(ACE) The VIRIDIAN Team

Esmee watched as Zero ran off after Trinity. The cat knew it was probably something she shouldn't get involved with, so she stayed. Instead, she turned her attention to Glitch, who wasn't looking too well. She approached him carefully, not wanting him to flip out like Trinity had done.

"You okay there? You look pretty unnerved. Did that...sight get to ya?" Esmee asked, genuinely worried about the Jolteon. Everyone seems to have some sort of problem...except me. Or is that my problem?

She thought back to what had just transpired. Why was she unaffected? Was she that jaded?

He gave Esmee a side long glance, giving her a forced smile. "Yeah, a bit. Just remembering some stuff from the lab. Also," He turned to her fully, giving her a slightly annoyed look.

"Why are walking like that? You're acting like I'm going to run like a Buneary..." With a sigh he shook his head and looked back in the direction the two pokemon had ran in.

Having a feeling they were going to be here awhile, Glitch laid down. "I'm not made of glass...." He said under his breath.

Skoll frowned as he silently made his way through the labyrinth of trees, jumping and gliding from limb to limb. The stench of death had permeated and fermented in the forest; with no open sky to help ventilate, the stench simply stayed there... trapped. His sharp eyes surveyed his surroundings, hopeful for some sort of exit, but then let out a disappointed breath.

Nope. Nothing but damn trees.

He continued on his way, making as little sounds as possible, killing any Infected that happened to be up in the trees with him with expert ease. In all fairness, he could simply go above the canopy, but.... if the carnage was this bad down here, then he didn't want to know what monsters lurked above the trees' protection.

The only sound he created were the decapitated bodies and lone heads toppling from the trees to the leafy floor, producing only a muffled, "thunk, thunk". However, as he was traversing, he heard a sound he had not heard in too long of a time...

Voices?

'Ari? Drecht?'

Curious, he drew closer and settled on a nearby tree limb. Being from a Rocket Assassin, he recognized many species of pokemon... Down below was a swablu, two eeveelutions -a jolteon and a glaceon- and a cat pokemon that he had forgotten the name of. His earlier frown grew a little. Not what he was hoping for...

Still, they looked very much alive and spooked... By the glaceon was the body of a pikachu, mangled and Infected-looking. 'That was probably why,' he thought. He pondered on if he should announce himself or not, when an Infected Butterfree came out from above him and attacked. Though the fight was easily won, the body and head toppled down toward the others as Skoll silently cursed his uncharacteristic clumsiness.

Zero simply nodded before turned around and walking back to the group, thoughts going through his mind on if he should tell this pokemon about his past or simply let it be. He figured he would let it be fore now, he wasn't ready to talk about it yet. He had forgotten about the blood on his fur.
The Glaceons ears twitched as he heard the sound of something falling, as he turned his head while taking up a defensive position and growled as he saw the head and body of an infected Butterfree come toppling down from the trees. He looked up from where it fell from to see slight monument and his growl intensified. "Who goes there." He practically roared the demand as he stared up at the trees.

His reply was taking to long. A ball of Ice began to form at his mouth before a frozen beam of Ice fired a little way from where the hidden pokemon was hiding. The tree he hit froze instantly, its frozen trunk shining in the dappled light of the forest. "I'll ask again, show yourself, or next time I wont miss." He let out another growl, his claws now digging into the undergrowth as he waited once again for a reply, being a little more patient this time around, but his patients was starting to grow thin.

"Why are walking like that? You're acting like I'm going to run like a Buneary..." Esmee huffed in response. "Everyone else seems to be on edge right now, so I just took some caution. I wouldn't want you to flip-out on me, or anything."

After standing indignantly for a minute, the Glameow was quickly snapped back into reality when the body of an infected Butterfree nearly fell onto her. With a shreik Esmee quickly jumped behind Glitch, hoping for some protection.
"What the hell was that about?!" Esmee cried. About a second later an Ice Beam flew by, clearly from their Glaceon ally. Esmee shrunk back farther behind Glitch.
"Don't let it hit me~!" she whined.

Glitch jumped slightly, his heart stopping for a moment when a body of an infected Butterfree fell out of a nearby tree, and Esmee moving to hide behind him. Seconds later he looked up to see an Ice Beam shoot out.

"Don't let it hit me~!" the cat pokemon whined as Glitch stood up, his needle like fur standing on end. "Just stay low for now kay," He told Esmee before spotting the Glaceon.

"What the hell's going on Icy Boy?" He snapped at Zero before scanning the area wearily.

Skoll froze as the ice beam sliced the air near his head, hitting the branch above him. The glaceon demanded he reveal himself; not one of his favorite things, but with the threat of another -probably deadly- ice beam in his near future, he didn't see another way out. Sighing, he cleared his throat. Even if the little bird wasn't hostile, the glaceon could overpower them both. "Hold your fire," his voice sounded from above. It was weak, since he had not spoken in near months. "I'm coming down."

He easily landed on the grassy terrain and stood to his full hieght, a good foot over any normal scyther. He looked at the gathered group, instantly uncomfortable. Social situations were... not his best... "...I... don't mean any harm. I'm just... looking for my sister and a friend. Have you seen an archen or a golden salamence?" With his eyes darting about to the other team members, he cleared his throat again neverously and backed away a little. "If not, then I'll just... go."

"Hold your fire, I'm coming down." The hidden pokemon said before revealing itself by coming out of the trees and landing on the ground. It was a Scyther. Zero got up from his crouch, but still kept his guard up. If this pokemon attacked, he would be sure to get the first strike.
"...I... don't mean any harm. I'm just... looking for my sister and a friend. Have you seen an archen or a golden salamence? If not, then I'll just... go." It asked
"Can' say that I have." Zero replied, seeing as the bug type was not much threat he went over to the water and started to wash the blood off his face. He didn't want his fur to get stained with blood, he didn't want to reek.

"A lot of pokemon pass through this forest, so I don't make it my business to remember every one of them. Who knows, maybe I did see them, just don't remember it." He said as he turned back to the mantis pokemon. He shook his head to be rid of the water before laying down.

[Ooc: Skip me please, busy around the holidays. Someone please interact with Trinity next round so I can stop skipping my turn XD)

(Glitch's death is being investigated. While he is still marked for death now, skip his turn for the moment.)

Skoll simply frowned down at the dismissive glaceon. While he didn't expect the eeveelution to jump up at the chance to answer him, he also didn't expect such a callous response. Still, that made things easier. He got his answer. Now he could leave.

"...Thanks. I'll go now." He then turned to leave, making his way back up the tree. Obviously, he didn't need any sort of help with dealing with the younger crowd the ice dog seemed to be stuck with. Skoll had no desire to stay with pokemon other than his friend or sister, and that was that.

...Though...

When he approached the canopy, he heard screams from undead, obviously hunting from the skies. Birds and he never really got along, and from the sounds of it, there were a lot up there. Balls. He looked back down, unsure of what to do.

Great wings beating harshly against the afternoon sky, the massive form of what was once a normal fearow cast a deep, ominous shadow against the forest below – loyally followed by a number of far smaller silhouettes, screeching and hissing as warning of an fast-approaching massacre. The formation of undead had travelled for a few days now, patrolling the skies of Kanto and swooping down in a stream of ravenous talons and beaks at the sight of fresh meat. The greasy, bloodstained hordes of spearow, farfetch’d and the occasional murkrow had seemingly followed Crane out of instinct and the monstrous leader was growing tiresome of the company.

Twice the size of an average fearow and with a reputation of total insanity, Crane was a powerful enemy. In bouts of uncontrollable rage, the bird had slaughtered undead that ventured too close and many had learned to flank the predator from a sufficient distance or risk the wrath of his claws. Crane’s mind would remove the presence of the scavengers but the wall of reality would be broken by the slightest glimpse of an unfamiliar feather. With a shake of his slim, sack-covered head, Crane’s delicate form gradually descended in altitude, blood red eyes glaring down at the forest below, searching for any signs of life. The voices claimed that food was close and Crane had a duty to satisfy the hunger of those inhabiting his mind. His black, bloodied talons twitched impatiently as he suddenly became aware of the growing sound of screeching from behind. His eyes widened slightly as a honchkrow passed by his left. He immediately lunged at the pokemon, beak snapping down aggressively on its neck as the image disappeared as quickly as it appeared. Hallucinations had become a certain nuisance. However, the appearance of a spearow on the right was very much edible. He could smell it. It was rotten and decaying but something in the back of his head commanded him to pursue the snack regardless of its quality. With a high-pitched, although slightly hoarse screech, Crane dived at the flying-type, claws penetrating the struggling body as he rapidly lost height. His figure burst aggressively through the trees, the spearow still screaming in his talons as he passed dangerously close to the ground, his vision suddenly becoming a blur. Everything was moving too fast, colours melded together and the unmistakable scent of living, breathing pokemon tinged the air.

Hardly aware of the small group of survivors that he’d dived past, Crane eventually landed a good few metres from where the scents had been at its strongest, crushing the undead spearow in his grip as he roughly landed on the earth. The sickly cracking of the smaller bird’s bones accompanied by a great silence confirmed its death. But Crane wasn’t convinced. To him, the spearow was still flapping its dismembered wings. In fury, he pecked savagely at the lifeless creature – tearing away at the bird’s feathers before burying his beak into the creature’s throat and slicing down to its stomach, watching in delight as its innards spilled out onto his claws. He stood there for a moment, watching the gradual ooze of intestines as his mind blocked out the sound of screeching a short distance behind. The flock would’ve followed his dive and unlike Crane, would’ve have spotted the five survivors, probably stopping to grab a quick bite.

(( Hey everyone c: Sorry about the dramatic entrance, but go ahead and slaughter the flock! ))

It was like being bombed. Birds were dropping from the sky like bombs, some recovering and continuing their attack, others so ungainly that they simply hit the ground at full speed. Esmee hardly had time to react. They were descending by the dozens, the numbers quickly adding up.

It was hard to avoid them and their talons. They scratched and pecked ferociously. When Esmee knocked one away, another was already upon her.
"I'm dead! There's no chance of beating them!" Esmee cried. She was losing energy fast. As a last struggle, Esmee lashed out with all her might, swatting down a few birds at a time. This Flail was her only chance.

With every blow, she moved back some. She was going to make her escape. At least, that was the plan. In the corner of her eye, she could see Trinity being battered by the onslaught.
The single moment of looking away gave an attacking Spearow a chance to overpower the cat. It flung its whole body at her, knocking her to the ground.

Glitch was dodging as fast as he could from the onslaught of talons and beaks. He noticed that the small blue and white bird was bleeding, and Esmee had been knocked down. Growling when a talon grazed his shoulder. "This is becoming very annoying and old, fast. Everyone watch out!" Leaping back he stood between Esmee and Trinity, bristling out his fur and letting out a large thunder shock, zapping some of the birds flying around the three pokemon.

Skoll was, in all honesty, completely shocked and a bit terrified when the giant fearow and its posse of spearow came ripping and roaring through the canopy, tearing a large hole in the labyrinth of limbs he was just about to hop onto. There were many spearow that tried attacking him, but all were easily felled by his scythes.

His attacks were precise and lethal, heads toppling with each practiced swipe of his blades. Very soon, there were much fewer spearow, even if they were the ones that had flocked around him. He turned to see more, and simply went to kill them as well.

As he was finishing one particularly bad spearow, he saw the mammoth fearow pick itself up in the distance. While he could figure they had the advantage, since a bird that size would have a lot of trouble getting airborne again with so little space, he knew that it didn't really need an advantage. He backed away a bit; it looked like his mortality was staring him in the face.

"We should leave," he said calmly, mostly to himself. As he turned to try and rally the others -why he didn't just go, he wasn't sure- he saw the small cat being attacked viciously, and she was unable to keep up. With blinding speed, he killed the spearow, the avian head rolling harmlessly away. "Come on," he told her.

((OOC: Hey, Argentum, if you don't like that Skoll saved her, I can edit it. :) I just figured she was in a bad spot.))

Crane’s attention only switched from the warm, gradual ooze of intestines on his claws at the panicked squawking intensifying behind him. He turned his slim head, violent red eyes glowing menacingly through the bloodstained sack, as he set his sights on a massacre. Sounds suddenly grew muffled, as he watched the scene. Decapitated spearow twitched on the earth, their heads slowly rolling in the opposite direction; a hurricane of feathers cascaded through the air and the unmistakable scent of blood rushed into Crane’s nostrils. His pupils dilated. His focus clamped down on an unfamiliar flying-type. It didn’t reek of rotten flesh and it wasn’t the typical purple shade of the spearow - but it was covered in blood; its own blood, the blood of the living. His wings flexed subconsciously and a strong-smelling poison began to drip from his gaping beak. The small swablu was evidently injured, and Crane had to satisfy his hunger.

As a powerful bolt of lightning struck the ground amongst the carnage, Crane made his move. With a guttural screech, he slung the open torso of the spearow into a nearby tree and began to move ungainly towards the bleeding swablu. He threw his wings in front of him, using the protruding bones at their tip as an extra source of support, practically crawling towards his prey. The voices egged him on; with no background noise available, the taunting voice reined as the ruler of the bird’s body. Crane couldn’t have pulled away had he wanted to. As a wingless spearow fell hopelessly, crashing down past his head, the volume of life was suddenly returned. It practically deafened him. The screeching, the squawking, choking, coughing – he couldn’t tolerate it. Shaking his head furiously, flecks of poison flying through the air to hiss and sizzle against the feathers of the undead, Crane struggled to keep control of everything. In desperation, his eyes locked onto the swablu and he launched himself at the bird. It was a long-shot; he remained a few metres from his target and probably hadn’t built up enough momentum to collide with the bird, but his wings stretched out and even if he failed to make contact, he would certainly leave her with a lasting reminder of the very embodiment of death.

[OOc: I'm sorry, I'm having trouble piecing together Trinity's personality. She's going to be put in inactive for the time being, we can all say she's a wuss and left 8u Yeahhhh]

Esmee had figured this was it, the end, but she then felt nothing. Opening her eyes, she saw the Scyther who had appeared not too long ago along with some sparkling electricity. He and Glitch must have saved her.
"Come on," she heard him say. Esmee could only nod in response as she quickly got to her feet.

She was about to tell Trinity to come with them when she saw the little bird flying away from a huge Fearow in fear. The large bird had its claws had been mere inches away from her, barely missing their mark. Is she crazy? If she goes alone she's done for! Esmee wanted to go after her (since the infected Fearow would probably follow), but she knew she would only become a liability herself. Instead, the cat decided to stick close to the Scyther.

"Okay, you lead," Esmee said quickly. She could only hope that Glitch and Zero would come as well.


((OoC:@Sil- It's fine c: Esmee's a total weakling, she needed it))

[please skip my turn. The only thing I could type about was him running with the others ^^; that'd be too short]

Skoll turned to see the small cat behind him, seemingly ok. Most of the spearow had dissipated, and the fearow had picked its prey; a small bird nearby. "Okay, you lead," she said, and he felt a twinge awkward; being a leader, nor being in a group really was his strong point. He looked back to the frightful bird and decided against it.

"We need to get out of here. The bird's dead. We need to get the living away from that nightmare," he stated flatly. "You want to help her, then be my guest. You can die with her." He then turned and started to run the other way, mildly concerned on whether the cat was behind him. He didn't like the idea of abandoning them, but staying and trying to help the tiny bird was a bad idea if they wanted to keep living.

He hacked at the vegetation that would give the others trouble and, after a moment of running, paused to look back to see if any of the others were behind him.

In his eyes, Crane had captured his target. The illusionary swablu screeching in his claws as he crashed inelegantly to the ground to which his prey suddenly vanished. Savagely returning to his feet, animalistic and barbaric in his movements, his wings propped in front of him to serve an extra pair of legs, he emitted a foul screech in fury. He raised his sack-covered head in the air, watching the bird dart out of vision, almost dissolving into the afternoon sky – clear and blue to juxtapose the chaos beneath. His attention snapped to the remaining scene. The drastically lowered numbers of spearows remaining had turned against each other or were making an escape – abandoning their leader to only rejoin Crane at a later time. Crane watched several rise in the sky, their forms minimizing into nothing but sluggish dots. He squawked again, the poison frothing about his beak dribbling down to eat away at his muddy, bloodstained feathers.

He was hardly aware of the other survivors in the vicinity, gradually regrouping and making a hasty exit as he turned his fury to the remaining infected. Crushing the lonesome heads of the deceased with each footfall, Crane lunged towards a pair bickering amongst themselves. His beak impaled one of the bird’s rotting chests whilst he pinned the other down with a toxic claw. Both creatures screeched uncontrollably, the poison melting their bodies and allowing the spillage of organs onto the earth. The sight alone was enough to send any remaining creatures flying. The spearow stuck on Crane’s beak met a quick end, fiercely torn in two as the monster open his mouth to emit another sickly caw. The other was slung to one side, bubbling and bleeding as the poison slowly claimed its victim.

Finally raising his slim head from the gore, Crane’s red eyes caught side of something green disappearing through the trees. His interest piqued as the voices began to taunt. He hadn’t seen anything green and alive earlier – unless the trees had decided to flee his rampage as well, and he took a few hesitant steps forwards. It was gone now, but the scent remained. The swablu hadn’t been the only survivor and Crane refused to pass down the opportunity of securing a meal. The cowards had fled, that left more for him and he intended to reach it. The poison on his claws and beak began to subside and harden to form a thick, purple crust, flecked with blood as the fearow was left in the company of the dead and his own warped mind. With a quick ruffled of his feathers, his eyes fell onto several footprints in the earth below - faint, but unrealistically heightened by Crane’s mind. They varied in shape, hugely exaggerated to reality and provided the bird a perfect method of tracking. Until he could return to the skies, he would evolve and stalk his prey on land. The voices spurred him onwards.

((Sorry, experiancing computer problems, so can't post right now.))

Esmee ran as fast as she could, trying to stay as close as possible to the Scyther. She really wished Trinity could be saved, but she knew it wasn't possible. If she ran back, what could she do? Ask the monsters nicely to go away? He was right, it would be suicide for her to turn back now. She could now only hope that the stars were aligned in the Swablu's favor.

---
Although it had only been a few minutes, it felt like hours to Esmee. She had never exerted herself like she was now. In the past, she had lived a life of leisure, coming and going as she pleased. Now, she had to run if she wanted to live.
The sudden change in lifestlye was quite rough on the Glameow. When they came to a stop, Esmee nearly collasped from exhaustion. Her lungs were burning, and her legs felt like jelly. It was a bit of a struggle to get her voice to come out, but there was something she had to know.
"Where...where are we going?" She then quickly added, "I'm Esmee, by the way."