The ICIRRUS Team

Kinah stared at the Deerling with a wary eye. Even without Paladin saying so it was too obvious that it was infected. His case didn't seem to help assuage her fears. "Too be honest, I can't answer your question, she was a good friend of mine- I mean our's- before the infection..." Was he kidding? Really? Just because they were friends before he was willing to risk their lives?

She shook her head and took a couple of steps back. All of her instincts were screaming not to trust this creature, but...she really wanted to stay with her new group. If she shunned Paladin's friend, would he shun her? After finally finding a friend in this nightmare could she really risk losing it?

"I'm obviously smaller than these guys... So I won't attack them... Mmm..." 'WHAT?!' Kinah screamed in her head. Her expression dropped and a momentary look of terror crossed before she was able to school her face back into its normal, impassive state. Listening to Draol try to make excuses for it being able to talk didn't help much. Then he just walked off, what was with this group? She looked over to Paladin, then to the Deerling, then back again. She sighed deeply. She just knew she was going to regret this...

"Okay Paladin, for you I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. BUT, if it tries anything funny, like trying to take a bite out of me, I'll end it. Past ties be damned." She crossed her arms defiantly and looked off to the side, pretending to be interested in something off in the distance. "So," she finally said after a few moments, "What's your name doe?"

"Okay Paladin, for you I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. BUT, if it tries anything funny, like trying to take a bite out of me, I'll end it. Past ties be damned." Paladin nodded. "it's a deal then. Thank you, Kinah." he smiled kindly, glad that she gave Pure a chance.

Paladin stared at Pure. He gave a small frown. "She doesn't really remember us, does she?" he whispered in a sad voice. "I may just be putting ourselves to our own death." he scowled for a bit, turning his head away.

"How can I? If no one trusts me, how can I earn it then?" Paladin barely heard her quiet voice. 'You're half infected. That's why no one can trust you.' is what he wanted to say, but it was too rude and he decided not to. She was a friend after all, right?

"Hey... I think we shouldn't stay at the Tower here anymore but instead travel around. if an infected know we're here they might alert their friends and we could get in more trouble. If we travel around a lot, we can avoid that, hopefully." Paladin suggested, staring at the remains of Annie's corpse and Blade's armor.

Draol stopped dancing after he heard about leaving the tower to explore, but Draol remebered somthing. "Shouldn't we go back to check everything, I thought you guys said something about a secret base underground. Did you get to check it out? Actually wouldn't a secret base be better saftey? We could lock it up, be safe, and easily keep an eye on her. I'm not saying we shouldn't be going out, but the secret base option is still there." Draol was thinking to himself if he should even be trying to suggest things, I mean he did give off a very bad first impression, would he even be heard?

Pure, what an ironic name, Kinah thought to herself. Still, she seemed to be trying to fight the infection, the unfortunate thing. Kinah's sensitive ears picked up Paladin's outward introspection, and though she wanted to scoff at him she refrained. Paladin seemed pretty fond of the doe, he probably didn't even notice that he kept inching towards her. So it wouldn't be her place to disparage him. She even managed to hear Pure mumbling to herself, though she had purposefully placed herself far from the infected. In doing so, she could only pick up noise, not the words.

"Hey... I think we shouldn't stay at the Tower here anymore but instead travel around." Kinah nearly whooped at the idea. She couldn't wait to get out of this Arceus-forsaken place. She had only been in this place a few days and wasn't planning on staying any longer than necessary. It was crawling with infected, and had nothing left worth salvaging. She clapped Paladin on the shoulder and gave him a broad grin. "That, mate, is the best idea I've heard all day."

"Shouldn't we go back to check everything, I thought you guys said something about a secret base underground." Now Kinah scoffed. "Are you daft? Secret base? What kind of a loon goes around suggesting that there is a never before discovered...never mind." She stopped herself. She could see even Draol having misgivings about the idea, she didn't need to rant to him about it. She shook her head sighing, "Sorry friend, didn't mean to just tear into you. It's just that I've been up and down this place for the last few days, before running into you lot. I would have found something like that." She gave Draol a small smile.

"Really, Paladin is right, we should be moving. The longer we stay in one spot the more likely we are to attract the infected. We will be harder to track if we don't stay in one spot too long." She turned back to said Zweilous. "So where to first fearless leader?" she said to him with a smirk.

((OOC: Refering to Kinah using the word 'mate', usually it is used when two male friends refer to each other, hardly ever by girls, but Kinah is kind of a tomboy as a Mienfoo. haha. So it just flows with her.))

"That, mate, is the best idea I've heard all day." Paladin grinned back as he moved towards Blade's armor. He flipped it over only to find a few words. "This is a gift given to Blade by his family,please be safe -Kairi" He read. he smiled. "His family must've really love him." he muttered as he dragged the remaining bloodstained armor towards Annie's leftover bodyparts.

He quickly dug a hole and pushed the armor and parts in, the covered the whole. He frowned and gave a long sigh. "Rest in peace, Annie and Blade." he said. he noticed Blade's old headband and grabbed it, suddenly having an idea.

"Hey! Pure! here, have this. Wear is around your neck so we can distinguish you from the other infected." he smiled, giving it to Pure. "And of course you can come!"

"So where to first fearless leader?" Paladin smiled. "How 'bout we go towards Olivine? There's lots of water there."

"Oh Blade I hardly knew ye, but anyone that lives in this world is a friend in my book, and as such every undead flesh addict will pay!" Draol looked at Pure, "Except you of course." Draol didn't want to frieghten her after saying that, but if or when the time came Draol would have one clean swipe ready with her name on it.

"Alright then, lets head out. After you." Draol stuck his arm out in the direction of Olivine. Draol wanted to be ahead as protection or sacrifice, but didn't want Paladin to feel like he couldn't handle things. But he was still going to stay behind to watch his back and Kinah and Pure's fronts.

"How 'bout we go towards Olivine?" Kinah shrugged, she didn't really have anything to say about the suggestion. She hadn't been to that town yet, but the idea of finding a lot of water meant there would be places for infected to hide until they were right on top of you. However, there could be a way to get back to Unova. She sighed, what a dilemma.

She had watched Paladin give Pure the red rag from the pile of metal. If the doe wore that around her neck they would be a matching set. She snickered at the idea. Paladin was so obvious...to everyone but himself.

As the group started to move out, she slowly inched herself towards Pure. "By the way, I'm Kinah. I'm sorry if I offended you earlier." She gave a tentative smile to the infected. "Just over-cautious I guess. Selenia used to always tell me that I was paranoid enough for the entire team. I once held us up only ten minutes from town because I heard a strange noise rustling in the brush. Wound up only being an Audino. I never heard the end of it." She ended with a small chuckle. Between Selenia and Tarik that story had to have been all over Unova before Kinah was sent away. If only she could see them again...

Paladin perked up as he smelled something familiar. "Berries!" he rushed indoors the Tower to find a old, dirty, leather bag with 3 Oran Berries and a single Sitrus Berry inside. He dragged it outide. "We found a few berries!" his other head exclaimed, happy they found some food.

True Paladin angled his head to the sky. "Move out? Ready to move out?" Paladin frowned. "It's getting dark. I'm worried that there will be more infected trying to attack us in the dark." he said. "It's almost night already." he dragged the bag towards the group more. "And it's a slightly long way to go to Olivine from here, especially if we get caught by an undead."

"How about we put off the idea of going to the next city for a bit- and rest in the Tin Tower? It's not as run down as the Burned. We should rest there. We just had a battle, afterall." he suggested.

"Ok, seems a little more roomier and durable than the previous one." Draol looked at the berries as his stomach began to ache in hunger. "You guys can have those. I prefer to find my own and share the extras. And please don't follow, night time isn't only the undead's time to come out... it's mine too."

With that final statement he left to find some dinner to fill his belly. In his travels he found a leppa berry and an oran, when afterwards he couldn't find anymore. Draol began to walk towards the Tin Tower when he heard somthing in the trees. Knowing it wasn't a friend he jump foward when a Spearow dashed towards him and brought its feet down to grab Draol's arms to bring in the air.

Draol struggled to make the thing let go but then realized it was head for the Tin Tower. "This creature must have followed me when I left and now suspects more food." In order to protect his friends Draol used his tusks to cut the feet off and then quickly grabbed what was left of the legs to pull himself up. Once he had enough of a grip he flipped upsidedown with his feet on the chest and began to perform a "bodyquake". This killed the Spearow and made it stat crash towards the Tower with Draol still at hold. Draol reposition the body to use as a shield and started to crash through the roof on the floor and through the body. All that could be seen was a pile of guts. But from the the darkest corners of this pile a bright light began to emerge. Is it finally his time?

Kinah felt a little better when Pure gave her that small smile. At least she didn't come across as a total prat with that apology. "Move out? Ready to move out?" Kinah looked towards the sky, darkness wasn't safe and the sun was almost gone. She was about to say so when Paladin beat her to it.

"How about we put off the idea of going to the next city for a bit- and rest in the Tin Tower?" Kinah nodded at Paladin's suggestion. She herself had been staying at the monastery just beside it, and knew the Tower to be relatively infected free. "I agree," she told him. "It is the safest place here in town. From what I have observed these last couple of weeks, these 'things' seem to run on instinct, and something keeps telling them to stay away from that Tower. Like they weren't allowed to when humans where here. I was resting in the monastery and saw for myself that they don't really go near it."

She shook her head when Draol agreed but then decided to head off into the oncoming night anyway. She turned back to her companions and headed with them towards the Tower. At least, since Paladin had found food, they would be able to rest and eat when inside. And rest she did, for as soon as they had secured the doors she went to the center of the bottom floor and flopped, unceremoniously, onto her back and let out an exhausted yawn. She smiled lazily at Pure and Paladin, munching slowly on her berry, before laying her head back to stare at the ceiling. She didn't know how long she was in that position but she certainly wasn't prepared when Draol, and something else she couldn't quite see, came crashing through the roof in an explosion of blood and gore.

Kinah sprung to her feet, a serious scowl on her face as she brushed the fleshy bits hanging off her arm onto the floor, and stormed towards Draol. "You better be alright because I am about to kick your arse!" She didn't like being so rudely interrupted so close to a nap. It was then she noticed the glow forming around the center of the piled remains. '...Not again' she thought to herself. Everyone but her, figures.

Paladin nodded as he ate his berry and curled up to rest. "Lots of infected. Top floor." Remembering what Pure had said a few minutes ago, he felt unnerved. What if the infected suddenly come down from the top to eat them? Paladin lifted his head, stretching out a arm. He stared at it for a good five minutes before gaving a sigh.

Suddenly, he heard the crash and visibly winced, his ears beating. "Aslkjdkjfds...." Angry Paladin mumbled as a piece of wood hit him right on the head. Angry paladin immediately fell unconscious as True Paladin looked surprised.

"You better be alright because I am about to kick your arse!" he gave a small chuckle as he watched Draol glow. "Huh..." he frowned. "He's turning into a Haxorus." he looked to the ground for a moment, remembering memories of the past. "I wonder what's Prince up to. He has to be alive still." Paladin mumbled, ignoring the commotion. He looked at himself. "And will I evolve one day, too?"

"Ugh, not the best landing but it'll have to do." Drraol covered his mouth as he heard a new deeper voice coming from it. Draol felt as if a change had occured to him, he looked at his arms and body and saw somthing tougher and stronger than what he was."Heh, what do you know I was wondering when this time would come." Draol looked at the hole created by him on the roof and noticed some sleeping undead birds uptop. "Well at least I didn't wake them--" Draol's relief was interupted by the growling of his stomach, which also woke the fly beasts.

"You just had to ruin everything didn't you." He looked at his stomach with disappointment then began to pull the two berries he found from under his armor and devoured them. During all this every last bird was fly to the one that awaked them with anger. "All right, time to get to work." Al the birds started to go past him as Draol was what seemed like just shaking his head. After the last one flew past him al of them glided towards the wall behind Draol and split into two before they slammed against the wall. He turned to Paladin and Pure to introduce himself. "I am Draol the Haxorus." He felt a kick in the rear and exclaimed "Ow!"

"Ow!" Kinah gave an angry glare. Though Draol was now well over three feet taller than her, with a good few hundred pounds on her too, she didn't let it affect her a bit. He gave her a fright, and like any dramatic fool she was really pissed about it. Despite his exclamation of pain, she knew her swift kick wouldn't have damaged him. She didn't even put any real force behind it and with that new armor, come on. Giving him a once over, she huffed angrily and crossed her arms. "Glad to see you aren't dead."

She walked back over to her spot in the center of the floor and flopped back down. Though now the once peaceful room had a huge hole in the ceiling and was decorated in blood and entrails from the birds Draol slaughtered, she was still determined to rest. Casually raising one hand in the air she generated a small amount of energy into it, then let it fade. She kept repeating this task, as though generating a Force Palm over and over was soothing her. She let the last energy snuff out before sitting up and curling her legs in. "No one bother me unless it is an emergency, I need to think," she called out into the room. With that said she closed her eyes and began to meditate, trying to clear her mind of all distraction, focusing on her power. 'So close', she thought, 'So close now...'

Her meditation soon drifted into a peaceful rest, her body relaxed but her mind still sharp and vigil for any sign that she was needed. But still, other than sleep, this would be the best thing for her body to repair.

((OOC: Kinah doesn't know the move Meditate, but she does still actually meditate as a form of relaxation and reflection))

"No one bother me unless it is an emergency, I need to think," Both paladin's gave a small nod. Angry Paladin watched Pure. "Relax, he just evolved. Evolution is when we suddenly grow stronger, you might evolve one day too." he whispered, hoping Kinah won't be distracted by the noise.

Both paladin's head curled as they slumped in a comfortable position. True Paladin watched Kinah meditate. "Maybe I should learn how to do that too." he muttered to himself, his mind tired. Finally he fell asleep along with his other head.

Draol looked at his friends with an upset expression for wanting to go out and fight somthing because of his new evolution. "Wow you guys sure were tired I can't even let out a single yaw--" *THUMP* With that final say Draols overworked body fell to the ground for some sleep, also leaving a cut through the flor from his head blades.

Kinah's mind had started wander. She kept her senses alert for danger, however she couldn't stop old memories from surfacing. Laughter, lot's of it. She was running around inside Pinwheel forest with her two best friends Selenia and Tarik. Their trainer had stopped to rest for lunch and decided to let everyone out to have a little fun. Selenia had just evolved into a Servine and they were testing out her new abilities. Tarik was still a Deino and was amazed at how easily Selenia kept sneaking up on him. It wasn't long before they were wrestling and created a mock battle. Though Kinah couldn't match Selenia's speed, the grass type was no match for her Acrobatics. It was, and still is today, a move she adored. Not to mention very proud of perfecting after her trainer had used the TM on her only a month prior.

The memories shifted, to a time when Selenia was a Serperior and Tarik a brand new Hydreigon. They were celebrating again, for Tarik, but Kinah was feeling a little down. Tarik's evolutions where so rapid, their trainer using him constantly to level up and get him his final evo. But, in doing so, had forgotten about her. Her evolution was forgone for Tarik's because his were harder to achieve, and he had two. Why couldn't her trainer understand that her evolution had such tremendous attack skills that he would never need another fighting type? Back at Dragon Spiral Tower, her mother was a powerful Mienshao, too good for most trainers to catch her. But alas, the day came when she was finally caught, by a child no less, and Kinah was left alone.

Another shift, and Kinah was standing in the lobby of the Pokemon Center, waiting for her trainer to finish his call. Her ears perked up when she heard him mention Mienfoo. Sneaking in closer, she eavesdropped on the last of the conversation. "Yeah, she's pretty useless to me now that I have the evolutions on everyone else. I don't have a psychic so your Espeon would be perfect." Kinah couldn't believe her ears. Her? Useless? She shook her head, no way. Of course he must be talking about someone else, someone still in storage that he caught a long time ago and never used...right? Then she was dragged upstairs...to the Trade Center.

She almost cried, but Selenia and Tarik were following her upstairs in a panic. Even they couldn't believe that she was being sent away, not when she was only a dozen levels from evolving! It wasn't fair! Kinah struggled and snapped at her trainer. She didn't want to go! Her friends were here, her HOME was here! But, when she was stuffed into her pokeball and placed in the machine, a bitterness sank into her heart. Whoever was on the other end of this contraption would wish they never even HEARD of a Mienfoo. She wasn't happy about this and was going to make life absolutely miserable for anyone that tried to act like they were her boss.

THUMP Kinah snapped out of it when she heard the loud noise, quickly jumping to her feet in a defensive stance. She sighed, it was only Droal. He was all flopped over on the floor, and from the looks of it might have gotten his head blades stuck in the floor. She snickered, that would be a funny sight indeed. Looking around she noticed that her other companions where curled up asleep as well. Shrugging, she decided that she wouldn't bother with trying to sleep, not with the haunting memory of her betrayal once again so fresh in her mind. She began doing a series of kata, each move becoming more and more precise the longer she performed. They were fueled by her pain, by her love of her friends, by this place and the hope of seeing home again. 'Not long now' her mind whispered. 'Only a couple more levels...'

The next major battle could decide everything.

((OOC: Long post is long...took everything I had to keep to the five paragraph limit. Almost couldn't do it. ^_^))

((OOC: Since basically everyone's sleeping 'cept for Kinah and Pure, do you guys wanna Timeskip? Since it's a bit... Boring to just post that you're character is sleeping until the sun comes up again. owo;

If not, just skip me please!))

Draol woke up from his slumber when he realized he was laying on his bed! In shock Draol looked outside to reveal his village was safe and sound. "It was all... just a horrible dream." He looked at himself and saw that he was back to a small Fraxure and back with his family, who had just brought back dinner. "Oh boy am I hungry I just had the worst nightmare, I was last of our kind and all the pokemon became possesed or somthing and I met new friends and--" Draol's father, the leader of the village, responded to his statement.

"What do you mean BOY!" His fathers voice became deeper and evil. "IT DID HAPPEN!" Everyone began to laugh to Draols humiliation as their bodies started to rot away. Body parts falling, bones showing Draol couldn't handle this until everthing vanished with nothing left but darkness and Draol in his regular form again.

"Darkrai! Is this you, what I get for not being with them..." Draol began to shed in tears remembering them and losing them yet again.

A evil voice came from no where, speaking to Draol."No you fool! The dark one would have no time for your whinning. No, I've been here the whole time and now, its time I get rid of you!"

Kinah's movements came to a delicate finish, landing gracefully on her right foot. Her stance was though she had finished an intricate dance. She was perched on the tips of her toes with one arm curled around her waist, while the other was held high into the air, her head tucked solemnly to her chest. Her eyes were closed, her breathing soft and even, to anyone who glanced her way she would almost seem to be a living statue with no waver to her posture or balance. Slowly she lowered her arm and her left leg, opening her eyes to the flood of light now pouring through the windows and holes in the roof. It was morning.

Walking over to Paladin she gently nudged him with her foot, trying to stir him. She didn't want to risk bending over to wake him, in case he wasn't a 'morning person', since she would need to be able to swiftly dodge any attempt to dissuade her. "Don't make me come back over here," she joked, trying to mimic Selenia's mother-hen voice. It was how her friend would always rouse her in the morning. She heard a grunt and was satisfied that he would be rousing soon so she turned to find Pure missing. "Hey Doe?" she called out, eyes scanning the area. Nothing, so she chanced a peek outside. There was the little Deerling, curled up outside. "Hey girlie! Time to get everyone up!" she called out, trying for a friendly tone. The last thing Kinah wanted to do was frighten Paladin's friend.

She went back inside to finish getting everyone up for the journey to find Draol thrashing in his sleep. 'Looks like a nightmare...' she thought to herself. Waking a frightened Haxorus could be very dangerous, but she couldn't just leave him like that. She stepped cautiously over to him, gauging his reactions, and placed one paw on his upper arm making sure to stay well away from where his claws could reach. "Draol? Draol wake up, it can't hurt you..." Hopefully her voice could get through to him before he did any more damage to the building, or worse, to himself.