A/N: Yay! My two favorite things combined- Zombies and Pokemon! Now doesn't that sound terrifying. Anyways, I got this idea from that not-so-popular-but-definitely-interesting online Hoenn hack called Pokemon Snakewood. Though to be fair the Hoenn region doesn't even appear. So, anyways, here's chapter one! Please tell me if I should continue. If not I'm taking it down because I have way too many unfinished stories up here and that's just rude.
-:-
"Don't cry for me Fal, I always knew I was meant for something greater." Lips caressed the skin just under his eye where tears of denial had gathered. Pale fingers carded through the hair at the nape of his neck gently, stirring the sensitive area and making Falkner shiver.
"I-" but the words stuck in his throat and the blue-haired man bowed his head over his fallen companion, choked sobs jerking his body heavily as his fingers wound into the purple scarf. His fingers were tangled through the fabric so tightly they felt like they might fall off but he ignored it. There were shadows in the once-bright violet eyes, the same violet eyes that were having trouble focusing on his face. "M-Morty- I- please don't…" The dull eyes narrowed, even as the life fled from them. The hand on Falkner's neck fell to Morty's chest and he slowly, painfully unwound his scarf, pressing it into Falkner's hands.
"Go, go now!" And Morty was changing, his face paling faster than a human should be able to and his lips darkening. Falkner made no move to get away and Morty groaned, shaking uncontrollably before rolling into a ball, clawing at his arms and shoulders and face. Falkner stumbled back a few steps. "Get out of here Falkner!" The scream was followed by the frenzied thrusting of three pokeballs into his hand. "Keep them safe," violet eyes met blue for one brief second before Morty let out an agonized ear-piercing scream and Falkner gathered up the pokeballs and ran.
He stuffed the pokeballs into his backpack quickly, slinging it over his shoulder before pulling out his own pokemon. "Go, Pidgey!" He knew he wasn't as strong as Morty, but he needed to buy himself time to get away.
He dove out of the way of a slimy rotting vine as it slapped against the bark of the tree in front of him. He clamored to his feet, his heart pounding as he took half a second to take in the sight in front of him. The tainted, bloody form of the rotting Victreebell was leaning to the left as though it had lost all equilibrium, the fangs on its lipped mouth bloody. Then the moment was over and he dived away from another slash with the contaminated vines.
"Pidgey use gust!" there was a loud 'kree' and a whirlwind started up to his right. It wasn't enough and he watched, as though in slow motion, the vines speeding from the higher leveled Victreebell wrap around his precious pokemon and tug.
"Pidgey!" but the vines were after him once more; his broken pokemon was left lying on the forest floor as he dashed away, tears blurring his vision and his breath coming in short bursts. He tripped, narrowly missing getting the back of his head stabbed through with a rotting vine. He tried to scramble up but a pair of shoes stepped down on his fingers. He cried out in alarm, trying to tug his hand back and avoid the pokemon at the same time.
"Oh? Is that any way to greet your lover?" and he was hauled to his feet to look straight into the flaking face of someone who could not have possibly decomposed that fast.
"Morty!" Falkner shot up in his bed, hand blurring in motion, whether to grab at the apparition in front of him or to punch it he wasn't quite sure. He was left staring at the beige walls of his small tent in blank confusion when he touched nothing but air.
The burning in his eyes brought the truth crashing down on him. Morty, the insane, brilliant, man with the delusions of future grandeur and obsession with the occult, the only human who had ever captured his heart, was dead. He reached out habitually to take the purple scarf with the red ends and wrap it around his neck.
Morty was dead; the thought was still hard to wrap his head around after weeks. It had happened exactly as in his dream but, he shivered, without Morty's revival. He pulled the four pokeballs on his desk towards him and let them out.
A Pidgeot, two Haunters and a Gengar greeted him. He had trained obsessively in the days after the… incident and had evolved his Pidgeotto and the Gastly that Morty had given him. He still hadn't opened up to another enough for the Haunters to evolve though and so they stayed in their current forms.
"Hey guys." His throat was hoarse from yelling and he was sure that when he exited his tent at least one person would be standing there nervously, wondering if he was alive. Morty's Gengar grabbed the trailing end of the scarf, the grin nonexistent and Pidgeot crooned sadly. He gave them small smiles, which turned out more like grimaces, and went to his pack, pulling out enough food for the four of them to eat. He took none for himself, knowing that his health was much less important than that of his pokemon.
"Falkner, get your ass out here and explain to me why I lost precious hours of sleep last night!" He left the four pokemon to their meager meals and exited his tent quietly. Surprisingly, he had taken up an odd friendship-that-definitely-wasn't with Clair. The ex Blackthorn City gym leader was abrasive and more than a little arrogant and she had taken it upon herself to make sure he kept himself alive.
She eyed him critically, leaning against the impressive bulk of her Dragonite as she drummed her fingers on her arm. Falkner said nothing, already used to the morning ritual of scorning judgment and heavily-veiled mothering. Finally she sighed, tossing him a packaged loaf of melon bread. "Eat." Her eyes caught on the scarf and she turned away, her cape fluttering. "You're not allowed to die of starvation Falkner, we need you." The words were callous but true. Though there were ambiguous pockets of resistance that may-or-may-not have powerful trainers the true base was here in the forests surrounding Violet City.
Out of the eight gym leaders in Johto only three remained, out of the Elite Four only one was confirmed, and the champion was unaccounted for. The Kanto region nearby had even more devastating losses, only having three gym leaders survive and the champion unaccounted for as well- though if rumors were to be believed the ex Virridian City gym leader, Blue, knew more than he was telling.
A mournful 'kree' brought him back to reality and he walked quickly back to his tent. Pidgeot was nuzzling one of the Haunter while the second had retreated to his ball without a sound. As he closed the tent flap behind him the two remaining ghost-type pokemon retreated to their balls and Pidgeot approached him.
The nearly five foot pokemon crooned at him as he sat on the bed, preening him softly, his beak gently sliding through his dark blue hair. He sighed, burying his face into the purple scarf around his neck. The beak went another run through his dirty hair before Pidgeot retreated to his ball. He opened the melon bread slowly, taking a small bite and forcing himself to swallow past the terrible lump in his throat and the grinding of his empty stomach.
"I miss you Morty, I miss you so much." He swallowed tightly, choking back tears, and took a steadying breath. "I guess it's time to go." He stood, taking the four pokeballs and attaching them to his waist band before taking another deep breath and exiting his tent once more, the melon bread left discarded on his bed.
The camp was large, mostly due to the fact that this was where the most protection was. There were tents scattered about, the larger ones used by three or four families sometimes and the smaller ones going to either the well prepared or the gym leaders. He walked through the camp, nodding at the few people who acknowledged him as he made his way to the battle tent.
In front of the entrance flaps were three people and two pokemon, the two people flanking the door were armed with rifles and their pokemon, one of which was a Scyther and the other a Jolteon, were growling rabidly if anyone came close. He turned over his four pokeballs to a harried Nurse Joy who attempted a smile that fell flat and placed them on her scanner.
"Perfectly clean as usual." She reported, handing his pokeballs back to him and nodding to one of the men who opened the flap for him. Falkner walked inside, seeing Clair stalking back and forth between a worn looking Witney and a stoic Koga. She was muttering something about probabilities and Professor Elm. He froze however when he took in the unexpected addition to the group.
"Janine!" And though the two of them had never been the best of friends he abandoned composure and all but tackled her in a hug. The ninja-girl was alive! He pulled away, inspecting her with his eyes as though he would suddenly see some life-threatening wound, "I thought you were dead!"
She shook her head, uncharacteristically pulling him into a hug for a second before pulling away completely, "Dad found me. I was hauled up with Misty on the S. S. Annie." Falkner shakily walked over to one of the couches and sat down heavily.
"So Misty's alive too." He said thoughtfully, his voice shaking as he ran a hand through his ill-kept hair. He failed to notice the inquiring sign language passed between father to daughter when she caught sight of the purple scarf around his neck that very obviously did not go with his outfit. She winced at her father's reply but didn't say anything.
Clair let out a sigh and slammed her hands onto the tables that had been set up in the middle of the room. "Damn it!" Koga sighed, straightening from where he had been leaning against a support beam of the tent and approached the maps spread out.
"So Ecruteak City finally fell." He said, in a tightly controlled voice. Witney bit her lip and glanced over at Falkner whose fists were clenched so tightly in the purple scarf that his knuckles where a bone white. She fiddled with a pigtail and sighed.
"There's still resistance in Goldenrod. I'm going to need to go back there today or tomorrow." Falkner shot to his feet, a protest building in his chest.
"That's suicide Witney! Goldenrod was far too densely populated, those things will be everywhere!" The gym leader once known for being immature and sensitive had long gotten over that; if it wasn't the loss of her city it was watching her disciples in her gym get slaughtered and not being able to do anything about it. She snarled back at him with such venom that Koga raised an eyebrow.
"Don't you dare tell me you wouldn't charge into Ecruteak City right this damn moment and look for survivors, don't you dare even insinuate that I don't know how important I am to this resistance." She had a finger against his chest and her eyes blazing as she took yet another step towards him, whispering, "I have every right to retribution, same as you Falkner. You're not the only one who lost a lover in this Arceus-damned epidemic."
Falkner sat heavily, his heart in his throat. Witney had indeed lost a lover and it was more than callous of him to have forgotten that. A flash of blue-green hair and grinning eyes made him look down in shame. Bugsy was far too gentle to die and the terrible part of the whole thing was that he had survived only long enough for he and Witney to share a single kiss before becoming one of those accursed things and attempting to rip her still-beating heart right out of her chest.
Killing someone you hold dear leaves scars that wipe away even the most stubborn immaturity. Witney had finally grown up, but it was never meant to happen the way it had.
"I'm sorry." He finally whispered into the deafening silence of the tent, his eyes fixed unseeing on the dirt some two feet in front of him. Witney just shook her head and left the tent.
"Witney! Don't go alone!" Clair shouted after her, not bothering to follow. There was no reply and Clair sighed and turned on Falkner, "Way to go bird-brain." She sighed, "Whatever, we need to work out another schedule. We got a couple survivors with Janine and Misty but five of the guards died in the raid earlier this week so the patrol schedule is messed up."
Koga was tracing the map with his finger lightly when Falkner hauled himself to his feet. "I think we can afford another strike on Violet City. Four or five patrols should be okay." Janine slipped to her father's side and eyed his finger.
"I'll go." Falkner volunteered, "One of my bird-keepers, Abe, would be happy to try to get the gym back, and I'm sure I could wrangle up some recruits to help me."
Clair nodded thoughtfully, drumming her once pristine nails on the plastic table-top. "Yeah, I'll have Annette lead another group, and Rochelle another but I don't know anyone else that would be able…"
Janine snorted, "You're forgetting I used to be the gym leader of Fuchsia City and my father is one of the Elite Four. I could easily lead a team."
Koga shook his head, "That's not it." He sighed and pulled another map from underneath. "You don't know the territory very well. I don't think you've even been to Violet City before." Janine snatched the map out of his hands sulkily and looked it over.
"It's not that hard to memorize, I think you're forgetting just who trained me." Koga smirked.
"How could I forget?" He shared a glance with Clair. "Fine, but if you can't recite the entire map from memory by the time we're set to leave I'll lead the group."
"That's too dangerous." Clair protested immediately. "I'm good, but I don't know if only Janine and I can protect the camp if something happens. Misty is still in the hospital for dehydration and head-trauma." Falkner frowned, wrapping the scarf tighter around his neck.
"Head trauma? What happened?" Clair waved the matter away, rifling through the maps for something.
"Some frightened man took a swing at her. She'll be fine." She shot a glance at Janine who was reading the map intently, "You better memorize that; we can't afford for your father to leave our settlement right now." Janine looked outraged.
"I would never cause my father trouble!" Wisely, no one mentioned that he had rescued her and Misty from the S. S. Annie only the night before. Koga calmed her with a warning glance and she immediately turned back to the map in her hands.
"I have full confidence in her." He said mildly, his tone only holding a hint of warning. Falkner decided then, that perhaps it would be best to leave the three of them to it.
"I'm going to get Abe and anyone else who's joining me." Clair hummed in affirmation and he left the tent.
He tapped a finger on the pokeball at his waist containing Pidgeot as he walked through the refugee city. It was rather large for a camp, that was true, and the glass dome overhead had taken weeks to build, costing dozens of lives. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as Abe, one of his bird-trainers, approached him.
He was tall and muscular, with short spikey black hair and he had a young girl propped up on his hip. "Hey boss, something wrong?"
"A little, you up for a reclamation group? We're striking Violet City once everyone's been gathered." Abe nodded slowly, letting his daughter down and watching her run to her mother and begin chattering and pointing.
"Yeah, I guess I'm up for it." He ran a hand through his hair with a sigh, "I guess I'll go get my Hoot-Hoot checked out so I'm ready. If you're looking for new recruits there's a sea of boys who have been bragging about joining up in the community by the nursery. I'll get some of the adults." Falkner nodded and Abe clapped him on the shoulder before walking off in the other direction.
Boys huh. He sighed; he never wanted children to be involved in this. Well, it wasn't like he could complain. One of the boys Morty had picked up and began training was only seven, and he could hold his own well enough.
"Falkner! Take me with you!" Well speak of the devil. Falkner looked down to see the determined expression on the blond seven year old's face. He sighed and kneeled down.
"I know you're good at fighting Jesse." He started, "But you're too small to keep track of. I don't trust myself to be sure you'll survive." Jesse scowled.
"I took care of myself when I was with Morty." Falkner flinched and closed his eyes, his fingers finding the scarf almost too quickly.
"I know that Jesse, please, just… for me?" He asked, a hand on Jesse's shoulder. "I'll make sure to take you on a patrol in a few days." The boy seemed to think it over, biting his lip.
"Fine." He grabbed Falkner's hand and started dragging him over to a group of boys, "I bet they aren't too young though."
Falkner looked the boys over thoughtfully, most were ten or eleven but a few were in their late teens. He nodded, "How many of you can come with me?" Four raised their hands, two eleven year olds a fourteen year old and a seventeen year old. He nodded, "Good. Get your pokemon checked and meet up with Abe- a tall muscular man with a Hoot-Hoot – near the battle tent." They nodded, the younger two chattering excitedly. Jesse had wandered off slightly and was playing marbles in the dirt with four other children; obviously uninterested if he wasn't to be included.
"W-wait! Wait, Falkner!" He turned around to see a boy in a red shirt with a backwards yellow and black hat running up to him, completely out of breath. He couldn't have been more than ten. He stopped, leaning on his legs heavily and taking deep breaths for a second. He straightened quickly, "Take me with you!"
"You don't have a pokemon." Falkner pointed out, frowning. The boy shook his head, a grin making its way onto his face.
"Nope! But if you ask the nursery for one they'll let me have one." His grin was proud but Falkner shook his head and it faltered slightly.
"Even if I did, it's too dangerous to go out there. Especially with a pokemon you haven't bonded with." The boy puffed out his chest.
"It doesn't matter, my pokemon will love me!" Falkner sighed at the insistence of the boy and rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. Finally he sighed again.
"Fine, I'll get you a pokemon," his face lit up and Falkner was quick to dash it, "but you still can't come with us. Maybe next time."
The boy seemed unsure of how to feel about that but ended up just shrugging and accepting it, following after a resigned Falkner towards the nursery.
"Oh, I'm Gold by the way. I want to be the champion!" Falkner glanced at the boy sideways. From the way things were looking, champions, competitive trainers, even the whole gym circuit, was done for. He doubted there would even be a champion anymore. Gold either didn't notice his look or ignored it.
The entrance to the nursery was only a simple sheet, though Falkner remembered it wasn't usually; it looked like they'd be needing to replace it soon. Falkner pushed the cloth aside and Gold bound past him into the room. The curtain fell behind him and he stepped inside. The walls were covered with shelves packed with pokeballs, a one foot-long section from the floor to the ceiling was empty and the floor near the end of the room was packed with young pokemon eating out of crude food-bowls.
"Mr. Fuji, are you free?" Falkner questioned, not seeing the elderly man. Gold seemed enraptured by the feeding pokemon but they didn't give him any notice.
"I'm in the back. I'll be out in a moment." It took Falkner a second to realize that they must have added on another room because the door leading back hadn't been there last time. It certainly explained why there weren't pokemon on every available surface like there had been when he came there with Morty for Jesse's Meowth.
Soon enough Mr. Fuji came out of the back, a Pichu in his arms chewing on a tough bar with minor trouble. He eyed Gold warily, apparently they knew each other, and then turned his gaze to Falkner.
"Are your pokemon alright?" Falkner nodded.
"I'm here for Gold." Fuji pursed his lips and Falkner knew his guess had been right. Apparently he wasn't the only one the boy had badgered for a pokemon.
Fuji walked up to where Gold was stroking a young Growlithe and crossed his arms until the boy looked up. "If I give you a pokemon, if-" he stressed, "you will desist in harassing my aides and attempting to steal eggs." Falkner raised an eyebrow, giving Gold a very cold look. He'd been attempting to steal eggs? The boy looked down, not meeting either of their eyes.
"Yeah… I know. I won't. I just-" His eyes flickered over the pokemon present. "I had to find her. Or her offspring." Falkner narrowed his eyes, sharing a glance with Mr. Fuji. In fact, the old man had a strangely calculating look to his expression.
"Who's 'her'." He questioned finally, knowing he didn't have much time before they were supposed to leave on their mission.
Gold swiped an arm over his face discreetly; though Falkner got the feeling it was more for his sake than theirs. "Aipom." He finally replied. "Mom had an Aipom and I wasn't old enough to keep it so they took it to the reserve. I- I never took an egg that wasn't from an Aipom except that time that Karen caught me before I could figure out which one it was. And you got that one back just like the others." He was still looking down, his fingers clenched on his folded legs.
Fuji leaned back on his heels thoughtfully and Falkner stroked the ball containing Pidgeot subconsciously, his fingers lingering with remembrance at getting the precious pokemon from his father. He swallowed tightly as he realized he hadn't thought about his father since Morty- since he disappeared. Walker had been missing since he'd taken the mantle of gym leader and if even this epidemic couldn't bring his father back he wasn't sure what could.
He jerked his hand back hastily, clenching it in the scarf around his neck as he turned his eyes back to Gold and Mr. Fuji. The old man was muttering to himself, stalking back and forth along the shelves, reaching out slightly only to pull his hand back a second later. Gold was still sitting in the same position as before but now he held something around his neck tightly, some sort of necklace. Falkner suddenly wondered if it was from his mother.
"Ah, here." Fuji said, making both Falkner and Gold turn their heads towards him. He had just pulled one of the balls off the shelf at hip height and he turned, holding out the ball to Gold. "I have no recollection of which Aipom had this egg but she is an Aipom nonetheless. You may have her on one condition." Gold nodded eagerly. "You will bring her to me for healing rather than Nurse Joy. If it is an emergency then do what is necessary but otherwise bring her to me." Falkner narrowed his eyes, even as Gold took the ball carefully from the nursery owner. That was a very… odd request.
Gold let the Aipom out happily, the purple monkey looking confused. She saw Gold with the pokeball and tilted her head to the side as though assessing him. "Your name will be Ataro. After the one we had at my house when I was younger."
Ataro chattered something then launched herself at Gold, taking him by surprise, and perching herself on his shoulder, her hand-like tail around his neck to keep her steady. Falkner nodded with an air of finality.
"There. You have a pokemon. Now I must get back to the Battle Tent. Thank you Mr. Fuji." He bowed slightly to the elderly man and turned, not waiting for Gold to react to his words.
He arrived to see Janine performing her quiz on the layout of the town to her father and Clair. She was doing rather well if he was honest but he knew that even the smallest of mistakes would make her have to stay.
"I got four others to join me, those plus the boys you brought brings us up to ten. You sure we can handle this many?" Abe asked, his Hoot-Hoot perched on his shoulder. Falkner nodded confidently.
"I'm sure. It's mostly the two youngest that worry me. Jesse wanted to come but I had to turn him down. If he… if something happened to him I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." He shook his head heavily and Abe put a hand on his shoulder.
"I understand. One day, unless I can convince her otherwise, my little girl will be joining the damn army. I'll always think she's too young." Falkner sighed then took a deep, steadying breath and let out a piercing whistle, bringing him to the attention of the people in the clearing. Abe removed his hand and stepped back.
"We will be leaving to retake Violet town today. There will be four groups that will be participating, one led by myself, another by the dragon-trainer Rochelle, dragon-trainer Annette, and the gym leader of Fuchsia City, Janine." Each of the named group leaders raised a hand to indicate themselves other than Falkner. "My group will be the first to enter, followed by Annette's group ten minutes later. Janine's group will circle around the west and Rochelle's will circle from the east. Each group leader will devise their own strategy within their group. My group leaves in five minutes." Falkner finished, gesturing for his group to join him, noticing that Janine had obviously passed the test because she had pulled her group aside as well.
He turned to his group. "I will be in the front. I want the less experienced fighters right behind me, that means you two," he gestured to the eleven year olds, "One strong fighter on either side of me," two of the adults that Abe had brought raised their hands, one male and one female, and he nodded, "Abe and you will be sweeps, meaning you prepare for a way out and make sure they don't catch us in the back." He pointed to the seventeen year old who nodded solidly, looks like he'd been on a patrol before. "And the rest of you," he continued, "I want you to be in a loose line on either side of the two behind me. You will be the second layer of defense so the sweep won't have to deal as much with the front." The remaining three nodded. He nodded, "One minute to make preparations. Then we leave."
They didn't leave and Abe questioned, "Once we're in town?" Falkner nodded gratefully to him.
"Ah, right; we are not retrieval. We are the heavy-hitters. We are essentially bait, drawing the majority of them towards us. Do not break formation unless it is either that or your life. And even then tell us. We will have back up in ten minutes in the form of Annette's group. Rochelle's group will be looking for human and pokemon survivors so we want to keep them as far away from her group as possible. And Janine will be rescuing as many items and restoratives as possible. Both groups may come to our aide, but that possibility is very very unlikely so don't hold out hope." The two youngest didn't look that afraid but Falkner knew that he and the others would have to keep a close watch on them to be sure they didn't break formation if something frightened them too much.
"Right. We're leaving. Formations." He called out and the group clumsily got to where they were supposed to. Falkner definitely had his work cut out for him. He shook his head and began walking.
The guards at the doors leading out of their protective dome saw the ten of them approaching and saluted Falkner, who nodded, and began opening the gates. "Pidgeot! Gengar!" He let out, hearing pokemon being let out of their balls all around him.
As the final pokemon exited its ball, a Pikachu, they exited the doors and they closed behind them with an ominous 'click'.
-:-
Like? Hate? Ideas? Review!