(ACE) The VIRIDIAN Team

He felt sorry for the little Swablu, and he wished he could turn around and help her. Glitch did have the advantage since he was an electric pokemon, and the infected was a flying. But he couldn't take the risk of either getting infected, or separated from the rest of his group. Feeling sick with himself Glitch ran faster, only praying to Arceus that she would be alright.

When they stopped he turned his head in the direction of the bird, trying to calm his breathing so he could listen for it's approach if it decided to chase after them. "Aside from Trinity, is everyone here and alright?" Glancing at everyone with slight worry.

Skoll didn't know how to feel when he saw the little cat following, but he guessed it was something along the lines of relieved. He paused long enough for her to get close enough to him and the he continued walking, not seeing anyone else coming up behind him. "Where...where are we going?" she panted behind him before quickly adding, "I'm Esmee, by the way."

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "Skoll. And not in any place in particular, but just away from that thing back there..." He hacked away some stubborn vegitation so it would be easier to walk through.

Another voice then sounded, alerting Skoll to the jolteon's presence. He was really out of it to not see him... "Aside from Trinity, is everyone here and alright?" he asked, to which Skoll did not reply, feeling the question was more directed at the cat than him. Trinity was the little bird, then? Sucked to be her. At least she gave them some time to get away...

Crane moved slowly; crawling awkwardly after the occasional, faint footprint in the earth and taking a minute to simply glare down at the imprint. He couldn’t rationalize the need to inspect the shape, but the voices refused to permit further movement of his body until he had registered the print. He was hardly aware of the space growing rapidly between himself and the targets. Instead, he found himself tentatively pecking at a footprint belonging to a feline. He couldn’t remember seeing any other creatures, except the blue bird and a glimpse of something green, but these tracks persuaded him otherwise. In the past, Crane’s tracking had been first class. When his mind hadn’t begun to rot away into insanity, the fearow had been a master strategist. Years of observing pokémon battles had provided an insight into the predictability of creatures’ actions as well as a mental catalogue of each species and their appearances. That had all but vanished now. Something in the very depths of his being knew the owner of the footprints, but the knowledge refused to surface, and instead tormented him by cooing the unintelligible name in his head.

With some effort, Crane resumed his hunt. He continued to drift in and out of reality until the illusionary image of a venusaur appeared before him. Replacing what was in reality a completely normal tree, the venusaur was a foul, infected monster. Maggots squirmed beneath the fragile, cracked skin, a collection of bloodied limbs from past victims rested in the creature’s bulb, severed heads spilling out to crash against the ground as the grass-type emitted a booming roar. Crane was terrified. Everything in this world was nightmarish, hideous – and he was struggling to survive it. In his head, Crane was the victim. All he came into contact to, regardless of their state as real or imaginary were monsters intent on slaughtering him. He’d done nothing wrong. He was just hungry. The voices confirmed his innocence, and they had no reason to lie. They say the only way to remove fear was to become the fear – to kill.

With a low squawk, Crane let loose a powerful tri-attack at the tree. The flames burnt powerful in a foul shade of purple, an unusual abundance of smoke pouring from his beak. The ice beam was weaker than usual, only just reaching the trunk with a metallic crackling as the electricity danced around to replace the venusaur with a burning tree. Crane raised his slim head, proud, at eliminating the target. All that remained was a great fire, rapidly spreading to the surrounding trees. Unintentionally, the fearow had sparked a potential forest fire. The voices realized this and screamed their fury, a high-pitched painful noise that had the fearow wincing in terror. With a pitiful screech, he began to run past the damage, wings slowly outstretching as he clumsily took off into the air. Hitting a few branches on his ascent, Crane returned to the purity of the Kanto sky with a deafening screech.

Everything had happened so fast that Zero was dazed as to what was going on. First a flock of Spearow attack them, then there gone. He didn't really understand what was really happening, but it was over, though he wished they had saved some of the fun for him, oh well maybe next time. The Glameow seemed to be following that green bug, and all Zero could think of was good riddance, one less annoyance. Trinity also seemed to have left, which yet again, Zero didn't care about. He moved better alone, in a group was just to much for the ice type.

Wanting to get away from that area, Zero began to walk in the other direction everyone else was going. Irritated a little that his forest had been invaded by so many living. Food was scarce enough as it was, and now these pokemon where here and was going to make it even scarcer. Managing to find his hollowed out tree where he had made his nest he walked into it and proceeded to cover the entrace with a bush, and to made it a little more rooming he used his ice beam to once again freeze the walls, making the temperature in the den drop before falling asleep.

"Aside from Trinity, is everyone here and alright?" Esmee was glad to know that Glitch had decided to run as well. She would have hated if both he and Trinity had been lost. "I'm fine," Esmee answered. It was true, she was fine, physically. Mentally, however, was a whole different ball game. Those birds had been her first major encounter with the infected, and frankly, it terrified her.

Esmee decided thst she would stick with Skoll for a while. he seemed to be fairly knowledgeable about what was going on. Perhaps he and Glitch could show her how to defend herself. She doubted Zero would want anything to do with her, not that she really cared.

Speaking of Zero..."Where's Zero? I really doubt the birds got the better of him," Esmee said. He was doing quite fine last time she saw him. The glameow looked around, not seeing the glaceon anywhere. What she did see was smoke. Not much, but enough for it to be clearly visable.
"...Smoke?"

"...Smoke?"

Glitch perked up his ears when the glameow said the word confused. "Smoke, what are you tal-" Just then the smell of smoke hit him, along with the faint stench of burning flesh. "That stupid bird must have set the forest on fire!" Growling in frustration his fur started to stand up along his spine. 'This isn't good, this isn't good....' The jolteon thought to himself beginning to pace. Stopping he turned to Skoll, eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you think we should do? It could be a trap to lure us out into the open. But if we stay here, we'll be burned alive. Do you have any suggestions?"

Skoll turned to look at the others before glancing back at the way they had come, smoke billowing up and up, past the canopy from what he could see through the gaps in the limbs. Not a good sign. The forest no longer had any real way of dousing the fire, all water pokemon or ground pokemon completely wiped out. Humans, in all their follies, would actually be of help here, too, but he'd seen how useful they were in an apocalypse.

The cat's question, "Where's Zero? I really doubt the birds got the better of him," had gone to the winds. He guess Zero was the glaceon, and if he didn't make it, he didn't make it. It was not in his nature to go back for strangers. The jolteon turned back to the scyther, panicked.

"What do you think we should do? It could be a trap to lure us out into the open. But if we stay here, we'll be burned alive. Do you have any suggestions?" Skoll looked down to the electric fox and grimaced. He had just landed himself in a leadership position all right, if they were asking him what to do... Fuck.

"We get the fuck out of here, that's what we do," he grumbled underneath his breath. Giving the blaze one last look, he started to run again, away from the inferno. He figured that the way he was headed was against the wind, where the fire would not reach them. However, it was also probably leading them to Viridian City, and he wasn't sure how much safer that would be. He kept his pace a little slower, though, to make sure the others could follow.

Crane’s ascent into the sky had been inelegant to say the least. He’d smashed into multiple tree branches, snapping the weaker ones off whilst the heavier ones knocked him down slightly, cracking the already delicate bones in his wings. After a good few minutes, he’d finally been able to rise above the canopy and wasted no time in gaining height. His wings were aching savagely and he soon noticed that several feathers had been charred by the flames that were rapidly spreading through the forest below. The oversized fearow emitted an unintentional caw once he was of suitable heights. The voices had stopped demanding him to fly higher, so he presumed that their silence meant he was doing some good.

Switching to glide on the sparse breeze, Crane moved slowly, ominously over the forest. He wasn’t looking for anything in particular, having almost completely forgotten about the pokémon he’d been stalking. Instead, he was currently mesmerised by the growing red, orange lights around the trees. The fire was beautiful; dangerous, but beautiful nonetheless. He eyed the area in awe, beginning to fly in circles as if in praise of the disaster he’d accidentally created. He was an omen, and now that the weaker, surviving spearow had learnt that, he flew alone.

((Zero is asleep, so just skip me.))

Houndoom hated searching for Master, for the bard bird that blotted her scarce memories. She wanted to already be at his side, already hear the terror and screams his mere presence wrought. She could not see, but she could revel in the memories of the times lost, of the sounds lost. Silence once again plagued her, haunted her, like a vengeful ghost.

She hated the silence. It was a pressure, nearly a pain against her barren ears and against her no longer beating chest. The only way to stave off the silence was to make the others around her scream as she searched for her Paradise; beside her Master.

A strange scent made her stop, however, as she felt foliage brush against her. She did not really know she was once again in Kanto, having traveled so far from her Brother Mountain already. Her slim legs took her far and wide, bringing her to the spot where some sort of battle was waging. If she still had lips, she would have grinned in utter and unadulterated delight.

She ran to the sound, her footfalls silent as she jumped and tripped over the terrain clumsily. Only her nose and ears guided her, pointing the way to sound and a meal. Blood filled her senses as she grew closer, and the hunt was on. Weaving and running through the trees, she paused as she surveyed the area. A voice was heard, a voice that did not know death yet. A living prey. She would have it scream for hours.

Without hesitation, without any sort of pause for ethics, she lunged forward, catching the prey in her jaws. She tumbled a bit, clamping down hard on its prickly spine to make sure it could not escape. She knew now that what she was holding was a jolteon, but it made no difference. She wanted him to sing his shrill song of death.

"Scream for me, she spoke softly as she loomed over his broke body. "Scream."

Her wish was granted as she pulled off his forelimb, tendons and muscles ripped from their rightful places. She burned the wound, carterizing the pumping blood, and then moved to the other legs, reveling in the sweet, sweet screams and wails the jolteon produced. She continued until he was nothing but a sobbing legless husk, twitching from shock. She then took that moment to truly begin her feast, laying down and casually biting into the soft, tender underbelly of the electric dog. He gurgled and continued to cry, but she kept contently eating, feasting, even though the food never made it past her bottomless jaw.

She left the others alone; she had her siren.

The forest viewed from above all seemed to mesh together after a certain amount of time flying around, Ho-Oh had lost track of what region he was in in his personal search for the mysteries of this strange epidemic plaguing the world. No matter how many undead pokemon he had come encounter with, they always seemed to withhold their greatest secret, the question of why they exist, he was beginning to think there would never be an answer. With more and more undead showing up he started to view the few remaining untainted life as something sacred to be protected, which was why when he saw the smoke coming from some of the last remaining greenery, the bird grew unsettled, especially since it was fire causing all the trouble.

The pokemon needed the sanctity of the forest for safety, for shelter, and for possible food sources, and fire, it was something of great power that can quickly grow out of control, many viewed it as simply destructive, but it meant self-control and raw energy to him. All of this was why Ho-Oh flew down to the middle of the commotion only to be welcomed with a gruesome screech. A houndoom, undoubtedly undead by its appearance fled, with blood and gore covering its maw and claws, it had fed and lost itself in the woods, and it had made sure its prey had been alive when that had happened. Ho-Oh had seen many undead and infected pokemon before, but this houndoom….it unsettled him for some reason, he could not explain it. He was not afraid of it, nothing close to that, it was just that something about this pokemon seemed different than the others, and some morbid curiosity drew him.

The sight of the mangled corpse brought him back from his musing, it was of a jolteon, an electric type, though that was now questionable after that houndoom got through with it. A bloodied metal band could be seen discarded next to the body, obviously its possession…..A electric beast…..like his son, most likely this one was just as cheerful and quick as raikou was…..He had yet to see his son, any of them for that matter, and it troubled him. It was not sure why, if it was because that the curious undead houndoom had done this, it was because this body reminded him of his child, or because he assumed that this jolteon was doing a great honor in the middle of this fire and trying to protect the sanctity of life by protecting the forest, but Ho-Oh took pity on it.

The large fire type bird landed right in front of the body, and spread its wings before bringing them down to cover the immediate area around the mangled body with his wings and his body. It was one of the greatest gifts he could bestow, and this jolteon was receiving it. The rainbow wings covering the legendary seemed to shimmer with some hidden fire, as Ho-Oh put his beak got closer and closer, adding a bit of his stash of Sacred Ashes on the corpse. The gleam in his feathers danced around waster and faster as the bird poured his heart into the corpse, until all of a sudden it stopped when a single tear filled with his entire heart fell upon the ashes he poured and light enveloped the enclosed area under his wings. When the bird pulled away the barely recognizable corpse was replaced with a living breathing jolteon, returned to its original state before losing limbs to that undead.

“Do not fret little one, you are okay now. But it is not safe to stay here too long, you should head to safety.” With that the fire flying legendary took to the skies, a large rainbow following after him the only indication that he was ever there, he would stay, but he felt compelled to investigate that houndoom who had most likely caused this fire that had now been lost in the forest.


((The jolteon has been deemed fit for reviving, and is to take up its original spot on the team, meaning he to post right after me.))

Glitch heard a voice, though it sounded far away. After a few moments of lying still he rose, feeling off balanced for some reason. He remembered running after the others, then nothing. Standing he looked around, his eyes widening in horror at the large circle of already drying blood on the forest floor. 'Wh-what happened?' He thought to himself as he slowly backed away before running in the direction the others had gone.



(Thank you Ho-Oh, hope it's okay if Glitch doesn't remember dying.)

Skoll frowned when Esmee brought up Zero, the glaceon that had been so hospitable earlier. He honestly didn't want to go back for anyone, especially that jerk. He didn't flinch when he heard her ask about the apparent smoke in the distance. All of his attention was on the faceless houndoom that was making its way to them.

In a flash, it tackled the jolteon and started ripping him apart, and for a moment, Skoll could only stare in fear and shock. As the dog ripped the jolteon's legs from its body, Skoll could feel the empty eye sockets burn into his very soul. There were no eyes, but he knew it looked at him. Terrified, all he could do was watch in silent terror as the hellhound spoke to the Jolteon in an awful, raspy voice.

"Scream."

A crack from the bones brought him out of his fearful comatose state and he turned and ran like he never had before.

That thing was evil. It was no longer a pokemon. No longer something he or any other living being could recognize.

It was a demon.

After an unknown amount of time, he tripped on a large log and tumbled to the ground, rolling a little. Panting, his chest burning, he pushed himself back up on quivering limbs, eyes still wide from horror. He had seen terrible, gruesome things as an assassin, but nothing... NOTHING like this... Not even in this era of gore and death. There were undead, there were zombies and then... there were things straight out of Hell.

He looked back the way he had come, vaguely wondering about Esmee. Maybe... he should go back for her?

Crane had been on his way out of the vicinity, flying lazily as he looked down at the burning forest, until a terrible screaming echoed within his head. Red eyes searching frantically for the source in a vain attempt to distinguish between reality and his own mentality, Crane’s eyes suddenly fell on an enormous, orange-coloured bird. He hovered in the air, wings beating heavily against the sky as he observed the great bird’s descent into the trees. He’d never seen anything like it. Something in the back of his mind was screaming the creature’s name, but the voices soon overpowered his conscious, warning him of Ho-Oh. Unsure whether to follow the creature or take the opportunity to flee, the sickly fearow simply circled above where the legendary had disappeared to. He didn’t have to wait long.

In a magnificent rainbow, Ho-Oh re-emerged to simply fly off into the distance. However, Crane’s eyes had deceived him. When the legendary made its leave, it was the darkest shade of black – a ferocious trail of purple flames following behind its form. Its feathers were splashed with blood, eyes absent from its face and its chest torn open, bones framing the gory mass within. There was no heart. He screeched in fear, his wings flapping frantically as he propelled himself back to the forest floor. He couldn’t control his movements; all he knew were that the voices were shouting at him and the undying desperation to flee the almighty bird. He soon crashed through the canopy with a hideous squawk, leaves following him a flurry of panic before he crashed to the ground. Crane knew he’d broken a good few ribs and struggled to regain his stature. When he finally managed to stand on two feet, he found that he wasn’t alone. His eyes soon focused onto a green pokémon stood a distance away. He didn’t remember the scyther from before, but a hideous screaming was beginning to echo in his mind. The voices wanted Crane to kill him – eat the bug’s flesh and celebrate the victory. The fearow violently shook his head. The images, the voices – it was too much to handle. Poison began to drip from his talons without the body’s command, yet Crane didn’t move. He stared at the scyther, the sack atop his head shadowing the unfathomable fear in his eyes. His head hurt, his ribs hurt, pain was becoming more familiar and a flicker of consciousness passed across the undead’s being.
“...N-No... m-o-ore...” It was hoarse, croaky as if Crane was choking, but it was distinguishable, it was real. The voices were deafening at this stage. They demanded blood. They scared him. Crane would usually submit, but the intensity of his condition had spiralled out of control. There was no living with it. The hallucinations grew deadlier each day, mentally scarring the fearow, and the image of Ho-Oh as a monster had tipped him over the edge. His eyes met that of the scyther’s, a previously hidden conscious surfacing through the bird’s red orbs. He was ready to die. He hoped the creature would understand; give him his peace before the last drop of the true Crane was obliterated. “N-No...”

Crane’s body moved despite his desires. He took slow, heavy step towards the survivor, foul-smelling poison dribbling from his beak as his battered wings outstretched menacingly. His double-team attack faltered. Two faint, illusionary fearow appeared on either side – one screeching, eyes alight with fury, whilst the other limped weakly, tired. Crane lowered his head, eyes closed tightly as he took a final step towards the scyther. Crane had succumbed to fear. Life was a nightmare, and he was ready to wake up.

(( I give anyone the permission to kill Crane off. It’s been nice roleplaying with you all! I may return with a living character in time c: ))

(( What an exciting time for Brimstone to make his appearance xD I'm looking forward to role-playing with you all! ))


A dark shadow flew overhead, and large, leathery wings beat against the otherwise still air. It was only fairly recently that the charizard had arrived in the vicinity of the Kanto mainland after fleeing from the destruction and disease that now permeated through the expanse of his previous territory on Cinnabar Island, and thus far he had felt nothing but pure fury directed towards the infected beasts that had driven him from his realm and murdered his brood.

Brimstone had arrived too late to glimpse the massive, brightly coloured bird fading into the distance, but he did sight another large avian as it shot for the thick covering of the burning forest. At first, his instincts drove him to pursue the fearow purely for food, but as his large, tattered wings propelled him forward he caught the stench of decay mixing with the scent of the rising smoke.

He opened his jaws in a fierce roar as he made the connection, wings snapping to his sides as he shot in the direction in which the fearow had vanished. Vengeance rose in his mind, thoughts of shredding the infected bird beneath his claws as payment for so many lives that had been lost to kin of the monster. There was no trace of compassion in the beast's mind, no inkling of pity for the pokemon who no longer had control of their own bodies as the Infection took over.

Brimstone crashed into the canopy of the forest with another thunderous roar, green eyes glowing with fury as his large body broke branches as he twisted his way through the thick foliage. Fiery saliva was dripping from his open mouth as the flame on his tail increased in intensity, shriveling leaves that had otherwise avoided the blaze that was slowly consuming the forest.

He paid no attention to the other pokemon nearby, for he could smell no decay on them. Instead, his focus was entirely on the fearow, and as he broke free of the branches from the trees he leaped forward with extended claws and bared teeth, fire gushing from his throat as he tried to shred the bird limb from limb.

Another bellowing roar escaped his throat, and he didn't care who observed the merciless massacre he was intending on participating in. Any Infected he encountered would burn in a Hell he created, one that erupted with fire and Brimstone.

((... Yeah, Brimstone is not very happy, lawl =U I know it was said anyone could kill Crane off, but I wanted to avoid power-playing and such just in case you wanted to respond in some way, Snitch))

The fur along Glitch's spine stood up when he heard a loud bellowing roar from behind him, causing the electric pokemon to quicken his pace.'Where's Skoll and Esmee?' He thought to himself, continuing to run straight. He didn't know how long he had been running when he finally caught the scent of the bug pokemon, but turned and followed it. As the scent grew stronger Glitch started to slow down until he was just at a walk. Pushing through the vegetation he saw Skoll standing near a log. The pokemon looked as if he were about to be sick, and his coloration was a bit paler than before. The Jolteon tilted his head to the side, wondering what could have happened. Deciding he had wasted enough time thinking to himself, Glitch walked out from the bushes and near the other pokemon. "Are you okay, and where's Esmee?"

Skoll stopped dead when the giant fearow collapsed through the canopy before him, his already racing heart momentarily forgetting to function. His eyes wide with anxiety, he watched as it slowly lumbered toward him, whispering something. He wasn't really aware of just what he was saying since the experience with the Hellhound had made his ears buzz, but he knew something was being said, and something probably important.

His guard lowered only a fraction when he saw the fearow's pitiful excuse for a double team. His eyes rested on the tired, limping double, and even without the words, he seemed to understand. This thing that had been chasing him to kill now seemed to chase him to be killed. Skoll could see the last remnants of sanity and consciousness in the bird's dead eyes and knew that it sought Skoll as its Reaper.

Terror gone, his wings buzzed in preparation. It would not take much to sever the thin neck of the fearow. He heard a question asked to his side, the voice he didn't really recognize in this state of mind. His focus was on the fearow, and the fearow's neck. He shot forward, scythes out for the kill.

And he would have had it. If the canopy hadn't have come down in a fiery mess on top of him.

His flight path was disrupted, his blades missed their mark. He skidded along the grass, scythes dug into the earth to slow him quicker and to turn him to face the newcomer in the process. Alarmed, he recognized it instantly as a charizard, an old, powerful and pissy-looking one at that. It bellowed, it raged, and it spat fire at the fearow, and, indirectly, at Skoll. Cursing, he flung himself away from the lethal fire, and ran toward it.

It looked uninfected, so that was on his side. "The hell're you doing?!" Skoll snapped at the dragon, "You nearly killed me!" It was only then that his eye caught the sight of yellow in his periphery, and he nearly jumped out of his own skin. "YOU?!"

((Was TOTALLY gonna kill you, Snitch, but I wanted to let you have another say, like Last did. :P))

The fearow couldn’t take it – the voices were deafening and his entire body had begun violently shaking, injuries from the past erupting in a burst of utter agony. His step faltered once more, his breathing becoming ragged as his eyes finally flicked open – his pupils engulfed in the blood red irises. Crane was gone. The scyther was lunging for him, ready to deliver the fatal blow when a sudden noise from above had the bird stumbling backwards, terrified. His eyes fell onto the great, orange dragon who’d suddenly delved from the heavens to stand monstrously in the clearing. The fearow visibly shrunk. His eyes showed him a lie. The dragon was hideous. Flesh fell off the charizard in sickly, gory lumps, its left side almost entirely stripped of skin, in some places muscle to reveal bloodstained bone.

What was there to lose? Crane’s fear had heightened magnificently, his hallucinations had become his reality – but his body was lost to the virus. He recklessly charged at the dragon, eyes glued to the flames spiralling out of the creature’s mouth. With a final hideous screech, he went up in a spectacular inferno. He was numb. There was a strange warmth over his body – the fire consuming his feathers and hungry to penetrate the rotting flesh beneath. Crane wasn’t aware that his eyes had burst from the excruciating heat. Images from his own warped mind had taken over, persuading him that the monsters of the epidemic still stood before him. Ho-Oh, the venusaur, the charizard – all of them in acute detail. Yet he felt nothing. Nothing but fear. There was no awareness that the charizard had proceeded to tear into his body, only the voices screaming their disgust and the flashes of the horrendous images. Suddenly, everything went black. Silence fell.

(( Well he’s gone for good now! Again, it’s been nice roleplaying with you all! C: ))

Brimstone closed his mouth, effectively cutting off the stream of fire that had been raging from his throat as he looked down at the charred, shredded mass that was now laying beneath his claws. "Hmph... pathetic..." he rumbled. A vague look of disgust briefly crossed his features as he pulled his claws from the decaying body and smeared the charred, melted skin that had stuck to his claws and scales in the grass, but at least the Infected parasite was dead.

Though had he been able to know the images the fearow had seen in its final death throes, he would have admittedly gotten some grim pleasure from the knowledge. What a perfect way for the Infected to die: ripped apart by decaying monster that reflected what the fearow had become.

"The hell're you doing?!"
"You nearly killed me!"

With the threat gone and his rage calmed, Brimstone turned to the scyther that had shouted at him as he made his attack. "Nearly... but I didn't," he growled as he burned the remainder of the fearow's flesh and blood from his claws. "That's not a very respectful show of gratitude."

His gaze also flickered to the jolteon and his eyes narrowed for a moment, but he chose to not vocalize whatever had crossed his mind. He was sure it was embarrassing enough for a predator like a scyther to look so startled in response to what the charizard would consider prey.

((Great to rp with you too, Snitch, even if it was just briefly for me <3))

After running from the swarm of birds, Esmee had thought they were in the clear. She was quickly proved wrong. From out of nowhere, an infected Houndoom had appeared. This one was different than the other monsters, very different. Its each move seemed planned, none of the fumbling or stumbling that was characteristic of most infected present. Not only did it move oddly well, but there was just an ominous, foreboding aura about it. It was like nothing Esmee had ever felt before.

Too scared to move, Esmee remained frozen in place as the demon (which she saw the hound as) brutally murdered Glitch. She wanted to run, to turn away, but she couldn't. Her body refused to move, as if it were scared of being targeted by the demon also.

The demon quickly left when the deed was done. Even with the beast gone, Esmee was still too shocked and terrified to move. Although the thought of what may have happened to Trinity saddened the Glameow, the actual witnessing of a friend's death was much, much worse. She wanted to say his name, with the useless hope of him coming back, but the words remained stuck in her throat.


Her body finally began to recover from shock after what felt like hours. She took small steps toward her fallen friend. When she had almost made it to his body, another Pokemon arrived on the scene. This one, however, wasn't a threat. It was the living legend, Ho-oh.
Esmee looked on, awe-struck, as the bird preformed some sort of ritual on Glitch's body. Watching this once-in-a-lifetime scene made Esmee feel...different. She was still upset by the previous scene, yes, but the feeling was dulled somehow. The mental distress that had engulfed her was now a dull ache in the back of her mind.

Ho-oh left immediately after he finished his ritual. What he left behind was nothing short of a miracle. Glitch, alive and unharmed, stood before Esmee.

Clearly, his death and revival weren't the first thoughts on his mind. He just...continued running. Clearly he didn't see the amazed and confused (but mostly confused)cat off to the side. Esmee couldn't believe what she had just seen. A legendary and her friend's return from the dead. All she could do was sit there, wide-eyed and dumb-struck.

Glitch stared at the large fire dragon with a fearful eye, jumping when Scyther yelled at him.

"YOU?!"

The electric pokemon tilted his head to the side in confusion before looking at the Charizard then to the remains of the Fearow, behind him, and finally back at Skoll.

"Me?" He asked in confusion, wondering why the other had reacted the way he did."What did I do?

Skoll really didn't hear the charizard's rumbling reply, only the vacant, confused response from Glitch. "Me?" he asked innocently, "What did I do?"

"You DIED, kid!" Skoll hissed as his wings flitted angrily. "A houndemon came and ripped y-- nevermind. I... I guess I imagined it..." He shook his head free of the memories and turned his attention back to the charizard. "...Sorry. You startled me. I think we should get under some cover before more dead assholes find us. Follow if you want." He began to walk away, his mind trying to sort out what the hell had just happened and he wasn't sure if he cared if the others followed. Though, he did notice the kitty was gone...

He looked around and muttered more to himself, "...Esmee?"

Faint traces of smoke still twisted from Brimstone's jaws, but for the most part the charizard seemed to have fully calmed his blood-rage. The conversation between the jolteon and the scyther intrigued him to say the least. How could something rise from the dea-

His thoughts paused and immediately his green eyes narrowed again. That was a stupid question. The very things he vowed vengeance against were the dead. Was this "prey" one of them now?

He barred his teeth, the flame on his tail erupting in a sudden blaze as his anger began to rekindle itself. Had it not been for the scyther speaking to him again, he may very well have attacked the jolteon right there.

"...Sorry. You startled me. I think we should get under some cover before more dead assholes find us. Follow if you want."

Brimstone scoffed and spat a small ember on the ground. Immediately the ground it landed on sprung up in flames, though they were quenched as he crushed the ember into the dirt with his claws. "For the time being. I hope we find more... I want to watch them burn."

His eyes glinted in Glitch's direction, though it seemed he had opted not to attack for the time being. Perhaps he was giving the jolteon the benefit of the doubt... for now.

The charizard heaved himself after the scyther, though it was obvious the ancient and battle-scarred male would likely be unable to move quickly along the ground. One of his hind legs displayed an obvious limp. However, he loosed a low, somewhat irritated rumble as he heard the scyther mutter to himself.

"Who is this... Esmee?"

(( Sorry about the wait! Got caught up in some school stuff I had to take care of. ))

Running wasn’t something Robert enjoyed. An occasional stroll was far more appealing to the flareon, but in these desperate times, sometimes such strenuous activity was required. His lanky, slender legs carried him quickly through the forest, nimbly dodging tree trunks as his ears stood erect atop his head, listening for those damn birds. A flock of about four infected spearow had been trailing him for awhile now, bursting out of nowhere to harass the pompous canine. Of course, he probably could dispose of the diseased with a quick flamethrower – but it was such an effort. Fleeing was the less laborious of his choices. He slowed to a halt, the strangled caws fading into a tense silence as his eyes scanned the canopy of trees looming above. Flashes of blue were visible through the leafy roof sheltering him, the sky seemingly oblivious to the dark eeriness the rest of the land had succumbed to. Robert hated it. He wasn’t even sure how he’d managed to lose himself in this damn forest – he’d been searching for one of the abandoned human homes, the bigger the better, to claim as his own. He wasn’t used to all this barbarism, relying on instincts and all that primitive nonsense. No, Robert was more accustomed to the lap of luxury. A comfy bed, the music of Bach and only the finest of human cuisine would satisfy the flareon. It was no surprise he was growing increasingly irritated at his poor navigation skills. He’d been lost in Viridian Forest all day.

With a snort, he tore his gaze from above and began to resume his travels at a more leisurely pace, head held high and a triumphant smirk on his lips. Violence wasn’t always the answer - if you can run, why risk gaining any physical damage from playing the ‘hero’? Robert had no time for such frivolities. His thoughts were abruptly disturbed as a high-pitched screech broke the silence. He spun around in time to see one of the spearow crashing through the trees, followed by its companions, all making an equal amount of racket. He emitted a growl, frustrated at the birds’ persistence. He really did hate running. Robert set off again, diving through hedges before his forepaws suddenly made contact with a heavy, orange tail. Narrowly avoiding the flame at the obstacle’s tip, the flareon lost his balance and came crashing to the ground on the opposite side of what he now recognised as a charizard’s tail. Preparing a barrage of insults for the idiot who’d tripped him up, albeit accidentally, Robert was suddenly reminded of the creatures that had been pursuing him as the quartet burst through the foliage. With an exasperated groan, he scrambled back to his feet, facing the spearows before unleashing a fierce fire blast. The birds went up in seconds – miniature fireballs crashing to the ground, squirming and writhing in pain whilst the flareon shook himself, trying to remove any dirt that had managed to lodge in his fur.

When he was satisfied with his appearance, yet still a little riled up about the humiliation of falling over, Robert turned his attention to the charizard. On closer inspection, it was accompanied by two other pokemon – a scyther and a jolteon. Great. The electric canine was the exact species Robert had never wanted to see again – it reminded him of Cecil, his weak, whiny excuse for a brother. Suppressing a more hostile introduction, he forced a smile. They were the only survivors he’d seen in months; they could help him get out of this damn forest, provide protection that he was lazy enough to require.
“Um, sorry about that... less than elegant entrance,” The flareon’s tone concealed the true embarrassment he felt over his fall, but strongly oozed his aristocratic roots. His voice was low, eloquent, snobbish. His gaze ran over each of the pokémon before him. The jolteon appeared friendly enough, but the other too looked slightly threatening. After a more thorough inspection of the heavily scarred charizard, Robert made the mental decision to simply forgive the dragon about tripping him up earlier. He didn’t fancy going up against that monstrosity if he didn’t have to. With an awkward grin, he bowed his head gently in greeting. “My name is Robert. I suppose you’re not trying to get out of this damn place, are you? I could certainly use some assistance...”

(( I’m back! c: ))

He jumped a fraction when the Charizard's flame on it's tail flared up. The Jolteon wondered what the dragon's problem was, when he turned to look at Skoll.

"...Sorry. You startled me. I think we should get under some cover before more dead assholes find us. Follow if you want."


"For the time being. I hope we find more... I want to watch them burn."

Glitch noticed the Charizard staring at him and felt a small shiver run down his spine. A small voice in his head cautioning him to be weary of the other pokemon.

'Great, now I have another thing out to kill me....' He thought to himself as he began to follow his other comrade.

Turning his head, the Jolteon heard commotion coming from behind them. Glitch eyes widened slightly when another one of the eeveelotions came crashing out of the underbrush, tripping over Brimestone's tail. The Flareon seemed annoyed but stood up and turned around, firing a powerful fire blast as a flock of Spearows flew out. The infected birds cried out in pain, consumed by flames and crashing to the forest floor.

He listened as the Flareon named Robert introduced himself and asked if they were trying to get out of the forest. Glitch remained polite, remember the last time he had been blunt with the other eeveelution, Zero the Glaceon.

"...Nice to meet you Robert. My name is Glitch, and yeah heh, we're trying to get out of here. I'm sure the others wouldn't mind you traveling with us. Just be prepared to move a lot." He glanced at the others, waiting for their reply. He didn't mind the other pokemon traveling with them, though it wasn't his choice alone to make.