The BLACKTHORNE Team

A bone-chilling wind shifted across the rocky bluff of the city, carrying the scent of decay and bloodshed in its invisible grasp. The sky above lay no more pleasing than the wind patterns. Reddened from the sun behind the clouds, the lack of orange and pink left the heavens looking as though they, too, had been slain.

Bloodstains.
Corpses.
Where a gym once stood lay a pile of rubble and death, and behind, a pool of oil-slick. Deceased, yet alive, the energy patterns of a Vaporeon caused a chill up the Sawk's spine. He stood curious at the lake's bank-- dead plants stood at his feet. Coal-black eyes gazed upon equally dark waters, unblinking.

A ripple caught his attention.

He followed the minute waves with his eyes, an unsteady frown forming upon his face. It drew close, and turned abruptly, where the ripples quickly dissipated. Unamused, the fighting type turned on his heel, stepping into the run down city.

Buildings stood half-shattered if at all, a new home for infected, undead, and even healthy. An indistant pokemon center-- flying out from the roof was a small spearow, flapping its wings lazily, a bloodied limb dangling from its feet-- The remains of a human that had been there.

Ears listened intently, eyes wide open, well aware of his surroundings. Grounded to the earth, he felt its dying energies and vibrations pulsing beneath his feet. A calm facade, hiding the instability of his thoughts.

The blue creature paused in his footsteps, and let a soft sigh escape his lips. Dead grass, brown and crunchy, quavering in the wind at his feet.

Silence.

The city was covered with death. Gloria stood on the once filled with people Gym, watching the area. The mountain village used to be filled with people, but not now. The infection drove some off, and some were too late and were killed by the infected Pokemon.

The infected shiny Roserade was starving. She had not eaten in quite awhile, and she needed to rip into a living Pokemon and eat its insides. Just one Pokemon...

There!

Gloria saw a blue Pokemon in the distant. Food! She leaped down from the Gym, and hit behind an area of rock. She waited for her prey to get closer, too risky if she was to go out into the opening and run out at the Pokemon. Gloria whispered,

PAuLa...

((OOC:I had a lot of trouble writing this... so sorry if it's a bit of a fail. ^^'))

Trystre gazed, almost blankly, across the death-ridden ruins, letting a small huff escape him before stepping forth. An eerie feeling crawled across his skin, and he cast a glance over his shoulder, at the Gym behind him.

He turned back to the path.
He was being watched.
He headed away from the Pokemon Gym, and proceeded to the indistant pokemon center. If an infected Spearow left 'alive', so to speak, then surely there weren't other living-dead there.

Were there?

He dared not break into a run, for he would attract attention-- He pushed himself to the wall of the buildings, creeping alongside them, in hopes that the shadows would hide him..

As if, what with his white Karate Gi and their bloodstains! He was clad in a sign that read "Hey, come eat me!"
But he'd rather not strip, lest he found something more protective to swap it with.

A human corpse down the alleyway he stood at the corner of... Judging by the clothing, Police. He slipped down the alley, willing to risk his doom to check for a gun or, at least, a flak jacket. He knelt by the dead man, feeling his neck and skin.
Cold as ice, no pulse. He'd been dead for a while.
Irritation upon his face, he checked the belt for a gun holster. There was a holster-- but no gun. He reached his blue hands into the pockets. No clips. He looked up from the cadaver momentarily-- no weaponry nearby. Whoever else had been here had the same mindset as he did.

A pokeball rested by the man's head-- the Sawk snatched it up, and flexed his fingers to open it, as Sara always did... No success, and he realized that sort of thing only worked for Government pokeballs. He threw the red and white sphere, and it opened-- Empty.

To himself, he dearly hoped the pokemon inside had been saved by a human, and not released by a more intelligent infected.
He rose to his feet, staring to the opening of the alleyway.
Stars were beginning to flicker in the sky. Night would soon settle.

Her prey had noticed Gloria watching.

The dark hid the Roserade well, but not perfectly. Oh, how hungry the shiny was. The living Pokemon was now observing and messing with a dead human. She could see it, not completly, but could see it.

The infected was impatient. She quietly used Toxic Spikes, sending out a few spikes with poison in them a bit away from her prey, and waited.

PAula... She whispered.

Written flew aimlessly above the deserted city, thinking only of Elder Author. Her friend and trainer had released her on purpose, sending her away to find her Muse, and write as she once did. The Taillow had attempted in every way possible the first few days, but had soon given up and sought to simply find her Muse- the one thing, a special place, a valuable reading, that would spark her imagination. But leaving behind the old man in this feral region tore a wound within Written's heart.

There was no happy ending in this sullen world.

The TinySwallow Pokemon flew a little closer to the city grounds. She had read of this mystical city plenty of times, and decided to fly over here to see if her Muse were somewhere within the Dragon Den, or perhaps the boiling gym. The dragon type Pokemon that were supposedly hidden away in the city boundaries could perhaps tip off information of places of high value.

Written chirped, a dead noise in the dead area. She landed atop the Pokemon Center, glancing at the ever-darkening sky. How was life back in Hoenn? Going on as normal? Hectic as she was? The Taillow was surveying her surroundings when a little whisper caught in the wind and came to her ears.

.... PAuLa...

She nearly missed it, but once the words were figured in her mind, the Taillow did not disbelieve that it was just the wind. A mystery was about to begin.

Tony crept through the ruin city, keeping to the elongated shadows cast by buldings, his emerald eyes glowing faintly in the night. The stench of death hung in the air as thick as the blood that pooled from the mutilated corpses that littered the streets. As he crept through the darkened alleys, The Superpower pokemon noticed a small bird perched atop the Pokemon Center. He froze, attempting to make his heavily muscled form blend into the surrounding shadows as he searched for signs of infection in the tiny pokemon. Creeping closer, Tony noticed that it was wearing those things he remembered humans wearing to help failing eyesight. "What the hell?"He thought as paused in the shadow of a building adjacent to the center. "Must not be infected." With a small smile, Tony climbed quickly and silently to the roof of the building. He'd neededd a better view, there might be more uninfected.

".... PAuLa..."

The Machoke's eyes snapped around to the source of the sound. A medium sized Pokemon hiding behind some large rocks, two buildings away. Breathing deeply, The fighting-type inhaled the scent of undead that a strong cross-wind carried from the small green Pokemon. "Ok, zombie, that one's definitely a zombie!"Tony's face went blank and dull as stone as he watched the abomination. It was hunting something, it could be seem in it's body language, but what could it be. "There!" A blue Pokemon in some kind of white uniform, was fiddling around with the possessions of a human corpse. The guy was going to be massacred if he didn't look behind him.

Without stopping to think, Tony launched himself from his place on the roof, sailing clear over the next building and landing upon the house directly beside where the blue Pokemon stood.

"Yo, Blue!" He shouted down to the white-clad figure. "Look out behind you!" Pointing one iron-gray finger towards the hidden zombie. "Flower-child over there is infected!"

Shock erupted in the Sawk's chest as he whirled around to face the voice from above. Upon his words, Look out behind you! Flower-child over there is infected! he whirled once more to follow his pointing finger.

'Shiny', so to speak-- a discolored Roserade--
He swore, cursing himself for crawling into a dead-end.
Would it be?
He'd gotten as far as he had with guerrilla tactics and fleeing-- would he be able to face an infected Roserade in battle? Grass types, as he knew, were typically fast... As was he, but not that fast.

With any luck, Trystre thought, The infection's left it weak.
He cursed himself again for allowing himself time to hesitate, and stared down the alley. Nothing to use to climb up to the roof... However there was a back door, into the house. He gazed back down to the entrance, and noted the purple spines now along the ground.

He knew how to use a door.

Trystre turned on his heel, and made a rough sprint back down the alleyway; his feet pounded onto the concrete. Three digits wrapped the doorknob, and twisted--
Locked!
He wasn't going to take his chance with that Roserade, heck no, no way! He backed off a step, raised his leg, and kicked the door close to knob-- forced open--

//OoC:: Stopping here so you can write her chasing his dumb butt down the alley. CHASE SCENE FTW! //

PaULa!!! she screeched, as her location was given away. More prey. She was hungry. She unleashed a Razor Leaf attack at the Machoke, and took off after the blue, living Pokemon.
It would not get away.

The foolish Pokemon, she could see the door not opening. Gloria unleashed a Vine Whip at the blue living Pokemon.

((OOC:Decided I'd let you decide if the Vine Whip works or not. c: ...short post is short...))

Written did not like to get into others business. Indeed, her time spent with Elder Author taught her that observing from the outside taught you more than being right within the action. But when the Machoke (she had read about these ridiculously strong Pokemon) climbed up, only to jump down to help the other Pokemon hidden within the Pokemon Center, Written in the Fates decided that she was part of this situation. This mystery murder had now just become an adventure series.

And so our tale begins.

The Taillow was not that strong, but she knew a move or two that could benefit her against the infected Pokemon. Written started moving faster, and her momentum increased, until she created illusions of herself- a Double Team. Pushing back her glasses, Written darted forward with a Quick Attack, attempting to ram into the infected Roserade from behind.

Tony dove forwards off the roof as the infected flung an attack at him with a scream. Rolling to absord the impact of his dive, the machoke collided heavily with the wall of another building, sending thick cracks racing along it's surface.
"Didn't hurt" he said with a groan as he rose to his feet.

"PaULa!!!"

The Superpower pokemon quickly assessed the situation. The blue guy was gone, kicking down a door with a crash. That bloody zombie was off after him, hurling vines at him and Tony was standing here watching like an idiot.

"Crap, better go help him." He thought before leaping to the roof of the building that blue guy had entered...and tumbling straight through a hole into the house with a crash.
"OK, that one hurt." he said with a wince.

Struggling free of the remains of the furniture he'd landed on, the machoke glanced around.
"Now where did that blue guy go?"

(Ooc: Dramatic entrance much)

Claudius was sleeping on the roof of an abandoned home. All three heads were slumped down, tired. His stomach growled in hunger, he hadn't eaten in days. As he breathed calmly, oblivious to the world around him, he heard a screech. "PaULa!!!" He jolted up, completely awake as the sound pierced through his ears. He heard something slam a door open, and the flaps of another bird. He sniffed. A Taillow? he froze. A Taillow. He didn't like them. He sniffed again. He could smell foreign scents, but one stood out the most. Roses. It was strong. Some smelled wilted, while some smelled musky.

"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!" he recited the words from Hamlet, a play by Shakespeare, as he heard the sound waves bounce back to him. There were four others in the city. One was infected by her smell, while others seemed to be alive.

He hopped off the building, fixing his glasses. He stampeded to where he heard the door being slammed open and two other going inside. He could sense a Taillow coming in, and it was targeting the other infected. Annoyed, he veered off track, his beek glowed and started spinning at high speed. One of his other heads cawwed as all three charged their Drill Pecks, aiming directly at the Taillow.

Skip the Sawk from now on-- he's being put as inactive.

Gloria felt a shove against her back. She yelped as she fell to the ground. The infected Roserade caught sight of many Taillow. She couldn't tell which one had hit her. PAuLa! She shrieked. She caught sight of another infected, some kind of bird with three heads, attacking the Taillow. PAuLa! she cried out, and ran after that Machoke.

There was no sight of that blue Pokemon, and this angered the shiny Roserade more. She needed food. She needed living flesh. Gloria saw a horse Pokemon, infected as well. This made her more eager to get prey. Catching up to the Machoke, she unleashed Toxic Spikes.

It was a dark, with the exception of the cold glitter of the stars above, which gave no warmth in the dead of night. In this twisted reality, life only means survival, and death comes sooner than later...

Written stopped her thoughts as she rammed into the Roserade, feeling satisfaction as the thing stumbled. Serves you right! The Taillow thought, swinging her wings backwards to bring her away from the detestable thing. It had the horrid reek of dying roses, mixed in with shed blood of Pokemon and humans alike. Written felt her blood curdle at the thought of Elder Author being slain by this fiend.

"The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!" A broken voice spat out the words, and before the TinySwallow knew what was happening, three beaks dug into the bodies of her illusions of Double Team, the images dying away soon after. A Dodrio! Nearly faster than a Rapidash, three times as treacherous. The Taillow glanced in the frenzy towards the other living Pokemon, only to find the Machoke against the Roserade. Where had that Sawk gone? It was even worse now that it was two to three.

Using a Quick Attack, she darted away from the Dodrio, catching sight of another undead dashing into their fray. Something flashed in Written's eyes for a moment, before they gave in to a hardened steel of determination.

... but in the face of death, one couldn't help but prevent it from happening.

Tony swore loudly as the flowered infected burst into the room, hurling sharp purple spikes all over the floor.
"Sharp, purple spikes hmmm that's not poisoned or anything!" Thought the Machoke with a roll of his eyes. Looking at the zombie, his face remained as cold and hard as granite. It glared at him with the over-convience born from insanity, which would be it's downfall. Rising out of the pile of destroyed furniture he'd landed on, he holding his hands by his sides un loose fists, smoke rising from them in thin lines. Bringing them up into a tight boxers stance, he looked straight into the things blood-shot eyes as his fists were suddenly surrounded in twin coatings of dark green flame.

"Fire punch bitch!" He snarled as spun low on the spot, sending twin lashes of emerald fire flaring out over the highly flammable toxin spikes, charring the to harmless cinders. But as he took a step forward to attack, something striped and infected leapt through the hole he had fallen through.
"VANISH!" It yelled before blurring in circles around the room andamazing speed.
Fists still aflame, tony released a powerful rolling kick at the creature, but it was to fast. His flew straight past were it had been and into the wall creating a massive hole.
"The hell with this!"Shouted the machoke with a grimace. Tensing his legs, the SUperpower Pokemon sprung directly upward, before grabbing the lip of the hole in the roof and using his own momentum to hurl him high into the sky.

Looking down at ruined house as continued to fly upward, Tony brought his hands beside him until it looked like he was holding an invisible ball. Focusing intently, warmth spread through him as a pulsing ball of orange light appeared between his still smoking hands.
"Suck on this, you zombie bastards!" He roared before releasing the Focus Blast in an massive column of bright white light at the house, which exploded concussively. As he began to drop, the fighting-type scanned the scorched earth for his enemies. He hoped his attack had killed them, but he doubted it. The striped one was much to fast to be caught and the plant had been right beside the door. So even if it had been hit, it would only have caught the edge of the explosion. Causing damage but not killing.

Landing amongst the rubble, Tony felt a distinct draining in his energy, the side-effects of his most powerful attack. But he could not rest yet, the little bird was busy fighting an infected Dodrio that kept spouting strange phrases as it raced around near the edge of the dead earth left by his attack. Damn that thing was scary.
"Here we go again,"he thought before igniting his fists once again and jumping back into the fray.

((Ooc: Kar-may-har-may-har!:3 Lucky the sawk was put on inactive otherwise it woulda been awkward blowing up the house with him in it XD))

One of his heads noticed the Zebstrika who jumped in the house with the Roserade. Mentally he grinned. More undead, more fun! They were outnumbering the living by one so far, he hoped more would come to join in on the massacre. He had noticed that the body he had pecked faded away. He shook his head and spat on the ground. "Parting is such sweet sorrow..." he murmured, turning his head to where the Taillow was flying off to.

"Suck on this, you zombie bastards!" Claudius jumped as he heard a large explosion behind him. He immediately spun around facing the rubble where the Machoke stood. "Nothing can come of nothing." he sneered, as he bagan to race towards the humanoid Pokemon. He took sharp turns, is beaks already glowing with white lights and beginning to drill the air as he jumped, diving right at the Machoke.

((OOC:Erm. Can't think. Just say Gloria is startled. ;A; Sorry for my writers block...))

Written witnessed with uncalled curiosity and devastating shock as the building exploded. The flares instantly flew up, the timber breaking as if it were glass... The Taillow took it in with fascinated admiration, wondering how such strength had been acquired by the Machoke. Utterly beautiful. If I were able to do that...

The TinySwallow Pokemon had no time to think as a bright yellow bolt charged from the Zebstrika (she had always adored their stripes), and flew in all directions. Now, not only was the miniature writer being in the presence of a strong companion, but also in the midst of a deadly killer (or two, or three). Written didn't have time to think as the voltage struck her, zapping her thoughts to smithereens.

She fell down, near to death, wondering if she ever wake up...

It hurt so much... Written winced as the sting started to kick in. The ground was enticingly inviting this night. Angst should cue in...

What would happen to her? Was death her only option?

The Taillow closed her eyes.

No. As her eyes closed, her heart did not. It beat on, like a rhythmic drum, and her life continued.

Written fainted in the middle of battle.

^{[ooc: Written you weak Pokemon ;3]}

Tony swore as the Dodrio leapt at him with incredible speed, it's trio of beaks spinning rapidly and glowing with a fluorescent white light. Rolling to the side, the Machoke ignited his fists once again and unleashed a blistering Bullet Punch at the air in front of him, the intense heat simultaneously creating a thick blurring and shimmering wall in the air and keeping the rabid bird at bay. Tony had learned that if he put enough fire in front of him the resulting wave of heat would blur the air, making him harder to see.

But as he turned to check on the other bird, he saw it go down as a wave of electricity shot outward from the striped infected that had escaped his attack.
"SHIT!" Exclaimed the Superpower pokemon, driving one foot into the ground up to the ankle. He braced himself as heavy jolts of pain lanced through him, and straight into the ground, nullified by his grounding.
Trembling slightly, Tony grabbed a piece of nearby pipe that had broken off jaggedly when he destroyed the house. Wreathing it in green flame from his hands, he hurled it javelin-style at the distracted horse.

Not pausing to see if it landed, the fighting-type he extinguished one hand and sprinted forward, collecting the small, fainted bird from the ground as he went. Leaping upward, Tony cleared the roof of another house, setting fire to the thatch as he went.

"Don't worry little guy." He whispered to the unconscious flying-type that still clutched a tiny pencil in one talon. "I'll get you some help."

((Ooc: Hoping the electric attack hit the Dodrio hard enough to stop it following.))

First he felt the heat of a blaze in front of his face as he stumbled back and screeched. He paused for a moment, fixing his glasses and making sure his head was still intact and what not- but then he falt something else.

He felt electricity lightly tickle his talons, then begin to run up his legs, to his chest and head. He let out a surprised screech and fell to the ground, his heartbeat audible in his own ear.

The sun rose.

Gloria looked to the other two infected. PAuLa. She moved her arm, telling them to come along when they were finished. And with that, she gave chase to the Machoke. Her prey wouldn't get away this easy. And now he was with the bird, more food for the shiny undead Roserade.

She released a Stun Spore attack, hoping to hit the Machoke. Then a Razor Leaf. Gloria was enraged. PAuLa! She screeched. She unleashed a vine whip.

Arceus' head bent down, his eyes puncturing deep into her soul, leaving the small Taillow speechless. "What is it that you want most, Taillow?" He asked, standing up after a few moments and moving towards heavenly gates. She attempted to follow the almighty Pokemon...

Written woke up to the radiating heat of the Machoke. Pushing back her eye glasses, she wondered what had happened. "Are we alive?" Wait. She took back that question- if she were dead, she would not feel the annoying headache she had at the moment. "I mean, are we going to live?" Shaking her head to relieve her aches, Written took to the air, floating next to the Machoke.

"You've destroyed those buildings easily didn't you?" She couldn't help herself! Who and where else would she meet another Pokemon with super power strength? "I'm Written in the Fates, by the way. Written for short. What's yours?"

Swooping around the Machoke's head, the Tiny Swallow Pokemon felt her weariness slink away. "You do know that those dead Pokemon will follow us, right? Probably try and decimate our powers then demolish our bodies whole. Standard action novel procedures."

"PAuLa!" Written glanced back, noticing the odd-colored Roserade taking after them. Tweeting a short, swinging note to the Machoke to turn around, the Taillow flew upwards to avoid the grass attacks and to look at the other two infected. Mindless and powerful. A naughty combination. She wouldn't faint again. She was better than those Pokemon.

Clenching the small pencil even tighter, Written in the Fates darted downwards to the Roserade, preparing a Supersonic.

"I want..." Her voice faltered as Arceus stopped and turned his eyes on her again. "I want... I want to live."