Two hours before midnight, Jenna was in the same getup she wore when heading to Oreburgh the night before. She couldn't sit idle while her brother was dying. She felt endlessly restless, desperate, and didn't know what else or more she could do— how she'd aid, but she had to find something to make Chris feel less miserable.

Bizzy was asleep. Jenna ensured so before leaving so he wouldn't worry and had filled his bowls in the kitchen with chow and water. She hadn't been eating adequately but wouldn't forget about him. Her issues wouldn't become his. She put a small bottle of water in her pouch and, with stealth, unlocked and slipped out the front door. Jenna locked it behind her and put the key in her pouch as well.

She knew it was nonsensical to go outside the walls during the night and alone at that, but again, she felt antsy with every moment she did nothing for her brother. Jenna wasn't taking Hydro, either. He was a huge help last time but slowed her pace significantly and overall made too much noise.

What she feared the most about leaving the boundaries was getting raped or murdered, and who would be there to save her? Now people were coming back to life for the sake of spreading the rapids on top of it, but Jenna wouldn't let it strike too much anxiety into her. She was terrified but didn't want to live in absolute fear at every waking moment.

She'd evade what she had to and handle danger accordingly. The longer she waited, the more savage the land grew. Soon enough, it would probably be impossible to leave Celestic.

She walked toward the eastern wall under streetlights and cool air, past structures dead and alive. Some were occupied as small businesses while some had stayed abandoned. They all closed at nightfall, so store owners were cleaning and packing up for the night, packaging ingredients, sweeping floors, and cleaning windows with the help of their pokémon.

She passed apartment buildings and hotels that functioned the same, housing hundreds. People stood outside to smoke, get fresh air, take walks before the midnight curfew, or talk with each other, including a young adult man and woman that had met recently and were chatting while laughing, getting to know each other.

Jenna wished she was capable of feeling that way anymore. She didn't even feel she could connect to someone else emotionally at this point. Life was more fragile than ever, and Jenna was close to bitterness.

She didn't want to be questioned, not about her brother or where she was going, so she kept her head down to avoid interaction with whoever was still outside, which worked until it didn't, and that was when she reached the wall.

Jenna saw a luxray sitting by the platform one of the defenders were occupying. That was Amy's pokémon, and Jenna knew what came next.

"Jen?"

She looked up and saw Amy, as expected. She wore the base's standard tan padded outfit, sword, and gloves, and had a rifle on her side hanging by a worn strap. Her white hair was in a ponytail, and she was prettier than Jenna overall— at least Jenna thought so. Amy was only a few years older than her but was fond of that hair color.

She was one of the only defenders Jenna liked and that cared for the teen's safety, although every defender were honorable and respectable individuals. To land the position, one had to undergo a thorough interview with one of two base leaders, a sanity test with the base's psychologist, and range and swordsmanship training for at least a week.

It was a process one had to commit to. They had to want to defend, care for, preserve, and save the lives of innocents. Benefits of becoming a defender included being able to keep your weapon while off duty for immediate response times to any danger and getting served first at the cafeteria during and after shifts.

Amy climbed down the ladder and stood before her. "Where are you headed at almost midnight again? I heard you did the same at the western wall last night." She patted her luxray's head and twirled her silver necklace around her fingers. A heart pendant hung from it.

"...None of your concern," Jenna mumbled. She didn't need this now.

She crossed her arms. "You know your brother wouldn't allow this if he was well."

It was true, but to Jenna, this was far more important than rules. "I'm searching for medicine because we're all out. I can manage, Amy." She hid her irritation, but her tone had a subtle firmness to it.

The girl was seventeen. Amy couldn't let her go in good faith. "I'm not saying you can't, but you need to consider whether it's worth risking your life and everyone else's. Chris wouldn't want you putting yourself in danger for him."

"No one is taking his condition seriously. No one is doing anything to help him, and no one cares about us or this region." Amy didn't have to keep trying to guilt her. "I'll be fine."

Amy put her hand on her hip and stared at her. "Jenna, we're doing what we can. You know our options are limited. We've sent teams out multiple times for supply and med runs, but we can't keep doing that daily. It's a huge risk for too many reasons." She wouldn't be able to reach Jenna while she was in her current state, no matter how hard she tried. "Okay then, at least do me a favor if I can't change your mind."

Those teams didn't care. They didn't and wouldn't search. Not like her. Chris was her brother.

She watched Amy open a box by the ladder, take out a rifle among many, and then load it with a mag taped heavily to another upside-down full one before handing it to her. Chris taught Jenna to shoot many weapon types while building the base, which paid off well. She hadn't shot in a good while, but it'd come back to her.

"It's an auto and one of our only… Take one of the bikes too, and please tell me where you're going. It's for everyone's safety."

Jenna hung the rifle's strap over her shoulder and grabbed one of many black mountain bikes leaning against a wall nearby. "Sunyshore." No one from the base had stepped foot in that city. Parties had been sent to Veilstone and Pastoria recently, but that would stop when the world outside inevitably grew too hostile. This would likely be Jenna's last chance.

Amy foresaw nothing but a terrible outcome, but Jenna was old enough to make decisions, although she couldn't afford to make bad ones if it meant contracting the rapids. Amy felt Jenna was in a sort of panicked, impulsive mode.

To the left of the platform was a steel door one could use as an exit instead of lifting the wall, which Amy went to and opened. "Be safe, Jenna... That's a ways out."

"Thanks," she replied, almost a mumble. "Bye, Hiko," she said to Amy's luxray before passing and entering Celestic. Jenna had always been fond of Hiko. He was a luxray full of confidence and mystery while owning a soft side he displayed only to those he trusted. She wished she had a lux, but it was too late. Jenna couldn't catch any pokémon as there was a chance they could be infected. Besides, she was more than okay with Bizzy.

She took a deep breath before hopping on the bike and starting her journey. Jenna felt eyes on her but didn't look back, instead eyeing the dark roads and structures under dead streetlights, visible due to faint moonlight while steering around gaps between vehicles and a few glameow that scattered from alleys or ran in front of her tire from under cars. She eventually moved to the sidewalk after nearly riding into a vehicle's door on the street.

Silence encompassed her.

Jenna had half a mind to turn back, filled with a sense of grim foreboding. Maybe she wasn't mentally sound. She could be having a breakdown or crisis due to Chris' illness and the fact that it led to a guaranteed death. It didn't matter. Jenna had to be of assistance, just as Chris had always been to her. She wouldn't let him down.

After two hours, ensuring to have kept to Veilstone's outskirts to avoid running into trouble or being followed, she approached Sunyshore and saw the city's solar-paneled roads and dark silhouettes of buildings ahead. Generators powered the Celestic Base as the region's power grids were offline, but Jenna felt a base in Sunyshore would be more beneficial due to the city's power source being solar energy.

Surprisingly, Jenna hadn't run into any infected on the way. She tried her best to stick to the outskirts of cities and was quiet as could be while on the ride. Perhaps there weren't hordes and scattered bodies because the mutation was still relatively new, but as she knew, it would surely become uncontrollable in a week. This was her last run.

Jenna got off the bike and set it against a tree. She'd go on foot from here to reduce any noise to the max. She had absolutely no idea what she was walking into but wouldn't back from her mission after getting so far. All she had to do was hit the Pokémon Center, maybe a Mart, and head back to base. Easy enough.

Jenna looked around frequently and listened for any noise that wasn't her light footsteps and the mild, occasional breeze while heading north toward the city's heart, noticing that no wild pokémon or bodies were present, not even ones that had died to the virus, which was abnormal, but there were still cars lining curbs and some on the roads.

The haunting, kenopsiac atmosphere and venturing into the vast unknown made her heart begin to race that affected her breaths and grasped her chest. Anyone or anything could jump out at any moment among utter silence. She could be getting followed, stalked, walking into an elaborate trap. It was just her and miles of dark, dead city with the moon as her only light. She had never felt smaller.

Jenna had been to Sunyshore a couple of times in the past, so she had a good idea of where the Center was. She looked behind at the entrance fading from view while walking deeper and soon entering downtown, where skyscrapers towered over her in congregation like somber giants, and she noticed many stores and restaurants with broken windows or that had collapsed altogether with items, tables, and more on the pavement and streets from inside.

Within the next fifteen minutes, she saw a Poké Mart ahead, which meant the Center had to be nearby. She was feeling more uneasy by the second, though. Her chest tightened more and more, her breaths were shallow, and her hands close to quivering, so Jenna walked quicker while keeping her steps soft and precise.

She just needed to hit both and leave. A safe base, a home, bed, and Bizzy awaited her. Jenna wanted nothing more than to bundle up in her blanket and hug him tight, where everything was warm and 'okay', but she suppressed her dread and more tears for her brother's sake. She wouldn't be able to rest the way she wished to had she not left tonight, and she needed to stay composed to be ready for any situation that could lunge at her.

A minute after passing the Mart, Jenna saw it. Between two buildings sat the Pokémon Center. "There." Jenna approached the door and gripped its handle with her gloved hand. It was unlocked, meaning it had been looted. Still, she wouldn't walk away without checking for herself. Someone could have missed a bottle or didn't need it.

She held her rifle and slowly pushed open the door that slid against the floor, taking the flashlight from her belt and shining it around the room while stepping over scattered miscellaneous items, noticing a few stacked and taped boxes in the corner, which she found weird but shrugged off at the time and focused on the reason she was here so she could get out of here and head back to Bizzy faster.

Jenna hopped the counter when she got to it and pulled open a few drawers, shining her light over a few pill bottles she found. "Nope… Nuh-uh..." She sifted through multiple drawers with urgency, bottle after bottle, to no avail. She dropped one unintentionally and tensed up with a grimace, but it fortunately didn't create too much noise. Jenna sighed and looked around, her eyes falling onto a cabinet she hadn't yet checked.

She went and opened it, scanning more bottles with her flashlight before seeing a familiar one: 'Anastin', it read. A powerful prescribed painkiller the doctors at the base used sometimes when it was in stock. "Yes." Jenna reached for it but froze when she heard a commotion outside. She shut off her flashlight and knelt behind the counter.

This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be this unlucky. Why didn't she hear or see people before? Hopefully, she hadn't been watched.

"You leave this door open?"

"No. Could've been Ben. You know how the kid is. Hates this place enough."

Okay, so they didn't know she existed, at least. Jenna sat up slightly and peeked over the counter but crouched again as they entered. It was hard to make anything out in the dark, but they were both older men by the sound of it. She looked behind her and saw a hall leading to a glass door. That was an easy way out, and Jenna could try to leave now, but she needed that bottle.

Jenna had stayed behind that counter for too long. She saw frequent beams from flashlights and heard the men chatting casually as if very comfortable here. Abnormally comfortable.

Whoever they were, they must have been here recently, and there was a chance they'd find her hiding. Who knew why they were here or what for? Jenna looked up at the open cabinet she couldn't reach without standing. She swallowed, feeling her heart beating out of her chest.

"Boxes are where we left them. You got the key?"

"Yeah. We're just moving this to the depot?"

"Boss's orders."

Boss? Depot? So these men possibly resided in this city and may not be the only ones in it.

That's why they were at ease.

This made Jenna an intruder, and she felt like an idiot for stumbling into this city and into something she shouldn't be anywhere near. She regretted this so much. She also shouldn't have been so quick to disregard those boxes or the lack of bodies on the roads. She knew they stood out for a reason. Jenna sat up and peeked over the counter, seeing that they were occupied at the left corner of the store.

Jenna didn't want to regret everything. Now was her best chance. She had to go for it. She needed those pills.

She shut her eyes for a second, took a breath and held it, then reached her left hand up to the cabinet and slightly stood while trying to maintain her balance, holding her breath. "Gh, come on come on..." she strained. She was close enough for her fingertips to touch the bottle but couldn't reach, so she inched up and promptly snatched it, hearing the contents shake against the bottle.

Jenna crouched and winced her eyes shut again while taking silent breaths, struggling to keep herself composed.

She did it. Okay. Time to go. She stayed crouched for the most part but started moving toward the back door.

Unfortunately, Jenna couldn't see well, and her foot kicked the bottle she'd dropped while searching earlier. She grimaced and froze again, hearing the chatter stop instantly, followed by whispering.

They heard it. Fuck, they heard it. Her legs felt like bricks, but Jenna kept walking until a powerful beam of light hit her back and lit her surroundings.

"Hey! Stop right there!"

Jenna heard a deafening bang followed by something whizz past her. She flinched and widened her eyes, standing upright. Why were they shooting? She hadn't done anything.

She started running out of panic, stumbling while more bullets zipped past her. One shattered the glass door, making her flinch again, whimper, and cover her head.

Jenna made it but heard two more shots and felt something hit her left hand, causing her to drop the Anastin as she ran through. She nearly fell and came to a stop. "A-Ah," she gasped and grabbed her wrist, holding it up. She felt warm liquid run down her arm and a sharp, radiating burn flare in her hand. "Nh... ghaoww," she whined, nearly loud enough to be a screech, and her hand shook.

She heard more gunfire and snatched the bottle off the ground with her other hand, then hopped a short chain-link fence and ran down the road in the direction she came as fast as she could, breathing shallowly, quickly, and full of fear. Her leather sheath shifted and tapped her hip with her steps.

However, Jenna was tackled abruptly from around a corner on the way. "Uhf!" She landed on her back and arched it upon contact with the pavement, feeling a sharp pain shoot up her spine. Her rifle hit her chest, and the bottle had flown out of her hand again and rolled down the road. Someone was sitting on top of her.

They lifted a walkie-talkie to their mouth. "Found him." It was another man, heavyset. "Who's with ya'?"

Jenna struggled to get from under him, grunting while pushing his chest and attempting to lift herself with her legs but was met with a swift hook to the jaw. "Ih–" Her leg spasmed and arms dropped to the ground. She felt nothing but an initial daze after the impact since her adrenaline was pumping, but it stopped the fight she was putting up.

Jenna saw a flashlight hit her face and winced.

"Eh, a girl? Wouldn't have punched you." He began to stand and tugged her arm. "We'll question you at–" another gunshot.

Jenna felt his grip loosen. He then fell atop her, but she was able to slip her right hand under him and stop him short. She held her breath while shoving his dead weight off her with more struggle, rolling onto her stomach as tears welled in her eyes. She couldn't catch a break yet as she saw another figure approaching.

Jenna spat blood on the ground she felt pooling in her mouth, weakly gripped her rifle even though her hand was on fire, and tried her best to aim it at her next attacker.

"Jen?"

It took her a moment, but she recognized that voice. Jenna fell limp and dropped her defense while trying to catch her breath.

"Jen. My Arceus... What'd they do to you?" Amy grabbed for her flashlight and crouched, shining it across Jenna's body and lifting her jacket, then feeling around her stomach, sides, and chest until finally falling on her hand. "Fuck… That's bad." She'd been shot in her palm, and Amy saw that blood covered her arm upon shining the light over it.

Amy reached into her pocket and took out the gauze she carried. "Gonna slow the bleed. This'll hurt." She put the flashlight in her mouth and wrapped the cloth around Jenna's hand and its wound, tying two thorough knots to apply as much pressure as possible.

"Mhn. A-Awh, it h-hurts-ssgh…" Jenna gritted her teeth from the unbearable searing pain flaring once more in her hand as it was pressed and watched Amy pull both ends of the fabric firmly to keep it in place.

"I know. I'm sorry, but I had to seal it to buy you time. Are you okay besides the wound?" Amy checked their surroundings for more danger. Maybe that was the last of them.

"S-Sure, yeah." Jenna started feeling dull, heavy pain in her jaw and the back of her head but could ignore it. The pain in her hand, not so much.

"We need t–" Amy saw their surroundings flash brightly for a split second and heard a pained screech, then a zap. She looked up and saw two people fall to the ground that were approaching from the road Jenna had ran down them with smoke rising from their corpse. "Nice catch, Hiko." Amy glanced back at her luxray.

Hiko kept an austere gaze, his sharp eyes lighting to a soft gold while he scanned their surroundings for any more trouble, looking through the walls of nearby structures to check for anyone that could be hiding behind or inside them. He had stayed on watch while Amy was tending to Jenna.

Amy always brought him along when venturing outside the base and even sent him with other teams due to his useful ability to see past solid objects, which appeared gray through his eyes, with figures appearing as a darker gray. It was why he slept throughout most of the day, to regain electricity lost from constantly using luxray vision. He walked and stood beside them.

"I'm sure there are more, Jen. I'll help, but you have to get up now," she said. No one knew what dangers this city held, Jenna had already been shot, and they were in its center at night.

Jenna nodded and stood with Amy's aid, leaning against her as they started walking while her arm was around Jenna's waist. They were making ground too slow to be safe, but it was better than sitting out in the open.

Just then, Jenna remembered the Anastin she dropped. "A-Amy, the pills."

"What?"

"I dropped them."

"Ugh." Amy scanned the area before setting Jenna down and shining her flashlight along the ground, soon spotting the bottle several feet away resting against a curb, and jogged to grab it. They didn't have time, but it would at least make Jenna's injuries worth something. "Here." Amy handed it to her upon returning.

"Thanks." Jenna, this time, put it in her pouch and zipped it closed, standing with Amy again. "How'd you know?"

Amy tugged her up as they walked. "I took Hiko and followed you. I knew how this would go… I'm just glad you're alive, but don't do anything this stupid again. I mean it."

"I won't," she sniffled, her voice cracking and more tears streaming down her face. As much as Jenna wanted to function independently, it didn't seem to be in her. It disappointed her, as it wasn't the woman she could afford to be in this new life, but her true nature refused to budge.

Amy grinned, "you did get the pills, though."

A gunshot crackled and filled the sky, significantly louder than the others. Jenna froze and heard a corresponding thpf, then felt Amy flinch and tense, followed by her arm slipping from her waist.

"Ghf–" Amy fell to her knees and wheezed while clutching her chest, her eyes dilated.

"Amy?" Jenna looked around frantically. She saw and heard no sign of people nearby, and neither did Hiko, who looked just as confused. "A-Amy." She felt dizzy and didn't know whether it was from blood loss, pain, or the situation. Jenna knelt and held her up with what little strength she had. "Amy, no, p-please… "

Hiko ran to his trainer while she coughed up blood and choked before collapsing onto her stomach and atop her rifle, forcing Jenna to release her. Amy writhed as blood soaked through her shirt and vest, pooling around her chest on the ground. He saw her movement stop; in her open, bloodshot eyes— fear and excruciating pain.

"Help…" Jenna's clothes had her and Amy's blood on them, and enough tears were in her eyes to where she couldn't see properly. She leaned over and took Amy's necklace from around her neck, and while she did, another shot echoed and hit Amy's body, blood splattering onto Jenna's face and clothing.

She gasped and stumbled back with the necklace, sitting at a distance while gagging. She wanted to curl up and hope this was a nightmare. Heavy, pained sobs that screamed for help rolled from her throat, shaking her.

Hiko nudged her arm. "Lux." They wouldn't last another five minutes if they sat here. There was a sniper atop one of the buildings and more people coming, likely. Jenna was lucky he knew how to stay composed.

She wiped her eyes and runny nose and stood, almost falling over but gaining balance. She saw Hiko trot in front of her and dropped her rifle, following behind. Still weak, she fell upon hearing another gunshot ricochet off a nearby bench.

Jenna got back up with Hiko's help. He had run back to nudge her rear up and let her use his back as leverage to get on her feet. "Amy..." Jenna glanced back at her body multiple times. She felt horrible leaving her.

Jenna didn't know how close she'd get to Celestic, but she didn't want to pass out in this city. If she did, she'd hope to die before those sick people got ahold of her and Hiko.