(ACE) The BURNED Team

Sil forced her body language to relax as Hannibal regarded her like a novelty slab of meat, keeping quiet as Kinah spoke to him. The doe's eyes flicked to the other female every now and then as she spoke, but her attention mostly stayed on Hannibal. Even though they'd reunited not long ago, it was still like seeing a ghost. [Though if he loses much more weight than he has, that's what he's going to end up as... Sil honestly didn't know how to feel about that, and the fact that her emotions were so undecided on the Houndoom just made things worse.

"Same to you, Hannibal," Kinah replied easily, earning a trace of a smirk from the hound behind the muzzle. "How much more weight can you really lose? You already look like a skeleton with fur." Despite the casual tone of her voice, she stepped between Sil and Hannibal, a move that confused the doe. Wasn't she literally just trying to kill her? Maybe she didn't want Hannibal taking her prey. Sil flicked an ear in annoyance, but didn't mind the barrier between herself and Hannibal, instead taking the opportunity to look back at the others. However, she'd turned just in time to see the brothers leave, talking amongst themselves. Odd. "I also see you didn't listen when I told you to rest that leg. That limp is likely permanent now, you know."

That smooth, almost seductive chuckle rang lightly in the air as Hannibal moved forward to close the gap between himself and the two women before him. "Desperate times, Kinah dear," he replied, stopping at a comfortable distance to sit and ease off his injured leg. "I'm sure you understand how someone with my own... limited means can't simply afford to lounge around all day." His eyes glanced up to Sil's, who in turn remained steadfast. "Sil, that was very rude of you to leave so suddenly, without saying any goodbyes. I, not to mention your precious Doctor, was very concerned. I had to make sure you were still well. Apparently, you've made a habit of vanishing?" He gave Kinah an amused glance before his eyes flitted back up to Sil's furious expression.

"Shut it," Sil snapped from behind gritted teeth; she didn't want to spur Kinah into another fight right when the woman had finally calmed somewhat. But before she had a chance to continue, it seemed that their fight had attracted the attention of other vermin. Undead vermin. "Watch out!" She turned to the voice's direction, spotting a large swarm of beady-eyed little wraiths coming their way. Great. But they were merely Rattata-- they could probably handle the swarm with this many people. Sil glanced to Kinah, eyeing the fighter for a moment before she leaped into the air, her sharp hooves easily splitting through a head before she was alight again. Over and over, she essentially bounced around the swarm, squishing the scum with just her weight. Hannibal kept on his feet but remained behind Kinah; he knew there was no use for him in a battle. Not while the blasted contraption stayed clamped around his face.

While Kinah wanted to trust that Hannibal hadn't completely reverted back on her, that he still had that potential in him to be less of a sociopathic prick, Sil's nervous tension was making her wonder otherwise. The Houndoom still approached them casually, polite as usual and sitting down a respectable distance away, but the Mienshao couldn't practically taste Sil's fear. It was alarming. "I'm sure you understand how someone with my own... limited means can't simply afford to lounge around all day." Hannibal said smoothly, distracting Kinah from her analysis of her quarry. "Sil, that was very rude of you to leave so suddenly, without saying any goodbyes. I, not to mention your precious Doctor, was very concerned. I had to make sure you were still well. Apparently, you've made a habit of vanishing?" Wait, what?!

It had taken the fighter so long to track Sil down to Johto after what happened in Unova that for a long while she remained ten steps behind anywhere the doe had gone. Of course it was likely Sil had found other survivors but Hannibal had been there too? And who the hell was Doctor? How many people had Sil lured in and gotten killed while she fucked off?! "Shut it," came the doe's quick response, biting her anger behind a clenched jaw. Kinah turned her head to eye the Sawsbuck, a judging glare clearly evident as she tried to piece together the life Sil had after Lostlorn. And the puzzle pieces she was fitting together weren't making a very lovely picture.

"Watch out!" The cry came out a moment before an instinctual alarm went off in the fighter's head, making her jump out of the way of a lunging Rattata. She thanked whatever creator gave her the instincts to compensate for being blind on one side because otherwise that would have been embarrassing. When she saw that they were surrounded her annoyance knew no end. "Fucking plague rats!" There were always a nuisance before the Epidemic but now they were a running side gag for the end of the world. Sil wasted no time breaking away from her and Hannibal, bounding along like a spring fawn as she began playing whack a mole with the rat horde, leaving her to deal with the nearly incapacitated dog once again. "You can still shoot fire through that bit I cut, right?" she asked, not really caring if he answered. "If so then I suggest you help otherwise I am letting them eat you."

She caught up easily with Sil's head count as she threw herself into an Acrobatics, landing hit after hit and easily jumping away from any oncoming lunges. Some random kid of a Jolteon she hadn't noticed before jumped out of nowhere and started sparking everything near Sil, leaving a pang of jealousy and anger in his wake. Why did everyone always want to help Sil? What the hell made her so special that everyone she ever met wanted to die for her? Was she in some kind of fucked up comic-verse? Anger brewed at all of her unanswered questions and Kinah let loose another furious Hidden Power, flames encircling her before pushing out and practically melting a trio that had tried to surround her. She had enough of this.

The shift in conversation has lost any of Balthazar's already limited interest. Frankly, she doesn't care about the arrival of the new dog himself; he looks pathetic, stick-thin and muzzled. How he was still alive in a condition, Balthazar didn't know, nor did she care to find out. What did matter was that the doe and the other newcomer recognize him, and all three meeting in one place at one time seemed like too big of a stretch. The doe was the only thing that was throwing that off; from what Balthazar can tell, she was genuinely not expecting for the others to be around. The Houndoom and Mienshao were simply too new and unfamiliar for her to properly gauge, even moreso than everyone else in their little ragtag band. Speaking of which, where the hell is Cold Stare, or the two brothers? The latter's disappearance wasn't too big of a deal, as long as they weren't hiding out somewhere and plotting, but the black-furred Luxio wasn't one to stay behind, unless...they hadn't seen any serious undead in the tower, but unless Cold Stare had run off, it was entirely possible something had attacked him. Balthazar has to go check, nobody would care if she went back to make sure-

But before she can take more than a few steps, Balthazar can hear the shuffling of paws, and see the telltale, gleaming red eyes of the undead. That goddamn pointless fight really had attracted some of the little bastards to them; Rattata, by the look of them. Filthy little beasts, and obviously there weren't only one or two. It was lucky that they hadn't attracted anything bigger or dangerous; the Rattata had numbers, but that wouldn't be enough to take even one of them out. "Now we've done it." Gee, thanks. Ear-splitting screeches began to rise from the swarm, and in only a few seconds the undead  Rattata began to pour out towards their group, as annoyingly quick as they'd been even before dying to the disease. "Watch out!"

Without hesitation, Balthazar lunges forward, crushing one runt underneath her heavy paws. The sound of brittle bone snapping is satisfying to her ears; when another one leaps at her, she breaks its neck with a powerful Retaliate, sending the now-limp corpse back onto the ground. They weren't a challenge, but the rush of even this fight brings a genuine smile to Balthazar's face; she hadn't been the battler that Iris was in the old days, but now, it felt good to kill these purple bastards. That's for my sister, she thought as another of the rat horde was smacked down by Assurance with a sharp crack. That's for Iris. Bits of bone and black gunk were beginning to cover her paws, but Balthazar hardly notices.

[[sorry for the delay, only to skip, but I honestly can't write a decent post for them. They're just fighting off the horde.]]

Kinah tried hard to ignore the scene before her, to ignore the fact that once again she was standing at this particular tower with yet another Sawsbuck and trying to come to terms with the ethical dilemma of whether or not to kill said Sawsbuck. While also trying not to die. And this time it wasn't her arguing against killing the doe, it was for killing her. The last one had been infected, easy enough decision, but was a gentle soul who didn't try to hurt anyone until the virus took over. This time it was the complete opposite, and her moral ambiguity was at an all time high. So the fighter simply had no choice but to work out her frustrations on the rats, at least until a quick snap of lightening passed behind her head.

The attack had been targeted at her blind side, so the ermine turned quickly to see a smoking Rattata scorched from the electricity twitching upon the ground. She glared at it for a moment as she scolded herself for not keeping her senses open on her left side, knowing it was a blind spot, before turning her one good eye to the Jolteon rushing towards her. "I don't know who you are, but if we combine our moves with a little paralysis." She frowned at him as his over enthusiasm for teamwork began to rub her the wrong way, but the kid did make a valid point. Combined attacks were quite useful when executed correctly. "I promise that I won't get in your way I figured with your hidden power and my thunderwave it would make short work of the large groups." The Mienshao let out a loud sigh and crossed her arms. "Fine," she acquiesced.

The kid seemed distracted, however, as he eyed the Houndoom behind her. He looked wary, which showed at least some decent instincts on the kid because he damn well should be, before randomly thinking out loud. He looks like he could kill someone without that muzzle guard. He looked back at her with wide eyes, as though he didn't even realize he had spoken that thought aloud, and the fighter shook her head with exasperation. She uncrossed her arms and began to summon another ring of fire, beginning at her feet and spiraling upwards. "He's not safe, if that's your question. He's survived this long with that thing on his head so I think that alone should tell you he is dangerous. But can we get back to the problem at hand, please?" She was beginning to feel like this was a babysitting gig and she really wasn't being paid enough for it. Setting everything on fire and booking it was looking better and better every minute.

(skip. I got nothing.)

[[Skip again, sadly.]]

((I tried but I cannot seem to come up with anything substantial. Right now Kinah is just following the Jolteon's trail of Thunder Waves))

The building was rather foreboding, creepy, looking haunted and most likely was as the Houndrunt made his way up the steps, the burned tower getting ever closer to him. He couldn't help but wonder, how long ago had it been like this? He's never seen it before, but then, he'd never stepped paw in this part of johto before, only his hunger and fear drove him to the point of going farther than his home, into the parts of the region he'd never gone before, and even into the human cities his mother had told him to stay away from, but he had little choice. He was hungry, and food was growing short in the woods, or more like, he didn't know where to look for it. He wasn't a killer after all, and he was too scared to try hunting, and besides, a lot of the meat nowadays was tainted with whatever that sickness was.

'Maybe I'll find something here?'

The thought of food and a warm place to sleep filled his mind as he reached the top, each step being a struggling for the small hound, mostly because he'd never climbed steps before, this being his first time. Letting out a long sigh, Astrid looked up at the tower, it becoming a lot more intimidating now that he was at its front steps. "Maybe this was a bad idea..." He said to himself in a hushed voice, practically a whisper as he lowered his head and tail, but he was already at the top, so he might as well have a look around.

The tower floor felt cold against the Houndrunts pads, as the holes in the floor made him watch where he stepped so he wouldn't fall or get a paw stuck. Now that he was here, the place didn't look so bad, burned before or after the outbreak it mustn't have been soon as it wasn't smoking and the ground the cold, not warm. Maybe he could be safe here, but he wasn't counting on finding any food, not in a place like this. After a few more steps though, he paused, ears perked but head and tail down. The sound was faint but close, and it took him awhile to become familiar with the sound of fighting. Terror now in his eyes he looked around for a place to hide, but there was no where. He tried not to panic as he backed up, regretting ever coming here, but he was also curious about the fighting. Maybe, a peak? Slowly, he crept toward the fighting, keeping his body low to the ground, as though he was stalking a prey, just like his mother had showed him.

"Got them Ma'am, I'll follow your lead."

Astrid's ears perked, was that a voice? He hadn't heard the voice of another pokemon in so long he'd almost forgotten. Very curious now, he soon reached the point where he could see what was going on, his eyes widening to it all. A fight, a group of survivors against a horde of rattata, he recognized the little vermin because his mother would bring him some to eat, he found them delicious, but he dared not eat these ones, no, these one didn't smell, alive, but, rotted, like so many other pokemon he'd encountered. His eyes shifted to the survivors, trying to find the one that spoke, but he could only see a fight, and one he didn't want to get tangled in. He should have turned and left, but he stayed where he was, behind a broken pillar of burned wood, peeking out every so often to watch.

Aaden watches the the pokemon around him spring into action, momentarily united. His own wrist smolder and burst into bright flames as he charges his fire punch. Individual rats stream forward mindlessly, easy enough targets despite the height difference. Along with the popping and sizzling from his own combusted opponents, Aaden can hear others screeching and the distinct sound of stomping. Thank Acreus they didn't attract something with more punch. As long as they didn't take any bites...

The flesh beneath his armband burn as his continued flames irritate his infected, but concealed wound. Each time he used his powers, he could feel the pain worsening. How long did he have before he became like them? This was not the time to think about it. Pushing those thoughts aside, he continues taking down undead after undead, the numbers failing to waver until a jolt of electricity cuts through the closest rank.

Aaden turns in time to see the last sparks of the thunderwave retreating from the jolteon. Clever. Without their speed, the rats had nothing. The ones still able to move began to slow, consider them then turn tail and flee to a common point several feet from the group. The blaziken's eyes pin with anticipation and frustration. Why were they hesitating? It didn't take him long to figure out why.

A large, mutilated raticate emerges from the back of the group. Despite the decay, this undead remained a hulk of a rat for its species. It towered over its packmates, fangs chipped, but long and dangerous. An ominous bone-white color against its matted bloody fur. Standing his ground, Aaden stares back at the large rat that stares back with a spark of some remaining intelligence behind its bloodshot eyes.

The creature sits at a standstill, silent, until, having to see it was out-powered for the time being, flicked its tail and turned tail back to the city. Then, as if a switch was flipped, the smaller ones continue their retreat under the rubble. It's another minute yet before Aaden can bring himself to remember to breath.

"Well, I guess that's that." He growls, moving to finish off any paralyzed stranglers.


Delicate bones snapping under the weight of his feet, his flames already extinguished. "Is anyone hurt? No? Then head back inside the tower, I rather not get spotted by anything else out here." Aaden says, noting who still remains in their rag-tag group. Great, another new face. "We can talk about what the hell is going on there."


((ooc: Sorry for the delay!))

The rats are beginning to back away from her, but there is one in the corner of her eye that's moving at a pathetically slow pace; paralysed, perhaps? Balthazar only has to wonder how that happened for a second before recalling the Jolteon kid. Unless one of the others somehow knew Thunder Wave, it has to be him stopping these vermin in their tracks. Smart. Only thing dangerous about them are the numbers and speed. The former isn't holding up too well, either. Crushed, twisted corpses of Rattatas litter the ground around Balthazar, and by now, there are almost none left near her. Cowards. Her attention follows their retreat; what are they planning? Surely undead no longer have the mental capacity for anything more than basic instinct, considering their rot. There is no logical way that mere Rattata had come into this fight backed up by a thoughtful plan of action.

From the back of the now thinned horde, something far more dangerous than the tiny rats emerges. A blood-stained Raticate, far too large to be a normal member of its kind, stares at Aaden with eyes that were not as dead as its smaller brethren. Was it...contemplating? It waits, and Balthazar does the same, muscles beginning to ache a bit from the tension. If this thing makes one wrong move, she's ready to pounce and tear into its throat before even an inch of its fangs can sink into one of her own. The silence stretches, and Balthazar cannot shake off how those Raticate's damned eyes make it look as if it knows more than them, as if it's awaiting its chance to bring hell upon them.
But instead of an attack, the massive rat flees, it and its revolting pack escaping to the rest of the ruined city. The hell...
"Well, I guess that's that." Aaden may sound calm, but Balthazar's tension hasn't eased; she keeps looking around, even though not a single rat is left other than the paralyzed ones that the Blaziken takes care of. Undead didn't just leave prey behind like that. She's never seen them do that up until this point. "Is anyone hurt? No? Then head back inside the tower, I rather not get spotted by anything else out here. We can talk about what the hell is going on there." Damn it. She doesn't like what's going on one bit, but Aaden's right; they can't hang around in the open forever.

"Gladly." Balthazar begins to trot back towards the tower, ready to be rid of this strange anxiety tugging at her gut. That goddamn Raticate...
Suddenly, remembering something important, she turns back towards the rest of the group. "Wait-has anyone seen Cold Stare? The Luxio?" He didn't come out with us. He wouldn't stay behind or run off, though. But then, she had only met him today; what right did Balthazar have to claim what Cold Stare would or would not do? Maybe he really was the smart type, getting the hell out of Dodge when the opportunity arose. Why do I care so damn much about a stranger, anyways?

The battle against the horde was more lengthy and annoying rather than a real fight. There was the occasional rat that managed to get a little close for Sil's comfort, but a swift kick through the head generally fixed that. Even Hannibal was able to make use of his limited abilities, his fire streaming from the durable muzzle to melt the mobile throng of carcasses around him. Finally, it seemed all was back to normal as the last of the rodents were destroyed and a quiet calm came over the ruined town. Sil turned to see the Blaziken addressing them all. "Is anyone hurt? No? Then head back inside the tower, I rather not get spotted by anything else out here. We can talk about what the hell is going on there." He sounded rushed, but then again, Sil couldn't really blame him for wanting to get out of the open.

"Gladly." the Mightyena scoffed ahead of the Sawsbuck. Once Sil was near her, it seemed the dark-type remembered something and looked almost panicked. "Wait-has anyone seen Cold Stare? The Luxio?"

Sil could only shake her head. "Sorry, no." She continued forward, eager to be back indoors, but then turned to look back at Kinah and Hannibal. It was nothing short of a miracle either of them were still alive -if "miracle" was really the word Sil wanted to use- but she felt herself at a loss. Kinah's rage may not have been spent, and who knew what Hannibal was up to. Deciding against her better judgement to just leave "well enough" alone, she turned back and headed to Kinah, expression wary. She stopped a few feet away, unwilling to give Kinah such an opportunity to exact her revenge.

"...We shouldn't continue to put these people in danger if we're going to keep fighting. So if you have any other beef, we need to settle it now before following them back inside." She noticed Hannibal take interest in her clandestine little meeting, but he simply strode away, tail high, to place himself at the edge of the tower's remains. Looked like he wasn't going to eavesdrop, but wasn't willing to let the women out of his sight, either.

Kinah's fur stood on end when the Raticate leader emerged, it's eyes betraying something she had known capable of the undead for a while now. Intelligence. Praying this wasn't another calculating monster like the Hydreigon or the Weavile she held her breath while waiting for it to move. It seemed to sense it was outmatched and the moment and retreated, it's 'children' following suit quickly, and her relief was bittersweet. If it knew it was outmatched then that meant it was capable of much more, and it would wait until their guard was down to strike. Like them. Like all of the higher monsters she had seen. "Is anyone hurt? No? Then head back inside the tower, I rather not get spotted by anything else out here. We can talk about what the hell is going on there."

"Wait-" she began, but was cut off by the hyena panicking about a missing companion. It probably fucked off like the horned ones when the fight started, but it was not important right now. This group had to know what was out there and what kind of fight they might actually be in for if they didn't prepare now. She stepped towards the Blaziken, who seemed like the only true leader of these weirdos, but Sil stopped in front of her to serve as one more interruption. "...We shouldn't continue to put these people in danger if we're going to keep fighting. So if you have any other beef, we need to settle it now before following them back inside." Kinah sighed loudly.

"Not now, Doe, unless you want another Lostlorn on your hooves. We can talk about this later but this is more important." She brushed past Sil without so much as another glance and marched assuredly towards Aaden. "You! Flame-pants! I need to talk to you right now. And no it cannot wait, so meet me inside. Got it?" She walked towards him as she spoke, not even stopping when she was done, and simply continued on towards the tower entrance as though expecting him to follow. But of course he should, after all it was his idea to go inside now wasn't it? She was not going to get caught up in another sentient Undead fiasco if she could help it. These people needed to know what was out there and how bad it could really get. From the looks of this lot, they needed all the help they could get.

Astrid stayed where he was behind the pillar, looking out at the group of pokemon as they held their own against the horde of undead rats that continued to plague them. 'I wonder if I should help them...' The thought crossed the young hounds mind many times, but it all ended in the same answer for him. What could he do? He knew he was nowhere near their level, only really knowing three attacks, and not very strong ones either. How he managed to even survive as long as he had on his own was it's own mystery, but he did, somehow, but now he just stayed in his hiding place, cowering as the larger pokemon continued to fight against the wave of undead. They were doing all right, so there really was no need for him to come out from his place in the shadows to assist them, but still, he felt bad for not doing anything. Maybe he could try something, but everything he thought just sounded like it would end in disaster. He could use ember, but what if he hit one of them? And his smog might just make things worse by disrupting their vision of the ground and just end up helping the rats instead. He tried to hold back as whimper as his sense of helplessness washed over him.

It wasn't till he spotted that larger Raticate that he felt truly scared. There was something about it that just made the Houndrunt lower it's head and tail in fear, shivering a little as he looked into it's eye. Even though it wasn't looking at him, he could feel it's gaze burning into his fur. What was more curious, was when it just left, signaling to the other Rattata to do the same. This confused him greatly, he'd never seen that before, an undead just giving up on the kill. He'd seen so many of the mindless things, thankful of his size so he could easily hide from them, and lucky they never noticed him. Their rancid stench must have kept his own hidden, that or they thought he was too small a meal for them, if they thought at all. But this rat definitely thought, and it knew it was outmatched. It still confused Astrid, but he tried not to think anymore into it as he just looked back at the survivors as they killed off any stragglers.

Astrid was snapped from his thoughts when he heard the other pokemon coming back towards the tower, and towards him. Panic took over and he frantically looked around for a place to hide, eyes wide as he backed away, looking around for anything that could be used as a place where they wouldn't notice him, and hopeful that the smell of dead Rattata would hide his own scent. He ran around in a circle for what felt like forever, his paws making soft thudding sounds on the wood before slowing to a stop as he tried to calm down some to think, taking a deep breath before letting it out and backing up into the shadows, under a broken pillar and hoping his dark fur would help to hide him. He felt he shouldn't be hiding from them, maybe they could help him, his mother always said it was safest in numbers, even though she herself had always been a loner, and for someone like himself, numbers seemed like the best option here, but what if they were the type to kill off the weak, what if they were hungry and thought he'd make a good snack!? All these thoughts were rolling through his mind as their steps just seemed to get closer to him.

"Gladly." Aaden hears Balth say beside him as they begin to regroup towards the tower. It's not a moment later that the dark-type visibly pauses, seeming to have remembered something. "Wait-has anyone seen Cold Stare? The Luxio?" Aaden slowed his stride to look over his shoulder at the rest of the group. No recognition. "When was the last time you saw them?" Come to think about it, when was the last time he saw the luxio?

Back in the building before all this happened. He answers himself, having to squash a rising feeling of unease at the implications of that...what happened to the others that went 'missing' from the group still a fresh wound on his mind. "Is there any chance they are waiting inside the building? If not, I hope its because they fled.." It would be one less body for them to discover. Before he can say more, a rather urgent voice cuts him off. "You! Flame-pants!" That's a new one. "Aaden." He corrects, but the other pays it no mind.

"I need to talk to you right now. And no it cannot wait, so meet me inside. Got it?" Then, just as abruptly, Kinah marches ahead of the rest into the tower and clearly meaning for him to follow after. "So Aaden, what should we do first?" Another voice, but one more familiar than the last. "You did good out there kid." He responses without breaking stride. "Doesn't mean they all left though. Stay alert. Our first step will be to make sure there's no unpleasant surprises waiting for us inside."

He takes a moment to motion to the various holes and openings of the tower before them. "Then, we can figure out exactly what we're going to do about this. We do it right and hopefully we don't die."The blaziken adds rather grimly, picking up his pace and stepping now fully inside the burned tower to catch up to the meinshao. "This isn't the part where you tell me you've been bitten is it?" Aaden begins as someone else might have a joke as he approaches Kinah his arms now crossed over his chest.

"Sorry, no."
"When was the last time you saw them?"

"Back in the tower, right before the fight," Balthazar responds quickly, cursing both her own lack of responsibility and that damn Mienshao attracting the undead to them. Had she not picked a fight in such a hostile area, then this mess wouldn't exist. Goddamn it. She's a part of this sorry group of misfits now, yet they've already lost multiple people, two of whom she might as well have driven off herself. And Cold Stare...well, somehow he had been able to tolerate her atrocious personality. Hell, in that short time, they'd gotten along well. And now he's gone, because you couldn't wait five more seconds. Fucking pathetic. It's just like with Iris, Balth-if he's dead, it's your fault. That's what happens when anyone's around you-they fucking die. And wasn't that the damn truth? Her trainer, her sister, her nieces and nephews, all gone, and their deaths weren't peaceful. I can still hear her screaming. God, Iris...I... What good are apologies to a dead woman, though? Iris is gone. That's the fact of the matter, even if it felt like having glass stabbed into an open wound. Get yourself together, Balth. Focus on now, on the ones who aren't dead.

"Is there any chance they are waiting inside the building? If not, I hope its because they fled.."
"It's possible." Balthazar says, catching sight of the Mienshao approaching them. Great, the very last person she wants to deal with right now, especially since it's only been minutes since the Rattata fiasco. "I'll go look." She turns away, making strides toward their lovely, charred, structurally unstable tower. Unless something far bigger and vicious than a Rattata was now lurking in there, Balthazar cannot think of why Cold Stare would have a reason to run. Again, she wonders why she cares in the first place, over someone only recently met. If he wanted to run, then why should she try to find him? It's easier not to, especially not in this place. I should worry over keeping this place from collapsing on top of all of us first. Balthazar makes herself a deal-if the Luxio isn't in the tower, then she won't try to look for him. That would be a suicide mission at best.
Surely that can't be a difficult deal to keep.

Hannibal had been perfectly content to wait for his two female companions. He was sitting near the entrance of the tower, patient as he surveyed his new surroundings. It wasn't much of a shock that the town they were currently squatting in had gone to pot, but frankly, it felt as if there hadn't been much of an exquisite standard to fall from in the first place. The town's collective debris looked old and delicate, even without all the scorch marks and bloodstains. His intrigued mind strained to replicate what the sleepy little hamlet must have looked like in its prime, but there was little success.

It was worth a try, he mused inwardly, the small, pleased grin hidden by the muzzle stubbornly strapped to his face. For a moment, he glanced around the now quiet scenery for some other sort of task to preoccupy himself with as he waited for the womenfolk, assuming that he would have to entertain himself until they were free. It was generally the case. Very few sentient beings found him easily approachable, with his gaunt, matted form and the ominous muzzle on his face. Still, the last thing he expected was for a plucky Jolteon to prance up and speak to him. "That Meinshao was something, but I can't thank her enough for helping me with the undead. Anyways my name's Sparkster." Hannibal blinked at the bright yellow canine, completely taken off guard by his sudden presence and friendliness.

"...Hannibal," he offered back, his tone nothing if not pleasant. Perhaps he'd be able to warm his way to this bright-eyed and bushy-tailed fox's heart and convince him to remove the damned bit of leather and metal from his jaws. "Sorry if you heard me think out loud earlier, I usually don't meet other pokemon to often." And with that, he... trotted off. That was... odd, to be sure. I wonder if he does that often? he pondered. Introduce himself and then... leave?

Too polite to chase after the strange Jolteon, Hannibal instead turned his attention to Kinah's voice that suddenly rang out, splitting the silence. Pleased, he spotted the Meinshao and Sil conversing. "Not now, Doe, unless you want another Lostlorn on your hooves. We can talk about this later but this is more important." The fighter brushed past the doe, leaving the latter to stew in her own frustration. Sil heaved a heavy sigh and turned to follow, her stride only pausing once her eyes met Hannibal's. Still, at his warm, inviting expression, she rolled her eyes and continued on as Kinah marched toward her destination. "You! Flame-pants!"

"Aaden," the Blaziken corrected.

"I need to talk to you right now. And no it cannot wait, so meet me inside. Got it?" She stormed past him as well, earning an amused chuckle from Hannibal. Ever the persistent, stubborn woman. He admired that, and always had, of Kinah's sparkling personality. He was glad to see it was still alive and well.

"So Aaden, what should we do first?" the young Jolteon spoke, diverting the Blaziken's attention from Kinah as she disappeared inside. The Blaziken seemed to Hannibal a leader-ish sort of man, possibly capable of corralling the very extreme personalities with which he was suddenly besieged. It would certainly be a spectacle to see him argue against either of his women, especially if they were at their peak in anger. Speaking of which, he noticed the green doe slip past him as well into the tower, following Kinah. It seemed Hannibal was going to be tardy for the party inside. "You did good out there kid." The tall fire type walked in as well, Hannibal bringing up the rear in silence. "Doesn't mean they all left though. Stay alert. Our first step will be to make sure there's no unpleasant surprises waiting for us inside. Then, we can figure out exactly what we're going to do about this. We do it right and hopefully we don't die."

Once he was done conversing with the Jolteon, Hannibal found a little corner in which to watch the proceedings. Aeden took that moment to address Kinah's concerns as Sil eyed everyone warily from her spot opposite Hannibal. "This isn't the part where you tell me you've been bitten is it?"

OoC)) Skip for now will post next round I'm under a lot of stress this weekend and won't have much free time to post.

She watched as the group took naturally to Aaden as the group leader, confirming her suspicions and making her much more confident that if she could convince him of their current danger the rest of them would understand as well. He spoke to a couple of of the others on his way to the tower where she awaited him but flinched when he gestured to some of the weaker points in the towers structure. She had made a few of those holes... "This isn't the part where you tell me you've been bitten is it?" The Mienshao looked up to meet the eyes of the much larger fighter and gave a sardonic chuckle. "If only it were such a small problem."

Kinah took a deep breath and prepared for what would likely be a difficult discussion, bordering on argument depending on which way the avian took it, but she knew it had to be done or all of these idiots were going to die. "You've obviously seen the extensive damage around this tower, but what you may not know is I was here when much of it was made. This place...it attracts these beasts that are unlike the other mindless drones we spent the last fifteen minutes splatting. They are aware, intelligent, and damn near indestructible. One of them even followed me from this very tower all the way back to Unova where I met Sil, and she wasn't even the first to come." She looked at the small group as they gathered into the tower, her gaze falling on each one until it ended on the two most familiar to her.

"If you don't fortify this dump, or find somewhere else to go, you are all going to die here."


((I am so sorry for the wait. I was in the middle of a post yesterday afternoon when work dragged me away and I lost it. Hopefully you aren't left waiting on me again after this))

Astrid stayed in his little corner of the room as the pokemon of the group began to enter it, his ears lowering as he backed up a little. He was scared of what would happen if they found him, maybe he should just make it easier on them and make himself known, at least it would save a wave of questions, or not. They would probably question what he was doing here anyway, and being such a timid mess around strangers he wouldn't be able to answer without stuttering or whispering it, which annoyed a lot of the pokemon back home. Taking a deep breath, he continued to think about his situation. Just cause he was hidden now didn't mean he would be for long, they'd find him eventually and he doubted he could just tip toe out of here with how alert they all seemed.

He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there pondering his thoughts, but he found his ears shifting to the conversation happening in the room, looking up as he listened.
"You've obviously seen the extensive damage around this tower, but what you may not know is I was here when much of it was made. This place...it attracts these beasts that are unlike the other mindless drones we spent the last fifteen minutes splatting. They are aware, intelligent, and damn near indestructible. One of them even followed me from this very tower all the way back to Unova where I met Sil, and she wasn't even the first to come."
The pink one had said, and that information sent a shiver down his spine. He came to this tower to be safe, not be in more danger. His option to make himself known and ask to join the group of unknowns was becoming a much more valuable option to him now. "If you don't fortify this dump, or find somewhere else to go, you are all going to die here." She had added, which made Astrid cover his muzzle to try and hold back a whimper. He didn't want to die here, he didn't want to die anywhere, he wanted to keep living, not being another rotting body or, one of those things...

After pondering over his thoughts for several more minutes, he finally made a decision. He would make himself known. He would get up, walk out there, head high, and... no way... He lowered himself back to the ground, there was no way he could go out there head high, they were all so intimidating compared to him. He'd still go out though, he wouldn't hide here. If they attacked him, there was plenty of places a small pokemon like himself could run into to get away or to hide. Taking a deep breath, he began to slowly shuffle his way out from his place of hiding. If they didn't see or hear him now, they would soon. He took a few steps toward the group on shaky legs, trying his very best not to dart back into his hiding place. He was making a good choice, a hard one, but it was to survive. He just hoped it was the right one.
After coming to a stop a few feet away from them, he let out a shady sigh and opening his mouth. "H-hello..." He said with a shaky voice, hoping he had been loud enough to be heard.

"If only it were such a small problem." The other fighter says with an mirthless chuckle. Aaden hadn't known the other long, but regardless this added to his growing sense of unease. Why was she being so focused and insistent all of a sudden? "You've obviously seen the extensive damage around this tower, but what you may not know is I was here when much of it was made.This place...it attracts these beasts that are unlike the other mindless drones we spent the last fifteen minutes splatting. They are aware, intelligent, and damn near indestructible. One of them even followed me from this very tower all the way back to Unova where I met Sil, and she wasn't even the first to come."

Aaden stood in utter silence as Kinah let out a flood of information. His mind wandering more than once back to the companions they have already lost in the walls of the tower. The corpse burnt beyond recognition. The espeon with her jewel torn out. The sawsbuck torn limb from limb. Maybe, one day, him. Snapping himself free of the flashbacks, he realizes Kinah had long since finished speaking. Her gaze is already moving to look at others, how long had he been distracted? Before he really has a chance to question, she continues, "If you don't fortify this dump, or find somewhere else to go, you are all going to die here."

After another moment of silence, Aaden slowly starts to nod. "I've seen them too." He starts, softer than he anticipated to. "The ones that speak, can still think." He adds, forcing the volume back into his voice. "You're right, if we don't do something one way or the other those things are gonna come back and finish the job." He takes a second to glance at the holes and fallen beams of the structure they're within. "Fixing up this dump to be a fortress would be damn near impossible," he says, thinking aloud. "But if it's not this tower, it's nothing in this city then. Everything else is gone and for some reason this is still standing. There's no other towns for several days travel at best. What are you suggesting we do?"

Standing up straighter, and noticing most of the others have stopped to listen in, Aaden sweeps his gaze around the group. "Same for everyone else. I believe we can fortify the tower enough to be usable, but clearly this isn't a one guy operation. What do you all think? Stay and board this place up or take our chances in the woods?