The METEOR Team

"I just can't find it!" Aristole screamed with rage. Although the Metagross' voice was often emotionless and indifferent, it was evident that now his words were filled to the brim with fury. His cold eyes almost seething with annoyance as the Pokemon Shadow Balled the walls of the cavern, created a large dent. The Agrron beside him flinched as his partner began to Meteor Mash the walls several times, the area rumbling and shaking with every hit. "Aristole, calm down. Getting angry won't solve anything. Actually, I'm pretty sure you consecutively Meteor Mashing the wall will result in a cave-in and Steven's body getting crushed." Sloane murmured, remembering their trainer's corpse near the entrance to the Falls. The two steel-types were both former Pokemon of the retired champion Steven Stone, but now with their master dead everyone in the team had went their separate ways. Aristole and Sloane had decided to continue Steven's goal in finding the Wish Stone, so they could make their deceased trainer happy.

The Iron Leg Pokemon slowly began to stop it's attack, slumping to the ground. "Sloane, what do you suggest we do at the moment? Shall we continue our search or rest for the night?" Back to his usual robotic voice, Aristole turned to the Aggron, who shrugged. "I'd rather rest. Haven't had a meal in weeks and I'm getting too tired lately. We've been staying up for full nights too much." He replied, sitting down and leaning on a rock. Reluctantly, the Metagross did the same.

"I'll take first shift. You rest, I'll wake you later." Aristole muttered, as he watched Sloane fall asleep. The cave was pitch black, nothing could be seen except the outlines of the duo from the shining light the Aggron's collar gave off. The Metagross silently hoped there was no infected, he didn't feel like dealing with them tonight.

The cave was quiet, too quiet. The water from the top of the cave dripped down, being the only noise around. The Altaria had been lost in the cave for a while actually. She had been lost since last week. She wasn't even sure if it's even been a week. Di gave a sigh whatsoever, staring at a nearby dewdrop that just touched the ground. It was sad that she couldn't hear it fall down.
The Shiny Altaria fluffed up her wings, grooming it, despite the fact that she was a fighter and not some pampered up bitch. Diwaili stopped for a bit, a sadness written all over her face. No one was around to tell her that, but she had nothing else to do. She hasn't ran into any undead either. The only voice that could control her, was the on in her mind.

That was when the walls look shaken, Di felt the ground rumble a bit as well, she glanced over at the ground, noticing the pebbles vibrate, it wasn't her imagination. Something was going on. The Altaria stopped what she was doing, walking around looking for a sign of life... That's actually not reeking with death.
The rumbling slowed to a stop, but that didn't stop the Humming Pokemon from looking about for the source.

Despite the cave darkness, Di's eyes had been long adjusted to seeing some details, she didn't have much room to fly in, and she might run into sharp rocks, she had to resort to just using her long neck to look about. "Hello?" She called out, she spotted a couple of figures in the distance, if they responded, she obviously couldn't hear them. "I'm sorry, but I can't really hear you..." She blinked, unless they were undead. The Altaria never noticed, but she was actually behind a boulder, she went in front of it, showing herself to the strangers that seem to be looking for something.

What piqued her interest was the necklae that seemed to glow in the darkness, but nonetheless she gave a smile that she was sure the figures couldn't see.

Spirit shuddered as she walked, buzzing her wings in an attempt to get more blood flowing to them. Meteor Falls was known for being a dragon haven, but it clearly did not account for desert-dwelling species like herself. The damp air, which was particularly potent this late at night, left her feeling a tad chilled.

"It's pretty at least," the flygon crooned as she attempted to force herself into seeing some good in the situation. Besides, she had yet to see any Infected since she slipped into the large cavern.

Though the corpse she had seen as she entered the Falls had been a tad disconcerting. She had calmed down since, but the initial sight had left her extremely upset. Why wouldn't it? After all, the body had been that of a human. Perhaps he had even been a trainer like her own beloved companion.

She hadn't bothered to investigate to see what had ultimately resulted in his demise, but had instead fled deeper into the Falls. At least she had not seen any Infected since she arrived.

She paused abruptly as she felt the ground rumble beneath her feet, a sensation that was accompanied by the sounds of crashing blows impacting something solid. Her curiosity was piqued, and immediately she set off in the direction of the noise. Really, the source could only be one of three things. Either there were other pokemon here, there had been a natural phenomena, or there were Infected.

She hoped dearly it wasn't the last one.

As she drew close enough to the source to make out a faint glow, she crooned softly in excitement as she looked down at her own faintly glowing adornment: the dawn stone that was embedded in her Egyptian-styled collar. Well, at least if these were other pokemon they had something in common.

Choosing to take the high ground as a precaution, Spirit opened her insectoid wings and began to beat them rapidly. She jumped into the air and hovered for a bit before she landed on the boulder that the altaria had just come out from behind. She could identify all of them for the most part, and she was pleased to see they were all of species that were native to her Hoenn homeland.

Now, she could only hope they were friendly.

"Hello. Friend or foe? Friend I hope. I don't really want to fight right now..."

Ashton didn't know how long he had been walking through the caves, completely lost on where he was. He had see so many cave entrances that lead into more cave that he would never be able to find his way back out. It was obvious that Lilith wasn't here.
The Deerling let out a sigh as he continued to walk, his hooves hurting from his lacking taking a brake every now and then when he should, but he just wanted to get out while he still could. The only good thing was he had only run into about three infected his entire time in the cave. Though he didn't take care of them, so he had his chance of running into them again.

Ash almost jumped out of his fur when he heard a loud sound, like something just rammed the side of the wall. "What is Arcius name was that?" He said to himself as the sound diminished and all was silent again. He had heard the saying that curiosity killed the meowth, but he was curious as to what could have made such a load sound.

He was running now, it was hard to just run. He knew he would need to take a brake when this was all over.
He looked up ahead to see what looked like a golden cloud, he didn't even think of it being a possible pokemon and just kept running, expecting to run right through it only, he bounced instead.
When he hit the strange cloud he just bounced back, his eyes wide with confusion at how he just got deflected by a cloud, though when he saw the feet, head, and feathers, he felt kind of dumb for not noticing them before. "Uhh, sorry?" He said as he just sat there, still dazed on what just happened.

Lennie strolled through the caves, eyes closed as he blissfully wandered, humming a song he'd heard once before ((in the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps toniiiiiiiiiight)). He wandered long, blissfully ignorant of where exactly he ended up- lost in the tune in his own head. When he finally opened his eyes.. he wasn't sure what he saw.

He'd ended up in a cave somewhere, but nothing like his home back in the volcano. It was... moony. It was like cheese, but not tasty. Or soft. Cheese was soft.
And melty. This wasn't very melty. It was like cheese but not, like the moon. So it was moony!
Like the moon.

I invented a word. ^^

As he glanced about, he saw.. nothing especially interesting. Except for something very interesting. It was big, and fluffy, and gold, and looked soft. And pettable! And so Lennie wandered over to it, looking at it with the curious eyes of a small child.

Diwali didn't get an answer from the figures that glew from afar, but she did find some unexpected visitors. A Flygon that was oddly colored flew down and landed on the boulder that the Altaria hid behind earlier. She gave a questioning look at the dragon, noticing how it was talking just now. She could make out the dim glow reflecting on her lower jaw as it moved. Though she it wasn't technically that dark, but she could also make out a collar necklace from the Flygon's neck. "I can't hear you," Diwali whispered to the Hoenn native, "But I would like it, if you wouldn't attack please." The shiny Altaria was unsure if she sounded right on grammar, but nonetheless, tried to give a smile, just in case saying that causes unneccessary fighting.

She glanced down on the ground as she felt something bump into her fluff, noticing a Numel and a Deer-like Pokemon that was not of this region, she gave a small smile, "Hello dearies, I mean no harm, for I can't hear anything." Once again, she was hesitant, not knowing what you're saying seemed difficult, "Could anyone make things brighter?" She'd like to see things more clearly, maybe one of them has an idea of how to make the room clear and brighter.

The Altaria ruffled her fluff, she felt somewhat dirty after pressing them against the ground for a while.

Spirit blinked, buzzing her insect-like wings momentarily as she regarded the altaria's remark. "Oh, I wouldn't dream of attacking unless there's reason. I trust you are a friend then? Quite fine with me, there are so few around anymore," she replied with relief evident in her voice.

The flygon smiled as she noted the deer-like pokemon and the numel. They were small, and seemed to pose no real threat. It was all the better seeing the insectoid-dragon had been yearning for company for a while. The fact she had run into several pokemon like herself rather than some of the Infected had been a blessing in disguise.

"Well, if we are all to be friends then, my name is Spirit," she said simply, though she shook her head at the altaria's request for light. Unfortunately, that was one thing she couldn't do save for the dim light the dawn stone in her collar produced.

However, her sharp eyes managed to catch a dim flicker coming from overhead, and she looked upwards in time to see a small, spherical shape illuminated by the electrical light before it faded into darkness again. "I cannot, but maybe they can?" she suggested, pointing towards the ceiling with one of her claws to give the altaria an indication of where she was looking.

"Hello dearies, I mean no harm, for I can't hear anything. Could anyone make things brighter?" The odd coloured Altaria asked the pokemon that where gathered around. The strange coloured Flygon said it couldn't, which was no big surprise seeing as there kind probably couldn't.
"Sorry, but I don't know any moves with light other then my energy ball, and its light is faint, so you wouldn't be able to see much anyway." Ashton said in a smart ass tone, finally recovered from his shock at see two oddly coloured pokemon.
Ash felt a little strange around them all, they where all Hoenn pokemon, and he was a Unova pokemon, he felt like a pear in a bin of apples. He just didn't belong, but he wasn't about to turn tail and run, not when he finally found a group of other living pokemon. "Names Ashton by the way, you guys got a name?" He asked as he looked at each of them, waiting for an answer.

Lennie stared at Diwali's golden fluff in a daze, really not paying attention to anything else. The bird looked like she'd make a good pillow. Fluffy and shiny and soft and fluffy, it was! But not moony. Too soft and fluffy to be moony. But it had the right color! IT was not-moony. But still nice.
Somebody said light, and Lennie looked up, and realized there wasn't any light. And so he decided there needed to be light, and without warning, fired a ball of lava at at the floor next to him, the heat quickly igniting Diwali's wing. Lennie didn't notice, things were lighting up. He could see things!

The shiny Magnemite was enjoying just floatig aimlessly high above the ground. He was so much better than all of those other pokemon. Stupid things trapped by gravity. An unsteady whirrling escaped him, simulating a kind of laughter. His large eye flickered light occasionally, illuminating the darkness. "BZZZT!" He buzzed happily as a Golbat appeared before him. It was not infected and that was the fun part. With a quiet whirrling, Cyanide floated quietly behind it. Suddenly the bat turned around in confusion just to get a blinding light flashed right in it's new eyes. "BZZT! BZZZT!" The Magnemite buzzed happily as the duel type flapped in confusion before flyig away, blind. 

The Magnemite watched with darm amusment as it fled, buzzing with his mehanical laughter. It was nice to be kind. Be on top of things. Yep, and Cyan sure was. But he noticed cusriously that he suddenly heard voices. He turned to regaurd the floor with facination. There were quite a few pokemon down there, most that he recognized, but suddnly one he did not lifted a clawed arm up at him, saying, "I cannot, but maybe they can?"  Cyan blinked his light with annoyance. What did they want him to do, now? Cyanide floated closer to the floor, twirling over head, but turned his one eyed gaze to the blue and white thing. "BZZZT! POINTING IS RUDE, MISSY. BZZT! WHAT DO YOU WANT? BZZT!" He felt the common feeling of irritation for his species- he despized how mechanical and mearly emotionless his voice always was, but what he hated the most were the repetative buzzing noises that he always made. He would atop them in a heart beat if he could.

And then the weirdest damn thing happened. The shiny Magnemite shot back up higher into the air as a nearby Numul suddenly began shooting bright, firey hot lava into the air. "BZZT! WATCH OUT!" he uncharacteristicly called out to the bird beside the duel type, but it was too late. Flames already began to lick at the edge of her beautiful wing.

So many voices. So many new life forms that he could detect... What had attracted all these living here? Was it Sloane's collar that dimly lit the caves? Or maybe was it the ruckus that Aristole himself made just a few moments ago? Whatever the reason, there sure were a hell lot of Pokemon here now. A golden Altaria, a blue and white Flygon, a Deerling, a Numel, and a shiny Magnemite. He nudged Sloane with his arm, causing the Aggron to wake up and look at the living around them. The Numel has just spouted lava, which was creating light yet causing a small commotion.

Sloane had lumbered into a tunnel, which connected to an area behind the other living. He carefully watched them, before sighing, letting them know of his presence. "My name's Sloane. It's very nice to meet you all." he muttered, stomping on the puddle of lava to block the light from it. His foot started to burn, but he tried not to mind it. "I will suggest that you don't try to make the cave too light. The infected are more active in the dark."

Aristole let his partner do all the talking. He was never much of a social Metagross, and he wasn't going to start now.

Diwali frowned, as once again the Flygon had said something the Altaria couldn't catch, though she did catch one word, and that was 'Spirit' perhaps the Pokemon's name, Di couldn't help, but awe in amazement of how wonderful that name is. She would say how it sounds, but how would she know? She's been deaf for a very long time, forgetting the sound of voices and music. The pretty Flygon pointed at something above head, that crackled with yellow electricity, which floated its way immediately over here, crackling it's electricity angrily. Diwali wondered what they're speaking about.

The Deerling said something too, but once again, Diwali was only able to catch the name; Ashton. She liked the name as well, definitely better than her own's. The Numel nearby thankfully responded to Di's response for light, she bowed her head gracefully, not noticing her wing tips were on fire until she felt the heat on her skin. The Altaria jumped, blowing it out, it wasn't that bad, for it only had burnt marks. It was just a small flame, so she didn't mind.

"Sorry little Numel, I should have stepped back when you summoned the flames," She said softly, she already knew she couldn't hear her own voice, thus being quiet makes it seems like she's yelling.
That was when the figures from earlier stomped over to the group; an Aggron and a Metagross, more natives from her region! The Altaria frowned, for the jawline of the Aggron moved, but she couldn't tell what he was saying at all, nonetheless introduced herself in case they did speak of names; "I'm Diwali," she whispered, loud enough to be audible to the group though, "Pleasure to meet you all."

The voice of the magnemite that had floated down closer to the group caught Spirit off guard, and her insectoid wings buzzed rapidly as she fought to keep her balance on the rock. "Oh my! Terribly sorry. I didn't realize it would offend..." she crooned sheepishly. She had not been expecting the mechanical sound of the voice at all, though, considering the creature it had come from, she supposed the tone of the voice would make sense.

As the other pokemon spoke she made mental notes of the ones that offered their names. Ashton seemed like it would be an easy-enough name to remember, though the commotion caused by the numel (and the loud static-sounding warning offered by the magnemite) nearly startled her from her perch again.

She once more settled herself as an aggron and metagross came into view, her attention diverted from the mild commotion now that the altaria had managed to douse the flames on her wing and offered her own name. Diwali. That was a pretty name.

"Oh... but if they are more active in the dark, shouldn't we try to make it light?" The flygon's question was voiced more to herself, though she quickly cast it from her mind as she finally opted to hop down from her perch on the rock . Her gaze flitted down to the lava Sloane had stepped on, and, seeming to see her method as a bit more effective, she beat her wings rapidly enough to kick up a small whirlwind of dust and dirt that flowed along the ground in an attempt to better cool the melted earth. "Maybe that would work better," she crooned.

(Lati tells me I'm still safe to post now. Skip. I can't get into character. ><)

The Altaria introduced itself as Diwali, and Sloane nodded. "A pleasure, Diwali." he mumbled. "And such a light in this cave would only attract the undead, it's better to wait until morning for the natural light to come in." he felt relief on his foot as the beating wings picked up debris and washed over him. The Aggron nodded and gave a quick thanks, removing his foot.

Aristole kept watching, wary of the newcomers. He didn't like others in all honesty, he was an anti-social shut-in after all. However, something seemed... Off about the Altaria. Other than her golden color, her eyes watched the mouth's of others intently... At the beginning she had commented on how she couldn't hear them, although no one had really said anything. The puzzle pieces were fitting together for the Metagross. Was she... Deaf?

The golden bird stopped paying attention to the mouths of others, it was weird how the conversation seemed so... Normal, to be in an apocalypse. Diwali frowned, if this conversation was normal, there was bound to be an enemy lurking about. The Altaria held her guard up, but tried to stay as calm looking as possible to her teammates - well for the moment, she shall consider them so. Because of her hearing loss, the shiny Pokemon simply had her other senses heightened, especially her sense of touch. She felt the ground rumble a bit, but it was something that could easily be mistaken as a spiky pillar from above that gave away.

It was then she narrowed her eyes, "I feel something coming here... I think we should search for a safer spot to speak, don't you think?" She asked steadily to the group, speaking without hearing your voice. Always an awkward sensation for her. She glanced down at the tip of her wing where it was burnt, the smell of fire made her want to gag, she never liked it, but it was just a tiny one. She could tolerate it for the time being of course.

Ashton didn't like being around these other pokemon, but it was better then being alone, His trainer always told him there was safety in numbers, even if those numbers where pokemon he didn't like.
The Numel was one of them, though it was only cause it was a fire type, and he felt like giving it a Double Kick when it started to spout lava.

When the two steel types from the other side showed up, Ash did nothing but role his eyes. He didn't bother saying anything as he listened to them talk. Though he did see the magnamite leave, then the Numel soon after, and it was only a matter of time when the Altaria left as well.
"Its not that bad in here is it?" He said, a frustrated look on his face, wondering if it was him who was making everyone leave, though he highly doubted that.

A pale figure slowly made its way through the glittering caverns that was its new temporary home, mumbling incoherently to itself. It paused when its massive head bumped into a ledge, earning a soft curse from the figure. His magenta eyes glared in opposition to the offending ledge, and his mouth curled into a fierce snarl. Stupid ledge with its stupid... face! With a growl, he extended his arms as he jumped and tried to catch onto the ledge, but with his short stature, he missed and fell back to the ground in a heap.

Face planted firmly in the dirt, his head shot back up, the elgyem's eyes narrowing in the dark. Oh... so this ledge was a challenge, eh? "Rock!" he shouted out, pushing himself off the ground, "I demand that you... not be so tall! Lower yourself so I can pass by!" Nub arms on his waist, he stared up at the looming, silent ledge, waiting for an answer.

This continued a bit, and when the little psychic type had enough, another snarl sounded. "Rock! I demand you obey! OBEY!" He waited again, but still, the ledge refused to acquiesce. "Very well, ROCK," the elgyem spat, "you shall feel the wrath of ZIM!" He clamped his eyes shut as he felt his psychic powers stir within him, welling up like a well of well-water, about to burst. At the last second, his eyes snapped open, and he released his mighty powers, a shimmering beam of purple that went right into the ceiling.

Wait, ceiling?

Zim only had time to blink as the stalactites came crashing down at him, imprisoning him in a rocky... prison. He stared at the interior of his cell before his eye twitched with realization. "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF....!" He kicked the prison, which did nothing, but only fueled Zim's rage further. "You FILTHY rock-thing!" he shouted, not caring -or knowing- of the dangers of being obnoxiously loud. "Imprison ME?! YOU FILTHY... PILE OF... FILTH!" He barraged the rocks with his fists, fighting as hard as his little fists could muster. He would get out, damn it!

Nothing was really happening around the the Hoenn pokemon, that Ashton just felt bored enough to jump into a pit filled with infected pokemon.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to take a look around." He said as he began to head off on his own. He new how to take care of himself, he didn't need others to follow him around, though the sound of things falling and crashing caught the Deerlings attention enough to make him stop and listen.

Ash flicked his ears around, trying to strain himself to hear anything else, but nothing. Whatever had fallen must have just been a natural thing, though he soon thought otherwise when he heard someone... yelling?
"You FILTHY rock-thing! Imprison ME?! YOU FILTHY... PILE OF... FILTH!" Ashton couldn't help but follow the voice to find a fellow Unova pokemon, an Elgyem trapped by fallen stalactites in what appeared to be a natural made cell.
Ash was over looking the Elgyem on a cliff, much to large for the thing to climb up, so it must have gotten angry at it and used an attack that backfired and thus trapped it in its new prison.

The Deerling couldn't help but laugh at the things stupidity. It was yelling at a rock, as if it expected it could hear what he was saying.
Ash fell to the ground in laughter it was so funny. He had never met a more stupid pokemon then this one in his life.

((Sorry for the late post, I didn't relize everyone but Sil was away.))

A voice on the air caused Zim to stop in his brutal attack, his magenta eyes darting through the gaps in his prison to find the owner of the voice. "WHO DARES go there?!" he cried, small, rounded teeth bared in a snarl. "Be wary, traveler," he growled as he thrust his little arm through the gap, "once I free myself of this FILTHY ROCK prison, I will DESTROY YOU! NO ONE LAUGHS AT ZIM AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" He pelted the rocks with his fists once more, determined to break free.

((Short post is short otl))

The silence that ensued ensured Zim that he had been victorious. "SQUEALING FOOL! That's what you get for mocking the incredible specimen that I am. EVEN YOUR VOICE recognizes my superiority!" He cackled, momentarily forgetting that he was stuck in a rocky cage of his own making. With a smug grin firmly plastered on his greenish face. "Now... for you, ROCK." He backed away and blasted the rock with his mind powers again, trying to bend it to his will.

The power intensified, and Zim's body began to glow with the color of his powers, for a moment, he lifted gently off the ground...

...before hurling himself backward through the cage and into the wall behind him.

He slid down, head first onto the craggy ground, eyes wide with blank surprise.

It was a moment for Zim's magnificent brain to comprehend that he was out of his self-made rocky prison. However, when his magenta eyes registered this information, he hopped up onto his little stub legs in triumph. "SUCCESS!" he cried, stub arms in the air. "I am victorious! I am a genuis! I AM ZIM!" He did a small victory dance in front of the defeated rock, flaunting his superior brain-meats. Keh! Even the rockiest of rocks would be no match for the might of Zim.

Now that he was done with the rock, he turned, hands on his little hips, surveying the craggy surroundings. "Now that I have bested my rocky foe... what was I doing again?"

The caves were boring. Boring and dark...and cold...and wet...and anything else the Spoink could think of to describe the awful place she was in. There was nothing to do there, and Dib wasn't around anymore to amuse her as a punching bag. What was she supposed to do with a bunch of rocks? They weren't even food. No food, no games, no Dib, no nothing! What was the point of surviving the virus again?! All it had given her a dead brother and endless boredom.

"SUCCESS! I am victorious! I am a genius! I AM ZIM!" No...it couldn't be...

No.
NO.
NO!

That idiot survived?! HOW?! When she herself had barely been able to make it out of her brother's psychotic rampage? But upon following the sound, her fears where confirmed. Zim the idiotic Elgyem was alive. And somehow, of all the places in the world, she wound up in the same one as him. Again, what was the point of surviving? Maybe she would be lucky and he wouldn't notice her quietly bouncing the other way...

The Pokemon slowly began to leave, not giving much words as they just listlessly... Left. Well at least it's not as crowded in here as it was anymore. Aristole simply couldn't stand mindless chattering, especially when he had an important goal to reach. Before he could turn back to tunnels he heard a voice, yelling and screaming. "once I free myself of this FILTHY ROCK prison, I will DESTROY YOU! NO ONE LAUGHS AT ZIM AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!"

...The fuck?

"SQUEALING FOOL! That's what you get for mocking the incredible specimen that I am. EVEN YOUR VOICE recognizes my superiority!" Even Sloane had seemed to hear it, as the Aggron rose a brow and looked around for the source. There was a distant sound of crumbling rocks. "SUCCESS! I am victorious! I am a genuis! I AM ZIM!" This was almost... Comical. "What in the world...?" Aristole muttered. Sloane shrugged. "I... have no idea."

Carefully the duo began to traverse further into the caverns, curious as to who else might be in the cave [And Aristole wanting to punch the thing for being so loud.], their eyes scanned the dark as they went along- foot steps creating small thuds.