After running across route 206's dampened and dark road for just a few more minutes, Ray already felt too tired to continue, and it's not like the infected would stop chasing after him and Crystal. It was currently their only goal. He looked behind himself to see his poor Espeon keeping up, but just barely while panting. "Crys'!... Crystal, come here!" Ray slowed down and let her catch up; as soon as she did, he snatched her up quickly and held her up against his chest in his left arm while speeding up once again. He had no choice but to return to Eterna city, and Ray still had no idea how to outrun the creatures behind them. He felt like his legs would give out at any moment, and he wouldn't dare look back at the horde at this point, his breathing heavy and his heart pounding. Ray could barely even think, but he couldn't continue running without a single clue on how to escape the workers.
Suddenly, Ray heard a loud and powerful blast of water come from an unknown direction. It had almost caused him to lose balance since it startled him, and the confusion he felt only increased once the sound of heavy impact had followed the initial blast behind him.
"Keep on hydro pumping them!" Ray heard, and this time, he did glance behind him - what he saw made him completely stop in his tracks while still tightly holding onto Crystal. The workers were being assaulted with continuous blasts of high pressured water by a Blastoise that had emerged from a tree nearby. His trainer stood right behind him. Since the workers' bodies had already begun the decayment process while they were dead, the water easily tore them apart and practically melted their skin off in just mere seconds.
Ray fell down to his knees and attempted to catch his breath while clutching his pokémon. The trainer soon walked and stood over Ray, and he barely had the energy to defend himself if necessary.
"Seemed like you needed some assistance, luckily I was here at the right time." A feminine voice, Ray noticed it immediately. The trainer kneeled down and appeared to be studying both Ray and Crystal as closely as possible under the moonlight. "You mind dropping the gun by the way?" She asked, and Ray did as was asked of him. Shooting both her and a huge blastoise wouldn't be an easy task at all anyway. "Thanks." She kicked it a few feet away from him and stood back up. "You infected?"
"No…" Ray replied in between his heavy breaths, and eventually looked up at her, enough to notice her auburn colored hair. She wore heavy boots as Ray did, and a black utility belt that fit her small waist size with a ton of items and various weapons strapped all around it. She was also wearing a fully black outfit, both her pants and long sleeved shirt.
"C'mon, let's take you and your pokémon somewhere safe for the night." She reached a black gloved right hand down, to which Ray gripped onto and pulled himself up while finally letting Crystal go. He noticed immediately that the glove felt cold, and that she'd also picked up his pistol right after helping him up. Why she trusted that he didn't have the virus and touched him and his equipment, Ray didn't know. "Name's Jenna, yours?" She had already begun to walk down the bike path, and motioned for the Blastoise to follow. Ray followed behind her with Crystal by his side.
"It's Ray, and thank you for saving me…"
"It's no problem, only mean when I have to be. What's your little one's name?" Jenna looked down at the small Espeon.
"Crystal, It's just been her and I for the last few months. Lost everyone that ever meant anything to me." Ray replied, and he couldn't help but add in that last bit, he needed to vent after keeping everything held within him for so long. This was his first true interaction with another person after practically being alone since his mother had sent him off.
"I get it, I only have my brother left… and Hydron." She glanced back at the intimidating blastoise as he trudged along. "By the way, that pistol of yours won't be getting you too far for very much longer. I've been cautiously studying the virus; it's getting more aggressive by the day." Finally, Ray could possibly have a better understanding of what exactly was going on.
"I figured that… but I don't know its weakness, I can't seem to keep up with it." He sighed and looked behind him, that had to be paranoia.
"Well, for now… I found that it doesn't like cold temperatures, it's why I keep this glove on. I can touch any item or dead person with it that may have rapids… but to be sure, we still throw anything taken in the freezer for an hour - oh! And the color black seems to really disorientate them, you almost had it down, but the shirt gives you away." Jenna grinned over at him a little, but the everlasting amount of growing hopelessness was clearly apparent in her eyes.
In just under an hour, Jenna had lead both Ray and Crystal into Celestial city. "Sorry about the long walk, I tend to wander pretty far from home. Anyway, we have this whole city to ourselves… other than the occasional virus carrier, but we have good weapons and a capable blastoise for that." It didn't take long for them to reach the biggest building that the small city had to offer, and Jenna unlocked the door with her key once she was in front of it. "We refitted the locks on these doors; my brother takes the house near the city's left entrance to keep watch on it. You'll meet him tomorrow." She entered and flipped on the light while letting Ray and Crystal enter after her. There were two beds, one on each side of the room. "You can take this house for the night, I'll take the one by the city's right entrance. We'll talk more tomorrow… night." Jenna told him before leaving and closing the front door behind her.
Ray sighed and looked around at the virtually empty room, it must have been gutted out, all that was left was the green carpet on the floor and the beds of course. "Come on Crys'." Ray went over and sat on the bed that was by the door, it had both a white sheet and blanket layered over the mattress. Crystal hopped up beside him a moment later, and Ray slid his boots off before lying down on his back and patting his chest while grinning over at his Espeon.
She wasted no time in padding over and laying where her trainer had specified, even placing her two front paws on his upper chest.
"I'm so glad you're still with me Crystal, I'd never let a thing happen to you. Not as long as I'm here." He slowly traced his fingers up and down the sides of her ears while gazing down at her adorable and clearly tired face. Crystal was exhausted from their recent encounter - not to mention that it was still nightfall. Ray giving her physical affection only stacked upon how sleepy she was. "You can sleep, you'll be just fine."
And she didn't doubt that, Crystal felt completely safe with him watching over her. She rested her cheek on top of his chest, and let out a soft exhale before closing her eyes.
Ray draped his arms over her delicate body and closed his eyes as well, but couldn't stop thinking about his backpack. It was likely contaminated, though he had gotten lucky with everything he'd touched throughout the past months. But those items obviously weren't directly affected. Jenna had said something about the virus showing resistance to cold temperatures. Either way, that still meant he would have to travel back to Oreburgh in order to get the backpack in the first place. It really wasn't something Ray wanted to imagine at the moment, and so he'd think about it whenever he woke up.