The RAGE Team

"Did you know, or have you ever met, the Liepard that attacked you tonight?"
Echo was staring at Locke critically.
Locke was still dazed and somewhat mesmerized by the talking box.
"Is there someone in there? How did they get so small?..." he said, slowly and quietly.
The Gible stared at the thing in the Weaviles' hands with curiosity.
Locke glanced at the Dratini, who was still awaiting a response.

"Huh? A...Leee-pard?" He tilted his head as he tried to think back on what happened, but Cairos' voice interrupted his thoughts.
"...You know her? Wait..." The Flygons' antennae twitched as he looked down at Locke.

"Was... was that the little kitty that..." his voice trailed off as dread fell over his face.
Lockes' eyes grew wide as he shuddered loudly.
"...You mean...Jackie...? But...we...w-w-we saw her..." The young Gibles' eyes started to get watery and his voice cracked as he tried to hold back the horrible sights of Jackie getting eaten.
He shook his head violently.

"No! Nono, it can't be her! I won't believe it!" Locke cried, tears flowing freely now down his face.
He let out a loud whimper as he stormed out of the outpost through the hole he had made earlier in the wall. On feeling soft earth under his feet, he dug straight down a foot. The closeness and quiet of the earth always made him feel better.
This time though, the dirt around him gave him no comfort. He hugged himself as his tears dropped onto his nubby legs.
He saw the giant blue dragon tossing itself onto land and gobbling up his friend, blood spraying everywhere, with nothing but purple tufts of fur left between its' teeth to show that she ever existed.
What happened up there?...
He looked up towards the surface, watching the moonlight spill into the top of the hole, trying to figure out what he did to make Cairo angry.
He held his head with his claws as he tried to focus.
He saw small flashes of a large purple feline, leaping towards him, and vague blurry images of long dark hallways...
"What...what happened..." Locke sighed as he fiddled with the soothe bell tied to his wrist.

Nova has notified me to pass his turn for him.

When Locke had hurriedly waddled out of the safety of the outpost, Cairo followed. How were they supposed to keep going with an Infected always on their track? Especially one that wanted Locke and Silver's blood so badly... And would he be in the mix as well, as having attacked it? He hoped not, but... guilty by association might still be in the Infected's mind...

He quickly found the hole and popped his head inside. "...It's not safe out here, you know," he mentioned quietly, chirping a little to help calm his and Locke's nerves.

Slithering through the woods, the dragon pokemon sought fresh blood. His dying eyes vainly tried to make out the shapes of anything living as he followed a scent. Reaching the edge of the woods, his bloodied scales touched a dirt path, wide and long.
He hissed as caught sight of a small outpost; that is where the scent was leading him.
Two small dragons were sitting outside the building.
His mind started screaming for blood, blood at any cost.
He wanted to see those dragons in pieces.
Roaring in bloodlust, he slithered towards them with lightning speed. He knew they wouldn’t be able to move; they were too scared. He could smell their fear.
He could see the terror in the baby pokemons’ eyes; he knew that he was the one he wanted first. Barreling forward, he rose up to make the kill, intestines spilling as he moved. Just as he opened his jaws to snatch up the tiny pokemon, a large slashing creature attacked its’ face.
Enraged, he rose up to its’ full height, and frantically snapped at the buzzing pokemon attacking him. With a sudden snap, he caught the annoyance in his jaws and bit down hard. He felt crunching in his mouth as its exoskeleton collapsed under the pressure of his immense jaws.
He heard the others screaming and trying to escape…but he had a kill, and he wanted to relish it. He let them escape…for now.

It was almost morning as Poseidon walked to the edge of a huge lake. He would have liked to take a swim in it, if it didn’t reek of death. Who knows what kind of pokemon would be waiting for him in there. Heck, they could be waiting for him to jump in and then they could strike. He let out a sigh, he was used to being out of water, but he wouldn’t mind a dip every now and again. He liked the feel of the water on his feathers. He put one of his wings into the water, it still felt the same, didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it, but he knew there was something in it waiting, plotting, and he didn’t like it. Didn’t even have the nice watery smell that he loved, instead it was mixed with the horrid stench of death and decay.

He pulled his wing out and flicked the water droplets off of it. He looked to the other side of the lake. He would have to take the long way around to get to the other side, but he didn’t feel like walking all that way around after he had just walked this far. So he decided to take a swim, it may be a fast one, but at lest he will be getting wet. So Poseidon dived into the lake, making a huge slash. As soon as he did that he went strait into and Aqua Jet. He could see many water infected as he zoomed past them, some of them didn’t even notice him until they where shot to the side by the immense water.

As he got closer to the side he shot out of the water and landed on his feet. The water felt good, but now he reeked, just like the lake. It was going to take him awhile to get the stench out, but at lest he was able to have a good swim, as short as it was. He shook the water droplets off and started to walk away from the lake. He wished it wasn’t so infested with infected, or else he would have stuck around a little longer.

He soon came to an old outpost. It looked rather safe, and it didn’t seem like any infected had been there, so he decided he was going to check it out. He slowly approached it. The door was open a bit so he peeked his head inside. He didn’t seem to see anyone, or anything, so he figured it was safe. So slowly he began to walk inside, keeping his senses alert in case something tried to sneak up on him.

"...It's not safe out here, you know," Cairo whispered, popping his head into the hole, making a chirping noise.
Locke looked up at him with watery eyes.
He knew he shouldn't have run out like that, but he just didn't' know what else to do.
"I know...sorry..." Sniffling, he tried to clean his face as the Flygon chirped quietly. Sighing, he raised his nubby arms, and grabbed onto Cairos' offered claw.
The large dragon effortlessly pulled him up and put him on the ground.
"What do we do, Cairo?.." Locke muttered, voice cracked with sadness.

Before the dragon could answer, Locke heard a deafening roar.
And then he saw it; the giant blue dragon that killed his friend was now coming for him.
Frozen with fear, Locke could do nothing but watch as its immense body flew towards him, with its jaws gaping wide.
Mama! Papa!
His little heart fluttered frantically as he thought of his mama and papa, back home. Suddenly, the Scyther flew from out of nowhere to slash out at the giant infected.
"Cairo! Cairo!" Locke was backing up against the wall, frantically trying make sense of what was happening in front of him.

The Scyther flew quickly about, evading the giant creatures jaws and hacking at it with its' deadly blades.
Locke ran inside, running on all fours. Echo was still there, staring terrified at the monstrosity outside.
Crying loudly, he slid against the floor and hit a wall.
Clawing his way up, he started to scream at Echo, who seemed frozen with fear.
"Run! Run! It'll eat you! Run!"
He scrambled back and headbutted the Dratini into action.
He sprinted out the battered in door and bolted down the dirt lane, and into the charred ruins of the town.

Southern Edge of Mahogany Town | Late Night

Locke collapsed in a small patch of grass near the side of a building, exhausted and out of breath. They had run quite some ways, and had made it to the other side of the town without being attacked any further.

"Tha-that thing doesn't look like it's f-following." he said to the others, trying to catch his breath as he stared back at the way they came. He swallowed hard and turned around, dizzy and shuddering.
"That THING...that...that killed her! it killed Ja-..." His sentence trailed off as his eyes rolled back into his head and fell to the ground unconscious.

(OoC- maybe silverishness can transition to morning after her part of the story? Alot happened recently ^^;)

Echo lay staring at the strange machine before him, the pokedex. He sat in wonder how something so strange could be created. Echo didn't really understand the greatness of human brilliance. After all, he didn't know much about the human world. There were so many questions Echo wanted to ask the Weavile about the pokedex such as how it could speak and understand what the pokemon were saying without being one of them. Echo turned away from the red box which lay on the floor and directed his attention to the open hole where the Gible exited the outpost. I guess they did know her. I wonder what happened to make them grieve over her so, Echo thought as he stared at the two dragons sitting together. "If you really want to know," the Weavile said as if he knew what Echo was thinking, "I could tell you what happened." "You were there too? Exactly how long ago did this happen?" Echo asked with a shudder. "It wasn't long before we came to this outpost. To be completely honest, it only happened a few days before we met you." As the Weavile told the Dratini the whole story, Echo could not help but feel sorrow for the small cat the Gible once knew. "I understand the pain all too well," Echo said as he bowed his head. "Two of my brothers were taken from me. One was taken by a bird, and, I discovered later, he transformed into a living-dead monster just like the Liepard we saw here earlier. The other was taken by a human." Echo lifted his gaze from the floor and looked back at the Weavile who stared back at him. "I saw him fall to pieces as he crashed into a tree in pursuit of me. You must know how awful that was to see," Echo said sadly, tears coming to his eyes.

The Weavile, who had listened to Echo's story, opened his mouth to speak when a loud roar interrupted him. "What was that?" Echo said, startled at the sudden outburst of noise. The Scyther, who was standing at the opposite side of the hall, flew through the house with immense speed while roaring with his own battle yell which sounded much like a scream of a harpy. "We have to get out of here," the Weavile said as he stood opposite of Echo staring out the window in horror. Echo turned around to look through the window. What would cause this Weavile, who fought that large dragon head-on, to freeze in fear at just the sight of a monster? Echo wondered as he slithered backwards to get a view of the outside. Echo now knew the horror which gripped the Weavile, for he had seen monstrosity personified. Echo stared with his mouth agape not even noticing the Weavile's escape out the back window. The Scyther slashed and chopped at the beaten, bloody face of the atrocity violently roaring outside the outpost. Echo had never seen something so gory and detestable in his life. Wide-eyed, the Dratini continued to stare in terror of what was once a great and mighty thing. "Gyarados, the evolved form of Magikarp. Rarely seen in the wild. Huge and vicious, it is capable of destroying entire cities in a rage," the pokedex said as the deafening roars of the Gyarados echoed through the outpost.

Locke ran inside the outpost in a fit of fright, yelling at Echo with rushed words. Although Locke was within a few feet of the Dratini, Echo could not hear the small Gible warning him of the danger outside; for fear gripped every limb and muscle of the Dratini as if ice had frozen his body and mind. Suddenly, the Gible charged at Echo and struck his side. Awakened by the painful impact, Echo darted for the exit of the outpost and slithered as fast as his body could take him through the grass hills and dirt roads. Crunch! Gasp! Echo almost choked from the amount of air he inhaled. The Scyther could no longer be seen buzzing through the air and fighting the large sea-dragon. Half of its body and one of its scythes were sticking out of the Gyarados' closed, rotting mouth. "No," Echo whispered in sadness as he sat in the middle of the trail and watched the Gyarados devour what was left of the Scyther in the distance. Realizing there was nothing he could do, the Dratini dashed toward the bottom of the hill and Mahogany Town. He spotted his two companions sitting on a small patch of grass near a crumbled building. Echo rejoined the two dragons. "That THING...that...that killed her! it killed Ja-..." Locke babbled incoherently before passing-out. Echo, with tears welling up in his eyes, turned to meet the eyes of the Flygon, "Jackie is not the only one that thing has killed now," Echo said as he cried.

Cairo wasn't sure how to proceed. Silver was missing now, the scyther had been killed by that horrible dragon, the Infected cat that was after them was just missing and now, it was just him and the two baby dragons... He looked around him where Locke had collapsed and grabbed not only him, but Echo as well. They couldn't be out in the open...

He hurried to a Pokecenter, killing a few Infected oddish that were inside. He placed them down, his own arms shaking with anxiety and fear. He looked at the babies and shook his head. He had to be strong for them... if he wasn't, then who would be? He brought them close with his large tail, putting a barrier between the outer world and them. His back against a firm wall, he hunkered down and took in a steadying breath. "We should... keep quiet... just in case..."

After calming himself a bit, he looked down at the two. "The dragon Infected shouldn't be able to follow us... but Ja... the other... Infected... I don't know where she went. We just... need to lie low until we get our bearings and figure out what to do next..."

Jackie was slightly surprised (as good as Infected emotions get) that the ferocious blue, bigger dragon had returned for more prey. The Liepard had kept out of the way of the bigger predator as he snatched up a feisty Scyther and eat him. Glad that one of the uninfected fighters was dead, Jackie continued on her search for Locke, and exited the Rocket Outpost. He was no longer here, that was for sure, but the others had gone somewhere; Jackie had been to entranced watching that dragon to have paid attention. Foolish, but now she was back on the search. No more escaping now; the slender feline was in full search mode. Jackie leaped through a broken window in an old Mahogany house, her senses on overdrive for prey, including Locke. Nothing was here except a cowering Rattata hiding in a room, and the Liepard quickly killed it with her bloody claws. A quick meal for energy.

Jackie went back outside, her frustration growing by the minute. Where was that tiny dragon?? In anger, the Liepard let out a blood-curling, eerie 'howl.' Perhaps that would draw something out. Jackie's blood was boiling over, and action was needed.

Death.

That's what she wanted to see. Death of Locke, death of the other two that had interrupted her hunt.

Poseidon found that the place was empty, but it showed some signs that it had been lived in recently. But there was nothing he could use, so he had no need for this place. He wondered out to see that something had gone down here. A fight happened here, perhaps from a survivor had a fight with an infected, he though to himself as he looked at the damage that had been done. It looked like some of the survivors where able to get away, though he didn’t know how many their where, perhaps 4 or less, it was hard to tell. He decided to try and find out if he could locate them, but the thought just made him feel sick. He didn’t like getting close to anyone, he didn’t want to feel the pain of losing someone close to him again, but he should at lest see if they where all right.

The sun had now risen, turning the sky a brilliant orange as if it had just set it ablaze. Poseidon loved sunrises, though he didn’t sleep much anymore, he never really got all that tired anymore. It must be that he’s always on his toes about the undead that sleep just never crossed his mind as much as it used to. He walked through the deserted town, just like he had done so many times before. It wasn’t the first ghost town he had been to; he had seen plenty since he went off on his own. At lest the smell of the lake was no longer attached to him, but there was still a faint chance that he could get attacked. He hoped that whoever survived that attack back there, was a little friendly.

Lockes' vision was cloudy and dark.
"Cai-Cairo?...Silver?...Echo?.."
Sitting up, he cringed as his whole world started to spin.
Reeling back, he felt large, slick scales under his claw.
"Cairo?" He squinted as he looked up to where Cairo sat, trying to focus his eyes.
"Where is everyone?" He shook his head and looked about, taking in his new surroundings.
It was dark; Echo was curled up next to him, in the protection of the giant dragons' tail. There was rubble everywhere; and a hard floor that was made of different colored rocks.

This has gotta be a human place.
Locke shuddered as he caught sight of undead corpses near the doorway, and dried blood smears staining the large counter in the center of the room.

"Wh-where's all the humans?...I thought they were...burning things..." He recalled the billowing smoke plumes he saw from the lake, and the giant orange dragon that hurt Silver.
Maybe it was him; maybe he was burning things, thought the young Gible, as his heart sank.
No humans...no food...no safe place.
And Jackie...
Lockes eyes teared up and his jaw quivered as he thought of the nightmare that was now chasing them around.
"I want to go back home...I miss mama and papa..." Locke whimpered quietly, knowing that he had no home to go back to.
He curled up closer to the Flygon as his mind slipped into the past.
He remembered his mama, gently nuzzling him as he munched happily on some scraps, and his papa, who always let him sleep next to him when his other brothers were being mean. They were strong, he remembered that much. Their yellow markings and large fins were always a sign of strength in his clan.

Clutching at Cairos tail, the young Gible shut his eyes tightly, waiting for the sun to rise and his fear to leave him.

Mama, why did you hurt papa?

Locke, the Flygon, and Echo proceeded through the town and finally found a small pokemon center. It seemed to be the safest and best suited building to hold refuge in. As the three looked at each other wandering which one of them was to go in to see if the building was safe, the Flygon entered the automatic doors of the pokemon center. Echo could hear fighting and screams of agony coming from the inside of the building. I hope he is okay. If this Flygon dies, only Locke and I will be left to protect ourselves. Echo stared at the front doors of the pokemon center afraid of something emerging that was not their friend. Reluctant to leave the open courtyard, Echo began to slowly slither backwards away from the door. To Echo's relief, the Flygon was triumphant over the undead inside and thereby asked the two small dragons to enter. Echo exhaled deeply and slithered forward. "So...do you think this place is safe," Echo said as he stared wide-eyed at the blood which dried in place. Although the large lizard had assured Echo the place was safe, he still had his doubts. Locke was grieving beside Echo over something that had happened to his mother and father. I would say something, but how would I know what it was like to have parents? "Are we going to stay here for the night?" Echo asked the Flygon who nodded back in response. Echo looked away from the Flygon and nodded slowly as he stared at the ground.

Echo glanced up at an open door that led to a dark room. "What is that?" Echo said as he slithered toward it. The Flygon uttered something which sounded like a warning but Echo continued to proceed toward the room. He could not help but gasp at the sight of a limp body leaning over an operating bed with a small dim light shining above as if to reveal the horrible sight for a reason. The corpse seemed to be that of a human, a female. She wore a pink skirt along with a pink overall shirt with one of those strange white and red spheres. Echo moved closer to the corpse to get a better look at what this human looked like, for he had never seen a female of the human species before. Echo rapped his snake-like body around the metal bar which held the operating bed up. He coiled around the bar and squeezed himself tighter onto it as he climbed to the top. When he reached the mattress of the bed, he slithered to the other end where the woman's corpse leaned, her hands sprawled across the bed. Echo couldn't quite make out what her face looked like, so he continued to slither slowly to the woman's head which was turned in the opposite direction. The human's hair, which was red, had large loops at the back. Echo cautiously moved closer to the head of the bed; as he passed around the sprawled out corpse's arms, he felt a chill. A part of Echo did not want to see the face in fear of seeing a mangled and gory picture; however, another part of Echo was curious to see what these things looked like. Echo closed his eyes as he turned his head to see the face and slowly opened them back up again. Strangely, the face was not deformed or hurt in any way but was preserved enough to show the actual muscles and bones of the original face before death. The face of the corpse did not have an expression of horror or pain but one of peace. A small rectangle on the chest of the deceased had an inscription that read NURSE JOY. A tear fell from Echo's face as he said, “Such a lovely thing. What a pity this had happened to something that looked so kind and gentle." A loud series of sounds unexpectedly erupted from the speaker's around the building. The sudden blast of noise made Echo's heart jump. What is that! Echo thought, frightened of the darkness around him. Little did he now, however, that the sounds were a common song played in the pokemon centers. Echo jumped onto the floor and dashed out the doorway of the room to meet his two comrades.

Cairo warned Echo against straying too far; while he had destroyed the infected within the immediate area, he wasn't sure about the other, darker corridors of the building. The little dragon slithered off, and, not wanting to disturb the trembling Locke in his protective warmth, stayed put, a decision he quickly regretted.

The garbled music from the speakers crackled from the abused, blood-caked speakers startled not only the little dragon, but Cairo as well. He quickly destroyed the speakers with two, well-aimed dragonbreaths and picked up Locke as he went over to the counter to grab Echo as well. "You can't just run off, Echo. We have to stay together..." He brought the children back to the safety of his corner. There were probably a few Infected drawn to the noise... Hopefully, they would simply go away...

Poseidon had been walking around the abandoned city for some time now. It had only been a few minutes, but it felt like hours to the huge Emperor pokemon. He had run into plenty of undead, killing them quickly with a metal claw, but it wasn’t infected that he was looking for. He had to find those survivors, if they where even still alive by now. Who knows, they could have been easily killed off by some other infected after fleeing the seen, but he had a hard time believing that. He needed to search the places that they would probably have gone after the fight. The city didn’t have a pokemart, instead it had some kind of convenient store that was similar to one, with an underground base. But it was empty as well.

He began to think that maybe they left the city, wanting to get as far away from that place as fast as they could. Then gym here was an ice type gym if he was correct, just from its exterior he could tell. Though going in was useless since all he would encounter was probably going to be the undead pokemon of the gym leader. And he didn’t feeling like finding out the hard way if he was right or not. He noticed something in the corner of his eye that looked all too familiar to him. It was a Pokemon Center, a place his trainer took him to after a battle whether he had just won or lost he would always take him here to get healed. The thought brought back both happy, and painful memories, but he knew if there where any survivors, there was probably where he would find them.

He approached the building with coition, the last thing he wanted was to walk into an ambush by some infected, or worse, the survivors themselves thinking he was one of the undead. He looked through the doors, it all seemed quite enough, and so he slowly began to walk in. The speakers had been blasted to bits, probably to stop the music that always got played through them. He never liked that tune much, always seemed a little annoying. He looked around, not seeing anyone, so he presumed they where hiding out someplace. They probably didn’t want to be seen; hoping that any infected that looked in here would see it was empty and simply move on. He decided to call out. If he were lucky they would answer him. “Hello? Is there anyone in here?”

He had been wandering this region for weeks now, he kept telling himself that he was just searching every possible location for his team mates, but in honesty, he was lost. Johto had too many forks in the road compared to Kanto. Every day he found himself missing his old region more and more. To him, kanto was greener, it was livelier, friendlier, and it didn’t smell like death everywhere he went, though all of this would be the infection’s fault, but that didn’t stop him from comparing it to his region. He had wander into a pokemon center a few days back in hopes of finding anyone intelligent or something edible, but instead he was able to find a tattered map of the region. Part of it was burned off, and the rest torn and worn, but he was able to see a large lake in the map, one of his old teammates loved freshwater areas, so a lake was the most logical step to take. The trip from that pokemon center was only supposed to take 4 days max, but it was taking him well over a week.

When he entered this small town, he was immediately happy to see signs pointing to “The Lake Of Rage” around. He would have run straight to the direction pointed if it was not for the lurking pokemon walking around. It was one he had never seen before, giant (at least compared to him), blue with yellow pointed things going straight up making It look like a crown, a serious demeanor, and looked sort of like a bird type, though the wings looked more suited for swimming. He could not for the life of him distinguish between some infected and normal pokemon, the sunflora, the first infected he ever meet, looked perfectly normal and pleasant, so for all he knew, this one could be infected. It was even walking around the town with what seemed like a goal, like it was looking for something, maybe pokemon for food. Olle decided it was best to avoid him for now, which did not prove so easy since it was looking around most of the town, he had to hide in the pokemon gym to avoid the blue one.

He hadn’t noticed at first since he was busy avoiding the blue pokemon, but this gym was a horrible place for him to be in. For one thing, he was a plant type, and the icy atmosphere of this gym made his budding flower shrink up and close tighter. But it was also not good for him specifically; he could instantly feel his throat starting to ache and potential sneezes coming along. The floors in this place were made of slippery ice, it would make even the most experienced pokemon struggle in here, but luckily the entrance was not made of ice, so he could walk normally as long as he didn’t go farther into the gym. His breath hitched as he saw the blue one walk past, but it did not go in, he thanked Arceaus for that. He didn’t want to stay here longer than needed, so as soon as a few minutes pasted after the blue one left, Olle was ready to sneak out. A sudden sneeze stopped him though, he wasn’t imagining things, it did in fact come from him, but it wasn’t due to the icy atmosphere. Something else made him sneeze, something with a lot of fur was either in here with him, or had been here recently. He wished with all his might that it was only the traces of the pokemon he was reacting to, but as he looked back into the dark gym and something with red eyes looked back, he knew today was not his lucky day.

When the music began to blast from the big square boxes near the ceiling, Echo darted back into the room, with his eyes as large as silver dollars.
Locke chortled as he tried to hold in his laughter.
"That's what you get." He taunted, still giggling.
"My mama told me all the time that cureesty killed the Meowth." He smugly rehearsed as the Dratini came slithering up.

Cairo quickly blasted the large boxes, and the music stopped. Locke blinked and stared at the simmering cubes.
Tapping the large dragons' haunches and pointing, he asked "Hey Cairo, what were those things? What was that terrible noise coming out of it?"

“Hello? Is there anyone in here?”
A loud voice from the other side of the counter made Locke jump. He looked up at the Flygon, terrified.
He covered his large mouth with his nubby claws and shuffled closer to Cairo.

“Is anyone there?” a voice shakily said at the entrance of the pokemon center. Echo immediately ducked his head behind the blood caked counter. He looked at both the Gible and the Flygon of whom were gesticulating him to keep down and stay quiet. I hope it isn’t that Liepard. That Liepard is the only infected I know of that could speak. Echo thought as he stared at the red tiles before him. But…I remember the infected cat having a more raspy voice. She also spoke with broken sentences. This voice seems to speak clearly like a normal one would. Echo poked his head out a tiny bit from the side of the counter to get a good look at the unknown pokemon in the building. After seeing the penguin-like form before him, Echo quickly stuck his head back behind the counter. “It’s OK. I think this one is safe. He doesn’t look hazardous,” he whispered to his two comrades whom shot glances at each other pondering whether or not they should take the chance.

"Is anyone there?"

Cairo ducked down at the sound of the foreign voice as he was about to lightly scold Locke for being bratty. He held the two dragon whelps to him, keeping his tail coiled tightly and protectively around them. He and the small dratini peeked their heads over the counter to take a look at the newcomer, and what was there was a slightly intimidating figure.

The three-pronged crest atop its head reminded the Hoenn dragon of the beast in the lake and he couldn't help but shudder a little. He smelled like the lake too... Though, the small dratini ducked his head again and whispered, "It’s OK. I think this one is safe. He doesn’t look hazardous." Cairo frowned and took another look at the silhouette before sighing and turning to the two whelps. "...Stay here until I tell you to come out." He then stood slowly, his posture unsure.

"Uhm... don't attack... Are you Infected? We aren't..." He slowly came over the counter to take a better look at the strange pokemon. "I'm Cairo. Who are you?" He looked at the open space leading out to the town behind the stranger. "Get in before something out there sees you."

“Uhm... don't attack... Are you Infected? We aren't...” Said a dragon as it came from behind the counter of the center. Poseidon let out a sight of relief that he had finally found some other living. “I'm Cairo. Who are you?”
“My name is Poseidon, and no I’m not infected. Though I probably smell like it from my little swim in the lake.” He said as he looked at his wing like flippers. He thought the smell had dissipated by now, but it would seem he still had some traces of it. He was going to need a lot of baths just to get this smell out of his feathers.

The Flygon looked at the entrance to the center, and seemed to be rather concerned. “Get in before something out there sees you.” He said after. He must be talking about the door, so this pokemon was probably wild, unlike himself. He nodded and went to the door, he first looked outside to make sure there wasn’t anything out there before closing it and using an Ice Beam to keep it from opening again. When he turned around again he thought he saw the dragon shudder at his ice attack, but it wasn’t a surprise, after all, dragon type pokemon where weak agonised ice. He thought he probably shouldn’t use it anymore while around him.

“May I ask what kind of pokemon your are? I only know the pokemon from my home of Sinnoh and here in Johto.” Since Johto was the first stop on his trainers and his worldwide tour, he had never gone to any other region. So he knew this pokemon was from one of the regions he hadn’t visited yet, and he probably wasn’t going to get the chance for quite a long while now.

Jackie scraped her broken and bloodied claws against the side of the old, decaying Mahogany Gym. It was driving her out of her mind, not to have something to sink her sharp fangs and claws into. Even a little Oddish would work right now, even if it was a plant, for she wanted to kill...the hunger was intense. But she caught sight of something strange....the doors of another building had just been sealed shut by something that looked like ice. If it was Silver, Weavile's were Ice-types, Jackie would not hesitate to rip him to bloody shreds, and it wouldn't be swift justice. Agony and terror, that's what Jackie wanted when she killed her prey. The Liepard swiftly went over to the sealed doors, it was time to break through, to teach whoever was inside fear.

Gathering the darkness into her long talons, Jackie leaped at the ice of the doors and slashed down, attempting to break the ice and get inside. She continued to slash repeatedly, not paying attention to whether or not the ice was breaking. She just...needed to...get inside!

((Just post for now, Skyleap; guys, remember to look at the sheets for active and inactive members.))

Oleander had to stifle a scream from echoing across the gym, and possibly attracting the attention of other pokemon. The owner of the red eyes and heavy fur kept staring at him. It was hard to tell if it was looking at him, or right past him, like if he was so insignificant to the beast, that paying him any attention was useless. He was too scared to move, in fear that any slightest movement would arouse the beast. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he was able to take not of the pokemon, it was one he had seen before, but its name escaped him. He remembered they were ice types, and possibly even ground, his grass moves would do well against ground, but against ice, he was screwed. Little by little, he was able to see the clumped up fur, and the patches of skin where fur was ripped out. The tusks where stained with dry blood, leaving them a deep crimson. He nearly spent a good 10 minutes there standing in fear when he noticed that the beast was no longer in this world, simply the dead carcass of an undead piloswine. While his morbid curiosity told him to examine the body, his paranoid thoughts kept him from getting closer, he still had no clue how undead were infected, so staying as far away from undead pokemon was the best option.

Olle stepped out of the gym, happy to be out of the freezing cold atmosphere of the icey building and into the warm sun. He could literally feel the bulb on his back swell back to its original healthy state in the light. He wanted nothing more than to bask in this sun, and relax after that ordeal, but that blue pokemon with the yellow crown-like head was most likely still around. His thoughts where shaken by the ravaging of a wild beast. He carefully made his way to the direction of the ruckus, and was surprised to see a living undead. ((I know, contradiction, but you know what I mean >.>))

He had never seen a pokemon like this before, it looked like a cross between a persian and a delcatty. This one was obviously an undead, no normal pokemon would be able to walk around with those wounds. It took him a bit to understand why the cat like pokemon was attacking the door. A normal door would have collapsed right away, but this one had ice coming from the edges, meaning someone had sealed it from the inside with an ice attack. Olle remembered the blue pokemon wandering around earlier, blue usually meant water type, and sometimes, water types could learn ice moves, so it was very possible that the blue one had held himself up in there, meaning it was not an undead. Any second now, it would break through the doors of the pokemon center and attack the blue one inside, and now that he was fairly certain that the blue one was living, he had to do something.

He didn’t want to get close to it, he saw what getting too close to undead can do to someone, so he fired an Energy Ball at the feline from his spot, hoping it would stop it, and leave Olle enough time to possibly run.

"...Stay here until I tell you to come out." Cairo said quietly as he climbed over the counter. Locke started to protest, afraid for the Flygon, but stopped himself.

Locke sat on his rump, holding his soothe bell so it would stay silent. He heard them talking on the other side in somewhat low voices. “My name is Poseidon, and no I’m not infected. Though I probably smell like it from my little swim in the lake.”

The young Gible glanced at the Dratini, then shuffled quietly over to the corner of the counter, peeking over to see the new pokemon. He caught a glimpse of a large blue bird-like creature that shot out an ice beam, freezing over the door.
Whoa...

Not long after, he began to hear something from the other side, that sounded like growling and a faint scratching on the 'ice door.'
Frightened, Locke waddled over to the Flygon and clung to his tail.
"C-Cairo! Something's out there! Something's trying to get in!"
He loosened his grip as he looked at the new creature.
Locke paused a moment, taking in the enormous pokemon before him, then revealing a toothy grin and waving emphatically.
"Hi!"

The Flygon crawled out from behind the counter with the small Gible following a short time after. Well, what am I sitting here for? Echo crawled out from the side of the counter and slowly slithered toward the strange crowned figure standing at the entrance of the pokemon center. The Flygon and the strange penguin-like pokemon introduced themselves. It suddenly occurred to Echo that he had no idea what the large dragon's name was, but he discovered both of the pokemon's names after introductions between the gigantic pokemon were over. Cairo was the name of the Flygon and Poseidon was the name of the blue bird. Poseidon smelled of rotten fish and pond scum, which was a familiar odor to Echo since he lived in a lake.

As Echo moved closer to Cairo, Locke waddled in his usual way toward the new pokemon and greeted him. I wonder if Locke knows what kind of world he is living in. I believe he isn't cautious enough. After all, approaching a stranger that close is very dangerous even if his closest companion, Cairo, is with him. All one has to do is take one quick bite at the Gible and it's all over, but, I guess, that is just how he is. Echo left his thoughts of the young Gible at that and continued to listen to the conversation between the two giants. Suddenly, loud scratching at the foggy ice wall, formed by Poseidon a few moments earlier, could be heard throughout the lobby. Echo squinted his eyes at the shadowy figure scraping at the other side of the misty ice wall. He wasn't quite sure of who or what it was, but, based on his pokemon intuition, he knew the thing on the other side of the ice was certainly dead. Echo began to open his mouth to give warning to his companions in the lobby when he heard a loud meow from the outside. At once, he already knew the others inside the center knew who it was. "Jackie," Echo whispered frightfully.

Cairo and Locke stepped further back from the ice wall, but they all knew they couldn't escape because there was no way out of the center except the entrance. Echo swiftly turned his head left to right looking for a window or ventilation hole but could find no means of escape. His search immediately stopped, however, when a strange bright, pink light began to gleam on the other side of the ice wall. "What...what is that?" Echo said as he scooted himself closer to the entrance, his head tilted to the side in wonder. The heat must have been very intense on the other side of the wall because the ice instantly began to melt while a creaky noise resounded in the lobby. As the noise reverberated inside the room, the pink energy bent the icy wall inwards towards the group of pokemon inside. A few seconds passed, finally the remains of the melting ice wall erupted into many steaming drops of pink, milky water which covered the entire lobby.

Echo, luckily dodging all of the steaming water due to his short height, saw the Liepard standing to the side of what was left of the automatic doors which, surprisingly, still functioned correctly. Jackie sneered at the sight of the tiny Gible who evaded the spray of water as well. A fat leaf-like pokemon with a bulb on its back stood a fair distance away from the pokemon center. As Echo was turning around to flee from the Liepard, the strange bulb pokemon caught Echo’s eye. Is that the one who did this? the confused Dratini asked himself as he hastily slithered back toward Cairo.

Cairo sighed as Locke and Echo made their way out from behind the counter once Poseidon introduced himself. He was going to admonish them, but seeing Locke's giant, toothy grin in greetings made him stop and simply shake his head. One thing was for certain; Locke's bubbly personality wouldn't be overridden by fear.

Though, the scratchings at the door made him jump and Locke and Echo quickly went to his tail and side. His wings down around them, he growled. Would that thing never stop trying to kill them? Most dead-things would just have given up and left... but this one was hell-bent on getting them, it left them little room to try and escape... The only thing he could think of to fix it would be to fly far away, where she could follow, but then that would open them up to a whole slew of new problems... He glanced at Poseidon and frowned. 'And I can only carry so much...

Suddenly, the scratchings stopped and a strange blast could be heard from outside; the ice was sizzling from melting and the foundation groaned from the strain of something pushing against it. Cairo stared in horror; could that thing possibly have gotten its paws on a move like hyper beam? They would have no chance otherwise...

The ice melted, revealing what was happening. There was Jackie, gruesome as ever, looking at another pokemon, more than likely the assailant. It was green and had a large pink flower. He hadn't seen anything like it in Hoenn... Though, it must have been clean, since after it got Jackie's attention, it ran.

Cairo turned to the others, more specifically Poseidon, unsure of what to do. "...Do we got after the green thing or use this chance to escape? These two can only do so much... and that Infected has been hunting us for a few days now." He didn't want to trust the large bird quite yet, but they had nothing to take, so why not?