The FLOAROMA Team

Lance watched as they all ran off, wondering if they had even noticed him. "Well, mite as well check out whats going on." He said as he to started to run after the others. The Sandshrew ran into the flower shop. He had been there the other day, before the fire started. He had hoped to find some berries there for him to eat, but it had already been cleaned out. He walked in to find the Simisear holding out a Rawst berry to the Sandshrew. If the Sanshrew was burned he could always use his Heal Bell to heal it since it was a move to cure any problems like poison or burns. Though he didn't feel like interfering with what was happening.

The Flareon just sat outside the flower shop, watching out for any infected, cause after that fire there was bound to be plenty running around. Lance let out a sigh, a flick of fire coming out of his mouth, getting rid of the excess fire that he had inhaled while he was in the forest. He looked to the sky, watching the gray smoke clouds start to fade as the fire slowed its burning since there was nothing left to burn.

She's been alone for a while now. Sabitsuki, after the start of the epidemic, had recently taken shelter in a certain flower shop in the floral town of Floaroma, flitting from hiding place to hiding place to keep away any enemies, both infected and other pokemon gone crazy with hunger, or just because of the heavy stress of the epidemic. She had taken quite a liking to the flower shop; she had scavenged some surviving berries and plants and began taking care of them, attaining a small supply of food as well as some beauty in this bloody world.

But it didn't help her loneliness. The young Weavile still remembered two, certain friends she had at the orphanage she grew up in. She occasionally had dreams of them, and Sabitsuki would often space out, looking out the window for any signs of them. She constantly wondered if they were still alive at all. Last night, she had gone to bed, only to dream of the good memories the trio once had, not churning in her makeshift bed of scavenged blankets and boxes with nightmares for once. Her days were always boring routines; wake up, try to stay alive, go to bed.

However, today was different. Sabitsuki was waken up by the soft tinkling of the doorbell to the flower shop. The Weavile immediately hid behind one of the shelves of fertilizers, eyes wary and ears pricked. Who or what would disturb her this early in the morning? Right as she was wondering whether she should attempt to attack or abscond, the Weavile heard an all too familiar voice calling a nickname she could never forget.

"S-Smile? Sister?" Sabitsuki stuttered, looking around the shelf, eyes wide.

Smile, spending long minutes of sniffing out the forest, couldn't catch the scent of Sabi anywhere. Dejectedly he began walk towards where he sensed the others, back to the town. As soon as he reached the patch of red flowers, he heard his Sister cry out for him and Sabitsuki. Immediately he ran closer, to where he could hear Sister. "I'm alright, I'm fine." he called, thought he obviously wasn't. He was covered in burns and scrapes.

The Sandslash swiftly followed the Sandshrew to the flower store, although considerably slow with all his wounds. He heard Sister say Sabitsuki's nickname. Was she in there? All thought was lost as Smile called out as well. "Sabi?! SABI!" he yelled, entering the store. "S-Smile? Sister?" Without warning, he hopped over to the Weavile and attempted to hug her. [Although it was extremely hard when his arms were stinging every single second.]

She paused for a long while. Harley held his breath. She then looked at him, and nodded. Harley smiled a friendly smile at her.

"Y-yeah, I guess I'll have on-"

His heart fluttered. He was glad that maybe he made himself less weird to Sister. Well he felt that before there was a commotion.

"Sabi?! SABI!"

Harley almost flinched as Smile flew into the shop.

"S-Smile? Sister?"

Harley turned to see a Weavile poke its head out from behind a shelf. Smile then proceeded the almost tackle-hug the Weavile. Harley's eyes widened. "So that's the person they're looking for...." He looked to Sister who looked unamused.... Then she gingerly took the berry.

"Thank you."

Harley grinned again. "You're welcome." he said with no emotion other than being polite. He didn't want to scare the Sandshrew any more than he had done. He looked over to the two other pokemon hugging, then to Sister who had sighed and moved and made her way towards the door. Harley watched her leave, then looked back to the other two pokemon, then back to Sister who was turning the corner outside the store. He decided to follow her out slowly, the door bell jingling as he left. He suddenly saw the Flareon and grinned, not knowing if he saw him or not.
"Hey, I like your hat." he complimented, waiting for the Flareon the respond to him. He would maybe follow sister to see if she was alright, but first he had to properly introduce himself to this Flareon; he felt unacquainted, and slightly rude for almost ignoring him.
"So, ah.... I'm Harley. Sorry I kind of ignored you earlier; I guess you just kinda popped up at a bad time. Doesn't mean we can't be friends, though." he smiled at the Flareon and his head tilted, making his hair slightly slump to one side. His glasses fell down on his nose at the moment he tilted his head. He hurriedly pushed them back into his forehead. "Stupid glasses...."

Lance watched the Sandshrew walk off on its own, looking a little upset. The Flareons ears drooped at seeing the sad face and was about to follow after it to cheer it up when the Simisear came out. Lance was already standing and his ears had perked up again when it started talking. "Hey, I like your hat." It said and Lance couldn't help but smile.
"Thanks, I like your sunglasses." He said, using a paw to point to the sunglasses on the Simisears head.
"So, ah.... I'm Harley. Sorry I kind of ignored you earlier; I guess you just kinda popped up at a bad time. Doesn't mean we can't be friends, though." The Simisear, Harley, continued. Lance sat back down, pretty sure a conversation was about to start up.
"Nah, its cool man. I'm Lance, and I figured something was up from the way that Sandshrew ran off." Lance said looking off at the Sandshrew walking off in the distance. Wondering why it was in such a sad mood. "So what's got the girl in such a sad state anyway?" He added looking back at Harley. "You didn't say something to get her down did you?" He said, no longer smiling and with his eyes narrowed at the Simisear.

The Weavile still had her mouth open to say something else to the Sandshrew she saw before her, until she was suddenly tackled by the same pokemon's evolution, and also brother. Sabitsuki fell over from the force and the weight, lying on the ground stunned for a moment, before the reality crashed into her like a giant wave.

Her two best friends, whom she thought she lost forever, were back. And before she could stop it, she began to almost half-cry, half-laugh.

"Smile!" Sabitsuki exclaimed, patting her friend awkwardly; when they were young, she gave actual hugs, but since Smile evolved, the spikes on his back prevented any hugging. But then, she faltered, seeing the red marks on the Sandslash's eyes, and looked down. She still felt guilty about that certain incident, even though it wasn't exactly her fault.

During the Weavile's momentary distraction, she noticed a sandy-colored being go out through the flower shop door. She also noticed the burn marks on Smile's body when she looked up at the Sandslash again, and her face immediately turned from one of confused but great joy to concern. Sabitsuki took shelter in a floral shop; there were bound to be some Rawst berries stocked somewhere. Sabitsuki noticed all the other pokemon wandering around the floral shop, but didn't pay much attention to them; her main concerns right now were Smile and Sister.

"You're injured," Sabitsuki said, being Captain Obvious for a moment. "There should be some Rawst berries somewhere, and we can get you cleaned up... and then, let's get Sister here and we can catch up."

Swamp watched as the Sandslash left the burning forest and went back to town. He looked around, noticing the fire was starting to stop now that it had very little left to burn.
Swamp ran out of the forest and back to town, losing track of the Sandslash, the Vaporeon was once again alone, though this didn't really bother him, he was used to being on his own. His only real reason in this town was to find food then he would have been on his way.
Just then he saw what looked like to be the Sanshrew he had accidently hit with his Muddy Water. It looked to be fine now, but he had to be sure.

When he managed to catch up with it he called out. "Hey!" He yelled before coming to a stop next to the ground type. "I'm sorry for hitting you with my attack earlier, I didn't notice you there." He added, his tail swaying back and forth as he waited for a reply.

((Sorry guys, didn't relize it was my turn.))

"There should be some Rawst berries somewhere, and we can get you cleaned up... and then, let's get Sister here and we can catch up." Smile nodded hastily. He didn't like having his younger sibling out of his sight for long periods of time.

He quietly hopped to the doorway of the shop, looking outside. Catching Sister's scent, he gently called for her. "Sister? Sister, where are you?"

In all honesty, Sister felt like she was thrown away once again, back into the river where she should have died. Sabi and Smile are going to ignore her, and continue on with their lives, they might have already forgotten she left, or maybe they hadn't noticed her one bit. The Sandshrew sighed, leaving the half-eaten Rawst Berry next to a plant.

"Hey!" An unfamiliar voice called, Sister perked up, she felt that it was directed at her, as she looked around, she noticed a Vaporeon in the distance, "I'm sorry for hitting you with my attack earlier, I didn't notice you there." He apologized as he swayed his tail. The Sandshrew rose a brow, 'I got hit?' She took an immediately scan at the Vaporeon, noticing the oddly colored back-fins, and tattered head-fins... It reminded Sister of the Buizel earlier this morning, she grabbed a rock nearby, flailing it in front of her face, not hitting the Vaporeon.

"Get away! Get away! Infected, infected!" She screamed, she never really liked them, nor did she know how to deal with them, but nonetheless, continued to flail like a creature that didn't even know how to deal with prey...

((Skip me. Lance is still just talking to the Simisear.))

Sabitsuki nodded, and hurriedly scooted away, looking in the rows of berry plants for the bluish, strawberry-shaped berry she was looking for. She finally found the plant; only two berries hung from its branches. The Weavile plucked one of them; she supposed she should bury the other one, so that a new Rawst berry plant could grow.

With the blue, medicinal berry in her grasp, she followed Smile to the door, where the bright morning sunshine glowed. How the weather managed to act as if nothing was happening despite the horrid weather, Sabitsuki didn't know. She squeezed outside between Smile and the doorframe, wanting to see Sister again more clearly. However, before she went around to the back where Sister apparently went [she heard voices coming from there], she heard the Sandshrew's yelling.

"Get away! Get away! Infected! Infected!", the Weavile heard. The dark-and-ice-type suddenly felt dizzy, staggering a little on her feet, remembering a shard from her past, when she used to live in solitude at the Windworks Valley orphanage.

"Get away, get away! You'll infect us all with your illness!" the bully taunted, followed by jeers and laughing. Sabitsuki, then a Sneasel, flattened her ears and turned away, eating all alone in a corner of the lunch field. The day shone bright and blue, but it couldn't penetrate the rain cloud that hung over the Sneasel's head, both figuratively and literally; some water-type had used Rain Dance on her. It wasn't her fault she was born weak and sickly. Yet why was she so hated??

Sabitsuki blinked, shaking her head to clear her mind. Now wasn't the time for a flashback. Now was the time to help Smile and Sister. All of it was in the past, now, anyway, and it would never happen again. 'Rust' had made sure of that.

"Sister? Are you alright?" Sabitsuki asked, running over to look for the Sandshrew she sought for, after shoving the Rawst berry in her claws in Smile's.

[OOC: Killing Swamp as a Harb. Attack.]

"Get away! Get away! Infected! Infected!" Smile perked up immediately, dashing to his Sister's voice. He couldn't let anyone hurt her, not a single soul. As he rounded the corner to the shop to see the infected Vaporeon from earlier with the Sandshrew. The two Swoobats were already there, trying to protect his sibling. Smile felt a berry get shoved to him but he made no attempts to grab it, and merely snarled. Although he sounded outright furious, the grin that was welded to his face was larger than a Joker's.

Before the Swoobat can tackled Swamp, the Sandslash threw his body onto the water-type, immediately gutting it with a strong Poison Jab. "You get the fuck away from my Sister." his grin was wider than ever, two blunt claws smashing down onto the Vaporeon's head-- smashing the skull upon impact. Savagely he threw the body up, using a Brick Break to demolish it's chest cavity.

As a finishing move, he used a single Metal Claw to rip the infected apart, his grin fading, before he turned back to Sister. "Are you alright?"

At first, things didn't seem right, there was an infected looming over Sister. Of course, she would be scared upon seeing it, after all, she was attacked so many times in the past, she even forgot to fend for herself...

Things were a blur, Sister grimaced at the new scene in front of her, which was Smile smashing the Vaporeon apart, though it was completely normal for him to do such a thing, she could never really get rid of the sight of blood. "You get the fuck away from my Sister." He finished it off with a Brick Break, in which the Sandshrew immediately flinched in response, turning away. "Are you alright?" Smile asked, she never noticed he was done, she gave a quick nod.

Sister made her attempt to bring everything in; the Vaporeon, the bats, Sabi calling out for her, now finally Smile actually giving a damn and killed off an infected just to save his baby sister.
She scratched the back of her head, this was stupid. Completely, she should really stop being such a spoiled brat. 'But I don't know what to do', a voice in the back of her mind countered.

Perishing the thought, pushing it to the depths of her mind, she picked up the half-eaten Rawst berry that was left next to a plant, shoving it in her brother's face, "Eat it." She said frankly bluntly, she gave an angry huff. It's not that she was angry at anyone in particular, more like the atmosphere or mood swings just coming by.

"Thanks, I like your sunglasses.

Harley grinned. "Thank you~"

"Nah, its cool man. I'm Lance, and I figured something was up from the way that Sandshrew ran off. So what's got the girl in such a sad state anyway? You didn't say something to get her down did you?"

Just in a flash, the mood went from cheery to somewhat threatening. Harley widened his eyes and took a slight step back, then looked down disappointingly.
"N... No.... Of course not...." he said, enough for anyone who sensed the tone in his voice to know he was saddened by this comment. Did he look that bad to other pokemon? Maybe Sisters meanness towards him was legit.... Then, he heard a scream. Harley's head turned so fast he almost got whiplash.

"Get away! Get away! Infected! Infected!"

Harley disregarded the Flareon for a moment as he charged behind the house. Right as he skidded in and stood next to Sister, Smile had finished cutting the infected down. Harley glanced from Sister, to Sabi, to Smile, and then back again, before Sister shoved the Rawst berry into Smiles hands.

"Eat it."

She seemed a little mad with the huff she gave. Harley mentally punched himself. Just when he could redeem himself, he lost the chance. While he was glad she had gotten confidence back with her brother(he could sense the tension between them before), he lost the chance to redeem himself a non-pervert. All he wanted was to be acquaintances with her again. This awkward feeling was too awkward. He sighed, and subtly walked away, and around the building and into the trees. He sat next to one at the edge of the treeline, leaning against the stump. Now he felt painfully awkward. This wasn't even anything having to do with the simple liking for Sister, but rather just the fact he made himself awkward AGAIN.
"How come I mess up every relationship I get into...? Why do I have to be such an awkward freak?" Of course, this was his abused side talking. All he was ever told by his team mates was that he was socially awkward and he would never have friends. At this rate and point of time, Harley was starting to believe that. He hung his head, and curled his tail over his face. He didn't want those other pokemon to see the crystalline drops of salty water slide down his face. He couldn't control his depression for a moment more unless he released some tears. His breath caught in his throat as the tears slipped onto the leather of his jacket.

-----

(OoC: He's all depresso now. |D)

Lance noticed that what he said had left the Simisear a little upset. "No, don't take it the wrong way dude, just you coming out right after the Sandshrew just made it seem like you did something." The Flareon said as he stood up just before he heard the cry for help. The Simisear had instantly shot out in the direction of the cry, as well as a few others, so not wanting to be left out of the party he followed.

When he got there, all he saw was the Sandshrew, a Sandslash, and all those other faces. But what really caught his eye was the dead Vaporeon laying not to far off. Aww man, did it have to be an eeveelution? He said to himself as a chill went up his spin. He always hated seeing his brethren dead, always made him feel uneasy, like he was next or something.

He looked at the Sandslash and took a few steps toward it. "Y-you ok?" He stuttered, and that was really un cool. He didn't know why, but he always had problems talking with girls.

Sabitsuki stopped in her tracks, suppressing a shiver as the air almost seemed to increase in weight due to a sinister atmosphere that overcame the yard of the flower shop. She blinked and turned around, only to see a brown blur rush past her. The Weavile stared with a rather even, if not disapproving, face as Smile smashed the Vaporeon away without a moment's hesitation, a giant smirk on his face. So he still had those fits. Not that Sabitsuki could really complain against it; it was just Smile, just as Rust was Sabitsuki.

The Weavile winced as Smile's final metal claw ripped apart the Vaporeon. She picked up the dropped Rawst berry, before tiptoe-ing around the bloodied corpse of the Eeveeloution. She meant to go to Smile and Sister to once again make the Sandslash eat the blue, medicinal berry, but instead, Sabitsuki stopped, blinking at the Simisear and Flareon, actually noticing them for the first time. The Simisear seemed somewhat upset, and the Flareon, nervous.

"Hello there. Excuse me, but who are you two?" Sabitsuki asked, stopping in her tracks and looking at them both with a friendly simper, although within her mind was a churning tempest of thoughts and emotions from the sudden chain of events that had just taken place.

She gave a scowl as her brother did nothing, as if staring off into space and taken into a different world. Sister just left the Rawst Berry in his claws, giving a harsh huff - she was losing her patience. "Y-you ok?" Lance asked, stuttering. Sister blinked, gathering up her patience quickly as she put on her blunt face rather than a scowl, "Perfectly fine, thank you for your concern." It was difficult telling if she was sarcastic, or really truthful. Though it truthful, considering the past events, it gave her the thought that Lance may have taken that remark as sarcasm. Sister shrugged it off, she was thinking too hard.

As she simply walked away from Lance, and more back into the front of the store, she heard the Sabi ask for the identity of Harley and Lance. Speaking of Harley, where was the bastard? The Ground-type glanced around, trying to look as casual as possible rather than someone that wants to look for someone who's a pedophile.

Sobbing.

Ears perked, the Sandshrew glanced at the source, which was-not-so-surprisingly-enough; Harley. She gave a sigh, padding toward him, "How come I mess up every relationship I get into...? Why do I have to be such an awkward freak?" Sister had an annoyed look, the bastard took her seriously. She gave a harsh huff, hesitantly patting him on the back. Sister rose up her tail so that no one would disturb, nor try to eavesdrop on this conversation.

With a sigh she gave a peck at Harley's cheek, she never really did this, since she's rarely social, but really she had no idea how to start off her topic, "You're cool." She said bluntly, her usual style.

Harley panted, lowering his tail a little. His breathing went shallow as he saw the Sandshrew's feet on the ground next to him. His face blushed a bit as she even reached out to pat him on the back. All he could manage was a tiny squeak that escaped his throat. He wasn't even so upset anymore as much as shocked. He pulled his face off from his knees to look forward, then his tail glided down to the ground next to him. He glanced slightly towards her, and then nearly died of a heart attack from feeling her kiss his cheek quickly. If he wasn't pink furred, his blush would have shown so much more visibly. His expression stayed pretty solemn; he was good at keeping his feelings inside. He looked at her gently. His green eyes seemed a lot more vibrant from his tears. He heard her mutter in her usual voice.

"You're cool."

Harley smiled a bit, and looked away to not stare at her. He didn't want to mess up this sensitive moment. He looked at her again, with his small smile.
"... Thank you.... I'm sorry I... um.... Sorry you had to see a weak moment in time for me." Harley said very quietly. He said it softly, and not so much going into detail as he was afraid of how Sister might react to it. Then he remembered, they hadn't really been properly introduced. He thought about how to go on this for a second. He slowly got to his feet; him being about a foot taller than Sister. He gave a friendly smile, then spoke.
"Ah, well.... Thanks for snapping me back to reality. We haven't been introduced properly yet, have we? I'm Harley, as you might already know." He bashfully looked away with a small grin, and an unsure look on his face. Then he looked back to her again, not expecting an answer, but more of just giving her a look to say hi and I'm sorry for being a freak.

Lance smiled when the Sandshrew said she was ok before walking off and letting out a long sigh. He felt he had tensed up being so close to her, he had always been like this, didn't matter who it was, if it was a girl, he would tense. He looked over his shoulder to them again, wondering if he would fit in. The only other fire type was the Harley, and he seemed to be close with the Sandshrew after she gave him a peck on the cheek.

He started to wonder where he would be if his sister was still with him. Would he have found his trainer? Would he have evolved into a different type then fire? So many questions that would never be answered. Though, for all he knew, he may have become infected if he was still with her. Died trying to protect her. He couldn't even protect her from that prison. She died because he was weak.

Lance figured that he may as well hang with these pokemon, it was better then traveling on his own, though, that was if they would have him. Maybe he should ask. He would, later though.

Sabitsuki frowned slightly. Her query went by quite unnoticed by both the Flareon and the Simisear, the first looking lost in thought, and the latter seemingly too preoccupied by Sister's surprising affection. However, by hearing the Simisear and Sandshrew's conversation, Sabitsuki could pick up that the Simisear's name was Harley. The Weavile was somewhat surprised when she saw the Sandshrew peck a light kiss on Harley's cheek; she rarely ever showed affection to strangers. But then again, Sabitsuki had just met everybody; they could've known each other for a while, now.

Sabitsuki hesitated, wondering if she should just step away and tend to Smile's wounds or not. However, she reasoned that if Smile could beat up a Vaporeon [to which he was at a type disadvantage] and be alright, he could last by himself for a bit longer. Instead, she inched a little closer to the Flareon, tapping him lightly on the shoulder, as to not shock him out of his thoughts.

"Um, excuse me? Hello. My name is Sabitsuki. I was just wondering if you had any injuries or anything. I think there are enough berries in this flower shop to heal anything that's wrong, and even if not, there's food berries in case you're hungry," the dark-and-ice type offered. She looked a little nervous and fidgety; she wasn't very fond of strangers when she was young, and the habit stuck with her even now.