Otherworldly Infection
Themes for this chapter: Vengeance is Mine (When a City Dies), Almost Dead
Only the strongest will survive
-Blow Me Away, Breaking Benjamin (Halo 2 OST)
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Chapter Five: Kanto's Final Hope
Arlene thought that the walk from where Professor Oak had found her (her guess was the Virdian Forest) to the Indigo Plateau would never end. Every strange noise she heard, every shadow that moved made the terrified woman jump with fear. She kept looking behind her every five minutes, either afraid of an ambush from behind or a chance of seeing Dilan there, all safe and sound. The baby Pichu sadly guessed it was a bit of both.
The professor kept his eyes cast down. Arlene had to tell him of the death of his grandson shortly after they had begun the long walk and the professor nearly had a break down. Although she was well trained and told to keep herself calm in times like that, Arlene just couldn't offer the words she had been told to tell every relative of a victim. "We're sorry for your loss" just didn't seem to fit, especially since Arlene had suffered a huge loss as well. Though both grown adults wanted nothing more then to cry for who they had lost, both of them knew it wouldn't help and it would only waste precious seconds. Seconds that could be used to walk forward and tell the Elite Four of the danger and make a plan to save Kanto.
Optimism and the hope to save others were the only things that kept their feet moving.
Arlene finally spotted some light flooding out from the trees. She looked up and uttered a small gasp of relief: they had finally reached the Indigo Plateau! The baby Pichu on her shoulder squeaked with delight and even the professor sighed peacefully. The long part of the journey was over.
Professor Oak tried opening the door. To both their surprise, it was locked up tightly. "Hey!!" Arlene called, knocking on the door. "Please, let us in!!"
"Pichu!" the Pichu squeaked.
There was some silence and then some static came from the transmitter beside the door. When it cleared, a voice called out to them. "You're not one of those fiends, are you? State your names and tell us if you're safe."
"I'll handle this," Oak told Arlene. He pushed a button and spoke, "I am Professor Samuel Oak and I have a policewoman with me who came from Pallet Town and a mere Pichu. We are not a danger and we request admittance for our safety, please."
Silence. Then the voice returned. "Professor Oak! Of course you may be admitted! Unlock the doors, Bruno!"
A large shadow swept over the doors and the trio could hear locks and bolts being undone. The doors finally opened, revealing a large man with no shirt and tattered pants on the other side. Bruno, one of the Elite Four who specialized in fighting moves and pokemon, looked past the small group and quickly ushered them inside. Behind him, sitting at a table, were the other members of the Elite Four and the champion himself. The champion's arm was around a girl and Arlene guessed they were a couple.
"Professor...so good to see you," a tall, redhaired man said. He walked forward and shook hands with Oak. "Your survival right now was a main concern, but we thank Arceus in the sky that you're here and safe."
"Yes...thank you, Lance," Oak said nonchalantly.
"..." Lance remembered what Red had mentioned. His grandson, the former champion who had lost to the current champion, had become the walking, eating undead things that took over Pallet Town. The dragon trainer had wanted to show sympathy to the man who was his friend and a man he well respected, but Lorelei interrupted.
"Did either of you happen to see...any of those creatures on your way over?"
"No, ma'am," Arlene replied. "I left Pallet Town on my boss's orders...we were unfortunately attacked by a swarm of Beedrill. My unit had tried their hardest to fight, but these things were too fast and too strong...my unit was wiped out..."
"I believe there is something much more pressing on this matter..." an old woman spoke up. Everyone looked at her. "Has anyone stopped to consider how this has happened? Or why? What caused people, who appear to be dead, to suddenly start walking around without a soul?"
"I don't know," Red spoke up. "But it seemed to have started with Blue...he appeared to be dead when the first cops had shot him, but he got right back up. Even with a bullet to the chest..."
"That would kill anyone who wasn't dead before," Arlene spoke up. "Which can only mean he was dead when he was shot."
Professor Oak buried his face in his hands. The elderly woman got up from her chair and wrapped an arm around Oak, trying her hardest to comfort him.
Meanwhile, Bruno had flipped on the TV to the Kanto National News (KNN) and felt his heart skip a beat. "Everyone...you had better take a look at this..."
A live camera was flying in a helicopter above the sea route between Cinnabar Island and Pallet Town. On the little islets, dead sea pokemon had piled up and more were being washed up with each wave that splashed along the sides. In the small area where the elusive Tangula lived, just slightly south of Pallet, more and more pokemon were behaving savagely. Some of them had grown features that would otherwse NEVER be seen normally on their bodies.
"With a bizzare twist of fate, the once peaceful town of Pallet, home to the renown Professor Oak and the Kanto Champion Red Fire, has been transformed into a land of savage beasts and dead littered everywhere. It has been confirmed by our news team that a unit from the Virdian Police Force has been massacred, but they don't appear to be down for good. Pallet Town has been forbidden for travelers to enter and we caution everyone to stay a hundred yards away from the area. Those in Virdian City, although not ordered, have already fled once some hostile pokemon started to appear along the edges of town. This is Star Destiny, reporting live from the skies above Pallet Town. Back to...OH NO! GET US OUT OF HERE!!"
The screen suddenly began to shake and shift and sounds of a chopper trying to make an escape mingled with the terrified screams of the reporter and the pilot. The picture suddenly showed the face of a black, one eyed Fearow that was bleeding from the neck. It was obviously infected by whatever had happened upon Pallet. Suddenly the picture went black. Bruno turned the TV off and looked at everyone with a grim expression.
"It's spreading faster then we can account for. We have no choice but to evacuate Kanto."
"But what if they catch us before anyone can even leave?" Green spoke up. She had been silent this entire time, so everyone was startled to hear her speak. "I mean...look at what just happened on the news. That team hardly managed to get away before they were attacked..."
"The best choice would be to ready some heavily guarded boats and make for the Sevi Islands," Lorelei said. Four Island was her home and she was worried that the infection would spread there too. But they were far enough from the main lands, surrounded by several fast currents. It would be the best defense against those monsters.
"I agree," Lance said. "The Islands would be our best choice. We had also better warn Johto of this...it would be very possible for those creatures to cross over, even if the distance is far."
"I object," Agatha said. "Not to warning Johto, but the evacuation. There are too many people who are far from water's edge and it would take a miracle for all of them to escape unharmed. People in Pewter, Safferon, Cerulean and Celadon City...how do you propose we get them out of there? Flying pokemon? Helicopters? What if there are more of those creatures in the air? What is our defense for them?"
"How about they evacuate to Johto via the Magnet Train?" Bruno suggested. "It runs from Safferon to Goldenrod in Johto, and Goldenrod is a big city. We can contact Will and Karen out there and get them to put out a public notice." Will and Karen were two of Johto's representatives in the Pokemon League against competing trainers. They also were alternate battlers in case one of the main Elite Four couldn't battle for some reason.
"You are forgetting that Pewter City has to go through Mount Moon to get to Cerulean," Arlene said. "And they have to go through the Virdian Forest in another route. Pewter City is very isolated...is there a chance they could survive on their own?"
"Absolutely not," Oak finally spoke up. "Arlene, you saw the creatures...they're making their way to Virdian City. A few trees won't be able to stop them once they're finished there."
"I think I remember something," Red said. All eyes turned towards him and he flushed. "I...I had to shoot Blue when he got back up...but I shot him in the head. After that, he stayed down. Maybe...that could be the trick. Shooting them in the head."
"Where did you get the gun?" Arlene couldn't help but ask the question.
Red didn't answer, but Green did. "From the officers who had saved us...Alex Rivers and Ryan...I don't know his last name." She saw the bewildered look on the woman's face and quickly added, "It was for self defense! They...were already attacked and down when we took them...I'm so sorry...please don't get us in trouble!"
"There are bigger things to worry about, Green," Lance said patiently. "If what Red says is right, we should alert the Vermillion Police Station and any other force in Kanto about that method. I'll let them know to set up some choppers and for them to aim for the head of those things." He slipped away to the phones.
Arlene didn't say anything for a while. Red and Green felt a stab of guilt for taking something they shouldn't have even been touching, but did she really blame them? The teens uttered sighs of relief when the blond finally looked up and smiled at them.
"It was for self defense. You're absolutely right. I don't think you'll get into any trouble for wanting to protect yourselves when two officers were down and...dead in the line of duty."
"Thank you, ma'am," Green said. She bowed her head.
Lance returned. "I just spoke with Karen. She had been watching the news and knows what's happening. The Police force have promised to help everyone reach safety at once. by air or by water. Now we have one last problem in front of us..."
"Which is?" Lorelei asked.
"How do we get out of here ourselves?"
The question hung in the air, like a hovering cloud of smoke, that no one dared to breathe into without getting the wrong reaction. The question was going to be a difficult one to answer and even more difficult to put to work.
"Tohjo Falls."
Everyone looked at Red curiously. Tohjo Falls hadn't been used in many years and the pathway was very worn out. It was also very secluded...the perfect way to escape the horror here.
(So perfect that Agatha wondered why she hadn't thought of it.)
The group wordlessly began making preparations to leave. They stocked up on food, medicine and whatever else they could possibly find. Red kept the gun handy with him and Arlene even taught him and Green how to use it properly.
As they left the Indigo Plateau, the one thing that rested on everyone's mind was all one and the same.
How did all of this happen?
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Meanwhile, Delta Nemesis had grown aware of hearing screams and cries of the fresh meat. His monster side had slowly vanished and his human thoughts had returned. The scent of the dead filled his nostrils and he was horrified at what he had done. He had to get out of here and fast!
His wings began to flap and he took off for the skies beyond where he was. To his surprise, his heavy weight was not difficult to carry at all. In fact, he was able to fly rather fast, proven by the distance he managed to get in such a short time. Kanto now looked like nothing more then a speck in the distance. Delta Nemesis simply shrugged his shoulders and continued flying. He was hoping to find Xanon, hoping that he could stop this awfulness and make him human agan. He didn't want to kill, to go insane when he smelled flesh, to be a monster! Oh please, anything but being a monster!
An image flashed in his mind, something that gripped the creature with fear. It was the face of a woman...someone beautiful and peaceful...it nearly gave his mind and body a better state. But the image turned into something terrifying: the woman's hair began to twist and flick and her beautiful face sneered at him. She opened her mouth and laughed, though there was no sound. The image scared him and made him fly even faster.
He had no sense of direction, but he appeared to be going in a direction with many mushroom hills in sight...
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Woo, I did it! Another chapter done in less then one month! HECK YEAH! ;D
But I got some bad news. And it's also good news, but it's bad news too. I finally got a job as a nanny, working every day of the week. I absolutely love the prospect of finally earning some money and being with a child, but this leaves me little to almost no time to write or update. I expect this job will go into the summer as well.
So now updates will probably take much longer to do. PLEASE DO NOT ABANDON ME, I SWEAR I WILL KEEP WRITING. I ask for your co-operation and thank you in advance.
Also, I'm bad. I told Midnight that I'd start the Mushroom Kingdom chapter here, but I had too many plot points I COULD NOT pass up. But if I carried on as is, I would have had waaay too long of a chapter here. WAY too long. I couldn't have that. I don't even think I could write that. o.o
No cameos here...for anyone who wondered, Arlene is Larxene from KH, Dilan is the Somebody name of Xaldin in KH and Lloyd was the Tales of Symphonia cameo from last chapter.
Though there is a slight self insertion. ;DDDD (runs)
Also, I'm majorly sorry. I focused too much on characters who are just minor in this story for the past two chapters. That's going to change next chapter.
-Moonlit Assassin