(ACE) The BURNED Team

(( Sorry but please skip me again. Been a little to busy with some last minute Christmas shopping last few days to think of a post. Just say that Astrid is still sleeping next to everyone. I'll have him wake up next round. ))

"Maybe I imagined it...felt like something was watching us..."

Her presence did not go unnoticed, even though the creature she poked did not seem to have reacted to the prodding. There was no yelp, so she had to assume they had not woken. Maybe she should do it again.

"I don't think..."

"Kinah..." Soft hoofbeats. Hoofbeats. Clop clop clop. Her lids slid shut as she rocked her head to the noise. Oh, that was... familiar. Nice. Comfortable.

"Kinah, there's something wrong. I... It's that same feeling... like at the farm..." She seized, the warmth flushing away as hot anger took hold. No, she ruined it! The feeling is gone!

"I know."

"Though... I might just... be paranoid... You and Aidan haven't... seen anything, have you?"

Shut up! Your voice is grating!

"We haven't, but this sensation is too familiar to ignore." Familiar? Were there other judges like her?

Wait, yes. There were. She struggled to think of them. Shouted thoughts to the corners of her mind. Nothing came back.

"Kinah, Sil, I'm getting a bad feeling and the sparks on my fur are getting more intense and stronger. Whatever it is that's causing me to feel this isn't to far from us." Oh, and she thought the other voice was grating. "Ouch! That was a bit to strong this time. Huh? What's that moving over ther... Aaden? I just spotted something and I can't make it out. Also I've been getting some rather nasty shocks from my own electricity. Normally they're not strong, but they just got really strong just now."

This thing is an idiot.

"Shh!" Someone shut the prattling thing up, yes, yes, finally. They are all so annoying to listen to. She hoped this one would shut up too, soon. "Don't let it know you can see it you fool! Do you want to attract its attention? Right now we should move slowly and quietly to where the others are resting and make sure they are all right. And so help me if you run off on me again Doe..."

Shut up shut up.

Thorned vines pour through the window, snaking across the floor and cutting off exits as more hoisted her up and over the windowledge, landing in the room.

Let them try to run. Let them try.

It wasn't long before the others began to stir as well. Apparently the others could sense something was off too... "Though... I might just... be paranoid... You and Aidan haven't... seen anything, have you?" Aaden looked around again, but finding nothing he shakes his head in response. "We haven't, but this sensation is too familiar to ignore." Suddenly, something faint flashes in the shadows several times. Each time it got brighter until the fighter could make out the bright yellow of the jolteon's coat. "Ouch! That was a bit to strong this time. Huh? What's that moving over ther..." He was shocking himself? Was this normal for electric types when they got nervous?

Aaden barely had time to consider it when he heard his name being called. "Aaden? I just spotted something and I can't make it out. Also I've been getting some rather nasty shocks from my own electricity. Normally they're not strong, but they just got really strong just now." Spotted something? "Where?" He asks in a harsh whisper. "Where did you spot it? We have to wake the others..." Movement catches his eye from the far wall, a thin moving shape illuminated by moonlight as it snakes in through the damaged window. In an instant, his heart is in his throat, stopping his breath and only allowing him to motion with his eyes and a couple sharp nods of his head to the intrusion.

All too quickly the shape multiples as vines upon vines stream into the cracks of their temporary shelter, effectively sealing them in. The finally, their decaying source is hoisted up from below among the thorned barricades. The pokemon must have once been beautiful, but now looked like death itself. The stench of rotting itself causes Aaden's eyes to water as he stands before the harbinger. Something was very wrong. This one was different...undead didn't think. They didn't block exits! Something Kinah told them earlier clicks into place in his mind: This place...it attracts these beasts that are unlike the other mindless drones we spent the last fifteen minutes splatting. They are aware, intelligent, and damn near indestructible. One of them even followed me from this very tower all the way back to Unova where I met Sil, and she wasn't even the first to come.

Oh no... Keeping the abomination in sight, he slowly inches sideways, trying his best to get between this...this thing and the still sleeping child before the calm before the stormed ended. Taking a deep breath and focuses his energy the effort outlining his body in a faint blue aura as he continues to inch along. Just looking at it this long makes my skin crawl... He hisses to himself in his mind, sending a silent prayer to any legendary still listening.

She wakes up to the sounds of others speaking. A lingering headache prods at her, and that faint smell of smoke, burning flesh...is it real, or just a product of the dream that won't stop returning? That one day couldn't simply replay itself in her head during sunlight hours, no, it has to torture her in sleep as well. Not that it had been a very restful, reinvigorating sleep. It's hard to let exhaustion carry you away when the screams start sounding as soon as your eyes close.

Balthazar can hardly tell who's talking through the haze lingering around her mind, but she can feel...something, like cold water running down her back. The very air around them weighs down on her, and it is as if ghostly tendrils have gripped upon her lungs. What the hell could cause this? She knows paranoia, and this can't be it. Either she's gone completely mad this time, or there's something lurking nearby, something powerful enough to create tangible dread with its mere presence. But what could do such a thing?

The child, Astrid, is still sleeping, but the others have already stirred and were gathered. Perhaps they know of what is going on. Before she can approach, however, Balthazar is stopped dead by vines tearing through the window and into the room. Her still-groggy mind struggles to fully comprehend what is happening for a few seconds, the Mightyena's expression one of complete bewilderment. Fuck, were these goddamn vines keeping them from getting out-what the hell is making them?

Balthazar can't recall another time when she's wished so hard to have never received an answer to a question. The Pokemon-no, the thing-that reveals itself is not a species she can recognize, but its rotten stench so overwhelms that Balthazar can barely keep herself from retching. Whatever this monstrosity truly is, it is leagues beyond any of the undead she has ever seen. It's sealed them in. Its mere presence reminds Balthazar all too keenly of the sheer hopelessness of losing Iris, the pointless struggle of dragging herself through a bleak existence. These swarming emotions have her frozen to the spot, seemingly only aware of the fact there is a sleeping child near her, all too vulnerable.

"We haven't, but this sensation is too familiar to ignore." It wasn't the greatest of replies, but it was all Sil could ask for: a tentative no. Her ears flicked all about her in a desperate bid to pluck any sort of errant noise of the pressing black, her body flinching when the scrappy Jolteon trotted toward them.

"Kinah, Sil, I'm getting a bad feeling and the sparks on my fur are getting more intense and stronger. Whatever it is that's causing me to feel this isn't to far from us." The Sawsbuck hissed softly, trying to get the young Eeveelution to lower his voice with as little noise as possible. And then he yelped. "Ouch! That was a bit to strong this time. Huh? What's that moving over ther... Aaden? I just spotted something and I can't make it out. Also I've been getting some rather nasty shocks from my own electricity. Normally they're not strong, but they just got really strong just now."

"Shh!" Kinah hissed angrily, thankfully shutting the kid up. Sil's hackles raised with the growing pit of anxiety weighing heavier and heavier in her stomach. "Don't let it know you can see it you fool! Do you want to attract its attention? Right now we should move slowly and quietly to where the others are resting and make sure they are all right. And so help me if you run off on me again Doe..."

Sil flashed an angry, defiant glare at the fighter. Lostlorn had been a completely different matter-- she'd just revisited her family home, where her parents still laid unburied and the wound was still fresh. Then she destroyed that home all while dealing with the pressures of leading a bunch of strangers and working to protect them and dealing with the failure to do so once that went wrong. She gave Kinah nothing more of a response other than a furious snort. The spiteful asshole didn't deserve more than that.

Her form straightened when she saw the walls and openings slither and close with... snakes? ...Vines? Sil cursed her mediocre night vision. What else could these dark tendrils be? But more movement caught her attention, leading her gaze to a pokemon that she had never seen before, and yet her very bones felt the cold grip of death just like what had happened with that Weavile.

This had to be it.

This was the thing.

Everyone else that had managed to stay asleep seemed to be waking, including Hannibal. The Houndoom seemed to struggle with which instinct to listen, settling for simply staying still, though incredibly tense, and kept his eyes on the new pokemon. He must have felt the same thing she and Kinah were feeling. He likely wasn't moving so he wouldn't provoke this fresh horror. Sil couldn't say that it was a bad idea.

Kinah winced as Sil took offense to her earlier words, not meaning them like she sounded. Well, not exactly like they sounded. She wasn't saying she expected Sil to run just that she didn't want to find herself facing another demon on her own if this awful feeling proved true. She already lost an eye to the last one. The prickling feeling in the back of her skull worsened as everyone still resting began to stir from the tension in the room and Kinah watched in horror as everything she feared began to manifest in reality once again.

What little light came in through windows thanks to the night sky was lost as shadows began slithering across them. Kinah turned to the stairwell in time to see thick, thorny vines covered it and felt an icy dread fill her heart. They began to creep up and around the room sealing them in and not for the first time the Mienshao was forced to accept that not all monsters were mindless in their killing. More than she cared to encounter wanted to play.

Aaden seemed to grow quiet, whether in fear or defiance it was hard to tell but he moved across the room in an attempt to shield the still slumbering pup. The only one still asleep in their little band and the one who clearly wouldn't stand a chance against this monster. Kinah followed his gaze and Sil's and in the darkness of the room a shape began to form, a shape with which she was not familiar but could somewhat make out. Some kind of flower, and judging by the vines it wasn't a far off guess to say grass type at least in some capacity. Though there were creatures that appeared to be one way and were in fact another so she couldn't type it out confidently until she saw it better.

Though she wished with all her might that she wouldn't get the chance to do so.

Astrid still slept, not having realized just how tired he had been, but after todays events, no one could blame him for being a little worn out. Shifting slightly as the others around him began to stir, he still showed little sign of waking up. His dreams kept him in a tight hold, dreams of back when things were, normal, peaceful, back with his mother in their home… happy… safe… without all, this…

Sleep did not last though, as the voices around him finally dragged the pup from his slumber. Eyes fluttering open slowly, his vision blurred as he yawned and stretched, looking up at the Aaden with a sleepy gaze. “What’s wrong?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking as he looked around the room, everyone was so tense, seemingly scared. Confusion took over now, not knowing why they were all so scared before finally taking notice of what was surrounding them.

Frowning, Astrid’s eyes floated over the tendrils that seemed to be blocking every exit, every means of escape. His ears began to droop and his eyes widening in horror before they finally rested on what was causing unrest in the group. He was now frozen with fear. It was another one of them. The stench made him rinkle his nose a little at how awful it was, and this one must have been smart to know to block their means of escape. Body trembling and still just waking up he could hardly find much strength to get to his paws to try and slink away, knowing clearly that a fight of some kind was about to break out, one that he would just get in the way of. He didn’t like the thought of being dead weight, something they felt the need to protect, but what good was he if he was this frozen with fear? Just trying to keep his breath steady, he didn’t move, feeling safest where he was, behind the more intimidating fire type, and the others.

(( Sorry for the lateness, didn’t realize it was my turn due to this round switch up. And sorry it's a little short. ))

Quiet. Finally, quiet. They cowered in silence, fearful and wary eyes watching her as she straightened to her full height, shaking herself almost as if shaking off dust. Nothing actually came off; it was all caked on with gore.

She looked at each of them in turn. The cat, that accursed cat. She should die first, shouldn't she? The flower paused, thinking, trying to string together some kind of coherent thought from the mess of emotional syllables inside her head. Pull them apart? Just her? No all of them; she'd promised earlier she would kill all of them

Or was that just most of them?

Most?  All?

“What’s wrong?”

Her eye twitched and her vines flared, snatching up each pokemon in their thorny grip; a screech of "QUIET" pierced the room as the bodies thudded into floors and walls. Quiet quiet quiet she needed time to think and remember were you really going to be rude on top of being intolerable pieces of rubbish!? A flash of red moved from the corner of her eye and it didn't matter how much it moved; maybe it didn't move at all and it was all in her mind, but the red was there and a vine shot out again to thwomp it hard, burying thorns into the Blazikan's back as the slam turns into a grab. She hurled him to the other side of the room, stepping forward as her vines moved to seal off their small section of the room from the others. She panted, eyes glowing with rage.

This one would be first then.

For a moment, everything stops which includes the monster as they size each other up. The calm before the storm. Aaden is finally between the houndrunt and the beast by the time he hears rustling behind him. “What’s wrong?” Comes the tired voice of Astrid as the harbinger takes the break in silence to strike. Thorny vines strike his mid-section before he even has a chance to attempt to dodge. The sharp little weapons dig in through flesh and feather, staining his feather a darker shade of red. In a flash, the appendage reels and flings him like a toy into a nearby wall. The thorns further tear and mar his mid-section with broken, ragged feathers and torn skin.

Aaden lets out a yell as he is thrown, but is quickly silenced as his back hits the wall and knocks the wind from his lungs. "QUIET" It was a command. Standing on shaky feet, he allows his wrists to burst into flames, ignoring the familiar pain it brings in his shoulder. There was no escape, they had to fight--he lunges forward to charge and swing, but is too slow. The cursed vine tightens, pulls him off his feet out and flings him unceremoniously to the other side of the room.

Aaden lets out another shout as he hits the hard wooden floor, but manages to brace himself for somewhat for the impact. Quicker than before, he rises back up to his feet, wrist still smoldering with an unreleased fire punch as he turns to face his attacker. Kinah is right, these ones are different... He thinks, watching the infected monstrosity carefully seal off their section of the room...it wanted a one-on-one fight...to pick them off individually. "Stop this." He chokes out with a little difficulty from his impact before. "You were like us once, don't you remember? Being a living pokemon!" He says, hoping for some glimmer of sanity in the decaying bits of its soul and preparing his fire punch in case there was none.

The tension in the air was ready to snap like frayed rope. They were all quite literally staring Death in the face; one wrong move, and someone could die...or perhaps all of them. Balthazar could feel the power radiating in waves off of this abomination. She knows better than to expect to be able to put up a fight, at least not for very long. With the exits cut off, and fighting a death wish-come on, think, think, there has to be something. They couldn't just curl up and let this thing kill them. Her eyes go from the Houndour child to Sparks, the kid already falling apart. Goddamn it...

“What’s wrong?” Astrid's question is an innocent one, but in an instant, thorny vines wrap around each of them, the spikes ripping through Balthazar's fur and into her skin. The monster's voice roars in her skull, mixing with Iris' own voice until they might've been one and the same, as she's slammed against the floor like a rag-doll. The shock of the impact sends tremors through her legs and up to her spine, causing a yelp to escape from the canine.

Damn...damn it all. This thing is not fucking around. With barely any effort, it could paralyze them, or kill, whatever its rotten heart desired. Balthazar looks up to see their enemy and Aaden now obscured from sight, hidden behind a barrier of vines. Everyone else is still there, and Balthazar has to think past the pain burning throughout her entire body. Did it want to kill them all individually? Fuck fuck fuck. Aaden can't hope to escape or win a fight against that thing by himself.

Balthazar will tear through those goddamn vines with her bare teeth if she has to. But that means getting back to her feet, past the agony and the mingled voices still echoing in her head.

They stood in silence, their small band of misfits staring what was likely their death in the face. No one moved, no one spoke. They were on the edge of a knife; a single wrong breath or glance could send them toppling over the edge. Sil's own heart pounded in her ears, threatening to deafen her. It was a wonder the thing before them couldn't hear it. She worried how long they could stand there before the thing grew impatient and lashed out on its own, but she didn't get the chance to find out. The small pup, the innocent little scamp they'd just taken in, made the lethal mistake of opening HIS fucking mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

Sil's antlered head swung on instinct to the voice, seeing Hannibal do the same. But it was already too late. The vines that lurked in the shadows around them shout out, capturing every single one of their group and rendering them completely helpless. "QUIET" the thing shrieked. Sil was thrown against the back of the room, her antlers thankfully keeping her head from smashing against the wall. She opened her eyes and saw the Blaziken flaring his fire-wrists to attack, but of course, the thing is too fast. The vines sweep out his legs and brought him back down with a humbling thunk and forced him back against the wall. So much for that.

The Sawsbuck tried to quickly formulate some sort of plan. Hannibal, the pup and Aaden were probably their best bet. Just set everything on fire and hope they can get out. She glanced to the Houndoom, who had already been lame before getting smashed into a wall. His face was pinched with pain, his lip curled upward as he tried to manage it. Shit. He may not even be able to walk like that.

Suddenly the vines shifted and her eyes went back to the Blaziken. "Stop this." Sil's eyes flashed with horror. What the fuck was he doing?! Talking is what pissed it off in the first place! Didn't he know no one could reason with them, no one could ease them away from wanton murder? "You were like us once, don't you remember? Being a living pokemon!"

Sil cautiously returned her gaze to the thing holding them captive. She wasn't going to elaborate or try her own hand at negotiating. She knew better.

Kinah watched with shallow breath as the slithering vines blocked out the last shred of light and threw them into a darkness thick with tension and fear. Kinah could hear her own heart beating in her ears the silence over the group prevailing over even the sound of breathing. Until one timid voice broke it with a simple, two word question. “What’s wrong?”

The result was almost deafening. Whatever maddened creature this terrible place had summoned was driven mad by the sound of the child's voice and withing seconds the thorns that encased the room were lashing out and gripping each occupant. Kinah hissed as the razor-like barbs penetrated her fur with ease and lifted her off of the ground, tossing her aside like so much trash. "QUIET"

Aaden tried pleading with the monster but Kinah knew it was for not. These things didn't understand the value of life anymore they only cared about their own desires. They were Id incarnate. She struggled to get back up after being thrown but the entire time her internal mantra was very basic, 'Shut up, shut up, shut up!' Aaden and now the Jolteon again kept talking and yet hadn't considered that what pissed the thing off in the first place was someone talking.

With her one good eye she managed to spot a path over to Sil and leaned against the doe for support, not even bothering to ask first. The fighter used the extra prop to start pulling some thorns out of her leg that had embedded to deep and gone with her when she was so casually released. A couple of quick glances at Hannibal showed he was faring no better and if she had a moment while the others were being distractions she would try and reset his leg again before the monster caught wind of his weakness.

What the fuck were they even fighting?

Astrid pressed his body against the ground, ears lowered and eyes wide when the pokemon before them shouted shortly after he had asked his question. He hadn’t thought that he should have just stayed silent, but then, he hadn’t even noticed the undead in the room till it screamed at them. His body trembling as his eyes shifted around for a place he could hide himself away, seeing that a fight was probably emanent, and knowing he’d only just get in the way. But no place really seemed to present itself as an ideal hiding place for him.

The young Houndrunts thoughts were cut short however, when the feel of a thorny vine wrapped around him, lifting him off the ground. He couldn’t hold the distressed yelp as he flailed his little legs, as though trying to grab something to hold onto or pull himself back to solid ground. The thorns dug into his side, causing him to whimper and hoping they wouldn’t break the skin, what if they were infected, oh he hoped they weren’t infected.

He tried to wiggle free of the vines grip, but just as fast as he had been picked up he found himself getting tossed against the ground, another pained cry escaping him as he let himself lay there. His everything was hurting now, he didn’t want to move, he was trying not to make any sounds of pain, not wanting to be the cause to upset this pokemon father as he caught a better glimpse of it through half open eyes as it hid itself and Aiden away behind a wall of thorns.

The thunk of his body hitting the wall was so satisfying. She nearly purred in satisfaction as she approached the bird she'd cut off from the rest, head twitching unplesantly as a noise not quite a chuckle but something close to it leaked from her lips. Ah yes. Revenge was so sweet indeed.

"Stop this."

She blinked in shock, straightening to a normal posture, one eye quirked in both surprise and irritation. A command? A command? But one that wasn't yelled? What? "You were like us once, don't you remember? Being a living pokemon!"

You-! She darted forward, her vines snatching him up and slamming him into the wall, holding him there as she snarled into his face. "I am nothing like you! Murderer! Evil!" Panting, she whipped him to the side, not even allowing him to get to his feet before slashing him with a thorned vine. The wall of vines cutting him off from the others retracted back into her, the vine that had struck him flicking itself free of the scrap of cloth that had once been an armband the way someone shakes their hand free of water.

"And I will eradicate you and every dirty perversion like you from this planet," she hissed, glowing eyes spiraling deeper into madness.

Aaden watches tensely. He is unable to hear anything coming from the otherside of the thorny barrier. However, he doubts that the others are faring much better than himself. The creature adjusts its hideous form, angling into the closest it can get to a normal posture. For a second though, he hopes beyond reason that he words will reach the undead. That, maybe, they could regain themselves long enough to call of the battle and retreat. It then blinks at him curiously. As the silences stretches on, he becomes increasingly nervous. By the time the undead’s eye twitches in annoyance, he already knows he’s lost.

The fighter is slammed into the wall behind him as the harbinger lunges forward and stops with its rotting face mere inches from his beak. "I am nothing like you! Murderer! Evil!" It hisses, spitting out each word at his face. The stench of the beast thing close almost makes him retch. Is this what I am going to become…? Suddenly, in a fit of rage, the beast whips him to the side. Before he has a chance to catch his breath, a dangerously sharp, thorny vine thrashes his body causing him to scream out in pain and surprise. As the appendage is retracted, he can’t stop it from catching on, and tearing away, his armband. Once removed, he reaches feebly after it, but can’t get it in time and the undead flings it across the room and well out of reach.

"And I will eradicate you and every dirty perversion like you from this planet,"" The undead hisses, but Aaden is transfixed with his now bare arm and infection. The wound has gotten worse since he last dared to remove his armband and try to clean it. The feathers around it had begun to fall off and the visible skin was discolored and leaking pus mingled with fresh blood. Noticing now that all of the vines has retreated to the undead’s side, including the barrier, he hastily attempts to cover his infected wound with his other hand before getting to his feet.

((ooc:Thank you Florges!))

(please skip me. I just have no idea what to do with balth.)

There was a slam against the wood. Logic deemed that it was the Blaziken's body smashing up against it, probably because the poor bastard couldn't shut his mouth. Sil flinched as she suddenly realized Kinah was now resting against her, but did nothing in the wake of the revelation. It looked like the fighter was pulling thorns out of herself; a luxury that many of them couldn't afford.

Well, Kinah should do what she could while the monster was distracted.

For a moment, Sil considered doing something similar, perhaps looking over herself for embedded thorns or checking on Hannibal. After all, he was one of their more powerful fighters... if he had the muzzle o-- "I am nothing like you! Murderer! Evil!" The monster's roar completely shattered any thoughts or plans in the doe's mind and her eyes were glued to the thorny wall. What, did they know each other? Or was this more madness? To her shock, the vines retreated to reveal the Blaziken still somehow alive, one of the devilish plants tossing something away. Sil saw the fire type grasp his arm to replace the lost cloth the vines tore away and saw little else. The stink of fresh disease that clung to the now exposed wound and the tossed cloth, however, did not escape her.

Fuck... is he... is he one of them, too?

"And I will eradicate you and every dirty perversion like you from this planet,"

They needed to act. They needed to act now, but... what could they possibly do against such power?

OoC)) Skip, Sparkster is unable to do anything this round.

Everyone was frozen in place as the wall of thorns blocked them from even seeing Aaden. Kinah had half a mind to unleash her Hidden Power on the grassy menace but setting fire in a confined space with no guarantee it would eat through the thick stems was probably a bad idea. If anything it would probably just set fire to the room and choke them all to death with smoke since the bitch also covered the windows.

"I am nothing like you! Murderer! Evil!"

What the hell was going on in there?! Kinah's wounds stung from every step but even as the blood seeped through her fur and began to stain she continued to move closer to the wall of thorns and for a moment was reminded of a certain thorny brush back in Lostlorn. She reached out to touch the wall when suddenly they whipped out, making her flinch, and they began to rapidly retreat back to their maker.

"And I will eradicate you and every dirty perversion like you from this planet,"

Perversion-? And that was when the smell hit her. The rotting smell of infection and pus was unmistakable when you trained yourself to catch any trace of it to keep yourself alive. Her gaze fell down onto the swollen, exposed wound decorating Aaden's arm and Kinah stepped back in horror. She looked back to Sil and Hannibal and by the expression on their faces she wasn't seeing things. It was real. It was there. He was infected.

She looked to the others but none of them showed any sign of noticing the wound and for a brief moment Kinah couldn't believe her eyes. The Mightyena was still curled on the floor in pain but the Jolteon was awake and aware. Was it so dense it couldn't tell what was happening? Why did no one care that the Blaziken was one of them?! Had the world truly lost all common sense?!

Enrage Kinah gave up on keeping her cool and her body suddenly was surrounded by a swirling ring of fire, the embers dancing and glowing brighter around her as she looked to charge at the floral demoness. "You bitch," she hissed. "You and all of your kind. I'm so sick of all of you tearing around this world like it's your own private playground. I'm through with all of you! Do you hear me? I'm THROUGH!" Her Hidden Power peaked and with a cry of fury and desperation she rushed forward with no thought or care to the outcome of such recklessness.

(( Skip me, Astrid is just laying still on the floor. ))

The shock was delicious, and she revelled in it. There wasn't much understanding in her contorted mind for what the shock was about. That their friend had jsut been revealed to be infected was not within her sphere of comprehension at the moment, and indeed, could potentially never be. The madness was, at it stood right now, too strong, too alluring, and too captivating to escape from. Perhaps there was some small part of her true self still remaining, but if she were there, she was silent, or maybe unable to say anything all together. For the moment, all there was was a strange sense of enjoyment. The faces of those who tormented her babies returned in the faces of the living, and as far as she was aware of, the ones she tortured now were the same people who had harmed her beloved little humans and deserved every bit of this.

So caught up she was, that she failed to notice the murderous look of the cat until she spoke.

"You bitch." The flower turned her head to stare, nonplussed, at the snarling, glowing feline. "You and all of your kind. I'm so sick of all of you tearing around this world like it's your own private playground. I'm through with all of you! Do you hear me? I'm THROUGH!"

It was not even a contest. The hidden power was not allowed to even land. The vines whipped out and snatched ahold of Kinah, throwing her body across the room like a child tossing a ragdoll. Florges's face split into a grin, once pristine teeth now stained with blood and gore. The fact that they were not sharp, being that the Flebebe line was species meant to consume plant life, made the soiled teeth all the stranger to look at.

"Through? Through? Yes, I threw. You. Right across the room. Monsters, beasts, praying on little ones; I don't fear you and your tough talk." Her laugh was an eerie thing of insanity, and the fact that it was also a soft giggle somehow sounded more dangerous than if it had been loud and boisterous. Her head twitched and tilted to the side. "I don't fear your kind. I judge your kind, oh yes. Yes. I have a lot more blood to shed here tonight."

"You bitch." Aaden hears Kinah snarl from behind him, eyes locked on the unholy beast. "You and all of your kind. I'm so sick of all of you tearing around this world like it's your own private playground. I'm through with all of you! Do you hear me? I'm THROUGH!" She continues, screaming out the last words as she charges forward and erupts into flames. The beast throws her aside as if she were nothing. "Through? Through? Yes, I threw. You. Right across the room. Monsters, beasts, praying on little ones; I don't fear you and your tough talk." What the hell is this thing?? "I don't fear your kind. I judge your kind, oh yes. Yes. I have a lot more blood to shed here tonight." The thing giggles at them, if you can call the feverish noises it was making that. The sound burning into the blaziken's brain like a hot knife searing into his memory. This can't be how it ends...

His wounded arm burns with a new intensity as his wrists ignite in hot flames. He couldn't control whether he was infected or not or if his teammates now knew…or how the others were reacting. There was one thing he could control though. He wasn’t going to die sitting down. With a grunt he pushes off from the wooden floor, his talons leaving scores in the aging wood below. Bringing his knee up and readies a hi jump kick, he closes him on the harbinger hoping to land a blow while her attention was still on the other fighter.

"I am nothing like you! Murderer! Evil!"

Balthazar groans, her vision blinking in and out from the pain. The fact she is still on her feet could qualify as a miracle, had Balthazar been spiritual. Shrieks from their disgusting enemy only add to the chorus already ringing within her skull, and with whatever remains of her strength, Balthazar manages to return her eyes to where the wall of thorns once was. Where Aaden is now, and...and...

"And I will eradicate you and every dirty perversion like you from this planet."

That smell-no, no, it couldn't be. Infection. Disease. There is no mistaking that rotten stench, even as the Blaziken tries to conceal his wound. Aaden is one of them, isn't he? He's another person doomed to be lost, and another victim to these monsters. Why this? Fuck, why this, why them? Were they all worth so little in the grand scheme of things that this one hideous, insane, murderous plant could brush aside their lives without even a real fight? What the fuck did any of them do to deserve this?

And why the fuck did Aaden not tell them? You don't group together with other survivors like this just to fucking check out-

"You bitch." Balthazar turns to look at Kinah, the harsh glow of her summoned Hidden Power causing the canine to almost instinctively shrink back. Did she really plan to fight whatever this thing truly is? A death wish or desperation, there's no difference here. "You and all of your kind. I'm so sick of all of you tearing around this world like it's your own private playground. I'm through with all of you! Do you hear me? I'm THROUGH!"

There is no point. With no effort, the undead flings Kinah aside and puts out her flames as though she is nothing but an ant in the path of a grown human. They cannot do anything, can they? Balthazar feels just as small and worthless as she did the same day Iris died, unable to fight back. Aaden is infected, all of them either can't or won't fight back...

"Through? Through? Yes, I threw. You. Right across the room. Monsters, beasts, preying on little ones; I don't fear you and your tough talk."

Her crazed laughter and the flash of flat, yet still bloodied teeth only makes Balthazar shake more. They're going to die here, isn't she? Yes, that's certainly what's going to happen. But the funniest thing is...she wants her death to happen. All this time, Balthazar believed she could keep going forward, and all it took was this fucking psychotic plant to turn that on its head. There is no escape, no way to defeat it in battle, and certainly no way to convince it to back down.

Dying...

Would she get a chance to see Iris again, or her sister's children? Does the universe have enough empathy left in itself to at least grant her that?

"I don't fear your kind. I judge your kind, oh yes. Yes. I have a lot more blood to shed here tonight."

Balthazar painfully draws herself up closer to her full height, her head pounding from the weight of her sister's screaming and this monstrosity's constant laughing. If she is going to die, then she won't beg for her life. No, Balthazar will not suffer that humiliation.

"Then just do it," she growls, forcing the words past the blood in her mouth. Some part of her hopes that this thing will focus on killing them individually; if her death takes time, then maybe, just maybe, the others can act, more so than they already have. Just focus on her, not anyone else..."Just kill me, you fucking rotting bitch! If anyone here deserves to die first, it's me."

(I hope this is ok, I can change anything if anyone needs me to vnv)