The CHARGESTONE Team

The massive paws of the Arcanine left patches of flattened grass in the forest he trotted along hurriedly in, though the stubborn blades perked up again after a few seconds. He walked in a rushed manner, though not exactly a run. Every couple of seconds, he looked behind himself into the deeper parts of the forest, as if looking for something or someone in the growing shadows of sunset -- which is basically what he was doing. Earlier, Klaus, the Arcanine, had been unfortunate enough to snap a large tree trunk by standing on it to get a better view, the wood being much more rotten than he had originally thought. A small flock of Tranquill had been awakened and upset by it, except with the addition that they were rotting, flying animated corpses that tried to peck their way through Klaus's ribcage.

To his relief, however, using the foliage and cover of the trees and their towering branches seemed to be a smart idea, obscuring him from easy view of flying Undead birds. His current worry was that he could see parts of the sky as he trodded through the woods, and saw that it was nearing dusk. The sky stained an orange as the sun set, Klaus knew he would have to find shelter soon, or else he would be left directionless in the dark. Of course, by this point, he knew wandering aimlessly was dangerous enough, and doing it in the dark was practically suicide. To his relief, however, he could already see the end of the forest, where it opened up to a more open, field of grass, and a river just a little further. "How you holding up, Pen?" the Arcanine suddenly asked, turning his head to the other pokémon that accompanied him.

No, Klaus had not been traveling alone. During the Epidemic, the Arcanine had a friend from childhood accompanying him. She was an Espeon by the name of Penelope, and by far, the most important pokémon in Klaus's life -- though, of course, he would never admit that. It would be too embarrassing for a rebellious, tough-guy dog like him. Instead, he kept his own thoughts and crush about the other to himself, letting everyone else believe they were just simply friends and nothing more. Surely, however, he was allowed to be worried for the physical condition of his friend. Exhaustion would be the death of them both in the time period that they were in; it was either live or die, and dying was not an option.

"It's getting dark..." murmured Klaus, giving the sky another glance as soon as he took the first few steps out of the woods onto Route 6. The sky was still lit orange, so he still had time -- but it wouldn't be long before night took over the world. The Arcanine padded towards the edge of the river, where he could see a slightly dilapidated wooden bridge; a few parts were eaten away and moss grew all over it, but it seemed stable. Even if it wasn't stable enough to hold Klaus's weight, he supposed he could jump over the river anyway -- it wasn't very wide. "We have to find a safe place to spend the night. Maybe a cave, or a cove, a hidden grotto; anywhere where we're not in the open. See anything like that?"

With every step came new surroundings, came with things the Espeon didn't know. It always felt like she was stepping blindly in the dark, cautiously treading through with every sense alert. She felt nothing, she tasted nothing, she heard nothing, she smelled nothing, and lastly she felt nothing. It was frightening at first, even left her paralyzed, but after who-knows-how-long, she was uncomfortably used to it. Penelope scanned the area as she walked on, her violet eyes examining every nook and cranny, as if expecting at least one familiar thing in the scenery. However, it was deemed as impossible as they traveled for so long; to the point where even she forgot what her old life was like, her old life when she was smiling with her friends. However, she did not dare ask her companion what was it like, afraid to bring up the possibility of his death. He was alright, right? Penelope always felt pain stab her in the chest whenever her thoughts began to fill with him, then and even now.

"How you holding up, Pen?" The familiar gruff voice brought her back to reality. The Sun Pokemon perked up, her eyes and the Arcanine's eyes meet for a brief moment before Klaus glanced at the sky. Penelope averted her gaze, and only responded in silence. She felt a bit guilty for saying nothing, Klaus took good care of her throughout this whole entire time. Even when her feet trembled and broke out, when she threw fits on wanting to see him again, when she bursted to angry tears on how cruel this joke was. Yet, even though she wanted to tell Klaus everything was going handy dandy, the words could not form from her mouth.

As she continued to follow Klaus, she no longer bothered to pay any attentive care to the scenary. All it seemed to be were forestry and rivers, though she was a bit surprised at the human-made bridges for the small rivers, nothing seemed to be changing. Her gaze trailed over from her feet over to the Arcanine's massive paws that left traces of his presence onto the earth. It was then was it fixed onto the yellow ribbon tied firmly on his paw. She felt a tug at the edge of lips, forming a sad, but small smile.

That expression soon disappeared as Klaus grew stiff, causing the Espeon to rise a brow at him. The Arcanine's attention on the rather worn-out bridge, "We have to find a safe place to spend the night. Maybe a cave, or a cove, a hidden grotto; anywhere where we're not in the open. See anything like that?" Penelope frowned, unsure how to respond. Frankly, she didn't want to turn her attention back to the surroundings as there was literally nothing they could do other than be on the run from those nasty Tranquills that Klaus had accidentally startled, but ahead was a rather rocky mountain (it was smaller than a mountain, but definitely larger than a hill). Strange for a forest, she squinted her eyes to make out the details; "I see a cave, I think... up there," the candid mumbled, "But I don't think a cave is such a good idea, Klaus..." Indeed it wasn't, a lot of unfortunate things are begging to happen in caves. Even though they're on the run from Undead, the cave brought chills up her spine, evidently telling her that this was not the place they should go.

You know I don't like Pidoves for dinner. a male Espeon lounged on the back of Zweilous, disdainfully eyeing the dead pigeon before him. He frowned a little, lifting an eyebrow as the pathetic meal before looking back to the dark-type. This is barely filling anyways--couldn't you just find something else that's a little, I dunno...bigger?
"You know damn well that there's barely any fresh prey here, fuckass." Bellicoso, the one with the bloodied maw, spat. She scowled a little at the psychic-type, nudging the bird's side. "Of course, you're completely free to starve yourself or some shit--not like I would care, ungrateful bastard. Do you even know how hard it is to hunt with this little shit attached to your body?" she snapped, motioning to her other head, before turning away with a huff.
"Hey! Rude!" Apaise shouted back, stamping her foot in annoyance at her counterpart. "I do my best too, you know...we just need to learn how to work together."
"Work together my ass!
"I think you mean our ass."
"Bitch please these fine buttocks are all mi-"
Oh my fucking Arceus--SHUT UP! Can you two stop arguing and look in front of you?
Obediently the two heads swung to face forward, their forms hidden within the thick foliage as they watched a flock of undead Tranquils passed by. Their corpses were rotting and bloody, eyes glowing a bright hue as they chased...something. They waited silently as the birds passed by, the sky slowly growing darker as the seconds passed by. Bellicoso grumbled under her breath, brows furrowed as she stretched her neck for a better view. "I think they're gone...what the hell were they chasing anyways?" she opened her mouth to taste the air, but only felt the bitter flavours of the dead dance on her tongue. She wouldn't admit it, but she missed the days where the air was filled with fresh, lovely scents and sweet lavender of her trainer's home. "Sooo...can we be like that Sherlock Holmes dude or some shit and investigate? Maybe we can find a better meal for this hot mess right here." she chuckled.
Hot mess? I do think you mean a hot steamy sexy mess of the finest ass in the world, thanks. Apaise's face seemed to redden at Xuan's remark, words stammering from her mouth as she awkwardly looked away.
"I-I, uh...c'mon already, lets go!" she yelped a little, forcing her other head to cooperate as she pushed forward and through the foliage, traveling through the grass as silently as they could. She cast a quick glance at her counterpart, only to see the Zweilous's face adorned with a grin from ear to ear--made a little more unnerving by the blood splattered across her lips. Bellicoso giggled, before continuing their march.

[[OOC: Bold italics is Xuan speaking telepathically. :B]]

"......"

The Arcanine stared down at his shorter companion, a slight frown crossing his face. His friend's response was so quiet, just a bare murmur. He had not seen a true smile on the other's face for quite a while now, and felt a sucking hopelessness in his chest at the idea that he couldn't do anything to help. What could he do? He was never exactly the comedic kind, and he definitely wasn't 'him'; the young pokémon that always put a giant smile on his friend's face, who was constantly the topic of her crushing chatter. The Arcanine wondered where he was, at this moment; the last he had seen of him was two years ago, when he had stayed behind to fend off an insane, former friend.

At the very least, though, Penelope was still talking to him and answering him. Klaus wouldn't know what to do if she had simply shut down entirely. "Oh, yeah. I see it," he chimed, looking over to the cave that the other had pointed out. It wasn't too far; the river divided the land between them and the cave in two places, but the path was relatively clear. Eyes slightly furrowed, the Arcanine weighed his chances. A cave would be a nice place to spend the night, but yes, if they were ambushed, it would leave them cornered. Then again, night was falling fast and that cave might be their only safe spot and there was no way he was sleeping out in the open.

"Well... I think we could give the cave a try," slowly answered Klaus, glancing down at Penelope. "I mean, it's the only safe place that we've found so far, and it's getting dark. It's better than nothing, right? We can scout it first and double-check whether it's safe first if it bothers you, yeah?" He tried to make his voice sound reassuring and not forceful. It was strange, how much he had changed ever since he met Penelope. When he was a young, scruffy Growlithe, at the height of his abuse, he had been hostile to everyone around. Now, though, he was reasonable, and though still scruffy, willing to bend his stubbornness.

"At the very least, let's get moving... We'll be sitting Duckletts out here in the open." With that, the Arcanine began moving forward toward the first bridge, stopping right next to it and looking back. His tail waved once, a soft smile on his face, though even then the slight strain and tiredness could show through his eyes. It was such a long time that he had spent running away or fighting beings that could barely die. Every day was a survival game, and honestly, it was becoming tiring and painful on his mentality, and his heart to see Penelope going through the same thing, but with worse coping.

Hopefully, it would all be over someday soon.

Penelope didn't make eye contact with Klaus as he frowned at her, ashamed that she pointed out terrible the idea of going into the cave for the night was. He was earnestly trying to find a situation to help the both of them, yet Penelope does nothing in return. She wondered why the broad and strong Fire-type even bothered to take care of her if she was just going to be a burden. "Well... I think we could give the cave a try," The Arcanine answered slowly, aware of how fragile Penelope was; the guilt continuing to eat her up, "I mean, it's the only safe place that we've found so far, and it's getting dark. It's better than nothing, right? We can scout it first and double-check whether it's safe first if it bothers you, yeah?" She just responded with a slight nod and a small sigh, her stomach churned at the idea of going into that cave. However, Klaus always kept his promise, and she knew that he was strong enough to fend off of Undead. Though the idea of him dying on her seemed likely, she refused to think about it for a second. Klaus was a precious friend, but she was absolutely petrified about the thought of his mangled body just found right next to her, or -- even worse -- he just disappears. She hated being alone, if Klaus were to just go poof she wouldn't even know whether he just up and decided to abandon her or died somewhere where she can't even get to.

Klaus snaps Penelope out of her thoughts as he urged them forward, only to slightly pause to smile at the Espeon. Once again; guilt. It was obvious to see the fatigue in Arcanine, it made the Psychic-type wish she was stronger. She promised that to herself in the beginning she would get stronger in order to protect Klaus, but then again, it ended up being the other way around didn't it? She returned the smile, but like all the other ones; fake. Penelope didn't want the Arcanine to worry too much about her, but past experiences made it too late for the Espeon to push the Arcanine away. She remembered clearly how her heart pounded against her chest when Huo destroyed their home, how she couldn't interpret the situation that laid in front of her, how others had to protect her and put their lives on the line. Why was she so useless? Why didn't she take daily training with her comrades rather than staying by the river? If her parents were to return, they would at least go into the home to see their daughter right?...

"Klaus," She called out, her eyes glued to her small paws, "...Don't push yourself." It was more of a mix of a mumble and a beg, but her words were honest. She pushed forward ahead of the Arcanine and towards the cave, the creaks of the bridge followed her.

She took a slight pause in front of the cave. Penelope slightly frowned as she gazed into the darkness, the cave returning that gaze giving her an uncomfortable sensation. Her legs brought her forward nonetheless, feeling the cold foreboding wind of the cave engulf her entirely. "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." The quote rung out in her mind. The Espeon never quite understood what it meant nor tried to interpret it, but it always sent shivers up her spine.

The duo marched silently through the woodlands, brushing away at the weeds and foliage as they trudged through. Xuan flicked his ears and grumbled under his breath when a fern hit him square in the face, earning a grand laugh from Bellicoso.
"Serves you right, asshole!" she snapped, bloody jaws clamping only an inch away from the Psyhic-type's snout. "Anyways, are you going to eat that Pidove or not? I hate letting good meals go to waste." she eyed the dead bird on her back, virtually untouched by the Espeon.
You call this a good meal? Xuan shook his head, pushing the pigeon away with a well-groomed paw. Take it, I can go without food for a day...Besides, it's disgusting anyways--not even a clean kill. He was right, the little bird's neck was crudely torn open, feathers crumpled and matted with it's own blood and a wing torn and loosely dangling from it's body. Bellicoso grinned, before snapping the minute form into her jaws and chewing, before swallowing it whole. Sometimes I wonder how you never choke on your own food...
"Choking is for looooserssss!" she snorted, shrugging her large shoulders. She looked towards her other head, who seemed flustered and a little too quiet. "Hey you, what's up?" Apaise snapped her head up, surprised.
"H-Huh? Oh, uh, nothing's up, I mean..." she quickly looked for a distraction, before spotting an orangey figure and a smaller, pink one before a bridge. She motions to the duo. "Hey, look!"
"WE'RE HAVING DINNER TONIGHT, BABY!" immediately the Zweilous forcefully charged forward, the movement turbulent and uneven as her other head attempted to stop. "FOOOD!"
"W-Wait! No! Bellicoso, stop! What if they're living, like us?!"
"ALL THE BETTER!"
Oh dear... Xuan frowned, clinging onto the dragon's black mane as they sprinted forward, rather noisily, towards the Arcanine and Espeon. ...This won't end well.

[Zero time to post, skip please. umu]

[Ooc: Skip ;; I thought I could post tonight, but now I'm really sick to the stomach due to some certain circumstances. ]