The UNION Team

Dorian moved at a leisurely pace, trying to recall where significantly large trees were rooted as he moved silently towards the fading scent of the kirlia. It was tough being blind, but lust for blood pushed him onwards, yet the current motivation was simply curiosity. As the great reptile grew closer to the pokémon centre, always staying close to the foliage, more scents began to creep into his nostrils. His tongue flicking from his mouth in order to enhance the aromas in the area, Dorian quickly picked up on the scent of the kirlia as well as several other bodies. He was sure there was at least one canine-like pokémon in the vicinity, but what interested him more with the lingering smell of blood. He could almost taste it in the air.

Momentarily distracted by the concoction of smells, the serperior’s slim, bloodied head suddenly made contact with a tree trunk, evoking an irritated hiss from the creature accompanied with the rustling of leaves. Whilst it hardly hurt, Dorian wasn’t prepared to have his location discovered just yet and quickly slithered around the obstacle, stepping up his speed to cause the long grass concealing him to shiver and sway with his movements. He imagined that his movements would go unnoticed unless someone had been closely inspecting the area, and the intensity of the pokemon’s scents made that a likely possibility.

Everyone on the team was in poor condition, the houndoom had cuts on its side, the riolu had a bleeding eye, the kirlia had no energy, and Theo probably got the most lucky, he only had some back pain and a headache. If they were attacked then things would turn bad fast. Theo looked around, Lostcall had left his bag while he looked out towards the entrance, he had offered them all some before the attack started so he thought it would be okay to get a few. He grabbed three, one for thekirlia, one for Seruru, and one for himself; in the adrenaline rush he had forgotten his own hunger.Theo took the berries to the two but did not stay to talk he merely said, “Eat” and he ate his as he went to the back of the pokemon center looking for anything to help.

He found these raised thing that had a soft top, there were many of them lined up in rows, someone once told him they were called beds, but he had no clue what they were for, they had white cloths on top. He pulled one of the clothes off, he figured they could wrap it around the cuts to stop the bleeding or to wipe up any blood they didn’t want on them, it was too late for the blood on his fur, it was already dry. He also went to check out the colored wood the humans used for storage, the cabinets, useful stuff was usually held there. Theo found a metal holding device, it had a handle connected to the part that holds stuff like water, he liked how it looked, it was shiny and reflective, and he could see his reflection in it, though he didn’t like what he saw. He put it on his head to keep his hands free, the only other thing he found was these things, he had no name for them, but it if he shook it he could hear liquid in it, and there was a lever if he squeezed it the liquid would spray out, but it smelled weird and tasted worse. Theo ended up throwing it behind him. When he thought he found all he could he went back to the group. “We can maybe use this to stop the bleeding.”

Luke looked over his shoulder to see Theo holding up bedclothes. Humans used them to keep themselves worm at night as they slept, since the only fur they had was on their head. But they could make pretty good bandages if you ripped them into strips. He used his tail to gesture to Theo to help the others first. He was used to being all cute up, and he needed to keep watch. He didn’t want another unwanted incident happening again.

Luke turned his head toward the forest after hearing something. It sounded like rustling, and he didn’t like it. Rustling meant movement, and movement meant possible infected. He always had good hearing, it was almost as good as his sense of smell. He kept himself ready in case another fight happened, and he didn’t think they were ready for another one so soon. Luke got up to go and investigate the rustling, getting ready to use a Flamethrower if needed.

The Kirlia wandered about the building, searching for something it could possibly use to defend itself, before being distracted and wandering off in search of something else. It seemed to aimlessly stumble around the Pokemon Center, digging through whatever it could find in search of... whatever it was looking for at the moment.

Seruru hesitated before taking the berry, bowing his head in thanks and swallowing it whole. In the adrenaline fuelled fight, Seruru had forgotten about the pain in his eye, but now it seemed more apparent than ever, even if the bleeding has somewhat slowed.
He watched the Teddiursa waddle off again, before bringing back thin white sheets, and being directed from the Houndoom to he and the Kirlia “We can maybe use this to stop the bleeding.”

It was apparent to Seruru already that this Teddiursa, this... Theo, was wise beyond their years. He'd passed Pokémon Centres quite a few times before stumbling upon this group of Pokémon, but he'd never been able to make use of them, too complicated, a place meant to be run by Humans. But Theo seemed resourceful, Seruru knew that'd come in handy. Nodding, Seruru placed a hand over his eye, and smiled faintly, "You're quite resourceful."

Just then, Seruru noticed the Houndoom, LostCall, as he'd called himself, leaving the Pokémon Centre. What on earth was it doing? Was there something outside?

Wedge quieted his cawing as he noticed the Houndoom come out of the Pokemon Center. The Skarmory had been planning on attacking from above to have the preempt, but it seemed it would not be so. Clamping his jaw shut, the Armor Bird Pokemon huddled closer to the tree. His very being screamed at him to attack, but he forced himself to stay put, his eyes twitching with agitation.

The wretched thing was taunting him, that was it. Wedge would attack the Houndoom another time, when it was weakened even further than now, when its gashes had been torn open even deeper. From his viewpoint, Wedge noticed a slim figure slithering through the grass. Squinting his eyes, Wedge wanted to attack this other undead, to tell it to back off. These four are my food! They will give me the blood I need! Go away! But it was useless. Why would they move away? The Skarmory's eyes twitched once more, with frustration this time. I'll take care of this new advisory myself.

Dorian suddenly froze. The soft padding of feet on the earth focused his interest, accompanied with an ever intensifying scent of the canine, as well as blood. It wasn’t completely fresh, but the wound had formed in the last 24 hours and still smelt as enticing as ever. Tongue flicking from his mouth, he subtly repositioned himself to face the direction of the creature where a certain warmth reached his cold, dead body. In that moment, he suddenly launched himself from his hiding place.

Slim head cutting through the air, the blood from his empty sockets dribbling down his neck as he moved, Dorian’s attack was a truly hideous sight. In mid-air, he manoeuvred his body around in a bid to cover the greatest amount of area if the creature had either moved, or his targeting had been slightly off, as it usually was. However, what Dorian hadn’t anticipated was the creature preparing a flamethrower. Having mistaken the heat for the houndoom’s body, rather than an attack, the fire move was a direct hit. Dorian’s body ignited fully as gravity returned to bring him crashing down to earth, the lower area of his coils landing on the canine to momentarily pin the creature down. Searing pain overwhelming him, Dorian let out a maniacal hiss, his green, almost undamaged body suddenly engulfed in ferocious flames, slowly blackening and eating away at his skin. Thrashing about wildly, the pain would have been far more intense for a living pokémon but Dorian still suffered as one of the undead.

In his panicked movements, Dorian’s tail twitched against the foliage he’d emerged from, quickly setting the grass ablaze with every chance of it progressing into a full-blown forest fire. Having momentarily forgotten his initial attentions to secure a meal, the scent of blood once again wafted into Dorian’s burning nostrils. He searched blindly for the source once more and began to rapidly slither in the direction of the pokémon centre, the flames dying down slightly at his movements to reveal charred scales. Dorian was almost unrecognisable now. His tail still remained alight, along with the rapidly shrivelling leafy-area around his neck, whilst the remainder of his body was nothing but a black, gradually flaking mass. His body growing numb, he launched himself through the door of the pokémon centre in a frenzy of movement, clumsily swinging his partially alight body around the room.

It seemed like forever since Theo had been complimented and the person that was saying it didn’t mean it sarcastically. Apparently his find was not as bad of an idea as he first thought. The houndoom of course momentarily refused to have his wounds treated; it was hard to tell if he was acting tough, or if he was genially tough. The kirlia went off wandering around the center, so all that was left to treat was the Seruru the riolu. He was the one to bring up the compliment, going as far as to call him resourceful, it made him feel not so useless considering he had virtually no fighting skills. But fate was not so thoughtful as to let them all get a moments rest, today did not seem like it was going to go well for them.

He had bent over to pick up the sheets he had put on the floor so that he can begin ripping them apart for everyone when he heard the commotion outside. He looked up quickly to go see what was up but the metal thing on his head slide forward a bit and obstructed his field of vision. He feared that the flying infected had come back for revenge and to feast on all of them, but by the time he pulled off the object from his head he witnessed an entirely different infected come crashing through the door. It was apparent that the houndoom had meet with this infected outside the building because the smell of rotting burnt flesh was overwhelming, and the black appearance of it did not look natural. It was barely distinguishable as a grass type, but by the small burning leafs on the end of the snake’s tail revealed its type. Though the most gruesome feature of the infected was the black bottomless holes where eyes should be present. Theo did not how capable it was with it being blind, but the fact that it was still moving showed it was strong enough to survive this long. He didn’t know why he acted, maybe it was that the recent complement had gone to his head, or maybe the idea that since the infected got past the houndoom meaning it had possibly killed his comrade, but Theo leapt into action. Wielding the metal pot that had been on his head seconds ago he thrust it aiming for the creature’s head.

The infected leapt out of the tall grass and was ready to coil around Luke, but just as quick, he let lose his Flamethrower attack, setting the undead grass type ablaze. It still hit him, making him fall over, but he managed to get back to his paws. The infected cried out in pain, but Luke felt no compassion or sympathy for this creature. His face was fixed in a snarl as the infected started to slither off to the pokemon center were the others were. They were still hurt and they didn’t need to be put in any more danger. So he ran after it.

The infected was now at the entrance to the centre, and now a gruesome sight cause of its chard scales and exposed flesh. And since it had no eyes it made it even more terrifying. Luke then noticed Theo attacking the infected with a pot, giving it some good whacks on the head. Luke was glade that it was brave enough to attack it, but he needed to find a way to get the others out while Theo kept the infected busy.

Luke ran over to the others who were now watching Theo beet the Serpierer. “We need to find a way out of here while Theo keeps that thing busy.” He told them as he started to look around for a possible escape route. But he couldn’t see any way out but the entrance, and that way was being blocked by the infected. He growl as he started to think that none of them would be able to get out there.

Kirlia was jolted from its dazed wandering by the hideous, pained cry of the burning Infected. Panicking, the little pokemon began searching again, now for a place to hide. Settling on the remains of the old desk, it ran towards and leapt over the counter and hid away, doing its best to shut out the agony of the great dead beast.

It all happened a little too fast for Seruru to keep up with, Blood loss and the tiring efforts of the last battle had left his natural agility and reflexes with much to be desired.
One moment, the Teddiursa, Theo, he called himself, had been attempting to fix Seruru's wound...
The next, an Undead Snake-creature was breaking into the Pokémon Center. The Kirlia had fled, and though he attempted to seize and stop him, Theo was now leaping into an attack, with a metal pot as a weapon.

"We need to find a way out of here while Theo keeps that thing busy" He heard the Houndoom say. And instantly, his paws clenched. Doing that would most certainly leave Theo at risk, and Seruru doubted Theo could handle this on his own.

He closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing, after it'd become erratic in retaliation to these sudden events.
Then he shook his head, "Lostcall, take the Kirlia and do that. I'm going to help Theo, the last thing we need is another dead Pokémon," and with that, he quick attacked into action, before throwing a Forcepalm into what Seruru assumed was the Pokémon's gut. He owed this Teddiursa for trying to help him anyway, or at least that was what he was raised to believe.

Wedge gave up- the gnawing in his stomach was too much to bear, and the Flamethrower awakened deep memories that the Skarmory did not remember creating. Perhaps... he could share the blood. He spat on the ground. What a ridiculous thing. Wedge would call this a truce with the intruding other for now.

Exploding from the trees, Wedge flew clumsily for a moment, before landing on the roof of the Pokemon Center. "Blood..." Came his ravenous sigh, and the Armor Bird Pokemon let out a Rock Slide, bringing down the ceiling with the impact of the attack. Swinging down from his perch on the rooftop, Wedge landed on the pile of rubble, glaring at the Riolu and Houndoom close by.

With not another thought, the Skarmory lunged toward his victims.

In his complete disorientation, Dorian had hardly noticed the occasional thwack to his head, until the fire began to die down completely. His burnt body now almost entirely numb, he suddenly became increasingly aware of the steady pain on his head – a teddiursa hitting him with some kind of metal object. Hissing aggressively, he suddenly jerked his head away from the attacking creature, bringing it back slightly before aiming to strike, presuming that it hadn’t moved. Just as he lunged forward to sink his fangs into the pokemon, a sudden aching from his gut caused him to divert his attention to another creature that had decided to attack him – leaving the teddiursa unharmed. His head swung round as he dived towards where he believed the pokémon may be, striking the ground a short distance from the riolu. Hissing, irritated, Dorian was growing increasingly impatient and wanted nothing more than to tear these troublesome creatures to shreds.

Wasting no time, Dorian reared back in preparation to launch an attack. The scents in the room were too jumbled to distinguish a particular individual’s whereabouts, so the serperior launched a series of powerful attacks in totally random directions. An attack of frenzy plant suddenly sent a tree crashing through one of the center’s walls and the serperior’s black tail began to glow slightly as he performed iron tail in no particular direction. His frantic attacks were suddenly halted as he picked up on strengthening vibrations from the building’s walls. A combination of alarm and total hate filled the serpent as he looked to the roof with empty sockets. Rocks from the skarmory’s attack began to crash from the ceiling, cement cracking and giving in to gravity as the roof collapsed down on those inside. Dorian felt the weight of a rock crushing down on his coils as he desperately attempted to escape from the building. Having remained relatively close to the entrance at the beginning of the battle, it only took several head-butts to the wall before he finally found his body passed out in the surrounding area – but not without injury. Raw, diseased flesh was exposed along several areas of his body. The rocks that had made contact with his form had successfully ripped patches of scales from his form, as well as the forcepalm the riolu had previously inflicted creating a similar effect. He was sure the canine had successfully broken a number of his ribs too. Hissing, totally lost and increasingly paranoid of the presence of the other creatures, Dorian took this moment to retreat into the long grass that hadn’t been set alight by the houndoom’s attack. Once he could establish the whereabouts of a specific pokémon, he would strike again – this time, with success.

( I wasn’t sure how to describe the attack of frenzy plant and websites say it involves a tree, so I thought having a tree directed towards a target would be sufficient c: )

He had heard what LostCall had said to the others, "We need to find a way out of here while Theo keeps that thing busy", even if It meant that the others were leaving him, Theo felt kind of glad that he was finally being useful. He would distract this burning snake thing however long it took if it meant the others could be safe, he was starting to think that the other would do the exact same thing for him if the roles were reversed. But sadly, even with his new found confidence, it did not make him any stronger, or more experience, the snake had managed to be un-phased by the metal pot, and even found a way to go around it, Theo would have been snake food if it was not for Seruru. The head had stopped mere inches from him, so close that he could smell the foul breath of the rotting pokemon, by a forcepalm from the riolu. He hated how vulnerable he was in this new world, it seemed like he was going to go into a spiral of self-pity, but a pang of pain sprung up from within him. It hurt slightly, but at the same time, it didn’t, he could have sworn he saw a bright light, he figured it was an attack from the snake. But the snake was already busy launching a grass attack involving a tree towards the riolu.

Theo was too busy wondering about the light and feeling that he was barely able to dodge an iron tail from the snake. Though after the dodge the feeling and light came again, this time a lot more painful and a lot brighter, he frantically searched around for the source of the light, but for some strange reason, it appeared to be coming from him. He barely noticed the ceiling collapse, and the snake running away before the light overtook him.



Everything felt strange, it was like everything had gotten smaller for some reason. Theo was barely able to take in the new found feelings, the stronger smells, the louder sounds, and even the crisper images because he saw that the steel infected had come back for them. He was just happy they only had to deal with one infected for now, two would be a huge hassle. The steel type went for the others, Theo had to do something to stop them, he ran to it, somehow he crossed the small distance a lot faster than normal, and readied his scratching attack. And yet again things felt weird, his claws felt longer, and his scratch felt odd, but a good type of odd, it felt stronger, it could barely be called a scratch now, it felt more like a Slash.

((I don’t know what evolving would feel like, I’d assume it’d hurt getting bigger so suddenly, like growing pains all of a sudden. Oh, and he doesn’t know he evolved yet, so things just feel weird to him.))

Looking up as he heard the ceiling give way, Lukes eyes widened as huge stones came crashing through the roof. To stunned to move, one of the smaller rocks hit him in his left eye. He let out a growl of pain as he turned his head away. He lifted up his leg and started to rub his eye, some blood had been drawn and the vision in that eye was now very fuzzy that he could hardly see anything through it, but it wasn’t bad enough that he would lose his sight on that side. Though he wouldn’t be able to see through it for while so he kept that eye closed as to not cause any more damage.

He turned back to see what had caused the wreckage to see once again that retched bird pokemon. “So that Skarmory has come back for more, eh.” The infected Skarmory lunged at them, and he was about to use his Dark Pulse, but just then a pokemon he hadn’t expected appeared and used a Slash attack on it. It was an Ursaring. A bear pokemon that humans tried so hard to not anger cause they always had a short fuse. Luke looked around for Theo but he was no were to be seen, and he also noticed that the other infected has fled. So he looked back at the Ursering. “Theo?” It sounded strange but it was the only thing he could think of. The Teddiursa vanishes and an Ursaring appears out of nowhere. Seemed pretty logical to him.

Just them the Center started to collapse. The Rock Slide had weakened the structure so now the whole place started to come down. “The building collapsing. If we don’t get out now, we’ll all be crushed!” He yelled. Now that the snake infected had gone, the entrance was now open, so they could use it as an escape route. “Hurry!” With that he ran out, hoping the others would get out just as fast.

(ooc: The attack Frenzy Plant does involve a tree, but its more of the trees roots. The roots of the trees spring through the ground and start to attack the opponent. It doesn’t involve an actual tree getting thrown at them. Just though I would point that out.)

Kirlia cowered behind the counter in the dead Center, trying desperately to block out of its mind the combat all around it, and even moreso, the sink of hunger and hate that was the Infected... and it all happened. So very quickly.

Aidan opened its mouth to warn the others.. and the roof started to crumble. Stricken with terror, the Kirlia tried to climb to its feet, to warn the others, but they wouldn't go.. it would only crawl, crawl beneath the solid shelter of the old counter. And so it did. And it all collapsed...

A migraine-inducing psychic scream emanated out from under the rubble.

Everything happened too quickly for Seruru to keep up with.
One moment, he was fighting along side one particularly gutsy Teddiursa. The next, the Pokémon Center was coated in a beautiful glow, and an Ursaring towered above.
"How did he...?" Seruru wondered aloud, as the Infected Fled, and the Pokémon Center began to collapse.

Instinct took over, and Seruru prepared to Quick Attack his way out, as the ceiling caved in, and even the infected scrambled for safety.
But then, he was crippled by the most unearthly sound he'd ever heard.
The Kirlia, was letting out a Telepathic Scream so loud, Seruru felt his skull trying to expand under the pressure.

He let out a cry, waves of Aura rippling from all Directions as he closed his eyes, and promptly Quick Attacked out of the quickly faltering exit. There, he sprawled out across the ground, his hands on his head, curled over in pain.

Wedge's targets had escaped him again. Sensing his unreal life force being threatened, he set up an Iron Defense- rock type attacks didn't hurt much anyway. But what angered the Skarmory so much that he wanted to rip their throats out and make sure each intestine was surely shredded, was that they escaped. Again. These Pokemon... they work together. It had an odd ring to it, and it frustrated the angry Pokemon even further. He'd have their blood for this! Their starving him; and ever since he had encountered such a delicious bunch, every other living scrap he found was not enough anymore.

He was dying.

This kind of blood... it had worth in it if he were to dive into it, yet it were all for nothing if he couldn't catch one of them soon. "Raaaargh!" Suddenly it seemed as if thunder had split through his mind, and decimating any thought he had left in him. Tumbling down the pile of rocks, Wedge continued to scream, but he felt no pain. He saw flashes... a kind trainer with a proud smile... a tiny Eevee that felt no fear... his teammates... These were not his memories! Roaring once more, the Armor Bird Pokemon flailed in an attempt to get this out of his head. What was happening...?

One moment, just one memory slipped past, and Wedge saw through new eyes. He was covered in blood, trying to kill Pokemon he should have been helping. "No!" Wedge bellowed, before crashing through the further wall of the Pokemon Center and into the forest. Once the Pokemon Center was far away, his mind cleared again. And blood violated his thoughts. They were the ones who caused everything to happen. Before, he was content with another Pokemon's blood, but now... it's their blood he wanted, nothing more.

( Skip my turn please c: Dorian’s just sulking in the long grass. )

Theo wondered why everyone was looking at him strangely when it was them that had gotten smaller somehow, and it was like Lostcall did not recognize him for a minute. But no question could have been asked for the center was on the verge of collapsing. The riolu and the houndoom quickly made their way towards the entrance, but Theo could not see the kirlia anywhere, he figured it was already outside maybe. So he did also sprinted to the entrance, but not without picking up his metal pan near the door, for some unknown reason, he had taken a liking to it, and it was more effective than attacking with his weak scratches. It was when he was near the door that his head started having a splitting head ache, it was obviously a psychic attack, but he had no clue why the kirlia, the only known psychic type there, was doing such an attack. He barely managed to stumble out of the center from the migraine, though as soon as he did he fell to the ground clutching his head momentarily abandoning the pan.

When it let up a bit he managed to take in the damage to the center, it was just a huge pile of rubble now, apparently the fight inside was a lot more severe than he had figured. Still clutching his head with one arm, he stuck his paw into his mouth, his large claws made him think that it had been a while since he had properly managed them. He looked around at the group, it was easy to see they were all tired, maybe slightly scared, he was never good at reading faces. He was sitting down, so the difference was not that apparent, but he wanted to know how long they all planned on being that small, it might have its advantage sometimes, but he doubted that right now would be one of those times, “Whnf everybobby gonna change baph?”

It was strange, a few minutes ago he had been tired and ready to take a nap in the middle of the day, but now, he had some energy he did not know he had. Without the center, they were stuck out in the open, which was never a good idea….He had no clue where Azalea town was, or why the houndoom wanted to go there, but if it was past the cave where the kirlia had mentioned the giant infected was, they should probably stay away from the cave until the others recuperated.

Luke collapsed on the ground after he got outside, his left eye sill in pain from were the stone hit it. He looked at the others who seemed to be having bad headaches, but he didn’t feel a thing, which didn’t seem to bother him. He looked at the collapsed center knowing that it would no longer serve as a safe house before they ventured into the Union Cave. He had gone through that cave a good number of times with his trainer, so he knew the place well. But with that huge infected in there, he knew it would take longer to get to Azalea then he liked.

He turned his attention back to Theo, who seemed to have thought everyone shrunk with the way he was looking at them. But since the bear pokemon had evolved, he thought he should congratulate him. He managed to stand back up, and limped over to him. He was a lot bigger now, and a lot more powerful. Luke was happy he was on their side and not the other way around. “Congrats on evolving Theo, and just in time to. If you hadn’t, I’m sure the Skarmory would have finished me off.”

Theo looked a little confused at what he said, but Luke didn’t care. He looked around to make sure everyone got out of the center all right. Seruru seemed to be a little slow on everything that was happening, but he was fine. Theo was good, more then good he would say. But as he kept looking, concern showed on his face. “Where’s the Kirlia?”

((OOC: Skipmehplease. Not much can be said for Kirlia, certainly not enough to fill two paragraphs.))

Seruru lay on the grass, is face buried beneath his arms, and his chest rising and falling rapidly, as he breathed as though every breath might be his last. He'd taken damage during his escape, and now his eye was in more pain than ever.

After a few moments of whimpering, Seruru raised his head, and cast a glance towards Theo, whom had evolved mid-battle.
"Yeah... Congratulations Theo," he rubbed a paw against his eye with another soft whimper, "We'd probably all be buried at this point if it wasn't for that miraculous transformation back there."

Wedge was tired. Closing his eyes, he only wished for redemption, for himself to just drift in dreamland. But his stomach, it did not rumble, yet the chasm screamed at him to devour blood. The Sandslash was probably rotting already, and his stomach seemed feral and a completely different animal. Food! Blood! They all seemed the same. The Armor Bird Pokemon staggered through the trees, blundering towards the area of the collapsed Pokemon Center.

He grit his teeth. What horrible riddance; he should have continued feeding off other undead and comply to the lowly life. Wedge stopped at the edge of the clearing, concealed by a bush and a tree. The small bear thing (his first attempt at living prey...) had changed. It had the same distinct smell of blood. Wedge's eyes blurred for a second before focusing on the sky. The Skarmory was never to fly in the skies anymore. He was destined to go down.

The Armor Bird Pokemon felt like flying down on them with guns blazing, but it was foolish. Two times he did that and it ended in painful excursions. He would plan his next attack as his last. He would succeed, and not only be able to satiate his thirst for blood but also feel alive once more. Wedge lifted his sharp wings. He would target the little ones, and when the rest are alone and injured, he'd corner them, and trap them, and make sure they give him the moment of pure peace.

Finally offered the chance to bask in what Dorian considered peace after the battle’s intensity, the serpent was re-familiarizing himself with his whereabouts as well as realizing the damage that had been caused. Almost motionless, he breathed slowly, resisting the urge to cough and splutter from the building rubble that he’d accidentally inhaled in his escape efforts, along with his own, charred and fragile skin. He couldn’t feel anything. His whole body felt numb and for a moment, he wondered whether he truly had control of it. With an experimental flick of his tail, he slowly slithered towards a tree he’d previously marked with the blood of one of his past victims – a subtle method he’d used to manoeuvre his way around the area.

Although the grass that concealed him began to rustle slightly with his movements, Dorian had grown weary of the battle at the pokémon center and wasn’t prepared to retaliate in such poor condition. He would wait. Navigating his way back to the rattatas he’d killed earlier in the morning, Dorian quenched his hunger by tearing into the gradually rotting corpses – most of which, eyeless. He was irritable, humiliated and growing tired of the small kills of rodent-like pokémon. He had the capability to bring down a pokémon far larger than himself, but those with eyesight always had the advantage. Savagely tearing off one of the rattata’s head, he slung it away in suppressed rage, before greedily savouring the cold blood. It wasn’t the same as a fresh kill, but it would suffice for now. Dorian continued in his satisfactory meal before swearing that he would get his revenge. He’d been burnt alive, almost crushed by a collapsing building – nothing was going to stop him relishing in revenge.