Chinchou and Lanturn
The view outside the window was dark. Sometimes they had the outer lamps on, but not tonight. Instead, all that could be seen in the darkness were twinkling spots of light. But they weren't the stars of the sky. These were the deep sea stars, the Lanturns who lit up the dark ocean depths with their brilliant antenna light. Those moving star lights could be seen from three miles up at the surface. Or so Chipper's trainer said.
Thus, the Chinchou had no idea how far away his kin were right now. They could be just outside the underwater research lab, or they could be miles away. He twitched his two antennas together to cause a bright spark. It was a greeting. But were there Chinchous or Lanturns in view of his hello? He couldn't tell.
"Chipper! We're ready for the experiment."
"Coming," he replied, turning from the window and swimming towards his trainer. A globe of water around him kept his gills working properly. It went wherever he did, so being in this environment of air wasn't troublesome. Maybe a bit lonely from time to time. There weren't many of his kind inside the lab.
His trainer was a man of red hair and thick glasses. He wore a white lab coat with an insignia of the TriTech Research Group, the blue one that was used at this undersea station. With a smile, he scratched Chipper's chin. "Today, we're doing a full test of the teleport gate system. It's a derivative of Bill's wireless trade transfer system. But while you can only trade one Pokemon at a time through that, this gate system should allow for transport of multiple beings, including trainers with their Pokemon. That is, transferring them safely without accidental blendings and body switching. You ready to go with me, Chipper?"
"I know what we're doing," he replied. "I helped you with it. So it should work just fine."
"Of course, you may already know how this system works, given you've assisted me this whole time. I wish they would hurry up with the Pokemon translation device. Anyhow, although it should work perfectly, I need to go over the safety protocols," he rolled his eyes. "For insurance reasons."
"Of course," Chipper said.
But as they were going over that, another scientist came in the room. "Dr. Mitchell, something great has happened! You know about the Pokerus injections?"
"Yes, where all the injected subjects fell into death-like comas," he replied. He and Chipper didn't think much of that experiment. It took a modified version of the natural Pokerus virus and combined it with Super Vitamins, hoping to attain new strengths for all Pokemon. However, it promised to put too much of an advantage into the hands of wealthy but lazy trainers, denying the natural efforts and hard work of the rest.
"The subjects are beginning to revive and all current signs point to the injections as being a success. You want me to tell you when they put them to the battle test?"
Mitchell waved his peer off. "No thanks. I'm running tests of the transport gates and since me and Chipper are the only ones on this highly important project, we're going to be busy."
"Suit yourself." He then left.
"And our project will be helpful to more people," Chipper said, showing his support through a flicker signal that his trainer understood.
"Yeah, you don't need some experimental drug to be great." Mitchell looked over his checklist, adjusting his glasses. "Let's get back to this." They finished their safety protocol, noted all the current settings, and made a last check for instabilities. Then Mitchell and Chipper went into the transport gate.
And that was when disaster struck.
Chipper appeared in a different lab than before. That was to be expected. And he seemed to be himself, still a Chinchou with Mitchell still a human. That was what they had hoped for. The lab they entered was completely wrecked, with only the red emergency lights active. That was not planned for.
The sea Pokemon looked up to his trainer. Mitchell put his hand to his chest. "Well, I'm still breathing… but what happened here?" He went to a computer and turned it on.
Swimming around the room, Chipper tried to figure out what had happened. Brightening his antennas for light, he found blood splatter. Human, with some Pokemon too. And the damage was all caused by violence: jagged edges caused by claws ripping metal apart, holes created by a Poison-types acids, holes created by a gun, scorch marks from fire… at least none of the holes pierced the armor of the research lab. Then Mitchell would be in trouble.
A bright light pierced the dark room. Chipper looked out the window and saw a Lanturn passing by. Since they were separated by protective armor, he used light codes to speak to her. "Hello out there, Lanturn."
The blue fish stopped and peered into the window. Her antenna flickered in response. "Hello in there, Chinchou. Something odd has happened in there."
"I know, but I do not know what. Do you?"
"No. It was a moon cycle since this place went dark. There was a lot of noise coming from inside at first. It is quiet."
A month since it went dark? Something must have gone wrong with the gate experiment. And some other experiment as well. "My human and I may have to leave," he told her.
"Should I stay to give you light?"
"Yes, thank you." He went back to searching.
It took half an hour, but Mitchell finally turned from the computer. "Chipper, is there a working data drive around? Something awful has happened."
"I saw one earlier." He went to another desk and looked in a drawer. After nosing the drawer open more, he was able to take the drive out with his mouth and take it to Mitchell.
"Thanks," the scientist said, putting it into the computer. "Something messed up with the gate system. It's a month since we stepped into it."
"So she was right." He looked back out to the window, where the Lanturn was watching patiently.
"But even worse," Mitchell went on, setting up files to transfer, "the Pokerus program got terribly out of hand. The injected Pokemon did become very strong. However, they also became uncontrollable and savage. Injuries don't even stop them from attacking." He rested his chin on his hand, then added, "It looks like they've managed to create Pokemon zombies."
"Zombies?"
"The injected Pokemon are able to infect other Pokemon by biting them. At least that's what Reynolds theorized. He also notes that the escape shuttle had an unexpected malfunction, so they were unable to escape when the zombies started killing them." He looked to Chipper. "And since his notes ended a week ago, with the shuttle still registered as docked here, it seems that he, and all the other staff, was killed."
"I'll protect you," Chipper said. "But… zombies… this won't be a usual battle."
Mitchell had grown quiet, tapping his fingers on the desk. It was a sign that he was nervous, trying to think of some plan. In all their time together, Chipper had never seen him panic. "If you could, would you ask your peer out there to try traveling with us? Her light will be helpful if only the emergency lights are on."
"Right." However, there wasn't a word in the light code for killer zombies. Chipper went up to the window. "Lanturn, may I ask that you give us your light as we travel through here?"
"Sure, I will help," she replied. "What is going on?"
"Pokemon have turned into cold killers," he said. It was the closest thing he could come up with in code.
"Bad things. Okay. Where are you going?"
"Escape to the surface."
She closed her eyes, thinking. Then she opened them and looked around. "I will try to follow," she replied.
Chipper went back to his trainer. "She'll come," he said, with an affirmative flicker.
"Good. Thank her for me." He waited a minute, then took the data drive out. "I took as much as I could about the on-going projects and the failures. Now we have to hope we can figure out the shuttle malfunction. Let's go, Chipper."
After giving a nod, he flickered out to the Lanturn, "We thank you. I will try to lead."
Mitchell and Chipper left the room. The whole lab station was a mess. Where the once-familiar halls had been bland but reassuring, they were now dangerous and disturbing. There were skeletons around, both human and Pokemon. When Chipper swam closer to one, he noticed teeth marks on it. Something had eaten this human's flesh after he or she had died. Feeling disgusted, Chipper swam back to Mitchell and stayed close by his side.
For the most part, all they could hear was the hum of the life support systems, Mitchell's footsteps, and the occasional snap from Chipper's antennas. There were occasional other noises: metallic creaks, other footsteps (maybe), a flutter of wings. While the Chinchou stayed alert for any strange Pokemon about, none of them had appeared yet.
Outside of the halls, the Lanturn flickered a message. "Something approaches from your right."
Chipper was on Mitchell's left side, so he swam ahead to guard his trainer. There were slight scraping sounds coming from that hall. Noticing the change, Mitchell slowed some, looking more defensive. Something, possibly those zombies, was just ahead.
A Cloyster appeared in that hall. Its hard outer shell had a severe crack in it and it was lacking the water shield that most captive Water-types had. Once it saw them, it growled roughly and fired a dozen of its spikes at them. Mitchell stepped back in time. Chipper avoided them and sent a sparkling ball of electric energy at it.
"I think that was one of the test subjects," Mitchell said. "Chipper, just paralyze it so we can get out of here."
"All right." After avoiding another volley of shell spikes, he adjusted his electrical flow, then built up a wave around him. Slamming himself into the Cloyster, he had it unable to move. Still, he swam back to Mitchell's side quickly.
The human and Chinchou ran down the hall leading to the escape shuttle. As they passed the Cloyster, it growled into a cry of rage. Not long after, there was the sound of an explosion from the insane Pokemon. Chipper wondered what the point of that was, but felt it was safer to keep on the path to escape than to stop and examine the zombies.
When they got to the escape shuttle's location, the room was dark. Lanturn had probably lost them in the crossing without windows, Chipper thought. He checked around for any enemies while Mitchell went to the escape shuttle. As there didn't seem to be anything lurking yet, the Chinchou went to the largest window and flickered as brightly as he could. The zapping of his antennas was enough to make his spine tingle. But he hoped…
Light came into the room as Lanturn appeared on the other side. "Good, you are okay," she said. "How is your human?"
"He is fine. He is checking our ship. Could you move down and to the left please?"
"Show me where." The two Pokemon went down until they found a spot that illuminated Mitchell's work.
"They already tried a number of things," Mitchell murmured. "I can guess what based on what's here… thanks Chipper, and say thanks to her again. This could take a while."
About an hour later…
Chipper watched the entrance. Three of the zombie Pokemon were here now: a Golbat, a Hypno, and the Cloyster from before. While they were staying away for now, they were fighting with each other. That could draw attention of any others that remained. However, the three all looked to be in bad shape: thin, many wounds, looking exhausted. Maybe they were stronger than normal, but if they haven't eaten in a while, they wouldn't be up to full strength. And they would be more likely to kill him and Mitchell for food.
"Chipper!" Mitchell waved him over. "This might be tough to work with, but I think the problem is outside. Can you ask the Lanturn to help us again?"
"I can try."
"Good. I'll have to come up with some reward for her. The shuttle appears to be working fine, as does everything else in here, so it might be the outer launch mechanism. If I could just know what you say for certain…" He paused, then went on, "We'll try. There should be a sensor outside the airlock hatch and a silver-colored box with the machinery inside. If they're damaged, we could be stuck."
"If I knew the color of the sensor thing, that would help." Still, he went to the window and figured out the coding for the request. "Is there a silver box and a blinking light out by this place?" He pointed with a fin to the airlock hatch.
"I will see." She drifted away, making the room darker. Chipper used his own antennas to keep some light. When the Lanturn came back, she said, "Box is there. The light is covered by seaweed. Should I remove that?"
"Yes please, and many thanks."
After a few minutes, Mitchell got a smile on looking at the status screens. "Great! It looks like the safety sensor got covered up, so the computer felt it was more dangerous to leave than stay. Let's get out of here before those ones notice."
He nodded, but went to the window while his trainer prepared the shuttle. "We can get out now. Could you meet us at the surface?"
"Yes. I will follow."
"The ship will lead."
"Come on," Mitchell called from the shuttle. Chipper swam inside so the door could be shut.
Upon reaching the surface, Mitchell opened up the hatch and brought out a small radio. The main unit on the escape shuttle seemed to be malfunctioning. Under the starry sky, the dark ocean waters spread to all horizons save one: a patch of land to the northwest was visible. While the human tried to communicate with land, the Lanturn popped her head above water. "I hope no one else got left behind," she said.
"They all got killed by Pokemon zombies," Chipper replied.
Her eyes widened in surprise. "Pokemon zombies? How strange. Can they get out of there?"
He thought. "I don't think so. Maybe the Cloyster, if a break appears in the station walls. But they were constructed not to break, and held up even when he exploded."
On checking the atmosphere, Mitchell looked down to see the Lanturn there. He smiled, then slipped down onto the fin of the shuttle to pat her on the head. "Thank you very much, Lanturn. We wouldn't have been able to get out without your help. I'm afraid there's not much I can give you as thanks, unless you wish to come along with us."
"I could?" She looked up at Chipper.
He rapped his antennas together. "It's been a while, but the land is a neat place to visit."
She smiled. "Sure. Just so long as we don't run into any zombies."
...
Sapphire entry: Chinchou's two antennas are filled with cells that generate strong electricity. This Pokemon's cells create so much electrical power, it even makes itself tingle slightly.
DPP entry: Lanturn's light can shine up from great depths. It is nicknamed 'The Deep Sea Star'.
Ah, the weird stuff I do with this exercise. Pokemon zombies FTW!