saying it to a very close friend and mentor.

With a sudden roar, the bear ran at the water fiend, a powerful water gun hitting him square in the chest, the previous ones had sent him reeling backwards, but for some reason, the bear was able to stand strong, using his frozen parts to cushion the attack like a shield as he slowly walked against the raging current, slight cracking of ice could just barely be heard over the rushing of water. Every step he took, his anger kept boiling more and more, it was like a disease, it was spreading with time. When the bear got close enough it unleashed a powerful slash attack straight to the face of the lapras, skin and flesh coming off and sticking to the non-frozen arm. “DON’T. YOU. EVER. FUCKING. FREEZE. ME.” Each word punctuated with another slash to the face, it was becoming a ribbon of mangled flesh, but the lapras seemed undisturbed by it, it was only ever so slightly in pain. The Ursaring managed to do a lot more damage, but the fight was definitely not over yet.

((Had this idea for Theo for some time now, to give him an anger management to go along with his Guts ability, though it seems like it came across more as a split personality >.<))

((and think i might use that default image whenever Theo goes into "Guts Mode"))