Author's Note: This story will contain some references to the real life world. I, Pan, do not claim these such devices for myself and all copyright goes to their owners. Will this story be updated every birthday? Probably.
It was dark, damp, and bit chilly when the dark figure emerged from a shoddy building that laid in ruins. The shadow parted chapped lips and opened her mouth in a slight yawn as she wiped the grime from her sleep off her dirt-caked face. A dry eye strained to watch her surroundings as sore muscles screamed for her to crawl back into her temporary residence for another few hours of unconscious paradise.
She ignored the pain and with knowledge that is only self-taught, she clambered forward and maneuvered around the rubble and jagged ends of rusted metal posts, carefully watching for any signs of movement and listening for any unnatural moans of the supernatural.
The older teen gave a curt chuckle at her situation as she recalled this same date a year ago. What would her past-self say if she-now could tell her the entire Sinnoh region was under the reign of the undead? She shook her head in mild amusement and continued on climbing a sharp incline of rocks that threaten to send her tumbling down it's pointed side if she so dared to grab one of it's many loose stones.
It took a little less than an hour to scale the eighteen foot tall rocky incline, mostly because of her muscles which begged and seem to quiver every so feet of progress which prompted Claire to take a few minutes to rest before going on. Her parched throat threatened to remain close as she panted heavily while she stared down at the rough looking town perched below.
She knew better than to walk to the desolate town hoping for some supplies. If she just waltz up into the that town with no plan at all it was sure that she would die. Zombies are usually quiet creatures until they find a fresh meal or a prey to capture. Claire wished she known that sooner when she first started out, then maybe her new elderly neighbor, Misses Mitts, would have lasted longer in this infested region had she known, as long as she's wishing Claire wishes for some water to drink. Something to soothe this gritty feeling in the back of her throat.
Claire unsuccessfully tries to clear her throat but it only remains even drier as her body begins to shrivel up. How long had it been since her supplies had diminished? Two days? Three? She thought she could have at least lasted another five days after successfully finding a shattered house with a few loaves of slightly moldy bread, a dented can of green peas, and a delicious liter of flat Cola.
Alas, sharing food with her partners that help her survive also put her at risk of starving. Her pokemon friends now have to reside in their pokeballs for the sake of conserving their energy, health, and not making themselves hungry so that Claire herself can eat for her own survival. It was now up to her to carry, defend, and travel by herself unless absolutely necessary unless she preferred making her pals grumble with hunger.
Deeming herself momentarily rested, Claire edged around the lessening groups of sharp debris and broken glass and made a beeline towards the first house that she came upon. With great care she silently stepped towards the home tensely in case some random zombie deemed her a quick dinner. She whipped out the nuisance of a weapon that had been digging into her back the entire trip and armed herself ready as she peered into a dark hole where a window once was.
The dull black crowbar in her grasp shook slightly as she nervously took tentative steps into the home and rose into the air when a small noise made a presence known. Alarmed Claire whirled towards the sound and held her crowbar threateningly up in a striking stance. The sound maker fumbled a bit more, crashing into random pots and furniture pieces as it continued on towards her.
A muffled groan came from the unidentified being as Claire quickly backed out of the house, her arm shaking with both anticipation and anxiety as a decomposing SWAT officer stumbled towards her with a boney limb of a right leg and a stiff left one. Oh to be the rebellious and naive child like I once was. Claire thought as she brought the hook of the crowbar down onto the officer's shoulder. The zombie moaned in hunger as Claire jumped back after landing the blow. It fell down and creepily brought itself back up in a way so unnatural to it's body that it cracked and popped inhumanly.
The undead man garbled sickly from the congealed blood that hung out of his mouth and reached for the shorter girl. Claire held in a string of curses to prevent other undead from hearing them and swung again using more strength than she should have. With a small 'shcuk' the SWAT officer's loose left arm fell to the ground and lifelessly laid there while the rest of the body shambled forward.
Claire searched frantically for something to climb on that would put her just out of the reach of this ghoul; it would also provide her a moment's rest for her aching body. Heck if the zombie fell down now right on top of her, he would have a free meal she had no strength to push him off. Her arm muscles scream in pain from the sudden extreme stretch that had knocked the undead limb off. She couldn't finish off this zombie adult with her terrible body condition, not alone anyway.
Claire's right hand flew to her jean pockets for the salvation that held her position of being a fleshy meal in the balance. The cold metal bit into her hand as she rushed to pull the ball out of the rather tight pocket and defend herself. A quick flick of the wrist sent the chosen pokeball spiralling behind the zombie and a great flash of light reveal a large monstrous plant-covered dinosaur.
The beast gave a soft growl of "Trop!" before charging the zombie who stalked threateningly closer towards Claire. The black-haired girl quickly jumped into a pile of rocks to avoid the falling jaws of the zombie and the Take Down her lifelong partner had dealt to the man. The zombie's body crunched between the broken concrete and the tropius' large flat foot. It groaned in hunger for a final time as the leaf-winged pokemon crushed it's head with a swift stomp.
In relief Claire picked herself off the pile of rough rocks and plucked the little ones that managed to stick themselves deep into her skin out. Blood oozed slowly out of the cuts and in alarm Claire rushed to end the bleeding while she took long strides toward her partner who sniffed her affectionately. She feverishly rolled up the tattered long sleeves of her shirt and added pressure to the biggest of the wounds; from there to the second largest and so on until a pair of spine chilling moans echoed around them.
A younger blood soaked schoolboy and a familiar middle-aged woman groaned and grumbled as they struggled forward on stiffened limbs towards the taste-y looking girl. Claire bit her tongue in habit as her careless and dried out body tried to slump in exhaustion. She couldn't go on. Her body is on fumes, she hadn't so much as a drop of liquid go in or out of her body. Which she was extremely sure was not healthy in any sort of circumstance, and was especially hazardous in this one.
"Nanners, can you hold them off with Air Slash until I can pull myself together?" She asked her partner in a soft voice as the schoolboy gained some speed as he came down the hill.
Nanners nodded slightly at his trainer's request and began to gather a swirling angry sphere of air before him. With great care, Nanners lifted his forelegs off the ground and sent the ball of furious air into the zombie child's upper half. The child seem to crumple into a heap of broken dreams and twisted memories. In mere moments it sprung back to its completely gnarled feet; to her disgust, his rotting tissue clung hopelessly onto his once innocent face while a stream of blackened blood gushed from the lower base of his skull.
The putrid smell of the moving corpse was foul enough but with the added bonus of his sickening fountain effect, Claire was forced to cover her nose with her navy sweater collar while pinching it just for the small relief of the smell of her own natural body odor. Well it has been quite a while since she found any water at much less any to spare for bathing.
The ex-news anchor who had lagged behind the kid made herself known as she charged towards Claire with a screech. Claire lashed out against the attacking woman with the hook end of her crowbar, swinging the sharpen end of her weapon at the ghoul's head. A crunch greeted her ears as she pulled her weapon out of the already collapsing woman. Claire gagged and fell to the ground as the nauseous smells of the many dead bodies and chemicals mingled and seized her olfactory system hostage.
Nanners in alarm gave a small call of "Pius!" as he tried to maneuver himself, around the still moving child, towards his trainer. As Claire bent over and dry heaved, she glanced at the body beside her that had sent numbing tingles down her arm when she swung. The familiarity in the broken and torn face puzzled her slightly when the memory of her waking up on the sofa resurface.
Claire recalled the woman's live news story on TV about how the infectious virus was rapidly spreading and how the military was setting up a giant barricade in Sunyshore. The blonde, in Claire's mind, seemed too haughty in her newscast; always making small remarks on her camera's angle or how her imperfection stood out when no one had noticed it until she brought it up. The woman was ranting unprofessional on how selfish it was for other regions to block all contact with Sinnoh and how they shot or quarantined pokemon and humans alike for months only to release them back to the devilishly flesh devouring land, when the cameraman tried to tell her to run. Her tragic flaw quickly lashed at him and began to tell the viewers how far the virus was spreading from its first release nine months ago.
Claire could hear the words play in her mind as the flashback of the cameraman trying to utter another warning to the woman. The man later in that same moment found her ending to be rather fitting as a fat human-flesh craving man wobbled towards the news anchor who continued to thrive on her passion of resentment. Her co-worker threw the camera to the ground and raced to the safety of the company's van as the fat zombie grabbed the broadcasting woman by the hair and bit a chunk out of her shoulder. Claire had just rose herself from a blissful nap when the man tried to convince the woman otherwise.
Watching a well-known person just being ravaged on live TV...was rather Claire wouldn't call it frightening but rather mind numbing. The thought of, 'This can't be real' had replayed over and over as if it were a broken song in her head that day as Claire had sat shivering in front of the tube. She had been told by numerous adult that zombies were only located in Eterna Forest and those that were found were shot by the military. Where are government officials who would try to assure then it was alright and everything would be just fine? How are these zombies spawning so fast and how did they get to Hearthome? Questions were flooding the media, and no one was answering. Even her know-it-all older brother had no answers for these fatal questions, he didn't even tease her with the usual cruddy "Miss Clear Idea Rider" name joke like he usually did when he couldn't think of a witty response.
Names. Zombies didn't care for names, all they wanted was your flesh..not the stereotypical brains that movie theatres claimed. Either way if a zombie bit you, you were going to die by fully being eaten alive or by turning into one of them.
Claire snapped back to attention as her troprius' heavy footsteps shook the ground as he pushed the creepy child back with a burst of air. Nanners made a small sound of relief in the back of his throat as Claire shakily stood up with the help of her bloodied crowbar. Nanners then turned around and, with a less fiery anger, hit the zombie child with his own neck which prompted a concerned gasp from Claire when the undead boy clawed at Nanners' neck as he slumped forward with brain matter falling out of the now larger hole in his head.
Claire struggled to run to her partner but the aching and twisted muscle tissue made it nearly impossible. She felt like she was being constricted in her own skin. Nanners paused and stood still as he registered what had just occurred as she toddled to him. With a small hand Claire felt along the rough muddy brown-colored skin for any open wounds or deep scratches as she cooed small and sweet nonsense to him. Finding no wounds except some minor scratches that barely broke the skin, Claire gave a silent cheer and hugged her pokemon with the feeling of both homesickness and victory at their survival.
Nanners rubbed his head affectionately against the unhealthy girl as she leaned on him for support. With a rather odd motherly, or would that be fatherly?, intention seizing control of his body; Nanners picked up the unusually-unresisting girl and laid her on his back as he took to the air in high hopes of a sanctuary that would last them a little more than a few hours. Nanners had no idea of where he was going of course, he was navigating towards a area that didn't smell of death as badly as the last place and that possible had some sweet, sweet fruit for him to munch on.
Claire couldn't even mouth the words of protest when her pokemon placed her onto his back. Her throat had entirely shut down and she was beginning to see black dots filtering over her normally clear eyesight. The swirling and morphing dots seem to grow bigger and darker than what the novels she has read have written. It was like the dots were taunting her with temptations of a bliss known as sleep but Claire knew, and boy did she know, that those dots were lying. They would take her vision away and leave her vulnerable, and with stomach-grumbling tropius beneath her, she knew that they would land soon. It was only a matter of time till the energy that Nanners had faded and all that would be left would be a hungry pokemon and a blind teen.
For a minute, Claire could have sworn she saw her brother floating next to her as she and Nanners sailed past numerous low clouds. She deliriously rose from her moving bed and with confusion written all over her face tried to grab her only sibling's hand. The figure had a peaceful expression on him as she hesitantly tried to touch him. Claire inched closer to the edge of her large pokemon to figure out if this crystal clear guy was really her brother and not one of the evil dots who somehow perfectly morphed in a humanoid shape. The figure never wavered with his glazed light blue eyes as she was mere inches away from touching his outstretched hand.
She leaned dangerously over Nanners' side and, with happiness and hope that maybe this entire zombie ordeal was a dream, she clutched at his hand. In a instant her brother's mirage was gone and she was falling, dancing in confusion in the icy crisp air. Nanners was diving towards her as she combated her own delirium. Her old bloodied bandages were fluttering away as soon as they were unravelled while Claire's arms flailed wildly as she rushed to meet the ground. Nanners was gaining distance madly but she was so close to the ground that even he doubted he was going to make it to her.
Then there it was. An angel of the Mother Nature, a tree. The tree with its forgiving branches of earthy colored leaves caught Claire in a painful landing. Branches broke sending shrapnel into both the still-green grass below and the girl, leaves were coming down in a lovely shower mixture of greens, yellows, reds, and orange almost tauntingly as Claire crashed into the ground. Though the tree didn't completely stop her fall, it's branches slowed her fall just enough for her to survive.
And so she laid there like a child's broken toy. Crushed, bruised, sobbing, and tortured. Nanner's stood idly by debating whether or not to move the girl in fear of causing her more harm. It was when she gave a soft cry of his name did he shuffle forward and gently rub his velvety against one of her bloodied palms. Claire muttered small apologies and tinkling thank-yous as she order Nanners to go back into his ball. The pokemon defiantly settled down beside the girl and placed his head next to hers. He made a tiny whine in the back of his throat as she struggled to reach to her pockets. Claire cried as pain ripped through out her body at the slightest of movements and continued on as she pulled her pocket outwards to let the pokeballs tucked in there roll out.
With the tips of her battered fingers Claire gave of the five pokeballs a small push toward Nanners' nestled forelegs. "When I...leave...free them please." She murmured to her tropius who rose and turned his head toward her in a look of pure horror and sadness.
He gave a mournful bawl as he nudged himself closer to the cold woman careful not to lose any of his friend's pokeballs. Claire held back another sob that threatened to rack her body in painful quivers as she felt the chill of the air surround her. Nanners quickly put his head in her icy hands while she fought to keep her eyes open. His warm breathe against her hand felt so pure against that tainted and mind-numbing cold wind that wafted over the pair. Claire let a deep rumbling sigh as her body fell into a calm and relaxed pose while she prepared to release herself. As fog began to cloak her and set little dew drops on her long lashes, she rubbed Nanners' soft face with the pads of her fingers as she slowly lost herself into a world of grey.
I felt bad while writing this if you couldn't tell. I'm a sucker for sad scenes and hopefully won't have to do this again anytime soon. I love updating on my birthday if you couldn't tell :).
Reminder: Things will begin to slightly get more symbolic and such.