The ECRUTEAK Team (PLOT)

"What, do you think YOU were the leader, asshole?"

Kyoya closed his eyes out of pure frustration, his jaw clamping hard and his mouth turned even more sour. He heard the dragon slither towards him and stop to block his path.
Uuugh. The incompetent shit-slick.....
Kyoya sighed deeply- a long, strained sigh that painted a picture of how tiresome the dragon was even before opening his glazed over eyes. Tilting his head up, his unimpressed gaze moved up and met Antons' furious glare.

"Ty was leading us this entire fucking time, you shit-kicking cock! And if you think you're any better than her, at least she wasn't toting around a rabid fucking carcass with her as her own personal sex doll!" He gestured towards the bloodied Umbreon with a wing. Kyoyas' gaze did not waver however, but instead grew hotter with the mention of the fox.
"That THING is a ticking time bomb, waiting to murder us all in our sleep, and what do you do? You protect it, with your own life, even! It's fucking disgusting-- those things are killing everyone, remember!? So if you're actually going to pretend to start actually being a leader to us, wrench your head out of the rotten ass you've plunged it in and KILL THE THREAT FIRST!"

Kyoyas' fur stood on end and sparked with violent bursts of electricity as he exploded. "YOU FUCKING INCOMPETENT, COWARDLY, POMPOUS IGNORAMUS-!"

"STOP IT!" The human shouted in a teary desperation, the sound coming out hoarse from his raw throat. "BOTH OF YOU. Haven't you all had enough?! The last bitch fest, which was only a few minutes ago, nearly brought a building down on top of us. Another power struggle is just going to make things worse!"
Kyoyas' gaze was fiery as it turned on the human, a stronger burst of crackling energy fired off of his lithe form. The human was playing with real fire- the ram wanted any real excuse to fry anything in his way, but he reluctantly admitted that he had a point. Kyoya fumed, his breath angrily escaping from his lungs and through bared teeth. His gaze cooled as he discharged as much electricity as he could off his sparking pelt, narrowly avoiding the water they had all been standing in. "We just....we just did this. Please just let it go for now. If you want to kill each other later that's fine. But please, can we at least agree to all get somewhere safer first?"

Kyoya loosened his clenched fists, his gaze turning to the moaning pillars above before returning to the contemptible dragon.
"Fine." He spat, turning away angrily and took a few steps out of the building before halting. His thin shoulders and striped ears fell. "...Don't hurt him, he's been through enough..." He pleaded, his voice uncharacteristically soft. "He's alive. He has a heartbeat...and he's no longer infected. He's been cured." Never looking behind him, he tread dejectedly towards the sad, dry meadow ahead.

I hope you know what the hell you're doing...

____________

Plague struggled to keep himself from being tossed forever into a void that he knew he could never come back from. He felt it constantly- he felt his paws walking on the knifes' edge of sanity every day. No matter how far he ran, he could never escape horrors beyond his imagining, scarring his brain until there was nothing left but a lump of scars. His body was rigid as he stared at the empty space where the skinned dog was. His breath quickened and became shallow and fast. The smell of burning flesh was so thick he could taste it. He stood frantically, bile rising into his throat and pouring the scarce contents of his stomach into the dark waters. Blood poured from the bite wound as he choked and gasped. He groaned in pain and horror as he stared at it, the blood from his wounds mingling thickly together.

"... Shizu?"

His gasps suddenly cut off as his heart skipped painfully in his chest. His vision became sharp as he tried to comprehend the haunt. Over and over, that small utterance was repeated in his mind, looping into each other until it was a garble. Flashes of an enormous Jolteon, scarred and savage. A small, gray eevee, carrying the same ruthlessness upon his small maw. Fear. A pale, lavender fox, terrified. And...

"Shizu?..." He whispered, his crimson intense gaze meeting the others' familiar sapphire eyes. The name felt alien on his tongue, but it sent violent shocks through his brain. "No....no no no..." He whimpered, his face fixed in anguish beneath his mask. He stumbled back, falling down with a shallow splash as his legs hit a demolished table. He narrowed his eyes as he stared even harder at the large fox before him, incredulity and horror coloring his gaze.

".......R-Rei..?" He whimpered, the name on his lips intensifying the tremors shaking his front legs. He regarded the fox with new eyes, confused at his unknown form. "Rei?..." He repeated, the truth hitting him in the chest. "How...what..." His mind was reeling as memories long passed flooded his brain. He bared his teeth in pain as he shook his head in protest. "You...you left us..." He said as tears mixed with the rain trickling down his disfigured face.

A wounded Espeon, much larger than him. Thin grass was wet underneath his feet. He looked to his earthen-toned paws and they were red with blood. The soil was soaked and the grass tinted crimson. Tears blurred his vision as he ran towards the retreating figures and stopped. He cried out in a childs' voice in desperation and terror, but they never came back.

"You left mother...!" He cried, stumbling to his feet and shoving past the ethereal fox as he clumsily threw himself away from him. He collided with slabs of broken stone each time his legs gave out from under him, leaving dark smears of crimson raking over the pale rocks.

"Shizu?..."
It seemed like it rung a bell. Then again... maybe he was dumbfounded and confused by the prospect of some stranger saying a random word at him that meant nothing to him. Catalyst could feel his heartbeat in the back of his mouth, along his tongue. The slippery organ just about threatened to come up with dry heaving, the anticipation anchoring his stomach was the only thing that was keeping him well at that moment.
"No....no no no..."
The shadow dog's paws quivered, creating more ripples in the water, some of it bursting up to splash his legs. Was it the building or his own body groaning under it's weight? It has to be him. It has to be... it has to be him--

"R-Rei..?" The strong, rigid dog jolted as if thunder went off right by his ears. Oh Arceus.... Shizu.... It's him. Suddenly, the water in his eyes didn't feel like the rain that drenched them earlier. Tears immediately poured down his face, getting lost in the ghostly roots of his hairs and mixing with the rain on his face. The kind that a heart spills out of and that forms in an instant to fall from the eye.
"Rei?..." It sounded as if he was on his dying breath, the ringed fox appeared to want to hide under the rising water. Catalyst's vision tunneled to focus, his lungs desperate for air as they struggled in vain against his ribs.
"How...what..."
"My God...." the dog's voice cracked under it's own weight, "Shizu.... I thought you were dead...."
"You... you left us...." The ethereal beast couldn't stand after those words. With his body shutting down he's forced to sit, sinking into the water like his own brother was. His brother.
His brother was alive.

"S...Shizu...." his lower jaw was quaking out of control, "No.... No, I didn't mean to, I...." Air wheezed out of his lungs and his brain screamed commands for his body to breathe. They were in vain to the drowning, white pain through-out his body. It was worse than any injury he had ever recieved in his life. The other's face twisted with agony, so much emotion threatening to burst through every hair follicle on him.
"You left mother...!"
Catalyst choked loudly on the icicle shoved through his chest. The gasp was audible enough to be heard through the rain, as rasped as a smoker's cough. Hot tears torrented down the canine's face and into the water with his lids puffy and red. The dog flipped around to see Shizu tripping over himself to run out of the building.
"Shizu!" he screams, the sound a shotgun blast loaded with pain exploded from the depths of his lungs. No, no no, come back! You're going to die out there! "You're not dying on me again!" he runs up to the collapsing animal too sick to walk on his own. With no hesitation, he crawls under his side to lift him up before he falls over. The white noise faded as adrenaline fired through his veins at full force, the conversations of the other's coming to his ears.

"...wrench your head out of the rotten ass you've plunged it in and KILL THE THREAT FIRST!"
"YOU FUCKING INCOMPETENT, COWARDLY, POMPOUS IGNORAMUS-!"

The human cried in protest at their fighting, the two finally settling down to a low boil. But again, the majority did not FUCKING move. Shizu's blood was pouring down onto his shoulders, and Catalyst couldn't help but feel his mind slipping again. He felt lighter than air, and these fucking idiots couldn't stop fighting for one fucking second to realize they were seconds from death. They couldn't tell their asshole from a hole in the fucking ground. The building groaned again, a few snaps of wood could be heard. He had had just about up to here.
"YOU FUCKING IDIOTS," his vocal chords hissed the higher notes, wrenching them enough to break his tone. He shrugged Plague further onto his shoulders, the dog almost on him as he continued bleeding out, "THE BUILDING IS COLLAPSING AND I'M NOT GONNA WAIT A DAMN MINUTE LONGER TO HEAR YOU FIGHT ABOUT IRRELEVANT SHIT!" his voice roared through the building, "GET OUT OR YOU WON'T HAVE A LIFE TO COMPLAIN OVER!" With that, he hauls Shizu onto his back entirely, paws draped over his shoulders. Wood started falling over with sparks, even as the rain extinguished them, more started to grow on the walls as Rain Dance was fading on the inside of the building. As fast as he could manage, he sprints out of the rubble and to the outside.

The light of the fires higher up on the floors that ate away at the building caught reflection on the grass blades, Catalyst only focused on getting away from the site as quick as possible. Even the rain that had poured down not minutes earlier was not strong enough to quell all of the flames that were growing on the building. The ghost dog was void of oxygen, adrenaline was the only fuel he was running on. He had to get away - Shizu was his only priority. If those assholes wanted to die under rubble, hell, it was their own right to. He slows down, the field he had arrived in should be far enough away from the site where the tower will fall. He stops, legs quaking as they lost their energy, and blood runs down them in thick streams. The dog pants in agony, sitting down and letting his brother slide off his back gently and onto the ground. Tears still flowed freshly down his soaked muzzle. It smelled so disgusting... so raw and familiar... his brothers own blood.... He was covered in it.

-----

[OoC: 'Pologies about the sudden outburst, he's going a little bit insane at the moment. lol. Too much sensory overload.]

When Zenyt nodded, Arthur felt a strange sensation in his chest which he could only describe as a mixture of affection and fear. He wanted to help this man, but worried about the possible consequences if he did. A person like this could easily stab him in the back when it was turned. But looking into the human's tears, Arthur tried to convince himself that this would not happen; they were just far too real for any signs of deception.

But things were heating up with the others as they all begin to argue with one another. Arthur didn't need to hear their words; just listening to their scathing tones and loud voices was enough to set his nerves off again. He gnawed at his hand and jumped when Zenyt lost his cool as well, crying at them all to stop and begging that they prioritise finding a safe place to rest. Arthur only nodded in agreement, just hoping that the human's outburst would finally get them all to stop hating each other. He could feel it in sickening waves, clawing at his scales like an invisible shadowbeast.

Thankfully, Kyoya seemed to agree and started to move out. Arthur tentatively followed, pausing to make sure that Zenyt was following. He would miss the coolness of the water around his legs, but not the ceiling about to collapse on them. Hopefully he could compensate himself another way once they were out of this Arceus-forsaken tower.

Anton bared his teeth as Kyoya exploded into a string of insults. "YOU FUCKING INCOMPETENT, COWARDLY, POMPOUS IGNORAMUS-!"

"STOP IT!" the human cried, his voice already hoarse with desperation. Both dragons turned to stare at him a moment, precious seconds ticking away as they waited for him to explain his outburst. "BOTH OF YOU. Haven't you all had enough?! The last bitch fest, which was only a few minutes ago, nearly brought a building down on top of us. Another power struggle is just going to make things worse!" The dumb sheep looked about as angry as Anton felt, his fur sparking with dangerous electricity as they stared the human down. But it seemed that the human's pathetic face quelled his anger, the electricity dissipating into the air around them.

The ghost dog seemed to have something to say as well, carting around the masked Umbreon on his back for... whatever reason. Levi frowned. He was really missing a lot. "YOU FUCKING IDIOTS," he cried, causing Levi to flinch against the noise. No need to yell, the human had already gotten everyone quiet. "THE BUILDING IS COLLAPSING AND I'M NOT GONNA WAIT A DAMN MINUTE LONGER TO HEAR YOU FIGHT ABOUT IRRELEVANT SHIT!" "Pretty sure your outdoor voice isn't helping." "GET OUT OR YOU WON'T HAVE A LIFE TO COMPLAIN OVER!" With that, he ran out of the building, leaving the rest to their own devices. Levi frowned as he watched the empty doorway a moment. Well, that certainly... happened.

"We just....we just did this. Please just let it go for now. If you want to kill each other later that's fine. But please, can we at least agree to all get somewhere safer first?"

Anton watched carefully as Kyoya's clenched fists slackened at the human's words before he turned his gaze upward to the moaning pillars above them and then finally rested on Anton himself. "Fine." The word may have ended the argument, but the tone hardly meant that the true battle was actually over. Anton returned to all fours, his back straining from the odd posture. As they slowly made their way out the building, the Ampharos turned to them, strangely lacking in the fury he'd just had not a moment ago. "...Don't hurt him, he's been through enough..." The gentle tone only caused the two dragons to exchange a glance with each other, the sudden shift of emotion flaring alarms and distrust. "He's alive. He has a heartbeat...and he's no longer infected. He's been cured."

Anton audibly scoffed as he made his way to the door as well, Levi soon close by. "'Cured'? What, is the cure for the infection having half your face gnawed off? Because I'm pretty sure that kills normal people, last I checked," he griped, exiting the building with Levi floating behind him. He didn't seem to care if he was heard or not; this was pure venting. "And he smells like the other Undead do-- or is that just the stink of 'being cured'?" Levi couldn't help but laugh at his fellow dragon's pissiness, which of course suddenly made him a target. "The shit are you laughing at, Chucklefuck? This funny to you?"

"It absolutely is," Levi easily replied, his long tail swirling happily behind him as his entire body danced in the breeze like a ribbon. "You just make everything so entertaining. It's why I love traveling with you."

"Bite me."

"Don't tempt me, baby."

Once they were outside, they could see how badly the flames had climbed, and how much damage they were causing. For a moment, they stared at the hungry conflagration as it devoured the upper floors of the once revered tower. Levi turned to the others, eyeing each in turn. This was a broken, dysfunctional group. They'd already proven that even without Head Bitch's tyranny, they were ready to tear at each other's throats without a second thought, Anton especially included. Still, it'd be the best entertainment and companionship he'd have for a long while yet. How sad is it that I have to cling to these people for that...? he mused to himself. Pretty goddamned sad, that's what.

"So!" he called, clapping his hands together and turning to Kyoya. "What does our exalted leader say we should do? Any Undead and Infected -present company excluded- will be flocking here with that giant beacon going on behind us. I'm sure he has a brilliant plan to lead us out of this little pickle, as he certainly did when the horned Bitch was killing you all." His smile never wavered and he looked to Kyoya expectantly. "So what's it going to be, Leader?"

Zenyt glared at the ghost dog, who basically took exactly what he said and reiterated it, but his expression fell when he realized it was likely to have more impact coming from the ghost than from him. These Pokemon didn't like him even when Tywas on his side, they were going to be much less tolerant now that he was defenseless. His throat began to close as he thought of what fate await him, powerless to stop the sob that broke through as Kyoya finally acquiesced to moving the group somewhere safer. For now, if only for a little while, he should be safe.

Anton and Kyoya, however, were not quite done even though the heated portion of the argument was over. They continued bickering even as they stepped out of the tower and into the warm sun. Though as he looked back at the tower he realized the warmth may have actually been from the flames still crawling their way up the heights of the walls. He looked back at the crumbled, burned out tower on the opposite corner of the city and let out a pitiful sigh. "Looks like now they'll be a matching set," he muttered sadly to himself, wondering if the fall of the tower meant the Legendary Pokemon associated with it would now never return. His sad musings were pulled from him by a loud clap, turning to see Levi hovering not far from him addressing the group.

"What does our exalted leader say we should do? Any Undead and Infected -present company excluded- will be flocking here with that giant beacon going on behind us. I'm sure he has a brilliant plan to lead us out of this little pickle, as he certainly did when the horned Bitch was killing you all." He was trying to start another fight, wasn't he? "So what's it going to be, Leader?" Yep. Definitely trying to start another fight.

"GET OUT OR YOU WON'T HAVE A LIFE TO COMPLAIN OVER!" The ethereal canine yelled at the others behind him, before dashing ahead with the umbreon on his back. A sudden painful shock ran through his body as he saw the dire condition that he was in, and rushed to where the dog had laid him down.

He slid to a stop on the grass next to Plague, eyeing the blood-drenched dog only for a moment before rolling the umbreon over to examine him. His eyes were shut and his maw slightly ajar. Panic seizing him, Kyoya bent over and quickly put an ear to to the black foxes' chest, then to his mouth.
Still breathing!

"So!" the golden dragon said, clapping his hands together chipperly and turning to Kyoya, as if he didn't have the worlds' only hope for a cure to the virus dying right in front of him. "What does our exalted leader say we should do? Any Undead and Infected -present company excluded- will be flocking here with that giant beacon going on behind us. I'm sure he has a brilliant plan to lead us out of this little pickle, as he certainly did when the horned Bitch was killing you all." His smile never wavered and he looked to Kyoya expectantly. "So what's it going to be, Leader?"

Kyoyas' eyes squinted shut as he tried to focus on something other than the aspect of losing Plague.
"DRAGON!" Kyoya snarled, squinting his eyes shut with the overload and grabbing his head.
"Shut!"
"Up!"
The ram snapped, an angry burst of electricity discharging from his body as he glared up at the dragons.
"Don't you understand the magnitude of what the hell is happening?! If Plague dies, the world dies with him! So unless all of you want to die with your bowels outside of your body, start cooperating FOR A SINGLE FUCKING SECOND!" Kyoyas' voice cracked from the heavy strain he had put on it, before he dropped his frayed attention back to the bleeding fox.

With each faint heartbeat, blood pumped out of the gushing wounds on his shoulders. The bite from Tysiphones' powerful jaws left a shredded and ugly mess of torn flesh, and the clean slice from the mirrors' shard had opened up again, along with many varied, minor injuries. Panicked panting grew more apparent from the ram as he frantically looked around the environment and the others for what he needed. He needed willing allies. Quickly, he grabbed the ghost dogs' paw and placed it firmly on the gash. "Push hard on that, don't take your paw off! Human! Here, now! Your hand on the wound, hurry! He'll bleed out if you don't keep that tight!"

Throwing his hand to his head in frazzled confusion, he looked over to the forest, then to the remaining group. "Uh..! Woodruff- Baby's Breath! Little white flowers, in the field! Find some! Also anything with dark blue flowers and red thorns! Roots and all!" He shouted to the others, before scrambling to his hooves. He dashed into the nearby forest, looking frantically through the overgrowth. His mind raced as he waded through his knowledge of all the medicinal herbs that he knew to grow in these parts.
Prunella, Yarrow, Burnet, Casewort....Casewort! Ah! He leaped over a mossy log, where a large cluster of weed-like plants grew, their stems and flowers frail and thin. Hurriedly, he yanked out all that he could find and ran back to the unconscious fox. Dropping to his knees, he took a large mouthful of the weeds and chewed as his slate gaze was intent on the humans' blood-covered hand. The rams' specialized teeth ground the weed into an effective mush as he carefully removed the black bandages running up the umbreons' arms, revealing heavy self-inflicted scarring running from his wrists to his elbows.

Motioning for the human to move over, he spat out the ground leaves into his hand, smeared the contents carefully into the gouges in the flesh, and professionally dressing the wound with the long black cloth. "See those wounds on his arms? I found him when those were fresh, years ago. His rings were purple then too, and I tried to put him out of his misery. But he was coherent, so I didn't kill him. I thought for sure he would get worse and die within a month because of the infection, but he didn't."
Taking a shaky breath, he nodded to himself before repeating the same for the other shoulder. He continued his quickfire story as he tightly wrapped the bandages.

"It roused my suspicions, and I took a sample of his blood to where I had once lived and examined it...There was anomalies in his blood that weren't consistent with the virus. The simplest way to explain it is that the instability of an Eevees' DNA somehow adapted itself to the virus that he contracted before he evolved, and in doing so, facilitated actual antibodies that neutralize the viral strain."

After he secured the last few inches of cloth, his shaking hands withdrew as he fell back and panted as he stared emptily at Plague in silence. His bloody paw went to his head as he ran his fingers through his fur in an effort to slow his speeding pulse, tinting his fur a dark red. He glanced up at the burning tower, then rested his eyes on the Rocket admin.

"Human...where's the closest hideout from here...? " He said, his voice ragged but calmer.
"Something...underground."

The ends of his hackles prickled when Shizu's Ampharos partner scrambled up to inspect him. The moment he was within feet of them, Catalyst's eyes did not leave him. With hawk-eyes, he looked at every moving hair on that ram that touched the Umbreon. A few moments between his staring, he looked to his fainted brother.... The poor thing looked dead, his mouth slightly open. By the flowing of his blood out of his shoulder, his heart was still beating. Kyoya seemed to sense that too, relaxing wordlessly. Catalyst was too deep into his tunneled vision, looking at Shizu's bloodied skull-mask in shock.

"So!"
The dragon walked up to them, apparently choosing life over death. As did the rest of the group. Catalyst's ribcage tremored as a troubled breath tried to come into him - maybe it was from the stench of arrogance that disgusted his lungs. "What does our exalted leader say we should do? Any Undead and Infected -present company excluded- will be flocking here with that giant beacon going on behind us. I'm sure he has a brilliant plan to lead us out of this little pickle, as he certainly did when the horned Bitch was killing you all." Apparently he was still for death. It's a brainless feat of idiocy that he seemed so set on killing and getting killed that he couldn't delay it for one second. "So what's it going to be, Leader?"

"DRAGON!" Kyoya roared right next to his ringing ears, his shout settling under his brain at the root.
"Shut!"
"Up!"
Cat took only a second to look at the sparking Pokemon, his anger almost appreciated by the defensive dog. In that sense, he felt a twinge or respect for this guy, being the only other person to stand up for his... brother.
The idea that Shizu was alive was still raw on several places. After being beaten into submission and threated the same fate from the disobedience of his brother.... He couldn't fight his dad off long enough to get out of his crushing jaws.


"Rei! Rei!!" his brother's panicked, squealing voice sliced into his ears, wanting them to bleed from their ferocity. His burning muscles seized to work from the black guilt flooding his entire body to the tips of his hairs. The spiked, hulking flank of his father slid in front of him a few feet away, enough of a threat to keep him at bay. But the little fox wasn't going to try to escape with his brother right this moment - it'd be too risky. The mangled heap at Shizu's paws didn't stir around in the lake of it's own blood, but crept around his brother like a evil aura around his paws and threatened to suck the innocence right out from them. Rei did not budge -- he could only stare at his mother's corpse behind his Eevee brother.

"You pathetic little welp," his father deep, curving voice set cement around his legs immediately, "For disobeying me, you're lower than your cunt of a mother. You'll no longer exist to me except as an example of what not to be." He hissed, glee dripping from his drooling jowls. He had been waiting to rid himself of him - the runt, the disobedient one, the insignificant little speck he had hardly recognized as offspring. He had no right to claim a crown of such superiority.
"It'll be a pity to miss watching you be eaten alive." With that he flipped around to walk away, pelt raised in electric excitement. Rei, out of most of the pack, was the last to turn, only then threatening to meet Shizu's puffy eyes and face covered in blood. The birds stopped chirping to hear the singular breath that escaped the other's shivering mouth.

I'll be back for you.
I promise, I promise.
I won't leave you here.

The image of Shizu sinking down to the floor with his quivering mouth came back to his mind.

It was futile to think he could have gotten away later, his father was visibly angry at his consideration to help his brother and mother. Rei was exempt from death, being the only capable one to take on the pack in his father's eyes. He didn't regret trying to run back even as his father's teeth dug into his hindquarter to rip him back, or even as he felt the other batter him brutally with his paws as he kept him inches from death. He was told later that he had been unconscious for days, and clearly too far to consider going back.

I let you down.
I can never apologize enough.
You have a right to hate me.


He tuned back into reality with heat pouring down in tracks along his face, catching the beginning of Kyoya's rant.
"Don't you understand the magnitude of what the hell is happening?! If Plague dies, the world dies with him! So unless all of you want to die with your bowels outside of your body, start cooperating FOR A SINGLE FUCKING SECOND!"
The world....
At the moment, he couldn't comprehend what Kyoya was saying. Then again, most anyone couldn't. What was he even implying? Was there some special cure to this madness that was held inside of Shizu? Was he the cause?
Shizu's smell and the scent of his blood couldn't reach him at the moment, leaving him numb to remember his mother's blood spilled on him. After they held him down and threw her corpse over him and to laugh at his traumatizing screaming as he thrashed to get her off of him. As the Ampharos undid his bindings around his arms, Catalyst couldn't picture anything else but the light pink paws of his Espeon mother, with their old scars and fresh blood, trying to desperately keep him from bleeding out. Like she used to after his extensive beatings.
Vigorously, she reached out and grabbed his paw. It squelched as it met Plague's shoulder, blood smearing onto him. His body went ice cold from the haunting touch. Kyoya's voice rang through his head, ripping him back to reality.
"Push hard on that, don't take your paw off! Human! Here, now! Your hand on the wound, hurry! He'll bleed out if you don't keep that tight!"
Catalyst decided leaning half of his dead-weight on it was enough to keep pressure. His paws were trembling, but his pads solidly pressed into the ripped flesh and closed the bloodvessels shut. Otherwise, he couldn't do much more than that.

The yellow blur got up, yelling unintelligibly through the white-noise overtaking him. He couldn't remember much between that and when it stopped as Kyoya took Catalyst's weight off of Shizu. He spit a green mixture into his fins and rubbed them into the wounds on the Umbreon's ripped up legs.
"See those wounds on his arms? I found him when those were fresh, years ago. His rings were purple then too, and I tried to put him out of his misery. But he was coherent, so I didn't kill him. I thought for sure he would get worse and die within a month because of the infection, but he didn't."
Even after being abandoned, his poor brother got nothing but the short end of the stick. Unconscious tears pooled to his eyes again... or has he been crying the entire time? He couldn't recall.
"It roused my suspicions, and I took a sample of his blood to where I had once lived and examined it...There was anomalies in his blood that weren't consistent with the virus. The simplest way to explain it is that the instability of an Eevees' DNA somehow adapted itself to the virus that he contracted before he evolved, and in doing so, facilitated actual antibodies that neutralize the viral strain."
Evolution saved him. Apparently, the virus somehow couldn't survive his body mutating. Considering, his mother had always mentioned how Eevee's genes were so vastly special because their line could evolve into so many different forms.... She always said that it was Mew that bestowed such a gift on them, being the mother of all Pokemon. So... he was infected, but he was cured. Catalyst didn't know much about genetics, but he felt at least a little bit trusting of Kyoya considering the circumstance. Kyoya finished bandaging him and ran his fin over his head, unintentionally applying bloody warpaint to his forehead. The three of them sat in a mututal quiet, looking over the purple-ringed fox as if to offer him a moment of needed silence.

"Human...where's the closest hideout from here...? Something...underground."
Catalyst supposed it would be best to move on, as dangerous as it was. Levi held some truth to his statement, undead would surely be attracted to this burning hell-pyre and seek them out. Catalyst remained frozen, the decision not ultimately up to him nor would he probably have a say in what these lunatics wanted. The only reason he couldn't run away now was because of the re-found, undying loyalty to protect his sibling - might as well come along for the deadly ride because even with a chance, this life was still a shot in hell to survive. And he, quite begrudgingly, couldn't do it alone.

-----

"DRAGON!" the sheep snapped, earning an amused raise of Levi's eyebrows. Oh, dear. Had he said something wrong?

"Shut!"
"Up!"

He flared his electrical power, a show of intimidation, Levi could only guess, at himself and Anton. It did little in the way of its purpose, however, and only succeeded in causing Levi's grin to widen and Anton to be further pissed off. Granted, those weren't hard reactions to achieve.

"Don't you understand the magnitude of what the hell is happening?! If Plague dies, the world dies with him! So unless all of you want to die with your bowels outside of your body, start cooperating FOR A SINGLE FUCKING SECOND!" Wait, what? The hell did that even mean, "the world"? The two dragons exchanged a sidelong glance at each other in the silence that followed, each spotting that their confusion was mutual.

Levi floated a little closer to Anton. his long, lithe body almost wrapping around his broody dragon cousin like a delicate golden ribbon. "Isn't the world already dead?" he asked in a low voice, his words meant only for Anton.

For once, it seemed that Anton was in actual agreement. "Last I checked, it was. With human civilization destroyed and hundreds of thousands of dead, I'd say it's fairly gone."

"And even if it wasn't why would this guy's death doom it?"

Anton let out a disgusted scoff, his eyes not leaving the scene playing out before them. "Some people are desperate enough to say anything, Levi." He shrugged. "Maybe he just really wants to save his gross, faceless fuck buddy."

Levi gave the sentiment a thoughtful nod; he hadn't considered that, actually. "Wouldn't know; never been desperate enough to make a lie that grand. Or that desperate for a lay."

"Push hard on that, don't take your paw off! Human! Here, now! Your hand on the wound, hurry! He'll bleed out if you don't keep that tight!" The sheep ordered the others around, frantic to keep the blood loss at a minimum. Both the dragons found it a moot point; the guy was already dead. Right? He was missing half his face and smelled like bloated carcass. So as the others tried their hardest to aid the downed fox, Levi and Anton stayed their distance. However, it was soon enough that the sheep turned to them, still obviously panicked. "Uh..! Woodruff- Baby's Breath! Little white flowers, in the field! Find some! Also anything with dark blue flowers and red thorns! Roots and all!" He dashed off, leaving the others to his orders.

Levi blinked. "Was that... directed at us, do you think?"

Anton's scowl deepened. "Yeah, I think it was."

The golden dragon turned to face his emo companion, mock confusion dripping from his words. "Well, aren't you going to help that poor already dead creature? He might die, Anton. Again.."

Anton's vexed gaze reached his fellow dragon without any movement from his neck, his head still poised at the scene. "Of course I'm not. He's an abomination. Besides, I've already forgotten what that sheep shouted at us in the first place." He finally turned his head more toward Levi. "Aren't you?"

Levi clicked his tongue and flipped his wrist casually, waving away Anton's question. "Oh heavens, no, not me. I'm the rude bastard that stole his kill, remember? If I save that cadaver over there, then he might yell at me for stealing his kill again! So, I think it's best to just sit this one out and let our flawless, esteemed leader handle the situation, as I'm sure I would only bungle it up."

Kyoya was soon back, shoving plants in his mouth to chew into cud and spat them back out into his hands. He applied the paste to the wounds and continued his doctoring while Levi leaned in closer to Anton and whispered, "See? He has it."

"See those wounds on his arms? I found him when those were fresh, years ago. His rings were purple then too, and I tried to put him out of his misery. But he was coherent, so I didn't kill him. I thought for sure he would get worse and die within a month because of the infection, but he didn't." The dragons listened, but each took the story with a grain of salt. His face was gone. Just how bad did he need to get?

"It roused my suspicions, and I took a sample of his blood to where I had once lived and examined it...There was anomalies in his blood that weren't consistent with the virus. The simplest way to explain it is that the instability of an Eevees' DNA somehow adapted itself to the virus that he contracted before he evolved, and in doing so, facilitated actual antibodies that neutralize the viral strain."

The strange words he was using made little sense to the dragons, as they'd only heard the terms in passing. What did that all even mean? That, what, this guy was immune? But he reeked of death, even more so than normal pokemon did when wallowing in a world saturated with it. The dragons exchanged another doubtful look, each silently agreeing that this guy's story was fucking bullshit. There weren't any immune pokemon, except for pure poison types. That much Levi knew. Or was there some truth in the sheep's tale, and was this unconscious Umbreon struggling for breath caught in a limbo of life and death because he evolved at the right time?

His eyes narrowed. He didn't like being so unsure.

"Human...where's the closest hideout from here...? " Kyoya finally spoke, breaking the silence. "Something...underground."

"DRAGON!"
"Shut!"
"Up!"

Zenyt flinched at the rage in Kyoya's voice, much more nervous about a fight breaking out since they were exposed outside for the world to see. "Don't you understand the magnitude of what the hell is happening?! If Plague dies, the world dies with him! So unless all of you want to die with your bowels outside of your body, start cooperating FOR A SINGLE FUCKING SECOND!" What? What could the Umbreon possibly have to do with anything? The Ampharos was losing his mind if he thought an infected Eeveelution was the answer to the world's problems. But he wasn't exactly in a position to argue anymore.

However the situation suddenly went from tense to panicked as Kyoya start flailing about Plague like a coke addict. He was screaming to the spectral hound before suddenly snapping at him too, likely because he was handily nearby. "Push hard on that, don't take your paw off! Human! Here, now! Your hand on the wound, hurry! He'll bleed out if you don't keep that tight!" Without being given any choice Zenyt was forced to press his hands against the gaping wound in Plague's shoulder, telltale marks where Tisiphone had dug her fangs in deep. As blood seeped out around and between his fingers the blue haired Admin began to panic himself, but not for Plague's sake, for his own. He was fist deep in the blood of an infected, and there was a bite wound from his former Pokemon still gaping on one hand. Dear God, was this how he was going to die?

He couldn't even hear Kyoya's ramblings, even when the ovine pushed him aside and began to work on Plague himself. Zenyt just sat there in horror, arms resting on his bent knees as he stared in wide-eyed terror at his own hands. His own bite wound throbbed painfully and began to seep, the thick, coagulated blood coating his hands from Plague a stark contrast from the ruby red rivers trying to run through it. This was it. One stupid moment and now he was infected after years of careful attention to detail. How long with these Pokemon put up with him before he started to show signs? Minutes was the likely guess, none of them liked him anyhow. he was going to die-

"Human...where's the closest hideout from here...?" His words barely broke through the haze of Zenyt's mind, but eventually they registered and he blinked towards the Ampharos. "Something...underground." Underground? Nearly all of the hideouts were underground. It made placing a front so much easier when you could hide the true size of the facility below the earth. "Violet...there's one... It's beneath the pond."

(I don't feel well enough to write, so I'll just summarize. Plagues' still unconscious, and Kyoya noticed Zen staring at his hand. He took note of it before just asking if he would lead the way. We should hit a stream or something before next round, I think. Kyo goes to pick Plague up, but can concede to Cat taking him instead.)

His paws clawed at the soil under them rythmically, the motions flushing the fatigue out of his legs. It was time to move, the others were right; staying here would result in an ambush. The burning tower was practically a beacon. Catalyst watched Zenyt stare blankly into the blood coating his hand, his fear was almost pungent on the air. The prospect probably would be pretty terrifying to a human - not having barely any life to live before falling ill to the virus and then slowly dying. Though it sure beat the hell at of coming back, lusting for blood and the flesh of your friends. The ghost dog could only wish to die peacefully in this world without repercussion.
"Violet...there's one... It's beneath the pond."

At the mentioning of a water body, the stickiness of the black, congealed blood all over his shoulders suddenly became more apparent. It was only logical to assume he looked like a swamp monster covered in all this grime. Not to mention... it was blood... from Shizu. There was no way he was going to wear the life essence of his brother on him.... Not like Alpha did with mom.
That bastard wore Aya's blood on him for a few weeks, relishing in the smell of his deceased mate on his fur. Catalyst knew it reminded him of the kill, it was one of the more exhilarating murders he had committed in a while. Aya had been nothing more than a thorn in his side and a trophy, getting rid of her must have felt amazing to him.
Personally, it made Catalyst sick.
The idea of having Shizu's blood on him felt no less disgusting.
He stood up, shaking whatever residual mess was on him that didn't have to be washed out. He stayed very close to the unconscious Umbreon, eyeing anyone who seemed to approach. Luckily, no one seemed to be interested; Catalyst stood over the other's head just in case. Kyoya quickly mentioned something about Zenyt leading the way and made his way towards Shizu - probably about to pick him up. Catalyst immediately lowered, pupils doubling in size.

"No." the dog growled out at an audible level, staring the ram directly in the eyes. The other seemed to back off, almost stunned by the sudden display of protection over his companion. A twinge of guilt touched his ghostly heart from the look. This guy had known Shizu for probably a while, considering... he found him at a time when he was dying. Who knew when that was? Months? Pre-infection? With Aya?.... The guy defended Shizu viciously like he was family to him.... It was best not to make an enemy of this guy, at least for his brother's sake. This is Shizu's friend.

"No... it's ok," he wiped his snarling expression off his face, trying to unfurrow his eyebrows to some degree. His voice got progressively softer, almost to the point of murmuring, "I can carry him." He mostly stood back up into a relaxed position, waiting for the reaction of the others to Kyoya's prospect of leaving. Knowing the two dragons, they were going to be assholes about every tiny little thing. Hopefully they'd stay - they'd be a good distraction for the undead.

-----

((Skip. Arthur honestly isn't doing much other than awkwardly following along.)))

[[As much as I hate to do it, I'll have to skip. I really can't think of anything.]]

Zenyt's hands were shaking, his stomach turning violently even as he moved to stand at the Ampharos's orders. For a moment he just stood there, eyes staring blankly ahead as he struggled to put together even one coherent thought for his body to obey, when finally his feet began to move. It was a slow shuffle at first, as though his whole body were made of lead, but eventually he settled into a somewhat normal pace as he began to walk towards the south end of town. Luckily Violet was just a very short path away and with the power of this group it would be an easy trip. It was the problem of getting to the city center once there that was the problem.

By no means was Violet a large city, but it was a well situated one. Right in the heart of the region and with a religious sect drawing pilgrims from miles around Violet was not going to be an easy destination. Anything that tried to move to the other side of the region, if they didn't know how to fly or swim, had to go through this city to reach the southeast. Even if someone could manage to clear the whole space it was just going to be overrun again in a matter of days or weeks. It was a gateway city, and gateway cities were never safe.

They made it to the edge of town without any issues but Zenyt paused at the archway that led to Route 37, resting his palm against a pillar because he was too nervous to step beyond its borders. He had traveled across Johto to find Tisiphone on his own, with no pokemon nor fear, yet now couldn't fathom the idea of stepping outside into the open. He was scared. The emotion was very new to the Rocket Admin and he felt his own disgust at the very idea, but he couldn't shake the sensation of impending doom keeping him rooted to the spot. Tisiphone's betrayal and subsequent assault on him had left him feeling more vulnerable than he had since childhood and it awakened a primal fear in him, that he was not the master over beast he had assumed himself to be. No man was. This was their world now and he had to learn how to survive in it.

"Violet...there's one... It's beneath the pond."

The ram shakily nodded, getting onto one knee and reached for the unconscious fox. The spectral hound that had been guarding Plague suddenly snapped at him, his eyes going almost black as his pupils widened. "No." His display of aggression startled Kyoya, the ridges and creases in the canines' face a clear sign that he would be willing to tear his throat out before letting him close. Usually such a spectacle of aggression wouldn't phase him, but his frayed nerves and mind were breaking down his often cool demeanor and defenses. He needed sleep. He needed safety. He needed to keep Plague alive. The ampharos stepped back, his paws up to show he meant no harm. "I need to pick him up so we can move away from this area." He didn't know why this hound was so possessive and protective of Plague, but it worried him. Would he have to fight with this guy? Was he trying to steal him away?
"We need to go, and I'm not leaving without him." He said quietly, but with a firmness in his tone. If he had to, he would fight.

"No... it's ok," he swiped his snarling expression off his face, trying to unfurrow his eyebrows to some degree. His voice got progressively softer, almost to the point of murmuring, "I can carry him." Kyoyas' hackles relaxed as he studied the canid, his posture adjusting once the tension was gone between them. He nodded at the other as he watched him carefully nudge under the nocturnal fox to get him onto his back. This one was certainly a beacon of interest. Kyoyas' eyes moved over his gaseous form multiple times as he studied him with narrowed, prying eyes. Phanteon, without a doubt. He hadn't seen many, but this one took on more qualities of a wild dog than that of a vulpine. Perhaps a mutation- not something that surprised the ram anymore, especially with the Eevee line. If there was any species out there that could thrive in unstable environments and harsh conditions, it was the cunning fox. Everything about them was made to be the most adaptable creature on earth. They were found in dense rainforests, arid deserts, and the cold arctic wastes. They even evolved to make water masses their home. And the recent discovery of a ghost type eeveelution has proven that they can vanquish death.

And it was this incredible adaptability that has possibly saved the earth from complete extinction. All he needed was a specialist to synthesize a cure for not only himself, but for the rest of the planet. As far as he knew, the virus was contained within the perimeters of the regions surrounding Johto, but there was no way to know for sure if this strain was able to travel past the quarantine. He couldn't perform the tests needed to determine whether the virus was bloodborne, waterborne or airborne. Too much of the equipment needed was broken or missing. But Kyoyas' guess was that it became airborne, with how rapidly it spread. Either way, a vaccine was necessary. Kyoya stood, his gaze turning to the human as he began to walk. His brow furrowed as he recalled the horror on the hominids face as he gazed at his bloodied hand.

So his knowledge of the virus is limited...Kyoya frowned as he trod next to the human. "I'm...afraid I don't know your name," He said with a genuine but somewhat detached etiquette. The ram held out his paw in a gesture to shake the humans' hand. The Rocket paused, looking dazed. "Zenyt," He replied, hollowly returning the gesture. Kyoya looked to the humans' bloodied and wounded hand, dark from the coagulated blood of the fox. The ram drew closer and lowered his voice to almost a whisper. "You'll be okay Zenyt, don't worry." He mumbled, looking ahead as they trod through the woods. "Keep your head, friend." He glanced behind him, taking note of the state of Plague and the others. Everyone looked sullen, pissed and exhausted. "Things may have gotten out of hand at the tower, but you've proven to be a suitable ally....despite your hand in the viral distribution." Kyoyas' face grew dark with the mention of the Rockets outwitting him and escaping his guardianship of the region. "...However, you will decide on whether you can be considered trustworthy. The two dragons may not be so willing to let you prove that, but I am." The rams' mind swept back to the hellbitch and Zenyts' compassion for her, despite her betrayal. Just the existence of affection and empathy for another (especially the ball of psychotic that was Ty) suggested that he was not totally lost.

Besides, Kyoya longed for a human mind to keep him company. He adored humans and their incredible intellect, and delved into every aspect of their advancements and culture as he could. His thoughts returned to the scene earlier. His ears fell as he recalled the flashes of confusion on all of the pokemons' faces. They probably didn't even understand what he was saying. Might as well have been speaking in tongues. He understood why people didn't take a liking to him. His brain wove intricate webs around facts and evidence that he felt were crucial to understanding the subject, but to everyone else, it was a train wreck- a cold, asshole of a train wreck that could never be salvaged. And he couldn't tell anymore if everyone else was damaged, or himself. An overwhelming sadness took over his heart as they walked. For all of his studies in behavior and psychology and societal norms, he would never be understood and accepted. Overused logic with a broken brain and his own stunted social interactions made him ever the snide outsider, looking into the window of an unattainable warmth that he's craved all his life.

His slate gaze softened as he gazed at the human by his side. He may be a degenerate because of his involvement with the Rockets, but he may have not known the scope of what he had done until it was too late. If the sheep knew anything, the syndicates' bosses were notorious for keeping the depth of their nefarious plans close to the chest. At least, he hoped this was the case- but he put a pin on his shred of optimism. The fate of the human was not in his hands.
"You helped us, so I would like to help you."

__________________


As they reached the end of the route that connects Ecruteak to the other two cities, Zenyt froze at the man-made roofed marker. The group halted, Kyoya stepping from the ghost hounds' side and flashed from the nearby town to the human. He seemed rooted to the spot by fear. His gaze turned back to the upcoming town, taking a deep, shaky breath. Every time they were in a city, someone always got seriously injured in some shape or form. The old bandage across his calf was dark and soaked with his blood as the large gash across it began to sting. He could still feel that sandslashes' talons slice him open, barely escaping Goldenrod with his life. "We should hug the outskirts for as long as we can until we can find the safest route there," He said in a hushed tone, warily scanning their surroundings. "Everyone, stay close and watch each others' backs. Protect Zenyt and...your name?" He pointed at the phanteon before he continued. "Yes, him. We all know how cities are, so don't stray. We need to get in and barricade as fast as we can."

(Got permission from Phoe to add Zenyts' actions in. After the line break, Kyoya began picking random herbs as they went through the forest. A certain pair of dragons didn't feel like doing anything before so)

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"I need to pick him up so we can move away from this area. We need to go, and I'm not leaving without him."
His words sunk into his tenderized brain, making some impact. The dog sullenly and slowly nodded, eyes never losing connection with Kyoya's. He was capable of carrying Shizu - hell... it was the least he could do. Catalyst desired nothing more than to protect him from anything that even tried to approach him. The battle injuries his father inflicted that day stung on his legs and sent knives through the intricacies of his brain. The more it lit up with pain, the larger the fire of passion burned through his heart and blood. He leaned down enough to where his shoulder met the spongy grass. It nudged underneath the other's arm, lifting the limp limb up towards his other shoulder. Gingerly, his teeth hold the hovering paw in place and pulls it further on as he heaves him up onto his back. Eventually, Shizu's chest was resting between his shoulder blades and their torso's were parallel. Kyoya, by this point, accepted that Catalyst was an eligible canidate to transport the Umbreon - whether he was comfortable with it or not. He didn't care much about the ovine's visual prying of his features, only simply blinking at him and beginning to walk away, towards Zenyt. The other independently did his thing, Catalyst coming to a stand a very short distance away. All he was waiting for was audible approval to get a move-on. Ok, maybe physical - they proceeded to head off. Catalyst was more than ready to oblige, with Shizu leaning and tottering his dead-weight on his back with the other's swishing. Again, after only a few moments of silence there was more conversation struck up as they headed toward the south of town.

"I'm...afraid I don't know your name."
"Zenyt."
Kyoya, in a somewhat strange manner of tenderness to his tone, gets closer and whispers to the human as they continue their trek. Catalyst couldn't help but keep a hawk-eye focus on every tiny moving blade of grass around the traveling caravan of misfit weirdos with varying spice levels of assholishness. So far, nothing was stirring. Whatever was here before certainly took care of whatever would have been lurking around; there was blood splattered on almost every square inch of ground. Catalyst felt his conscious leave his body, drifting about his head, as his mind tried to defend itself and escape from the incredibly overpowering smell of death and blood. The scent permeated every single sustaining breath, and he was drowning. He could only imagine what the birds-eye view of this place looked like. Probably a red smear. They continued, Catalyst narrowly avoiding stepping on a orange lump drapped in a dark blue cloth overed in black, coagulated blood. His nose wrinkles as he walks past, avoiding the vast pile of bodies right by it.

"You'll be okay Zenyt, don't worry. Keep your head, friend. Things may have gotten out of hand at the tower, but you've proven to be a suitable ally....despite your hand in the viral distribution. ...However, you will decide on whether you can be considered trustworthy. The two dragons may not be so willing to let you prove that, but I am."
Somehow, even if the words he meant for Zenyt weren't for him at all, Catalyst felt a small, ever so slightly miniscule chip of cinderblock fall down next to 50 foot tall solid nerve-wall in his mind. The Ampharos was surprisingly forgiving, and in a disgusting lack of a better term: saintly. Even though this guy was part of the downfall of the world, the yellow ass either foolishly, or too kindly, forgave him. Personally, to Catalyst, it wouldn't come so easily no matter the intentions this guy had now. The ability to open up and trust... especially in a world like this. No wonder Shizu confided trust in him; he was genuine and caring. Definitely... he had a true leader mentality. Another notch in the respect-o-meter for Kyoya went up.

"You helped us, so I would like to help you."
In his own lack of embodiment, Catalyst felt no urge to wag his tongue in conversation as they walked - he could barely maintain his mind while it was away, there was no way he could manage discussion.  The only part of him still remaining away from a barred, clothed cage was his ability to move and avoid. Beyond that, he was sealed away safely in his own mind - in a mental straight-jacket for his own good.

-----

They finally came upon the city limits of Violet city. The only thing Violet about it anymore was from the turned, blotchy skin of the infected that walked it. Catalyst was in autopilot, tracking to find any sort of movement at all to spring into action against it. If there was any time he felt incredibly vulnerable, it was with his most important thing in his world right now taking a ride on his back and defenselessly unconscious. Immediately, Kyoya came to a halt and it only took Catalyst one or two steps to be able to come back to the group and remember to stop.

"We should hug the outskirts for as long as we can until we can find the safest route there," Kyoya said very under his breath, almost obviously afraid of detection by anything. "Everyone, stay close and watch each others' backs. Protect Zenyt and...your name?" He motioned a hand to him. The ethereal dog stared for just a moment, trying to muster up any tone beyond monotone but failing.
"Catalyst."
"Yes, him. We all know how cities are, so don't stray. We need to get in and barricade as fast as we can."

He took this surprisingly well, only nodding in silent agreement. Or maybe it was all he could do. However, he knew none of the others were going to remotely protect him and even more so Shizu - even in a group it was dog-eat-dog when it came to defense and he knew that. After his previous little... outburst, there was probably no hope of the dragons or the anxious Feraligatr to begin to protect him or even less, Shizu. Well, at least, he had just slightly more confidence in the crocodile than the other two - at least he had some sort of humility. At least he could appreciate Kyoya's moments of optimism as an interesting rarity.

-----

At least things were calm now ... that was a change, at least. Maybe now Arthur could be something a little more than a nervous, twitching wreck. He didn't want them all to associate that with him; make it out to be a weakness. He wanted to teach them all that there was more to him than anxiety and cowardice.

Well ... as long as he could put his own finger on it.

He was debating what to say next when a pair of blazing red eyes glared out at him from the darkness of the nearby trees. Before he could even alert the others, the Kadabra launched itself at him, its long, cold fingers clinging to his scales. Panic took over as Arthur flailed and yelped, trying to get the Psychic off him.

He could see it in the creature's eyes before it happened; a flash of bright light and the Kadabra disappeared as it used Teleport ... and took Arthur with it.

The walk was eerily quiet. While Anton found it in an awkward place between soothing and tense, Levi could only describe it as boring. No conversation to eavesdrop, no attacking mongrels to defend himself against, no petty fights to perpetuate and speculate. Ugh. He floated along, bringing up the rear of the group with Anton skulking at his side. How was he supposed to keep himself entertained when all he had to look at was a re-dying cadaver, a prissy sheep picking flowers for said cadaver, the ghost thing carrying that cadaver, a spineless human and a nervous feraligatr. Uuuugh.BORING.

They finally came upon the outskirts of the town the human had named, which Levi had forgotten, and Prissy Pants took charge, even though the human was the one supposedly leading them there. "We should hug the outskirts for as long as we can until we can find the safest route there," he began quietly and Levi wondered whether or not he was going to go into another monologue like that. "Everyone, stay close and watch each others' backs. Protect Zenyt and...your name?" He waved a strange paw toward the ghost, and Levi couldn't help the contemptuous snort that came from him. He still didn't even know everyone's name. Well, neither did he, because he didn't care to remember, but he wasn't pretending to be the leader, either. He didn't have to.

"Catalyst," the ghost replied in a deadpan voice. While the golden dragon wasn't completely fond of anyone else in the group aside from Anton, he did appreciate the monotone delivery.

"Yes, him. We all know how cities are, so don't stray. We need to get in and barricade as fast as we can."

"Gosh, ya don't say?" Levi whispered back, his arms on his cheeks in mock surprise. "Me being the simpleton I am would have never guessed to be quiet when we're trying to be stealthy."

Anton sighed heavily beside him, the first sound he'd heard from his fellow dragon since the burning tower. "You're sure proving that by talking so fucking much, Levi," he growled as he craned his neck to look over the decimated town. How could anyone tell them apart at this rate? They all looked the same.

"Oh my God, Anton, that's the point."

Zenyt barely heard the electric type as he spoke, practically regurgitating his name when it was asked of him. He knew that Ty had given the ram his name back at the haunted house so it confused him afterwards as to why Kyoya had even asked. Perhaps it wasn't important to him at the time and he forgot? It wouldn't surprise him, he hadn't been welcome since arriving into the group and now without Tisiphone he wasn't sure how long he would even survive here. And if he started to get sick? They would kill him or leave him for dead for sure.

"You'll be okay Zenyt, don't worry." He didn't even notice that the group had started moving without him until he heard the distant voice call back as though he had followed, the human shaking his head and eventually trudging along. "Keep your head, friend." Friend? Friend?! What was with the personality switches the yellow beast kept going through? First, Zenyt wasn't worth talking to. Then he was a traitor who deserved to die. Now he was a friend? Was Kyoya bi-polar? Giovanni didn't do this much backpedaling and he was as manipulative a man as the Admin had ever met.

"Things may have gotten out of hand at the tower, but you've proven to be a suitable ally....despite your hand in the viral distribution." Zenyt looked away in shameful anger, furious at not only Tisiphone for stretching the truth so far as to make him a target, and to himself for playing any sort of role in the nightmare he now lived in. "...However, you will decide on whether you can be considered trustworthy. The two dragons may not be so willing to let you prove that, but I am. You helped us, so I would like to help you." His voice failed him at that moment and he simply nodded, resigning himself to walk alongside the damaged trio if only to avoid the murderous dragons.


Kyoya began talking again but Zenyt's mind could not be silent long enough for him to hear much of anything, other than a mention to find a safe route to the hideout. How had they even gotten to the edge of the city so fast? Sure there would have been more danger out in the open path of the two routes than there would have been in Ecruteak. There were no places to hide or run for cover in a route except into the woods. And woods were never a safe choice. But when the two dragons began to once again bicker at Kyoya's words he found he could hold his silence no longer. "Stop it," he muttered, then repeated it with a greater force. "Just stop! I don't care about your petty problems nor do I care about whether you think you have the right to decide whether I live or die." Zenyt felt a burst of his old self for a brief moment and he latched onto it quickly, shrugging off his emotions and standing proud before the arguing Pokemon. "I'm not trustworthy. I have never been a kind man, nor an honorable one. Our role in the plague was not so grand in scheme as my...as Tisiphone led you to believe, but I did have some input. So whatever you all have planned for me just save it. You don't own me and the only one I owe anything to is Levi. Technically he saved my life, even if it was unintentional. So please stop arguing and let's just get this over with."

((Fox I wish you would have asked me before you decided to advance locations. I had plans before we were supposed to reach Violet and they are kind of shot now that you skipped two routes without any incident. I had ended my last post with us still in Ecruteak.))

Kyoya said nothing to encourage the dragons' useless quibbling, his eyes narrowing as he took in the details of the blood-saturated town. A large tanker was overturned on the outskirts of the town, the cab was covered in a hardened coating of...some type of chemical waste. His nose scrunched up in concern.

"Stop it," Zenyt muttered, then repeated it with a greater force. Kyo frowned as he turned his attention back to the human. "Just stop! I don't care about your petty problems nor do I care about whether you think you have the right to decide whether I live or die." Zenyt stood taller, his eyes hardening with defiance. "I'm not trustworthy. I have never been a kind man, nor an honorable one. Our role in the plague was not so grand in scheme as my...as Tisiphone led you to believe, but I did have some input. So whatever you all have planned for me just save it. You don't own me and the only one I owe anything to is Levi. Technically he saved my life, even if it was unintentional. So please stop arguing and let's just get this over with."

Kyoya was taken aback by the humans' biting words. His ears flattened against his head and his eyes grew cold once more as he threw up a solid block of ice between them once more. He would have laughed in his face for being so ludicrously stupid if he weren't so indignant. You just nailed yourself into a coffin, human. Here this guy was, without any pokemon slaves of his own, scarce weapons, a psycho-bitch stalking them to eat his particularly human face off and he was among those who know that he had a hand in the apocalypse that ended their lives. To top it off, Kyoya handed him a generous and ill-deserved alliance on a silver platter and he threw it in his face! His heart sunk in disappointment and disgust, regarding him with a disdainful snarl on his maw . I don't know why I even bother. It's a fools' errand to try and save those who are too proud and too stupid to take the help.

"Suit yourself, Rocket." He said, a chill in his tone as he spat the syndicates' name at him.

The ram padded forward and motioned for the ghostly hound to take up behind him as he stalked ahead, leaving the others to do what they wanted. He hugged the treeline as he moved westward. Not too far from them were the mindless re-deads, listlessly walking back and forth. Their dead gazes staring at the ground, on occasion rolling to the sky as their heads' swiveled uselessly atop their bodies. Creeping death. Ever-present. Never will they stop, no matter how far I run. They'll always be there. Waiting. Hungry. Never satiated. The rams' fur began to stand on end as he crouched behind a large tree, slate gaze wild behind his glasses as he stared at their inevitable fate. Pointless. Dead inside. Empty. Broken. Hollow forever. Kyoya blinked as one of the quadruped  creatures moaned as it lurched closer. It was blown apart by a shotgun. Its' intestines had spilled themselves out from the demolished torso, slithering behind him like serpentine familiars. They were a vile dark green, black blood vessels spilling out gelatinous slime, leaving a dark trail that festered with writhing maggots.

He slammed his eyes shut as his arm involuntary shuddered and twitched. He gripped at it, forcing it to stay. The whining groans coming from the canids' swollen windpipes was haunting. Suddenly the other creatures' scraping, slathering, grunting and moaning sounded like an orchestra from unspeakable depths of hell. Kyoya licked his cracked lips and tried to swallow the knot of despair and fear in his throat. He put his back against the tree as it hobbled closer, still unaware of their presence.

His wide gaze flickered to the hound, then to the precious fox that he carried. He put his paw in the air to halt anyone still moving. His breath was coming in shallow as the noxious stench of decay dripped from the air and threatened to choke him.

I can't do this...I can't. Keep. Doing this.


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"Stop it," the human mumbled, the rising anger palatable. The two dragons halted their light bickering for a moment to look at him. "Just stop! I don't care about your petty problems nor do I care about whether you think you have the right to decide whether I live or die." The man stood taller against the disgusting backdrop the city provided, and for a moment, the dragons could almost believe this guy held a position of power somewhere. Almost. But as Levi was mentally collecting ammo to shoot back at the human for disrupting his repartee, he suddenly realized that this tangent wasn't directed at him. Strange that someone else was getting told to shut up.

"I'm not trustworthy. I have never been a kind man, nor an honorable one. Our role in the plague was not so grand in scheme as my...as Tisiphone led you to believe, but I did have some input. So whatever you all have planned for me just save it. You don't own me and the only one I owe anything to is Levi." The named dragon perked at his name, blinking in surprise. Aww, someone actually did remember that fight correctly. "Technically he saved my life, even if it was unintentional. So please stop arguing and let's just get this over with."

"Fair enough," Levi chimed, but it seemed that Zenyt's little outburst didn't rub dear, darling Leader Kyoya the right way. "Suit yourself, Rocket."

Levi danced a little in the air, eager to either see more drama or move the fuck on. "Good to see we're all getting along."

"Gosh, ya don't say? Me being the simpleton I am would have never guessed to be quiet when we're trying to be stealthy."
It was way too late in the day to deal with even more shit spewing from the dragons mouth like a fire hose. Catalyst looked back at them while they were bickering with probably a little less viciousness than intended and continuing his walking.
"Stop it. Just stop! I don't care about your petty problems nor do I care about whether you think you have the right to decide whether I live or die." Zenyt finally was getting some confidence back almost having his throat ripped out. Oh, how lovely, as if the group didn't have one megalomaniac, now there was the other one trying to regain his lost dignity like a castrated dog would. Trying to talk civil to a negligent, self-absorbed thing that probably wouldn't consider his words any more intelligent than undead garble. That's how these guys were. There was no way of going back after what happened; this human was their... for lack of a better term, bitch.

"I'm not trustworthy. I have never been a kind man, nor an honorable one. Our role in the plague was not so grand in scheme as my...as Tisiphone led you to believe, but I did have some input. So whatever you all have planned for me just save it. You don't own me and the only one I owe anything to is Levi. Technically he saved my life, even if it was unintentional. So please stop arguing and let's just get this over with."
Trying to apply sense to this madness? That's funny. There was no way there was going to be peace among anyone here. The purple douchebag behind him wanted to sink his claws into his living-dead brother, Levi was just too full of himself to care... Kyoya although nice was severely emotionally unstable. At least he could laugh at the irony of him trying to be sanctimonious.
"Fair enough," Catalyst's eyes almost came twisting out of his skull. Yeah of course that's fair for you. Getting your tender, royal ass kissed by a human. Fitting praise, your Highness. His nerves boiled, hackles raising invisibly under Shizu's weight.
"Suit yourself, Rocket."

Catalyst's shoulder blades popped up in a mountainous way as he slunk forward, laden with his brother. Kyoya had taken the lead towards where he did not know, but... he somewhat trusted Kyoya. It's not like his own free will didn't allow him to take off with Shizu in tow, either.  The hound could sense the smell of stress and fear on the ovine, and kept to himself as far as traveling. His pace was only slightly behind and to the right, keeping a harsh eye on anything on his right as it was somewhat vulnerable. As the Ampharos went into a crouch, Cat managed to sink down as far as he could until he heard it. The hellish noises of undead gasping for the life they once held in their hollowed bodies. Kyoya held up a paw, sweat dripping off his chin. The poor guy was ready to keel over... it was almost pathetic the way he was so terrified. But it wasn't his fault, per say. This world is fucked. Catalyst sinks down, carefully inspecting as the dead hound hobbles by.

-----

The walls danced with yellow silhouettes. A living version of an electric lantern darted down the stairwell, leaving the walls with hopeful glimpses of inhabitance but then was lost to the overly consuming darkness in the building. The buckle of a collar chimed for just a moment as the small quadruped leaped down several stairs at a time in the flight, zooming to the exist. The subtle scraping of bone, scales, flesh and nails was only two floors above him and coming down after him as stealthily as he was running. Blood red glowing eyes painted the walls with their murderous intent as it crashed down after him.
Fuck. Bastard is gaining on me. The stairwell opened up with light, finally coming to the third story. The Electrike was bathed in a grey, foggy light as the clouds covered up the sunset enough to make everything bleached through it's misty lense. The Druddigon on the stairs shrieked, making Shock flinch and look back.

"God damn it." he gaped in awe under his breath, turning tail and darting straight for the other side of the building where the next flight was. His claws clicked on the wood floor, his body ceasing to glow as he got closer to the large, open window on the other side. Without warning, the dragon type practically exploded out of the door frame, much faster on solid ground than stairs. The small Electrike gasped audibly, looking behind him and running faster. But the match was rigged and cruel, it came torpedoing toward him quicker than he could escape. He looked back again, the thing swiping towards him. He growls audibly.
"Fine, be that way! Enjoy your skydive!" In a last-ditch effort, the second he gets to the window he jumps off of it just enough to kick off and to the side. The Druddigon was less fortunate, it's slow reaction time making it crash right through the window with a deafening crack. It screeched in confusion, falling down and colliding with the ground just before the bridge. Shock looked over the edge, panting while viewing the damage and the outside world of bleak grey fog and ruined city. It was almost beautiful, in an eerie but calm way. In a rare moment of peace, he kept his gaze out on the landscape, soaking in the atmosphere.


-----

(Got permission from Phoe to post before her. Edited to remove a few mistakes.)

"Suit yourself, Rocket."

Zenyt did little more than frown at the supposed insult, letting it roll off his back as he impatiently waited for the group to get moving. His arms were crossed and his foot tapped rapidly while Kyoya attempted to play leader, finally breaking away and moving towards the city using the edge of the woods that surrounded them. He didn't seem to notice, or care, if anyone but the ghost hound followed with Plague on his back, and the human felt a plan begin to form in his mind using that callous disregard to his advantage.

With his injuries he couldn't keep up as well as he would have liked, but stayed close enough to still see the others ahead of him. The funny part about Kyoya leading them into the city was he had no idea where he was going after that point, but it would be interesting to see him try. All he knew was the general location Zenyt had given back in Ecruteak, but not where the entrance would be. How long would it be before he was forced to ask, he mused to himself.

It wasn't long before the ram had them all at a stop, the lurching shadows of an undead horde blocking the path. They were little more than shambling corpses at this point, staggering along as though tugged by an invisible string, but it seemed one of them had broken off and drawn near to the two 'leads'. Zenyt pushed himself against the shadows of the treeline, watching, waiting to see what Kyoya would do if he and his pet were discovered. Though it was very likely the ghost and Plague would not be, since Plague reeked of death himself. And happily it was one of the few known facts that the undead didn't notice the dead.

It was then that the lone human realized his sudden stroke of luck, as the entire group was so focused on not attracting the horde that they seemed to have forgotten he was trailing behind. Kyoya hadn't even turned his gaze away from the shambling corpses and Zenyt wasn't going to waste this one opportunity. He had already told them where the hideout was, beneath the lake in front of the tower, but it was up to them to find the entrance. He wasn't going to be there. Without so much as a rustle of the brush he slipped into the treeline and was soon obscured by branches and bramble, watching for another moment to see if their fearless 'leader' would notice before taking his chances and bolting down the southwestern path away from Violet City.

He was not going to look back no matter what he heard, and with any luck he would never see the ragtag group again.

((Leaving post, I need to cut back and Zenyt's plot line can be brought back another time.))

The air was thick with the rancid stench of long decaying meat. The shambling creature drew ever closer as the rams' instincts were screaming for him to run. The creatures' head rose up, his putrefied muzzle sniffing the air.

We're dead. Plague is dead. We won't get away- there's too many! Morbid images of the dog ripping into his throat and disemboweling the fox flashed through his head when a sudden explosion of wood, and shrieks pierced the air. The hoard, who had been listlessly ambling had all turned their ravenous eyes towards the sound and retreated from them.

Kyoya didn't waste any time.

Darting across the littered road and back into the brush on the other side, he didn't stop until he saw the shimmer of water. With a ragged gasp, he collapsed knees-first on the beach behind a beaten building, obscuring the view to the town. His chest heaved, desperate to pull air into his deprived lungs and it was only then that he realized that he had stopped breathing back there. His vision was swimming, but slowly starting to clear up as the oxygen flooded his body. Steadying himself with hands on knees, he turned his attention to the others who were hopefully, following behind.

Catalyst's eyes were glued to his surroundings, Shizu's weight the only sense to reminisce in his conscious mind. The smell of rotting flesh was so strong, it was like the meat was slapped against his muzzle. His tongue could almost feel the viscosity of the blood like it were materializing on his teeth. The sweat on Kyoya started to glisten, but unable to sparkle clearly in the scattered light of the fog. The air siphoning into the lungs of the bodies around him was almost audible as it filled their hollow chests. It all felt too heavy.
His entire figure jolted out of its meditated state at the noise of undead shrieking from a noise he didn't happen to catch. The dog who's dripping jowls came within centimeters of them before from their foliage cover immediately directed its motives to find out what potential meat slab would be available to tear apart. It slunk away, the movement being of the most uncoordinated slump possible. Catalyst's nostrils cried in agony at the hot air passing through his chaffed airways. The yellow goat took this to the utmost advantage and bolted the moment he could. Back in concentration mode, Catalyst didn't hesitate to practically move step for step behind him. Shizu shifted on him, the blood disgustingly warm as it pooled between his shoulders. The ghost canine's frantic legs trembled with nausea as the flows of blood whipped down them.

---

There was no time to waste now, the small echos of screeches making it terribly apparent that the town's attention was caught. Shock reaches the first floor, setting foot into the slightly darker room. Morbidly enough, it was full of corpses of Bellsprout. It was like a lawnmower massacre but with brains and guts strewn among the shredded botanical scraps. The door, which he had come through earlier, was now closed. As the dog noticed it, all he could do was inaudibly cuss under his breath.
"Man.... Do you have to be like that?" he hisses in exasperation, "I guess a little push won't kill me." He meets the door, at first shoving the 7 foot tall door with his shoulder which now in hindsight to him was a bit ridiculous. Scoffing, he manages to kick the door and it makes a cracking noise. "Ok, not good. But you can budge for me, you bastard. C'mon, there's no knob on the door." Finally, he shoved it again with a bit more force. He yelped, realizing it was enough to probably leave a bruise later. And the door whined as it swung on it's hinges, not liking the abuse. The dog set only a paw forward before his body felt floored. The door swung open but it caught, the turning point revealed it wasn't just opening, but falling forward.  That was not a good idea at all.... "Why didn't I just break through the window...?"
Shock resisted the urge to yell as a sound and air shock wave blasted his face as the at least 300 pound oak door fell out of the frame and onto the steel landing where the bridge met the water. A long, winded, deafening moment passed, and a cacophony of shrieking met his ears almost as gracefully as the boom of the door.
"Oh... fuck." He took off into the trees, seeing the hoards of undead he just summoned come out of the buildings like termites out of woodwork. Cover would give him the best defense.... Green blended with green. As fast as his little legs took him, he flew through the forest along the water's edge. Thankfully, nothing spotted him yet, everything was flocking to the door and inside of the tower.