The UNDERGROUND Team

((OOC:Please skip me, there's not really anything for me to do here.))

It did not take long for the decaying houndoom to finish her small feline meal. The screams had past, the sounds were gone and silence had caught up to her again. She stood, her eternal skeletal grin fixated, hiding her mood. Her nose caught the scents of the others who had been there and she followed, wanting, needing the noises they would give her.

As she padded along, her broken, faded mind flashed back to the streets that were undoubtedly around her. There were lights, scents and of course, the hum of constant noise. Something, someone walked beside her... and though her eyes were no longer there for her to see, her mind's eye remembered. Her memory rang with the noises from the city, from the men whom she chased. Chasing...

Chasing the noise...

The Noise...

The Prey...

For him...

The random thought did not make her waver, did not make her hesitate. It was a forgotten goal, a drive she simply remembered. She was his tool, his weapon. He was the one who made the noise, who sounded the sirens, shot the guns, made her prey scream. He was her god.

Her feet moved quicker, her motive finally there to drive her toward the fleeing prey. They would not escape. They would scream, and he would rid her of the silence. He would banish it with his gun, with the sirens she held so dear. As the prey wept and whimpered to each other, she sprang, catching another in her mouth. Feathers filled her skeletal maw as the sweet screeches of her prey filled her ears.

She brought the bird down, breaking the wings at the shoulders first, then licked the newly made wounds as the dying bird pleaded and begged for life, for mercy. She had never known the meaning of the word. Her master, her god, had never taught her. She listened to the chaos she had created, immersing herself in it. She simply laid beside the invalid and absent-mindedly chewed its taloned feet, waiting for her master to sound the noises of approval, for the sirens and shots.

Waiting...

Dear Sister.

Big Death swam though the canals he called home. It was late and this was the best time to hunt for prey. Big D poked his head out a few times. Even tho he could not see. He swam and soon came up on a sleeping Seaking. He swam forward and bit down hard on the Seaking. The screams of bloody murder rang though the once beautiful City.

Big D dragged his meal to the land and started to devour it. By the time he was done he catch another scent. More prey. He thought. He slowly made his way to where the scent was coming from. The night air was still as two words escaped his mouth and two words alone.
Dear Sister.

The little Deino walked through the empty city, not a soul in sight, just like all the others she had gone through before. She had the same eerie feeling that she was being watched, and she probably was, there eyes burning into her fur as she continued on, not seeing a thing in sight, but simply using her smell and hearing to allow her to get around. She didn’t know how she had been able to make it thus far on her own, maybe it was cause she could smell the danger before hearing it, who knows, but if it kept her alive this long, with luck it would keep her alive a little longer, at lest until she could find Ares.

Eris seemed to snap out of her daze when she heard screams, normally she would stay as far away from something like that, but she was curious to see what had caused them. Maybe they had seen Ares, she had to know. She quickly picked up her pace and started to run in the direction she heard them, tripping over rubble and running into old light posts, but she had done that plenty of times that she was used to it by now. She stopped dead when she ‘saw’ what it was. He quickly hid herself from view, from the smell, it was an undead, what kind of pokemon she didn’t know. Thanks to this infection she could no longer tell what pokemon was what, but she knew to stay away from the ones that smelt like death. So she quietly began to back away from it, then ran the other way as fast as she could until she could no longer smell it.

It was the same, hear screams, locate, run when you find out an infected was the reason for it. Was she ever going to find another living? Or maybe at lest get out of this routine of hers. Eris let out a sigh, “What am I going to do?” She said silently to herself. But soon new scents came to her, these ones weren’t dead, at lest they didn’t smell dead, they didn’t have that rotten smell like the infected had. She silently approached the source of it, not wanting to draw attention to herself, which she probably did with that little dash of hers earlier. She had never smelt anything like it before. She was so in aww by the new smell that she didn’t realize she had walked right into it. It felt soft, and warm, like the kind of warmth a fire type would emanate. So she decided to learn more by biting it, so without even thinking of how the pokemon would feel about it she bit down on what seemed to be its tail.

The night's breeze made Prince shiver as he trekked through the once flourishing city of Goldenrod. He could here screams ringing in his ears as she tried to block them out. It was midnight, he couldn't see anything, It was pitch black and the darkness seemed to swallow him whole. He gripped the handkerchief close to his body, he didn't want to lose it.

Suddenly, he saw a faint outline dart across the street. He froze. He'd know that silhouette anywhere. A Deino?! he thought. He watched as it hid, then approached a second group of silhouettes, with a bright flame in the middle that traced a faint outline of all the bodies. He had seen something mangled and broken on the ground earlier, now he saw a body of a dragon, a small caterpillar-like thing, a white bird, and a ghost.

He watched as the Deino went and bit the Charizard's tail. He winced. That must've hurt. he thought, remembering the countless times Paladin had bit his own limbs when they still lived together. He watched the living mourn for their friend. He wondered if he could trust them or not as he quietly approached.

He was still a good length away from the others, just in case they decided to attack. The glow of the dragon's fire glinted off of his crown, glowing gold. He stuttered for a moment before speaking. "U-Um.... My name's Prince..." he murmured. He remembered the body of an Espeon he saw a while ago. It must've been their friend. he thought, watching as some of them cried.

This couldn’t be happening. The houndoom had made its second terrifying appearance to claim Shimo as its next victim, having finished playing with the poor espeon. Rodolfo was speechless, his face contorted into an expression of undeniable fear. In his panic, he looked to Nyx and Agni, lost and desperately seeking guidance. Before he could decide on a suitable action, his attention was returned to the infected as he heard Shimo beg for mercy. He felt physically sick. A few hours previous, the pidgeot had saved his life – guilt suddenly overwhelmed, why hadn’t he returned the favour?. Whimpering and too weak to fly, Rodolfo took off in a light jog away from the scene – for once, using all fours to escape the foul images and praying that both the insect and the ghost would find him; he didn’t want to be alone in this world. If the infected didn’t kill him, his own memories would most definitely drive him to suicide.

Trembling, the charizard eventually slowed to a halt; he wasn’t a great distance from the scene but far enough to be completely out of the houndoom’s view. Breathing heavily, Rodolfo struggled to contain his thoughts – continuous images of blood and gore blinded his damp eyes as he became increasingly aware of the silence.
“No, no, no...” Rodolfo muttered to himself hysterically, beginning to pace between the trees as he struggled in what to do with himself. He was terrified, mentally scarred by the night’s events – but he managed stopped the tears. The undying need to uphold the appearance of a noble charizard was already beginning to falter though. Eventually coming to a halt, he slumped against one of the trees, utterly exhausted and growing ever more paranoid as he awaited the arrival of a living, familiar face. Instead, he was alerted of company through a sharp pain in his tail. Emitting a roar of shock, he instinctively swung his flaming tail about before jumping to his feet. In his attempts to turn and face the source of the pain, the charizard crashed into a nearby tree before finally focusing on the creature responsible. Rodolfo had never seen one before; it was small, mainly blue and rather fluffy. But most importantly, it was alive.

“H-Hello?” Rodolfo uttered hesitantly, his voice faltering at first as he swallowed his emotions of utter devastation. He peered closer at the pokémon before another voice caused him to jump in surprise but keep his semi-calm composure.

"U-Um.... My name's Prince..."

The charizard inspected the newcomer in silent fear. He didn’t recognize this species either, but again, he was fairly sure that it was alive. Caught between a smile and a frown, various ideas began swimming and colliding in Rodolfo’s fragile mind. They were alive, surely they’d help him? Or was it an ambush? What reason could they have for harming him though? Perhaps they weren’t real at all? Standing awkwardly by the trees, his tail wrapped around him protectively, Rodolfo watched the two newcomers with wide eyes, before licking his lips.
“M-M-My name is R-Rodolfo,” He muttered with some effort, fear oozing in his tone as he avoided their eyes, instead seemingly addressing the ground. ”W-What do you want?” his attempt at sounding threatening was painfully unsuccessful.

Shimo was taken by the Houndoom.

Nyx cried out in utter sadness. The Pidgeot had congratulated her on evolving, and that had made her feel so good. Now he was dead. Rodolfo had started to run, and Nyx quickly glided after him. Please don't leave! I don't want anyone else to die! She whimpered. Finally catching up to the Charizard, she stayed with him. Please don't run off like that...t-this is scary, I know, but we can't run from it...you might run into another undead's hands.

A blue-ish Pokemon she didn't reconize bit the Charizard's tail, and Nyx couldn't help but giggle at this. Tricks always made her feel better.

U-Um...my name's Prince...

Nyx turned to a dragon-like Pokemon. She didn't reconize it either. "W-What do you want?" The Charizard tried to sound threatening, and Nyx giggled. Rodolfo, they're not bad Pokemon. But then again... She looked back at the stranger Pokemon. Are you? she threatened. She would fight this time.

Big Death slowly walk the alleyways of Goldenrod. Soon he came up on a group of pokemon.Some he new about and others he didn't know about. The dim light of the moon made his blood red, blind eyes seem to glow. He was still hungry. One of the pokemon looked like a fire type, so he want for it first.

Big D jumped at the living with a Muddy Water. Out of his mouth came one of the most horrible screams/yell he had ever done. Dear Sister!

As soon as the strange thing started to move Eris immediately let go as to not get tossed. It seemed the pokemon wasn’t pleased with her little stunt, but then again, who would be pleased with getting a bite in the tail. She turned her head to ‘face’ the fire pokemon. “H-Hello?” She heard it say. For something so big, it seemed to be rather frightened.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. M-my name is Eris.” She said as he backed away from the fire pokemon. But she caught the scent of another living pokemon emanating from behind her, so she turned to ‘see’ what it was.

“U-Um.... My name's Prince...” The new comer, Prince as he said his name was, said. It seemed everyone here was a little scared of everyone. But there wasn’t really any surprise here.
“M-M-My name is R-Rodolfo,” the large fire pokemon said. It was an interesting and odd name, but for some reason she liked it. “W-What do you want?” He said after. He was trying to sound tough, she was sure of that, but she could still feel the fear coming of him like she knew the sun wasn’t in the sky.
“Rodolfo, they're not bad Pokemon,” A new voice came, female as she could plainly tell. But how did she not sense its presence, it must be a ghost type, she always had trouble sensing when those type of pokemon where near. “Are you?”

She tried to face the direction the voice was coming from, but she felt like she was look at nothing since she couldn’t smell, hear, or sense it. She knew it was going to be rather hard to get used to having something around that she didn’t know where it was unless it talked. “I’m no threat, I don’t know about the other one though.” Eris said before facing the dragon. “As for what I want, I just want to know if yo…” She cut her question short as she smelled that scents again, the others probably didn’t cause their nose wasn’t as sharp as hers. But it seemed to be targeting them, she could hear it using an attack, but who was it targeting? Then her eyes widened, it was attacking the fire type, Rodolfo he said his name was. “Look out!” She yelled as she jumped in front of the fire dragon and immediately used a Protect. She never thought she would see herself protecting a complete stranger, but they may have information that she could use, maybe they would even let her tag along with them. She had to find out.

He watched them quietly, as they asked if he were a threat or not. The Deino answered first. “I’m no threat, I don’t know about the other one though.” He frowned, cocking his head to the side as he watched the fire dragon act tough towards them.

"Nice to meet you, Rodolfo, and Eris. And I'm not a threat, I don't harm others unless they were to harm me first." he murmurs. He turned to the mismagius. "What's your name, miss?" he asked, curious.

“Look out!” He watched Eris jump in front of Rodolfo and use protect. He looked to the source of danger and saw Palpitoad, coming at them using a muddy water. He was screaming about a sister or something as Prince used swords dance to power himself up. He began to glow a firey color as the muddy water splashed over him, leaving him drenched. But the glow did not go away as he charged at Big Death with an outrage.

Rodolfo felt instantly calmer at Nyx’s appearance and subconsciously moved closer to the ghost pokémon, eyes transfixed on the two newcomers just in case they weren’t as honest as they claimed. With nothing else to contribute, the charizard relaxed his muscles slightly as the blue creature uttered its name. Silencing his negative thoughts, he offered a hesitant but sincere smile at both Prince and Eris.
“Look out!” The deino had suddenly cried, yet at the time, Rodolfo had been completely unaware of who she had been addressing. Panicked before he even had chance to judge what exactly he was supposed to be looking out for, his eyes drifted towards another unfamiliar face, this time a most unwelcome one. Eyes widening as the infected leapt towards him, aiming an attack and screaming words about a sister, Rodolfo shrunk back, shutting his eyes tight. It was just like that hellish excuse for a mightyena, but this time, Shimo wasn’t there to protect him. He winced at the memory of the canine, bloodstained and snarling, before his thoughts wandered back to the death of the brave pidgeot. However, Rodolfo discovered he had a new savior.

Looking hesitantly up to see the deino stood in front of his form with a powerful protect surrounding the pair of them, Rodolfo felt a sudden heat in his chest. A stranger he’d met no less than a few minutes ago had practically saved his life – the second such occurrence in the same day. Rodolfo was totally taken aback at such kindness and heroism; yet it only made him feel more worthless as an individual. Struggling to regain his previous stature, Rodolfo’s eyes remained locked onto Eris, his dark orbs sparkling with upmost respect and gratitude for the little creature. He then noticed that the other newcomer had leapt into action charging at the palpitoad with an outrage attack. Rodolfo was lost. He was so weak, so useless and the lack of power was slowly driving him insane; he could only compare himself to his truly splendid peers and the realization was harsh. Just then the heat from his chest began to swell in the back of Rodolfo’s throat – a strange sensation that his parents had once told him about. With a roar from the depths of his emotional frustrations, Rodolfo’s great jaws opened to release his very first flamethrower. The savage flames burst forth towards the palpitoad, dancing as the embodiment of the charizard’s pent-up fury and for the first time in his life Rodolfo felt he was living up to the honorable ways of his species. His parents would have been so proud.

Nyx let herself relax when the two newcomers told them they were no threat. What's your name, miss? Prince asked her. Ah, I'm Nyx. She smiled warmly. Suddenly, a Pokemon she didn't reconize, burst out at them with a muddy water. An infected! Nyx was soaked. Oh, was she mad.

...It's not POLITE to GET A WOMAN WET! Nyx unleashed a Shadow Ball at the infected Pokemon. With their attacks combined, it'd be a nasty hit on the infected Pokemon.

Big Death manged to dodge the Shadow Ball and Flamethrower, but was hit with the Outrage. He was sent flying back. Big D got up and used Hyper Voice. With the living distracted he used Toxic and fled.


Dear Sister.


He went back to the canals. And start to hunt in the water for his next meal.

As soon as the infected fled she let down her Protect. She ‘looked’ at the fire type, Rodolfo, who had used a Flamethrower. She was in aw by the power behind it. She found it hard to believe that it came from the same pokemon that was just scared a few moments ago. “That was, incredible.” She said in somewhat dazed voice. They had managed to defeat the infected in no time. She had even managed to be of some help, it may have just been a simple protect, she was finally able to save some ones life. She couldn’t help but manage a small smile at that accomplishment.

She turned to her new companions. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we?” She said as she faced every one of them in turn, even if she thought she wasn’t even looking at the ghost type, she didn’t care, they made a good team and no one could deny it. She had even forgotten what she was going to ask them. But it was only a mater of time before she remembered. “So as I was saying before we were rudely interrupted. Have any of you seen a Liepard named Ares?” She wished she could give a better decryption, but all she knew was he was Liepard, she didn’t know if he had any unique characteristics like a scar or anything. It was a default of being blind.

"...It's not POLITE to GET A WOMAN WET!" He watched as the Mismagius launched a Shadow Ball from the corner of his eye. Beside her, the Charizard let out a massive flamethrower that made him feel happy that he wasn't the undead they were fighting right now.

He watched as his hits hit the Palpitoad, but it dodged the other attacks. With a ear-piercing Hyper Voice, it fled. He sat down, trying to calm down his dizzying head. He stumbled back to the others, head still spinning. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we?” he frowned a bit as he remembered a past memory.

'Paladin and Prince were sitting together, both Deino and Axew respectively. They were playing a game of pretend, acting as if they were out on an adventure through Unova. They laughed as they jumped up onto rocks, hanged from trees, and fell into water together. "We make a great team! Ha ha- we're the greatest duo in Unova!" Paladin exclaimed. Prince laughed and nodded as the Deino crawled up a rock, one leg up high as if he was leading an army. "We're Team Empire!" he calls, and Prince cheered.

“So as I was saying before we were rudely interrupted. Have any of you seen a Liepard named Ares?” Eris's voice snapped Prince out of his daze. he shook his head. "Ah... I've seen plent of Liepards here and there... But I don't think I've come across a Liepard known as Ares. My apologies..." he murmurs.

Following the completion of his flamethrower attack, Rodolfo found himself overcome by a coughing fit. Without the experience of performing such a powerful fire attack, an amount of smoke had built up in the back of his throat and had successfully managed to temporarily choke him. Trying to splutter in as dignified a manner as possible, the charizard looked down between suppressed coughs to the deino who had begun talking to him.

“That was, incredible.”

He was certain that he hadn’t heard the little creature correctly and glanced to Prince, thinking that Eris had meant to address another individual in the group. Smiling gratefully, he emitted a final cough to rid the black gas from his throat before opening his mouth to reply when an ear-piercing sound rang through his ears. Whining at the pain, he shook his head violently from the infected’s final attack and to his horror, the same foul images of Leo and Shimo’s death flashed before his eyes. Resisting the urge to cry out, he continued to shake his head before finally the aggressive actions forced him to support himself with the aid of a nearby tree trunk. Breathing deeply as the visions departed, he returned his attention to his companions. He hadn’t heard what Eris has said but was trying to piece the question together from Prince’s answer.

"Ah... I've seen plenty of Liepards here and there... But I don't think I've come across a Liepard known as Ares. My apologies..."

What the heck is a liepard? Rodolfo thought with a frown. The charizard was only aware of the common species native to the Johto region, but was reluctant to admit that he still wasn’t entirely sure what exactly his new friends were; except for Nyx, he’d seen a drawing of a mismagius once. Unsure of how to answer a question that he hadn’t actually heard in the first place, Rodolfo decided that the best he could offer was an awkward smile.

The infected Pokemon was gone. The Mismagius sighed. Damned infected, when will this infection end? Dear Arceus... At least that Pokemon was gone, she almost fully unleashed her power.

That was, incredible. The Deino had said to Rodolfo. Nyx nodded. Indeed it was, Rodolfo, great job. She smiled. Ah, all of these Pokemon were quite strong. So as I was saying before we were rudely interrupted. Have any of you seen a Liepard named Ares? Nyx had no idea what in the world a Liepard was. Erm...I'm sorry, but I don't know what a Liepard looks like, so I really couldn't tell you. Sorry. Nyx thought for a moment. Hm...I wonder if we should begin to move out of this city.

Big Death sat in the water. He was hurt, but not badly. Something catch his attention. He swam toward the sound. What he found was not something he was expecting. What made the sound he heard, was another Palpitoad. From the smell it was female. He attacked the Palpitoad with a Echoed Voice. The other Palpitoad now stunned, Big D took the chance and bit down hard on the female Palpitoad. The screams that came out of the pokemon, Big D hoped that the other living pokemon could hear them. As the sun came up Big D took his prey to his hide out and devoured it.

“Oh, I see…” The Daino looked down at her feet, saddened that she had hit a dead end. Her hope that he was indeed alive was slowly dieing, but she still couldn’t lose hope, for it was that hope that had kept her alive all this time. “If I might ask another question, may you allow me to accompany you? It gets very lonely being on your own. But if not, then that’s fine, I’ve gotten this far on my own, what are a few more steps going to do.” She tried to smile, but it was hard for her to hide her sadness and disappointment. These where the first living pokemon she had met during this epidemic, and what if they just shunned her away? What would she do then?

Her Eviolite hung around her neck that was the last thing her trainer ever gave to her. She always fears she’s going to lose it, but its one memento that she will hold onto no matter what happened. She knew what she would do, she would just keep searching, nothing was going to stop her from finding Ares, whether he be alive or dead, he just had to know what happened to him. Even if it merely got her killed in the end. She wished she could see there faces, see what they looked like, what colours they where. See then smile, frown, anything. But she would never get any of that unless she evolved.

"Erm...I'm sorry, but I don't know what a Liepard looks like, so I really couldn't tell you. Sorry." Prince looked towards Nyx. "A Liepard is a Pokemon from Unova... I think they look kinda like Persians in Johto, but they're purple with yellow markings and they're more.... Catty..." he frowned, trying to figure out a good way to explain them.

"Hm...I wonder if we should begin to move out of this city." “If I might ask another question, may you allow me to accompany you? It gets very lonely being on your own. But if not, then that’s fine, I’ve gotten this far on my own, what are a few more steps going to do.” Prince watched Eris. He couldn't help but stare. Just by looking at her he reminded him of Paladin. He blinked a few times. "I... Uh.... I was wondering that too. I promise I won't be a burden." he murmured.

[OOC: Having a writer's block... OTL]

“If I might ask another question, may you allow me to accompany you? It gets very lonely being on your own. But if not, then that’s fine, I’ve gotten this far on my own, what are a few more steps going to do.”

Rodolfo was touched at the blue creature’s honesty and was suddenly reminded of himself. Gulping hard, suppressing the memories of his own unfathomable loneliness following his banishment. Rodolfo glanced to Nyx unsure whether it would be right to make such a decision on his own. Of course, the charizard leapt at the idea of expanding the little group now that poor Leo and Shimo had their membership sadly shortened.

"I... Uh.... I was wondering that too. I promise I won't be a burden."

He turned to Prince and offered him a smile. The fraxure was strong, he could judge that from his attack on the infected – but Rodolfo couldn’t help but notice a certain timidity about him. He wasn’t shy per say, but seemed slightly introverted and hesitant in the way he spoke.
“Well... without you guys, that thing probably would have killed me. If anything, I should be asking to join you,” Rodolfo smiled gratefully having never properly had the chance to thank them. He glanced to the ghost pokemon, presuming that she would be just as eager to form new alliances and friendships with the newcomers as he himself was.

A Liepard is a Pokemon from Unova... I think they look kinda like Persians in Johto, but they're purple with yellow markings and they're more.... Catty... Nyx nodded. Alright, but I'm not gonna remember that, so if we happen to come across one, point it out to me, will you Prince? She smiled at him.

If I might ask another question, may you allow me to accompany you? It gets very lonely being on your own. But if not, then that’s fine, I’ve gotten this far on my own, what are a few more steps going to do. The blue, female creature asked. Rodolfo looked at her, she could tell he wanted Eris on the team. Not that Nyx disagreed. We'd be honored to have you. She nodded.

I... Uh.... I was wondering that too. I promise I won't be a burden. Prince said. This was good, he was quite strong. They all were. They could be a good team if they worked together. Well... without you guys, that thing probably would have killed me. If anything, I should be asking to join you, Nyx looked at the Charizard. That's not true, did you see that flamethrower? Even without us, you could beat an infected's ass...ehem, excuse me, I'm not too good at encouraging. But anyway, I would love if you would join the team, Prince.

(Skip my turn. Not feeling well and Big D tends to come out at night.)

Eris was glad to hear that she could tag along with the new pokemon, it made her less sad at not finding anything about Ares. “Thank you,” was all she could really say to them. But what will they do now? She had no farther need to stay in the city, but she didn’t know if the rest did or not. “So what now? Should we just move on? Or do you guys have farther need to stay?” She asked. She would have liked to just leave the city, but if she was going to travel in a group, she would have to learn that decisions needed to be made as one as well.

“Well... without you guys, that thing probably would have killed me. If anything, I should be asking to join you,” "That's not true, did you see that flamethrower? Even without us, you could beat an infected's ass...ehem, excuse me, I'm not too good at encouraging. But anyway, I would love if you would join the team, Prince." Prince felt a smile creep up on his face. He felt welcomed. "Thank you. And I'll point out any Liepards if I see one." he murmured happily.

“So what now? Should we just move on? Or do you guys have farther need to stay?” Prince raised his hands. "If I may... I think it would be wiser if we found and picked up some supplies first, maybe a few berries and such. It would help in the long run if we're planning on leaving this city." he suggested, looking at the department store south from them. "There's bound to be something in there that we could use."