The PYRE Team

There's a mountain on my head.
What a thought! The crazy blue one brought down the mountain on everyone! There were lots of people here, most of them dead! This was disrespectful!... For the moment, the imp looked around for his new friend among the rubble, walking through stones in search of a giant zombie fish-man!

He wasn't going to make it on time. It seemed as though he had miscalculated and sent too much energy to the ceiling, the cave in was going to reach mother before him. he tried to go faster but it was no use. So lost in his mission was he that Anubis didn't even hear or register Suzaku until his arm was snatched up. "NO! Unhand me!" Anubis struggled in vain against his captor, trying desperately to get back to mother. "She needs me!" But again, it was no use. Suzaku dragged him the other way and out of the mountain.

The fresh air burned in his lungs, the wide open sky making his head spin. He had been in that mountain for so long that outside felt like it was swallowing him whole. He was afraid. Anubis stared at the dust cloud as it settled, sliding to his knees in a soft 'thunk'. Mother..."MOTHER!" he broke down, sobs racking his entire frame. He shook violently as the sorrow threatened to overwhelm him. He had failed.

He swore when Cathal was left behind to cover their escape that he would protect mother. He failed then and now, when he swore to defend her final resting place to his last breath, he failed again. What was he supposed to do now? What does one do when one no longer has a purpose in life? Do you just lay down and die? Because right now that sounded like an excellent plan.

Pierce rushed to the Lucario and pressed the side of his body against its back to offer support. "I'm okay, except for a couple bruises." He muttered. "What about him? He doesn't seem to have any marks on him... Is he going to be okay? ...What happened down there?"

The Lucario didn't smell exhausted. He didn't smell of any emotion Pierce recognized. Besides, something else kept poking through. The smell from the Blaziken was... off. Like the Swampert, but not as strong. Pierce turned his head slightly (so as not to prick the Lucario accidentially with his horn), to look at Thorn. "That Swampert... That was an infected, wasn't it? Like those Vaporeon from earlier?"

Drowned grumbled as he slowly began to rise. Boulders and debris that were stacked upon him slowly rolled off his back and form. The area had caved in, much to his resentment. He could spot the Sableye a few ways away from him, and he gave a contorted smile. "ThAnK yOu." his voice was hard to make out, but he knew even as a undead to keep his manners.

He stared at the boulders littering the ground and scowled. Stupid Lucario had caved the whole place in and ruined the graves. How disrespectful. Now the Swampert had another reason to hunt him down, and he was going to go through with it. But first... Maybe some rest was in order.

Suzaku felt genuinely bad for Anubis; the canid broke down on the shore, calling our for his mother. While Suzaku did not have any sort of connection to his parents, he would break down like that if he had left Taiv... Then again, the pidgeot hadn't seemed to distraught in leaving him...

Suzaku shook his head free of the thought when the young purple pokemon asked about the swampert trapped in the tomb. The blaziken frowned at the thing. "'Infected'? I... suppose so. They kinda looked the same... Then again, all water types look alike to me... Trouble." He looked back to Anubis with a sad expression. "We should... probably get going... I don't think your mother would really want you to die too, especially when your death wouldn't do anything."

He looked to the yellow one and sighed. "Well. Good to meet you all... I'm Suzaku. That's... Anubis... His mom was in the tomb; at least, her grave was." He felt awkward and awful; he was always bad in solemn occasions.

This was getting utterly ridiculous, and Thorn let out a little huff. Over there the Lucario was blubbering his eyes out, and the sheer awkwardness radiating from both the Nidorino and the Blaziken was just starting to piss her off. Besides that, there was an angry Infected with control over earth and water stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean. There was no way this could end well, and Thorn knew it. It was better to risk heading out over the water - at least she'd be able to fry anything that got in her path.

That Nidorino - Prickle or whatever - had asked her a question, but the Jolteon hadn't been paying attention and she honestly didn't care. Thorn walked purposefully over to the edge and looked down. Great. Nothing but cliff face. There was no way she was going to get down from here. The only way out...was back through the mountain. And there was no way she was getting out through the entrance with that Swampert there. She'd have to stick with these bozos for a while until the Infected grew sufficiently enraged to dig its way out. Then she'd get back on the trail.

"So!" she piped up with false brightness, interrupting the Blaziken's stilted murmurings. "This pity party is great and everything," and here her voice became more bitter, "but anyone know how we're going to get out of this rancid pile of Tauros dung?"

((skipme, I really can't draw up a paragraph of blasting at rocks with Shadow Ball.)

Anubis felt the support of the smaller, purple Pokemon. But even though he knew the intention behind it he still cringed at someone he didn't know touching him. He felt more than heard Suzaku approach, his Aura sense still alert despite his emotional state. There were no tears, just shudders as his emotions ran rampant within him. "We should... probably get going... I don't think your mother would really want you to die too, especially when your death wouldn't do anything." Anubis didn't really register that he heard his friends words other than standing up beside him, eyes still closed solemnly.

He heard Suzaku introduce them all, but at the mention of his mother he visibly cringed. He held her so dear, yet twice now he had failed her, and this time there was no going back. She was lost to him forever in a cave in he started. Intentionally. The yellow Jolteon was harsh in her words, nothing but venom as she critically barbed at his loss. Anubis grew angry with her and sent a Force Palm crackling just past her head as she turned around. It did not hit her, for when using his Aura sense Anubis had remarkable aim, but it was never intended to. He did it to get a message across. "Watch your tongue when you speak to a grieving man, child. You do not know what I have just suffered, so do not speak ill of someone justly mourning the dead."

"As for what to do, that is your decision. Clearly you care nothing for anyone or anything but yourself so go if you wish. The rest of us creatures with SOULS will find a new place to go." With that said Anubis turned around and stalked over the nearby shore, separating himself from the others to calm himself. He was never usually an emotional creature, but losing mother a second time and the harpy making fun of him for it was too much. He felt a little bad about the things he said but he did not regret saying them. She needed to hear that she was basically a bitch, even if he didn't use that particular word.

(((OOC: No offense to Thorn, dear, Anu is just a little moody. lol))

((OOC: Just wanna clarify... We're near the mountain summit, correct?))
Pierce felt tired.

The adreneline of his escape, as well as the energy from his Focus Energy attack had left him, and he found that he was using the blue pokemon for support as well. When it got up, Pierce found himself floundering trying to keep himself from falling over. When the blue one sent an attack at Thorn... He knew the meaning, he understood. But he still didn't like the thought of fighting here. He stood up slowly, and walked over to where Thorn was. Speaking loud enough for the others to hear him, he made his statement.

"That Swampert will dig it's way out eventually. I very much doubt that was enough to kill it." He said with a touch of remorse. "We can't get out, and we can't stay here. Even if we could get to the water, that will leave us sitting ducks for the Swampert. That means we need to fight it. I don't see any other way out of this, do you?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to know as much about the enemy as we can. What do you know about the Infection?"

Drowned, having stood in place for a while now, finally began to move again. He could sense the living... The the rubble and dirt, he could smell the faint lingering scents of them. It was a shame that the mountain collapsed. There were almost no graves left that didn't have several rocks toppled onto them. Even his own father's was probably ruined.

He grudgingly trudged up the rubble, heading towards the summit. They were bound to be there, and if they were at the other exit, he could probably do a surprise attack by jumping down atop of them.

Suzaku did not know what kid of pain and torture Anubis was going through, and it was not in his nature to try and push the mourning. But even though he was more sensitive to the canid's state of mind, some others were not. "Some others" being the little yellow angry doggish pokemon. "So! This pity party is great and everything," she began brightly -and dripping with sarcasm- "but anyone know how we're going to get out of this rancid pile of Tauros dung?"

Suzaku was about to retort when Anubis whirled on her, letting loose an attack that simply flew past her head. There was a grave solemnity in his words, despite the raging fury behind them. "Watch your tongue when you speak to a grieving man, child. You do not know what I have just suffered, so do not speak ill of someone justly mourning the dead. As for what to do, that is your decision. Clearly you care nothing for anyone or anything but yourself so go if you wish. The rest of us creatures with SOULS will find a new place to go."

Though Suzaku knew that squabbles within a group always led to disintegration, he did not move to stop Anubis. He looked on as the canid partially secluded himself and then looked to the yellow pokemon. "...You've got a lot of nerve. Maybe you should bite your tongue next time you want to spit venom at someone, lest they leave you a blubbering heap of meat for that swampert back there to feast on while the rest of us escape."

However, she did have a point. There was only one path leading away from the mountain, and it was into a slightly forested area. While forests didn't bother him, it was the thought of all of the Infected within them... "Looks like the only way forward is that way," he muttered and pointed to the direction of the forest route. He turned back to Anubis and sighed. "We need to get away before that thing finds us."

Thorn snarled angrily as the bolt of energy went flying past her, singing the tips of her fur as it passed. Her needle-like hairs stood on end and crackled with electricity, but despite her bravado Thorn really wasn't looking for a fight. She was just sick of this whole mess. But she couldn't let the others know that. Couldn't show weakness. Better they thought she was ready to fight.

"...lest they leave you a blubbering heap of meat for that swampert back there to feast on while the rest of us escape," the Blaziken concluded with a dour expression. Thorn hadn't even been listening, but she was still righteously pissed off.

"Excuse me for attempting to figure out how to stay alive," she hissed. "If he cares more about a corpse than a group of survivors, that's his own problem. But I don't want to die because one of the most powerful Pokemon on this island is off blubbering over someone who's already dead."

If the Lucario had been there, would she have been so brave? Probably not, Thorn mused. But he was off staring in the direction of the eventual sunrise, and she honestly didn't give two shakes of a tail about this whole mess.

"We need to get away before that thing finds us," the chicken Pokemon continued, and Thorn heartily agreed. No way she was traveling with these Pokemon more, though! Putting the electricity still crackling in her fur to good use, the Jolteon zoomed off down the forest path. She left only the smell of ozone and a feeling of irritation in her wake.

[OOC: Sorry Thorn's such a jerk, guys. You know she secretly loves all of you deep down. ;P

Also: are we allowed to come up with our own random Infected Pokemon attacking? Or is it only the ones controlled by other members?

Also also: Happy New Year!]

Xadian sat on the ground next to Drowned, thinking about who the hell knows what. The only indication of anything was the occasional glance back into the wrecked tomb, and scratching his head every so often.
"Do you talk much, big guy?"

((short post is so ridiculously short it's not even funny, but I lack anything to say.))

Anubis was meditating, but even when he tried so hard to focus his emotions memories of his past as a Riolu kept creeping in. Fenix had loved him so...she hatched him herself, not even bothering to let a Flame Body help. She carried him around in a special pouch that was always on her until the day he finally hatched. She was his mother in every sense of the word, loving him, raising him, caring endlessly for his needs. She was a good woman and a good trainer, and her loss hit him hard. She had only passed a couple of months ago, not that the others knew that, so how could they understand how fresh this pain was to him?

He could hear the murmurs of them talking in the distance, but could not make out what was being said. Whatever it was it didn't seem to make the Jolteon happy, because she zoomed past him at incredible speed and never even glanced back. Anubis sighed, he hoped it wasn't because of him. Suzaku turned back towards him and he could hear him call out. "We need to get away before that thing finds us." With a heavy heart and a heavy sigh, Anubis nodded and rejoined his friend.

"Where to?"

((OOC: Yes piggy09, we can come up with random infected in our own posts to attack, we just can't godmod them to hurt others without permission.))

"Hey! Wait!" Pierce called out after Thorn, but she was long gone. There was no chance of him catching up, not at the speed she was going. Good riddance. He thought at last. She had done nothing but bullied him so far. Yet, he could not help but feel a pang of remorse. She HAD helped him get away from the Swampert, and had helped him return to his senses.

Pierce took a quick glance at the Blaziken and the blue one. He could sense just by looking at them the difference between their power and his. "What do we do now? He asked carefully. "Do we... go after her, or go the other direction?" He quite honestly didn't like the sound of either. That's why he would elt the other two decide.

Drowned noticed the Sableye sit down next to him, and the Swampert stopped and sat to. "Do you talk much, big guy?" Xadian asked, and the undead blinked. "NoT tOo MuCh, No." he murmured. Having evolved post-infection, he had retained most of his intelligence, it was corrupted however.

He sat, thinking, before sadly looking off into the darkness that surrounded them and the rubble. "NeVeR rEaLlY hAd PeOpLe To TaLk To." he shrugs, but in a more tired fashion. It was true, he was undead afterall. Basically everyone just ran at the sight, or stench, of him. With that, he never really had the time to just talk to someone. Not really because he wanted to, either, but it was still nice sitting down and having a small conversation.

Suzaku groaned as the little yellow bee sped off, leaving them in the dark. While the little purple one seemed concerned, Anubis looked to share Suzaku's malcontent for the kid. If she wanted to go off and get herself killed, then fine. She had proved herself more of a nisance than help anyway.

Though, it seemed to be the only way forward without having to go back through the tomb... "Looks like we're heading that way anyway," Suzaku grumbled as he brgan to follow the yellow kid's trail, "Though I'll be damned if I lift a finger for her again..."

Thorn buzzed off into the woods, her fur illuminating the darkness. Around her came rustlings and creaks, but the Jolteon couldn't hear any Infected. If they came, she could handle 'em. There couldn't be anything too strong living here - the Wild Pokemon were usually fairly low-leveled, and Water Pokemon couldn't live too far from the ocean.

With that thought repeating over and over in her mind, she continued speeding along. Goodness, the forest was long. Hadn't she passed a log like that...wait.

She skidded to a stop, only to find that she was surrounded by eerily similar trees. Suddenly there came a bubble of laughter, and the image warped and dissolved. She was teetering off the edge of a cliff, and right above her was a Duskull. That stupid ghost was trying to kill her? Heh, yeah right. Thorn snarled as she unleashed a bolt of electricity straight into the skull of the opposing Pokemon. In return, it simply giggled.

"Oh, you asked for it," the Jolteon growled.

[OOC: Augh! Soooo sorry I'm late. Still not getting notifications and my week's been crazy. Thanks, Drago.]

"It's a pretty dull existence, isn't it, big guy? Folks like us, nobody wants us. All we got is each other, right?"
The goblin climbed up onto Drowned's shoulder and leaned on his head.
"Right?"

((Short post is REALLY short, and I'm REALLY sorry.))

Anubis shrugged as his question was ignored, the small Nidorino throwing out his own inquiry as to their direction. He didn't mind much, after all being so shy he wasn't used to speaking up at all so it was alright if they didn't hear. But a feeling of loneliness was gripping at his heart, icy and cold. He felt himself withdrawing, reverting back to the days when he was just a scared little Riolu too afraid to leave his mother's side. Anubis could admit it. He was scared.

"Looks like we're heading that way anyway," he heard Suzaku answer Pierce, looking off in the direction the snippy Jolteon had run. "Though I'll be damned if I lift a finger for her again..." Anubis could understand the sentiment, but given the choice, he probably would help if she really needed it. It just wasn't in his nature to leave someone to die. Though right now, he wasn't sure he would be of much use. His mind was plagued by Mother, Cathal, even Bonfire and Kyuubi though they didn't like him much. Kyuubi warmed up to him eventually but she was kind of a snob so didn't bother with him much. But Bonfire, oh that Flareon devil just loved scaring the hell out of him when he was a hatchling.

Anubis panicked as he noticed the other two were now way ahead of him. He had been once again lost in thoughts of Mother and his past. His arms curled tighter around him as he ran to catch up, and he followed Suzaku closely, since he was the closest thing to a friend he had anymore. If he didn't have the fire-bird he would be utterly alone now... "Suzaku..." his voice was barely a whisper. Without even thinking Anubis unfurled just one arm and reached out, taking the fire-bird's hand in his paw, lightly gripping it like he used to do with Mother when he was a Riolu. The small bit of comfort that gave him made all the difference and he felt himself smile a little bit. Suzaku wouldn't leave him, not like the others did. Like Kyuubi, Cathal, even Bonfire. He was a friend, had fought beside him and helped him. He could trust Suzaku.

Pierce followed the two longer-legged pokemon in front of him. They were obviously close. Looks like I chose the wrong pokemon to run into first... Granted, he didn't feel alone anymore. Frustrated, scared, sure. However, lonliness didn't register with him at the moment. That was an improvement. In fact, he had had more than enough interaction for the rest of his life, in the passed couple hours. Pierce would have been perfectly happy finding himself a nice tree and sleeping under it for a long time... Just curled up, no one else around. Maybe eventually get up and find a nice Nidorina somewhere... Hell, while he was dreaming, why not make it a shiny Nidorina... And he would evolve of course, a big, strong Nidoking...

Glazed over in his day (night?) dream, Pierce didn't notice he was falling behind. Before long, however, he was far back, with his short legs, he hadn't gone very far from where they originally started from. By the time he snapped back to reality, he couldn't see the two taller pokemon anywhere in sight. All that was near him was the path and the mountain. And whatever ghosts happened to wander around. And a giant killer Swampert. And that little imp. "Shit."

"It's a pretty dull existence, isn't it, big guy? Folks like us, nobody wants us. All we got is each other, right?" The Sableye climbed up his body from his shoulder and leaned on his head. "Right?" He gave a gentle nod. "YeAh." He slowly began to lumber out of the Mountain, shifting through the masses of rocks. The air was getting too thick, he needed fresh air.

After a while of using Hammer Arm to dislodge and break a few of the boulders that stood in their way, he finally made an entrance to the outer world big enough for him. He slid through, looking around. He rose his head to sniff and listen to the sounds. Crisp, untouched oxygen entered his lungs. Then he heard a sound. "Shit."

Drowned turned his head to find a pinkish-purple creature a distance away. A grin crept up on his face. "PrEy." Silently, he crept up towards the Poison-type, before grinning and slamming his arm against the ground, the land began to rumble and crack. Earthquake.

Suzaku was trudging along the path, not really paying attention to those behind him. In retrospect, he probably should have, because he was not expecting a gentle, shivering paw to clasp his own, but the real kicker was that the paw belonged to Anubis. When he was held, his head snapped to see the owner and found the canid sadly trudging along behind him, his free hand wrapped around his own waist.

'...Uh...'

For a moment, Suzaku really didn't know what to do. The Anubis he'd seen in the tomb, that was a mature -albeit a little demented- pokemon. Now... Now he was following Suzaku like a lost puppy, hoping for scraps. Had the tomb's collapse really been that hard for the pokemon to handle to revert back to child-like behavior?

The blaziken looked down at their clasped hands. Then it was probably a good idea to NOT shove Anubis away.

He sighed and kept going, not realizing the purple pokemon had fallen behind. Suzaku was much too focused on the road and making sure they weren't going to be ambushed. Lord knew that Anubis was probably useless in a fight for the moment until he snapped out of it. He stopped when he heard commotion up ahead. Probably the bitch from before. He made a face and turned to get a group consensus, when he found one missing.

"...Purple guy?"

The sun rose behind Thorn as she hit the Duskull with bolt after bolt of electricity. Its giggles turned into shrill squeals of pain and finally a scared whimper as the ghostly trickster vanished before the light of morning could touch it.

"About time," Thorn sighed, turning around. It didn't look like there was anywhere else to go - from where she was standing, it was a cliff that dropped sharply down to the ocean. It was lucky she'd snapped out of the trance before she plummeted downwards. The Jolteon turned her head left and right to check out her bearings.

Straight ahead was the forest she'd come out of. To her right there was the summit of the mountain - she could barely see something glimmering on the top of it. To Thorn's left, in the distance, she could barely see the tomb and the tiny, bright specks that were her "companions."

They would catch up to her eventually, but she certainly had time to rest and recharge (she groaned internally at the pun). The foxlike Pokemon trotted over to a small grove on the outskirts of the forest and, with a huff, flopped onto the ground. She fell into a light doze.

[OOC: How do I direction?!]

((Skip me, Xadian's still sitting on Drowned's shoulder not doing much. The warnings didn't go up 'til late, I didn't know I needed to post ;w;))