The UNDERGROUND Team

"I like Yache Berries." Prince nods. "I like Yache berries too. The dry sour taste makes it a nice treat." He agreed. "Although I'd say my favourite is.. Qualot Berries."

"How much do you guys think you could carry? It didn't occur to me 'til now we might not have the manpower to move all the supplies we need."Prince thought for a moment, before replying. "I can carry anything that isn't twice as big as me, I guess." he murmurs. "Though I'd prefer to be carrying a bag of berries or something of the sort." He turned to Rodolfo. “If you can find some sort of bag or sack to carry everything in, I don’t mind carrying the lot on my back,” Prince nodded. "I'll keep a good eye out for any sacs then."

“I-I-Is it r-really wise to be here?” The Fraxure followed the Charizard's line of sight to find the Pikachu's arm, which promptly made his breath hitch. He frowned. "L-Lets look elsewhere." he muttered, wanting to avoid the sight. He quietly hopped over to a toppled shelf, looking at it's contents. Crushed bottles of potions and ethers. Not much use to a Pokemon. "Should we go upstairs?" He could spot some toppled wooden crates in the corner, Pokeballs spilling out of them. 'They must have been restocking before something happened.' he thought. Otherwise, there wouldn't be items such as these lying around on the first floor.

Agni grinned as he looked over the store from his perch on Rodolfo's head, almost missing the dragon's comment on his carrying capacity. "So that's all good.. and such.."
His inattentiveness almost cost him a horn when Rodolfo staggered back from.. something. Agni only just caught it before he was flung off and ended up clinging to the dragon's horn, staring at the arm on the ground...

".. brutal. We need to move up to the next floor, there's not anything here was can use."

Rodolfo emitted an unintentional whimper at the response of Agni and Prince. They wanted to go further into the building! With a deep, ragged breath, eyes still glued onto the yellow limb, Rodolfo returned to all fours as he slowly padded towards what a darkened staircase. He had spotted the elevator and considered the purpose of the small, steel box before snorting and moving to something he vaguely recognised. Why somebody would want to trap themselves in such a thing was beyond Rodolfo. He doubted he’d be able to even fit into it. Finally tearing his eyes away from the arm, the charizard tentatively began to ascend the steps. He had only ever seen one other staircase before and hadn’t even attempted to climb it. However, he was reluctant to admit that this was completely foreign to him.

Taking the steps slowly and with an expression of total concentration on his slim face, Rodolfo’s previous concern momentarily vanished at the new experience in the human world. He’d never ventured into the built up areas of the region – let alone had a trainer, so whilst the bloodstained walls were incredibly unnerving, he was secretly enjoying the architect. As he finally emerged at the top of the stairs to witness another entrance, he peered through the door to see an even more cluttered room. Fortunately, it lacked the hidden limbs and bodies of the ground floor.
“Erm... a-anything in there?” Rodolfo was reluctant to investigate in fear of stumbling across something more grotesque than the Pikachu arm.

((Skip me, Eris is still just sitting near the piller doing nothing.))

".. brutal. We need to move up to the next floor, there's not anything here was can use." Prince nodded hastily. It was better to finish their little trip to the store quickly than to stay in the lobby doing nothing. He heard Rodolfo whimper before carefully going up the stairs. Prince followed before turning back to Eris. "C'mon, if you stay there the whole time you'll be separated from the group and there's a good chance you'll get attacked..."

They stopped at the entrance on the top of the stairs, leading to another disorganized room. Prince quickly hopped inside to survey their surroundings. Scattered on the floow were items they were unable to use, potions, escape ropes, and ethers. He could see a pile of different mails on a shelf and a few Pokedolls here and there. He sighed. "Nothing on this floow can help us." he murmured, trying to locate the stairs in the dim light of the room. "It's hard to see."

As the two Growlithes stepped out of the Goldenrod Underground and into the actual city, Nikora looked up into the sky and drew back, her eyes firmly shut. The sun was blinding after spending so much time in the darkness of the tunnels, so it would take awhile for the two to become used to sunlight again. As soon as Nikora opened her eyes again, now looking into the streets of the city, she was met with a very sad sight. Dead Pokemon and humans alike were scattered all around, remains of those who were devoured littered amongst the bodies. And the blood...it was everywhere, along with the stench of death. Nikora couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight, and George had to get her attention with a quick bark. He didn't want her to look at that stuff any longer, and he was getting sick just from the scents lingering in the air. Immediately after George had barked, Nikora turned hastily to face him, thinking that he was warning her about something, but they were alone.
"C'mon, Nikora, let's keep going." George took one step forward and looked back at Nikora, who trotted to his side.
"Yeah, don't want to run into that Houndoom again," she said with a smile, taking her mind off the scene of death behind her and back to the reason they had left the safety of the Underground. The two had simply been searching for food when a flurry of terrible screaming and beautiful yet terrible cries of agony had reached their ears. After running to find the source of the cries that could only be from another living creature, George had spotted first a huge Houndoom, its skull completely exposed, feasting on a little purple cat. They had seen others run from the demon infected, and they, too, ran for shelter from the infected. It never appeared again down there for a few months, but when more infected started to move into the tunnels, both threats drove the Growlithes to leave.

In silence, Nikora and George began to move through the city, side-by-side, alert for any dangers. They needed to find a new place to take refuge, or they'd have to leave the city, something neither of them really wanted to do. This city kept them safe for so long when other places didn't. Most of these buildings probably wouldn't make good safehouses at all, both Nikora and George guessed there were plenty of infected. The Growlithes stopped by a very tall building that must have held quite a lot of humans before the epidemic have begun. Nikora read a sign that told what had to be the name of the building.
"Goldenrod...." she began, but George finished it for her, "Department Store." He had heard the word 'store' before, and thought back to the days of his clan life.
"Oh, Elder told me about stores," he told Nikora, "She said it was a place where humans kept all of their stuff." Nikora nearly jumped up with excitement.
"Then there might be food in there, or other things that can help us!" She quivered with excitement, thinking of berries and other foods.
"Let's go have a look around, then," George said, and the two entered the store.

Agni looked over the wrecked store, searching for something..

".. can't use that... not that.. no."

He swore. "What was I thinking? They never sold food. Not for us, anyway. Humans... We might be able to use the potions, though. Rodolfo, the little purple things. I think I remember those.."
He crawled off Rodolfo's head and into the wreck, muttering something about.. something.

Rodolfo cautiously entered the room, afraid of any bodies that might be lurking within the rubble – the dolls hanging limp on the shelves gave him the shivers alone. Agni soon crawled onto the ground to investigate more thoroughly and Rodolfo flinched at the bug passed his neck, a slight smile on his face. Not many would consider a charizard to be ticklish.

“Nothing on this floor can help us. It’s hard to see.”

On Prince’s comment concerning light, the charizard groped around on the ground before stumbling across a collapsed wooden shelf. With a quick tug, he was holding a fairly generous plank of wood with a grin. With a deep breath, he emitted a weak, puff of flames to create a fairly handy torch. Smiling triumphantly at his creation and problem-solving, Rodolfo trotted towards Prince before holding the torch out as an offering.
“Here,” He grinned, clearly ecstatic over his new power’s helpfulness. “You can use this. I-It might be darker upstairs?”

Leaving the torch with the dragon-type, Rodolfo returned to all fours before looking down at his feet. He didn’t recognize any of the products littering the ground and simply trusted Prince’s comment on their uselessness. Delicately moving around the room, the charizard eventually spotted the next lot of stairs and with a wag of his heavy tail began to ascend them.
”Over here! he called out from about half way up. Of course, he had to take the steps slowly but he was already beginning to enjoy the human contraptions more and more – although flying would always be a lot easier in his eyes.

When he finally reached the next room only more confusion crossed his mind. All he could see were strange, cylindrical objects of various colors littered across the room – but what concerned him most was that some of them were rolling. His body went rigid; they weren’t alone in this building after all. His eyes rapidly darted about the dimly lit room trying to spot some creature in the shadows but he saw nothing, only a red liquid by the next flight of stairs that gave way to a trail leading to the floor above.
”G-Guys...” Rodolfo’s voice was trapped in his throat as he stood paralyzed at the top of the stairs. He wanted to run down, maybe even break out a window and flee, but fear had become a powerful immobilizer. Besides, maybe he was wrong? Maybe he was seeing things? Or maybe the blood belonged to a wounded survivor? With a whimper, he desperately looked down to where he’d left Agni and Prince, praying that one would emerge with a solution.

"C'mon, if you stay there the whole time you'll be separated from the group and there's a good chance you'll get attacked..." Eris turned her head to Prince as he said that before running to where she heard it, but not without running into the wall before she made it to the stairs.
"I hate this place, I can't smell anything but rotting meat." She groaned as she caught up to the rest of them. She decided to stay close to Prince so that she wouldn't get separated from the others.
"Nothing on this floor can help us. It's hard to see." Prince said. She didn't really know, since she couldn't see. But this floor was like the other one, with her not being able to smell anything but death, though her other senses still worked fine, she just wished her eyes worked.

They soon started to make there way to the next set of stairs to the next floor. "Are we really going to go all the way up?" She said as she slowly climbed the stairs. Finding things where important, but it wasn't worth it if they where going to end up trapped, or worse. Rodolfo would be fine since he could fly, at lest she thinks he can. Those where wings on his back right? she thought to herself, not looking where she was going and missed a step, causing her to tumble back down to the floor they where just on. "Ow," she groaned as she got back up. She needed to remember not to go into a trance while climbing stairs.

“Here. You can use this. I-It might be darker upstairs?” Prince gently took the torch out of Rodolfo's hands. "Thank you." he murmured, holding the burning wood up so he can see better. Not only has it become brighter, but also warmer. Rodolfo had went and found the next set of stairs, calling to them. "”Over here!" Prince nodded as he strided over to the Charizard, Eris trailing close behind.

"Are we really going to go all the way up?" Prince paused for a moment, before nodding. "I know it's dangerous and all, but we need to get supplies if we want to survive in the long run. Even if we don't find anything but infected, it'll at least give us more knowledge about this place and we can tell other survivors we meet the things we know to help them too." he replied, before beginning to crawl up the stairs. Suddenly, Eris tumbled back onto the start of the stairs, having missed a step.

"Are you okay?" he asked, hoping down to help the Deino. ”G-Guys...” Prince perked up, after having helped the fellow dragon up, he rushed towards where the Charizard stood, paralyzed with fear. There were colourful, rolling cynlinders everywhere and blood trailing up to the next floor. Prince froze fr a moment, before taking a cautious step in. "W-we should just take a quick look on this room and move on." he muttered, quickly rushing to the broken shelves to speed-check for supplies.

The department store was in a sorry state; shelves were knocked over, many objects and other...things lay scattered on the ground. Worst of all was the blood splattering the walls, which was a sure sign that infected had definitely been in here before, or perhaps wounded survivors had sought refuge in the building. Whatever had happened, it still sent shivers down Nikora's spine. This place felt unfriendly, potentially dangerous, but she did not voice her concerns aloud. They had chosen to come in here, despite the risks, and Nikora was not about to turn tail and flee because of some blood splatters. After spending some time searching, neither Growlithe was able to find anything that could be of use; the whole place had probably been picked clean beforehand. If they wanted to find something, maybe they had to go upstairs, there was always the possibility that others who had come to loot would not have gone up the stairs. Quickly suggesting the idea to George, Nikora found herself frightened of what might be on the top floors....No time for cowardice! Nikora kept her head high and stayed alert for any sneaking enemies. Nothing wanting to kill them was in sight, Nikora couldn't smell anything but blood and death, she would have no way of knowing if anything was sneaking up unless she or George heard something moving.

Going up to the next floor was a similar experience; there wasn't really anything of value, and blood was everywhere. There weren't any bodies and limbs here, like on the first floor, but Nikora still couldn't shake that feeling of unease. We really shouldn't be here... The Growlithe left slip a faint whimper, which caused George to turn his head and look at Nikora. He knew she had made that whimper, but didn't say a word about it; Nikora thanked him with a slight nod and went to his side. If only this whole mess hadn't happened...we'd be happier, I know we could have found a way to escape the laws of the clan. Nikora often had thoughts like these...but was momentarily distracted from her ponderings by a slight thumping sound that repeated itself over and over. Racing forward, Nikora found herself staring at a little blue creature that seemed to have fallen down the staircase. It looked perfectly normal, and Nikora's heart missed a beat. Another uninfected?
"Are you alright?" George asked the creature, and went to help it up, but was beat to the punch by another creature, this one dragonlike, blue, gray, and some green color. What was extraordinary was that the dragon was wearing a golden, jeweled crown. Nikora opened her mouth to say something, but the dragon simply helped the blue creature (who Nikora assumed was its friend) and raced back up the staircase.

"Hey, wait!" Nikora called after it, then she and George followed the dragon to the next floor. Several, colorful cylinders rolled around on the ground, but the two Growlithes were mainly interested in the group of Pokemon that were on this floor, looking at a trail of blood on the next stairway.
"Ummmm....hi....my name is Nikora, and this is George." Nikora introduced, and even though she was wary of these strangers, there was no fear in her voice or posture.

The sun rose high enough to get into the eyes of Marilyn. Needless to say, that's what woke her up. "Here we go, another day in hell" she said to herself. She didn't like it here, and she didn't really know how to survive because of her previous life of getting everything whenever asked.

She stayed in the back corner of the floor, cradling herself and crying. She tried her best to keep it quiet, but it was pointless. Someone needed to hear her sorrow. Her home was gone, her family was gone, her life was essentially over.

As she was crying, she heard footsteps. "Could it be?" Marilyn walked over, hiding behind a shelf. She saw a shiny Fraxure, and two orange dogs. She wasn't sure whether or not she should remain hidden, or introduce herself. Well, she leaned too much on a shelf and all the items on that shelf fell in one swift crash to the floor. "Shit"

(OoC: Hi everyone)

A little bug poked his head from underneath a shelf as voices.. disappeared. The others were gone. Agni was alone..
This might be a problem.
He looked back at the supplies, wondering how he was possibly going to get these out of here..
.. or, perhaps not. Paranoia was beginning to set in, and he started towards the stairs in a rush, his horns glowing brightly.

Rodolfo flinched upon Prince’s arrival, too focused on the other staircase to notice the dragon until he’d spoken out. He nodded his slim head hurriedly, finally tearing his eyes from the potential danger lurking above before another threat came to his attention, this time closer. He heard footsteps from behind – definitely more than one individual ascending the stairs and as his instincts kicked in, he swung his body around in one swift, although heavy movement to face two growlithes. His eyes were wide, almost mad, as he quickly scanned to the two canines. After three close calls with infected, Rodolfo wasn’t about to take any chances. Of course, he was a coward, but with his strength and newfound friends to protect, a paranoid coward could prove a dangerous enemy.

"Ummmm....hi....my name is Nikora, and this is George."

The darker coloured of the pair spoke up and Rodolfo allowed himself to relax slightly. He rose to full height, switching back to two feet but he kept his eyes on the canines. He’d had experience with the species before and had found them particularly powerful, especially in their evolved state. Calm down, he cooed to himself, knowing that he was probably over-reacting. The pair were clearly uninfected and in the same boat as he and the rest of the group. With a defeated sigh, he glanced over his shoulder to the next flight of stairs before ushering a weak smile at the growlithes.
“S-Sorry,” Rodolfo apologized softly, presuming they’d caught on to his mistrusting, almost threatening behaviour towards them. In comparison to his appearance, the charizard was just a frightened child. “I-I’m Rodolfo. This is Prince and E-Eris, and A-Agni – “ He paused, his eyes failing to pick up sight of the little bug-type. A rush of fear skimmed across him and all manner of worst case scenarios began to grow and evolve within his fragile mind. Before he could investigate further, a sudden crashing behind him caused him to yelp and clumsily stumble back into one of the few remaining upright displays. He only managed to keep his balance and stood up, fearful, his previous confidence sapped at the arrival of another stranger within the darkened room. His eyes scanned the room anxiously before falling on a strange pokémon that was a black and white colour. He’d never seen one before and tensed slightly at its appearance.

“Shit"

Prince blinked as the two Growlithes came to them. "Ummmm....hi....my name is Nikora, and this is George." The Fraxure gave a friendly smile. "Hi." he murmured. Rodolfo, after backing up, apologized. “I-I’m Rodolfo. This is Prince and E-Eris, and A-Agni – “ Prince was about to comment when he too, realized Agni was gone. "Where's Agni?" he asked, a bit scared.

Suddenly, shelves crashed to the floor and revealed a Gothorita, one of those Pokemon from his home region. “Shit" He blinked, before approaching it. "Hi, my name's Prince. Pleasure to meet you." he gave a warm smile. The Pokemon didn't seem undead or infected. He turned back to the others, spotting a few glowing horns coming their way.

"Hey! Isn't that Agni?"

(OoC: Just realized now that Nikora/George are in The Orphanage, so I'm guessing it's my turn)


The shelf came down, and Marilyn was revealed. There was also a Charizard in the room, who also knocked over a stand from suprise. Marilyn couldn't help but giggle at the sight. The Fraxure spoke. "Hi, my name's Prince. Pleasure to meet you." At first, she wanted to turn away and give him the silence treatment, but he had a friendly smile on his face.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Prince" she said through her British accent, "I was trying to stay hidden, but I guess it's too late now. Marilyn's the name." She was stopped by a few glowing horns entering the room.

Prince said, "Hey! Isn't that Agni?" Oh great, another one?! What in bloody hell is next? A Magikarp?! She wanted to say that, but she knew now that this wasn't the time to be a bitch. She simply walked up to the Charizard and said, "I apologize for scaring you, sir." She did a curtsy in front of the Charizard. "What's your name?"

(OoC: Once again, I'm sorry. Skyraven's Growlithes must've just been put in the Orphanage.)

((Skip me. OTL))

Rodolfo caught glimpse of the glowing horns on the staircase that Prince’s attention had been drawn to and intended to assist the insect, but the newcomer soon approached him. Remembering his manners, he smiled down at the creature that’d introduced herself as Marilyn and nodded his head lightly in a greeting.

"I apologize for scaring you, sir. What's your name?”

Rodolfo chuckled lightly to himself.
“I-I wasn’t that scared,” The charizard lied, grinning like an idiot at his own cowardice. On reflection, he found his jumpiness fairly amusing. And she’d called him ‘sir’. He’d never been given such a noble title before; he was more used to names such as coward, loser, idiot, moron and the list goes on. Sir was rather refreshing, and accompanied with the little curtsy confirmed that he was going to like this little pokémon.
“It’s Rodolfo,” He smiled again, nodding his head again as a slightly informal bow. He could get used to all this aristocratic behaviour – he was beginning to feel posh already! “So... uh, what are you doing here?”

((Sorry guys, skip me. Need to get to bed.))

"I was trying to stay hidden, but I guess it's too late now. Marilyn's the name." Prince gave a friendly grin. "A pleasure to meet you, Marilyn." he bowed graciously.

Prince left Marilyn and Rodolfo to their conversation, hopping down the stairs and towards Agni. "Agni, are you alright?" he asked, reaching the bug-type. "Sorry for leaving you behind, I guess we just got so caught up in finding something that we forgot."

The Charizard gave an informal bow and said his name was Rodolfo. Marilyn giggled a bit. She hasn't seen a Charizard that would bow like that.

"So... uh, what are you doing here?" Rodolfo asked. Marilyn heard him and sighed.

"The life I lived and the Marilyn you see aren't what they appear to be. I was born and raised to a rich family in a town called Ecruteak, lovely town, by the way. My trainer was their youngest daughter, Christine. She gave me anything I wanted when I asked for it. I knew that it wasn't how life worked, for I would look out the windows and see children fight. It's not how I wanted to live, but they trained me to be like that. The infection came, and I was free...but I felt like I was missing something. I didn't know what it was. So I left Ecruteak to find out what it is I'm looking for."

Marilyn walked to the stairs and saw Prince with a Larvesta. "So I take it that this is Agni?"

(OoC: In hindsight, that was a shitty monologue I typed. fml.)

"What could be so important that you forget me?!" He would be hopping for emphasis, could he hop. As it was, his horns burned bright still, now with indignation. "I could've died down there! I'm not a very good fighter, you know. I'm still a larva, technically! What if an Infected had come along right then? Or been hiding in the debris? Would you feel bad then? You should!"

"The life I lived and the Marilyn you see aren't what they appear to be. I was born and raised to a rich family in a town called Ecruteak, lovely town, by the way. My trainer was their youngest daughter, Christine. She gave me anything I wanted when I asked for it. I knew that it wasn't how life worked, for I would look out the windows and see children fight. It's not how I wanted to live, but they trained me to be like that. The infection came, and I was free...but I felt like I was missing something. I didn't know what it was. So I left Ecruteak to find out what it is I'm looking for."

Rodolfo nodded along as Marilyn spoke, wondering what it would be like to have a trainer or live in a house. It all seemed rather odd to him. Although he was unsure of where Ecruteak was actually located, he offered a week smile regardless as she finished speaking. It was strangely optimistic. Marilyn was trying to make the most out of this epidemic and start afresh, and Rodolfo admired her positivity in the face of such horrors. As he opened his mouth to reply, she trotted away from him to the stairs where Agni had finally reached the next level with Prince’s assistance.

"What could be so important that you forget me?!"

Agni was clearly unimpressed by the group’s forgetfulness. Rodolfo looked down at his feet sheepishly, as if he were a child being scolded as he listened to Agni’s rant. He felt a sharp pang of guilt and wringed his wrists nervously until Agni had stopped talking.
“S-Sorry, Agni,” He apologized quietly but sincerely as he shuffled on his feet. It was a rather comical image in hindsight – a giant charizard whimpering at the complaints of a larvesta. Rodolfo was certainly an exception to the species’ stereotype.

Eris sat near one of the corners out of everyone's way. She felt like a burden with her blindness, she couldn't give any sort of help no matter how hard she could try. The only thing she could really do was bite, smell, and hear. She could tell what something was from biting it, but that was useless. She let out a sigh as he lay down, her head rested in front of her. She started to think back to her time in the mansion with her master, oh how she wished things could go back to those times, how she would love to be with someone she cared about so dearly. Though all she had was herself. Her master was dead, and her friend Ares was missing, but she was happy she had these new friends. Even if she was useless, she was happy they didn't tell her to go away because of it. If she could do something more she would, but for now, she would wait and keep an ear open for any undead sounds that mite be heard.

"What could be so important that you forget me?! I could've died down there! I'm not a very good fighter, you know. I'm still a larva, technically! What if an Infected had come along right then? Or been hiding in the debris? Would you feel bad then? You should!" The Fraxure visibly winced at the larva's words. 'It was an accident, I didn't mean to.' Prince wanted to say those words, but couldn't find the care to say them. He was much too tired from all the stress.

"Apologizes." he muttered, though he was more angry than apologetic. Quietly, he headed towards Eris and memories struck him. Thoughts of when he, Paladin, and Pure all used to sit together on a cliff and talk about their day and have fun. That's when the Fraxure decided, decided something very important.

'I'm going to go home.'

Prince came up to the Deino, a sad smile on his face. "Hey, Eris. I'm going to be leaving- I decided I need to go home, back to Unova." he paused, giving a sigh. "Take care of yourself, alright? I'm sorry." With those words he began to head to the top of the stairs on the floor, then turned back to the others.

"I'm sorry everyone, but I'll be taking my leave now. I decided I need to go back home." Prince bowed deeply, before saluting the team. "May Arceus bless you all and stay safe." He turns, slowly padding down the stairs. As soon as he exited the department store, he held a face of determination. Immediately, he began to walk out of the city, not looking back, but straight forward.

"Paladin, Pure. I'm coming."

[OOC: It was nice RPing with you all! Prince is now heading off to the Icirrus team. Bye!]