Pokemon: The Walking Dead(IC)

Syther awoke covered in sweat.

He had a dream that he was back home, in Cerulean, and that his Mom and Dad where there. His dad had come home from researching. It was a happy dream, until he saw it come. Out of nowhere, an infected Charizard attacks his house. It eats his Mom and Dad, and turns on him.

He was startled. It was the third time he woke up tonight. The first time he threw Pidgeyotto's body out the window.

He decided that there was enough light in the Gym coming from outside to start searching for supply's. He had found an Iron Pipe when he went to the bathroom earlier this night. He picked it up and begun his search.

He found a room that looked like a destroyed kitchen. The fridge was empty, probably when the gym was evacuated. He searched the cabinets and found a few cans of Pokefood, and human food.

He came upon another room, but it was locked. He knocked out it a few times to see if anyone was inside. He figured no so he smashed through it with his pipe. Inside was a bare room with a desk in the middle.

On the desk there was a Safari Ball and a note. The note said:



Dear Who Ever May Get This,

This gym has been evacuated due to the infection. Unfortunately, we where forced to leave our Tarous behind for undisclosed reasons. As Tauros are only found in the Safari Zone, and the place has been destroyed. Please take him and care for him. He's a great fighter, and he's very friendly.

Thank-you, Julie



Syther picked up the ball and released the Tarous that was inside. The Tarous looked around confused.

"Hey buddy" Syther started "Your trainer, Julie, told me to take care of you from now on. But don't worry, I'm a great trainer. We can be friends."

He patted Tarous on the head and it gave him an affectionate look back. He knew it trusted him.

Syther had found a Phone in the next room over, he thought to call home. He did, but his home phone had been disconnected. He silently prayed to Arceus that his Parents had escaped.

While continuing his search, Syther found another Pokeball, three Super Potions, and a map of the Kanto region. He figured he would have toescape the city on Tarous's back. He knew he would need more food and supply's, and wouldn't get any hear.

He turned to Tarous,

"Your fast? Right?"

Tarous answered by stomping his hooves as if he was ready to take off.

"Well thats good, because for what where about to do, you have to be really fast!"

"Kill it so we can get outta here!"

Misdreavus froze in shock for a moment as the Rapidash immediately began to obey its owner. She couldn't understand what was going on. Why would he try to kill her? He knew she wasn't a walker, and he knew there was another survivor. What was happening?

She managed to snap out of it when the Rapidash got ready to release its attack, and followed her first instinct. She threw herself through the wall behind her.

Misdreavus managed to avoid a direct hit from the move, but the attack hit the wall, which then burst into fiery smithereens. The explosion and heat knocked into her like a sledgehammer and sent her flying quite a distance away. All she felt was burning pain, but at least she was still alive.

She grit her teeth and winced, having to concentrate to turn herself invisible now that she was hurt. Luckily it was still night time, which aided her efforts. However, any sudden surprises might get her to drop her guard and become visible again. She wasn't safe yet.

Concentrating hard, her movements slow and laboured, she began to make her way back to the relative safety of the Pokemon Tower.

Helen
Helen kicked a rock on the ground, "James said saving people is the only thing to do, that way if we die, we'll know we saved more than just our own lives." She stretched, being stuck in a car made her restless, "He also said, once we create peace then we can have it. So our plan is to save until we die, or succeed." She smiled, "He also said that feeling sad is selfish, because there's always someone who is worse off than you, and that is why we never feel sad about anything!"

Jackson Wells​

Jackson's brows furrowed, glancing over towards Helen from over his shoulder. He looked at her a little quizzically, before looking ahead again, waiting a while before answering.

"... Mmh. If you ask me, it's not selfish to be sad. Being sad is... part of life. Imagine how it'd feel if you kept yourself from being happy, or from being in love. You -need- your feelings if you want to stay... well, human, especially in these times. I mean, I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, but..."

Jackson paused for a moment, raising a hand to brush his fingers through his hair, sighing quietly.

"I just can't imagine what it'd be like to lock away your feelings like that, I guess."

Helen
"Well right now I still have James, so there is no way I can be sad you know! Do you know where I met him?" Helen was tying her hair back, it was getting in her face in the wind, "We were in the same orphanage as kids, I was new because I got transferred there from Johto. They told me I would get adopted in no time when I got there, and I was really excited, but then I met James and we were best friends. The entire time, we would avoid parents so we wouldn't get sepparated, we would always play together. Then when we were 16 we were allowed to leave, so we rented an apartment with the small amount of money the orphanage gave us, went to highschool, and transferred to the same college." Helen looked at the sky, "That was when he asked me out, at college I mean. People there said we were the best couple, even the yearbook club voted us."

She sat on the ground, "When the outbreak started, the first thing he did was run across campus with a few friends to save me. Then we tried to help the rest of the school." She became slightly more melancholy, "We saved 50 out of about 600 or something students and adults." She didn't say anything more after fading off the last sentence.

James
After she gave him her name, James laughed merrily "Marshmallows? That is so sweet! I thought you were the kind of person to eat rocks and nails you know. I like your name though, Paige, I could say it all the time." James walked at a steady, calm pace behind her, "Peanuts are so delicious though, it truly is a shame you can't eat them." He thought for a moment, "You know what, I promise to find you some marshmallows, peanut free! I bet Misty would be able to tell us where to find them."

They walked through the town, arriving at the gym, "Well this is where Misty is holed up, she cleared most of this town from what I heard, though I saw some brutes back there so maybe that is a myth." He knocked on the gym door, "Misty, it's me James!"

"James with Jessie, or James with Helen?" Came a female voice

"Uh, the second one!" James looked hurt, "Do I really sound like that fellow? I better change my voice..."

The door opened and there stood a woman with orange hair, "What is the matter James? I didn't expect to see you again." She muttered under her breath, "Just my luck."

"Well we are not here to try and save you again, we just need a bit of gas and maybe tell me where I can find marshmallows." He added in quickly, "Without peanuts!"

"Who is that? Where is Helen, are you cheating? I hope not, Helen is a wonderful girl." James shook his head vigorously, "So just a straggler you picked up huh. Well there is a gas station a mile down that street, though it is infested with dead people. It is a magnet for travelers through here who go there and get ambushed, I'd set up a safety post there but when I took a clearing party, two people were bitten."

"Does it have marshmallows?"

"I'd imagine so, though like I said..."

James interrupted her, "Thanks Misty! Next time I'll bring Helen and we can chat again." Misty sighed as James had already walked off. "Misty you have my radio frequency right!?" He yelled back.

"Yeah!" She yelled, then said to herself "That man is going to get himself killed." She walked up to Paige, "That man is a good man, though he is a bit dim, you should probably stay here in case he does get himself into trouble, would hate for two dead travelers in one day. Though it may be safer for him if you go." Misty shrugged, "I don't really care, though I would need an answer soon. I have about 30 people in refuge in there."

He grasped Pikachu closely to his chest, and ran straight down Route 1.

"Pikachu ... it'll be all right buddy ..." Rick stammered, wiping tears from his eyes. But it didn't look fine, Pikachu was a paler yellow before, and the area of skin around the bite mark was purple and yellow. His condition was already bad, and it was going to get worse, and worse, and worse.

Rick knew which City they'd reach next, Pewter, that is said to have a Threat Level 3, one higher than Pallet Town. Pikachu would have to be released soon if Rick wanted to survive without the illness, he knew it. He'd have to say goodbye to his best buddy, the one he'd had since the start, the beginning.

They entered Pewter City carefully, and Rick heard Pikachu groaning quietly, "Pika ... Pika ...". Rick couldn't hold in the tears, and he burst out crying, so upset, so devastated.

Syther began to pack all of his supplies in a backpack he found. He returned Blastoise to it's ball and safely secured it in his jacket.
He lookd out the window of the gym and saw the sun, it looked about Noon. He quickly opened the door, stuck his head out, then returned and slammed it shut.
"No sign of the Beedril" he said to himself.
He knew they where there though. When he first entered the city it looked clear, but they came fast. He knew right when he left the door that he had about 10 seconds to get out of the city before they would get on him.
He knew this was life or death. But he also knew that if he didn't do this he would eventually starve as he was low on food for himself and his pokemon. He might as well try this when he his at full strength.
He let Tarous out of it's ball.
"You ready for this" He asked
Tarous nodded as if to say he was born ready.
He strapped on his bag and held on tight. He climbed on Tarous's back and kicked the door open.
"LET'S DO THIS TAROUS!" he yelled as Tarous took off.
Everything was a blur, he saw Beedrill coming up behind him but he knew there was no way they would catch him. They made it through the city and kept going until they made it to the docks.
He recognized this place as Route 12. He slowed down a bit then looked around. He seemed safe while on the dock, but he could see infected wild Pokemon snapping at him from the waters. He found a house on one of the docks and checked the door. It was locked.
"Hello" he said as he knocked "Anyone there, I'm a trainer."
No answer.
He used his pipe to bust down the door. He walked in and saw an infected Magikarp flailing around. He beat it down with his pipe.
He inspected the house and found it was clear of the infected out side of that Magikarp. He found a bed and remembered how long it had been since sleeping in one. He and his Pokemon ate, and he went to bed.
Tomorrow he knew where his destination would be.
Lavender Town.

Eric cursed loudly as the pokemon just barely escaped his onslaught. Recalling his pokemon, he prepared to chase after it when he began to become aware of a series of low growls. Turning towards the door, he instantly noticed a large group of walkers gathering outside. The battle had alerted the few zombies that could be found in the small town.

Realizing that he had very little chance of escaping if he made a run for it, he replaced both pokeballs on his belt and quickly dashed towards the door, slamming it shut. Taking a look around, he grabbed what little furniture he could find and began pushing it up against the entrance in the hopes of keeping them out.

A shattering of glass broke out in the east side of the room as an undead beedrill began to force its way through. Reacting almost instantly, he grabbed his baseball bat off of the floor where he discarded it earlier and charged to the creature, swinging at it with all of his might. The blow connected and one of the creature's stingers was knocked clean off.

Bringing his bat in for another blow, he quickly knocked off the creature's head and began retreating into the treatment room in the back of the center. Barricading that door with gurnies and medical equipment, he pressed down against it, applying all of his weight to the door as the walkers began to pummel it. Slowly Eric's strength was being sapped.....

If it kept on, he wouldn't last much longer.

"Sun." A soft yet raspy voice spoke, breaking through the silence that had lasted hours, "We've made it." The woman didn't sound very happy, but she didn't sound unhappy either. She was a dry, emotionless thing. Behind her lay a large collection of buildings and houses that used to be called Saffron City. The disease had broken out and spread very quickly in the city, making Jun's job as a nurse near-impossible. After the disease got out of control, the Pokemon Center turned into a boarded up safe house where they managed to live undetected for a week or so. Soon, the place was broken into and overran with walkers, so the small framed woman did something that nobody expected her to be capable of: She fought her way out of the Pokemon Center and into the infected city.

When she had gotten into the streets, things were no better than inside the center, if not worse. Jun was so covered in blood that she fit in to the gruesome scene. The walkers that lined the streets didn't seem to recognize her as uninfected, so they seemed to let her pass by. She continued to walk for a few hours until she reached a safe spot between Saffron and Cerulean. She had decided to wash off her camouflage in a small pond, although it saved her she didn't want it to get into any open wounds. The route seemed to be empty of walkers, except in the distance a few dotted the horizon, but they wouldn't see her.

The woman opened up the backpack she had thrown together before escaping. Inside were a few potions, some cans of food, bags of bandages and other medicines, and finally a bone saw. Jun managed to fight her way out using a large-ish scalpel, and didn't need the terrifying saw. Although she had no idea what to do with the saw, as no walker would stand still and let her saw its head off, but it might come in handy later. She looked back to the Scalpel and realized it had dulled and bent a rather large amount, making it utterly useless.

Jun didn't know much about fighting, and wasn't very physically strong, so she was not able to overpower most walkers, which made her scalpel the most important tool she has. Without it, she has almost no chance of survival unless she can find another weapon. She hoped to find a car so she wouldn't need a weapon, as she could solve most of her problems by fleeing, but cars were rare to find, and the ones you did find had no gas, no tires, or missing parts.

The one thing Jun feared as much as the walkers were bandits. Ruthless people whose minds have been twisted by this horrible event, giving them no remorse for others. Jun couldn't blame them though, as she would do the same if given the opportunity. She didn't have much to take, but if others were to see that her Clefairy- Sun, had the move protect and was immune, that might become a target.

Sun had saved the nurse's life while she was trying to escape. The injured pokemon managed to generate enough power to use protect and shield her as they ran out of the crowded front room of the Pokemon Center. The attack wore off shortly after, but the fact that it was used is also the only other reason why Jun is still alive. She believes Sun was given to her by fate, and she was meant to survive. She was meant to do something important in this new world. At least that's what she liked to believe.

Finally, the Clefairy who had been travelling with her stood up. The injuries she had received were pretty bad and she was unable to walk, and needed to be carried. Sun soon felt the tremendous pain from the bite wounds on her mid-section and legs, causing her to topple over. "Clefff!" She cried out, but was muffled by Jun. She sprayed a potion onto the pokemon's wounds and picked her back up, to continue along the road. "If we can find a pokeball, your injuries will heal much faster..." She thought aloud, as if the Clefairy knew where to find one. She didn't.

Eventually, after taking many long paths to avoid walkers and undead pokemon, the duo had arrived in Cerulean City. It was not as she expected, as she hoped it would have barricaded sections with small settlements, but that was not the case. It was pretty much a ghost town from what she could see. Sun had been able to walk now, as the potion eased her wounds. There were quite a few walkers all around, but she was able to sneak about without them noticing. She had found a pokemon center along the way into the center of the city, so she decided to see if she could scavenge anything useful. She entered through a shattered window which she presumed was made by a bandit because it was perfectly cleared of all glass as if someone scraped the edges to remove the jagged pieces. Inside there was not much. All of the walkers that had been in there before were already dismembered by whoever beat her there, and there were no supplies to be found. She searched every room, until she decided leaving without a weapon wouldn't be a good idea, so she looked under the counter, where most nurses keep a weapon of some sort. There was nothing there. She continued to look through the building until she settled on using a metal curtain rod which had decorative glass orbs on each end. She removed the curtains from it and broke off the orbs, giving her a four-foot long pole with pointed, jagged edges. She climbed out the window and headed for the pokemon gym, where she saw an opportunity to do some scavenging if it were abandoned. She impaled a walker's head on her way, which made Sun cringe. The two approached the gym, and Jun gulped, hoping this wouldn't prove to be a mistake.

Millie had slowly rejuvenated as she cooked some meat and a few vegetables on a heated stone over a fire. She really did love cooking, and she supposed that even a zombie invasion couldn't completely take that away from here, even if it did limit her choice of ingredients and utensils. Sadly, she hadn't thought to bring a frying pan or pot or anything to the tour, but she did lug in some oil which was always helpful.

Chewing on her haphazard kebab and determinedly not looking at the sad little grave nearby, she started to think for possibly the first time since... well.

They couldn't just stay in the tower forever. It was probably a lot safer here than anywhere else, due to the Ghost Pokemon living there. They left her alone, due in part to the insistence of Misdreavus, but they attacked any of the infected who even tried to invade their home. Living there might do for a while, she supposed, but she would have to emerge to get food and supplies. It wasn't the most comfortable place, though, and she shuddered to think of what it would do to her to spend the rest of her life in a giant graveyard, whithering away to nothing.

Growlithe wouldn't have wanted that. But Growlithe was dead and she was alone.

It was then that she heard a feeble cry call out to her. She spotted Misdreavus wobbling through the air and obviously in a lot of pain. Without thinking, Millie ran over to the Pokemon and gathered Misdreavus up in her arms. For one panicked moment, she thought Misdreavus had been overcome by one of the infected. Then common sense reinserted itself. The infected couldn't harm Misdreavus.

"What happened?" she wondered aloud, carefully carrying Misdreavus over to her supplies. She had three Potions that she'd pilfered from a couple of houses in Lavender, before she made her way up the tower. It wouldn't do much, but it would help.

If a walker couldn't hurt Misdreavus, then it had to be a living Pokemon. And from the looks of the scorch marks, it was a Fire-Type. Which meant that there were people alive out there, somewhere.

"Drea," Misdreavus sighed as the Potion took away some of the pain. Millie smiled a little in relief. Of course she wasn't alone, she had Misdreavus. And there were other people out there, and maybe some of them needed help. Maybe she could do something instead of wallowing here with the dead, acting as though she'd died as well.

With a newfound sense of purpose, Millie began to pack up her supplies once more, leaving Misdreavus to eat the small meal she'd saved. It would probably be best to try and find some proper Pokemon food soon so that the rations couldn't last longer. Millie wondered whether the infected people or Pokemon ate any actual food or whether they spent their days shambling around and looking for people to bite. It's not like they needed sustenance, since they were pretty much already dead.

By the time she was done packing, Misdreavus had finished her portion of the food and was looking much better. Millie hesitated for a second before clasping a hand around her shovel.

"You up for going outside?" she asked gently. Misdreavus did an experimental lap in the air and decided she was fit for fighting off any infected that came their way.

"Drea!" she responded positively. Misdreavus was really excited that Millie was sounding more herself now. It had been incredibly scary for her to see her owner being so devastated and acting like such a dry shell. Then again, everything was incredibly scary nowadays, so she should probably get used to it soon.

~*~

Lavender was a small town, which meant that the moment they stepped out they could see and hear the small horde of infected climbing through the hole in the wall of the Pokemon Center. Obviously there was somebody in there; probably still alive, otherwise the infected wouldn't be so excited.

Misdreavus didn't like the sudden look of dermination on Millie's face. Not when she knew that whoever in there was likely the one who tried to kill her so very recently.

"Right," Millie said in her no-nonsense voice. "We can't take them all on, especially with you in your condition. We need a distraction."

She noticed when Misdreavus shrunk away a little bit, and knew it wasn't in fear of the infected. "What's wrong?" she asked, and then connected the dots. "Is whoever in that building the one who hurt you?"

Misdreavus nodded in affirmation. Millie bit her lip. "Misdreavus, if you don't want to help them, you don't have to," she said. "But I can't just let somebody get infected without trying, okay? If I'm going to try to help people, I'm not going to pick and choose who I help. You can do whatever; stay in the Tower, help me out until you feel your safety is compromised and then come to the Tower, or stay with me. It's your choice."

Misdreavus stared at her, eyes wide. There was no choice, when put like that. If Millie was going to try and help a psychopathic bastard either way, Misdreavus couldn't let her do it all by herself. Especially not now.

Millie smiled. "Right, then. Let's do this."

~*~

On the outskirts of Lavender Town, there was an explosion (that may have been caused by a Shadow Ball), and a tree fell over. The large thud served to draw the attention of the infected. The half which weren't crowded around the door slowly moved away, sensing another target. When a number of them emerged outside the Pokemon Center, a beam of light shot upwards from the spot where the explosion happened (which may have been caused by a Psybeam), almost like a giant target.

Millie readied herself and took deep breaths. When she saw the last of the infected that left was some way away, she lifted her shovel, squared her shoulders, and walked over to the gaping hole in the wall.

"Hey you!" she yelled. "Ugly fellas! Pick on somebody with a shovel!"

The remaining infected were distracted from the door and began to head towards the living being without a door to protect her. Millie gulped and really hoped that either the person or Pokemon behind the door was friendly enough to help her out with clearing the infected, or that Misdreavus will get here in time to help her get out of this alive.

Jackson Wells​

Jackson was still leaned up against the car, staring ahead of himself as he listened to Helen's story. He had stopped scanning the horizon, simply staring at one, specific spot while listening intently, without making it look like he was. A soft frown played on his lips as he recalled how things had been before the entire world had gone to hell and taken majority of the people and Pokémon with them.

Sighing deeply, he lifted a hand to run it across his face. This was when he looked past Helen and James' eccentricities and realized that they -were- just people, who'd had it incredibly rough. He figured that it was because of them not saving that many people back at their school, that they were trying to do that now.

He turned to look over at Helen, smiling faintly.

"Sounds to me like you did way better than I ever could have done. You shouldn't feel bad about 'only' saving fifty people... I mean, that's a -really- big number today."

Just as he was starting to feel depressed about the state of the world as it was and he began slipping into the doubts of whether or not his parents were alive or not, his stomach suddenly let out a loud growl, making his cheeks flush as he rubbed his stomach.

"Uhm... heh, guess I was more hungry than I realized."

He pulled the pack off of his back and rested it on the car's roof, zipping it open as he began rummaging through his scarce supplies for something edible.

Several explosions and cracks broke through the uproar of moaning that Eric could hear through the door and almost immediately after, the force being applied to the door diminished greatly as a massive chunk of the undead that were after him began to walk off in another direction.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Eric quickly jumped into action, backing away from the door and allowing the undead to begin pushing through the barricade. As they were occupied in doing so, he took off his bag containing both the eggs and his supplies and set it in the corner along with the pokeball containing his Rapidash. He didn't want to risk getting her infected.

After he was sure his assets were in order, he picked up his bat and turned around just in time to see the first walker burst through the open doorway. This one was human.

Charging at the creature, he launched forward in his assault, bashing off one of its arms and then kicking it backwards into the group of walkers that had followed after her. As it crashed into them, the entire group toppled over and before they could get up, he quickly charged down upon them, stopping them down so that they would lose their balance and then smashing in their heads.

After the group attacking him had been dealt with, he quickly turned and gathered his things.

Whatever distracted them won't last very long... He thought as he charged out the door in an attempt to make a break for the tower. Before he made it there, however, he saw the point where the walkers were gathering-- A girl.

Stopping in his tracks, he scanned her for a moment and instantly spied the various pans and other cooking utensils hanging off the side of her bag and he could only think of one thing: Food

Feeling he was a safe enough distance away, he grabbed Rapidash's pokeball and released her, the flash of red light attracting several of the zombies.

"I know you've already used it once today, but if you can, fire off a Blast Burn at the hoard. It'll burn the flesh right off their yellow bones!"

Nodding to her trainer, Rapidash took a running start at the mob and just before getting within range of their hands she opened her mouth and fired off another inferno into the creatures, taking out a large chunk of them almost instantly. Exhausted after using Blast Burn for the second time, however, Rapidash quickly retreated after firing off her attack-- Only to replaced by Eric running in with his bat swinging. Using up massive amounts of energy, he began to thin out what was left of the dead and if the other human were to help, they'd be gone within minutes.

Syther woke up in the morning and stretched. His back felt better after a nights sleep on an actual bed.

He picked up his back and searched the house for supply's before heading to Lavender. He found cans of food and a fishing rod. He didn't think he would need one but he figured why not. Just like everywhere else, this house had been evacuated and majority of things had been either taken by the owners or looted like he was doing now.

He checked out side and saw that it was clear. He knew it was a short ride over to Lavender. He heard the city was as empty as it was before the outbreak, so it would easily be the safest city in Kanto.

He climbed onto Tauros after eating breakfast, and they took off towards Lavender. A few hours Later he saw the city coming up.
Once he reached, he saw an explosion. His better judgement told him not to go, but he knew that there had to be someone there in trouble that needed help.

Once he reached the city he found that his guess was correct. He saw a girl surrounded by walkers. There didn't seem to be any Pokemon around her to protect her so he knew he would have to help, and fast. Or she would die, or worse, become a walker.

"Tauros, she needs help!" he yelled at the bull he was mounted on, "Quick, Take Down at the walkers!"

Before Tarous could even take off, a Rapidash appeared out of nowhere and roasted the group of walkers. He then saw a reckless boy, who he thought to be the Rapidash's trainer, run in swinging with his bat at the walkers.

He dismounted Tarous, grabbed his pipe and figured he might as well help.

Millie was quickly beginning to feel exhausted, grunting as she managed to bash one of the infected just as it lunged for her. Her blows had quite a bit of strength behind them, but she was very quickly beginning to tire. The sound of hooves didn't even register above the moans of the infected and her own sounds of exertion. It wasn't until she felt a blast of heat to her left that she realised somebody else was there.

The fiery attack seemed to consume a large number of the infected and raised her spirits. With renewed vigour, she went back to swinging her shovel as hard as she could at the heads of the remaining infected. Out of the corner of her eye, she registered two guys entering the fray: one with a baseball bat, charging from the direction of the fire attack, and one carrying a lead pipe, rushing in from a completely different direction.

That was unexpected. With the extra help, it only took a few more swings until all the infected were permanently put down.

When she was sure there were no more of them left, she slowly lowered her shovel. Her heart still throbbed in her ears and her chest was heaving in an effort to help her catch her breath but by Arceus she was still alive. Even though, ugh, she was completely covered in the blood and guts of a bunch of rotting, formerly-animated corpses, which wasn't exactly hygienic. She would have to wash her hands so many times over before she deemed them fit for cooking again.

"So," she said, still trying to catch her breath. She really should've done more exercise than just the heavy lifting she did on a daily basis. She couldn't run to save her life, which was fairly... unfortunate, given the present circumstances. "I'm Millie. Where on earth did you two come from?"

Somewhere in the forest nearby, Misdreavus hovered, invisible. She didn't trust the guy from the Pokemon Center. And she wasn't sure about that new guy, either. She would protect Millie no matter what.

Syther begun to hack like crazy at the swarms of the undead. As the last few fell he was exhausted.

He saw that he wasn't the only one though. The girl seemed as if she was dying of lack of oxygen.

He thanked Arceus that he and the other two were safe. He then came back to his senses and begun to think about the company he was in. He starred down at the girl and then the boy. She looked innocuous, by the looks of it, she didn't have any Pokemon to defend her.

He was a bit suspicious of the boy, but he put that thought aside as bandits don't usually heroically send out there Pokemon to save others.

"I'm Millie. Where on earth did you two come from?" he heard her ask.

"Huh... oh I'm Syther" he started,"I was coming here from Fuchsia and I saw you in trouble. Had to help out. That Tauros over there is mine and I also have a Blastoise."

He wanted to ask if she had any Pokemon, but he discarded that question. Maybe she had but they had been infected and it would bring bad memories. She obviously wasn't having the best day already. But he wondered, how did she survive if she didn't have protection?

He had to ask.

"So... are you a trainer, er... what I mean is, do you have any Pokemon of your own?"

James
"Stop at a house?" James wondered how she knew about the herbs, "Did your grandfather live there?" James immediately felt guilty, "I mean, maybe a friend, or enemy uh." He stuttered. He held his head down, ashamed at such a rude comment, "If you wish I will help you find your herbs, please forgive my manners."

Helen
"Well James has all of our food right now from what I can remember, so the only food we have right now is yours." Helen stretched, "Though I wont eat until he gets back, so don't feel obligated to give me any." Helen sneezed, then went to the car to wipe her nose. "He'll be back soon you know, because he is the strongest guy I know!" She sat down in the passenger's seat and looked at the picture of her lilpup, "I wish I was as strong as he was to be honest."

Eric Khore​

Eric dropped to the ground exhausted after bashing away at dozen or two of the infected. Holding them back at the door earlier had sapped his strength tremendously and by this time, he was running on empty.

Quickly scooting back up against the nearest tree, he turned and stared at the woman for a few moments, calculating exactly how he was going to do this. The woman had some sort of food; the cooking utensils made that apparent and he wanted it. Though taking it by force would probably be easy, considering she had no pokemon visibly with her, but what if she ended up being useful? In his journeys he had passed up a wide variety of food items because he either didn't know how or had no method of cooking them.

Deciding to see how things would play out, he quickly gathered his bearings and pulled himself back to his feet. Taking on an entirely different tone than he normally would, he put on a goofy smile and extended his hand to the two of them in greeting.

"Hiya! I'm Eric. I was the one trapped in the Pokemon Center earlier. Thank you -SO- much, I would have been a goner."

Though he hid it well, he detested speaking to them in such an inviting tone, If he was to befriend them, however, it was a necessary sacrifice.

After shaking both of their hands, he retreated to the tree and dropped to a knee, pulling his bag off of his back. Opening it, he reached in and grabbed the large egg with both hands, setting it softly on the ground beside him.

"I was heading to Saffron to find an Incubator for this little guy....Oh err or girl. My pokemon left this egg to me before she was overtaken by the infection. When it hatches, I'll have a newborn Growlithe."

Telling them about his egg was risky, but hopefully it would allow him to gain their trust.

Jackson Wells​

Jackson smiled and shook his head, pulling out a red apple.

"It's okay. I've got some myself."

He took a large bite out of the apple and chewed on it happily, smiling as he closed his pack again. He watched as Helen moved to the car and sat down in the front seat, looking at a picture of a Pokémon he didn't know.

Letting out a sigh, he kept eating his apple, turning to look across the road next to the pit-stop they were parked on, just on the edge of Cerulean. He'd never been good at trying to cheer up people. Least of all women, so at one point, he just gave up trying and decided it was better for him not to get involved.

After a while of silence, he gave a little shrug, finishing off his apple.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon. Hopefully with a bit of food as well."

Looking across the fields on the other side of the road, he decided to let his Haunter out to scout around the immediate area, just so they'd know if any zombies were coming their way.

As the glow faded from the released Pokémon, Jackson smiled.

"Hey Fog. We're alright, just waiting for the others to come back. Go scout the area, make sure you're not seen."

"Haun haunter~" He replied, turning invisible as he floated off and Jackson sat himself down against the car, pipe resting in his lap as he took a deep breath of air, closing his eyes.