After Halcyon Days (RP)

[SilentMemento]

Austin the Seviper
Trained Faction, Terran Orientation
Near the Mauville Pokémon center
Affected RPers: None

...

Austin was hiding yet again. There were far too many walking carcasses roaming the asphalt roads, far too many for him to fight. And the oddly-colored Seviper happened to be a very big and noticeable target.

This time, it was in a dark alley a little way away from the Pokémon center. He knew that the darkness wasn't perfect camouflage, but for now, it was the best that he could find, and he'd take that over being bloodmeat for the walking carcasses any day.

Austin felt the wounds on his back and sides begin to burn like fire. It took every bit of his self-control not to make a sound. And all the while, stray glass shards from the window he had burst through were digging into his skin. The Seviper realized that if he didn't get help soon, he was going to die, either from blood loss or infection or even a walking carcass that he was too weak to fight.

The snake-like Pokémon breathed through his nostrils and tasted the air with his tongue. The scent of decay, although still there, was fading enough for him to know that the walking carcasses had gone somewhere else for the moment.. It was then that Austin made his decision: he was going to get to the Pokémon center.

After exiting the alley, he cautiously scanned the area around him. His keen eyes spotted the Pokémon center about three streets away from him. Austin slithered toward the safe haven as quickly as he could...but it was then that he began to truly feel the effects of his wounds.

He felt a sense of vertigo begin to flow to his head, turning his world upside-down. His wounds were burning slower and more painfully, and the asphalt rubbed against his belly uncomfortably.

Austin was used to pain...just not this kind. But he was not going to die, not when he was so close to safety. He moved toward the Pokémon center as quickly and quietly as a Seviper could move.

Three streets turned to two. Two turned to one. Austin kept pushing for the Pokémon center, but it was a struggle. His movements grew slower, as if he was wading through thick molasses. His breathing came in harsh, ragged gasps. And to make matters worse, his spine and ribs were starting to become numb. The Seviper began to panic when he felt the numbness; if he couldn't move, he was definitely bloodmeat for the walking carcasses. Then a determined look lit up his shadowy eyes.

"Not yet," Austin murmured to himself, half-slithering-half-crawling to the center. "Not yet. I did not go through everything I've been through to die alone in the middle of a street."

The snake-like Pokémon tasted the air again. The stench of decay was much stronger than before. He fought the instinctual urge to panic and the darkness was tugging at the corners of his eyes. It was only when he squinted that he realized that he was at the center door. It was locked and barred shut. He lifted his tail and knocked on the door twice before everything went black.

 

[Eon Spirit]

Zhia the Zangoose
Wild Faction, Terran Orientation
Mauville Suburbs
Affected RPers: Ki (Nickel Penn)

Zhia had managed to pick up a scent not long after departing the tree, and it followed a path that was occasionally marked by similar claw markings from the tree. Whatever this Pokémon was, it certainly wasn't concerned with being tracked, or perhaps didn't realize that it had a chance of potentially being tracked after the death of the Skarmory. Zhia figured this as poor foresight, especially given the present situation the world was in.

However Zhia noticed her surroundings change. No longer was she in the woods or plains, no, now she was in the human city. Worn buildings lined along grey roads, abandoned vehicles littered the road and several corpses lay strewn. There was little activity in the area, until Zhia heard it. A booming noise almost directly along her path rung out across the area, and Zhia instinctively flattened to the ground, her stubby ears perking up as her eyes shot back and forth, waiting for signs of activity. There was no doubt, the Pokémon she was tracking had made an incredible error, using a loud noise based move (Zhia wasn't certain which one, but it really didn't matter). Amazingly, there was no response in the immediate vicinity, no rotters reacting, just, nothing. Zhia was concerned, but chose to press on, keeping a wary eye out for activity.

A short while later, Zhia arrived at the source of the noise. There had been no signs of rotters, the only human bodies around were already dead or taken care of. However Zhia did notice the little brown body lying at the base of the tree. The being's one ear was certainly weighed down, some sort of metal pierced through it. Zhia scowled slightly, this Pokémon, whatever it was, had made at least two errors in her mind, and now she was seemingly responsible for it's safety. Well, if there were rotters around that certainly would be the case, but at the moment Zhia was the only thing out here that was active. Zhia was slightly confused though, if the Pokémon was trying to get in the building, why wouldn't it enter through the main door? Unless...Zhia moved closer to the building and inhaled deeply.

"Of ****ing course. There's none out here, because they all entered the building. Dumb Pokémon must've left some sort of meat lying around. And now of course it's my responsibility that the little stink doesn't get killed." Zhia thought to herself with a scowl, glancing over at the brown being. With a slight huff, she went back to the Pokémon, and glanced it over, it was knocked out, but not anything too bad. Zhia fished through her pouches, and procured a Cheri berry. She crushed the berry to a pulpy state, and carefully slid it into the Pokémon's mouth.

"Hopefully it is no fan of spice, because the kick from that ought to wake it up. Then it can explain what it is and what it's doing..." Zhia thought as she stood to keep a look out while waiting for the Pokémon to awake.


OOC: (As Zhia is native to Hoenn (and Eevee are not) she has not encountered an Eevee before, and thus does not know what Ki is)

 

[Treeconator11]

Miren the Glaceon
Wild/Urban
Approaching the Mauville Pokemon Center
Affected RPers: Austin the Seviper (Silent Memento)

Miren darted into the alleyway, taking a hiding spot behind a dumpster. She had thought the ones coming up her mountain were bad, but here it was so much worse. Up on the mountain there were less of them, and they stood out more. Down here, they were so tightly packed that it was nearly impossible to go for a block and not see one.

She sighed, and quickly moved towards the end of the alleyway, taking a peek out to scan for anymore of the zombies. Not seeing any, she focused her gaze on the building she was searching for. She had seen it before from her mountain, as the red glow made it easily distinguishable from the other places.

What was it called, the Pokemon Middle? she wondered. Middle, no that not it. Center, center, yeah, that it's it. The Pokemon Center. Immediately after the thought came to her head, she grabbed her head and grimaced, as a memory ran through her mind.

It was of her as an Eevee, sitting next to two others, though their faces were obscured, all three watching an Absol and a Manectric face off. The scene cut to a blast smashing into her leg, and Miren almost screamed from how real the pain felt, before the scene cut to a image of the building in front of her.

She quickly glanced down at her leg, specifically the scar that run down the length of it. Is that, how I got this scar? She pondered. Who were those two sitting next to me?

Shaking her head, she discarded the idea, and checked the way to the building. She tried to enter through the front entrance, but quickly discovered that it was bared.

She felt a rage boiling up inside her. Clearly someone was in there, and they were mocking her. She started to turn around to try kicking the door open, but she saw a strange Pokemon lying on the ground, and quickly turned her attention to it.

It was long, Miren knew that. The jet black scales, mixed with the weird gold color markings across its body, and icy blue markings around its tail, face, and throat. The sharp looking tail and fangs were a deep crimson, like the color of dried blood. She could swear she'd never seen anything quite like it before, but still a name came to her memory.

Si...viper? She wondered, before shaking her head. No, that's not it. Maybe, Sivipir? Let's go with that for now. But the color feels off, why? Only then did she notice the wounds all over his body, and started to worry a little.

"Alright, this weird color probably means this Sivipir must be important." She stated to herself. "I bet this guy knows something about the zombies. He's too big to carry, and I don't have anything to cover his wounds with, other than my bandana, but that's too small to cover all the wounds, and I'm not taking it off anyway. Plus, if I leave him out here, the zombies will find him, and then I have to find someone else. Then there's only one thing I can do. I'll need to find something to cover his wounds."

Her memory flash in mind, she realized there must be something to help heal the snake Pokemon in the Center, and turned to the building. That door is clearly locked, she thought, But there has to be a way in somewhere. With that thought in mind, she began to search the Center for another way in.

 

[chess-z]

Wisp the Vulpix
Trained/Terran
Near the Mauville City Game Corner
Affected RPers: Apchagi (Ginger), Anubis the Lucario and Nina the Kirlia (Andydemon)

As Wisp entered the city he reflected on what it had been. He had only been there once, for a contest, but he remembered it quite well. The streets used to be bustling with activity were now ... crowded with zombies. And pokemon, lots of pokemon. A sawk seemed to be leading the fight with what appeared to be a whole troop of pokemon in the fray.

Well, at least there is a group that has already formed. Wisp thought.

Wisp decided that the best possible course of action was to help. Helping gained trust, and trust was useful and trust produced influence. And influence would help Wisp achieve his goals.

Wisp dived into the fray, screaming zombies wailing around him. Wisp let loose a stream of infernal fire, searing a good deal of the shambling horde around him. The zombies were not deterred from him, seeing the small fox as easy-ish prey. Wisp reminded himself that zombies could not be frighted, and would ignore others of their horde falling or being incinerated.

Wisp changed gears switching to what would be equitable to crowd control tactics. Inferno was hard to use, and inaccurate, so flamethrower would force most of the approaching zombies back. It did, but more zombies took the previous rotters' place.

Wisp thought franticly on how to get out of the quickly worsening situation. Hex, that was it, most of the zombies were already burned from his, or other pokemons' attacks. Hex was a hard move for Wisp to use, and he hadn't perfected control of it, so it was a risk. With a burst of sinister energy, most of the zombies crumpled on to their decaying forms. Wisp broke free of the rotting ranks, to see a barricade with a Lucario and a Kirlia behind. Wisp staggered over to it and collapsed, the strain from using hex was to much on his body.

 

[Eon Spirit]

Charlie the Charmeleon, Rodney the Lairon, & Anthony (Anto & Tony) the Zweilous
Trained/Urban, Trained/Terran, Trained/Urban
Ruins of a Mauville Home
Affected RPer(s): N/A

"Arcues's Ring! Ugh, that stinks!" Charlie exclaimed with an expression of disgust, covering her snout in hopes to prevent herself from smelling it any further. "Anthony, I'm going back upstairs, if you find anything useful, bring it up with you. I want to leave this place as soon as possible." Charlie proceeded up the stairs with a huff, smoke trailing slightly from her mouth as she went.

"Perhaps that wasn't the wisest decision..." Anto commented as he began scouring through the cupboards and boxes.

"Well, it certainly was the best way to prevent these poor souls from causing any havoc post-mortum. I suppose it didn't help that Charlene seems to have such an adversity to the smell, or perhaps its coupled with a revulsion towards death." Tony replied, choosing to take inventory of what the duffel-bag on their back contained. Anto sighed slightly, as he continued to nudge his way through what seemed like an endless amount of sports equipment, brewery supplies, and alcoholic beverages.

"Regardless, we probably shouldn't get her to do anything like that again. These humans seem to have had a fascination with brewing and sports. Nothing here really worth taking..." Anto replied with an expression of disappointment. "I suppose we should head back up, anything worth taking is likely in the kitchen and bathrooms."

"Yeah, kind of unfortunate that the only benefit of coming down here was to prevent these humans from turning." Anthony made his way upstairs to find that Charlie standing on the kitchen counter, ransacking the cupboards.

"There wasn't anything worth taking down there." Tony stated somewhat regretfully.

"Whatever, go check the bathroom, we're almost done here. Everything in the fridge was spoiled, and Rodney already got anything worth taking from the pantry." Charlie replied without sparing a glance. Tony nodded as the twins made their way upstairs.

"Charlie, where're we gonna go next?" Rodney asked in between a mouthful of a frying pan.

"I don't know Rodney, wilderness is seemingly out of the question, the wild Pokémon haven't polite in the city, I can't imagine those outside of the city are going to be even marginally accepting of us. And the city seems to end up being the focal point for those things out there." Charlie sighed in exasperation as she closed the last cupboard. "I'd like to just sit this out and wait for it to blow over, but that seems unlikely, so I guess we'd have to find some sort of group..." Rodney's reply came as a grunt of acknowledgement as he continued to sate his appetite on the pots and pans he found.

Several minutes later Anthony returned to the kitchen, pulling out a few supplies they had found. "We got some Potions, bandages, and some salve that humans apply to their wounds. Luckily those two were trainers of some sort, and had some sort of backup healing supplies. Not much though..." Anto said. "What'd you find?"

"We got some food, mostly non-perishables like crackers, chips, and other dry stuff. I've filled a few of the bottles they had with water from the faucet, luckily that still works, though for how long I don't know..." Charlie replied. "So I suppose we split this as evenly as we can and fill our bags, as well as Rodney's saddles. It'd be good if we could take some metal with us for him, but that's too noisy, so I suppose he'll have to eat whatever we find when we rest." Anthony nodded, and several minutes later the four of them were packed up.

"Now, where to next?" Charlie asked herself as they carefully proceeded out the front door.

 

[Corrosion]

Oro the Metagross, Sender the PorygonZ
Wild/Terran, Wild/Urban
Route 111
RPers Affected: N/A

Oro and Sender were minding their own business, flying over the desert section of Route 111 and trying to travel to Mauville City in order to gain information on just what had happened. It would have been strange had they been minding someone else's business, but as it were, there was no one around to bother.

“Sender, how is your body holding up?” Oro inquired, worried for their partner. As a pure Normal-type, Sender would have more difficulty traversing the desert than the part-Steel Oro.

“It’s unharmed as of now,” the PorygonZ replied, after having their head do a quick 360 to check over their condition. The desert’s sandstorm had yet to intensify, but, they, having Recover did not worry.

As they glided farther and farther away from the caves in which they had made their residence for so long, they began to notice signs of a decayed society. An abandoned ATV was half-buried in a sand dune, but it did not seem as if it had been raided for supplies yet. “Hey, Oro, should I collect what I can from it?” asked Sender. The pair did not need any food or vitamins to survive, but they figured that they could trade what they found for safety or temporary alliance.

“No. Let me. It may be booby-trapped and I have greater defenses than you do.” The Metagross floated forward to place their clawed-hand on the top of the car, and ripped the entire top off. In the middle of flinging the metal sheet off of their claws, a strange hiss emanated from a sand pile inside of the car. “What?”

The zombie erupted from the collection of sand, clawed hands out in front to attack them. Oro had not survived for that long without developing fighting skills, and so they reacted quickly They swung their unburdened arm down to hit its head, expecting it to collapse immediately from the force--it did work, but not to the extent that they had expected that it would. The zombie’s head was caved in, and its body wrecked, but Oro had thought that it would have been entirely reduced to jelly.

“This is...bad,” Oro said, stating the obvious. “The disease, the one that killed off half of us, must have had something to do with it.” They quickly rifled through the rest of the car, and used their psychic powers to place their findings in their satchel.

“We should find others. Safety in numbers.” Sender had always been a social Pokemon, and now that zombies were a reality, they figured that it was time to team up. Unlike most Wild Pokemon, both of the pair knew how to collaborate to some degree of success.

“Yes.” With that, Oro turned toward the direction of Mauville and sped off with Sender trailing just behind.

 

[Agent Tectonic]

Weavus the Linoone
Trained Faction/ Terran Oriented
Route 111, closing in on Mauville
Affected Rpers: Attica the Chesnaught (GingerDixe)

Their journey had been tiring, and the heat was unbearable. He had forgotten how much he hated the desert. The sand had blown dust in his ears, nose, mouth, and he was pretty sure it was permanently dirtying his lustrous coat of fur.

“I think I can muster up a Surf, but with all this heat, it would just evaporate.” He noticed the desert was slowly receding, blooming a second wind within him. “By the looks of it, we should be able to reach Mauville before dinner. I could use a room and nice bath myself...” He smiled as another thought crossed his mind. “Along with a quiet room where it's just you and I~ We should get going though; the next time I see you do look like a dog, I'm gonna hurl. It looks ridiculous, dear~

With that, he led the way, even though his feet ached and mouth parched. Checking back occasionally to make sure Attica hadn't toppled into the infernal sand, they were out of the heat and surrounded by the green prairie just north of Mauville. He saw a small lake in the distance, causing his body to jitter with excitement. “Attica! A lake. I say we just jump right in and have a merry time removing this filth from us! What do you think?

 

[Nickel Penn]

Kist "Ki" the eevee
Wild/Urban
About twenty feet from the Mauville bike shop
Zhia the Zangoose (Eon Spirit)

Kist's head hurt. The back of her head and mouth especially. Her entire body was sore, but her mouth. Her mouth hurt the most. She opened a crusty eye. Everything was out of focus, but she could make out a red and white blob... a zangoose? She tried to get up, but a clawed paw held her down. Yep. Definitely a zangoose. Something was shoved into her mouth. Ki recognized it as an iapapa berry. The sour taste washed out most of the burning and left it with a different, more pleasant kind of fire. The paw lifted off her chest and her head cleared.

"Are you an idiot?" asked the female zangoose sitting in front of her.

"Pardon?"

"Are you an idiot? Very easy question. Answer it."

"Why would I be an idiot?"

"Every rotter in a twenty mile mile radius knows you're here, and, by extension, knows I'm here."

"I didn't ask for you're help."

"You asked to die."

"What's your name?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Well, you obviously thought I was worth saving."

"Well, you thought to close that skarmory's eyes."

"More reason for you to trust me."

"Compassion is near to weakness."

"I'm not weak. That dead skarmory is proof of it."

"You didn't kill that skarmory."

"How are you so sure?"

"You closed its eyes. Don't you go anywhere!" Kist had been trying to edge past the big zangoose, but a clawed paw blocked her path. "I'm not done with you."

"I need to get my egg. It fell." Kist was actually angry at herself for being so confused that she forgot. "I'll get back to you later, just let me go!"

 

[Eon Spirit]

Zhia the Zangoose
Wild/Terran
Mauville Bike Shop Property
"Ki" the Eevee (Nickel Penn)

Zhia cast a look of suspicion upon this Pokémon saying this. If it had an egg, regardless of whether its it's or not, that meant it had risked not only it's own life, but also that of an unborn. Zhia felt much more displeased with this Pokémon than she had had before. With rather minimal effort, Zhia established a grip on the Pokémon's tail.

"No. You're going to answer a few questions first. I'm certain this Egg'll be fine." Zhia stated with a frown. She was really not in the mood for some fool, especially not one who was trying to disregard her.

"Now, what are you, who are you, and how did you come by this Egg?" Zhia asked, maintaining her grip on the Pokémon's tail. "If I find your answers satisfactory, I will let you go. I will remind you that your home is full of those rotters, and I doubt you'll be able to clear them all out."

Zhia could see that the Pokémon was weighing it's options. Certainly not stupid, just a poor decision maker on occasion. It wasn't long until the Pokémon's expression changed to something of resignation, and turned to look Zhia in the eye.

"Fine. As much as I'd like to, there's clearly no sense in trying to fight you. My name is Kist, and I am an Eevee." Kist answered with an expression of impatience. "However I don't think how I came by the Egg is much importance to you. No, it's not my child, but given, I am responsible for it."

Zhia grumbled slightly. She didn't know what an Eevee was, but then again she only asked what the Pokémon was, and a simple species name was better than nothing. With a huff, Zhia released her grip. "Alright, go get your Egg. If you want help clearing the rotters, you'll have to offer something of use to me. And I'd suggest that you don't do anything stupid, you really don't want to make an enemy of me..."

 

[Primal Crusader V]

Valios the Kabutops
Trained Pokemon/Terran Oriented
The Ashy Hills of Route 113 ----> Fallarbor Town
Affected RPers: Eris the Delphox (Meeker)

The ash storms of northern Hoenn were rather hellish, even to begin with. Ever since the outbreak of of some virus, I've noticed that each and every trainer slowly began to turn into cannibalistic monsters whose violence would rival even that of a school of Sharpedo. I've seen them walk and tread these lands restlessly, as if finding some purpose. Unfortunately, the nightmarish reality of it all was that there was no purpose for them. All of the human nurses began tearing at other people's flesh rather than repairing them, elderly folk are now gnawing at other undead children, pokemon all over the region or either scared, hostile, or they've broken down and have found no purpose in common propriety. What about me, you ask?

I'm all of those.

Ever since my trainer, Garen of the Unovan Navy, became one of those...things...well, let's just say that me knowing of my own mental stability means that I'm not too far out of reality.

But the voices inside my head. They have some good ideas.

Great, actually.

---------------------

I walked along the ashen-silver path, waving a scythe in front of me as a gust of soot came toppling down over the grey skies. The temperature had to have been around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and as I neared Fallarbor, I felt it rise to a sweltering heat. Ugh, and the mess of dead humans and pokemon didn't help either. Every now and then, I'd step on some large lump of soot, only to expect the gurgling rise of warm red blood rise up to my knees. It was annoying, really. Stupid, damned humans. They probably did deserve to die for being so weak-willed.

The trek over the hills was rather uneventful. If you'd picture a restless snowstorm on a hot, sunny day, minus the cold, then you've got a good idea. If not, then wake up. Slow-witted stupidity like that is what caused all of these humans to resolve in waste.

Judging by the sun, it was probably hitting the late afternoon as some dusty shacks came into view. The ponds were contaminated with ash and feces, the roads were simply covered in heaps of soot, and Fallarbor...well, just the same old Fallarbor. But there was a lack of humans. Not good. There should be humans. Anywhere, just popping out of a shack just to sink his or her teeth into me. Just somewhere. But...ugh...I need blood. I need to shed some blood.

So I came up to one of the shacks, knocking on the door as the voices in my head began to escelate in some crescendo.

No, I had told them. Not now.

But it was already too late. I had just hoped that whoever was in the shack came by quickly. I just felt something...surround me. But no one was there.