As promised, Natalia called the three who had promised to accompany her to take care of the infected Pokemon. Each of them met her in front of the Pokemon Center and Miranda allowed the other two to take her birds for the flight.

"Follow me."

"Natalia!"

Irritated, she turned to look behind her.

"What, Edgar?"

"I'm coming with you!"

"What the hell do you mean you're coming with me?"

"I need to get stronger, I want to see my pokemon again and put them out of their misery!" he declared with that notorious undertone of apathy.

"Ugh, fine, hurry up. You have your stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Your leg okay?"

"Better."

"Good. Pull out some wings and we'll get."

Miranda had to lend him her Pelliper, which protested against carrying the young man, but the five took off towards New Bark town nonetheless.

"Follow my lead, we'll get there in no time. And keep those fire types ready!"

"Got that!" Luke called.

"Good!"

They flew as quickly as they could. It was just after noon, they could still make it to New Bark Town before dark if they hurried, she decided. Ellie gripped her tightly, unwilling to fall to her possible doom at her size.

"What the hell?" Luke gasped.

"I see it."

Loud buzzing, a dark cloud of buzzing pokemon. And it was heading towards them. A swarm of infected Beedrill had sensed the bird pokemon and were ready to fight.

"Fire types ready!"

Miranda held up her Torkoal, pointing it like a gun at the oncoming swarm. Jeremy followed with his Numel (a fat wad of a pokemon, even more so than normal), and Luke followed with a Combusken.

"Flamethrower!"

But what came out of Elizaveta's mouth was much, much more than a flamethrower. It was nothing short of an inferno. The other fire pokemon fired at the same time, the Torkoal blowing so hard that smoke came out of his shell and right into Miranda's face. She grimaced and squeezed her eyes shut, but kept still, balancing. The maddened Beedrill fell out of the sky by the dozens until none remained. None of the remains survived its descent to the ground, they fell apart into crumbling ash as soon as they hit.

"Anyone hurt?"

"No, we're good."

Edgar wasn't holding a pokemon. In fact, he had avoided the Beedrill attack by dropping down below the cloud.

"Edgar?"

"What?"

"You don't have a fire type?"

"…" he refused to answer.

"Edgar, if you don't have one, use your magneton, electricity works just as well."

"Got it." He huffed.

"Let's go."

They continued on their way, Natalia pet her Growlithe approvingly. So it had learned a new move, and in the current situation, it was probably necessary and very, very useful.

……………………………………..

When they landed, Miranda reclaimed her flying pokemon and Kyle was returned to his pokeball for a rest. Natalia knocked on the professor's door, looking up at the sky. It was just beginning to have the slightest hint of orange, meaning she wasn't too late. She needed to see if Sparky would return again.

"Natalia- Oh! You found friends!"

"And Edgar."

"Come in, all of you, feel free to take your pokemon out for some stretching!" Elm smiled, allowing them all to enter.

Liam hadn't left. There was a paper bag next to him, presumably his lunch, which he hadn't touched at all. Grant was still substituting as an overly fluffy Pikachu, but he didn't seem to mind the child's grieving sobs. Mimicking Sparky as well as he could, he crooned to the young boy.

"Piika…"

"Poor boy hasn't left since yesterday. He keeps wanting to see Sparky come back."

"So this is the boy you were talking about, eh?" Luke frowned, "Sad, so young and losing a pokemon like that."

Natalia abruptly felt a lick on her cheek and she snapped her head to look. The Ponyta was standing, her white fur growing back and her eyes glittering.

"Hey Lilith, how have you been?"

The Ponyta whinnied, nuzzling the girl.

"By the way, Liam's older brother is here to stay for now until this crisis is dealt with."

"Oh, good."

"Edgar."

"Yeah?"

"I suggest you borrow the Ponyta. It may prove to be useful to you."

The boy muttered something along the lines of "…don't want no prissy Ponyta" but agreed grudgingly.

"Good. Elizaveta, Lily needs your help burying Marik."

"I knew it."

"She's out back if you want to help her."

"I'll be right back." She huffed, waving her Growlithe along. Lars the Haunter phased through the door, following silently to keep watch.

"I hope they'll be alright… if Sparky comes back…" Elm muttered.

"Tell us what's been going on, I think we need to know." Jeremy advised.

"Oh! Right, sorry. So this is what we know so far…"

……………………………………………………………

Natalia met up with Lily behind her house, and she carried a small wooden box with her. Her eyes were red and her lips quivered. Natalia began to dig where Lily told her to, she dug a few feet into the ground with Ellie's help, and Lily put the box into the ground.

"Thanks so much, Marik… that Pikachu might've hurt me real bad if you hadn't been there, but… I still wish you were here… I'm sorry you were in so much pain in those few hours. I should have known… I should have done something sooner…" Lily began to cry. Natalia pt a hand comfortingly on her shoulder and she leaned on her friend, sobbing on her shoulder.

"Marik, thanks for saving her. rest up, you'll see her again." Natalia said reverently.

At last, Natalia began to bury the little wooden box. The box that contained the Machop's ashes. She wasn't about to ask how they had gathered it, but she knew that the Machop was finally gone, it wasn't infected and it didn't infect anything else.

When they returned to the Professor's house, the sky was orange. They heard a rustling and they turned to look, but nothing moved after that. They knew it was Sparky, but he didn't attack. They hurried into the house.

"Natalia. Lily. Welcome back."

"Heard about your pokemon, it's a shame, really." Jeremy said sympathetically, "Lost my Chatot just yesterday."

"I lost my Ambipom." Luke said stiffly.

"Noctowl. Poor thing was with me for so long… since I could remember, really."

Lily sat in a chair within the small circle.

"Edgar, have you lost any pokemon?" Elm asked him.

"Just… My Golbat… and my Sneasel…"

"Sorry about that."

He didn't reply. He told himself he didn't care that his pokemon were gone. He was more upset over the fact that they had attacked him rather than the fact that they would never return to him alive. But something told him there was more to it than that. He pushed it away.

"Are you going to stay?"

"No. I want to check the safari zone as soon as I can."

"But it'll be nighttime by the time you get there!"

"I have a troop of five people, Lily. I think we can handle it."

"But… then… what if you miss some?"

"We're going on foot. We won't miss any."

"Just… just be safe, okay? Please?"

"We will. We have firepower, I think we'll all be alright."

Lily smiled sadly.

"I hope you're right…"

…………………………………………………………………….

Natalia opened the door to put out her Pidgeot, but was immediately met with the furless, tailless, scorched Pikachu they all knew.

"Sparky."

Elli bristled, growling at the abomination. The Pikachu made a screaming noise, but didn't move.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Besides the fact that it's a zombie missing his tail and a foot? Look at its cheeks."

Sparky's cheeks weren't sparking anymore. They were burned down to the bone, as was most of its face. The Pikachu was completely unable to use any electric attacks.

It did, however, have its tail in its mouth. It drooled and watched them, unfocused.

"Let's go. Maybe it'll leave us alone."

But when Edgar passed by it, he stepped on a small branch. The resulting snap caused the Pikachu to charge at him as quickly as it could.

"Quick! Natalia, capture it!" Elm shouted

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Natalia threw a ball at it, and immediately the red beam absorbed the charging creature. The pokeball didn't shake. Not once. She gingerly picked it up.

"What do I do with it?"

"We'll need Sparky to try to find a cure."

"really?"

"Yeah. We have a few ideas we could try… but… Natalia…"

"Hm?"

"Capture a couple more for us, we need test subjects. It doesn't matter what they are just send them to me."

"Alright."

Elm pocketed the pokeball that held Sparky.

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

Professor Elm retreated back into his house and the five flew off into the sunset towards the safari zone.

……………………………………………………

"Aw this is going to suck."

Miranda's comment turned out to be true. As soon as they approached the Safari zone, they could see that the area was closed. Security guards, with their Machoke, stood at the entrance.

"Halt!"

"Who's that?"

"Natalia. I need to get in."

"On whose orders?"

"Professor Oak's."

"Where's your proof?"

She flipped open her pokegear and dialed his number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Oak, tell them I need to get in."

"Oh. Security, right, right I forgot about them. Natalia is authorized; she's cleaning out the infected pokemon on my orders."

"Fair enough." The Security let her in. With a quick word of thanks, the group entered the darkened area.

"Alright. I don't suggest we split up. It's getting dark, if we get lost we're utterly screwed." Natalia frowned, "Bring out your fire types and whatever other type is resistant to the disease."

Rapidash, Flareon, a Froslass, Torkoal, Magneton, the fire types formed a sort of ring around the trainers.

"Alright, we have to be real careful. Safari zone has loads of pokemon. We have to assume they're all infected."

"But there's an area with a good amount of fire types around here."

"Correct. If we can catch them we can use them. And we need all the help we can get."

"I have twenty pokeballs." Jeremy put in.

"I have four." Luke frowned.

"Ten." Miranda smiled.

"I have eight." Natalia shrugged, "fifteen if you're counting all those weird balls I get from Curt every so often."

The group looked at Edgar. Even the pokemon looked at him expectantly.

"I don't have any."

"What the hell, Edgar. Just... what the hell." Natalia groaned, "Grab some pokeballs next time arou-"

"Hey! You there!"

A security guard came running with bags in his arms.

"You guys might find use for these. We closed this place down, we don't need them for a while until this is all clear."

"Safari balls?"

"Yep! You guys will be alright here?"

"Well we'll be fine but if you want to help us that's awesome."

"I've never liked zombies, but sure why not?" he shrugged, "Boring out there."

"What pokemon do you have?" Natalia asked him.

"I got a Blaziken. And an Ampharos. What else, one more… I got a Houndoom if that helps any."

"that's good, bring Blaziken and Houndoom out. Ampharos can't help us."

Ellie turned around towards a sound and yipped. The group looked over and immediately froze. A large group of infected pokemon were surrounding them and closing in slowly. A Kangiskhan and her joey, both infected, the mother missing an arm, a Rhyhorn with an eye hanging out of its head and its entrails spilling out of a hole in its gut similar to a bite wound, many pokemon lumbered ever closer.

"We need to only catch a couple of em, but in the meantime, give em all you got!" Natalia ordered, "flamethrower!"

The inferno raged form every side, warding off the maddened pokemon. A Tauros roared and charged through the flames, knocking the Flareon onto its back and immediately trying to gore it with its broken horns. Jeremy grabbed the offending horns and twisted the Tauros's head with a sharp Crack! And he let go as it crumpled to the ground. The Flareon had since gotten back up, but then… so did the Tauros. Angry, and its head hanging limply by a broken line of windpipe and mere inches of flesh, it roared and charged again. The guard's Houndoom blew fire at the offending Tauros and once the Flareon had gotten back up, it did the same, reducing it to a large pile of ashes.

"Anyone hurt yet?"

"No, just tired and hot!" Luke called, "but this is awesome!"

A Scyther somehow broke through the wall of flames and slashed Natalia in the leg, ripping open her right pocket. Ellie turned around and yelped at her master to get up, but the Scyther advanced at a lumbering pace. The other pokemon were too busy incinerating the others to help, but Ellie noticed something. A piece of fire on the gorund. The fire stone she had received from Professor Elm! Without hesitation, Ellie charged for it and grabbed it in her jaws, immediately feeling herself begin to change. She grew everywhere. Her mane, tail, her body, her legs, her muscles increased in size and mass. She blew a scorching hot blast at the Scyther, which immediately fell to ashes.

"Ellie!" Natalia cried out.

Ellie pulled her master up and barked. It was no longer a small "yip", or a "wuff", it was a low bark.

"Good girl. We have to keep going, go!"

More fire was poured out. Infected pokemon fell left and right and the air was thick with smike and the stench of burning flesh, fur, and other materials. By the time it was over, Natalia had managed to catch a Venonat and a Delibird. The pokemon were tired. They needed to rest, but the night was, unfortunately, still young.

"Let's start a fire. It'll keep them away long enough to recover a bit." Natalia said.

Ellie started the fire as soon as sticks were gathered, and Natalia shared the soda and water she had brought with her. Edgar drank it disdainfully. He still could not believe he was teaming up with his rival, who had beaten him over and over again. But his need for water overrode his hate and he drank deeply.