The ICIRRUS Team

Kinah didn't move from her perch on the fence, even when she was the only one who didn't head towards the tower. Flame shot her a dirty look, which she returned happily, and just stared after them. She could here the commotion even down in the city, small black dots flying from the top of the tower. It was fools errand, one she could not participate in. Her heart clenched as she realized this may cost her the friendships she had formed with Paladin and Pure, but she willed it away. This was what she wanted, a distance, a space between her and anyone who could get close to her. Nothing could hurt her if she didn't let it in. Never again...never...

Draol suddenly appeared on the road, staring at her. She just raised an eyebrow waiting for whatever golden nugget of advice he had this time. "Getting the tower back, without the help of your lazy unparticipating behind. Why don't you just leave if all you care about is what you want, and even then you don't do anything about that either. I at least take the initiative." Kinah snarled at him, but didn't move from the fence. She was not taking the bait on that one. The fact that he had stopped what he was doing, left all of their friends behind to fight the infected alone, just to come yell at her dropped her already low approval of him. Some initiative, he was just another fool, as she had always known him to be, and pushed his words from her mind. If, no when, the others got back and they wanted her gone, then she would leave. But she would not take the word of one little dragon who simply got his feelings hurt.

Sitting and waiting was her only response.

Things went from bad to worse real quick. One minute Flame was on the top of Dragonspiral tower, fighting the infected. The next, she was in some bushes. She had no idea what happened. She looked up and there, staring right at her was an infected Jellicent. She could tell it was rotting from the smell. Flame tried to move, but could not. The Jellicent took on the most evil face a jellyfish could have. The face was like an evil clown that want's to kill you times ten.

Flame new this was the end. The jellyfish had poison her. She looked in horror as the Jellicent lowered it's head to feast on her. But something stirred inside her. As the jellyfish was about to devour her, I light started to appear around her body. The Toxic was wearing off too. Soon, Flame's body grew and so did her power.

When the light faded, she looked to a near by puddle. And, what she saw was something amazing. She had evolve! She was now an Infernape. She could feel power corsing through her vains. She lifted her head to the infected and smiled a devilish smile.

The infected tried to run, or float in this case, away. But Flame was too fast. Her speed was must faster then before. As she moved infront of the jellyfish, she stepped on something. A TM!? She thought as it vanished under her feet. Then a pillar of fire erupted out of her mouth.

Once the pillar vanished she looked at the remains of the infected. Nothing but ash. She laughed as she turned her back on the remains. She walked out of the bushes and saw Draol was ok. Her angeir flared. She walked over to Draol and Kinah, as she wacked Draol on the back of the head. Are you trying to get yourself and the rest of us killed?! She asked the dragon.

"Who's there?" The sudden demand made the Larvitar freeze. He slowly peaked his head out from behind the bush, only to see a large dragon flying in front of him. He looked at to where the huge creatures face was, or, faces, since the dragon had three of them. Fear stricken he just stood there staring at it, not even saying a word. He finally managed to look away and ran into the forest as fast as he could. He had seen large pokemon before, but that one left Kuro in fear.

He came out back into the city and looked over his shoulder to make sure the Hydreigon wasn't chasing after him, but he also ran into something else and fell back. He looked up only to see another huge dragon pokemon, this time one with two large tusks coming out of both sides of its face. Kuro was now really shaking in fear. There where also two other pokemon, a monkey with a crown of fire, and some strange pokemon he had never seen before. He stood up and backed away a bit, but he wasn't going to run away again. "I-I'm not s-scared of you," he shuddered as he held up his hands making a fist like he was ready to fight, though he was shaking worse then an Arbok left out in a blizzard.

Guard's eyes quietly drifted over to where Draol confronted Kinah. He could hear his voice from where he was. "Getting the tower back, without the help of your lazy unparticipating behind. Why don't you just leave if all you care about is what you want, and even then you don't do anything about that either. I at least take the initiative." Then he saw Flame, newly evolved, marching towards the Haxorus. "Are you trying to get yourself and the rest of us killed?!" Guard snarled and called to the dragon. "Draol, lay off. Kinah has her reasons for not participating and we, as her friends, will respect that. If you're going to belittle someone like that, I suggest you leave yourself." anger heavily laced his voice.

Fron the very edge of his sight, he saw something light green dart away. It must've been the thing that was in the bushes. Quietly he followed the way the thing went only to find the small dragon where Draol was, shaking. "I-I'm not s-scared of you," Guard laughed as he floated over, using one of hand-heads to pick the Larvitar up by the spike on his head. "Tiny lil' fella, aren't ya?" he sneered, placing the Rock Skin Pokemon down.

And then, with no warning, an alarm went off in his mind. Something was missing. Someone was missing. "Where's Pure...?" he asked, his gaze travelled back to the tower, which was rumbling. His eyes widened in realization. "Shit. Pure. We left Pure alone. In the tower." he choked out. Before long, he was darting up towards the tower, pleading to Arceus for the Sawsbuck to be alright. "PURE!" he called out as he reached the level where she was at.

The Golurk was in front of her, about to stomp on her head. Guard roared in anger, without another thought he blasted the Golem with a Fire Blast, doing efficient damage to it. He floated in front of Pure, protectively. "Bastard, I hope ya burn in hell." he snarled, fire blasting it again as it fell from the floor to the water below. He turned to Pure. "You alright?"

Draol was getting hit and lectured for going in that tower and telling Kinah to leave. He felt bad inside that everyone was mad at him, even though it was all his fault. "It was out of line for me to do all those things, I was blinded by wanting the tower back and angry at people not helping. I won't do it again." Draol looked to the Larvitar, saying he wasn't afraid but clearly was. Paladin left to go find Pure, Draol would follow after talking to the Larvitar. He talked softly and slightly depressed, "Don't worry, we won't hurt you, just have to deal with some of the aguments," he talked softer, "caused sometimes by me." Draol came back to a happier mood now, "But it's always good to have new friends like yourself to help each other out. You can follow if you like." Draol ran to where Paladn and Pure were at, after seeing Pure almost die again, Draol went back to being sad. "I suppose you hate me too, don't you?"

Kinah was about to tell Draol to go jump in a lake when something ran smack into him. She looked down and there, at Droal's feet, was a small little green thing. "I-I'm not s-scared of you," it said defiantly, getting up to stare the larger Pokemon down. Kinah couldn't help it, she smiled happily at the display of courage the little one showed. Paladin chuckled and picked the little one up, acting as though it were only a child to be coddled. Kinah got a little miffed at that, as it wasn't so long ago that she was a small but tough little fighter. She remembered how growing up she would always get picked on for being smaller than the rest of her clan. It was something she never really got over, but it did make her train harder to become better than everyone who made fun of her.

Droal didn't really help matters by acting like the victim again, but at least he admitted that a lot of the time the fights were his fault. "Shit. Pure. We left Pure alone. In the tower." Kinah nearly fell off the fence from Paladin's outburst. He and Draol took off for the tower again leaving Kinah alone with the small green one. Looking at the proud little creature something in Kinah's heart softened. She could see so much of herself in him that she couldn't stop herself. She reached out a paw and knelt down to him.

"You are a brave warrior standing up to three larger Pokemon like that. A real warrior should never show fear even in the face of death. But neither should he have to hide. If you like, I can teach you how to stand your ground...and win." She smiled warmly at the small one, almost no trace of her usual sarcastic smile left. "My name is Kinah, and I used to be just like you. What's your name?"

Kuro didn't like being picked up by his horn by the large flying dragon, and he didn't like being calling little ether. Hasn't he ever hear the saying, big things come in small pacaging? He was glade to be set back down, and more happy when both dragons left in search of one of there friends. It had been a long time since he had friends, that he had almost forgotten what it was like to have some.

"You are a brave warrior standing up to three larger Pokemon like that. A real warrior should never show fear even in the face of death. But neither should he have to hide. If you like, I can teach you how to stand your ground...and win." Kuro turned around to the voice of the strange fighting pokemon, he raised his head with pride at the praise, he was a brave, and he was going to be a strong warrior someday, just like his parents. "My name is Kinah, and I used to be just like you. What's your name?"

"My name is Kuro, and if you can really teach me how to hold my own in a fight, then i would very much like it if you could teach me." He never really talked to pokemon he didn't know, it was something his mother had tought him, but if this pokemon could really show him how to stand his ground, then he woudln't back down from the opertunity.

Guard mainly ignored most of the conversation, looking around the tower. Memories flooded back to him. "How about you two? Are you guys alright?" Guard was about to reply, when a familiar stench hit his nose. The stench was the same from a year ago till' now, and the Hydreigon clearly recognized it.

He quietly turned to the Sawsbuck, who now was talking properly. "Pure... Don't you feel like someone's watching us?" he asked, a unusual worried tone in his voice. "And this stench smells familiar, but I just can't figure out why..." Then suddenly, the tower began to rumble even more, and a large flash of blue and red was seen outside the tower. The realization hit Guard so hard that he almost gagged.

It was the Druddigon.

A year ago, when Paladin and Pure were still young and the Epidemic had yet to happen, they had played at Dragonspiral Tower. However, every time they came a rather large Druddigon would try to kill them, often hurting them in some way. Guard scowled at the thoughts. It was the same Druddigon, the same rotting smell, the same large build. Only this time, it was undead and insane.

The Cave Pokemon began to smash it's body against the tower walls, weakening them. Guard looked back to Flame, Pure, and Draol. "Quick, we need to get out NOW. Don't bother trying to fight that thing inside, because then the tower'll just be destroyed. I need everyone of you to evacuate outside and lure the Druddigon away from the building, then we can attack. Be careful, it's strong." And 'strong' was an understatement at the moment, as the red and blue Pokemon smashed one of the walls o the tower.

The Hydreigon immediately began to fly out, closely supervising his friends. He began to flamethrower the undead, distracting it as the rest of the team began to escape. He just hoped that they would listen to his orders.

[OOC: Just so you know, that Druddigon is definitely not gonna be dieing with like, 3 posts. I want this fight to be like a whole teamwork thing where we all work together and hard to defeat it- since most of our battles are like 1 post K.O. ones.]

Draol heard Pure saying how she wasn't made at him and bacame slightly happier. But the next thing to happen was the giant Druddigon in the room, most likely hungry for flesh. Paladin commanded that all of them leave, for the beast was too powerful to take on in thier current location. Draol listened, and jumped out of the building, landing on the floor and turning to see who else made it out. While doing so, he hid away from possible sight of the Druddigon, waiting for Paladin to lead it away, and for th rest of them to attack.

"My name is Kuro, and if you can really teach me how to hold my own in a fight, then i would very much like it if you could teach me." Kinah smiled warmly at the young warrior. If he truly wanted to learn then there was quite a bit she could teach him. Though they may not have the same move sets, she knew many fighting techniques that could be applied to any Pokemon type or fighting style. After all, you don't become a Martial Arts Pokemon just learning one fighting style. She stood up straight and proud, extending one hand in offering to the green one, when an echoing roar floated down the cliffs to the town. The others, what had they unleashed?

She stormed over to the path outside of town in time to see the others come rushing down back her way, they were running from something that much was clear. And if it was running off all of them then..."Arceus damn it!" Kinah cried out in frustration. "This is why I bloody well didn't want to get involved! I knew something like this was going to happen, but NO! No one ever wants to listen to LOGIC!" She turned back to Kuro and sighed. "I hope you're ready for your first lesson, kid, because they just handed you one hell of an opportunity." With that said she took off towards the others, intending to give them, and whatever they pissed off, a piece of her mind. And maybe a fist or two.

(OOC: Please just skip my turn. Having to use my mom's comp so I don't have time to read up on the post's sorry.)

Kuro ran along with Kinah, though she kept getting farther and farther from him cause she had longer legs then him. He pushed himself to run faster, coming to the entrance of the dragon tower. He had his eyes closed when he ran that he didn't realized he had run all the way here. The tower was so much bigger up close, even if it was falling apart it was still huge, and he was so small. He had a long way to go before he became a tyranitar, he had so much training to do. He could hear the others scurrying down the towers steps, as well as the roaring of the Druddigon that was following after them. He turned around to run out when he was hit from behind. He let out a yelp of surprise before the creature that had hit him was on top of him. "Surprise, surprise!" It said. Kuro looked up to see an infected Sawsbuck standing over him, his eyes became wide in fear as he didn't know what to do. He just lay there, tear beginning to form in his eyes, but he shook his head, remembering that Kinah has called him a warrior, and he was a warrior, he may not be big, but every strong pokemon, was once as small as he was, maybe even smaller.

He let out a Sandstorm to distract it while he got up and ran, he could hear its pursuit but he dared not look to see if he was right. He just needed a larger range to fight it, he was going to be the one to take this infected down, it was him, he was going to get strong by defeating infected like this one. Once he was out in the open he turned to face his peruser. His breath was heavy from all the running, and the Energy Ball he took in the back had also taken its tole on his. Since he was a rock and ground type, that attack was super effective against him. His vision went a little hazy, but he wasn't going to pass out, not when he was so close to getting stronger. He began to run at the infected, yelling as he readied a Brick Brake, the one attack his trainer has taught him before he had died. And he was going to take this infected down with it.

Guard gave a sigh of relief as the rest of the team evacuated. "This is why I bloody well didn't want to get involved! I knew something like this was going to happen, but NO! No one ever wants to listen to LOGIC!" Upon hearing Kinah's scream, he laughed a bit. 'It was inevitable,' he muses.

"Surprise, surprise!" The Hydreigon jolts, looking down to find Pure pinning Kuro down. Suddenly, the tiny thing made a sandstorm appear as he ran away. Guard snorted, but didn't do anything. Suddenly, he felt a sharp jab onto his body and then his weight plummeting down from the sky. With a roar, he flew up again, only to find the Druddigon a few ways away from him.

Then they were circling each other in the sky, both dragons ready to blast each other's heads off at any second. Fire sparked at the Druddigon's mouth and Paladin too, began to charge a Fire Blast. In an instant, it almost seemed likethey were going to fly away but then fire was unleashed, and a explosion sent flames flying everywhere.

Guard wobbled back to land, the Druddigon still high up in the sky. He scowled. "Pure. Snap out of it." he snarled darkly. "Or else I'll have your head. Come on guys, it's time to fight."

Draol watched as Kinah and the Larvitar entered the tower for some sort of reason. No, we have to wait for Paladin to lead that thing out. With that thought, Draol followed after them to warn them about the great danger ahead. As soon as he entered the tower, a battle was in the midst between Pure and Kuro. What was Pure doing? Upon watching Pure, Draol could tell why she was attacking. Her infected instincts came back, and the Larvitar must've seen her as a regular infected. Kuro was charging an attack headed for Pure that could potentially kill her. "Stop!" Kuro sent the attack to Pure, but rather than hiting her, it hit Draol as he jumped in front of Pure taking the hit on the back to protect Pure. "Nice hit. She may seem like one of them, but is actually our friend and I think we can still get her back. The main threat you're probably searching for is outside. Paladin's waiting. Let me handle her." Draol was to focused on Pure to pay attention to whatever Kinah and Kuro would do, as Pure also stared back, angry looking and completly different from before. "Pure, you need to come back to us now this is you." Seeming to not hear him she charged at Draol with an attack, but was countered by Draol trying to hold her. She struggled, kicking her hooves at Draol's legs, moving her head to stab the atlers at him. All were hitting causing Draol to tremble in pain from the bruised legs and head of his, but was never going to let her going. "Please Pure! I won't give up, your in control! You have to fight it!" Draol countinued to yell at Pure to snap her out of it, loosening his grip, and hopeing it would come to the last resort in order to stop her. Death.

I'm freezing the team temporarily.
Machunine, you're guilty of godmodding for the last time.

The hunger clawed at her, like knives stabbing at her gut. She couldn't feel the pain but the constant, burning, relentless NEED for blood was consuming the Weavile. She wanted to paint the ground red, she wanted to see the light in her victim's eyes fade as she ripped their guts from them, to feel their accursed warmth leave their bodies. She wanted the echoing sounds of screams to pierce the air as she fed on their living flesh. Oh how she wanted that...

No warmth...blood...cold...

There! Voices, the shouts of battle. The thrill of a meal drew the Weavile near to several Pokemon facing off in front of a now crumbling tower. What or why they were battling didn't matter, they were ALIVE...and that meant their warmth was polluting her dream of a frozen paradise. Their warmth MUST be extinguished. Carefully she watched, picking only the best from her choices. So many...who? Him.

She set her sights on a tall Haxorus, and stealthily moved in, making sure to stay low to the bushes until she got close enough to strike. When he was just far enough away from the others that they couldn't interfere, she attacked. In a flash she was on him, a wicked Shadow Claw digging deep into his gut. She tore her claws from his armored stomach and watched as the blood splattered the ground, leaving a hole large enough that a portion of intestine hung threateningly from the wound. But this beast was a tough one, and wouldn't go down so easily. She grinned as her tongue darted out to clean her claws. Delicious. His taste only fueled her desire. She wanted to feel his warmth fade, to leave him cold and lifeless. Cold...yes...

She let out a concentrated Ice Beam, his feet becoming sealed to the ground, so he couldn't escape. She used an Ice Beam again, freezing his left arm, then used her Night Slash to rend the offending limb from his body. She repeated this with the other arm, then his tail, moving on to one leg at a time. When there was nothing left but a bloody stump staring up horrified at her, she stopped. With a feral grin she sank her teeth into his neck, ripping a large chunk of flesh and swallowing it. He made a gurgling noise, as though her were drowning in his own blood. Pleased with the sound she pushed the stump onto the ground and stood on the neck wound, watching as blood gushed from under her foot.

Blood...warmth...Death.

The light was beginning to fade from his eyes and the Weavile knew he wouldn't last this torture much longer. For one final act she dug her claws into the first wound, in his gut, and drug it all the way up his torso, splitting him wide open. She felt the warmth of his body spill out into the air, along with his blood, tissue, and innards, and reveled in it. It was done, the living was no more. Hunger overtaking her she feasted quickly on his liver, heart, and other organs, wiping her mouth of the rich blood covering it once she finished. The Weavile looked back at the rest of his group and smiled wickedly. She would have to come back for them. For now, she had her own little treat to take home. Grabbing one of his frozen limbs from the ground she walked away, licking her treat. Her own little Haxorus Popsicle.

Kinah arrived outside the tower just after the Larvitar. He is fast little warrior, she mused. She barely even came to a halt by Paladin when Pure came out of nowhere to attack Kuro. What the hell was the doe thinking? Why was she...oh Arceus...Pure wasn't really herself anymore, was she? Kinah felt a small twinge but forced it back, she still wasn't past the whole 'pushing everyone away' thing. But Kuro was sneaky, using a sandstorm to cover his escape, he even turned back to face her like he had with them earlier. Then, she saw it.

A fearsome Druddigon was approaching, flames licking at its mouth, and it had eyes for a Hydreigon. They both released a fire attack and Kinah was pushed back by the sheer force of the explosion. When the smoke cleared she was pretty far away from everyone, and that really pissed her off. "Watch where you are throwing that thing!" she hollered at Paladin. Her fur was singed and she brushed the smoke from her in annoyance. If she was going to get her coat dirty she would rather it be from the blood of an opponent then some male Pokemon version of a pissing contest.

As she ran back to the others she saw a shadow go past, heading straight for Draol. Stopping to look for a moment she was horrified when a Weavile sprung out and gutted the Haxorus. She was too far away, and when she tried to get to him another stray attack blocked her path. When the dust settled again Draol was laying there and the Weavile staring at all of them with a wicked smirk to rival her own. A terrified shiver went down her spine, because wherever this thing came from, it wasn't like the others. After it left, she approached Draol and cringed at the sheer level of violence. Sure, she didn't really like the guy, but no one deserved that.

His Shell Bell glinted at her from the ground and she picked it up gently. It was pretty banged up, worse than the last time she held it, and it didn't seem right for it to be parted from him. She gathered what was left of Droal the Haxorus and set them together, laying the Shell Bell gently on top of him. Looking at her former ally, another piece of her heart cracked. "I'm sorry...for everything. For the way I treated you, for not being there to help you...I'm...I'm sorry. The least I can give you, is a warrior's funeral." Using her Hidden Power, which in her case had fire, she set the remains ablaze, and offered a small prayer before turning back to her other allies. She wouldn't fail them too, no, because now she was pissed.

((OOC: Sorry for the long post, it just didn't seem right to not have some sort of closure with poor Draol. He and Kinah never got to be friends...Hope this did him justice.))

Flame watched as the Weavile attacked Draol. Her leg's could not move. Her inner fire got bigger as she watched in horror. Not being able to do anything. When the Weavile left she and Kinah walked over and gave Draol a warriors grave. Flame looked at the battle between Paladin and the Druddigon. Her head flame erupted in a fury of emotions. Her head flame seemed to dance in rage as the purple started to show more and more. She looked back to the battle and yelled to Paladin, Yo Paladin! Take care of that dragon! I'll deal with Pure! Flame said as she looked to Kinah.

Kinah, you most likely won't listen to me, but i'll ask you anyway. I need you to help Paladin, while I help Kuro and hopefully bring back Pure. Flame said as she looked at Pure and Kuro fighting. I-I couldn't help Draol. And I couldn't help Moonlight way back then. But, I won't be losing Pure. I owe her that much. I attacked her back at Ecruteak. But, I want to make it up to her. Flame said as she rubbed her left arm with her right hand.

So please let me do this. I want to make up for my mistakes. Flame said as she waited for a answer. She could not wait because Pure used Nature Power at Kuro. Flame bolted and stood in front of the attack. She looked back at Kuro. Hey kid. You might want to get out of here. It's going to get messy. Flame said as she smirked. She then turned to Pure and felt a over whelming power in her crest as she released a ball of pure energy. Which lit the vines a blaze and some even turned to dust. She then ran up and grabbed Pure's horns. Pure snap out of it! This is not you! I will not fight you, but I will stop you from hurting the others! I still believe in you Pure. You are better then this. You always were. Flame said as she dug her feet into the ground. Waiting for Pure to react.

[I'm sorry, but I'm to busy right now to be able to post. Just say Kuro is in shock at seeing Draol getting killed by the Weavile.]

It was a nice moonlit night. Ri yawned and stepped outside to the fresh night air. Wrapped in a blanket, he was ready for any sort of cold weather. It was snowing lightly.
"Why is Winter so... Cold?" He asked himself. "Isn't there warmth anywhere?" He looked around.
Smoke was rising from the tower.
"Ohhh, nooo... The tower's on FIRE!" He wailed, grabbing a bucket from inside the gym to douse the fire.