Kim coughed as she walked over the horizon into Pittsburgh. Smoke covered everything around, that and fog, and left the visibility at near zero. She didn't like the feel of this city, but Lawnbuddha insisted that this was the fastest way to DC, so they took it. Blackfire was facing the same problems as Kim. The smoke was irritating to them both. Apparently a lot of the power plants and factories were left running when the attacks hit Pittsburgh and, without proper maintenance, fell into disrepair, turning the city into this smokey wasteland.
"Just a bit more!" Lawnbuddha said as they continued walking. "A bit more and we can find some cover from this smoke. The inner city should have enough buildings we can find somewhere to rest."
Kim coughed again. "Are you sure we should do that?" She had always heard bad things about Pittsburgh and Detroit, and she didn't know if she even wanted to enter the city. However, she trusted her new found companions and decided they would keep her safe.
She thought back again to Latias. That bird had saved her life twice, and it saddened her that she had left Kim in so little of time. Then she thought about her parents again. Oh, how she hoped they were safe. But right now, all she could do was trek on and do what she had to do. They had to get to DC. The group had worked out a system with their pokemon. Sudowoodo led the group from a hundred or so yards away, while Swampert stayed back the same distance to cover their back side. Buneary stayed in Kim's hands, one of her only signs of comfort.
Sudo came running back to the group. "Suuudoo!" he pointed to where he came from.
Lawn squinted his eyes to look at where it was pointing. "I think I see people!" Lawn said. "Good find, Sudo."
Sudo smiled and Lawn took the lead. "Go stand back by Swampert. We are gonna figure some things out about this place from the locals." He took off down the road towards the people. Kim and Blackfire followed.
They picked up speed as they ran, slowly downhill, to the people Sudo had spotted. If Sudo hadn't been up there, they might have walked right by them and never noticed. Kim wondered how Lawn had even saw them, but she didn't really care, nor did it matter.
They ran up to the person at last. It was actually about a dozen people. They were all ragged and dirty, and seemed dispirited, though Kim had no doubts as to why they would seem that way.
"Hey. We are traveling through, and we were wondering if you guys could help us!" Lawnbuddha asked them once they stopped moving.
An older woman approached them and removed a hood above her head. "You shouldn't have came here. It's a death trap."
Lawn gave an odd look on his face. "Well that's great news." he said to Kim and Blackfire. "May we ask why or what?"
"Those monsters. They took over all the factories and set them to overhaul. All that's left is all this smoke. We can't get anywhere near the factories."
"What did the monsters look like?" Lawn asked.
"All sorts of different things. I can't really describe them. They just float around and leave a smoke trail everywhere. We are all slowly dying here. That's why were trying to get to Heinz field. The Army put a temporary roof over it and cleaned out the smoke as much as they could. A lot of survivors are there."
Kim gasped at the thought. This town was in far worse shape than anywhere else she had saw yet. She felt bad for all its denizens, and wished deep inside she could help them.
"Well, we just need to get through the city, but this sounds like a problem.." Lawn said.
"Somebody like you...somebody with those monsters helping them...they went into the factory awhile ago, but never came back. He said he could stop the problem, but we haven't heard anything from him."
"Really?" Lawn said. "Which factory? And how did you know they were with us? We tried to hide them."
"Your eyes grow accustomed to the smoke, even if your lungs don't." The woman smiled dryly.
"We should go help him!" Kim said almost without hesitation. "We would want the same thing if it was us in there."
Lawn smiled. "Already thinking about it!"
The woman's expression changed. "Don't! You would just be throwing away more lives."
"Don't worry. With Sudo and Swampert, whatever is in those factories won't be a problem for us!" Blackfire spoke from behind Lawn.
"That's the spirit!" Lawn replied, then faced the woman again. "Which factory?"
The woman sighed, then pointed. "That one, over there."
Dozens of smokestacks came out of the building she pointed at. It was about a mile away, and huge, to say the least. This would be one daunting challenge, Kim thought to herself. But they had to take it and save whoever went in there. Kim wondered who it might be...if it was somebody she had associated with when all this was just a game.
Back across the country, Fading ran. The Golden Mewtwo behind her was way too strong for any of her pokemon, and she had found a lot of hers in the past two weeks. Behind her, a dark colored Vaporeon and Jolteon ran with just as much urgency as she did. She had left her Lapras at the docks to escape, and many of her other pokemon were roaming around the city. Single-handedly, she had been cleaning up the city around her, but this was one problem she couldn't clean, no matter how much she tried. Nothing could stand up to this beast. She ran on, desperate to get away. When she let all the other pokemon free to live, Vaporeon and Jolteon refused to go. She couldn't tell them no. She didn't have the heart, so she let them follow.
An explosion blew up the buildings behind her as Mewtwo closed in fast. She had to find somewhere to hide, and fast.
"HEY! OVER HERE!" she heard. Quickly, her head spun down an alley and she spotted the people she heard. There were two guys standing over a man hole. Both were waving at her. "Fading! Get in here now!"
Fading? How did they know who she was? Whoever they were, they were from the site, and they knew of her Vaporeon and Jolteon behind her. Then again, she had posted a picture of herself, but to think people would remember this far into a crisis some small detail? She shook her head. She didn't have time to worry about that. She turned down the hallway and bolted for the two men. They had stopped waving now, and prepared to get the man hole ready for entrance.
Fading made it to them, only to hear a "Just jump!" She listened without hesitation and fell into the hole. Vaporeon and Jolteon followed shortly after, and at last the two men jumped in, the last one closing the man hole behind them.
"Who are you two? How did you know who I was?" Fading began to ask.
"No time! The smaller one said. "Mewtwo isn't dumb. We've got to hurry! Sasha is waiting for us!" he ran off ahead into the sewer.
Sasha! Fading remembered the name somewhere, but she couldn't quite figure it out now, nor did she have the time.
The taller man ran to her side. "I'm Nino. That's h83r. Sorry to run like this, but we've got to get the hell out of here."
Fading recognized both names, and nodded. "Alright. Good idea." She looked back up at the man hole. Mewtwo wouldn't be far behind. "Let's go." She ran, and Nino followed.
Together, the three ran down a series of sewer tunnels. It was dark, but much safer than incoming falling buildings all around them. So far, none of the buildings had collapsed the ground, and they were lucky. Fading followed, just happy to have found somebody who understood her plight. It seemed odd that h83r new exactly where he was going, but she paid no mind to it.
They ran on for another fifteen minutes. Fading was exhausted by now, but she couldn't stop. Both h83r and Nino finally stopped. "We have to go back up here. Hopefully Mewtwo lost us long enough we can cross."
"Cross? Cross what?" Fading asked.
"The Golden Gate Bridge. On the other side they've got fallout shelters fixed up. We have to get there. Mewtwo has tore down most of the city, along with everybody following him." h83r said.
Nino climbed the latter and moved the man hole, then climbed up. Fading followed with her pokemon, then h83r. They hadn't lied. Once they surfaced, they were less than a mile from the Golden Gate Bridge. Nino took off without warning, leading h83e and Fading to follow.
Together, the three began a trek across the bridge. It was a long, risky shot, but if they made it, they would be safe in the fallout shelters. Fading was looking forward to safety. She hadn't had that feeling in over a week.
The first half of the run went by uneventful. Cars were parked all over the bridge, so travel involved running around vehicles. The thought of taking a vehicle occurred, but the bridge was so full that they wouldn't be able to drive it off. San Francisco was the first city hit, and now was one of the most desolate. It was still amazing the carnage that had taken place, here and across the world, in only two weeks.
Their journey across the bridge was cut short. In front of them stood an army of pokemon that spanned the bridge in full. Fading looked behind them, and news only darkened. Mewtwo was behind them, standing alone. Fading wasn't sure which side was worse. If they wanted to make their way across the bridge, they would have to fight their way out. Vaporeon and Jolteon stepped in front of Fading.
"Guess we fight, then?" Nino asked.
H83r blew a whistle and a splash came from below them. Within seconds, the largest Articuno Fading could have dreamed of halted in mid-air.
"Give 'em hell, Sasha!" H83r yelled.
Fading smiled. This would, at least, be interesting.
Those were her last thoughts before the pain surged through her body. She barely managed to turn around to see what had happened. Nino stood there, gun in hand, and H83r with a knife.
"Sorry, sweetheart, but you were doing too good of a job." Nino smiled an evil smile. Tears rolled down Fading's face. "Why?..." she barely managed to speak.
Mewtwo landed beside Nino and H83r. "You both did well." it spoke.
Fading couldn't believe it. She had been betrayed! They were working with Mewtwo! But why? Tears continued to fall as Fading took the pain. It was almost too much to bare. She couldn't die here. Not now.
Vaporeon and Jolteon both saw the anguish, and charged after H83r and Nino. They were cut short, however, by the Articuno, Sasha, H83r had called it, and knocked backwards with a giant gust of wind, which sent both Fading and her pokemon to their backs.
Fading screamed in pain. This was too much. She stood up again, her hand clutching her wound in her shoulder.
"I wouldn't move if I were you." Nino said. "You are dumb to think I only had one shot."
He pulled the trigger to fire, but the gun was launched from his hand by a flash of black and red. Fading smiled a bit when she saw her Arcanine fly into her enemies. It looked back at her, roaring. Somehow, fading knew what she had to do. She fought the pain and walked over to Vaporeon and Jolteon. Jolteon was ok, but Vaporeon was hurt. She picked it up. Each second she wanted to scream in pain, but she kept her resolve.
She looked back at Arcanine and nodded. Mewtwo was now moving towards her, but Arcanine had no intentions of letting him through. This was her only chance.
"Thank you..." She said as another tear, this one of sadness, rolled down her face.
With Vaporeon in hand and Jolteon by her side, she jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge.