The VICTORY team

"My...my stomach?" The ralts asked confused. It grumbled again and Scarlet looked down to see that it was coming from herself she looked even more confused at this.
"Huh?"
Scarlet pushed at her 'belly' still not understanding the growl it was emmiting, was she turning into a demon?
Yoru once again mentioned food which left her back to new thoughts.
"What's food?"

Despite her pride in her sense of direction, Lola had to admit that she was lost in this vast cave. She had first came in here because she had overheard some traveling pokemon that they had heard a miltank cry echoing from deep in this cave, but in the end it turned out to be false lead, just an infected lickitung with its tongue partly ripped out, making it sound vaguely like a miltank. Lola was starting to give up hope of ever finding her young’uns and living together like they did on the farm. For the most part, the pokemon in the cave, mostly zubats, where pushovers and easily defeat able, which was why she was now rolling through the cave singing a song the humans on the farm use to sing.

“Pick up the hay, and throw it all around,
gotta feed the miltanks or else they’ll frown.
Treat the calves with great care,
or else the momma’s gonna give you a scare.
Harvest their milk as they eat,
or else keeping them still will be a great feat.
Fill the buckets to the brim,
enough so that we may go for a swim.
Bottle it up and ship it out,
Tomorrow it’ll repeat without a doubt.”

She had heard the humans sing it so many times that she could recall it with ease without ever before singing it herself. This simple song helped her get through the many disappointments of failed searches of her family, it also eased her homesickness. Since she already did not know where she was going she let her mind drift as she rolled through the cave, it was not till she smelled water that she snapped out of her trance and rolled to the source. It was hard to see while she rolled around, so she mainly relied on her sense of hearing and smell while using roll out, so she did not immediately notice the other pokemon near the water. When she did, she unrolled herself and to her mild shock noticed that the pokemon where mostly all a bunch on children. “Who do we have here? This is no place for young’uns; this cave is a maze with infected and there is little to no food. Why would you dare to travel this far into it?”

The ralts looked to be the youngest, almost looked like it just hatched a few days ago, and the growlithe looked like it might have been a child, so she figured the unusual red umbreon and the absol where looking after them. And judging by the fact that the umbreon was carrying the ralts, and that it was in the lead, that he was the leader of the rag-tag group, she had half a mind to give him a talk about leading pokemon this young into this dangerous cave, even if he had good intentions.

((OOC: If i wasn't so impatient to introduce Lola already, i would have made the song better...eh, maybe later i'll add in more lyrics, or introduce a better song...))

((Once more, I have yet to find an opportunity to begin. Continue on.))

Yoru laughed at the young ones words.

"Food is what you eat." he smiled.

Yoru's ears pricked as the new Pokemon came into view and he instinctively crouched, his teeth bared but his nerves stopped when he realized it could think straight and was perfectly fine.

"We were chased in here by an infected big enough to shake the Earth. I'm Yoru." he dipped his head and motioned to the others.

(OOC: ugghh sorry short post)

Oliver was originally startled to hear the new voice suddenly cutting through the darkness to their ears. He tensed and went to retreat behind Yoru, but relaxed as soon as he realised that it was nothing more than a Miltank, and she didn't seem Infected at all.

"Why are you here, miss?" he asked, tilting his head. "This is no place for Miltank like you either. None of us belong here ... Oh, and my name is Oliver."

(OOC: Please excuse my sudden disappearance, but it turns out that there was some confusion with the Safehouse and my characters were not put in there during my absence.)

Shadow smiled a little as the young ralts poked it's stomach, wondering where the growling was coming from. When Yoru explained that she needed food, and explained what food was, he smiled more.
It quickly faded when Yoru started growling at something off in the distance. Shadow charged his shadow claw. He soon realized it was a healthy miltank. He let the attack fade and heard Oliver say "Why are you here, miss? This is no place for Miltank like you either. None of us belong here ... Oh, and my name is Oliver."
Shadow nodded and introduced himself "I'm Shadow."

Scarlet still didn't understand but her attention was averted from the concept of 'food' when a new presence entered her senses it wasn't that of the demons which made her run away and scream in confusion, panicing and angering the little pokemon, this one was like the pokemon here...calming, warm, protective. It belonged to the strange pink thing that spoke to Yoru.

“Who do we have here? This is no place for young’uns; this cave is a maze with infected and there is little to no food. Why would you dare to travel this far into it?"

Despite the feelings that emitted off the pink pokemon she hid into her scarf and into Yoru's fur Scarlet that staring at the exchange from an opening in the cloth. Everyone was telling 'her' their names. Maybe she should as well.

She peered out of the scarf opening up the folds.
"I'm Scarlet..." She introduced herself the best she could.

She was glad there was no misunderstanding from the group on the subject of if Lola was clean or not, all the other pokemon she meet would be suspicious of any new person. Lola shifted her view from one pokemon to the other, trying to imprint their faces and names to her memory, to her, the worst thing was to die and never be remembered. The mention of a gigantic infect immediately made her tense up, but she relaxed a bit when she realized that she had not seen or heard a large pokemon in her time in the cave, she figured that since they were smaller, their perception of height might be different from hers. The little ralts, apparently Scarlet, was extremely shy, and Lola couldn’t blame her, in this new world fear is a common thing, even for the bravest of pokemon, and even with every bit of her mothering side urging to care for the scared thing, she knew that forcing herself on the small thing would only make things worse. So instead she answered Oliver’s own question, “Aye, miltanks tend ta do everything they can ta stay away from dark caves, but I’m looking for my family, they all went missing. I heard that some have heard a miltank deep in here, but no luck, so I hoped to get out fast, but sadly I seem ta be lost.”

Lola walked up to the pool, rolling around usually made her thirsty and the water looked tempting. She cupped her hooves and dunked them in the water to bring it up to her snout, it smelled clean enough, but it tasted like dirt to her, so she let the water fall back to the small pool. She needed something to wash out the taste of dirt from her mouth, but sadly there was not much to work with, so she settled on using milk. She had never had any reason to milk herself before, she had lived on MooMoo farm all her life, so the humans did that for her, but after the infection she had to learn. The first few times where messy, and it was hard due to her hooves, but eventually she got the hang of it, it mostly just squeezing and pulling. She squeezed some milk directly into the air with some force, and caught it in her mouth as it fell back down to earth. It was always weird to drink her own milk, but she had to admit, it was good and usually helped bring back her energy. She looked back at the group, she had been traveling alone for some time now and the few pokemon she did meet never really wanted to talk to her, so she was surprised that her manners had been forgotten.

“Now where are my manners, I’m Lola, use ta be head Miltank of MooMoo Farm. Would any of ya'll want some of Lola’s milk, it’s highly nutritious, and If I dare say, delicious, perfect for every growing body.” She had heard that last line used by the humans many times and had thought it sounded corny, but she had to admit, it was well suited for describing the milk.

The earth began to rumble once more, dust rising from the floors and stone falling from above. The screams and screeches of pokemon from farther below rose through cracks in the stone as the steely roar of a great beast pierced the air.

Down below, Ferrox thrashed about impatiently, tired of waiting for his prey to move further into the labyrinth. The little fleshy ones were ruining his sport, and he was hungry.

(OOC: There has been some loss in my life today and I am not up for replying so please skip my turn this time. Thank you for understanding guys.)

(OOC: Sorry to hear that, Blitz...)


"Milk?"

Oliver and his brothers had boldly stolen a bottle of Miltank milk from an oblivious human while they had been searching Johto for their father, and he remembered how delicious it was and the boost of energy that it had given them. Given the fact that he was ravenous for food, he decided that the milk was the best option for now. Maybe it would help to keep his strength up until they could find something solid to eat.

"Oh, yes please, Miss Lola," he said, his tail wagging a little as he approached the Miltank, but a shudder and a loud roar from beyond startled him into retreating once again.

"Waaaah! Whoa, that was scary. Um, d'you think that we should, maybe, find somewhere a little safer? I don't like it here," he said, whimpering and looking around apprehensively.

(Skip my turn this time around I haven't had time to come on. I will next time)

“Now where are my manners, I’m Lola, use ta be head Miltank of MooMoo Farm. Would any of ya'll want some of Lola’s milk, it’s highly nutritious, and If I dare say, delicious, perfect for every growing body.”
The ralts begna to pull herself out of her protective scarf and looked at the white substance filled to the brim with curiosity, she felt her stomach rumble again.
"Yoru am I growing?" she asked.
"Oh, yes please, Miss Lola," Oliver said while going over to 'Lola' seeming pleased by something. Her curiosity peaked and using confusion on herself she was down on the floor and along side Oliver wanting some of the milk as well.
"I want some milk!"
The growling and rubbling of the cave made the ralts squeal and retreat to Yoru.

Lola was glad to see that the young growlithe had learned manners before, back when she was on the farm, she would always make the young’uns say please if they asked for anything. And it seemed like her assumption about the small Ralts was right one, it was most likely hatched recently, it did not even know it was growing, if she wasn’t so young, and not familiar with her, Lola would have said something about the little one not
saying please, but lessons on manners can wait till later, these young’uns where hungry. As she was realizing that she had no cups of bowls the entire cave started shaking violently around her, when she was deeper inside the cave she had noticed tremors like this, but put it off as natural occurrences, but judging by how the pokemon where reacting, it was most likely the act of the giant infected the spoke about earlier.

The tremor didn’t last long, but it did cause random rocks and debris to fall from the top, whatever it was, it was most likely not happy. If that infected was here right now, Lola would have given it a thrashing for trying to scare these young’uns to death. The growlithe seemed more shooken up about the situation than the others, so Lola bent down and patted his head reassuringly, “Now don’t ya worry, it sounds like that beasty is pretty far off right now, but looking for a new area might be a good idea Oliver.” She said as she looked to the other two older pokemon in the group, in the end it was their decision, and she would not wanna barge in and suddenly start issuing orders.

Ferrox, far below, smirked and loosed another roar before taking off under the earth once more, leaving them with a rapidly-departing metal screech.

From the tunnels around the group, a great moaning rose up, and many stones dragged themselves from the ground, hate and hunger filling slowly-opening eyes. As the roars of the great beast faded into the distance, the hateful cries of the dead rose to fill the silence with murderous rage.

Yoru listened to everyone around them and smiled to the Miltank in her offer of milk. He watched as Oliver and Scarlet both went forward but when the cave began to rumble he got anxious and used Protect on the team around him.

"We must get through this cave quickly for I fear there is worse to come. Oliver, Scarlet, Shadow you three get some milk. I will be fine for now but you three need it more." he looked around and began hearing the sounds of the other undead. He quickly began storing energy for a shadow ball and waited for the worse.

Oliver whimpered and dived behind Yoru as the unearthly moans echoed through the silent cave. Despite the fact that he was no longer the youngest in the group since Scarlet's arrival, he suddenly felt very small indeed. Compared to the many Infected that inhabited the mountain, he was but a mere speck, undoubtedly an easy target for them.

He tried to pluck up his courage and be brave like the others; like Yoru. He slowly came out from behind the Umbreon and crouched, growling.

"I-I'm strong! I am, my daddy said so! I'll help! I'll fight the Infected," he said, failing to hide the trembles of fear in his voice.

((At Suicune's request..)
As quickly as it had left, the earth began to quiver once more, as if it were as terrified of the beast within it as everything else seemed to be. Rusted steel spines pierced the stone floor of the massive caverns as another steely roar pierced the air, this one far louder and stronger than the rest.
I TIRE OF THIS GAME!
The colossal metal serpent began to surface, hateful eyes fixed upon the group. As he rushed towards them, he set his sights on Shadow. That one looked like a decent meal.

With a terrible screech, Ferrox tore his way free of the earth and into the air, somewhere nothing of his size had any right to be. Thrashing wildly, he crashed into the ground once more.. around Shadow, his massive maw engulfing the Disaster pokemon as he took to the earth once more, the glorious taste of blood in his mouth as he crushed the Absol into nonexistence.

(My turn now?)

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" Scarlet screamed as Sin dissapeared into the feasting jaws of the monster. It was hudge and even in the low light shined. At the sight of it she ran, ran as fast as she could until she fell over some stones and even then she crawled she was scared out of her mind. She didn't realize that she hadn't gotten very far and curled up into her scarf when she realized that there was only darkness now.

(Short post is short)

The loud rumbling came again, louder than it was previously. Something was coming closer; there was no doubt about that in her mind now. The rest were getting uneasy, little Oliver was trying to put on a brave face and try to fight whatever beast was out there before it even came out. Before she knew it, a giant steelix came out of the ground an instantly devoured the absol right before everyone’ eyes. It was a horrific sight, but all she could think about where the young’uns and their safety.

Almost as if reading her mind, Scarlet, the smallest of the group, bolted off into the dark expanse of the cavern, which was a good idea, but the fact that she went off by herself was greatly troubling. Wither the young growlithe was too paralyzed to run or not, Lola was not going to take that chance. She picked up the growlithe in one hand and started running, yelling to the umbreon , “Run now, we’ll figure out what to do after we find that Raltz!” She was not use to running on two legs, she much preferred all 4, or better yet, rolling, but the need to protect these young’uns sent her adrenaline pumping making her clumsy running a bit more efficient.

((a little short i know, but school is being harsh at the moment....))

Ah, the grand darkness of majestic caverns. Especially mountain caverns....Xavier loved them. His sapphire-blue rings glowed, alive with the happiness of the Umbreon. Alive with his madness. The golden-eyed Umbreon made his way through the weaving paths of Mt. Silver, his rings illuminating the walls and providing enough light for traveling. His light paws made no noise upon the smooth stone ground, but suddenly the ground began to violently rumble, the noise ringing in Xavier's ears. "What in the bloody hell...?" Eager and slightly annoyed, Xavier began to run, his slender black-furred legs simply blurs with the speed of his sprint. Xavier arrived to the scene of this rumbling when a giant, rust-covered Steelix erupted from the ground and swallowed a creature with a black-and-white pelt....then returned to the ground where it belonged. Xavier was transfixed to the spot, fascinated by the speed and and strength of that steel serpent and not even disturbed by the gruesome end of the Absol.

Amazing. Coming back to his senses, Xavier spotted a Miltank scooping up a frightened-looking young Growlithe and took off, yelling at an Umbreon with crimson-red rings to run. Xavier had not seen one of his own in such a long, long time, not since his sister's death...oh, he was so happy, he could rip the Umbreon's intestines out and strangle it with them! His rings started to glow intensely and the color was a bit over-saturating....Xavier ignored the fact a giant beast had eaten another Pokemon and would likely returned. He found himself walking swiftly to the red-ringed Umbreon.

Two of a kind, yet seemingly so different....two of divided, two with rings from the heavens above...

Chaos and the sound of metal against rock. Yoru could only watch in horror as Shadow was plunged deep into the Earth by the large undead Pokemon. His heart pounded faster and faster and he felt sick to his stomach but he must not panic. He has to be strong for the others. Yoru noticed too late that Scarlet was terrified and before he could console her she had scrambled off of his back and fled deeper into the cave.

Yoru was at a loss for what to do but he knew he must follow the young Pokemon. He was beginning to treat her like the daughter he never had and he feared for her safety in a cave full of demonic creatures. A shining figure lit up Yoru's left field of vision and he turned to catch the lithe form of a black and blue Umbreon with glowing golden eyes. Yoru was in awe of the other Pokemon. He hadn't seen one of his kind in ages but he couldn't think of that now. Now he must save Scarlet and he figured he would need the smaller Umbreon's help.

"It is good to see a fellow Umbreon. My name is Yoru." Yoru dipped his head to the other. "I would love to sit and chat friend but I must save a young Pokemon friend of mine. Please help she is only newborn and I fear for her life in this cave." Yoru spoke swiftly and calmly although his body was on edge.

Without waiting for his answer, Yoru sprung after Scarlet. He could barely sense her presence and hear her in the gloom but he knew she was alive and okay so that was fine by him. His heart pounded as he searched for her but couldn't seem to find her.

"MR SHADOW!"

No sooner had he cried out the Absol's name in terror, someone had picked him up and was swiftly carrying him away from the gruesome scene. He bounced up and down in Lola's grasp as she ran, but Oliver barely noticed what was going on. Completely transfixed by the blood and the remains of Shadow falling to the ground as the giant Steelix enjoyed his meal, he could no longer think straight; his thoughts came in unintelligible jibbers.

Mr Shadow is dead oh no we are in big trouble we will die too oh help Arceus help us

Someone new had arrived on the scene; someone who looked similar to Yoru, and they were saying something about 'finding Scarlet'. Oliver was not listening; he was too busy trying to keep the bile that was in his throat from splattering all over Lola, for he no longer had enough nutrition in his stomach to vomit properly. He took deep breaths to try and calm himself and swallowed repeatedly. The only thing that seemed to make him feel better was the fact that he had seen far worse than that before.

"Find ... Miss Scarlet," he managed to agree. "Miss Lola ... put me down ... think I'll be ... OK..."

He was shaking all over, but he knew that he had to try and be strong for the team. They had Scarlet to worry about; they didn't need him to tend to as well.

There was something dripping on her face. She rubbed at it, it was wet when she put it to her lips it tasted salty. 'tears... crying...' something told her. Scarlet tugged the scarf closer around her shivering beyond control, she heard footsteps and chaotic emotions surronded her. The fear just tripled as she felt hunger and murder being pushed onto her. Scarlet cried out in the middle of this.
"MAMA! MAMA!"
She called out to nothing, feeling none the more comforted. Scarlet didn't understand what had happened but she felt sadness, sadness that was her own for once. And the fear was driving her mad.
"Yoru!? Lola?!! Oliver!!! YORU!" she cried out as loudly as she could.
Another pokemon entered her feild and she screamed at the murderous intent "Demons! Demons! demons..." she curled onto the floor and shook.

Lola was running as fast as her stubby two hoofs could take her, and miltanks were by nature a bit on the hefty side, so that was no easy feat. The poor young’un in her arms was shaking, and had yet to say anything, poor thing must have been really shaken up. It took a while, but eventually he said that he wanted to be put down, the young’un didn’t sound too certain, but she would see. Plus, with her two hands free, she could run faster on all fours, and in this dangerous area, finding Scarlet would need to be done quickly.

The growlithe was still shaking, but it pointing that out to him would not help anything. All Lola kept thinking about was how these young’uns, heck all young’uns, where thrust into this new dangerous world, where death was a constant factor. If she ever meet arceaus, she would definitely give him a piece of her mind for letting things go so far, and not intervening. She looked back the way she came from, hoping to see Yuro, but in this dark cavern it was hard to tell. “First thing’s first, we need tah find Scarlet, poor thing must be scared stiff…” Lola got on all fours and ran off in the direction the raltz went, she would have rolled, but she doubted that the growlithe could keep up. “Scarlet honey, can you hear me!?” If the other pokemon knew her better they would have known that she only used the phrase, “honey” when she was nervous. It was one of the few tells she had in her otherwise composed demeanor, though she was glad Oliver would not know, having a nervous adult with a scared young’un is never any help.