-1Chapter 2: Thunder in Lilycove

Naomi died today.

Luke Bluefeather was the local scout for Team Rocket in Lilycove. He became alone when his partner and best friend fell ill with the virus.

Luke sat on an old brown couch. His head burried in his hands. Drop after drop of salty tear falling and soaking into the pages of a Newsweek magazine below him. He was the only person sitting in the hospital lobby; with the update of his best friend's death, he wanted to curl into every dark corner and stop his heart from beating himself.

If only he could see her pretty face smile back at his once more…

The winds of the storm whistled against the windows. The fluorescent light above him flickered a little and the coffee pot sizzled as it finished another brewed pot.

"I'll be okay… We'll be okay." Naomi's voice was still so clear in Luke's mind, and the pain within his body was like thorns tearing away at his soul.

Her full name was Naomi Millers. Luke had been best friends with her since he was in elementary school and had never told her that he loved her more than any other person in his life.

He never had the chance to say goodbye.

Memories of battling Team Aqua and squashing them the week before was still fresh in his mind. Naomi was an expert at battling and he was always the backup for her in any situation.

Getting up and walking to the coffee maker, Luke poured himself a cup. Looking towards the empty hospital room where Naomi had died in, his coffee cup became empty as the last drip went into his mouth.

He moved slowly to the elevator, then the lights suddenly went black. A slight panic went over the nurses stationed at their desks. The winds began to die down, but something primal told Luke to get out of the hospital. Now.

Now Lilycove had no local gym leader, which meant there was no local militia for any sort of sudden emergency. The residents of the port city were in panic and some trainers and Team Aqua members joined forces to fight off the sudden army of zombie pokemon. But what things ultimately meant was that Lilycove was now in pure chaos.

Archie, Leader of Team Aqua, gathered his best men and faced off a slow moving horde that seemed to be coming from the city morgue. His front line was sided with local trainers and a few police officers.

Standing in the middle of an intersection, Archie threw up a great ball from his belt. His loyal Crobat came out and hovered above him. Looking back to the Lilycove mob, he yelled out heroically, "Stand your ground Team Aqua! We fight for Hoenn!!"

The members of Team Aqua roared out in compassion behind their leader. A few blocks down the road, an explosion sounded off the oncoming of zombies.

Several Lilycove citizens ran in panic around the corner. A young boy slipped on the cement and yelled out to his mother ahead of him. Crying, the boy got up and ran to his mother who scooped him up into her arms. The small crowd was soon followed by a panicky trainer trying futilely to hold off the blood thirsty horde of zombies.

The loud cracking snap of an electrical wire broke above the trainer as the large pole began to teeter. Swinging by the cable of it's neighboring pole, the tall modern monolith crashed into the cement of the street. Ducking his head, the trainer nearly got himself electrocuted to death by the villainous wire swinging to the street.

"CAMERUPT, NO!!!!" the trainer cried in desperation. Stumbling over his feet as he tried to get up, he threw out another Pokeball, a small Sandshrew came out and readied his footing. "DUSTY!! Sand-Attack!!!," the trainer screamed.

The little Sandshrew threw out his paws throwing a cloud of dirt, out of site from Archie's view.

"Charge!!!" Archie yelled out to his team hoping to help the trainer out.

A look of fear came over the trainer and he spun around running to Archie, leaving his Sandshrew alone.

The Sandshrew curled into a ball and was soon overcome by a pack of rabid Poocheyna. Several undead pokemon soon followed.

The trainer tripped on his footing looking back to his Sandshrew, the boy fell onto his back. The swarm of undead pokemon charged after the trainer and Archie's gang began to slow down, intimidated by the huge mob they were up against.

The trainer screamed as a Poocheyna started ripping away at his legs, then making a sudden death clamp around the young boy's neck.

Archie looked back and noticed his team retreating in a full sprint. Cursing quietly under his breath, the leader of Team Aqua grabbed onto his Crobat and flew ahead of his retreating army.

Running into the alley behind the diner, the cook and the waitress were nearly out of site a few blocks away. Beth brought her Ariados back into his ball as she thought hard of where to go for safety.

Looking around frantically, the streets were lit with a pale glow from the moon.

She had to get back to Fortree with Professor Juniper; he was the only person she was able to think of nearby that had to have a solution for the nightmare engulfing Hoenn.

The howls of the rabid Mightyena and Poochena packs cried out to the deathly still sky as Beth threw out her Skarmory from his ball. Gleaming his smooth steel wings, Beth hopped onto the Skarmory's back. "Fly to Fortree, Skarmory. We need to get back to Birch and Juniper."

Flapping his wings and jogging down the back alley, the back wall of the diner broke down with the dead mossy Golem gurgling pebbles from it's mouth.

Running faster now, the Skarmory zipped by dumpters and trashcans, taking off above the downtown Lilycove cityscape.

Luke began to cry in the dim light as the hospital's backup generators allowed the emergency power to give some light in the sterile halls of the hospital.

He just couldn't live with the fact that his only friend since he joined the lonely life of crime had died. Luke couldn't leave her. Running down the hall and dodging nurses and patients, he kicked open room 425. Looking at the bed on the far side of the room, he walked slowly to the mortician who examined Naomi's cold lifeless body.

"What do you want, kid?"

"She's coming with me," Luke said.

"You can't do that. I'm sure her family--"

"She has no family," Luke interrupted.

"Well, it's wrong."

"She's coming with me. Something is telling me that I need to take her with me."

"Something is telling you?" the mortician said sarcastically.

Walking over to Naomi's backpack, Luke picked it up and put it onto his back. And taking her Pokeballs, he added her Pokemon to his belt.

"You can't do that; that's her Pokemon. I'm calling security."

Charging the mortician and grabbing his walky-talky; Luke threw the radio violently against the far wall. "I'm taking her with me," Luke ordered.

"You can't do this," the mortician barked.

Walking over to Naomi's body, Luke stared deeply into her face. The glimmer of life was gone in her cheeks and holding her hand in his, he could barely feel the warmth of her body anymore. "Forgive me for this," Luke said softly.

Hoisting her body up onto his shoulder, he cracked open a Pokeball and with it's brilliant light, a Raticate came out snarling it's large fangs. " C'mon Rio," Luke said to the Raticate. "Follow me and hold off anybody that tries to stop me from bringing Naomi with us."

Walking out of the hospital room, Luke looked down the hallway and saw confused nurses looking at him. Grabbing their radios, Luke knew he had only one way to escape. Jogging as quick as he could with Naomi on his shoulder A couple nurses blocked him off down the hall.

"Rio! Quick Attack!" Pulling out a Greatball from his belt, Luke's Ponyta bucked up her hooves and gave out a vicious stomp behind him. "Guard my back, Penny!"

The Raticate gave the nurses an unexpected shove against their backs.

"Iron Tail!"

Giving a swift spin in between the nurses, the Raticate knocked the nurses into the side walls. Walking on between his moaning victims, Luke kicked open the door to the stairs and looked back to his Ponyta.

"Hold on to her, Penny," Luke said sadly, hoisting Naomi's body onto the mare's back. "Follow me."

Throwing out another Pokeball, a Pigeot by the name of Lightfoot flapped open his wings and noticed Naomi hunched over Penny's back. The magnificent bird's feathers suddenly drooped and the great bird stared helplessly at his former trainer. Pushing Luke to the side with a strong shove, the bird nudged Naomi's lifeless body with his beak over and over again.

Luke was taken aback for a moment as he watched the great bird of prey become as small and weak as a chick in it's nest. Over and over again, the great bird cooed softly and nudged Naomi's body. Both Rio and Penny began to realize the gravity of the situation and looked back at Luke who had his eyes clenched shut, trying to hold back his tears.

"What am I doing?" Luke whispered to himself. "What am I trying to prove…"

The Pigeot screeched out loudly, his scream echoing through the stairwell.

"Pigeot, we need to get to the roof. Hold off our back." The great bird only dropped his head for a moment, and looked into Luke's eyes and agreed.

The four continued up the stairs, confronted every so often by nurses, surgeons, and panicky patients. They all stepped aside willingly, knowing the quartet were not a team to deal with at that moment.

Kicking open the door to the roof, a couple security guards yelled to Luke. Thrown back against the walls with a light gust of wind from Lightfoot; Luke brought Rio, the Raticate, back into his ball.

Luke noticed a slight trickle from the storm coming back and brought Penny to his side. Hoisting Naomi off the mare's back and onto Lightfoot, Luke then brought Penny back into her ball.

Jumping onto the gigantic bird's back, he commanded the Pigeot to fly. And with a strong a strong run, the great bird flew off the top of the roof of the hospital.

The ferry ride back to Hoenn wasn't going to be long. It was hurrying as fast as it could with a handful of doctors and determined trainers that wanted to save the crisis taking over Hoenn.

May, Ash, Brock, and Pikachu all stood at the side of ship watching the water pass below them. Ash gritted his teeth tightly wondering if his old friend, Misty, was in any trouble; it scared him to think of what may of happened or what could be happening to her at that very moment.

Brock walked back to a bench, released his old friend Geodude, and started feeding him Pokemeal.

May walked behind Ash and put a hand on his shoulder. Ash sighed and looked back to May. Their eyes met in silence.

Pikachu tugged on Ash's pants and pointed out to the distance, Hoenn could be seen on the horizon. The large storm loomed over the Island state as the shadow fell over the shores.

The ferry was headed to Slateport. If all went as planned, the ferry would make it to port before the winds hit fifty miles per hour.

A warm wanting swept through May and she seemed to blush as Ash stared strongly into her eyes. Ash looked away towards Brock feeding his Geodude, looked down to Pikachu, and began walking towards the cabin of the ship and pushed through the doors. Pikachu followed loyally.

May looked towards the storm and felt something strange sweep over her body. "Brock," she beckoned.

Brock looked up and patted his Geodude on it's head and noticed May's anxiety. "What's up May?"

"I don't know… Something about this storm is just… I'm not sure."

"That's ambiguous, but I know what you mean."

"It's not a normal cyclone."

"I know, it's a typhoon. We're in the Pacific. If we were in the Indian Ocean, it'd be a cyclone."

"That's not what I mean. It's just that these kind of storms don't make the air feel so cold so early. And that smell."

"What smell?"

"You don't smell it?"

"No."

"Well," May paused. "I don't know how to explain it, but it smells like something from a trash dump, I just don't recognize it. It's really faint. I… I don't know what to feel Brock. What's happening?" She looked into the horizon towards the storm and noticed something move above the clouds. She squinted her eyes, but couldn't make out what the thing was.

"What is it, May?" Brock asked.

"Do you see that? Above the clouds!"

Brock squinted, but couldn't pinpoint what May saw.

"It just dove into the storm!" May busted.

"I wonder what it was…"

May sighed heavily and walked into the cabin of the ship.