The CANALAVE Team

Hinge could feel Chi's lumbering steps through vibrations in the ground, and he could feel them through the air in his whiskers. Though he used to be wary of the loud noise, which attracted some nasty Infected creatures, after barely two weeks traveling with the giant, the noise was already familiar. The persian loped in the underbrush alongside the torterra, his ears swiveling as he listened to the forest around him.

He eyed the scuffed soil upon her back. In it, he had already buried about eight berries, and, to his delight, the area was showing little green shoots. The moment he realized his smugness was about berries and dirt, he huffed to himself and looked away. Boy, had he lost his standards. He let his paws pad forward by themselves and idly fantasized about hot, fresh meat.

Chi the torterra was feeling very . . . pleasant. The air around her seemed warmer, moister; the sun was warm; the ground was not rocky. She felt content.

She had a traveling companion, too. "The air is very pleasant here," she rumbled. She knew the Persian's sharp ears would hear her. She didn't expect him to reply, he rarely did, but he added a comment from where he walked, concealed in the underrush, to her left.

"Yes. There's open water nearby. . . . and a town." Hinge could taste the bitter concrete scent in the air, tainted with the stink of a large population of infected, as well as very fresh, moist wind. He felt an needling curiosity to see if he could find anything useful in the remains of the town: battle items or herbs or bags of rare berries. . . . Hinge shook himself. He broke cover and sauntered ahead of Chi, steering the great tortoise towards the scent of the town.

Hinge's ears pricked up further at the sound of a howl, in the direction they were moving. Chi's steps lost their rhythm and she slowed, but Hinge flicked his ear impatiently and continued on. It was a town, there were bound to be infected, from the trained pokemon of the area. The forest began to thin, and Hinge paused. Chi settled to the ground; she blended in perfectly with the area. She closed her eyes and appeared to nap. Satisfied that Chi would not get herself into any trouble, Hinge scanned the concrete-covered area in front of him, where the wreckage of buildings and vehicles and bodies littered the streets. Plants already began to grow wild out of lawns and cracked pavement. He could see boats beyond the city and trees beyond that; he knew that that was the body of water he'd been smelling, a river or something.

Hinge paced forward on high alert, swinging his head from left to right. He wandered in the general direction of the unidentified body of water and eyed the run down buildings, wondering what to investigate first.

Chi rested quietly but remained awake. She was pretty sure that she'd hear any large infected that started a ruckus in the city; they had such awful cries, and she was almost in the city, remaining right on the edge of the trees. Though there was the unnerving smell of decay on the wind, gruesome as it seemed it was something she had become used to, and Chi was glad of the time to bask. She enjoyed peaceful moments tremendously.

After a while, she heard a barking voice from the city. "Hey! Pup!" it called.

Chi raised her head. Now who could that be . . . ?

~~~

Hinge's ears flew up and his tail rose straight out behind him, accenting his wary pause. The bark had a sort of gravelly feel to it, a definite sense of age, and Hinge was instinctually confident that the thing talking was indeed living. He directed his senses to the source of the voice. Pup . . . ? Hinge was slightly confused, but it was in an indifferent, nonplussed way. In a typical cat-like manner, he cocked his head archly and regarded the caller, a very large Mightyena, silently.

Hinge unblinkingly watched the mightyena.

The Bote pokemon cleared his throat in an amusing cough-growl (at least, Hinge thought it was funny). "Persian." Its voice was growly, and reminded Hinge of Chi's rumbly voice. But the he seemed quite awkward, unlike Chi's calm and deliberate mannerisms. He wavered uneaily for a moment, then cleared his throat. "Err- Persian... Do you know the area well?"

Hinge considered talking to the old dog. Then again, he didn't know the area well, and he doubted the Mightyena would have anything to do with him after that fact became apparent, and Hinge didn't want to deal with another needy, whiny living; so, with a brief shake of the head, Hinge started walking away.

~~~

The gravelly, canid voice had character; she knew age when she heard it. Its awkwardness was apparent from sound alone, with excess clearing of the throat and 'err's. She knew no reason for any of the canine-looking pokemon to ask directions form a passing persian; the things hated cats. It had to be in considerable trouble . . . or just lonely. Chi heaved her considerable mass to her feet and began tromping towards the river.




[OOC: Ciana, just a little grammar tip in good humor: try to choose a point of view and stick to it. If you're going to write using "I" and "me", make sure to avoid "Bear" and "he". ^^]

From Chi's unseen vantage point in the bushes, she heard the canine growl and bark for a moment. Then he stopped and asked tensely, "Who is there?" He must have heard her footfalls.

"I mean no harm, fierce one," she called to the canid in her deep voice. The bushes and foliage around Chi rustled loudly as she came out of the forest. She trudged across the square, her steps not shaking the ground so much on the concrete, and over to where the canine voice was coming form and where Hinge stared at her, nonplussed. She spotted the speaker after a moment of looking - it was a mightyena, stuck on the other side of the river.

~~~

Hinge paused in his motion and coolly glared at Chi. She was atracting much, much, much too much attention. He nearly curled his lip at her, but refrained. He soothed himself with the fact that she was probably very dumb, and such a large, dumb animal was probably going to do some very stupid things. He sat down and wrapped his tail around his paws.

~~~

"Hello," Chi said, glancing at Hinge and wondering what had taken place. "My name is Chi. What do you call yourself?"

"I am called Bear," said the mightyena. When it spotted her, it was rather tense-looking, but then his hackles went back down and his shoulders relaxed. He grinned at her. "It is good to see another living face around here, Chi. Have you been in the area long?"

"Yes, it is good to see more of the living. Indeed, you're the first pokemon I've talked to since I met Hinge." She tilted her head toward the persian, who appeared completely uninterested and bored. "We have not been here long and do not plan to be, Bear; we are just passing through."

~~~

Hinge watched quietly, his look of distaste dissolving into a completely indifferent and uncaring facial expression. He was interested though, as he had not seen Chi interact with any other living besides him, and he paid close enough attention to Chi's exchange with the mightyena, Bear.

"Yes, it is good to see more of the living. Indeed, you're the first pokemon I've talked to since I met Hinge," Chi said. Hinge noted that her voice was always a bit warm, a bit calm, and a bit deliberate. How she retained that feeling of stability and goodwill in her voice while all the pokemon around them were freaking infected, Hinge didn't understand. He watched patiently, keeping the bored expression fixed to his face.

[OOC: Lol. perhaps you are easily distracted? You did it again ^^ (teasing, no offense meant. Again, in good humor XD). Oh, and Hinge is a guy.]

Hinge enjoyed a moment of delinquent satisfaction as the mightyena birstled just looking at him. The old thing was, by far, too easy to mess with, and Hinge was amused. But, he perked his ears up as the mightyena said, "Well . . . I have been here for well over a week. I have checked all of the buildings on this side of the harbor, but I bet that the Pokemon Center would have some food, at least."

Thank you very much, Hinge thought mockingly as he smoothly got up and began making his way over to the red-roofed building. "But I am afraid that I am..well, a little stuck on this side of the city. I could not be much help from here. . . ." Hinge's whispers twitched in mirth. Idiot.

~~~

Chi frowned as she watched Hinge leave without a word, no doubt in the direction of the PokeCenter. She turned back to Bear. "Stuck?" she said. "If you have only that area to live on, you will starve." Her voice was very sad.

After a heartbeat's deliberation, she picked up her feet and began walking towards the end of the canal, where buildings and several forest trees strayed cose to the water's edge. "Can you not swim?" she asked as she walked.

Chi rumbled with mirth at the old mightyena's antics. His lolling tongue and wagging tail were uncharacteristic, it seemed, but they were quite endearing. "Quite. I've already started moving in that direction. Meanwhile, perhaps you should fetch anything of yours of value from that side of the harbor, so that you can bring it over with you." In the meantime, she looked at the various trees along the harbor's edge, sizing up each to choose the best one.

~~~

Hinge had rounded a corner by the time the idiot mightyena figured out that Chi could make it a bridge, but he could hear the mightyena's joyous barks of realization. The dull lump didn't realize it the moment he saw her? Hinge thought mockingly.

The building to his immediate right was a house; the door was boarded up, for some reason -- maybe people here had some sort of warning? -- and the place actually looked a bit secure. Hinge used the glittering Special projectiles of Power Jem to bust open a window, and then jumped onto the window frame. He opened his mouth and scented the interior, which smelled more like stale air and dust than anything else, then dropped inside.

He sauntered through the house, peeking in the different rooms, trying to quickly spot anything of interest. The only things of interest he found were various incense, which he didn't bother to take, until he got to the kitchen. The fridge was surrounded by a pool of water, and was beginning to smell faintly of spoiled food. He jumped on the countertop and began clawing open cupboards. Some of them had canned human food, others boxes of dry human food or very smelly tea leaves that his trainer used to like. But in one cabinet, Hinge envelopes, the common mail type, that rattled when he batted them with his paw. From their faint, earthy odor, Hinge was almost sure that they were seeds. He also found a tin of poffins and a small bag of dry pokemon food.

One at a time, Hinges fetched each item and brought it to the font of the house, beneath his opened window, before he leapt onto the windowsill to see what had taken place.

Chi hummed an imaginary tune to herself as she walked along. She knew she could go faster, but there was no need to hurry; the mightyena surely would have to retrieve something, and her really moving quickly would create a rumbling noise that could be heard even a third or a half of a mile away from her. So, she walked slowly.

She appraised the trees. Some of the deciduous trees were thicker and sturdier-looking, but the tall conifers had less foliage to dodge around and were longer. Chi decided to knock down a pine. Then, appraising the ones closest to the canal, she looked at the root structure of each. Some were planted in decorative berms and their roots stretched far under the concrete; breaking those roots would be strenuous and tricky. She needed one with loose soil . . . Ah, there! One pine tree that had been fairly near the edge before the wailord's attack was now standing on the precipitous edge of the channel. The soil underneath it was already crumbling away. It was perfect.

Chi approached the tree and used Iron Head, slamming her hardened skull into the base of the tree. She whipped her head back, then forth, dragging the two spikes on the sides of her head through the soil and ripping any roots she could reach. Then she leaned one shoulder against the tree and pressed. The pine giant toppled over. Its roots anchored it well on the near side of the channel and its crown rested securely on the other side of the channel with feet to spare. Excellent.

~~~

From his windowsill, Hinge curiously watched Chi choose a pine and approach it. Slam! She can use Iron Head, Hinge noted. But he suspected that she might be about to attract too much attention. . . . and he was right. rrrRRIP, SNAP! POP! rrRRRIP SNAP! The hair on Hinge's back bristled slightly. Great Arceus, was that loud! Each crack of a snapping root was like a gunshot. He stared dubiuosly as Chi finally dispatched the tree. The wood protested the strain, and finally gave in, falling with a loud rustle of pine needles. GRRRoOOOaaaann c-CRUNCH, shhh!

Hinge quickly shook himself and began to fetch all three of his items outside. He knew that if anything was in the area, it would be coming . . . now.

Hinge snarled around the envelope in his mouth. Something nasty was coming from the other side of the river, hot on the heels of that damned old idiot. Somehow, the mightyena had picked up speed and now hurtled over the ground. Hinge took off towards Chi with the envelope, which he considered the most important of the items. He sprinted all out, his lithe body stretching and flexing with exertion; then he took a flying leap and landed on Chi's back. He ripped up a sheet of moss and stuck the envelope of seeds underneath, then leapt off and to the side, out of the way of Chi's attacks.

~~~

Chi rumbled and stomped in anger as Bear shouted, ""Knock it down! Knock it down into the river!" They were disgusting extinguished fire newts; she could druch them under her feet! She let out a bellow and used Magical Leaf. A cloud of leaves expelled themselves from Chi's tree, glowing and flashing. They hung in the air, then streaked forward, curving around Bear but slicing at the undead after him. Pitiful things, really. Chi used Magical Leaf again, once more cutting the ragged undead and completely missing Bear - the leaves just swerved to avoid him and went straight back on course. At this point, the infected were beginning to lose even more limbs, which slowed them down.

Bear snarled as the undead bastards continued to pursue him. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that even though they were literally in peices and falling apart over themselves... They could still move. The fastest one was miraculously missing all of it's limbs save for one arm, it's entrails dragging behind it and leavig a trail of gore and black ooze. Bear curled his lip as he continued to run. 
And suddenly out of no where, he heard Chi suddely bellow loudly. The Mightyena's bright eyes widened as leaves shot out of her tree, hovering in the air as they slowly turned around midair, and then shey shot towrds him.  The leaves weren't too terribly huge or even that intimidating, but Bear was no fool. He knew that they were much more dangerous than they seemed. As the Razor Leaf attack suddenly shot in his direction, Bear flattened his ears. Would they actually hit him?!

But just as the first few were close enough to slice his nose, they simply shot around him before hitting their targets. The sound of wet slushing and the scent of rotting flesh told him that the unlucky bastards were getting all cut up into peices. But then the scent became stronger.

Bear whipped around to see that one Charmeleon was able to continue dragging itself in his direction even though it was no more than a head and an arm. Curling his lip with discust, Bear opened his maw and released a loud Roar attack, knocking it off to fall into the river.

Bear then ran the rest of the way to the end of the bridge, nodding gratfully at Chi but ignoring the cat. Without hesitation, the Mightyena ahot a powerful Shadow Ball aimed at the tree, right above the roots. The result was the makeshift bridge snapping and splintering, falling down into the sludgey water.

Sploosh! The tree fell into the water, taking whatever undead remaining with it into the dark water. However, it was still propped on the other side of the canal.

Chi made an unintelligible rumbling noise, the foliage on her back waving and shivering violently as she turned around. She was cross, but her reptilian face was never very expressive, and it wasn't overly apparent.

"If you will travel with us, you may put your things on my back," she said to Bear. Her voice was impassive. To Hinge, she said, "Do you have anywhere you still need to go?"

"The PokeCenter," Hinge said. "But not now." Too much movement in the city, he thought grimly. Too close to sunset. They're going to rampage tonight. He remained collected and composed. He fluidly got up and glanced towards the woods, giving Chi a direction, then let Chi walk on ahead. He fell back and flanked her on the left, watching her back like he always did, not giving a damn about what the idiot old bite pokemon would do. As long as he didn't disturb the berries on Chi's back, that is.

The Gallade stud next to the library as he watched the others. These pokemon were interesting, but not interesting enough to make him walk over. He just waited and watched. These new pokemon interested him, but something else catch his attention.

He looked up at the sky and saw a Swanna circling the other living. The Swanna was undead from the looks of it and it was hungry too. He smirked as he used Double Team. He then used his powerful legs to jump to the nearest roof and he looked at the flying type. The Swanna made a load screech as it dived at the Gallade with Brave Bird.

He smirked as he used Night Slash. The bird screeched as the attack sliced it's wings off. The Gallade stared at the bird with a emotionless face. The bird screeched as it tried to attack the Gallade, but it was a failed attempt. The Gallade looked down on the undead as he readied his Leaf Blade. This is for all the living you have killed or have yet to kill. The Gallade said as he sliced the Swanna's head off.

(Hey Guys. It's great to be here. So yeah short post)

Bear watched with satisfaction as the tree slid down, the few undead still hanging on to dear afterlife. Bear watched with a smirk as one managed to reach the end of the tree. It groaned, reaching out to try and climb the wall with it's claws, but it was too high and too steep, even with the tree giving it greater height. The old Mightyena turned away feom the river and the dammed spot that he had been trapped on, a victorious grin upon his face as he dis so. The rock he had saved had helped his paws be swift and Bear was sure that that must have made a difference in the long run. Then Chi turned to him. "If you will travel with us, you may put your things on my back," The Torterra told him in a flat voice. Bear flicked his ears back in supprise. Had he offended her somehow? The old dog gave a grumpy, "Hurrmph." 

Bear turned his head to toss the bag upon her great back as she continued speaking, this time to the cat. "Do you have anywhere you still need to go?" The Persian replied in a smooth voice, showing his authority over her. "The PokeCenter. But not now." Bear irritibly flicked his ears as they began on the direction to exit the dammed city. There was one thing that he did not want to admit, it was that the normal type was right. The sun was quickly fadinging into evening and they really would not be safe outside, not after that display.

Bear waited until the two seemed to be done speaking before clearing his throat. In a voice only meant for Chi's ears, the Mightyena spoke in a gruff but honest voice. "Thank you for helping me out there, Chi. I appreciate it. If there is anything that you ever need, don't hesitate to ask," Bear told her, turning to meet her eye. It was thr truth and he was an honorable, if prideful, pokemon. He would keep his promise.

((Ooc; Good to see you Eve ^^ ))

"Thank you for helping me out there, Chi. I appreciate it. If there is anything that you ever need, don't hesitate to ask." Bear was sincere.

Chi rumbled a little and turned her head to meet the mightyena's eyes with one large eye of her own. "Yes. Thank you." Her voice was warmer; her irritation was already fading, as it always did, sinking back into the calm pool of her consciousness. She kept her eyes alert, thought, watching the area in her field of vision for the undead that would become active with the sinking sun.

A burst of activity overhead caught Chi's attention. An undead swanna, high above, shrieked as it dove towards a white and green pokemon atop a roof. The defender used an attack that sliced the undead's wings clean off, then beheaded the undead worm of a bird that was left. Chi was able to identify the anthropomorth as it moved around by it's peculiar elbow movements: it was definitely a Gallade. Another capable living. Chi wished to speak to it, but she was loathe to spend more time in the open, so she stayed on course towards the forest after Hinge, whose pawsteps stayed steady even as he observed the fight.

~~~

Hinge didn't like the air at all. The scent of damp moldering death, an invisible haze, began to drift into the winds, the portent of the evil waiting for the sunlight to fade. He hated it. At least Chi's rhythmic footsteps were steady behind him; aside from them, he really loathed the sounds of the deepening afternoon: the quiet hisses and clicks and weird gurgles of the unseen infected around them. He didn't much like the dumb old wolf's pawsteps, either.

An undead swanna he had seen earlier roosting motionlessly in a tree was now quite active, circling then taking a loud dive at a pokemon on the roof of a building. Hinge hadn't spotted it before. Hinge kept moving towards the forest, but kept his eyes on the duo, as the gallade used its characteristic slice-and-dice attacks on the bird. Its movements were orderly, efficient, and clean; Hinge liked its attack. He didn't mind capable, strong pokemon who left him well enough alone and even reduced the infected population sometimes; no, he didn't mind them at all. He turned back towards the woods as he began to enter the undergrowth.

Once the undead bird was dead, the Gallade returned his attention to the other living. The Torterra and Persian had acknowledge his presence, but the Mightyena had yet to notice him or just ignored him. He watched the trio with even more intense as the three pokemon entered the forest. Something about these pokemon interested him.

As he watched the living pokemon, he decided it was time he showed himself or at least get a better view. He stud up and used his jumping power to jump from the top of the current building to land gracefully on the ground next to the river. He watched as the Torterra, Persian and Mightyena vanish into the forest, until he went after them. Living were sure to attract undead and if there were undead, the Gallade was sure to follow.

As he followed the other pokemon, he saw many undead hiding and waiting for the right chance to attack the small group of living. His elbows grew into the deadly blades he uses to fight as a undead Gabite jumped out at the Torterra. The Dragon's claws were lit with a Dragon Claw, but it didn't have a chance to attack because the Gallade was right there with his Leaf Blade.

His blade slit right through the Dragon's tough hind. Blood splatted on the Blade Pokemon face, but it remain emotionless as it flung the Dragon off his blade. His voice spoke with nothing but respect for the undead that lay at his feet, That is for all the living you have killed or have yet to kill. He then turned to the other pokemon and spoke with a emotionless face, If you do not know, we are surrounded and I am willing to fight with you if you'll let me.

He said as he looked from the Persian to the Mightyena and back. Also, my name is Apollo. I'm sorry we had to meet like this. As he spoke he bowed to the three living and out of the forest, a undead Luxray lumped out at the one called Apollo, but in a instance, the Luxray hung dead on the Gallade elbow blade. That is for your prey you have taken or have yet to taken.

Fi glided gently through the doors of Canalave Library back out into the streets, her mind filled to the brim with the stories that she'd read. Amazing tales of Legendary Pokemon and brave heroes ... how she wished she could belong to such a world. The world that she lived in now was so dark and dangerous; you were lucky to have a full night of sleep without being attacked. Fi had thought that she disliked the life that she'd had before all this. She knew one thing for certain: she would give anything at all to have it back.

The Gardevoir glanced around nervously, looking for anything potentially dangerous, and detected nothing of the sort. She floated across the bridge towards the Pokemon Centre, stopped and gave a small gasp. Three Pokemon, all living, were disappearing into the undergrowth. Fi's heart fluttered with excitement. For far too long she had been alone in this city, standing at the harbour and waiting for the second ferry to come in, as promised to her. It never did. If only she still knew how to Teleport...

Fi was hesitant to approach the new Pokemon just in case they didn't want her there; she felt that she wouldn't be much help to them. Would they reject her on those grounds? I should at least introduce myself, the Gardevoir thought, twisting her fingers anxiously. Then ... if they don't want me they'll just tell me, I'm sure.

It was decided - Fi drifted over to them slowly and quietly so she didn't startle them. From behind, she managed to identify two of them. One was a Mightyena, whose kind she had seen many times during her brief but wonderful time in Hoenn; and the other was a Torterra, quite a common sight in Trainers of Sinnoh. The other two were thus far unfamiliar, although the tall, strong-looking one immediately attracted her attention. He looked ... similar to her, somehow. Don't be silly, Fi thought, he's a completely different Pokemon!

Still, he was intriguing her, but Fi decided to make her introduction before they mistook her for an enemy and attacked. She quietly cleared her throat once she was within ear reach. "Um ... hello. My name is Fi. Would ... it be all right if I came with you? I've been on my own for so long now ... I mean, I'll try and help you out if I can..."