Hello again! Time for another chapter! I think it would be a good time to say although I may more may not to be able to write every support conversation in this story I may make a few nods to them depending if they will fit. Also even though not every Shepherd will get big speaking rolls, they are there unless stated otherwise.
"IN THE NAME OF DECENCY FREDERICK! WHY WOULD YOU HANG PICTURES OF CHROM NAKED?!" Ryo ranted as they rode to the next village after they ate their rations. She rode on Jeb but kept looking away from Chrom as much as possible to try and get that image out of her head.
"I was merely trying to boost the army's morale, miss Ryo." Frederick said in his defense. "If I it would provoke such a reaction..."
"Gods I've never been more embarrassed. I'm SO sorry you had to see that..." Chrom apologized for the umpteenth time; his face just as red as Ryo's and a few others. But Lissa, Vaike, Sully even Midnight and Arthur still had the giggles. And Shani was WAY in the back of the group keeping her face hidden with her hood, her expression was unreadable. She was the only one who reacted radically different from the others in regards to the poster (She looked afraid and awfully close to vomiting).
Maybe Sibuna had a point about there's something off about Shani, let's hope this doesn't make her hate us even more than she already does...
"As dedicated as you are Frederick might I advice doing less... drastic?" Sibuna suggested. "That isn't exactly something you want to wake up to..."
"But... Pokemon don't wear clothes..." Frederick added in confusion.
"Well we look good without them. Humans, not so much." Sibuna stated bluntly, earning a couple chuckles from the other Shepherds.
As Ryo kept looking away she noticed Kellam kept looking behind him every once and a while. Mostly towards the ground. "Something wrong Kellam?"
The knight jumped a bit, still not used to having anybody notice him so quickly, but shook it off. "Well... this might sound crazy, but I saw the wierdest thing last night, before I turned in."
"Weird how?"
Kellam was silent for a moment, but decided to answer. "It... was a... floating red zigzag stripe..."
He almost expected her to dismiss what he said as his eyes plaing tricks on him but instead she answered...
"Oh you probably saw a Kecleon."
"A... Kecleon?" He parroted.
She responded the question by taking out her Pokedex, pressing a few buttons until she got the entry, revealing a picture of a bipedal chameleon-like Pokemon with a red zigzag pattern on it's belly.
Kecleon, the Color Swap Pokemon. A Normal Type. This Pokemon is able to change it's colors at will to blend in with it's surroundings. There is one exception- it cannot change the zigzag pattern on it's belly. This Pokemon is native to the Hoenn region.
"That's what I saw? Another Pokemon?"
"Most likely." Ryo said as she put away her Pokedex.
"Pidgeo!" Soren squawked as he flew towards the Shepherds. Sumia sent him off to scout the area earlier, but he was coming back looking scared.
Sumia realized this and called up to her Pidgeotto. "What's wrong Soren?"
"Pidgeo! Pidgeotto!" He responded frantically as he flew around in circles, gesturing the group to follow him.
"He's saying something is wrong in the village up ahead!" Sibuna translated in shock.
Not wasting anytime Chrom turned to towards the others. "Shepherds, let's move!"
Unbeknownst to them a certain semi-invisible Pokemon was watching them.
Later...
As everyone rode as fast as they could, following Soren towards the village. Before they even stopped however Frederick saw what got the Bird Pokemon so riled up.
"Milord, look! Risen!" The knight pointed in front of them.
"Ugh, and there's a village just ahead. Come on!" Chrom grimaced as they rode even faster.
Ryo scanned the landscape as she noticed the villagers outside trying to get through the closed gates and something caught her eye that made her jaw drop. "No way..."
She saw a glasses wearing brown haired girl among the villagers, maybe a few years younger than she was, but that's not what caught her attention. What did was the fact that she was wearing modern clothes, wearing military green shorts, a light blue shirt with rolled up sleeves, brown boots.
"Guys! That girl's from my world! She has a Pokemon team!" Ryo exclaimed pointing at the girl.
Robin's eyes widened "What?! Are you certain Ryo?"
"Positive!"
"Hmm... The townsfolk of this village are renowned for their hospitality. How could they turn away refugees fearing for their lives?" Frederick said incredulously.
"Let's just focus on saving those lives first. We can ask questions later." Chrom responded. "Robin any ideas?"
"Well..."
Shani didn't even bother waiting for her to finish and ran straight ahead towards the battlefield.
"*Sigh* Why am not surprised...?"
Meanwhile...
Oh man, oh man, oh man... I didn't think they're would be a ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! But it's actually happening! Jackie Hart panicked at what was going on before her eyes. Being an independent researcher (archeologist to be exact) and former competitive trainer she should be behaving more rationally. But to Jackie, if it has something to do with zombies, logic gets thrown out the window.
However it was still present enough to try and protect these villagers who found her.
"Come on out Aria, Talvian and Richter!"
She tossed her Pokeballs to let out her Clefable, Charizard and Rhydon respectively, but that only seemed to scare the villagers even more.
"More m-monsters?! I can't take this!" Said one man and all three of the villagers make mad dash away from them.
What he said startled Jackie. Have they never seen Pokemon before?
"W-Wait! What are you doing?"
But it was too late as a Risen pegasus knight (even the freaking pegasus was a zombie!*1) caught sight of them and flew at high speed; thrusting it's spear straight at the chest on one them.
"Talvian use Dragon Claw!"
Jackie's Charizard roared with fury as his claws surround themselves with green energy. He took off like a bullet at the zombie and repeatedly slashed it to destroy it and make it retract its spear from the man's chest. Jackie ran over to him to try and stop the bleeding.
"Come on... Come on..." She muttered frantically. But it was too late, he was losing to much blood too quickly until ultimately... he died.
"No..." She whispered in shock.
While she was paralyzed with shock at what happened, she didn't notice another zombie this time with sword coming towards her.
"Clefable!" Aria cried out for her trainer as Richter tried to keep the other men from leavinng and ran towards her but then...
"Arthur use Shadow Sneak and follow it with Slash!"
"Honedge!"
The trainer was surprised to see an usheathed Honedge fly out of nowhere as used it's shadow to incapacitate the zombie and quickly cut of it's head with it's glowing sword body. And afterwards flying back to a white haired girl in a black and purple robes on the other side of a nearby river.
"W-What?" Jackie stuttered, not noticing her Clefable was by her side already.
"Are you alright?!" Called out a male voice.
She looked up to a blue haired man sword at his waist along side the girl with the Honedge.
"Oh, thank goodness you've come! Are you here to help us?" One of the villagers asked with hope.
He nodded before continuing "We'll hold them off! Run!"
"But don't worry about the animals, they are allies!" The white haired girl added.
"U-understood! If we make it out alive, I'll repay you! I swear!" The villager stuttered.
"Hey Talvian! Cover them until we get rid of the zombies! Jackie called out to her Charizard.
Talvian roared in agreement and flew over the villagers as they ran. But Jackie couldn't help but be puzzled at what the other girl said. She called the Pokemon 'animals'. She knows for a FACT that other than some livestock and smaller fauna like fish and insects, all other animals died out when Pokemon became more dominant.
She had a Honedge with her, even called out it's attacks. So... shouldn't she know what Pokemon are? She thought in confusion.
Suddenly she saw another girl with hair purple hair and highlights riding a Gogoat across the bridge as several more zombies came their direction. What surprised her was that she was wearing modern clothing and not medieval ones.
"Jeb use Bulldoze and Midnight use Shadow Ball!"
The girl's Gogoat slammed his front hooves on the ground to make the earth shake strong enough to crack the ground and topple the undead and the Zorua that was on her shoulder lept up in the air and unleashed blobs of shadowy energy to destroy them.
"Oh my goodness! Are you alright?!" She exclaimed, taking out some sort of staff as she saw Jackie's hands covered in blood.
"H-Huh...? Yeah, I'm fine. T-This blood isn't mine, it's..." Jackie said as she turned to the dead body.
The other girl's face started to turn white when she laid eyes on the corpse. "O-Oh..."
"W-What's going on here? Where am I and how come no one seems to know what Pokemon are?" Jackie asked her rapidly since she seems to be only one who's a Pokemon trainer other than herself.
"Look I get that you must have a lot of questions but let's wait until all the Risen are gone."
"R-Risen? You mean the zombies?"
The other trainer nodded. "Think you can help me and my friends out?"
"O-Of course! Richter, cross the river and help out anyone that isn't a zombie!"
Richter grunted a response and headed straight for the river.
"But... that bridge isn't gonna hold a Rhydon..." The purple haired trainer said in confusion.
As if answering her confusion Richter didn't even go to the bridge and jumped into the water: and it was swimming!
"You have a swimming Rhydon?!"
All Jackie did was nod as she mustered a small smile.
Meanwhile...
Hmm... a swimming Rhydon. Haven't seen one of those in a while... Sibuna thought casually as he cleared a path of Risen for Chrom to get to the village with Bone Rush and the Rhydon washed away a few archer Risen with the giant wave that was Surf.
"Sibuna look out!" Chrom shouted as a Risen Pegasus Knight came towards them.
"On it!" The Lucario replied as he disolved his bone staff into his most famous attack "Aura Sphere!"
After blasting the airbone Risen out of the sky the prince and Pokemon pair made it to the closed village gates. "Keep an eye out for any Risen." Said Chrom. Sibuna nodded as he turned his back to him to stand guard.
"Hello! Anyone there?! This is Chrom, leader of the Shepherds! Open the gates!" Chrom exclaimed as he pounded the gates as hard as he could. After a moment the doors opened slightly to reveal an old man.
"Really? Shepherds are always welcome here. Please, take this with you." He said as he handed Chrom a small orange stone, with a blue and red stripe down the middle. "I don't really know what it is, but I can tell this marble has some sort of power..."
"Listen. There were refugees here and you turned them away. Why?" Chrom asked after eyeing the stone curiously and pocketing it.
The old man sighed heavily "We're a peaceful town, sir. We have no weapons, nor any want for them. We survive by barring our gates to those who might bring us harm—friend or foe. Harsh as it may be, I can't have my people dying on account of other folks' problems..."
Chrom remained stoic at the answer but on the inside he was saddened and even a little angry by it. He understood being cautious but turning a blind eye to someone in trouble...
"What kind of pathetic excuse is that?!"
Wait, what?
Chrom, Sibuna and the village elder turned to see Shani stabbing and another Risen without even looking at it, instead kept her livid gaze on the old man as she angrily made her way towards the gate, moving Chrom out of the way
"They wanted, no scratch that- they NEEDED sanctuary within your walls and away from these monters but you kept them out because 'it's not your problem'?! Well guess what, one of them got killed because you didn't let them in!" Shani pointed to the dead body across the river. Chrom's jaw dropped at what she was doing but became surprised when he saw what looked like tears forming in her eyes.
"That's your definition of 'peace'?! Pah! More like 'Cowerdice'! It may not be your problem but that death is on YOUR HEAD! How's that for peace?!" Shani growled at the cowering old man in front of her and stomped away to take out her anger on more Risen.
Chrom turned back to the old man who was shaking like a leaf at the myrmidon's words; whether from fear of Shani's preditory gaze or her tactless but not completely wrong rant he couldn't tell. Either way he closed the door before he could apologize.
W-What in Naga's name was that? As much as I didn't agree with the elder, she didn't have to go berserk like... Chrom's thoughts paused for a moment. ...Like she was the one being turned a blind eye... I might have to talk to her once this is over, I can't have her snapping at everybody.
"Force Palm!"
Chrom focus snapped back as he saw Sibuna taking care of a heavily armored knight Risen with with the placed on it's chest unleashing a concentrated yellow blast. He charged towards it to give it a killing blow.
"Thanks Chrom, they are still a few more Risen up ahead."
"Got it. Let's go!"
As the two ran Sibuna suddenly felt a small tug in his aura, coming from... Chrom's pocket?
...
"Midnight use Night Daze!" Ryo commanded.
The Zorua ran towards a group of Risen an engulfed them in a devastating explosion of dark energy. Those that didn't get dissolved their new friend took care of.
"Aria use Moonblast! Rapid fire!" Jackie exclaimed.
Her Clefable gained a battle ready look as it looked like she took energy from the moon itself and turned it into multiple pink energy spheres; blasting any remaining Risen.
"Clefable!" Aria gave out a battle cry in satisfaction.
"Wow, your Clefable is really strong!" Ryo complemented.
"Thanks your Zorua is too..." Jackie returned the complement until she saw a pegasus knight Risen heading towards her Charizard and the other two villagers.
"Talvian quick! Use Flamethrower!"
Talvian unleashed a stream of hot flames on the flying Risen, while it did it's job it attracted a couple archers.
"Oh no!"
"Sue Belle slow 'em down with Cotton Spore!"
"Soren use Quick Attack!"
Donny's Mareep used her fleece to release streaming balls of cotton to slow down the zombies as Sumia's Pidgeotto flew at high speeds leaving a white streak behind him to disarm them of their arrows. The strategy gave their respective trainer openings to stab them out of existence.
"Are you alright Ryo?" Sumia asked the Pokemon watcher from on top of her mount.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Sumia." Ryo assured.
"Whoa..." Was all Jackie could say.
"Are y'all alright missy?" Donnell asked the new girl, not taking his eyes of her still bloody hands.
"Uh... yeah I'm fine. Just... shaken is all." She said as she kept glancing back at man she couldn't save in time.
"Are all the Risen gone, yet?" Ryo ask deciding to change the subject for Jackie's sake.
"Almost, all that's left is the leader. Robin and Arthur are going after it." Sumia explained.
Ryo looked behind them to see the tactician and her Honedge facing down the lead Risen but then saw another figure in bulky armor join them.
"Oh good Kellam's with them" Ryo sighed in relief.
"Who?" Donny said tilting his head in confusion.
Oh good Alpha above... She sighed inwardly.
...
"Don't worry, I'm here to help!" Kellam said with determination.
Robin suddenly turned to him and jumped when she saw him. "Oh Kellam! I didn't see you there!"
"Anyway, do you think your up for the challenge?"
"Yes, they gotta notice this!"
The two parried blows against the chief Risen, with Arthur using multiple Fury Cutters to wear it down; each hit landing thanks to his No Guard ability. But after a while they were getting winded.
"Alright let's end this!" Robin commanded.
"Right!" Kellam replied.
He threw his Javelin at the Risen, only for it to dodge and knock the knight off his feet really hard.
"Kellam!"
The blank faced man tried to get back on his feet but the Risen was already approaching. Robin hurriedly tried to bring out a fire tome, but a small green figure speed past her.
"What the?!"
"Kecleon!" The Color Swap Pokemon cloaked it's tiny fist in an orange light (Power-Up Punch) and punched the Risen in the face. After getting cloaked in a rising red aura, raising it's attack stat, the Risen took it's eyes of Kellam and made it's way towards the chameleon.
No...! Kellam thought in despair for the Pokemon but right when the Risen's sword made contact it disappeared in a puff off smoke (Substitute).
What? He thought in confusion until he saw a certain floating zigzag stripe.
"Kec!" Kecleon reappeared behind him a gave a strong slash of shadowy energy (Shadow Claw) straight towards the chest, killing it instantly. Once the Risen dissolved he walked towards Kellam and tilted his head in curiosity.
"It's you again..." Kellam stated as he got back up.
Kecleon nodded his head in response.
"Are you alright Kellam?" Robin questioned.
"Hone?" Arthur asked too.
A little surprised she could still notice him, he absent mindedly nodded. "Y-Yes. Thanks to Kecleon here."
"Kec." Kecleon confirmed blankly as he tilted his head at Robin.
"Kecleon... is this another Pokemon? How do you know what it is?"
"Ryo told me. Let me explain..."
Later...
After the Risen are all gone, Lissa, Maribelle and Ryo healed everyones wounds, Jackie got the blood off her hands and they gave the downed villager a proper burial, one of the remaining two turned towards Chrom.
"I've not the words to thank you, nor the treasure to pay you, but...here. Take this Strength Tonic. I didn't think people like you still existed. I'll...I'll never forget this."
Then he turned an apologetic gaze at Jackie. "I'm also sorry about running from your... companions miss. If only we realized sooner that they meant no harm maybe he would've lived through this..."
"Clefable, Clefable!" Aria scolded which roughly translates to 'Yeah you got that right!' but since it was inappropriate Sibuna didn't translate, Richter gave a snort and Talvian smacked her on the head with his tail.
Before things got out of hand Jackie shook her head "No it's ok... I shouldn't have assumed you knew about Pokemon."
"It's neither of your faults..." Shani surprisingly said as everyone turned their heads towards her. "Blame those damn hypocrites at village for not letting you in. If they have this whole tragedy would've been avoided."
Everyones eyes widened at her words. Both because she seemed to take this a bit too personally and the fact that, well... everyone agreed with what she said. But they held their tongues for one reason or another.
"Well..." The survivor and his friend mustered a sad smile. "I suppose we'll never know..."
As the two left, Frederick cast his gaze onto the still closed off village. "Do you suppose the village will continue to bar its gates to refugees?"
Chrom sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "As long as they view the Risen as someone else's problem, then yes."
That fact made Frederick shake his head. "They claim to love peace... Yet the uneasy peace found behind a barricade is nothing I'd want. Peace begins when the fighting is over and the barricades come down. I pray they can see the truth of that before it's too late..."
Shani scoffed "Save your breath, knight. Praying is a waste of time and energy, in more ways than one."
"Now listen here..." Before Frederick could finish Chrom put an arm in front him.
"Shani, a question. Why did you say all those things to the village elder? I'm not saying your wrong but maybe you should've worded less harshly?"
"Hmph. Because that's how the world is: harsh. Your not gonna get anywhere by sugar coating the truth or relying on 'gods' to help you." Shani's voice turned into a low whisper. "I could care less about who you are, even if you do everything right, life will always bite you in the ass one way or another."
Shani... Ryo thought giving the myrmidon a slightly sad look.
"Are you speaking from experience?" Chrom decided to ask.
Suddenly her gaze turned feral again. "That's none of your business! And I would strongly advise you to never ask again!"
Shani huffed and walked away, but not before feeling a sword behind her back. She turned around slowly to see Frederick was the one responsible for it and most of the Shepherds having shocked expressions.
"F-Frederick?!" Lissa stammered.
"Frederick think about what are you doing!" Chrom tried to reason.
"Apologies milord and milady, but this woman needs to learn some manners. Khan Flavia may have put you with us but we could have you locked up back in Ylisstol for this disrespect." Frederick warned hoping it would be enough to scare her.
But instead she kept that dead stoic gaze she always wore. "Well what's stopping you? Or here's a better idea, you can just cut me down. Right here, right now."
That statement made the knight's eyes widen. "I have a sword pointed at you neck, I can kill you right now and this doesn't faze you? At all?"
"Nope. Unless you were bluffing right now, I have no objections to dying." Shani replied. Robin kept reading her expression and words to see if she was bluffing only to realize that the myrmidon was dead serious.
Utterly baffled by this development Frederick lowered his sword, only for Shani to look disturbingly disappointed by his decision. "You were bluffing after all... *Sigh*" Shani just walked away and into the convoy waggon.
Everyone just stood dumbfounded at what happened. That moment taught them a little more about Shani than they bargained for. It was like she didn't see the point of living anymore; she was practically begging to die. No one really knew how to respond to that.
"Well... uh... that was heavy." Jackie said breaking the awkward silence.
That broke everyone out their stupor; Chrom was the first to speak "I apologize that you have to witness that miss..."
"Jacqueline Hart. But you can call me Jackie." She said as she gestured to her Pokemon. "And this is Aria, Talvian and Richter."
The Pokemon made cries in acknowledgement. Seeing that they probably didn't know what they were she took out her Pokedex and pointed it at her Pokemon starting with Aria.
Clefable, the Fairy Pokemon. A Fairy Type. Clefable moves by skipping lightly as if it were flying using its wings. Its bouncy step even lets it walk on water. It is known to take strolls on lakes on quiet, moonlit nights. This Pokemon is native to the Kanto region.
Charizard, the Flame Pokemon. A Fire/Flying Type. Charizard flies around the sky in search of powerful opponents. It breathes fire of such great heat that it melts anything. However, it never turns its fiery breath on any opponent weaker than itself. This Pokemon is native to the Kanto region.
Rhydon, the Drill Pokemon. A Rock/Ground Type. Its brain developed when it began walking on hind legs. Its thick hide protects it even in magma. This Pokemon is native to the Kanto region.
"Wow! You have a Pokedex too! Does that mean your from Ryo's world too?" Lissa asked.
"I-I guess." Jackie replied, unsure herself. Ryo told her that they might be in a different world that didn't have Pokemon but they were slowly starting to appear.
"I-I don't know how I got here. Unless..." She suddenly gasped as she remembered something. "The Unown!"
"The... Unown?" Robin parroted back.
Jackie turned her attention back to them. "If you allow it maybe I can explain..."
1* For those Risen I'm making the mounts zombies too. It's just easier that way
Well that's it! The next chapter will be the first Anna paralogue before we get to the Emmeryn's assassination attempt. I also wouod like to thank kitsunelover for letting me use her OC Jackie for this story (hope I did her justice...) and I'll introduce the rest of team next, kay? Also at first I wasn't planning on Kecleon showing up now but it just happened anyway *squee*! If I'm gone for a while that's because I'm writing for my other story "The Shrunken Trainer" (that's finally getting a little more attention!) and like I said before I'm gonna go back and for the between this story and that one just to be more clear.
Like what you see? Anything you wanna ask? Comment below and let me know! See ya!
P.S. Should I make the dead people become Risen too, like the typical zombie? If so how?