Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or Max Brook's zombie related media.

Author's Note of Glory: I find it surprising that there is hardly anything on fanfiction about zombies and pokemon.

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Joy! Magic exists!

An old dream of mine came true

And I think it's Love.

_

Sometimes rain is sad,

But after the time we shared,

Rain can't pull me down.

_

The tree in the wind

Slowly bends like a dancer,

Dancing in the sky.

-Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum

~**~

Apollo the Poliwrath heaved the heavy granite tombstone up the creaky steps of Pokemon Tower. Though strong and quite hardy by nature, he still grunted as he took each step up the gnarly wooden stairs. Not far ahead of him was his master and friend, Blackbelt Takao. He too lugged a tombstone of similar size and composition, and like Apollo he too grunted at each step. Several times he felt the tombstone slip from his grip and several times he had to readjust his body to find a more comfortable position. Once they got to the fourth floor, they spilled out into the mass graveyard. Apollo shivered as the cold, drafty wind blew by him.

"Over here, Takao!" cried a voice.

Apollo looked around and saw Mr. Fuji standing on the other side of the room. He waved them on with his cane and they came to him with the heavy tombstones. Once they were close enough, Takao grunted, "Where…do you want me to put this Mr. Fuji?"

Gesturing his cane to an empty space he said, "There will be fine."

Takao slowly set his tombstone down. When he did, he nodded to Apollo who placed his next to Takao.

"Thank you kindly for your help," said Mr. Fuji who stroked his small, chin beard.

Takao grinned and struck an overdramatic pose. "It's our pleasure Mr. Fuji!" he cried out as if he was on stage, "Apollo and I always like to help out people!"

Apollo nodded vigorously and struck the same silly pose as his master did.

Mr. Fuji smiled, "Where are you from anyways?"

Takao broke his pose and said, "Apollo and I are from Saffron City. After we have trained there for several years, my master saw it fit that we go out and explore the world. He said the world is now my master and I must learn from it. So, Apollo and I grabbed what few possessions we had and we hit the road! We help out those who are in need and in return, we ask for a little food and shelter for the night."

Apollo stood tall by his master when he said those words. It made him feel good whenever he and Takao did something for the needy. He cherished the idea of uplifting people's spirits. However, if there was anything he loved more than that, it was fighting. Throughout his years of living, he enjoyed the thrill of martial arts with opponents of equal or greater power. The intense hand to hand combat mixed in with the strategy of battle was something he looked forward to.

However, he wasn't always like this. He used to fear conflict when he was a young Poliwag. He would hide underneath boggy plants and dig into the mud to escape from hungry predators. Every day he lived in fear for he knew he was in the shadow of death. But one day, he was caught by Takao, who was then only a young boy. The two quickly grew a bond together and because of Takao, Apollo grew in strength and in courage. Takao lit a spark in Apollo, the idea of fighting for the fun of it. Sometimes when they were bored, they would fight because it was fun. Apollo would usually win (thanks to his slippery skin) but on the rare occasion, Takao would come out triumphant. Takao and Apollo then moved to Saffron City where one of the best martial artists in Kanto was supposed to exist. Apollo focused his fun of fighting into a real study and he felt himself improve immensely after each training session. Several grueling years past before Takao was rewarded the black belt, and as a reward for their constant training, Takao's master rewarded him with a Water Stone which he gave to Apollo.

Mr. Fuji smiled warmly again and said, "Well, thanks for helping me out with these tombstones. The owners will be happy about this. And speaking about food, how about lunch? I'm sure you're hungry after this nice work out."

"Yes, sir!" said Takao.

Apollo gave Mr. Fuji the thumbs up. The third thing he loved in life was food, and plenty of it.

~**~

Nicole the Cooltrainer bounced a tennis ball off her gold and blue tennis racket. She bounced it up and down in quick succession never slowing down or speeding up. She bit her tongue down in concentration as she tried to keep in perfect harmony.

54, 55, 56, 57 she thought as she hit the furry ball up and down. A strand of her green dyed hair got in the way and he impatiently brushed it off. Total concentration was needed…

"Hey!" cried an annoyed voice, "Are you going to fight me or not?"

Nicole looked up from her tennis racket and saw the opponent she was fighting. His hat was crooked to the side and his shirt was ruffled with wrinkles and dirt. A look of anger was painted on his face as eyebrows furrowed ferociously. On the battlefield, she saw her Clefable dancing merrily while her opponent Bellsprout looked at it warily.

"I'm sure that Clefable is doing an alright job," she said without breaking tempo on her ball.

"Yeah but you haven't given any order whatsoever to your Clefable!"

"So? I trusted my Clefable well enough to take care of a newb like you. Your just not worth the challenge."

"What? Why you…Bellsprout! Use vine whip!"

The Bellsprout swung its arms at Clefable. The vines just bounced off of her like she was made of steel. Clefable kept giving her creepy smile and said in a perky voice, "Clefable!"

Clefable then ran up to the Bellsprout and body slammed it. The Bellsprout cried out in pain as it was squashed underneath the fat, puffball of purity. Once her attack was done, the Clefable nimbly jumped off of her fallen opponent and continued to dance around like a psycho.

"AH! Bellsprout!" cried the boy as he ran up to his fallen pokemon. While the boy clutched his Bellsprout in his arms, the Clefable ran up to him and ripped off his pants.

"Hey!" said the embarrassed boy, "Give those back!"

"Clefable! Clefable!" shouted Clefable as she danced around again while waving the pants like a flag.

Nicole stopped bouncing the ball and caught it in the air. Sheathing her racket she said, "We're done? Great. Better luck next time kid."

The kid looked broken as Nicole swaggered away. Clefable bounced up besides her and began to skip along. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, Nicole said, "Won't be much longer until we get to Fuchsia City."

Clefable got bored with the pants that she stole and she threw them to the side. Nicole sighed and said, "We haven't had a real challenge for awhile. We have trained so hard that other pokemon trainers are now like a joke to us. It almost makes me sad to see Nidoqueen bored to tears."

Clefable shouted out her name and said nothing more.

"Hopefully, Fuchsia City will have some nice trainers, plus that is where the next gym leader lives. What's his name…Koga?"

Clefable wasn't paying attention to anything Nicole was saying. She looked up at the sky idiotically and peered at the shapeless clouds as they morphed from one form to the next.

Nicole continued on and said, "There's also a Safari Zone too! I can't wait to catch some pokemon there! They better watch out. No pokemon can defeat my Tennis Ball Technique!"

Clefable said nothing.

"Nicole placed her hands in her pockets and said, "I wish something exciting happened to us. I'm just too bored right now."